Winter Wonderland

Yes folks, I am currently home in Michigan. Thankfully there was a day break in the winter storm for my travels. The roads were fairly clear- just a bit of ice between Fort Wayne and the IN/MI border. Fort Wayne had received at least a half inch of ice and approximately 85% of the city was still without power as I drove through. Thank you Lord that it didn't hit me nearly as bad. Marion was essentially clear of all signs of winter when I left this morning. By the time I reached Ft. Wayne, all the trees on the west side of the interstate were completely cased in ice. Those on the eastern side had none. And then by the time I arrived at the border all visible signs of winter appeared. There was snow. Much snow. And as I continued driving the amount only increased. When I got off the highway the snow was at least a foot deep. The snow on our deck is up past the patio chairs. The snow plowed off the driveway is nearly half as tall as the pine trees (which is much taller than myself). It was incredible to experience the winter transformation in just a few hours. :)

I spent the afternoon doing multiple loads of laundry and packing for our grand excursion to the east coast. Rachel, my apologies for neglecting to mention you in my last post. For those of you curious, I spent part of yesterday morning (during my ice day) pestering my [former] roommate while she was stuck working at the office. (See, it pays to be in education...) We've set plans for the 26th. Since I'll be in her home area of PA we'll be going out to Panera to cram about 5 months of conversation and absurdity into a few short hours. It's a good thing we're awesome enough to be able to pull off such a feat. ;)

On a sad note, Abendago died this morning. I woke up and he was stuck to the intake tube for the aquarium filter. He was near his end and no longer had the strength to swim against its pull. Although I enjoyed his presence, he was quite the bully and I suspect the cause of the demise of my two latest guppies. So while I mourn his loss, I also rejoice at the prospect of adding a new little guy and having him survive.

Tomorrow brings the first leg of travel in our journey. We leave DTW in the early afternoon, layover in Baltimore, and end up in Raleigh by early evening. As I'm not promised internet access, you may have to wait for updates until my return. I'm sure you'll survive. It's Christmas. You have much better things to do than be checking up on me. :)

Merry Christmas!

Ice Day

Today was my first school cancellation as a teacher. Ironically, I was disappointed. As the last day before Christmas break, the half day of exams and half day of grading was rather welcoming. Regardless, school was closed and students will have to make up those last two exams when we return in January. Sorry guys.

I had every great intention of being super productive today but most items on my 'to do' list fell by the wayside. However, I did have one great accomplishment today. I finished the 'winterizing' of my apartment. I had already applied winter stripping to my porch door but today I pulled out my window insulation kit and took care of all my windows- including the porch doors. The shrink wrapped plastic should help keep the insane wind gusts out and my cozy warm air in. It took quite a bit of time and it was quite the accomplishment. :)

Besides the window insulation, I slept in, watched the news, made waffles for breakfast, watched a little bit of "White Christmas", cleaned out my fridge, washed dishes, washed the floors, packed for vacation, and had a late lunch/early dinner with SJ when she got off work.

Thankfully IN roads are all ready for travel. The snow has finally stopped in MI after dumping nearly 12 inches in this past storm. Hopefully all will be plowed so I can make it the entire way home- because as of tomorrow morning, I'll be on my way. :)

Set

While searching for nearby stores that carry the "Set" card game, the following message appeared.

"Sadly there are currently no stores in this area code We understand how this must sadden you, and we share in your pain... Yet do not despair. All is not lost. Perhaps a store near you will soon carry our product line, and people everywhere will be able to share in the enjoyment of SET. Maybe they are just waiting for the right time to start carrying SET, or maybe they are waiting for you to politely ask them... until then you can always check out our catalog... "

I like their humor. A lot. Maybe because it's associated with a nerdy math game. :D

Nutcracker

What a weekend! Saturday Jess came over for brunch and the two of us drove up to Ft. Wayne to meet up with Susan and Mama Jevert. While walking into the mall to meet them I hear "Becky!". Amy was running up behind me! Fancy running into her at a mall I've never been to an hour away in Ft. Wayne! The three of us, along with Susan, walked around for a while and caught up amongst the crowds. I realized I quite enjoy living in a much less crowded area. I felt slightly claustrophobic. :P

Afterwards Jess, Susan and I met up with Mama Jevert at Flat Top for a late lunch/early dinner. We spent about two relaxing hours over food and wonderful conversation.

