Thank Goodness For Fridays......and Susan! :)

I love the school that I work at. We all know that no matter how much we love our jobs, there is just nothing that feels as great as Friday at quittin' time. My friend, Susan, couldn't have said it better!

Way to go, Susan!

We are so easy to entertain....

I can't help but wonder what is going on in our little bird's head...

..... and then he likes to just go " bob, bob, bobbin' along"! (Sorry about the shaking camera, I had to sneak up on him!) I'm not sure what it means but he likes to bob his head up and down when he walks!

Books and Movies

Today was a day of getting lost in books and movies. I am reading two books at once. I'm not sure why....sometimes it's just plain hard for a girl to choose one thing over another. So, I read one book for a while and then read the other.

Twilight: I had to start reading this when I noticed Shannon couldn't put it down. I have to admit that I can see why. It's easy to get lost in the love story.....even if it involves a vampire. It's an easy read but is captivating. Seems like two hours just fly by every time I pick it up. Might be the reason I've been a little tired this week...too much reading on school nights!

This Is Graceanne's Book: This one is for my Book Club Blog (http://www.brainsbeautiesbooks.blogspot.com/) I have just started this one and am about four chapters into it. It is really good so far. Definitely doesn't seem to be a love story but the storyline keeps me wanting to read more. Very descriptive....can't wait to see where things go for Charlemagne.

I saw two movies today!

Martian Child (Netflix rental): Love Love Loved this one! John Cusack was awesome....again! His sister, Joan Cusack who I love, plays his sister in it. The little guy who plays Dennis (Bobby Coleman) was wonderful. I cried and I laughed out loud. This is a great "feel good" movie that reminds us to accept people as they are.....no matter how different they seem to us. I highly recommend this one.

Slumdog Millionaire (met my friend, Amy, for dinner and a movie). One word....Intense! I have to admit that during the first 15 or 20 minutes, I was wondering if I would be able to make it through the movie. It's very intense and graphic portrayal of life in the slums of Mumbai was a little unsettling for me at times. However, by the end of the movie, I was so happy that I stayed. It is a great story and the acting is fantastic. I would say this is definitely for mature audiences but is very worth seeing!

Two books, two movies, and dinner with a good friend all in one day....gotta love a three day weekend!

Wedding Plans Are Under Way!!

As most of you have heard, Scott and Holly are getting married! I am very excited. They have been together for over three and a half years and are ready to start their lives together. The big day is August 1, 2009! I have been after them to start a Blog (you know..my new passion) but they created a fun web site instead. Check it out...it includes the story of how they met and got engaged, their registries, engagement pictures and more!

http://scottandholly.com/

Help! We're Melting.....

Snowfall Records Set:

24 Hour

48 Hour

72 Hour

One Month

Just as quickly as we were hit with cold weather and snow, a warm front has come through...something called a "Pineapple Express". You would think we would be excited to see the snow melt and enjoy the 40+ temperatures but we now have new problems.

This the awning in the front of our place. It had about two feet of snow on it yesterday. It all melted in less than a day.

We are still missing a lot of school. We were able to go for part of a day yesterday. We had a glimpse of normalcy and our students could see that their teachers do still exist. We were also able to finish up some Christmas activities and put some finality to 2008. When we left school yesterday, we were told we would be having a "Two Hour Late Start" for the rest of the week. We like that because those days count and we don't have to make them up later.

By this morning, things had changed drastically and our school district was closed once again. Ours and most of the surrounding districts as well. I would say almost all of the Spokane districts were closed, too.

There are two big dangers. One is the little ones trying to walk to school. The roads are slushy and icy at the same time. I'm betting the buses would have a terrible time on our rural roads as well. The other real danger is the weight of the snow on school roofs. All of the roofs were inspected at the beginning of the week and passed the tests. However, with the "Great Melt" and the almost two inches of rain we are supposed to get, everything is much much heavier. Today was spent hiring crews to come in a shovel off our school roofs. Most of our district will start back on a late start tomorrow. One school is still having trouble. This was taken from our district web page...yes, you are reading it right. They have called in the NATIONAL GUARD!

Thursday, January 8
2 Hour Late Start for
MLHS, MLAHS, MLMS, Hallett & MLES
Michael Anderson Elementary School Only will be Closed Thursday for the National Guard to remove snow and ice from the roof.

Friday, January 9
2 Hour Late Start for
All Medical Lake Schools

Shannon and I noticed that our landlord also hired some people to clean off some roofs around here, too. Whew! The side roads around here were awful. Shannon didn't make it to school but was in contact with her professors and was able to stay caught up today.

