There is something about a snowday that kicks my nesting instinct into a full-on cleaning frenzy.  The urge to clean is so intense, it’s like I’m in on Magic Eraser overdrive and my hands end up chapped and itchy from all the scrubbing and moppping I do prestorm.  It’s also why there hasn’t been a blog post in somewhat longer than my usual lapse. Thursday was my day to get back on it but then the promise of a big storm was on the way so I ended up using my me time to Pledge the baseboards. I think the connection is that if I can’t control the environment outside, at least I can organize and tidy my life inside and its makes me feel safe, the way other people buy milk and eggs to defend against a blizzard, even though I do that too. Thursday night, I pulled up the bedroom shades to watch the wintry mix from my bed. I love excitement of storms and their potential for drama—white outs, trees down, lost power, maybe it will be like the ice storm—of 76,—not the movie.  If I was better at science, I’d be a meterologist in Oklahoma or Kansas where they get big weather, tornado style. But my excitement is limited to a finite period: when house is clean and the kids are asleep.

Despite using a Q-tip to scrape dust out of the wainscotting, my cleaning coping strategy doesn’t offset my snowday fear: that unspecified anxiety that comes with knowing I will be alone with my kids for 8 to 9 hours in the house unable to go outside. It sounds nostalgic and cozy to people without kids but really, if we can’t go outside then I am just a referee to their fighting then playing then fighting and then begging for TV. Thankfully we were able to out yesterday. We made our own  X-games  with the swing set. I shoveled a ton of snow into a large pile and then pushed the kids on the swings and they jumped onto the mound and we rated each jump for its form and grace. There were a couple of bad calls. I accidentally pushed Dash off the swing too early once and fell on flat on his face but he walked it off.

I made a snow princess and Conrad made snow frog. He was extremely frustrated by not being able to roll the snow into perfect balls, which prompted the futile discussion of: “Well honey its not fun for you don’t do it… or just figure out a new way…Don’t cry over a snowman.” I tried to get him to suck on an icicle to cheer him up.

To be fair it is really hard to roll of ball of snow perfectly. Both our sculptures were more triangular mounds than classic round snow people. David said that later in the day after the sun had melted the details of my snow princess she looked more like a Klansman. She had a very pointy crown made from icicles, which took on the vibe of their menacing hat.

Then we went to friends who has a hill in her yard and went sledding. The hill slopes into a main drag of town so we had to catch the kids from soaring into the street. I was a very aggressive pusher. Pushing your kid down a hill on a sled really fast is A) Hilarious, nothing cracks me up more B) a workout and C) gets rid of residual snow day anxiety even when the day has gone well. Suzie did the catching and she finally asked me to ease up on speed because the sleds were cutting into her shins. We took turns and she was right, it was very hard and scary to catch a kid on zooming on a disc that slams into your legs.

By the end of the day we were ready for whiskey in our coco, but she didn’t have any, but there’s always today…

Earlier in the day I had also made this snowball sculpture. My beauty editor at Self, Nicole Catanese told  me that her boyfriend who is Austrian makes them for her mom on her patio whenever there is a storm. You put a candle in the center and watch it glow from the warmth of you house. David was very impressed. Don’t be alarmed by the shadowy figure behind it, that’s just my Princess and looking at it now, maybe David is right.