2/27/11

when you're stuck inside


When you're stuck inside and every one is going bonkers,
it helps to shake things up a bit.
Sometimes.
Sometimes you just have to maintain a shred of sanity and pray that the cold snap starts to warm up and the kids can play outside.  
By cold snap I'm not talking about a Pacific Northwest "artic blast" of gently falling wet snow flakes, cancelled school, and all the kids grabbing sleds.  

 I'm referring to wind chill temperatures of -50 degrees Celsius,  exposed skin freezing in under 10 minutes.
Most of my readers will likely have no reference point to understand that kind of cold.
Ask the person sitting next to you to slap you on the face.
That is the air when you walk outside your  door.
Admittedly I am a wimp.

Our car won't start unless it has a block heater that has been plugged in with a stiff frozen extension cord.
Then it needs to run for 15 minutes before  we attempt to drive it. 
In the time it takes to maneuver multiple children into a vehicle frost bite has set in and I wonder why we ever left the house.   
(Although the walls of the house are closing in on me staying home starts to seem like a better option)
The roads are covered in snow.  The highway is slick and drifting.
The car heater has a hard time keeping up.

Another reason we've become hermits is that the price of gas is ridiculous right now ...and the closest town is 40 km away.  It's up to $1.30 / liter (for my American friends there is 4 liters in a gallon).  




In an attempt to add some excitement to our week we decided to "go camping".
I am realizing more and more that we are family that thrives on some sort of  adventure, a little danger and  sense of purpose.  
Roman being the most extreme example among us.   Although I now see how we are all wired that way to an extent.
We are passionate, slightly impulsive, big dream kind of people....stuck camping in a basement.

At the same time we are a family that does enjoy a lot of at home, chilled out family time. It's a balance that is slightly tipped to the extreme right now. 

The following are a few quotes that make me laugh from the "How to train your dragon" movie.

 "You, sir, are playing a dangerous game! Keeping this much raw viking-ness contained! There will be consequences! "  (we've got a house full of raw-viking-ness about to burst)


Ever wonder what Saskatchewan is like?
 
"It snows nine months out of the year, and hails the other three. What little food grows here

 is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here, even more so. "

Where on Earth is Saskachewan anyway?!

"It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village.....Most people would leave, but not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues."


In all fairness, if you overlook the mosquito hoards in the summer and the Artic misery in the winter it is a wonderful place to work and raise a family.  Honestly.  Seriously, the economy here is booming and the people aren't totally tasteless....



We set up tents in our living rooms to entertain our children.



At least there's always family game time to look forward too.

The time when Daddy takes over and mom (the non-gamer of the family) does dinner dishes.


UPDATE:    I am pleased to announce that today  is a gorgeous sunny, down right balmy day.  
 The eaves of the house are dripping with melting snow as the temperature soars  to -5 degrees Celcius. 
To add to my excitement I actually wore make up and left my house! 
A trip to town, church and Walmart all in one morning! (we pack it all in to one trip). 
We attended a wonderfully refreshing worship service and came home to kick the kids outside to play.
Life is good.
I'm holding a giant mug of coffee.  
It doesn't take much to convince me we might survive until spring.  
We just need to survive next weeks cold blustery forecast.

1 comment:

Denise said...

Love the Saskachewan jokes! I lived in northern North Dakota for a few years and I still remember going for a walk (because I was climbing the walls and I had no clue about winter weather conditions there), and a neighbor pulling over and yelling at me to get in the car because my skin would freeze in 10 minutes! I'd never even heard of plugging in cars; it was a whole different world, and I know that your weather is even worse.

I love the camping idea. I hope that balmy weather you're having keeps up! :)