A whole week

I swear the school system here is made of a large group of sadists. For Thanksgiving break we get the whole week off! Yes, I love my children, but due to unexpectedly buying a car this month we are broke! So broke even the redbox movies are out of the question. Library here we come!

Today, I had to escape. I did a grand round tour of my closest thrift shop. I scored a fairly large bag of silverware for 7$. How does crap like that disapear anyway? Even after searching through nooks and crannies, still low on everything. Wow, a real splurge, eh? I generally just walked around and looked at stuff.

We had been preparing for a blizzard, but now it's just heavy snow and extrememly cold temps wednesday. I am sure the charcoal, extra water and candles will always be useful. Back east it was always hurricane preparedness, but here we only worry about particuarlly vicious storms.

Being an eco-friendly town, most children of all ages walk to school. Bikes are ridden year round and a special bike path is built into the city that covers about 19 miles and traces the river. If necessary, you can walk to just about anything you need.

This has been the biggest difference from living in the south east. My last destination had ample bus routes, but they didn't have bike racks on the front of the buses. Walking there was considered suspect if not a little dangerous. Even walking in the neighborhood was a bit dangerous as local drivers tended to drive 35 mph on the backstreets.

Next June I will have been here three years. I like a bit more of the town, however; the summers still kill me. M.S. and desert conditions do not work well together. Like I have said before, I know the resources of the community far outweigh anywhere I have lived to date and I have been a wanderer.

I am still awaiting Wannabe's one to one person as she really needs the appropriate roll modeling. I do not think I am a bad parent, I do know teenagers rarely hear what wisdom their parents have to offer. We are averaging one major breakdown a week, and they are nothing short of temper tantrums. She will actually scream and beat on walls. I know hormones are playing a large roll this week, but this behavior is above and beyond understanding. The few times I have called in crisis moments I get referred to the one to one worker (psr) alas, we have yet to get one.

I know this week will pass. I just pray that the drama is minimal and the cabin fever is nil. One can hope right?