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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Welcome to Good Burger

I believe something is terribly wrong with the world when Wendy's is out of chocolate frosty's and Arby's is out of roast beef. What else do you get?

I was paid $200 more than I should have been this week, and I considered for four hours taking it as my personal stimulus check/gift of gratitude for the frayed pants comment, until my boss figured it out.

My new check was still more than it should have been and it's known to my boss, but I apparently get to keep it anyway.

I've officially decided that my boss is really either ridiculously scatterbrained or she just thinks we're all dumbasses. I think at this point I know how to work the paperclips.

After three weeks of "the financial aid package will be sent out by the end of the week" I finally got one from Angel University, and it is decent. Certainly on the docket (...is that how you spell that word? let's just say so).

I was told by a prof. at Devil University that an advising appointment was not an excused absence from her class. I'm pretty sure my reply scared her, and basically ended in "frankly I care less about that than I do about the common house fly" but in words that were much less friendly.

I received two copies of the lit mag I had a poem and short story published in last week in the mail this week. The women who sent it to me asked me for my address yesterday, expressed mailed it, and $4.98 later I got it today. Seriously impressed.

Publication count: 4
Publication dollars: $300 and a copy of the Young Writers Literary Journal
...you see the problem.

New job available--meeting with the boss tomorrow morning, no idea what I'm going to do.

8-10 page paper #1 done. #2 not started. Due Monday.

B just picked up a giant spider by the string and put it outside while I went for a shoe. Hero. But if it comes back inside, I will not be happy.

Porch Bird is apparently not afraid of people in the dark, just in the daytime. No babies yet.

I worked hard to have great nails for Dining Out this weekend. So I broke one at work today, and have to get fakies on Saturday morning. And getting the eyebrows done tomorrow (for all you non-italians, have pity). Is it wrong that I don't care at all about my hair?

=]

Monday, April 27, 2009

Things About Jobs and Things

My job:

I love the kids (who could resist a bunch of Baby B's??).
I don't even really mind the 939239248 daily diaper changes.
It's fun to play with them.
I enjoy that.
However, the politics of it are enough to make me want to eat my own face.
Realistically, I don't know how long I will stay in this job.
Just for fun, I would also like to tell you that I killed a centipede in my classroom today.

Things I wish I knew:

Where/if I am going to school next year.
What my school schedule will be.
Who will work with my schedule.

Reasons I wish this:

I was called today and told that I may be offered a full-time position tomorrow.
It pays at least $3.00 more per hour than the daycare.
It's a half hour from here.
It's a doctors office.
But will they work around my schedule when school starts back up in August??
Or will I not be in school so I can continue working full-time and have benefits??

The real question is this:

Where the crap were all these talented people hiding in Britain until this season of Britain's Got Talent? I mean, seriously. It's just ridiculous.

Susan Boyle, 47

Shaheen Jafargholi, 12 (Skip to 1:50...my personal favorite!)


Hollie Steel, 10 (skip to 1:40)

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Weekend Wonders

The Quickie. (p.s. how do you do the strike through on here?)

Friday:

Off work for Shakespeare play, Comedy of Errors, downtown.
Hated it.
But love downtown.


Saturday:

Temperatures in upper 80's.
Baby B showed up around 11am, at least 4 hours earlier than expected.
Baby A visited.
Baby Cabbage stopped by for a few.
And E graced us with his presence as well.
Rode on E's "mini motor car".
Brother pushed me off.
We both fell.
My wrist claimed battle scars.
Of course we took pictures.






Sunday:

Temps in the lower 90's.
Loved it.
Went to park.
Was stalked by Baby A and her mommy.
Not actually intended to be funny.
Baby B had her first ice cream cone.
Went to first softball game.
Lost 11 to 0.
But got to witness a neck fight (where two people fight but only stare at each others necks, almost as good as a nothing fight).
Went with a food baby.
Decided I need to diet and exercise again.







Don't know what happene to my keybard but this is how it thinks i shoud be typin without fixing the errors i decides t make on it's ow.nodtglod Im not a fan.a

Tomorrow it's back to work and school. Boo.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Air Force Jobs and Base Rankings

The good:

B got the job he wanted! Security Forces. We got a list of bases this week that will need a 2nd LT next year, and had to rank the top 6.

The bad:

None of them are less than 9 hours from here. Which kind of stinks, at least for our first station, because allll of our family (both of us) is here. And that's farr.

