December 2006 Archives

There is a legitimate blizzard happening in Denver!!! Or rather there was a legitimate blizzard in Denver a couple of days ago, but I couldn't blog about it until now because all of the wi-fi cafes were closed. Due to snow. My mom has a dial up connection on her PC, but honestly. I'm not a cave man.

I flew in on Tuesday night, which was lucky because by Wednesday morning the airport was closed. When I woke up there was already about 6 inches on the ground, and it was falling fast. My mom's husband dug out his car and we made it to the grocery store 15 minutes before it closed. My mom was so wound up she pried open a set of automatic doors that were clearly marked with big yellow "PLEASE USE OTHER DOOR" signs. I kept saying, 'Mom, Mom, Mom! Those other doors are open!" But she did not heed. At least she closed them behind her when she got inside. By 3:00 in the afternoon everything in Colorado was closed. I'm talking Taco Bells, malls, public transportation, schools, jobs, highways, post offices- everything. There was nothing to do but watch the coverage on TV. I kept thinking they were sensationalizing things, but then I'd look out the window and see a bus wrapped around a telephone pole and realize it was actually a crazy blizzard!

The next morning snow was STILL falling, and there was almost two feet of snow on the ground. By then I had a bad case of cabin fever, otherwise known as being-cooped-up-for-36-hours-with-my-mom-and-step-dad-fever. I needed out. I think Stuart (my mom's hubby) did too. He spent two hours shoveling a path and clearing off the car. Then he drove me to Liz's, god bless him. She and J were totally out of food, so we brought them a box of goodies.

I have never been so happy to see my best friend. Ever. We shared a bottle of wine and made a bunch of snow concoctions for a Digest entry that has yet to be written. Mostly we shared that wine. When it got dark we decided to brave the streets in search of food. J put in an hour or so shoveling (these blizzard men are so hardy!) and then we hit Broadway hoping my favorite Mexican restaurant, the Blue Bonnet, might be open now that the snow had calmed down. It was closed. So were the Chinese restaurants we passed and the fast food joints and the bars. The only place open was a Czech sports bar, where a group of our friends had gathered. We ate terrible nachos and fries prepared by a harried and under-equipped staff, but it was awesome anyway. At least we didn't order the borscht. Afterwards we went and checked out the epic snow cave our friends had spent the day building:

Now the blizzard is over and the sun is out. It was 50 degrees yesterday. I've spent altogether too much uninterrupted time with my mom, and am deeply looking forward to some friend time this evening. Tomorrow I go to Silver Plume to see my dad (who as a snowplow driver is every Coloradan's hero right about now). Then Christmas dinner with both parents plus Liz and Heather and their husbands and parents. White Christmas. Right here. We got it. Thanks, baby Jesus.

Well, I have 14 out of 22 report cards finished. They will go home Friday and then I will spend the next week leading up to Winter Break fielding phone calls and emails about why so and so's first grader got a check mark instead of a plus sign in the "Routinely uses appropriate punctuation" category. We have to write one=page narratives in addition to the traditional report card, which is actually a great system except that I just spent my whole weekend working on them and I'm only at 14. Ah, well. That's what weeknights are for, right?

I think I'm getting better at being a teacher. I feel like my systems and routines are in place, and I have more energy at the end of the day. There are still lots of places that I know I could improve, but I don't feel like my kids will be permanently damaged because I keep forgetting to use leveled books for their take-home reading.

Outside of school I haven't been feeling so hot. I miss my friends but I don't call my friends because I feel boring, and I want to blog but I don't blog because I feel like I don't have anything to write about. Because I'm boring. The result of which is me feeling mildly to incredibly lonely and depressed, depending on the day. Mike is very gracious and nice to me, but he's got things to do! He can't babysit me every night of the week! It's hard to know if it's my job that's making me feel this way, or the season (maybe I feel bad every year around this time?), or if I'm just going through a "thing." God, the initial mission of Perfect Heart was to promote transparency, and yet I feel totally embarrassed admitting that I am sad. Ugh. Sad is dumb.

I am going to go to the gym and then take myself on a date to dinner and a movie. Tonight I am trying to be proactive about being a happy person. Here I go. On my way to the Lloyd district to be happy. See you later.