So I am a HUGE slacker with this thing... My last post was during Week 4 of school, and Week 9 just ended. My bad.

A lot has happened in the last 5 and a half weeks...

The long-term sub job was offered to me full-time for the WHOLE YEAR! Of course, I said I wanted it. I had to email the superintendent and tell him I was interested in applying for the position, and I had to interview for it this past Thursday. It's been challenging... Although it helped a lot that I started as the sub. One of my requirements through my contract is to move down to the village and live in the school district's duplex on the school property. Once things get settled in the district office and the job is officially mine and all procedures have been followed, I'll move into the duplex. It'll probably be this weekend when I finally move out there. I went up to Fairbanks last weekend and bought a whole bunch of stuff thinking that I was moving down there this weekend, but it had to be pushed back to next weekend, so now I have all this stuff just hanging out in the back of the Suburban.

I made it through the first quarter and got all the grades in and all that. I made it through the First Quarter Fun Day at school, and parent-teacher conferences. I was so nervous about those... I felt like I was going to yak before the first one. But I knew the parent pretty well because she works at the school, so that made it a lot easier. I didn't have that many parents show up, so I got to spend a LOT of time in my room moving things around and hanging stuff up. I took out a table and a couple chairs and there is SO much more room now. I bet the kids are going to flip on Wednesday when they walk in. I can't wait to see their faces.

Michael deployed at the end of last month or the beginning of this month to Afghanistan. His tour over there should be about 7 months long... Hopefully they won't extend it and keep him over there for a long time. He seems to be doing well, and likes what he's been doing. The care packages we send over to him take FOREVER to get there. He celebrated his 20th birthday over there... I thought we weren't going to get to talk to him, but he called that night. Mom was in Kansas for an instructional coach conference, and Dad took up most of the 30 minutes he was allowed to talk.

Exactly a month after I got here, while I was driving to school, a moose decided to jump out of the trees and run in front of the Tahoe. Of course, I hit him. Thankfully, the damage wasn't too bad. I clipped his back end and spun him around before sending him off to the ditch. He took out the headlight on the driver's side and dented the hood and fender, and he also broke the driver side mirror... I think that part happened when I spun him around -- his snout must have gotten the mirror. Anywho, I had to call the AK State Troopers when I got to school and report it. Mom had to pick up a form that I had to fill out and mail down to Juneau. Luckily I don't get penalized in any way for hitting a moose. We just got the Tahoe back from the auto-body place in Fairbanks this last week. While Dad was up there picking it up, he had some extra high beam lights (commonly known as "moose lights") on the front. That makes me feel better about driving out to Northway, especially since that's the car I'll be taking out there this year.

Harley is still doing well. I think I'm going to make an appointment for him at the vet pretty soon. I need to get his prescription for his food transferred up here and he needs his nail beds checked out. I'm starting to think his swollen nailbed issues are not a result of allergies. And if they are, I think I need to get another allergy test done. The allergy test that we did in Auburn was based on common allergens found in the Southeast, not Alaska. And just about everything that he's allergic to isn't found up here... So his allergy serum is pretty pointless. I need to find out if there are things up here that he's allergic to. And if there aren't, this nail bed thing needs to be figured out.

I guess that's about all -- dinner is almost ready, and I guess I should do some grading. I have a massive stack of papers here.

Week 4 is halfway over. I may be getting a new student, another Kindergartener. She was there today and will probably be there tomorrow (and maybe Friday). She's not officially enrolled yet; she's just "testing it out." She seems like a sweet girl. If she does get enrolled, I'll have 10 students. 10 students in 4 grades, all spread out among many different reading/math levels = chaos. And still... I love what I'm doing. Even though that it may not always look like it because I'm so exhausted/stressed/overwhelmed/frazzled/any and every other word applicable.

I finally uploaded pictures from my drive across the US and Canada to Facebook. You should check them out. :) Here's a sneak peek:



My trusty sidekick.

Cool picture of the side of a mountain in Montana... I don't know how I did this.












Some pretty hills in South Dakota.













Stormy sky versus sunny sky.

Sedation is kicking in. I was very surprised that I barely had to use any of the sedatives that the vet in Auburn gave me.











