Snowpocalypse '10-Live Updates

For once in my life I'm in the middle of the 'bullseye" of a snowstorm. I spent most of my childhood being envious of my cousins in New England who would receive feet and feet of snow while I would celebrate 6 inches. Last weekend I made fun of my sister in Washington DC for the 28 inches of snow that she would be receiving, secretly I was jealous. I have longed for a snowstorm of epic proportions for years. Having gone to a high school and college that clearly believed to give a person off for a snowstorm was a felony, I have been deprived of snowdays since eighth grade. Anything under a foot wasn't even worth wishing for a snowday for. I have waited and waited for the day when the Snowpocalypse would come and was denied until (hopefully) now.

Yesterday at "work" I was avoiding my "work" and checking the weather updates. To my delight the weather map had us in a deep shade of purple that the Mid-Atlantic region rarely sees. Almost directly over where my house would be was the number 22. 22 inches of snow? That sounds beautiful. It seems the Snowpocalypse is finally here.

Despite the fact that I have no obligations from which I can take a snow day, I still set my alarm last night as if I was planning on going to "work" this morning. I woke up and discovered that my "workplace" had declared that only essential staff were to report. After pondering whether or not my work was considered "essential" I convinced myself that while I consider myself a vital part of the community, they'll do fine without me today and went back to sleep.

That brings us to now. I have woken up, eaten a delicious snow day breakfast of oatmeal with cinnamon and orange peel and will now commence with my snowday activities. Check back during the day for updates as I await the Snowpocalypse.

11:54 AM-I would say so far there is only 4 or so inches on top of the 5 that were already left from the last storm. It is precipitating right now but it sounds scarily like rain or sleet. This could be the downfall to my Snowpocalpse. We are dangerously close to the rain line. If this becomes a Rainpocalypse I might just start (to use a Ch'nel phrase) punching babies. My mother realized this morning that since she works from home....she doesn't actually have a snow day. Nonetheless she has been baking all morning. OMP claims to be working as well, but I'm pretty sure he's just biding his time reading the interwebs until he can go out and snow blow some stuff again. I'm trying to decide if my first afternoon snow day activity should be my book or an OnDemand movie. I think I'll start off with option 3, actually, shower.

2:10 PM-Settle in to watch The Aviator, which Netflix kindly delivered to me this week. Talking to P-Saf online, she gets me all hyped by telling me what a great movie it is. Stick it in the DVD player annnnnnnnd it's broken. Won't go more than one minute before it shuts itself off. Settle for 50 First Dates which I had in my DVD reserve. Enjoying the juxtaposition of the tropical Hawaiian scenery with the INCREDIBLE snowfall outside. It's really on now, things are about to get epic!

3:00 PM-The boys across the street, all football players from The College of New Jersey, come over looking for shovels. Mom, who cemented her place as coolest neighbor last year when she brought them the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, eagerly hands out shovels knowing we'll probably get our own driveway shoveled out as well. She is right. Touche, Mom, touche. My dog then tries to kill one of them when he returns with the shovel.

4:25-I finish my book. Highly recommend Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, about the 1892 Chicago Worlds Fair and the dark hidden underside. Unfortunately I'm now without a book for 5 o'clock reading time. Luckily I live in a library.

4:38-Internet is shaky. This could be a sign of things to come. Nicky informs me that her sister a few towns over has lost cable. I can't even imagine such horrors.

5:10-The end is approaching. Internet is shaky at best. Once this goes we can only wait for the power to go and send us back to Oregon Trail times. I'm sort of pumped for that, although worried about the heat...I've finished 50 First Dates and have moved on to old seasons of Gilmore Girls. Now all I have to do is wait for the beer to chill on the porch.

6:23-Have started The Glass Castle, which Mom pulled out of no where. Susan Boyle is on the CD player. Two beers go down surprisingly fast when chilled in snow. No sign of dinner being made, however...how do I bring this up to my mother without sounding like a demanding child?

7:51-Dinner ended up being pea soup and homemade bread. I scoffed at first as I am quite the entitled child and usually demand a more civilized meal. It was delicious. I apologize. Snow seems to be winding down, preliminary reports have us at 16 inches in both the front and the back yard (a discrepancy between measurements in the front and backyard caused problems during the last snowstorm as Mom and OMP had bet on the snowfall and neither was willing to lose. They didn't bet money, however, as thankfully none of us actually understand how betting works). I was hoping to break 20 inches, but 16 seems like enough to shut things down for awhile.

9:00 PM-