Snow Day and Michael's Big Adventure

We had a HUGE surprise in Chattanooga/NW GA yesterday after lunch! We had been hearing forecasts for POSSIBLE sleet and snow, but mostly about 50 miles north of the city. Ha! Whatever, by last night we had 5" at our house and about 1/2" of ice mixed in! After lunch we started hearing reports that schools were letting out and flurries were falling fast. By the time I started wrapping things up at work, I got a call from my neighbor to get home as soon as I could. AHHHHH! I left work at 1:45 and there was hardly anything on the roads, but the time I got to the ridge cut (over a ridge that basically divides downtown Chattanooga and the suburbs on the interstate) the temperature had dropped to 30 and it was icy! Good thing my car has good traction control and new tires is all I could think. I called Michael and told him to leave Cleveland (35 miles north of our house) ASAP because even the interstate in Georgia was bad. When I got almost home I was at a stop sign that overlooks the interstate and took this picture. I knew it would be a LONG time before I saw Michael at that pace! In a matter of 45 minutes we went from nothing to covering the INTERSTATE!

Well, about three hours later, Michael made it to the I75-I24 split. If I had realized just how bad it was or how dangerous it was (apparently he thought he was going to have to leave his car THREE times on the interstate), I would have insisted he stay in Cleveland with his Granddad. This is how traffic was all the way home for him.

This picture freaks me out too. You can tell how hard it was snowing by looking at the snow on his windshield wipers. I almost started crying when I saw these on his phone last night. I was so scared and worried while he was trying to get home. His car is basically a sports style car and he doesn't exactly have good tires. Apparently he came quite close to hitting the wall numerous times.

Here is our house about two hours after it started. I had a hard time getting my car to go up the driveway, but finally made into the garage and within an hour, you couldn't even see my tracks! This was still about another two hours before Michael made it home. :-(He eventually made it home, but after that adventure and seeing the roads this morning, we decided it was best to have a snow day at home!!!!! No work today for Michael!!!!! It is just too far and too risky. We stayed in bed for awhile and watched the news then I decided what is a snow day without homemade waffles?!

We mostly spent the day on the couch watching TV and reading. Spencer and Michael were snuggling here. Too cute!

Tonight I made chili for dinner, but added a twist to my usual recipe.
A few of you have asked, so here is the recipe:

1 pound ground beef

1/2 pound of bacon

1 onion

pepper to taste

All cooked together over medium heat. Then added to a pot of,

1 can tomato sauce

1 can rotel

1/4 cup sliced jalapenos

3 cans of chili beans

1 pkg McCormick's chili seasoning (original)

It was so good, we both went back for a 2nd bowl! Ha!

Tonight I plan to watch Miss America (Miss TN is from Chattanooga!!!) and do some more reading. We were going to start cleaning out our home office to start making way for the nursery, but that just didn't happen today, so maybe tomorrow, we'll see.