Snowed In

Beardface and I live in Virginia. A SOUTHERN state. We reside approximately 3 hours drive south of the Mason-Dixon line. Yet, today was the second time in about a month that we were completely snowed in.
Both being native northerners (he from Wisconsin, and I from New Jersey) we scoff at the frightened southerners when they predict snow. Winters around here used to go like this:
Weather man predicts snow (1-2 inches). People in our city panic. They buy the grocery stores out of bread, eggs, and milk, and many schools and businesses call for delayed openings and closings. We'd all wake up in the morning to either a light dusting or no snow, giving the city children a snow-free day off. This was a pattern we both had grown accustomed to living in this city for a few years.
Well, for whatever reason, this winter we have already survived a storm carrying 14 inches of snow, and today's was near 10 inches of snow. Though these sound like meager amounts of snow to those from the Midwest or places like Buffalo, NY, in our city, this amount of snow can be completely debilitating. There are not enough city plows to cover all of the streets, and local officials have switched from traditional rock salt to a saline solution. (Yes, you read that correctly. The local government decided contact solution would be effective in clearing snow from the roads in 20 degree weather. It's too bad saline solution freezing near 25 degrees.)
So needless to say, Beardface and I prepared ourselves to shovel, taking turns clearing out our portion of the driveway, and part of our neighbors.
Since we hadn't gotten a chance to go grocery shopping, I opted to bake my own bread. It was sickenly easy for how delicious it tastes, though it is time consuming.
We've got our fingers crossed for clear roads for tomorrow. Until then, though, I have to marvel at the amount of snow we've gotten (and there's call for more next weekend!). So much for global warming.

Betta fish and birthday cakes

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday, and I have to say that I feel very well prepared for this event. His family wants to celebrate together tomorrow, so on Saturday I'm going to let him sleep in, play guitar, maybe take him to his parents to play some XBOX, then take him out to a movie he's been wanted to see. I'm pretty stoked. Plus I got him a gift that I know he's wanted since he moved in to the apartment.
I do have the pleasure of baking some kind of goodie for him. Some cake or other deliciousness. I am not quite sure what to make yet, but again, I am prepared for this.
What I am not prepared for, though, is the care and keeping of our two new betta fish. When I lived in the apartment alone I had two betta fish in one tank with a divider. (This is perfectly safe, by the way, just so long as the fish cannot touch each other, there are no negative effects). About a month or so after acquiring these fish, one looked decidedly lazy and lethargic. He wouldn't swim and make bubbles like his neighbor. Needless to say I was not surprised to find him belly up one day when I got home from work.
It was his neighbor's death that really upset me. I was in the habit of turning off the heat in my apartment when going to bed. This, apparently, is a terrible idea. One Friday this past December I turned the heat off as I left for work. As I was leaving work, snow was falling in larger quantities than I had seen it down in Virginia in a long time. My husband and I went out with some friends from work, and by the time we got out, the whole city was covered in a blanket of white.
Now most cities that get regular amounts of snow are aware that plowing is necessary for the city and its residents to remain functional. That is not true for the city in which we live. No plows or salt truckers were seen the entire weekend. Knowing this would be the case, I stayed at my then fiance's house, in case I couldn't get out of the apartment. By the time the roads were clear enough to drive on (Sunday morning), my apartment had reached 45 degrees Farenheit, and the poor lone Betta had frozen his little fins off.
And so today we acquired two new Bettas, my husband promising that he would be there to help take care of them. I'm terrified of killing more innocent animals for the sake of having pretty things to swim around. I've got my fingers crossed. Wish me luck!

