Things Will Go Wrong > A Storm's A - Comin!

Here in the Pacific Northwest we are expecting our first major snow of the year - up to 8"! I hear your snarky laughing, Montana girls, but for us that is some major winter activity.

This forecast is giving me anxiety for the following reasons:

• I'm allergic to the snow shovel. It's true. I break out in hives...
• There's going to be a snow day. The kids have spent more days at home in the last 30, than in school.  My grocery bill is killing me and if I have to play another game of Uno, I'm gonna run away el' uno.
• It's been cold, cold, cold, and Winter is giving me a bad case of cabin fever. I love my house but I don't want to be there 24/7. I'd rather be out helping with the search party for the sun...or shopping. Yea, shopping.
• Several of my friends are slowly torturing me with sunny pictures from Disneyland and Disney World. Seriously, girls, have some compassion for those of us who are slowly freezing  to death when you are Facebooking. Sheesh! Okay, maybe that was a little melodramatic...
• I love to snow sled but I hate snowpants almost as much as I hate swimsuits. One year I tried to get away with just wearing dark pants and that ended with horrified children because I looked like I had peed myself...  Maybe I had, some of those Carmichael runs are white knucklers!

So in an effort to save my sanity here are a few snow day activities that are fun for kids AND their mamas, or any of you ladies who are stuck inside:

• Play in the mud:



Okay, not this kind of mud. Even that cow is thinking, "Ewwww!". I'm talking a fun, chocolate, mud mask facial for Moms and kids. Yes, I said chocolate.

Chocolate Facial Mask:

1/3 c. Cocoa powder

3 T. Heavy cream

2 t. Cottage cheese

1/4 c. Honey

3 t. Oatmeal

~Mix well using a small blender. Smooth onto face. Relax for 10 minutes and then rinse.

Or eat it. Whichever...This could be a fun kitchen activity and snack all in one, and everyone gets soft, yummy smelling, skin. Yay, everyone wins!

• Christmas Card Recycling. I'm sure a lot of you have Christmas cards still laying around, right? How about some crafty  recycling:

Christmas card trees

Have the kids make mini houses:

Have some great laughs and make wacky photo collages from the photo cards you received this season:

This is a real Christmas card but you get the drift, right? Give them glasses or hats, or put them on a beach or riding an elephant. It always a guaranteed laugh when you tape a top hat to someone's head. I have a cute "NRA" (no joke) themed Christmas card from one of my friends that I'm dying to use. Mabe I'll post pics... 

• Or how about bringing the outside activities in.

Bowling:

@ Ucreate

Go to the drive-in movies:

Play some volleyball with a balloon:

• If all else fails, just eat your way through a snow day. Today is the day that you scrounge around in your pantry and you finally make that old package of muffins, cookies, brownies, or anything else you got suckered into buying at Costco and then never made. Or use up your coconut - doesn't everyone have a weird bag that they don't know where it came from or how long its been there...?

• Or make Snow Cream!

1 gallon snow

1 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups milk

Directions: When it starts to snow, place a large, clean bowl outside to collect the flakes. When full, stir in sugar and vanilla to taste, then stir in just enough milk for the desired consistency. Serve at once.     

Make sure you read clean snow, although eating dirty snow all those years, didn't seem to hurt my little brothers...

For you ladies who get to spend a snow day by yourself, here are a few ideas for you lucky ladies:

• Make today "Ladiscape Day". Get out the paraffin wax kit, pedispa, exfoliating kit, or anything else that's been stuck under your bathroom sink since it was given to you on Mother's Day or last year's Valentines Day and give yourself a little winter spa day.
• Catch up on all those trashy and frivolous TV shows that you never get to watch because your husband acts like he's having a seizure when you turn them on. Us real housewives need to stick together! You can even watch them online on your laptop or smart phones - in bed!
• Take a bubble bath and catch up on your pile of magazines we all have under the table. Or better yet, check out a free digital book or cookbook from your library. (Seriously, if you haven't done this you need to try it! Just log on to your local library's website and follow the instructions.)
• Go through all your "favorites" bookmarks on your computer and get inspired all over again. Make a new recipe, rearrange your decor, or follow a tutorial on how to jazz up those family photos.
• Discover Pinterest! If you haven't already heard of it, it's a virtual pin board where people put photos that they like or inspire them onto different themed "boards"; and then it gets shared with all the other users. Okay, that was officially the worst description of Pinterest ever, but if you click the red "P" on the right hand side of this blog you can see what we've been "pinning." A word of caution: this site is very addictive! You will find yourself planning a pretend wedding, decorating rooms in your house you don't even have, putting together fantasy wardrobes, and drooling over delicious recipes, oh and losing track of all time and space around you. You've been warned. But do it anyway.
  
  

Have a great snow day!

~Angela

P.S. If anyone knows where to find jegging snowpants, please call me ASAP.