Good News

Well, good news for me.

I saw a little streak of light on the eastern horizon at 8:00 this morning. It was little, and not too bright, but it was a streak of light nonetheless.

Whee!

Indoor Weekend

I hardly ventured outside at all this weekend. I'm not adverse to the cold (would I be living here if I were?), but getting bundled up is a lot of effort, so I mostly stayed inside, minus one excursion to attend a fest for a local elder who was turning 90 (or something close to it) years old.

What did I do with my weekend? This (the white one with zig-zags):

Sorry about the crappy coloring... the zig-zags are shiny, so with the flash you couldn't really see the mauve... I had to use the crappy non-flash version.

Brr

Forgive the off-centeredness. And the fuzziness. It was cold and my camera ran out of batteries literally five seconds after i took this picture.

Froze my Ass Off Taking This

Well, actually, my ass was fine. It was my fingers I nearly lost. Suffice it to say I don't have the greatest circulation on the planet.

Notice the lack of snow. Wish we'd get some more.

Hooray

Got my 4-wheeler started today. It'd been unstartable for three days... well actually, it was unstartable three days ago, but I was sick and didn't even TRY to coax it, so it got more unstartable, methinks. But a combination of a heavy blanket draped over it, a hair dryer running under the blanket, a few pushes of the primer button, a little pagan engine-starting dance, and some luck and she started right up. I'm not turning it off until I KNOW I'm done going anywhere for the day.

I heard a rumor that it's supposed to warm up tomorrow. It's still about -20 (according to my not-so-trustworthy thermometer), but the wind has slowed down, so I don't think the wind chill's anywhere near -60, which, really, is kinda nice.

Also in the "Hooray" category... I'm recovered from my mystery illness. Let me tell you, that was crappy. Wednesday night, I was feeling a little tickle in my throat and maybe a little tired, so I skipped out on staff gym night and went home. Once there, I could FEEL myself getting sick. Literally. My temp rose like three degrees in a really short time. Thursday I was miserable... or I would have been had I been conscious. All hail king Ny-Quil. Friday, my fever was down to 100, so I decided to work (it's only a half-day with the kids anyway, then a half day of planning/staff collaboration time). A certain wise friend with whom I happen to share a name tried to convince me to go home, but I stubbornly refused. I'll admit it now... Sara, you were right.

I'm now left with a slightly stuffy nose and a tiny little cough... but that's kind of the standard backdrop for me in the winter, so I think I'll get by just fine.

Cold as F*(&

-60 windchill or something.

Apparently it's a lot warmer up in Bethel... my little weather dealie on my FireFox says that t's -6. -6, my arse. I know -6, and this ain't no -6.

Our thermometer said -24 this morning, and while it's been about five degrees cold lately, -19 is still damn cold. I guess the wind chill down here on the coast is like -50 or -60, according to the neighbor with the fancy weather station thingy.

What a day to be sick.

Fighting the Crabbies

It's BITCHFEST time!

*whining mode on*

I couldn't fall asleep last night. As a result, I couldn't wake up this morning. When I went to start my 4-wheeler, it wouldn't start because it's 20 f-ing degrees below zero. It's 9am and I'm ready to call the day "over."

*whew* OK, I feel better having exorcised those demons.

Let the day begin!

Update, Sans Grammar

I'm tired and lazy and paragraphs are beyond my Monday capabilities:

• The mercury creeped up above zero today for the first time in a week. That is nice.
• Today is Martin Luther King, Jr Day. Not that I get a day off of work or anything, but, yeah, Go MLK. Good guy.
• Mondays suck.
• Volcanoes are cool, but also suck.
• Despite ordering them in SEPTEMBER, I still do not have scissors or gluesticks for my classroom. This angers me. Incurs my wrath, even (Jody, that's for you).
• Mondays can bite me.
• I need some new music recommendations. I haven't bought any new music in quite a while.
• Sleepy... need nap...
  

Fear is Fun

I was terrified of tornadoes and volcanoes as a kid. When I pictured a tornado in my mind, it had a face and brain and it was after me. I would hide under the covers so it couldn't see me. I also thought that a volcano could just randomly erupt anywhere, adding to my list of fears driving 30 miles north to Wausau, Wisconsin... I was CONVINCED that Rib Mountain (which isn't really a mountain, but that's what it's called) between Stevens Point and Wausau was really a volcano in disguise. I thought it was going to erupt and surprise us all.

For some reason, the things that scared the living sh!t out of me as a kid are the things I find insanely cool now that I'm (supposedly, that's the rumor at least) an adult.

Volcano Cam

Muahahaha

Diabolical Dream Device.

