I finally made it

Woohoo I finally made it to Illinois. I flew to Seattle on Christmas eve then yesterday I flew to Chicago. If it isn't bad enough to fly on Christmas, it's even worse when the flight gets delayed. We were over an hour late but at least we got here. My parents picked me up at the airport then we went to have our family Christmas. This involves my parents, brothers, an aunt and uncle, and their kids. Bill, my little brother, didn't make it their last night. Needless to say he's in the dog house with more than just me. It seemed like we had an endless amount of presents to hand out. Something to the tune of like 3 laundry baskets. Some of those presents were the gifts from me. Everyone got great stuff. I had gotten people wool socks for Christmas, well that was popular enough because my aunt and uncle had also gotten us wool socks. I also got a cow patterned tea pot from them. It's so cool. I got some great stuff from my parents too. I have a new sakantu knife, a 9x13 pan with a lid, a enamel covered cast iron casserole dish, and something else that I can't recall at the moment. I'm a little far from the tree. Woohoo to awesome Christmases. I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and you have a happy new year.

I'll be home for Christmas....maybe

I went to the airport this morning hoping to fly home today. After two hours of sitting there listening to them delay the flight twice, they finally canceled it. Bummer. The next available flight isn't until Christmas Eve. Then I have to overnight in Seattle and fly out Christmas morning. So I should get home at 2:30 PM on Christmas day. Total bummer, but at least I should still make it home. I'm not going to hold my breath. I'll believe it when I'm actually standing in Illinois. Oh well till then I guess I just hang out in Alaska. It's only a couple of days, I'll make it. I hope everyone else isn't held up with the weather. Enjoy your holidays and maybe I'll see some of you soon.

Woohoo!!

I'm done!!! Both concerts are done and they both went really well. Yesterday was the high school/middle school concert. It was great. Tonight was the elementary concert, it was also great. We had a huge turnout. It was awesome. I thinking I'm running out of words to describe how well they went. There were lots of compliments on both concerts. It's nice to be done with them. Now I just have a day and a half of school to get through and then I'll be on my way to Illinois for two weeks. Woohoo.

One more week till break

The concerts are almost here and I'm still not stressed about it. That is a great feeling. Yesterday some of the young men from church helped set up the risers and sound shell on the stage. I'm glad that's done. The PE classes are going to help set up chairs tomorrow. It's great to have some help. Now I just need to finish writing the programs and decorate the gym. The elementary classes are making decorations and I'm getting them from them tomorrow. Melody is helping me hang them, I may see if a few more people want to help. I'm sure it'll be fun. Now all we need to do is move the piano and percussion equipment up. It's a good feeling to be that close to done.
It's been slightly chilly here the last couple of days. When it's sunny in the winter here it's colder than when it rains. We've had a few nice days of sunshine so naturally it's been cold. I don't mind it, it reminds me of home. Nothing like 28 degrees. Of course with it being cold, my landlord has wanted to make sure that I keep water running so that the pipes don't freeze. It's funny to be sitting here listening to water running. It's been cold enough that I wore a hat and gloves yesterday. I'm still wandering around in a hoodie. It's not cold enough to wear a coat.
Work has had it's ups and downs lately, there is even a rumor that I'm leaving. I didn't start it. There are times when I really don't like my job. I like the kids and my colleagues, it's my job that I don't always like. I know that may not make sense.
Friday night Kathy and Bristol came over for dinner. It was hilarious. We had such a good time. It's hard to beat good food and good friends. We had sauerkraut, potatoes, and sausage. I think it's a northern midwest thing, because Bristol had never had it. Kathy has, but in a slightly different version. I really like the dish. I also really like sauerkraut. It's one of those things that I can just eat straight from the jar. Anyway, back to Friday night. We sat around and shot the breeze. Bristol went on and on and on about her boyfriend. An update is good but she had him on the brain, so I threw an empty pop bottle at her. In my defense she said I could throw something at her. After I threw it she decided I had too good of aim and that I couldn't throw anything else at her. We had a good time just sitting around chatting. I made dessert, Navajo Peach crumble, I also added some blueberries to it. It was really good. We also each had a very large mug of hot chocolate. It was great to hang out. I think we're going to try to do this more often. I think at some point board games will also be involved. I volunteered my house because I have more room.
That night I also brought out a few of my projects for them to see. Namely my knitting, my quilt, and some of the projects I've done. They think I can do everything. This isn't the first time people have thought that and it won't be the last. It amuzes me. Bristol even now wants to make a quilt. I admit I need to work more on mine but I've been just a little busy. It gives me something to do when things settle down a little bit, which will be after the concert.
In one week exactly, I will be boarding a plane bound for Chicago. I will be spending two weeks in the interesting state of Illinois with a couple roadtrips planned. I know I want to go to Milwaukee and I'm going down to Carbondale. It'll be a fun adventure. I look forward to getting in my car and driving. Woohoo. I also look forward to seeing my family. They're so weird. That's why I like them. It'll be fun to see my friends too.
Well the saga continues. We'll see where it takes me.

One week till the concert

It's one week till the concert and are we ready for it? NO. Am I worried about it? No. It'll all work out. We just keep working on it. It's been an interesting week so far in that regard. It seems like the retention is non-existent with some of the students. We just keep plugging away at it. I'm sure that things will work out fine. Kids are amazing that way.
In other news, I got an interesting phone call last night. Bristol called me and said that Melody had come over to talk to me. It was funny that Melody went to Bristol's place because she didn't know my phone number or where I lived. Melody needed to call me because the community choir is singing Little Drummer Boy and they needed my help. They specifically needed my instrument. (This is exactly what she said to me) Obviously no one remembers that it's called a tuba. So I went up to Duncan Church last night with my tuba and played the bass part. Then I got asked if I could sing the bass part for another song. I know that I speak in my chest voice but why does everyone assume that I sing really low. I can hit most of any bass part so I sang bass for a piece. It's fun being the music teacher....really. I'm still laughing that they called me.

My week back..

I've been home from Juneau for almost a week. It was a great time, but in ways it's nice to be home. I enjoyed being away and seeing fun people. I can hardly believe that in two weeks I'll be going away again but this time it will be east. I'll be home for Christmas (...you can count on me...). Are you singing that song yet? Haha.
It has been a good week at school even though I think the band sounded worse this week than before I went away. They are steadily getting better. The concert is in a little over a week. The elementary concert is too. It'll be good. The kids are sounding great. I'm not worried.
My seventh grade classes are doing well and have been fairly well behaved. I'm glad that they are doing so well. Now if only eighth grade had been a little less hyper this week, it would've been perfect. I'm used it. Everyone is making good progress for the concert. I'm pretty sure that both concerts will be great.
In other news, there is talk about moving my classroom with the remodel that will be taking place this summer. The district would like to put me within a school building. Right now it looks like they'd be moving me into the middle school. They'd need to sound proof my classroom. Obviously. I don't have a quiet classroom. I prefer not having a quiet classroom, honestly I'd being doing something wrong if it were quiet. It would be nice to be out of my current classroom though. Now if only I could convince the district that we need a second teacher. Oh well.
Other than that I can't think of too much other news.