Notes on vehicles

This morning, as I looked for a place to park at my son’s school when I was dropping him off, I frowned when I noticed that, once again, someone had parked their car in a “pause parking” spot and left their vehicle. We’re not allowed to leave the car when we are in pause parking. I had hoped to park on that side of the parking lot because it would’ve been safer to let my son out of the van instead of his side being where there is oncoming traffic. In the event I’m in such a position, though, I usually have to shove my car door open against the bushes, climb out with branches sticking in my hair and sticking into my back, and act as a barrier for him to pass through on my side to safely cross the lot, where a sign holder is waiting. It’s not the end of the world if I have to park there, though, but it’s still nice when I don’t have to.

And I guess another parent was miffed about someone leaving their parked car in pause parking, too, because I noticed him saying something to me after I watched Jesse go into school and he was walking to that car with a piece of paper in his hand. I watched as he left this piece of paper – possibly an angry note? – on that car and then he got into his car to leave.

As I left the school parking lot, I was wondering what that note said. I also thought how very rare it was for me to see someone leaving a note on a car.

Well, later on that morning, I ended up leaving a note on a car, too – my own!

When I drove Trevor to school later this morning, I noticed there were city workers clearing away tree debris on the ground from when branches had fallen from trees. I made a mental note to take an alternate route on my way home. (I’d rather not drive through areas under construction or where city workers are busy doing things because I don’t want to hold them up or be a problem – or deal with the VERY LARGE vehicles or traffic!). Everything else was fine as I drove Trev to school and dropped her off. But as I was driving home, the steering wheel started to jerk left and right. This was actually something that happened recently as I was driving it before, but it was when there was ice, snow and mush on the roads. I had talked about this with my husband and we both just chalked it up to road conditions. But now it was happening AGAIN! I was confused. Why was this happening? The snow was mostly gone and the ice was definitely gone. It had been only been raining that morning.

Well, I came to find out that it didn’t have ANYTHING to do with road conditions and EVERYTHING to do with the van!

I soon started experiencing a clunking sensation coming from the engine. Then I smelled a foul odor and the speedometer suddenly went berserk. The van started to slow down. Pushing on the brake did nothing and pushing on the gas only irritated the engine even more.

Realizing what was going on, I tried to move the van off to the side of the road – but it only got so far. When the van died, the front was pointed towards the side and the back was sticking out, blocking oncoming traffic. I tried to turn on the emergency lights to let people know I was broken down but nothing was working at that point.

So I sat there, feeling bummed that the van had broken down and that I could not get it home before it died (a feat I HAD managed to accomplish with one other car!). Fortunately, it broke down a couple of blocks from my house, and I thought I might be able to push it home. But when I tried putting it into neutral to push it home, the van would NOT move. It was completely locked right where it was. I tried texting my neighbor for help but didn’t get an answer. Then as I was starting to Google what else I could try doing, I noticed someone stop at the Stop sign near where I was parked and ask if I needed help. I explained that I was having trouble pushing the car to get it out of the way. She promptly got out of her car and I told her I couldn’t move the van at all. She offered to push and instructed me to set it up in such a way where she could get the van to move. As I was doing this, I noticed another car stop behind hers and a man jumped out then ran over to help, too. All three of us worked together and, eventually, the van was completely pushed off the road and onto the side.

I thanked both of them as they left. The man checked to make sure I had a phone before he left. I was so grateful to them for their help! (Eugeneans are AWESOME!) (This was the second time two people offered to help when I had to push a car – the last time was when I ran out of gas and we pushed it to a gas station.)

Then I sat there, trying to figure out what to do. My neighbor still had not answered my text. My husband was at home, sleeping. I didn’t have membership with Triple A to call for help and I was trying to think of if I could text a friend for help.

But then I thought, WHAT help? What could possibly be done now?

I had to think. Should I try again to push it home? Maybe that wasn’t a good idea. We’d been lucky to even get it off the street – and home was 2 blocks away. Should I text a friend for help? But what could a friend do, short of driving me home? I didn’t need a ride home – I could walk it. A friend might be able to get the van towed home, but I wasn’t sure if I was up to staying with the van for who knows how long waiting for a tow truck. But what if it didn’t need a tow truck? What if all it needed was as a simple fix and I could get it running again?

The best thing to do would be to walk home and ask my husband to come look at it. He is VERY GOOD at fixing cars. (Me? Not so much.)
 
