Well, it rained all night and now it's snowing; I don't think I'm going to be going anywhere for a while. The forecast said one to three inches, and I'd say we already have at least one, with no sign of it stopping any time soon. Hot cocoa, anyone? Chocolate raspberry truffle cocoa okay with you?

Last night, Jevim finally let on how much his going home to be with his family is bugging him. He gave me another little glimpse into what his dad is like, and I'm slowly starting to understand. From one thing he said, it seems his dad is the kind of man who was taught that it's 'unmanly' to show emotion. Jevim said his dad was staying with him one time while he was co-oping, since he had business nearby, and one night broke down and said all sorts of emotional things about how he'd tried to provide for him and his sister, and on and on, and then when all was said and done, he went back to the same old self. So I kinda get the picture of what's going on, and I'm very glad that Jevim isn't like that. To be honest, I'm the one who hides her feelings more. But I'm getting better.

We must have talked on the phone over an hour last night... his bill, not mine, but he called much earlier than usual, and went to sleep a bit early, as well. Me, of course, I wound up staying up late. Very late.

At first, I thought I'd read a bit more of "Otherland" and go to sleep... well, I read from about 10:30 to 11:45 and I was tempted to just stay up and finish the book, since I had less than 100 pages to go, and it's definitely getting to be a page-turner. But I wanted to be up to chat with Jevim this morning, since he'll be driving home this afternoon, so I put the book down and tried to go to sleep. That's when it hit me.

Jevim had said something a couple days ago about how it would be sixteen months until he was finished with school, and I started thinking, can we go that long without seeing each other? I laid there and thought about all the little things I miss... being able to curl up behind him and wrap my arms around him to go to sleep, and a million other little things, and I started to cry quietly.

I cried off and on until I realized I wasn't going to get to sleep feeling like I did, so at about 12:30, I got up and hopped online and chatted with some friends for a while. I stayed up til about 1:30 or maybe later, and that's when my cat started pestering Mom and she started yelling for me to call the cat in here. I figured if I went to sleep, the cat would too, and so I said goodbye and went back to bed.

I did sleep, but my sleep was full of unpleasant dreams, and I woke up before the alarm and hopped online. I didn't want to bring Jevim's mood down, so I simply didn't say anything about last night, or the dreams... just chatted a bit until it was time for him to go. He said he'd call me before he left work, and that should be any time now. Then he'll go home, pack up his computer and maybe some other things, and set out for West Virginia. I checked out the weather there, and fortunately it looks much better than what we have. No snow forecast for them until Friday.

It was still raining when I went back to sleep this morning, but now the snowflakes are getting fat and fluffy, so it must be getting colder out there. I'm glad Mom said we wouldn't be going to rent videos after all, as my body really hates the cold. This isn't the first time it has snowed here this winter, but the first time I've seen it snow; there was still snow on the ground from an earlier fall when I got back from Maryland, but it finally all melted away this past week.

There's a great big (at least 30 feet tall) pine-type tree out in our backyard by the shed that I can see from my window here, and the tops of the needle-covered branches are all frosted with snow... picture perfect, if you don't look at the little shed hiding underneath. I think I could sit and stare at the snow for hours, sometimes. I don't remember really seeing a heavy snow falling until I moved back here four years ago. Yeah, I could live without the cold, and without the necessity of all the shoveling and salting that must be done to keep people moving outside, but still, it's pretty to see that blanket of pure white laying on everything.

My cat is napping up on my monitor... she likes staying near the heat registers or under my covers, or up on the monitor when it's cold. I, on the other hand, am wearing flannel jammies and am a little too warm. But too lazy to get dressed, since Connie won't be coming up today. Hmm, I wonder if she's gonna be stuck at her parents' for a while, since the bad weather was supposed to extend down to their place, too.

I suppose I should be productive today... still need to finish the cross-stitch for mom... but for now I'm going to go find something to eat, and finish that darn book. TTYL...