I Sleep All Night, and I Work All Day

I learned years ago that when the temperatures fall into the teens, it makes splitting wood amazingly easy. It takes little more than a firm rap with a hatchet to make logs leap apart as if they were held together with springs. If I had to, I would guess it has something to do with whatever water is inside them being frozen, but I don't really care, because it is incredibly satisfying to split pretty substantial pieces of wood into elegant lengths of kindling.

The same principle applies to sticks and branches, and so gathering tinder around our house has been kind of fun the last few frigid weeks. In fact, it has put me in touch with my inner lumberjack.

"You know what I really want?" I asked my brother this morning at brunch.

He shook his head with interest.

"A chainsaw!" I told him.

He laughed. "Why?"

"There's a lot of trees and fallen branches in the woods across the way," I said. "I just want to chain saw it up and then split it for firewood. The woods would look better, and I think it would be very pleasing to do the job."

"Okay, Crazy," he said. "Don't you think you have enough to do already?"

I think I could fit it in.

Puppy Party

Lucy was on from the moment she arrived at the party. Her friend, Theo, was turning 1, and so 5 dogs and their 8 people crowded into our neighbor's small condo. There was wine and beer and Arnold Pawmer's to drink, and pupperoni pockets, pawpocorn, pawstachios, and pups in blankets to snack on. Midway through, we sang "Happy Birthday" and all the dogs were treated to a pumpkin-peanut butter cake with yogurt frosting.

As festive as it was, I stood awkwardly in the corner, struggling to make small talk with the humans. But Lucy? She was the belle of the ball. Initiating play by carrying toys from dog to dog, wrestling and wagging with them and perkily attending to their owners as well, that doggy smile never left her face.

"Her teeth are so white!" one of the other guests said.

"That's because they're still new!" I answered.

Imperfect

We're running out of time in my boy's reading group, and so the kids have to read a chapter on their own every night so we can finish the book. The deal is if they do it and remember their copy of the book, they get a snack. In the last few days, roughly half of them have earned the reward.

"Guys!" I said this morning to the other six, "what's going on?"

"I don't care about the snack," answered one. "I only like it when you read to us."

"Thank you," I said. "In a perfect world," I continued, "we would have time for me to read the whole book out loud, but with the snow and weather delays, we don't have time for that."

"In a perfect world," one of the other boys said in his snarkiest tone, "we wouldn't be at school at all."

"You know you don't mean that!" I said. "You love it when I read to you!"

I was teasing, but he was quite earnest when he amended his remark. "In a perfect world, we would have this class all day!"

Aw, shucks.

Little Friday

I'm not a big partier, so perhaps I can be forgiven for only just hearing that Thursday has a nickname. Even without going out, I see how it makes sense: the promise of time off just one day away makes many things seem not just possible, but even do-able. In fact, I just worked until 5:30, came home and spent an hour and a half in the kitchen not only cooking dinner, but also cleaning and prepping for the weekend ahead which starts in 19 hours and change.

But now it's late, and I'm tired.

TGILF!

Cold Is as Cold Does

Usually, when the temperature is below 32 degrees,  the kids at our school are encouraged to come inside as they arrive to wait in the warm building for the beginning of the day. After a couple of weeks of weather in the teens, though, this morning was a balmy 30, and hundreds of students waited for the bell outside with open coats. Whether preoccupied with their devices, chatting with friends, or playing football and basketball, they were apparently not bothered by the sub-freezing temperature, and tomorrow? When it hits 50? Some will even wear shorts.

And I might leave my mittens at home.

Frame of Mind

There have been about 80 school days so far this year, and as I spent the day moving from table to table, sitting with the kids, and helping them with their essay revisions or online grammar practice, I realized that I kinda like this group! We have adjusted nicely to each other's personalities and expectations, and even the most annoying of us is hardly more than a tad aggravating.

Oh, it might be the extra hours of sleep I got this morning because of the black ice talking, or it could be the predicted 60 degree weather at the end of the week that has warmed my heart, but I prefer to think the remaining 100 days are going to be lovely!

Get off the Pot!

Word came down around 10 AM that school was closing early due to the predicted sleet and ice. And the students...

lost
their
minds!

No matter that the sun was still shining and we were still in session for another 2 1/2 hours; very little was accomplished.

Oh, well. There's always tomorrow. Unless the icy conditions prevail and we have a delay.