Tales From the Chronically Snowbound

Still Snowing
Originally uploaded by Feeble Knees.

This is the view around here as of noontime today. The snow is due to continue for another three hours or so, they're calling for up to a foot total accumulation. Possibly more snow on Tuesday.

It's been a while since we've had a winter quite like this one.

It's not that uncommon for us to get late season storms, but usually it's warm enough that the snow melts pretty quickly and it gets back down to bare ground again. Not so this year, there's been a good six to ten inches or more on the ground for weeks now, which just helps keep the air colder.

We're resigned to being house-bound for today anyway. I've been poring over baby name books, which have provided no end of entertainment. I purposefully call out silly and over-the-top names like "Morpheus" and "Agamemnon" just to see Mr. F's reaction. The name situation is looking pretty grim so far. Good thing we have about six more months or so to get our acts together.

Meanwhile, Joe and Jane Missionary have their name all picked out and ready to go, they're just waiting for their new little girl to make her arrival. The Feeble Family is praying for them all & asking the Lord to watch over and help Jane and baby (aka "Shorty") during labor and delivery. I'll be thinking of you Jane!

Several issues have gotten me all riled up in the last two days, but before I could get worked up enough to blog about it, exhaustion hit and I was forced to take a nap instead. There is one big blessing to this first-trimester fatigue: I'm too tired to get worked up about anything for too long - the energy just isn't there! This may make for a nice and mellow mama, but also a pretty boring blogger! ;-)

Yesterday my Mom called, and she sounded really down. Too many people in difficult situations have been coming to her with all their woes and cares, and she was getting so bogged down in all of it. I felt so bad, having been there before and knowing what a tailspin you can get yourself into when all the news just seems bad, bad, bad, but at the same time no one wants to hear the Good News. She'd been trying to reach certain folks with the love of the Lord, but it was all just falling on deaf ears. She was discouraged, feeling frustrated and desperate. Boy can I name that tune.

"Tell me a funny story, please!" she begged. "Uh..." I scrambled to think of something to cheer her up. Lately just talking about the baby is enough to completely brighten her mood. It's like a magic tonic for her, and it's done wonders for our relationship lately. I tell her about what I'm craving, how many times I have to get up in the middle of the night, and all the little details that just seem to thrill her to no end.

"Well," I said solemnly, "I learned a very important lesson yesterday."
"Oh?"
"Yes, very important," I continued. "That lesson is that there are some foods that ought never to be consumed in one sitting, no matter how appetizing it may seem at the time."
"Oh no, pickles and ice cream?" she laughed.
"Worse than that. Yesterday for lunch, I had, in this order, Orange Essence™ Sunsweet Pitted Prunes, seven of them; an egg salad sandwich, and a Jello® fat-free chocolate pudding!"
[she laughs in horror in disbelief]
"Let me just tell you Mom, you never, ever want to burp up chocolate-prune-egg salad."

Well it might not have solved all the problems of the day, or lifted all the burdens off her shoulders. But the laughter broke the gloom and lightened things for her a little bit. So if my frightful case of indigestion paved the way for mom's comic relief, well then hey, it was worth it.

But I won't ever, ever, be so indiscriminate at mealtime again!

A merry heart doeth good, like a medicine... Proverbs 17:22