Anatomy of a snow day

I was stuck in the house 5 days in a row last week with the kids. Five days. Three were snow days and two were because our kitchen was being repaired due to water damage.

On the last day I couldn't leave the house because

a. We had workers in our house and I needed to be there so they wouldn't steal our valuables. Like our 32 inch Panasonic TV circa 1998.
b. It was too cold to go anywhere anyway.
c. There is no c. A and B are reason enough

In order to let the workers do their thing, I had to keep the kids upstairs all day. ALL day. Keep in mind that this was day 5 of staying in the house due to a monstrous snow storm. I took juice, crackers, sippy cups, the computer, books, toys.... everything we would need and corralled the kids up the stairs and locked the baby gate behind me. This was our day.

7:15 Feed breakfast to the kids. Since I couldn't get to our fridge, the meal consisted of luke warm juice, water, and a banana.

7:45 Read Books

8:00 Play in the amazing snow fort which is really just 20 blankets thrown over doors and bed posts

8:20 Take ibuprofen for my aching back that is throbbing from pretending that I am the abominable snowman. Crawling after kids through a snow fort takes its toll on me.

8:30 Tell Bennett for the 30th time that she can't go downstairs.

8:40 Put a kid in time out.

8:45 Cry because it's only 8:45.

9:00 Read more books.

9:15 Play with trains. Break up ensuing fight over trains.

9:20 Put both kids in time out.

9:30 Play princess dress up. I'm tired of being the evil queen every time we play. Art imitates like far too often already.

9:45 Cry because it's only 9:45.

10:00 Tell Bennett she can't go downstairs for the 100th time.

10:05 Read more books.

10:20 Check facebook and laugh at my friends in Alabama who are complaining about the 30 degree weather. Wimps.

10:25 Realize people in Michigan are laughing at me. Feel convicted.

10:30 Take crayons in the snow fort. Hopefully an art project will kill time.

10:35 The kids are over the art project.

10:45 Cry just because.

10:50 Break up a fight over a single puzzle piece.

11:00 Look up real estate listings in Key West. It doesn't snow there, right?

11:15 Put myself in time out. Just to have a quiet moment.

I will stop now. It is too painful to recall. And you know what makes everything worse? Bennett dropped her nap last week. Gone. Over. The child is now up from 7 am until 8 pm every day with no break. Lord, give me strength. Or plenty of time outs.