Weekends are priceless when you become a worker-bee

As you all know last week was my first week at the new job. Teaching fifth grade can be described in many ways. I will describe it using all words that begin with the letter E (why? I don't know... because I feel like it): exciting, exhausting, enlightening, exhilarating, and excellent. It can also be described as wonderful. I'm so glad to be doing what I love again. 

With that said... working all week really makes you appreciate the weekend that much more. Not that I wasn't working before - I was substituting nearly every day... but when, substituting you can simply decide to not go to work. I obviously can not do that any longer. Which is fine - I'm happy to have a Monday thru Friday job and working everyday like a real grown-up. What's frustrating is after working all week THEN - I work all weekend! It stinks to leave work on Friday to then come home to - oh wait -  go to work!

So here is a brief summary of my weekend:

FRIDAY:Came home from school - hung out for an hour - then went to work at the restaurant. Work was super busy Friday night, which is great because that means more $$ - which I need. So Friday night was a good night. Except I was there until 1130pm. Let me tell you working from 730am - 1130pm suuucks. I got home and feel asleep pretty much the minute my head hit the pillow. 

SATURDAY: Well since I went to be so early on Friday night I actually woke up fairly early on Saturday. I was up at 9. Waking up early on a Saturday is such a good idea. I don't know why I always sleep my weekends away. I got so much accomplished! That morning I read while drinking my coffee. Then I took a shower and went to the bank and to get my eyebrows waxed. Then I went and picked up Jeni to go with her for her dress fitting. She is a beautiful bride. Unfortunately, by the time I got back from there it was just about time to head back to the restaurant for another night of bringing ungrateful people food! Waitressing sucks. Waitressing especially sucks when it's Saturday night and the people of the PHG sing HORRIBLE karaoke until 1130. I did not get home until 1215. I HATE KARAOKE SATURDAYS! It wouldn't be so bad if these people tipped well or drank all night. But they tip like shit and they sit there ALL night nursing SODA! It's terrible. AND it happens every other Saturday... I don't know how I keep from gouging myself in the eye with a fork.

SUNDAY: Oh Sunday - how I love relaxing on Sunday. I did sleep late on Sunday. I stayed in bed till about 1045ish. Then we got up and went food shopping because we literally had no food in the house. This time we actually decided to make our grocery list built on meals. We spent more money, but I think our food will last longer. Then we watched Inception. If you haven't seen it. Watch it. It was such a good movie. And for those of you who think you need to watch it more than once to understand it... well to be blunt I think you just don't know how to pay attention. I understood it and it was amazing. Regardless, it was a great movie (even if you are slow on the up-take and have to watch it twice ;)). Then we made a Buffalo Chicken Calzone: MMMMMM. 

MONDAY: (it is part of the weekend since it was MLKJ day) Monday was a day of laundry and cleaning. It is literally all I did ALL day. Very boring. But the house and clothes smelled great when I was done :) Then I met up with the brother's girlfriend to get a booking taken care of for the wedding and had a few beers with her. 

Then today I was back at work. Late because of the snow. Traffic was horrific. 

Positive notes of my weekend: 

1. Delicious Buffalo Chicken Calzone
2. Made lots of $$
3. Watched a great movie with my man :)

No - I'm not a crazy cat lady.

I feel as though I have quite a few serious posts recently - lots of job related business. So in loo lieu of this glorious snow day I figured I would be a little silly and introduce the blogging community to the love of my life. He has been the one constant in my life in the past 8 years. No - not Jonathan - we have only been together for 2 and 1/2 years. I'm talking about this little guy:

Me loving my little Diablo

Diablo you ask? No - he is not named after the video game, sorry boys. I named him Diablo because quite frankly - the day I got him, I was convinced he might just be Satan in disguise.

The day I adopted Diablo from the Humane Society was the day after one of our family cats had died. Circus had been my brother's cat, but she became more my cat over the years. She slept in my room and spent the most time with me. We thought she must have been hit by a car because we found her in the back-yard whining loudly. We took her to the vet and we were told that her tale bone was broken. Due to her age they said she might not even survive surgery, so we opted to have her put down. It was very sad.