The Rank:

1. Robins (Georgia, 9.5hrs)
2. Andrews (Maryland, 9hrs)
3. Dover (Delaware, 10.5hrs...the main attraction is B "knows people" and they "like him already" here)
4. McGuire (New Jersey, 10hrs...which I combated with "I could know Mrs. Staff Sergeant here" choice)
5. Vandenberg (California, 35.5hrs...also known as "this base has 40 miles of coastline in it" add)
6. Barksdale (Louisiana, 13.5hrs)

So we'll see. We're really, realllly hoping for Robins. I have some family in Georgia, and a lot of my family visits often, and it's almost the same as Andrews and Dover, except warm. But, at least Andrews is right outside DC so, that would be interesting.

Do any of you AF Wifey's out there know anything about these bases? Or how likely we are to get our top choice?

B will do his training (which, according to google, looks like the picture below) mostly in Texas, anyway, and a couple weeks at Dover randomly...but that only lasts a few months and he'll be at his permanent station after that.



The Random:

-80% chance my mom will not have the reconstruction surgery on the 5th. Her platelets are half of the minimum of the "normal" range, meaning her blood won't clot. No good for surgery.

-I'm off work tomorrow, because I'm going to a Shakespeare play. And I have to shave, because it's going to be 80 degrees. I say it's a fair trade.

-I have woken up at 2 and 5 and not gone back to sleep for the past two nights because I can't breathe because my immune system is on holiday. I will resort to NyQuil for the first time for these past 14 days tonight, and I will love it. =]

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Promised Picture Post

Ha! English major does know how to use alliteration!

Anyway, moving on, I should probably tell you why we went to Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg, TN/Pigeon Forge/Great Smoky Mountains. You know it, right? I'm never really quite sure if people who are not from the mid-west have any idea what I'm talking about. So, do you? Still...moving on...(I swear I have a longer attention span than this. ....sometimes), my parents, 8-10 other couples depending on the moment, and all of their children and grandchildren make up the Redneck Yacht Club. Please let me clear up a few things on this:

We do not actually own "yachts".
We are not actually "rednecks". (well, not really, anyway)
We are not rich nor poor.
But the first generation members do own boats (ours is a nice little 18' Celebrity named "Lil' Shorty")
We were not the Redneck Yacht Club until Craig Morgan came out with the song and one of the guys thought it would be fun to make window stickers.
We camp every 2-3 weekends in the summer at a lake 5 hours from here.
By "camp" we mean we stay in RVs with air conditioning, like ours shown in this post.
And 3-4 of the other 8-10 couples are related to me, depending on who has decided to stay married to who at the time.
....yes, I know our family is nuts. We all live right next to each other, yet still willingly travel together in the summer. This should probably be addressed with years of therapy.

But the RYC goes on a 1st generation only trip to Gatlinburg every year. Kids aren't invited. Though, they do admit that it's only because there are a couple kids who they really don't want to invite and they couldn't just invite some of us.

So we invited ourselves. 6 hour drive each way. With everyone at home in our cant-keep-a-secret family knowing. And we still surprised the crap out of them. Here's some tidbits..

The shirts we made at 11pm the night before.


How we entertained ourselves on the way down. Not that we were on the highway...or anything..


The cabin we crashed at with the 1stGenRYC.


View from the cabin.


What we did at the cabin, and where I left my watch.


Some sights from our afternoon of shopping in Gatlinburg:

Damn, I can't believe I left my dolphin at home!


The ski lift.


Water ball.


The souvenir penny machine.


How appropriate to find the Lollipop Guild on the Lower Level.


How we do.


But, now I must go wrangle some kids off the bus and get ready for Eric's visitation. Hope you have enjoy your way-too-much-information post :)

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Goods

One, we have eggs...


Two, my Huichol Indian Yarn Art project is done...


Three...I'm almost done writing a speech outline that will become an 8-10 page research paper for another class as well (2 birds...erm, fish?...one...hook) and a picture post from Gatlinburg is coming tomorrow, possibly when I opt out of Shakespeare and before I leave for Eric's visitation.

