I am back from Christmas

I left for Oregon on December 18. It took 24 hours on the train. It was a long, long ride but worth it. My sons flew in from Houston and I got to see my grandson. I had an art day with my artist sisters, visited with family and friends. It was a bitter sweet reunion. Man do I miss Oregon, my friends, family, and church. I am back now and on the home stretch. Five more months and my first teaching year is over. I am learning a lot on classroom management. I also have discovered what I already knew, I don't like teaching 7Th grade and I don't like cold weather.

Which, brings me to my homecoming in North Dakota. I arrived home on January 1, to a wonderful pile of snow. The roads are clear on the highways which is good because I had to drive to Bismarck today (1/2). We had a high today of 0 degrees F and I did what I never thought I would do, when I went in the store to get supplies after my meeting I left my car running, locked but running. I was afraid it would freeze-up if I turned it off because the car didn't have time to heat up between my meeting and the store. Half the parking lot had cars running while people shopped. It saved me time because I did not dally in the store all I could think of was my contribution to global warming and the dollars of gasoline being wasted as my car sat idling in the parking lot.

The drive to and from Bismarck was scary in spots. Not because it was slick but because the wind blew the snow around so I had very little visibility. It was like being in thick fog. I couldn't use my brights because the light reflected back from the snow blinded me. It was crazy but I am home now with a hot cup of tea, candy bar, cozy blanket, and a movie. Ahh, chocolate makes everything better. I think I am ready to begin teaching again on Monday.

My sister gave me the neatest present. She had my friend design the outside of the box for me. It is a personalized blessing box. Inside it has a tablet and a pen. I write what God has blessed me with each day and put it in the box. Then when I am homesick or down I can pull them out and remind myself not only how far I have come in my life but also how God is faithful, loving and always there for me. Coolest gift in the world. Plus the money she would have spent on Christmas presents, she donated to a special fund at church where part of the money went to digging wells in Nigeria and the other part went to gift cards for homeless teens to buy clothes. I love the idea and think that is what I want to do next year. I have a year to make everyone homemade gifts and save money to donate somewhere. We will see what I accomplish. LOL (Note to Karen, I did not use LOL as a punctuation but a note to tell you I am being funny. (LOL)).

Adjusting to Winter

AHHHH!!! It is Friday night. I am finally home. I was able to leave school on time tonight and my neighbor friend took me to a new restaurant. Only a 45 min. drive from my house (that is close in North Dakota). The food was good at a reasonable price. I am back home trying to warm up from standing outside talking and saying good bye to my neighbor. We exchanged small tokens of appreciation known as early Christmas presents. I bought her a couple of things to show how much I appreciate all she has done for me this year. She took me under her wing, helped me set-up my classroom and get the kids somewhat under control. She knew exactly when I needed a break and would pop into my room at the end of the day to chat and wisk me out of town. We have become good friends. We had been talking about unusual foods when we first met. I told her I had some chocolate covered potatoe chips and I really liked them but they were hard to find. Today I opened the present she gave me and she had found chocolate covered potatoe chips!!! I offered her some but she refused to be adventurous. Oh well more for me. Hehehe.

So here I sit curled up under a blanket all cozy while the temperature drops and the clear sky shows tiny diamond stars in the sky that look so close you could reach up and grab them. I have a nice pot of hot tea and I am enjoying my chocolate covered chips. I thought about saving them and sharing them with my class or bringing them home to share with my family but they are real good. I don't think the tin will last that long. They taste a lot like Nestle Crisps. I have six more days till I am on my way home for a wirldwind break in Oregon.

Okay it is cold!!!!!

My dream house

I don't like this white stuff. It really sucks. It have been dropping below zero as low as -10 degrees. I don't like this not one bit. I am still surrendered to God and all He has planned but come on, does it really have to be this cold. I now know what I have always suspected, I do not want to live in Alaska. Yuk with winter stuff, I want to move to Florida, 80 degrees in the winter time. Yes that would be the life.

I have a heater in my classroom with a broken button. We cannot turn it off. During the warm months we had the air conditioner on and the heater on and in the afternoons we would throw open the windows just to be able to breath. The maintenance team at the school managed to turn the heater to low. So now I have a room that is 20 degrees in the morning and I run two space heaters all day. By about 3:00 we have a 70 degree room. I have finally broken out my heavy sweaters.

This week in order to walk to work, which mind you is only 500 feet, I put on a zipper-front hooded sweatshirt, a down filled coat, a scarf wrapped around my face, a ear muffs, thick gloves, leg warmers, and insulated boots. I can barely see five feet in front of me but I am warm for the most part. I could put on my footless tights under my pants but I am afraid I might be too warm during the day and I do not want to strip to unbundle in the morning and then get redressed in the evening in order to walk home. I am thankful I live in a house and that it is pretty warm. I have a draft that makes my kitchen floor cold but I only notice that when I go into the kitchen. I can avoid that most of the time.

