"A mind once stretched by a new idea can never regain its original dimensions." ~Oliver Wendall Holmes

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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Pippin

Pippin is the story of a young prince who is trying to find his place in the world...trying to give his life meaning. It is a musical. It is full of life and energy. The characters were fantastically casted.The majority of the actors were BRHS students with a few BABS students mixed in. Pippin was tried education, he tried fighting in wars, he even tried being king, but nothing made him feel as if he was useful in the world.
The king was just a flighty goofball and the queen was something akin to an evil stepmother. The students played their parts to the tee...they were perfect, funny, and endearing.
They sang and they danced...they wore colorful wigs.
The play had a leader...she was kind of like the narrator. Her part is very serious in the beginning, but funny as heck at the end.
It was SO MUCH FUN!
Even the audience got to sing one of the songs.
The costumes were perfect...simple, but to the point. Easy to change around, not fussy, but effective.
Pippin couldnt find his place in the world, UNTIL he met her. It's always a girl that helps a man find his way! :)
The set was also very simple, but effective. Last year's musical required too much set time and down time between scenes dragged on for way too long. They did the set switches flawlessly.
I seriously dont think these kids messed up one single time. They pulled it off! It was so good and so much fun. The singing was even accompanied with live music.
In the end, Pippin decided that being with the woman he loved living a simple life was a fine place to be.
I am so proud of these kids and how much work they put into this musical. Did I mention how good the play was? It was soooooo much fun!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Sight for sore eyes...

Oh...how I missed you! It's so nice to see you in the driveway again. Welcome home!

Monday, April 27, 2009

The King of Weird Diseases

For several days, Avery has had a rash on his chin. Then, Sunday evening he was running a fever and had a sore throat. The two are not related, BUT with two different illnesses going on, I decided to keep him home today and go to the doctor. The fever and sore throat turned out to be just a basic head cold, BUT the chin rash turned out to be impetigo. What? How does this kid manage to pick up these weird diseases? After some online research, I found out that this is a very common childhood rash.

The doctor said that it is very contagious and that all of the linens needs washed as well as the bathroom. So, I came home with Avery and got to work on some serious cleaning. After a few hours indoors on a warm, 43 degree, sunny day, we decided to go for a walk with Taboo. We were only about 4 houses away when Avery stepped on some soft snow and fell through all the way up to his knees, got stuck, and fell over in the mud. How does this kid manage to always get so muddy?

In other news...
the parts for my truck are in and they started working on it today, but it is not done yet. It should be ready to go tomorrow. Yay!

I got one lesson for my college class done today. Yay!

Less than 4 weeks of school left. OMG!

I got my storage unit for the summer all reserved and paid for. Yay!

I've got my supply list for next year done. Yay!

I've got a date set for my end of year field trip. Yay!

I have a couple options for a place to park my truck for summer. Yay!

Four weeks from tomorrow I'll be on a plane outta here for the summer! Yay!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Number 11 Complete

I am declaring Number 11 on the birthday list complete considering that the riding season is over and my snowmachine is dead anyway. I really did ride it alot this year. We took a couple longer trips and road it pretty much everyday for weeks/months during the winter. Hopefully it will be able to be fixed for next year because I really do want to have a snowmachine to ride during winter. This winter was so much more fun having it than not. It opens up so many more possibilities for winter recreation.

According to this post, I started the season with 1618 miles on the machine and the trip odometer reading 437. As you can see from the picture below, my odometer now reads 2108 which means I put 490 miles on the snowmachine this since February and my trip odometer reads 973 which means I put 536 miles on the snow machine since February. Wait...what? You noticed that doesnt add up too, eh? So, clearly my odometer doesnt work right. But, either way, I figure we definitely put at least 500 miles on it since February. We probably also put about 100 on it before February, so that is quite a bit of miles, especially considering I only put about 13oo miles on my truck for the entire year last year.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

I just dont want to

In continuation of last nights post...

there are so many things that need to get done, but I just dont feel like it. It's a gloomy, rainy, cold day outside and the weather has creeped into my mood today. I just dont feel like doing anything. I just feel like curling up on the couch with some hot chocolate and a book. Or watching a movie. Or playing a board game with Avery. Or take a nap.

What I should do is work on that college class. I really need to get some of that done, but I just dont want to. I should go over to school and write my lesson plans for next week and get stuff around for class on Monday and fill out the form the supplies that I want to order for next year. That's what I should be doing, but I just dont want to.

What do you guys do to get motivated when you are feeling that way?

No such thing...

