Late, but I've been largely computer-less.
I'm not sure there's a word to accurately describe this week; the closest I could probably come is the mundane yet functional "strange."
Tuesday afternoon we found out that we, sadly, didn't get the house we'd been coveting. The people who had put the offer in on it a few weeks ago only to have their financing fall through--meaning that we got a chance to see and put an offer in on the house ourselves--got new financing and put in another offer on Friday afternoon. They beat our offer out by something like an hour. Oddly, the fact that it was those same people who got it made losing the house easier to swallow. If it had been a third party sweeping in and stealing it out from under all of our noses, THAT would have made me mad.
Although, don't get me wrong, I was plenty upset as it was. I'd sort of been walking a fine line between normalcy and a serious depression since Sunday, and that just tipped me right over the edge. Especially since we couldn't get our tree that night like we had planned, all the lots being closed already. Instead I watched It's a Wonderful Life with tears running down my neck (though with that movie, this is nothing out of the ordinary).
Wednesday morning all the staff arrived at school to find that half the power and all the heat was out in the building. Although all the students were called and told not to come in (the power would be out for several hours and the rooms would only get colder) the directive from above (i.e. the district office) for staff was that if we felt it was too cold to work in our rooms, we should find another District 287 building to work in. Ha ha ha. Most of us decided that "home" fit that description well enough. Although what I wound up working on was a 3-hour nap (and that is out of the ordinary--normally broad daylight naps are completely out of the question for me). The FedEx guy came to the door at one point and presumably knocked, but all I remember is yelling at the dog to stop barking. I didn't figure out what had been going on till I fully woke up a couple hours later and found the slip on the door.
So two things happened on Wednesday that had been lacking for several days: I got adequate sleep and I ate some fruit. I don't know which of those things was the miracle worker, but by the time I left to go to Mom's for dinner, I was happier than I'd been in nearly a week. I'm lucky enough to be one of the few people who have never had to be on anti-depressants--the gloom I was operating through at the beginning of the week is not something I'm accustomed to dealing with (poor Allen, he was completely baffled as to how to help), so I'm glad it passed as quickly as it did. So glad, in fact, that I've practically gone to the other, "manically happy" end of the spectrum. Oh well, it's uh, Christmas spirit, right?
Thursday morning I dawdled too much, as usual, and ran out the door 5 minutes before I was supposed to be at work. On a good day, it takes me 10 minutes to make my commute--and this was not a good day. Usually when that happens, though, I can slip in undetected; all the other teachers have been in class for an hour and the moms and infants/toddlers don't show up till another hour later, so it doesn't matter to anyone else and I can make the time up myself. USUALLY that's true. This time I arrived at work to find every single staff member and a handful of students loitering in the parking lot, staring at me as I pulled in 20 minutes late. Heh heh, uh, hi guys. What's up? Gas leak? Great.
We stood in the parking lot for another 15 minutes (most people had already been outside 40 minutes when I arrived), then someone called the church next door to our school and asked if they could give us sanctuary, so to speak, until the all clear. Many of the kids had already been sent home, and most of the moms who arrived were promptly turned around and sent back home on their buses--5 minutes before we were told it was safe to re-enter the building. So we had only a handful of kids yesterday, and they were all in my room because one of the other teachers claimed she was getting light-headed in their child care room and there must be residual gas there still (never mind that the leak occurred clear on the other end of the building). Made for a weird day, though a pleasant change to actually have the company of and real conversation with adults throughout the day.
Last night I did some more Christmas shopping, including pilgrimages to four separate Target stores. Apparently the item I was searching for is suddenly insanely popular--and it wasn't even on sale, fer cry-eye. That means this evening, before heading to my friend's birthday get-together, I have to try at least one more Target. Or perhaps check to see if they've restocked the ones I've already checked, for the weekend. (Telephone? No, why do you ask?)
Also last night I got all crafty (not really) and made a little Very Hungry Caterpillar finger puppet to use with the kids at school. (Also a Very Cute Caterpillar, if I do say so.) I realized in the shower this morning, however, that I had neglected to figure out a way to turn it into a butterfly, so it hasn't been test driven yet. I know you're concerned, so I'll keep you posted.
I am, however, pleased to report that today has thus far been pretty much normal.
...Well, except for that whole business of the room being 85 degrees all morning, of course.
