We've actually been able to get out of the house for a couple of days now. However, our road was limited to one lane, and, as Adam discovered when he went out on Sunday night, many businesses didn't have parking/driveways/etc. available yet. Our public schools have been closed the past two days, and the general advice has been to stay in and let the crews finish the clean up.
And we've had nowhere to go.
No dance class. No pre-school visit. No dentist. Everything on our calendar has been canceled.
So we've been home. For five full days. We do not do well when our routine is broken.
Yeah, I suppose I could have put the girls in the car yesterday, or today, and gone somewhere. We could have gone to Target, Stop and Shop, anywhere.
I've done that. We've had days where we just need to get out, so I put the girls in the car, and we just go. Sometimes I don't decide on the destination until we leave. And yeah, it's probably not a necessary use of gas. But it always gives us a fresh start and we come home happy. Adam works at home, and though he's usually in his office with the door closed, I know he likes having a quiet house for a bit.
But I felt like I couldn't/shouldn't do that. The "parking area" at the top of our driveway is about half the size, and Adam's car is currently parked directly behind me. Parking lots might be accessible right now, but they are a mess.
So I'd be bundling up two girls, asking Adam to move his car, navigating a very narrow driveway, driving on messy side streets with partially blocked intersections. Then trying to navigate the slush and mess going into...wherever we go.
I just couldn't justify it to myself. Maybe if we really needed bread, or milk, or eggs, or something. But we didn't. We'd just be going out so I could leave the house.
So home we've stayed. I've tried to find a good balance, we've done many fun activities. We are now OUT of flour, cornstarch, rice, shaving cream, and food coloring. No, those aren't staples, but after five days of toddler inspired fun activities, I've run through my stash. Even playing outside in the snow fell through after the rain. The snow is (obviously) still here, but now it's really mushy after a day of rain. So our whole yard is two feet of a snow/slush hybrid instead of three feet of snow. That doesn't work so well when your tallest child is three feet. Playing in six inches? Fun! Multiple feet? Hmmm....
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| Please...no more Play Doh! |
I've kept the girls away from Adam's office, but they're getting cranky and whiny, and Reagan is now a whiz at stairs. She can climb upstairs in under 30 seconds (or the amount of time it takes to tell her sister to hold on a minute while Mommy puts up the gate). By the end of today, all four of us were ready for a break. When Adam and I fight over who gets to walk all by themselves to the end of the driveway to get the mail, you know it's been waaaaaaaay too much together time.
Tomorrow we are back to normal! Madison will go to her Gymboree School Skills, and Reagan and I will run some errands. Then I'll bring the girls home, get them down for a nap, and go to the dentist (and you know I've got cabin fever when I'm not dreading that).
And once we're back to normal, I can get back to my schedule of keeping up the house, and, you know, ME. I know that all this time home should mean I have a super clean and organized house, but somehow in this house, the opposite is true. Go figure.
Anyway, that was my long, rambling way of saying I am DONE with this winter. I'm done with trying to deal with heavy clothes and what's safe for the carseat. I'm done with snow play that requires heavy assistance from me. I am ready to complain that the girls don't fit into their warm weather clothes and complain about the heat.
Hopefully, a normal day tomorrow will get my brain back from the cranky mush it has turned into over the past five days!
One thing I have done to stave off my personal cabin fever is become more active on my Facebook page. I now post more than JUST sharing this blog! Check it out!
And if you are the praying kind, please offer some up for my friend Amy Smith. She collapsed at home yesterday morning, was revived by her husband's CPR and the EMTs, but is in the ICU and a medically induced coma, and remains a bit of a mystery to her doctors as to why her heart stopped. She's a wonderful person with two young kids who need her and family and friends who love her. If you aren't someone who prays, good thoughts work too.
