No Mo Snow

I don't like winter or snow. Growing up in the Land of Snow (ie Michigan), I've had my fill of it to last a lifetime. Thankfully winter is generally a lot shorter in NC than MI, but we generally get a snowstorm or two.

A lot of times, the weather will call for a storm but it will fall apart over the mountains. We were forecasted to have a major storm late last week, so there was a run on milk and bread. Because apparently in the South you need milk and bread to outlast a snow storm.

It started overnight on Thursday and then it snowed all day on Friday. The storms rolling in made me miserable. The pressure changes with a snow storm used to not make my pain levels as high as with a thunderstorm or just rain. But the last few years, it's reversed so I was in a lot of pain.

It didn't snow on Saturday but we had high winds so all the snow kept drifting around. Sunday the sun finally came out and yesterday it was close to 50 degrees out.

Despite the warmer weather, there is still a lot of snow. I had to go out to the post office to mail out a package yesterday. The secondary roads and even the main road that runs from Hendersonville to Asheville was still partly covered. I think for the secondary roads, DOT is just planning on waiting for it to melt which is annoying.

The other annoying thing is that I we haven't gotten mail since Thursday. I can understand no mail on Friday and Saturday but there was no reason they couldn't deliver yesterday. 

Emily is off from school for the 3rd day and we are all going a little stir crazy. I'm hoping that Emily will be back at school tomorrow and that the roads will be clearer. And no more snow for the rest of the season would be great too!!

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.

The Longest Winter Ever

I've lived through some long winters thanks to growing up in Michigan, but usually the winters are much shorter and more mild in North Carolina. Not this year though.

Thanks to the polar vortexes, we have gotten tons of snow. The last time we got this much snow was in January 2011, but that was one storm. We had a normal winter after that.

I love snow for Christmas but I hate snow after, especially in March. The up and down with the weather has caused my pain levels to be much worse than normal. In the 60's one day and then below freezing and snowing the next doesn't help at all.

Yesterday I had been resting in the bedroom after work because of high pain levels. I went out into the living room and nearly started swearing. The grass was covered by snow... again.

It's nearly April and I'm praying that Spring will actually come soon. I have a picnic that I'm invited to in May and my husband keeps joking how there will be snow for the picnic. I really hope he's wrong but who knows at this point!

Southern SnowApocalypse of 2014

Snow is something I’m very familiar with. I grew up in Holland, Michigan which is right off the coast of Lake Michigan. Every winter we would get dumped on, snow-wise, because of the lake effect. It wasn’t odd to not see grass from November until March. I dislike snow a lot and was happy when we moved down to NC. We still get winter but it’s usually much milder and not as long.

Not this year though. Thanks to the polar vortexes we’ve gotten a ton of snow and zero degree temperatures. A couple of days ago, Atlanta was gridlocked because of the snow. We got a couple of inches here. My husband is great driver in snow but when he left for work on Tuesday, he didn’t get very far before he decided the roads were too bad and came home.

We have a unique perspective because of growing up in Michigan. Things are different down here because they just aren’t prepared for snow. Todd said the roads were so bad because the plow trucks weren’t plowing they were just salting. So it made it very dangerous.

I saw tons of posts on Facebook and Twitter of friends stranded, running out of gas and having to walk home. It’s crazy to think a few inches of snow could cause so much chaos but living down here we just don’t have as many winter resources down here.

Emily didn’t have school for three days because of the snow and cold this week. While I wish she could go to school I do feel better safe than sorry. A bus overturned not far from here on Tuesday when it was snowing so much. There were just minor injuries but it was very scary to even think about all those kids on that bus.

It’s supposed to be 40 today so the snow will be melting, ending the SnowApocalypse of 2014. Hopefully this will be the last of the horrible winter weather down here but I’m not holding my breath.

2014 Browncoat Ball Website is Live!

Me at the 2010 Ball

One of the things I’m looking forward to most in 2014 is the Browncoat Ball. I had the pleasure of being on the planning committee for the Ball in 2010 that took place in Charlotte. This year the Ball is going to be in Greenville, SC and I’m on the planning committee again.

The Browncoat Ball is a unique experience were fans of the show Firefly and the movie Serenity get together. The Ball moves from city to city and every year there is something different. The things that stay the same are there is always a dance, which is the Ball itself, and there are chances to do fun things in the host city.

This year Greenville is hosting the first murder mystery with the Ball. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. My first big event that I did with the Greenville Browncoats was a Firefly LARP back in 2007. It was a weekend where I made a lot of friendships and just had a great time.

The website for the 2014 Browncoat Ball launched yesterday! Check it out and consider coming to the shiniest shindig of the year!

Dragon Con 2013 - Saturday

This is the 2nd installment of my Dragon Con Trip Report. Click the link for Friday's post!

I got Todd up bright and early on Saturday morning so we could head back down to the con. I have marched in the parade the last few years and I had signed up to march with the WhedonVerse folks again. Because of a trolley being put in downtown, the parade route and the staging area had to be moved. So I was a little neurotic about trying to find the new staging area.

Without too much difficulty, we found it. I gave Todd my bag and told him I’d call him when I was done. It was about an hour wait before the parade started. It’s always fun to watch all the other people in their great costumes. I think my favorite this year was the Steampunk Tigger that walked by.

The parade was awesome to be in as usual. I twirled my parasol and waved as I walked with the other Firefly folks. The crowds watching seemed massive, even more than last year. But everyone seemed to enjoy the parade.

Once the parade was over, I went to meet Todd. I was supposed to meet him in the area outside the Walk of Fame. I walked all the way around there twice and didn't see him. So I started calling and texting. I have anxiety issues normally so when I couldn't find him and he wasn't answering his phone, I felt a panic attack creeping up.

Finally he texted me that he was in the food court and had no signal. I told him where I was at and waited, trying to push back the panic. He showed up, with food and we ate. From there, we decided to go back to the dealer’s room o’ doom. Emily had pleaded for an Artemis stuffy to go with the Luna one we bought her. I stopped by the BPAL booth to sniff a little and talk to Beth. I got my picture with Beth too.

Then we went deeper into the 2nd floor of the dealer’s room. We started out by a food vendor and I got some yummy lemonade. I went over to the Steve Jackson Games booth to look for a dice game for Emily. One of the vendors took a long time to help me out and recommended Dino Hunt Dice. I got that for Emily. She loves it because it’s easy to play and she gets to roll dice. From there, we circled around looking for the vendor we got Luna from. We got turned around quickly but finally found another vendor who had an Artemis kitty. I got it and we got the heck out of the dealer’s room o’ doom.

There was a panel I wanted to go to in the Sheraton about a ghost investigation in NC. Todd grumbled about having to walk all the way to the Sheraton, but since he didn't have anything else to do, he came with me. We were about an hour early for the panel. We sat on the floor across from the room, by a power outlet. We changed our phones up a little and I read on my Kindle since there was no signal at all. Once the room was open, we got great seats right up front.

The panel was really interesting. Both Todd and I like watching ghost shows on TV and we live in a haunted house. The hour flew by and we left the Sheraton to hustle over to the Hyatt so I could meet the Fraggles.

Fraggle Rock was one of my favorite shows as a kid, so I wanted to get my picture with Red and Mokey. We made it just in time and were able to get into the room. We waited about 45 minutes so I could get my picture. And we each got a free autographed mini poster which Todd was geeked about.

I had planned on going back to the Marriott to see the Phineas and Ferb panel, but the crowds were making me feel a little claustrophobic. So we opted to go back to my aunt and uncle’s house. It was a long day of battling the crowds, but I had a lot of fun.