Last week was grueling. Well, OK, maybe “grueling” is a strong word. I didn’t plow any fields or anything. It was tiring, though. It snowed here again and B’s work was canceled for almost the entire week because the roads by his school 40 minutes away were so sketch. We couldn’t get out much because the roads close to where we live weren’t in great shape either, and even if we had ventured from our home, everything worth doing was closed.
Three people – one a toddler – in an apartment. All. Week. Long.
You kind of start understanding why people make such a big deal out of cabin fever.
Oh, hello, Idealism. Didn’t see you there.
I didn’t realize that I’d lost hold of some of my marbles until the only trace of them was the dust cloud they whipped up on their way out. It was all well and good to see C experience snow that first day, peeking around the corners for hidden snowmen like the one from the beloved short film. But those precious moments don’t last. You eventually find that your adorable snow bunny is, in actuality, a tiny human climbing the walls and insisting that she doesn’t need an extra nap even though her nose is running like a faucet and she has a low grade temperature.
Baby knows best.
Right.
Our apartment felt especially small as she discovered that dumping out the contents of every single drawer, basket, and receptacle of any sort was a fine way to pass the time. I followed her around in a manic frenzy because, honestly, tidying her messes was something to do. B looked at me like a was a lunatic for being so fastidious about clearing the debris she left in her two-year-old wake, but the kind of crazy that cleans up after a toddler is a cabin-fever crazy.
It’s no coincidence that Jack looks a lot like my Gravatar here. The Shining, Warner Bros.
I finally had to get out of the house at some point because I was afraid I might lose it, so when either B or C – I’m not sure which – mentioned that we should make cookies for the snowman (aaaaaaw!), I put on a brave face and said I would venture out to the dreaded Walmart for cookie supplies. Dear lord, that was its own punishment. Every single other toothless soul in a 50-mile radius had had the same idea, and the lines in there reached all the way to the back of the store. I have been driven to do a lot of things out of desperation in my life, but going to Walmart in search of cookie supplies when the rest of the world was there too was by far the most frightening. Even in my state of shell shock, I knew to leave immediately rather than risk life and limb over chocolate chips.
The good thing, though, is that the melt was on by Saturday. My arches aren’t as sore this week since I don’t have to wear my snow boots. On Sunday we were able to get out and enjoy the balmy 40 degree temps that we had almost forgotten exist. In a way, it’s worth it to be snowed in for a week when you see the sun and the grass again. It’s all the more gracious.
Now you know the real reason I wrote this post. Smiling baby for daaaaaays.
♥
I’m linking up again with Meredith at Perfection Pending again this week!
The Waiting 
If we get even the smallest amount of snow here in the UK the whole country shuts down for a day or two, giving most of us a day off and providing us with the novelty of building a snowman that is likely to disappear by the next day. Goodness knows what would happen if we had the amount you guys have received!
Great post, as always, and the pic made me smile.
I don’t know why I had it in my brain that you folks in the UK were more prepared for this kind of weather than we southern Americans are! I guess this is all the more reason to come visit your lovely country and get to know it better ;D
The best about the snowmen is that everyone runs out and builds them with the scant amount of snow they have on their lawns, so that by the time they’re through, the poor snowman is just standing in the middle of a plot of dead grass. How lovely.
Thanks, Suzie! I appreciate you taking the time to read!
The Food Lion was jealous you went to Walmart – and Harris Tetter told me you’ve now been banned.
:)
I ended up going to Food Loin. (And how sad is it that I only really shop at Harris Teeter the week of my birthday? It’s the little things, I tell yous.
The Teeter loves you when you get a year older :)
It loves me because I buy all the things it contains.
and that too… it loves it when you stimulate the economy in its aisles.
BUT YOU CAN GET A FREE COOKIE AND LE BREA BREAD SAMPLES!
Um….OK!
:) great post!!!
Fanks!
So, in other words, maybe waiting out the snow days IS the hardest part? ;)
I see what you did there. ;D
I suspected you might. :)
Snow ain’t always so bad, is it?
I like it better when it is melted down, filtered, and used to make coffee.
SUNSHINE!!!
It was 70 degrees today! Happiness!
This has been some winter for you and my friends up North, Em! Memphis has had it pretty rough too. My sister was saying if she didn’t get some sun soon she was going to lose it (this, last week). I think everyone is having a warm spell and hopefully it’s the last of the white stuff. We are supposed to hit 78 here on Thursday. Sorry. But oh boy, those summers–hot, hot, hot. Humid. You know what I mean.
(P.S. Cee is a doll-baby).
There’s a poem I memorized when I was in elementary school, Brig, and I bet you know it:
As a rule, Man’s a fool
When it’s hot he wants it cool
When it’s cool he wants it hot
Always wanting what is not
This is the story of my life. ;D
This has been the snowiest winter in NYC in years, Emily, but having to endure it with a wall-climbing toddler and housebound mate would exacerbate the pain. At least you don’t have an unhappy slobbering hound that needs walking. The dogs I see being walked here in NYC through the snow and slush look as grim as their owners.
I don’t doubt it at all. My mom kept joking with me that she was going to send her little yip-yip dog to stay at my apartment during the snow because I didn’t have enough going on already. She thought it was a lot funnier than I did.
all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
I was thisclose to using an image of that in this post ;D
I too, referenced Jack in The Shining; I think it was in a comment to DJMatt. Cabin fever to the nth degree.
I remember buying tons of baskets and filling them with junk from the dollar store. Just so Little Dude could empty them and refill them and empty them and refill them –
They love that. I’ve no idea why.
