Teachers don't get paid vacation.  Occasionally teachers might have a break, but it is not a paid break and the two personal days that one gets a year are usually saved for something a lot more fun that what I will be using my personal day for.  I will be using my personal day to get ready for out-of-state company this weekend and will hope that my husband and dogs do not mess up the clean house that I anticipate having by 1 PM Friday afternoon before 1 PM Saturday afternoon. 

The Adventure Home

Even knowing this would be a never-ending weekend, I didn't plan far enough ahead.  Had I done so, I may not have had to rise at 6:30 this morning after a restless night's sleep; however, in Iowa and winter, the real possibility of a snow day existed and I didn't want to burn a personal day for a day that I would end up having off anyways.  Even with the snow from the weekend, my district didn't cancel or delay at all, so hi-ho, hi-ho, it was off to work I go.

In the bitter cold of the morning, I ventured out and was thankful my little baby girl didn't have to leave the house.  Her dad is home again today and her babysitter comes to the house, so typically she doesn't have to leave anyways.  I, however, do have to leave the house and venture to one school, then another, and then another to meet the needs of all my students.  Soon the few remaining students from Texas will venture home and there will either be a new group that arrives in January or a small break until early March.

There's a lot of culture shock for the families from Texas that have never experienced an Iowa winter, especially a blast of arctic air, as we're experiencing right now.  It's a shock to me every year, and I've lived here most of my life.  My husband, who loves winter, had quite an adventure last night too.  A clear parking lot that is caked with a fine layer of snow leads to a small adventure for a grown-up kid, also known as my husband; what it results in, is our return being delayed by 3 hours.

Daddy decided to do donuts in the parking lot and was successful three out of four times, but unfortunately hit a curb the fourth time, slowing down our return because he couldn't remove the wheel from the car.  He unfastened the lug nuts, but couldn't finish the removal process to get the doughnut tire put on.  A trip to a near-by Wal-Mart reminded me why I NEVER shop there and resulted in us backtracking closer to where the tire popped.  The garage, designed to help semis, not lightweight SUVs, thankfully assisted us and got us back on the road again.

The GPS originally calculated our arrival time to be around 4:30; however, after the delay, our arrival time at our front door was closer to 8:30.  Next time Daddy asks to do donuts in the parking lot, the answer is "NO!"

Time to Travel

As I packed for a weekend adventure to my step-sister's wedding out-of-state, I realized why I don't travel.  We have dogs.  We have a baby.  We have a million and one things to do and my husband is not feeling well.  Even when he's feeling great, I am the primary caretaker of the house and the baby.  However, he does give me some reprieve from the dogs from time to time.

I left for work this morning while he was still snuggled in the nice toasty bed and gave him a list of things to try and get done before I get home from work today.  What a day!  I teach kindergarten through twelfth grade English Language Learners and get to spend the afternoon in meetings.  For those of you that can take vacation whenever you'd like, I'm jealous.  That's because I don't get vacation, unless it's scheduled with a school break.  

You're probably thinking, "Don't you get summer break and Christmas vacation?"  Sure, I get Christmas vacation, filled with demands of traveling here and there.  As for summer, in the seven years that I've taught, I had one summer completely off.  That was to have a baby.