Just Another Day

Due to my lack of interesting recent photos, I’ve decided to post one of my favorites. I feel like this picture sums me up most of the time (trying not to take life too seriously). It also represents the early Sunday morning deep thinking I’ve been up to

The truth is, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling quite sick. Bill and I went to a movie last night, and I’m afraid I ate too much popcorn. And so, I found myself wide awake with a bellyache. (I’m about to begin teaching poetry… how do you think it’s going to go?) 🙂

ANYWAY – I found myself thinking about school work, which inevitably brought me out to my computer. Now, poor Bill has to defend his relationship with technology to me on a near daily basis – so, I found myself amused by the need to open up my MacBook at 5:00 AM!

No doubt I went to check some of my friends’ and family members’ blogs. And not long after I was wondering how I got wrapped up in this virtual life. Well, the how, I suppose, is obvious. So more appropriately I began to ask myself if it’s gone too far..

Okay – so maybe this title doesn’t quite describe me, but after today I’m one step closer. :-)Today my team got our 120 sixth graders onto buses and head out to Ski Gull, the local ski hill. I’ve never down hill skied, and quite honestly I wasn’t very excited about making my debut in front of my students. It turned out, however, to probably be the BEST way to learn. My kids cheered me on, and the instructors were awesome. (However – I don’t know how many times I had to get the darn, “Oh, you’re not a 6th grader?” Grrr.) 

It didn’t take long to get ready for the bunny hill, although I wasn’t as fast as many of my students. Soon, though, we graduated from the tow rope to the ski lift and my group was off. I am so proud of our students. They were great to each other – constantly encouraging one another and reminding us all that we were all going to fall. Today, it seemed, it didn’t matter whether you were one of the “cool” kids or not – everyone worked so well!

I suppose I should mention that we had one student break a leg and another sprain an ankle. Ouch! So I’ll be praying for their speedy recoveries. (They’re 2 great kids!) 

I suppose, now, that skiing will be on my list of things to try again.  

Well, we made it through our first week back to school. Wednesday was AMAZING, as I think the kids were just too exhausted to get too wild and crazy. Thursday and Friday had different stories, though. And so, I was ready for the weekend when the bell rang at 3:00!

It’s not often that we find ourselves within a four hour drive of Bill and Barb, so we wanted to take advantage of that this weekend and headed down to the farm in Alden after school Friday. We got in around 9:00 that night and had a chance to visit quickly with Ann and the kids before they headed home. We spent another couple of hours visiting with Bill’s grandparents and parents, but I had to head upstairs when the “Ask a Ninja” podcast came out. (I chose to read one of my short stories from the book I haven’t picked up in a month… soon, though, my eyes refused to stay open.)

We got out for a 4-wheeler ride early Saturday afternoon. It was fun to see some of the different spots on the Bryson’s property. It also made me miss having a 4-wheeler and riding back through the mountains. (That was one of my FAVORITE things to do… when the machine ran that is.) Anyway, we did some more visiting and then Bill Sr. and Arlene headed off to a party. Bill Jr. and Barb had to make their way to Rochester, and Bill and I were heading back north so in order to have today available for house cleaning, grocery shopping, and other stuff I’d rather not do! (As you may notice – there were an awful lot of Bills in one house. It can get a little confusing!)

Since we left a little earlier than we had planned on, I gave Ape a call to see what she and Jesse were up to. They had plans to meet up with our friend Nikki, April’s college roommate. Since we were heading in the same direction, we crashed their party and headed out for dinner together. It was so nice to get in that unexpected visit. So, while I find myself missing parts of our Alaska life, I’m thrilled to be able to get these impromptu meetings with old friends and our family!

