“We haven’t seen weather like this in this part of the state since early 1994…” was the weatherman’s statement while giving the seven-day forecast on Sunday. Right he was. You see, I was born in late ‘94, and never in my life have I experienced this kind of climatic phenomenon.

An artic blast has rolled across the country in the last few days, showing people from sea to shining sea just what nature can do. People in Georgia are not equipped to handle fifteen-degree temperatures, while New Yorkers have to battle the twenties below zero. Personally, I can only remember a temperature in the single digits a handful of times in my life, and I can never recall it reaching negative numbers, but it certainly has during the last few days. Around my home, the clouds poured a good monsoon Sunday night before freezing and snowing about an inch. Then the world became frozen as the temperature did a nosedive. I watched our digital kitchen thermometer in awe as it ticked away a tenth of a degree every thirty seconds or so. It eventually reached subzero and kept going. Although the weather wasn’t as extreme here as in other parts of the country, we’re not exactly accustomed to these temps.

At the moment, I am wearing fleece pajama pants, two pairs of socks, a long sleeve t-shirt, a hoodie, and the thickest underwear I own. You may think I’m about to head out to brave the elements. On the contrary, I’m sitting in my own home.

We bring our dog in to our basement when it’s cold, but in these conditions, the poor thing just about gives up when we take her out to do her business. She can’t stand on the layer of ice and busts her rump just about every time. Then she’ll look up at us as if SHE is having a “What Are This?” moment.

Yesterday, I did the water experiment that everyone seems to be talking about. If you haven’t heard about it: you take boiling water and throw it outside. If the temperature is cold enough, the water will instantly turn to steam. It doesn’t take much to entertain people when they have been locked up with each other for a little while.

On the plus side, my parents and I have been the laziest people on Earth during this situation. My dad just happened to have a couple days off and my mom works for the county’s high school (Hello, snow days!). Since I’m on winter break, that puts us all here with nothing to do but chill out… literally. While parent time isn’t always the most exciting thing, I’ve actually loved being a bum with them. We’ve eaten nothing but junk food, everything around us has been layered with a marshmallow mystique, and my Netflix and Hulu accounts have never seen so much action. We’ve catered to our Castle addiction and I may have gotten my dad hooked on The Walking Dead.

You know what? It’s fine. We needed a little time to relax. So since we’ve no place to go…
“Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow.”
Maybe be could do without the negative-twenty wind chill factor though.