Now I really can't complain...or can I? (pondering by rubbing my chin)

I know I complain a lot that I'm not living in Texas and that the folks here don't make eye contact unless you know them, but then something like today happens and, karma, my negativity is proven wrong.  My 91 year old father-in-law, in a confused state, called 911 at 2 this morning.  At 3 a.m., while Paul was, by that time, with his dad, the doorbell rang.  When I answered it was a Howard County police officer and he had walked down our long street and several blocks before that in hip-deep in snow.  Since I'm in charge of the neighborhood watch, I was inundated with emails regarding when the hell we were going to get our three culs-de-sac plowed.  I mentioned that the police had walked in to check on my father-in-law and the neighbors were so concerned that they all got out today and shovelled out OUR ENTIRE STREET.  Of course it benefits all of us but the initial motivation had been my father-in-law's well-being.  I still can't think about it without tearing up.  We have a pretty close neighborhood as far as the adults are concerned, and we do look out for each other, but this was a clear-cut example of the kindness of human nature. 

Here's Matt, Alana, and Ohmad after they had made their contribution to the shovelling outside.  They're playing Uno,..

...watching MJ on the vidie (I still can't watch it without crying but once he's on I can't stop watching him; I just become mesmerized), and...

...and all the emergency supplies that teenagers could possibly need.  P.S. They are calling for ANOTHER FOOT of snow tomorrow and Wednesday.  Oy.

Hellooooooooooooo snow.

Well unless you've been under a rock, you've heard about our little snow storm.  30"+!

It snowed in the backyard too!

Can't see the cars, just a little of my truck.  No where to go 'cause there's no way to get out-yikes.  AND there's another snow storm coming tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday.  I just keep thinking about Haiti and my post-traumatic-living-in-Wyoming flashbacks are put into correct perspective. 

To amuse myself all weekend I spent an embarrassment of hours on Facebook downloading photos from high school.  I'm definitely addicted; there are so many cool things you can do on there.  After downloading the photos it allowed me to add captions to the photos AND click on the photos to add the name of the person in the photo, more than one, as many as you like, so that when you scroll over the photo it shows the names of the people in them.  I'm sure y'all already knew this but I needed the weekend to figure it out.  It was a labor of love but it was fun and I'm getting great comments and feedback after only just finishing this morning.  Above is one of the photos I posted.  It's me at the podium my senior year.  Looking back at this photo I realize why public speaking was luckily not at the top of my list of career passions.   It looks like even I'm drifting off.  It took me a few minutes but I finally realized that I was saying the prayer before the event.  IN SCHOOL.  Heaven forbid (puns always intended) but it was Texas.  I'll use this podium to say that prayer is still allowed in the schools and public in Texas.  They say one before football games and other sporting events including rodeos and, as a Texan, that tops the list of reasons why I am so proud to be from Texas.  Next on the list, at least this week, is the lack of snow...