storm watch. 2010. day 1.

*disclaimer* we are supposed to have very wet weather for the next two weeks. and having spent a large portion of my life in the pacific northwest, i find a lot of humor in this situation. however, the reality is that many people whose homes were spared during fire season, will now lose them due to mudslides. this is not funny at all. so when i mock the socal response to rain, i am speaking of my little corner of the world, where the ground is flat and covered in concrete--NOT the areas where people are standing in the pouring rain, filling bags with sand, and stacking them as their only hope to save their homes . . .

so today . . . it rained. i knew it was coming, so i was prepared. well, partly--my gas tank was full--which meant i wouldn't have to battle the elements to keep my car on the road. and i was finally going to get to wear my warm sweater . . .

i had to go to work today, even though it was a holiday. rollie and diandra both had the day off, so i was not totally thrilled to be leaving the house before 8:00 this morning. but by 9:00 we only had 7 children between the three pre-k/kindergarten classes. hmmm, i thought. perhaps someone was going to get to go home early. and maybe that someone could be me!

by 10:30 more children had arrived--i guess the rain didn't keep them all home, it just slowed them down--but we were still well under our teacher/student ratio. hope gleamed brightly in my "oh, i want to go home early" brain.

and then there was chocolate cake!! yes, even on this cold and rainy day there was a birthday. and the best part is, it wasn't one of my students!

(i hate birthdays in my classroom, but that is a topic for another day . . . )

AND there was macaroni and cheese for lunch! with peas!! could there be a better lunch on a rainy day?!?! i think not! but as it turned out, i missed out on lunch . . . BECAUSE I GOT TO GO HOME EARLY! yes, yes, yes!!

it was like a snow day (except i had to get up and to go work for four hours.) rollie was home too, so we ate our lunch and watched the rain pour! we watched a movie. i stood in the rain in the backyard for several minutes (while rollie laughed from inside) until milo finally did his doggie business--he did NOT want to go outside! (i was going to have rollie take a picture for the blog, but he would have had to open the patio door, and then milo would have raced back into the house, mission UNaccomplished. so this photo will have to do, to prove that i am not making all this weather stuff up . . . ) and then the rain slowed down and finally stopped.

that changed my plan for the afternoon. my plan for my bonus afternoon off was to take a nap. but after experiencing the pouring, blowing rain today, i decided that maybe i should go out and get supplies during the eye of the storm. so i refilled our water jugs, and then went to costco.

apparently everybody else had the same idea that i had, because the costco parking lot was packed! i filled my cart with food and then stood in the shortest check-out line--which of course was also the slowest check-out line.

while i was standing in line, i noticed the people around me. and their shoes. i was wearing my snow boots--not the most fashionable choice, but i did not want to have wet, cold feet. several other people had made similar decisions. usually i am surrounded by fancy footwear, but not today. there were still those holding on to style whose boots had high heels, but i feared for their safety on the wet, slippery floors and sidewalks. and then there were the young men. they were not giving up their sneakers, but you know how they wear their pants! so they were all walking around with jeans that were wet clear up to the knee, but hey! they looked cool, i guess . . .

so now we have food and water and full tanks of gas. i think we are well prepared for whatever weather comes our way. which is good, because it sounds like today was just the tip of the iceberg. we have a whole series of storms just waiting to pummel us! it is going to get messy, people . . .