Spring?? Break!

This has been one bizarre winter. We had 8 snow days, all of which are required to be made up by our school board. What does that mean? Well, it means that I will be teaching for almost all of the month of June. It is going to be one long haul from here on out, so I was really looking forward to spring break.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature has a different plan. Pouring down rain has been the weather this week. Windy too! Yuck. I hate that. We are supposed to go camping tomorrow, but we have decided we can have more fun at home than being cold and wet huddled under an easy up. 

It has been a fun week so far. I spent a day with Madeleine when we had a day of sun. We rode bikes, worked in the yard and played with Annie. Since then I've visited a friend with a new baby and gotten happy bright pink toes. I have loads of projects I should dive into at home, but so far have yet to find the drive to jump into it. This is the middle of the week though so if I'm going to do something I probably better get it going soon.

Or, perhaps those projects that were waiting for spring break will just wait for summer vacation. After all, everyone in my life has real jobs now, so I'm going to have a whole lot of project time come summer.

Now if I could only have the weather to match the season name.

Forty-five!

Yesterday I turned 45! It has been a bit of a shock to see these numbers. I had no trouble with turning 40, but 45 has thrown me a little.  Between not yet being healthy from my pneumonia and my hindered running, I've felt older than I should lately.

Last night was spent celebrating with some wonderful people who made me remember how lucky I am and how much I have in this life. So, rather than feeling sad for the years that have passed, I need to embrace the years yet to come. I am going to live in the moment enjoying every second of this beautiful life.

Goodbye 2013

This was me 10 days ago. This was the first day of winter break and I spent it in Urgent Care getting some treatment for my fresh case of pneumonia.  Good Times. I'm nowhere near back to normal yet, but 10 days makes a big difference when you are talking about the ability to breathe.  Ending my year like this makes me forget all the great things that happened this year. I keep catching myself in a negative mindset from frustration. This post is to help me remember all the good that happened in 2013.

My biggest achievement of the year, honestly my biggest achievement of my life was finishing my master's degree. So much work, so much stress and so thankful that it is done. However, it's all mine and no one can ever take it away.

This year I also got a PR at the Corvallis Half Marathon. I think we finished in 2:16 ish, which was about 8 minutes faster than the previous year. With my ongoing foot issues I'm not sure if I'll be half-marathon worthy again, so I'm sure proud of that accomplishment.

Tiny and Tab!

This year we got really, really smart and we sold the monstrosity toy hauler trailer and the big diesel truck. They netted us a really nice profit which we used to pay off some old debt. We additionally sold my car and consolidated down to the Honda Pilot (Tiny) and a Tab teardrop trailer. Hands down this is the best move we have ever made. We have already had countless adventures and have camped more in the past 6 months than we have in the past 20 years. We look forward to many more adventures in this little piece of heaven in 2014.


Friends and Family! These crazy folks! I count my blessings every single day that all of these people are close enough to see on a daily basis if I want to.

And finally, the best part of 2013. I am lucky enough to continue to be a member of the Ross pack. There is nothing I would rather be and while we certainly have our moments where we could throttle each other, isn't that what living passionately really is all about?

2013- It really was a good year. 

Cheers!

Cabin Fever

Fast forward 5 days from the "Snow Day" and you arrive at Day 4 of school canceled due to this fantastic weather. Yes, that's right, 4 days of no school due to the 9 inches of snow we received last Friday. No, we haven't received one additional flake since then. Instead we have received 5 days in a row of sub freezing temperatures resulting in no melting snow. Apparently we have no infrastructure capable of handling this and thus this town has given up any sort of fight to restore our lives to normalcy. It will rain soon. That is their snow removal plan as near as I can tell. Great. I'd like to know what the "restore my summer" plan is because while I'm sitting here watching every Christmas movie ever created on all networks, my summer slowly is tick, tick, ticking away to snow make up days.

On a more positive note, I've got the house nice and clean as well as completely decorated for the holidays. I resorted to cleaning my closet today. I may even tackle the spare room before the day is over. It's funny, I'm so excited for winter break, but this is different. Winter break is when we are all off together and can spend fun free time with friends and family. This however is a time where I'm trapped in the house with no car and nothing to do but chores. I'm ready to go back to work and earn my winter break.

