What I like about winter is how, when it snows or is icy outside, I have an excuse to stay at home, drink tea or cocoa, and read books or watch movies.

What I don’t like about winter is that sometimes we get a snowstorm that dumps so much snow on us I can’t get out of my driveway for a week, and I am stuck inside and unable to have the choice to go anywhere if I want to.

Tomorrow we are getting a snowstorm that could dump almost two feet of snow on us.

Today we have temps in the single digits.

Neither situation is good and has our family in lockdown mode.

Luckily, today’s boredom should be helped with a Crafternoon zoom call (those are still a thing we do and if you are ever interested in participating, let me or Erin know), and then a zoom art class for Little Miss.

The art class is with Cornell in Ithaca, NY, and was suggested by my sister-in-law who is also attending.

Crafternoon is where a bunch of bloggers hang out on Zoom and chat while doing crafts.

At our vet appointment a couple of weeks ago the vet estimated his age around nine months which means he really is a kitten/child and he shows it a lot.

My cats are going stir crazy with all the cold weather we have been getting and keeping them inside a few more days is not going to be fun. The youngest is especially crazy lately.

He likes to chase our feet and toes for one, but yesterday, after The Husband and The Boy brought in the groceries, he got into the meats before I could get them put up (I was on the phone with my mom). He gnawed the plastic off a beef roast and then gnawed part of the roast as well. While we were putting that up, he stuck his head in another bag and tired to eat some raw chicken. Yes, we do feed him.

I was hoping that the temperature would rise when the snowstorm came in and I could let him back outside to get some of his energy out, but it appears that our high temps during the storm will be 15. That means Little Miss won’t be able to go out and play in the snow like she usually does.

This could definitely mean downed power lines and power outages in this rural area with a lot of trees, which does have me on edge. I am more on edge for my parents than us since we have the benefit of a woodstove to help with heat and they don’t.

But I’ve been working on not focusing on “what ifs” so I will try my best not to worry about all those things for now.

Thursday, the kids and I headed to my parents’ house to help clean up a bit and do some things before they and we get snowed in.

The Boy helped my dad get his generator ready, and I cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the living room floor.

The Boy also took Zooma the Wonder Dog for a long walk in the cold temps, but at least it was 34 that day verses the 1 degree it was here this morning. It’s 5 now. It’s supposed to get to only 8 today. Three degree warm up! Whoot!

 It’s so cold out there that last night our back porch was snapping and cracking and going off like a gunshot. I wonder if it will explode like the trees might out west. I guess we will find out.

I am preparing a list of movies today that I want to watch during this winter storm event which could last through Tuesday or longer for me, since my driveway is so steep.

They will most likely be classic movies – before 1970.

Making the list is The Public Enemy with James Cagney from 1931 because I can’t find Angels with Dirty Faces streaming anywhere (even YouTube!) and that was the next movie in my James Cagney line up. I really should have double checked if these movies  were streaming before I chose them. You think I’d learn but I never do. I will have to adjust my list yet again.

I also plan to rewatch After the Thin Man.

I hope to be able to watch a John Wayne film too. Or some sort of Western. I’ve been itching for one.

I’m sure there will be some Cagney & Lacey and Murder, She Wrote watched as well.

Maybe even an episode of The Rockford Files since The Husband will be home from work part of the time.

How is the weather where you are? Gross and nasty or fairly pleasant? I always hesitate to ask this because there is always some Southern California resident who is like, “I just went for a walk in my shorts and flip flops and now I’m having a mimosa on the veranda,” and I want to throat punch them (not really!) but I’ll take even that today. I can live vicariously through you. Ha! Seriously, if you live somewhere warm – like Australia or New Zealand or something – feel free to tell me because I actually love knowing there are other parts of the world that are nice and warm when I am cold and trying to light the fire in the woodstove.

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Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.