Today was not too bad, but generally speaking, Wednesdays have been a little ugly lately. They’re a busy work day because all of the KidsOutAndAbout newsletters go out first thing the next morning. Which is fine: it’s almost nicer to know that not much else will get done on a specific day, and we often just go ahead and order in dinner.
Since volleyball started, though, Wednesday mornings have been extra tough on J. Her Tuesday night practices end at (!!) 9:30 pm, and it’s not like you can come home from a big workout and just go straight to bed–you need a little wind down/snack/shower time. Then she has to be up and out early on Wednesday morning for chorus. So she’s often not her best, and if she’s fighting off a cold, Wednesdays are days that she’s most likely to lose the fight. Then one of my organization’s board meetings has been on Wednesdays lately, which sucks up, well, pretty much most of the afternoon. When we were talking about which days we could and could not do, I basically got out-voted, and I feel especially bad because I’m secretary, so it is literally my main job to be present at the meetings to take notes. But I just looked at my calendar and the next meeting that’s scheduled is not just a Wednesday, but the day before M goes on her Spanish exchange trip. The outlook isn’t good there.
The other week I had a particularly crazy Wednesday. J had some sort of issue in the early morning that sucked up time and energy, then I just kept having random demands on my time, like someone who needed to borrow my clothes dryer, someone who needed intel on a job they were interested in, someone who needed advice on teen shopping, all things that I was happy to help with, of course, but everything was time-sensitive and happening in the midst of newsletter-mania. . . there was more to the list, but I lost track of it. The point is, it was nutty.
This Wednesday, by contrast, is pretty good. I got to work at 8 am and with minimal interruptions I was able to get done with “work-work,” as I call it, by about 5:30 pm. I even managed to cook our dinner, print out my W-2, do some vacuuming and (. . . wait for it. . . .) write this blog post! I am feeling like a rock star!
Sadly, though, I am not getting my 10K steps in today. Often, if I finish my newsletters at a reasonable hour, I’ll try to follow it with my patented JCC treadmill-and-sauna treatment. Not this time. You can’t get me out of this house. It is too. freaking. cold.
Actually, yesterday I had tickets to the ballet and I wimped out because I didn’t want to drive in the snow, and today a neighbor offered me tickets to another show and I was like, “. . . . No. Just no thank you, I don’t want to go outside more than absolutely necessary.”
I really thought that we Upstate New Yorkers were going to get off relatively easy with this climate change thing, since we’re nowhere near the rising seas or burning forests. But this polar vortex is no game. This picture of snow totally doesn’t do this afternoon justice. I picked M upat the high school (where multiple emergency vehicles were responding to a power outage), and it was basically a white-out of swirling snow. Yes, in case you were wondering, M was still in her running shorts. It was so crazy-looking, so much like what I imagine the arctic tundra to be like, that I asked M to take a picture while I drove. But I’m pretty sure she was busy with some urgent friend-got-asked-by-guy-to-“hang out” texting. Now we’re all wondering if there’s going to be a delay in the morning. According to the forecast, it’s going to be -3 degrees at 7 am, with a wind chill of -18 degrees. But don’t worry, y’all: with plenty of sunshine, we’re going to top out with a balmy high of 11 degrees/wind chill -5, so we can handle that, right? The girls have set their phone alarms to the evening report by M’s classmate Evan Belkin, the student weather guy who is everyone’s most trusted advisor on whether there will be weather-related closings and delays in our school. Which I find completely adorable and delightful, and it makes me want to write an unsolicited recommendation letter for him for colleges. It is almost as adorable as Gabe Fleisher.
Oh! And beyond the snow and cold, the wind was whipping around this afternoon, and the lights flickered a couple of times, which instantly put me on guard that we might have a power outage like that one ten years ago now, which had all four of us camping in the living room pressed up against the fireplace and covered by piles and piles of blankets. This is a half-fond memory, actually, but I at the rate our radiators are going to keep the house at still-chilly-enough-that-the-sodas-in-the-foyer-are-freezing, a power outage sure could get ugly. I’ve already tacked up a blanket against our side doorway, which gets super drafty. Here’s hoping that all of you and yours are warm and snug.
