Friday, December 18, 2009

Difficult Week

It's been a very difficult week.

The first two days were extremely cold and I've made it very clear what I think of THAT. On Monday it reached -44 degrees Celsius with the wind chill, and our standard rule is that we cancel the school bus when it reaches -45 degrees with or without the wind chill. It was the one day I actually felt ripped off because it wasn't COLDER. One itty bitty stinkin' degree colder. Imagine driving a big, honking bus in that temperature. Hannah had on three jackets and extra socks. Seth had on two jackets and extra socks. They also had a warm, fuzzy blanket to wrap around them.

It took me three days to thaw.

On top of that, some darling child or children took it upon themselves to graffiti the back of the bus seats. Not once, but twice. And they quite explicitly called me a VERY BAD NAME. Because I have so many kids, I cannot recall who sat in those seats. I now have the ginormous task of assigning seats. I haven't yet figured out how I am going to do this with 80 regular riders and 169 registered kids total - which is why I have not assigned them previously. Additionally, I still can only name approximately half of the kids. I know everyone's face and their stops, but 105 out of 169 of my students are non-Caucasian, some immigrants, and I cannot even pronounce most of their names.

I have found the week so draining that I stopped our own school on Wednesday. The kids and I are taking a longer, much needed break.

On the ONE plus side, I received gifts from some students this morning, such as a tin of Tim's coffee, a tin of Tim's hot chocolate and Toffifee. A daycare mom (who was behind one of these gifts) even had all of her kids sign a card for me. After the week I've had, I was very grateful for this thoughtfulness.

Imagine that? Some kids think I'm a......well, you know. And others actually LIKE me. Wow!

And so, I'm going to huddle under blankets and relax for two weeks. Who knows, I may not even leave the house. I'm going to drink Tim's hot chocolate and play games with my kids.

And sleep in.

Until at least 8:00 a.m., anyway. I've told the kids they better not open their lids until at least then if they don't want to be tied to the bed post make their mama unhappy.

7 comments:

Katrina Holmes (Tina) said...

Sory you had auch a yucky week! Enjoy your holiday!
How do you do the typing with the line through it?

Mrs. Wizzle said...

AMEN! From one who receives them after the bus drivers drop them off!

Darla said...

Sis. Tina: I googled, it, and the best instructions I've found are as follows:

"In html, you use the letter "s" inside the tag marks (less than and greater than signs) before and after the text you want to cross out.

example: less than sign, s, greater than sign, text, less than sign, backslash, s, greater than sign."

Hope that helps. Have a great holiday.

Mrs. Wizzle: Hope you have a much deserved break as well! I realize I only have them for 90 minutes per day as opposed to six hours!

Rachel Peterson said...

Or you could just click to use the "new updated version" of blogger. Thats what I do.

Darla said...

Now that would be much too simple, Rach. I like to make things much more.....difficult.

Kelsey said...

I feel the exact same way about the heat around here. Its 65 degreesish here right now although it is supposed to drop to 30s for Christmas.

I enjoyed reading your blog today. Hope you are all doing well up there. I cant beleive you drive a big ol bus in ice and snow....not to mention over a hundred little children to maintain???! You must have nerves of steel. I would freak out, I think.

Off Topic here but Bro. Wade Bass preached an awesome message a couple weeks ago here at our church it is posted on our church website called God Did It. Just thought id share since I know you love the word....was so encouraging and much needed for me as it ws my first service back after baby.

Darla said...

Sis. C: Nice to hear from you. I've been wondering how you've been doing with Kollin and the rest of your family.

Truthfully, I would whine just as much at the extreme heat. Up until this last year, I have always said I would much rather live in the extreme cold than the extreme heat, 'cause it's easier to warm up than cool down. Unfortunately, something has changed in my system this year that has made enduring the cold much more difficult than ever. I am having a hard time really warming up.

As far as the bus goes, I don't think I could tolerate it if I didn't have them in two groups for 15 minutes maximum. I found last year much more enjoyable, however, because I actually got to know the kids more. This year is tough because there are just too many and I cannot remember all of their names. That is a big frustation for me.

Thanks for the tip on Bro. Bass. He was at our camp the same year as Bro. Pixler was and I very much enjoyed him.

Hope all is well. If you have time to drop me an email and let me know how things are, I'd appreciate it. Thanks for stopping by and reading my posts.