Well, last night it didn't look like we were going to get much snow. Then, I wake up this morning to this. While it seems like there's not a whole lot of snow, underneath the stuff that's on the cement is comprised of solid ice. Combine the snow and ice with 14-degree temperatures and a wind chill of -1, and we have a snow day today.

The snow is beautiful, don't get me wrong. But, it is so cold outside that I can't even take Chloe out to play in it. When she got up this morning, I took her downstairs and told her to look outside. Since she's under the impression that else makes it snow, she got super excited to see the white stuff all over the place and immediately wanted to go outside. Unfortunately, we can't go out yet.

Schools all over Metro and North Georiga have canceled classes for today. Our county calls snow days Online Learning days. In fact, I was given a list of activities to complete with my kid. Of all twenty items on the list, I am to do two of the things with her and then email the teacher telling her what we did together. The older kids have school work they have to complete online and email to the teacher. So, in all actuality, it isn't a snow day.

My husband received a text message early this morning letting him know that his employer was opening at 11 am. When he left to leave for work, he got up towards the main highway and got another call saying that they were remaining closed for the day. So, he ended up not having to go to work. Everyone in our household is currently home doing their own separate things throughout the house.

The other two kids, Torrey and Wyatt, also have a snow day today in South Carolina. Sometime in the middle of the night, their school was closed for today. They currently have two inches of snow, and it is still falling.

Because my friend April lives in a part of California where snow is scarce, she lives vicariously through the rest of us. So, I'm adding an extra picture of snow for her since I know she reads my blog. The photo above has a name: Footprints In the Snow. I'm sure she'll enjoy it, and, maybe, she'll get some snow of her own soon. 

Tonight through tomorrow morning is supposed to be super cold which makes the possibilities for ice even stronger. Hopefully, some of this is melted, and the roads aren't too bad. Only time will tell.

Until tomorrow ...

Today was Chloe's first day of her second week of school. During her Individual Education Plan (IEP) meeting back in December, we discussed the option of her taking the bus to school. At first, I was very hesitant. In fact, the school bus idea was first brought up in November; I was reluctant then too. But, at the IEP meeting, I was talked into allowing her to take the bus given that the school buses had car seats with harnesses installed on them for the smaller kids.

So, today, Chloe took the school bus for the first time. It was a heartbreaking first experience. We walked down the driveway to the bus. When we got to the end of the drive, she didn't want to get on the bus. I had to pick Chloe up and carry her up the stairs to the driver. The monitor put her in the seat and strapped her in. Then, Chloe pointed to me and the seat; she told me to sit. When I said I couldn't go with her, she started to cry. Per the report, she cried all the way to school this morning.

After she left for school, I paid my brother-in-law ten bucks to run me to QT and Starbucks. You know, I have to have my Chocolate Chip Frappe fix anytime I possibly can. When we got back, I cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes, started 1 of 3 loads of laundry, cleaned the living room, cleaned Chloe's room, and also managed to straighten up the den (my office space) a bit. Overall, the three hours that Chloe was off at school was a very productive time for me.

Chloe's bus brought her home around 2:20 pm. The bus was supposed to arrive by 2:15 pm, but what're five minutes? When she got home, I got her from the bus and spoke to the driver. On the way from school to the house, Chloe didn't cry. She had fun. A little girl sat next to Chloe on the bus and talked to her, made her laugh, and the likes. Chloe's ride home was better than the ride to school. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better for her.

Once we were in the house and settled, I check her school bag for the folder her teacher sends home every day. There were three things inside it: the usual what we did today worksheet, a ziplock bag with the change from the cash I sent for milk, and a letter from the nurse announcing that someone in her class was diagnosed with the flu #FML.

Chloe took a nap shortly after she got home. I could tell she was tired, she wasn't very active, and she pretty much told me she wanted to go to bed. While she was napping, I did a few things for school, worked on some of my Harry Potter project guidelines, and anticipated the completion of the big WoW patch.

