Spotlight Student Luncheon with Marina

Today was Marina's Spotlight Student Luncheon at McNeil School. She invited Valda. We came to McNeil and had a luncheon in the library. Everyone introduced themselves...mostly the parents introduced the families, but Marina insisted on doing the introduction. She was super happy to be able to also introduce Valda.

We got our corn dogs from the cafeteria and headed right over to the library.

Valda made a new friend at the luncheon. We aren't sure what happened but this squirrely little guy came right up to her and gladly sat right down. He really was the entertainment. At one point he was quizzing Marina on math and you could tell she had older brothers because she was not going to be stumped! And she wasn't.

Valda could not remember the last time she ate a corn dog or baked french fries. I couldn't either for that matter. (I will say that I was proud of Falcom today for preferring a packed lunch to a hot lunch! Maybe I'm rubbing off!)

If you look into the far left corner of this picture you will see Elizaveta, my friend from Seldovia. I kept noticing her watching me throughout the lunch. I can almost read her thoughts, "Falcom's mom is crazy...she takes pictures of every little thing! How can they stand it?" Luckily, she is too shy to say that out loud.

After we ate our so-called main part, the sixth graders brought around some delicious ice cream with chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top. All the Old Believer kids sitting around us swirled that ice cream until it made a terrific drink. Marina joined in and somehow did not get ice cream all over herself.

We were lucky enough to then get the full tour of Marina's classroom. We got to show Valda her desk and all the good work she is doing. Thank you Marina for a great time today!

Cooking tip: yesterday evening Vince took a very old piece of moose out of the freezer and put it in the crock pot. We didn't eat it all. It didn't taste bad, but I thought it was a bit old and gamie. Willie and DeeJay also loved it but they also love spam and canned jack mackerel. Tonight I took the left over moose meat and made an Indian curry with potatoes and carrots, no coconut milk. It looked like stew but was spicy and got thumbs up from both high schoolers and Valda and the fabulous Suzanne (who I was fortunate to have over and who I forgot to photograph.) So remember, old moose and curry is a good combination!

Sunrise October 30. Look at how today it is pink. Isn't that incredible?

Spooky Sunrise

Sunrise from my house, October 29, 2008

Is orange the theme of Halloween because that is the colors in the sunrise?

Pumpkin Carving!

'Tis the season to be scary!

Last night was the night to carve our pumpkins! It was Willie's first time ever to carve a pumpkin! Oh, and DeeJay's second time. Oh, and Marina's fifth time. Oh and Falcom's 7th time.

Anchorage Weekend with Irene and Sharon

This post will be a pictorial. Please feel free to comment if you have unanswered questions.

Hair! Mindy! Memorial for a Friend

In a very un-Alana move, I spent several hours alone, getting my hair cut and colored by Jerami, the big haired girl 'tress stylist' at his new salon, (or is it a renamed old salon) Grass Roots. It was a very splurgy move on my part as I am usually a super cheap ass. (excuse the language) But, I was stressed. I was being way too in the heart part of my head and I needed some therapy.

Jerami provides terrific therapy! He can not only bring me out of the Homer Fashion doldrums, but, he can offer spiritual and parenting advice about a certain child of mine. Did you know that Jerami has been trained in Opera? Two hours, a great scalp massage and curly hair later, I felt like I would actually be able to look less frumpy and manage to parent a certain child without that child having to dip too deeply into the therapy fund I established for him a few years ago. I mean, with the economy the way it is right now and all, his therapy dollar will just not stretch that far! Thank you Jerami for a fabulous afternoon.

After hair I rushed around picking up kids and zipped them right over to the movie theater where I was going to have Willie watch them watching the movie Igor. This way I would not have to deal with them at the Memorial of an old friend, Julie C. They would have been welcomed, but their attention spans would have quickly tapped my new found patience reserves, so, walla! Movie time. It was also my lucky day, Mindy decided she would help me and her son Aiden by going to the movies as well.

We walked in the door and went to buy the tickets and sadly, it was foreign film night. The film was something like, Pain and Forgetfulness. Anyway, the kids were super bummed that they wouldn't get to see a movie, so Mindy graciously invited all three of them over to her house for a DVD movie and I bought them popcorn. Everyone was sad, except for me, who was cracking up at the developing line of popcorn desiring adults behind us. Some of these folks were completely astonished that someone would bring such small children to see Pain and Forgetfulness. In fact, one friend in line said, "You know, this really isn't a kids movie." That really made me laugh. I know I can be out to lunch, but not that out to lunch... It was another good reminder that I am not a total looser mom.

And then, with the children under the calm confident command of Ms. Mindy, I rushed off to Julie C's memorial. Tributes such as this are dying in most parts of the country. The gentleman on stage is singing, "She's an Old Hippie", a song about holding onto the past or grabbing onto something new. Sunrise did several lovely readings and songs. The church was packed and the service was Episcopalian with a lot of hippie love thrown in. Very suiting. When it was time to give the communion the pastor called the congregation up around the alter and people shared the wine.

