.the great blizzard.

Yes, today in Arkansas we had a full-pledge BLIZZARD. I can now honestly say I've not only lived through one but now understand what constitutes a blizzard as opposed to just a really honkin' amount of snow. (Wind speed and amount of snowfall, etc.)

I didn't go outdoors once today. Sent Simon out only three times throughout the whole day. The poor thing was buried from belly down out there. The weatherman said we got 6-7" of snow accumulation, but we had drifts of over a foot.

I got a snow day off work (one of the MANY perks of being a teacher) and get another one tomorrow! Hubs came home from work early, about 11:30 am and took a nap before doing some work from home on his laptop. He's getting over a stomach bug, which speaking of that - I have to give the man major props for being one tough sucker. He literally threw up mid-shave, shaving cream all over his face, then immediately went right back to shaving as soon as he was done. That's a man right there, people. ;-)

I took pictures of some of the snowfall outside. These were taken about 1:30 pm, and the snow kept falling the rest of the day. Oh, and yeah the first two were taken while looking out a window.

Whilst stuck inside, I finally found the motivation to attempt my first homemade apple pie. My mother-in-law has the best recipe, and, even though I've surrendered to the truth that no matter how closely I follow her recipes, my results will never be as picture-perfect as hers always are, I can't help but try my hand at them and make sure the hubs gets some good eats from me every once in a while. ;-)

A few hours, a very messy kitchen, and a sore hand later (I hate peeling anything, period), the masterpiece was completed. Not to toot my own horn, but I nailed it. I mean, it doesn't photograph worthy of a Southern Living mag, and the crust was a little doughy as a result of being a tad too thick, but I'm still saying I nailed it. The flavor was right, and that (I've decided) is really the most important thing anyway! Here is my pie:

{a feat worth documenting every step of}

I am a fan of snow. Getting a day off from school/work because of snow never gets old.

Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful snowfall today and for keeping my family safe.

Here's to another Winter full of fun memories!