Cold Weather Tirade By An Indignant Thirteen Year Old

"Tirade" might be a stretch as only little girls can pull that off properly, but he was quite indignant just the same.  I mean, how dare the school district allow children to attend school in such weather????   I explained that below zero temps are not reason enough to cancel school.  School cancellations are reserved for times when the roads are too treacherous for the buses to maneuver.

Well!  It's just not right!

He was hopeful yesterday with the billowing snow.  He kept constant check on the district website, hoping that a cancellation would be announced.  He woke up early this morning to check the TV with the scrolling list of OTHER districts ever so generous in excusing their students.  He didn't want to hear that their cancellations were due impassable roads, that plows hadn't reached their remote areas.  Nope.  Surely those lucky children were enjoying a day in front of the TV because of the extremely low temperatures.

NOT FAIR!

And to top it off, *I* am the world's meanest mother for making him go to school!

Geez Louise.

I didn't bother explain to him all of the times I had to attend school in the bitter, unfair cold.  Or all of the times neighboring school districts and any school beginning with "Saint" was called off and I still had to traipse to school.  At least these days other county schools, except those beginning with "Saint", usually all take off at the same time.

I also didn't bring up the age old story about walking to school in two feet of snow, uphill, both ways.  There is actually quite a bit of truth to this as my elementary school in Oregon was at the top of a hill with roads too narrow for a school bus to maneuver.  We were always released from the bus two blocks away from the building, at the bottom of the hill.  The sidewalk had a metal rail (probably lead pipe) to guide us during slippery conditions.  And when I went home I was released at the bottom of another hill, not quite so far away from the house, but I still had to trek uphill for the second time that day.  And the hill where we lived NEVER was plowed meaning I was walking in snow up to my knees.

Suck it up, kid.  I had it worse.

Annual Whine 2010

It's time for me to rev up my bitching and moaning about Missouri weather.  I whine about the wretched heat in the summer, but the winters here are worse.  I detest the frigid temps.  A lot.  AND there is no fricking snow.  I mean, come on, if it's going to bother being cold then bring on the snow.  Geez!

It's not like I live in the frozen tundras of North Dakota - this shit is expected there.  And may I tip my hat to my ND followers!  I got a call on Thanksgiving from a family member congratulating me on my soon-to-be Grandma status.   I asked if my mom had called.  Nope, it turns out the receptionist (or secretary or what?  Sorry if I screwed up the job title, I know that's important because sometimes that is all we get) reads my blog and broke the news!  I think that's awesome.  So did the family member! (Hey, awesome friend of the family member tell my family member I said HI.  Maybe that person should read for themself?)

But anyways.  North Dakota can keep their frigid temps.  Like build a wall to block those stupid Alberta Clippers from freezing us out.  THERE is a perfect purpose for North Dakota.  I'm not trying to slam North Dakota, but I do like to pick on them an awful lot.  The people are awesome, by the way.

Okay, the bottom line is that it's cold here, and I have no snow, and it's cold and I'm grumpy about it. 

And it's North Dakota's fault.

Missing a Fireplace

My last house had a fireplace. It was sort of surprising for a rental, but I totally enjoyed it. Unfortunately it was not a sufficient heat source for the house. Hell, it couldn't even heat the livingroom! But it gave the essence of heat. There is nothing like standing in front of a roaring fire (really close), holding a steaming cup of hot cocoa and the snow piling up outside. Cozy.

Despite the inability to generate much heat there were two days in December 2006 that it was our ONLY source of heat when the electricity was knocked out during an ice storm.

My current house, also a rental, has a fireplace too. It, however, was rigged for gas and the gas company didn't approve the connections. BUMMER! There have been several occasions that a pretty fire would have been perfect, if only to boost my mood.

Today is bitterly cold. Have I made myself clear how much I detest Missouri weather? ass biting COLD. Negatives temps are predicted in the next few days. I WANT A FIREFUCKINGPLACE!

or a trip to the beach

Armwrestling Over the Thermostat

"When I grow up I will NEVER keep my house like a freezer"

Yes, I said that. I believed that. I religiously adhered to that. I proudly kept my home with livable temps...

And then I married a man with a totally different internal heat register. He runs hot. Really hot. When I walk outside and begin to shiver thinking I should run back and grab a sweater, he comments how perfect the weather is.

GRRRRRR

I may have to consider buying a snuggie for my son and myself. We are constantly walking around with blankets wrapped around us. When I get up in the morning I dash directly to the thermostat and groan at the low numbers and start turning it up. When I return from work it has been turned down back to brutally cold numbers.

I tried using the programming function on the thing, but he actually turns it off during the day when it's decent enough to open the windows causing the thermostat to reset.

There has to be a happy medium, but we have not yet found it. He points proudly to the electric and gas bills as proof how well this thermostat monitoring is saving us money. Unfortunately I cannot read the bills through the cloud my warm breath forms in front of my freezing cold face.