NO SCHOOL

I woke to the message that there was no school today. The automated phone system rang at 6:20 in the morning waking me up. We were expecting some snow and cold weather, but I once again never thought that school would be canceled. I tried to go back to sleep but there is still that little kid in me that gets the adrenalin going when you here the words no school. Of course, that just irritates me.

I finally got up and drove Doug to work so he didn't have to defrost the car. On the way to work Doug mentioned that tomorrow it was suppose to be very cold -35 with the wind chill and wondered if the public school would close because of the safety of kids waiting for the bus. Dugger pointed out that skin freezes at -40. Last year they had a day where the buses wouldn't start because it was so cold. Now this weather is to last until Friday midnight. So what will the end of the week bring in regards to school?

I returned home bummed and out of sorts. I just hate having my routine messed up. I had my work day planned out and I'm in the midst of finishing report cards. Although the report card program is online and I can access it from anywhere, I had my mind set on managing my time at school to work on this.

I did decide early to not waste the day. I need all the time at home I can get (so why complain). I began organizing the filing so I could do the filing and gather all our tax return documents. I had planned on doing this on MLK Monday. I also contemplated working on our Texas trip photo album. I've cropped all the pictures and have put them in order. The creative spirit isn't moving me on this but I think once I start I'll get in the swing of things. The filing took a bit of time and then T-Man went to go work for a local man. T-Man does yard work and handyman stuff in the spring, summer, and fall and in the winter he often helps clean the ice and snow off the driveway, sidewalk, and walking paths. So I dropped him off and headed to the store.

The roads were not good in most areas so I it was a good call to cancel school. I picked up some sewing items in case school was canceled tomorrow then I could work on one of Mimi's competition costumes. I also stopped by the store and picked up a few food items for eating lunches at home. In case there was school tomorrow, I bought Dugger some folders to replace last semester's folders as he begins the new semester. Hopefully this will get him off to an organized start.

I feel good that I didn't waste the day reading a novel or sitting in front of the TV. I was tense from driving with the roads a mess. I very slowly slid into the intersection near the place where T-Man works. Luckily there were no other cars already at the intersection. The few coming up were driving slowly; as was I.

I began working on my report cards after dinner and the neighbor girl headed back home. I don't have as much time tomorrow as I do on Wednesday and I need them finished by Thursday night. I finished everything but my student comments when I received an e-mail about 8:00 pm from T-Man's chess coach saying their tournament was canceled because the other school district in town had canceled school for tomorrow. This is quite unusual because school closing decisions are not typically made until the early morning 5:00 to 6:00 am. We began checking the local radio website to see if there were other school closings, ours!

Sure enough the phone rang and Dugger's school was closed. Then it appeared on the website. Still wondering about my school and the other two kids. Then a few minutes later my cell phone rings and the home phone rings too. Our school is canceled too. I checked the radio website and the local catholic schools are now closed as well. So the whole neighborhood will be home.

At least now I have several things to keep me busy at home tomorrow and I can flit from thing to thing.