Then I realized that I couldn’t leave the van here like this. I mean, what if a police officer came along and thought it was abandoned? Or what if the owner of the property saw a suspicious vehicle parked like this and reported it? I would have to leave a note.
 
I checked my phone to see that once again I had no messages, then took out of my purse a small notebook and pen. On a piece of paper I wrote “BROKE DOWN -- WALKING TO GET HELP” and I left it on the van.

Then I started to walk home but then I noticed something on the ground. I stood there to get a good look at it. It really looked like a metal part of a car. I moved it with my shoe to confirm it was indeed a hard thing then bent over to pick it up. It slipped right out of my fingers and I noticed it was covered with oil.

Yep, I sighed. Part of a car. It must’ve come off when the van was in the street, breaking down. I grabbed a paper towel I had in my pocket and used it to pick up the metal round thingy. I cradled it in the paper towel since it was all oily and put it on the van’s windshield, at the bottom.

Then I walked home. When I got home, I woke my husband up and told him what happened. We walked back to inspect the van and I told him about the part I found. He looked at it and then he found another part on the street. We checked the surrounding area to make sure nothing else had fallen off of the engine then he took a look at the van. He told me he suspected what it was then that he would come back with a tarp so he could get a better look. We walked back home and I started to get my breakfast as he left. When he came back later, he told me it was the CV shaft that had broken and that we would have to get it towed home. He also explained there were two ways it could’ve been broken and that a professional mechanic would have to look at it to determine what exactly was wrong. So he took a shower and he was going to leave to go arrange for the van to be towed to a shop. Unfortunately, he had car trouble too (ugh!!) but after THAT was taken care of, he left. Later, when he came back, he confirmed the van was now at a shop and that we’d learn either tomorrow or Friday what was wrong with it and how much it would cost to get repaired.

So it looks like I am now without transportation for a while. Who knows for how long. My husband will be driving the kids to school until I can get another car to drive. I don’t know about Jesse’s basketball practices, though. Or even his gymnastics class, if I am without transportation for that long. And although I had no idea how long I’ll be without a car, I emailed Jesse’s basketball coach to let him know the situation and that Jesse won’t be able to make it to basketball practice this week. He has a game on Saturday and my husband will have to take him to that. (Good grief, this is the SECOND TIME I have had a transportation issue interfere with Jesse getting to basketball practice!!)

But hopefully, it won’t be like this for too long. Hopefully I can get new transportation soon. Or the van won’t cost an arm and a leg to fix. We have only had the van for a year and while I don’t mind if we have to say goodbye to it, it would be nice if it had lasted longer. I hope that will be the case.

Might as well face it, I'm addicted to books

One thing that I like to do on Facebook is share a picture of “the two books I started reading today.” Up until this year, I was always reading two books at one time: A novel and a nonfiction book. If I happened to start reading two new books on the same day, I would share a picture of what books they were.

My reading habits have changed this year. I am now reading THREE books at one time – a novel, a nonfiction book, and an ebook. For the longest time, I have been trying to figure out how to read all of the ebooks that I own. I couldn’t just let them sit there on the hard drive, collecting virtual dust. I wanted to read the ones I haven’t gotten to yet – months or even years after buying them. (I know, I’m terrible!) Even so, if I start reading two print books at the same time (which I probably will next week), I will share a picture of them. Can’t share a picture of the ebook, of course, but that info is shared through Goodreads. (If only it was possible to list more than one book I am currently reading on Goodreads! But one of the books I am currently reading is a book for Night Owl Reviews and I can’t put my review of that book on there.)

It has been an interesting experience reading three books at one time. Of course, sometimes there are days I can’t read all 3 in one day, but I do try to read all 3 of them in a day. Nevertheless, this has become my current reading routine. If anything, it will help me to get through more books faster!

The three books I am currently reading are:

Hellknight by Liane Merciel (NOR book)

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically by Carolyn Howard-Johnson (the ebook that is another book I am going to review)

In one part of Hellknight that I came across recently, a character who was waiting to see someone passed the many hours away getting comfy in a chair and reading one of the books he had in his library. I could only smile as I read that, thinking that would be the exact same thing that I would do. This is why I like to have a book with me wherever I go; I can just start reading while I wait! I just love books and love to read!

In fact, I spent a lot of time reading yesterday. I didn’t just read the three books; I also read 2 newspapers and half of a magazine. (I was on a reading frenzy!)

