22 weeks! 02-12-21 to 02-18-21

2-12: Early Valentine's celebration! Because restaurants are always over crowded and always have a preset menu, Brandon and I have made it tradition to celebrate our valentines day a few days early! He surprised me with my favorite little bundt cakes (Lemon, Red Velvet) and the new Ninja Foodie, which is all the rage in modern cooking! I felt so loved! Although it was a cold day with dropping temps into the 30's and a little light sleet, he really wanted to go to dinner so we got ready and decided on Cane Rosso, a new spot that we've never been to. The food was just okay to us but we enjoyed getting out and of-course each others company. We got some ice cream afterward and then came home to get cozy! We were home just in time for the wintry mix to start and little did we know, Texas was about to be in a state of emergency!  

02-13 to 02-18: Winter storm, 2021! What a disaster!! The ice starting pouring down in Austin and other part of Texas late on the 13th and we all woke up to complete chaos on the 14th! I was supposed to work at MC but the stores shut down (which never, ever happens), most people lost power for the entire week, and the majority of the state suffered from no running water. We were incredibly fortunate to keep power (probably in large part due to the fact that an assisted living/nursing home is behind us and we have 3 EMS stations within 1-2 miles away) but we did  go 4 days without running water. It was a mess but we did fine and found joy in the extra quality time together. It was really heartbreaking to hear how our loved ones and neighbors were suffering but finally the sun came out at the end of the week and the ice started to melt! The roads were still risky but I was able to safely walk to the gas station to get some Gatorade and a few snacks. The stores were empty but thankfully, I went grocery shopping last week so we had more than enough. I found fun things to do like build Brandon a snowman, make a snow angel complete with a bell pepper, which is the size of baby per that silly fetus to fruit comparison chart, and spend time working on moving the guest room. It was really hard to go to work once the stores were open but still not having running water. We powered through though and Brandon was a trooper when it came to taking Africa baths and boiling us ice to make drinking water. He was also great at gathering snow and ice, as well as eventual run off gutter water from melting ice so we could have water to flush our toilets with. It was truly something but we fared much better than some of our fellow Texans!