Icy Roads and the Good Do Bee
Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004, 10:20 p.m.

QUESTION: I wonder what the Don't Bee would do?

WHAT I LEARNED: Sometimes ice is not nice.

In my neck of the woods, snow makes the day or breaks the day. My kids have been off for two days due to snow and ice. Hurray � for them at least. I have been working from home and working on the most dreaded of all work documents � the self evaluation, which of course must be bolstered with facts and figures to back up why you think you are so swell. I turned mine in at 10 minutes until midnight last night � even working through Average Joe � laptop on lap, typing and editing, and pondering all the ways in which I am splendid, and thus needed to be highlighted in this annual documentation of my good Do-Bee-ness on the work front.

Today, I spent 15 minutes chipping ice off my car by hitting it with the edge of my scraper and hoping my windows held up under the onslaught. Down the street from my house, I realize that I don�t have my phone or lunch � I forgot about that little detail too. My daughter � home from school - came out with my phone, and a chocolate bar as I pulled back up into the driveway. Teenagers � they know what moms need. I had the Diet Coke in my purse already. Voila - lunch. Life is good again. And then I look down at my nails � the pink polish chipped off in a way that makes me look less than the epitome of the pulled together professional woman. Oh no � another thing forgotten.

Sliding around on the roads in our neighborhood, I wonder what I am doing driving to an appointment today. I finally hit the highway and a big driving all-clear. I notice there are less drivers on the road than usual - wiser souls abound it seems. I stopped on the way to slap on a coat of very pink shiny polish on my chipped up nails. It still looked like crap and did little to camouflage my manicure gone bad but what the hell - I gave myself a pink A for effort anyway. And then I finish daintily eat the chocolate bar - so as not to spoil my hasty manicure - and chug down some Diet Coke. I am fortified and ready for the afternoon meeting.

When I got to my appointment 2 of the 3 people I went there to meet had not come in to work. And why did I get on the icy roads exactly? And even sort of do my nails? Oh yeah, to keep my job and because of my undying commitment to my work, of course. Now, that�s dedication � or maybe dedication and craziness stirred together with a generous dollop of professional obligation. Driving home through the icy rain I think of coffee and groceries and flannel pajamas afterwards. Snowy sidewalks and icy streets makes for thoughts of curling up under warm blankets, sipping hot chocolate and such.

I stopped at the store on the way home to buy dinner � Van de Camp Lite Fish Fillets (baked not fried mind you) and those Ore-Ida crinkle cut french fries you bake in the over at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until done. Strangely, my kids have never had fish cakes before � just fish sticks and lots of them when they were little. That is because they have insisted that fish cakes could not be the fine dining experience that fish sticks represented and I refuse to make fish sticks for them anymore.

Dinner went off swimmingly � excuse the pun � and I have found a new easy family dinner for those nights when only an easy dinner will do. Even my daughter�s friend � over since last night and staying for who knows who long in light on the icy roads � enjoyed the fish cakes. Something she insists has never occurred before in her life. I am glad that I can claim responsibility for expanding her menu of food choices to include frozen breaded fish fillets.

Today�s Suburban Strategy: Some walls are worth keeping up...

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