Y’all, it’s FREAKING COLD out there! And it’s gonna get worse before it gets better. As I’m typing this, I’m wrapped in my OSU Cowboys Snuggly, wearing heavy socks and fuzzy houseshoes. On a normal winter day, I’m in flannel pants, a tee-shirt (often short-sleeved) and flip-flops. Not today. Not this week! Snow. Wind. Snow. Wind. Sub-zero temps. Dude, this is freaking Oklahoma. We normally don’t piss off the weather gods until later in the spring when they start dropping tornados on us!
Speaking of tornados, have you grabbed your copy of TWICE THE TEMPTATION? I’ve been OD’ing on the storm chaser reports on the local station. The book starts with a hurricane and flood, moves to wild fires, and ends with a…well, you can guess since it’s part of my Red Dirt Royalty series set here in Oklahoma. You can always give it to yourself or your friendly neighborhood romance reader for a belated Valentine’s Day. This commercial message was brought to you by me. Also, FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE arrives on a Kindle near you tomorrow! Just click on the titles to go grab your copy.
In other news, I have a new phone. There wasn’t really anything wrong with the old phone, other than being 3 or 4 models ago. Long story. Only got a promotion at work. BIG yay and congrats! She needed a phone upgrade. She and LG also need unlimited text and data and moire storage. Turned out, I needed more storage too. Anyway, it worked out that it was only like $20 more a month for her to get the fancy 12 Pro (or whatever it is) and LG and I to bump up to 11. I now have a phone waaaay smarter than me but I’m adapting.
Have I mentioned that’s it bitter cold outside? 🥶 That’s the predominate thing on my mind. You’d think that since I have no desire to get out, I’d be happy to sit at my desk and type down the words in my brain. Sadly, I think I have permanent brain freeze. This book is going in fits and starts and new characters keep popping up and I have to stop and figure out why and where and what impact they have on the story. I am getting a few words down, despite wanting to curl up in bed under a mound of covers.
Last week wasn’t stellar for reading or TV watching. I’m currently listening to Jayne Ann Krentz’s ALL THE COLORS OF NIGHT, which is the second book in her Fog Lake trilogy. I haven’t listened to the first book yet. When books are on hold at the library, I listen to whatever order they drop. I’d just started BLOOD HEIR by Ilona Andrews, but I own that audio book so I don’t have to feel guilty about the wait list. I paused it and dove into ATCON. It’s okay so far, but if you aren’t familiar with her Arcane Society books across all her pen names and several different series, it might take a bit of time to catch on.
It was a good week for sports, at least as far as OSU Cowgirls and OU Sooners softball is concerned. Both are ranked, OU at #4, OSU at #11. Both had successful opening day appearances, including OU’s record-setting 13 homerun 5 inning game. OSU beat LA Tech in Monroe and started the season 2-0. New rankings came out last night but as I’m warping time and typing this yesterday afternoon, I haven’t checked to see if either team moved up in the pre-season rankings. Pretty sure they probably did.
In final news, I made beef stew and cornbread yesterday. It was pretty darn tasty in a cold-day cozy way. This time of year, I’m all about the comfort food. Do you have a favorite go-to cold-weather dish? Do you have tips for staying warm? Everyone in the way of this storm (which looks to be like 90% of the US), stay safe and warm! ❤
Silver James 
OMGGSA (oh my goodness gracious sakes alive) it’s cold. And snowy. Hubs is outside right now making the trek to feed the deer. The poor things are huddled up waiting for him. He’ll also dump more birdseed for the poor birdies. They’re all so puffed up, they look like colorful softballs with wings and feet. It’s a good thing I broke my plan to stay home and went out to get food for them and for us. Criminitly. The only saving grace in all this is it’s too cold for the snow to clump and break tree limbs. It’s colder here right now than where Mom’s at in Michigan. That’s just wrong.
There’s ice on the windows in the smoking porch. The one i can see best from my desk has ice in a pattern that looks like an angry snow leopard. He’s staring at me. It’s creeping me out, man.
I made chili on Saturday and then a vat of spaghetti yesterday. Today might be beef stew. If not, pot roast.
Yay for Twice the Temptation! It was awesome! Yay for Fighting for Justice! I can’t wait. Yay for a new phone! Yay for reading and for your Cowboys!
Tips for this crap? Anything I have is too late and should’ve been done last week – making sure pipes are well-insulated, stocking up on provisions, laying in a supply of rock salt, etc. All anyone can do now is bundle up, hunker down, and hope all the preparations for this were enough. :fingers crossed: Hang in there. :hugs:
I want a picture of that snow leopard! Inspiration! And yeah, but we’re looking at -13 for a low tonight. We ran a little heater on top of the washer last night to keep those pipes from freezer. W/D in the garage. The little heater kept the temp in our oversized double-car garage at about 38. Impressive. Sadly, the pipes on the toilet in the master bath froze. Sink works. Shower works. Toilet? Nope. I think we’re going to wrap the faucets on the washer (it sits on an interior wall and we have a gas wall heater on that same wall inside the Florida room which should help. Then we’ll move the electric heater to the master bath and put it on that wall and if we can get the toilet to unfreeze, I’ll stick a toothpick under the flapper so it runs continuously. 🤞
Only Shy was on the porch today. One of the cats got a bird. I found feathers in the “tent” I’d made, though the snow blew into it. I’ve rearranged things, including some of the food dishes in case the others make it here. Things are consolidated out of the snow and all the beds huddled under a “tent” around the cat house. We’ll see. Worried about them, especially given tonight’s forecast! Gotta put snow boots on once the sun is fully up to clean off a space on the patio and refill squirrel and bird feeders, clearing off the snow that accumulated on them.
Stay warm! It’s brutal out there!! And totally crazy. I’d like to make all those “global WARMING” people stand out in my driveway for 30 minutes. Which is just long enough for frostbite and the beginnings of hypothermia. 😝