I wish at 10 he would just sit upstairs and pull everything out of his drawers to entertain himself while we were snowed in all week. *sigh*
xo,
S
C is JUST getting to the age where she kind of likes unloading baskets and drawers and then filling them back up. Today I basically let her loose in one of our oft-neglected closets just so she could explore for awhile. She had a good time, and when she was done I got to play closet Tetris, getting all the boxes back where they fit. Good times ;D
Ha ha. Grass.
Oh, you ;D
It’s snowing this morning, but they’re calling for warm temps later this week.
One day may even clear 50! (Haven’t decided if I’m calling in sick for that…)
You should sooo call in sick and go get margaritas.
Thanks for linking up! It means the world to me. :) I’ve had sick kids, so we’ve kind of been stuck at home for like 2 weeks. It’s torture!! And, I have also been fantasizing about organizing my entire house which is dangerous and could lead to expensive purchases and irrational trips to home improvement stores. :)
My pleasure! I wish I could find the time to link up with you every week! I certainly have enough to complain about ;D
I played closet Tetris today, just trying to organize everything. This is what the mind does when it is quarantined for too long.
ha! Tetris isn’t as fun as an adult is it?
I hear you. Our story: Circa 1997, Montana prairie, minus 35 degrees (on thermometer, not windchill) 6 crazy young children, 1 tired and frazzled mom. Nearest civilization was an unattainably blizzarding twelve miles away. Nearest Wal Mart was sixty miles away. Went on for days. My marbles ran out the door and into the drifting snow, leaving me with mush for sanity. No one died, but I wanted to. Except for the nervous tic, I’m okay now. I love, love your writing, Emily!
I think I developed a slight tick just reading about that, Willow. I honestly don’t know how people do it with more than one child, as the one I have seriously makes me question my grasp on sanity.
That said, have you heard about this book that recently came out titled All Joy and No Fun? I think you’d like it ;D
Snow could last all year long and I would be completely fine. But if they beget power outages, there’s some serious trouble.
No joke. My husband was really afraid we’d lose power. We never did, and I am pretty sure he willed it.
Oh, that sun after the snow is over is the BEST. FEELING. EVER. We recently warmed up to a balmy just-above-freezing after months and months and months of snow and very cold temperatures and I feel like all life is possible again.
You guys should go lay out and get your tan on. That’s what people in Chicago would do in the spring when it heated up to 42 degrees.
I’m glad you survived it. Portland had its own snow last week and everyone freaked out and everything shut down. B and I walked to the movie theater in snow boots and bibs – kinda fun!
That does sound like a lot of fun! What did you see?
Monuments Men, fer mah b-day.
The one and ONLY time I ever babysat in high school, it was for a 2-year-old who I could not convince to stop pulling books off a low shelf. Over. And over. And over. And I never babysat again. One and done! (And now I want babies. Ayayay.)
Also, Ems, I’m a little sad your name doesn’t begin with “A.” A, B, and C would just be too cute.
She does that ALL THE TIME. I finally had to take pretty much all the books off the lower shelves because it drove me so crazy. I never knew I was so anal retentive until I had a kid.
If we ever had another one, we will for sure have to give it an A name so we could do the ABC thing. And then we’d have to have another so it can have a D name, thus bridging the C and the E. I don’t like where this is going… ;D
Today I caught my three year old talking to the fish. It’s definitely time to get out of the house!
Hahahahaa! I love that!
Oh my gosh! I could not stop laughing and scrolling between your Gravatar and that picture of Jack. Brilliant! (and a little freaky, if truth be told).
I am glad you all made it through the ordeal alive and without cracking up (too much). :-)
I didn’t realize the resemblance until I was editing the post, and by then it was just too spooky not to point out. I hope you can wipe that image from your mind! Thanks, Shoes!
We finally got out of the house yesterday and drove K’s mini cooper around the cul-de-sac. It was the most blissful 30 minutes EVA.
That sounds like a lot of fun!
I am so very done with with winter. It’s a sea of white up here. At least with a teenager, she stays in bed or in her room all day only to surface for food or a shower. See? There is hope.
That sounds truly wonderful. The fact that you don’t have to bathe her, I mean.
Yes but then you can’t put her in comfy Jammie’s, wrap yourselves in a big blanket, smell her beautiful hair and squeeze the heck out of her.
I know the feeling… working on four months now… :) No, really I love winter, except when the kids are sick (NOW!) and nobody wants to go play outside (like when it’s -30) we can usually mange to get out and play. Today was 40, nobody wore a jacket! :) But that warmth in the air means the mud months are coming – those are the ones I dread!
You probably don’t want to hear that we are dying for a snow day! It’s been nearly 3 years… but oh, how grateful I was to leave all the bundling kids up for snow behind, when we moved here. The grass is always greener… under the snow, or where it rains a lot. Guess we both score on that one. ;-)
Can you believe I enjoyed 80 degree temps this past weekend? Sorry!! Our punishment is that we have a drought. It’s so weird how vastly different it is for you and so many others, Emily! That smile is worth everything though! I would have have escaped Walmart, too. That sounds crazy!
I can’t hardly stand getting stuck in a house by myself. Cheers to you, mom!!
We went to the mall playground on our third snowday and I felt the same sense of panic. It’s like being stuck in an elevator full of monkeys and rats and screaming hyenas. Charlee felt the same way and we left after about ten minutes, only to get stuck in the parking lot. Did I mention I hate winter?