No End in Sight

Day three of no school.

It could be worse. At least the gym has been open.

I've been splitting time between the office and home in an effort to try and prevent either of my children from blowing themselves up. And believe me, my kids are capable. It's not like they are problematic but they are independent and fearless which is a dangerous combination if left to their own devices for an extended length of time.

Overnight tonight, we are expecting a pretty good storm with lots of the white stuff and temperatures expected to drop to -4F/-20C. My kids haven't got a snowball's chance in hell (pun intended) of seeing the inside of a classroom until Monday, at the very earliest.

Normally, snow days are an inconvenience. I left a message for a girlfriend today begging her to come over and extract the ice pick from my brain and the knitting needle from inside my ear but it really hasn't been all that bad. The kids have played outside or over at friends' houses for most of the 17 DAYS that they have been fancy free.

It's not them.

It's the prolonged interruption to our routine that is making me crazy. Seriously, it's like being kicked in the teeth by a donkey over and over again.

At work, I am very organized. I use a planner. I can lay my hands on obscure, ages-old documents in 10 seconds flat because I actually use my file drawers at the office. Having to schlep folders back and forth has put a kink in my compartmentalized life. Using my VPN connection from home to link up to the server at my office is a frustrating, hit or miss, process which to date, has inconveniently blocked me out of a few drives to which I desperately need access. That sound you hear is my sanity leaping out of my ears and hitting the floor. THERE IS A REASON I DO NOT OFTEN WORK FROM HOME.

Our household is a well-oiled machine during school days. Everything from meals to homework to showers are carefully planned and executed. I would have been freaking GREAT in the military (but only if I could have run the whole thing, of course). My kids know exactly what the expectations are and they grudgingly adhere but it's been a lawless state for two and a half weeks now. I can't argue with them about strict bedtimes or any such thing because they look at me, furrow their brow in confusion and say, "Why? There's no school tomorrow."

And they're right. There isn't a single good excuse not to let them stay up an hour later or spend a bit more time on their laptops and handhelds.

I guess hell hath frozen over.