Dear Career Builder,
Thank you for your list of job recommendations. I had no idea about the endless employment possibilities an elementary education degree gave me. Teaching, child care, and positions that require any ol' degree were within my reach, I knew. However, now I have the confidence it takes to pursue these other positions you are recommending I try:
Physical Therapist
Electrical Designer
Nurse Practitioner-Urology
Helicopter Instructor Pilot
And oh, so many more
Thank you for believing in me, dear Career Builder. It makes all the difference.
Sincerely,
A Future Helicopter Instructor Pilot
Monday, December 22, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Happy Birthday, Funny Story, Zoo Visit
Happy Birthday, Kelliebeans!
I feel like something is missing without a silly frog cartoon or Peanut birthday card for you, but I didn't put up a calendar this year and missed birthdays and cards for everyone. (Hmm, I have an idea for a New Year's Resolution...) Thankfully, there's Facebook, so I at least know it's your birthday on the day of. I'm thankful to have such a positive, loving, FUN, creative, nurturing, and all-around-great cousin and role model in my life. I hope your day is wonderful from start to finish.
Tonight, Aaron went in to check on Olivia after she went to bed. She was quiet and in bed but still awake (of course). He leaned over her to give her another kiss when she saw him, but she put her hands up on his chest to stop him before he could. She demanded, "What are you eating?" She didn't believe him when he said nothing. Then she responded disapprovingly, "CHIPS." Daddy was so amused she was checking up on him and could tell by smelling him what he was snacking on. She was not happy with him, but perhaps she can have a few chips to snack on tomorrow. I'm not lined up to work in the morning, even though I keep logging in to see if any sub jobs have been posted for Tuesday. I hope nothing shows up. :-) I want to lounge in the morning, hang with my girlie, and rest my toe. I ruthlessly slammed it into the door frame tonight and am walking funny. Yeah, I'm seriously lacking in gracefulness.
On to the zoo visit...Livy, Kolten (her former classmate from daycare), and Kylie (Kolten's new little sister) spent a day at the zoo and were thoughtful enough to bring Tiffaney and me along for the ride. Visiting the zoo is probably my favorite thing to do with children, though B&N book club meetings are pretty special, too. While at the zoo, we had a blast with each other. There were babies all around! Kylie was ever-so-popular with Big Bro and Liv (and another random kid who tried to love on her). OK, and me, too. I enjoyed every chance I had to coo at her and hold her. Such a calm, patient, mild infant. Just like Olivia and Kolten were. (Big HA to that one!!) There were also lion and tiger cubs and some giraffe babies, but they paled in comparison. I am really quite in love with all three babies in my life right now. Every thought of them makes me smile. I got a little off track - here are the zoo pics!
The rhinos and orangutans were cuddly, Livy worked to pacify her little friend (and scared the mess outta me in the process), and the look-alikes each napped during our visit. Have you ever seen such gorgeous red hair? The kids were all so good, and Olivia even took herself for a walk while holding the tail of her leash, I mean backpack. Yes, I'm the mom who uses a leash. I mean, backpack. In my defense, I'm convinced it's far more humane and safe than a stroller in Liv's case. She loves to walk, but I can still keep my little runner safe from leaving my sight even when I blink.
I feel like something is missing without a silly frog cartoon or Peanut birthday card for you, but I didn't put up a calendar this year and missed birthdays and cards for everyone. (Hmm, I have an idea for a New Year's Resolution...) Thankfully, there's Facebook, so I at least know it's your birthday on the day of. I'm thankful to have such a positive, loving, FUN, creative, nurturing, and all-around-great cousin and role model in my life. I hope your day is wonderful from start to finish.
Tonight, Aaron went in to check on Olivia after she went to bed. She was quiet and in bed but still awake (of course). He leaned over her to give her another kiss when she saw him, but she put her hands up on his chest to stop him before he could. She demanded, "What are you eating?" She didn't believe him when he said nothing. Then she responded disapprovingly, "CHIPS." Daddy was so amused she was checking up on him and could tell by smelling him what he was snacking on. She was not happy with him, but perhaps she can have a few chips to snack on tomorrow. I'm not lined up to work in the morning, even though I keep logging in to see if any sub jobs have been posted for Tuesday. I hope nothing shows up. :-) I want to lounge in the morning, hang with my girlie, and rest my toe. I ruthlessly slammed it into the door frame tonight and am walking funny. Yeah, I'm seriously lacking in gracefulness.