In my world, there's no such thing as nothing to do. There is ALWAYS something to do. In fact, there are always many things to do. I have been neglected all of these things for weeks because I've been busy. I feel so much better now that my house is cleaner.

Here's what I have accomplished on this fun filled Friday night...
6 loads of laundry...my bed is clean, avery's bed is clean, even Taboo's bed is clean
dishes
dinner
dinner menu and grocery list planned for next week
started list for supplies for upcoming anchorage trip
balanced check book
set up meeting to fill out paperwork for storage unit tomorrow
Taboo bath, brushed his teeth, and nails clipped
gave Avery a haircut
scrubbed bath tub and cleaned entire bathroom
took a bath
gave myself a facial
wrote this blog post
went to bed...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The good, the bad, and the muddy

The Good: Temps are still pretty warm with it getting above freezing these last few days.

The Bad: As soon as I wrote that last post about the glorious sun, if promptly went away. We've had nothing but rain, wind, and gloom since. We've even had some new snow!

The Muddy: Mud boot season is back! The slushy muddy meltwater, combined with the rain as of the last couple of days has made for huge puddles in the middle of most of the parking lots in town, including my own driveway. Unless you want your shoes covered in mud, it's best to just break out the mud boots. Avery, however, refuses to wear mud boots which annoys me completely. He is ruining his shoes...I get the whole...I'm 13 and WAY to cool for mud boots thing. But it still annoys me.

The Good: Melt water means spring. It means the breakup of the river and the continuation of another season of life. Here is one of the streams cut into the dirt road by the school. It is kind of cool to see these little streams rushing by with the days melt water. The light, wistful sound of water is all around.

The Bad: The downfall is that they sometimes create huge gaping trenches in the roads that are treacherous, if not impossible, to safely cross in a vehicle.

The Muddy: Well, just look at it...it's muddy.

The Good: I can actually see my front porch again. It is warm enough for Taboo to go outside for extended time periods on his chain.

The Bad: Taboo WHINES constantly to be put out on his chain. The melting snow uncovers all of the dirt and trash that has collected over the winter. All of the dog poop that has been covered by snow all winter is starting to show itself.

The Muddy: This is the time of year when I start having to clean up muddy paw prints near the front door. Why didnt I train him to wipe his feet?

The Good: We finally found out what is wrong with my truck...the catalytic converter is clogged and needs replaced. Fortunately the cat has its own warranty, so it is still covered. The parts have been shipped. In an attempt to fix the truck before we knew what was wrong with it, a friend put on new spark plugs, new coil wires, changed the oil and filter, and replaced an O2 sensor. So, it should run really well once it's fixed. A friend of mine is out of town for the weekend and has loaned me her car to get around in for a few days, which is totally awesome!

The Bad: My truck is still in the shop. It's been almost a month now. I have to pay the labor up front and wait to get reimbursed by the warranty. I had to have it towed to the shop because it wouldnt run at all. I've already spent $300 on parts that didnt fix the problem. The parts were shipped yesterday, but havent gotten here yet. The dealership guy said they were shipped with Penn air, but Penn air doesnt fly to Bethel...I'm hoping he misspoke and they were really shipped with the right carrier.

The muddy: Driving in all the mud is a pain. I am always more worried that I'll get stuck in the mud, than I ever am about getting stuck in the snow.

The Good: Avery has been hooked lately on the Twilight series of books. He likes to turn on this red light next to his bed to do his reading.

The Bad: He has kept himself up way too late these last few night reading.
The Muddy: Uhhhhh, ummmmm, i got nothin'.

The Good: It is classic Archer style with plot twists and turns to keep you guessing. I got the book on sale for 4.99. It was a fast, fun, easy read. Entertaining! This is my second April book for Number 2 on the birthday list.

The Bad: I dont think it is as good as his other books. Maybe he's losing his touch? It felt kind of forced and contrived. Like he has really trying hard to make connections the just werent there between plot lines and characters. The plot twists, while fun and interesting, were more predictable than the usual Archer books.

The muddy: Archer used to be one of my favorite authors, but now I dont know. hmmm...figurative mud instead of literal mud. good enough.

That's all for now....

PS...hey Tamara over at Watching the Grass. I have tried several times over the last couple weeks to comment on your blog and it wont let me. Ever since you changed up the look of the blog. Just FYI...i've tried to comment, but cant! I've tried everything!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Sunshine! Gorgeous Sunshine!

