Saturday, January 11, 2014

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Anybody else out there remember Simon and Peabody and the Wayback Machine? Set the Wayback Machine, Sherman, I want to go back in time. While I'm waiting, here are my Ten Things of Thankful for the week:

1. The Polar Vortex, because it is a once-in-20-years kind of event, sounds like a ride at Epcot Center, and because it led to...

2. Snow Day #1

3. Snow Day #2

4. Snow Day #3




5. Finally was able to bust outta here in the afternoon of Snow Day #3 and took Ruby to her final kitten baby check-up. She weighed in at a big 3.1 lbs., got three shots, and still purred so loudly that the vet couldn't hear her heartbeat. (The vet said she heard one thump-thump, so she couldn't tell whether or not she had a heart murmur. I told her not to worry about it, as my husband has always said there wouldn't be any kitty dialysis, or the equivalent thereof, so we didn't even need to know if she had a heart murmur or not.) As soon as Ruby gains another pound or so, she will go in to get her kitty maker removed, along with her front claws. That'll be fun for all. Curiously, the vet also discovered that Miss Ruby is missing hair from a place about the size of a dime on her back at the base of her tail. Our only explanation is that Fletcher finally had it UP TO HERE and took out a mouthful of fur. Hopefully, it will grow back.

6. School finally re-opened on Thursday. Not only did classes resume, but three brand new schools opened, one middle school and two elementary schools that were built after the May 22, 2011, tornado destroyed the original ones. One more step closer to normal. We are still anxiously awaiting the completion of the new high school, which is scheduled for completion in time for school to start this August. (Fingers crossed!)

7. Thursday was supposed to be our first day back at preschool as well; however, at 8:00 a.m., right as the staff started arriving, poof! - the power went out. We learned a car accident on the other side of town was the cause, leaving some 8,000 customers without power. When it wasn't back on by arrival time at 8:45, our director decided we would have to cancel classes, as the building was already getting pretty chilly without the furnace running. After contacting all of our students to let them know school was canceled, we worked (in the dark) on taking down the last of the Christmasy things in our rooms and hallways. I learned that the emergency flashlight that has been in a cabinet in my room since I started working there in 2001 and that I had never once touched other than to move it out of the way to get to something else had a dead battery. Imagine that.

8. Ruby was helpful, as always, this week, lending a hand with both laundry and with blogging.








9. I found out that the money folded up in my coat pocket that I thought was only $2.00 was actually $16.00. Whoop!

10. Finally had preschool today for the first time since December 20. The kids were really wound up, so we just had a Fun Day Friday and didn't even pretend we were going to do any real work. I did come up with a project for us to do that I found on Pinterest. I wrote the letters in each child's name on paper snowballs, which each child then had to put in order to spell out their name. They then glued them in the proper order on strips of paper.  And because there wasn't enough room at our tables to do this, we went out in the hallway to glue, which was a fun diversion. The finished project turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself (and I do).




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42 comments:

  1. I love that activity and seriously my girls would, too. May have to find it now on Pinterest for them. And this Polar vortex thing needs stay away for another 25 years and not come back. Seriously too much cold and snow for my taste! But I just don't like the winter to begin with, so sorry for my complaints. Have a great weekend now!! :)

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    1. The snowman craft turned out really well. I'm glad, since I've pinned it probably five times on Pinterest (note to self: tidy up Pinterest boards). I HATE cold weather. I never complain when it's over 100 degrees, because I would rather be sweltering than freezing.

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  2. found money, a cute kitty who likes to do laundry, in the really cool snowball project that was so much cooler than I expected it to look...but I should know better because your projects are always really sweet...and back to school not a bad week overall.

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  3. I remember the Wayback machine and there has been a time or two I would like to use it myself. Thank you for your thankfuls while you wait! That's a lot of snow days. Or is it? Living in Florida, that's not something we get..we get hurricane days.
    Although, I found your cabin fever posts pretty amusing I am glad that you finally made it out! Ruby is perhaps the cutest kitty ever with that sweet face.And helpful, too. What a bonus!
    The Pinterest project is perfect!
    It is good to hear that some things are returning to a semi-normal state after that awful tornado. I pray you get a little closer every day.

