My name is Brutus, and I'm an addict.

Today is my semester break day. It was going to be a snow make-up day, but the high school teachers freaked out that they wouldn't have enough time to grade last week's finals (even though grades aren't DUE until Thursday at 3pm). Now our snow make-up day is scheduled for February 17 which makes President's Day weekend a three-dayer in stead of four.

Anywho...my husband and I have been pretty worried about this little guy lately...

Brutus has had a rough three months.

{Brutus Ordeal #1} It all started in November on Apple Cup Saturday. We woke up, stoked to go to our favorite college football game of the season - WSU vs UW (go dawgs).

Unfortunately, Brutus had other plans. He is usually so peppy and cheerful, wagging his tail, jumping all over the place, happy little guy. We knew something was hurting him because he literally could not move. His head was cowered down, and he was scrunching his spine in odd ways.

We knew we needed to get him in ASAP, so Josh and his mom's husband took him to the vet to get him checked out. They took x-rays, and found out he had some sort of neck injury.

Yes this is actually Brutus. They gave us the x-rays on a CD.

The result was putting him on some steroids. Luckily, we fit the vet appointment into our day early enough that it didn't affect our afternoon Apple Cup plans (the dawgs won, btw). We had to make Brutus take it easy, like no stairs, no jumping up or off of things, etc. The most hilarious thing about this was that we started to notice that Brutus loved medicine time. The mere sound of pills shaking in a bottle caused him to bolt toward the sound. Apparently he thinks they're treats. This caused no alarm, and we had no idea that it was the beginning of his "addiction"...

{Brutus Ordeal #2} Sometime in December, Josh sends me this picture on my cell phone while I'm at work, teaching...

Brutus was having some sort of allergic reaction to something and his face became red and swollen. The next day, hives appeared all over his fur.

Apparently dogs can break out in hives, too.

One phone call to the vet later, we gave Brutus benadryl to alleviate whatever allergy his body was trying to fight.

{Brutus Ordeal #3} I'm going to keep this one short and sweet. Brutus chewed up my brother-in-law's fake tooth retainer. We found shattered little pieces of the entire thing scattered all over the upstairs while I was downstairs wrapping presents and the boys were upstairs playing video games. Sheesh.

{Brutus Ordeal #4} This brings me back to the beginning of this post: With my day off, I was finally able to bring Brutus to the vet because his hind legs have been a little weird the last month or so. He sits off centered, drags his legs behind him when he runs, refuses to jump up on the couch, struggles up the stairs when it is slick outside, etc. Once again the vet prescribed him steroids. As soon as she walked into the room with the pill bottle, Brutus got super duper excited. I looked him in the eye and said, "I think its time for an intervention."

Hopefully he's able to pull through this addiction and heal. Otherwise we might be making a trip down to WSU for a $urgery con$ultation. Yikes! Get well soon, Brutie!

Friday Night Home Cookin'

Right after I splashed milk all over my arm. I'm a messy chef.

Two recipes for the price of one!? Holla! On tonight's menu we have Zenkichi Pasta and Orange Creamsicle Push Pop Smoothie. Yum yum yummers.

Recipe #1 - Zenkichi Pasta

Ingredients

3/4 bag of Broccoli (12 oz)
1 lb Penne Pasta
1/2 bag of Bacon Bits (3 oz)
1/2 jar of Sun-Dried Tomatoes (8 oz)
7 oz container of Pesto Sauce
3/4 pound of Chicken

Cook pasta. Prepare broccoli and chicken. Slice sun-dried tomatoes and chicken as necessary. Drain pasta. Add pesto. Shlosh Mix everything together. Enjoy with garlic bread.

Finished Product

Recipe #2 - Orange Creamsicle Push Pop Smoothie

Ingredients

1 can of Orange Juice (or any juice you'd prefer)

1/4 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

1 cup of Milk

1/4 cup of Sugar

2 cups of Ice

Add all ingredients except ice in blender. Once creamy, add the ice and blend again. Mmmmmmm...

Smoothies Galore

Special thank you to Jordan and Jess for buying all of the ingredients, and...uh...making everything.

Skate Weekend

Here are some shots from the second annual skate weekend at my parents' home on Loon Lake.

The crew for the weekend...

Scoty and me (disregard the Coug jersey :o)

Danny & Whitney

Amy & Jordan

Matt "the model" posing for some serious hockey shots

It was so fun to enjoy the winter weather!

Thankful for our fun visitors this weekend.

How to drive in the snow...

In my backyard with my pups Brutus (pug) and Breaker (lab). They give me kisses.

Welp. It is finally happening. I was a little bit jealous of the west side of the state (greater Seattle area) because they were kicking our bootays earlier this week in the snow-department. Hrmph. That's our job! This is precisely what the inland northwest is KNOWN for. Snow. Lots of it. Hrmph.

(insert dramatic operatic music here)

SNOW DAY!!!!! Even though the Seattle area is facing a combination of "Snow-pocalypse 2012" AND an "ice storm" at the moment, we're getting ours. Boo ya. Spokane Public Schools hardly ever cancels school, and today they did it. My prayers have been answered. I feel so much more justified today as I sleep in, sit on the couch, and "grade papers" (ok...let's be honest...watch Dexter on DVD).

