Snowpocalypseageddon

Well friends... I considered not writing this post at all... seeing as how I've been a bit of a Grumpy Gwenevere the past couple days. BUT - in an effort to document life this year... I'm sacrificing and hoping I don't repel you, for too long anyway, with my extreme grumpiness.

It all started Monday morning. I had to trek all around town in frigid temperatures... in and out of school offices filled with puking kids with high fevers and strep throat waiting for their rides home. I drove in the wind and sleet, slipped (but not fell) on slicky stairs, and exposed myself to the cold elements and potential life-threatening (or at least real miserable-making) diseases all in the name of duty. WORK. Who the heck wants to work on a Monday anyway? =) Am I right? That day in itself was a bit hectic and annoying, but Tuesday, oh Tuesday, it was worse!

Tuesday: I awoke at 5:30 a.m. to the sound of my alarm clock. About the time I went to hit snooze, I got a call. A much expected call. It was an automated voice mail from one of the bosses saying there would be no school. Then... the dreaded finale... "12-month staff should still report to work." It's the same ol' song and dance at the end of all the messages. What do you know? IIIIII work 12-months a year. Which, in a school district, is very annoying because even though working 12 months a year is a real world reality... this is not the real world people. I'm one of few here that works all year round... even on snow days. So, I got around and donned many-a-layer before we headed off to work. Dac's car wouldn't start (I'm shocked) so he took me to work first. It started to get pretty knarly out there (single digit temps, 40mph winds, -20 wind chills, 10in of snow, etc..) and as I heard of several other businesses closing early, I thought certainly we would too. I heard nothing. And more nothing. Until mid afternoon when we got the OK to head home. At this point, there were already Mount Everest-sized snow drifts and it was so cold windows wouldn't even defrost. You also couldn't see 5 ft in front of your face. Dac was still working and I couldn't get a hold of him, so I waited (rather impatiently, as you might imagine) for him to come get me. 45 minutes later, he got there and we were on our way. Or were we? Note: I work on a hill so the only way to get gone is to go down one of four hills. News Flash... those hills? They were covered with about 4ft of snow and as luck would have it, after helping someone else get un-stuck... we ourselves get stuck! Dac dug us out and we tried another hill. No such luck. Finally, we pulled back into my office parking lot and called my brother-n-law (and his F350) to come get us. Don't worry, I re-payed him with chili... even sent him home with some extras. After I cooled off about getting stuck so bad (which obviously proved my point that we should have left work earlier), life wasn't so bad anymore. We ate chili, got in some toasty sweats, and watched four episodes of Dexter. =)

School had already been canceled for today. I knew that. I put it on the website after all. I also knew I would still be expected to come in to work. That's fine, and I did. Dac drove again and we made it to the office after only getting about stuck a couple times. Then, he stopped to drop me off at the front door and got stuck for real. Like BAD stuck. BAD. After trying and trying to get out, the girls came out to help. It was pointless, we were high-centered on a mound of snow and the car wasn't going anywhere. Oh, PS, we were momentarily locked out of the building and fuh-reeezing. Keep in mind it was literally deathly cold outside. Thankfully, we realized Dac had his key in his pocket. =) A couple guys came to help, and eventually they were able to hook the car up to a truck and pull it out. I bet the whole ordeal lasted about 45 minutes. IN. THE. COLD. Again, I was feeling a bit irritated that I had got out of bed this morning. To top it all off, nobody brought donuts. What?!?!?! IIIII KNOW!

Whew, things have settled down again. Sure, the heater in my part of the building wasn't working right but thankfully I had multiple layers on again and my trusty little floor heater I keep set to "roast" in my office. Also, much to my liking, Dac and I have scheduled a "donut date" for in the morning. I know exactly what I'm going to get too... been craving one for weeks... a... wait for it... BUTTERFLY. (A maple-covered cinnamon roll of. pure. awesome.) Am I supposed to have donuts on this diet? Negative. Do I really care right now? No? OK then. I'll just indulge and move on. And days like this? Same concept... vent and move on. Every day is new. That's life and life is good! =)

Disclaimer: I honestly do realize I have no REAL reason to be grumpy. I have a warm place to be... out of the elements for most the day... and I have warm clothes and a crock pot for making warm meals. I also have a job, to help afford these things, and for that, I am grateful. Oh, and aside from a slight sore throat, I'm healthy too! Please don't misunderstand my petty rants and dramatic whining as selfish and compassion-less. This week in all my ridiculousness, I've been reminded even more of how truly blessed I am and have found myself praying even more for those who aren't quite as fortunate right now. It really is heartbreaking to me. I pray everyone has found a warm, safe place to be during this "snowpocalypseageddon" (or whatever they're calling it now) and has all their needs (and hopefully some wants too) met.

PS - sorry for the lack of picture... AGAIN.