WoW was down all day, clear into 8 pm which sucked because I was supposed to raid at 7 pm. Oh well, hopefully, the raid leader will reschedule the raid for another day so we can work on my gear.

Chloe ate Chicken Noodle Casserole for dinner tonight, which is abnormal. She usually doesn't eat any meat. I am glad she's trying new foods.

It's snowing ...

It's currently snowing outside as you can see in the picture above. But, that's the gist of what we've gotten since 5 pm. So, I don't foresee much of a problem for the commuters tomorrow. However, that could change overnight!

Until tomorrow ...

I am a World of Warcraft (WoW) player, and I don't discriminate between the Alliance or Horde. I enjoy playing both factions. I have an Alliance main; a Gnome, Holy Priest who acts as my primary healer, and a Blood Elf, Marksmanship Hunter who serves as my primary DPS. I also like playing Druid healers and tanks. 

Until recently, I abandoned my Alliance characters to focus on my Horde toons. My hunter has a 926 item level and two equipped legendaries. I thought it was time to do some work on my Priest. So, I started playing her again on Sunday. When I started, she was at an 883 item level. Now, she's 906 and climbing.

Today, I got my first legendary on my Priest. It isn't the most significant legendary item for my specialization, but it boosted my item level quite a bit. I was able to get into the Antorus raid in Looking For Raid (LFR) and obtained several more pieces of gear to replace the crappy equipment I was wearing. My Heals Per Second (HPS) was sitting at about 400k at 889 item level. I break about 1.2m HPS now, and I'm happy with that. I'm sure it will get better with raid progression and better gear.

So, today was a pretty chill and relax kind of day. My husband and I played some World of Warcraft, I did some school stuff, and then around 3 pm, we had birthday Brinner with our family on his side. January is a busy month for us as far as birthdays are concerned. Chloe's birthday is January 2nd, my birthday is January 10th, and my husband's birthday is January 19th. Mix that in with our friends birthdays: CJ, January 8th; Nick, January 10th; Nacer, January 13th, and Jeff, January 16, and we just have so many people to celebrate!

CJ, Nick, and Jeff are in Charleston, SC. When my husband and I first met, we just to go to Charleston on my birthday weekend to hang out with friends and go out to dinner. That happened the first couple of years. Now, we can't afford that trip as often as we'd like. This year though, we all talked to each other on the phone or through Facebook. It's not the same as spending the day together, but it works.

From the moment I got up today until about 1 pm, I was taking notes on lectures for both of my classes and getting my initial discussion posts ready to go. This week is all about ideation strategies in English and the Judicial System in Intro to law. Let's fast forward to around 3 pm.

So, Brinner was terrific. My husband's dad grilled up some steaks on the grill (see pre-cooked above). His steaks are to die for; I'm not sure what goes into the rub on his meat, but it makes beef delicious. He uses the rub on beef and pork. My husband's mom cut up some veggies for the grill too. Overall, Brinner was amazing.

You might be wondering what the word Brinner means. Well, I'll tell you. Brinner is a term used for a meal that happens later in the day but isn't considered lunch or dinner. AND, when you don't eat breakfast that morning, we have Brinner. :)

At any rate, after lunch, we gathered around a cake and Chloe received three cupcakes (see picture at top) each with their candle. We sang happy birthday to the three of us, and then we had cake and ice cream. My little one is the only child I know who won't eat cake or ice cream. It drives me crazy.

Chloe asked for cake all week. When she finally got it, she wouldn't eat it. Chloe did eat a tiny bit of frosting off the top of one of her cupcakes. And, when she blew out the candles, she did so with her nose--YUCK!

After all the birthday stuff was completed, I got in the Discord Voice app on my computer and attended an Officer Training session with my Guild Master in World of Warcraft. I recently joined an active guild that spans 12 different servers. One of my friends, who used to be an officer of mine, recruited me into this new guild, and apparently sang my praises to the GM. Then, they convinced me to fill out an official application, put me through their Officer Bootcamp, and I am now an officer in their guild.

