It starts... again.

My daughter excitedly woke me up at 4:30 to tell me it snowed.

Ok, she didn't exactly wake me up. I woke up because I can't sleep any later than that most days, and she was already awake, but it really takes the punch out of the moment.

Sure enough, there was a fresh five inches stacked up outside. Of course it's also the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, so the kids are all excited about a snow day stretching out their free time. Honestly, so am I. Sure they're a noisy bunch, but if I can stay in and let society clear away the snow (and let the sun melt some of it off), that'd be great.

I may be a morning person, but clearing snow off my car two hours before sunrise is a chore.

Unrequited time off

So in the past 2 years I've had a lot of time off. I normally enjoy having time off work, it lets me take care of other tasks that typically stack up until the weekend, I get to relax, all the normal things that come with time off. Problem I've had is that everyone else has had the same time off. The wife has been home, which is good. The kids have also been home, which is a full time job in itself.

School started, and there was no remote option. They all went right back. We walk them over in the morning. The house got quiet - really quiet. The wife's new job keeps her out 3 afternoons a week, so it's even quieter.

Almost immediately, work picked up. I went from a day and a half, right back up to nearly full time. The house is empty, the house is quiet, and I don't get to enjoy it. I know I'm supposed to be grateful, that I can take care of everything and everyone without having to rely on handouts. But honestly, the timing is terrible. 

I could have worked all summer, when life at home was at its noisiest, and had the time off when I could actually use it. I have so many odd projects that require intense focus that even with my family leaving me alone, having the house full of people derails me very easily.

The universe is out to get me.

The librarian

I keep looking for jobs in my field. 

Yea, I know it's been eight years since I graduated and I haven't heard back from a wild majority of potential employers. I had probably 10 interviews after applying for nearly a thousand jobs. Every piece of advice was either unhelpful or useless.

"Try changing your attitude" Wait what? How is my attitude going to cause someone I've never met to consider a resume they haven't looked at? Or am I supposed to be happy that nothing is happening?

Whatever. After two years I simply gave up. I moved away from my college town and came home, finding my old job and somehow becoming financially stable and relatively happy. For some reason, I occasionally look up jobs in my area that use my degree.

There aren't many.

The local water company is one of them, so every so often I'll look at the county's job openings to see if they need someone with a stale unused degree. The most recent search was about as fruitful for me as ever, but I did notice that they were looking for librarians. That's my wife's degree. I forwarded the information and forgot about it.

About a week or so later, she called me asking if my schedule could be adjusted to accommodate a new job. Turns out she applied, interviewed, and got an offer before I even knew she had done anything. Seeing as my work schedule returned to almost full time, I could shift hours around to make it work.

I began wondering that if she looked for jobs in her field, she might find one for me instead.

Parental controls

For the most part, I haven't had to curtail my kids viewing choices. They've really only had interest in age appropriate material (it helps that Netflix has a 'kids' option when setting up profiles). New movies, I usually watch with them, but otherwise they tend to stick to the various Lego cartoons and whatnot. 

Now, my kids will often repeat the jokes, attempt the tricks (with varying degrees of success), and try to dress like the characters. Normally that's not a problem. Until you get to this guy:

That's right. Captain Underpants. For the first time, I've actually had to use the parental controls to block access to this underdressed fatso because my constantly costume wearing third born son would traipse around the house wearing tighty whities and a cape.

Snap your fingers and he immediately disrobes and stands in a silly pose. To turn back, he needs to get wet. I could have chased him around the house with a water gun (much to my delight), we chose the preventative measure.

At least my wife did. I wanted to use the watergun.

Maniacs

It's November. The next major holiday is Thanksgiving, and that's over 3 weeks from now.

WHY ARE PEOPLE SETTING UP CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS?

It's two months away. Imagine setting up Valentines decorations in December. Or Halloween decorations in August. 

The war on Christmas will not stop until it ends its illegal occupation of November.