Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for winter
Seriously…36°?
This morning when I got up it was 36° outside. Thirty-six degrees and it’s April 14th! I just can’t stand this anymore…I am in serious need of spring. We keep getting these nice days thrown in every now and then and then BAM, it’s back to winter again. Am I asking too much to get to wear some capri pants, already? A pair of sandals, maybe? I’m sick of winter clothes…I’m sick of winter coats…I’m sick of it being cold! Let’s go, Spring…get here, already!!
On a more serious note on the subject, Ben’s outgrowing his long-sleeved shirts, and I refuse to buy him any new winter clothes. So that warm weather better get here quick…he’s looking more and more dorky every day!
Ok, I feel better. Now if Mother Nature would just cooperate a little bit with me, we’ll all be okay.
Grandpa comed!
I know, I know, it’s not correct grammar, but it is a direct quote from Ben. “Mommy, Grandpa comed to our house!” That makes it ok to use as a title, right?
Last night, Grandpa Scott drove down from Sycamore to visit. He’s home from Florida for a month or so, and we were all so happy to see him. Both kids were very excited to show Grandpa all of their stuff (even though he’s seen most of it a million times) and to have him read books to them.
The bittersweet part, though, was what Ben said to me this morning. “Mommy”, he said, “Remember when Grandma Judy’s Grandpa (which is what Ben insists on calling him to differentiate between grandpas even though I’ve told him repeatedly that his name is Grandpa Scott) comed to our house?”
I said, “Yes, that was really great having him visit, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah”, he said, “And maybe now Grandma Judy can come visit us tonight!”
**Sigh** It’s pretty hard to understand how far away Florida really is when you’re only three.
The buzz
Ben was in desperate need of a haircut, so today after I put Emma down for a nap, we headed to Cookie Cutters. He was very excited; he loves getting his hair cut there. Really, what’s not to like…you get to sit in an airplane, watch a movie while they cut, and get a lollipop afterwards if you’re good.
Somehow, the girl who cut his hair interpreted, “He just needs a little trim. We use a #3 guard in the back usually, but we like to keep it a bit longer on top in the winter” to mean “buzz it all off”. See for yourself:
Before After
Sure, a buzz makes perfect sense in the middle of the summer, but in February? Not so much. Oh well…thank goodness it grows!
I’m back!
I’m back from Vegas! We had a really great time, but I can’t even begin to write about it yet. For one thing, I don’t have any of my pictures uploaded, and for another, I’m exhausted tonight. I’m not sure that I got more than five hours of sleep any night, and I literally got an hour and a half last night. Now that’s a sign of a fun vacation! I will say this–I am a lucky woman to have friends like these and a husband who understands how important this trip was to me. It really rejuvinated me to make it through these long cold winter months.
I promise I will tell you all about it very soon.
Brrrr, it’s cold out
I posted this first picture as my Project 365 picture for today, but I wanted to put it here, too. It’s not often you see the temperature this far in the negative. Please remember that this is without wind chill, too!
Because of these conditions, we don’t have school again today, and everyone’s wondering about tomorrow already. It’s a nice day home again with the kids, but I’m starting to go a little stir crazy. It’s tough to literally not leave the house for two full days. Thank goodness I have a chiropractor appointment this evening so I can at least get out. I’m sure as soon as I do I’ll want to get right back into the warmth!! Snow days are always bittersweet…it’s so great to stay home, but we all know we’ll be complaining in May when we’re making the day up!
Snow day
Well, the snow actually came this time, just like the weather man predicted. We’re home on a snow day and it’s really nice. We’re actually doing a whole lotta nothing except playing (the kids with their toys and Mommy on the ‘puter) and reading books (all of us together). Sadly, though, with temperatures barely getting out of the single digits both yesterday and today, it’s too cold to be outside. All Ben has wanted to do for the last month or so is to build a snowman. We finally have enough snow to do it, but it’s so cold out that the kids can’t be out very long and the snow won’t stick together well. Try explaining that to a 3 yr. old. When I told him the snow wouldn’t stick together, he said, “What does stick together mean?” When I tried to explain that, he said, “We just need the thermometer to turn to red and he will melt a little bit!” We’ve been watching a lot of Frosty the Snowman around here.
I know that when May comes I won’t be happy about today’s little vacation, but it sure is fun right now! Happy Snow Day, everyone!!
Vegas, Baby!
