10 Inches of Snow at O'Hare

You read that right. Since our little winter weather event commenced its assault on the Chicagoland area Friday, our kind of big airport, O'Hare has gotten 10 inches of snow! And I would like to point out that it has hardly stopped. I've shoveled our driveway and sidewalks more today than I have since we moved here. And it's been a family affair today instead of the Boy and I working the shovels.

CAL and the Boy both spent the night at friends' houses last night which gave the stunningly patient SML and I a preview, albeit a brief one, of our looming empty nest future. It was odd. She watched one of the lame "chick flicks" that she treated herself to as Christmas gifts. I, rather than watching said movie and ramming a fork through my eye, took refuge in the pages of a good book (Factory Girls by Leslie Chang - very good read so far). I then had to be up this morning early to get to the dentist by 7AM. I woke up at 515AM and started the first shovel run. It was ugly. By a little after 6AM, I still had 1/3rd of the driveway to complete. I was forced to wake the stunningly patient SML from her slumber to come help me, simply so I could get to the dentist.

First time seeing the dentist since leaving SoCal. I was afraid things were going to go horribly wrong. One never knows what to expect when seeing a new dentist. You always worry that you are getting that sadistic dentist that Steve Martin played in "Little Shop of Horrors."

Alas, the dentist was not a sadist and my lack of seeing a dentist in more than two years did not haunt me. So it was back home to shovel again and then it was off to Costco. Yep, on a Saturday. Here's the thing - one thing the stunningly patient SML does not dig (no pun intended) is driving in the snow. Turns out her minivan is AWFUL in the snow. So the Swedemobile was the chariot of choice. We got through that experience and came home to find the Boy home, shoveling the driveway and walks on his own. What a complete champ! He took off to play in the snow with friends and within a few hours, it was time to shovel again. CAL was the next one to take up a shovel with me. That exercise was finished by about 5PM and so was I.

I've thrown in the towel for the night. Done. So I made falafel pitas tonight, which were mighty fine. And now, it's time to get ready for Sunday. But first I need to figure out why I can't launch iTunes anymore...perhaps Vista is rearing its really ugly head again.