snow day

I woke at 7. It was one of those full-bodied, I-was-sleeping-soundly-and-rudely-awakened-by-my-alarm. I got up. Stumbled to the kitchen. Ate a brownie and peered out the window. My car sat coldly under a thick layer of white. The lot hadn't been cleared. But cars were smoothly gliding down Antioch.

I decided to call work's emergency weather line. My managing editor had told me the day before that in the many years she's worked here (13-plus would be my guess) that they'd only closed the office a few times due to snow. But, hoping for a bit of luck, I dialed the number.

Shocked at what I heard, I repeated the message.

The office was closed! And I, being so sure that I'd be trudging into work the next day, had not brought anything home to work on. I was free for a day! I went back to bed.

I heard those poor, miserable work-bound souls scraping off their cars under my bedroom window. I put in my earplugs and went back to sleep.

I rolled over. The bright sun reflecting off the white snow put so much light in my room that it pierced through my eyelids, waking me from my luxurious sleep. I put on a sleeping mask and rolled over.

At 11 a.m., I decided I needed to roll my lazy @ss out of bed. But it was wonderful. Just wonderful.

I lounged on the couch and watched a marathon of "America's Next Top Model." (Yes, I'm admitting to it. If I'm going to waste time, I want to really waste time. Oh, I miss those days of watching marathons of old "Real Worlds.") I was semi-productive. I did label and stamp the newsletter to mail out today.

Then, around 2 p.m., it was time to face the world. I took the broom and my keys and went out to tackle my snow-iced car. Before I could open the car door, I needed to get rid of the snow on the roof of the car that would fall onto my driver's seat. I loved the feeling of the snow as I pushed it off. It was soft, dry snow, which is the best kind. It moves when asked and requires little scraping. I got into it. Then I realized I wasn't holding my keys.

I searched the snow and saw no evidence of them. Shite. I had an appointment in 20 minutes. I began sweeping the snow around my car. Nothing. I retraced my steps, sweeping. Nothing. Shite. Shite. Shite. I was nearing full panic mode. I swept deeper and deeper into the snow. Finally, I found them deep down in compacted snow. Whew! And I even was able to make it to my appointment on time (OK, a minute late--but that's on time for me).

That evening I bumped the heater up an extra notch (thanks, roomie, for not getting mad), and snuggled under a blanket with my boy to watch "The Apprentice" (and enjoy delivered Wheat State pizza). I'm really torn this season. I like both Randal and Rebecca. Randal was my favorite by a smidge, but after last night's episode, I'm leaning a little more toward Rebecca. I think The Donald should hire them both.