On to the zoo visit...Livy, Kolten (her former classmate from daycare), and Kylie (Kolten's new little sister) spent a day at the zoo and were thoughtful enough to bring Tiffaney and me along for the ride. Visiting the zoo is probably my favorite thing to do with children, though B&N book club meetings are pretty special, too. While at the zoo, we had a blast with each other. There were babies all around! Kylie was ever-so-popular with Big Bro and Liv (and another random kid who tried to love on her). OK, and me, too. I enjoyed every chance I had to coo at her and hold her. Such a calm, patient, mild infant. Just like Olivia and Kolten were. (Big HA to that one!!) There were also lion and tiger cubs and some giraffe babies, but they paled in comparison. I am really quite in love with all three babies in my life right now. Every thought of them makes me smile. I got a little off track - here are the zoo pics!
The rhinos and orangutans were cuddly, Livy worked to pacify her little friend (and scared the mess outta me in the process), and the look-alikes each napped during our visit. Have you ever seen such gorgeous red hair? The kids were all so good, and Olivia even took herself for a walk while holding the tail of her leash, I mean backpack. Yes, I'm the mom who uses a leash. I mean, backpack. In my defense, I'm convinced it's far more humane and safe than a stroller in Liv's case. She loves to walk, but I can still keep my little runner safe from leaving my sight even when I blink.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Questions
Here are two questions Livy asked me today that made me giggle and feel all warm and fuzzy:
1. What is your name?
We work on telling people, "My name is Olivia." She took it the next step today, and asked me what my name is.
2. Do you love me?
So Uncle Adam thought her life would be more complete with a singing purple dinosaur each day. This afternoon she was running around singing "I love you...Won't you say you love me, too." She followed it with, "Momma, do you love me?"
I must go now. She saw me sitting too long and spread hand soap all over my arm. I'm pretty squeaky clean!
1. What is your name?
We work on telling people, "My name is Olivia." She took it the next step today, and asked me what my name is.
2. Do you love me?
So Uncle Adam thought her life would be more complete with a singing purple dinosaur each day. This afternoon she was running around singing "I love you...Won't you say you love me, too." She followed it with, "Momma, do you love me?"
I must go now. She saw me sitting too long and spread hand soap all over my arm. I'm pretty squeaky clean!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Our Life
Well...maybe this is not the best time for 30 posts in 30 days. At least it got me posting a bit more for a short while! I've gone back to work almost full time as a substitute teacher and am spending a lotta time on job hunting/app-filling-out/shmoozing/dropping off resumes/etc. That doesn't leave much time for blogging fun. My "extra" time is spent on domestic things, watching "Litha" - as Livy calls our 4-year-old weekend friend, planning fun activities, and having family quality time. OK, OK, I also sleep a bit more now (this is taking some adjusting!) and sometimes (oftentimes) I just fall into a vegetative state that leaves me unable to put sensible sentences together. So this is just a quick little post to record some of the things going on that make my world go round.
~Livy is now in to explanations. She says, "...beeeee-cause (gibber,gibber,gibber,gibber,gibber)." The other day, I was trying to get her pumped up to see Miss Babysitter. When I asked if she was excited, she said she was not "beeeee-cause...I wanna Daddee." Wow. Melted his heart. She got quite a bit of Daddy the next morning before he had to drop her off at the sitter's house.
~Current childcare situation: This has been a topsy-turvy roller coaster ride. Her sitter is not close to my jobs, and has not completely worked out (partially b/c I've worked for several weeks and have yet to receive a paycheck). So Uncle Adam is spending the next week and a half with her. Daddy's day off is Monday, so she's with a parent Saturday - Monday. Then we'll have two weeks for Christmas Break when she will be with MOMMY. Then I'll take her to a Christian Daycare center if we can swing the price tag. It's hardly more than in-home care, and I am way more comfortable with this place, plus it comes with a couple glowing recommendations. The main financial drawback is that I pay even when I don't have a job lined up for the day. I've been pretty booked up, though. We'll see.
~My little girl is READING! Well, maybe not to the naked eye. She's actually 'prereading.' (My college of ed profs would have loved this post.) She's enjoyed looking at books for a while, but a couple weeks ago she started to pick them up, point to the text, and tell a story while following the lines of text with her index finger from left to right. It's so CUTE! I can understand the story sometimes, but sometimes she gets so carried away, I just can't keep up. Her favorite letters are O and B, and she's pretty good at recognizing O,K,P,A,B, and C - the first three and her initials. Potty-training has been slowed by me returning to work, but she eagerly "potties" when I take her and can go an entire afternoon w/o accidents when I'm with her. She's excited about "big giwl pannies" and flushing. She'll also point out triangles, ovals, circles, squares, hearts, and stars. All right. I'm finished being THAT mom - you know, the one who goes on and on about how brilliant her child is. (Well, finished for now.)