We're havin' a heat waaaaaave...
Tuesday afternoon we found out that we, sadly, didn't get the house we'd been coveting. The people who had put the offer in on it a few weeks ago only to have their financing fall through--meaning that we got a chance to see and put an offer in on the house ourselves--got new financing and put in another offer on Friday afternoon. They beat our offer out by something like an hour. Oddly, the fact that it was those same people who got it made losing the house easier to swallow. If it had been a third party sweeping in and stealing it out from under all of our noses, THAT would have made me mad.
Although, don't get me wrong, I was plenty upset as it was. I'd sort of been walking a fine line between normalcy and a serious depression since Sunday, and that just tipped me right over the edge. Especially since we couldn't get our tree that night like we had planned, all the lots being closed already. Instead I watched It's a Wonderful Life with tears running down my neck (though with that movie, this is nothing out of the ordinary).
Wednesday morning all the staff arrived at school to find that half the power and all the heat was out in the building. Although all the students were called and told not to come in (the power would be out for several hours and the rooms would only get colder) the directive from above (i.e. the district office) for staff was that if we felt it was too cold to work in our rooms, we should find another District 287 building to work in. Ha ha ha. Most of us decided that "home" fit that description well enough. Although what I wound up working on was a 3-hour nap (and that is out of the ordinary--normally broad daylight naps are completely out of the question for me). The FedEx guy came to the door at one point and presumably knocked, but all I remember is yelling at the dog to stop barking. I didn't figure out what had been going on till I fully woke up a couple hours later and found the slip on the door.
So two things happened on Wednesday that had been lacking for several days: I got adequate sleep and I ate some fruit. I don't know which of those things was the miracle worker, but by the time I left to go to Mom's for dinner, I was happier than I'd been in nearly a week. I'm lucky enough to be one of the few people who have never had to be on anti-depressants--the gloom I was operating through at the beginning of the week is not something I'm accustomed to dealing with (poor Allen, he was completely baffled as to how to help), so I'm glad it passed as quickly as it did. So glad, in fact, that I've practically gone to the other, "manically happy" end of the spectrum. Oh well, it's uh, Christmas spirit, right?
Thursday morning I dawdled too much, as usual, and ran out the door 5 minutes before I was supposed to be at work. On a good day, it takes me 10 minutes to make my commute--and this was not a good day. Usually when that happens, though, I can slip in undetected; all the other teachers have been in class for an hour and the moms and infants/toddlers don't show up till another hour later, so it doesn't matter to anyone else and I can make the time up myself. USUALLY that's true. This time I arrived at work to find every single staff member and a handful of students loitering in the parking lot, staring at me as I pulled in 20 minutes late. Heh heh, uh, hi guys. What's up? Gas leak? Great.
We stood in the parking lot for another 15 minutes (most people had already been outside 40 minutes when I arrived), then someone called the church next door to our school and asked if they could give us sanctuary, so to speak, until the all clear. Many of the kids had already been sent home, and most of the moms who arrived were promptly turned around and sent back home on their buses--5 minutes before we were told it was safe to re-enter the building. So we had only a handful of kids yesterday, and they were all in my room because one of the other teachers claimed she was getting light-headed in their child care room and there must be residual gas there still (never mind that the leak occurred clear on the other end of the building). Made for a weird day, though a pleasant change to actually have the company of and real conversation with adults throughout the day.
Last night I did some more Christmas shopping, including pilgrimages to four separate Target stores. Apparently the item I was searching for is suddenly insanely popular--and it wasn't even on sale, fer cry-eye. That means this evening, before heading to my friend's birthday get-together, I have to try at least one more Target. Or perhaps check to see if they've restocked the ones I've already checked, for the weekend. (Telephone? No, why do you ask?)
Also last night I got all crafty (not really) and made a little Very Hungry Caterpillar finger puppet to use with the kids at school. (Also a Very Cute Caterpillar, if I do say so.) I realized in the shower this morning, however, that I had neglected to figure out a way to turn it into a butterfly, so it hasn't been test driven yet. I know you're concerned, so I'll keep you posted.
I am, however, pleased to report that today has thus far been pretty much normal.
...Well, except for that whole business of the room being 85 degrees all morning, of course.
We're havin' a heat waaaaaave...