There is a state of emergency in Massachusetts this morning. And a state of emergency in our house. Overnight we had an ice storm. And our Satellite Dish is out of alignment so we're without DirecTv and our roof is covered with ice so Doug can't get up there to fix it. Oh noes!
It was raining yesterday afternoon and evening, but overnight the cold just froze everything up. A lot of people have no power, the kids have no school, and before you know it it'll be 50 degrees and it will be like this never happened. Except for the downed trees and powerlines that are still snaking along the ground.
I'm going into work late so Jess can sleep for a little while this morning. We didn't anticipate that it would be a day of school cancellation. Jess was supposed to have callbacks for the spring musical ("Bye, Bye, Birdie") so she's relieved that she doesn't have to go do that. I'm more than caught up with work right now, and plan on going in tomorrow to make up time from taking Wednesday afternoon off, so an extra hour tomorrow won't be a big deal.
All I have to say is thank God for the woodstove, coffee and beautiful Christmas Carols from "Sixpence None The Richer" this morning. It makes me feel nice inside.
On Wednesday we had a little windstorm blow through. Our satellite dish went out of alignment. In our last house, we never had this problem. Here, it happens once every couple of months. Doug's got the recovery method down to a science, which is good, but not when there is ice to deal with.
Fortunately, we've got a little TV up here by the computer that gets very basic cable (local channels and Comcast 8 and NECN). When I signed up for Comcast for the internet when we moved in here, it was 10 dollars LESS a month if we hooked up a TV. Which I thought was stupid but ... it's a good thing we have it so we can follow the news.
Living without the DirecTv is a drag though. How am I going to know how "Charm School" is going! I couldn't watch last night's football game. I'm not sure when Doug is going to be able to safely scale the roof. I'd rather have an uninjured husband than TV though, so I'm willing to wait.
It's kind of nice to have no TV though. The evenings at home have been relaxing, and aside from everyone trying to get a turn on the PC there have been no conflicts. I kind of like it. But I'm looking forward to Doug fixing this by Sunday so we can watch the football games and whatnot.
Tonight we have a Christmas carol sing-along at church. If you are anywhere near Newburyport, MA come to Old South Church at 7pm and join in. Come and go, be late or on time... there is no mandatory be there by time. It should be really nice. And if you're not familiar with the church, it is one of the oldest in Massachusetts, and Christmas in the sanctuary sure is pretty.
Last night (thank you no TV, which made it so that we had no distractions or excuses to be lazy) Geoff and I made cookies to bring to the event tonight (Jessica actually helped, which was nice). Geoff wanted to make some really cool cookies from a cookbook that we have but I don't have a candy thermometer or a food processor. All of the recipes were a little more complicated than the equipment I have on hand can handle, so we improvised.
We made traditional Toll House cookies with a twist ... we crushed candy canes up and mixed them in the dough. Some of the candy cane pieces were pulverized, others were chunky... I was afraid the candy cane pieces would burn, but Jessica taught me about processed sugar and how these wouldn't burn but melt. (I said "thank you Alton Brown" and she said "um, no. thank you physics.")
She was right -- they did melt and crystallize into an almost glassy substance. So there were pools of molten candy cane sugary goodness in the middles of the cookies! Some of it leached out onto the cookie sheet, which made getting them off the sheet fun.
When they cooled, they were minty and chocolatey and just really good. It was a good time.
So this morning we've got the ice storm, the state of emergency, I'm not looking forward to driving into work but I understand that just south of here in Danvers and Peabody it's just rain, no ice. So we're right on the line. Facebook updates from the high school kids up this way indicate a lot of them have no power, so I hope ours stays on.
Hopefully by where you are it is not a state of emergency, and if it is, you're hanging in. Have a good day.
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