Snowmageddon and Stuff

Geez, it's been a long time since I posted! A friend even e-mailed to see if I was okay because I hadn't posted about Supernatural. I know, it's enough to make anyone think I was sick or dead. :)

Mostly, I've been buried. We got another 18 inches of snow last Wednesday, on top of the two feet we got the Saturday before. That's not the official amount, but it's what I shoveled Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. You know what's bad about that much snow? It's not the amount on the driveway. It's the amount on the SIDE of the driveway. When you have to lift every shovelful over your head, the job becomes three times harder. My husband was sick, so the kids and I did most of it. I wanted to cry every time I tried to toss it over the bank, it stuck to the shovel, hit the top of the bank, and rolled down into the driveway behind me. But we got it done.

And I learned something. I'd pulled my car into the carport so we only had one to clean off, because I hate cleaning them off and trying to shovel around them. I find shoveling the empty driveway far easier. But that's only when we have less than a foot. So for the snow we're getting tonight (I KNOW!), we're parking in the driveway. At the bottom, because there's just no place for the snow to go down there!

The kids hardly had any school last week. Two-hour delay Monday and Friday, one full day on Tuesday, off completely Wednesday and Thursday. They were supposed to be off today, but it's a snow makeup day. They have to make up March 12, too. The way things are going, I won't be surprised if they have to extend the school year. My kids are so good about letting me work on snow days and stuff, but despite that, it cuts into my schedule. I don't get up as early, I feel guilty if I ignore them all day, they do need me for some things, and then there's the whole shoveling thing.

The snow caused another problem. Well, really, it's all my fault. We're almost out of oil! We filled the tank, a rare occurrence, in December. I'd been watching it, but it had a quick slide between half a tank and a quarter. I planned to call for delivery, but with the chaos of last week, didn't call until Thursday, payday. I wasn't surprised when she said they were behind and couldn't come until Tuesday, but I hadn't thought about it beforehand. And of COURSE the temperature then dropped to low teens every night since. We've cut back on showers, not run the dishwasher (our boiler provides the hot water as well as the heat), used the fireplace, and cut the thermostats way back, and still had to get some kerosene to get us through. Do you know how long it takes to pour five gallons? It doesn't sound like much, but man, it's heavy. :)

I have to say, I don't know how people keep their thermostats at 65 all the time. I used to do that during the day, but then the furnace ran so much in the evening, it clearly doesn't save anything. Now I keep it between 69 and 71 most of the time. That's a little lower than other people in the house would like, but we've found it endurable. But 65 is so not.

Maybe it's the configuration of my house, which is a ranch. The thermostat is at the end of the hall, near the living room. It's always comfortable on that side of the house. Number Two's bedroom is right near it, she only has one exterior wall, and she sleeps in a loft bed, so she's always fine, even now with the temp low. But Number Two is on a corner, and the master bedroom is on the north corner. When the thermostat says 65, the master bathroom is 55 degrees. Our bedroom is probably about 60. In the spring, when we've been enduring 10-degree days for five months, 60 is heaven. In the dead of winter, not so much.

Okay, moving on. Enough about the stupid weather already!

Supernatural. I admit I don't talk about it as much here anymore because of Supernatural Sisters. But last week? OMG GROSS. That definitely takes the prize for Biggest Grossfest. Ugh. I'm not going to list the ways it was gross, we all know them. Let's talk about Castiel! I love that guy so much. "They're not incontinent." "I'm here." "Nobody likes it." Misha's delivery is golden. But come on, there's no logic for him being stuck in the same clothes all the time. Let him change! :)

I thought Jared did a masterful job with the addiction, and so did Sam. I hate the clown face (wipe it off before you head to the diner, buddy!) but the way he ignored the craving and did away with Famine was awesome. Dean's utter helplessness every time he watches his brother go badass is both poignant and frustrating. Dude! Cut off the damned ring already!

I don't think any of us buy Famine's assertion that Dean's already dead inside. I know he believes it, he talked about the hole inside him when he returned from Hell. But no one cares that much about people, especially strangers, and is dead. One of the commenters (I'm too lazy to double-check who) at SPN Sis said what Dean craves is peace, so that's why Famine didn't work on him. There's no way to gorge yourself on peace, none around to feed the craving. I think that's brilliant. Though the idea of a well-fed Dean? Oh, yum.

This final six-week hiatus might kill me, especially since it coincides with the Olympics and therefore hiatus for most of my other shows.

Fringe went on an even longer hiatus, joining Glee and FlashForward for Insanely Long Breaks. I'm slightly disappointed with the way they handled the whole Peter revelation. Why didn't Olivia notice it right away? Why not Peter before the building, when she realized she was scared? Why not in the daycare center, when she was selecting the 16 things from the other world? I get why they connected it to their "date," but her reaction was a little underwhelming, too. But oh, well. It was a good cliffhanger.

The problem with waiting so long to blog is these gigantic posts. You're bored (if you're even still reading), I'm behind on my work, and it takes up a LOT of space on the page. So I'm going to stop now.