Sunday, February 9, 2014

Normally I love snow storms, and Wednesday morning was no exception.  Nathan knew about the upcoming storm and made arrangements to work from home, so he was home and safe.  The snow was coming down hard and fast--so beautiful!  Everything at home was calm and quiet. 

And then, things started to bug me.  I don't know when it began or what started me off, but very soon everything was irritating me and building.  Elisabeth seemed to need a new diaper every 30 mins.  I must have swept that kitchen floor 3 or 4 times before noon and don't get me started on the number of times I wiped off the table.  (Fresh oranges can be a wonderful thing and I am truly glad my kids like fruit, but on Wednesday afternoon I just wanted to fling the whole bowl of them out in the snow, and I would have enjoyed it.)  Then there was my 12-year-old curmudgeon who argued with every single thing I asked him to do.  And then the kids were a little put-off by having Daddy home, but not available for play.  I froze shoveling and then had to come in to unclog the toilet and clean up the bathroom floor.  Lil'Nathan was making dinner (HA!) and oh, what a mess!  He wasn't sure why the muffins were still soupy after 30 mins of baking and they only boiled over a little and so what if he forgot the potatoes?  Muffins and hot chocolate were a good enough dinner--they were solid (again, "HA!") muffins.  I think I threw something and stifled a scream.

I went out to Nathan and asked him to please hurry and finish, I had to leave.  I looked at the snow still falling and the soupy roads and realized I was stuck there. Nathan came in and I went upstairs and hid in my dark room until everyone was in bed.  I was dreaming of the things I could have done and the places I could have gone if the weather were good.  (Though if the weather were good, Nathan still wouldn't have been home, so I would have been really stuck.)  After I emerged, I washed dishes, ate some pudding, and felt like I could hold a conversation without screaming, which was a huge improvement over the previous few hours.

I was all better on Thursday, even chasing Charlie and Elisabeth as a tickle monster and totally not caring if the floor was a mess in the kitchen. I didn't sweep it at all that whole day.  Not until after dinner.  I also cut off the kids' computer time.  No more online classes each day.  We're going to a different system--now they must earn  their time (by completing everything else on time) and can only redeem it on Fridays, when they can use it for their classes.  Ahhh, huge stressor gone.

Thursday was also a day of adventure.  We started the morning by driving over to Raymond, NH (25 miles or so) to pay a tow truck driver so Daddy could get to work.  Nathan had hit black ice and spun into an embankment.  He valiantly tried to dig himself out (with no shovel), but he'd high centered... and killed his battery.  The tow guy only took cash, so Nathan was stuck at his station waiting for rescue from his rescue.

Later in the day, we thought Joseph might have broken his toe. It was twice as large as this before the swelling went down. He was making a mad dash from the piano to the kitchen when he heard me open the crackers.  He got stopped by the fireplace.  We tried to split it, but it was useless, too small.  And also, as it turned out, not broken.  He was running around within an hour.


 We got a pep-talk email from our realtor last night.  He said to hang in there and hopefully our buyer will show up soon.  No one likes to look for homes in snowy, cold weather.  I'm hoping we can be out of here by Charlie's birthday.  It will keep a tradition.  He's never celebrated 2 birthdays in a row in the same place.  (Born in MA, 1 in FL, 2 in MA, 3 in FL, 4 in NH?)

Here is Lil'Bit.  Mary rocked her to sleep on Thurs, or maybe it was Fri.  So sweet. She does love her baby.



We made cookies on Friday.  One day I will learn not eat so much cookie dough.  Only chocolate chip dough tempts me.  And I always eat enough to make myself ill.  Did it again.  We made molasses cookies, too.  (Surprisingly, those were Charlie's favorite, he called them "the yummy ginger ones.")  The kids spent most of the day on Fri outside, so it was just Elisabeth next to me asking, very exuberantly, for "a piece? juss one?" when she saw the bag of chocolate chips.  "juss one?" Yeah, right.  She's got my genes and had to be removed from the kitchen to keep any chips in the cookies!  :)


2 comments:

jrgile said...

Lisa, thank you so much for your blog, every entry is precious to us. We miss you all so much. Very sorry for Joseph's toe and especially sorry we couldn't be there to help out with your meltdown. I like your quote about who is jail with you ... you REALLY have the spirit of adventure!!!
Dad

soupercook said...

Our prayers are with you guys....love you all