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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

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:

PIF

(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.)

PIF sad Jack

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.

32 comments:

Becca said...

Yes, sleet. See, you remember!

I wrote a haiku about my breast pump because that is what I was doing at the time. Here it is:

Maligned pump
Electric vampire sucks
Now I need more carbs

That pic of Jack crying is priceless!

Bethtastic said...

I love pictures of crying kids. I mean, it's sad and funny, and cute and pathetic, and documenting memories all at once. Awesome.

I hope your long afternoon went quickly...I have those, and cookies always help. :)

Long afternoon day
Making cookies always helps
Keeps Mommy from tears

(Are those the right rules? 5-7-5?)

Salome Ellen said...

Even though I am
Older than your "readership"
I still like your blog!

Sarah said...

No haiku from me, but lots of commiseration.

My husband leaves next weekend for 6 days. I'm terrified it's going to be insanely snowy, that my son will go through a sleep regression, and that our cows will get loose all at the same time.

Also, I don't have a young neighbor to shovel my driveway. Of course, our 70-year-old neighbor often snowblows it for free. (We are pathetic 30-year-olds who can't manage to clean own driveway).

I think I'm going to hop on the cookie bandwagon next week!

Anonymous said...

"If you are related to me, you are ineligible."

Bleh.

Haiku-ish:
Oh you meany mom
Clearly you are the youngest
Oldest will 'memba' (4-eva')

Big Sis #1 (aka "aunt")

Katie Greer said...

Will you send the neighborhood kid my way? I live in Michigan. I think that this winter may never end. I am beginning to understand why early cultures prayed to the sun god.

Our neighborhood kids are unfortunately all under the age of five. Which, wouldn't bother me so much to give them a shovel and show them a fun "game", but might bother their parents.

Christy said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks pictures of crying kids are cute and funny. That's probably why I don't have kids yet!

I am in NC, so when we got about 5 inches last week (first accumulating snow in 4 years), schools closed for 2 days! It was 50 degrees outside the third day, on which school was only delayed by 2 hours. At least people where you live know how to deal with it!

Kristi said...

No Haiku for me. I used to dread the days in school when the teacher would make us right them. I could never get it right!

I love pictures of crying kids. Really I love anything that I can use to embarrass my daughter when she gets older!

As far as winter, all of my friends have been graced with snow days while I slave away at work. No bad weather in this part of Texas!

Nice to see the contents of the box! I've been following it since Whimsy sent it to Cherish!!

AJU5's Mom said...

I thought about writing a haiku about sleep, but I am lacking it so much I can't be creative! All I know about weather I learned from Becca and Jason!

Tracy said...

Since our temperature this week has literally been in the seventies, and then in the twenties within 36 hours, here is my haiku.

Seventy, twenty
Temp goes up and down again
Winter can't decide.

Cherish said...

Im so glad it finally arrived!!!!! I see the picture on Whimsy's blog every day and wonder about it. So sorry again for keeping you waiting for OH SO long.

Valerie said...

January cold snap
Impossibly icy roads
I sure don't miss 'em!

Ta-da!!!

katethegr8 said...

Im not good at writting even BAD poetry :) to This is going to have to do..

I hate snow,
where did my knees go?
(yeah Im that bad!!
get it the snow is so hill i sunk up to me knees?! yeah I'll stop now... )
pick me, pick me!!

Pickles and Dimes said...

Came over from Swistle. Love the crying kid photo!

Haiku:

Hey January,
Don't let the door hit you when
you leave, you jerkneck.

Heather D. said...

I am haiku impaired, so I'll just say your son is a cutie! I have seen that expression on kid's faces too many times!

Anonymous said...

Too busy to write a brilliant haiku right now. I like pictures of crying kids, too - all the cuteness without the sound.

Ecchs said...

Busy day ahead
Haircut, car fix, clean up house
Does it ever stop?

Visiting from Swistle!

Mrs. Dennis said...

I'm nobody's sheath
I'd rather be your cocoon
Life is surprising

RachelAnn said...

Cold and tired
Hiding under covers
Work can wait today

Anonymous said...

$80 bucks for shoveling? Can I please be your neighbor kid??

Twenty inches deep
Tivo'd Word World resuces me
It's snowing again!

Whimsy said...

My offering:

Hello Plain White Box
Though you're not so plain anymore
Will Maureen add stripes?*

Um. Not a great Haiku, but celebratory nevertheless because this is my lifelong dream to see something I started make its way around the world. Also my way to ask if you could post a picture of the box itself: I'd love to know how Cherish decorated it?

Good luck with that snow and ice!

stacie d said...

I am a friend of Whimsy's and I'd love to help continue her dream of seeing the box travel world!!

As for haikus...I wrote some gems in 3rd grade but I don't dare try now! I haven't had enough coffee this morning.

Unknown said...

I'm more of a limmericist, so here goes:
There was an old man named Winter.
He just couldn't take a hinter:
They said he must go
And take all that snow,
For the shovel gave Billy a splinter!

CAQuincy said...

The snow just won't stop,
The piles are getting bigger,
I'm ready to move!

Secret Mom Thoughts said...

The photo of your son is great. Crocodile tears.

Anonymous said...

We're in Day 4 of being snowed/iced in so although I'm a fan of winter, I've had enough at this particular moment, thankyouverymuch!

Bird said...

The box travels far,
Fun games add sun to your day,
Winter blues be gone!

Anonymous said...

I'm new here, found you through Swistle. And I don't have a haiku for you, because it is afternoon and I'm drinking coffee to get me through the last couple of hours till the husband gets home; my brain is in no condition to create poetry! Oh, and I totally feel for you re: husband out of town-- mine leaves tomorrow for a 7 day work trip. Leaving me with our 3.5yo and 13-month-old for companionship. It is going to be the longest week of my life! We'll probably bake cookies too. And I will eat them all at night after my kids go to bed.

Kristen said...

Here is my ode to winter!

I live in Phoenix
"What a braggy little turd"
I heard you say that.

Kim said...

Haiku to you too!

The nearby ice lake,
so beautiful and placid
was once my driveway

Shal said...

So Hot in Oz-land
Pools and sunscreen very good
I know you're jealous

Greetings from Down Under

Hope you don't hate me! lol, but I'm glad it's not snowing here!!

Bring A. Torch said...

I live too far South
Ran AC in December
Wanna make snowman.

Clicked over from Swistle!