Expect the Unexpected

Snow...er ice...no, uh rain...errrrr some kind of day that we get to be home from school due to nasty weather. The area weather guys have been saying for several days that we would be having some form of winter weather this week. The local weathermen are never rarely right when predicting snow and/or ice for our area. Well, this time they sort of did. On Wednesday morning around 9:15, I thought I saw flurries outside of my classroom window. Hmm. Well okay. An hour later, it began to rain. Gross. At 11ish, it started to snow. Now, snow around here usually just swirls around and never touches the ground, but lo and behold, we get an announcement that our district will be dismissing at noon. Guess I'll take that without too much complaint. It meant that I would be able to be the one present for a major milestone for Lefty, when I really wasn't expecting to be. I have to wait until tomorrow to post about that though. Lefty says so.

That's some giant snowflakes right there!

While I was waiting for Lefty, it began to snow really hard. I just felt like I needed to go pick Boo up from school, which had not been dismissed early (I teach in a different district than the one they attend in). I went ahead and left to get her, and when we all got home, those dang snowflakes looked like snowballs falling from the sky! Boo thought she needed to attack them, but one pegged her in the eye. Dork.

No, she doesn't have a coat on. She had spent the night at her dad's and apparently he didn't think she needed to know it was supposed to snow. Genius.

Now, what you have to understand is that my school district doesn't just dismiss randomly for the possibility that the pretty white stuff swirling around might stick. Last month, it got bad enough that I couldn't drive my 2wd SUV home and had to have Chris drive the 30 minutes to pick me up with the 4wd. School never did dismiss; I had to use a half of a personal day. There were lots of accidents that day, so maybe that is why the decision was made early. Anyway, thank God that we were let out. It was only by His grace that I was able to follow my intuition and pick Boo up early. This is what happened to her school bus about 15 minutes away from our house.

Some of the girlies friends were on it when it happened. Seven children, aged 10 - 15, and the bus driver were involved. Three of those kids and the driver were transported to the ER for treatment of minor injuries. Lefty's best friend and best friend's brother were both transported, one with a deeply bruised shoulder and the other with a sprained/possibly fractured ankle. The other child treated had facial lacerations and the bus driver was complaining of back pain. Boo's very close friend blacked out at some point in the accident and has no recollection of the accident itself, but her parents declined treatment for her. All were released from the ER within  4 hours of transport, so the injuries were truly minor...at least the physical ones were. Why don't school buses have seatbelts for students? Why don't schools dismiss before the weather gets this treacherous? It was obviously getting nasty out there 2 hours before the accident occurred. I don't get it. The school released student drivers 30 minutes early, and all others 15 minutes before the final bell. Making up a partial day or even two or three full days is so trivial compared to what did happen and what could have happened. Needless to say, we are all home today. I guess in order to 'make up' for the lack of proactive choices yesterday, the girls' school district was the first in the state to cancel for today.

Thank God that He had His hand on my family and our friends yesterday. He has a plan for them. And He gave us another day to share together today and to enjoy these gorgeous (cold) sights...

Challenge Day 27/30...Black and White

This may be the toughest post of the entire challenge for me. A problem I have had. Hmm. I have had my share. Probably more than my fair share, and more likely than not, they have been brought upon myself by myself! The biggest problem area in my life is in relationships. With everyone. 


I have a tendency to see things in black and white. No shades of gray. Don't get me wrong, I think that gray is a fabulous color...on cats, in clothing...but not in situations and circumstances. When confronted with issues, I typically see things as right or wrong. Not much in between. And I don't tend to guard my tongue when asked for an opinion. Believe it or not, that causes a lot of bridges to be burned. I am very cut to the chase and precise in everything I do. Don't ask if you don't want what I see as truth to be told. If you don't want me to think the worst of you or someone else, then don't constantly show or tell me bad things about you or them. If I think you are using me or being dishonest with me, I'm done. And I will let you know fully why I am done.


While these personality traits don't win or keep many friends around, they do ensure that the people around me are genuine. Anyone that is real enough to put up with my OCD nature and tolerates my need to be in control, is real enough to cause me to want to make time to develop a relationship with. That does not happen very often. So I guess the problem is that my personality does not generate a lot of lasting friendships. Thank God for Chris, or I'd be a lonely mess! There are times that my lack of true friends bothers me. Most of the time, however, I am pretty happy to be without drama and without feeling the need to satisfy other people. It seems I may need to prepare for a life as a hermit. Maybe when I am old, I will be the old cat lady. :-)

This Tongue's For You!

Have you ever noticed how sometimes when sitting at a stop sign or light, the expressions on people's faces as they pass by? It always cracks me up when I see someone rockin' so hard to an upbeat song that their car shakes! Once I even saw a man hit his passenger (with a closed fist) so hard that her face bounced off of the window. It scared me, and since we were on the access ramp to the interstate, I called 911 and turned in their plate number.

Yesterday, I was sitting at a stop sign indulging in the yummy goodness of a Cadbury creme egg while I waited for traffic, when a lady in a mini-van turned onto the road. She looked at me with a look of pure disgust. Now...I have no clue who this woman was...had never seen her before in my life, so I have no idea what the heck-fire I did to earn such a look, but what I really wanted to do was...

Or better yet...