Snow day!

Yup!  I'm trapped in the Snowpocalypse that is Seattle right now.

Check out the view from my window.

A couple of things about this picture.

First - Notice the tire tracks.  That's because no matter how much the news tells you not to drive if you don't have to, my husband will go to work.  The garbage trucks?  No.  But my husband?  Yes.  He's a Massachusetts native so he still thinks that us Seattelites are a bit ridiculous when it comes to snow.  But he is finally starting to admit that it's a bigger issue here, even though there's less snow, because we don't have the infrastructure to sand and ice the roads, and because there are simply no flat surfaces around here.  Even when you think you're driving on a flat surface, you're probably on a hill of some sort.

Second - That apparent tilt of the cul-de-sac.  Yup, that's real.  To get to our neighborhood, you have to go up a winding hill that's about half a mile long and seems to stay icy long after everything else has melted.  Then you turn to come into our little spot and you go slightly back down hill again to the house.  So this means that should I get the car to the end of the driveway, the tires would then be caked with snow, and I'd have to immediately try to go uphill, on even more ice, with no traction.  I'm not sure how the hubby does it because I'm pretty much never successful in trying to do this.

What does this all mean?  I'm trapped.  And both of these hills will remain icy a solid 5-7 days after everything else is clear.

When I hit about 14 weeks along, I officially got my waddle.  I don't have a huge stomach or anything, I'm still a pound below the starting weight when all my dieting craziness happened, but the round ligament pain has created a distinct walk.  You know how you have to brace your pelvis when you stand on one foot, like when putting on pants?  That hurts like hell.  And it's the same bracing that you do when you take a step because for a moment, you're only on one foot.  So to relieve the pain, I'm kind of rocking back and forth to keep all of my weight evenly distributed over the foot on the floor so my pelvis doesn't have to brace.  And that creates the waddle.

It's very likely that K will not actually get his car home.  There's a parking lot at the bottom of the main hill so he'll probably park down there and walk the half mile home.  Poor guy.  But much better than spinning out on the hill and going over the cliff.  Or finding himself victim to some other idiot who doesn't now how to drive on the ice who might hit him and again, send him over the cliff.  But since I'm not real steady on my feet right now, it's not much of an option for me.  So it's easiest just to consider myself snowed in and call it good, while K is able to pick up any emergency provisions on his way home from work.

I got a bit obnoxious when sending K on his way.  We've had snows in this area that have prevented us from getting home before and we were fortunate enough to make it to my parents house to spend the night.  But K isn't getting off of work until 10pm and it's supposed to keep snowing all day.  So he's probably going to be braving the freeways with all of those idiots you see on the news who have spun out or have abandoned their cars.  It's possible that it's either going to be too difficult and he'll get a motel room (he has to open the store in the morning and hopefully the company would reimburse the cost), or he might get trapped in one of those traffic jams that keeps you stuck for 4-6 hours (we've been in those before), or who knows what else.  I loaded his car with a couple of blankets and a pillow in case he gets trapped in his car, hand warmer packets, enough food and water for 2 days, a flashlight to make himself visible when walking up that hill, extra socks, etc etc.  Had him take our new kindle too so he can entertain himself if trapped somewhere.

Obnoxious, yes, but you gotta admit, I'm awesome to have around in an emergency.  Odds are, I'm prepared for it.

My main fear of course is that something will go wrong with the pregnancy while I'm trapped here.  I'm not entirely certain an ambulance would be able to get to me if necessary and I certainly couldn't get myself to the ER.  Do you have any clue how much I simply despise having to even think about that?  But I've been to the ER twice in the last 2 months.  So it's a realistic fear to have.

One thing I do like about the snow around here?  The first tracks to disturb the perfect blanket of snow are always paw prints!