Snow Days Are Special

The Snow Day is, without a doubt, the finest part of being a teacher.  For a brief, shining moment you get to live like a child and caper about merrily at the prospect of a day off from school.  It's a beautiful thing...disagreements with Christmas tree lights notwithstanding.  That little debacle, complete with less than "seasonally appropriate" commentary wasn't exactly in the spirit of The Snow Day.  Otherwise, though, it was so very, very special and pretty much makes up for any of the stress that comes along with the job the rest of the time.

But what makes The Snow Day such a special thing is that it is rare.  Much like a well-cut diamond, a fine wine or finding a Snickers bar in the back of the freezer when you thought there was no chocolate in the house, it is its somewhat singular nature that makes it so precious.  In other words:  I had to go back to school today.

The truck was coated in an inch thick layer of ice, the roads were only marginally plowed in places and the passing semis threw layer upon layer of slush upon my already icy windshield.  I was later than usual in getting to my classroom and readying things for the day.  

The students were bleary eyed until recess when the opportunity to frolic in freshly falling snow gave them a new burst of energy and zest for life.  They came back in fairly dripping with the zest and leftover snow so there were puddles everywhere for the remainder of the afternoon.  The staff never really got their zest on, though.  This was highly evident during a fifth grade staff meeting where I was the target of a particularly nasty attack by a colleague who I think has just been lying in wait for this sort of opportunity for a variety of reasons.  Fortunately, her motives are well-known by others with whom I work and I was given tacit permission to respond to her in the manner she deserved.  

I also got a lot of sympathy afterwards which is pretty sweet.  I can work that for a week or so...

Upon arriving home, I discovered one kitty waiting at the door and this is one short of the usual number.  The reason for this was quickly discovered as the blinds from the living room window were on the floor and the cord dragged halfway across the room.  It didn't take a master detective to figure out why a certain smaller and less fluffy kitty might be hiding from Mommy.  We are keeping an eye on her, though.  She's a little skittish tonight and I want to make sure that there is no injury involved, here.  She's old and less than steady on her feet on the best of days.

Kitties don't usually come out the winner when the blinds attack, after all.

But, in my mind, all of this is good stuff.  Not a potential kitty injury.  Even if she was playing with the blinds when she knows better, no one deserves a boo boo when Mommy isn't home to kiss it and make it better.  For the most part, though, a trying day just goes into The Making The Next Snow Day More Special Fund.  You gotta have a bunch of regular, no-fun, maybe even a little aggravating times if you really want to appreciate the moments when you get a nice surprise.  

I also have a lovely reminder of the whole happy snow day.  The new scarf is moving along splendidly thanks to a day off and 45 minutes on the little exercise bike this afternoon.  (No...I didn't work out yesterday.  Like I said:  snow days are special!!!)  I think I may have found my new default scarf pattern for the foreseeable future!  These four simple rows are taking a couple of leftover skeins of Caron's Simply Soft and making something rather nice.  I do believe I may even have it done in time for gifting this weekend!  The World's Greatest Stylist/Life Coach is not wise to the ways of wool and no amount of coaxing on my part is going to make her understand that wool can, in fact, be soft.  This will be the perfect fiber for her.  Hopefully, I'll have it ready to go when I stumble in for a little color Saturday morning.  In case anyone was just burning with curiosity over what pattern might inspire The Sheep to actually knit a holiday gift after swearing on a stack of Interweave Knits that this was not going to happen, fear not.  I shall happily share!  It is the Villandry Lace Scarf.    I can't remember just where I first saw it, although saying it appeared to me either in a dream or on Ravelry would probably be in the ballpark.  Either way, it is a simple, no fuss scarf pattern that works up quickly and is something a little different from my usual one-row wonders.  That is something sort of special too, I suppose.

Not as special as a Snow Day or coming home to two cats and functioning mini blinds.  But very nice in its own way.

SA