Cue That Volcano Song

You know the one... The song you think of when you think of a volcano erupting. Or maybe that's just me:

Duuuuuuuuuummmmm..... Duuuuuuuuuummmmm..... Duuuuuuuuuummmmm..... Dum DUM! (Boom Boom Boom Boom)

You Win Some, You Lose Some

My Martha Stewart phase continues.

I made a few more candles the other night. Wacky good fun. Melting, pouring, burning. What's not fun about any of those steps? Again, for a half-assed beginners attempt, they came out fairly well. Better than my first try, actually. One in the win column.

Then I noticed an empty Burt's Bees lip balm tin. It may or may not be empty because I left it in the pocket of a pair of pants, then washed them with hot water. I will neither confirm nor deny those allegations. Accusations of inappropriate laundry-doing aside, I thought "What the heck, as long as I'm melting shit and having fun doing it, I might as well try my hand at lip balm."

The ingredients seemed simple, according to the bottom of the tin... basically, natural beeswax (which I have some of), and various kinds of oil (my selection was slightly more limited, but really... isn't olive oil good for pretty much everything? Wouldn't it be good for lips?) and then whatever else you want to flavor it with. I poured, I mixed. Tiny amounts, of course. My lips aren't huge (I'm no Angelina Jolie) and neither is the Burt's Bees lip balm container.

It came out OK, I guess. I need to re-melt it and add more oil, though. So we'll call that a tie... a half victory.

Then... the frosting. I made brownies last night. Just out-of-the-box, boring brownies. I thought "Wow, these would be great with frosting." Having neither a can of frosting nor a recipe for frosting (and no internet by which to obtain one), and it being too late in the central time zone to call anyone for a recipe, I decided to, um... make something up. I had some cream cheese, and thought "Mmm... cream cheese frosting."

Well, apparently this cream cheese had been frozen at some point, because while it tasted fine, it was kind of dried out and crumbly. So while I got the frosting to TASTE all right, I never got a decent texture/consistency. One in the loss column.

So my Martha Stewart record is 1-1-1. Could be worse, I guess.

How Many Feet of Ladder Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb?

I don't know, I've never been good at estimation.
Note: See all the paper airplanes on the ground? Not my doing. Apparently the previous teacher let students throw paper airplanes up into the gigantic fan (see upper right in the pic) on my ceiling. I asked the maintenance guys to knock them down while they were up there changing the lights. Previous non-laddered attempts at dislodgement, including, but not limited to, both throwing chalkboard erasers at them and turning aforementioned fan on so high it shook and papers flew all over the place, had been unsuccessful. That table is also out of place. My classroom doesn't usually look so ghettofied.

The Name is Stewart, Martha Stewart

I made a candle last night... just a practice one, in a little jar I had lying around.

It's purdy. It's pink and smells good.

I need to find slower-burning wick, though.

My god I am a chick!

I'm a Movie I've Never Seen

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

SON OF A #*$&!

So on Friday, I addressed and stamped some "Christmas" (OK, "Happy New Year") cards and my Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend application. I had to wait on my verification of employment letter from the district office for my PFD, so I thought I'd just mail them all off together on Monday when I got my letter. Call me lazy, I don't care.

Then today, I read this.

I'm a measly day too late! I mean, OK, it's just a few cents that will no by means break my bank account.. But they're all stamped and everything already! Now I have to buy some of those stupid one-cent stamps, if our Post Office even has any.

Slow news day.

Those Wily 4 Year-olds

Four Year-Old Given Crap at Airport for Sharing a Name with Someone he Doesn't Know...

Wacky. Hope no one named Sara MacDonald takes up arms against the Government.

Me, by the Letters

ISTJ - "Trustee". Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

Semester 2, Week 1, Nearly Complete

The countdown to summer vacation begins.

Can I get an A-MEN.

On a more fitness-related note, we started staff gym last night. I nearly killed myself trying to play half-basketball-court soccer using a volleyball and an indoor hockey goal. Nearly killed a student, too. OK, didn't kill him, but managed to bean him twice. The second one was his own fault, though... I OFFERED to take his place as goalie after he got nailed the first time, and he refused.

Pictures from Hawaii

"I, Melissa Leigh MacDonald, realize that I am just begging to be kicked in the behind."

Anyone fancy a swim?

Hey! There's a sister in that tree!

Pretty.

Christmas Card

Merry Christmas!
(A little late)

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Well, if by chimney you mean lanai railing overlooking the Pacific Ocean, then yeah, they were hung by the chimney. Either way, they were hung with care.

Oh, happy Festivus as well. Sorry I missed the airing of the grievances this year. I'll try harder next year.