Brrrrr!!!

Well, when I got off work at 8 this morning, I decided to go to WalMart, because it wasn't snowing at all yet. So I got dog food, a gallon of milk, some cereal, and some firestarter sticks to start a fire in the fireplace. I didn't go hog wild, I was only in there probably twenty minutes, including the checkout. When I got back outside, it was simply unbelievable! It was snowing so hard that I couldn't even push my cart through the snow!!!

And then I had to drive home. I don't know what I was thinking. I have known for at least three days that there was a big storm coming. But when I got to WalMart and it wasn't even snowing, I figured I had it made! Well, the 30 miles home were about the scariest I've driven in years, if ever. Instantly there was about four inches of snow on the roads, and that's not a really big deal for MN, but when the wind is blowing so hard that you can't see the road at all, well, it's a very big deal! I don't know how I got home. I'm usually a pretty cautious driver in the snow, the one that all the "macho" guys in their 4-wheel drives like to pass....but today, after about the first mile, absolutely nobody even got close enough to think about passing me....and by the time I got close to home, I was the only crazy person on the road. I don't know how to explain the fear I had--it was like the windshield was fogged up, but it wasn't. I can't believe I made it home without going in the ditch. My adrenalin was really going by the time I got home and pottied all the dogs!!

Then I went to bed, and DH got up to plow the driveway. Just as he finished, the plow broke. So I guess if that was going to happen, I'd rather have it happen at the end of the plowing than at the beginning!! I am hoping that he has enough wherewithal to fix it before the next snowstorm....

Once again, DD was being horrid. As soon as she saw me, and heard me talking to DH, she put her coat on and said she was ready to go visit her "real mom". I told her there was no way anyone was going out in that, and sorry, it'd have to be another day. So she whined about it all day!!! "But...but....I haven't seen her for TWO WEEKS!!!" (She has gone the entire summer without seeing her "real mom" and didn't even express a speck of worry) "But we were going to the Dollar Store!" (but she told me that she didn't have any money--and I know her bio mom doesn't have any either...) And then came the "you guys never let me do ANYTHING!" I told her that if she wanted ANYTHING, acting like that wasn't a good way to get it. I got the dogs in, and then I went into the living room and turned on the radio. DD was reading on the couch. "Can you turn that off, PLEEZE?" I said "I'm just going to listen to the weather report, then I'll turn it off." "But you've got a radio in your room, can't you go in there?" "No, I can't. I pay the bills. If you don't like what I'm doing in the living room, then take your book and go read in your own room."

Anyhow, you get the point. I don't know what's going on--I know part of it's just being a teenager with limited social skills. But boy oh boy, she is being a JERK!
(She did apologize to me before I left for work. DH is still waiting for an apology for the time when she sassed off to him, he told her to go to her room, and she said, :NO! MAKE ME!!!".)

The coolest thing was that DH was very calm, very rational, during all of these episodes. "That Guy", who is usually the first "grownup" to say something (and it's usually not indicative of good parenting) was nowhere to be seen!!! Very very cool. It was my regular old DH, the one I married because he was very even-tempered and rational....

I know that he's not all that much better...I can tell that by his "job hunting". On Friday he went to the Job Center and had to wait in line to get on a computer. Then when he did, there were "absolutely no jobs". So that was that. Looking in the newspaper, or talking to the jobs guy, or just going down to the fast food place and filling out an application, well, none of those crossed his mind, and even when I pointed out that he could try those avenues, he discounted it. So that (and the pawn shop thing) show me that he's not "doing fine". But I guess with bipolar, you take as much "normal" as you can get.

Oh--and the title of this post? Aside from the snowstorm and the cold attitude of DD, by the time I get off work in the morning, it is supposed to be 24 below zero actual temperature. Brrrrrr!!!