Snow-venture

I earned my first Girl Scout merit badge in 20 years last night. Let's call it the "suburban snow survival" badge. Here's how you earn it:

1. Send your husband far, far away for 3 months.
2. Order up a wicked snow storm to hit your region.
3. Settle in for a comfy night in a warm, toasty house watching crime shows and catching up on emails.
4. Lose power. Realize you have no idea where your flashlight is. Look for matches. Be thankful that you have gas heat and a woodstove, just in case.
5. Realize that your gas heat works with an electric starter and an electric heat pump. Be thankful for the woodstove.
6. Realize that you are out of matches...and have only 4 pieces of firewood.
7. Cry and whine for a bit.
8. (Wo)man up and call a neighbor to borrow matches. Light candles. Find flashlight. Build small fire in woodstove and save one large piece of wood for morning fire in case power remains out. Walk dog in snow and gather kindling. Lay kindling in front of woodstove to dry out over night and make bed on couch in front of fire. Watch the first half of a movie on your laptop till the battery dies.
9. Sleep soundly, snuggled with dog on couch.
10. Wake up to find that your office is closed. And you still have no power. Make a morning fire using hot coals from last night's fire. Be SUPER proud of yourself for that. Eat PB&J sandwich for breakfast, walk dog, and shovel driveway.
11. Drive your butt to Home Depot to buy: matches & firewood. Sit at Starbucks (with rest of the town!) to charge laptop and blog about snow-venture.

And now...back home to stoke the woodstove, walk the pooch (and re-stock the kindling), and finish the movie. Here's hoping the power comes back on soon!