The last couple of weeks have been....interesting, to put it nicely. Justin had to work on Thanksgiving. At first, I didn't really care. Thanksgiving is probably my least favorite holiday (because of what it represents and because I don't really like the food). I figured it wouldn't be a big deal for him to be on alert. But when the actual day came, I was surprised by how sad I was that he was gone. I was comforted by the fact that I wasn't the only one without their husband on that day. My friend Ira invited me over to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. Her husband was gone too. She was determined to cook her first Thanksgiving meal and I was glad to not be alone. The food turned out really good. I was happy I could spend time with her and give her a hand, even if it was just holding baby Nik while she cooked. Justin came back on Black Friday and we had a huge "Thanksgiving" dinner with all our friends (most of whom were on alert for the actual holiday as well). It was a lot of fun, really great to see everyone, and the food was delicious.
Since we've been in Montana, the weather hasn't been that bad. This fall has been pretty mild. I've been waiting for the winter to come. Well, last week, it came. Full force. Justin went out on alert on Friday and of course, Friday night the snow came. It didn't look that bad out Saturday morning but the decision was made to leave the missile crews out on alert for an extra day. So Justin didn't get to come home until Sunday. He pulled his first "48" as they call it. I have a feeling it won't be last for this winter. Heck, it probably won't be the last for this month. Overall, we didn't get THAT much snow. However, the lovely wind blew snow drifts onto my driveway and I had to shovel 2.5 feet of snow. It took me over an hour to shovel our tiny little driveway. I couldn't even finish. It was so cold that my entire body was numb underneath my winter weather attire. I was so frozen I couldn't take a shower for 2 hours afterward because my skin was so cold and the water would burn it. Winter in Ohio was awful. But at least it wasn't this cold. Today, it's -24 degrees. It's been at or below zero for almost a week now.
For longer than I have been alive, my grandparents have lived in Arizona. I remember when I was little I always wondered if they missed living in Ohio, with the changing leaves in the fall, waking up to a light powdering of snow Christmas morning. I asked my Grandma once if they missed the weather or the snow and she said they didn't miss it at all. I thought, how could this be? Snow is magical and transforms the world around us, making even the ugliest things pretty. Snowy winters mean sledding and building snowmen and the occasional day of missed school. How could they not miss it? My 10 year old self didn't understand. Of course, at that age snow is everything good. At 10, snow doesn't mean shoveling the driveway. At 10, snow doesn't mean scraping ice off your windshield before you can drive to work or school. At 10, snow doesn't mean your husband gets stranded underground in a missile silo for longer than he should. At 10, snow doesn't mean staying in the house because you're too afraid to drive since people almost crash into you daily when the weather is nice. At 10, snow doesn't mean worrying your car won't start. Oh yes, this morning Justin's car wouldn't start thanks to the ridiculously cold weather. He had to take my car, which almost didn't start after sitting in the parking lot for 5 hours while he was at work. My grown-up self can see just how smart my grandparents were to move to Arizona. For the last 7 or 8 years, I haven't really liked the snow. However, my dislike has hit a whole new level living here. I HATE snow, absolutely hate it. If I never see it again, it will be too soon. And unfortunately for us, it's only the beginning of winter. We still have 3 more winters of cars not starting thanks to the geniuses who decided to build houses on base with one car garages. Of course, the new houses at Vandenberg have two car garages even though you don't need any garage space there. Vandenberg has no weather. People use their garage for storage, not for parking cars. And yet, here, where it's absolutely necessary for a garage, they build houses with only one space. It makes no sense, but it's the military so I wouldn't expect any different.
On a slightly happier note, we set up the Christmas tree the other day. The cats thought it was their new climbing toy. Here is one cat in the tree:
And here is the tree after they knocked it over:
I haven't yet decided if I'm going to leave the tree there and not decorate it or move the tree to one of the bedrooms upstairs and keep the door closed.
Even though the snow makes me angry and makes me wish we still lived in California more than ever, the cats make me smile on a daily basis. I'm not sure why she decided to sit behind the curtains but I saw her and it made me laugh:
The next few days are supposed to be cold but next week, supposedly, it's going to be in the 30s. Hopefully it will warm up enough to make going outside bearable.
Shortly after I took that picture, I left the room and heard a crash. I came back to find this:
It took the kitties all of 5 minutes to try to climb the tree and subsequently knock it over. After that, I took down the ornaments and put the presents in the closet until we made the decision to open them after dinner. Even though they knocked our tree over, I love the kitties. They're just so cute.
