Snow Day (and Living to Tell About It)

Some days, you just don't get coffee until 5:00... in the afternoon. School was closed today, the kids were with me in my shop, I had work to do, and coffee just had to wait. What I finally gulped down in about 5 seconds was a cold cup of ick that had been sitting on my desk for two hours. But it was headache prevention by that time. Taste wasn't an issue worth fussing with by then. Also, I could feel my body slowly melting down into a puddle.

Snow day activities completed today:

• E-learning. Not my favorite; I'd prefer a packet of papers they have to complete, but I'm not in the decider's group for our school.

• Snow fort, snow balls, snow in hair and on backs. Winter isn't complete without a good whack in the back from a snowball. Life with boys is never dull. On a sad note, Kal's favorite stick broke. Well, it didn't just break by itself, somebody, who shall remain unnamed, broke it for him. He's a stick-magnet, and quite a connoisseur of good whacking sticks. He broke just the right portion off a branch from the schoolyard to make the perfect stick. Now, with it being in two pieces, it's only half-perfect.

• Sewing pouches. Kara and her friend like to play in the scrap box at my shop. You never know what cut-off scraps from prom dresses will become. Sometimes I have to stop and rethread a machine for them, but this play is teaching them how to sew, so I'm not stopping them.

• Donuts just for fun. I stopped at Kroger for donuts and milk before going to the shop today. All the good milk was wiped out. Only skim and 1% left. We did find one half-gallon of 2%, so we bought that and took it to the shop today. No refrigerator there yet, so it stayed outside in the cold when we weren't using it. (By the way, does everyone suddenly believe all milk trucks will cease to operate with a little snow on the ground? Why does everyone need milk just because snow is coming?)

• Happy dances when we saw the red stoplight (stop-and-go if you're in Wisconsin) on the school website saying it was closed today. The happy dances were from the kids. My happy dance was more in my head as I suddenly changed gears for the day. Scrap the plan, make a new plan, adjust the margins for having kids with me in the shop, breathe, get everyone out the door 2 hours later than planned, dry the tears of one who had been wronged, scold the one who did the wrong, and dig in to the work while supervising E-learning and settling the fights that popped up.

• Take-and-bake pizza. That was the best I could do after the day I had. Pizza is always good, though, so it was just fine.

• Family helping, mostly happily, using the chore chart I just made. Everyone helped tidy up the house after dinner today. Kal and Kara always seem happier when they are helping the household in some way, doing work they can be proud of. This momma is happier, too!

Now it's time to close out the day. It'll start early tomorrow. 4:00 in the morning is a great time of day. Nobody else is crazy enough to be up, so I get lots of time to myself doing whatever needs to be done.