Never a Dull Moment....

I had an interesting weekend. I love how you can plan your weekend and life just totally messes with your plans.

I'm taking an Alaskan History class for my Alaskan teaching certificate. I took a multi-cultural class this summer but haven't finished it. All new teachers have to take these classes. So I was talking to my airport buddy during the retreat and he had mentioned that he had a lot of work to do on the class. Then my roommate mentioned the same thing to me. So I set up a study group meeting.....in my village. The plan was for my airport buddy to fly over on Saturday and spend the day working on the class with us. I invited another teacher and it looked as though it would be a busy Saturday but a productive one.

Now, coming in from another village is no easy task. Airfare is about $120 round trip between villages. Or you can take the ice road...which is starting to melt a bit...so that's out. BUT if there is a plane for your school going to where you need to go and there is space, you can jump on a school plane for free. And it just so happened, there was such a flight from his village to my village....except it was for Friday night. But it would cut $60 off the day.

NEW PLAN: Airport buddy flies in Friday night and sleeps at the school. Then he'll come to our house in the morning and we'll make him breakfast (the one meal I can cook for btw) and then it's off to the school!

Everything goes according to plan in the beginning. He arrived safe & sound and stayed in my classroom for the night. He arrived at our house and he ended up making breakfast for us ladies. And I had no problem with that whatsoever. And then we walked to the school and began to settle in and work on our classes.

Again, everything is going very well. But you know, I was kind of chilly. I notice Lindi has her jacket on and I go to get mine. Soon even my airport buddy is chilly (what is it with men & the heat anyways???) and soon he has his jacket on. Well, the heat's turned off. Okay.....so we just work with our jackets on but we keep working.

I finished my final project for my multi-cultural class and decided to peruse Facebook. I noticed my neighbor posted that it was snowing. I look outside the window and sure enough, it was snowing. Hard. Uh-oh. I checked the weather report. Yeah, my village was on a blizzard watch. I mention this to my study group and we all start wondering....are the planes flying? And the answer was no....they were on a weather hold. So my airport buddy can't leave until Sunday.

NEW NEW PLAN: work on our classes, he comes over for dinner, he spends the night at the school, and he goes home the next day.

And he's being a really good sport about all this. But remember how I said the heat in the classrooms was turned off? Yeah, it became clear.....he can't stay at the school. It's too cold.

NEW NEW NEW PLAN: work on our classes, he comes over for dinner, he crashes on our couch, and then he goes home the next day.

Time is going by...and we are all working. I've got my book and my highlighter out and am getting stuff done. Then my airport buddy says "Hey! Do you think you could cut my hair? It's so long, I hate it!"

I tell him I've never cut hair before and would most likely do a horrible job. He says anything is better that what he has now. And he tells me it should be easy. Lindi tells me that they have how-to videos on the internet. I ask her if she wants to do it, but she just shakes her head no.

So, I decide....why not?

NEW NEW NEW NEW PLAN: work on classes, i cut his hair, we all eat dinner, he crashes on our couch, and then he goes home the next day.

I watch a how-to video...then I read an article on a how-to site. And that's about as much training and prep as I got.

I decided I was going to use scissors to cut his hair. We pack up to leave and walk back to our house.

And Miss Ruark's hair salon is now open!

I was ready: spray bottle, comb, & scissors! Except I had forgotten to adjust the spray bottle nozzle and so I just shot him in the back of the head with water right off the bat and had to spend some minutes collecting myself before I could go on. It was not a very satisfying start.

I started at the back of his head....I comb, measure with my fingers, and cut just a bit first. I comb and think....I can't tell where I cut. So I keep going....and the more I cut the more it looks like I haven't done any cutting yet. My airport buddy had a magic head of hair that refuses to stay cut!

Finally, I gave up. Nothing was happening yet. So I broke out my clippers. And why do I have clippers, you ask? Because I have to shave my cat's butt with them. Luckily, they were brand new clippers that had never been used so I felt using them on my friend would be fine. I used the highest guard and off I went! Finally, I was cutting some hair and this time you could tell!

I trimmed around the ears and the bangs. I shaved the little hairs off the neck like I've seen them do in movies....and the overall effect.....not too shabby! I don't think I did that bad of a job at all. My friend looked different with short hair but the weird part was looking at it thinking: I totally cut his hair!!

I told him if he wanted me to do it again, I would. But he would have to provide his own clippers. I really need to use them on my cat soon.

The rest of the weekend followed the latest plan. Dinner was fun and we watched a movie. It was a little odd having a man sleep on the couch and seeing man products on the bathroom sink (okay, it was just toothpaste & a toothbrush, but it belonged to a man) but that was fine. The next day went off without a hitch, thank goodness.

But you never know where life will take you. A study session turns into a lesson in haircuts. A day trip becomes a weekend excursion. Forrest Gump was right....life is like a box of chocolates.... and you know the rest....