Snow Update

So the other day, when I posted about the unexpected snow and all the accidents?  And was philosophical about not driving Rachel to school (she ended up about an hour and a half late)?  Turns out the minister of our church decided to drive his son to the same school, because their bus was REALLY late.  But the main road to the school was the one with the 7 car accident, so he was shunted down a side road.  And apparently he was going just slightly too fast for conditions, because HE got in a fender bender - just down the street from my house.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.

But I'm SO glad Rachel's bus showed up when it did.

Cat Furniture

I am typing one-handed because I have a cat (Sheba) snuggled in the crook of my left arm, fast asleep.  Deep enough asleep that I can pet her and she doesn't move.  I think I may be stuck for a while.

Unfortunately, John doesn't usually buy the sleeping cat excuse as a way to avoid doing something.

It drives the kids nuts because the cats are "mine".  As in, they're usually in whatever room I'm in, and often on my lap if there's room.  If we're all sitting on the couch, both cats will usually walk over everyone else to get to my lap, no matter how enticingly the kids call and pat their legs.  Especially if I'm knitting, which may explain my low ouptut lately.

So my role in the cats' eyes seems to be 1. giver of food (even if the kids feed the dry food) and 2. cat furniture.

Now if only I could figure out how to keep my arm from falling asleep.

Hindsight

Guess I should have driven Rachel to school.  She just called - her bus hit a curb and is stuck.  The driver has called a tow truck.  School started 30 minutes ago.

On the other hand, she's fine, and safe, and there's no guarantee that WE wouldn't have been in an accident if I had driven her. 

Well, THAT Was Unexpected

When JC left this morning for school, at 6:45am, there was a very light dusting of snow on the road and yard.  A powdered sugar "bam" of snow, no more.  And the TV weatherman was still calling for snow showers with no real accumulation.

By 8am, when William was walking out to the bus, we had just shy of 1/2" and it was still coming down hard.  All the cars (of which there were few) were CRAWLING down our hill, and while we were standing at the bus stop, a driver rolled down the window to let us know there was a 7 car accident on a nearby road and a bus that couldn't make it up the hill.  William's bus finally showed up about 20 minutes late, and it took her a good 10 minutes to creep slowly down our hill.  She was being very cautious, but then again, she was driving a bus full of elementary students.  I was watching her slide sideways as she slowly went around a curve in the road.

As it was still snowing hard, I figured Rachel's bus would be REALLY late, so I hurried her through breakfast, cleaned off the car, and just as we were about to pull out of the driveway, the bus showed up.  She elected to run up the hill and take the bus to school.

So now it is still snowing.  Big, fat, fluffy snowman snow.  Very slick on the roads, I'm observing.  I was going to have coffee with a friend, but she canceled on me last night, and I'm staying put until the salt trucks go by.  I have all-wheel drive and fairly new tires - but I have no faith in my fellow drivers.

Rain Rain Go Away

Actually, it has.  But it was torrential yesterday.  Buckets 'o rain, and a gale-force wind that drove the rain horizontally.

So of course, a friend and I had to go out anyway.  We'd planned a "field trip" last week, and no stinkin' rain was going to keep us down!  We were headed about an hour away, for shopping and gossip and a lovely lunch.

Well.... after more than an hour sitting in traffic with little progress, we scaled back our ambitions.  We hit a much closer shopping area.  We still managed to have to run through the rain and got completely soaked just running out to the car.  But we found a lovely lunch anyway.  And spent a day catching up and swapping gossip and giving each other advice, you know, all the good things that you need from a female friend.

And you know?  By the time we got home, the rain had stopped.  Who'd a thunk it?

Rooted

I do have a project I'm excited/scared about - last Spring I attended a luncheon with an artist friend.  She's active in a book arts group, and it is something I find really interesting.  I love the technical part, the bookbinding and all that, but I find content really intimidating.  I don't think of myself as an artist!  But part of the luncheon was a challenge to decorate our (papier mache) lunchboxes, which will subsequently auctioned off for charity.  I still had the box and received an email about 2 months ago asking if I would commit to making a piece for the auction.  It took a little mental push, but I committed.  Figured I would never really try if I didn't have a deadline.  So the boxes are due February 22nd.  And I decided I had to start working on it so I wasn't rushing at the last minute.  Because, of course, I can't just slap something together, I want it to be GOOD, too.  (what's that about pride goeth before a fall?)

So the overall theme is "Tend Your Garden" and the inspiration came from a grassroot art organization in Africa that the group had watched a documentary on at a previous meeting.  And that's all the guidance we have.  I've chosen a theme/title - "Rooted".  I'm going to somehow use text to explore the concept of grassroots organizations, and how they are "rooted" in our values (compassion, love, faith, etc.)  There will be grass and flowers on top, and roots coming through the lid, and I'm altering an old gardening book to base the text in.

So far all I've actually done (as opposed to thought about) is cut up the gardening book, removing most of the pages.  I've experimented a little with different glues to adhere remaining pages together, though not in the book itself yet.  I've played with a few different ideas for the roots.  It's not made a lot of progress yet, and I'm a little scared of actually doing anything to the box - that's the no-turning-back point.  But I will try to take some pictures and show the progress.  Wish me luck!

What to Say?

"April is the cruelest month."  (Points to anyone who can identify that quote)  But January is RIGHT up there.  Dark, cold, dreary, and only one holiday to liven things up - and that one is all about service to others.  Rah.

What to say? It's been January, the days are starting to get a little (eensy bit) longer. School is in full swing, though no sports for us yet. Rachel and JC have a couple of activities during the week, but not a lot at this point. John is traveling some weeks and not others.


And I am scraping through each day, unmotivated to do much of anything. I'm sort of keeping up with laundry and grocery shopping and bills. Cleaning is a bit of catch-as-catch can. I scrubbed the kitchen the other day and a day later you would never know. It's rather a de-motivator, you know?  So I am dragging through, eating unhealthy stuff and wondering why I feel lousy.

Can I just put the world on hold for a bit and take a nap?

Perspective

It's easy to sit here and whine about the cold weather, the Christmas bills, the messy house, etc.  But when tragedy occurs, especially in a place like Haiti, my perspective changes. 

The Yarn Harlot has a lovely post on the issue.  Consider doing what you can for your charity of choice.

Alabama Left and Do-Si-Do

We went out to dinner tonight, and during the looooong wait for food (it was very busy on Friday night, go figure!), John asked William what he did today in school.  Turns out that gym teachers everywhere do a square dancing unit in January - I remember doing it in the middle of winter when I was in school.

Today, William said, they learned to "alabama  left".  That would be "allemande" to those of you who remember your own square dancing days.  He even demonstrated, with glasses on the table, exactly what an "allemande left" and a "do-si-do" are.  And it was clear that he had paid attention and actually enjoyed square dancing.  Sigh....I wish I thought it would last.  You know there will come a time when square dancing isn't "cool" and therefore he'll decide he doesn't like it.

But until then, perhaps I'll get him to teach me how to alabama left again.