January Recap

I know, I know… it's already the 5th of February. Why am I still talking about January?

January was a really busy month for me. I feel like I haven't had a chance yet to settle down and catch my breath - something always comes up. 

Plus… I have been totally neglecting my blogger duties and haven't had time to write a post in what seems forever! (Sorry about that!)

So please allow now for a January Recap:

>>>>>>> The first seven days of January I was stuck in Bethel, Alaska. 

Not a fun way to begin the new semester. No teacher can get a lot done in Era's (I mean Raven's) gate in Bethel. 

>>>>>>> I was in Newtok a good four days before I got asked to chaperone the Jr. High team as they traveled to Toksook Bay for a basketball tournament. And of course, I had to say yes because it is not like I have a husband here now that needs all of my attention when I'm away from school. 

We left on January 10th and were supposed to get back the next night, but because of weather, we didn't get home until Sunday. 

Let me tell you, so much "fun" chaperoning a Jr. High girls and boys (it's a co-ed basketball team) team for a weekend.

We weren't like that at that age, were we?! 

I will say this: I teach Jr. High Reading everyday and because of this trip, I do feel a lot closer to my students. We really did bond over that weekend trip.

>>>>>>> The next week was my birthday. Luckily, no one traveled that weekend so I knew I would have this weekend of January at home! 

I got some really great gifts - gift cards, money, toiletries (some really great body lotion and wash), candles, and even mouse traps.

My thoughtful grandma sent me six sticky trap boards and some mouse poison to set around my house. And by golly, they worked!  (I'll get to that later!)

>>>>>>> The next week, Wednesday the 22nd, I, along with five other teachers, headed to Anchorage for an RTI conference. We actually got there a day early so we had time to go around town and do our own thing. 

* We went and saw this movie. I am not a war-movie kinda gal. They make me way too sad!

* I bought a new Vera Bradley wallet that looks like this. It has been wayyy to long since I've bought something Vera! (I'm sure Josh would agree too… NOT!) 

* I also bought a new Eddie Bauer purse like this. This was the best purchase ever. Since I have been traveling a lot, and I don't see that slowing down at all, this purse holds everything that I need it to - even my Kindle, which is the most important thing!

I guess I should mention I few things about my RTI conference since that's the only reason we were there. It was definitely a great one to go to. I enjoyed all of my seminars. 

My favorite speaker was Anita Archer - she is very famous around these parts. She is this 67 year old lady who I wished I could have experienced in school. But maybe it's even better now since I get to really appreciate what she has to say. 

For all my teacher friends - YouTube her. You won't regret it!

Another thing about my conference - someone compared  paragraph shrinking or summarizing to tweeting. They told us to explain the process of summarizing by comparing it to twitter. A summary is a "tweet".  You only have so many characters in a tweet - use them wisely. So now I'm thinking, should I get twitter for educational purposes?

#chirpchirp

>>>>>>> I got back from Anchorage on Monday the 27th. Remember when I told you my grandma was a genius in sending me mouse traps?? The night after I got back from Anchorage, I caught three mice! EEEEWWWWW!! 

Let me just explain what happened: For each trap I set out, I had a sticky trap in front of it. Around 11 pm, I was in a dead sleep. All of a sudden I heard, CLAP! I jumped up and immediately thought "oh my gosh.. I just caught a mouse." So what do I do?! I call Josh. I know, I know… like he is really going to help 500 miles away. His advice - go in the kitchen and whack it with a broom or else it'll try to get away all night. So I mustered up all my courage, cuz I'm thinking what if this thing is huge?!, and I go out to my kitchen. The mouse is half stuck on the sticky pad half stuck in the trap. I did what my husband said and whacked it with a broom. Wellllll, the broom got stuck to the sticky pad too. So now I don't know what to do - there is no way I am going to grab that thing with my hands. So I just put it outside. The whole thing. The broom which was connected to the sticky pad, which had the mouse stuck to it, which was also half in the mouse trap. Yep, all went outside. 

So I went back to bed. 

Not even an hour later - CLAP!

Not again?!

I go check in the kitchen - this time there were two mice stuck to one pad and in one trap. 

What are the chances? 

This time though, I didn't have a broom. Remember... I put it outside with the first mouse.

So like any normal woman (probably not… I'm just a wimp), I covered it with a box to wait until morning so I could tell the principal. 

My reasoning for the box - I didn't want them to escape. Makes sense, I know!

So hopefully, three mice caught will end my mouse-capades!

>>>>>>> And the best part about January came at the very end: Joshua came to visit! 

He came last Thursday and left yesterday. It was such a nice visit - one whole month away from each other is the worst! Counting down the days until I see him again!

Fun Fact: In the four weeks of January, I flew a total of eight times. Is that unreal or what!