Snow Fade

It has not snowed since 3pm on Tuesday and today was 43 degrees, so of course it has been melting, and I'm okay with that. However, I forgot to mention last time that on Tuesday Michael wanted us to get groceries so we walked a mile (each way) to Winn Dixie. On Facebook I wrote: Now I can honestly tell my grandchildren, "When I was your age, I walked two miles in the snow to get groceries." ;) The walk was a good adventure, and I was bundled well, but it was scary when we got to the main highway and saw cars sliding along the road or their back wheels spinning, unable to get a truck up the hill. A dark blue SUV tried to make a U-turn over the median but then got stuck until some guys ran over and pushed the car the rest of the way. One person couldn't even back out of a parking space. A lot of people on Facebook were comparing the roads to Walking Dead, due to all the wrecks and abandoned vehicles.

Yesterday we went for another walk, only half as far- out of the complex and to the main highway. My main goal was to have a snowball fight with Michael. He played around a little bit, but not as much since he doesn't have gloves. There was still a traffic jam outside of the complex from a little pile up the other day. One truck went off the road and some other vans and cars skidded into each other. They were lucky compared to a few cars we saw on the news that went into a lake! Fortunately, the drivers from the lake were interviewed and all made it out safely.

 ^^That creepy trench coat man behind Michael was actually a good Samaritan. He was scraping ice off the road. Although that didn't stop one car from hitting a tree in the median at 5 MPH going down that hill. ^^ When Michael got bored, I had a snowball fight with myself!

Today the roads were 90% fine when Mrs. Patty dropped Michael off at his car so he could bring it home. I have never driven in anything other than rain, so I was a wimp and didn't want to take him. Michael said it was just some of the back roads that still had ice. Tomorrow afternoon I will check the main roads for myself because I have an interview at Massage Envy. I hope I get it! But that's up to God's plan and this year I have been praying the "correct" way.

SNOW DAY!!

   Apparently the National Weather Association isn't usually accurate so it was a big surprise to everyone when it snowed today. I set my alarm for 8am, but didn't see anything outside, so I went back to sleep. When Michael got up at 10am, he looked out the window. "Hm, looks like some flurries."I rushed to the makeup window which looks out the front of the condo and it looked like actual snow to me and there was a bunch on the ground. It was collecting more in the back leaves than it was on the grass in the front. Michael looked confused when I rushed to get a bunch of layers on. "There is barely anything out there." How dare him, ha. I stated the obvious, "This might be the most I get all year. I have take what I can get!" And it sure seemed like a lot to me and it was still coming down. It was predicted that if it did snow, it would be less than one inch, but it looks like we got at least two inches by 3pm when it stopped snowing.

 Michael with his coffee before he attempted out in the tundra!!

 I made a "snowman" and a snow angel!! =)

   At 10:30am Michael left for a dentist appointment, but after being in the car only five minutes and barely getting anywhere on the main highway due to traffic not moving (too much snow on the road and already being a lot of wrecks), he decided to cancel his appointment and tried to head back home.  After two hours of taking several back roads and getting stuck in a gridlock he finally found an area to park and just walked the three miles home!

   I consider this to be my first real official snow day because on the other best snow day I had (1997 in Atlanta) it was not actually snowing while we played and made a snowman and snowcat. Today it was snowing while I played outside, but the snow was too light and airy to compact to make a snowman. I had a "flashback" post in mind for today in case it didn't snow. I have pictures from when it really was just a light dusting around Thanksgiving in Birmingham a few years ago. And of course I had my exciting few minutes to play when we stopped in Texas on our drive across the county last January.

Tannehill Ironworks

   Here are the rest of the best pictures from Tannehill yesterday. It was a really good day- the whole day was. I do wish we could have gone into each house, but they were mostly cabins that are for rent, so they were locked and we could only look into the windows. Looked pretty cool though. The house behind me in the first picture was also locked, but it was all junky with random chairs and broken desks and papers all over the floor. I'd love to spruce that up and call it my own.

 ^^ This was a Methodist Minister's house. His name was Harry Marchant and he migrated from England in 1971. It was also locked, empty and very small. But I suppose that was to help not distract him from God and studying the Bible. The river picture below was his view from the front porch. ^^

   I know I'd enjoy a few nights there, although the pricing is about $80 or $90/each night. But two of the cabins hold six people, which would only be $15 per person. I'd fork that over in a heartbeat! ;) I'm already dreaming of a getaway without cell phones and computers. Eating out of cast iron skillets. Meals of thick ham, corn on the cob, sweet potatoes and warm rolls!! It doesn't take much to make me happy. The church (below) has a service every Sunday at 9am, or you can have a wedding there for $425. I wonder how many people do that.

