Once a winter wonderland...now a winter wonder NIGHTMARE!!

Warning..you may fall asleep..long post ahead!

Ok I admit..i do like snow..i like snow to visit me maybe once a year and i love when it melts after a day! I love having that one "special"snow day of the year so i can enjoy it with my kids! That was how i felt last Sunday! I was all excited for the first snow fall! I couldnt wait to play in it with my kids! I thought you would never hear me say this but ...Well the snow now has become my worst enemy! Because of the snow alot of crappy things have happened this past week. I would say Besides alot of family time and church being cancelled two weeks in a row, i think it is fare to say that the bad seem to be outweighing the good. It is time for the snow to leave and never come back like this again! sheesh i am soo DONE with SNOW! This city is just not equipped and frankly i am going to go insane being stuck in my house! Not to mention all the money i cant make because of the snow storm.

Tuesday:
well lets start off with my morning. I had spent all that morning feeling like a chicken with my head cut. I was trying to rescue my husband in his work van. He had found himself stuck in the snow and ice, while he was trying to get to work. With our typr of work. I had to jump out of the shower..get me and the kids dressed...try to track down chains for his van, get to him safely with these road conditions, and rescue him, so he could get off of some strangers driveway that he was blocking. He was trying to get up a huge hill with these ridiculous roads and wound up stuck in someones driveway, and was blocking it completely so they would not be able to leave or come home. We had called triple A and because it was not an emergency they were still hours out to be able to help him. So i head out, my hair wet and growing iceles on it, in the hopes of finding chains. It took me forever! I was having no luck since all the auto supply shops had sold out a few days back from the first snow fall. Not only that ...everyone i talked to from NAPA auto were horribly rude and treated their customers like crap! One guy even told me, basically that their was no way in He$& that i would find chains..they were sold out even in the warehouses.
Well, i knew i had to rescue my hubby so i drove and drove and drove until Finally i found the last pair of chains! Woo Hoo!! Yea for me..but they were $80 bucks..That Sucks! I finally get to my husband and rescue him. We get him chained up and we are good to make it home. His job for that day had since cancelled because of the weather. Bummer!

Then that evening, I had to work. I was not very thrilled about driving in, since they do not plow any side streets here nor do they de-ice the roads, and the only way to my work is side streets. I then tell myself that it would be ok..i just rescued my husband earlier. I have a nice SUV with 4 wheel drive, so hey, it couldn't possibly be any worse then this morning! well.... i was wrong!
The roads that night were HORRIBLE..i even left plenty early so could make it on time. Well on my way, the traffic was soo bad that i only got maybe a 1/4 of a mile away from my house and it took me literally 20 minutes. I am supposed to be to work in 10 minutes. This sucks,i am nowhere near where i need to be. I get ahold of my manager but she has already left for the day. I knew i had to get ahold of my supervisor who in charge that night. I didnt have her #. I call J and his phone is on silence. I call a friend, and i am carefully holding the phone with my shoulder so i could make sure I keep both hand on the steering wheel. I am literally trying not to talk because she is googling the # for me, and i want to concentrate on the roads. Then the next thing my friend hears through her phone was..."SMASH...and Alot of explicative's coming out of my mouth!"

I just crashed! I have never been in an accident before..well... one that i ended up causing. I freaked out. The guy in front of me had braked really fast and because of the road conditions their was nothing i could have done. The Ice was too bad and I ended up smashing right into him. My friend says she will call work for me, and i then try to deal with the whole accident thing. I cant stop cussing..i am angry, mad and sad all at the same time. Mr. C was with me and reaasured me he was ok..but i had seriously Screwed up my neck...not only that it was soo cold outside..the roads were horrible, i was worried about work being busy and i wasn't there, and i was soo mad at myself for hitting this guy, that i just started crying. Not just crying..i was bawling! We did the whole insurance swap thing, i made sure he was ok and my son was ok. We then went our seperate ways. My car is actually not bad at all and his car just has a huge dent in his bumper. I drive home bawling! I mean bawling! It sucked...my neck was killing me, i felt horrible. I felt like i let my coworkers down, my husband down, and myself down. I was an emotional wreck. J did a great job at getting me set up with some pain meds and ice immediately. I iced on and off that night and made a call in to my dr to see him the next morning. I have a fun case of horrible whip lash. It is all due to how i was holding the phone against my shoulder and then my neck being suddenly slammed forward in the accident. It was not a great day or night. To top if off I kept asking Mr. C if he was ok. He told me his neck was ok. He also told me that the reason that his neck was ok was because he wasnt talking on the phone! hahahaha.. gotta love the honesty of our children.

Wednesday:
It is snowing again. I need to get to the DR. I have my other awesome friend watch the kids so j and i could make it in to the DR to actually talk with him without having all sorts of interruptions from my kids. He confirms it is Whiplash..and says i did a good job of it too. I get on some muscle relaxants and pain meds and he sets me up for some major therapy. I just cant wait for the stiffness and soreness to stop. I hate feeling like an invalid. My work has been soo awesome though..and very supportive through the whole thing. I love my work! Then guess what...The snow starts in again!

