School has been cancelled for three days in a row now. Shasta has still had to go to work and she said the ice on the roads is pretty bad. With the temperatures staying so low, it doesn't have a chance to melt enough to be safe for school buses...so no school. At first I thought, "Ah crap, now we've eaten up all our vacation days later this semester". But after seeing everybody complain so much on facebook, I have a new angle.
You see, this is actually awesome. How much time in my life do I actually take to sit down and read a book for as long as I'd like, without having somewhere to be? How often can I go for three days no shower? I've lived in this house for 1.5yrs and have JUST started cleaning out boxes and closets the past couple days. I have my guitar to play with, my house to clean, movies to watch...it's been awesome. I'm really, really, grateful to have such a big warm shelter. I know power has been on and off around the city. I'm wondering if any homeless people have died. I'm also super grateful I don't have to drive in this mess. I'm no plow queen, I'm a Texan. We get snow two days a year and the whole town shuts down, so I certainly don't care to learn to drive on ice. I'm happy to have a few restful days.
As for the days later this semester we'll have to make up because of this? Quit your bitching. Our profession gets THREE MONTHS off per year already. How many other jobs literally get TWELVE weeks paid vacation? I'm happy. Here are some pictures of my last two days.
I found this picture of a wedding dress that I've kept since high school. I decided to throw it away.
A) Because my tastes have changed and I would want a different dress at this point in time.
and B) Because marriage is a pipe dream I've given up on.
I created a goodwill/trash pile. I bought these flip flops at target four years ago and have warn them all summer, every summer since. In the lake, out on the town, across states and continents. So you can imagine how gross they've become. They've been my only pair for the past four years as well. Last summer I said, "Oh I'll just keep these until I get a new pair". Which I never did...so I figured the only way to progress, was to actually get rid of them.
I went through my letter box and got rid of about half of it. Man there were some REALLY sweet letters in there from this boy in college who never made a move on me. I wanted him to. I liked him and thought he was great. He's married with a baby now though, so time to throw those away. I think I was really naive in college and truly never understood when someone was or wasn't interested in me.
Also found note after note from my mom. My mom was probably the best college mom there ever was. She would send me notes for every single holiday on the calendar, notes to encourage me on tests and finals, notes just because. Thanks mom. Those mean a lot more than I'm sure I ever seemed appreciative of. Also found a couple from my daddy. There was an especially sweet one he wrote me after Jeremy and I broke up in college...made me tear up all over again.
This stack of letters alone are from Paco in High School. We worked opposite shifts at the coffee shops and everyone had their own folder where our boss Susan would put paychecks, newsletters, schedules, etc...
One day I found a random note from this guy Paco that worked the day shift. So I wrote him back, and thus began our mail to each other everyday at work. It was fun. And I know he still has my letters in a box in his closet as well. We looked at a couple of them a few years ago. One of mine talked about how Coyote Ugly was the coolest movie ever. Haha...I was certainly in High School after all.
I never eat breakfast because I would rather sleep for 5-15 minutes extra instead of eat. I usually take a slimfast in the car with me to work ( I like them okay?). But the lovely BURGE's sent us a lovely blender after Toby didn't know his own strength and crushed our old one with his bare hands. It was a thoughtful gift from them...and I got to enjoy a smoothie!
After lunch yesterday I wanted something sweet, but we don't really have anything (finishing a lot of food off in this blizzard). So I saw chocolate chips and decided to bake cookies. Why? Because I CAN! Because I have all the time in the world! It was fun, and they are yummy, and I couldn't get my camera to focus in this one.
Today is Day #3 of being iced in. Today I took a shower. I'm going to complete my photography assignments for next week. My roomies and I just might venture out for a matinee (theatre is one mile away). Perhaps I'll cook a real meal, read some more (I'm 150 pages into The Fellowship of the Ring, and halfway through The Reason for God). Maybe clean out the pantry? I like cleaning. When I have time and pandora blasting, I don't mind it one bit. Perhaps I'll take some fun photographs for the next blog.
Stay warm folks.
