Today’s guest post is from woman-extraordinaire Cheryl Conway-Nelson. I am not sure how to spell ‘extraordinaire’, and when I looked it up in the dictionary, it was not there: it should be, sandwiched between extracurricular and extrasensory. Her picture would be in there too, next to the definition, for balancing five kids, volunteerism, community causes, political activism, sweetness-meters and lots of wet socks. I don’t know where she manufactures time (I suspect in her basement) but I would sure like to find out. Since we finally received another dusting of snow here, it is time to share her thoughts on the white stuff.
I met Jane three years ago when I had the good fortune to be redistricted to
a new school. She and I have a lot in common. We both have brown hair,
wear glasses and totally rock the motherly figure. We both jumped into
being first year Lego Robotics coaches. We both have 6th grade boys with
similar interests. We’re both northerners, and we share a friendly Bears v.
Packers rivalry. (Bears Rule!)
We do have our differences too. Jane is an amazing gardener. I choose
garden flora designed by God to be unkillable. (not azaleas or hydrangeas
FYI). She is a Cheesehead and I am a FIB. And Jane is the nicest, most
sweet person I know. On the sweetness meter, I’m in the negative numbers.
So when the topic of guest blogging came up while chaperoning on a bus ride
to the Cincinnati Museum Center, I should have known she would follow
through.
(Ed. note: “eventually”.)
So here I sit contemplating a topic when I happened to read Jane’s recent
entry about snow. Then it hit me. Nowhere does our divergence on the
sweetness meter become more apparent than in looking at snow. Jane looks at
the beautiful snowflakes and sees a peaceful snow globe. I look at them and
see 10 wet boots, 10 wet gloves, 10 semi wet gloves, 5 wet hats, whatever
wet clothes their friends leave behind, at least 2 kids crying that they
can’t feel their *insert valuable appendage here* and puddles on parquet and
Pergo. Oh the puddles. With five kids, a snow day is a nightmare. Winter
shock and awe.
For the record, I love snow. Some day I imagine I will again appreciate the
inherent beauty of a peaceful snowfall like I used to, but not now. I’ve
got to get back to loading the dryer and mopping the puddles.
Thanks Jane for giving me an opportunity to dust off the English major and
take her for a spin!
Thank you Cheryl, for stopping by with what sure sound like awfully nice words. It is reassuring to see that the facade of sweetness* I try to keep propped in place is still standing (although with five kids I suspect that you are too busy to notice when it is askew.)
*and for the record, Bears drool.
jane, candid 
Ohhh, so that’s why my mom is always so unenthusiastic when N and I want to go sledding in the backyard. 😀
Love this post!
Thanks Writerkid!
Cool post! I’d have to say I’m halfway between Jane and Cheryl in my feelings about snow. I like being able to sleep in a little when school is cancelled or postponed. I like how the kids actually want to go outside and have fun, with no need for me to surgically remove them from the TV and Wii. But I, too, get sick of the wet clothing lining the entrance hall. And although I’m all about hospitality (I’m a good Southern girl!), it drives me crazy that even if I stock up on milk before the “blizzard”, I run out before the roads clear because ever child in the neighborhood knows I’m a good source for hot chocolate. I swear, sometimes it seems like someone’s busing people in to enjoy our sledding hill and my dairy products!
Kris, I love that yours is the house that the kids come to when they congregate. My sister-in-law once gave me this advice: “Have the house where all the kids go — then you always know what your kids are up to!” (Maybe you can buy milk in bulk and/or mix it up with some chocolate chip cookies every other snow storm?? (wait — that won’t help because if you give a kid a cookie, they will want a glass of milk to go with it…)
Hi Jane-
Thanks again for the blogortunity to share my thoughts on the white death. I am wondering how the “possibly related posts (automatically generated)” came up with GIMPY. Is that a judgment on my writing? Everyone’s a critic — even the auto-generator! HMMMM
Cheryl, dag-nab those new fangled gadgets! I think the wordpress randomizer is busted! Randomizalator, I hereby declare that YOU are gimpy.
Yes, those “randomly generated possibly related posts” are a never-ending source of both personal soul-searching and comic relief over here. Thanks, Cheryl!
Cheryl, come down to Louisiana next winter. It’s in the 70s this week and we had one sneaux day this winter. Cajun sneaux does not accumulate much. Sometimes we can scrape up a dirty sneaux man, but this year there wasn’t enough to do that.
Oh, but the warmth has awakened the snakes. And we do have lots of snakes. So maybe the laundry and puddles aren’t so bad. 🙂
Love the “sneaux”!