I spent the better part of my evening running around in Azeroth, talking to people in discord, and spending time with Chloe. It was a pretty chilled and relaxing day.

Until tomorrow ...

I've spent the better part of today finishing up notes from the first three chapters of my Intro to Law textbook. Chapters 1-3 were the required reading for the week. The problem with note taking is that I often can't figure out what's relevant or not necessary, so I end up writing too much and hurting myself in the process. 

When it comes to the law, responsibilities, and duties of lawyers and paralegals, as well as other law-related things, I have the mentality that everything is essential. That is especially true for someone like me who is just starting out in legal studies. On the front and back of 31 pages of my 80-page, College Ruled notebook, I have written notes from the lecture, and the first three chapters of my textbook including key terms and definitions as well as diagrams and charts. Think about that for a moment, let that sink in. Keep in mind; there are 7.5 weeks in a semester (a total of 3-4 classes every 15 weeks).

I'll tell you right now, truth said, my writing hand is yelling at me. If that's any indication how the entire semester will go, I'm going to need another notebook and something for pain management!

At any rate, I finished off the week by turning all of my actual assignments in this morning as they were due tonight by 11:59 pm. The teacher for my Intro to Law class graded all but one of my assignments already, and I currently have 100% in the class. Go me, WOOT! The teacher for my other class hasn't graded any of my work yet, so I'll update you guys when I hear more.

On a different note, we're supposed to get snow this upcoming week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. I love snow, but only in moderation. I love it more when it snows, sticks to the ground for about a day or two, and then melts. All of my kids love the snow too.

Back in December, we got a small winter storm. We weren't supposed to get much snow. In fact, we supposed to get a dusting. By the time it was all said and done, we had about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground where I live, my step-dad got 7-10 inches (he's like 30 minutes away), and so did my mom and sisters. 

When the snow fell to the ground, it came down in big and beautiful flakes. It was Chloe's first snowfall, so I took her outside in it. I have a ton of pictures from that day. The shown below is my favorite one:

In the picture, Chloe is checking out the strange white stuff on her glove. I had to take the picture because she wasn't looking, and I've always found that candid photos are often the best pictures and moments. 

I am looking forward to the next snowfall. I'll get some use out of the winter jacket I just bought, I can take more pictures of my girly out in it, and my dog will have a field day because she'll be in her element.

I watched a pretty amazing fan-made movie on YouTube today! A film company called "Tryangle Films" produced a movie named Voldemort: Origins of the Heir. The movie was released today all over the world on YouTube around 3 pm EST. At 3:02 pm, the short film had over 10k views. I just rechecked the stats on it; it has over 1.2m views. I've linked the video in the movie title above. However, I believe you have to subscribe to their channel to watch it.

The film itself is about 60 minutes in length. For a fan-made movie, it was pretty amazing. A lot of time and money went into the project, and the producers had the backing of Warner Brothers (though, not financially). So, if you haven't watched it yet; DO IT! I will be doing a review of the movie sometime in the next week. Keep an eye out for that.

Until Tomorrow...

Chloe discovered quite some time ago that she likes to be naked. From time to time, she'll take all her clothes off and run around the house. I know it's normal for kids her age to do that sort of thing. However, the fact that she's a girl makes me feel more uneasy about it. 

Today, I tried to put her down for a nap around 12:30 pm. She didn't go to sleep. Instead, she took all her clothes off--down to her diaper--and put on her frozen beanie. I took a picture of that, but it didn't seem like I should post that. I would never hear the end of it, and I'd get a ton of backlash from people who might stumble across this blog.

At any rate, I put her to bed again around 3:30 pm because she was cranky. I figured if she took a nap, she'd feel better. She's had a cold or something since Wednesday afternoon. Well, it took about twenty minutes for her to go to sleep. She took off her shirt, laid down on the floor, and covered herself with a sheet and blanket. Then, she went to sleep. Around 5:30, I went to wake her up. I found her buried under a blanket and sheet on the floor. And, that is the picture at the top of this post.