Jump ahead to Friday night:
We are supposed to have family coming into town for Xmas. The kids are soo excited they can hardly stand it. Then the news hits us with a reality check. Alot of the snow actually melted away that day. Then REALITY HITS AGAIN: More snow...and when i mean more..i mean that the little storm we had last Sunday was nothing compared to what this new one was going to bring. It is not safe to have our family drive up here. When it snows here literally everything shuts down. The roads are a death trap for people who try to get on them. So the family has to postpone their trip due to the weather. My kids are soo devastated. I am bummed. J is bummed. We were going to be snowed in again..and this time probably for longer than last week. I hate this!

Sat:
It snowed all day long! I measured 7 inches before i went to bed. Then in the middle of the night,it turned into freezing rain. We ventured out to Costco that morning to make sure we have enough milk and things to get us by if we get stuck in our house. We hang out the rest of the day just chillen. The funny part of the day well night, was watching our poor dogs go out and pee..sheesh it was halirous...the snow went past poor echos tummy so she would get kinda high centered and stuck..talk about a cold pee! I felt bad for the dogs so i kindly enough swept a little path for my doggies to be able to walk on to pee! We went to bed that night just for the snow to turn into freezing Rain! Then next norning was increible to see. There was a ton of snow and then probably a 1/2 layor of ice of everything. My poor dogs now couldnt stay on their dang feet! They kept slipping and slidding! It was halirous! They were soo confused.. i wish i had a video camera to record it!

Sunday:
NO Church!! woohoo! two weeks in a row! please don't get me wrong..i love church..I love being at church...but it has just been a nice break to be able to enjoy the morning.. because Us Christensen clan..,well we have a hard time getting moving on Sunday mornings, so it was nice not to have to rush out of here and be to church by 900.
I wake up to literally 8 and a half inches of snow! UNHEARD OF IN OREGON! And not only that on top of the 8 inches we have about a half inch crest of ICE crusted over the top of the snow. why do you say we have that ice...well because of FREEZING RAIN! MORE BAD NEWS! And yes ladies and gents the storm was not over yet. This is by far the worst storm in at least 20 years. We have never had this much snow in the 5 almost 6 years i have lived here. I had to get our kids out of the house. They are soo stir crazy! For us, driving is not an option. Our driveway is on a big hill and i dont want to risk our car hitting our neighbors in order to get out. Our friends invite us over to their place for dinner. They just live a few blocks up the road..so we bundle up and decide we are going to walk. YOu all may think we were crazy but it was soo cool! It was magical! IT was absolutely beautiful. All the Xmas lights were lighting up the streets. There were no cars in sight. It was snowing lightly. And my two little boys wanted to sing Christmas songs. So we sang Christmas carols the whole way. It really was a fun little walk..cold but fun! The boys loved it! They have been holed up for over a week, so it was nice to just get out of our house to let them release their pent up energy. Our friends thought we were nuts for walking but really it was a blast! We had an extremely yummy dinner. It was fun! When we got home, we delivered some of our Christmas treats to the neighbors. IT was adorable because the two boys sang a Christmas carol to them. It truly was the cutest version of "we wish you a merry Christmas" i have ever heard! Even little Gavinator was singing. He was slightly off key and slightly off beat but that is what made it sooo freakin adorable!

Well i need to end this post soon..my kids are soo done with me being on the computer!. I just have to give a little shout out to My awesome husband! This week, since i have been injured, he has been a baking freak! He would be embarrassed if i told you how much he has baked this past week. He wanted to make sure we have goodies for if and when when his family comes up. He also wanted to get the neighbors " Christmas goody" plates made. He has been a huge help this week. He has really helped out alot since it is hard for me to even turn my neck. He has let me sleep in every morning, taken care of the kids, cleaned, and cooked and baked! WooHoo to J! I love you babe! Thanks for all your hard work!

Monday: today...another 4 inches of snow on top of all the other mess! It is definantly a day that we are 4 sure stuck inside this house. My kids are going crazy. I am going crazy. oh well..i must say i have loved being able to be in my pjs like all week long!

Anyhow..for those of you who actually made it through this post..thanks for listening to me vent about the ups and downs of this week. It has been CRAZY! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas this week! And please pray the snow and freezing rain stops..i really really really want j's family to be able to make it here for christmas! My two little boys will be devastated if they arnt going to be able to because of the weather! So please mother nature..do us all a favor..no MORE SNOW OR ICE!!

All the frozen ice on our maple tree!


another view of our backyard maple tree!Can you see some of the branches touching the ground..hopefully this doesnt break..it is my favorite tree!


The poor trees!..all of our big bushes got knocked down and broken in half and our eucalyptis tree is barely hanging on..i gurantee it breaks today..SAD:(


A view from our backyard!


another View of the snow covered grounds!