It's fun the first time

Okay, here are the pictures:

It's all gone now. We won't get anything serious until after Halloween, but that's not the point. The point is this: IT IS ONLY SEPTEMBER! I'm not even sure where my coat is yet. I am NOT ready for snow.

Surprise, surprize

It may not have lasted very long, and it may not have been very hard, but today was our first day of snow.

Actual Eskimo News

Today I was hanging out collaborating with some of the teachers on the elementary side. And I saw Mina Weyiouanna. Mina is an aide in one of the first grade classrooms. (That's right, we have two. It's the only class that has two, because there are so many of them.)

Several years ago, in the wee hours of the morning, I was sitting around with Mina, Bea, Sue, and several other people, at an establishment in Nome. I think we were there for Iditarod.

Susie started calling me "Sunshine," in that sing-song voice from Remember the Titans. So they decided it should be my Eskimo name. And Mina told me what it was in Inupiaq. Now, I wasn't drinking that night, but Inupiaq words are hard for me, so I tried to remember it the best I can, even though I knew my memory was wrong.

In my head, it was something like  Mussuq Ongtowasruk.  Now, I knew that was wrong, because Mussuq is warm cereal (usually oatmeal) and Ongtowasruk is a last name.

Today, while collaborating, I asked Mina to tell me again, and she did, but refused to write it down, as she didn't know the spelling. So I wrote: musuk twoq. Then, with the help of Uncle John, the bilingual teacher, I got the right spelling:

Mazaq tuaq.   Pronounced: Muu-zack Two-ack.

Officially, it means: It is sunny, because there is no translation for Sunshine. But, it's close enough, and it makes me feel special.

Kids say. . .

Today, I ordered carnival prizes for an hour and a half. (That would be my lunch break, followed by my planning period.)  And then my cart showed up empty. So I started over.

While it may be fun to flip through catalogs, doing a complete order (approx. $1,700 worth) is mind-numbing after the first half hour.

And since I have nothing funny or insightful to say today, I've decided to share some of the funny things my kids/past kids/friends have said recently.  I started writing them down, because hey, they make me laugh:

-Zander, looking up at the board of research paper ideas: "Joey and Heroin, that's a bad mix."


-Tiffany, who graduated in '09, and who subbed one day at the school: I could go to college and be a teacher. Wait. I don't like kids. I'd probably end up crying in the bathroom during lunch."


-Gussie, one of my adorable cheerleaders, when she was in 5th grade: "Sweety changed at college. She got longer hair and better bangs."


-Elizabeth Guy, a BYU student, who was in Anchorage for the summer: Community colleges are like a high school and a university had a fling. And the high school was so very proud, and the university was so very ashamed.


This last one devolved into ALMOST EVERYTHING being the love-child of other things. IE "This lamp is like if a light and bad taste had a child. . . " 

Run down of the day:

I'm tired. Not just tired, but exhausted. And here is why:

7:30 Alarm clock goes off. Hit snooze.
7:40 Hit snooze again.
7:50 Hey Snooze button, you sure are looking good.
8:00 Think about getting up. Roll over.
8:10 Get up, find clothes to wear.
8:15 Amy comes in to make sure I'm awake. (Isn't she adorable?)
8:30 Clock in
8:45-12:30 Teach school. We seem to be missing a large chunk of our student body. Some are on a field trip, some are just gone.
12:30 Try to find a senior to work in the store. None will. Go have crackers and cheese in my room by myself.
1:00-3:00 Teach school.
3:00-3:30 Go with Bea's class to pick up garbage at the playground.
3:30 Be shocked by how much garbage we were able to pick up in such a short amount of time.
3:35 Help kids fill out volunteer hours. Try to figure out what to do with last 10 minutes of class.
3:38 Sucomb to begging. Let kids play Heads Up, Three Up for last 6 minutes of class. (There aren't enough for 7 to be a viable option. Even with only 3 or 4, most people end up being up front or chosen)
3:45 Reading meeting, in my classroom. Kevin (new) takes the blame for his kids. (Isn't he adorable?)
4:30-6:30 Cheer practice. And more cheer practice. And when that's done, Cheer practice.
INSERT: 4:50 The police officer calls me out of the gym. Because one of the kids I'm going to babysit was involved in an accident. (He was riding on the back of an ATV, when the driver hit someone.) Sit with child while he gives account to police.
6:30 Take babysittee's to their house. Cook them dinner while they do Read and Responds.
6:50 Re-cook the kids' meat because "It tastes like cow meat." Scorch it. They love it.
7:05 Sonny Barr comes looking for me, because we're supposed to be working the senior store.
7:14 Realize I gave Amy my keys, and now I'm locked out of the building.
7:15 Take kids to rec. Take smallest to Senior Store with me, as he's on Rec List. (No open gym)
8:10 Deal with Timary's lost tooth.
8:21 Finish this post. Get ready to clean up, so I can take the kids home.

