I have spent approximately 2.5 hours today shoveling snow. This particular winter storm involved a mix of snow and ice and so this shoveling has been taxing physical labor. The upside is that at least it feels productive, which I can’t say of much else I did today.* I went through credit card statements highlighting business expenses. I bought a plane ticket for an upcoming event. I paid some bills. I tried to start a book (Girl with a Pearl Earring) but I could not get into it. So I haven’t even done much reading.
But I’ve decided that it’s OK. I am snowed in (literally, we can’t get the cars up the driveway, even after 2.5 hours of shoveling!) I also finished a lousy first draft of chapter 7 in Off the Clock yesterday, which means that I have something resembling a full draft. I added it up: 49,000 words. All written since January 1. There is much to add, and my whole survey to do (if anyone has some survey execution expertise I may need to hire some help with the project: email me lvanderkam at yahoo dot com). But that is a solid start. Maybe I just need a break. Too bad the break can’t involve running off to Tahiti or something. At least until I finish shoveling my driveway.
Do you have any snow day survival strategies? I’m really ready for it to be spring.
*G (nanny) stayed overnight so while I have been helping with kid stuff, I have not been “on” all day with them.
Photo: Forsythia in the snow. The flowers are ready for it to be spring too!
I had a pretty stressful day today, too. I had wanted to just take a vacation day so I didn’t have to attempt the work/kid balancing act, but there was just too much work stuff to do and I ended up working on and off all day fighting fires. The best decision we made was say “yes” to the high school kids who knocked on our door to ask if they could shovel our driveway. For $15, I thought it was well worth it! We’re in the D.C. area, so only had about 3 inches of snow…but with an almost 3 year old and an 8 month old, we really felt like it was really nice to have that time back! We were able to manage some fun family time later in the day and made a snowman. Overall, it was a good day – the kids had a blast!
@Sara- can those high schoolers come shovel my driveway??? I spent 2.5 hours on it yesterday and I think G spent another 45 minutes and we got much of it, but my back kind of gave out by the top. Of course, now the top is a solid sheet of ice since it refroze. I spent another 40 minutes this morning working on it. Fortunately our (AWD) van made it over, but ugh. We’re definitely buying a snow blower.
The grass is always greener – I’m feeling completely overwhelmed at the moment and fantasizing about being snowed in so I can take a break and catch up on life stuff without needed to run around.