The Best Possible Snow Day

Yesterday we had a snow day.  The weather people were messing with us for a week saying we would get x number of inches of snow- then they would decrease the number and then increase and winter storm watch and then warning and then advisory.....  sheeeeeesh.

I got up yesterday and was bitterly disappointed that a. there was barely a dusting of snow on the ground and b. that the phone hadn't rung at 5am announcing that there was no school.  I was secretly mad at the MA as he predicted  the night before there would be no storm to speak of because it didn't "feel right" out there.  I ordered him to bed as he laughed at me and made fun of me/pitied me.  Lol.  Such a smartie pants he is. Who died and made him weather man??  

Ah..... a cup of joy and delight perfect for a snow day

Anyway, I was kind of worried as there was virtually no snow.  So I was wasting my time, dragging my feet getting dressed until the last minute and literally the second I had begun to stand up to find my jeans and something presentable on top- my phone rang!  WHAT???

So yeah, there was a snow day with virtually no snow.  AND the storm stayed south of us.  BUT thanks to the weather people and almost every school in the northern half of Wisconsin, the threat was real enough for everyone to call school.

Don't you dare judge the administration for this!!!  First of all can you imagine how obnoxious it is to call an early day if the weather had disintegrated and we needed to get the kids home early?  AND in our particular case we have the largest area wise school district in the state- there are some kids who are on the bus for an hour or more and in the remotest places you can imagine.  So, lets not be hasty to call them out.

The thing is that we all needed this day. Staff, administration and students.  A break from all practices, meetings, classes, hallway incidences, sickness, traumas brought to school from home and on and on. WE NEEDED THIS!!!!!  For me (it's my blog and I'll whine if I want to) I have been pushing to get art work done for next week, trying to get grading done for progress reports, do scenery painting after school, etc. etc.  Lots of drama everywhere.  Lots of counseling of many of my favorite kids. (On the record- I have no favorites.  Off the record- some of them just need me, so of course I secretly love them the most ;) )  I come home, crash and burn, eat a little and then sleep like crap.  So this day was needed and wanted and it was loved and cherished and admired.

I cooked a little, read a lot, had a visitor (hi Jake!), drank copious amounts of coffee, chatted a bit on the phone, and I felt layer after layer of stress and anxiety (oh yes I have that in spades) peel off of me.  I slept really well last night.  whew.

So today it is windy and pretty and I don't foresee a whole lot of outside activity.  I have to do a little grading, some prep work for a meeting I have next week, and a touch of mending, but there are these books that need to be read and probably some photos that need to be edited from fun trips, and a camera that needs to be mastered....  

I will find my zen, my peace and my joy!

And off into the New Year we go

I sit down on my couch to write a blog post and it is 4:29.  Yes, in the a.m.  Man, am I tired.  So WHY am I writing at 4:29  4:30 (cuppa coffee #2 happened)??  Well, sleep was not real good last night.  A certain person who shares the room with me MAY have been snoring........AND there was an extra blanket on the bed, which ended up causing all sorts of odd issues....... and my shoulders I realize are aching from my workout yesterday.  I should have moved to my alternative bed, but it was TOOO cold again last night AND I kept thinking that I would sleep well.  Not so much.

Jacpot enjoying his breakfast

So now that you know all sorts of unnecessary things about my sleep or lack thereof last night,  how has your new year been?  I had a glorious Christmas vaca.  Got a lot of snow shoeing in, which rocked!  Had Christmas with 2/3 of the kiddos and a belated Christmas will be coming hopefully VERY SOON.  Checked out a new gym, which no actual insult intended to the owners, I call it the ghetto gym.  It is actually a weight room at a local motel, and it has actually a lot of equipment there. It will do, let's put it that way.  My shoulders are pretty achy today, so I did well, and I have a feeling other parts will be aching later.

