Crazy Busy

I find it hard to believe that we're having snow days and you aren't. I'm thinking we have half the snow you do - we're just so ill-equipped to deal with it. They called it a snow day yesterday due to a horrendous forecast, even though at 8am it was simply raining. The weather people ("STORMWATCH '08") told everyone the blizzard of the decade was coming by mid-day; you know what happened? It rained all day long. We had a freakin' Rain Day. Then today, I thought for sure they wouldn't make the same mistake again. It was a little snowy this morning, but not bad at all. And the forecast for the day was that it was going to warm up and the precip was going to go down. They called off school anyway - I was very surprised - but in the end, someone had the right idea. By 2:00 this afternoon it was snowing like crazy and the roads were terrible. I had gone shopping in Tacoma with KB, and was glad I decided to leave after lunch. By the time I got home, I could hardly get up my driveway. It has continued to snow so much that they have already called off school tomorrow. So we're officially on Christmas Break three days early.

Today was fun, actually. JJ and JL decided to go with me to meet KB for shopping. We turned them loose in the mall and we got a lot of shopping done. (So did they, apparently. JL had $15 burning a hole in her pocket so she bought JJ a FOX t-shirt for no reason at all. I swear, if he doesn't marry her...) After a couple of hours at the mall, we took the kids to Red Robin, then browsed around World Market for an hour or more; JJ and JL bought these wooden Santas to paint and I took care of gifts for wine club and then some. We were home by 2:30; I was so tired from driving 25 mph all the way home, with my butt warmer on and the car heat on, like, 85 degrees. I came in the house and immediately curled up on my amazing couch and was out like a light for an hour and a half. M came in at 3:30 to get ready for his first night at work and woke me up - thank God; I think I would have slept through the night.

I took M to work them came back up the hill (quite treacherous) and parked the car for the night. J had already agreed to pick him up at 7pm, so I was done with the whole driving thing. T called then and asked it I wanted to come outside for a snowball fight, but I was really warm and cozy so I offered up dinner instead. Ham, of course, since I have leftovers enough for the Russian Army. They played outside awhile then all came tumbling in about the time J and M got home. Only minutes passed before my sister in law poked her head in the laundry room door and suddenly, it was a party. Funny how it always works out this way.

T and J and Brother J kept all the kids outside, riding the inner-tube tied behind T's quad, for an hour or more ,while S and CC and I polished off the first bottle of wine and ate dinner. The boys followed later, eating and then drying off upstairs. We sat around the kitchen drinking and eating my really good ham and bean soup, killing two bottles of really good red wine. By 10:00 everyone was gone, JJ was in bed, M had wandered off to S's house for the night and J and I were here, me doing dishes in the kitchen, him reading the paper in the family room.

Tomorrow, J had planned to take the day off and the two of us were going to finish our shopping. When the weather got really horrible, it was pretty clear that we weren't going to go ahead with our plan; at dinner we were talking about it and CC reminded me that she had offered to take the kids if wanted to go our for dinner.

"I know you guys aren't going to go shopping, but it you'd just like some time tomorrow, I'm happy to take JJ." she says.

"Well, thanks," says J, "but I'm going to go to work if we're not going shopping."

Really?

You've already taken the day off - a week ago - and you totally hate your job - and you need a break in the worst way - and you're going to go to work?????

Excuse me???

Barb, is there something wrong with me that this completely pissed me off? I was just flabbergasted. WTF?

School is already cancelled. He's not the Duty Chief on call. The office staff is already planning for him to be out, and he's going to work.

I just checked out at that point. I'm pretty tired of the entire world revolving around him and his job and the fact that he may not (probably will not) be promoted to Chief in the end (that's another whole long story.) Here we are: our closest friends and family, starting out our Christmas vacation early; the kids are all running around the house in long underwear while the dryer tumbles various socks and gloves and hats and ski pants; good food is on the table, everyone is laughing....and my husband's going to go to work tomorrow.

What the f*** ever.

I will touch base with S and T in the morning and I know T will make a big breakfast of sausage and bacon and eggs and waffles for anyone who happens to come through the door. I will scurry over there in my pj;s, with my down coat wrapped around me, and spend the morning on my BF's couch with a hot cup of coffee and all of our kids bouncing around me. We will watch The View and Ellen, T and S and I, and we will have a fabulous Friday, hanging with our families. The fact that J won't be there is testament only to his over-commitment to his job. Too bad for him, to miss such a great morning.

Ok, well...glad I got THAT off my chest before attempting to go to sleep! God, he frustrates me!!

Did you end up with a snow day today (Thursday)? Hopefully you'll get one Friday. Do you really have to go to school on Monday? When do you get out??? We would normally have been done after tomorrow; we get a full two weeks, including three weekends, off this year, which is a lot for us. The kids were psyched to know they don't have school tomorrow, before they even went to bed tonight.

So if you end up at home tomorrow, give me a call. I'll likely be here after morning breakfast and TV with S; I'd love to catch up. Otherwise, it looks like we're pretty much snowed in for the weekend, so I should be around.

Sorry about not writing today - I left early to go shopping then had a houseful after my nap...excuses, excuses.

Love,
A