IT'S A STAY HOME DAY!

Remember when we were kids, and the slightest mention of snow meant we'd wake super early to flip on the radio for the school closure report. Then we'd sit, patiently waiting to hear our school district closed for the day. With each school that was read - usually in alphabetical order - you waited. Then as if the angels were listening to your prayers for a day off from school, you'd hear them say your school was closed.

Today was one of those days for most kids in the northern Seattle area. I watched the snow continually fall last night and thought, "There's no way in hell I'm driving to work tomorrow." Then this morning, like a kid waiting for the announcement, I flipped on the TV. Waiting. Hoping. Wishing they'd say, "no work today." But of course they didn't.

So I left. My shivering pony reluctantly pulled out of the parking spot. Slipping and sliding our way down to the street I held my breath. The roads didn't look bad, but looks, as we all know, can be deceiving. 32 degrees outside and "wet" roads really mean 32 degrees and ICE. The stang and I cautiously drove to the corner coffee hut I go to every morning. What? If I'm gonna die driving, I at least want my coffee. As I sat there I watched three or four cars spin out of control. Coffee in hand, I drove home. No need to risk life, limb or the new car to get to a job in which I don't have that much to do.

So today is a snow day for me. It'll cost me I'm sure. First I don't get paid for today and secondly the heat will be on all day, which isn't normal.

I stood at my sliding glass door checking out how much snow was on the fence post. Pookie looked like he desperately wanted out. So I opened the door. Now, you should know that Pookie isn't an outdoor cat. I keep telling him he has it really good inside and he should stay inside. But I cracked the door enough for him to peek out. One paw moved forward to the cold frozen cement deck. And one paw quickly came back inside. He turned and walked away. Uh-huh, just as I thought.

The sun is shining, which just means we have no cloud cover, which means its butt cold out there. The thermometer says 31...ugh. I need to move south. And if you can't read the ruler it's just shy of 4 inches. The shivering car to the right is my mustang. I'm sure there's some of you on the east coast that are calling me a wuss right now...but keep in mind, Seattle is a hilly town, and most of the time we don't see snow. So when it does dump snow, it's serious.