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What Do Snow, Milk and Bread Have in Common?

By
Real Estate Agent with eXp Realty

What Do Snow, Milk and Bread Have in Common?

Well if you live in Alabama you know that at the first sign of a snowflake, milk and bread will miraculously disappear from grocery store shelves.

Call it the Yankee in me, but in the 28 years that I have lived in Alabama, no one has ever been able to explain the rationale behind stocking up on milk and bread at the first sign of snow.  Bread I can see, but I just don't get the milk thing.

As far as I'm concerned, I can live in a house that doesn't have a kitchen.  That's just how much time I spend in it.  But on this day (today), I felt like cooking so I decided to go grocery shopping.  I had not even looked outside this morning, but when I stepped outside and saw the barely identifiable snow flurries, my first inclination was to turn around and go back in the house because I knew there would be lines in the grocery store that resembled ticket sales of a Rock and Roll reunion concert.

If you know anything about Alabama, you'll know that if the streets were covered in snow at 9:00 a.m., then it's likely that there will be no sign of the fluffy stuff in two or three hours.

Any who there nothing that does the body good better than a good bowl of a chilly on a brisk day like today.  And I don't even need milk and bread to make or enjoy it.

While I jest about the snow, milk and bread, it's the lack of snow that makes me love Alabama even more.

Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)
That's what I am saying Ann .. Avoid the crowd at all cost.
Dec 12, 2010 07:17 AM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)
I Scott right? It's like 1999 all over again and people are preparing a bunker? I remember the generator thing too. You are just too right about all the drama only to have the snow disappear in a few hours.
Dec 12, 2010 07:20 AM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)
Susan I guess a blizzard will do that to you, but '78 was a long time ago.
Dec 12, 2010 07:21 AM
Carla Muss-Jacobs, RETIRED
RETIRED / State License is Inactive - Portland, OR

Here's it's bottled water and toilet paper :-)  Cute read Charita, and thanks for enlightening me, because I did not know that it snowed in the south . . . dumb Yankee that I must be.  And compared to the snows that you must have weathered in Detroit, this post is even funnier!  The same "OMIGOSH it's snowing" occurs here too.  A few inches and they close the school . . . which is laughable to anyone in, oh . . . say, Fargo!  :-)

Dec 12, 2010 07:55 AM
Michelle Francis
Tim Francis Realty LLC - Atlanta, GA
Realtor, Buckhead Atlanta Homes for Sale & Lease

Charita, 

As another southern REALTOR - I KNEW where your blog was going from the title.  Only flurries here, but the stores were packed. Mostly Christmas shopping as far as I could see.

All the best, Michelle

Dec 12, 2010 07:56 AM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)
Carla some southerners still don't realize that we get snow every year so don't feel bad.
Dec 12, 2010 07:59 AM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)
Michelle I kne w the title would be a dead giveaway. It's like a southern code.
Dec 12, 2010 08:00 AM
Karen Winters, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Koenig Rubloff Realty Group - Chicago, IL - Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL

I like Ann Allen's shopping list . . .  snow or no snow  :)

Dec 12, 2010 09:00 AM
Joni Bailey
101 Main St. Realty - Huntsville, TX
Your Huntsville / Lake Livingston Area REALTOR®

AMEN! I am NOT a snow person either. For that matter... it gets too cold in TEXAS for me!! I could live tropical except the islands are too small. 

Dec 12, 2010 10:14 AM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)

Karen I'll have to pass on the chocolate and peanut butter.  After having lost almost 40lbs, I'd be afraid of binging.  Now a glass of wine, I can go for that.

Joni, save one of those fruity drinks with the umbrella in it for me.  I'll join you on that tropical island.

Dec 12, 2010 10:24 AM
Jane Peters
Home Jane Realty - Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles real estate concierge services

81 degrees here today.  I don't think we are in danger of being out of anything.  Oh, maybe suntan oil :)

Jane in L.A.

Dec 12, 2010 10:38 AM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)

Andrew one of the main problems here with the snow is Birmingham is so "hilly."  People live on mountains and unless they want to slide down a hill in their vehicles, it's almost impossible to escape.  But I get what you are saying.  I'd much rather stay in that be on the road with drivers who don't have the know how to navigate in the snow.  Heck I was born and raised in Detroit, and I don't even remember how to navigate in the snow.

Dec 12, 2010 10:40 AM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)

Well Jane, I guess you better stock up on suntan oil.  Although I'm sure it's never in short supply.

Dec 12, 2010 10:52 AM
Diane Rice
Rice Prprty Mgmnt & Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL - Lansing, IL
SFR, SRES, CNC

Hi Charita.  This is tooo funny!  My mother and i were just sharing about this!  Our sister lives in Alabama, and had just called ma about the snow.  What a fuss!  (She of course is originally from Chicago and has adjusted to southern life!)  I understand at times the whole town shuts down... schools, businesses, etc.??

Dec 12, 2010 12:17 PM
Cynthia Larsen
Cotati, CA
Independent Broker In Sonoma County, CA

BDAMB - if it snowed here we would be so dumbfounded we wouldn't know what to do. There would be a line-up at the auto parts store for snow chains as soon as the first snow flake hit the ground ... just in case. I've been in my house for 20 years and I've seen snow on my lawn once. I remember my reaction ... OMG!!!!

Dec 12, 2010 01:27 PM
Sussie Sutton
David Tracy Real Estate - Houston, TX
David Tracy Real Estate for Buyers & Sellers

That's funny...

At the onset of a hurricane....the first thing to disappear off the shelves are water, sheets of plywood, ice, batteries and flashlights!

Dec 12, 2010 01:50 PM
Christine Smith
Buyers Brokers Only LLC - www.BuyersBrokersOnly.com - Canton, MA
Exclusive Buyer Agent & Attorney, Canton, MA

Charita...it is the same thing here & you would think New Englanders would be more hearty than to rush to the store at the first sign of a snowflake!!  I haven't figured it out yet either but they say it all goes back to the Blizzard of 1978 when we were stuck in our homes for days & people were stranded out on the roads. 

Dec 12, 2010 02:40 PM
Alex Morris - Austin Real Estate Agent
Austin, TX

Ha!  You gotta love the south!  When we get ice here, I just check what's on TV, because this town SHUTS DOWN!  We don't get ice in Austin often, but when we do, no one knows what to do, so everyone stays home from work!  Disastrous for the Realtor!

Dec 12, 2010 06:00 PM
Kathryn Maguire
GreatNorfolkHomes.com (757) 560-0881 - Chesapeake, VA
Serving Chesapeake, Norfolk, VA Beach

It is snowing in Chesapeake at this very moment!  And I think I only have two gallons of milk and half a loaf of bread in the house. Luckily, we have lots of toilet paper!

Dec 13, 2010 03:07 AM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)

Diane I can relate to your sister more than most.  Here we enjoy "snow" days as days of vacation or an opportunity to catch up on other things.

Cynthia that's funny about the chains.  But what's even funnier is that no one would know what to do with the chains.

Sussie there is a "must have" list for every occassion.

Christine, Susan (#13) said the same thing about the blizzard of '78.  And yes I would have thought that New England would be among the last to respond in such a manner (generally speaking).

Alex I can see it being disastrous for Realtors® if there is a closing.  Otherwise clients and customers are just as "stuck" and we are.

Kathryn you must have kids in the house or really love milk (hence the 2 gallons). Ah but the toilet paper is another story.

Dec 13, 2010 04:30 AM