For now, I must to-do list it:

-Take Human Ecology Test (before 5/1)
-8-10 pg research paper on adoption (due 5/1)
-8-10 pg research paper on shakespear (due 5/4)
-5-7 minute speech on adoption (4/22)
-3-5 minute speech on Huichol and Yarn Art project (4/24)
-Advising appointment (5/1, instead of attending Speech)
-Take Human Eco Exam (5/4-10, no idea when)
-Take Speech Exam (5/6)
-Sit at hospital for mom's surgery (5/5-6)
-Dining Out (5/2)
-Buy shoes for dining out
-Eric's visitation (4/22)
-Shakespeare Play (4/24)
-Baby B (4/25)

...I'm sure I'm forgetting something. But now I'll kind of, sort of, maybe remember to do all this. Crunch time! Oh, and egg watching time!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

If Things Would Have Gone As Planned...

...I would be showing you all a small selection of the upwards of 50 photos we took on the way to and in Gatlinburg yesterday. I would be dishing about how we surprised the yacht club with our crash, and how awesome their faces were, and how beautiful the view from the 8-bedroom cabin on top of a mountain was. You would love it.

However, things did not go as planned and I do not feel right posting pictures here on this entry today.

We did go to Gatlinburg. We did crash the party. We did have a ton of fun. But we also got a call at 10pm Saturday night informing us that one of the yacht club kids (my generation) had died unexpectedly. Early thirties, three kids, had just gotten re-engaged a few hours before a friend found him on his bedroom floor not breathing and they were unable to revive him.

It's an eerie feeling, as the last time we were all together for a big party/get together we lost TJ & Stephanie in the hurricane. Now Eric. It would be putting it nicely to say it pisses me off.

So I will not be putting pictures in this post. I will only be asking you to keep Eric's parents, son, daughters, fiance, and friends in your thoughts.

I will do a picture post another day. I am sick (again, and more than a cold this time as my eyes refuse to focus on this screen without shaking) but hopefully will get to it at some point in the next couple days around school, work, and the funeral.

And because I know you all are amazing, thank you ahead of time.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

On Devil Birds, Frayed Jeans, Cute Dogs and Trips

A few things that continue to lack updates (though I am feeling much better, thanks for the well wishes!)...

A bird has decided to take up house on my front porch on top of our one and only wreath. No eggs yet, but you may remember the bird mentioned in this post that I killed on accident while playing fetch with Chase...well, this bird may become my first intended murder victim. This is not the same bird that continuously, suicidally, flings himself at my kitchen window in the wee hours of the morning, but I'm pretty sure it's one of the birds that used to torment my outdoor cat. But, the real issue is, that it scares the crap out of me every time I go in or out the front door. Observe nest:


Also, my boss decided to stick me as a fill-in for the 5-11 year olds for the past two days. I was told at least 10 times how pretty I looked (somehow it doesn't have the same appeal when the people telling you can barely tie their own shoes), had my hairs did by a 5 year old, was told by another 5 year old that she wished I was her mommy, and tried my hardest to settle an argument over a "band" created with two girls who were suddenly feuding 5 seconds later (you know what they say about pressure in rock bands!) without laughing...and failed. However, what really annoyed me was my boss came up and said something about the bottom of my jeans needing to be rolled up because they were frayed. Only one pant leg is, by the way, and it looks like this:

In my opinion, this does not constitute a problem. I see how it could be if they were dragging all over the place or falling apart or whatever...but not this. It's barely noticeable. I also know that there is nothing in focus in this picture except the corner of the steps. I just want to be back with my damn babies where no one has time to notice my damn jeans.

Also, let's just look at Chase, because he's so darn cute, even though I spent 30 minutes brushing him before this picture and he still is shedding hair off both sides of his butt:


We've decided to make an impulsive, spontaneous Gatlinburg trip overnight tomorrow to crash a Yacht Club party. Believe it or not, the biggest issue here was finding people to come take Chase out for me. More on this excitement Sunday or Monday upon my return :)

Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Bubble Girl

I've decided that the bubble boy may have had something going for him. Health :D

No, but really. I'm still sickly, but it's really more annoying than threatening. It's just an annoying cold/throat annoyance (I wish I could currently think of another word for 'annoy'), but since it's going on 6 days with it it's about enough to drive me nuts. I don't think I have a very high fever, now or throughout this entire week, but I couldn't be completely sure because I dislike knowing what my fever is--if I think it's low, than I feel better than if I know it's high haha.

Even though the color of my face is that of a slightly off-white wall (thank god for makeup), I haven't called off work or canceled plans or anything at all this week. I'm one of those people everyone hates because I go to work if I can stand it, even if I'm really sick, and then everyone else gets sick from it.