Remember that place I'm paying rent to keep my stuff in? Right. My house. I miss that.

Update on Life

I ended up not going to Nome this weekend. Partially because I was just there two weeks ago, and partially because I'm cheep.

Also, I've found that my hotmail account has been spamming people all weekend. If you are one of the recipients of that, I'm sorry. I'm trying to change passwords and things to fix it.

The camera on my laptop has been disabled, and I have no idea how to make it work again. So until I do, no more stupid pictures of my hair.

Yup, looks like this is the dumbest post I've ever done. Soon, I'll start posting cheerleading pictures. I know how much you all love those.

School Supplies

I would like to start this post by saying: I don't judge your tastes and hobbies. Okay, I do. But I don't make fun of them in front of your face. So for those of you not into this, cut me some slack.

I don't know how most of you feel about school supplies. I happen to love them. Fresh paper, newly sharpened pencils, whiteboard markers that aren't dried out or smashed in. Oh, I'm giddy just thinking about it.

I've already received two boxes of school supplies. They were just the BORING school supplies. Shelf bins, white paper, magnetic clip for my board. (Yeah, umm, I got ONE clip for my board. I thought I'd ordered a dozen.)

Last night, on the other hand, I got in my fun boxes. Full of all sorts of wonderful and amazing things. Not just amazing, but bright and colorful too. And shiny. Some things were shiny. I'm a sucker for shiny objects.

Look how shiny!! I did not just buy this for the shine. I did buy it because last year we tried to put on carnival with push-pins and a hammer. And while I know I didn't pay for this myself, it only cost EIGHT DOLLARS!! I almost spent more than that on staples. I was so excited about this I carried it around this morning, for fear of someone else stealing it from me. 

When I opened it, I asked "Uncle" John Sinnok to use his Dremmel to put my name on it. And he did. Awesome! 

Look! A 24 pack of Sharpie's. Aren't they pretty? I gave away my 8 pack from before. Partially because it had become a 5 pack, and partly because two of those five were yellow. I'm not sure how that happened, it just did. So these are hiding behind my desk. I can't trust them in the general cupboards.

These are paint pens. They have a sponge of sorts under that round cap. And the best part is: I don't have to send kids to the bathrooms to wash paintbrushes.  Mary, the old math teacher (as in "former" not "elderly") bought several different kinds of paint, and this was my favorite, so I bought some more! Cheerleading, here I come!!

Colored paper for poster-making! I got both the brights and the pastels. I know, this post is entirely nerdy. I'm just such a sucker for bright colors. I always feel jealousy around the elementary teachers when they sit down and open boxes of brightly colored pom-poms, stencils, modeling clay, and all sorts of other bright and shiny things. So now I have my own colored paper. Whenever I make signs this year, they're going to be AWESOME!!

This is a fantastic resource book. If you can see the top corner, it says "Grades K-6" but I don't care. It's an entire book of 200+ Blackline Masters. That means I can copy them for my kids. This particular book is full of graphic organizers. I'm so EXCITED!! I know this is nerdy. I just can't contain myself.

And for those of you keeping track of my hair saga: