23 November 2010

It's Wet, Wild Stuff

It's been cold here lately. I think the "warmest" it got over the past week or so was 18 degrees*. Until yesterday that is. Yesterday, for some reason, it warmed up to 34 or so degrees. Not only did it warm up, but it rained. Well, it rained frozen rain/sleet/stuff, causing all of the roads to become super slick sheets of ice. Josh left for work as usual, and came home 45 minutes later. That's how long it took him to drive, essentially, around the block. He got to the main road that goes through our town and saw that it had been closed by the Anchorage Police Department. He said there were semis just stopped on the roads, trying to get their chains and things on. Eventually he got a call from work, telling him to just stay home.

Now, I love my husband, and I really love when he's home and when he gets days off from work. What I don't love, is when he's home on mornings when Zeke still has to go to school. It's really just a bunch of silly little things that get to me, but they do get to me and I tend to get really stressed out when Josh is home on school mornings. Once Zeke is out the door and on the bus, I'm better. Yesterday was no exception.

Now, add to that stress the stress that came as we watched neighbors try and fail to get anywhere during the morning, causing me to worry for Zeke's safety as he made his way to school on those icy roads. Then there's the fact that whenever it snows or the roads get bad, his bus is always late getting him, which means it's late getting everyone else, in turn making all of the kids late for school (which wouldn't be a big deal if he was going for a full day, but when he's only there for 2 hours and he misses 1/2 an hour because the bus is late, that's sort of a big chunk of his day...anyway).

To sum up, just to make sure we're all still together on this, I was stressed out because Josh was home on a school day. I was stressed out because the roads were awful and I was worried about Zeke's safety. I was stressed out because it was getting late in the morning and the bus wasn't there yet, and I get annoyed that Zeke gets to school late sometimes because the bus runs late in inclement weather. My head really felt like it was going to explode.

At 9:00, when school starts here, I decided the bus wasn't going to make it and so I called the bus company and cancelled his pick-up. Then I called the school's attendance line (since there was NO getting through to the office) and told them Zeke wouldn't be going to school. Poor kid was so ready too. He had his snow pants and boots on, so he could quickly get the rest of his gear on when the bus did show up. Thankfully, Sesame Street was enough to help him get over not going to school:


Yes, he did keep his stuff on during the show. It made him happy and who am I to refuse him such a simple thing. (And yes, Finn is watching it too...he LOVES the theme song and whenever they sing. And Murray. He really enjoys Murray. Otherwise, he doens't care for it much.) Once I made the calls to the bus and the school, I did feel much better about everything and really enjoyed the rest of the day. Now you see why I needed that nap. I know I made the right call because the schools are closed today (in light of how they should have been closed yesterday?). And Josh had a late report time today, so having him home this morning was wonderful. Especially since he got up with the boys and let me spend an extra hour in bed. Ahh.

*A little side note about the recent weather, the other morning it was 9! degrees when I took Zeke out to the bus in the morning. Don't worry though, it was a balmy 12 degrees 3 hours later when I went back out to pick him up from the bus. Like my fabulous friend Monica said, "I love it when the weather takes a turn for the better..."

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