I should probably....apologize...for that...

But if I thought I had a high fever, because I now work with kids, I'd call off. But since I don't, and I got it from them, I say it's fair game. Literally, the last and only time I remember calling off work for being sick was last...August? And it was supposed to be my first day at the bookstore, but I was so sick that I couldn't really stand straight. I was supposed to go in and do paperwork on a Friday, and I moved it to a Saturday (which didn't really help, at all, because then my boss was like "let's take a tour of the store!" and I'm thinking please don't puke, please don't puke. I listened, but it was not in vain). I actually started two jobs that week, and I had an open-close shift as my first shift (9 hours) on the next day (Sunday) which I suffered through and managed, somehow. My mom then caught it, was the same amount of days into it that I was when I worked 9 hours, looked at me and said, "I have no idea how you worked 9 hours on Sunday feeling like this." That's a lot from Ms. Tough Mom.

But, anyway, that's why my posts this week have been void of actual content/updates. Hopefully this weekend!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A Cancer Milestone

A milestone, in my opinion, was hit this week with my mom. Her hair has been growing back for some time now, but it's certainly taking it's time in doing so. It's so soft, and for over a month I've been telling her she didn't need the wig anymore...just go with the hair! Well, I finally convinced her to do that a few weeks ago and she went to the grocery without her wig or a hat, and stood at the deli, and someone behind her saw her 5"9', short haired self and said, "Can I help you....sir." And that was pretty much the end of that, and I was sure she'd never go wig-less anywhere again.

This past week, however, my mom decided to go get a hair cut. Before all she could do with it was faux-hock it, because it had no style attempts. But now with the cut, it's cut to spike up on top and lay down on the sides, even though it's still very short. And to my amazement, she hasn't worn the wig once since getting the haircut. I love that she's comfortable enough to do it! It makes me so happy, and means the time in which this is all "in the past" is coming soon! She'll have her breast reconstruction surgery in the beginning of May, and then a decent period of recuperation, and a few injections to finish them off along the way. Other than that, the treatment/after-care will be completely done other than her every 6 week oncology check-ups (but no more procedures!). A little bit of excitement over here!


(Her and I, I'm somewhere around 11-12 months old. And because I know you're wondering, there will be payback for that outfit at some point. ;])



(P.S. 5 minutes ago I was informed that the general education class list that I have is from 2004, and is no longer valid. It just keeps getting better.)

Monday, April 13, 2009

Dear Friends,

I apologize for myself. I am a sucky friend.

I'm sorry that you call me, and I never call you back.

I'm sorry that sometimes you call me and I can answer, but I don't because I feel bad turning you down for plans.

I'm sorry that you forward me all those cute little texts that say stuff like "the person reading this is fabulous" and "I'll stick with you until the very end" and I never say anything back, nor text-it-forward.

I'm sorry that, despite the fact that most of you live within ten miles of me, I haven't seen 99% of you since Christmas...but I'll fly all the way to Maine to see Jayna.

I'm sorry that the only time we discuss things is when one of us is getting married, having a baby or something goes terribly wrong.

I'm sorry that I've neglected msn, AIM, facebook chat, letter-writing, and emails...for a very long time now.

And I'm very sorry that only three of you have the address to this blog, so you'll never see this...and even more sorry that I don't plan on changing that anytime soon.

Love,
Via

Sunday, April 12, 2009

I Like Square Butts

Okay, really. Have you seen this new Burger King commercial? Is it so wrong that I laughed so hard the first time I saw it? This is the whole music video, but you get the idea very quickly:



Ha! "When a girl walks in with a pretty little waist and that round thing in my face I get sprung" becomes "When a sponge walks in, four corners in his pants, like he's got phonebook implants the crowd shouts."

Oh, and Happy Easter! :D

Saturday, April 11, 2009

When You Know You're Getting Sick...

What do you do? Do you fight it with meds immediately, or wait it out? I've always been taught that fighting it with meds suppresses the bodies natural immune system (you know, if it had one) and actually makes the thing last longer so I only take it when it's necessary (like when I have bad colds I take DayQuil and/or NyQuil, an when my fever is over 103 I take Tylenol). But I've heard on some commercials for meds like ThermaCare that "take it at the first sign of a cold to get rid of it faster."

Where is the TRUTH!? It would be a very convenient truth.

And does the fact that I never spell out the word for medicine make me sound like a druggy?

