2011
snow day in the life
maura @ 6:07 pm
This past week I decided to do Library Day in the Life over on my other blog, so just for a hoot I thought I’d do a post on what our snow day was like this past Thursday. I hadn’t really believed the forecasts, but it snowed all Wednesday night and we ended up with 15″ (or so) of heavy, wet snow by morning. It was the best kind of snow day, too, because it was sunny and warmish and not windy at all, bad for commuting but perfect for snowy park fun.
We were up at the usual time (thank you, body clocks), and Jonathan checked the internets for school closing news while I checked the college’s website to see if we were closed. And the answer was yes! CUNY doesn’t close for snow all that often so I really hadn’t expected it.
We tried to sleep in a little but the kittehs were meowy and loudly demanding breakfast so we all got up. My boss called to let me know about the snow day, then I called the 3 people on our phone tree that I needed to call. Then it was coffee (aahhh) and breakfast: crepes for Gus, and scrambled eggs with kimchi + (leftover) steak for us. Yum!
We looked out the window and apparently the snow took down a tree in our courtyard, which is a bummer. The snow was so heavy that it just snapped at the base of the trunk. The board decided to close the courtyard until the tree can be removed, which I understand but which is maybe just a tiny smidge disappointing, since the snow in there is so pristine it practically begs to be romped in.
Gus and I spent some time after breakfast hanging out in our PJs on the sofa DSing (Advance Wars Dual Strike) and catching up on some work email. Jonathan’s teaching a class this semester in the Advertising Design dept at the college where I work, so he took advantage of the downtime to finish his prep for the class (which started yesterday). I did a little laundry, too.
Around 10:30 Gus and I headed out to the park to sled with a couple of his school/neighborhood pals. They hit the sledding slopes at first, but ended up spending most of the time engaged in an epic boy vs. girl snow fight with our neighbors and their friends. It was a mob scene in the park and kind of like a little village — seemed like everyone we know was there. Gus got this crazy snowball maker from his grandparents for xmas (he reeeeeeeally wanted it) and while I was skeptical at first it actually makes incredible, perfect snowballs. It helped that the snow was perfect for packing — the snowpeople, sculptures, and forts going on were amazing.
We ran into another friend + his mom just as my feet were getting really cold and she graciously offered to drop Gus off at our place once the kids were finished playing, so I hightailed it home, leaving Gus and his friends to their ambitious snowfort plans. Once home I had lunch, then coffee, then a 20 minute nap (because sometimes coffee + nap = perfect). Gus finally made it home around 2 and was starving, so he ate a giant lunch while I puttered around doing a few things here and there.
Then Jonathan finished his work, so I headed back to the park again for a quick x-c ski. And let me tell you, if there was ever a year to get x-c skis for xmas this is it! So. Much. Snow. It’s been awesome, and I’ve gotten to the park most weekend days and even taken a short ski break during some of my research leave days. This snow is very thick and actually not that super for skiing, but it was still fun to be out there sliding around.
On my way home I stopped by our car and tried to dig it out a bit. Which was utterly useless — we’re completely hemmed in on both sides by snowblowers and plows. It’s like someone blew that insulating foam stuff all around the car, seriously. As long as street cleaning is suspended we won’t really need to move it, though it’s nice to have it to take Gus to fencing on the weekends. And we should probably buy a shovel this year.
After I got home I made myself some tea + did a little work while Gus finished up his screentime for the day then took a pre-dinner bath. And…hmmm…now I’m having trouble remembering what else we did that day. Dinner (obvs), and I did a little work in the evening finishing up a handout for a faculty workshop I was planning to co-teach on Friday morning, plus helped Jonathan test out his course website.
And I think that’s it for our snow day! Hope your day was snowtastic, too.
