Under Snow House Arrest

The DC area blizzard double punch of 2010 brought with it too many feet of snow, took power lines down, caused white-out driving conditions and closed all area public schools for the week. In our outlying rural area, the schools have canceled classes for an even longer period of time. My children have only gone to school one day in the last two weeks.

I'll give you a second to process that information before I continue...

Normally we enjoy snow days, but this time, with my husband out of town and unable to get a flight home, we are literally snowed-in. With close to 30 inches of snow on the ground, a driveway that measures a quarter mile long and our house on a private road that the state does not maintain, you could call us good and stuck. Sure, we tried to get out but our attempts only resulted in a beached car and sore backs for all.

Being stranded can be fun, unless you have to be the responsible party or, in this case, parent. In that scenario, sleepless nights of worry about a litany of things ranging from wondering if the roof will cave in to trying to figure out how to get to the hospital if someone is injured will ensue. Because, really, at this point? If I called 911 and gave them my address, they'd probably ask me to meet them at the corner or stifle a laugh and tell me I had the wrong number.

So, what does one do when they actually can't leave their house? I've created a list in case you are ever in this same situation.

- Read lots of books
- Start a 1,000 piece puzzle of San Francisco with your kids
- Play board games like Clue and Scrabble
- Shovel a path for your dogs to make potty
- Watch old movies like Water Boy and The Cable Guy
- Pray that you keep power
- Gather candles in case you lose power
- Shovel a path for your dogs to make potty again because the last one is already covered up
- Light candles and build fire when you do lose power
- Squeeze three people and two cats into one bed to keep warm when you do not have power
- Worry about hypothermia
- Think of crazy MacGyver ways to make coffee without power
- Nap
- Work on that puzzle of San Francisco alone because your kids have given up on it
- Tweet from your blackberry a lot
- Wish you could knit (I have tried to learn. Don't judge, I have a yarn disability.)
- Shovel a path for your dogs to make potty again because the last one is already covered up
- Take lots of pictures
- Eat like a starving pig from hell
- Even though your neck hurts from it, continue to work on that puzzle because you have become addicted
- Clean the baseboards of your house on your hands and knees
- Nap
- Shovel a path for your dogs to make potty again because the last one is already covered up
- Eat and worry some more

Of course, I could never list everything we've been doing here but you get the picture. Don't feel bad for us though because hope is not lost. Our power is back and a crew with a plow is scheduled to make a second attempt to dig us out tomorrow. (Today's did not pan out.) Oh, and my husband should be home tomorrow too...although I can't pick him up from the airport and he may very well to have to walk up our long driveway in three feet of snow.

Maybe I should remind him to pack light...

---

Kimberly lives with her family in Virginia where she writes about her daily life on her personal blog Petroville, talks photography at Joslyn Place and mixes it up with her friends around the Beltway on the Washington Times Communities. You can also find her on Twitter @Kimberle procrastinating housework.

An original DC Metro Moms post.