Ice-pocalypse and Earthquake

For anyone who knows the South, they know that every few years we get a snow that will shut down the state for a day or so. However, having [b]two[/b] storms in one winter is pretty much unheard of, even for Georgia's crazy weather.

Like the previous storm, people knew in advance that it was coming. But this one was predicted to be different: more ice, less snow. A day in advance, the governor declared a state of emergency, and people began stocking up early. On Tuesday the rain would start to fall (the temps were in the mid 30's) but was more like sleet. GGC closed down early, and people quickly hunkered down. On Wednesday, we had a mixture of ice, show, and rain all day. Everything was white, but it was mostly frozen ice. So no snowman or snowball fights this time (though further north there was more snow). Still, Wednesday we were content to sit at home and relax. We had a surprise visit from Ben's former roommate John, who walked a few miles, and we spent the afternoon playing Monopoly with him before he returned home before the weather turned worse. Thursday, the roads were still icy, so we stayed home again. However, because things were beginning to melt, Ben and Mandy did venture out to get some buns for hot dogs (the store shelves were pretty empty. They ended up buying sandwich rolls instead). That night, a few of us tried to use Seth's boogie board to try sledding/ snow-boarding, with some funny results (thankfully no one was hurt). By Friday, the roads were largely clear, so we were able to leave the house. School, much to my surprise, was closed again, so I pretty much only had one day of school that week (and our schedule was thrown off-kilter again... for the second time).

We're thankful that this time people knew to stay off the roads, so there wasn't another transportation disaster like last month. We're also thankful that we didn't lose our power or that the ice didn't cause a lot of damage (ice around here can be very dangerous). Also, we are thankful that we had enough food to last us most of the week without us going out. We had enough for the six of us (and for John for one afternoon), and Mandy even made gluten-free cupcakes one afternoon (which were eagerly devoured by everyone. They were delicious!). Also, even though we were squeezed, Mandy and Ben spent most of the week at our house because of the roads, and we weren't sick of each other by Friday (when they went home); I guess it's because we're used to living in small quarters anyway, but I'm thankful that things went so smoothly.

On Friday, we had a surprise. Mom, Dad, and myself were sitting in the living room and watching a movie (technically I was on my laptop with my headphones on, occasionally glancing up at the screen because I'd seen the film before) while Seth was in his room. Around 10:23, Seth saw that his bed was shaking like crazy while the rest of us did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Within two minutes, people on facebook were talking about feeling an earthquake. The quake was a 4.4 and came from South Carolina while people as far south as Atlanta could feel it. Not everyone felt the quake, but quite a few people (like Seth and Uncle Josh's family) did notice it. Mom and I are bummed that we did not feel it, as such things aren't overly common in Georgia (even though we do have a faultline running through half of the state and which runs not terribly far from where we live).

So, needless to say, things are rather exciting around here. I must say, there's rarely a dull moment being a Cunningham and living in Georgia :)