One of my favorite sights along the Alaska Highway.

Welcome to Alaska!
Finally home... After 60-70 hours on the road and 4,473 miles later...

After a few minutes of frustratingly dealing with the DirecTV automated customer service system, Dad finally found out why we don't get the CW up here. I didn't fully understand it... But it's something to do with the fact that local channels are provided, and therefore, DirecTV isn't allowed to sell the channel by federal law.

That. Makes. Me. So. Mad. Because now I can't watch One Tree Hill. Thank God we get ABC and ABCFamily so I can watch my other shows... The only way that I could think of where I can watch One Tree Hill is online... But because we only get a limited amount of bandwith each month, I can't do that either because watching videos online sucks up a lot of bandwith. Now the only way I'll be able to watch it is by waiting until next year when the season is released onto DVD.

Week 3 at school went pretty well. After this next week, I'll be halfway done. I kind of can't believe it. I'm stressed and exhausted and spending a lot of (my parents') money on gas because I have to drive the Tahoe out there... But I'm really enjoying it. Out of the nine kids I have, the most I had at one time this week was five. It was the big moose hunting week this week, so a lot of kids were gone, either hunting with their parents or they were staying with family outside of Northway. And, there was a funeral on Thursday in Tetlin and another funeral on Friday in Beaver Creek for community members that had passed away. After lunch on Thursday, I only had two kids. I'm hoping I'll be back to a full class this next week. Including the aide.

I want to go back to school. Like, really want to go back to school. Part of it is because I think it'll make me look better to have another degree while I'm looking for a job. Part of it is because I miss being a student and want something more to do. And part of it, probably the bigger part of it, is because of my mom. She has so much zest for learning -- it's practically infectious. While we were in Virginia, she got her Master's in Elementary Reading and Literacy. Then immediately went and got her National Board certification. She started her doctorate, but decided it wasn't what she wanted. And then she got her principal certificate. And now she's getting her counseling certificate. There's so much out there to learn, and she wants to learn it all. She's so knowledgeable about school stuff. I'll tell her about something I thought was a great idea, and she comes back with a better idea, something I never would have thought of. And, because of her job here, she's not always everyone's favorite person... But I think everyone knows that she knows her shit. I want that for myself. I want to be as good of a teacher as she is. Honestly, I'd be perfectly content if I were just half the teacher she is.

If things go my way, I'll be starting my Master's program next Fall semester. I'm most likely going to go through Walden University and get my Master's in Elementary Reading and Math. I can do the whole program online in about 20-24 months, or faster if I choose. But before I start my Master's program, I want to get the two classes for my Alaska teaching license out of the way. Since I have an out-of-state teaching license, when/if I get a full-time teaching job in the state, I get a provisional Alaska license. In order to get an actual Alaska license, I have to take a Multicultural class and an Alaska Studies class. I have a list of approved classes for each area, and I've decided that for the Alaska Studies class, I want to take Geography of Alaska. I've always enjoyed geography, and I remember my mom taking that class when we lived in Ketchikan. She had this huge maps of the state spread out on top of tables with colored pencil marks all over it, and it looked awesome. For the Multicultural area, I'm not sure which class I want to take. I think I want to take that class first, and save the best -- the geography class -- for last. I want to take the Multicultural class in the Spring and the Geography of Alaska class in the summer, and then start my Master's in the Fall.

Mom and I were supposed to go to Fairbanks for the weekend this weekend, but she had a lot of school work to get done for her classes, so we're going next weekend. I need to get a few things at a store bigger than anything we have here. We were going to do a day trip, but we decided to go overnight and go out to dinner and get pedicures. :) It's going to be nice to get away for a little bit. Hopefully next weekend, like this weekend, I won't have much work to do for school.

Speaking of that, I have just a little bit of work left to do, so I should probably go get on that.

Week 2 down, 6 more to go. Not that I'm counting down. I'm really not. Despite the fact I have to drive a little over an hour each way (about 120 miles round-trip) and I come home completely exhausted and frustrated to no end, I love what I'm doing. I'm having fun and the kids are great. 99% of the time. And I'm going to miss them. A lot.