The next day someone offered to bring me to the Humane Society to "look at kittens"... my immediate response was, "you bring me there - I guarantee I will be bringing a kitten home with me". So we went on this hot day in August to "look at kittens". They surprisingly only had 3 kittens that day. They had two calico female kittens cuddled up sleeping in one cage, don't get me wrong they were cute, but they didn't melt my heart the way the little black kitten did. This little black kitten was sitting straight up in the cage looking out - right at me! I put my hand up on the cage and he reached his paw out and meowed. It was quite the meet cute (I learned that phrase from the movie The Holiday). I instinctively knew that he was the kitten I needed to adopt.

We had the Humane Society worker "put him on hold for us" and we went to the ATM to get donation money - can you believe that this little love cost me a mere 30$? Being very ill-prepared I did not have a cage, food, toys or anything for a kitten. So we just carried him out to the car. With it being August - we had the windows open and the little black fur-ball attempted his escape. He tried to jump out the window!! We pulled him back in and quickly rolled up the windows... he then ran circles tornadoes around the back seat. All you could hear was his nails on the seats (thank-god they weren't leather, right!?). At this point I was honestly concerned that I had the devil incarnate in my backseat. Then he got cozy underneath my seat until we got home and I pried him out.

So that is how he got his name.... he was clearly the black devil. Clearly Diablo.

From that day on he has been the one constant in my life. I have moved 5 TIMES since I got him. We have been on a lot of journeys together. I think I needed Diablo, just as much, as he needed me. Maybe more. I have tons of funny stories to share about him - but today - it was just about his intro. Before I begin to embarrass him, with hilarious stories all over the interwebs I needed to explain his origin and his importance to my life! Stay tuned.

So serious! Diablo and Jonathan became best buds quickly. 

Quick Update!

Work is going fantastic. I really love it there. The staff is so nice and so supportive. The technology isn't nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be... In all honesty it is going to make my life so much simpler when it comes to not only planning my lessons, but executing them. The SmartBoard makes the entire lesson run so smoothly and there is no time wasted writing everything on the board. The kids also seem very sweet. It is a totally different kind of atmosphere than other 5th graders I have worked with. These kids are still such kids, if you know what I mean. They are still sweet and kind and genuinely seem to enjoy school. And here is a priceless gem for you - I have one student who adores Michael Jackson. He is his absolute idol. He has a sparkly glove and on occasion will moonwalk down the hallway. How awesome is that?

I really think I'm going to have a blast over the next six months. Here's to hoping that this is a step in the right direction.

With that said.... Second thing... I have decided on my name change. I hope you all enjoy it...and find it as fitting as I do.

That's all for now... but I'm exhausted. This whole working full time again is going to take a little time to get used to!

You must have known this was coming...

... my job starts tomorrow and I am trying not to panic, trying real damn hard. But every time I look at this:

All the materials I picked up before school vacation - I've flipped through them a few times, but then I get overwhelmed with all my questions. Today I plan to sit down go through them more thoroughly and write-out a bunch of my questions.

I basically want to run in the other direction. I know that I will be fine and I know that a new job, regardless of what it is, always seem daunting and overwhelming at first. I know once I get a grasp on the curriculum, the routine, and the technology I will fall right into place. It's not even the actual teaching that makes me nervous or the students. That stuff is easy. I've done it. I know fifth graders, I know their personalities and how to manage the classroom. I know how to teach in general when I'm given the basic materials. I know how to be creativity and how to make the learning fun and relate-able to the kids. Here is what I feel I don't know (much about):

1. Science - I have hardly taught science in my career and that is a big bulk of my teaching. All the fifth grade students in the school learn science from me and only me! My morning consists of science 3 times in a row! The kids who have it third are the lucky ones - hopefully by then I have the lesson down pat.
2. Technology - So when you go on an interview nearly all schools ask you how you are with technology and in most cases you just need to know the basics. In this district it's all about technology. Every classroom has a SmartBoard. All of my lessons have been uploaded onto the SmartBoard and I teach from there. At the end of the year the kids are going to make a video using flip-cams. We have a cart full of Mac-Books for the kids to use in the classroom when I need them too. They know how to do pod-casts! They write blogs! I feel like the kids are going to have to teach me a lot! ha. 
3. Routine and Schedule - Now I know that this will just take time for me to learn and get used to and then I will be fine (mostly everything is going to take time - and I will be fine). The schedule is so different though. For instance - the kids have a 1/2 day every Wednesday and in the afternoons us teachers have Professional Development, Planning, Staff Meetings, etc. That is pretty sweet. I teach Science in the morning and ELA in the afternoon. My kids have gym 2x a week and Art and Music. It doesn't look like they have a specialist block for Library and Computer. It also doesn't look as though they have recess, so to me that's odd. 

