Relentless.

Steven and I did end up taking a walk when he got home last night. It was so much fun!! We have hardly seen each other this past week so we walked for at least an hour and just talked and talked until we were too cold to stay out any longer. I think it was about 11:30 when we decided to go back inside. We wanted to take mugs of hot chocolate with Bailey's irish cream on our walk but, sadly, were out of hot cocoa mixes and didn't want to take the time to make it from scratch.

It was beautiful outside and very quiet. The snowflakes were so tiny and sparkly that it just looked like there was glitter in the air. It felt kind of magical. Snow tends to have a glittery quality when it's all around you but I don't feel like the actual snowflakes in the air have ever looked glittery to me. I loved it.

We shared a mug of tea when we got home. I also made Steven and I a couple of rice socks. We microwaved them and used them to heat the bed. The smell or microwaved rice reminded me of England when I used to carry my rice sock everywhere and heat it multiple times a day.

This morning I caught a glimpse of my neighbor using a leaf-blower to blast the snow off of his truck. I thought it was pretty funny and figured I should share it with you.

I cannot believe how this snow just keeps coming down!!! There was a little snow on the streets this morning but Steven didn't have any problems getting to work. By 9am the streets were completely covered -- half an inch of ice with at least two inches of snow on top.

I bundled up to go for a walk around 10am. I'll admit that I got a little too bundled. Long underwear, socks, ski socks, jeans, rain boots, snow pants, tank top, long sleeved shirt, sweater, track jacket, sweatshirt, scarf, hat, both hoods up over the hat, down jacket and gloves. I was sweating by the time I got home an hour later but it was really nice to walk around in the snow and not feel the cold creeping in even a little tiny bit.

After wandering through the neighborhood for a little while I made my way over to QFC and bought a bag of satsumas, some raspberry jam and some hot chocolate mix. Our walk this evening will be a little cozier :)

(above photo -- 10am this morning) I wish I had taken a picture in the early afternoon just to show the drastic difference. It was still snowing but had warmed up to 34 degrees and the snow had completely melted from the streets and sidewalks. The roads weren't dangerous or slippery at all. I started to feel anxious about going to the recording studio tomorrow morning so I called and said that I was going to do my recording session this evening instead since someone else had cancelled. I left home at 4 o'clock. It was 34 degrees outside, all the streets were bare and I felt safe. About 12 miles into the drive, somewhere near the Muckleshoot library, I drove into a wall of snow. I thought it was fog but realized instantly that it was snow and all of the sudden there was about an inch of it on the roads. My tires slipped once and that was it. I turned around to go back home. I never found the clear roads again. That wall of snow beat my back to Enumclaw and when I got home again at 4:50 the temperature had dropped to 28 degrees, it was foggy, snowing like mad, and the streets were all white again.

And here's a picture of my car less than an hour after I got back, already covered in snow again. The streets and sidewalks are white and all of the snow where the neighbor kids had been playing today is all filled in with fresh snow and smooth again. I'd be interested to know what our total accumulation is at this point. I would have to guess that we're nearing 8 inches. Seriously.

I love the snow. I think it's beautiful and fun but there's just never a good time for it. To be completely honest, the reason I'm blogging right now is to try to distract myself. I'm so anxious about Steven driving home from work tonight. He doesn't get off work until 9pm!!! That's hours away. God only knows how much more snow we could have by then. I want him to be safe but I also want him to be home as soon as possible. I told him that if his car gets stuck he can start walking towards me and I'll start walking towards him with a thermos of hot chocolate and we'll just meet in the middle. Thankfully he has the next two days off.

I'm worried that I won't be able to go to my recording session tomorrow morning. It's supposed to be at 9am and things are not looking promising. I'm so bummed! I really don't want to miss it and I'm feeling anxious about it but not nearly as anxious as I feel about driving in this terrible weather. I'll still have my opportunity to do it, I just might have to wait a couple of months.

Really, it's most important that everyone is safe. I keep checking the weather and the traffic on King5.com rather obsessively and there are so many car accidents on there. A bus turned over on it's side in Tacoma today sending 10 people to the hospitals. Steven drove by a rolled over car. A call just came in on Steven's FD pager about a chimney fire and I almost cried I felt so bad for them. Can you imagine? You're just enjoying a nice cozy fire trying to stay warm in this absurd winter weather and all of the sudden the fire is out of control. I could picture them standing outside in the freezing cold with snow falling all around them watching water being blasted at their house. This is neither a warm nor cozy image. I hope they're okay. I should have listened to the address. I could go invite them over for dinner or something.

I think it's time for me to turn my computer off and stop checking the weather reports. I can see what it is just by looking outside. Maybe I'll make cookies or something, that would be a good project and having the oven on would warm the house up. I'm still trying to use the heater as little as possible when it's just me in the house. It really isn't too cold in here right now.

I put my refrigerator thermometer outside and when I looked at it just now it said 24 degrees. Oh. My. Goodness.