This cold dry weather is getting to my hair. It is a frizzy mess. My students were trying to help me with suggestions of combing my hair or putting in some hairspray or gel so it is not so fly away. Then my eyes water in the cold and my mascara runs down my face so I have two black eyes when I get into the building. I also have chapped lips because the weather is dry and I have never used so much hand lotion and face lotion in my life. I feel like I am drying out and really miss the rain in Oregon. Not only my heart but my skin and hair miss it too. 20 degrees with the east wind chill factor sounds like a nice warm spot from here.

I know God has a plan but did He take into consideration I prefer heat and occasional rain to this cold snowy stuff? Right now I feel like I am a tropical flower transplanted in Antarctica. Will I survive, only God knows. LOL Well, I need to run. Tomorrow is the second parent teacher conference of the school year and I teach all day then get to stay till 8:00 pm. 13 hour days are long and very tiring. I need be beauty sleep. Sweet, warm and blessed dreams to all.

It is December!!!

I woke up yesterday to the first day of December and snow. Not much just about a half inch but it is cold and icy. It snowed a little more today. Everyone is teasing me about the snow and cold. I finally was able to pull out my warm, winter sweaters. Which, in Oregon, I would have been wearing since October. (The pic on the left is my frosted sparkly porch and the one on the right is my front yard. Yes it is snowing again.)

I worked late tonight on grades and walked home on a very cold, quiet, clear night. The snow sparkles here. The frost does too. Frost does not cover everything in a white layer here like in Oregon. On a frosty morning you walk through the grass and it just sparkles like glitter. Tonight on top of the snow that is what it looked like.

I was working on positive behavior in my classroom so we are rewarding ourselves on Friday for doing good behavior with root beer floats. They have earned a cup, root beer and 1 scoop of ice cream so far. Tomorrow is another scoop of ice cream and Friday a straw. Then in the afternoon before school gets out, we will enjoy what has been earned. Some students will not have ice cream in their floats. But it was their decisions that and no one else will have to suffer for other peoples bad choices. I am lucky my neighbor is an experienced driver in the snow. I told my students that they were lucky too because I don't drive in snow and I need to go to the store tomorrow for the root beer float party. My students don't understand why I won't drive in the snow.

I told them it was because I didn't know how. They asked me if I didn't know how to drive at all and if so why do I have a car. I explained in Oregon when it snows a couple of inches the city practically stops. That I take a bus or stay home because it is safer. I then had to explain how wet our snow was so it is very slick and how there is usually ice under the snow. I also told them I didn't have any chains and they began to laugh at me. Apparently, here you only need snow tires to get around. Well, it is 35 miles to the closest town and a long drive or walk to find anyone near the road if you wreck and need help. I don't think I will practice my winter driving for awhile.

The Bad Lands are not exactly a place with straight roads and they are not flat like the rest of the mid west. So hilly, curvy roads with deer, antelope and smaller animals runny across the road without warning. Not fun especially in the dark which is usually when I get to drive. So I am going to rely on the hospitality of my neighbors.

This week, the staff and teachers started their secret Santa. Of course, I would get the name of another new teacher so I have no idea what she likes. Today I put in her box a small stoneware trinket box with some pretty ceramic inlay. I filled it with paper clips. She was delighted. The fun part was watching her enjoy the gift and pretending not to know who gave it to her. I am looking for other little things to slip into her box. I only have till 12/17 then I will be revealed. I want to buy something nice for her when I am revealed. I don't know what that might be but I am thinking a nice scarf in her favorite color. Now comes the fun stuff, finding out her favorite color.

Well, it is late and need some sleep. I know I will sleep well tonight because the snow has driven the cows out of the neighborhood. For the last four night, I have had four cows in my yard. They arrive around 10:30 pm and mow my lawn as well as fertilize it. However they also enjoy a good scratch by rubbing various parts against the corner of my house. The very corner where the head of my bed is. Sounds like a hand saw trying to cut through my house. I have been told they are better than having buffalo around because buffalo are mean and dangerous. But do they rub their butts on my house when I am trying to sleep I wonder.

Happy Thanksgiving

One of my followers has showed me the error of my ways. I have been slow in adding new posts to my blogg. For that I apologize. Apparently the bloggers' manners states that I should be adding a new post at least once a week. So I will try to mend my ways and keep my blog updated. It is just that I cannot think of things to say. When one goes to work, which is less than 500 feet from my house, works all day then walks home what is there it say. I did have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I am enjoying the long weekend.

I was invited to two meals. The first was a Native American family which had a lot of babies. It had all the traditional Thanksgiving food. I brought Indian Fried bread, my new found talent apparently. They loved it. I nibbled on the meal since I was due at another meal in two hours. I could not however refuse to eat for, as I have said before, that would be rude. I was surprised because when my family gets together we are loud with talking and laughter and enjoyable noisey activity. However the native family was very quiet, even the children. They are very soft spoken and enjoy long periods of comfortable silence. There were several elders there with long grey braided hair and wonderful expressive wrinkled faces. Their faces show their wisdom. Then off to my friend who is Norwegian. There was a small family with wonderful food and talking. Very homey but I was full when I finished. I spent the rest of the evening grading papers and getting caught up on the paper work.

