A blizzard? Yes, that’s right. Washington DC and the surrounding areas have been enveloped under feet, several feet, of snow for the past week or so. The government shut down, the buses stopped running, the grocery stores went bare. Those of us with children had to spend 4 unplanned days with our kids. Imagine that!
The view from our window - snow drifts, 4-stories up!
Well, tonight, after four days of Federal Government Snow Closures, we are on the eve of our return to normal life. School and work tomorrow. Only for one day, of course, and then… get this… it is a 3-day weekend!
How did we survive? Well, I can only speak for myself, but let me tell you that it involved the following elements:
Imagination. I am always so impressed at how resourceful kids are when it comes to free time. Here are the girls "busking" for money with their self-made drums and microphone. Notice the coin jar? E felt that was essential to being a street performer.
Arts and Crafts. Need I say more?
Good food. Lots of home cooked, tummy warming, palette pleasing, good food. Not only does it make one feel satisfied, but it is a fun activity to pass the time.
Among the recipes that I made are:
Cabbage, Potato, Cauliflower soup
Many batches of the world's best guacamole (I saw this one on America's Test Kitchen several years ago). It includes shallots, cilantro and lime juice. YUM.
Jer's mother's famous cholesterol free spice cookies (I'll send you the recipe if you are interested). We made the Valentine's Day version by rolling the dough balls in pink sugar before baking them. There is something very addictive about them.
Lots of roasted veggies with assorted beans (cannelini, garbanzo... whatever) with lemon and garlic over rice pilaf or couscous.
Veggie Stir Fry with these delicious Scallion Pancakes.
Bizarre, yet really good Banana Ice Cream. It's ONLY bananas, folks!
I made up a new recipe for what I call "Grilled Apple Pie Breakfast Sandwiches" - basically, a grilled cheese sandwich, except you take out the cheese and add thinly sliced apples with a little pat of butter and cinnamon-sugar.
Alchohol. More than once this past week Jer made a late night run (or more accurately, a snowy hike) to the liquor store at the end of the block for Bailey’s or Brooklyn Lager.
Movies. Thank goodness for Netflix Instant Queue, and for iTunes movies, as we ran out of DVDs pretty darn quickly. Among my favorites were Helvetica, and New York I Love You.
Sledding. Well, we only went out twice, but it was a heck of a blast. Once for a very short time, but the second time we spent hours sledding like professional tobogganeurs down the steep and windy hills of Rock Creek Park. I learned, not surprisingly, that my bottom is strangely akin to a “saucer” – and I can sled on my ass better than on a sled. Maybe (I hope) it’s just all that good food (see above), and the fact that my dance class was cancelled 3 times!
Here is a video of Eleanor "The Luge Master" sledding down the hill in Rock Creek Park.
IKEA. We performed a day long junket that included walking all the way from our apartment to the Smithsonian. When I say “walk” I mean trudge, and heft, and hoist, and navigate the double stroller through the mounds of snow we thought would have been plowed or shoveled by Tuesday.
The view as we crossed Duke Ellington Bridge.
The National Mall
Once at the Smithsonian, we got Jer’s car and drove to IKEA where we purchased all the furniture we deemed necessary to make our new apartment a home. We also scored some meatballs and lingonberries to boot. We spent most of the day Wednesday and Thursday (today) assembling the new furniture and spiffing up our new digs. Ah, the sweet smell of particle board.
Contemblogging. That’s what I call it. When my mind is clear I spend a good deal of time writing entire blogs in my head. It hasn’t happened in a while, because most of the time life moves too fast to allow it. But these past 4 days I have mentally scribed this and countless other blogs – and that’s a good feeling.
Practicing good parenting. We got a lot of practice being good parents. The definition of practicing that I intend to use is not the one that doctors use in “practicing medicine” – meaning that they have been through years of training and are now experts at their vocation. I mean practicing as in getting it wrong a lot and then having to try again. And again. And again before getting it half-way right. Let’s just say that being snow-bound with one’s family for four days, whether you are 3 ½, 5 ½, 35 or 36 years old, is not easy. It is not easy, especially when you are unprepared and don’t know when it will end. Each night we would wait for the announcement… is school on? Is the government closed? No? Yes? Ok. What are we going to do tomorrow?
The interesting thing, to me at least, is that I woke up this morning with brilliant sun shining in the window (surely amplified by the glaring white snow 4 stories below our apartment) and I thought to myself “hey, I’m getting good at this!” We seemed to be getting into a groove with each other – something that never actually happens on our normal 2-day weekends. Today there were fewer “time outs,” I heard less screeching in melodramatic pain when one sister walked towards the other sister’s current project, there was less whining, and, the true test … I didn’t feel frustrated. I felt capable.
So, here I am, on the eve of a return to “normal,” and I am just starting to feel normal for real. What a gift this blizzard has been. What a sweet breath of fresh air: the kind that in yoga, or child-birth, is called a “cleansing breath.” I am breathing this fresh air deeply, because tomorrow the race starts again.
