Out with a bang...

January is going out just like it came in with snow and ice, but not quite the bitter cold.

Wow!

This is what spun up out of nowhere during Thursday afternoon rush hour. My daughter and I were sitting in the dentist's office when the storm first developed over Madison. At the time, it was producing very heavy rain and some penny-size hail. As the storm moved toward Huntsville proper, it became much stronger. The local television stations were so thrilled to have caught the storm/tornado on their camera network that they spent the better part of an hour Thursday evening talking about it. Although it did uproot a lot of very large trees and damage property, no one was seriously injured. A couple of teens were scared out of their wits when their truck was literally blown off the road and into a house by the tornado. I heard on Friday that the NWS believed it was an EF2 tornado. Scary!!!


I think all of us here were quiet surprised that we could have a tornado spin up in January, especially after we'd just spent the first 10 days of the month sub-freezing.

Kudos to whomever snapped this photo!

Mmmmm...Birthday Cupcakes!!!

Not just any birthday cupcakes, either.


Gigi's Cupcakes!!!



I had heard from several friends that Gigi's Cupcakes are to die for. It doesn't matter which one you try, they are all good according to my friends. In honor of my daughter's upcoming 17th birthday, I thought we'd try one...or two...or three. My daughter chose "Apple Spice & Everything Nice," my son chose "Lemon Dream Supreme," and Hubby & I chose "Midnight Magic" (which was a triple chocolate creation). Yummmm!!! Consensus was unanimous - Gigi's Cupcakes are To Die For. May have to go back for either a Bailey's Irish Cream and/or Scarlett's Red Velvet.

Happy 17th birthday to my sweet daughter!!!

January Snow

Brrr...

I think we may have gotten half an inch on the grassy areas. Definitely not the 1-3 inches the local weather gurus were calling for.

Our frozen lake...

Pretty, but not thick enough to walk on. Though, don't tell our neighbor's boys that because they won't listen.

Can anyone say "Darwin Awards?"

I didn't sign up for this...

extremely cold weather, that is.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that Northern Alabama could be this cold. As a friend pointed out yesterday, Denver was warmer than we were. Ugh! I'm just thankful that we don't live in the upper Midwest because it has been FRIGID up there. Brrrrrr...

I suppose that we're due for this nasty cold as it's been 14 years since we've had a decent snow. In February 1996, we received eight inches of snow on top of 1/2" ice and were stuck at home for eight days. The local weather gurus are predicting anywhere from a dusting up to 3 inches of the white stuff. If it continues to stay this cold and we do get snow, it's gonna be around for several days.

So, here's to a decent snow and some hot chocolate. Now, where's my peppermint schnapps?!