Monday, February 10, 2014

#123 He Shovels

Here are the top ten things you must know about the past month of my life.  These things have literally given me brain freeze which has forbidden me to post about anything else.  I think of something wonderful to write about, but when I realize I haven't addressed these issues, I come to a stand still.

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1. It has been ridiculously cold in New Jersey.

I don't know what is going on with my state.  We've experienced cold when it should be warm, and hot when it should.  We've had freezing weather one day, then fall like weather the next; we've had comfortable spring like weather followed by days that are well below freezing.

2. Hubby was away in LA when New Jersey started to get crazy cold.

While Hubby was away, I heard on the radio that the temperature has been so low in New Jersey that if you are under the age of 40, you have never experienced such temperatures before in your lifetime.

That, of course, does not take into consideration those who have visited a location that experiences these temperatures regularly.  In that case, however, I have to wonder why you were even there to start with!

I was afraid for Hubby's sake that he would miss out on this life changing experience.  Lucky for him, the cold has been persistent.

3. The school that I teach at already has four snow days to make up.

Four days!*  And winter isn't even over yet!

*I don't event want to mention the delayed openings we've had.

4. New Jersey has had more snow this year infinity times more than last year.

Out to breakfast with Hubby one Saturday morning last October I jumped like a child on Christmas morning at the sight of monster snowflakes which within moments covered the shopping plaza with a white blanket of beauty.

And that was all the snow I saw last year.

I'm not going to lie, this saddened me a little.*

*Okay, a lot.

5. We had more days off last year for hurricane weather than winter weather.

Hurricane Sandy and her vicious winds brought so many downed trees and therefore power outages that we were off three days last year because of Sandy.  It got to a point where it was actually annoying to be stuck home for another day in a row.

6. The novelty of how cold it has been in New Jersey amazed me at first.

Then I stepped outside early in the morning and after five minutes of trying to defrost my car I began to wonder where the feeling in my gloved finger tips had gone.  It was that moment that I decided I was done with the cold.*

*Let me not forget to mention that the frost was INSIDE my car because there was moisture on the floor from melted snow, etc.  Boy, wasn't that fun!

7. Although there have been enough snow storms that I could compete in the Winter Olympics event of Snow Shoveling* I have only had to shovel snow once.

We have street parking and a short distance of sidewalk to shovel, however, shoveling is shoveling.  It's a thankless task that although you start it thinking, "Golly gee, I'm going to use this instead of my workout today", by the time you have shoveled for five minutes you are ready to plop down on the snow, curse your workout, and cry like a baby.

Thank you Hubby for keeping me from having to do this too often.

*I'm working on the proposal for this event.  It seems like a 'duh' event to me.

8. For the first time in my life, I have disliked snow.

While I was attempting, horribly, to climb on top of a foot of snow to push snow off the top of my Hummer, a man across the street from me said, "You know what I think?"

Me: "What's that"

Man: "I think that when they (nods towards the bar he's shoveling for) go to pay me I'm going to say, I want a ticket to Florida. (He pauses to shovel a little more).  I'm done with this snow!"

Me: Sounds good to me.

Man: "And that'll be a ONE way ticket!"

While I wouldn't agree with the location (Let's see...Rain everyday?  Retirement capital of America?  No thanks....) I certainly shared the sentiment.  I've definitely said, "I'm tired of snow", "I hate the cold" multiple times already.

9. I've allowed myself to grow so sick of the added bite to the temperature that I've forgotten to just deal with it and try to find some beauty in it. 

I know, I know, the cold and the snow starts to give us all cabin fever, especially during a year like this.  We've been treated roughly.  We've had to bundle up.  We've had to start our cars early.  We've had to shovel and scrape.  But, let's face it, we can't change it.  If we can't change it, we might as well try to find a little beauty in it.  After all, things that are beautiful aren't always the most pleasant.

10. Gram turned 81 today.

I know this one is totally un-snow related, but let's see if I can work it in.  Last year when we threw Gram a surprise 80th birthday party it snowed the night before.  So much that I had to wear my fuzzy furry boots with my party dress so that I wasn't heel deep in snow as I filled my car with party supplies.

My Gram rocks.  If you want to know how we celebrated her birthday this year, go over to The Orange Strainer.

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Final Note: You would think with a post like this that I would have beautiful pictures compiled of the snow to share with you.  Sorry to disappoint.

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