~Our past couple days have been filled with such a sweet bundle of joy as we've been able to meet and spend some sweet moments with Baby Levi and his Mommy. Olivia was so excited to see the baby and talked all about him on the way to the hospital. She even wore her Dallas Mavs cheerleader outfit w/ her snowboots and scarf, and she (and her dad) bought a soft teddy bear in a bunny costume, balloon, and personalized baby basketball to bring the new baby. When she saw Stef, she got all excited and forgot about the baby for a moment as she was asking where Fifi was. Sorry Honey - no dogs in the hospital, not even Phoebe. I'd love to post some of the silly things my friend said in her drug-induced fog, but I should check with her on that first. She was pretty funny yesterday, but she's making sense again today.
~Fortunately/Unfortunately, Aaron was actually able to join us to meet this little guy as his employer has cut his hours by almost 25%. My, oh, my. I guess that's what happens when your stock is so low and has even dropped to TWO CENTS! What will happen? Who knows. Not him or me. Thankfully, God does. We just have to trust Him and do our best to live faithfully for and with Him, as much as can be possible.
Wow. That was long with lots of rambling. That can happen at midnight:thirty. I am now off to bed, for I have a classroom full of unruly 5th graders (three classes, actually) that are just dying to act out for this sub. You remember those days, don't you? At least these kids know my name - yesterday, Kindergartners called me Miss Fishingrod. No lie. I shall drink my doubleshot of espresso in the morning, and with God's help, I will be victorious. OK. I really need to go to bed.
~Livy is now in to explanations. She says, "...beeeee-cause (gibber,gibber,gibber,gibber,gibber)." The other day, I was trying to get her pumped up to see Miss Babysitter. When I asked if she was excited, she said she was not "beeeee-cause...I wanna Daddee." Wow. Melted his heart. She got quite a bit of Daddy the next morning before he had to drop her off at the sitter's house.
~Current childcare situation: This has been a topsy-turvy roller coaster ride. Her sitter is not close to my jobs, and has not completely worked out (partially b/c I've worked for several weeks and have yet to receive a paycheck). So Uncle Adam is spending the next week and a half with her. Daddy's day off is Monday, so she's with a parent Saturday - Monday. Then we'll have two weeks for Christmas Break when she will be with MOMMY. Then I'll take her to a Christian Daycare center if we can swing the price tag. It's hardly more than in-home care, and I am way more comfortable with this place, plus it comes with a couple glowing recommendations. The main financial drawback is that I pay even when I don't have a job lined up for the day. I've been pretty booked up, though. We'll see.
~My little girl is READING! Well, maybe not to the naked eye. She's actually 'prereading.' (My college of ed profs would have loved this post.) She's enjoyed looking at books for a while, but a couple weeks ago she started to pick them up, point to the text, and tell a story while following the lines of text with her index finger from left to right. It's so CUTE! I can understand the story sometimes, but sometimes she gets so carried away, I just can't keep up. Her favorite letters are O and B, and she's pretty good at recognizing O,K,P,A,B, and C - the first three and her initials. Potty-training has been slowed by me returning to work, but she eagerly "potties" when I take her and can go an entire afternoon w/o accidents when I'm with her. She's excited about "big giwl pannies" and flushing. She'll also point out triangles, ovals, circles, squares, hearts, and stars. All right. I'm finished being THAT mom - you know, the one who goes on and on about how brilliant her child is. (Well, finished for now.)
~Our past couple days have been filled with such a sweet bundle of joy as we've been able to meet and spend some sweet moments with Baby Levi and his Mommy. Olivia was so excited to see the baby and talked all about him on the way to the hospital. She even wore her Dallas Mavs cheerleader outfit w/ her snowboots and scarf, and she (and her dad) bought a soft teddy bear in a bunny costume, balloon, and personalized baby basketball to bring the new baby. When she saw Stef, she got all excited and forgot about the baby for a moment as she was asking where Fifi was. Sorry Honey - no dogs in the hospital, not even Phoebe. I'd love to post some of the silly things my friend said in her drug-induced fog, but I should check with her on that first. She was pretty funny yesterday, but she's making sense again today.
