Let the Corruption Begin

I made it. Barely. Ha ha, today was my first day of teaching. It went pretty well. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. It's really weird that I am finally a teacher. I have only wanted to be two things in my life: Celine Dion or a teacher. I went with the more secure choice. I think it was the right one.

Even though I feel that I made the right choice career-wise, I think I made a couple of mistakes today:
1. I let the students choose their own seats, which ended up being a bad choice because all the boys sat together and all the girls sat together. I had to adjust accordingly.
2. COMMUNITY SUPPLIES! Stupid. I thought they could share some supplies, like pencils, folders, erasers, etc. But I also collected their folders and notebooks, thinking I could re-distribute the folders so that each student would have a yellow folder for one subject, a red for another, etc. I didn't take into consideration all of the Hannah Montana, Spiderman, and Chuck Norris (yes, Chuck Norris) folders I would get. A bunch of wasted time for a dumb plan. Oh well. You teach, you learn.
3. Poor time management. I thought things would take a little less time, but I suppose that it's good because I can use leftover activities for tomorrow.

Other problems I encountered were out of my hands. They changed my recess schedule after I had already sent my kids out. Then, there was no bell or whistle or other indication that recess was over, so when I went to pick up my kids most of them were still playing. Finally, at the end of the day I had duty at the parking lot. They did not give me a vest, a clipboard, or instructions, so I just walked around and waved my arms and acted like I knew what I was doing. I think I looked important. Or something.

Anyways, thanks for listening to my ramblings. Now I must go to bed.

We're In!

Forgive the extended blogging hiatus, but we have been moving into our new house for the last week as well as fixing up my classroom. We also haven't had internet for the past week (which is probably a good thing).
Even though our house is fairly new, it has become increasingly apparent that the previous owners were not as meticulous as we are about cleaning. Or painting. We have incurred many unexpected costs as we discover more and more areas that need attention. For example, they apparently installed tile, but failed to seal the grout or ever mop the tile, for that matter. So we called Stanley Steemer...cha-ching! One room had a Spongebob wallpaper border around it, so we bought some wallpaper remover...cha-ching! It was also painted a bright green (appropriate for their three-year-old son, but not for us)...cha-ching! Flat paint in the master bedroom and bathroom intermittently spattered with what appeared to be chocolate or poo (fyi we did not do the "Baby Mama Chocolate or Poo Test")...cha-ching! Moldy caulking in the bathroom window...cha-ching! And the kicker--our washing machine stored for two years broke...cha-ching! Well, you get the point.
While we enjoy do-it-yourselfers just as much as anyone else, all of these little projects and hidden costs were simply unexpected. But we love our house and can't believe all of the space we have! It's incredible that I actually have drawers and cabinets in the kitchen that have nothing in them! One setback I discovered about having a large kitchen is that I cannot use the "one butt kitchen" excuse, and I actually have to help Doug with dinner ;)
I know I keep saying it, but pictures are to follow! Soon, I promise! Oh, and if I know you and you are in the area, come by and see our new house! We can't wait to have guests!

Closed

Ok, so, at 4 o'clock today, we signed about 500 documents. Not too much fun, but very exciting! We own a house now! But we don't get the keys until tomorrow :( Pictures to follow soon!

Need a Pool Table?

Looking for something fun to spend your stimulus check on?

My sister is selling her pool table. It is in great condition, but they don't have room for it in their new house.

Here is the link to the listing:

http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/tag/753446911.html

If you have questions, let me know! If you are in the ABQ area, I can even show it to you!
Amanda

The Closer

It's official! We got our final approval on our loan for the house! It took a while, because the school district I work for is dumber than dirt...not only could they not verify my employment (even though I signed somewhere near a thousand documents), but they didn't even know my school existed! Don't even get me started on Albuquerque Public Schools...the future of America is in their hands...yikes!

Anyways, we are really excited and we may get to close as early as the 30th of this month, which would be great because that's a whole week before I start school!

Well, we'll keep you posted, and as soon as we move in we'll take pictures and post them.

Favorite Pictures from AK!

Ok, so I attempted to narrow down the pictures that summed AK up for me!  Well if  I would have succeeded with that attempt I would have had to post like 600 pictures. 

That would be an all day affair so I chose these.  Enjoy The beauties of Alaska...

Alaska rainforest..

Picture from atop Thompson Pass.  The most beautiful view I have ever seen.

Eagle on a buoy, (he's thinking where are the fish?)

Awesome view of the Eklutna Tailrace

Complete Spectrum...

My shoes claimed to be waterproof...

Beautiful mountain lake.

Icebergs....

More Icebergs... Columbia Glacier

Valdez Harbor 

Waterfall and avalanche leftover 

Perched Eagle

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  Let me tell you I enjoyed taking them.  

Doug

Back from the Last Frontier

Wow, what a trip!!  Family, scenery, beautiful weather, fishing, hiking, wildlife, and food--one couldn't have asked for a better vacation.  Our time in Alaska was an absolute blast, but now we are home.  I never thought the jet lag would be so bad, but it has been for Amanda and I.   On the 4th of july we slept until almost 2 o clock in the afternoon and stayed up until about 2 am that night.  Then the next day we slept until noon and then took a nap at like 6 until like 8:30, finally getting to bed at about 2:30 am.  I know we are just making it worse for ourselves but, we have nothing really to do,  well until Monday for me when I have to be up at 7 am to go back to work :(.  I guess that will force me to get back on schedule.  

Karl and Vikki, thank you so much for everything.  I miss you guys already and can't wait to visit again.

I am going through all the pictures, I will soon make a post of my favorites that sum up the trip for me.  There are a lot so it may be a couple of days.

Doug