There’s always a catch.

Sure, I ended up having a “snow day” on Monday because of the bad weather, which by last Friday, with all the snow-and-sleet scenarios, I began to reluctantly accept as winter truth and reality.

But here’s the catch, or at least one of the catches — the “snow day” didn’t really translate into a pure do-nothing, live-it-up unexpected vacation.

That’s because there’s always a catch, always a trade-off.

It was more like two work days where in my little corner of the world, there was a carrot dangling before me, tempting me with the notion of what seemed like extra time off and the opportunity to have this long weekend of January leisure.

That’s the built-in benefit of a “snow day,” right? In a perfect little corner of the world, yes.

I remember that euphoric feeling when a snow day was announced and the great burden of a dreaded routine lifted.

As a kid, it was cause for cheering, maybe even a cartwheel. No school! A snow day! A reprieve from learning and studies and homework and such. A chance to sleep or sled ride or watch TV, diversions interrupted only by the need to fuel up with food.

Even as a mom with kids in school, a snow day was again cause for cheering, but maybe hold the cartwheel as a safety precaution — for my physical well being as well as my surroundings.

A day of no homework for my kids, after all, meant an evening of no homework for their mother.

Last weekend, I enacted a “snow-day” plan.

The weather is going to be bad Sunday into Monday, I told myself, so I’ll go to work Saturday, my day off, to do all my Monday work two days early.

Yes, that’s a good idea if you feel you must live life like a responsible adult, which I question the merit of from time to time and lament that I exist deficient of spontaneity and reckless abandon.

But that way, I reassured myself, I won’t be driving in bad weather, and no one will be inconvenienced by my absence in the work place. Those two other people will persevere and be just fine.

I mean, I couldn’t report off. A guilt-ridden “snow day” is no personal joyous holiday to be savored.

And this way, I can even stay up late on Sunday night with a clear conscious. Well, if I could stay awake past 9:30 p.m. maybe.

Monday the “snow day” was a “snow day” to be sure. There was a lot of it, which warranted some picture-taking.

There’s always a catch — you can’t just observe weather and live in it, you’ve got to document it, too, especially if you have a camera and work for a newspaper.

It was a beautiful wintry scene before the interruption of the neighborhood noise of snow blowers and tractor plows and shovels making contact with driveways.

And if I expected to go anyway anytime soon, the driveway required attention. A lot of attention.

There’s always a catch –snow is beautiful, just not so lovely when it’s deep where you need to back out and drive.

The “snow day” of leisure translated into a dueling-shovels snow-removal session.

Funny how there aren’t any entrepreneurial youth around asking if you’d like your sidewalk or your driveway shoveled for a slight fee.

Must be a thing of the past.

There must be a reason.

Or a catch.

(Kiaski, a resident of Richmond, is a staff columnist and community editor for the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times. She can be contacted at jkiaski@heraldstaronline.com.)