BRRRR!!!

Mother Nature has been working hard to prove to us that it is indeed winter! Over the past week we received about a foot of snow, followed by bitterly cold temperatures. Yesterday it dipped down to -20 degrees with a windchill of -40!! Needless to say, the girls have not spent much time playing in the lovely snow outside. In fact, Matt hasn't had school the last three days because of the weather...he still went anyway, but they did cancel.

We tried to take precautions with our home to prepare for the extra-cold temperatures, but did run into one minor problem. When I tried to run the dishwasher yesterday morning, it didn't sound right. Turned out, there was no water going into it. We assumed that most likely the water pipe to it had frozen. When Matt got home that evening, he pulled the dishwasher out and found a little surprise. (Warning: this is where it starts to get gross!) On the inside cabinet wall where the side of the dishwasher sits, was a dead mouse---Eeeeeew. Looks like he found a warm spot to hang out and it got a little TOO warm for him. Yuck! He was stuck to the wall and my wonderful husband (thanks dear!) who is not fond of rodents either, scraped the little guy off. THAT explains the funky smell I had recently been smelling near the dishwasher! I couldn't figure it out--the inside of the dishwasher didn't smell, but it seemed to be coming from that general area. I tried a vinegar wash in the dishwasher, which didn't seem to do the trick, and now I know why! Anyway, we used a heater fan on the water pipe and got it flowing again...and more importantly, the dishwashwer washing again. Sorry, I bet most of you could have lived without that story...but I just wanted to share our adventure with you :) You're welcome.