I suppose I can’t claim to not having any resolutions… but I think I’m ALWAYS resolving to improve different aspects of my life: relationships, career, health – – the list goes on. Looking back over the past 12 months, I’m amazed by how different life is. Better? Worse? That’ll depend on the moment.2007 definitely had its highlights… here are a few in semi-chronological order:

• Completing two Continuing Ed classes through Alaska Pacific University with the motivational help of morning work times in Stacie’s kitchen. (also – Movie Fridays and “Desmond Days”)
• A visit to the Yurts!
• Traveling to MN to visit family, experience life without running water, and buying our first car as a couple
• Interviewing and accepting my current job
• Packing up, selling, and moving
• Spending 10 glorious days traveling through Ireland with Bill
• Becoming Godparents to a wonderful boy
• A summer at the lake – fun with my sisters, parents, and grandparents
• Wisconsin Dells 
• Moving to our new apartment 
• Getting back into a classroom
• A wonderful long weekend in Washington 
• Reconnecting with old friends
• Meeting new friends
• Frequent visits back home
• Getting to know our future brother-in-law
• Time with the Brysons
• An amazing Christmas season with our families
• AND SO MANY MORE…!

It is so exciting to imagine what 2008 might have in store for us! 

It didn’t take long to convince Dad that we were ready to start opening presents this morning… Bill and I were both spoiled with lots of fun gifts! After the paper was off the boxes, we sat around and played a little Catch Phrase Music Edition – very fun.

Eventually we got motivated enough to jump in the car and head up to Mom’s. Bill and I got to try out their new sauna for the first time… not a bad tradition to begin. 🙂 After watching a little of A Christmas Story we headed over to Uncle Robert’s for a tasty dinner and some more fun and games.

It’s been a great Christmas!

I continue to get older, but I’m afraid maturity doesn’t always  catch up to me. Here’s crossing my fingers my students never stumble across my blog. 🙂

Since we got to Dad’s we’ve been doing a pretty nice job of relaxing and hanging out. Bill and I did put some time in on the skating rink (which happened to have gotten a ton of snow this past week!), but we haven’t yet thrown our skates on. Maybe tomorrow!

We finally went and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks – very cute! We also went to a Christmas party at the nursing home. It’s been nice to hang out with Lo, Ape, and Jesse… Dad had to work all weekend due to the winter storms.

Monday night we went to the 4:00 church service and then grabbed Gram and Gramp to head out for our Aune Christmas. It was a very nice evening, and my grandparents were troopers. We got them back to their room after 9:00, and Grandma wanted to crawl right into bed without changing into jammies. She was wiped! I’m so glad they were able to spend the evening with us.

Well, we made it through the crazy Christmas week at school. Bill and Katie picked me up from work and we headed down to the MN Wild game. I was exhausted from the week, and I managed to doze off a couple of times on the ride down. By the time Gaborik had scored his 5th goal of the evening, though, I was awake and happy to be watching such a great game.

Our seats were almost the last row up, but we’d have to agree that there’s not a bad seat in the house at the Xcel Center. Apparently the team has sold out for every game since they began, so we felt fortunate to be there at all.

Tonight we celebrated “diva-style” with a wonderful dinner, Christmas games, and then a gift exchange. We’re all excited to face just one more day of holiday craziness in our classrooms before taking off for some much-needed relaxation.

It finally felt like the Christmas season this past weekend. I had just told Bill how I felt like everything was rushing by so quickly these days and how I miss really “getting into” the spirit of Christmas. Well (and this will sound strange…), a little pine sol and Bing Crosby got me back where I needed to be!

We headed up to Dad’s after work on Friday. I was ready for a weekend of sleeping in and relaxing without a thought of work. After a good night’s rest, I was ready to move furniture to get the tree in. Well, moving furniture requires vacuuming, and that led to a little mopping, and that required a little of Bing Crosby’s white Christmas album. By noon I was whistling away happily and feeling that familiar feeling that comes only during this time of year.

It helped to look out on the lake to see Bill snowblowing the ice rink and Dad tinkering with the snowmobiles. By the end of the weekend, the two had managed a fantastic skating rink that awates us this coming weekend!

But here is what makes me smile the most…

Let the holidays begin!