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    1. I loved Bullwinkle.
      Yes, it's a lot of snow days. Some winters, we don't have any. Usually we have one, maybe two. Three years ago, we had two blizzards and had, like, 12 days off. (Then four months later had the tornado and missed the last two weeks of the year.) The best part about snow days is the preschool doesn't make them up. That means, my kiddo will have to continue to go to school to make up her snow days after I'm already done, and I will have (so far) 6 days of blissful quiet.
      Ruby says thanks.

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  4. OMG that kitty is going to cause a Beth relapse into kittyville. *sigh* love love love

    I can't believe the weather you're getting! And Hooray to school being back in session. Fingers crossed that the new H.S. open on time.

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    1. It's a good thing Ruby is cute, because there are days....
      My daughter's head will start spinning around a la The Exorcist if that school doesn't open on time.

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  5. I'm glad that the schools have opened, and I hope that the snow goes away and the power stays put so that the teachers and students can begin settling in and developing the new normal.

    Ruby's very cute (though looking less kitten-y these days) and I'm glad she passed her checks. Poor Fletch - I hope he learns to tolerate her soon! I love how affectionate she is to you though. That's very sweet. My main experience of cats is that they're pretty aloof (until they twig that I'm allergic, and then they're all up in my face, but from orneriness, not affection).

    The snowballs craft is VERY cool, and very simple. Nicely played, Miss Dyanne :)

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    1. Snow gone. Power on. Kids wild, but that's to be expected.
      Ruby is a stinker. She is not an itty bitty baby anymore. I think she's a pre-teen. Getting leggy. Both kitty boys wish they'd never set eyes on her.
      The snowman craft was fun! Only 3 of them have no clue how to put the letters in their names in order, and they at least knew the first letter.

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  6. What a great project! No surprise the kids loved it! Yay for three snow days. I loved those back when we had all the snow in WA :-) Have a great weekend, Dyanne!

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    1. The best part of the project was sitting in the hall, gluing the snowballs down on the paper. It's always fun to shake things up a little!

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  7. 3 snow days where you couldn't spend money really and then found money in your jacket?! Nice!!

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  8. hey, your blog probably won't let me do this to your blog (you'd think I'd get used to hearing that after a lifetime but…)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm_1L27JGFg

    on the plus side, the days are, in fact, getting longer! and, on the rare clear day, you can see the difference.

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    1. I love it! Thank you, Clark! One of my favorite lines from the show ever was, "Peabody here, and I think every dog should own a boy."
      I figured on December 22, the days were getting longer and we were that much closer to spring.

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  9. Well, it does sound like a lovely week, but I am a sightly disappointed you did not make ice cream bowls with your kiddos...maybe in 20 years when the polar vortex comes around again? You know you'll still be teaching preschool in 20 years because those kiddos are so stinkin' cute.

    I should really put my project on Pinterest...

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    1. I could not begin to be as cool as you and make ice cream bowls during a polar vortex.

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  10. Goodness, tornadoes and snow days, oh my! You must live on the plains.
    Surprise money in packets, yahoo!

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    1. In the Ozarks, Sarah. A week ago, it was -9 degrees and we had snow; a week later, it was 68 degrees and we had a thunderstorm.

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  11. Those snowmen are pretty darn cute! Our three Rotten Cats often end up with bald patches (always in the same spots) and the cause is invariably another cat who decided enough was ENOUGH and took a bite out of his brother. It does grow back but it is oh so gross until it does. Kitty skin is ugly.

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    1. Really hoping that patch grows back in, but in the meantime, she has a pretty good comb-over going on, which is why we didn't notice it in the first place.

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  12. Oh, yeah, and I definitely remember Sherman and Peabody. :)

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    1. And I can't believe you're old enough to remember them!

