Schools closing throughout Minnesota due to extreme cold temperatures and arctic wind chills. Kids all over are doing the happy dance including my own. Parents not able to take a day off are panicking, trying to sort out bartered and traded child care. I am fortunate to have a daughter who is old enough for self care and a husband less than 5 minutes away from home. I expect to get texts and messages from my staff that have no options but to stay home. No one will be penalized for not being able to make it into work, though will need to use a vacation day, work from home, or flex their work week to make up lost hours. When my kids were young, I had a slew of family and friends, and always had understanding and accommodating employers for school closings or child sick days. There were days where my house was command central and I stayed home, while neighbors and siblings went to work and left their kids with me.
Not all families have the safety net of family or friends to help with back up care. For too many families, the choices are bleak. Stay home, and they risk job security and no wages. Leave young kids with an older student, and hope they are mature enough as a baby sitter to cope with a full day of care. Worse, leave children not really old enough for self care alone, and pray all goes well. I have no solutions, but know this is why we need to invest personal time and energy in building friendships and communities. No parent should have to make those tough, even dangerous decisions.
As a humane society, all lives are better when we make the most vulnerable feel secure. This does not have to come from hand outs and the welfare system, but neighbors and fellow parents that share in the idea that safe and healthy children, in supported families, grow into safe and healthy productive adults. I might have a Pollyanna view, and know there are people treated like door mats by fellow parents that never reciprocate for a child care favor, or even express appreciation. Too me, that's not community or friendship, but manipulation or misaligned sense of entitlement. I've no patience for either. However, all of us go through peaks and valleys when we're in positions to do a favor without expectation for return, and when we have need of the receiving end of the help. I'd like to think when children are involved, the willingness to pitch in is a bit higher. This is all just my humble opinion. Stay warm everyone.
Remember thee days when coming in after dark meant the clocks were well past 9:00? Late run to the grocery store or an extra walk in the neighborhood was just regular parts of the evening Now I find myself diving to and leaving work in the dark, and once home, I kind of would like to put my feet up, and make peace with the couch. Really though, the earlier darkness should provide more incentive to ignore the inner couch potato within me. Here some strategies and activities I came up with.
- Schedule moonlight walks with walking buddies. I have the lunar calendar to work into my own schedule and the brightness of the moon creates terrific ambiance to grab that gal pal that unfortunately I see less of once fall comes to an end, and get at lest a couple uninterrupted chats going
- Seek out author readings. The Twin Cities had some good ones recently, held in a couple coffee houses in partnership with a next door independent book store. Besides some good Q&A, the java jolt should keep me energized for the drive home and to read a few chapters. I have enjoyed these in the past and don't know why I let regular readings escape my planner.
- Try a community education course. I am very fortunate to live in a community that has low cost education programs, taught by local experts on every thing from computers, to personal finance, to cooking and home organizing. I'll give the catalog a look this weekend and see what peaks my interest.
- Don't waste the weekend days doing housework. If I knock off a few things from the chore list during the work week, once I am home and settled in the house for the night, that should save prime daylight hours on weekends
- This one is bold for me. Invite people over for dinner or drinks and h'ordeuvres, on a week night. This would motivate me to do the previous item, cleaning during the week, and since it will be dark anyway, I'll be less self aware of lurking things in corners.
- Window shop and browse at malls and downtown. This could be dangerous though if I move beyond window shopping.
How do you squash that wanting to just cocoon every evening? What ideas would you share to keep a winter calendar full?
It is Wednesday night and I have late volleyball, and the session won't even start until 8:30. The late games are hard, as no one wants to stop afterwards for a beer, and we learned the hard way, not a good idea to stop before. My mind is a bit cluttered with all that is going on at the office, and having to finish a report later tonight, so I can hit send and enjoy a vacation day tomorrow with my daughters. It is school break in Minnesota. I'll be back to work on Friday, but a mid week Thursday day off should feel good-if I get that task done. For my post then, I've decided to do a quick sharing of some of my favorite postings of the week. I truly appreciate the blogging community I've found, and if you've found me, but haven't met one of these gifted writers and story sharers, I hope you'll check them out.
Ilona at Life after Money, shares why she keeps her decision making nice and simple. Too many choices make a complicated life
Over at the Second Hand Years, I'm pleased Curtise's cat has returned, and I am oh so envious of her continual style and grace, and dang, those boots are gorgeous! lost and Found
Not one, but two delicious crockpot rice pudding recipes at The Reason I Save Budget update and Rice Pudding and the Frugal Queen Sticky Toffee and Apple Rice Pudding. I'm always interested in a good book suggestion ad will add The Phantom of Fifth Avenue to my winter reading list after a review also by The Reason I Save Book review
To help add some calm and grace to your week, Simply Frugal shared some insight on tea. Nice Cup of Tea I'm a coffee drinker first and foremost, but there is something more subtle and refined in enjoying a soothing brew, sipped from a tea cup as opposed to a hearty mug.
Last, check out and visit Becky and Joel at The Bacon and Ice Cream Blog, as Becky shares her passion for Redsox baseball, but more so the true meaning of friendship, love, and having a support system that never lets you down.Let's Go Red Sox
Many of the blogs I follow are on my side bar. I am starting to get quite drawn in by some, and feel almost anxious when nothing is posted for a while. I may have a problem. How about you? What were some of your favorites this week and why? I can always use another dozen on my list.
