Final Day of School in the L48

Today was my last day of work at VCS. I wanted to share some pics with you. 

One last look at my classroom before I left. 

I will miss my spa blue and sugared lime classroom. 

Good bye water fountain that tastes like copper and has a pH level of 8. 

Good bye keys. It took me several months to get a key to my classroom and over a year to get a key to get into the building. It was sad to hand them over. 

I had no part in this! This was a vandetta that started when a teacher helped seniors prank teachers. 

Its tradition to park crazy on the last day of school. 

Good bye Pleasant Plain. 

Good bye Old Creepy House with a sign for Paul. 

I am unable to celebrate the end of school with a dip in the pool due to rain. :(  

Pool opens at 9 am and I don't have a job I will be at the pool. 

Finishing My Current Position

Today was VCS's annual End of Year Bowling and Pizza Party. I don't bowl, but enjoy celebrating with the students each time they get a strike or just knock down any pins. It was during that time, I had a reflective moment. I'm not sad about leaving. I knew that my time at VCS wasn't going to last forever because of my personality. VCS developed my teaching ability and I gained skills that I would not have developed at another position. I seriously haven't cried. I feel bad because most people cry on their last day. When the social studies teacher left, tears were shed. We circled our cars around his truck and had a good laugh. When our Principal left to accept another position with a children's home, tears flowed down the hallway. I didn't want that when I left. I'm not a dramatic person when it comes to saying good byes. 

Last night I wrote cards to the staff and bought a small gift card for them to use next year for coffee, soda, water or food for the staff lounge. It took me awhile to write some cards because words couldn't form in my brain. 

I looked around the bowling alley at all the smiles and high fives. I saw one young man that has really matured into a great kid. Other students look up to him now. He invited a younger, awkward student to bowl with his group. They sat down and prayed together before they ate their pizza. I felt like I helped him grow into that. I started at the school with barely anyone passing OGT science. This year which is my 4th year, 9 out of 10 students passed OGT science. One student missed it by 1 point! I helped them achieve that goal. Should I cry? I feel happy and content that my goals were met. 

I'm not dying or falling off the planet. I'm still alive and starting a new chapter in my book. Tommorow is my very last day of school. I look forward to saying good bye to everyone and handing over my keys at 12:40pm. I plan on walking out the door with my potted plant that I have kept alive for 3 years now. I have no regrets and no sadness. 

19 days and counting...

19 days and counting! 19 days and counting! 19 days and counting!

I have 2 1/2 days left at my current job before I become a stay at home mom for the summer and focus on the big move. We have 19 days till we move out of Cincinnati. The move will save us money from having to sign another lease or go month to month. The month to month rent price was ridiculous.

In the mean time, let me give you an update. 

1. I received my Institutional Recommendation for my Alaska Professional License. The only things left are 2 Praxis exams, and 2 college courses. 

Praxis exams are going to take place in December and March. Barrow has Ilisagvik College which offers my courses. I will be taking, hopefully one in the fall and one in the spring. By next spring I should have all my requirements for a Professional License. 

It should be noted that by next spring I will have passed all except for one Praxis exam in science. I am thinking about taking the Earth Science exam. I would be able to say, "I'm qualified in all science topics Middle School to Physics." I know, it sounds crazy, but I love teaching science. Its not work when you enjoy talking about it. 

2. We have been getting serious about sorting, selling, donating and storing our things. We still have a lot to do!

Tickets!

Tickets have been purchased for us to fly to Barrow! 

I kept singing, "I've got 2 tickets to paradise..." while Toby was trying to purchase our tickets. I wasn't very helpful until it was time to choose seating. I have some experience flying with babies and small children. Its been a long time since I flew anywhere with the kids. I definitely did not want a seat by the rest room or near the flight attendants. The noise annoys me and will stop me from napping. 

Toby and I agreed to take turn entertaining Georgia. Emily and Abi are big enough now to entertain themselves. Their Kindles have lots of books, movies and games on it to keep them busy till the end of time. This will be Georgia's first flight and she is excited. When she gets excited, she will talk non-stop about anything and everything. 

I am prepared. I have crayons, coloring books, handwriting books, reading books, small pet shoppe toys, mini cars, mini playdough, cards, sight words and more. This should last the first leg of the trip. LOL. There's always room for snacks and more. Her carry-on is light. Most of her items will be in my carry-on bag. 

I'm not the only one starting to pack carry-ons. Emily and Abi have been collecting gum, goldfish crackers and more in their bags. I guess it runs in our family. 

Our tickets have us leaving Columbus on July 2nd. We fly Columbus to Chicago and onto Fairbanks. We have a 11 hour layover in Fairbanks before our flight takes us to Barrow. July 3rd we will be in our new apartment. July 4th will be interesting because there should be about 20 hours of daylight, no fireworks from what I understand. 

