snow days.

Last Saturday, I left the house overdressed. It wasn't the appearance of my attire. I wasn't donning a formal on my way to work. I was simply wearing too many articles of clothing. Saturday the twenty-ninth of January reached nearly seventy degrees. Almost forty-eight hours after this phenomenal heat wave, my roommate and I marveled at the sound of thunder that coincided with the sleet and wintry mix hitting our windows. Oh, and lightening too. Forty-eight hours after that, there's nearly thirteen inches of snow on the ground, snow days for most, and the option to leave revolves around how far we're willing to walk. Prior to the brunt of the blizzard, I heard tales of the grocery store. People were buying the necessities up in mass. I was not.

I am notorious for not shopping. The past few years I have dealt with the grocery store the way I deal with dirty unnecessary articles of clothing that sit at the bottom of the pile for a record amount of time. It's not a place I frequent. The refrigerator of my last apartment held little more than a bottle of ketchup and half-full to-go containers. Beginning this thirty-day experiment meant this grocery store behavior was not an option. The reason I wasn't at the grocery store preparing for the worst like all the other citizens of this frazzled city was because I had already been. Necessities had been purchased days prior, in split trips, the first of which was overwhelming.

I was on a limited budget, the things I was buying weren't on sale, and because of the budget, I would have to make the things I was purchasing stretch far. Really far. I would find something, add the price to my running total, refer to my list, pick up something that would make it through more meals that was less money, and then take a walk back to return the previously chosen items to their respective homes. Corn tortillas didn't make it into the cart, though they tried. Yellow peppers were there, but at least one didn't make it to the end. Cauliflower was shot down by the broccoli, and almond milk was rejected because of the not so nutty rice milk's cheaper price tag. When the storm hit and against all odds based on years of previous behavior, I was prepared.

The past few days in the little apartment on top of the hill have been an inexpensive effortless and disaster filled blast. I found a recipe online for pancakes made from egg whites and oatmeal, which I tweaked with frozen berries and nuts; My roommate partook and was thoroughly impressed. They were topped with pureed berries and banana, oh my. The afternoon held veggie chili topped with avocado instead of cheese. And then, in worst timing fashion in thirty years based on the record setting amount of snow that permeated the long and exhilarating walk that got us out of our apartment in the first place, we returned to find that our keys were locked inside. This led to cinnamon tea consumed in the apartment of a neighbor, while her zealous husband tried fervently to break us into our own home. After an hour long failed attempt, we switched to plan number two, which involved a new friend, his four wheel drive silver engine that could, and twelve years of snow driving experience accumulated from life lived in Colorado. He took us to south Tulsa to the home of our landlord, and we left with a bag of mangled mismatched keys and the hope that ours was somewhere inside.

The little silver key that could was in the little brown bag of mystery, and after an intended hour long walk that turned into a nearly five hour adventure, we were back in our cozy home, laughing at the humorous diversion caused by the subconscious action of turning a lock on the only access into the only place we really wanted to be.

the surprisingly delicious oatmeal pancakes. ingredients: oatmeal, egg white, splash of rice milk, almonds, blueberries, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

chili cooking. I put sweet potatoes in there on a whim. success.

three way chili consumed before our long locked out adventure. It got me through the afternoon!