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  13. Hmmmmmm......note to self...rain days qualify as individual items in TToT. :D

    Even though I'm not a cat person...I do adore kittens and especially kittens named Ruby!

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    1. It's in the Secret Rules, Diane.
      Aw, Ruby is winning you over!

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  14. Ruby is so cute; I just love her splotchy nose.

    The snowman project turned out really well. Were the shorter-named children upset that their snowmen weren't as tall as some of the others? I used to feel sorry for a girl in my first grade class named "Esmeralda" because it took her so long to print her name. This snowmen project would have made her a real standout!

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    1. My daughter says her nose makes her look like a koala bear.
      No one seemed upset about the shorter names, which is good. I wondered if there would be any fallout over that, and there wasn't. One year, I had a Mari Katheryn - that would have been one tall snowman!

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  15. Ruby is both helpful and really a cutie, Dyanne! Thanks for sharing with us!

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    1. Thanks, Michelle! She's better at unfolding than she is at folding the clothes....

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  16. Ahh... snow days. I miss those. Ruby is adorable! Love the snowman project and I remember throwing out the lesson plan to embrace Fun Day Friday. Good call!

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  17. Wow, Ruby is such a helpful kitty! One of ours was helping with the laundry in a similar way today, but the way our cats are best at helping is sitting on me so I can't move and hubby has to make the cups of tea!
    Your snowmen looked great, and, though I'd imagine all that snow could be getting to be a drag, snow days are fun. (There's been none here for a few years.)
    Funny that about your flashlight's battery being dead, when it's only been around since 2001!

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    1. Why do cats always get cute and comfortable on your lap just when you need to do something?
      The snow days would be nicer if they were scattered throughout the next two months, instead of all at one time. But I'll take them whenever I can get them!
      I think it will be cheaper to buy a new flashlight than get a battery for this one; it uses some special kind of industrial battery.

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  18. Last week's school schedule just plain sucked. You're awesome for making fun Friday and well, I mean you're awesome anyway, but Fun Friday is super awesome. Yikes. A heart murmur?? I wouldn't worry about it either, and I'm sure it was just Ruby's awesome purring.

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    1. We're just going to assume her heart beats just like it's supposed to and not worry about it. There's definitely no murmur in her purr machine!

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  19. Whew! What a week for you--and lots of snow days. We had one and that was wonderful, but I would have taken a couple more.... Ruby is beautiful. And how cute is that snowball activity! I might try that with our boys.

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    1. Snow days would be more fun if we hadn't just had two full weeks of Christmas vacation. I'm hoping for a few more before the winter is open, though. Because, well, snow days!

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  20. Oh my goodness! I can't believe it was -9 degrees outside. I hate cold and snow! I haven't heard anyone talk about tornados on their blog yet. It's crazy that you mentioned that note about those schools needing to be rebuilt because of a tornado. I'm glad your kitty is ok. So cute!

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    1. We receive quite a variety of weather here. -9 is VERY unusual, though. The tornado was almost 3 years ago. If you go to my link in #6, you can read a little bit about the tornado. We lost two elementary schools, a middle school, the high school, and the vo-tech school, plus one of the hospitals and 1/3 of the town's homes and businesses.

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  21. That is such a cute project idea! And your cat is so cuddly. Aww...

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  22. LOVE that snowman project! And I loved working the term "Polar Vortex" into as many conversations as possible, including Golden Globes discussion because apparently Amy Poehler was a co-host. I didn't watch, but I got to use Poehler Vortex a few times. Bonus.
    I was also super grateful we never lost power, like a LOT of people around us did. We are usually the first to have sewer and/or power problems, which is why we have a metric crapton of candles and flashlights, some of which even have working batteries since our power goes out so often :)
    We also keep glow sticks and glow bracelets on hand, they were a nice diversion for the kids the last time the power went out after dark. And it gets dark here at 4:30 right now :)
    GREAT post!

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