Here Comes the Sun

You know, I hate to go on about the weather. I mean, realistically, there's not much you can do about it. And also, this past winter in particular, it was a bit overdone. But I have to put in one final thought I am afraid. And sad as it might be, it must be pointed out that I am putting in this final thought about winter and it is April 6! It did snow yesterday, after all.

A few days ago I received an order in the mail from LLBean. It was this cute skirt that I got a great deal on. A friend of mine obviously got the greet deal too, as she showed up in the same skirt at work, wearing it in much the same way I intended to. It looked great, but that day after work, knowing I had laundry to put away anyways, I played around in my closet a bit, and found a bunch of fun ways to wear it, one of which I wore the next day.

In the process of poking around in my closet, I also found my sweater dress. Yep, my long lost sweater dress that I had NEVER EVEN WORN in an entire winter. In fact I found a bunch of cute dresses and skirts that had just hung there this entire season. Why? I mean, in part it could be blamed on the winter blahs for sure, but really, I think it was the cold. Most days this winter it was too blustery, and too snowy, and too cold to even consider a skirt, even with tights.

Still, a sweater dress? One of those super cozy outfits? If it was too cold for that, it really must have been a polar vortex! No joke!

So all I can say is bring on the dresses. Bring on the skirts. Bring on the sandals and bring on the shorts. We head to Florida in a week, and yeah, our skin will be pasty white and dry. But it is ready for sun like it never has been before. Winter, I will not miss you at all.

Bring on the SUN!

The END

This is all ya get for a second stab at writing in March.
END March, just END, and take all the snow and cold with you.
The END.

Short

Yes, it has been repeated ad nauseam, but let's just mention again how LONG and COLD this winter has been. In a drastic attempt to counter act the long and the cold I have cut my hair. SHORT.

Some people do this to support people who lose their hair to cancer. Others donate their grown out hair for wigs. Well, I just cut it off to cheer myself up. Shallow, I know, but I am thinking it just might have worked. And a happier me is another way of doing something good for the world, just ask my husband!

For the past several weeks I have been in the doldrums, more than usual. The seasonal drag has been strong, and this girl has been struggling. All of my typical cheer up tricks had been failing. Music in the car, or on my iPod, unnecessary shopping, trashy magazines, coconut coffee, wine, the Cymbalta blanket...nothing was cutting it. Then daylight savings hit, and while we gained light in the evening, our mornings got dark again. And dark, COLD mornings make it damn hard for "not a morning girl" to get out of bed.

But today, after school, I walked in for my haircut and color appointment and said "Cut is short." And it feels good. And it is making me think I might have found spring, if not in the air, at least in my step.

"It Was The Best Day EVER!"

Snow day whirling dervish has come and gone. I know I have addressed this phenomenon before. The rush of activity at the end of a languid day. Today was a snow day, full of random possibility, which took on its own beautiful form. Still, with one responsible party of the house off at "real" work, I felt that need, around 3pm, to make it look like we hadn't wiled away the hours the ways we actually did...

-ending season 4 of Gilmore Girls

-finding a frighteningly lost necklace in the cushions of the couch, and having a small cry over the gravity of having lost it in the first place

-texting a friend, which led to the re-reading of a short memoir that has already been lovingly re-read multiple times before

-talking to my brother for over two wonderful hours

-thinking thoughts, having ideas, dreaming dreams

-trying out hair chalk 

-watching Olympic re-runs on NBC-SN and realizing how truly addicted we were/are/were

-baking cookie bars

-making homemade mac n cheese while listening to Lisa Loeb

-debating want vs need as we all updated our amazon wish lists  in the anticipation of upcoming birthday month

-braving the sledding hill again, after crashing on it this weekend

Yep, we can waste time like nobody's business, as I have shared before. But why not? I mean it's all about money and time in this life anyways, n'est pas?  And today we got some time. Not to mention, in some way you could say I made more money being off work today anyways. Being  a salaried employee, in theory a snowday off "ups" my per diem rate does it not? 

Remember the Cadillac ad that ran incessantly during the Olympics, with the guy who does the quick change into the suit, and speaks of good old American "hard work," and the acquisition of stuff? He mentions the whopping "two weeks" of vacation time he gets? Two weeks? I mean how do you even have the time to enjoy your stuff if you only have two weeks off?  I like stuff as much as the next person, but I am completely OK having less stuff, if I can have more time.  I say, take the "August off" instead, maybe even throw in a July, or a snowday here or there. Things still get done, goals and work are accomplished. Even with some leisure time, I think I still am a hard working American, and today I felt like one with a life fully lived, loved, enjoyed. Thank You, for life, for time, for snow.
It WAS the best day ever

EOS

Gwynn is recently obsessive about a lip balm called EOS...Evolution Of Smooth. It got me thinking of our day as it has had a certain EOS to it as well, and that would be Evolution Of Snowday.