I got a lot done today--school-wise. I got through chapters one and two in my Intro to Law class.  I took notes and wrote down key terms, a few quotes, and the likes. I still need to read and do the same thing for chapter 3 tomorrow. 

When the hubby got home from work, I went out to meet my mom and sisters. My sister, Destiny, brought me a birthday card and gave me a $15 gift card for Starbucks! She knows me so well. My mom and step-dad bought me dinner. We played Pineapple/Chinese Poker. My step-dad and I won the first game, then lost the second. 

After the second game (which took forever), I decided it was time to go home. It was 60 degrees earlier today. It dropped down to the low 30s with a real feel of 21. I was worried if I started back too late, I might hit the ice on the road as it was cold and the streets were wet from all the rain. I felt the car pull to the left twice on the way home; it scared the crap out of me. But, I made it back safe and sound before midnight.

Now, it's time for me to relax for a few minutes. Then, I'm going to bed. I have a few things to do for school tomorrow. Otherwise, it'll be a nice and quiet day at home with the kiddo and the husband. 

For those that read this, I apologize it's so short tonight. Nothing too exciting happened, and I'm crunched for time to get this post out before midnight! So, until tomorrow. 

This is my first blog post of the year that doesn't include a picture. Do you want to know why? Well, I did not take a single picture today. For those of you who don't know me, that is entirely not me. I usually take pictures daily, and the views are mostly of my kid(s). 

But, time to get down to business and why I am here writing this post. Today was a sick day. Chloe came home from school yesterday with a cough and runny nose. She wasn't running a fever, and apart from the look on her face, you'd never have known that she wasn't feeling well. This morning, we got up with Daddy to take him to work. She looked worse this morning than she did yesterday, but she was her usual bubbly self. 

Well, when we got home from dropping Daddy off at work, we took a nap, and she went back to sleep. That's how I could really tell she didn't feel right. When she woke up, her nose and ran and dried up all over her face. She was coughing a bunch too. So, I called the school and told them what was going on and was pretty much instructed to keep her home today. She still didn't have a fever. However, I'm not 100% sure on that because she wouldn't sit still long enough for me to put the thermometer under her arm. 

Around here, the flu is going around and the second round that's been hitting the kids has been pretty bad for the younger ones. Chloe's teacher informed me that, luckily, none of their students had come down with the flu, but colds were going around. 

Anyway, sometime around 11:45 am, we had lunch. Afterward, we ran out to Walgreens to pick up a different thermometer. The pharmacist recommended the one that you can use on the temple and under the arm, and it wasn't cheap, but worth it to make sure that my baby didn't have a fever. We also picked up some Pepcid for me because heartburn has been kicking my butt as of late. 

When we got home, I checked my temperature to show Chloe how the thermometer would work. Then, she let me check hers. She wasn't running a fever. Soon after that, it was nap time. I put her down for a nap, and she went right to sleep, again. She slept until 4:25 pm and only woke up because I had to wake her up so we could pick Daddy up for work.

While she was napping, I got a good bit of school work done. I literally have one assignment left to do for both of my classes, and I can't do either of them until Saturday as they are supposed to be completed on the last day of the week for each course. 

The only other thing to happen today is sort of entertaining. I was browsing posts on Facebook and came across a post on a Harry Potter group page that said, 

Well, I hit the comment button and wrote,

Then, the comments started coming in. I was getting notifications left and right about comments posted to my comment. It turns out, I totally posted the comment on the WRONG post. Apparently, I made a lot of people laugh. When I realized I posted in the wrong place, I apologized, and people seemed to enjoy the "ha ha" moment that was being not paying attention to where I was posting something on social media. 

Well, that's all I've got for today. Until tomorrow ...