Saturday, April 21, 2007

Saturday

I love Saturdays. Nothing much to report these days...sold my truck and bought a new "girl" car. I never thought I would go back to a 2WD car but alas, the rising gas prices won out over the 10 days a year I need 4WD. My parents also gave Paul Bunyan their '89 Toyota truck to fix up and drive so, three 4WDs seemed a bit much. I drove my new car in the snow yesterday, without chains, and although it was a little harry at some points, the car did really well. It is front-wheel drive so they do pretty well in the snow. Now Tim and I have matching his and hers silver cars. We look so yuppie...little do they know ;)
I've been subbing quite a bit these days and mostly in the primary grades, go figure. Those first and second graders are really growing on me. Those grades are a ton of physical work but the kids are so cute and loving. I subbed in the absolute worst 6th grade class the other day. You know it's bad when the school secretary starts by begging you to sub and then hands you a stack of referral forms as soon as you walk in the door. Uh oh! They wanted me to sub the following two days in the same class but I just couldn't do it. Those kids were awful. The teacher regularly gives them several "free" times during the day and it shows. They weren't interested in learning a darn thing. Sadly, as much as I want to suck up so I can get a job, they don't pay me enough to babysit 32 rotten 6th graders. I feel really bad for those kids. They are going to get to middle school and high school and get their butts kicked. I had one kid that spent the entire day using the word "ghetto". Pick a part of speech, even some that don't make sense, and he used the word that way. People were "ghetto", things were "ghetto", actions were "ghetto", at one point we were even "ghettoing"...think about that one for a while. Michael would have lost his marbles in this class. I finally made the kid look up the meaning of the word but that didn't stop him from using it ALL day. Obviously, one of your more stand-up, socially aware citizens. The world needs more of this kind of kid!
Off to let Paul Bunyan drive to the post office...Good Saturday to all!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Double ugh!

First ugh - I called the District Office to find out why I don't receive phone calls when there are sub jobs (I have to look on-line). The personnel person told me that I am just unlucky. What kind of answer is that? One of the guys that I student taught with gets 3 to 5 calls every morning. He has only been on the sub list 3 months longer than I have. The lady told me that he was put higher on the list but she doesn't know why. Funny, she is the person that puts the subs in the system but she can't tell me why I don't get any calls. Ironic isn't it? I need the money but I am bummed that I don't get phone calls for jobs. See why I need to work full-time. I sit and think about stuff too much when I don't.

Second ugh - The problem is money vs. experience. I can take a four days worth of sub jobs = experience. I can work 2.5 days at the conference center = money. What to do? The bummer is that I make WAY more money working 2.5 days at the conf center than I do working four WHOLE days subbing. I know I need the experience but right now we need the money. Not working for five months and only working part-time for the last two has put a huge squeeze on the pocket book. I also need to make it through the summer so I need the money. Not really looking for answers, just thinking out loud...blah, blah, blah.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Fun in the sun!

I love living in California. We went out on a friend's boat this weekend. You've gotta love any place that you can leave the snow and head for the water on the same day. We had a great time as you can see. This is my honey water skiing - in MARCH!














We also pulled the kids behind the boat in an inner tube. The smiles were great and we all had an amazing time putting around the lake. This is a private lake down near Temecula and there were about four boats out that day. Tim and Marc were able to ski until their little arms couldn't hold on any longer. http://www.vaillakeresort.com/

This is Tim driving the boat. He had a wonderful time (as you can see by the smile on his face) and we were able to spend the entire day just relaxing.














Two posts in one day. Can you tell that it's the first day of Spring Break?