Honestly, I'd say the vibe for a snowday started last night. Snow was trucking along all day, eventually canceling afternoon and evening activities, and Gwynn's basketball game as well. There was an after school lull, until just after Tim rolled in the driveway. Then snow kicked up, around 4:30, and it was that snow that just does not stop. 

We progressed with our evening, dinner, homework, and then Tim and Gwynn headed out to check things out. It was a BLIZZARD! Nearly a foot had already fallen, more was coming, but they cleared cars, and blew the drive anyways. Afterwards, all obligations for the evening done, as well as lunches and bags at the ready for the next day, we settled in for some prime time Olympics. The snow wasn't stopping, and honestly, we did stay up a little bit late...was it possible the snow would go all night? I think we all had our hopes. The evening had a serindipidelicious feel to it right to the bitter end.

Then, for me at least, was a night full of dreams.

There was a snowday in my dream.

When I dared to peek out the window in the night, it was clear that the snow was still going.

And at 5:40 or so the call came.

A snowday indeed!

The Evolution of our day began with a blissful feeling that anything was possible, but I have to say that little was accomplished, really, above the norm. And we are here, now, again, finishing dinner and watching the Olympics. But it is with the relaxed feeling of a surprise day off.

I'd say everyone should have a snowday now and again. It's good for the soul.

Q-U-I-E-T

You know, until you are a parent, I don't think you can really appreciate quiet. The blissful sound of nothingness. Of course once you are a parent, of young children at least, there are times that quiet is not a good thing. True quiet usually means someone is up to something and if you don't want a mess of grand proportions you better get up and get investigating. I remember back in the day too, when Tim and I would realize it was quiet, sometimes with the kids right underfoot, we would spell the word to each other, out loud. Q-U-I-E-T. It was a mantra of sorts. I think one of the biggest surprises to both of us as parents was the volume level, and Tim often used to say, "I never knew it would be this loud."

But it is quiet here today, and we are, these days, experiencing quiet of another sort. This quiet is "Woah! Both of them are at after school activities and we have the house all to ourselves!" quiet. And it is good!

Many good things can be said about kid free time you know, but today, we chose to revel in the quiet. Tim is actually asleep right now on the couch and I am quietly typing away. The only sounds are the keys, my thoughts, and the fairly constant blow of forced air heat. No music. No TV. No beeping or buzzing from phones. Just pure, blissful quiet. It will be a short session since, due to the cold, and to the drying nature of said forced air heat, my fingers are a messed up land of cracked winter skin. Then today, my fingers were aggravated even more by the world's worst paper cut, ever, on my right middle finger. Typing is sort of, really, truly, a pain.

But I could not waste this opportunity.
To reset, recharge, regroup.
An opportunity to reflect, on nothing.
A moment to be thankful, for alone together time.
To be thankful for
QUIET.

Whirling Dervish

…and Martin Luther King Jr Day has come again. And we failed to finalize the putting away of Christmas. But alas, many things got in the way. There was, after all, coffee to be drunk, there were instruments to be played, which would be a "task" on a school night, but oddly enough, on a day without structure, were what they should be; things to be played and enjoyed. Laundry was done and groceries were bought, but at the same time magazines were read, and series TV was watched.

In a frantic "what have we REALLY done today, we have a bit of a time table here if we are ever going to eat dinner" frenzy, all four of us just spent the last 30 minutes out in our rather tiny kitchen. In a whirling dervish of sorts, chicken was defrosted, and a squash was cut. Accompanying said culinary pursuits was a Science Olympiad project, mid project, in the middle of the island. Cake was made on the side counter, and a martini on the other side counter. Laundry was switched and changed. And now, after the 30 minute flurry, it is back to fun and leisure.

Somehow it seems, what needs to be done does get done. And on a day off, I am always impressed by what can be accomplished in a flurry of activity, over a short period of time. When leisure and fun are the true objective, work falls to the back burner.

And all that I intend to do in a full day, sometimes in a VERY short period of time, happens.
And that is probably something we should remember everyday.