This blog site’s design was not redesigned by design this week. It’s the result of an anomalous day that started with the question:

What do you do when you’re hunkered down during a snowstorm that could prevent you from leaving your warm, cozy house for a couple of days?

Well, of course, you tune into your local area news and to the Weather Channel for information.  You listen to reports of NEMO’s trek toward New York City and Boston. You shake your head, stare out your window at the three inches already on the ground. Snow has been falling for six hours and it’s predicted to continue through noon tomorrow. You check your food, water, and emergency supplies. You’re prepared. You breathe a sigh.

Of course, you’re hundreds of miles from the areas where the blizzard is bearing down.  Another sigh. You won’t get the brunt of the storm. You watch TV for a bit. You read. You work on the exercises from the blogging course you’re enrolled in. You’re restless so you clean your already clean house. You talk to Tessa who seems quite happy to go romping in the white stuff. She’s a six year-old, black lab who loves to problem-solve. You watch her from the window.  She digs her nose into different places in the yard as she searches for familiar scents. She stays out longer than you’d prefer. You worry about dropping temps and her ability to find her way home. But there’s no sense in worrying. She always gets home. She knows the woods around the house better than you do. You smile when she comes in and you dry her off with a light towel so she doesn’t shake the wetness all over the place. That would only mean more cleaning which you don’t want to do any more. Actually, you didn’t  want to do it in the first place. You aim was to keep busy. You wonder if you should watch a movie. You look through your Netflix queue, peruse your dvds. But you can’t decide what to watch and you scratch that idea.

You live in the mountains at the southern end of the North Country in New York. The storm has teased you all day. You’ve been through such storms many times. You know they can make you stir-crazy. You’ve already reached the high point of cabin fever over the past couple of months. And, by the way,  this hasn’t been too harsh a winter. Two days ago the sun was shining, temps were above zero and, and you went shopping for a few hours. What a beautiful day that was. Today, however,  you make a vigorous effort to keep as physically active and as intellectually agile as you can. It’s good for your creativity not to mention your mental health.

You play.

You go into your blog site editor and set your one and only blog post into as many free themes as you can. You experiment with styles, colors, images, widgets, applications, whatever you can manipulate. You combine every variable you have access to and you review the permutations that result. You focus on what ifs rather than accepting what is and you eventually hit upon an eye-catching outcome. You like it. You believe it suits your personality. At least for now. So you activate it.  You write a post to celebrate. And to honor your deadline.

It’s after 7:30 p.m. Still snowing. What do you do now?

Chocolate chip cookies and a cup of ginger tea.