I can’t believe I haven’t written about this here yet, but I’m leaving for Vegas this Friday! I’m going with some girlfriends from school, and we are staying until Monday since there is no school that day. We booked the trip months ago. It seemed like such a long time away when we thought of mid January, but here it is…MLK Day!! I haven’t been to Vegas since I was a very little girl. We went on a family vacation out West, and Vegas was one of the stops. Back then, in the mid 70s, it wasn’t really a family oriented town, and at that time Circus Circus was the only place you could go with kids. I do remember that we stayed in a TOTAL fleabag motel, too. I mean, this place was BAD. Mom & Dad went to a show or something, and the three of us kids were a tad bit freaked out being there left there alone!
But this time, I’m going with 4 great women; Amy M., Amy S., Caroline, and Elizabeth. 4 of us are flying out of Central Illinois and one flying out of Fargo, ND. My friend Amy M. relocated to Fargo last summer after teaching at NCHS for many years. We all can’t wait to meet her inVegas. And, this time, we’re staying at the Luxor Hotel on the strip. We’re getting the real Vegas experience, all right. It almost doesn’t seem real to me yet. I just can’t believe I’m going to Vegas. I feel so fortunate…four years ago I never would have guessed that I’ve have such good friends at work. I was starting my second new job in 6 months, and was still trying to transition to life in Blo-No. But now, I finally realize that this is my home, and I truly have again lucked into finding some wonderful life-long friends.
I can’t wait to tell you all about out trip…stay tuned!!
Glad it’s over
The first week back after break is always brutal. Not only do you have to get up early again, you jump back into your routine with very little transition time. But this year seems to be even worse. Since we had a snow day on the last day of finals, Tuesday, our first day back with kids, was another finals day. It was bizarre because usually when you come back from break you get to start fresh…new classes, a new schedule, and a brand new start. Instead we had to finish up where we left off. It just didn’t seem right. So the new semester started Wednesday. For us media specialists, the end of the semester and the beginning of a new one mean the same thing…textbook distribution. It’s been four long days of slugging textbooks around and trying to get kids to bring back things that are overdue. On Tuesday we had 1358 students who had something overdue. We’re now down to 657. It’s still not a great number, but at least it’s better! Needless to say I’ve been exhausted in the evenings, and that’s why I haven’t been posting much this week. I’m thinking that things will get back to normal quickly next week, so hopefully I can get back into my routine of posting, too.
I do really love my job, but there are definitely parts of it that are better than others. I don’t really remember them talking about textbooks much when I was getting library certified. Who knew it would be such a big part of my job.
Let’s just say I’m very glad this week is over.
One Christmas tradition I don’t love…
…is being sick. I am almost always sick at Christmastime, and I know it’s all due to a lack of sleep. This tradition started in college, I think, when I would spend finals week cramming for those silly tests. I’m sure that was because of my incredible dedication as a student and not due to a complete lack of preparation throughout the entire semester. Either way, I inevitably came home with a horrible cold, or the flu, or bronchitis (only one time, but it was memorable). Now, it’s the same old story. I’ve heard “Honey, why are you still up?” from Dave at 11:00 or later more times in the last two weeks than I can count. There are just a million things to do. And while I love all the planning, shopping, baking, wrapping and partying, it’s taken its toll, and again I’m sick. I have that deep barking cough that I just can’t shake, and my voice sounds like Kim Carnes after a concert. It could be worse, I know, and I’m really trying not to complain. I finally got some Nyquil last night, so I had a great night sleep, and there really isn’t much to do today, so I’m taking it easy. I can’t wait for tomorrow!
I hope Santa brings you all what you’re hoping for the mostest!!
We have the power
But we didn’t for several hours this afternoon and evening! We think the high winds probably had something to do with it, but whatever the reason, it sucked. Everything went out a little before 1:00 this afternoon. Try explaining no electricity to a three-year-old who just wanted to finish watching The Grinch…not fun. Fortunately, there was no water coming into the sump pump hole, so Dave wasn’t freaking out the pump not being able to run. We had a party at Aunt Theresa’s tonight, so we were happy to escape the house of dwindling temperatures. Ben and I left here about 2:45 because I couldn’t cook my dish to pass here, and we had to do it at Theresa’s. Dave and Emma came after she woke up, about 3:30. By then, the temperature was already down to 60°. That doesn’t seem too cold until you’re sitting around in it…then it’s pretty chilly. While at the party, we periodically called home to see if our machine picked up, which would indicate our house having power. Thankfully, about 7:00, it did. Shew. When we got home at 7:30 the house was up to 65°, so it must have been on for some time. I wonder how cold it actually got in here. It’s -2° outside right now, so I’m sure it went down a lot colder before we regained power. Currently it’s back up to 68° and we’re all much happier!
