Oh my. What a horrific day today was. It all started at 6:11 a.m. when 680 news announced that schools were open today. Today. The last day of school before Christmas vacation. The day when nothing of any substance gets accomplished at school. The day when 20 centimetres of snow was expected to fall in a span of 7 hours, with the heaviest snowfall falling between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., the exact length of my work day. If that news announcement wasn't bad enough, it was all downhill from there...

First, I was late for school by about 10 minutes because I had a doctor's appointment this morning. When I got to school, there was no parking in the parking lot. Then, as I was trying to get out of the lot, I got stuck in the 'kiss and ride lane' behind all the latecomers. As I finally start moving through the line, I see my vice principal up ahead manning the traffic in front of the school. I stop to tell her that I needed to park on the street because the lot was full and I narrowly missed getting a lecture from her for not 'giving myself enough time' to get here early.

I finally make it into the school and surprisingly, only four of my students were away. Come on, kids! Stay home! Play in the snow! Drink hot chocolate! Anyways, the school day ran pretty smoothly. I was pretty much on pins and needles for much of the day, waiting for the blessed announcement that we could all go home early. Finally, around 1:30 I was told that all the Milton teachers could go home early. Yippee! So as my students watched 'Elf' in another classroom, I hastily scribbled a note on the board for my students wishing them a Merry Christmas and a plea to not leave the classroom in a gigantic mess.

So I haul all my bags, gifts, etc. to the parking lot, only to realize that I parked on the street. So I haul my bag-lady self through the blizzard to my car which of course, is buried under a mound of snow. I spend about 20 minutes clearing all the snow and ice off my car. It was snowing so hard that I had to keep reclearing snow that I had already cleared only 5 minutes earlier! Then I noticed that my car was surrounded by at least a foot of snow and I worried that I wouldn't even make it out of there. So I flattened all the snow around my car, got in, and thankfully my car made it out of there.

The drive home was completely treacherous. Nothing was plowed. Not even the main roads. That, combined with the whiteout conditions, and you can understand why I prayed all the way home. But, thank you Jesus, I finally made it to my street and proceeded to pull into my driveway. Turns out, I gave thanks a little too early because I got stuck in the snow! In my freaking driveway! I reversed. I went forward. Nothing. So I got out of the car and proceeded to shovel the driveway. I cleared all the snow around my car, under my car, but still, the car would not budge! I did this for the better part of an hour. Thankfully, after some sound advice and guidance from my hubby via cellphone, I finally got the car out of its mess and precariously guided it into the garage. Yayy! I made it!

But...

Anyone who knows me knows about my irrational fear of animals that fly. I think I am frightened by the unpredictable nature of animals in flight. I am skittish about not being able to track their movements. Anyways, back to my story...

So I get out of the car in triumph. As I turn to open the passenger door to get all my Christmas gifts, I look up and see, of all things, a BIRD fly off my roof and head straight toward me! I scream and run for the door, get in the house and slam the door behind me. The bird is for all I know, still in the garage somewhere. But I closed the garage door and set my alarm for fear that the bird would come attack me again.

What are the chances of getting attacked by a bird in your garage in the middle of a winter storm?! I couldn't believe my luck, or lack thereof. But whatever, I am safely home. Thank goodness. I pick up the phone to tell my hubby that I am finally safe and sound, but see that I have a voicemail message waiting. I punch in my code and hear my little 7-year old nephew gloat that he got a snow day today and got to stay home from school.

A perfect end to a perfect day.

I am going to take a long, hot bubble bath.