Snow Day.....again

5:30am
*Ring*Ring* I knew exactly who was on the other end of that phone call and what she was about to tell me. Cue the automated phone messaging system....

"Good morning, this is Sister J (principal). Due to current weather conditions, school will be canceled yada yada yada....."

I knew it. Just like I knew it yesterday morning when the phone rang at 5:30am. Only that call started with, "Due to the impending weather conditions....." Conditions I might add, that never materialized until around 11:45 that night. Now I ask you, if we are going to put so much faith in our meteorologists with their radars and dopplers and all that other high-falutin' equipment, then how about giving us a call the night before impending weather? Say, around 7:30ish? In between dinner and primetime television viewing? It just seems to make more sense than waking me up at 5:30am to tell me I don't have to wake up. Thanks for nothing.

I hear your arguments. Finding out the night before an official snow day does trigger the Chillax Button. It often means a free pass at bedtime for the kiddos as anticipation builds for the neighborhood sled-off at Huckleberry Hill. Well, let's see. We could just not tell the children about the call. Send them to bed at the normal time, pour your glass of wine and sit in front of facebook until midnight, per us(ual). Please, don't try to deny it. I see you in my little "chat" window. You can't hide from me. (Actually, you can....click on options....)

IF, by chance, your children are old enough and wise enough to be watchin', waitin', and anticipatin' said 7:30pm call, here is how to proceed: warn them that their actions may have dire consequences. That if they stay up too late and the wicked weather never shows, they WILL have to get up and go to school no matter how tired they are. This is not the recommended course, but at least you can take comfort in knowing that if it does happen, you can send Mr./Miss Crabby Tired Pants off to school and they will no longer be your problem. Hey, you warned them.

One more suggestion, since you're still reading.....how about the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation grow a pair, snowplow before sun-up, and provide safe roads for my kids to travel to school and learn something today. Okay, maybe that's not entirely fair. It seems today's Nor'easter is hellbent on delivering more snow and horrendous winds (it looks like a frantically-shaken snowglobe out there). Forgive me. I guess I'm still a little bitter about yesterday's false alarm.

So, thanks to the meteorologists, Mother Nature and Sister J, I'm already on my second cup of coffee and it's only 7am. If I'm over-productive in a caffeine-induced way today (i.e. alphabetizing my pantry or downloading my 300+ digital photos to snapfish, complete with titled albums and captions for each photo), I hold them each equally responsible.