Holy Jeebus it's cold outside. Today it was a high of -5 degrees, with a windchill that was even lower. It was -10 when I left the house this morning. That is ABSURD.

One of the special ed teachers I work with told me that, interestingly, more kids are absent during really cold weather than during snowstorms. None of the kids I service have been absent these last couple of days, so I didn't really observe this trend. This bit me in the ass today. I didn't call ahead to a school where I scheduled an afternoon evaluation to even check to see if the targeted kid was there. I rushed all of my usual Thursday kids into a condensed period of time so I could take off and head to this other school at the end of the day. Struggle, struggle, struggle: putting on layers, getting out of the parking lot, driving, finding parking and getting to the other school, stripping off layers. Come to find out that the one kid I was scheduled to evaluate was absent. I was annoyed. I then crankily hauled myself back to my regular school so I could use the time to do paperwork and get stuff done.

The extreme cold weather is really interesting in that it's kind of exhausting. First of all, all of the snow makes driving around the city and parking more of a challenge (this is the first city I've seen where people place chairs in the spots that they shoveled out...street parking spots). So, a normal trip to the grocery store or work or the gym is a real challenge. You have to layer up lots and then hope to find a spot.

Speaking of the gym, lately it's been a bear as well. It's that post New Year effect, but it's packed all the time! Pre-holidays, I arrived at 3 and it was relatively empty. Now, there are people lined up for the treadmills at 3:30. I book it to the gym when work ends so I don't have to wait for a machine. I love getting home at 4:30, feeding the cats, and collapsing fully on the couch.

So, yeah, I still love Chicago. This weather, though? Not so much.