I got a new student last Wednesday. He's in Kindergarten, so now I have four grade levels. The most frustrating thing is trying to figure him into the schedule. He leaves at 1:00, while the rest of the kids leave at 2:15. Teaching four grades is rough... I don't know how their regular teacher does it. I was supposed to meet with her this weekend, but I haven't heard from her.

Mom and Dad left a little while ago to go to Anchorage for Mom's post-surgery appointment to see if she can get the neck brace taken off. They took Jack with them because he has a dermatologist appointment in the morning. About 15 minutes after they left, I get a call from my mom, telling me to bring the spare keys for the Suburban to Chevron. While they were both out of the car, Jack managed to lock the doors, hahaha.

Jack and Harley are somewhat starting to play now. Last night, Harley was getting ready to pounce on Jack and he started running towards him, but at the last minute, he changed directions. Mom and Dad are starting to realize that we have to cover food while we're eating dinner because Harley will jump up on the counter to get at it. We can't train Harley to stay off the counter because he has to eat up there... Otherwise Jack would eat his food and then puke. Puking is no bueno. And considering how expensive Harley's food is... He better be the only one eating it.

Dad gave me "generator training" yesterday, so that if I'm here by myself and the power goes out, I know how to start the generator and which plugs to switch so I still the furnace, hot water heater, and the well working.

While Dad was in Fairbanks last week, he got Harley a full-size litter box with a cover. The cover has one of those flappy doors to try and keep odors in the box. I put Harley in it before I put litter in it to see how he'd react to the door, and he just sat there. Like he was stuck in a box or in his carrier. He nudged the door a few times with his nose, but didn't realize that if he pushed hard enough, he could climb out. I think I might have to take the door off.

I need to spend today cleaning my room and organizing... I still haven't really unpacked, even though I've been here for two weeks now. And I need to do laundry. Dad got me a dresser while he was in Fairbanks, and I put it together while we were watching the Auburn game on Saturday. While doing so, I managed to poke a hole in my finger. Literally.

Way. To. Go.

I need an endless supply of Cadbury's Carmello bars right now.

I really hate that weekends always go by SO flippin' fast! School/Work weeks should be four days long and the weekends should be three days long. I haven't done much this weekend, but I have caught up on my sleep. For the most part. I have be good about going to bed around 9:30/10:00 so that I can get up at 5:00 the next morning without issues.

My massages yesterday and Friday were amazing. I have another one tonight. I could feel one of the knots in my back yesterday that she was working on. It hurt like a mother. I'm glad my one for today is tonight because I'm going to be spending the better part of the day doing school work and trying to organize everything. I feel like I'm organized, for the most part, with the things in front of me... I'm not organized mentally, and I think that's what is stressing me out. Being organized is easy for me, but when it's for three grade levels and I was thrown into it immediately after a 6-day drive, it's taking me a bit longer to wrap my head around it.

Mom is making breakfast right now... It smells delish. Harley must think so too... He keeps lifting his head up and sniffing the air.

I emailed one of the ladies from Pet Vet to let her know how Harley and I have been doing. She was one of the ones that cried when we left the week before last... She always liked seeing Harley. He's been making himself right at home, as he rightly should be. He's laying on everyone's lap, jumping up on the table trying to steal food, knocking things down... I'm very surprised at just how well he's been adapting. He's doing a LOT better than Gracie and Jello did. I miss them, but can you imagine what it'd be like with Mom, Dad and me, plus a dog and three cats? Haha.

And I was looking on Facebook today... I miss my friends in Auburn. I'm glad I'm home and teaching up here... It's where I need to be right now. But I miss everyone. A 3-hour time difference doesn't seem that big of a deal, but when I'm getting home at 5:30 and finishing dinner and whatever, it's usually around 7, which is 10 in Auburn. Or 11 in Florida where Missy is. I'm glad I'll be flying down in March for Lauren's and Caitie's weddings... I'm still hoping I'll be able to fly down for Lauren's wedding and just stay there until Caitie's wedding. Then I can see everyone, and hang out. We'll see.

I need to go grab a shower so I can start on school work.... Or find other ways to procrastinate. No. I can't procrastinate. Not anymore. Time to be responsible.