And there was something else that I was reading, too: A page in a book that my son had read.

Last night, as I sat at the desk waiting for Jesse to finish doing something, I picked up a WARRIORS book that he’d left there and opened it to the first page of Chapter 7. And started reading it. I really liked what I read so when I noticed that Jesse was done, I held up the book and said, “This is awesome!” (As it was, it was hard for me to stop reading! Now I know why the WARRIORS series is so popular.) He walked over to see what book it was then started laughing. “Mom, this isn’t the first book,” he said.

“So?” I asked, shrugging. It is not unusual for me to start reading a book in a series that is not the first book. “I was just checking it out.”

“This is the fifth book,” Jesse said. “You should start with the first book.”

I studied the book and its spine. It was indeed the fifth book in that particular series. I told Jesse that I was just curious about it and that I would definitely start reading the first book real soon.

He looked at me and asked, “Why not read it now?”

I chuckled and explained that I am currently reading 3 books at one time and I don’t know if I can squeeze in a fourth one.

He asked me when I read the books and I told him, “Morning, noon and night.” The anal numbers person in me was satisfied with this answer, thinking it was a good balance of reading time in one day. (After I get the gym membership again, I hope to also have that balance with my workouts!)

Jesse thought a minute then said, “You could read this in the afternoon.”

I thought about that, then reminded him that I was actually planning to finish reading the Harry Potter series before starting another series. Or even the Percy Jackson series! (And, YES, I am actually someone who has NOT read the entire Harry Potter series yet!)

Jesse ran to get the first book in the series then he pretty much shoved the book into my hands and said, “Just read it!”

He was so set on me adding this book to my reading routine that he grabbed a Post-It Note and a pen and wrote “Read In The Afternoon!!!!!” on it then placed it on the book. To show he was serious, he even put the book onto the stack of books I am currently reading.

Well, that settles it, then!

But because I like to start new things on a Monday (I did kinda mention I was anal about my routines, right?), I decided to start reading 4 books at a time next week. On NEXT Monday, the 23^rd. I am almost finished reading two books as it is and, if I keep up with the way I am reading them now, I should be done with them by the weekend. So I will have THREE books ready to start reading next week, which will be three of four books I am reading at one time.

Hm, will it now be “the three books I started reading today” that I share on Facebook? I wonder. On the plus side, I will then be reading a nice balance of two novels and two nonfiction books (one of them for review and the other for research).

Well, it looks like one book I start reading next week is for research purposes, plus another novel AND another novel: The first WARRIORS book in the first series. (Sorry, J.K. I’ll get to those remaining Harry Potter books someday!) And I'll be adding a nonfiction ebook to that mix, too.

So as of next week, I will be reading four books at one time. Instead of three books at one time.

This should be interesting.

Closing an old wound

There was something I wanted to write about on my blog yesterday but, unfortunately, by the time I had a chance to write it, I no longer had the strength to do so. I was too exhausted after everything from the day and could not put down into words all of the things that I wanted to say.

And what I wanted to say was something in the way of an apology, of sorts. I discovered something yesterday and I felt terrible about it. And even today, that regret lingers. But I will deal with that regret in my own way, because I am pretty much on my own with this sort of thing. Nobody cares about it except me.

But I feel the need to come clean about it on my blog, because I have posted about it here on my blog in the past. I am talking about this blog post: An old wound.

I know, WHY am I bringing up something from almost 12 years ago?? Why even bother? Nobody gives a shit. Seriously: NOBODY CARES. Everybody has moved on with their lives – including me. And I don't dwell on the past.

But, life doesn't care about any of that. For almost 12 years, life was throwing fireballs at me. For almost 12 years, something in my conscience twinged and it would not rest. I was reminded of it constantly.  But, as my kids will confirm, and as my friends will acknowledge, I can be very stubborn. I can be very bull-headed. So, for a long, long time, I ignored those constant pings from my conscience. I was so convinced that I hadn't done what I had been accused of. Oh, sure, I could have checked. I could have looked. But I didn't.

And, you know, I really should have.

Well, I have done that now. Yesterday, in fact. I did go back to the chats I had saved all those years ago and I read over them.

But why did I do it now? Why, after all this time, was I trying to see for myself what had really happened?

