what's a snow day?

So a snow day might not sound like a big deal to many of you, but for me, it's huge. Peace Lutheran doesn't have snow days. It's not that we don't have a reason to call them, we just don't HAVE them. We have school no matter what. So when the snow started falling yesterday and then kept falling all day long, I thought, "Great...I'll have to clean my car off again!" It was so bad after school I barely made it out of the parking lot because our lot slants up toward the street. Mr. Bretscher and Pastor were going to push me out if I didn't make it, but thankfully I did. So I made it home and this time barely made it IN to the parking lot because my building's lot is also dangerously slanted up from the street. The snow was still falling and knowing there was no chance of a snow day, I really had to fight myself not to park in the open space under the tree. The tree keeps the snow off my car and makes mornings much easier. But ever since mom and dad came for a visit and dad saw me park under the tree, he made me promise not to park there again. Because of course, the strong, sturdy tree that keeps the snow off my car will fall on my car. As I've said many times before, if it CAN happen to me, it WILL happen to me. So I resigned to park right out in the open where all the snow could accumulate on my car and it was safe from falling trees. I was already dreading the morning.

Then this morning I got up early to get ready, counting on the fact that I would need to spend extra time cleaning off my car. Then around 7:15 my phone rang and I was surprised to see a Greencastle number on my phone. It was Elaine, from school. The parking lot hadn't been plowed and there was about a foot of snow. There was no way we'd be able to have school...none of the cars would be able to get in (or back out of) the parking lot! So I had to put my phonebook - the paper one - to use and call all my students to tell them school was cancelled. The moms sounded pretty happy to hear the news and I can't deny I was enjoying being the bearer of such good news.

By 8:00 I had finally gotten ahold of all my students and changed out of my school clothes into my default jeans and hoodie. I ate some breakfast, watched the news, and considered the options for my day off: spend the day in my pajamas watching the Office, clean the apartment, do laundry, go back to bed, dig out my car... as much as I wanted to spend the day in Scranton, I decided on deep cleaning the apartment. I wandered downstairs to see how bad my car was covered and it's pretty much buried. On the way back up I spotted this old cabinet that had been sitting downstairs by the elevator for a month now with a "free" sign on it. On a whim I decided I wanted it. So, I dragged it into the elevator. Note that this thing is taller than me and very awkward to move on your own. The elevator doors kept trying to close and slamming into the cabinet because I wasn't moving it fast enough. I even got my arm stuck. Thank goodness it wasn't like the Houghton elevators at Moody that start screaming at you if you hold the doors open! I wish someone had been recording the whole scene because it was really quite humorous. Finally I wiggled it onto the vator and up to my floor. It took even longer to get it OUT of the vator and I began the trek down the hall to my door. I managed to work out this little rotate and shimmy routine that actually got me pretty far down the hall. I also had to go around two corners. Then one of my neighbors came by and must have thought I looked pathetic and helped me carry it the rest of the way to my apartment. Now the cabinet is in my living room and I've decided I'm going to take the doors off (too bad I don't own a screwdriver) so that it's just a bookshelf. I moved all my notebooks and books from the small shelves under my counter into the cabinet and it looks great. I also put all my Rachael Ray magazines, my scrapbooks, my cds, and my board games on the shelves. Then I was able to take down the black shelves and open up the space under my counter (the living room side).

After tackling the living room (it looks awesome now btw) I decided to do the whole apartment, so I scoured the bathroom and kitchen until everything sparkled and reorganized my bedroom closet. I finally finished around 3 and I'm pretty proud of myself. Plus it feels so great to finally have a really clean apartment again. Ever since I came back from Christmas it just hasn't been right and now everything is back in its place and the whole place looks (and smells, thank you candles) GREAT. Now all I need is some company. Anyone want to come visit?