A peaceful weekend

This weekend was a very peaceful weekend, and it began with a great deal of productivity on Friday!  I had decided earlier in the week that if we had Friday off, I would spend the day cleaning my bedroom.  My bedroom is where I store Christmas gifts, and it is also often where things go when I decorate for the holidays.  It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, and having things decluttered and put away makes it peaceful, not only in there, but throughout the house.  And it didn't stop there!  I was able to get things picked up all around the house.  It really helps with my stress level to have a calmer environment.

Yesterday, Andrew and I made a trip over to pick up some clothes, and we enjoyed taking the backroads home.  We stopped to have Mexican for lunch and were home in time to watch the football playoffs.  Thomas went to spend the night with a friend, so we loved having a quiet evening.  I received a photo scanner for Christmas, and I was able to get some photos scanned last evening.  I really appreciate how much faster it goes since it is specific to photo scanning.  I'm also working on redoing the photos that are on display throughout my house.  Hanging some on the walls will help to make surfaces less cluttered.

Today was church and a major trip to the grocery.  And of course, more football playoffs!  I'm spending some significant time working on genealogy and I've made a lot of progress on it this weekend.

I truly needed all of this extra time off this past week.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity to get some many things accomplished and to help find peace.  I'm ready to get back to work and get at it!

Friday snow days are the best

We'd been watching the weather forecast, and by yesterday it was very obvious we were going to have a snow day today.  Not a significant amount of snow, but falling at exactly the right time to get us a day off.  Both my school and the public school went on a delay last evening because the snow wasn't beginning until the middle of the night, but it was wonderful going to bed last night knowing that we were sleeping in today!  The official call came about 5 this morning with the closure.  The best thing about a Friday snow day is that it leads right into a weekend!

On the other side, this was the first snow day EVER where my children still had to go to work.  They both texted us to let us know it was pretty awful, and Catherine even asked that we all be careful.  I appreciate those subtle signs of maturity that we see occasionally!

A day that is really just for me

It is still frigidly cold here.  Some schools were closed, and almost all the others were on a delay.  Not where I work though!  We were all reporting at the regular time, and the windchills were negative as we unloaded kids from cars.  Weeks ago, I had scheduled a sub to be on standby for today.  She is awesome, and wants to work as many hours as she can during this month before her classes begin.  As it turned out, she wasn't needed in any classrooms, so I took the opportunity to have her in the office and I took the day at home.  It helps with the car situation as well, because Thomas's car hasn't worked in a month, and yesterday my vehicle developed a VERY flat tire.  I was able to get home before Thomas needed to leave for work.  The Civic is also having some battery issues, but we need it to keep plugging along until we have other vehicles working again.

I've picked up a couple of things, and I've read the newspaper, and I'm probably going to take a nap.  I appreciate being alone with my feelings and thoughts today, and I'm trying so very hard to feel at peace.  I read an article though, about a man who delivered motherless pups to an animal shelter.  He'd been feeding the mother when he could and found her dead along the side of the road after being hit by a car.  He knew there had been puppies, so he searched and found them, and left a note asking that he not be judged for leaving them, but because he was homeless he couldn't care for them.  Oh my goodness, I cried.  It makes one wonder how a man with such a heart could be in such a situation...how could God allow that?  While it's beautiful, it's a story that tests my faith, as have so many things these days.  Again, I've been hoping and praying for peace in my heart, and hopefully it begins with today, and a day for me to just be.

I spent my weekend with memories

This weekend, I was able to spend my weekend not making memories, but feeling surrounded by them.  I spent most of the day Saturday working hard to get all of Christmas taken down and stored away (not in the attic because it's WAYYYY too cold, but in tubs).  I loved thinking about my great-uncle as I put away the Santa that he carved, and that had been a gift to my grandmother and I now have.  There were so many decorations that had been gifts from my paternal grandmother, and even a couple of gifts from my mom.  My aunt usually gives us a decoration each year as well.  I cherished putting away the tree that I had given to my grandmother one year that contained the names of her (then nine) great-grandkids, and I love the photos from many year that we've had in various frames, all displayed together on shelves.  There were a couple of decorations I've had since my childhood, and an entire ceramic village hand-painted by Andrew's grandmother.  There was also the Department 56 village pieces we have that my maternal grandmother collected.  We were each allowed to choose one, and we add them to the few that I already had.  I thought back to her opening one each year, and I thought about how she must have so enjoyed putting them out each year.

