Snowed in

So it looks like the dire predictions of snow all the livelong day were true. It started at dawn and hasn’t stopped yet. The neighbor kid is on his second round of shoveling me out right this very second and when I went out to give him the money (I gave him what I think is a lot: $80. That’s a lot, right? It’s a pretty awful job he’s doing.), he said he’d be back at least one more time after it lets up. Thank heavens for neighbor kids, people. Especially since the snow has turned to some sort of wintery mix – I think it’s freezing rain, but despite Becca’s multiple patient explanations, I can never remember the difference between freezing rain and sleet. (Sleet freezes in midair and freezing rain freezes on contact? Right? That would make this sleet, I think.) Suffice it to say it is a miserable form of precipitation that will result in a hard layer of ice on top of the eleven hundred feet of snow.

Ah, winter! It’s a magical time. And the child is due to wake up from his nap pretty much any second and then we have a loooonnnggg afternoon to fill with no hope of adult conversation at the end of it because the other adult is at a conference in California and I am trapped inside by eleven hundred feet of snow. So. Cookies will be made. And consumed. I’m just saying.

But I have fun news! A while ago, I won a pay-it-forward contest* by Cherish, and the swag arrived last week or possibly the week before. I took a photo:



(I’d like to add that Jack did not want me to take the photo because he wanted to play with the bookmark and I am the meanest mother EVER.)



It was a fun collection of trinkets and things including a bookmark, some adorable gift tags, crayons in much more fun colors than our old stock of crayons, and a candy bar. The candy bar is long gone, of course, but the rest of it has been put to good use.**

This means, of course, that I will be hosting my own PIF contest soon. Actually… now. I’m going to host it now. What is the point of waiting, right? I don’t know what I will send to the winner, but I will figure that out after I find out who won. If the winner has a blog, I will see if I can guess what sorts of things the he or she – oh, who am I kidding, SHE – might like. If she doesn’t have a blog, I’ll just pick stuff I like and she’ll be GRATEFUL.

So. Here are the rules. Leave a comment on this post between now and…. let's say Saturday, January 31, 5pm Eastern time, and then I will use a random number generator to pick a winner. If you are related to me, you are ineligible.

If you can’t think of anything to write in the comments, might I suggest you compose a haiku about winter? Here’s mine:

Oh, wintery mix
Wet, cold, stinging, slippery
Eighty bucks well spent

See? It doesn’t even have to be good!

*PIF contests are where you send someone a prize, and then THAT person has to send someone ELSE a prize and so on. Idea credit: Swistle.

**Which is not to say the chocolate bar was not also put to good use, just that its use has been fulfilled.