Because my conscience finally won its battle with me. Yesterday morning, I had been thinking about something that happened a long time ago, and how I had struggled for years to forgive this person: My brother. I had severed ties with him after leaving California on account of what happened in the past. And while I was civil with him at my dad's funeral, and I hugged him and expressed my condolences because he too lost a father, I still kept my distance.

But yesterday, I was thinking about that. And I all of a sudden felt pity and compassion for him. Nowadays, he is being punished for another thing he did to his family, and I thought, It is time to stop holding this grudge. He is going through enough suffering now. He has lost everything. It is time to forgive him.

So, I did. Just like that. I no longer felt anger towards him. I no longer hated him. I felt love and compassion for him.

And it's like my conscience grasped this moment of vulnerability and reminded me of some other thing I had to come to terms with: This thing that happened in 2005. And at first, I was like, Why do I have to go over this again?

Because life was not going to let me forget about it, that's why! He was still in my dreams, in my friends' Twitter or Facebook feeds, in the faces of others that I saw, in books I read and movies I watched. Reminders about it and him were EVERYWHERE.

THAT was why.

So I decided yesterday to put all this to rest. I decided to open those online chats I saved from long ago and see for myself EXACTLY what was said.

And, eventually, I did see it. It was right there, plain as day: I had indeed told a lie. I had lied about being divorced.

As I sat there staring at the words, I tried to remember the person I had been back then. I am not that person anymore – although I still AM cautious about what I share with people I talk to on the Internet. I still do not trust people so easily. I still understand that there are posers and predators on the Internet and that you have to be careful with what you share with strangers on the Internet.

But life was different for me at that particular time. I had just moved to Oregon with my husband and daughter. Before leaving California – which I HAD NOT wanted to do because it meant leaving my family – my marriage was being held together by a thread. And I had no friends or family in Eugene. No connections, resources, job or anything here. I was very vulnerable and, in fact, set on leaving Eugene altogether. (These days, I do at least have friends here and I don't want to leave. But that's all that has changed for me.) Things were not going well. In fact, I was planning to get a divorce. At that particular time, my husband was trying to fix things with us, but I was done (or so I thought!). I no longer loved him. I no longer wanted to be his wife (and I had told him as much in California). In my mind, I was no longer married. In my mind, I was no longer someone's wife.

And that was why I had said as much in that chat. For all intents and purposes, I was planning on getting a divorce. I was planning on filing for a divorce – which I did, eventually. At that time, I saw nothing wrong with saying as much, though. At that time, THAT was my plan. It just took me a while because I did not know about the law in Oregon about how new residents had to wait at least 6 months to do such a thing. And during that time I had to wait, my husband and I separated. I moved out and just hoped that the man I had fallen in love with over the Internet would suddenly appear.

Well, he did -- that one night at the bus station. He and his brother were both there. Neither of them said anything to me. And I had ran right past him, in a hurry to get to a bus. I was in such a rush and didn't recognize him – although I DID see him.

But later, back at home alone, I had realized what had happened. And after that, I never saw him again. There was no more contact with him at all. I tried sending an email but it was ignored. And I pretty much accepted that it was over. It broke my heart, because I had loved him, but, alas! ‘Twas not to be!

So I had to move on. I had to fix things for my daughter, who was hurting from the divorce. She had her own heartbreak to deal with and my heart just ached for her. SOMEBODY had to think about her, and that someone was me. I had to step up for her (and to this day I will never again hope another person not related to her will ever care about her enough the way I do to make her happy). I had to make things right for her again and, ultimately, for me, that meant reconciling with her dad. I had to forget about my own feelings and I had to ignore what I wanted and put her first.

And I have been doing that ever since – until now, that is.

But, anyway, yes, I did realize that I had told that lie. I am not happy with myself for doing such a thing, though I do know why I did it. I understand why I had done that thing. And I also understand, too, that I can't go back in time to change anything. I can't make everything right again.


I know it was a mistake to do that. To say that. And I also learned later on that I should NOT have allowed myself to fall in love with someone until AFTER I was actually free to do so! But I know that you really can't control what your heart feels for people. I know my lying about being available was the wrong thing to do. I know this. I really, honestly thought it was okay to say that I was no longer married because that WAS the direction I was going in! But I should not have said that. I learned that lesson the hard way and much later on in life. And I really, really wish I hadn't ended up feeling anything for him because that pain of losing him is something I will never forget. It was something I suffered with for years, even when he had moved on to other people and saying things. I wish I can go back and stop myself from falling for him, but I can't. To think it was okay to feel ANYTHING for anyone while I was going through that mess was a really stupid thing to do. I shouldn't have, but I did. And I have since been judged harshly and wrongly for that. And I was forgotten about.

