Ashless Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the start of Lent. Usually my church has two services tonight, and usually Emily and I go. My church does the ashes on the forehead as a reminder that we come from ashes and to ashes we will return.

But with the nasty weather we've been getting and the chance for more snow today, my church decided yesterday to cancel the services tonight. I had been on the fence on trying to go, so I'm glad my decision was made for me.

Emily is a little sad - she loves getting the ashes on her forehead. I'm a little sad too, it's one of my favorite services of the year. It's really a powerful reminder of our mortality to start off Lent. But it's better than trying to drive on roads that may be icy.

Instead, we'll read stories in Emily's Bible and pretend we give each other ashes. All while we stay warm and safe in our house.

The School Closing Conundrum

The part of Michigan that I grew up in, we rarely had snow days. I lived about five miles from Lake Michigan so we got a lovely thing called lake effect snow. The weather would have to be super bad for school to close.

Now I live in western NC and things are different here. Now I do realized that they don't have the amount of equipment that they do in Michigan, but sometimes the school closings seem a little bit of an overreaction. 

Emily is in her last year of going to school at our church. They follow the county next to us' school closings usually. Early this week, there was some icy roads in the mountains and parents took to Facebook to complain bitterly how the school system had put their kids in danger. 

This morning I wake up and Facebook lets me know there are school closings. I went and checked and the county schools were on there. 

Now it didn't snow here last night. It's windy and cold but that's not a reason, in my opinion, to close school. I honestly think that the school system didn't want to piss off anymore parents and just decided to close for today. Especially since it is Friday.

Thankfully, Emily's school decided not to close. It's PJ day in her class today and she was really looking forward to it. Todd bundled her up with her stuffy and blanket to have a fun day at school.

We are in the mountains so I do understand that it can be a conundrum. There can nothing where I live in the foothills but in the higher elevations there can be some ice and snow. It just seems so odd and almost silly to me, a Michigan girl, to look outside, see nothing on the ground or road, and have the possibility of no school for Emily.

Weather.com is Stressing Me Out!

In my infinite wisdom, I decided to have Emily's birthday at a local park. We had her birthday party outside before but I'm feeling more on edge this year.

I'm feeling stressed in part because I haven't gotten hardly any Yes RSVP's from her classmates and in part because the Browncoat Ball is looming and I have a lot I need to do for that. But the thing that is stressing me out most is the stupid 10 day forecast on the Weather Channel's mobile app.

The weather is one of the things that I can't control. And the forecast for the day of Emily's party keeps changing! It can change wildly from day to day and even hour to hour. They will say it will be nice and warm, or cloudy and cooler, or rainy and thunderstorm.

Right now, it's suppose nice and I'm praying that it stays that way. I also hope some kids show up to the party as well! Her church friends should be coming and that will make her happy as well as relatives from all over. Next year we are going to take a trip - birthday parties are too stressful for me!

My Feelings On Snow

As winter approaches, so does the colder weather with the threat of snow. We actually have snow in the forecast for tonight and I’m feeling a little conflicted about it.

Mostly because I hate snow with a passion, except between Thanksgiving and Christmas when I love snow. I grew up in Michigan and I lived very close to Lake Michigan. Because of the lake, we would get tons of snow every year because of the lake effect. Snow would start usually in late October / early November and wouldn’t let up until late February / early March. Usually once the snow came, you wouldn’t see the grass again until spring.

Snow in December made it feel Christmas-y but once it was December 26, I was already sick of it. I was never fond of the cold when I was a child and the best part about playing in the snow was the hot chocolate afterwards. As I grew up, my hatred of snow outside of Christmas increased as it just became a pain.

I was extremely happy to move down South were snow doesn’t happen very often. Most of the eight years we’ve lived her, we haven’t gotten more than a dusting or two. Of course, that means mostly green Christmases, which is a little sad but I can deal with it.

They do freak out down here over the threat of snow. Schools have been canceled in the past because a snow storm was in the forecast – most of the time it never actually snows. And everyone goes to the store to stock up on bread and milk when snow is in the forecast.

We’ll see what happens tonight. I’ve been feeling festive already so a little snow would be nice since we don’t get a lot down here. Plus I work from home now so I don’t have to go out in the cold unless I choose to!