Tornados, Wildfires, Summer Vacation....Oh My!

It's the last week of school! Four more days until sweet, sweet freedom. But, this week has already had its share of drama. This weekend a huge wildfire burned up 120 acres of prairie along the road I drive to get to school. This same thing happened about a month or so ago, but not as big. 120 acres is a LOT of land. The black stretch of scorched earth just kept going and going and going. It didn't look like any homes were harmed, but a lot of that land is grazing land for cattle. Probably not a lot of happy ranchers around that area.

Today the school day went pretty well with only a slight hiccup in the daily schedule. Near the end of the day it started hailing. I took my 1st graders to the back doors of the school to take a look. After the storm calmed down I let them go outside to get a piece of hail. About 20 minutes later it was storming pretty hard. As I was attempting to take the kids out to the busses an announcement came on that we were going to wait until the storm calmed down a little bit. Five minutes into playing "Heads Up, Seven Up," the tornado alarm came on. For about 45 minutes my class tucked themselves into little balls along the side of the hallway. I found out later that a tornado touched down only 5 miles north of the school and destroyed a house. Luckily no one was hurt.

Well, with that big storm came the big problem of power lines being blown down and crossing roads. Just when we thought the kids were all secure on the busses and ready to go home, another announcement came over the intercom informing us that the some of the busses were headed back to the school because they couldn't get across the roads with the power lines in the way. I stayed tonight to help out until 6:30. There were still 3 kids left who were waiting to be picked up by their parents. What a nightmare. We even had to raid the cafeteria kitchen for a snack to feed the kids. Spending 3 extra hours at school can make anyone hungry.

But, only 3 more days left. I can make it. I can make it. I can make it.

The Final Countdown

Here it is! The final countdown. Only 6 more days left! Each day I find myself looking at the clock more and more, counting the hours until the day is over, waiting, anticipating, until that final day when the bell will ring, the little urchins will stream out of the building and onto the hulking, deisel-belching busses, and school will finally be over. Summer vacation will be trumpeted in by the heralding cry of teachers all over the district shouting in unision "Yes! Thank ya, Lord!" I will be there to revel in the beauty of that day. Oh yes, I will be there. Only 6 days left until freedom. Glorious freedom.

Aging Before My Eyes

So for this past Christmas my darling husband gave me a bathroom scale. Why, might you ask, gentle reader, would a husband do something like that to his wife? Well, he did mean well. This is our third bathroom scale in our 3 years together. The first befell a tragic toilet plugging accident. Everything on the floor at the time, including Egyptian cotton towels, bath mats, and even the bathroom scale were thrown out.

In order to conserve finances, should another toilet disaster occur, our second scale was a cheapie bought at Target. It was woefully inaccurate. I could gain 12 pounds in under 10 seconds. I had to weigh myself three times and take the average of the different weights.

So, for Christmas, my dear hubby spared no expense and bought a top of the line bathroom scale. Not only does this scale measure mere weight (in pounds, kilograms, or stones/pounds nonetheless!), it also sends a small electric current through the weigher's feet to measure the percentage of body fat. But it doesn't end there! It also gives the weigher a percentage of water in the body, and weighs the bones. How it achieves these marvels of modern science, I know not. But I do know that the most interesting ability this savvy scale posesses is the ability to calculate your body's "real age" as told by weight, height, activity level, body fat, etc.

My husband, who is not only very small, but very active, gets on this super-futuristic scale and it tells him he is only 19 years old! So I get on the thing......and it turns out that I'm married to a much, much, much younger man. According to the scale, I'm nearly old enough to start collecting retirement and wear Depends. I think I'm having chest pains.

WELCOME!

At the urging of my good friend, Heather, who has recently created her own blog, I have decided to sport my own blog. So, here it is. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, but I'm giving it a shot. I've called this blog Facing East because I'm guessing it will be a blog for me and my my Japanese husband, Koichi, but who knows what this is going to turn into. For now I'm typing. And I'd better type fast because it's past my bedtime and I have to get up early in the morning to work out. Uggh.