#BIRTHDAYFAIL

Not totally. Not really. Because today, I made it to forty. And my daughter made me toast on the red plate and sang to me. And my friends called and texted and joked and welcomed me to this decade of my life. And my sister and my best friend sang to me on the phone. And even though Beloved is out of town, I opened my presents via Facetime.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way.

1) No matter how much you want to embrace 40, it's 40. It's like 30's older sister. These birthdays that end in zeroes are tough.

2) Polar vortex

3) School has been cancelled all week, see: polar vortex. It's also cancelled tomorrow because we got a foot of snow in a blizzard yesterday and the salt is apparently not activating because blah blah SCIENCE so all the roads still suck even though they've been treated and plowed.

4) Both my child and my cat have been cooped up in this house since the Super Bowl and are ready to kill each other.

5) My daughter keeps making cookies. We have a million cookies. She keeps making more. And leaving the dishes.

6) The blizzard required a total of three hours over two days of snowblowing, because: polar vortex.

7) My husband is traveling for six weeks solid Monday-Thursday. This was week one.

8) I kind of hurt my back snowblowing. I think it's okay, but I'm not completely sure, because I'm old now.

So my sister called me as I was skating around town buying prescription cat food and hand warmers and cat toys and champagne in tiny little bottles to reward myself for making it through this week of frigid hell. I tried to tell her paragraph one, about how I know I should be grateful and in a better mood and all because all my limbs are attached and at least I work from home, and she was all: You know what? I think it's already too late. BIRTHDAYFAIL. 

And then for the first time today, I sort of felt better for real.