Keeping Up With the Joneses (or whoever they are)

This morning, I opened the curtains to admire the view and was greeted by this unusual fellow on the Nameless (We'll assume, for now, that their lack of neighborliness is due only to the chill in the air. I'm sure we'll be fast friends come spring....) Neighbors' front lawn: A challenge, plain as the nose on his (oddly misshapen) face. I gathered the troops and finessed them into their various items of cold-weather gear. Under the guidance of Thing One and Thing Two, the munchkins descended upon the snowy slope outside our front door and tackled the task at hand: reclaiming our snow-sculpting claim to fame. They left me with a sleeping baby (yes!) and a still-disastrous craft-room. I turned a deaf ear to the siren's song of dirty dishes and a mountain of unwashed laundry, and made my way into my sanctuary. (See that scary-looking pile in the corner? That's my fabric stash. I promise you, it self-propagates.) Despite the overwhelming amount of work to be done, there's a happy little vibe in here. Itty-bitty corners of calm are emerging from the madness, and naturally, I'll share. I went around whacking at things with a hammer (mostly nails, no children, I promise...) and that seems to have had a soothing effect. Meanwhile, the loin-fruit were busily building the coolest snowman on the block. Mission accomplished.