Snow, Snow, Everywhere

On our trip home to Rexburg, things looked promising as we saw snow melting on the sides of the roads. I hoped that it would be just the same where we lived. I had false hopes because as we pulled into the city, we were overwhelmed with the amount of snow in the city. The roads are still being cleared and as it turned out, the roads were cleared right onto our sidewalks... and into one of our parking lots. Our main lot was cleared enough for us to pull into our parking spot, but Jarod's truck will have to be dug out as well as the two other cars that girls left behind. I dropped Jarod off at work yesterday and set about shoveling our walk way. It took 1 1/2 hours to do a small trail from the garage to the door. Today I spent 3 1/2 hours laboring to clear stairways and parts of the sidewalks. I haven't measured exactly, but there are areas that I have shoveled that have gone well above my knees. Since Jarod has to work all this week and next, I am the snow removal machine... and since we are such a small complex, the managers or owners refuse to rent or buy a snow blower. I for one would find it a great investment. Hopefully I will be able to get everything cleared by the time School starts in a week. At least I will get a lot of hours as I struggle to strengthen my poor muscles. The city does remove snow in every lot I guess.... but in this case, they blocked 2-3 parking spaces in our big parking lot. We do contract out to remove the snow in the lots... and since our small lot was completely blockaded... I can hardly wait to have them come and clear it.

If you can see it... the walk way I started today

My next project

The snow from the parking lot piled up by the city... uurrgggh!

Hold On Tight!

So on Saturday Jarod and I headed off early to visit with my in-laws in Boise. The weather was supposed to be bad and we wanted to beat the storm due to hit that afternoon. About half-way there, we were cruising along and Jarod was very confident in his speed. There was an SUV in front of us in the fast lane and Jarod wanted to keep up his momentum. Now on our way to Utah, something rusted through on our muffler and we now sounded like a bunch of teenagers in a suped-up car. So when Jarod got up closer to the guy inching along in the fast lane... it was no surprise that when he finally moved over into his designated lane that he flipped us off... What a great way to continue our trip.
I turned to Jarod then and told him not to go too fast because as we pass people we don't want something to happen to us that they may think it served us right. You always see those speed demons flying down the freeway and know something will happen to them in the horrible weather... and then what do you know? You see them in some kind of 16-car pile-up.
Well I self-prophesied our outcome... for as Jarod passed another car at a higher speed than was necessary on the drifting snow... we did a complete 360. All I could think about as I saw the snow fly right outside my window... and as the plate of fudge we were bringing to share flew from the back seat into my lap... was PLEASE DON'T ROLL, PLEASE DON'T ROLL. We landed in the ditch facing the right way to get back on the road. Jarod climbed out of his seat and realized just how deep the snow was, and when we tried the gas we couldn't move at all. I knew we needed to start digging ourselves out as well as getting some kind of traction beneath the smoking tire. We were able to move ourselves about 4 feet when a kind man stopped by and used his chain to pull us out. Needless to say, if our tires weren't already bald enough after this adventure... they were sure smooth enough to feel like plastic.
We continued on our way much more slowly and noticed a large amount of vehicles who had also run off the road and which were in much worse condition. We gave a small prayer of thanks and decided we couldn't go home without new tires. Thankfully, a few members of Jarod's family got us new tires and we will be able to start our trip home safely on Tuesday. I hope to high heaven we will arrive with everything intact.

Everyday Preschool

I decided that with all of the things I make for preschool and the things that I learn through my experiences that it would be a good idea to share them with anyone who is interested. I created a new blog that I can add information and activities and hopefully describe them in a way that is user friendly. I will put patterns with some activities and as people become more interested in others they can email me with requests. This will be a fun project that (when I graduate and have more time) I can compile all of the things that come into my head and out through my fingers. The site is everydaypreschool.blogspot.com and it is also on my sidebar for easy access.

Academic Scholarship

This semester I attended more classes than I have ever done in my whole college career. I worked as hard as I could to get the grades needed to get at least some form of scholarship. Out of my 18 credits, 18 were A's. I now can qualify for the quarter tuition scholarship. I am now registered for my second to last semester of school, and if I get all A's again I will be able to qualify for a half tuition scholarship for my final semester. I just have to keep on working hard so I can graduate easily.

Business Plans

As I continue in my schooling, I start thinking about my future in preschool. I know I want to start up and own my own center, and Jarod said we would need to start creating a business plan. He took this class this semester where he had to help create a business plan and he got an A grade. Because he did so well, the teacher asked for his help along with a couple other students to work on getting some grant money for the local library. This next semester he will be working on that business plan and getting the experience to put on his resume. This will also help us in our endeavor to create my center.

The first thing I had to do was come up with a name. Enlisted the help of my cousin for a logo and she ended up giving me a name I loved. As I thought about what I wanted in my center, I started coming up with unique area for children to participate in. One such area would be a creativity room where the children could create works of art with no concern to mess. This room would have a drain in the floor and any mess could be hosed down. The name that Emily helped me put together is Lil' Da Vinci Academy. This combines the creative and intellectual experiences that I believe all children should have the opportunity to participate in. This coming semester I will also be expected to create a business plan... is it cheating to have my business major husband help me out to make it more real?...