 ^^ Oh my goodness. Instant new favorite picture of him for sure. Even if he did have to throw his head back and laugh super fake in order to get this amazing smile!!! I reminds me a lot of his big smile outside of Ruth's Chris restaurant from the night we got engaged. ^^

 ^^ Roupes Valley Ironworks, property of William L. Sanders from 1862.

And the Blower House from the 1850's, in the photo above that. ^^

   A few little kids were running in and out of this cut through, calling it a house. "Come over to my house. Now let me stay in your house." I automatically assumed it was going to be super cool, but it was just a bunch of really cold, five foot nooks. Oh the love of such big imaginations in their small heads. It made me think of how my cousins and I would make house outlines while raking pine straw in the backyard and know which room each grass box represented.

 I love the extra special moments like this when Michael quietly gets into character then whispers "psst" and actually wants me to take his picture, without me asking him to sit on the tractor.

   Nobody else was dressed up of course. I didn't read anything on their website about living history aside from the Civil War reenactment day, which is on Saturday, March 1st this year. I have already told Michael that I would like to go back for that. He hopes they set off the cannons. I can't lie though, I did think it would be pretty wonderful if someone came up and asked for a picture with me since I looked so awesome and authentic. Oh well.

** And since I was intrigued enough, here are 3 lovely Tannehill weddings I found. Kate & Alex by Morgan Trinker, Audrey & David by Angela Blake, and Diane & Jason by 100 Layer Cake! 

Lots of Laughs

   Here is a GIF that Michael and I made today at Tannehill Ironworks Historic State Park, which you can view below this beautiful photo.  I'm definitely printing this one out!!

   I've been waiting all week for this, but it's only been in the 30's all week and will be next week, but today we went since it was 59 degrees. Not sunny, but we were good without jackets most of the time. And yep, I dressed up and loved it. The long skirt is so comfy. I got it at Forever 21 thanks to a gift card Dawson sent me for Christmas! I got the bonnet on eBay for four dollars.

picasion.com 20RuS
   I seem to be having issues with the link now, and can't figure out how to get it to post on here, when it has worked in the past. But if you click the Picasion link shown, or the box if there is one, it will take you to the GIF.

   Michael was such a sport today and was silly along with me at all the right times!! I will, of course, add more pictures tomorrow. I even made a short video before we left. I'll see if I can chop that into pieces and try to upload it as well. We just got back from dinner with Michael's friends Eric and his fiance, Kim. They were both very nice and we plan to get together again soon. =)
   ** I use a free website called Picasion to make these GIFs.

Dudley Farm

   When I stayed with my parents in Gainesville for 19 days around Christmas, I went to visit my grandpa a handful of times when my mom went to take his compression socks off every night. One of those times I was flipping through old pictures in a yellowed and worn scrapbook, then I scanned my favorites. It's amazing how much I resemble my great-great grandmother, Myrtle Dudley.

   Just kidding!! These pictures are from when I went to Dudley Farms, with Mia, Tonia and Sharanya on December 28th, and I just edited them to look really old. Pretty legit, right? ;)
   Dudley Farms is an old home of the real Myrtle Dudley and her whole family back in the late 1800's. It was so cool and I really felt at home there, as I normally do when I read about pioneer and prairie times. It was one of my favorite days of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday! I was very fortunate to have a lot of really great days last month.

They sure did love that mule! They pet him for a good 20 minutes. He was pretty cute though. 

I started exploring the dinner house where the cast-iron stove and wooden tables were.

 Our Helen Keller pump! And I'm pretty sure Grant Wood's 

"American Gothic" painting from 1930 was based off of this gem of Mia and Tonia. 

Yeah, I just forced myself to learn something in order to write that comment. ;)

^^ Our tour guide (for part of the time when we had questions), Bennet, showing us
one of the wells. This one was only 9 feet deep. The other one he showed us was 56 feet deep! ^^
& I loved the little decorated Christmas tree (below) with the doilies and fabric. 

I don't know what type of tree it was- maybe Mia does?- but that was very cool too.

   This last picture (below) was from a different 1880's place in Gainesville, Morningside Living History Farm. I went there with my best friend, aka my mom, the weekend after Dudley Farms! We always have such a fun time together. I'll have to post more of these good times later. Especially the ones of Lindsay, the volunteer girl dressed up!

   I wonder if anyone took silly pictures back then. Probably not since it took 20 minutes to take a picture, right? I probably wouldn't take very many pictures either if it always meant nobody was smiling because smiling helps you remember what a great day it was! =)