Delaware As The Frozen Tundra

Greetings from the frozen tundra of Delaware! I sincerely hope you're keeping warm if you're in the middle of this freezing weather.

January was quite the month - my future son-in-law was in a terrible car accident and has been in ICU healing amidst the multiple surgeries he's had to have. A genuine nightmare situation but I think we're past the worst of it and, as I write this on February 2nd, we've got one more surgery to get through and then on to the recovery/rehabilitation stage.  Thank God.  

Then there is the weather situation.
A massive snowstorm came through the east coast on 1/25. We went up to NJ to stay with my daughter so she wasn't alone through it since her fiance is in the hospital. 
I don't usually mind snow too much. I like when it snows a couple of inches, just enough to make things pretty. 
This was not that kind of snowstorm.
It wasn't the pretty kind, it was the scary kind.  For one, it was bitter cold. For two, it snowed heavily and then changed to freezing rain.  Hours of freezing rain.  My anxiety went through the roof because I'm severely claustrophobic and being stuck in an apartment with no chance of leaving badly triggers my need to escape.  For example, I once left the house and drove off in the middle of a tornado on the ground very close by because I was afraid of the house being hit and getting trapped inside.  I am aware of how foolish that was. Phobias mean the absence of logical thinking. 

Also during the snowstorm, I was terrified of losing power which we luckily did not.
Do you know what really helped to distract me and keep my mind busy during the storm?  Crossword puzzles. I had purchased this book of crossword puzzles recently because I'm very seriously taking steps to regain my attention span while also lessening my exposure to social media and all the ills that come with that.  The crossword puzzles really work well as anxiety tamers.  Reading, too. I've read more books in the past couple of months than I've read in the past couple of years.  My attention span is very close to being back to what is was pre-internet, I'm happy to say.

My daughter Sherb's apartment is just one bedroom with no real room for three people to sleep plus we had Luna with us and we didn't know how she was going to get along with Sherb's cat, so we got a hotel room for a couple of nights. Her apartment complex doesn't allow dogs so that was another consideration.  Getting a hotel room was mostly with the idea that it was there for us if we wound up needing it.  Now I haven't stayed in a hotel in a long time because they skeeve me (it's why we bought the RV) but I've been trying to get over that so this was the perfect opportunity.  The hotel room was clean which was a huge relief but extremely bland with a 'corporate conference room' kinda feel to it - no carpeting, just laminate floors - but it was acceptable especially in the middle of a major snowstorm. Well, within about 20 minutes of being in the room my eyes started getting an extremely gritty feel and my voice got really raspy.  It was a pet-friendly room and I was having an allergic reaction to whatever dander was in the room!  Luna, a yorkiepoo, is what is considered a hypo-allergenic breed so she gives me no problems but regular dogs do (I developed a dog/cat allergy when I was in my 40s!). No chance of me staying in that hotel room so it was off to Sherb's couch for me.  Thankfully she only has one cat and while I did get a little allergy-ish in her apartment, it wasn't as bad as the hotel room.  Going forward, I have no idea how I'm going to be able to stay in a hotel with Luna if I'm reacting to the dander in the room.  Did they just not clean it properly?  Do they sell allergy spray that might help?  I'll just have to give it another try at a different hotel soon.

The day after the snowstorm (1/26) JP needed to get to work by noon which meant getting me home first.
Delaware had a Level II driving restriction in place which meant only essential workers allowed on the roads. We risked it and headed for home from West Deptford NJ to Harrington DE, a trip of about 90 miles.  The roads were actually mostly fine and there were other cars on the roads so we weren't the only ones out there.  (JP is technically considered essential because he runs the service department at a car dealership and if people break down they have to be open and available to handle problems, including the repair of police cars, Amazon vehicles, etc.)

Days later and here we are, amidst a frozen landscape. The snow that covers the ground everywhere is topped with a solid coat of ice, the likes of which I don't remember ever experiencing in recent memory here in the mid-Atlantic. 
The temperatures have been arctic for what seems like weeks. This is not the kind of winter we've been used to.  I can't imagine when all of this will finally melt. 

While we were in NJ for the snowstorm, our neighbors graciously kept an eye on our house but even more than that, he plowed our entire driveway before it completely froze.  If he had not done that we would have been in big trouble as the snow is not plowable right now.  It's just six inches of hard ice stuck to the ground.   We gave the kind neighbors a gift bag filled with pasta, sauce, chocolate and wine as a thank you.  He said it was unnecessary but we completely disagree. Saying 'thanks so much' was just not enough for the favor he provided. It's heartening to know that good neighbors still exist. 

Boring post, I know.  I just wanted to document what's been going on recently.
My creativity/whimsy/enthusiasm has been completely MIA but I'm committed to regaining those things and getting back to my usual self.   This has been the hardest winter I believe I've ever experienced and the subzero temps have ruined me mentally and physically.  Pain level has been the worst it's ever been in my life which is affecting my spirit immeasurably.

Warmer weather - at least above freezing - will help all of this.  Hopefully it's coming soon.