SharivilleLife stories from Shari

I was lucky enough to be here in the Metroplex for this momentous snow storm. It has not snowed like this in over 50 yrs.  Here at Angie’s house we got a foot of snow.  I was out side last night at midnight taking pictures, it was so bright out side, Angie said the moon was out but it was still snowing. It looked like a Christmas card picture .  Across the street and down the block they have the most creative snowmen. I am putting a picture in here to show off their masterpieces.  The dogs are having a great time playing in the snow.  Teddy sticks his nose into the snow and pushes it like a plow.  Then he climbs onto the lounge chair by the pool and wallows in the snow there.  Casey runs rings around the pool with teddy close behind.  They are hilarious. Casey has such long legs and Teddy just trudges along on his little short legs.  We thought a Red Heeler was not a water dog, but oh contrare, he seems to love water.  So far he has not seen fit to jump into the pool yet.  He does recognize icy water.  Lucky, the cat, has not requested his usual outside stroll since all this started.

The news reported 22 accidents in Dallas last night alone.  We can watch out the window and see the cars slippingaround on the street outside. Jerry trudged out into the snow in the back yard yesterday to fill the bird feeder for the beautiful red cardinal pair who depends on us. There’s not a lot of food out there right now. Half the flights out of DFW are canceled, 180,000 folks are without power, not us, thank goodness.  They have brought in 2500 repair crews from other states to help out.  The kids are enjoying snow days off from school and using everything they can find to help slide in the snow. They are using laundry baskets , garbage can lids and old election posters. The whole south is getting hit including Fla.  The snow storm of yesterday has now moved on into the Atlanta Georgia area.  It’s been a fun run here and we are so glad to get to be here and see it all. It may never happen for another 50 yrs.

The kids are stranded in Dallas and will end up spending two nights at a hotel.  Tommy shop is in Dallas and this isthe big All Star Week in Dallas and lots of Tommy’s business is tied into all the festivities  there in Dallas.  The roads were to frozen to come home last night so they are doing the hotel route for 2 nights. Its warming up now and the snow is falling off the trees.  That was one of the most beautiful parts of the snowfall.  The snow just glistened on the trees esp last night at midnight. It was truly a winter wonderland that I got to see in person.  Remember I’m a California girl not used to such glorious sights. I will enjoy all this beauty while it lasts, but like most beautiful things , their time in the sun, little pun there, are fleeting and will soon be lost to only memories, blogs and pictures.  Those will last for a long long time.

I was going to write this yesterday, but got sidetracked with the beautiful snow fall we were having, it started right after noon.  Falling in huge soft fluffy flakes that just kept me mezzmorized.  It is something I rarely get to see.  later in the afternoon Jerry actually braved the snow and we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Rose’s Cafe and Tortilla Factory.  They have the best taco plates with off course rice and beans and a great complimentary condiment bar.  There’s two kinds of taco sauce, red and green, I can’t make up my mind which I like best.  there’s jalapeno peppers, chopped salsa, cilantro leaves, chopped onions, am I making you hungry yet? Add these to the already wonderfully spiced beef or chicken taco’s and you really have something delicious.  We get nachos and cheese dip for an added touch.  They also give us 4 homemade tortilla’s which are wonderful with honey dripped on for dessert.  I always get sweet ice tea, which here in Texas out sells regular ice tea. It’s a southern thing. Tommy and Angie usually get margarita’s.  Yesterday the other two generations were hard at work at the shop and couldn’t join us.  They had to come home and eat chicken rice soup that I had whipped up with leftovers from Christmas.  I have really enjoyed cooking for the whole bunch.  Most of them enjoy down home cooking the old fashioned way , and that’s how I cook.  I cook comfort food. There’s lots of restaurants around when anyone feels like fancy food. We drove back home to Angie’s through the falling snow and just enjoyed the whole scene.  Everything was covered in white, with soft flakes still falling.  It was a beautiful winter wonderland. I was hoping for more, but alas it changed to rain and soon washed it all away.  It was lovely while it lasted.  Tonight  Tommy is taking all 4 of us to see the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations in Arlington area before they take them down.  I will report on those in another blog.

Well we started out with good intentions, went to Garden Ridge, in search of the perfect Christmas tree, soon got side tracked because Garden Ridge is as large as a big Costco, and stuffed to the gunnel’s with Christmas stuff, and everything else you can think of for Christmas.  Never did find the perfect tree.  We ended up at RJ Gators for fried pickles and margarita’s. YUM!! Fried pickles are a southern treat, as I’ve not found them anywhere else. If you get a chance try some.  Hooter’s make the best one’s around here.  From fried pickles we went to flavored popcorn at the theater.  Caught a great action movie, ” Law Bidding Citizen.”  Here the theaters are so large we took 2 escalators to get to the area of the movie.  Around here going out is an expedition, you never know where you are going to end up and what most interesting things you may encounter en route.  One thing about our safari’s they are always great fun to participate in. The evening ended with a late night snack, I say snack, because after fried pickles and popcorn, I was anything but hungry. We had snacks at Applebee’s, some really delicious French onion soup.for Angie and I,  Cesar salad for Felecia and nachos for Tyler and Tommy’s stand by Chicken , some type , sandwich.  Jerry is still on the mend, so decided to spend a quiet evening here at the house.  He is getting better by the hour.