welcome to thunderdome

I'm super sleepy and expecting my sleep to be interrupted by the same bitchy monotone voice of the weather radio announcer who interrupted my sleep last night. Last night's weather announcement was just to warn us about this impending blizzard that we already knew about, although the announcement was apparently warranted because they were upgrading (downgrading?) us from a winter storm warning to a blizzard warning. YAY, right? But the weather radio is automated and super loud, since it's meant to wake us up when there's a tornado, so that was all v. unwelcome for me.

sssanyway, I had to get up anyway because my mother and I were on a mad dash to stock up on groceries and finish Christmas shopping before the blizzard. We went over to Centerville and bought groceries first, knowing it was so cold that we could do that first and they wouldn't go bad while we did everything else (you know you're not in California anymore when you put fruit in a cooler to keep it from freezing rather than keeping it cold). Then we met up with my sister and my nephew for lunch to celebrate my mother's birthday - we had a buffet, and while the restaurant is quite nice (it's where Katie, if you remember her, had her wedding reception), the buffet was not particularly gluten-free friendly, so I had some subpar meat and some scalloped potatoes made from a boxed mix. Boo.

Then, we went to Walmart (under duress, since there is nowhere else to shop for the stuff we needed in Centerville anymore), and then I dropped my mother off at her dentist appointment and killed an hour at a consignment-type shop while waiting for her. I am reminded that I know more about ceramics and porcelain and antiques than someone my age probably should, and I bought at ceramic plate with a green chinoiserie design on it that later research confirmed was probably pre-World War One. I know, I need a chinoiserie plate like I need a hole in the head, but it was cute and I was drawn to it like the ceramics crackhead I am, so whatever.

sssanyway again, we drove home as the rain began (which seemed so ominous) and got our groceries put away while my father was making sure his animals will survive the upcoming apocalypse. The minicows and peacocks aren't going to be very happy, since this is the first major winter storm in quite some time (last winter was really mild). Then we had supper, played a game of hearts, and have been enjoying (if that's the right word) a v. odd thunderstorm. It's raining, with a lot of lightning and thunder, but it's only 33 degrees, so at some point this is going to switch over to ice, then snow. They're having thundersnow north of us, which is even more intense than regular snow, so I'm hoping we get some of that. We're prepped for the worst, so getting snowed in tomorrow would actually be kind of fun. I'm a hermit by nature anyway, so it's not like I'll go stir crazy if I just have to sit inside and read a book. And if it gets really bad, I have a bottle of Bailey's, which it would be nice to pour over fresh snow and drink by candlelight, right? Anyway, I need to sleep so I can enjoy whatever tomorrow brings -- goodnight!