Thanks, Mother Nature...

FOR NOTHING.

I don't know who decided January would be National Thank You Month, but they must really enjoy irony. I struggled to feel anything resembling gratitude; most days it felt like I was competing with Mother Nature for who could give less shits. She won, but just barely. From getting dressed in the morning (some days it looked like I had completely given up on resembling human, much less woman) to making dinner at night (I think I ate pasta 25 days so far in 2014), I couldn't be bothered to care about many things.

Besides January, here are some other things I'd like to be done with:

• cab drivers
• entitled teenagers
• public transportation
• wet socks
• laundry

This week felt especially trying. Since CPS was bullied earlier this year into a precedence of cancelling school for cold weather, the kids got a four day weekend. Somehow, homework due on Monday lingered, undone until late Tuesday night. Rides to and from snow day activities were requested and extra hours were put in entertaining the perpetually bored. My roommates and I haven't been able to properly grocery shop for a few weeks, so dinners have been lacking creativity. The book I'm reading went from snappy to ploddish, leaving me to skim until it picked up again (it did, sort of).

Despite my dislike of January, my Happiness Jar is starting to fill up. I don't mean to belittle the entire month--and just because tomorrow is February doesn't mean things will be rosy all of a sudden (well, maybe for one day, like at the exact center of the month, wink wink)--but soon people will finally give up on their new year's resolutions to be more optimistic and we can all be crabby together.

Plus, February has these to offer:

• Super Bowl: as of right now I'm watching it with three people who don't watch and/or don't care about football, but that just means I can send them to the kitchen to bring me snacks during the game. Plus, commercials!
• Winter Olympics: not as great as Summer Olympics, but the venue promises to keep things interesting. [Tangent: When they first started advertising, my roommate was confused as to why the Olympic slogan was "So Chi," (pronounced "So Shy,") as in "So Chicago." Then the polar vortex hit, and suddenly "So Chi" made a lot of sense here in "Chiberia."]
• Valentine's Day: luckily I'm old enough that most of my friends are okay with this holiday/treat it with benevolent indifference. Growing up it was fun to give/get candy from Mom and Dad and classmates, but college kids are decidedly PRO or ANTI Valentine's Day, and that's just exhausting.

For tonight, I send out January in style. My pizza (I say "my" because both of my roommates are gone...this baby is alllll mine) is in the oven, a bottle of wine is chilling in the fridge, and The Sopranos is loaded on my HBO queue. Ciao, 3rd snowiest month in Chicago history!

For me? OK.

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