Digging Out

In case you didn't know, it snowed a lot here this weekend. I kept saying to Stein, "If this storm came one day earlier, we would have a snow day." Apparently someone didn't do the appropriate pre-snow day rituals on the right day. You may not know, but around here, the kids take hoping for a snow day pretty seriously. Some wear their pajamas inside out, some do little dances like rain dances, some flush ice cubes down the toilet (my brother-in-law said the night before our last snow day, our nephew Eric furiously flushed ice cube after ice cube down the toilet).

This weekend we took care of our nephews, so we hunkered down at their house on Friday and Saturday. We did leave at one point to see Seven Pounds (if you're looking for a tear jerker, this is your movie) and then again today to drive to our house to shovel and then go out to breakfast.

So we've been digging out a little. And typical of days after a snowstorm around here, the sun is shining today. It's like it says to us, "It's okay, I'm still here." I need that. Because in the midst of the blowing, sleeting, and sliding, I lose all optimism.

This afternoon I found myself digging out a little in our basement too. Lately we have been using the basement as a dumping ground, and it's been weighing on us to get it organized. I didn't get the whole thing done, but I was able to consolidate a lot of things, and add to our pile of stuff to bring to Salvation Army. I even cleaned out a box that was the "last-minute-throw-in-the-box-remnants" box when we moved into our house. I hate to admit - we moved five years ago.

And now it's time to hunker down. It feels good to be home again after traveling last weekend and then being away for part of this weekend. I have plans to make a soup this afternoon, and buy the fixings for some more this week. Oh, and maybe flush a few ice cubes down the toilet.