So, you ask, why does Atlanta shut down when it gets a few inches of snow? Well, the answer is that we don't. Meaning, we don't shut down for snow. We shut down for ice. Because of our latitude, we often get sleet, freezing rain or wet snow in the first place. But if the circumstances are just right and we do get snow, the snow doesn't get plowed (because our 271 sq.mi. county owns only two plows). The temps go up slightly during the day, the snow turns to slush, then it freezes again overnight, making the second day worse than the first. In this case, we actually had sleet during the day on Monday after the Sunday night snow. (My boys measured it at 5 1/2".) The forecast indicates a thaw on Saturday. The charm has worn off.Day One: I saw that our county had canceled Monday's school before I went to bed Sunday. I whispered to Pook, who had stirred a bit as I'd kissed him goodnight on my own way to bed. He sat up, opened his eyes wide and gave an "Oh Wow!". After I'd climbed into bed I heard him trying (unsuccessfully) to wake his brother to tell the news.
They were outside before breakfast making snow angels. Seeing that we were almost out of eggs, we had a hearty oatmeal breakfast before I took them sledding with neighbors. CD hid in the dining room with a laptop and worked from home. I saw that we were low on milk and couldn't really spare enough for hot cocoa. I dealt with wet and muddy clothes. They played a second time, this time with Daddy. I dealt with wet and muddy clothes again. Made lasagna. Saw that we were out of lettuce. Physical Therapy got canceled. We had a combination of a fun snow day and a productive get-four-loads-of-laundry done day (even though I think they made two of those loads that day.)
Day Two: Learned with surprise that school on Tuesday was canceled. The boy's haircuts were canceled. I began to wonder if I'd made a mistake not laying in supplies. I decided I'd go to the grocery Tuesday afternoon. But by Tuesday afternoon I had dealt with more wet and muddy laundry and discovered that the roads were worse than they'd been Monday. By 3pm school for Wednesday was canceled. Clearly we were in for the long haul. I began to feel stressed and checked in on Faceb00k a dozen times.
Day Three: Bug's piano lesson was canceled. My Christmas gift massage was canceled. Based solely on the state of my mind and the state of the refrigerator, and not at all based on the state of the roads, I ventured out, with both boys, to the grocery this morning. (Did I mention that CD has worked from home each day? He's accessible, but I'm trying to give him peace and quietishness.) The roads were slippery but we got there ok. There were very few shoppers and even fewer employees. There was hardly any produce and we took one of the last twenty gallons of milk. Clearly they haven't gotten in normal shipments of food. Nor had they done any work to clear the parking lot.
Driving home was worse than driving there, but we made it without incident, only to have the wheels spin hopelessly in the driveway. The walk up the driveway was equally treacherous, but no eggs were lost! By afternoon, school had been canceled for Thursday.
Here we are. We have wine and chocolate. (The peppermint ice cream was awesome but gone after two nights.) We have milk, eggs and lettuce. We've baked cookies. We've seen The Best of Looney Toons. Almost every Bionicle in the playroom has had pieces excavated so it can be rebuilt. But we also have bored kids and if Bug doesn't get some exercise tomorrow we will all pay. (Our first "I"m bored" came at 9:30 this morning.) I'm not yet bored but I am craving alone time. I never did sit down with my book today and I wouldn't mind a day of pj's and books, but I don't see it in the cards.
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