Victory Against the Elements

We are freezing. This winter has been horrible in Lincoln, NE this year. Storm after storm. Extremely cold temperatures. I am having North Dakota flashbacks, although I don't have a bright orange extension cord sticking out from under my hood. (If you've been there, you've seen it.) As I sit here, our furnace is trying to get above 64 and we hit a low last night of 58. Brrrrrrr.

I hate the cold weather. I hated it when I was young and single and free in Fargo. Although I remember winter after winter of driving up to Chub's Pub and just letting my Jeep run until closing time. I hate it even more with kids.

Finding hats and scarves and gloves and boots and socks and shoes and backpacks and coats drives me insane. Just getting out the door every morning is an exercise in arctic patience. And I try to be organized. I have 3 bins. One for hats, one for scarves (on which I have written scarfs because I forgot the plural. Bad mommy.) and one for gloves/mittens. The hat bin holds one winter hat, one baseball hat, a hood that doesn't match any coat we have and one sailor hat. The scarf bin holds about 50 different scarves of varied color and texture as my mom is an unbelievable knitter and I'm using knitting as a dieting technique. The glove/mitten bin has 12 left handed gloves/mittens and that's it. (How come the Kastrinos kids are always sticking their right hands in their pockets?) Anyway, I try.

Yesterday was bitter. And then you throw in the windchill. I only live a block from the boys' school, but I have to pick them up on the far side of the school. When you factor that in, it's more like 4 blocks from school and then to go the long way around (not through the snowy playground) its more like 6 blocks. So whenever its below 32, I drive to pick them up. Yesterday was 9.

I drove over to pick up the boys. Kindergarteners need to be picked up in person, the teacher won't just let them go out to your car, so I have to walk from the car to go get Spencer. All of the other parents had the same idea to pick up their kids by car, so I had to park 3 blocks away (mind you I only live 1 block away-I know it doesn't make any sense). I bundled up Mia as best as I could using the hat/scarf/mitten bins. She was mismatched and wearing a hat the Hulk could have worn, but she was warm. I completely forgot about any hats/gloves/warm clothing for myself and just suffered through.

Knowing I could move faster carrying Mia, I picked her up and carried all 35 pounds of her-which believe it or not, gets pretty heavy with below zero windchill. Trudging forward through the snow, avoiding the slick spots, I stopped a fight among two kids I didn't even know who were slipping and sliding on the ice. I found Grant and kept him out of the snow, proud that he was wearing his complete winter gear and I talked with Spencer's teacher for a couple minutes fulfilling my parental duties.

I was feeling like Supermom, parenting not only my own children, but helping out with the community as well. I was not letting the weather, the bitter cold get the best of me. I had my children adequately equipped to battle the conditions and I suffered myself in sacrifice. I was winning! Whoo Hoo!

And then Mia peed on me. So much for victory.