As we prepare for yet another winter storm (I think this one is called Thor), I figured I would fill you all in on the never-ending winter we’ve been having here in Rhode Island. I feel like I shouldn’t complain since we chose to move to New England. We knew what New England winters could be like. But when long-time Rhode Islanders are complaining, it might be ok for me to shed a tear or two, shout an expletive or three, or just hole up in my kitchen and bake another batch of cookies.
Here is a small sampling of what we’ve been experiencing this winter:
- We haven’t seen green grass in months!
- My back pain got worse after the second time shoveling, so Jeremy has been taking the brunt of it. At least he has some strong arms to show for it.
- We’ve only been sledding once! The single-digit temperatures have kept us inside. The fun of snow is supposed to be snowmen and sledding and snowballs.
- Speaking of snowballs, the first couple feet of snow were so light and fluffy, you couldn’t make a good snowball. It wasn’t until we got sleet last week that we were finally able to throw snowballs at each other. (Good timing since we all had a lot of winter rage built up!)
- I made the mistake of looking at other cities’ weather this morning… How can Denver be sunny and 60 this week? Crazy!
- We’ve had 4 snow days, which considering the amount of snow we’ve had, is not that bad. Unfortunately most of them have been on Mondays, which can really mess things up.
- Because of the 4 snow days and the fact that our school district does not build in snow days to the calendar (Hello?!), the last day of school has been extended to Monday, June 22nd. I know we’re luckier than other districts who are going much later, but it stinks to push to another week.
- When it snows, all I want to do is bake. Baking does not go well with trying to be healthier. But snow = stress and stress = desire to bake and desire to bake + pounds = stress and then the cycle continues… Are you following me? It’s not a healthy equation!
- Our washer drains to a dry well in our side yard. The dry well is frozen under feet of snow, which means our washer can’t drain and therefore backs up into our basement sink. After the first time it overflowed in early January, we talked to plumbers about moving the washer and dryer to tie into our septic. It was determined it would be a waste of money and to just wait until it thaws and hopefully finally tie into the town sewer before the next winter. So we’ve been spending a lot of time (and money) at the local laundromat.
- There are perks to the laundromat. I can get 5 loads of wash done in 2 hours! Washed, folded and ready to go.
And this post wouldn’t be complete without a few pictures….
The front yard after the first big snow.
It can actually be beautiful at times…
The ugly side of snow after multiple rounds of shoveling and the snow plow.
Winter Storm Thor as we speak! Certainly beautiful but also like getting lemon juice in your eye…
We keep saying this has to be the last one, but then the storms keep coming. We’re off to school and work even as it actively snows outside. I imagine the schools are doing everything they can to NOT have any more snow days, which is fine with me. We’ve all been cooped up for long enough and getting these 6-8 hour breaks from each other is necessary for our sanity. What we all agree on, though, is that when it is in the 90’s this summer, we CANNOT complain! So for now, we’ll just dream of the beautiful summers that Rhode Island delivers and know that come July this will all be a distant memory.
Find Good In Every Day 