...after I finally shoveled off the front porch.

Have you ever had too much of a good thing? In this case, that thing has been the company of my kids.

It's been two weeks since I've gotten the younglings  off to school.  Since then, I've not had a waking hour, except for work and sleep, that the kids haven't been crawling over the top of me.  Add to that the fact that the snow is still piled up (although someone else has been running the snow blower up the sidewalk) and I've had to shovel a few drifts out of the way to get the car out in the first place, and it's meant I've been mostly at home tucked in for the winter.

Of course, I've also shifted from my nice first-shift spot back to the second shift (where my off times happen to be the kids' bedtime (and that's before I go to pick them up), which sucks.  In the end it worked out though, as the daycare was having issues reigning in the Autism Express, which doesn't help his sister who was perfectly fine as always.  Luckily I was able to get back to the prior sitter which necessitates a drive almost as long as going to work, so that problem has been beat.  And I'm still working from home, as I can use my break to make shit like pork chops or clean something rather than have to find something to do other than buy overpriced candy from a vending machine.

And it really came in handy Wednesday of last week, as I parked my car out front so as to not get snowed in.  Unfortunately, the car wouldn't start.  So I did what any desperate person would do:  I hauled a TV and DVD player into the kids' bedroom, set them to watching movies, and went to my bedroom to work.  I fed them lunch during my break, eyeballed them after calls, and somehow managed to make it through a shift without having to cut off a caller while I beat a child.

Then I managed to put a hole in a tire on Friday.  I noticed it after I dropped the kids off.  I didn't get to fixing it until after I got off at 3.  An hour later, after an easy lug nut removal, I found myself failing to have anything big enough to knock the wheel off the car (it was rust-welded as usual).  So after a can of fix-a-flat, I limped to pick up the kids (with the tire still leaking), then out to the tire place to get a couple new tires (I had another that was a slow leaker that I had patched with the can of stuff the prior month).  So now, after the worst of the snow, I have tires that will dig through the snow better.  Shit.

Of course, the reluctance to get out or get online bit me in the ass again on Tuesday.  I've been less and less online in the past two weeks, and didn't even try at all on Tuesday, until later in the evening.   The Internet was running unusually slow, so I did what any tech would do.  I power cycled equipment.  Then the screen popped up that there was an issue with my modem as I had either, added a new modem, or didn't pay my bill.  Despite having the cash, I didn't get the bill paid of course.  So I had to make a run to do that (my ISP doesn't have an online bill pay, the bastards).  I will say that they did get me online in time to work at home, so I'm not bitching.  I did pay next month early, though.

So now, after less than a half hour of NO KIDS IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, I might actually get something done....