We will be in Barrow a full month before I have to fly to Anchorage for New Hire Inservice which lasts a week. The district will be providing for me during the inservice. Then I will fly back will lots of school stuff for the girls and some extra food. School should start a week later. It sounds like my summer is booked? Not really. I will have 2 weeks in West Virginia to be with my family and friends. I will have a full month to spend relaxing and getting to know my community. June and July provides me with the opportunity to be Emily, Abi, and Georgia's Mommy and not Mrs. Sargent. 

August I become Mrs. Sargent, the happy, silly science teacher that listens to strange music. 

I've got 2 tickets to Paradise... I've got 2 tickets to Paradise. Pack your bags, We leave tonight....

The Lease is Here!

I know where I am going to live now! 

I have signed, scanned and sent my lease back to Barrow! All of the boxes that I send will be sitting in my house waiting for me to arrive. I will definitely bake cupcakes for the persons responsible for making that happen. 

It should be noted that my rent in Cincinnati is more expensive than Barrow. My utilities are set rates and they are very good rates. Think about what you pay per month in the winter time for heat. Now think about what you would pay for heating your house if it was constantly below freezing. 

I have not seen pictures of the housing, but from reading all the forums and websites that I could find, everyone is satisfied with the housing in Barrow. Its not about looking good, its about what you need to survive. And that's what how we feel about things. We don't need to have anything fancy. We want to be comfortable and not freeze. :)

More Shipping!

Just look what we did....

There were 13 boxes in this load. We have 3 final boxes to send next week and that's it. Nothing else will be shipped to Alaska. 

Curious about what we sent? 

Emily, Abi and Georgia each got a no questions asked 18 gallon tote. We called it their happiness boxes. It should contain toys, books, pictures or anything that will make them feel at home in Alaska. In addition to that, I requested that they pack 12-15 hangers for their clothing. Georgia and Abi were crafty. They combined their items to get more stuff. I agreed to add the board games to my happiness/entertainment box which now has all of our movies and will get the Xbox added to it. 

There are several boxes of food, several. There are food items that I know from experience that I will miss. We included a a few large flours, sugar and 10 lbs of rice. I didn't just go out shopping one day and bought everything I needed. This has been a long few months of buying items without going over my monthly budget. I refuse to spend money that I don't have and I don't touch my emergency savings. (Thank you Dave Ramsey!)

I sat at my computer and with the aid of excel, created a document full of lists. It evolved into our Alaska Planner. I had a list of food items, misc, toileteries, etc of things I wanted to buy for Alaska. It enabled me to keep a log of items that I bought and things that I needed to buy. The pictures are a screen shot of the document. This is an older example and does not include all my items. 

The goal was to buy enough food items to last us the summer. The toiletries, cleaning and misc items could last us a few months to a year. I was able to catch sales and stocked up on items. It was a great experience. I will update you if this works! 

I have to travel to Anchorage in August for New Hire Inservice. I plan on buying all my kids their school supplies unless the school offers a one set price box of school items. It makes shopping easier when that is done. It will also give me the opportunity to get any items that we really need before I fly back to Barrow for the school year. I will be able to check 3 bags with Alaska Airlines plus have a carry-on! I'm thinking about flying with two coolers and a large empty suitcase. I can put all my clothes in the carry on and survive quite nicely!

I can't explain enough how exciting this has been. The whole process has been like the GroundHog Day of Christmas. I keep getting excited and happy every time I get to do something for Alaska. 

Still counting down!

Emily's Birthday/Going Away Party

We decided to give each girl a special Birthday/Going Away Party before we left Cincinnati. Emily had her party first. It was fun and simple. 

This is Emily and her pals!

Emily's cake was a penguin with cupcakes. I had to let her know that we won't be seeing them. She wasn't happy!

A few of Emily's friends are taking Latin with her. 

Georgia really wants to eat some cake!

Yes, Emily is finally 14 years old!

Lots of leftover pizza! I think we will be eating this for the next wee and a half!

Emily's final gift was a special request to have her eyebrows waxed. And this is the final result. She suffered through it! 

Let the Shipping Begin!

Today was an early release at my school in Ohio and it was a rough partial day. I was in need of some happiness and smiles. After posting some messages on facebook about needing some prayers. I went home to mess with my boxes. I gathered five of my "if it fits it ships" boxes and two of my large green tubs. I checked and doubled checked the contents and wrote the address labels. I had to write directly on the green tubs because they were plastic. We drilled holes through them easily. We drilled from the bottom up. I can't remember why we did that but I'm sure it makes sense. Each box had four thick zip ties and handles to seal it securely. 

This is the stack of boxes that we were heading out to mail. We put them on the porch and pulled the car up to save our backs!

This is how I addressed the plastic tubs that I bought on sale at Big Lots! They are thick and hopefully will make the trip without losing any of the contents.

