Indeed it is true. It wasn't even forecasted, but we got a good two inches last night! It fell in about an hour and a half. The roads are crazy icy, so we have what is called an "Optional Teacher Workday". Which means if you are old and have accumulated days (I earn 1.85 a month now) you can stay home or go in and keep your days to trade in when you want to retire. If you aren't old then you go. I would go, but I don't have any childcare and the one time I did try to take them to work and do something it was more stressful than not getting the work done. SO. We got another Saturday this week.(That's how I'm looking at it!) We had a nice breakfast. Played. Grant will go down for a nap in a while and then I will set to baking my birthday/Valentine's day cake.
I'm going to use the Red Velvet recipe I used to make the kids' birthday cupcakes. It is Paula Deen's and SO delicious. For some reason snow makes me feel like baking. And drinking hot chocolate. I might have to go make a cup shortly. Surprisingly, Grayson was only a little interested in playing in the snow. When she found out she could NOT wear her princess dress or just her birthday suit outside to play in the snow, she kind of changed her mind about going out and playing in it. It was very dry this morning before the sun came up. We couldn't even make snowballs to throw at one another! Greg just called to say it has melted enough to be good for making a snow man. I just don't know if we'll go outside. Grant doesn't have any boots, so as soon as he stepped in the snow his little shoes would get filled, and who wants to walk around with wet shoes and socks. Guaranteed to make your toes cold quickly. It would be fun to run out and make a snow angel however.
Oh, that's right. I've been meaning to tell you. There might be limited day time posting ( and reading) as I have not yet decided if I want to submit my blog address for review. You see they adjusted our filter at school and now I am not able to enter this site. I can submit it to be reviewed, but I'm not sure I want someone looking over my shoulder. So if my posts start to get sparse, you know it is because there is almost NO uninterrupted time in the evenings when I don't feel totally exhausted and can form a coherent sentence.
In other news.....my birthday was Tuesday. I am officially one year away from entering a new decade of life. I must say this somewhat bothers me. I mean I know the average life span of a woman is 80.1 years. Which means my life is almost half over. That is weird to type. You try it. Oh, that's right most all my readers are YOUNGER than me. You'll be here one day, don't worry. Grant just brought me some blocks. Time to go play.
Happy Valentine's Day. I'll post some pics later, and maybe my favorite LOVE poem.
My job this year is quite different from what I have done the last 14 years. For the last 14 years I've been a regular classroom teacher - creating and executing life changing or at least memorable lessons, building relationships with students and staff, and excelling at both. So it is hard for me to set up criteria by which to gauge this year as far as being successful. I might have mentioned earlier that I have been placed in a highly unethical situation for the rest of the year. I have to do something simply because of who a child's step-dad is. I also have to spend a large amount of time (at least an hour and a half) daily preparing and executing this service (which started as a professional courtesy, but has gotten WAY out of hand) The amount of focus this service requires takes away from what my job is "supposed" to be. Needless to say, it bums me out. This is coupled with the fact that my job is only funded for this year. We were doing some investigating of the upcoming 5th grade population and it is about 40% of what it is this year - thereby giving more fuel to the "don't rehire" possibility. So on Saturday I found out a good friend got an administrative position and would be leaving her position similar to mine. It is called a curriculum facilitator. They are always funded. So I started thinking that maybe I could transfer to her position. And as I was thinking it came to me that the Board of Education has to approve transfers. THE BOARD. And then I realized it will never happen. That is because the unethical situation I mentioned earlier is a result of the President of the School Board. Yeah, he's the one who approves transfers, so if I transferred then the service would stop since it is his step child whom I serve. So, do you think I would be allowed to transfer. Probably not. I will have to find a job in another county. Which might not be such a bad thing because all the surrounding communities have higher pay than the one where I currently work. The poopy thing is that is will increase my travel time which will decrease my time with the kids.
So I was carrying all that poop with me today - thinking thoughts like - I don't care about the rest of the year. I'll do the least amount of work that is possible and comply and get out. And then......Wednesday came.Today is the day that I get to teach the smartest kids in the school. For a while I forgot that they were the reason I came here. Luckily today they reminded me with their wit and depth. Today we had meaningful conversation about why segragation should end, how the KKK really doesn't promote Christian values as its website suggests and why Jim Crow Laws were ridiculous. Today we got to talk about the importance of being a good citizen to maintain our environment to reduce the disappearance of particular species due to their food chain being eliminated.Today we got to create a video to help the incoming 5th graders.Today we discovered that salt and baking soda really CAN embalm a chicken.Thank GOD for Wednesday! I think I can make it until Friday now.
So, I FINALLY have a decent vacuum. Last Saturday I took the kids to Tar`get to kill some time while their dad was working a 14 hour day and I spotted it - $60 off. "It" was a Dyson vacuum. I had asked for one for Christmas and had not received it. (Shockingly, because the expense alone would have knocked out a year's worth of gifts!) Anywho, instead of impulse buying it, I did the right thing which was ask my conscience - I mean ask my husband because it was a $300 purchase and I remember how I felt when he purchased a new TV and surround sound system 4 years ago without consulting me. I still have about $100 left from my Christmas money and with my birthday coming in a little over a week(that will be a post for another day!) I'm sure to get some more so I would only have to use a little from our account. We talked on Sunday and I told him there were only 3 so I would go and see if there were any on Monday. Well our toaster oven stopped working Monday, so when I went to the store, they were out. I figured that it was a sign it wasn't my time. Yesterday luckily I mean unfortunately Grant ran out of diapers at daycare and thinking that Greg would be gone/working all weekend I would just run by and pick some up. I was in the store and decided to take a chance and see if there happened to be any that arrived - sure enough, there they sat, just waiting for me to put one in my cart. I could have done cartwheels I was so excited!!! I could have saved another $36 by applying for a Target red card making my little vacuum $100 off!!! But I didn't because I'm already over $20,000 in credit card debt and adding one more temptation would only deepen the hole.
Let me tell you - it runs like a dream. Even Greg wanted to use it!?! Grant took a turn pushing it. It's actually very quiet. We kept walking around saying (with your best British accent too)
"It doesn't loose suction!".
The most exciting part for me was the hose. You see about 14 years ago I sucked a "AA" battery up the hose of my vacuum when I was cleaning under and behind the couch. I got the vacuum fixed, but the hose never recovered.
I highly recommend it if you need a new vacuum. The soft whirr of the vacuum is inspiring - I might even do the car later. I think that will have to wait because Greg decided he wants to have our small group over for the Super Bowl on Sun. - so I get to use my new vacuum!
