Groundhog day

Have you seen groundhog day? It's not one of my favorites, but it is so often talked about and compared in regular conversation, it's worth being up to speed about it. (Why isn't it one of my favorites you ask? It's not one of my least favorites, so don't think I'm anti something or the other, it just moves too slow for me. I know, that's the whole point, I get it, I just don't find it compellingly entertaining. Sorry.)

I think I entered some 5th dimension and got stuck in my own life's version of Groundhog day. (You know, like the guy in Tron got sucked into some other dimension on "the grid?" **BTW, I went to see Tron with Jonathon and Seth over Christmas, and NEITHER of them liked it. I have never seen two guys less excited about a guy flick. They looked like my kids look when they have saved up for something at the store, bring it home, play with it for about 5 minutes and then it breaks. My point, Not only is Groundhog day not my favorite, neither is Tron, and I have two guys to back me up on that one.**)

I will add to last post. My kids have now gone to school 2 1/2 days in the last 32 days. The paper today said that the town and county have ran out of salt for the roads and won't get any more until next Monday. It's not going to get above freezing until, you guessed it, Friday. So that means that the busses won't go out, which means school likely won't open. Big sigh.

See what I mean. Groundhog day. Over and over. Only I am not learning to play the piano, I am not saving kittens or people, I am simply living what feels like the same day over and over.

I should be fair though. Good things have happened and my days aren't bad, just strikingly similar. Yesterday we started EFS again. That is our version of keeping the kids brain from rusting over the summer. Officially it's English Family School. You know, a few manditory math worksheets, mom gets to choose a book that you read a few chapters from a day and summarize in a journal, handwriting, phonics. I wouldn't say that the kids are learning anything new, just keeping things in working order. Yesterday Aspen said something about it being a great day and I said, "See, maybe things do go better when we have EFS." And she actually said, "Yea, maybe." (Today she wasn't so excited. She doesn't like long multiplication. Maybe we'll go with long division for tomorrow instead?)

Another good thing is that Cedar had the chance, and more amazingly took the chance to do some service. All you out there in places that get real winter probably have lots of chances to shovel someone's side walk and for it to be meaningful service. We have actually never had that chance. A few reasons for that: Snow USUALLY melts within 8-12 hours of it falling and is rarely enough to need to shovel. We don't have sidewalks. We don't own a snow shovel. Yesterday I borrowed our neighbors snow shovel and had Cedar and Aspen help me shovel our driveway. (If you've seen our driveway, you will know why it takes all three of us.) They did great, but it took forever! So today, when our neighbor was out shoveling her driveway (no gloves, tennis shoes) I suggested to Cedar that he go out and help her. Shock of my life, he did. No complaints. (I did say he could play computer when he was done, but we all need something to look forward to when facing something like that!) He did it! He didn't quit early, he didn't complain and ask to be done. He just got to work and helped until the job was done. (I'm his mom and this is my blog, so I can brag if I want. You don't mind, do you?)
Good thing #3 is that we actually do have a few kids in walking distance. So there are a few kids to play with which helps a lot in breaking up the day. Aspen is at a friends right now and Olive has a friend here right now. It helps.

Here is to hoping that tomorrow, even though the chance for school is slim, that our roads will be clear enough to get out. Until then, it's groundhog day at my house!