Yes, the big boy fit on the scale! I was worried that I wouldn't but it did!

We filled their mail cart. Then turned to see a long line forming behind us. I think we will try to send some on Saturday morning or at a better time. The postal workers were very patient and helpful through all of our questions. I can't wait to go back and see them! 

And our long list of boxes! It wasn't as expensive as I thought. We used the "if it fits it ships" boxes for the really heavy items. We freed up weight in the other boxes for important items. (Yes, possibly shoes!) We still have about 18 boxes to go..... 
These boxes will get there in about 10 days because we decided to ship them as cheaply as possible. The Plant Manager at my school will arrange to have them put in my assigned housing. These should be waiting for me when I arrive in a few weeks!

And time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking, ticking......

Daylight Questions

I am not in Barrow but I found this online. 

How to pack a sea bag

Emily and I packed 1 full sea bag full of clothes for Alaska. It has 50 lbs worth of clothes for three happy girls. We decided to just put their clothes in the sea bag and fly with it to Alaska. 

The current count for the plane is:

1 sea bag of clothes 

1 gun box

1 fishing bag

We have 3 spots taken and 7 more to pack. Space fills up quick! And in my new hire packet it stated that Alaskan Airlines will allow a third checked bag for free in Alaska. We are going to hit Wal-mart in Fairbanks for last minute food, misc and toilet paper. 

If we do that, then we will arrive in Barrow with 15 bags! Wow! We are still planning it out. We still haven't gotten our boxes together. And like most things in our lives, its not set in stone. We can change our minds. Its nice to have options. 

Physicals are finished!

My new hire packet included a physical for employment. There is no longer a TB test requirement. (I hate that shot in the arm.) I called the VA clinic to get an appointment. The closest they could get me in was July! Yes, due to the increased amount of veterans entering the system after Obama-care's required insurance, there is a backlog for appointments. The only way the backlog can be fixed is to hire more doctors, nurses and support personnel. (I will get down off the soapbox now.) The only solution was to find a cheap urgent care option to give me a physical. 

Solution:

Kroger offers a Little Clinic in their store. I paid my fee and was in and out in 20 minutes. Toby did his physical just in case he needed one. 

Now, I can finally mail my new hire packet to Barrow! 

Background check for housing is here!

I received an email for me and my husband's background check. Once again the excitement started to rev up. I filled the papers out and sent them back the same day. I am very glad that I have a printer/scanner/copier. It has come in handing during this time. I'm still trying to decide what to do with it when I move. Its kinda heavy and won't fit in the USPS boxes. 

And speaking of boxes..... this Saturday I will be shipping the first round of boxes to Barrow, Alaska! I'm going to take lots of pictures of the fun. Emily will miss out because she is zip-lining with some pals on Saturday. Georgia and Abi are great helpers when it comes to packing. 

Just a reminder....

36 days till we leave Cincinnati!
51 days till we fly to Barrow, Alaska!

Where's the Beef?

My new hire packet contained an ad for the AC store. I thought everyone should see this. Yes, I understand that the cost of living is greater. It isn't that bad because teachers have been living up there for a very long time. There were several teachers that have been with the school district for 20 plus years. 

Remember to smile when you view these!

This is the complete ad that was sent to me. 

Value pack seems to have some good stuff in it. I can use the ham bone for stew and there's some variety to it. 

Get out the grill for this one. We don't eat lots of steaks and spare ribs in this house. 

Super Value Pack might be for us. The Sampler Pack might be a good start for our freezer. 

Boat Pack? I guess for the fisherman going out to sea for a bit. It does contain lots of the meat the girls and Toby enjoy. 

Ah, no. We gotta have more than just cow in our freezer!

We gotta have more than just Porky in the freezer!

I like the Economy pack. I'm not sure what to do with an beef oxtail. 

Don't get upset with me or complain about I'm spending too much money. I haven't made a decision on how we are going to get meat. We are going to take coolers with us on the plane. Coolers with lots of meat and fresh produce. We will not starve. 

New Hire Packet Is Here!

My new hire packet is here! It is filled full of information that really helped me. It contained answers to questions that I didn't even think about asking. 

I spent about 2-3 hours looking, reading and filling out paperwork. I used sticky note tabs for documents that needed copies or more signatures. I have only a few items to finish before I send my documents back. 

The excitement is like a volcano about to erupt. I am overjoyed at this opportunity. I was so worried about my highly qualified status that I was making myself ill. I'm back on track and positive that things are going to work out in the end. 

Stores in Barrow

The internet has been very helpful in researching Barrow. There are two stores in Barrow. One is a locally owned and the other is the AC store. Its like a large NEX/PX for the military people out there. I looked online at the ads for the AC Store. Prices are higher than what I pay now. I plan to only shop at these stores for little things and do the majority online with Amazon or other free shippers. I thought everyone might get a kick out of the ads so I posted them.