Nickel City Parents: Stranded by a Blast of Arctic Air

We've been going through a bit of a cold spell up here in Canada. I guess the jet stream has dipped south, and some of the very cold air from the Arctic is giving us a run for our money. Yesterday was the first time I have heard of school being cancelled because of cold, in Sudbury. In Chapleau, buses stopped running around -40C a few times. We never had school cancelled in Manitoba because of cold. Wednesday, schools were open, but the buses were not running. My daughter would have gone to school, if I could have driven her, but we were stranded at home.

My husband parked under the carport Tuesday night. It was in front of the garage, and in front of the van. His 2010 Honda Civic does not have a block heater, nor did we think to look for one the night before. When he tried to start the car in the morning, it wheezed, clicked, and died. He had to call around to get a ride to work. Around this time, I finally heard the announcement that all buses were cancelled. I had just spent 15 minutes convincing my daughter to get up, eat, and get ready for school. I was going to take her skating after her brother's playgroup at her school. It was a great incentive. All that wasted effort!

I should have listened to the radio earlier. In fact, my husband had kept hitting snooze, he just wanted to stay in bed. I didn't much feel like getting out of bed either. Our bodies knew this was not weather to be out in. We should have listened to what they were saying. Of course, as soon as I told my daughter there is no school, she got upset about that. Really, this is how I get her to want to go to school? By telling her there is no school? I think not.

All my plans for the day went out the window (and froze instantly). It was -36C Wednesday morning. I was not about to walk my daughter to school, and we could not move my husband's car. We could not go skating either. Staying inside is sometimes the only way to cope with the extreme cold. I would have loved to have thrown the kids outside to play, burn off some energy, but that was not in the cards.

I have no idea what was up with my kids, but they were at each others throats most of the day. My daughter wanted my son's toys, my son wanted her toys, and neither wanted to share with the other. If they were good for a brief moment, the phone would ring and they would start hitting and biting each other. It does not matter if they are in separate rooms, if the phone rings, they seek each other out to cause the largest disruption possible. They did manage to play fairly well on the minitfo website while a friend was boosting our car. Yes, we finally got it going. Good thing because CAA was busy.

In the end, I did some baking, the kids played with the LiteBrite (still lots of control issues), and finally, the only thing that appeased them was the TV. I am sad to say, but no one had the patience for crafts or constructive play yesterday. My solution to cabin fever was plunking them down in front of the boob tube, and only then were they not fighting with each other.

I made some nice Vanilla Cloverleaf Sweetbuns. It uses the same Master Sweet Dough recipe from Bon Appétit I use for the soft pretzels. My kids were able to help measure the ingredients, punch down the dough, and roll the little balls. This dough is not too sticky, and the kids can work with it easily.