Thundersnow

When I drove the 45 minutes to work last night at 7pm for my 12-hour shift, it was sleeting and quickly turning to snow, and lightning and thunder were creating a dazzling show in the sky.  I managed to vroom-vroom my little Hyundai up the ice and snow covered gravel driveway, threw a shovel in the back, and drove s-l-o-w-l-y on the slippery and hazardous roads.  It was a busy night, and when several nurses and aides called out on our floor for night shift, two of the 3-11 nurses volunteered to stay and work double shifts simply to avoid having to attempt to drive home in the blizzard conditions.  By 11pm, there was about 9" of snow on the ground, and people were getting stuck on the roads, driving into ditches, etc.  It was then that I realized how lucky I was to have been scheduled to come in at 7pm... I would not have made it in had I left even an hour later than I did. 

By the time the snow had stopped and I took a break to go shovel out my car, well over a foot of crunchy, heavy snow had fallen over a layer of ice.  It was beautiful, calm, windless, and quiet in the pre-dawn darkness.  And as I fought my way through snow nearly up to my knees, I made a mental note to shop for a decent pair of winter boots once everything starts going on sale.  My little nursing sneakers were soaked by the time my car was clear, shoveled out and moved to a parking space that had been plowed!!

The drive home was hazardous as well, with slush, snow and ice on the smaller back roads that I need to take as I get closer to home.  I shoveled my way into a parking space on the street, shoveled my way down the sidewalk, shoveled out the poor terrified chickens peeking out of the coop door as though they'd woken up on another planet.  I convinced Honeybunch to work from home while the roads continued to be plowed and he's still hacking up some nastiness.  I showered, ate some baked oatmeal, and collapsed my weary self in bed.  I am so grateful to have tonight off from work.

Speaking of baked oatmeal, I'll share the recipe while I'm here.  This is so delicious, filling, and perfect for a quick but wholesome breakfast or late night snack.  The sugar and butter can be cut (I trim both a little bit, but not too much... the level of sweetness is just about right!).  I've been making a tray of this every week when the oven is hot from baking our weekly bread, and the smell of it has had my coworkers drooling and begging for the recipe.

Baked Oatmeal

4.5 cups of rolled oats
1 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 stick of butter, melted
3 eggs, beaten
1.5 cups milk
3 tsp vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the wet ingredients.  Spread in a greased 9x13 pan, and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until baked through and golden brown.  Serve warm.  You can pour milk over it when serving to create a more traditional cereal-ish dish, or leave it in its cake-y form and serve with fresh fruit, jam, or applesauce.