In case you didn't get the memo, we also have had 2 extra days off from school this week for some delightful cold Northern WI weather.  -30 - -40 degree windchills will do that to ya.  I have to smile (I've grown incredibly tolerant these days) at the people who in their infinite wisdom question the decisions of school districts around the state who cancelled classes..  Seriously??  I heard of one radio announcer who actually said if he had to come to work, why can't they just have school??  Well, how about that you aren't 5 and you don't have to ride a school bus for 45 minutes in the middle of no where??  I guess I am not so tolerant, lol.  These people would be the first to sue a school district if their little kid got frost bite standing at the bus stop waiting for a broken down school bus. Ah yes.

Anyway, that first day off was epic for me.  I had a list about a mile long to accomplish and I DID!  I was so pleased with myself!  :)  The second day, yesterday, I was more at a loss.  I knew that if I wanted to sit and read all day - I could, but I felt way more restless.  I ended up getting a few things accomplished, and I did sit and read for a while.  But not as much as I wanted to.  Oh well.  It was REALLY cold and windy yesterday. I think the high was -7.  About 7 last night I established myself in a nest of blanket and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the evening.  TODAY, I see on the news, we have a double blessing of a wind chill advisory (merely -20 windchills) AND a winter weather advisory (2-4 inches of snow with that wind).  Yay for us!!  I did manage yesterday, to step outside in the morning to get a couple really nice photos using the gorgeous morning sunlight.

Giant hand holding her share of snow

Meanwhile, I have no idea what day it is......  I intellectually know that it is Thursday, but my inner time keeper is feeling a bit lost.  But we will get through the day, I am again thrown into one of my busiest days of the week with 6 classes, pretty much back to back to the end of the day.  Fortunately, my elementary kiddos are all painting, which takes a lot of the prep stress off of me.

So I will head off into my day in a while here, armed with the knowledge that no matter how goofy the kids are from their extra day off and being cooped up in the house/school that this will be a 3 day week!  It is Friday already tomorrow.  Wow!  And the MA is starting into his January routine and comes home later and later- but still will take weekend afternoons off for a while yet.  Hopefully the temp recovers enough over the weekend for some serious snowshoeing to take place.  And he can go back and burn stuff and do other cabin things for a few more weekends.

So have a happy day, whatever day it is and be a joy giver in this New Year!  We all need a few more joygivers in life.

Snow Day and other late April oddities

So yesterday was a little strange-ish.  I mean, face it, it is unusual to have all this snow left and unusual to have a snowday so late in April.  I mean on top of snow, snow and more snow.  It was pretty, I have to say, but I'd rather be looking at green.  I'm so over white right now.  I don't think mother nature should be wearing white after April 1!

Feed me!

So what did I do yesterday?  I sat most of the morning and read my book club book!  It is a collection of short stories by Alice Munroe called "Dear Life".   It was ok, I have a lot to say at the discussion that is indeed NEXT TUESDAY!!  YES, I went into book club and realized, myself, before I even got in there, that probably it was next week.  It is the last Tuesday of the month, and this May finds 5 Tuesdays.....  Oh well.  I'm ready for next week!  Probably, our fearless leader, Cat, was snowed in up in Glidden anyway!

Other than that, I did some cooking!  I had found a recipe while perusing my Pinterest Vegetarian board, and knew I had all the ingredients or at least most.  Other than fresh ginger, which I picked up on my way to the gym.  It took determination and aggressive driving, but I got OUT of my driveway!  lol.  By the time I left the house at 11 or so, the roads were fine- just the driveway was a problem.  It is a quinoa and lentil crockpot stew- I will be blogging that later.  I think the flavors are going to be better today, so I want to know before I write about it.  I also made some roasted chickpeas- technique also will be blogged and some Lara bars....  Nice to have some extra food around, so I don't have to cook much this week!

It was a low key and enjoyable day- I got more Ella pictures!!  YAY!!  Only 10 days until I can actually see, smell and hold that little thing.  Gramma is coming sweetie!!

I LOVE this pic!!  She is thinking- what ARE these people doing to me??

Lotsa hair!!  

With her daddy!

