Since Friday, I have been on an emotional roller coaster. There have been so many ups and downs that I hardly know where I am anymore.
THE UPS:
The basketball games this weekend were cancelled. Bad news for some, but I was scheduled to take admission at the door on Friday and wasn't particularly excited about it. I cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom instead - both were in desperate need of attention.
The weather cleared up on Monday, which meant planes were flying again.
IPT testing (the huge standardized test that I was coordinating for our site) went off without a hitch!
The sun was shining bright today! Not a cloud in the sky!
I took my kids outside this afternoon instead of going to the gym. It was bitterly cold (like 20 below), but it was so much fun to see my kids get to run and play. They were making snow angels, digging tunnels, and burying each other in the snow (like some kids do with sand at the beach).
I had 6 of the sweetest kids come to after-school tutoring today!
THE DOWNS:
My roommate is still gone. She left last Wednesday, leaving me a note that said she'd be back on Saturday and to call if I wanted anything from Anchorage. That was the last anybody has heard from her. At this point, I'm pretty convinced she's not coming back and I don't blame her. The principal did nothing but give her crap, and it was an unhealthy amount of stress for her. It's still a bummer that she's gone. I'm lonely!
The weather this weekend was awful. Planes weren't flying - that's why the basketball games were cancelled.
Friday was Valentine's Day. Enough said.
The days at school have been wearing me out, but I don't want to come home to an empty apartment.
I fully expected my roommate to be home this weekend. I was stressed out wondering who, if anyone, was flying and if she'd be back. I knew, though, that most likely no one was flying. I was super-alert at the times that planes normally come, listening for the drone of an engine. It was all in vain, though.
Sigh. . . .
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Battle of the Books
Battle of the Books is finally over! Most people have never heard of Battle of the Books; I think it's mostly an Alaskan thing with a few other miscellaneous states and school districts thrown in to keep things interesting.
Here's the break-down. There are 7 grade groups (K, 1st, 2nd, 3/4, 5/6, JH, and HS) and each has its own set of 12-15 books. In 3rd-12th grades, students from a participating school form a team of 3 (per grade group), read the books, and then battle. In BSSD, that battle is in the form of a video-conference, because we're cool like that. Each school connects on their particular battle day and time. The district librarian asks really hard questions about nit-picking details in the books. The team decides which book they think it came from. 5 points for a correct title and an additional 3 points if they came up with the correct author. The team with the highest number of points wins the district battle and goes on to the state battle. K-2 is a little different. There is no state battle, so our teams can be as large as we want. It generally takes the shape of however many kids are in that particular grade. Kindergarten has 5 books, 1st grade has those 5, plus 5 more. 2nd grade has those 10, plus 5 more. Our battles are a little more relaxed; we're basically trying to hook them on Battle of the Books so they will want to participate when they get older.
As site coordinator for Elim, this year's battles started last spring. I ordered the books so that we would have them right away in the fall. They were waiting for me when I got here in August. I'm also the first-grade coach, so I know the k-1 books like the back of my hand. We didn't have a junior high or high school team this year, and our 3-6th graders didn't do too terribly well at the district battle during the last week of January. Our k-2nd graders, though, did awesome! Because our district is so large, we actually battle in shifts and then the schools with high enough scores go on to the "finals," - a final battle to determine the winner. My kids surprised me - I only had 3 of them there that day, but one of them knew the books backwards and front-wards. She was on fire! I didn't expect to make it to finals, but we did! We actually had the second highest score out of all the 1st grade teams! We ended up dead last after finals. That's right, last. That one little girl who knew all the answers? She was out sick that day. I had 3 kids again, but it was a different 3 and they didn't know anything about the books. Disappointing, but we had fun reading the books and exploring the pictures (that's where most of the questions come from - tiny details from the pictures), so it was all good. Kindergarten and 2nd grade made it to finals, as well. I don't know how the kindergarten did, but 2nd grade was in 3rd place! (One school cancelled due to weather and they're battling next week).
I'm glad the battles are finally over! I was getting a little sick of hearing "10 Minutes till Bedtime" (by Peggy Rathmann) 5 times a day. My kids are now hooked on Skippyjon Jones, though, so I have a feeling I will continue to hear that one. I'm donating all the books to our school library in the next week or so (after I finish reading the junior high and high school books!) and then I'll be done until April or May when it's time to order next year's books!
Here's the break-down. There are 7 grade groups (K, 1st, 2nd, 3/4, 5/6, JH, and HS) and each has its own set of 12-15 books. In 3rd-12th grades, students from a participating school form a team of 3 (per grade group), read the books, and then battle. In BSSD, that battle is in the form of a video-conference, because we're cool like that. Each school connects on their particular battle day and time. The district librarian asks really hard questions about nit-picking details in the books. The team decides which book they think it came from. 5 points for a correct title and an additional 3 points if they came up with the correct author. The team with the highest number of points wins the district battle and goes on to the state battle. K-2 is a little different. There is no state battle, so our teams can be as large as we want. It generally takes the shape of however many kids are in that particular grade. Kindergarten has 5 books, 1st grade has those 5, plus 5 more. 2nd grade has those 10, plus 5 more. Our battles are a little more relaxed; we're basically trying to hook them on Battle of the Books so they will want to participate when they get older.