On Friday, I went to Minot (2 hours away). I went to all the thrift stores looking for some things that can help me set up my art studio/office space. I got paint for some old book case I have that is unfinished and picked a couple things up at Kmart. I intended to go to a movie but I got tired and decided to go home and watch a movie. So that is what I am doing. I did make a contact with some high school friends on Facebook. I can hardly believe next summer is my 30th reunion. There is even a guy I barely remember but he is living in Rider ND about an hour away from me. Small world.

Now it is only about three weeks till I make it home for Christmas and I am excited. I was able to buy tickets for my sons to come home for Christmas too. I can hardly wait to see them and my brothers and sisters. I am now going to brew some tea and relax in my nice warm house. It has been warm in the 40's during the day and cold enough to freeze at night but no snow. I hear we are to have a mild warm winter of which I am thankful.

God is good all the time, ALL the time God is good. Happy Thanksgiving. Oh the photo is my lame attempt at drawing my dad. Practice makes perfect and I am practicing.

My birthday

I am so blown away. These students of mine they act so tough and like they don't care and that they don't like me. I was worried about the fact that I was not making connections. Every teachers manual written talks about how you cannot teach students that you do not make a connection with. Then I had my birthday. A couple of teachers and their classes gave me presents in the morning. I only told my students in passing when my birthday was and I could not figure out how the teachers knew about the birthday. Well my students threw me a surprise birthday party! It was their idea, they planned it and made me a cake and two cards and got me flowers. All the teachers said they had never done that before. The card said I was the best teacher in the world. They usually tell me I am mean. WOW I made connections. They may be learning something.

Then I woke up late on Friday (10-30) I was late, I had a big day. Today was a Halloween party and the carnival. We had two booths one ring toss and one musical chairs. I had a lot to bring to school so I decided to drive. I pulled my car out of the garage and then started to close the garage door and I caught my finger as it folded down. Man it hurt. It is still tender. Then the bag rips as I unloaded my car. We did not get anyone to play musical chairs. It is a good thing the ring toss made some money. What a fund raiser. The day was long but went pretty well despite my wounds. Glad it is Friday. It is cold and snowing a little and I am ready for a long weekend curled up and warm.

South Dakota

I just got back from four days in South Dakota. I went with my Native friend. We stayed with her friends. It was definitely in the middle of nowhere. I posted a couple of pictures from the house where I stayed. They had a large population of ground hogs. Not only ground hogs but a bald eagle was there hunting them.

One day we went to Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument. I learned the Native history of the Crazy Horse. The museum was wonderful there and the gift shop had a lot of Native made things. It was a full day of sight seeing.

The people I stayed with were Lakota Sioux. They filmed Dances with Wolves near where I stayed. These people spoke fluent Lakota and they are fighting to keep their traditions alive. The younger generation are not listening to what their elders are trying to pass down and with every loss of a grandmother or grandfather, the native traditions and languages are being lost.

I did get to enjoy a sweat lodge. While I could not take pictures of this ceremony out of respect to my new native friends, I can tell you a little about it. In the morning, we got up and stripped the lodge of all the blankets and tarps they cover the wood frame with and shake out the blankets that are inside. Then we set them out so they could air out in the wind. Then we went inside and spent the rest of the day cooking traditional food. We made bread for rolls, a wonderful soup made with deer meat and squash, buffalo tongue, buffalo kidneys and a wild berry desert. The other native women began to arrive about four hours before the sweat and they brought more food. We had a great time laughing and talking and teasing each other. The hearts of these people are so open and welcoming I forgot I was the stranger. I know God had been here before me to open hearts and prepare the way for me. About two hours before the sweat, we covered the lodge layering on blankets and tarps making sure there were no holes and placed the blankets inside. We also placed rocks under wood and built a large fire. More visiting and then we were ready to sweat. There was a small prayer and ceremony on the outside of the lodge then the women crawled in and placed the red hot rocks in. The water was pour over the rocks along with herbs and the steam filled the lodge and heated us all up. I don't know how long we were in but I enjoyed the sweat. We all prayed and sang and I came out feeling refreshed and closer to God. It was interesting how there were different people gathered together and we had different things to pray about but all our differences faded away and we were united for a short while.

I had a peaceful weekend, the weather was great it rained a little and was sunny most of the time. Not too cold except for the constant wind sweeping the prairie. Now it is Wednesday and it is getting cold. The weather man is promising snow tonight about 6-8 inches with wind. I hear that is a blizzard out hear. But so far no snow just dropping temperatures. I guess winter is arriving and time for me to bundle up. I am looking forward to my trip back home for Christmas and hope to be able to fly my sons home from Texas.

Blessings on all who read this.