I also spent some time with a wonderful gift our family received at Christmas.  Andrew's cousin sent us digitized copies of dozens of photos.  I spent some time last evening going through them and organizing them.  Additionally, I've been wanting to re-do our photo wall in our hallway, so I've been thinking about what photos I want to put where, and what frames would look best in doing so.  I'm looking forward to adding photos of Andrew's family as well as some of my favorites of the kiddos.  I enjoyed those thoughts.

I am so grateful for this weekend.  It's been absolutely frigid, and we've been able to stay in so much.  We've had several beautiful fires in our fireplace, as well as enjoying the scents of lit candles.  I won't lie, I had hoped for a snow day tomorrow because I'm so motivated to organize, but the snow never really happened.  The windchills are going to be negative in the morning, but not cold enough to keep us from being in school on time!  We've been able to enjoy decent football games (ugh, Steelers, c'mon!), and this weekend has just been so good for my soul.  Additionally, Andrew and I even booked a weekend get-away for next weekend.  I am working on feeling peaceful.

Really been looking forward to this!

I have been looking forward to today, and this weekend, for quite some time.  Don't get me wrong, the 2+ weeks we had off at Christmas was very nice.  But, it was also very busy and scheduled and just overall a bit chaotic.  Today, neither Andrew nor myself have anywhere that we have to be.  AND, we get an extra day to our weekend.  It's bitterly cold here, and going to be through most of the next week.  A day at home, with no schedule, and LOTS of good football all weekend is exactly what I need.

Yesterday was a rough day, which makes this weekend all the better.  The weather was miserable, with cold winds and hard rain all day.  In many ways, the weather was a perfect metaphor for our day, as we were all attending the visitation and/or funeral of the mother of our student.  Andrea was an incredible woman.  We'd had many conversations with her, even in the just short two years her family had been a part of our school.  After I came home last evening, I gave Andrew a huge hug.  I'm so grateful we get to go through this life together.

I hope everyone has a wonderfully safe and blessed weekend!

She got to walk across the stage

Tonight was a graduation ceremony for Catherine's program.  It was a combined graduation ceremony with the other adult ed medical programs at her institution.  We hadn't realized the magnitude of the event.  There were even caps and gowns and everything.  It was a lovely ceremony.  As we met up with Catherine after, she mentioned that she finally got to walk across the stage.  I hadn't even thought about that, and my heart broke a bit.  It's been a really tough 12+ mos for our sweet girl.  I'm so hopeful that this ceremony marks a wonderful new beginning!

Early January

My grandmother turns 93 today.  I wrote a year ago that I was fairly certain she would make it.  My feeling about her reaching 94 is less certain.  She's just not the grandma I've always known.  She know it too, and it bothers her.  She has mentioned that it may just be time for her to go.  She's perfectly healthy, but I do know if something happens, she isn't going to want to fight.  I completely get it.  I'm sure she would tell you her 93 years have flown by.

There has been a tremendous amount of sadness in the new year.  On Friday, a classmate of Catherine's passed away from cancer.  He was a wonderful young man.  I knew him, although not well, but I did know his sister well.  While I know there is gratitude that he is no longer suffering (and suffer he did), my heart is broken for them and I just can't imagine.  No parent should bury their child.

We also had a student lose her mom yesterday.  She'd been diagnosed with cancer 20 months ago.  Again, it just shouldn't happen this way.  My heart is broken for their family.  In addition to the husband and young daughter she is leaving behind, I've been able to know her parents and as I said, no parent should ever bury their child.

January is a busy month.  I've got lots of school work, and lots of church work.  I was able to get the Christmas trees down, but everything else is still up.  I didn't feel a lot of holiday joy, but I'm working really hard to be grateful for each day and to remember nothing is guaranteed.  January is always a month filled with so much reality.