When life hands you an ice storm...

After three weeks at the home/house for work, I was so excited to get back to The House of Goodwill last Friday, to get back to my painting.

I'm heading toward the home stretch with the painting - I probably have about six weeks left - and then I can really focus on "assembling" the house, and making it feel more like a home.

While we've been living here (mostly) since June, much of the furniture is still in the garage; the collected art is still in piles; the rugs are all rolled up downstairs in the kitchen.  I've been waiting to get the painting done before moving most of it in. 

When I bring all that stuff in (the most fun part) - it's going to feel a lot cozier here, and I'm looking forward to it.  I just want to get this painting completed!

My husband thought it would be nice to spend Valentine's weekend here.  Then he and my son were going to head home (with the dogs), leaving me here to paint distraction-free.

So guess what happened?

If you guessed freezing rain, you would be right!  And guess who's been snowed in here all week with me?  (And guess who hasn't got any painting done?)

Goodbye, productive and focused week.  But hello to snow!

It truly has been a *beautiful* week, and I'm so glad we've been here to enjoy it.  Here are some pics my husband took outside Tuesday morning:

On Monday, as the snow was coming down, we HAD to be outside.

Knowing it was supposed to snow before we came, fortunately, we all brought some warm outdoor clothes.  Unfortunately, not realizing the extent of the forecast, none of us brought "real" snow clothes.

("Real snow clothes" as people from the north - as I am originally - know, are not merely warm clothes for cold weather.  They are clothes specially designed for playing in the snow.  All our best snow clothes were back home, and we had no sled, either.)

So what does one do with an unexpectedly "bad" snowstorm, no real snow clothes, and no sled?

You play in the snow anyway!

The dogs LOVED the snowy dog walk ❄

No sled?  No problem!  A wakeboard for the lake worked just fine.

We could sit between the "shoes" and hold them to hang on.

My husband was the only one to try the steep hill in the back yard.  I was afraid I'd end up in the lake...

There was absolutely no one outside.  It was like our own little winter wonderland, and so peaceful!

The icy water didn't faze the geese at all.

We watched the lake ice over throughout the day

So blessed to enjoy these beautiful sights.

I stayed outside as long as I could possibly stand it.

I can always paint next week, right?