A weather freak-out

We got a nice little winter storm today. Nothing huge, but enough to snarl traffic and shorten school.

I love love love a good weather holiday. It's an unplanned vacation, a hidden treasure. You get sent home from work early (if you are lucky), scoop up any supplies you may need for the storm, and go home. You stay hunkered down and watch the weather unfold.

Nature is awesome. Weather is fascinating. I love teaching my girls about different types of weather and to appreciate all of them. We all get into it. The Hubs got home early, my teaching gig in the morning was canceled, and it is Friday night! Nowhere to go, no pressure to be anywhere.....this is perfect.

Getting a weather holiday is a treat. I love the whole ritual of it. It struck me today that weather events (and cold weather events in particular) are really unofficial food holidays. When we talk about food holidays, we generally think of Thanksgiving and Christmas, maybe Easter and Fourth of July, too. Oh, and the Superbowl. You can't forget about that. Yum. All joyous holidays in their own rite, propelled to higher heights by the foods we expect and enjoy during the celebration.

As the weather started to precipitate this afternoon, my newsfeed was filled with friends posting pictures and offering luscious descriptions of the food that they were celebrating this impromptu holiday with. These meals were the visual and descriptive embodiment of comfort foods. We've got baked pastas and hearty enchiladas with wine. The colder and icier it gets, the more comforting the foods get. Loaded pizza and grilled cheese with tomato soup. Salmon cakes and bowls of cheesy grits.

As we are bundled up here in Foxwood and watching the world silently turn to white, we are enjoying our weather holiday with all its sweetness. You never know how many (if any) we will get in a year, so each one is special.

This one seems like it will be brief, just a day or so of people being encouraged to stay home and wall to wall weather coverage. Whether the it lasts a day or a week, I always love to celebrate this awesome holiday.

Life in Foxwood

I live in Foxwood.  It's kinda quiet. Except when it isn't.

We have lived here for seven years. That's pre-baby, pre-dog, pre-marriage!  Life inside the house is rarely boring and life outside the house is frequently note worthy.

Across the street is a row of townhomes, rented out by individual owners. Of the six homes in the row, four of them are peaceful and house normal families and individuals who go about their business and exchange friendly greetings with their neighbors.

But see, there are these two homes in that row that are a little different. One is just a little interesting, but the final home is what we like to call 'The Portal.'

There have been a number of people/families/groups that have lived there and it has been a constant source of drama for us. I'm talking about cops, fires, runaway dogs who impregnate other neighborhood dogs, drug deals, a drive-by shooting, undercover stakeouts and just general mayhem. It makes for fairly entertaining watching from our window.

So a few months ago someone new moved into The Portal. We held our breath as the moving trucks arrived. We soon realized that this time it might be different. It was a beautiful family. A mom. A dad. A toddler. They owned cars that were maintained. They go to jobs! Gasp!

Our attention shifted to other things after a quiet month seemed to confirm that these were indeed normal people.

So Tuesday morning I wasn't really watching too closely when another dude came walking up to the house and then knocking at their door at 8 in the morn. Although I did soon notice that Baby Daddy's car was gone. Hmmm...

I got busy doing other things Peanut and Basil related, and a while later came back to my post and saw Baby Mama out in front with the dude that had walked up. 'Maybe that's her brother,' I kept saying.

After a few minutes they got up, finished their cigarettes, and headed back inside.

Then he smacked her on her butt.

My jaw dropped to the floor.

So maybe we've been wrong all along. They aren't married? Or...they aren't normal?

Those winter blues

It was bound to catch up with me.

It's usually somewhere around the first or second week of December that it starts to creep in...that sinking, paralyzing cloak that slowly shoulders its way in and nestles itself around me and renders me helpless beneath it.

This year, with baby Hazelnut's first holiday season and Pinutile's first holiday season at school, we seemed to be busier than ever. It wasn't too much, it was actually just right. Just the right amount of plans, of decorating, of holiday spirit and celebration.

I remember taking a few deep breaths in the days before Christmas, thinking 'wow, it didn't get me this year.' I was just enjoying the season through the eyes of my little ones. I'm grateful for them, beyond words.

Christmas came, and then the flu set in. The Hubs had it the week before Christmas, then I had it the week after. It was like a time warp. When I emerged from it, the tree had been stripped and tossed out the back door, most of the holiday decorations had been put away for the year, and Hubs and Ponygirl were wide eyed and giddy from living off of chocolate and donuts for a week.

Slowly, we have gotten back into the swing of things. Ponygirl has started back at school, Hubs has gone back to work, Hazelnut and I have quiet and calm mornings three days a week again.

But here I sit, in this familiar place. I spent years in this dark space, alone and sad and unable to see beyond it.

Yes, it's hard. I have a to-do list that needs to be tackled. I've got two awesome little girls that need their mama. I've got the Hubs who does a lot to help me keep the house running.

I guess the difference now is just that I know it won't last forever. I'm feeling so low, I may not get a lot done today or tomorrow or all month really, but, as it always does, this darkness will pass.

As much as I just want to snuggle up under this warm blanket and just hibernate through the winter, I've got two precious babes who need me. I need them, too.

Here's to sunny days ahead! xxoo