I finally got out to the car and went grocery shopping [View all]

We've been stuck in the house for nearly a week. There's ice over about 7 inches of solidly frozen snow. I had to actually crawl on hands and knees to get from the front steps to the lawn to the street.

Later we found some pet-safe ice melter in the garage. The stuff damages concrete, but I sprinkled a path over the lawn and it seems to be easier to walk on now

The water pipes froze Thursday night. They burst into a 6-foot-high geyser after we set up a heater in the garage to thaw them. DH turned the shutoff valve, but the pipe beyond it was leaking heavily. Called a plumber, who found 5 breaks in the line and fixed them. Then he found the water meter was leaking, and pleaded with the water company to send someone over. They put in a temporary bypass so we'd still have water, but I think they have to replace the meter whenever they can get back here. And the plumbing bill -- I don't even want to think about it.

The forecast says we might get up to 33 degrees on Monday. I can't remember when we last had a cold spell this bad in central NJ. Last winter there was hardly any snow.

The groundhogs had better predict an early spring.