Snow Day!

I know, what am I, twelve?  But today was indeed a snow day here in my area of Oregon.  All the schools around here are closed, trees are down, and power is out (thankfully not at my house)!  Our incompetent forecast challenged meteorologists didn’t see that one coming.  I am not sure what it takes to become a weather man (or lady) in the Pacific Northwest, but it seems that the basic qualifications are making a lot of hand gestures, having some weird quirk (like the one guy who always wears bow-ties or the girl who sounds like she is choking when she talks), and when in doubt predicting rain.  I am pretty sure I would be a fantastic weather person, but I’ll have to think of what my weird quirk should be.  I’ll get back to you on that one.

Anyway, it was pouring rain when I went to bed last night, but by the time my husband came home from work at 3:30, the snow was falling and sticking.  Wonderful guy that he is, he had me reset my alarm from 4 to 6, and when he realized the snow was not letting up he went outside in the snow at 5 am to put my studded tires on my car so that I could go to work.  (Thursday was supposed to be my last day at this job, and I was supposed to start training a replacement today).  Unfortunately his thoughtful work was for naught, because I called work before I left the house and discovered the power was out.  There was no point in me driving down there (well over an hour in this weather) because there is not much I can do or show someone without power.  So, my last day will now have to be Friday.  But today, I got to enjoy an old-fashioned snow day!

Since I was already up, I enjoyed an early morning walk to the park.

     

Apparently snow makes my sense of direction worse than usual, because on the walk home (mind you, I had only walked about three blocks from my house), I took a wrong turn and walked down the wrong street for several blocks before realizing it.  I did think the houses looked fancier than I remembered.  But I didn’t figure it out until I attempted to make a right turn onto my street, only to see that my house was not there.

I also had the time to make these fantastic Easter treats that I saw on Pinterest.  They combine my favorite Christmas candy (haystacks) with my favorite Easter candy (Cadbury mini-eggs . . . tiny morsels of goodness).

I am now preparing to gain back the four pounds of winter weight that I managed to lose while stricken with the Supergerm of 2012.

These are quite possibly the easiest things to make.  There are only three ingredients and it took me maybe twenty minutes tops.  You make the haystacks by melting butterscotch chips.  I was taught by my expert candy-making relatives to use a double boiler to melt the chips evenly. (I don’t own a real double boiler, so I use a stainless steel mixing bowl over the top of one of my pots.)  One the chips are melted, just stir in some dry chow mein noodles and scoop onto wax paper.  Then place the Cadbury mini-eggs on top of the haystacks to make an “Easter egg nest”.  Ta-da!  Deliciousness.

It is 2 pm and the snow continues to fall.  Meanwhile, my sister Erika is enjoying 70 degree weather in Aspen.  Does anyone else see the irony in this?  As much as I have enjoyed my snow day off, I really hope it clears up and the power comes back on before tomorrow morning, because I have a lot to do at work before my last day on Friday.  But for now, I am off to finish re-reading the Hunger Games.  Welcome to Spring?