walking in a winter wonderland

greetings from sunny, mission, kansas! as you know, it’s been a while since my last post (one of the few comments lately has “kindly” suggested that mrs. mcdoer pick up the slack), and, as you can tell, it’s not exactly sunny and 75 here.

i hate the winter. in fact, i hate the holidays. when i last wrote, my topic was dealing with holiday stress. so far, it hasn't worked.

we did get off of work early today for the first “winter storm” of the year. to me, however, it meant nothing. i still had plenty of research and writing to do. and, to make matters worse, my 9 and ½ minute drive took 2 minutes short of an hour. what a day. the drive was pleasant enough though, watching cars slip and slide off the road and into snow-filled ravines.

as soon as i got home, i immediately began shoveling the driveway. as you’ve probably guessed, the cold weather has killed any chance i’ll ever power-walk again, so this, my friends, was no easy chore. still, i labored away, singing “that’s the sound of a man, working on a chain gaaaaaaaaang” until i could no longer feel my hands. if you notice the top left of the picture above (it’s kinda dark), our neighbor has a big truck with a snow plow. he pulled into his driveway while i was dying a slow, sad death, waived hello, and flicked his cigarette in my direction. he really is a good neighbor, though, he only wanted $29.95 to finish the job. needless to say, i kept shoveling.

there’s just something about the holidays that eats away at me. i tried decorating the house, i even tried listening to christmas music (“i saw mommy kissing santa claus”), to get me into the “holiday spirit.” it obviously didn’t work. the only thing i can think about is how many presents i have to buy this year. at last count, it’s well over 25. i really am going to have to be the asshole in-law who suggests drawing names.

we’ve got holiday parties out the whazoo, most, if not all, of our ******* christmas shopping left to do, and 3 to 4 christmases to attend (i really do lose count). i think i’m gonna lose it. i really do. and, to top it all off, the driveway that i finished shoveling just 3 hours ago is covered with a fresh new layer of snow.