The mountains are receding from the curbs. We can see the car again. When we left the house today we were delighted at how nice and clean the car looked… until, on closer inspection, we saw it had been bombed by birds who couldn’t wait to crap on the snow-washed cars. So it is with snow in the city. Just a few days later there’s nothing unspoiled about it. Could this have been it for the winter? The part of me that just invested in new winter boots for the boys hopes not.

Sorry if I’ve left anyone hanging (and I think I may have). I didn’t have that second mammogram on Monday after all, because an early morning visit to my doctor found me in possession of strep throat, and thus I was a public health hazard until I’d been on antibiotics for 24 hours. Mammogram and sonogram rematch next Monday. I’ve heard from enough women who have had false alarms on their mammograms that not only am I not worried, I’m actually kind of pissed off that women don’t have access to a better diagnostic tool for this. Ridiculous!

I was grateful not to need to leave the house again on Monday. I came home, got back in bed, and thought about sleeping. I didn’t actually sleep until late in the afternoon, because there was something thrilling about having a excuse to just lie in bed. I did get up to start some chicken soup, and make some tea, but I truly accomplished nothing else. It has been a week of low expectations.

Today was better. J was around. We had ramen for lunch, and then I headed over to return some clothes and get the boys some new clothes. Young J’s size 10 pajamas are short on him (he only just turned 9). I got him a few size 12’s. And Young A seems to be encased like a sausage in his size 6 PJ’s (he turns six next month). But we’ve got plenty of hand-me-downs for him. I also bought a mirror for our bedroom, to replace one I displaced with my new desk setup. This one hangs by hooks over our bedroom door. Which hopefully will not get slammed as often as the boys’ bedroom door. We’ve hung some artwork recently and we’re pretty tight for wall space, so mirrors have to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Tonight I proposed doing a joint project with a friend, and I’m pretty excited about it. I don’t want to say too much and jinx it. But it’s something I’ve had on the back burner for ages, and the time seems right. Let’s hope so!

I’ll leave you with a lovely song about another kind of melting which takes place in the other hemisphere, where the people are melting right now, not snow.