and other distractions to keep me from work

This week is the end of the quarter for us, which means I have a crap load of work to do. As if that was something new? Anyway, we also have no school this next week - teachers have inservice, which is work for us, but not teaching work. It came at a good time. I need a rest. But I sure do see now how much work I have to do, and how little time I have to do it in. But I just do not feel like it. I think I've done just about nothing this week - seriously. After school I've been a dud. Much of that time was spent in a meeting, dashing to the post office, and/or chatting. I'm okay with that.

Friday night... I have no memory. Oh yes, dinner at Carrie's. I miss cooking. I miss having time and energy to cook. And I hate washing dishes. Anyway, I made dinner over at her house. It was very relaxing. I didn't make the dish as well as I had made it the first time (sorry), but it was still pretty good. In fact, I think it was described as "ecclectic." If you want the recipe, you'll have to exchange me for one of yours. :) But I wish now that I had taken pictures - I need to take more pictures, huh?

Afterwards we all ended up over at Jake and Janelle's. By "all" I mean Adrianna, Dan, Carrie, and me. Adrianna, Dan, and Jake wanted to watch "Taladega Nights," but Carrie said it was stupid, so she didn't want to watch it again, I wasn't so much in a movie mode, and Janelle found our conversation more entertaining than Wil Farrell. So we chatted at the kitchen table while I wrote a letter (I can multi-task), and the word "ecclectic" was used at least 4 more times, but I won't say by whom. It wasn't me. I was keeping a tally. Anyway, by the end of the evening, everyone had enjoyed a tasty cupcake with yummy icing. Mmm.

Saturday was uber lazy. I got up, went for a little walk, played some musica with Sierra and Janella, and ended up over at Nancy's for a "knitting" party. I, however, don't knit. I'm a crochet kind of girl. So I started a scarf. I decided that I like crocheting again. It keeps my hands busy, so those times when I really just want to sit and rest, I can enjoy some tunes and have something done in the end. I used to have crochet needles, but they got lost somewhere in between the 8 times I've moved in the last 2 years... Who knows where they are?



Adrianna really enjoyed learning how to knit. She was very excited to be making her own pot holder. :)

After the knitting party I decided that it was nice out and I wanted to go for a long walk into the tundra. So I did. Starr and I hiked out to First Hill, went up to the top, and enjoyed the beautiful view.



This is the slough - frozen, of course - on the way out of town. The walk there was nice. I was wearing sweatpants and ski pants, my snow boots, a sweatshirt, and my regular winter coat. I also had a hat, scarf, and gloves to protect me from the ever biting wind. Oh, I was so hot, like, sweating, by the time I got to first hill. I had too many clothes on. What the heck, right?



This is the village from the top of the hill. All the rivers are freezing over. It's very pretty, and very much only the beginning.



This is the view of the mountains from up the hill. It almost looks fairy tail-ish, like it's unreal, those mountains were drawn in by some fantastic cartoonist. But no, those are real, and it really looks like that. It was so quiet there. You can't wonder why I love it here.

I also saw some people ice fishing in the river, while others were just playing on the ice. Yeah, village life. :)

In the evening I was back over at Jake and Janelle's with A & D for some Wii and cinnamon rolls. Well, I played a little Wii, but mostly I worked on that scarf, read from Time magazine (so excited that I got a subscription!), chatted, and enjoyed being in good company. I also liked the amusement that Daniel always brings to the group.



Below is Janelle making homemade cinnamon rolls with cranberries, with the able assistance of Adrianna, of course. Holy cow they were good! I like that Janelle is doing Pampered Chef now because she tries out all her recipes for the parties on us. :) Now I guess I'll have to start buying the products - although I am on a spending freeze at the moment... sorry, J.



One last photo, just because it makes me laugh. One of my students in journalism was using my camera to take some photos for the newspaper, and I have no idea how she got this picture. I really don't know what made me give her such a look, if I was joking, or whatever, but I look kind of pissed, and I don't think I was... Do I give that look a lot? Hmm... maybe it's a more telling picture than I realize...



I should tell you the funny story of the week. The world really should know. So you know those desk-chairs, they used them all over Houghton, especially in the NAB, and they're just a desktop with a chair attached? There are some in the background in the picture directly above. Anyway, there is a bar that is attached at the back of the chair and just underneath the desk, just about at the same level as the desk top. Well, I have a habit (a bad habit, apparently) of sitting or leaning on the desks while I'm talking. So I was sitting on that bar talking to my journalism students (SO glad it was that class...), no big deal, just getting them started. I have no idea what I was talking about. I'm sure it was a profound teachable moment, as always. Out of nowhere, without warning, the METAL bar snapped off (poor welding, I'm sure), and it and me went crashing to the floor. It was fantastic. It hurt my butt, of course, that bar. My face was something like, wide eyed and "o" mouthed, really surprised. We laughed for about 15 minutes or so. I had a really hard time getting us back on track. We took re-enactment pictures. They are on my student's camera, though - who knows when I'll get them? Anyway, it was hilarious. I wish I could make up this sort of stuff, but I don't - it really all does happen. Nancy called me a "disaster" on Saturday because I somehow got the yarn in a HUGE knot, and I couldn't get it out, and I needed her help. Really I just gave her the knot and she did it. It's a little bit true - I do kind of make a ruckus of things sometimes.