Astrid

Today was my first snow of the season. I realize it snowed several times while we were gone; however, I'm not in the least bit sad to have missed it. Not seeing falling snow until November is just fine with me.

But whenever it is that you see your first snow since the previous spring, it's worth talking about. I was sitting in my room at my desk, and a few little pinpricks of white swirled in the air. Just a few. I thought maybe my eyes were making things up (wouldn't be the first time). But an hour later there was legit snow. Tiny flakes being pushed in sheets to the ground. Kind of harsh looking. Then it changed to a wettish snow. Next, my favorite (of course): big, puffy, lazy flakes. Finally, the grand finale: hail. Or maybe it was sleet. I couldn't decide. Yes, it was probably sleet. If I remember correctly dad said hail is for summer, sleet is for winter. The point is, in the space of an hour we had every type of snow you can get in this part of the world. Twice, Sanna ran all the way up from the dining room entrance to my loft, showing off snowballs that had half melted in her hand on the trip up. That was cute. Sometimes, I think she acts so young for being 7, but really I'm glad she's a baby. The pouting and tears and frustration are worth her little girl wonder, and sweetness, and cuddly-ness. And really, if you were the youngest of 6 wouldn't you act like a baby too? Yes, you would.

Speaking of things that your eyes make up...at lunch I stood peering into the refrigerator, and asked mom when in the world we would get raw milk again. Because I hadn't had any since leaving for the vacay. I closed the fridge, and discontentedly poured into my glass the thin, pasteurized whiteness, the calcium and vitamin D of which would not be absorbed by my body thanks to homogenization. At which point mom said, "Mattea, we have raw milk. It's right there in its jar next to the carton you just grabbed." Me: "Oh. Oops. Wow."

The point of the above is not my affinity for raw milk (just think of it as a hidden agenda, since that is really what it is). The point is that I was getting stuff out of a fridge!!! After two months of being fridgeless, and running over to the pantry to get cold things (or, if you are lazy like me, just forgoing eating cold stuff at all), dad found a fridge on Craig's List last Friday. For only $500. Killer deal right? Especially because it's a Viking. There's a single door on top, and then the freezer is a pull-out drawer below. And it is RED!! But sort of burgundy red, so it matches the blue tile quite nicely. We would have gone with stainless steal usually, but hey, when you find a $7500 fridge for $500, you don't care what color it is. The downside was that it was 6 hours away. Mom and dad went out to get it Saturday. I was only half convinced that they'd meet up with a fridge and not a gun...cause I buy into Craig's list horror stories. But what do you know, they got back safely with the fridge at 10:00 that night. And of course dad wanted to unload it and get it into the house right away. 500lb fridge with just dad, Isaac, me and Maryah? I'll leave it up to your imagination to figure out how we got it in. Let's just say that if we ever have to do that again, I'm going on strike and calling the neighbors.

Anyway, I'm quite happy to have a refrigerator again. Her name is Astrid.

P.S. If you don't see me for a while it's because I'm moving to the Cartwheel Galaxy.