The Hood Family Blog: The Great Freeze

Where to begin with yet another uncommon occurrence, which seems to be happening more and more these days . . . Upon leaving school last Friday, we knew a big freeze was coming and while we had a remote day scheduled for Monday, our school district already cancelled school for Tuesday. Most did not panic and just did what they normally do in preparation for a freeze - you know, the wrapping of the pipes, covering their outdoor plants, etc. Of course others went and wiped out the grocery store shelves yet again.

On Saturday, Camden went to Braden's soccer game with Camden and Eli. Melissa and Shawn left with several other couples to go to Mexico on Saturday and Mason came home to stay with Braden as well as Eli (since his parents were also on the trip). It was rather cold since the freeze was coming, but Camden enjoys being around his cousins so away he went.

Sunday was Valentine's Day and the boys were excited to received Fortnite V-Bucks gift cards. Never in my life did I think I would spend money on a gift card to spend on a video game, but here I am. . . never say never!!!

At 11:09 am that morning, it was 34 and a Winter Storm Warning was in effect.

By 8:00pm, it was 28 degrees and sleeting. Luckily, we still had electricity at this time because others were not so lucky. Nina was in her sweater and all snuggled up trying to stay warm.

Monday morning we woke up to snow on the ground and a temperature of 16 degrees. I had no desire to go outside, nor did I. I took all my pictures from the comfort of my own home.

The cutest little paw prints
you ever did see!

We had ordered the boys some winter gear last week in preparation for the snow so they could be outside and play in it and not freeze to death. Shane took the boys to the neighborhood next door where there is a nice hill going down into a retention pond. The boys got their boogie boards and headed on their way to do some 'sledding'. They had a great time despite it being really cold out. They then came home and jumped on the trampoline that was covered in snow.

Later that evening around 6:30 I had just, and I mean JUST, finished cooking some french fries and chicken breast patties in the air fryer when our lights went out. DANG IT!!! I knew it was coming as so many of our friends had already lost power. We got out the candles and had a candle lit dinner of chicken sandwiches and french fries. Really classy, right? After dinner, since it was dark and there was no wifi for the boys, they just played some games on their ipads and we got out the blankets to keep warm. The temperature started dropping in the house so we all bundled up with more clothes and blankets and Camden ended up falling asleep on the couch and Shane in a recliner. After opening the cabinets under the bathroom sinks and having all faucets drip water, Casen and I headed to my bed. I am not sure about Camden and Shane, but Casen and I pretty much stayed warm during the night thanks to the down comforter on the bed. I just kept praying that no pipes would freeze and in turn bust.

When we woke up Tuesday morning it was 12 degrees outside and I have no clue what the temperature was inside as our thermostats are all powered by electricity and I did not have a thermometer otherwise that I could check. But I do know that it was cold, I was miserable and my Raynauds had kicked in and I was freezing.

Raynauds sucks!

I now understand hibernation as I spent most of the day bundled up on the couch, not moving and eating very little while Shane remained bundled up in the recliner. Camden put together one of the Lego sets he received from his birthday while Casen played with the dog or whatever else he could find to do. In the midst of this all, you know what I was extremely frustrated with? The fact that we have a fireplace and could not use it. Since we have lived in our home, I have never had a key for the gas and at one point was going to buy gas logs, but instead bought decorative birch logs (teach me not to be cheap!). So here we sat in our living room, freezing, with something that could provide us heat, but since we have never used it was absolutely useless to us in our time of need. I will definitely be looking into gas logs in the near future!

I had been checking in with Mason to make sure things were OK over at the McAnear home and he reported that they still had electricity. The boys begged me to go over there - I think more so for the internet than the heat. So around 4:00 or so we headed over to their house. There was still snow on the ground and a few patches of ice, so were were extra careful driving over there. I tell you, I was never so happy to walk into a house with heat. It was great. Unfortunately, they had a pipe bust in the laundry room earlier that morning, so did not have running water, but had electricity! The boys hung out and played video games with Braden. They asked if they could spend the night since it was warmer there and Mason agreed. So I left them there and headed home for another cold night. Fortunately, the down comforter again kept us warm.

When I woke up Wednesday morning and checked on the boys. Mason said their power went out that morning. I headed over to pick up the boys around 10:30 and brought them home so they could take a hot shower. We may not have had electricity, but we did have hot water. Casen and I started putting together a puzzle and by 1:30PM, our power came back on!! Thank goodness!!! We cranked the heat up and after a few hours the electricity went off again, but luckily it wasn't off except for a few hours, and then came back on for good! After 43 hours of misery, it looked like things were finally improving. I know we were very fortunate as sooooo many had busted pipes and lots of water damage in their homes. Due to all the damage people sustained, school was cancelled for the whole week.

On Wednesday evening, Casen started getting snotty. This is not unusual for this time of year for him so I just gave him some medication and we went on about our business. Thursday at 1:30am he woke up crying because his chest hurt. This was not surprising because he never blows his nose, he just sucks it up and then it drains down into his chest. By Thursday at dinner he started saying he couldn't taste or smell. I did not fret too bad as when my allergies get really bad or I get a bad cold I can't taste or smell either. But then, after supper he ate some Beanboozled jelly beans that were rotten milk and he could not taste it at all. Ugh!!! Despite my mommy gut telling me it was just his normal allergies, on Friday evening I decided I better schedule him for a COVID test because I would feel horrible if he had it, then I sent him to school on Monday and he infected others. So until he had his test that was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, we made him quarantine from everyone and he had to wear his mask in the house. Saturday afternoon we headed to CVS and I stuck the swab up his nose to perform the rapid test. The lady there told us we should hear something within an hour. By the time we pulled into the neighborhood 15 minutes later, they called us to say he tested negative. Woo Hoo!!!!