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You’re probably tired of me bitching all the time, so I thought I’d write something positive today.

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Nokia: Erasing people.

On the local mountain, sledding slope, a child: underpants, tights, warm socks, undershirt, warm shirt, sweater, another sweater, more pants, snowsuit, boots. Gloves, hat, scarf.

“Mom, I have to pee!”

Later, trudging back to the top of the mountain, she went on strike.

“No, honey, it’s too steep. If Papa pulls you to the top on the sled his heart will burst.”

Sits in snow.

“And this little cord on the sled may break, and you’ll slide out of control to the orchard at the bottom of the hill. Backwards.”

Lies on back, staring at beautiful blue sky.

“Ok, bye!”

Looks at sky more.

“Really, I’m going.”

Lalalala, she can’t hear me.

“Children your size can cool off incredibly fast, you know.”

No luck. At the top of the hill, her mother asked where she was.

“See that neon orange speck down there?”

Alpha sledded back down and fetched her. “If you get sick or freeze to death, you’ll miss the birthday party tomorrow.”

I pulled her the rest of the way home.

I was going to entitle this, “You wouldn’t believe who I bumped into on the dance floor,” but, eh.

Turns out a ball is a lot more fun if you know how to do a couple dances, even if the band plays such lame songs so lamely you get an uncontrollable urge to walk around the dance floor clocking every single dancer with a gigantic hardwood mallet, yourself last of all.

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New blade right before the ball: bad idea.

1. Sweep and shovel snow: done

2. Listen to neighbor tell about the old days when their house was the only one in the neighborhood and snow used to drift so high they had to climb in the upstairs window: done
3. Talk Beta into taking bus to school instead of being driven: done
4. Check blog statistics and e-mail: done
5. Practice dancing: did that last night
6. Jitterbug, cha-cha-cha: no problem
7. Vienna waltz: frightening
8. Foxtrot/quickstep: started out okay then forgot right in the middle
9. Buy new shoes for the ball tonight: do before lunch
10. Go sledding with Gamma on steep slope in front of grandparents’ house: soon as Beta comes home from school (the prospect makes me feel eeksypeeksy).