Snow Day Blues

When I was a kid, the prospect of a snow day was the best thing in the world. It was better than spring break and even better than fresh cookies after school. Why? I have no clue. I guess the prospect of getting to skip school was thrilling to me -- even though I knew very well that we'd have to make up the skipped days at the end of the year, thus cutting into my precious summer vacation. We didn't get very many snow days in Georgia or North Carolina, but in New Jersey there were snow days aplenty (especially around my birthday).

Sunday night we experienced our first winter storm in Portland. It was beautiful, but really cold (with the high this week not even reaching 30 degrees). I also learned on Sunday that Portland is not really prepared for snow, as they didn't really salt any of the streets until after they had turned into continuous sheets of ice. Most of the sidewalks are pretty treacherous too. Monday evening Jesse and I went out for a walk and were amazed at how many cars were zipping around town without chains on their tires and skidding and swerving whenever they tried to slow down.

(The video above is from a snowstorm last year, but is a pretty accurate depiction of how crazy people are in this city for driving on roads that are covered in a 1/4" of ice.)

As an adult, the prospect of a snow day should be even cooler. You get a day off from work, but don't have to make it up at the end of the year. Of course, the work you had to do on the snow day still has to be completed, but for one day you can kick back and enjoy the white fluffy stuff with a cup of hot tea and a good movie. That is, except when you are a part-time employee and time is precious. I would be absolutely thrilled about the snow if I didn't have so much work to do before Christmas! So far, the snow has prevented me from going to Salem for a much-needed site visit and all of the libraries that contain things that I need are closed again today. I'm ready to pull out my hair.

Jesse encouraged me to treat today as a "weekend" and take care of personal tasks before we head down to California for Christmas (like making a packing list and gathering together our presents and wrapping them). It's going to be difficult, but I have been pretty excited about the fabrics I purchased to wrap Christmas gifts this year. We're going to try and make it a "no disposable wrapping" holiday, so I have a few things to sew this week!