Friday, April 10, 2009

Banana Pancakes

I've never actually had those before, but I hear they are good...even made it into a song. Has anyone else had them?

Anyway, onto the current end result of the Uni sitchiation (or as Kim Possible would say, "the sitch". Um, yes. I do find it incredibly sad that I know that.) Basically Thursday morning I spent an hour and a half on the phone with Devil University being bounced around from department to department and then sent to dead-end phonelines. I did finally get to leave messages for three different people. I got an email from the Spanish professor a couple hours after calling, which I was thankful for, but nothing is resolved there yet as I emailed him back and now he has yet to return it. I got another call back today from the Theatre professor, who left a very long very cheery message on my phone while I was at work, and that was basically a dead end. I'm not getting that class. The phone call/email that I am waiting for that I actually really NEED is the one from my Education department advisor (hey, did you know I had one of those? I didn't.) She's the one (I hope) that has to OK my education classes for registration. No word. I'll call again on Monday while I'm on campus, so she can't escape.

Although I'm much less upset with this now, it's not over and I still have about a 66% chance of not attending Devil U next semester. I'll update when necessary. But, for now, onto the good stuff. :)

I took jlc's advice and went shopping last night, and also pretended like she said "and go to a movie!" So I got a couple cheap tees for work (with no writing, mind you) and then went to the movies. Today work went by ridiculously quickly and I even went in early, and all the kids were picked up by 530 (never happens) and there were only 12 kids when I got there to begin with. B has been busy this week every night except Wednesday, when the whole Devil U debacle unraveled, and is again tonight so I have kind of a free night with the house to myself. Kohl's is having a huge sale with nightowl specials tonight, and I think I'm going to go up and see if I can bring myself to buy a replacement pair of slip-on dockers that I love with all my life. New shoes make me very happy :) I really should get some shoes for Dining Out, but I have a gift card at Kohl's, and I don't feel like spending that much for shoes. I need a Target gift card.

What are you guys doing for Easter? Both B's sisters' birthday's were this week, so we're going to dinner to celebrate tomorrow night and then to Saturday night Easter service at his church. Definitely going to be the first time in at least 5 years I've set foot in a Catholic church. Ahem. And Sunday night is dinner with my family, which B has decided he's not coming too because his grandma has dinner too (Hey, I'm doing Saturday, it's his turn to do my thing haha) so that'll be fine :)

I'm about to make myself a sammich for dinner, and have some fruit, and spend a few minutes with my pup. I've sneezed 92980 times today, though I'm hoping it doesn't develop further. Of the 21 kids in my room, at least 17 have colds, and one little girl (who is the sweetest thing) has gone home sick every day this week (even though I'm apparently the only one who noticed, since no one checked her temp before I got there at 1pm today and it was 100.8). Poor Katiebug :( Less than a week on the job and I've already caught something? I'd prefer not, thanks!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Uni Rant #1

Is this number one? I don't know, I don't think I've ever ranted about college before. Have I? Maybe. I have in my head, anyway. If you don't read this, I won't blame you. Seriously.

I've been rather quiet about uni lately because I have no idea what's going on. Today, though, the line between me attending the university I'm currently in and me dropping out become increasingly blurred.

I transferred to this college last fall, so this May I will have been there for an entire school year. At first it was my choice to transfer, but by May I knew it needed to be done no matter what--it was a third of the price of my other college, and I needed to be home to be with my mom during her whole bout with breast cancer. I feel as though, now, that just taking this entire last year off would have been more beneficial to me.

I have had problems with this college since before classes even started last fall. My first issue was not having an advisor, so they randomly set me up with the English department chair. This was actually really good, and he was ever so helpful. He signed me up with an actual advisor, who we'll call Mr. 30 Minute. Mr. 30 Minute has office hours from 12:00-12:30pm on Wednesdays. That's it. The end. Mr. 30 Minute does say he'll schedule you separate office hours, however...that's only if you can get a hold of Mr. 30 Minute. I have spoken with Mr. 30 Minute once, and he got back to me on a Thursday night when I needed to see him Friday at noon (and I skipped a class for it), and our conversation was basically:

Mr. 30M: "Do you have any questions?"
Me: "What about taking blah blah blah or blah blah blah with blah blah blah."
Mr. 30M: "...um, you'll have to ask the Education Department"
rinse, lather, repeat....multiple times.