I also woke up at midnight with the hiccups!  Now I haven't had the hiccups in YEARS and YEARS!  IDK what the heck that was all about. AND THEN the full moon shined in on our bed and almost blinded me- it wasn't a real restful night sleep.....

So I have a short week coming up, which is kinda cool!  REALLY short as we have an early dismissal day on Friday- good for the kids, sometimes somewhat painful for us.  Who knows what meeting we are going to have to sit through.  Hopefully something useful...... we shall see.  I'm holding off judgement!

On to Wednesday now!  And hopefully it will be full of some unexpected joy! (and no snow!)

What I did over my spring vacation......

What I Did Over My Spring Vacation

By Debi Oswald

So what did I do?  Oh yeah, that's right!!

CHAPTER 1  Snow Day!!!!

 We got an EXTRA day of spring break because we got dumped on by a huge snow storm!  That was awesome!!  The weather guys had predicted a big storm and then they backed off and said it looked like we would get 8 + inches, but not the 14 that was predicted at first.....  WELL, they under-forecasted!  YAY!  School was called off and I did lots of picture taking.....  you can see them here................ and also  here.....................  and to taunt the people who did have to go to work .........here.....................

Oh LOLA!!!  Your sinking!

Mystery of the disappearing mailbox

Snow shoes on the butterfly chair- they got a workout this weekend

Jacpot waiting for me!

CHAPTER 2:  SHOPPING BABY!!!

So, it was really nice of the weather to cooperate with my trip to Wausau to do a little shopping.  I of course like to shop with a friend, and Luann is the perfect traveling companion.  She and I talk the entire time during our travels, enjoy the same sorts of things and I have come to discover that Luann is a wonderful stylist and personal shopper!  After picking out lots of things to try on, she kept bringing things for me to try on!  

Here are a few things, some I did buy and some I did not.  It was so much fun to try clothes on that fit well and looked good on me.  

Lunch at an awesome little cafe called Becca's! 

Debi and Luann at Becca's in Wausau

 

Size 10!!!

Hot new boots on SALE!!!  

Nice, but did not get

MINE!!!

Also mine!!

Vegetarian Mediterranean Salad- lunch!!

CHAPTER 3: PAMPERING DEBI DAY

Seriously, if you don't know why Debi had a pampering day you have not been paying attention!  

I planned for this day a couple weeks ago!  I spent lots of time at the gym today, in many various rooms!  It was so much fun.

No pix of the 2 hours I spent working out (awesome) or the HOT STONE MASSAGE!!!  (even more epically awesome) - It was a wonderful way to spend the morning!!!

The massage was followed by a nice little poor man's  lunch at my favorite diner- The Pal.  While sitting there with the MA and Joe the Builder, there was some activity out on the sidewalk nearby.  There was a massive snowpile right on the sidewalk, which I guess wasn't too much of a surprise.  But what WAS a surprise is the fact that a guy was  shoveling the snow off of the sidewalk into the street- right in front of my car!!! And I was parked in!  Fortunately, the vehicle behind mine left before I was done.  You just never know!

WTH????

At any rate, this wasn't the end of my day, I went BACK to the gym and had a glorious little pedicure later.  ahhhhhhhhh!  It was a good day to be Debi!  :)

Best little seat in the house!

Hot pink baby!!!  with sparkles

CHAPTER 4: Company for the weekend

Saturday brought Number 2 son, his wonderful gf, Sarah Jane, and of course Ruger and Toby!  What a nice time we had.  Lots of goofing around, outdoor hiking through the snow, shooting of catapults through the house.....  Lol, all kinds of things.

Checking out the snow depth and tiring out the dogs!

Target practice and scope sighting in

Ruger and Toby

Action shot!!

Mikey and Ruger

Sunday found us hiking back to the cabin where the MA and Bob the Barber are working on the spiral staircase.  Next step is the railing to tie the whole thing together.  

Debi and Greg

They had so much fun!