Scott, on the other hand, was planning to come home from Seattle today. All of the passes through the mountains are closed. Flooding and avalanches on the roads have made them impassable.

From the Department of Transportation:

Interstate 90 Snoqualmie Pass remains closed from milepost 33 near North Bend to milepost 106 near Ellensburg due to extreme avalanche danger, flooding & washouts along the route. The Pass will remain closed at least until Thursday morning when crews will reassess conditions. Updates will be provided when details are available.

Hopefully, he can make it home tomorrow.

A little good news! Our reindeer is beginning to make another appearance!

Before:

After:

Probably time to put my skis away and get the snorkle and fins out!

More Snow Stories...I know I'm getting tired of it, too!

I was determined not to write anymore about our weather. After all, how much can you say about snow? Snow falls, people shovel....more snow falls...more shoveling...blah, blah, blah. Then when I was watching the news tonight, I couldn't believe we were actually on the national news! We are making history! We had something happen today that I have never seen happen in the 32 years that I have lived here.

This is the headline from our local newspaper:

Schools close in advance of new storm

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich today “strongly recommended” all schools in Spokane County remain closed Monday, and most districts that had not already made the decision to keep children home were apparently complying with his unprecedented step.

Among the schools closed Monday: Spokane Public Schools; Central Valley; West Valley; Nine Mile Falls; Medical Lake; Liberty; Mead; East Valley; Freeman; Great Northern; Orchard Prairie; Gonzaga Prep, Assumption; Cheney; Riverside. St. Georges School students already had the day off, with classes scheduled to resume Tuesday. In Lincoln County, the Reardan-Edwall School District will be closed. Washington State University-Spokane will close operations Monday, as will the Community College of Spokane and Eastern Washington University. Gonzaga University is on break this week. Whitworth is planning to hold classes, but urges students to make smart travel decisions.

That's right! Spokane County sheriff shut down all schools in Spokane County. The impending storm is part of the reason....another 4 to 8 inches and 35 mph winds. The bigger problem is that we are continually getting "dumped on" and the cities are not able to keep up with safe sidewalks and streets for the kiddos to get to school. Several businesses have had to close because of collapsing roofs or needing to remove snow before they do collapse. Some of the snow berms are now over 8 feet tall making visibility around them almost impossible and very dangerous with little ones walking behind them.

Of course, we are going to be "blessed" with warmer temperatures of 40 degrees and a possibility of 1 1/2 inches of rain to follow this snow storm. We are now being warned to prepare for possible flooding.

On the bright side, people are getting to spend more "bonding" time with their families. We should be the most "fit" state in the nation soon from all of the shoveling. The ski resorts should have a very successful season. Gas companies are seeing a profit just by the need to keep snow blowers filled. Local grocery stores are doing a great business. Snowblower makers are doing great. There's not one to be found for sale in Spokane so they are being shipped in. That has to be great for Fed Ex and UPS. I am happy that the Sheriff is being proactive in protecting our precious children. I am thankful we joined Netflix just before the storms hit. :)

Oh, I just looked outside....it's snowing!

Our First "Adventure" of the New Year....

It all started last night. Shannon was heading out to pick up her friends and go out to dinner. She was gone about two minutes when my phone rang. It was Shannon calling from her car....parked right out front. "Mom, can you come out? My door won't shut."

I threw on my boots and went out to take a look. I opened and closed the door several times. Yep...she was right...it wouldn't shut. Being very mechanically inclined (NOT), I went back in and grabbed my coat (did I mention it was about 8 degrees?), a flashlight and a screwdriver. I really had no idea what I was going to do with it but it seemed important to have it.

I looked at the "latch thingy" on the door....played with it with the screwdriver for a few minutes and then shut the door. It opened. I closed it. It opened. I played with the "latch thingy" and my screwdriver again. Close..open...close...open. At this point, Shannon is texting her friends to tell them she will be late and is looking a bit panicked. I told her to take my car and I would "work" on hers...."mom of the year" award is sure to be mine! She was gone!

After she left, I decided I should tie the door shut. Great plan! I found some rope and headed to the car just knowing the problem would be temporarily solved and I could wait until daylight to come up with a better plan.

