First Subbing Job…

So I just accepted my first subbing job! Actually it’s a job for a teacher’s aid, and I realized after the fact that it’s only for 4 hours…but it’s still a job! In some ways it might be nice to have my very first large classroom experience under someone else’s wing. Hopefully tomorrow will be enough to get my feet wet and give me a little more confidence for the subbing jobs that come along next week!? Since I’ve been in the system, which is about a week now, I’ve gotten calls for jobs almost every day. This is the first one I could actually accept, and I was afraid I wouldn’t get another one for tomorrow if I didn’t go for it. But hey…you’ve gotta’ start somewhere! This may not be ideal from a monetary standpoint, but it is a step in the right direction.

I’m off to lay out my clothes, print some directions, and get some sleep!!

Decision Time

I met with my academic adviser today and she laid out two different plans for me. One includes a minor in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and one does not. The difference is approximately a year of schooling and/or student teaching. Both plans include fairly intense semesters with at least 14 credit hours and sometimes more. Both plans include at least one or two classes in spring/summer semesters. Basically, if I minor in ECE, I won't finish all my requirements until 2011. I won't have a job until 2012, at which time I'll be 36 years old. Three more years of limited income, scraping by with a crappy car, and having little stability in terms of a job. Three more years of feeling waaaaay too old to be where I am and feeling like I don't pull enough weight financially. On the other hand, I could have a "structure of the disciplines" minor and be done by 2010, possibly working by 2011 when I'm 35. Plus, this path only includes one semester of student teaching while ECE includes two. In terms of jobs though, the ECE minor will make me look really good on paper, while the less specialized minor will make me nothing more than a speck in a sea of other equally qualified, younger candidates. Hmmmmmmmm...I'm really not sure what to do.

My adviser recommended sticking it out for the extra year and getting the ECE endorsement, but SHE isn't the one who has to live this crazy life until then. When I first thought about coming back to EMU to do teaching, I never in all my life imagined it would take me this long. The bear of Elementary Ed is that it's very generalized, so there are A LOT of general ed requirements that I wouldn't have if I had chosen a different career plan.

Ugh! I wish this could be easier and more clear cut. There are sooo many requirements and forms and things to do/consider. I honestly find all of it somewhat overwhelming! At the same time, I am excited about being a teacher and I want to make this happen. I guess I'm going to go turn in my application and essay with the ECE intent, and if I decide to change my mind, I'll do that according to their procedures. It probably IS the smarter thing to do. A year can go by pretty quickly, and I DO want to teach the little ones, so I guess this really makes the most sense for me at this point.

Almonds

I learned in my heart health seminar a few months ago that 23 almonds per day can decrease the likelihood of heart attacks. I've been eating them every day lately. I put a few in an Altoids tin and snack on them throughout the day. Of course sodium is still a concern since so many pre-packaged nuts are loaded with it. I buy the Emerald brand "natural" almonds. They're pretty tasty and satisfying once you get used to them without the salt.

A Few Words About Weeds

Today I've been feeling sort of...I don't know...blah all day. Finally, at about 7:00 tonight, I got sick enough of my own attitude to go out and do some gardening. Normally weeds are thought of as a bad thing for gardeners. Well...they ARE annoying, but man you can really take out some major frustration on the little buggers too! Seriously, next time you're grumpy, sad, irritated--any negative emotion, go pull some weeds! If you don't have a garden of your own, find a gardener and ask them if they have some weeds you can pull. There's nothing quite like this as an anecdote to irritation! I also did some serious pruning of our dogwood bush. I may have gone too far this time. Gardening is a lot like what I imagine raising children will be like. You really don't know what you're doing so you read a few books, make some educated guesses, try a few things, talk to other gardeners, then you hope/pray you don't screw things up too much in the end! The bush actually looks pretty, it's just MUCH smaller than it was. I think it will grow back but there's always that nervous feeling that it won't this time. Only time will tell.

In other news, I went on a shopping spree at Salvation Army this afternoon. I expect to start subbing next week, which means I need a few decent outfits. Since I'm subbing primarily because we need the money, thrifty shopping was my solution. I did pretty good. I spent $52 and I got three pairs of pants; two tops; a pair of shoes; a sheet set for the twin bed in our guest room; two sets of drinking glasses, 8 large and 6 small for a total of 14 glasses; a heated massage pad for the seat in my car; one outfit for my niece; an old fashioned rocking horse, also for my niece, with the dual purpose of a prop for the studio when I do portraits. Not too shabby if I do say so myself! Me being in school for the past several years has meant that we're generally low on money. This has taught me one thing though, and that is how to be thrifty! My good deals, at least, made me happy today.

I'm done for now.

She's Pretty Cute!

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People are so rude!

I was at the laundry mat again on Saturday, we've been without a washer now since September. I really can't wait for our govt. surplus check to arrive so we can finally get a new washing machine, I am sick of sharing with everyone else. My clothes were in the dryer while I was folding one load I had already taken out. I waited just under two minutes, two minutes to finish folding a couple things. The next time I looked up some woman had already removed more than half of my clothes from the dryer. I walked over and asked in a rather terse tone, "are those dry?" She said she thought they were. I made it clear that I was not happy about her inability to be a decent person. Apparently I was not the first person she had done the same thing to that day. I wonder what it is that makes people think they are more important than others? Why did she think she was entitled to touch my laundry and remove it from the dryer? As it turned out, the largest part of my load, a blanket was still fairly damp. She had to have known because she conveniently placed it on the bottom of the cart, so that I wouldn't know until it was too late. Again I made it known that I wasn't thrilled about having to wait 15 more minutes while my blanket dried. I just get so sick of people who seem to think the entire world revolves around them. As I left the laundry mat, I was not at all surprised to see that my little, rude friend was also the same woman who parked her car sideways in a questionable parking spot! Good grief!