A beautiful soul. Moving on.

I picked up the kids and Mindy, super amazing Mindy, after having worked at Parent Teacher conferences all day, was trying to teach Falcom to play chess. I couldn't believe her tenacity! I was so tired I could barley surf the web while I waited for her to finish. And here she was, having to go so far as to explain taking turns. She is such a great friend!

Thank you Mindy, Thank you Julie, Thank you life!

PS Willie and DeeJay are going to LA by themselves for Thanksgiving break. Thank you Valda for helping us get their tickets.

pss Vince and I spent the ENTIRE DAYtoday at parent teacher conferences. Can you say EXHAUSTING? I can't go into it, but we kept one teacher 15 minutes over, and she was dying when she found out that she had been forced to stay extra and was mad at the office for not announcing that the time was up. We walked out of her room and there were two other parents sitting there, mad that she was leaving, looking at us for hogging so much of that valuable time (20 or so minutes of important info falling on strangely deaf ears...could she not get what I was saying?) Vince and I felt it wise not to be in the parking lot with them alone and so we went to E.S.'s room and hid out. This memory also makes me laugh a little.... Plus, E.S. is so cool!

We also have a lot of new meanings for the school wide acronym F.O.L. *focus on learning* "DeeJay, FOL does not stand for Focus on the Ladies!"

psss Next posts will be from Girl Weekend in Anchorage. I'm splurging again. Oh yea...Oh, well...

Regular Tuesday with Irene (and Maya)

Today's first cup of delicious coffee was at Homer High School, where I met with DeeJay's case manager for a cup of coffee and a conversation about a possible alternative Language Arts curriculum. He has done some research and has come up with a couple of interesting ideas for this year and possibly next year. Notice in his hand in the picture is a chocolate covered coffee bean. If I had his job I would need a bowl of those on my desk...

Coffee number two was with JP. I was still nursing coffee number one and so she did not have to get off the couch to fetch me anything. Why would she need to stay on the couch? She just had a screw put into her heel. She showed me the x-rays to prove it.


Coffee number three was with Wendy T. at the Art Shop Gallery. We visited only long enough for us to compliment each other on our weight loss success, for me to gaze adoringly at her flattering slacks, for us to kvetch about her ex, and for us to praise Vince for being so fabulous.

We are going to be having dinner out together in two weeks time after the WW.

Coffee number four was with Irene.

Topics Discussed:

1. How I am being impacted by menopause. Yes, it's like being back in college.
2. Anchorage trip with Sharon. Yes, she should come with us!
3. Matt's birthday present. Yes, we did research.
4. Her new daily planner. It's a Cadillac of a planner. Will she open it?
5. Maya, so cute, so unwilling to eat.
6. How I was unable to finish, not only a thought, but a sentence!
7. We designed some business cards for me today. They will do the trick.
8. How I like being a know-it-all, but that doesn't mean you can't tell me stuff.

Because I could not get the sunrise this morning, I caught this sunset.

Coffee number five was with Sharon where we planned our trip to Anchorage. Whew! We are going to have fun. We made a long lists of fun stops. None of them will have to organize around children! Two potential stops include a wine bar and a chocolate bar.

Monday

Where did the mountains go for my daily sunrise snap? I know the sun is shining across the bay from the glitter on the water.

It was "an honor and a privilege" to serve our school today as the Scholastic Book seller. Is it ever too early to market to children? From the way our culture works, the answer seems to be no. I am glad to be selling them books more than just about anything else. I remember fondly my years raising school funds by selling candy bars and look where that landed me. Look who I snapped with her class in the hall...

I started writing the post because I thought that tonight would be my big WW night. I was hoping it was going to be the post where I announced to the world that I had lost 25 pounds! Alas, it is impossible to loose 25 pounds when you eat a desert nightly, and then the night before weigh-in put Furikake and soy sauce on your rice (water retention).

Happily, I can report that it was Suzanne's big night. When I arrived at the meeting she had already weighed-in and was .2 pounds away from her 10% goal. She was a little bummed, but not bad. I said, "What the heck? Did you strip naked? Did you pee?" Yes, she had stripped naked, but had not peed. She peed and then went back to the scales with me and wah-la! She made it! Look at all the booty she got to take home with her.

As for me there will be no poems recited for me this week. This week my new mantra is, "If you bite it, write it!" and I will attempt to bring myself to that magical number that brings me a little bling and hopefully the adoration of the WW crowd.

PS See these two trouble makers that we were sitting beside? I was having serious flash backs to my high school days. We could be a serious distraction to the entire room if we continue to show a lack of restraint. Wait a minute, would that mean we would have to spend time in Principal Nancy's office? Might be worth it!