Have I mentioned lately that I hate Mondays?

Up at 5:30. Fifteen minutes of yoga stretches, 45 minutes of writing before Casey woke up (well, M. woke up but I told her to go back to sleep, and she’s still young enough to respect that.) Got dogs out by 7 a.m., noticed that the wind was picking up and the snow – the wet, sticky kind that turns coated dogs with furnishings into Michelin Man lookalikes – was starting to accumulate. Noticed that no one had plowed, or shoveled. So far, on schedule and on time.

Back indoors, dry off dogs and give them their talk-time while the hot water heater comes up to temperature. Dogs back in kennels; it’s Churro (the cat) time, but oops – need to go out to the car to bring in the new bag of cat litter. Noticed as I picked it up that the bag had a 10″ slit in the front. Carefully carried the split bag into the house, losing only a small bit when I tried (and failed) to brace the screen door open with one foot. Swheatscoop is the best cat litter I’ve ever used, but it’s not cheap, and both dogs think it’s edible. So I used a spare food scoop to transfer most of the cat litter to a dog-proof plastic container, losing another small bit because I over-filled the funnel. Carefully cleaned up the mess. Finished cat-litter changing. Delay in morning to deal with split bag of cat litter: 20 minutes. It’s now 7:45. Oops.

Make breakfast protein shake, take vitamins, check purse and briefcase. Switch travel mug full of protein shake from left hand to right hand to unzip brief case – and separate travel mug from not-quite-secure top. Protein shake splatters down the side of briefcase (thank the goddess for wet-suit material briefcases!), pooling inside the open pockets of my purse and on the fleece throw covering the right side of my couch. There are not enough paper towels in the house to contain 12 ounces of chocolate-coffee-kefir protein shake. Swab off briefcase and check company laptop inside (dry – whew!) Take throw off couch, empty contents of purse (luckily it’s a nylon Healthy Back Bag – wash ‘n wear.) Fill a second purse with the contents, drain the nearly empty travel mug. Delay in morning for unexpected clean-up: 30 minutes. It’s now almost 8:30. I should have been showered and on my way out of the house by now. Oops.

Carry shake-decorated purse and throw upstairs to toss in laundry – where I realize that I forgot to empty the washer into the dryer last night. Move now-damp clothes onto hangers to dry; put the laundry-to-be on top of the washer to deal with tonight. Shower, wash hair, get dressed. Delay to hang yesterday’s laundry: 10 minutes.

Walk outside, and discover we’ve accumulated three inches of snow since 7 a.m. Still no shovelers in sight (or plows, either, but that’s next paragraph’s delay.) Snow has begun drifting and blowing, so must brush off the car which lives in a carport (gotta love winter!) Delay to brush off car: 5 minutes (at least I got to take my new(est) snow brush for a test run.

Get on the road by 9:10 a.m. Discover that nothing has been plowed, visibility is about 300 yeards, and there is a plow STUCK on W. Genesee Street (at least I’m having a better day than that guy!) Have fun playing with the variable shift on the Jeep, which does come in really handy on mornings like this. Remember how much I like front wheel drive. Say a silent thank-you to the goddess who advised me that four-wheel-drive was a good trade-off for automatic windows (yes, I bought a brand new Jeep in August that has roly-uppy-windows…roly-uppy-windows vs. four-wheel-drive in Central New York is an ‘are you serious?’ question.) Drive to work – all elevated unplowed highway and bridges, all with frozen mucky sludge in all but one lane. Top speed, 50 mph. Glad I’ve got a good radio in the Jeep. Normal 20 minute ride takes nearly 45 minutes.

Total delays this Monday: one hour, 25 minutes (which some people insist on writing 1:25 hrs., so there you go.) Time arrived at work: 9:58 a.m. Number of people actually AT work this Monday after Christmas – 10 out of 130. Number of people who care that I am late: Zero. None. No one.

I could have worked from home.

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate Mondays?