Snow Day!

Monday evening, on my way home from work, I received a pleasant, although not altogether surprising phone call. This gist of it went something like this: "Due to the forecasted inclement weather, district employees should not report to work tomorrow." I spoke a cheery thank-you to the automated voice on the other end of the phone, and as I was pulling into my driveway, the little white flakes of "inclement weather began to drift down from the clouds. After a leisurely sleep in, my first glance out of my window revealed this:



Hooray!! A breathtakingly beautiful foot or more of snow, and still falling steadily! After taking a few moments to appreciate the beauty, my feet reminded me how cold they were, so I went off in search of my slippers. With my feet warm again, I took advantage of the long morning to make some french toast and eat it by the fire already already crackling in the fireplace. Bryant did have any. He wanted cereal instead. (Might that be because he made out of bed about an hour before me and didn't want to wait around for some breakfast? Possibly. Probably. Oh well. I ate his piece for him.)

Later on, in the spirit of being helpful and productive (and warm...) I decided to put on my boots and coat, take up my shovel, and dig out the wood pile. Now, this was to be no easy feat, as I discovered when I opened the door to find snow piled up to my knees (and still snowing)! Nonetheless, I accomplished my task, but discovered to my great surprise, that my thoughts were not full of mutterings and complaints surrounding my least favorite task, but rather, full of joy in my productivity and appreciation for the beauty and the muffled, peaceful silence that only snow seems to be able to produce.

So I thought "well, maybe I'll just shovel the walkway and deck while I've got my shovel going here..." and went to town on the three foot drift covering the steps. Child's play. When I made it to the top of the deck, Mr. Flowerpot Frog in his own snowstorm headdress, austerely agreed:

"Well done. Now go, thou and plow the driveway"

Well, since you asked nicely...

Somewhere in the driveway plowing process (probably around the time I realized that my hair was frozen and that I couldn't feel my rear end), that nice, serene snowfall mindset got lost. But I had come so far, and the snow had almost stopped, so I "plowed on through" (ha haaa...) to the finish. This is what I looked like 5 minutes after coming inside:

See? I told you my hair was frozen. I think yesterday's mascara adds a nice touch as well.

I spent the rest of my snow day as one should spend a snow day, that is to say, thawing my frozen cheeks (both sets) by the fire and reading a fantastically pointless book.