The only negative? We were going to have a Semester Break Day on January 30. This is actually a very, very valuable day (teachers, I know you understand). It is a day when I can actually finalize grades, write real comments instead of picking pre-made cheesy ones, and prepare for a new semester. Unfortunately, it also served as a snow make-up day. So we'll lose it to make up for this one. Bummer city.

{Oh yeah...the title of this post. Almost forgot.}

This is a pic I took from my car window yesterday afternoon.

Driving Tip #1) In the words of my father, when driving in the snow, "Be a steady Eddie, not a frantic Fred." Well said, Pops.

Driving Tip #2) Keep your foot on the gas. Don't be a weenie. Be bold. Cocky, almost. This will help you.

Driving Tip #3) If you don't have anti-lock brakes (does this even apply to anyone anymore?), pump 'em. If you do have ALBs, don't pump. Let the ANTI-LOCK feature do that for you.

Driving Tip #4) Steer through it. This is pretty important on turns. Just go for it (See Tip #2).

Driving Tip #5) Avoid stopping on a hill at all costs. In Spokane, you can pretty much plan an alternate route for anywhere you want to go that won't involve hills. Sorry Seattle-ites. This isn't really an option for you...

Driving Tip #6) If the light is yellow and about to turn red, keep going. Even if they snap a photo of your car with one of those fancy-schmancy red light cameras, isn't your license plate completely covered in snow? Don't worry, they won't find you.

Driving Tip #7) Make sure you carry with you at all times: A hefty car scraper. Nice gloves. Boots.

Driving Tip #8) Don't be afraid to drive five to ten miles per hour UNDER the speed limit. No one needs to be a hero. Take it down a notch.

By the way - even though we do own a Chevy Silverado w/a lift kit, I usually drive my trusty Honda Civic Hybrid in the snow.

I feel like I have more control with this little front-wheel drive car (it has snow tires - not studs - snow tires). It suits me just fine.

Guest Room Decor

I put a little extra time and effort into my Guest Room last weekend, and here are the fruits of my labor...

First we'll do what I call a "walk around" (envision seeing these photos in a half-circle. Starting w/the corner and moving around to your right...

Next, the details...

This nightstand was a hand-me-down from my mother-in-law. I love it. Possibly one of my favorite pieces of furniture in the whole house. Plus, momma-in-law still gets to use it when she visits!

Headboard was our first "big kid" furniture purchase off Craig's List.

Grey embroidered bolster from Target.

Duvet from Macy*s.

"Always kiss me..." pillow is from WUSLU (have you been there yet!?)

This is a drawing of the Waikiki Bozarth Mansion here in Spokane. It is a beautiful place to get married - very Inland Northwest-esque. My aunt and uncle got married here many years ago, along with my parents' best friends' son. Special place.

This retro sign hung above my dad's garage door for my entire life. When he passed away in 2009, I knew it was the first thing I wanted to hang in my home to remember him.

Davenport Hotel Pencil Drawing #1

Davenport Hotel Pencil Drawing #2

Come visit the great Inland Northwest (and us) soon! We love having visitors :o)

Spokane's Levy, My Job

The school district I teach in faces a Levy Replacement in approximately 27 days. It is a mail-in ballot, due on Valentine's Day (how romantic), and if it passes, it will continue to fund 25% of our district's budget; an estimated $73 million bucks.

{Breathe}

We've been told all sorts of things in BEFORE HOURS meetings (we cannot talk about the levy during the school day; "we" being myself and fellow school employees). We've signed up to wave signs, write post cards, post signs in our yards, wear buttons on our fancy teacher-key lanyards (for some reason we CAN do this during the school day), post stickers/magnets on our cars, etc. Our superintendent (holla Dr. Stowell) visited each and every building in the district to stress the importance of this levy. This is quite the feat considering we are the second largest school district in the state of Washington at 30,000 students strong (that's bigger than WSU, people, but whatev's).

{Trust}

I work with an incredible group of people. People who show up everyday with a passion in their hearts to teach some of the toughest kiddos in the state. I'm not exaggerating. My students have some really difficult home-life situations, and I know how much this levy money helps them. If we lost this chunk of change, things would forever be different for these kids' school days. Things like transportation, school sports, and fine arts programs would pretty much go bye-bye. If you think about it - these three things are the lifeblood of these kids' school experience. Getting to school without worry, and then getting to enjoy singing or playing an instrument or shooting hoops are what these kids live for. It's what gets them out of bed in the morning. Hey, maybe along the way we educate them, too.

{Believe}

Things like a levy have the power to divide or unite. Build up or tear down. Strengthen or destroy. I'm obviously hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. You see, last year two neighboring (and much wealthier) school districts attempted to pass bonds, but failed. For all of you non-education-ese speakers out there, bonds build buildings, levies fund people and programs. This was devastating for those two districts. They were already busting at the seams and had high hopes of expanding, updating, and improving the four walls where kids learn and adults teach 180 days out of the year. My heart was broken for the staff and students of these two districts. I've heard horrendous rumors that up to 800 staff could potentially be cut if our levy fails, and I can't seem to push the past out of my head.

{Persevere}

For the next 27 days, I will be wearing a button, posting obnoxious things on my facebook, forcing my brother (who lives in the district) to display a yard sign, taping signs to my car windows, writing postcards, waving signs on busy street corners, and door-belling our school's neighbors. I will take a deep breath, trust the process, believe in my community, and persevere in my career no matter what happens.

Go to Yes for Spokane Schools for more information!