So, I got in the car, pulled the door shut and realize her car has one of those handles that doesn't have a hole on the other side. Hmmm....electric windows...no window handle to tie it to. Dang! Aha...the door lock (you know, that teeny tiny little black thing)...might as well give it a try. I tied one end of the rope to that lock and the other end to the steering wheel. Sure wish I knew my knots better. After fiddling around tieing different knots and pulling the rope as tight as I could, the dome light went off. Success! I climbed out the other side of the car and watched. No dome light. Whew!

I went inside, made a nice cup of hot tea, put my jammies on and settled into my book. At about 9:30 pm, I looked outside and couldn't believe what I was seeing. The dome light! It seemed to be laughing at me. Deep breath, boots on, coat on....go out, push the door closed, it opens, close it again, it opens....??? And then an idea! The door was "falling" open. I turned the car around and parked the driver side up on a snow bank (guess this stuff came in handy after all). The door fell SHUT! It didn't latch but at least the dome light was off and the battery was safe. Success...again!

After getting up several times during the night to check on th car and make sure the dome light stayed off, morning finally came. I talked to my dad (this is nothing new in a time of crisis for me...thank goodness for Dads!) He said to bring the car out to his place and we could put it in the garage over night. It may just need to warm up and he would put a heater on the inside, too. With all this moisture (five and a half feet of moisture) we've had, maybe the mechanism was frozen. He also suggested rolling the windows down a little and tie the door shut that way. Brilliant!! So, that's what we did. Tied the door shut and Shannon pulled on the rope all the way out to Dad's. We never did get the door closed tight enough so the warning lights and dome light would turn off, but we made it and no one fell out of the car.

Dad opened the garage, we drove in, untied the door and got out. Dad got his screwdriver (that made me feel good) and fiddled with the door "latch thingy" and said,

"Cheryl, that's closed...seems to be working."

What?? I watched as he closed the door and it didn't fall open! It stayed shut. Shannon and I looked at each other and all we could do was laugh.

Seems as though, things had been frozen and with all of the action that morning, they had thawed out. Hmmph! Well, at least the lock is working and the car is getting all nice and toasty and is spending a night out of the weather. We will get it back tomorrow and hopefully, we won't need our rope or screwdriver!

A New Year...

It's the first day of a New Year. As I sit here looking out my window and wonder why we are getting 5 to 7 inches more snow today (I mean, Really....isn't 5 feet enough?), my mind starts to reflect over the past year.

There were many events that happened that were beyond my control, yet we managed to survive them all. My family had some health scares, close friends lost people very close to them, students of mine survived events in their lives that no 9 or 10 year old should ever experience, and a few relationships changed or, sadly, ended.

I can't think about the struggles and sad times of the past year without then thinking about all the wonderful things that happened. (I sometimes think we are given trials and tribulations so that we will appreciate all of the wonderful things that happen in our lives, no matter how big or small.)

The happier times of 2008! We had four graduations in our family. Shannon, my daughter turned 18 and graduated from high school. Another adult enters our world. She started college, passed all of her classes and continues to work part time. She is doing great! Scott, my son, graduated from Washington State University. After four and half years, he can finally say "I did it!" He even has a job....I'm very thankful for that! My nieces live in Colorado and they both reached the same milestones. Amy graduated from high school and is going to college. Lauren graduated from college and has a job, as well. Good job, girls! There are some mighty proud grandparents in Washington state!

Another huge event was the engagement of Scott and Holly. After three and a half years, Scott "popped the question" on Oct. 16th. He got down on one knee and then had planned a surprise engagement party with their friends after. Way to go, Scott! I am a very proud mom! We have already considered Holly part of the family, but now it's going to be official! Their wedding will be a great memory for 2009.

I finished and started another year of teaching fourth grade. There are times when I can get caught up with the stress of preparing my students to pass every test that our state can throw at them, but then I step back and remind myself that they are 9 and 10 years old. When I do that, I actually learn from them. They have a way of just taking life as it comes. They cope and survive and even have fun with it! We live by this little phrase in our room, "Not to worry!"

2009....

I consider joining the masses and hope to lose a few pounds, go back to the gym, plan financially, consider getting my National Certification, be a better mom, teacher and friend.....

In all seriousness, I believe that we need to try to learn from obstacles we encounter and even mistakes we have made. The most important lesson I think I have learned is to appreciate each day with our loved ones....make the most of it. Life is short and changes in the blink of an eye.

With that in mind, I am not going to make a list of all those resolutions that I may or may not keep. This year, I have one goal....I will wake up happy and focus on what I have done, not what I haven't. After all, I am blessed with a wonderful family, great friends and a job that I love!

Happy 2009!