Spring fever is in the air. The kids are restless, the teachers are restless, I'm restless, Avery's restless, even Taboo is restless. Everybody just wants to get outside and play. Avery and his friend walked to Subway for dinner last night because they wanted to get outside. The sun has been shining strong these last week or so, melting a bit of snow each day. The temps have been in the high 20's during the day for the last week, although it has still been getting down around zero at night. The sun melts the snow each day and cold cold refreezes everything at night.
BUT....we did it! We reached temps above freezing for the last two days in a row. The sun is shining about 17 hours each day now...and shining bright too! The sun is shining shortly after 6am now and after 11pm. It sure makes it hard to get to sleep at night with the sun shining until 11 o'clock at night. I do believe spring is here to stay. The big piles of snow are really starting to show decline. The meltwater is carving out little streams through the dirt roads and filling up all the ditches and low lying areas. There are large ponds of water forming all over Bethel. The tundra, however, is still pretty much covered with snow, although it is starting to thin out. The sun shining off of all of that snow, makes things particularly bright.
The helmets up on the lockers have been a pretty regular scene these last few months, but they are becoming few and far between these days too. It is an interesting sight to see helmets up on lockers...where else do kids ride their snowmachines to school in the morning?

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Music Festival

These are some of my favorite pictures from the music festival this weekend. It was a TON of work, but the kids had a blast and learned alot.
Just to give you an idea of what my weekend was like...I was at school on Thursday from 8am-midnight, on Friday from 7am-10pm, and on Saturday from 8am until 10pm...that's 45 hours at school in three days.
When I got home Saturday night, I feel asleep around 11pm and woke up around 11am the next day. Then I had to go take the music festival judges to the airport and to lunch. When I got home around 2pm, I fell asleep again and slept another 5 hours....that's 17 hours of sleep in one day...that just shows how tired I was.
Here's our BRHS music teacher hard at work. If I was that tired and overworked, I can only imagine how he must have felt.
Students got to do solos and ensembles that they get judged on and can qualify for the state competition.
The students also spent part of their day in sectionals. Here they are having some fun with the woodwind sectional leader/coach.
They also gave several performances, including performing as individual schools and then together as a big group at the end.
Here is the BRHS Choir.
And the BRHS band.
We also had a guest band...The Air Force Band of the Pacific: Dixie Express. They were a really good time and played a couple of concerts for the students and the public.
This is one of the BRHS ensembles that qualified for the state competition. I love this picture because they are having fun! These are most of the students that I will chaperone to the state competition in May.
Here is the combined schools choir.
And the combined schools band....they include students from Bethel, Nome, Kotzebue, Dillingham, Unalakleet, Togiak, and Kwethluk.
The students had a dance to wrap up their music festival. This was the scene at the school when I left Saturday night.
This is such a rewarding experience for the students. And it is nice to have something other than sports happening at the school. Next year this event will be in Nome.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Snow drifts and life drifts

It's midnight and I just got home. I've been at school since 8 this morning. LONG DAY.
The music festival is going on and I'm helping with it again this year.
I've been working on a forensic science lesson for our Friday Fun day tomorrow. I, of course, had to choose to do something that takes a HUGE amount of work to set up. I'm still working on the powerpoint now.
Avery is in Dillingham with the NYO team and wont be back until Sunday, which actually works out well since I'm so crazy busy with the music festival this weekend.
The dog, on the other hand, is not too thrilled about being locked up for 15 hours per day. Why do I volunteer for these things?

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The real deal

Growing up, we used to eat salmon patties every now and then. Salmon from a can with some egg and bread crumbs. Nothing special, but still a small treat since it was something that we ate infrequently. A little lemon and maybe just a touch of tartar sauce on the side.
Now that I live in a place where fresh salmon is abundant, I've learned how to cook REAL salmon patties and they are so good! Get a nice piece of salmon and sprinkle with a touch of whatever seasoning you prefer. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes depending on how thick your fillet is. The one I cooked up the other day was about an inch and a half thick, so I baked it for nearly 20 minutes. Be sure not to overcook it. The ultimate goal being that the meat flaked apart easily, that's how you know it's done. Allow the salmon to cool enough to work with it.
Add some diced potatoes, diced onion, diced celery, or diced whatever other veggies you have on hand and sound good. I added some diced peas with pods to this batch. Toss in a few eggs and some bread crumbs, then season it up with whatever sounds yummy. I added some cajun season and some parsley to these. Mix it all up with your hands and form into patties. Fry them up in a skillet with a bit of hot oil and you've got some really authentic, delicious salmon patties. We had these for dinner on Monday night, then tonight I cooked up a couple more with the left over mix and put them on whole wheat buns with some tartar sauce. Salmon patty sandwiches. They were good!