So then I call the Education department, and their words are: "You'll have to ask the English department." So I eventually just made up my own mind about my questions and decided that's how it would be. The problem is that they have advisors for English and advisors for Education, but not advisors for English Education majors--and the English Ed. majors curriculum is a mixture of the two and no one has any idea what's going on. Since then I've tried like hell to get a hold of Mr. 30 Minute, and have heard nothing. I asked about placement tests, which he failed to mention during our conversation about being in repeat classes, and heard nothing. Not that I actually think it would help, because he obviously has no idea what he's doing. Or what I'm supposed to be doing. Well, friend...that makes two of us. I would just go back to the chair, except he died a couple months ago. And when I called in to ask a question, they said "You'll have to talk to your department chair" ...why is it that I had to remind them that the guy died two weeks before that? I don't know.

I have to retake a ton of classes...speech, computer, phys ed, even some classes that have the exact same class name I have to retake. I find it ridiculous and stupid. No one else cares, however, so I'm stuck in this. (Also, I have to take a foreign language as a requirement of the English department. No, it's not gen. ed. and it's not an Education requirement. It's a requirement of the English department to take a foreign language....dare I say, wtf?)

Monday I find out that the English department is changing the entire curriculum. Welcome to pointless, GPA dropping Shakespeare I. It's apparently already passed, but they haven't felt the need to tell the majors about it yet. They haven't "figured out what to do about the current majors," I'm told.

I also spent hours trying to make my schedule for next semester on Monday. I am required to take a certain set of education classes at a certain time. 4 classes this Fall, three are 2 credits and one is 1 credit. Total is 7. Full-time is 12. This would be fine and dandy and easy to combat, except that each one of these classes takes up more time every week than a normal 3 credit course. (I think this is where the term FML is appropriate). So I had to schedule 7 classes, two of which were web classes because I don't have time to go while I'm working. One isn't even on campus.

Well, I go to register for classes tonight, and only 2 of the 7 go through. 3/4 education classes scream YOU HAD TO TAKE EDU104 FIRST TO TAKE THIS and I'm like...I'm sorry, WHAT?! No where on my curriculum sheets is that class listed. No where. I poked around, and finally just signed up for the damn 104 class over the summer, except now I still can't register for the others because that's not cleared on my transcript. Plus that's an extra $500 I have to find somewhere for a stupid 1 credit course. If I can't register for those, that will push me back an entire year. However, one of the web classes I chose is restricted to freakin' theatre majors (isn't it enough that they invade my art classes???) and I can't sign up for Spanish 201 because I haven't taken 101/102. This is supposed to be an automatic pass because I took it in high school. Not that I know anything, just that I took it. Tomorrow morning there will be hell raised.

The options (other than staying here, at Devil University):
-I put in an application for readmission at my old college on my birthday in December. I called them earlier this week after the English curriculum debacle to check on my financial aid package. They said they are trying to send them all out by the end of the week. Fair enough. But I can't make a decision without the aid package. It's seriously pricey, and I don't have the kind of money to spend on it that I did before, nor the grades that got me the scholarships I had before. The woman said it looked like I qualified for grants, but grants usually come with a clause that if you take it, you work in the state for two years so that it's waived. I can't do that. We'll be gone.
-Take a year ....erm...sabbatical, and move the wedding up a year. Right now, we're planning on June 2011. If we did this, it would be June 2010, and then I'd move with B wherever he is stationed, and reenter school there using the GI bill. I'd be basically the same place I am now, anyway.

I don't know. I'm just thoroughly annoyed with this right now and have hit the bullshit quotient with Devil University.

And I ripped the knee of my jeans today.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Job Belongs in This Title

I started my new job today! I went in at noon, which is an hour earlier than I will every day other than today, and it actually went very well.



The lowdown:

Our kids are ages 12-18 months, and there are 21 kids in our room. However, not all of them come every day. We are only allowed to have 18 in our room at one time, so if more than that come we have to shift a couple older kids into the next room up (18-24 months). The ratio of caregiver to infant is 1:6. Yes, I do have 6 kids to care for at any one time. Literally, I have a group of six kids assigned to me. In the six hours I was in the room, each one was changed three times, was given two snacks, and had a nap. One broke out in a rash, and one gained a fever over 101.

Also, 6 kids x 3 diaper changes = 18 hand washings. Note to self: carry lotion everywhere.