Then we left Mama Jevert in Fort Wayne and drove back to my apartment in Marion. We made a quick change into our dresses for the evening and drove to Marion High School to see the Nutcracker. The Marion Philharmonic Orchestra and Boulder Ballet put on an incredible performance. I hadn't seen the Nutcracker since my early childhood and it was every bit as wonderful as I remembered.

Today I met up with SJ for lunch and grocery shopping. I spent the majority of the afternoon cleaning the kitchen and hanging a few pictures. The DMS photo and quotes are now up in my room and the TAYLOR mat is above the dresser in the office. Today I also purchased a full length mirror (sorry I didn't have it last night, Suz and Jess) and tomorrow I'll pick up the appropriate hardware at Lowe's to hang it in the hallway.

Two more days of intense exam review for my students, three days of exams, entering grades, packing and them I'm home. And then NC. Then PA. Then MI again. Get excited! :)

MG Dead Week

'Tis much better to give than receive... especially in the realm of final exams.

Photographic Update

Before we left for T-day break, my students did story problems Monday and Tuesday to review some of the standards we've covered so far this year. After completing all the problems each student was assigned one to write and solve on a feather for a turkey for their class. Some students had to write down their "Create your own" problem. The turkeys were then posted up on the bulletin board in my hallway. I was really proud!



This week I received my first 'teacher gift'- a cookie cutter filled with fudge! I love my students! :)



Christmas decorations are up! I have Amy to thank for arranging my Nativity figurines... and then placing them in the forest.



The small Christmas tree, cottage figurine, candle warmer, and metal sleigh adorn the kitchen table (along with that teacher gift and sugar cookies from this weekend). In case I've neglected to point this out earlier, I suppose it's rather obvious that I don't use my table for eating too often. And let's face it, there's pleanty of room on that tablecloth for me to join the decorations. ;)


A cutsie little candle holder and companion mugs on my kitchen counter.

My big Christmas tree! Thanks to mom and Tim for finding this one for me. I set this up last Sunday right after getting back from MI. I was determined enough to set it up, light it, and put up the bows and matching red and clear bulbs at once. Since then I haven't put up many of my personal ornaments, but we're getting there. I had about a half dozen of my favorite ornaments that I wanted to pull out and at least those ones are up.

Yesterday Erin, Deal, Amy and I made sugar cookies. We originally planned on doubling the recipe. Shortly into the process we realized that we weren't using the recipe we wanted to and thus had to change recipes. In doing so we had to quadruple our recipe. Let's just say we ended up with a few too many cookies- and we even had to freeze some of the dough!

Here's a picture of a few of my favorite cookies that I decorated. :)



Me with some of my cookies.

Amy and Deal hard at work icing those babies. From this shot you can get an idea of how many cookies we had. Thankfully there was just enough icing to finish the job.

New Home (for the fishies)

Several points of interest...

• The Christmas tree in my classroom is up and lit, thanks to my TA, 6th period class and high school principal. I haven't had a chance to put the apple ornaments on in quite yet however. ;)
• I received my very first gift from a student this week. It was a metal gingerbread woman cookie cutter filled with incredible homemade fudge. I finally broke down this evening and I'm currently eating part of it with some coffee.
• I set up my new aquarium yesterday and, after 24 hours of letting the filters work through the water several times, my four little guppies are now in their new home. :) With more room to move around and heated water, they're extraordinarily active and incredibly brilliant. It looks wonderful sitting on cinder blocks next to my TV- and I rather enjoy their entertaining behaviors. What's incredible is that, even with all the room to move around, they still stick together- they are very social and community-oriented fish.
• I found the perfect aquarium decoration for my fishies at Wal-Mart (where else?). It looks like a signpost that says "No Pescar!!" which, in Spanish, means "No Fishing". Bwahaha!
• We have about a week and a half until semester exams begin in the high school. It's hard to believe that so much time has passed so quickly.
• Watching TV with my Christmas tree lit and burning an apple cinnamon candle feels very seasonal- as does waking up to Christmas music in the morning.
• Tomorrow= Silent Night with my DMS gals.
• Happy almost weekend. :)