A semi-productive existence

There are a lot of things in life that I enjoy having done, rather than doing.  Work for one, and exercise.  In the past two weeks I've done a lot more avoiding of aforementioned items than actually doing them, but yesterday I finally buckled down, and am very happy I did.  I am now caught up with my lesson reviews (supposed to be a weekly report of how each lesson went etc), and have planned my lessons up to the middle of March...Yay!!! There possibly was a victory dance involved.  I have also started taking walks on the farm- rain or shine they are surprisingly enjoyable :)

I also got caught up with organizing my photos.  If you haven't yet seen the rest of my trip photos (I even captioned them on Facebook) these are a few from Alaska:

Lara's birthday dinner- A scrumptious prime rib roast

Special meetings are over now, and I had the privilege of getting to three- Lebanon, West Albany, and Medford.  I am especially appreciative of the Nelsons and the Garretts who gave me rides and house-room so that I could get to more special meetings, and to a workers lunch :).  It's been a very special two weeks.

Right before winter break, I finally got a library card, and it came while I was gone.  I checked out a bunch of books online the very first day, and then promptly lost my card.  I was so disappointed that I even cleaned my room twice in an effort to find it.  Imagine my excitement when I moved my bed on Monday, and realized it had merely fallen behind the dresser- I even had the day off! I was about to go rushing off to the library when I remembered... I had the day off because it was MLK day, MLK day is a national holiday, ergo, the library wasn't open... sigh.  I have to admit I moped for awhile, but then remembered that I had something fun to do after all.  While I was in Medford last weekend, Shelley and I went shopping and I found the awesomest 3-D puzzle of the Tower Bridge in London.  So I spend an enjoyable day putting it together, and finishing a book I bought the weekend before in Corvallis.

The finished product

<3

And as reward for my productivity this week, I've promised myself a trip to the library on Friday! Yippee!!! :D

Havaii

No, that's not a spelling error, that's the traditional pronunciation of "Hawaii." Due to a pronounced lack of letters in the original alphabet taught to Hawaiians, however, it is spelled with a w not a v.  You learn something new every day- including that if you want to teach 7-12 year-olds to hula, it's best to start with the hand motions, and forget about the feet.  Today was my first day back-to-work after an amazing two week vacation, and I discovered something.  Teachers don't want to come back anymore than the students do! Seriously, waking up at 6 this morning was brutal.  I still love my job, it'll just take me a little while to get my act together again :)
  Speaking of vacation, Hawaii was AMAZING.  I could happily move there, just give me a reason :).  It was warm, and sunny, and I even got used to the humidity.  It was also beautiful, and relaxing, and beautiful, and sunny, and warm, and... sigh, I miss it dreadfully already.  To keep this from becoming a blow-by-blow account of my incredible trip, I shall instead post a plethora of pictures

Gimme a break, gimme a...

Haha, I wonder how many people recognized that reference :)

Well, anyway, I had a lovely week last week, and have had an amazing start to what I know will be an amazing one this week :D

Last Wednesday I went out to the school early to watch the 5th and 6th graders show off their dancing skills and compete in waltzing, tango, and freestyle.  That was a blast, and I was SO impressed by the students, they've worked so hard and did an amazing job.  It was especially fun to see how proud they are of what they have accomplished :).  On Thursday night I got to go and see the kids' Christmas program, and it was fun to see their weeks of hard work come to fruition.  I also recognized a few of the songs I'd been serenaded with recently ;).  Thursday and Friday were also training days for me at the Boys and Girls Club, so that was nice.  They were especially nice, because I got to spend a couple hours exploring Lebanon, and found some fun shops, and now am the proud owner of a library card :).

This week promises to rival the last though, because as well as being Winter break.... I'm off to Hawaii! On Tuesday! And my family will be there :) I can't wait! I'm going to go finish packing now ;)

A new discovery

Well, I suppose its not exactly new- just a random fact that hitherto had escaped my knowledge- being laid up STINKS.... prodigiously.  I managed to hurt my knee yesterday, and as a result spent the vast majority of today in bed, which was fairly pleasant.  For the first few hours.  Even bribing myself with a new book didn't do the trick however, and I don't care if it hurts, I'm NOT staying in bed tomorrow.

A tasty, twisty pastime

Trust me, these ooey gooey buttery masses of carbs will make time pass, and before you know it there aren't any left.  I should feel guilty, but somehow I just can't ;) Thanks again to Maddy for the recipe :)

Cinnamon and sugar

Salty

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh so delicious

Anyway, that was Monday.  Tuesday looked like this:

And this is without editing or anything

The sunrise over Foster was absolutely stunning :)

Today's adventure just involved so much rain I had to pull off and wait it out... very scary.  I have to admit though, as I was creeping down the street trying to see through deluge, I felt like I was in a car wash :).  Oh, and we got thunder and lightning too! Very exciting, as long as I don't have to go stand in it :)

Odds and Ends, but mostly odds

  So, due to a snow day on Tuesday, I only had to work one day last week- yay! It was nice to have a break, but I sure didn't catch up on sleep.  Wednesday night meeting was tiny, just four of us up at Garrets, but it was a lovely meeting.  That night Amanda drove down from Seattle to join me for Thanksgiving.  We ate ourselves silly on Thursday, then went over to Nelson's for early Black Friday shopping.  We went to Woodburn (bc sales opened at 8pm) and it was sooo much fun.  We froze a little, but found some awesome deals :).  We stopped by Cold Stone, and while Lenore and I were sane and got Hot Chocolate, Amanda got coffee ice cream! That's right, not hot coffee, ice cream... crazy Alaska girl.  Oh wait... haha.
  This week has been pretty slow- Wednesday was the last day of swimming with the boys for awhile (boohoo), but I might start working Fridays at BGC in Sweet Home- yay for hours! Oh, and the count-down for Hawaii has begun... 19 days!
Now for a little photo backlog

Flatbread pizza of the most delicious sort

Finishing the last of the cake-pops....MMmmm

Skirt I made for Amanda out of shorts- 1 hour!

Now the lack of sleep is catching up, and I still have to get up at six... Goodnight!

Just Having fun :)

 

I am ridiculously awesome, and possibly glow-in-the-dark ;).  Just kidding, but I love those face-mask things... they're SO FUN :D

Oh, and I want to post a picture of the cake balls I made.  This time I actually had time to decorate them, and they were really fun to make, not to mention delicious :)