~Fortunately/Unfortunately, Aaron was actually able to join us to meet this little guy as his employer has cut his hours by almost 25%. My, oh, my. I guess that's what happens when your stock is so low and has even dropped to TWO CENTS! What will happen? Who knows. Not him or me. Thankfully, God does. We just have to trust Him and do our best to live faithfully for and with Him, as much as can be possible.
Wow. That was long with lots of rambling. That can happen at midnight:thirty. I am now off to bed, for I have a classroom full of unruly 5th graders (three classes, actually) that are just dying to act out for this sub. You remember those days, don't you? At least these kids know my name - yesterday, Kindergartners called me Miss Fishingrod. No lie. I shall drink my doubleshot of espresso in the morning, and with God's help, I will be victorious. OK. I really need to go to bed.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Another cause near and dear to me
I'm excited and privileged to participate in Arthritis Foundation's Jingle Bell Run, *ahem* jog/walk, for the second time in three years. (Last year's cold season got the better of me.) I proudly walk in memory of a dear family friend, Bonita, who grew up with my mom and was like an aunt to us; and in honor of three other very special people: my Mom, whose strength, kindness, and character I can only hope have rubbed off a wee bit on me; a former student with Juvenile RA (the cruelest form of Arthritis, I think) who has left a lasting impact in my life and in my heart; and my bestie's mom-in-law, one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. Feel free to visit my personal site and even make a donation if you so please, and remember to thank God for your health and for living without chronic pain, if you're so blessed. Thanks, one and all!
Visit my personal page here.
Fun stuff
Here are a few fun projects to do with your kids (or someone else's!) on a rainy day. I'm ALL ABOUT projects, activities, outings, and special events to share these experiences with my daughter and any other Lovelies we can drag along with us! Enjoy, and let me know if you try one of these. I'd also LOVE to have some other activity ideas if you have some favorites!
Goop
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Food coloring
Mix cornstarch and water by adding water a teaspoon at a time until mexture is a thick paste. Add a few drops of food coloring to mixture.
Colored Glue
Add a few drops of food coloring to glue and mix well. Use colored glue to paint a picture.
Painted Macaroni
Mix dry noodles with 3 tablespoons of water and a couple drops of food coloring in a container with a lid (or secure Ziplock baggie). Shake well. After noodles are dry, they can be used for art projects or jewelry making.
Homemade Bubbles
1 quart water
1/2 cup dish soap (Dawn works best)
2 Tablespoons glycerin
1 Tablespoon Sugar
Stir ingredients gently. Let mixture set for a few days before using.
Playdough
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
3/4 cup water
food coloring
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Mix dry ingredients. Set aside. Mix other ingredients separately and slowly add to the dry mixture - stirring until dough forms. Knead until smooth.
Goop
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Food coloring
Mix cornstarch and water by adding water a teaspoon at a time until mexture is a thick paste. Add a few drops of food coloring to mixture.
Colored Glue
Add a few drops of food coloring to glue and mix well. Use colored glue to paint a picture.
Painted Macaroni
Mix dry noodles with 3 tablespoons of water and a couple drops of food coloring in a container with a lid (or secure Ziplock baggie). Shake well. After noodles are dry, they can be used for art projects or jewelry making.
Homemade Bubbles
1 quart water
1/2 cup dish soap (Dawn works best)
2 Tablespoons glycerin
1 Tablespoon Sugar
Stir ingredients gently. Let mixture set for a few days before using.
Playdough
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
3/4 cup water
food coloring
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Mix dry ingredients. Set aside. Mix other ingredients separately and slowly add to the dry mixture - stirring until dough forms. Knead until smooth.
Monday, December 1, 2008
My Political Side
OK, so last night I revealed my nerdy side in my sleep deprived state (and no, I wasn't running around, I'm just THAT clumsy). Today I'm posting about FOCA (The Freedom of Choice Act). I'm not here to tell anyone what to believe on this matter - unless you ask :o) - I just want to share what I read with anyone who feels like I do about it. The following was taken from the Fight FOCA site.
Barack Obama’s promise to Planned Parenthood: The first thing I’d do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That’s the first thing I’d do.
The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) would eliminate every restriction on abortion nationwide.
• FOCA will do away with state laws on parental involvement, Partial Birth Abortion, and all other protections.
• FOCA will compel taxpayer funding of abortions.
• FOCA will force faith-based hospitals and healthcare facilities to perform abortions.
This would eradicate state and federal laws that the majority of Americans support, such as:
• Requirements that women be given information about the risks of getting an abortion
• Only licensed physicians can perform abortions
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