I had been jonesing for a snow day all winter. there is nothing like it: the eager early-morning peek out the window; the hopeful phone call (or email check); the giddy exhilaration of hearing "the office is closed for the day." then you shuffle out into the living room in your pjs, create an elaborate blanket nest on the couch, make sure the cats are cuddled in, and watch vapid daytime TV for a few hours. there is coffee. sometimes, there are pancakes. total. bliss.
we don't get much snow on the valley floor, though, because we're at such a low elevation and in such a mild climate. did it snow at all in portland this winter? I don't think so. scott & I spent several weekends in the snow on mt. hood, sure, and we got some when I was back in maryland, but it's not the same.
they had been calling for this BIG STORM! all week in portland, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything because the newscasters pretty much pee themselves at the very mention of snow. portlanders, likely conditioned by the same news anchors, had by wednesday totally cleaned out my local grocery store. but by mid-day on wednesday there was still no precipitation, and the forecasts were beginning to be downsized. five inches? okay, actually maybe just an inch. and not so cold. and it'll be 50 by the weekend.
*sigh*
so I'd pretty much resigned myself to a winter without snow days. I woke up yesterday morning, 5 AM or so, and there was the tiniest dusting. I was bitter! I was sad. I wanted the snow day magic and instead I was going to have to go to work. I resolved to show up to the office in my pajamas.
at 7:15, scott texted. "snow!" he said. I looked out the window. more snow than before, but still not much. the tree branches looked pretty but it didn't look promising. I pulled up my work email. as I was waiting for it, scott texted again. "portland schools closed!"
and then! oh, dear readers, those magic words: OFFICE CLOSED.
it was 7:15, so I followed standard snow day protocol: I gathered up my pillows, put on my comfiest around the house pants, and went out into the living room. I had a bowl of cereal! I turned on PBS. I crawled under the 5 fuzzy blankets on my couch. the cats couldn't believe their luck. then I fell asleep to sesame street and woke up again at 11.
it was magnificent.
by the time I got up again (to make second breakfast, obvs), the snow had melted. that felt kind of weird, like cheating. what was I supposed to do now? the road was dry; if I wanted, I could even go out. but ... it was a snow day. the whole magic of the snow day is that you're in, and everyone else is in, and you can't really get out. you're stuck! you have to loaf around because you don't have anything else to do, except maybe go outside and make snowballs. and you can't feel guilty about it.
so I decided to studiously avoid looking out the window, by doing the following:
cleaning all the dishes
putting all the dishes away
vacuuming
wearing the cat on my neck
(not my most photogenic moment but look at that cat perch! so proud)
cleaning the bathtub
making curried sweet potato soup with accompanying GOAT CHEESE BISCUITS which incidentally I have been craving all day
planning out my entire garden, which took three hours, and included finding every seed to order and drawing a detailed diagram of planting
writing some blog posts (ahem)
taking pictures of cats in boxes (part of an ongoing series)
then I finally ventured outside to do laundry. and it was SNOWING AGAIN! *rejoice*
I was finished with all my household-y things by early afternoon so I got to spend the remaining part of the day doing as the universe intended: eating soup and biscuits and watching really awesome, really bad TV.
[alicia also has a wonderful write-up (with photos that are way lovelier than mine) over at her blog. incidentally she's the one who turned me on to the soup.]