Spring Planting

I've spent the better part of the past several days getting all my spring planting done. There's a new grass garden behind our garage now and I planted three new Foxglove plants, three new Blanket Flower plants, and three more of a variety whose name is presently escaping me. They should go a long way towards rounding out the front garden. Thanks again to my parents for all the help! I also got all my annual hanging/porch baskets done. I planted five flats of annuals this year, plus a few other miscellaneous plants so this was a big job. I'm sporting one huge bruise on my leg and another on my head! The first is from walking into the corner of my dad's truck (ouch!) and the latter is from my run-in with a new metal plant stand I bought yesterday. The thing is long and awkward, not to mention heavy, so I had trouble situating it in the cart, along with two kids and a load of groceries. I thought all was well but I leaned over the cart to pick something up off the floor and SMACK, it came crashing down onto the side of my head. It hurt real bad and now I've got a huge knot on my head. :( I'm just thankful it didn't hit either of the girls or any other Meijer guests. It's been raining steadily all day and now the plant stand in question has actually managed to bend itself in half. I guess the hanging baskets are too heavy with all the water they're holding today. That or maybe it's just a piece of junk and I should take it back...the thing's been nothing bu trouble since I put it in my cart! Oh well...plant stand aside, I think all my baskets and new garden additions look nice...once they fill out some and are more worthy I'll post some pictures.

For now I'm off to make some white bean chicken chili to try and embrace this dreary day!

What a Dinner!

MCL and I went to Los Amigos, my favorite local authentic Mexican restaurant with some friends tonight. We were pleasantly surprised to discover they had a live Mariachi band playing this evening, in honor of Mother's day. We were serenaded brilliantly...and let's just say there was one member of the band who certainly knew how to work for his tips! He was definitely playing it up, but we had a good time and we were entertained by the band as we ate. This was certainly a first for me...and quite an experience! In fact, the youngest member of our party, one-year-old Becca, was so mesmerized by the music that she wouldn't eat right away, it was pretty funny. Good times!

I PASSED!!!

This is one of the greatest days I've had in a long time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Basic Skills Mathematics Section
Status: Passed
Total Score: 249
Minimum Passing Score: 220

Wow...all my hard work has (at last) paid off! I still have some hurdles to jump over in regards to math but this is a HUGE, HUGE step in the right direction!! I can get into the teaching program in time for fall now, and I'm feeling so immensely relieved. I feel like...regardless of whatever other obstacles I have to overcome between now ant then...my dreams of my degree, and finally having my own classroom with a stable, enjoyable job are within my reach at long last.

Wow...and...just WOW!!!

My Best Ffriends

These girls rock my world...as a favorite quote so eloquently put it:
"It's no coincidence that GOD spelled backwards is DOG!"

Finally done!

Well the semester is over at last and now I can finally relax a little! I'll be taking a math class this summer but it doesn't start until May 30, so until then I have some time to focus on some things I want to do instead of all the stuff I have to do! My semester was actually quite successful, in spite of some of my initial concerns about geography. Here are my final grades:

• Educational Learning & Development: A
• Teacher Preparation Field Experience Online Practicum: A (Pass/No Pass and I passed:)
  
• Multicultural Children's Lit: A
• Feminism, Theory & Philosophy: A
• Geography & World Regions: B

Not too bad all things considered! It was a heavy load, with work and life also piled on top, so I'm happy to have done so well. This means I've successfully completed a total of ten classes so far at Eastern, all in one short year...obstacles and all! I hope next year will go well too...I have much to do and some hurdles to jump over (math and physics!) in order to get prepared for student teaching. Mostly I can't wait to get all this education behind me so I can get a job and move on with life!!

Other than that I'm just staying busy with all the things that have been on hold due to school. My goal for this next week is to get signed up to become a sub. I went and got fingerprinted yesterday, and I have an orientation meeting on Wed. of next week. I'm hoping I can get everything lined up so I can actually sub a few days this school year, but we'll have to see if that actually pans out or not. The whole idea of subbing makes me nervous enough to feel sick...but I've got to bite the bullet at some point and get myself into the classroom! I'm sure I can handle the task, and the experience will do me good, but it will be a learning curve too. Undoubtedly there will be more to come where all this is concerned.

In other news, I found out Monday that my oldest friend in Michigan (by oldest I mean friend I've had the longest, not oldest age-wise) has just purchased a house two doors down from me! It will be interesting/exciting to have her living so close by. I'm sure we will have fun, and in many ways it will be nice to know I already know my new neighbor. :) I'm really happy for her, I know becoming a home owner is something she's been looking forward to for a long time now!

I guess that's about it for tonight. It's been a long day and I'm getting tired. It rained most of the day today, which we needed, but which also meant I was inside all day with the girls. Not bad necessarily, just more draining than when we can get outside to play.