Another snow day yesterday

We had another snow day yesterday. Actually it was a "cold weather" day. It was so cold, below zero, that many of the buses didn't start. So school was called off for the day. It's snowing out heavily right now. We are only supposed to get 1-3 inches by morning, so we should be okay for school. I heard a nasty rumor that the worst winter storm of the winter is on the west coast heading this way for Monday and Tuesday. Spring can't come too quickly!

I am scheduled for foot surgery on Monday to remove a neuroma from my left foot. It's gotten to the point that it's too painful to pedal the bike, so I haven't been going to the gym. I'm taking next week off of work. I just need to notify the sub, who has already agreed to sub for me, and set up a time, probably Monday before I go for surgery, to go over my lesson plans. I'm putting a packet together of lesson plans/activities for each day. I'm going to really miss my kids. They are the greatest!

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got up this morning, showered, got dressed, and did dog duties. Right before I left for work I turned on the television to watch the news. Scrolling along the bottom of the screen were school closings. I had no clue it had snowed so much last night. Well, my district was not on the list so I kept getting ready. I was grabbing my coat when I hear our district being called. Well, the phone tree hadn't been activated so I sat for a few minutes. The phone call finally came at 6:45 a.m. That's usually the time I'm leaving the house. I was so wide awake by then that I decided to stay up. I have gotten so much work done around the house! It's a beautiful sunny day. The school district I live in did have school, so the buses are lined up in front of my house waiting to load the middle schoolers. I'm glad I had another day, but will be sad in June when we have to work an extra day to make it up.

3:30 a.m. and wide awake

Well, it's 3:30 a.m. and I'm wide awake. I've been awake for the past 3 hours. My ear infection is now a double ear infection. I went to my doc today (well, actually yesterday, I guess) for stronger antibiotics. He said I should feel better in another day or two. I sure hope so. People are getting tired of repeating everything they tell me because I plain cannot hear them!

Some things I've observed over the past 3 hours: The dalmatian cannot hear when she is sleeping on her left side with the right ear up. I went to the livingroom to get the laptop, which was on the table next to her. She didn't hear a thing.
My normally quiet neighborhood gets a little loud with airplanes (probably UPS) flying in. Here comes another one now! I'm about 12 miles due north of the airport, but pretty close to the flight path. More must land at night than during the day. There have also been a few fire calls as I've heard sirens several times. The firehouse is about 1/2 mile from my house and the trucks run down the street the next block over.
There are funny clunks and noises around my house at night. If I was younger I'd probably be hiding under the blankets in fear.
The lhasapoo takes up more than his fair share of the bed. That might answer the question of why all my blankets are wrapped around me at the edge of the bed. Who would have thought that a 13 pound dog could stretch the width of a full bed.
Well, better put this thing down and try to at least nap. Let's see, if I fall asleep now I can get another 2 hours of sleep. Have you ever played that game? If I fall asleep now, I can get ____hours of sleep. You look at the clock awhile later and think the same thing. Keep repeating until the alarm goes off or the radio goes on. Hit the snooze and hope for at least 9 minutes of sleep. Repeat until the last moment that you know you have to get up to make it to work in time by just throwing on clothes, running a brush through your hair, and chewing Dentyne instead of brushing your teeth.
Good night all!

I'm too old for this!

I am way to old to have an ear infection. Isn't that something that happens to little kids? I've never had ear infections before this past summer. I have my second one now. I was feeling fine on Friday, then woke up yesterday with the worst earache! I went to the Immediate Care clinic. I'm now on an antibiotic and decongestant. It's feeling a little better, so I think the meds are working. I sure hope I feel much better tomorrow so I can go to work.

It's snowing out right now and covering the mushy backyard. The snow sure makes things brighter and cleaner looking. I love everything about winter except for the darkness and the dirty look when the snow melts (unless it's getting into the warmer spring weather, then I don't mind the dirty look)

15 more Mondays to go

Yes, we are counting Mondays. We only have 15 more student Mondays left of this school year. Although I am really enjoying my students, I'm still trying to come up with a plan that works for everyone. I don't have students that can do academics this year. I've changed over to more of a Lifeskills type classroom and am putting the academics in through play and group activities. We've done this the past few days and have had some success.

I went to the podiatrist today. The bunion is ugly, but not worthy of surgery at this time. I do have a neuroma between my 2nd and 3rd toes. I'll get it taken out in the next couple of weeks. It's gotten to the point that even pedaling the recumbent bike is really painful.

My weekend plans include cleaning the fridge and the oven. The oven is stewing in oven cleaner over night. I'll get to it first thing tomorrow morning. I also need to do a couple loads of laundry. I'm also going to put the new slipcovers on the couch and wingback chairs. I'm so excited to be able to sit down and not get covered in dalmatian hair.

Tornado Warnings....in January? In Northern Illinois?

I ran home after work to let the dogs out before it rained. Yippee!!! I made it. So, having successfully completing one task, I decided to hit the grocery store for a few items. Well, it started to pour out. I made it to the car thinking I may have had to inflate the plastic grocery bags and empty the pop bottles as flotation devices if I would have stayed in the store a moment longer. I started the car and heard a computer generated voice saying there was a tornado headed our way and was now 8 miles southwest of my town. YIKES!!!!!!!!!!! I charged home. Luckily the store isn't far from the house so I made it lickety-split. I put the car in the house because, doggone it, it's only a year old and I didn't want it to get hailed on. IWhen I got out of the car I could hear the emergency sirens screaming. I ran to the house, dropped the groceries on the counter, grabbed the lhasapoo and my laptop, yelled at the dal to follow, then ran for the basement. I hung out down there for awhile. I finally came upstairs and turned on the television. A tornado had touched down a couple of miles from my house, then went back up and headed NE. It hit in a small rural town, destroying at least 5 houses. There were a few injuries and the electricity went out for about 16,000 customers. We even made the Weather Channel! Did I mention that this is January 7th? Did I mention this is Northern Illinois? Absolutely amazing! We are still under a tornado watch, but I think the excitement is over for the night. Well, it's probably over for the next 4 months. For crying out loud, I was shoveling 4 inches of snow 6 days ago. We're supposed to get more snow tomorrow. Can we say, "Global Warming"?

Busy day

I got all of the Christmas and winter things down and put away. I was going to keep the snowmen up for another several weeks, but decided that it all had to come down! I'm putting the summery silk flower arrangements out to help the place seem sunnier. I took down all of my winter wall decor, too, and am putting the flowery pictures back up.

The pond looks good. I skimmed more leaves out of it. I did see two of the three fish and they look fat and happy. The third one is brown, so difficult to see in the pond. At least it's not floating on the top. We are supposed to get rain and thunderstorms, a rare event here in January, so the pond will get some fresh water. It's almost over the top today, so will be by the time it rains. I also cleaned up papers and other garbage I found in the yard that had been covered by snow so the front yard looks good. The backyard needs some more work, but it will have to wait as it's now dark out.

Well, that's all for today, I guess. I need to get some dinner made and lesson plans done.

Seein' Spots

I need to be doing something productive in this house. Taking down the Christmas tree and decorations is a priority this weekend, but there is always tomorrow. I need to work on lesson plans, too. But, here I sit with this doggone laptop, playing around on the computer.
The dalmatian is "mooing" at the door. That means, "Put me out so I can find something nasty in the yard that I can eat". So, she now gets to wear a muzzle to go out.
See, I am boring!