Why I Rant About the Snow and Cold

Why do I rant about the snow and cold when I live in Ohio?

Because I can.
That's why.

Because I'm sick and freaking tired of all the snow. And the below zero temperatures. And the fact that since December 20 my kids have had 13 days of school (or something like that).

I have actually LOST COUNT of the number of "snow days" their district has called since the first full week of January.

Oh, and we've also had 62.8 INCHES OF SNOW since that first snowfall back in December. That would make the 2013-14 winter the FIFTH SNOWIEST WINTER ON RECORD for northwest Ohio.

In like all of history.

So yeah.

I'm going to complain about the snow.
And the cold.
And the never-ending snow days.

And no, I'm not going to move to Florida anytime soon because (1) we own a house here in Ohio, (2) my husband's job is in Ohio, (3) my kids' school is in Ohio, (4) my family lives in Ohio.

So for all you who might be sick and tired of hearing your friends up north "complain" about snow and ice and cold temperatures, I have one thing to say: Too damn bad.

After the winter we've been dealing with we have earned the right to bitch and moan about how miserable we feel. If you haven't lived in an area where it snows all the time or the wind chills have regularly been below zero or the kids have had more snow days than school days, then you really have no idea what it's like.

At this point, our kids are going to be in school until mid-June or later, the snow isn't going to melt until about April, and the extended forecasts are calling for more snow and more "polar vortex" like temperatures.

Oh, and in case you're wondering...NO this is NOT a normal winter for Ohio. Ask anyone who lives here and they'll say they've never seen anything like this. School administrators have said they've never dealt with this in their entire school careers.

So we aren't just bitching about a "normal" winter. We're miserable. And we're cold. And we would give anything to have a "normal" winter. 

If you're sick and tired of hearing the northerners complain about winter you should probably just mute all of us on Facebook and Twitter because we still have at least six more weeks of this crap (according to the rodent from Pennsylvania). And I'm sure we'll be bitching about it until the grass turns green and the flowers bloom.

Do You Want to Build a Snowman? (Too bad because it's too cold to step outside without instantly freezing in place)

Oh winter....I get it. You're in a foul mood and now you've gone all polar vortex on the northern half of the country for the last few weeks.

But honestly, enough is enough don't you think? I mean, even Elsa was able to get her freezing mood swings under control. And she was The Ice Queen.

So far this month the kids have been OUT of school more than they've been IN school. They had an extra week of "Christmas Break" at the beginning of the month thanks to two back-to-back snow storms and the first "polar vortex."

Now, they didn't have school last Friday because it was deemed "too cold" to get on the bus. [OK, yeah it was cold. Like 10 below zero wind chill...but seriously, they DO have heat in school so let's just say that last Friday was a stupid snow day and move on].

They also didn't have school today because of (1) a Level 2 snow emergency, (2) "road conditions", and (3) the fact that the wind chill was like -15 all freaking day. And tomorrow? No school again. This time the wind chill is going to be something totally ridiculous like -25. Or colder.

At this rate they will be in school past the last day of "scheduled" school (June 4 for our district). We had five allowed "calamity" days this year. We used those the first week of January. Now, we're three days over the allowed number of "calamity" days and there's no end in sight.

We're under a wind chill WARNING until NOON on Wednesday. Which means no school tomorrow. Probably no school on Wednesday. Maybe they'll have school on Thursday when we're supposed to have a "warm up" to 27 degrees ABOVE zero. That's damn near balmy for these parts.

Everyone is sick of winter. I think winter is sick of winter. Everyone except the local weather forecasters. They are damn near giddy about the weekly daily POLARVORTEX-ARCTICBLAST-ALBERTACLIPPER-NAMEDSTORMOFTHEWEEK.

Me? I'm sick and tired of these words: Alberta Clipper, arctic blast, polar vortex, wind chill, snow, and cold. I know every year I bitch about how cold it is and how much I hate winter...but this year I really, really mean it.

I am sick and tired of the cold. And the snow. And the school cancellations. And snow emergencies. I would just like winter to go back to "normal" with temperatures in the 30s and a few snow flakes here and there.

I understand now why some animal hibernate until spring. It's so they don't go totally insane during January.

As it is, if you need me I'll be hibernating on the couch under several fleece blankets. Drinking wine. Lots and lots of wine.

It's a Good Thing I Don't Make New Year's Resolutions

You know, it's a damn good thing I don't make resolutions for the new year...you know like "I resolve to blog at least three times a week." 

Because honestly friends I would totally fail.
Every. Single. Year.

I swear I think about blogging all the time. Hell, I even write really awesome posts IN MY HEAD as I'm trying to fall asleep. Because THAT works wonders, don't ya know?

I don't know why I don't write more. I don't have any good excuses. And I know I have enough "material" in my everyday life to write a blog post or two or three each week.

My month so far: I got a flu shot. Then I got sick. The end. 

