Snow Day!

One of the perks of being a teacher in Minnesota (besides having summers "off") would have to be the excitement of a snow day. Yesterday's blizzard conditions closed down pretty much the entire town of Rochester. Schools were let out 2 1/2 hours early, which was not early enough in my opinion. Between the bring sun and white out conditions, my drive home can only be compared to what I would imainge "going to the light" would be like. Since Rochester schools closed, the Rochester Center for Autism closed as well. Pat and I followed each other home and spent our afternoon lazily lounging on the "new" couch indulging and some daytime television. New couch you might ask? Yes, we received a really nice sectional couch from some friends of ours who recently moved. It's awesome!

The 12 year old guitar hero on Ellen amazed us BTW!

My luck got even better before bed last night! I went to bed knowing that Rochester would have a 2 hour late start. That doesn't mean I got to sleep in two hours though; teachers are expected to be in their classrooms by their contracted time (or so). I was in my room by 8. At about 8:30, Rochester had to close its schools because the busses were not running. I guess -40 wind chills might do that.... So I put in about 3 hours of working time (which I was DESPERATE for. Teaching 3 classes at 4 schools doesn't leave much time for planning), and then went home to join Pat. We went to Grandma's Kitchen for lunch. If that sounds familiar, it's becuase that is my mom's current place of employment (and has been forever), as well as where I worked all through college. Man, did I miss the fries there.....

Since I KNOW that tomorrow won't be delayed or canceled, I should really get myself ready for bed.

Good night.

Feeling Spoiled

Like most Saturday nights, we headed to Mark's for some poker. We don't really go to play cards, although we all enjoy the games we play. Mostly it's just gives a reason to all get together, check in, laugh a lot, help Mark clean out his random beer, and just be "us." It's been a few weeks since we were all able together, and everyone commented on it at one point or another. These Saturday nights are like therapy, I think, where we are all able to healthily regress to out inner-middle school selves and just have fun together. It's awesome =) And to make it better, the women were kicking some butt last night!










Anyway...last night's get together had me feeling a little spoiled. Casey had arranged a special surprise for me a while back, and I knew I'd finally be seeing it! Working in sales for Northern Distributors, he gets to meet a lot of pretty cool people...like reps from Leinenkugels (http://www.leinie.com/av.html) After asking for a jacket for himself, he asked for a paddle for me...but not just any paddle. I paddle signed by Jakob Leinenkugel himself!!! Casey asked for the message to say "to Heather 'HD' Walsh." Well, it is rumored that Jake had been enjoying a little too much of his home brew because the HD looks a little more like "HO," which I must add I think is HILARIOUS. So, here's what Mr. Leinenkugel wrote on my paddle :) How cool is that?!


And if the paddle and getting third in poker wasn't cool enough, Mark found a very special beer for me to try. If you didn't know, Mark has a beer bottle collection. They range in age from over fifty years ago to very recent and limited releases. He saw this bottle and just knew he needed it for his collection (the name says it all), but he also knew that I would love the bottle, so he is going to work on finding one for me too. The label is a really deep emerald green and is scattered with Celtic symbols. It is actually brewed with the heather flower which is where the name comes from. It is an authentic Belgian Ale produced by Scottish monks since 2000 b.c., and I have to say it was pretty damn good too! The label tells the whole story.

And then Keith delivered a new set of cd's especially created by Carlie and him for Pat and I. We've been doing this for about a year and a half now, creating cd mixes for the other couple to fit their state of mind at the moment. It's pretty fun to see what each other comes up with.

And that is why I felt spoiled last night :)

Latest Indulgences....

Although no artist or band could replace my all-time favorites (DMB, O.A.R., Jack Johnson, Jimmy Buffett...), I have recently discovered two women who I just can't stop listening to: Amy Winehouse and Feist. Check them out if you are interested in something new, soulful, and fascinating.

Resolutions

So, it feels like everyone I know has a blog going, and I have to admit I was starting to feel a little left out. I have been struggling for a couple weeks, trying to come up with the right title, address, or even first post topic. Then, this morning, it hit me! Maybe if I publicize my new year's resolutions, I'll have a better chance of keeping up with them! So, here they are. Feel free to check in on me to make sure I'm keeping up as best I can while teaching four subjects at three schools, working a part-time job, coaching the John Marshall speech team, being a good wife, sister, and friend, curing cancer, stopping illiteracy, finding world peace....

Resolutions for 2008
1) Get better at being on time
2) Work out at least 3 days a week
3) Make more time for "me" time (reading, tanning, indulgent t.v. shows...)
4) Not to sweat the small stuff as much


And with that I wish you luck on your own resolutions!