As site coordinator for Elim, this year's battles started last spring. I ordered the books so that we would have them right away in the fall. They were waiting for me when I got here in August. I'm also the first-grade coach, so I know the k-1 books like the back of my hand. We didn't have a junior high or high school team this year, and our 3-6th graders didn't do too terribly well at the district battle during the last week of January. Our k-2nd graders, though, did awesome! Because our district is so large, we actually battle in shifts and then the schools with high enough scores go on to the "finals," - a final battle to determine the winner. My kids surprised me - I only had 3 of them there that day, but one of them knew the books backwards and front-wards. She was on fire! I didn't expect to make it to finals, but we did! We actually had the second highest score out of all the 1st grade teams! We ended up dead last after finals. That's right, last. That one little girl who knew all the answers? She was out sick that day. I had 3 kids again, but it was a different 3 and they didn't know anything about the books. Disappointing, but we had fun reading the books and exploring the pictures (that's where most of the questions come from - tiny details from the pictures), so it was all good. Kindergarten and 2nd grade made it to finals, as well. I don't know how the kindergarten did, but 2nd grade was in 3rd place! (One school cancelled due to weather and they're battling next week).
I'm glad the battles are finally over! I was getting a little sick of hearing "10 Minutes till Bedtime" (by Peggy Rathmann) 5 times a day. My kids are now hooked on Skippyjon Jones, though, so I have a feeling I will continue to hear that one. I'm donating all the books to our school library in the next week or so (after I finish reading the junior high and high school books!) and then I'll be done until April or May when it's time to order next year's books!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Tale of a Bathroom Cabinet
The bathroom cabinet in our apartment is the bane of my existence. There are three mirror panels on the front. The middle panel doesn't exactly stay in. It falls out if opened, bumped, or looked at funny. Sometimes I think it falls off just out of spite. This morning, a little bit more than that fell.
This is where the cabinet is supposed to be and, in fact, where it was last night:
This is where it is right now:
Yes, folks, that's right. It's on the bathroom floor, minus the middle panel and top shelf.
See, this morning, I was blowing my nose when, all of a sudden, the middle panel of the cabinet fell. Or, at least, that's what I thought it was. In actuality, it was the entire top of the cabinet falling over. The middle panel fell out, as did the top shelf. Half of the contents of the cabinet were also falling. I luckily caught it before it hit me in the head. But then I was in a predicament. Two of the screws at the top had ripped through the back of the cabinet and were still embedded in the wall. The third screw had ripped out of the wall and was still in the back of the cabinet. The three screws at the bottom of the cabinet? Still holding in the wall. The top half of the cabinet was falling of the wall, the bottom was still firmly affixed to the wall, and our tool box was in the kitchen. I couldn't let go of the cabinet for fear it would fall the rest of the way and break something. I couldn't get to the tool box to get a screwdriver to take out the bottom three screws. My roommate was still asleep (this was like 7 in the morning). I don't know how she slept through the racket of everything falling down, but she did. I was stuck.
I ended up taking everything else out of the cabinet, and slowly let go so that it was hanging off the wall at a weird angle. I could hear the wood cracking and knew it was in the process of falling completely apart. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed our tool box (many thanks to my Dad), and ran back to the bathroom before the cabinet could fall. I held up back up against the wall with one hand and took out the remaining screws with the other. I almost dropped it when the last screw came out. That thing is heavy. Doesn't look like it, but it is. So now, all of the contents of the cabinet are on the (small) bathroom counter, the cabinet is on the floor, and I'm not sure what we're going to do next. My roommate is still asleep. Maybe she knows how to mount a cabinet. I doubt it, but here's hoping.
Update: My roommate's boyfriend, Tyler, is a hero. He re-mounted our cabinet for us. It was mounted wrong the first time and that's why it fell.
This is where the cabinet is supposed to be and, in fact, where it was last night:
This is where it is right now:
Yes, folks, that's right. It's on the bathroom floor, minus the middle panel and top shelf.
See, this morning, I was blowing my nose when, all of a sudden, the middle panel of the cabinet fell. Or, at least, that's what I thought it was. In actuality, it was the entire top of the cabinet falling over. The middle panel fell out, as did the top shelf. Half of the contents of the cabinet were also falling. I luckily caught it before it hit me in the head. But then I was in a predicament. Two of the screws at the top had ripped through the back of the cabinet and were still embedded in the wall. The third screw had ripped out of the wall and was still in the back of the cabinet. The three screws at the bottom of the cabinet? Still holding in the wall. The top half of the cabinet was falling of the wall, the bottom was still firmly affixed to the wall, and our tool box was in the kitchen. I couldn't let go of the cabinet for fear it would fall the rest of the way and break something. I couldn't get to the tool box to get a screwdriver to take out the bottom three screws. My roommate was still asleep (this was like 7 in the morning). I don't know how she slept through the racket of everything falling down, but she did. I was stuck.
I ended up taking everything else out of the cabinet, and slowly let go so that it was hanging off the wall at a weird angle. I could hear the wood cracking and knew it was in the process of falling completely apart. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed our tool box (many thanks to my Dad), and ran back to the bathroom before the cabinet could fall. I held up back up against the wall with one hand and took out the remaining screws with the other. I almost dropped it when the last screw came out. That thing is heavy. Doesn't look like it, but it is. So now, all of the contents of the cabinet are on the (small) bathroom counter, the cabinet is on the floor, and I'm not sure what we're going to do next. My roommate is still asleep. Maybe she knows how to mount a cabinet. I doubt it, but here's hoping.
Update: My roommate's boyfriend, Tyler, is a hero. He re-mounted our cabinet for us. It was mounted wrong the first time and that's why it fell.
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