Wednesday, January 19, 2011

WNBP: Bonus Day

Well, this was something of a surprise.  I fully expected that I would be sent home early from school yesterday.  Planned on it, actually.  Icy roads mean we get out of Dodge as fast as possible and the forecast was loaded with little sparkling crystals.

What I didn't see coming was another snow day today.  I checked the weather on my ipod this morning, noted that the rains were still falling and thought to check the local news for a delay.  Those are always nice.  Imagine my befuddled state when I saw that the delay was actually going to extend for the entire day!

The extra time allowed me to think of some bullet points to throw your way so why don't we take a look at a few?

*My school district is comprised of three towns.  Two fairly close to one another.


*A third that is sort of geographically challenged.


*They sometimes have their own weather.


*I suspect that it was this situation that caused my snow day today.


*Mixed feelings about this one.


*Love a day off.


*Hate making them up in June.  Especially if I think we might have been able to pull off a school day if we just started later.


*Another storm is predicted for Friday...


*It's days like these that make me glad I took up canning over the summer.


*And that I learned how to use a pressure canner.


*There's only so many pickles a gal can eat...


*Protein is sometimes required.


*I had chicken and parsnips for dinner tonight.


*Right from the cupboard!


*Finally got around to vacuuming today.


*After a long weekend, an early release day from school and a snow day, I was kind of running out of excuses.


*And in bookish news...


*I recently finished Physik (Septimus Heap, Book 3).


*Thus far, my least favorite book in the series.


*However, when one is reading a series, one must soldier through it in its entirety.


*Otherwise, one is confused.


*Besides, it was good.  Just not my favorite.  


*And I think there was another reason.  I had something else waiting in the wings.  Something I was dying to read!


*All fiction is alternate history, really.


*But I first became interested in it as an "intentional" genre after reading Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series.  


*(Seventh Son (Tales of Alvin Maker, Book 1)


*When I heard about Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate), I knew I had to read it.


*Alternate history.  Victorian England.  Vampires.  Werewolves.  


*And yes.  I agree.  Vampires and werewolves have been done to death.


*But this is different.  And good.  Really good.  


*I plowed through it in record time and was done with Changeless (The Parasol Protectorate) even faster.


*Now I'm reading Blameless (The Parasol Protectorate).


*Witty.  Extremely witty.  It won't just make you laugh.


*It will make you snicker.  Which is even better.


*Also been experimenting with the idea of having knitting books on my ereader.


*I'm of two minds.  I rather love flipping through the glossy pages and putting sticky notes everywhere.


*OTOH, I'm also sort of thrilled to be able to find what I'm looking for without having to rummage through every shelf in the manse.


*This implies that I put all the books on shelves and is a tad misleading but that's not really what we're talking about right now is it?


*What I'm suggesting is this:



I think there is room for both types of media in my life...



*It depends on the book, I suppose.  One with a dependable, generic sock pattern is pretty good to have on an ereader.


*Wendy Knits: My Never-Ending Adventures in Yarn has that.  And the print version is in black and white anyway, isn't it?


*I've also put a few cookbooks in my digital library.  Seemed to make sense.


*We'll see if that works out.


*Worst case scenario, I can print out what I need.


*If I get a sticky note urge that cannot be overcome...


*Which happens more than you think.


*Sock knitting is good for snow days.


*Especially those that come along unexpectedly.


*Most disturbing conversation of the week:

Boy For Whom All The World's A Stage:  Hey!  Ms. Sheep!  How come you have your phone out?  You can't have those in school.  The principal has told me that fourteen times this year...

Ms. Sheep:  Well, you're the one who has pointed out repeatedly that the weather is bad and that you think we should go home.  If school is cancelled, I get a text message from Channel 13.  Sometimes even before The Powers That Be see fit to tell me of their decision.

BFWATWAS: Wow!  You text Ms. Sheep?  That's cool!

MS:  (waving in a self-deprecating manner)  Oh, stop!  Well maybe I'm a little cool...

BFWATWAS:  My grandmother can't text at all.  She doesn't even know what it is!


*I am currently determining which class he is going to fail this quarter.  Probably a good thing we had a snow day today.


Snow days are fun, even if you have to go through the agony of making them up later.  I got to read and knit and play with the cats.  It was nice.  Plus I had chicken and parsnips on hand so it really all worked out very nicely.

But I'm not so sure I'm ready for another one in the near future.  Too many Bonus Days and you kind of forget how to work for a living...

SA

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

On the other hand, if he fails a class, doesn't that mean you get him again next year? Or an extra year, if he still has a year to go no matter what? You may want to rethink that.

I really need to get some knitting patterns on my iPod.

profm said...

Yipes!

So, which class will it be? Though kmkat does have a point.

Yarnhog said...

Grandmother?! Oh, ouch!

I am still pondering "All fiction is alternate history." I read that about six times. What a fascinating concept. (I'm not being snarky; in one of my earlier incarnations, I got a degree in literature, so this sort of thing is genuinely fascinating to me.)

=Tamar said...

Failing one quarter doesn't necessarily mean failing the year. As long as you spread it around four different subjects, they can all be miserable just-passes.

If you can't put in long-term bookmarks that are still there when you get back to it, I'll never get an e-reader. My books are stuffed full of scribbly notes (and some printed-out notes).

Donna Lee said...

I loved the Alvin Maker book but the library only has one audio so I'm going to have to find the others on regular books.

Do you like the kobo? My youngest daughter almost succumbed to the lure of 99 dollar sale but decided to wait and save for the color nook. She's spoiled.

Amanda said...

I agree on the ereader debate, I'm not sure I'm ready to give up the actual turning of a page.

I'm in my twenties and my kids thought it was cool that I sent text messages, and then wondered how old I was when we talked about cassette tapes and they had no idea what I was talking about. Sigh!

Kath said...

I feel your pain. Today I was called "ma'm" by someone with only about ten years less than me on this planet. Grrrrr....

Oh and I just enjoyed reading "I'm Not A Serial Killer" so I'm going to follow up on more of your recommendations! Parasol Protectorate? Okey dokey!

Deb said...

I borrowed the first Souless book from a friend. It was really good, but I didn't realize there were more.

I see downloads in my future...

Thanks for the tip!

Julia G said...

It's currently 2 degrees with a windchill of -8 here on the CT coast. Brrrr! I'm just about to reload my birdfeeders so the cats have their must-see birdie TV at the kitchen window.

Kids say the darndest things! I had to learn to text or I'd never communicate with my teens (they never actually TALK on the phone). And parsnips are the magic ingredient for the best chicken soup ever!