There is very little downtime, and it went by very quickly. It's really kind of difficult to shift into this form of work from my job at the bookstore mostly because of the rules. At the bookstore, you can wear whatever you want, eat whenever/whatever you want, drink whatever you want, etc. etc. It's very lax. Here, I can't:

-carry my cellphone (literally, it cannot be in the building, has to stay in the car)
-eat anything except whatever snack the kids are getting, and can't bring food in for lunch (...do I even get a lunch? hmm. I was there 7 hours today, and did not..I wonder)
-wear a shirt with writing on it, no matter what the writing is (this I can't understand, it's not like they can read. And even if they could, who cares if they read the word "baseball" or whatever random thing your tee shirt says?)
-take pictures
-drink anything other than water, in a clear bottle
-wear any shoes without backs
-wear jeans with slightly fraying edges (which is difficult, because I'm like a short and a half jean length...and I refuse to wear the shorts 99% of the time)



It's very strict. I was so kindly offered a 3XL smock to wear today, however. That was nice. At least three children got caught in it as I attempted to put them down somewhere.

So far so good, though! I seem to be the youngest one there--not just my classroom, but the entire building, 6 weeks to 12 years old rooms. And possibly the only one without kids. I'm actually impressed that she hired me for these two reasons.

I have to go get a physical, though, in the next 30 days (they wait 90 days to fingerprint you and have you take a drug test....I guess it's okay to be a sex offender and a druggy for the first 89 days). I'll probably just find some random place around here that will do it for cheap, rather than going to the doctor....since I don't have one.

I know I said I'd update update tonight or tomorrow, but I think it's going to have to wait. Sorry! I promise, eventually, it will happen :]

Monday, April 6, 2009

My Maine Squeeze

Maine was absolutely gorgeous and amazing. Spent some awesome time with my best friend, who I haven't seen since Christmas, and figured out that it is possible for two people to sleep in a twin bed, and went gallivanting around town, on beaches, and on a bar that only exists at low-tide. I kept up with the reading of your blogs, but was pretty much a commenting-failure and I apologize...but I'm back!

The disappearing bar:


The ocean, a beach with the original name of "Sand Beach":


Acadia National Park:


On the cliff at Thunderhole in Acadia:


Sunrise over the ocean:


But on Friday, the great Day o' Rain, we just hung around:

...bad pun, I know.

On Friday morning, though, at a nice bright and sunny hour of 8am, Lauren and I (a friend of the bestie's, the one on the right in the above picture) went to a class for Capoeira. Unless you live on the West coast, it is very unlikely that you have any idea what I'm talking about. Capoeira is basically a form of dance fighting. It's usually two people going at it (like you see at the 1:00 mark on the below video)--it's more a game than a fight, but it's a form of martial arts. This gives you an idea:


And seeing as how my total of miles run this year is maybe 10, and by run I definitely mean it was about 50/50 run/walk for each mile, my ass hurt like you would not believe the next day. Lauren woke up and immediately asked me how my butt felt...I felt better knowing I wasn't the only one in pain haha. The back of my legs actually still hurt today, and that's so...so very sad. I did capoeira for a couple days in high school during a 2 week, 7 hour a day martial arts study, but no one around here teaches it--it's 99% west coast.

I'll do an actual update tomorrow or Wednesday :) But had to dish on my adventure first!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

All Hail, Employed One!

Yes! I definitely got a job today! The woman who called me on Monday about the position and quickly hung up with me called me back yesterday on accident, and we had a longer conversation which ended in "why don't you come in for an interview?" So I did. Today. Even though she changed it like an hour before it's scheduled time. She said "I believe this was fate, and I want to hire you." Well, this took some deliberation, of course, why in the world would I take a job that ends at 7 on the weekdays and involves no weekends and playing with kids? It took some deep soul searching. 1 second after being offered the position, I accepted. :D I start on Tuesday!

I'll be working in the room called the "Tweets" (which I find funny only because of twitter) which is ages 10-18 months. What does that mean? Much stimulation with kids the same age as my beloved Baby B:


And who doesn't love that?!

I also just found the third ladybug in my bedroom in the past three days. I cannot figure out where these suckers are coming from. But, apparently when ladybugs die on your ceiling, they stay there even though they are hanging upside down.

I'll be getting up at 230 tomorrow morning and then heading to the airport for my flight, I'll be back on Sunday and back to blogging! May even do it there, if I get bored :D

Ciao!