Week in Review

A week ago we were celebrating a half day from school, lots of chocolate chip cookies and a little excursion to Roosevelt Island on Saturday. Sunday we rested up and Monday--MLK Day--we barely made it out to Costco for a little retail therapy before the weekend came to a close. The nor'easter known as Jonas was already on the radar and starting to threaten New York City, but still there were days to fill before its arrival on Saturday morning. Nacho and I made it out to another movie date, this time catching "Brooklyn" which was exceptional in every way. Maybe because I was once the girl waiting for her love to go home to his country and still keep his heart fires burning for me, it appealed to me on so many levels. After that good cry, we grabbed a little ramen, had a walk up Madison past Clark's and the very cool Urban Space at the Vanderbilt (home to my least favorite doughnuts from Dough) and scooted back to Sunnyside just in time for pick ups. It was a pretty solid day out in the city.  By Wednesday though, I was flying solo and things started to switch to more of a survival mode as the storm predictions slowly intensified and eventually Nacho's flight home on Friday night was cancelled. By then, I had already successfully shuttled both kids to dance and Spanish class and it was time to make it home and collapse. I was disappointed that my weekend plans were turning to shit and yes, that Nacho would miss out on our first real snow storm of the year. It didn't help that I had scheduled a girls' night karaoke event for 26 of my closest pals on Saturday night. No, it was all going to have to wait. Snow and more snow was on the way and in the end, it turns out I wasn't the only one cancelling the fun. The 7 train shut down by 4 p.m. on Saturday so in hindsight my karaoke night was never meant to happen. I suppose that gave me some comfort as I tried to stay sane staying home with these two she devils all weekend long. 

It was definitely a weekend for the record books in more ways than one. At times I tried to scale back, to just relax and enjoy whatever might happen. I invited those friends we have in the building to stop by or just send their kids over to hang out with the girls and give them a break from fighting with one another. Yeah, they weren't in the best moods, but with other kids to mix things up, things improved if only temporarily. I also got to have a few hours of adult conversation by saying hello to the parents this way. Even that helped me keep the pace as the snow piled up all around and it began to look like we'd never set foot outside again. By late afternoon, I figured it was time to see what all the fuss was about and so we dressed up in snow suits and braved the blizzard-like conditions with 3 inches of snow falling per hour and wind gusts up to 50 mph. It was nothing to laugh about. The girls loved jumping on the snow drifts already appearing on our block. We tried to walk a little further around the corner, but turned back after about 10 minutes. It was such a wet, heavy snow that their little faces seemed to attract all that moisture and they were beet red in a matter of minutes. We popped back inside to warm up and then it was movie time, coloring time and finally, thank Jesus, time for bed. I broke out the red wine for my night cap and turned on a movie to pass yet another night on the couch alone. I definitely enjoy my quiet time, my time alone, but this week really tested me. Somehow, I guess it was just an emotional marathon keeping two kids from fighting and from turning their boredom on me in the worst ways. Elisa and I crossed wires too many times to count, and I let my emotions get the best of me in the end. I was frazzled and exhausted and tired of having to be the sole authority. And then I found out Nacho's flight home on Sunday morning was cancelled. Ah yes, good times indeed.