OK. Not really. There was more going on this month. But I'm focusing on this.

And yes, I do know those two things (flu shots and getting sick) are NOT connected so please don't start leaving me comments quoting the CDC or Dr. Oz and telling me I'm full of crap for thinking the flu shot can make me sick.

However, I did go to my doctor's office before the New Year to get a flu shot because my mom made me. Yes, I'm almost 41 years old and my mom still has to make me get a flu shot. Because I hate shots. And I hate going to the doctor. But I also hate the idea of getting H1N1, so I went. And got a flu shot.

And three days later I had strep throat. Honest to goodness, I have not been that sick in YEARS. I'm talking at least a decade. The last time I can remember being so sick that I couldn't function as a human was when I had walking pneumonia in 2004. But strep throat really, really sucks. A lot.

A word to the wise: don't get really REALLY sick two days before Snowmageddon and the Polar Vortex are about to hit, because then you have to go to Urgent Care in a snowstorm and that's a joke because they tell you that you don't have strep but "here's an antibiotic anyway just in case you get worse." And then you'll spend three days feeling like DEATH and unable to go to the doctor's office because your entire town is shut down under a LEVEL THREE SNOW EMERGENCY and you'll GET ARRESTED IF YOU DRIVE.

But then it got warm (read: 1 degree above zero) and I made it to the doctor in a LEVEL TWO SNOW EMERGENCY. The doctor gave me antibiotics and they were the ONLY kind she thought I might be able to handle because just about every freaking antibiotic out there wreaks havoc on my body (or causes me to partially rupture my Achilles. No joke).

So...10 days of antibiotics later the strep is gone (whew!) but I'm back at the doctor's today because I'm having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic.

Of course I am. 

Apparently the medicine I was on was a "sulfa"drug (no clue what the hell that means) and my body decided to break out into a rash head to toe. Oh, and I'm sorry if it sounds unpleasant to you, but just imagine how I feel.

Seriously. I'm nearly 41 years old and there isn't ONE SINGLE ANTIBIOTIC that I can handle. Which means if I get sick again, I'm totally screwed. I'm also itchy. And grumpy.

And so....I now get to go to an allergist to determine exactly what the hell is my problem. I spent my entire childhood visiting an allergist (from age 4 until about age 18 when I was deemed "cured" of my seasonal allergies...they lied..I was never cured). And now I get to go back and get tested. Again.

Oh yeah, I'm also on steroids right now. So if I sound 'roid-ragey, I'm sorry. :)

As it is, there are 10 days left in this month. Here's to trying to write at least five blog posts between now and January 31. And no, that is NOT a resolution.

Snowmageddon. Again. Or maybe not.

This past weekend we had a snowstorm. It dropped about 8 inches of the white stuff on our lovely city. The local weather guys were going CRAZY about the storm a full week before it hit. There were social media posts all week long about how much snow, when it would start, blah blah blah.

And then on Saturday morning as the snow was falling our local ABC station actually had a full morning of programming (preempting Good Morning America) because, you know, a snowstorm of this magnitude is SO FREAKING RARE in northwest Ohio that it requires HOURS of "oh my God it's snowing and the roads are slippery and be careful out there folks!" programming.

It's pretty simple really: if it's snowing a lot and the roads look bad, just stay home. When the county issues a Level 2 snow emergency, don't drive anywhere. No need to freak out.

But that's what our local weather guys do best - freak out.

Today (which is MONDAY for those of you playing along at home) a local weather guy (again from the ABC affiliate) posts on Facebook that there is another "storm to watch" for this weekend and we MIGHT get snow from it, or it MIGHT track a different way giving us a "heavy cold rain" or an ice storm. He made it very clear that they have NO IDEA what is going on with this storm but he wanted to give us the information he had because we MIGHT get hit with something.

Yes, and a huge asteroid MIGHT hit the planet tomorrow and Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis won't be able to save us in time. 

There's still  no need to put a "maybe" kind of forecast on Facebook. It doesn't do anything but give people a not-so-valid reason to post weather rumors on their Facebook page about a 20 inch snowfall forecast. Seriously people, when was the last time Toledo got 20 inches of snow in one storm? Geesh.

Of course, then you have a colleague of the Monday morning forecaster posting on his the station's Facebook page that we should all "ignore weather forecast rumors, please" because once they "get a handle on the snow makers" they'll let us know what is going on.

Gee thanks, we feel so much better already knowing that this weather brain trust is "on it."

Here's the thing people of northwest Ohio - it's winter and we LIVE IN OHIO which means we are going to get snow. I dislike snow just as much as the next person who wishes they lived in Florida. But really, let's not panic just yet. How about if we just get through this week and avoid the weather rumors, OK?

(However, if by Thursday they're saying we're in for a major ice storm I might just panic a bit because I really, really, really don't like ice storms.)