We woke up to big fat flakes of snow on Sunday morning - which kept lots of families from getting anywhere and resulted in cancelling church - THAT is very rare. The way things look this week with continued nasty weather and water lines freezing and bursting in the building may keep us away again this week....
We have watched the snow and ice come down and the wind blow. We have also watched the school district online calendar for posts about closures. Sure enough Mon, Tues & Wed have been cancelled because of weather conditions. I am guessing we are done for the week as we have continued to get cancellation phone calls about school and community events we were supposed to participate in. It also has kept us from doing any traveling which also resulted in no dentist or ortho appts we have had scheduled for the last 6 months. The kids arent so upset about the appointments as they are about our tradition of going out to lunch as a family afterward (the kids get great restaurant certificates for good check ups).
Soooo, here we are on day FOUR of being here at home. I can say that the weather has been a blessing for our family. Our week was supposed to be bezerk while Preston is away and instead we have had every day here at home to sleep, play, cook, and just downshift (something we have all needed badly). Because of all the cancellations Preston is not missing any of the kids' recitals or awards ceremonies, he is not missing our family appts. He is also not missing the nasty weather - Chicago has been about 5 degrees with yucky snow and winds.
We have tried hard to enjoy our time together. The kids have had a ton of fun playing outside in the snow - I have taken some great picts! They have enjoyed having extra time to play with their friends - they even did a play and made their own video of it! They loved that!
The kids have spent lots of time playing games. They have had fun making treats and baking bread(which I didnt get picts of). They have had fun taking naps (which I did get picts of). They have also enjoyed helping me train the dogs to be in the house more. They have a little pen they usually stay in but with everyone home we have let them branch out and I have been pleasantly surprised that they have done really well and havent had any accidents in the house or chewed up anything.
Kels is slowly warming up to the idea of the dogs being in her space - she screamed hysterically yesterday anytime the dogs got anywhere near her! she would only stop screaming if one of us was holding her up away from them. It was funny and not. She is doing much better today and was even on the floor with them. She wasnt too thrilled when LJ gave her kisses though. I am hoping that as the dogs do better and Kels gets bigger that they will grow to really enjoy each other. It will mean lots of adventures for all of them:)
I have been using my time to work on photography. The change in weather has given amazing opportunities for taking outdoor picts. It has also given me time to work on Lightroom and Photoshop and get picts cleaned up and out to clients. I am still working on one set of picts that I am having some challenges with. My monitor says they look great - my laptop not so much - and my prints are way off. The weather has kept me away from the print store to figure out how to make corrections and why my monitor and the prints are so different. A previous set of prints were great - so we are guessing it was a lab mistake. I have to have these set of picts completely done and printed in the next 2 weeks or less though, so it is making me a bit nervous.
The weather has also given me time to stew and worry about a new CERT position I have been asked to take on. With everyone home I have been in "mom" mode 24-7 for everyone and havent had the time to make phone calls without multiple interruptions. I need to just make myself do it - even though it terrifies me. I feel so unqualified and yet others are waiting on me to get things going. I am very torn as to what to do. My people skills are more than horrible when my mouth has to do all the work. When I can get behind the camera it is completely different - my eye is doing all the hard work, not always my mouth, and it is playtime. When I am needing to talk and interact with others, esp in a leadership position, or needing to request assistance or represent others besides myself it is a HUGE challenge. I just know I am going to mess up and mis-represent our program because when I get nervous my mouth makes even more mistakes. I just need to "bite the bullet" and get the phone calls over with. It is a hard decision.
Well, guess that is our update for now. I have tons of picts I will be posting here and also on my photo blog - so watch for those soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment