Ah, April. Such a nice month. The birds are singing, the flowers are rising up and yawning before they spread their colorful petals paying homage to the bright, sunny sky. The air is warm with a slight breeze, and I just sit outside on my deck and drink it all in, along with my warm cup of jasmine tea. SCREECH! Oh, wait. That would be if I lived somewhere OTHER THAN New England! Here’s the real scoop.
After a not-so-restful night’s sleep, due to the electricity going on and off all night from a snow storm, I woke up to a loud CRASH. “It’s just ice falling off of the roof I thought”, and then wondered what time it was because all of the clocks were flashing. I turned on the radio and the announcer said it was 6:01. I have to say, it’s kind of funny that the noise woke me up at that time, because that’s when my alarm would normally go off. Go figure!
So, I get up and there is a message on my phone that preschool has been cancelled due to snow. I look out the window and not only did I see about 8 inches out there, but there was also a 25 foot maple branch in my driveway – just 2 feet from my car! The branch had my car blocked in, so I put my rubber boots on, tucked my PJs in, threw on my coat and went out to tackle the branch. I couldn’t budge the thing, (why couldn’t it be a nice, light balsa or cork tree?), so I went into the shed and dug out some pruning shears and lopped off all of the branches. I must have removed about 50 lbs from the branch and I was able to move is a few feet using every bit of my strength. Meanwhile, the boys were in the kitchen eating breakfast and happily watching monster trucks on TV.
I got everyone dressed and headed to day care. They usually go for 4 hours in the morning, but I was late. Their teacher offered to keep them an extra hour free of charge. I was happy to receive such a nice gesture because the boys just love it there! I came home and got two wholesale orders out and Easter cards for the grandmas. I pulled some kind of meat from the freezer for dinner. I think it was pork.
Later, on my way to pick up the boys, my driver-side windshield wiper decided to croak. The weight of the ice and snow must have stripped the gear or something, because now it only wipes about an inch of my windshield, and then proceeds to get tangled with the other wiper, threatening to break that one too. Thankfully, my car is just below 36,000 miles so it should be covered by warranty.
Although much of this day has been trying, I am still in a great mood! This is the way I tend to look at things… That branch that blocked me in my driveway may have stalled me enough to keep me off of the slick roads that may have caused an accident. Moving the branch got me some fresh air and exercise. And the windshield wiper was probably going to break at some point, but at least it did it while I’m still barely under warranty. There are always two ways of looking at things – positive and negative. A lot of times negative things happen and we get upset because we can’t see the big picture. Think about that!
Stay tuned because my next post will be all about how much I love my space heater and dehumidifier! Fascinating stuff! You’ll be riveted!
