Brrrrr, it's cold in here. There must be some Toros in the atmosphere.

Name the movie that quote is from and I'll give you $5.  Well, maybe not $5, but I'll give you a virtual high five and tell everyone how cool you are.

Let's do a recap of my past few weeks, shall we?  We shall.

December 23:  Daddy had knee and ankle surgery.  All went well, as planned, and he came home that night.  He's a terrible patient and refused to take his pain meds, which led to him being a pain in my ass.  Kinda.  He was alright except for his grumpy spells.  We also got a call that Granddaddy had been admitted to the hospital and wasn't doing very well.

December 24:  Christmas Eve!  I usually look forward to our church service, but this year left a lot to be desired.  Normally, everyone comes and it's a time of celebration and reconnection, as it should be.  This year, our minister decided to do a "drop-in" style "service."  This meant that you could drop in anytime within a 2-hour span, pray and meditate to yourself, and be served Communion.  The end.  There was no meaning, no joy, no hymns, no fellowship.  It didn't feel like Christmas and I didn't like it.  Bah humbug.  Also, my parents didn't put up a tree this year.  Daddy's surgery threw a wrench in things, so Mommy Dearest bought  fern-esque plant to take the place of a tree.  I bought lights because it looked too depressing without them.

Oh, Christmas tree fern?

December 25:  Merry Christmas!  Usually, my parents and I all gather in their living room (with the tree) to open presents and stockings together.  Things were different this year.  No stockings.  No tree.  Just a fern-y thing on the table in the den (near Daddy's recliner aka bed since surgery).  I had taken the time to wrap presents for my parents and brought everything into the den.  Mommy Dearest hands me a Rubbermaid tub with stuff in it.  That's how she gift-wrapped this year.  (To be fair, she'd been sick and dealing with Daddy as a "patient" so I wasn't expecting superb wrapping, but I was hoping for a notch above a clear plastic tub.)  I got some tops from Old Navy and TJ Maxx, monogrammed silver bracelet and necklace, some other pretty jewelry, a Michael Kors red peacoat, and some tools for my business (Copper Alley).  Now, it is our tradition to go to the movies on Christmas night and see a movie as a family.  (No, we aren't Jewish, but I almost was.)  This is the one time each year where we do this.  Daddy doesn't like movies much, but it's tradition.  This year, we left him at home since he was on crutches and it was snowing.

For the first time in 63 years, we had a white Christmas.

Mommy Dearest and I decided that we wanted to see "How Do You Know."  She's not the best or most confident driver at night or in bad weather, so she asked me to drive her 1992 Volvo.  We were about 2 miles from home (on the way to the movies) in the right lane.  An Expedition was a little ahead of us in the left lane.  All of a sudden, the Expedition's driver decided to turn right from the left lane with no signal and I knew it was going to be bad.  I attempted to swerve right into the parking lot beside me but I couldn't do it without hitting the telephone pole, so I hit the Expedition.  Totaled the Volvo.  Luckily, everyone was alright, but Mommy Dearest was not happy.  Merry Christmas...  We didn't ever see the movie.

Princess Fiona was fascinated to watch the snow fall.

Pretty kitty.

December 26-December 30:  This was a blur, so I'm not really sure.

December 31:  This happened. 

January 1-2:  This happened. 

January 3:  I returned to work and pretended to be normal.

On that Wednesday, I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck and stayed home from work.  I went to the doctor that night and was told I had a flu-like virus.  Awesome.  I stayed home from work on Thursday, too, because I still had a fever and felt awful.  I went back to work on Friday and resumed life as usual.  

In the wee hours of Monday morning, we were hit by Snowstorm 2011.  

This is what it looks like when it snows in the South.

The roads are dreadful and I hate having to drive to work.

That's all I have for you right now.  Leave me comments and tell me how awesome I am.  Or not.  But seriously, leave comments.  Please.  I like to know that I'm not just sending all of this out into the internet-space-land for no one to read.

Snowy snuggles,

A