Over the next two days I will be shadowing the regular classroom teacher before she peaces out to have her baby. Clearly I have a million questions to ask her. I plan to spend the next two days learning everything I possibly can, asking all the questions I need answers to, locating all of my important materials within the classroom, learning about the kids & who need extra attention, familiarizing myself with the SmartBoard and generally how to use it, and planning out next week since I'll be on my own starting Monday. Wish me luck!

A SmartBoard is like an interactive white board. You can upload lessons. There are special markers to use with it and the entire white board is a touch-pad.  Now I just need to learn how to use it properly. It's a whole new style of teaching! 

With all this said - I really am so excited! And for those of you who don't know - I found out "on the DL" that the classroom teacher plans to stay out for the remainder of the school year, not the planned 12 weeks. That means - this classroom is mine until June! :)

What's in a name?

So today I had lunch with my friend Amy. Amy also has a blog called Zero Ducks (in a row) so we often spend time discussing our blogs and such. So oddly enough - today's blog is partly about "talking about my blog".. Amy created her blog first and I enjoyed reading it and began relating to a lot of what she was saying.  Since we were both unemployed we began getting together for lunches and discussing life's disappointments.  One positive that came out of unemployment was finding a new friend in Amy. We both have been wallowing enjoying our lives of unemployment drinking coffee and eating lunch.  My new job is totally going to throw off the balance of our lunch dates!

Anyways, my idea to start my blog was somewhat inspired by Amy. I had thought about it for a while, so when life really started to kick me around I felt like I needed some way to just let it out. To talk to someone... anyone who wanted to listen. And since I really just needed people to listen a blog seemed to be the perfect solution. I could vent, people who wanted to "listen" could read it, people who could care less wouldn't read it. It has been quite therapeutic to be honest. Also when I started my blog I was at a point in life where I felt like I was starting over again - hence the name "Back to Square One". 

So to get to my point* today Amy and I were discussing the names of our blogs and both of us now feel as though the names might not be all that appropriate. She does not have ZERO ducks in a row... she has some ducks. Likewise, I am not Back at Square One anymore - I have now made some progress. So my questions to my loyal readers (hahaha) is it okay to be considering a name change? Can a blog start as one name and be changed to another? What is blogging etiquette in that sense? With that said.... for those of you who think I can change it.... do you have any creative suggestions?? 

Also - since I was feeling some kind of change was in need and I'm so indecisive on this name changing business... how do you feel about my new pink background???

Blogs are always better with pictures.

*I really need to work on my blog rambling! 

Let's talk goals & resolutions

 Soo... as you all know in December I made the following 3 goals for myself: 

1. Blog more! I'm not going to give myself a #. I'm not going to say I will blog everyday or anything crazy like that... But more. November was weak on the blogging.  October was weak too... 

I consider goal #1 a success. I did not blog like a maniac and consistently. But I hit 9 blogs in December which is more than the combined total of 8 in both October and November! SUCCESS! 

1. Exercise at least 4 times a week! (With the exception of Christmas week - cause it might be hectic)

This is a complete and total FAIL. It's as if I made this goal and immediately began to fail. I do plan to get my junk-food eating ass back to the gym for January though (see Jan. Goals). 

1. Try my damnedest to embrace the holiday season. Since I have been with Jonathan I have tried each year to love Christmas as much as he does. Now - I personally don't believe "it's the most wonderful time of the year". But for him (and for my own sanity) I will again try to love it. Maybe one of these years it might actually work and I will turn into a fanatic Christmas lover. 

• As an extension to goal #3 - I plan to be super jolly and create small Christmas gifts for people. The reason is two-fold. One - I feel like being crafty and making fudge/candy type treats and Two - I'm broke. And I've heard that it's the thought that counts :) 

This goal was a complete and total success! For the first time ever I truly loved Christmas. Everything about it was so exciting and fun. AND as you saw in my candy posts - I did make the great effort of being Martha Stewart as well. HUGE SUCCESS!

