“Daddy, tell Mommy to put some pants on.”

I have heard a child say this exactly twice.

The first time was one I’ll choose not to share with you, but you can probably use your imagination and imagine what a half-asleep small child might say when walking into her parents’ room late in the evening.

The second time was slightly less mortifying, if only just a wee bit.

Surprise! Toronto was snowed in yesterday. Actually, if I’m being completely honest, on Monday morning, I was already hearing whispers of an impending snowstorm of doom, a snowpocalypse, if you will. By Tuesday at 4pm, I was hearing forecasts of 12-30 inches overnight and *like that* school were already closed for Wednesday. The kids waited impatiently by the window waiting. Waiting. Waiting. By midnight we gave up and went to sleep, cursing the snow gods.

We woke up Wednesday morning to this.

And you are thinking exactly what I was thinking at the time. HELLS BELLS, weather forecasters! Way to get this one dead wrong. I mean, honestly, I wake up every single morning (to my iphone playing Fingertip by Aqualung)(not I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher. Heh) and it looks like this. Snow. Just enough snow to make me remember that I live in Canada and that no matter how much I give it the old college try, I will never be a lover or winter. But not enough snow to cause panic. It’s CANADA, you guys. It’s not Atlanta, where they have exactly one snow plow in the entire STATE. There are plows on every corner, waiting. (Spoiler alert: If you drive a snow plow, you want to live in Ontario. Employment, for the win.)

So, yes, my children were home yesterday due to “premature e-cancellation.” And while some parents are all giddy, Whee! A snow day! I love snow days! We never get them in Ontario! Let’s take advantage and go sledding and skating and let’s go see a movie! parents who work from home are suddenly stabbed with a big reality…

WORK AT HOME PARENTS DON’T GET SNOW DAYS.

Now, I am not asking you to feel badly for me. For real. I chose this because it was the very best working situation for me. Working from home allows me the flexibility I need as a parent who was really feeling the burn of missing important moments, but also allows me to work on something I am super passionate about, something I love.

It also allows me the ability to work without pants on.

I will admit that this is sort of a tricky business, working from home. On the one hand, how awesome is it to be able to stay in jammies all day and sit on the couch with a laptop and a phone and be way more productive than you could ever be sitting in a cubicle? On the other hand…there is NEVER a need to get dressed. It’s easy to see how a work-at-home-mom can become, well, A SLOTH. Why should I dry my hair when a ponytail is so much easier? Why should I put on makeup when not putting any on is so much less time-consuming? Why should I put actual pants on when I have my yoga pants right here? You see where I am going with this?

So, when your kids have a snow day but you do not, it becomes an automatic TAKE YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY. I got up, make some coffee, picked up my laptop, checked my mail, turned on Regis and Kelly…and there was my daughter, absolutely horrified…

“Daddy, tell Mommy to put some pants on.”

So, now I have a new rule at my office. Drying my hair, putting on makeup, and getting dressed are daily requirements.

Or, you know, at least the pants part.