Just a week ago, the local meteorologists started to mention that a weekend storm might be on the horizon with the potential to be big. As the week progressed, it became evident that we were going to be in for a definite snow storm of substance. News outlets and municipal officials began to warn everyone to be prepared…grocery stores were busy & shelves were emptying – both for the french toast trifecta (bread, milk, eggs) & other things (when I picked up a few needed items on Thursday, my grocery store had experienced a run on ground beef & ground turkey). Winter storm watches were posted…then upgraded to warnings…then converted to blizzard watches…then converted to blizzard warnings. Roads were brined. On Friday the forecast indicated that the snow would arrive earlier in the evening than originally thought and collectively the area came home from school and work and prepared to hunker down and wait out this storm.

As the week progressed, I was looking forward to the snow day. I checked my ready kit (really must finish up the draft I have on that)…on Wednesday evening I made a broad menu plan for the week & a small list of groceries to pick up on Thursday…I made sure the car had a full tank of gas (even with no plans to drive during the storm)…I charged my Kindle full for hours and hours of reading…and I declared that Saturday would be a fun snow day – housework could wait till Sunday.

Manny the patio manatee, early in the storm…quickly he wasn’t helpful in charting the snow progress

Friday evening, the snow started to fall. As I went to bed, I wondered what the views would be when I awoke in the morning.

Saturday morning, I was awakened early (5:30!) by the sound of the maintenance crew plowing – a little after 6:00 I got out of bed and started my snow day. The french press was “fired up” and tasty coffee filled a favorite mug. The fireplace was turned on. The blinds were opened on the patio doors. I snapped a few pictures to chart storm progress and settled in for the day.

Morning Views – patio door – front courtyard – couch

I had plenty of books (in paper and on Kindle) and started to read. I kept the local news coverage on TV, mostly on mute. Some favorite tunes rotated through my wireless speaker. Several crafting options sat untouched as I just read. Every so often, I’d look out the patio door and the front door and capture continued snow progress. At lunchtime, I heated up some soup. Mid afternoon, the snow definitely increased a bit & the local weather was showing my area fully in a band of snow that was “stuck” & bringing lots of snow each hour. More pictures were captured.

I had a bit of cooking planned for the snow day. For supper, I tried out a new to me pizza crust recipe from THM and made a tasty thin crust pizza with herbed tomato sauce, spinach, turkey pepperoni, baby bellas & 4 cheese blend. I think the suggested parchment paper would have made the crust crispier – but it was a good meal that I will make again.

As a sweet treat for the week ahead (& since I had zucchini that needed to be used up) I decided to make the Chocolate Zucchini Cake from the THM cookbook. I added a bit of cinnamon to the cake batter & cobbled together a Mocha Cream Cheese Frosting inspired by a couple of THM recipes.

Evening entertainment included “finally” watching something from my DVR and FaceTime with the WI family (including a tour of the snow). The chocolate cake was a tasty way to end the evening. As the evening wound down and I headed to bed, the snow was tapering off and moving away.

Evening views – patio door – front courtyard – couch

Sunday dawned bright and dry. The sky was brilliant blue. The sun was blinding. The powdery snow sparkled like diamonds. Mid morning I bundled up to head outside & see what I needed to do to clear around my car – thankfully the maintenance crew was moving the snow from behind the cars in the carport as well as helping dig out other cars. The sidewalks were plowed and salted so I walked around a bit.

Sunday scenes

After my low key Saturday, Sunday was filled with some housework and some food prep for the week ahead. By the time the sun set in the late afternoon, the snow on the patio had diminished a bit.

This morning, all schools in the area were closed and the roads were cleared and deserted on the short drive to work. I was definitely in the minority of folks in the office today. Throughout today, the maintenance crew has continued to deal with the snow piles here – currently I hear the “beep…beep…beep” of the bobcats and front loaders scooping up snow and moving it to lawn areas.

In all my years of living in snow zones, this was the largest single event snowfall that I’ve been in and I was so thankful that I was able to enjoy it from behind the patio door and in front of the fireplace.

If you were in the path of this storm, what did your “hunker down” weekend look like? What are your favorite things about a snow day?