So overall I consider myself pretty successful in goal completion for the month of December. 2/3 isn't bad! I think I made the exercise goal because I knew I was beginning to slack real bad and I think I new in the back of my mind that I would fail that particular goal. 

As for a New Year's Resolution. I have decided not to make one. There isn't really anything that I want to do THAT bad, that I think I can resolve to be better at for an entire year. I think most people make resolutions with these high hopes, but no one really ever succeeds. I prefer sticking to more attainable monthly goals. So for this month: 

1. Embrace my new job with my new bunch of little fifth graders. This is a goal because for the past week I have been freaking out! I am so nervous about starting this job. It's mainly all the technology and stuff that scares me. But I want myself to put all those fears aside, understand that I CAN do this... and Enjoy it. (I know that's a pretty easy goal since I love teaching - but seriously I do need to calm down a bit). 
2. Watch less TV. I spend way too much time watching TV. And I know now that I will be working full time I won't have as much time to be a couch potato, but I don't want to come home from work and immediately sit in front of the TV and I don't want to spend my entire weekends in bed or watching TV. I feel like I'm wasting life. So watch less TV and be more productive. 
3. Since I won't be spending as much time sitting on my ass watching TV - I need to get my ass back to the gym - at least 4 times per week.

Goodbye 2010...

2010 has not been a year that I would choose to relive. I've had my fair share of tough times this year. The lose of family members - in more ways than one - was the hardest part of the year. I can't believe it has been almost a year since we lost Grampy. It still hurts to realize the strongest man I have ever known is no longer here. And sometimes when I think back on all of the awfulness that happened with my mom this year - it still shocks me a little bit. Sometimes it's hard to accept when important things in life take a turn for the worst. Those two events made the past year especially difficult. 

The struggles with jobs this year (let's get real - the past 3 years!) hasn't exactly been a highlight either. This year I learned that rejection sucks and that sometimes when you work your ass off there unfortunately is not going to be instant gratification. I had always thought that I would work hard in school, get my degree, pass the MTELS, get my licensure and be a teacher. I never realized the game you have to play along the way. Just to recap - I graduated in May 2008. I spent September 2008 working as a second grade teacher until December. Then I spent January 2009 to April 2009 working as a 5th grade teacher and then finished off the school year in a 5th grade Special Ed room even though I'm not certified. Most would think - 3 maternity leaves in one district - that's a shoe-in. It's not. The following year I tried a different tactic - I took a part time job in a wealthy district as a reading teacher. I worked hard, did a great job and gained respect from students and teachers. Then when the year was coming to a close and jobs were posted for the following year - I couldn't even get an interview. I was pigeon-holed in a job that I was overqualified for. Then again at the start of this year I tried a whole new tactic. That I would just substitute and pray that something amazing would come out of it. I am happy to report that I enjoyed subbing in my home town and I think I got to know a lot of important people and I think I proved myself as a great teacher to people who count. Unfortunately - they did not have any pregnant teachers. So it's off to a new town for me! I start my new job on January 6th. So on the job front - I really am hoping that this year is my year!

Aside from the struggles this year has also taught me a lot. And that's what life is really all about right? This year I learned: 

1. Even when life continues to kick you on your ass - feeling sorry for yourself doesn't change a thing. Keeping your head held high and a positive attitude is what gets you through the tough days. 
2. The people in your life that really matter are the people who are going to be there - no matter what. These are the people who will know you are having a bad day without you even having to tell them. 
3. Friendships come in all shapes, forms, and sizes. Some friendships are life-long and are those friends you can depend on for anything. Some friends are the kind you meet up with for a coffee every few months and catch-up. Some friends completely disappear because life gets too busy. Some friends you get together with on the weekends and get silly. But there is no question about which friends are better and all that - because it doesn't matter. Count your blessings that you have all these types of friends and be happy with any kind of relationship that you can have with them.
4. Love really does make life a million times better. If I didn't have Jonathan loving me, caring about me, and taking care of me this year - I don't think I would've survived it would have been a lot harder.
5. Families can be nontraditional. Friends are the family you choose. Family are the people who are in your life and truly care. 

So goodbye 2010.... I have high hopes for 2011. 

It's already starting awesome with this cool date - 1/1/11