We’re expecting a little snow in New England, and by a little snow I mean enough snow that they’ve already started canceling stuff in preparation for Winter Storm Nemo*. You have to remember I live in Connecticut, not Northern Virginia, so snow on its own isn’t something anyone cares about. We got 2 inches on Tuesday and the news called it “no accumulation”. In NoVa, they would have dismissed school early and shut down the government.

I went to elementary and middle school in Massachusetts, where a foot of snow was barely enough to get a 2 hour delay. In the 6th grade, I composed the following poem and wrote it on the chalkboard of my history class the day before a huge storm:

Tomorrow when the blizzard hits,
We at the school shall meet.
For we all know, it never snows
On Dorothy Swanbeck’s street.

(For the record, I Googled to see if I could possibly be remembering that correctly and Ms. Swanbeck totally was the school superintendent back then. I don’t remember a single teacher’s name from that year, but I’ll remember her’s forever.)

We did indeed meet at the school the next day.

I’m no stranger to New England snow storms, is what I’m saying. I’m also lucky enough to live in a town with its own utility company, which means we don’t have to rely on the horribly unreliable Connecticut Light & Power to keep the lights and heat on. (My power company, Norwich Public Utilities, has been known to tweet exact locations and numbers of outages with updates on power restoration in the middle of a hurricane. I heart them.) I’m optimistic this will be an adventure instead of a nightmare and viewing the whole thing in a very Little House In The Big Woods manner – WWCID? (What Would Caroline Ingalls Do?) Stock up on firewood! Get out the candles! Find extra blankets! Get out my knitting! Make sure I have plenty of hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps!

The only thing making me a teeny tiny bit nervous is E’s crazy work schedule. He doesn’t get any days off for another…uh…forever, basically, so all house issues and snow-removal issues are my problem. He wrote down directions for how to use the snow blower, but they might as well be in Greek, plus also it would mean leaving the kids alone in the house so maybe not the best idea. Let’s just hope things melt and/or he gets home by school on Tuesday morning.

Anyway! *clap-clap* As of right now it’s not snowing, raining, icing or sleeting. The kids are tired from a busy day at school so we’ll have an easy bedtime tonight. I’m going to make a big bowl of popcorn and top it with Parmesan cheese for dinner, followed by a handful of chocolate caramels oops, those are gone. They were delicious. We have all our snow gear ready and I’m as prepared as I can be. This is not the first time it has ever snowed in Connecticut and I doubt it will be the last. My camera battery and my iPhone are charged, so I will Instagram the crap out of very important news like “Look! Snow!” and “ZOMG! More snow!”  BRING IT, NEMO.

*While I was writing this I got a text message that Ledyard Public Schools are already cancelled, which mean no preschool for Evan. Also, SRSLY, they named the storm Nemo, because a tropical fish with a gimpy fin is MY first thought when I picture a historic blizzard.

Friday morning update 8:51 am: It’s snowing! It started about an hour ago but has slowed down. We’re not supposed to get the real accumulation until tonight. Also, E has to go to work today but should be home before the worst of it hits so I won’t need to do the snow blowing on my own. You KNOW things look dire when the US Navy says “You guys can just stay home”. 

Tags: Connecticut, new england, snow, weather, winter, winter storm nemo