I never thought I'd say this, but come on Oregon winter rain. We need you.

SNOW DAY!

This is what it looked like outside my house at about 7:15 this morning. What a fantastic treat for a Friday morning with two weeks still to go before Winter Break officially starts. It didn't let up and soon my front yard looked like this.

OSU made the brilliant call to remain open so Sean scraped off Tiny and headed in to work. They quickly realized their mistake and closed and sent everyone home at noon.  This give us the unexpected opportunity for a mid day family walk.

What a beautiful day! It is supposed to be down to the single digits tonight so I expect we will have this 8 inches of beautiful scenery around for a few days to come.  Fine with me. I've got no where to be until Monday morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving morning. I'm reflecting on the past year as I wait for the spectacle that is the Macy's Parade. I'm a sucker for traditions.  The past several years have been spent running the Turkey Trot this morning, however this year, injury has kept me from the starting line. I'm going to do a walk, trot to the park and back when Sean gets up. I'm hoping to convince him to swing through Safeway for a cinnamon roll on the way back home since I forgot to buy our traditional Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I've been out of it the last few days working way too much. Time got away from me and I lost track of what is important. This is the post to remind me.

Last night we had happy hour with friends. It had been months since we saw them. That was ridiculous. Good friends should not go for months without seeing each other. We will remedy that one and already have a December date for a meet up. Friendships are one thing I'm very thankful for. Melinda and I finally got back on the meeting up for the Sunday coffee run. I'm so thankful for that!

Family. They make you insane. They pick you up and carry you when you have nothing left to give.They get your dumb jokes, they give you crap and call you on your bullshit. I couldn't ask for a better group to call my clan and I love them more than they will ever truly know.

OREGON. The most beautiful state of them all. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Seriously. Enough said.

Finally, the thing I am most thankful for in the world. LOVE. This man is the first and last thought I have every day. He gives me strength when I need it and space when I don't. We have an ideal mix of opposite and aligned tastes and I can't imagine navigating this life of mine without him.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. Count your blessings, eat your pie and pour a second glass of wine. This really is a wonderful life. (Sorry George Bailey, your season starts tomorrow!)



Cheers!

Random Thoughts

It's been a long week. It's parent teacher conferences again and while I love the opportunity to meet the families and share my experiences thus far in the year, it's always a little like preparing for the unexpected. So far, they have gone well. There are two more days to go so we will see how it all pans out.

I've been over worked and over stressed and let my toxic attitude seep out of my pores this week. I feel ashamed for that. I had a sharp tongue and let thoughts that should have been filtered and stay in my head escape my lips. I hope I have not damaged friendships. It was a very long week, but time does not excuse bad behavior. I will not let that happen again.

Last week I tried jogging for the first time in three months. It was only for a block or two and only a couple of times during my walk, but you would have thought I just completed my first big race. The amount of joy I felt at the end of that exercise session was ridiculous. It could have something to do with the fact that I was also reunited with the most amazing exercise buddy I know, but honestly the running, how ever slow and how ever little, felt like coming home. I sure hope that my foot finally heals up or I decide to go for the surgery so I can feel alive every day again.

Last night I went to an after work crafting party. I didn't want to go. I'm not crafty. I grabbed my knitting bag and went anyway. It was the best decision I've made in a long time. It ended up that there were only three of us and what was supposed to be crafting turned into three hours of snacking and deep, thoughful conversation among friends. It was one of those perfect storm moments where had we tried to plan something like that it would have never happend. Souls were bared, stories were told, advice was given and taken and at the end of it all I felt more whole than I've felt in a long time.  I hope I have the good fortune to experience that again some day.

The weather has been beautiful this week. Cold, bone chilling cold for the valley, and clear. I love this kind of weather. This weekend will be spent in the yard finally cleaning up the death of summer. I'm ready to let it all go. There are many parts of my life, house and yard that need cleaning out and letting go. I'll start with the yard and go from there.

Happy Weekend Everyone!