And, as it is, I am not able to apologize to him for the lie, either. He and I are on different paths in life. He is living his life and I am living mine. I have no communication with him. So I cannot apologize to him directly. I tried via Twitter, though I doubt that would do much good. I mean, it's been almost 12 years. He has moved on. I have moved on – and I will move on from all of this, now. I am filing this part of my past under "Shit happens." 

But, you know, ever since then, I no longer wear my heart on my sleeve. I no longer trust my feelings to some stranger on the Internet. I will never again allow myself to feel so much love for someone because it only leads to hurt and disappointment. I know the pain and heartbreak of loving someone in that way, and I don't want to go through that again. Or of the loss again.

Not that I ever will, though. These days, I am putting myself first. Seriously, it's time to be a little selfish and pay more attention to my own self for once instead of putting everybody else's needs and wants over my own. That may have been the old Dawn, but the old Dawn is dead. She is not coming back.

I am not posting all this on my blog to get attention. I am not posting this on my blog with a hope of reopening the lines of communication again. No. I don't give a shit about communicating with anyone anymore or divesting my feelings in anyone anymore. I have been through a shitload of crap ever since then and I have hardened myself since then. I don't hope for or expect anything from anyone. At all.

I am posting about this on my blog to come clean. Yes, I lied, and I'm sorry. I do hope he will forgive me and it would be nice to be forgiven but I am not holding out any hope that that will happen. It doesn't matter, though. I had to post this on my blog in order to tell my story and bring closure to this whole mess. Hopefully from now on, I will no longer be reminded about it or him. This will have to be enough to bring all of that to an end. It is all I can do. And I hope that now my conscience is now clean and I will finally be able put all of this permanently to rest from now on.

And by the way: I know how some people may react to this blog post. Despite my conviction that nobody really cares, I know some people may read this and ask questions. Or wonder about the people involved. And I know the one involved will say I am just a delusional fan (which is not true) and that I am just doing this to get attention (also untrue). I know what position I put myself into by posting about this and I know that I may be setting myself up for public ridicule. But I really don't care. I know what happened. This is my story to tell and to share. And as to what people have to say about it? I honestly ... don't give ... a shit.

Basketball, at last!

Last year, I signed Jesse up for basketball through Kidsports. Unfortunately, because I didn’t have transportation, Jesse missed the first practice. I was worried about Jesse being cut from the team but I let the coach know ahead of time about the situation and he assured me that would not happen. Jesse was very upset that he missed the first practice but he looked forward to going to the next practice.

Unfortunately, the next practice did not happen too soon. We had some inclemental weather so practice was cancelled. Of course we were upset about this, but looked forward to going after the new year started.

Well, basketball practice in the new year got off to a rough start! We had more severe winter weather this month (though not as bad as in other areas) and basketball practice kept being cancelled.

When the snow fell last week – which interfered with children going to school – I decided not to drive unless I absolutely had to. There was snow and ice everywhere. Also, I am not used to driving a minivan in the winter (it’s only been a year since we got the van!), so I put off driving for a while there. Then the weather lessened in severity and kids got the okay to return to school.

And yesterday was the first day and the first time I drove the minivan in the winter. A lot of streets were cleared of snow, but there were still snowy and icy areas. There was also a lot of slush. I was super cautious when driving yesterday and also drove a little slower than normal. I also made sure there was ample room for stopping. It went well and today was much better because a lot more snow and ice melted away. The temp was actually higher than my age for once – I was happy and pleased to see that it was 45 degrees today! (It had been in the 30s and lower 40s for a while there.) And today we even had some sunshine and it was nice to see some GREEN again! Jesse and I spent time on the driveway today removing patches of snow to make it easier for us to walk on it. I was glad to get rid of it!

I had a good feeling that meant there would be basketball practice today. And guess what: There was! Jesse came home feeling bummed thinking that basketball practice would be cancelled and I smiled and told him that it wasn’t. He was very excited about finally being able to go to basketball practice today!

He had a great time at basketball practice, too. His coach is the same coach he had for the first time he played baseball. Well, he has this coach for the first time he is playing basketball, too! Awesome! (And the coach is a great coach!) So now Jesse is playing basketball. This is the third sport that he is playing! 

