Holy snap, I’m blogging. Did somebody die or something? Nah. I just wanna rant.
Yesterday we got an unprecedented three day weekend, thanks to the school deciding to give us MLK day off for some reason. That was cool. Unfortunately, an ice storm decided to blow in over the weekend, so we pretty much spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday holed up in the house. Yeah, that kinda sucked. The only foray I made was down to the gas station at the end of the road to get some bottled water, tissues (the kids are coming off of colds) and birthday candles.
Birthday candles?
Yes, Monday was Kat’s second birthday. I swear that it doesn’t feel like two years. She’s now officially two years old, which is a good thing, because she’s been acting like a two year old for the past four months or so now. (Her favorite phrase is “no, I don’t want _____ .”) We celebrated her birthday in the evening with cake and ice cream, which she flatly refused to partake of (the kid isn’t right). She also screamed when we turned the lights off to light the candles. Oi. We have a brand new Radio Flyer tricycle for her, but we decided to give it to her once the ice melts, so she can actually use it when we bring it out. (Momma does not want her riding around indoors).
So…this morning I finally was headed off to work. Slight problem though. The car’s side mirrors are coated in ice. And not a thin coat either. Thick enough that I couldn’t make any headway with the scraper for fear of damaging the mirror. My only recourse was to get the hair dryer and run it out to the car with an extension cord. Of course, for that I need an extension cord. I have two, actually. One’s in the trunk of our other car (which is currently sidelined — that’s another blog post), and the other resides in the shed. I went for the one in the car trunk first, thinking it’d be easier to get. Silly me. The trunk of the car was layered in ice, about 3/8ths of an inch thick, I reckon. There was no way I was getting to the lock before the thaw. That left the shed.
Unfortunately, the lock on the shed was also encased in ice. I was able to de-ice the keyhole with some WD-40 (God bless the inventor of that stuff), but the actual bars of the lock were encased in ice. So, back inside I went and put the kettle on the stove. Once I got it boiling, I took the kettle outside, poured it over the lock and then sprayed it down with WD-40. Took the kettle back inside and then tried to get the shed open. Well, the lock popped open easily enough, but the shed doors were still covered in ice and weren’t budging. I alternated between pulling, pushing, slamming my weight into the door and chipping at ice with a rock for about 5 minutes and eventually got the doors open. Fortunately, the extension cable was in there.
So I run the cable out from the house and to the car, and I get the hair dryer going and start thawing out the side mirrors, chipping with the ice scraper at the same time. Worked pretty well, though it took a little while to get the ice thin enough to where I could scrape it off. Did one mirror, then walked around to the other side and did the next. People with garages are blessed people indeed. Of course, I must admit that if I had a garage, I’d probably have it so full of junk that no cars would be able to fit inside.
So finally the mirrors are de-iced and I’m off. Roads are pretty good, actually. Even the bridges were free of ice, which was surely a blessing. Because I was cold and grumpy and hungry, I treated myself to a coffee and McGriddle from McD’s on the way into the school. I think McGriddles are a pretty shining example of God’s common grace upon a fallen world. Crazy delicious. Anyhow. Made it to work safely, though nearly an hour late.
I had to park in a different location, because all the close spots were taken (since I was running late). Inside the car, I had to fumble with my gloves and keys and stuff and all of the things that I had to take in. Finally I’ve got everything and I get out of the car, lock the locks, kick the door shut and realize that a familiar weight in my pocket is not there. I peer into the car and see my keys sitting happily on the passenger side seat. I must have forgotten to put them in my pocket while fumbling with my gloves and whatnot. Sonuva…
So…fun morning.