CHAPTER 5:  Homemade pizza

So a great friend of mine on the loseit site gave me a recipe for an awesome, different pizza!  It is a pizza without tomato sauce and it is a bit unconventional in it's ingredients.  So I made a whole wheat crust, then used the second crust to make a more conventional pizza plus the White pizza!

They were both really good!

I'll put in the recipe later.....

Wheat Pizza dough

Rising!

Heat that pizza stone!!! for an hour at 450

Prebake pizza crust for about 5 minutes

OOOPS forgot to take a photo of the finished pepperoni pizza!  It went fast

White pizza- sliced cooked potatoes, sauteed mushrooms and onions, crumbled bacon, thyme

Add mozzerella cheese

OMG, good!!!

This is all I needed! Well, there might have been a beer involved!

CHAPTER 7: BENCH PRESS!

I have been working on this for a while!  I was told that I could bench press over 100 pounds, so I have been trying that.  A month ago, I attempted and didn't quite make it.  3 weeks ago, I had been sick and had an epic fail.  So after working really hard including freaking pushups (drop and give me 50!) I finally accomplished it!  Not only that, but I went beyond the 105 to 115!  I am so happy!!
I went on to finish my chest and tricep day with some adrenaline (and am feeling the effects of it today) and then ran again.  I have been working on running for several months. It began with little spurts in my walks, every 2 weeks or so.  Then I progressed to once a week.  Well, lately I have been on a streak, so I planned to run 2 times a week and work up from there.  I have skipped that completely and am running (intervals) every other day now!  If you knew me from before, which many of you did, running and I were not on speaking terms.  Maybe to the phone!  But that's about it!

The amazing thing is how good it feels.  Who knew???

105

115!!!!

I finished off the day later with a walk in the snow, and had a 1200 calorie burn day!  I have never done that before either.

And that is what I did on my spring break!!  And I found a lot of joy.......

Until next time, be a joy giver!

Snow Day- Part 3!

At least I got something accomplished on this snow day! I got an exercise session in and I did 3- count 'em - 3 blog posts!!!  Great way to end a month.

So this afternoon I got a ride to the favorite tree and the stone house.  The MA had a little time after lunch to drive me around- like the Cinderella I pretend to be- and I did a deep snow drive by shoot!  The truck is tall enough that I didn't even need to get out of it.  Unfortunately, the wind was strong enough to have knocked a lot of the heavy snow off of the branches and such, but it still is a somewhat different look than the other snow pictures this winter.

And Wow,  did we get a lot of snow.  Haven't seen this much since I don't know when.  I went for a snow shoe walk back to Little Cabin in the Woods this afternoon and it was an effort.  Took lots of photos- over 100.  

Along the driveway

The mailbox! 

There are two buckets under the snow here somewhere

I felt at times like I was in a fairy land.  The woods were so quiet, it was so bright and clean.  The snow covered all of the branches and dead grass and gave a pristine look that emphasized the rhythm and flow of the branches and trunks.  The patterns of nature that man strives to emulate, but can never duplicate.

I felt amazingly alone.  There was no traffic that I could hear, no snow-mobiles, no chain saws.  I had my camera and my phone, but didn't use my heart rate monitor or my ear buds or listen to music.  I just listened to myself.  My breathing, my thoughts, my eyes, my camera, my shutter click, my ski poles crunch, my knees bend, my feet sink down, my heart beat.  There was me and the wind and the snow and the branches.

I almost stopped a few times and turned around, the walk was tough, but I found as I walked that though I was breathing hard- I wasn't tired.  My legs were fine, my endurance is good.  So I overcame my mental obstacle and dug deeper- I went on to my original destination.  You'd think the way back would have been easier, but that isn't true.  The snow was so deep that it only made me have to decide whether to step on my previous snow shoe tracks or not- it was not a simple follow the path back walk.

Little Cabin in the winter

But I made it fine and this is what was waiting for me- watching for me..... Good old Jac!  He loves me even when I am not about to feed him. I love the smell of horse and hay- gotta love a good horse slobbery lick!

He was waiting with kisses!!

Snow shoes on the butterfly chair

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost