Merry Christmas

I haven't felt very festive this year. Maybe it's because I didn't go to tuba christmas. Maybe cause I didn't put up a tree. Maybe it's because there has been a lot of stuff that has happened in the last couple weeks that has made me stressed out. I'm voting on the latter. I know Christmas means more than just a tree, stockings, gifts, etc., it's a time for remembering the birth of Christ and being thankful. (And I'm trying to be thankful). It's just been a rough couple of weeks.
To start things off my job is giving me fits. I've made it through half the year and part of me wants to stop teaching. The kids are great (for the most part) but there are other things that are making it difficult. To the point of either I'm teaching at another school or I'm not teaching next year. There were a few days I was angry about all of this and then I talked to the union and talked to Bryan and just decided that they were winning if I was angry.
The next little fun surprise was that Bryan became unemployed. I'm still trying not to be angry about this one. I realize that it's not my job but I don't think he was treated fairly. That's the part that angers me. Hello people grow up and be adults.
And finally, it looks like we will be going to court. So I have to take time off (unpaid) from work. Ugh. Oh well.
Enough with the bad things.
We had a very snowy November and then December has been kinda bipolar. We have had "warm" windy weather (like 80mph wind gusts) that has melted snow and caused ice. Then we've had a good bit of snow. Monday the 12th school was closed for a snow day. We just got like 9 inches of snow in a 6 hour period and no one was ready for it. Thankfully all the big snow this week has been while winter break has happened. Thursday it snowed all day and we got about 5-6 inches and then it really snowed that night and we got an additional 12 inches. That was fun to shovel. Thankfully the neighbor across the street came and helped out with his snow blower. It was particularly nice since the plows left a huge berm at the end of my driveway. *Random side note: The plows are never here right after if snows, we usually have to wait a couple days for them to do our street. It was a big surprise for them to be out right after it snowed.* Well last night it started snowing again and we have probably about 4 or so inches of additional snow. At some point today I'll get out and shovel the driveway since I have to go to the airport tonight. I'm flying to Illinois to see my family for a few days. One last snow comment. We have shoveled so much snow that we have a snow pile in between our driveway and the neighbors that it's taller than I am (by quite a bit).
This week has been a lot of cleaning and organizing. My friend Carol moved into the 3rd bedroom about a month ago so almost everything in there got moved into the living room so that it could be sorted and have the appropriate thing done with it whether labeled and stored or thrown away. It has been a slow process and it's not quite done yet. I've also reorganized my room.
Bryan has cleaned the kitchen and his room and has been very helpful with all the other projects. Although it's a struggle to have him unemployed, I have really enjoyed the time I've gotten to spend with him. When he was working 60+ hours in the week and I only saw him a couple hours on the weekends, it made it really difficult to be happy with our relationship. My frustration was mostly with his work. Although I never have felt that they treated him the best there. It's been nice to talk and sit on the couch and watch a movie or cook together. Heck it's been fun to shovel the driveway together. This whole thing has really made me appreciate him and our relationship a lot more. I know that it will be rough for us financially for a little while but we'll make it. He's been looking for work and working on finding money to go to school and finish his IT program.
On this past Wednesday, a new teacher at school (Kevin) and I drove down to Portage so he could see some glaciers and on the way back there was a Dall sheep about 10 feet from the side of the road. As we continued down the road there was at least half a dozen more viewable (not all that close to the road but a lot closer than usual). He came over for dinner too and I made indian tacos. They were tasty, as they always are. Of course I'm kinda a fan of fry bread.
Speaking of food, I'm making prime rib for today and it smells so good right now. Well I guess I better be productive.