...did I forget to post yesterday? Maybe it was the crazy day I had. Thursday night, Mother Nature dumped nearly a foot of snow on us, so Friday morning was not easy! Of course, CPS didn't get a snow day like nearly EVERYBODY else in Illinois, so I had to trudge my way to my son's school first. We crawled along for quite a while before finally getting there, nearly 20 minutes late for school. Oh well! Then coming up the side street from his school to turn back onto the main street, naturally I got stuck in the snow. Thankfully, it only took a few minutes of rocking to get out, and I just had to make a left turn from the right lane. There was nothing else I could do about it!
Next I was off to pick up my friend and his son. Since the side streets never get plowed, I called and told them they needed to walk out to the main street and wait at the train station for me. As I was creeping along on the main street, no one would let me over in the right lane! Idiots!! So, I had to drive right past the train station, to the light, and try to go around the block. Oh, great, I have to drive down a bunch of unplowed side streets now! Luckily, I was able to get myself unstuck a couple of times, and finally made it to the station, where I proceeded to slide into the curb, rather than parking gracefully. I actually was sure we were going to be stuck, since the curbs have the most snow thanks to the snow plows, but we were ok. I finally arrived at school at 8:45, making me late, but only about the 6th teacher there! I was in my car for an hour and a half, and my speedometer never went over 20 MPH. God, I LOVE Chicago in the winter!!
Truthfully, I don't mind driving in the snow. WAY back in high school, I had driver's ed second sememster, which meant this was exactly the time of year it was. The very first day we had to be "on the road" was the morning after a huge storm. Even bigger than the one we just had, actually. But, too bad, get in those cars youngsters, and drive!! During my class period alone, our class managed to take out 8 mailboxes in the neighborhood. Good time, good times! We had one day "on the road," two days "on the course," (basically a parking lot) and two days of classroom. So, we had to do a lot of driving in snow. I'm so thankful for that, because I've never had a problem with it. I've never been one of those people who freak out and are afraid to drive in the winter. The only thing that worried me is the rest of the morons on the road! Although right now, my biggest issue is my car. I may have whined about this in the past, but it's old now (11!) and in desperate need of new tires. I'm thinking I'm going to need to get a new car this spring (because there are other things wrong with it) so I don't want to spend the money on 4 new tires, just to get rid of the car in a few months. I think I need to look into maybe getting used tires. We'll see. But, my tire situation does make me a little nervous about driving in the snow. Luckily, it also forces me to be a more defensive driver, so it's keeping me out of trouble!
Oh, wait, wasn't I talking about school? The rest of the staff, the ones that showed up that is, arrived around 9 or a few minutes after. I had Dori's babies come into my room because she was going to be a few minutes late. She only had 7 babies show up, and I had 13. What a day! That's exactly why I didn't just say "F*ck it!" and call in sick. Why waste a sick day when only a handful of kids are going to show up anyway. The school was like a ghost town! It was GREAT!! It was so quiet all day. It was exactly the way the school should be on a DAILY BASIS!!! HELLO!! Of course, The Big Cheese wasn't there. We were told he was at a meeting, but I suspect the meeting was taking place at his house! Especially since his "special friend" (aka, the assistant that used to work here, that he's sleeping with!!) didn't have to work today. Hmmm....interesting, isn't it? That's only a theory, now, but quite plausible!
Well, the rest of the school day was a breeze, and so we started our trek home. I remembered, thankfully, as we were driving, that my son had a dentist appointment after school. He actually had an appointment
last Friday, but I managed to forget all about it until they called 15 minutes after our appointment time to see what the deal was. Now, I'm trying to get home quickly, but safely, because I knew we'd have just enough time for him to run in the house, let the dog out, and brush his teeth. For some reason, what should have taken 5 minutes was approaching 15 minutes, so I had to start laying on the horn. Finally, he came back out, and we took off, all the while I'm bitching at him because now we're going to be late, traffic is so bad, the roads are so slippery, blah, blah. We get there, however, with about 10 minutes to spare. It may have had something to do with the fact that, in my yelling, I actually went the wrong way, and took an entirely new route to the dentist's office. It must have been quicker than the way we usually go. Sadly, I don't know if I'll even be able to remember what I did, since I was busy being Mean Mommy at the time!
We walk in to the office, I sign in, and sit down ready to catch up on the latest gossip in People and Us. The receptionist says, "Oh, you're a little early." "Well, yeah, after forgetting last week, I wanted to be sure we were here on time." But then I'm thinking, it's less than 10 minutes, it's a little wierd she would even say anything. So I say, "The appointment was for 4, right?" "No, 4:30." For Pete's sake!!! Another example of how Alzheimer's is creeping in. OK, it's really just old age, but if I give it a name, it makes me feel better. Needless to say, I was able to read 2 weeks of People and one Us by the time my son was finished.
On the way home, he wanted to stop at my parents' house to visit, so naturally that's what we did. We stayed long enough for him to eat dinner (he thinks he's so sly, but we're on to his tricks!) and then we started home. As we were leaving, his father called. Without airing our dirty laundry, we proceeded to have the biggest fight we've had in a decade. By the time my son left with his dad, all I wanted to do was lie down. So, I did! I ended up unintentionally blowing off my friends that I had plans with because I fell asleep. And, long story WAY longer, I didn't get around to posting.
Wow, this post had nothing to do with school anyway, did it? Sorry. But, I feel better having explained things. I suppose I should go out and shovel a bit, since I can't open my back door. I was able to open it just enough to let Buster out, but I don't think I could get out if I had to. My darling neighbor, at some point between going to and coming from the dentist, cleared my entire driveway for me. Sooo sweet! Did I mention he's 75!? All I have to do is enough to open the door, and here I'm sitting, typing this post! LOSER!! I am in the middle of baking him a cake, though, which is standard currency around here everytime he does something nice for me. Man, I could open a bakery for all the things I've baked him these past 13 years. He lives with his sister, who's 78, and they basically take care of my house. I call them my groundskeepers. He cuts my grass, trims my bushes and shovels/snowblows the snow. It's a bit embarrassing, actually. Especially now that my son is old enough to take on all those chores. So, for 13 years, I've been baking and cooking for them. They swear they love it, and that I'M the one who does too much! Ha! "You work, you're a single mother, it's too much!" I love when the sister says, "He's retired now, what else is he gonna do!" Um, how 'bout relax and enjoy retirement!? They surely are from a different generation. I really admire them both. And, they're both in 10 times better physical condition than I am, which is really sad.
Oo, the timer is about to buzz, so have a great weekend!!!
We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next door neighbor. ---Gilbert K. Chesterton