Nearly Employed

I don't know how some women do this. They stay home all day, every day, every week, while their husbands go to work. I found things to do to occupy my time for the few weeks that I was home unemployed, but now that the apartment is sparkling, I've baked cookies and bread with the cranberries from our wedding centerpieces, and I've done laundry twice in a week, I find there isn't much to do that will keep me interested.
I'll be working at a nuclear facility just outside of town this coming week, and I couldn't be more excited.
On that topic, I do have a bit of a rant. Please note the spelling of the word nuclear. N-U-C-L-E-A-R. Not N-U-C-U-L-A-R. I can't begin to tell you how many people are fascinated to hear that I'll be working in the "nucular" field and that it's a great company that I'll be working for. To me, this seems like a flaw with the American education system. The word nuclear is phonetically spelled; you sound it out exactly how it looks. Nuclear. Adding an extra "u" sound between the "c" and the "l" just makes me want to ignore the rest of what the person has to say. Though, I suppose it is a common enough mistake. Some notables utilizing this flawed pronunciation include my mother and former president Jimmy Carter (who, interestingly enough, was himself a nuclear engineer before becoming president).
I suppose I find things like this bother me quite a bit. I am a Yankee (northerner) living in Virginia, which in my opinion has one of the most offensive accents to my ears. My husband (who grew up in Wisconsin) and I find ourselves confused at the locals' pronunciation of some words. For example, it is nearly impossible to tell if the person standing next to you in the line at the bank is asking you for a pen or a pin; the two words sound nearly identical.
Also, the addition of syllables has begun to grate on me. I was taught mail was a one syllable word. The "a" and "i" form a diphthong, thereby creating a new vowel sound that only the two of them could make. I've heard my neighbor say she was going down to check her "MAY-ul". Honestly, is proper English pronunciation that difficult to grasp? After all, Virginians have been a part of the union since 1787 and have been speaking English since near 1607.
I apologize for the rant, but like I said, it is out of boredom that I rant. Life will be more interesting soon. Until next time.

Newly Married and Getting into the Swing of Life

As a virgin to the blogging world, let me say that these things are much easier to start up than I could have imagined. I'm glad, because complicated computer tasks can sometimes overwhelm me.
For now, blog posts will be mildly boring, and I apologize. My husband and I were just married on January 8, and flew back from our honeymoon in Palm Springs this past Saturday.
I know some may think "a wedding in January? are you insane??" The answer to that question is yes, very. But not because we had a winter wedding. I will post up a few pictures of our wedding to show how beautiful it really was. Yes, it was chilly taking pictures, but no one was sweaty and gross (as one would be in so much dress in July or August). We used black and white, with accents of red, and most of the flowers were red and white roses. It was absolutely gorgeous. AND on a small budget. If there is anyone struggling to plan a wedding with little funds, please feel free to ask me any questions. I found some great money saving tips for almost every part of the wedding.
The honeymoon was fabulous. Warm, sunny, and dry. Palm Springs is an oasis in the desert, which has vastly different landscape from what this Jersey girl is used to. Of course no adventure of ours would be complete without some mild injury. I've been sporting a second degree burn on my leg which I received from the muffler of the moped we rented. We were hoping to avoid the large cost involved with renting a car while under 25 years of age, and we did. The moped was a great alternative. The passenger should NEVER step off the side with the muffler while the moped is running. Those are warm.
After cleaning and bandaging the wound; I've been going about my daily life, putting away wedding gifts and setting up our tiny but cozy apartment. Might I say, one of the neatest gifts we've gotten was a Keurig coffee machine. It makes single cups of coffee or hot chocolate, and they have several brands you can purchase, as well as empty cups that you can fill with your own grinds. This was ideal for us, as I am a caffeine hound, and my husband drinks the occasional hot chocolate but rarely ever coffee.
Finally, for today, I'm going to leave one piece of great advice for new brides that I heard from a friend: When wrapping the top of your wedding cake (to save for your first anniversary) refrigerate it first, to harden the frosting, the wrap the cake in several layers of plastic wrap, then either place it back in its box or wrap it in wax paper, then tin foil. Finally, place a ribbon or some other decoration (for us, the little bells we asked our guests to ring to get us to kiss) on the wrapped cake. This way you will know what it is and won't accidentally open it thinking it is leftover lasagna or something like that. Opening your cake top before one year will result in gross cake on your first anniversary. And nobody likes gross cake.