In Which It Snows And I Clean All The Things

It started snowing yesterday evening, and this morning we woke up to a winter wonderland.  We've got just over an inch on the ground now, and over the next two days we should get another two to four inches, which is nothing like last year but still a pretty significant amount of snow for us.  I took pictures to send to Ellen-- they don't get a whole lot of snow in Thailand either.

I spent most of the day out and about at various derby activities, so Jer was the one to take Connor out in the snow.  The little guy was impressed by the snow falling but not excited about the cold.  He tried tasting some snow and apparently reacted like Jeremy was trying to feed him hot lava or something.  Connor's final opinion of snow: fun to watch, horrible to interact with.  As a result they spent most of the day cozied up inside.

I  love the whispery noise a heavy snow makes falling.  The birds all stuck to the safety of the trees today, except for the chickadees, who are sturdy little things and stay out in all sorts of weather.  They puffed out all their feathers so much that they looked like brown cotton balls hopping about in the snow.  All the neighborhood kids brought out their storage bin and garbage can lids and tried sledding on one of the big hills down the street, and when that proved to be unsuccessful switched to pelting each other with snowballs. 

Walking down our street this evening a shadow crossed mine and I looked up to see our resident owl ghost through the pine trees under the moonlight.  I felt like I'd stumbled into a Robert Frost poem.

What time I didn't spend out I used to start my deep cleaning of the house.  After Connor being sick for three straight months I'm sad to say that things have reached an alarming Level 8 on my Household Disaster Magnitude scale*.  So with Jer home for a three day weekend and Connor (barring his polka dots) on the mend, it's time for me to put everything to rights.

Also I can't paint my craft room or Ellen's room until we get the millwork for the garage window installed and the temperature rises enough to let the paint set.  We could use a space heater, but I get antsy about those running without any supervision.  So I'm throwing my energy into the rest of the house instead. 

As part of my cleaning I've been going through Connor's closet and it's amazing how much clothing he's actually outgrown.  Connor wears the same size clothes for a long, long time-- long enough that he actually manages to wear them out-- but during the course of last year he actually went up an unprecedented three sizes.  For the very first time he's actually in a clothing size that corresponds with his age; he's currently in a 5T.  That means the next time he goes up in sizes I'll have to go shop in the boy's section instead of the infant/toddler section, the thought of which makes me want to put my fingers in my ears and yell "LA LA LA LA LA" because I am in total denial and I am so not ready for my kid to be that big.

He'll be in first grade next year.  He'll be six in April.  Six.  That's like halfway to puberty, people. 

Sheesh.

~Jess 










*Household Disaster Magnitude Scale

Level 1: Somebody Else's House Clean
Level 2: House Party Clean
Level 3: Important Guests Clean
Level 4: Pretty Clean
Level 5: Clean
Level 6: A Little Cluttered Dirty
Level 7: Stuff Shoved Under Every Available Piece Of Furniture And All The Closets Dirty
Level 8: Don't Invite Anyone Into The House Because It Is Deeply Embarassing Dirty
Level 9: Did A Bomb Go Off In Here Or Was It A Hurricane Dirty
Level 10: Filming for A&E Hoarders Dirty