Blue-Footed Musings

I did not break down yesterday, scream at the kids, or cry afterward. OK, maybe I did a little, but I got it back under control. Now I repeat to myself, “Stress is for rookies, and this ain’t my first Christmas Rodeo. Stress is for rookies, and this ain’t my first Christmas Rodeo. Stress is for rookies . . .” And if I can survive these two days, I can coast to the end of the year. All I have to do is get through two days. Two days ’til coasting.

We can know that the darkness is coming, know its ways, and be prepared for it, and it can still creep up on us and nearly swallow us whole when we’re least prepared for it. But we won’t let the darkness win. It’s time to turn on the prettiest lights, play the cheeriest music and movies, drink the warmest beverages, eat the tastiest comfort food, curl up under the coziest blankets, read the most wonderful books, talk to the nicest people, and whatever else cheers us up the most when the days are at their darkest. We have made it almost to the end of the year, and we deserve all the best of everything.

Fatigue made me even more scatterbrained today than usual, but at least I managed to get a few things done. I worked. I did several loads of laundry. I remembered (though late in the day) to put something into the kids’ Advent calendar. I also bought some Christmas gifts. So the day cannot be called a total waste.

One thing I did not do was to go to the impeachment rally. I had hoped to, but the weather was just too nasty. The driveway was a sheet of ice, and the car was frozen shut. The weather has only worsened since, which has relieved me of any guilt I was feeling over staying home.

Meanwhile, the poor trees are struggling under the weight of all the ice that has accumulated on them. I cringe every time I hear the wind blow. I’ve already heard two limbs break and fall to the ground, and my hubby thinks he heard a third. I expect there will be more losses overnight. I hope they don’t fall on our vehicles or power lines, and I hope the temperature gets high enough to melt the ice tomorrow. Otherwise, we may be stuck with it for a few days.

Now it is late, and I must go to bed. Wish me good sleep. I will need it. Christmas is only just over a week away, and there’s still so much left to do!

Sure enough, the school called at an ungodly hour (5:20 a.m.) to tell us that school had been cancelled. I had brought the phone into the bedroom so that I could answer it without leaving the room. It still woke me up so badly that I never got back to sleep. If it hadn’t, my hubby’s phone ringing a couple of minutes later in a nearby room would have done the trick. Once again, instead of getting to sleep in, I got robbed of a couple of hours of much needed sleep. It’s going to be a very long day.

So, my hubby and I have agreed to a new plan. The next time a storm approaches on a school night, we’re going to turn off the ringers of all the phones so that they won’t wake us up. We’re going to get up at the usual time and check our messages. If there’s a delay or a cancellation, we’re going to quietly enjoy a little extra stress-free morning time. We would rather miss an opportunity for sleeping in than lose our normal share of sleep!

I made the deadline for ordering my Christmas photo album, but just barely. Now I am tired. I wish I could sleep in, but bad weather’s coming, and how much do you want to bet that the school will call and wake me up at 6:00 a.m. to tell me that I could have slept in if they hadn’t woken me?

I finally ordered my holiday cards today. I often order from Shutterfly, but not this year. Their card designs were pretty, and if they would have let me buy the quantity I needed, I would have paid what they asked. But I just couldn’t live with the choice they were forcing on me, to buy too few cards (25) or too many (50). So I went to the Walgreens website, where I was able to order 40 cards, which is how many I needed.

The Walgreens cards aren’t as pretty, but they cost less. That’s a choice that I can live with (sorry, Shutterfly!). As an added benefit, since Walgreens prints in-store, I’ll have the cards tomorrow. That means it won’t be my fault if they get mailed out late!