I enjoyed watching Jesse at basketball practice. I took some pics at first, of course. I also sent out a couple of tweets. But I soon realized that I needed to not only watch Jesse at practice but also my surroundings, because this happened:

Yep, you gotta watch out for flying basketballs at basketball practice. There was one time a basketball almost came flying down at Jesse but he ducked out of the way.

The first basketball practice was awesome and Jesse gets along with his teammates. We look forward to going again soon and Jesse is very happy to officially be playing basketball now.

Here are pics I took:

A delayed day back to school

Today my kids went back to school. Winter Break had come to an end.

Well, it had actually ended on Wednesday, but we got hit by snow and so Wednesday was declared a Snow Day. So was yesterday. The weatherman had been predicting snow for weeks but the snow never came. Sure, we got an ice storm, but no snow. (They are predicting another ice storm will hit tonight, too.) Well, we finally got the snow. I was actually surprised to see it finally snowed after they said on the news that it would snow. Even the weather app on my phone showed it would snow on that day.

It’s not like we had several inches of snow – I think it was like two inches – but it was still enough to declare the roads unsafe for driving. I was actually pretty grateful for that. I am not very experienced in driving in the snow and I tend to avoid it if I can. (Years of living in California spoiled me with snowless winters! I have lived in Connecticut, Illinois and Missouri and it snowed in all 3 of those states that I lived there but before moving to Oregon, I lived in California for 15 years. I got used to not having any snow! And, yeah, I know it’s been 12 years since I moved to Oregon but I’m still iffy with the snowy weather. LOL)

All the same, people still drove on those icy and snowy roads, only because they HAD to (jobs to get to and all).

My kids were actually pretty happy to have a Snow Day. I was the first to get up on that day, ready to go through the motions of a school morning. But then I saw that schools were closed. Trevor woke up next and she was excited that there was snow. So excited, in fact, that she woke up Jesse. They immediately got dressed to go outside and play in the snow. They had a lot of fun playing in the snow and I took lots of pictures. (It was not a good idea to go out there when they were having a snowball fight because they ended up throwing some of those snowballs at me!) I also made them hot chocolate after they came in from playing, all wet and cold from the snow.

The kids were so excited about the snow and very happy to play in it. Jesse has been playing in it every chance he got.

So yesterday there was no school and I thought that since there was still snow and ice on the roads, the kids would not be going to school today either.

Wrong!

Trevor woke me up at 6:20 telling me that she was confused about what it said on the school district website. (See, I was so convinced last night that there would not be school that I didn’t set my alarm clock!) It said “no news=no change” and that usually means there was school today. I was really tired and bleary-eyed, though, so it took me a while to wake up and see everything clearly. I guess it had been the wrong night to stay up until 3 a.m.

I double-checked the school district website AND the news and they did indeed have school today. The website had no news and it said on the news “Buses on snow routes.” I also checked on Facebook and my friends were posting about how there was school today. There wasn’t a notice about schools being closed in the neighborhood watchgroup, either.

So, I guess they had school today!

Even so, I was still nervous about road conditions. I have been pretty much staying at home as much as possible and my husband has been driving on the roads. He took the kids to school this morning and he picked them up too. This would be the first time I would be driving a minivan on a snowy and icy road, so I am really nervous and I don’t know what to expect. (Today marks one year since we got the van!) I know I would have to drive at some point. Jesse has basketball practice next week – well, that is, depending on weather! It was cancelled this week because of road conditions. But I DO need to get over my fear, my anxiety, and try driving the van on the snowy and icy roads. I will have to get used to it at some point, anyway. Maybe I can work on that this weekend. I DO need to get out to the library….

The kids were actually happy to go back to school today. I would much rather put safety first, but I do feel that the kids DO need to go to school. Their last day of school last year was cancelled because of weather and their first day back at school was also canceled because of weather. But they went back to school today and they came home smiling. They were both glad to be back at school and they both had a good first day back. I suspect they missed seeing their friends and they miss the routine of school days.

And I’m glad we’re all back on track with the school schedule, too. As for me, my new schedule officially started today with the kids going back to school and it has gone well so far. I had a good “first day back” too. And I am loving this new schedule! It is much better.

I don’t know how much longer we will have the snow or how hard we’ll be hit by the coming ice, but I do know we’ll get through it and just be extra careful. We are prepared and at least the kids are enjoying winter weather just like I got to experience when I was their ages.