Winter Wonderland or Siberian Labor Camp?

I had big plans for the weekend. My quilts and napkins were for sale at a holiday boutique.  I was hoping to stop in at the monthly Quilt-in to do some hand sewing. Bags were cut out and ready to sew.  Mother Nature had other ideas, though. Namely, a massive snow storm that left 17.2" of snow on the ground.

High winds caused drifting and packed the snow which made it very hard to clear off sidewalks and driveways - let alone streets.  Our city was brought to a standstill. Cars were stuck everywhere. Some people just gave up and left their vehicles in the middle of the street!

It took over an hour for this guy to get his car out of the middle of the street. He parked it in the wrong direction and left it. One of many.

I bet I shoveled for at least 4 hours this weekend plus about another 2-3 hours for my husband. The sad thing is, we're still not done as the mini van remains covered.

The kids had a blast playing outside, though. And now our backyard (which was previously flat as a pancake) has multiple sledding hills!  And I must admit that I enjoyed helping people push their cars out of our snow-packed intersection.

School was canceled today which never happens in Minneapolis/Minnesota, especially for a storm that stopped on Saturday night. Maybe I'll put the kids to work shoveling...