We’ve had a few mild winters in a row. I could actually boast that (and be telling the honest truth!) until a few weeks ago — when the first cold snap hit and dropped our normally mild southern Arkansas temperatures to flirting with single digits. At least it wasn’t snowing.
No, that came this week. On the evening of Martin Luther King Day, it started snowing, and by Tuesday morning, we had five inches of snow. We knew it was coming, but nothing quite prepares you for a Snow Day.
Look! It’s the Abdominal Snow Man! 😉
Although I grew up in a climate where snow was no big thing, I’ve lived here for the entirety of my adult life, and when there’s a snow day, you can count on Southerners to do one thing without fail: eat everything in sight. Second only to the Super Bowl (and maybe New Year’s Day), snow days are snack days.
Over the years, we’ve been in the habit of taking those rare snow days and overindulging in rare form. We’ve done everything from emptying out the freezer and cooking up everything in it (in our defense, the power was out for over a week) to baking cookies, making nachos, cooking up batches of chili, and don’t forget the beer!
Who cares about milk, bread, and eggs? It’s Doritos and Velveeta all the way, baybee!!!
Slam on the brakes, though. Back to reality.
Lisa doesn’t eat like that anymore.
Not that my brain wasn’t arguing with me about it. Plenty of but, but, BUT IT’S A SNOW DAY! echoing around in my brain. I wanted nothing to do with discipline; that’s for those occasions we know about in advance. We might have another snow day for a few years! (Or it might happen again next week, but my brain doesn’t want to hear that.)
You’ll be happy to know that I didn’t succumb to the siren song of Snow Day munchies. I’m still chipping away at changing my weight, and remembering that being able to freely move in snow isn’t yet possible for me, thanks to crappy knees, was a quick reality check. I’m working hard at getting weight off so I can have my knees replaced. That’s hardly the only reason, but it’s the time-sensitive one I am focused on for the time being.
A couple of (snow!) days later, the snow and ice is finally melting and school is back in session. Visions of cheese dip are no longer dancing in my head. All is well with the world, and my brain is back out of the dietary red zone.