Told you so!

I love getting to say that.  Told you so!  Told you so!

So, what did I tell?  For about ten days Mr. Weatherman has been predicting a huge, massive "winter precipitation event."  Before the storm had even formed on the west coast, Mr. Weatherman was predicting it would form, sweep across the lower US and then up the east coast to Virginia.   For the first week, about all Mr. Weatherman would say was that it was coming, it would arrive on Monday or Tuesday and it would be massive.  Oh great!  Not.   Apparently, I've turned into one of those old crotchety people who hates snow.

By this past Friday or Saturday, Mr. Weatherman was saying it would start late Monday evening and snow all day on Tuesday.  It was too early to talk about accumulation.  By Saturday evening, he was saying that there was going to be an awful lot of ice mixed in so the accumulation wouldn't be that much.  But it was still a huge, massive storm.  The news started showing footage of all the ice and wrecks in the more southern states.

By yesterday, the prediction had changed to the storm starting off as snow but quickly changing to all sleet and ending with freezing rain.  Accumulation predictions were anywhere from two to five inches.  Two to five inches of sleet and ice.  Oh boy.  I like ice even better than snow.

I went into storm preparation mode.  My theory is, if I'm prepared for the worst, the best will happen.  And that always seems to be the case.  I mean think about it - your car only breaks down when you run to the corner store to pick up milk in your pjs and bedroom slippers.  If you are dressed decently, have a coat and maybe a pair of gloves, you're pretty much guaranteed a smoothly running car.   Additionally, you'll never need to make an emergency phone call as long as your cell phone is charged, but let that sucker's battery die and you'll blow a tire, while you're pulled over changing it, another car will slam into you and both vehicles will burst into flames.

So, I follow the Girl Scout motto - be prepared.  The standard joke around this part of the world is that at the first mention of snow, everyone flocks to the grocery store to stock up on bread, milk & toilet paper.  I generally have plenty of that on hand.  Well, maybe not milk, but I'm always stocked with bread & TP. What I run to the store for is pot roast, something to cook on the grill and "comfort food" in the form of chips & dips and deserts.  

Ok, you may find cooking on the grill a strange snow storm tradition, but when the power goes out and you can't use your stove....   Plus, our first house had a covered area where we kept our grill and that first year in the house was the "Year of Blizzards."  We had a blizzard every Thursday from late December until mid March.  We also had a pool table, a wood stove, a well stocked bar and no kids.   Everyone flocked to our house and we became party central.  Great times!  And ever since, we've grilled in the snow.

But I'm digressing.

So, yesterday, I returned all my library books that were due over the next few days and checked out the maximum number of DVD's they'd let me have.  I already had plenty of reading material so I didn't need any books.  I went to the grocery store and realized that my relatively new found life as a vegetarian is pretty dang boring when preparing for a snow storm.  Plus, we cook with gas now so I no longer feel the need to stock up on foods that can be eaten cold.  But I did buy way more junk food than necessary.  We'd stocked up on water the day before so I didn't need to do that.   (We don't drink our water - it's AWFUL!! )  Next, I stopped at the gas station and filled up, then headed home to charge the cell phones, computers & hand held games.

When the hubby came home from work, I told him of the preparations I'd made and he made fun of me and said it wasn't going to snow.  It couldn't snow - he had way too much to do.  My response was, "Ah, but honey, that's exactly when it does snow.  Hard."  He went off on a four lettered word rant that I won't repeat.

The entire family settled onto the couch in front of the TV to eat junk food and see what the latest weather report was.   Mr. Weatherman was still reporting 2 - 5 inches of mostly ice and it would begin around midnight.  Ok, fine.  We are ready.  Bring it on.  My left knee is still sore from the other day's long run so the weather will force me to rest it.  A nice storm might actually be what I need.  Plus, we have a house full of junk food.  We are prepared.

And, as I knew it would, the storm fizzled out.  We've got a little light snow falling, but that's it.  And honestly, "light" probably implies more snow than we are getting.  Granted, it's early, but the weather map isn't lit up like it was last night.  I think all my preparations saved us.

See, I told you so!