The weather outside is frightful

Hellloooo! We're in Texas. We're supposed to have mild winters. What the hell is up with the highs being below freezing till Monday?

I took Little Bit to visit my folks this morning. She was going to stay all night with them and come home tomorrow morning. The whole reason for this was so I could take my boys to a roller skating party tonight without having to worry about Little Bit wanting to skate. Well, it was all a great idea. That is until I got behind an accident so bad on the freeway that it was closed both directions while the CareFlite helicopter landed to transport people. A drive that normally takes an hour took me more than 2.5 hours. The boys were fine. They had snacks, drinks, Over the Hedge DVD and each other. Mom, on the other hand, was a basket case by the time I got to the skating rink. Add to that, a large diet coke on the drive makes for a very full bladder. Just saying is all.

So, on the drive, I'm talking to Pickle's dad (Uzz) about how we were going to hand off the child. Add to all this that it is raining all this time, too, adding insult to injury. Army of Dad calls to tell me that the ice storm warning or whatever was moved up to start at midnight tonight with accumulations starting overnight, so he wanted me to go pick up Stinkerbelle from my folks (it is an hour south of where we live and about 40 miles or so from where the skating party was. *sigh* So, we made arrangements for that.

It was a long day of driving. But, it was a good day. My daughter loves her Granny and Papa and I got to talk to them more about their 50th wedding anniversary. I got to see my uncle, whom has never seen my daughter and whom I hadn't seen since my grandpa's funeral almost eight years ago. I got his contact info, so I can call my aunt and find out how to invite my dad's side of the family to the Golden Anniversary shindig. The boys had fun at the skating rink, even if they can't skate to save their lives. I got to see my bud briefly. I also got to take out my traffic frustrations on a bitchy teenager who cussed at Hot Rod for bumping into her. She was lucky I didn't pull her hair out. She wisely didn't sass me. I could tell she thought about it, but she smartly opted not to. Reminded me of why I am actually glad to be 38 and not going to skating rinks anymore. Also reminds me not to let my children go to these places without a chaperone. They turn into little assholes while unsupervised. I want to be hiding behind the foosball table to thump the kids on the head. Anyway.

Between picking up Little Bit and getting home, I saw two different single vehicle accidents on the road. I drove a very slow (for me) 55 to 65 on the way home. The roads were slick and it is/was a matter of time before the roads froze over. Plus, I had hit some slick spots and skidded briefly going as slow as 40. I would venture to say that these wrecked out individuals were the people who passed me going 70+. We made it home safely and both kids were conked out by the time we got home. GOod thing. I'm looking forward to a cold weekend at home with a crackling fire place (I loaded up a mini-van's worth of firewood from my dad's house - he cut down two trees earlier this week); good food and some fun and games with the family.