Just Some Random Junk

I have to admit I felt so much better after my last blog post.  I really do enjoy it more than Facebook. 

Travel goal update - We are taking a road trip in March.  I am very excited because the longest road trip we have taken together was to Fresno to visit Tim's sisters.  We are planning on a week-long journey to hit the Redwoods, San Francisco and/or Napa, Portland, and possibly Boise.  The more I plan the more I want to see along the way and I feel like we could take much longer than a week, but that's all the time we have so we are going to make the best of it all.  Mostly, I am excited about the number of friends we will get to visit along the way so some of you should be prepared for our bright and shiny faces at the end of March.

Blogging goal - Second post this week...not bad.

God goal - Still at the very beginning of this goal.  Working on setting some time aside each night to spend time with God.  I think He deserves more than my pathetic, last-minute praying just before I fall asleep at night.  I feel crummy about the amount of time I spend in prayer with Him versus the amount of time I want to spend.  (I used "crummy" just for my Lizabeth.)

Today was the first day back to school after the holiday vacation and I have to admit that I am EXHAUSTED!  Actually, I am beyond exhausted.  What's after exhaustion?  Death?  The kids were pretty wound up and we always have to spend the first couple of days practicing things such as lining up, raising hands, and transitioning.  This particular class is notorious for tattling.  I can't believe these kids have any friend left.  They will tattle on anyone at any time.  They do not seem to play favorites nor have they mastered the art of covering for one another...sad.  I had one charmer point out, in the middle of a lesson and out loud, that is best friend was chewing gum.  Really?  Who are you and why does anyone want to play with you?  Some day someone is going to take that kid to an alley and beat the crap out of him.  My favorite is still the kids that think if they put their hand over their mouth I will not notice they are eating.  Hmmm, I wonder why Daisy has her hand over her mouth.  It must be a really comfortable position.  Maybe, when her jaw is going up and down she is just stretching it out a little.  Hmmmm.  She must be getting ready to blurt out something profound.  Ya, that's it...profound!

Off to bed very early!

Goals not resolutions

Here I sit on this lovely first day of 2010 thinking about blogging. I realized this morning, as I was trying to find something witty to post on Facebook, that I actually miss blogging. I miss waiting with anticipation for Kathie's next endearing post that is sure to make me love her even more, Beth's post that makes me spit out whatever is in my mouth because I am laughing so dang hard, Michael's post that usually leaves me scratching my head because what he posts is fascinating and WAY over my head, Slater's posts that keep us updated on his beautiful, charming family, Christina's posts that always hit home regarding children, teaching, and step-parenting, and so on. I miss the intimacy that, in a strange cyberspace way, comes with blogging. Facebook is great for catching up with old and new friends, but the shiny exterior is wearing off quickly. I find myself trying to think of cute, funny things to say and I usually just end up whining to 200 of my “closest” friends. I generally want to say so much more than can fit in that little box (verbal processor), and have to admit that I have grown to loath the “like” button. I don't think I really care if people like my post.


I decided this year I would not make any resolutions mainly because I generally break them in the first 48 hours and then I spend the rest of the year feeling crummy. I think I will just try to set some goals for myself and my family because that sounds more rewarding anyway.

A couple of my goals are to take some road trips and spend some quality time with my husband. Our kids are grown and we have always been together as parents. We started our marriage later in the process and therefore never had that pre-child bonding time. Another goal is to blog a little more. I wont put any restrictions on that like once a week or once a month because that will just serve to make me more anxious about failing. I will just say that I would like to do it more. I am also going to try to spend less time guessing what people think about something I said or did. I know that I don't usually head out in the world to hurt people so if folks choose to take something I said and give it a whole new meaning who am I to ruin their fun. Lastly, I would like to work on my relationship with Christ. He has been on the back burner, not because He put Himself there, but because I put Him there. I don't think I did it on purpose, but I know that I was falling back into the old routine of trying to handle everything on my own. Kathie and I were in the middle of a conversation about how I didn't understand something that a friend had done and we pulled into a parking space next to a car that had Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” written on the back window. Well, sometimes He is not mysterious at all. The only other think He could have done to get my attention would have been to have Vanna White pointing at the darn thing. In my goal setting I would like to focus on that and 3:6 “in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths strait.”

I wish you all a happy and hopefully healthy New Year and look forward to some good blogging time in the near future.

Prom 2009

Joseph and Alex

John, Joseph, and Brett doing their "model" poses.

The whole group in Palm Springs.

More posing.

Pretty girls...Ashley, Alex, and Katie

Crazy kids off to dinner.

Joseph and Alex. This is one of my favorites.

The good news is that I will still have health insurance.

I told you all in my last post that I was going to try to focus on the positive so, here goes. Even if I lose my job we will still have health insurance with Tim's job. I realize how much that is worth in this day and age so I am truly thankful.

On the other hand, I am still trying not to think the worst. I really like my job so this isn't all about money. There are also 37 other people, in my district anyway, in my position and I would like to see them end all of this with a job also. This whole educational cut position the government is taking is really disturbing. Also, I would like to know how cutting jobs, any job, and raising taxes is going to stimulate the economy. I'm not an economist, but that doesn't seem very logical. Every time I turn on the TV or the radio I end up so sad. So many people are affected by the terrible turn our economy has taken and it's hard to hear about. I was listening to KFI the other day and a man that lost his job in December is still waiting for his unemployment check to come. Not everyone without a job wants to screw up their credit and skip out on paying bills. Welcome to my "vacation" brain.

BTW - I am so excited that Nathan Fillion has a new show! This is my happy place today.

The good news is that I'm not pregnant. That's what I keep telling myself after yesterday's union meeting regarding our layoff notices. I walked into the room feeling REALLY sorry for myself to see one pregnant woman filling out paper work and talked to another friend with a baby that just turned one and another one on the way. Oh my. This is the point where I tell myself that things could be way worse.

The fact is the waiting is what is killing me. By Ed code the district has to give us our pink slips or job placements by May 15. I've spent the better part of the week planning for the worst and hoping for the best. Kathie has been such a help, letting me moan and sob without telling me how it could be worse. I just realized how choppy this post is, but that is sort of where my thoughts are today.

I've decided that each day I will come up with one thing to be thankful for instead of being angry that I might lose my job so I'm going with the pregnant thing today. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Thank you to everyone that took the time to chime in on the degree front. I love my friends. After talking it over with my coworker and my husband, and really thinking about what all of you said, I am going to take the plunge. I know you have all been waiting with baited breath for me to come to the conclusion you know I would anyway...did that make any sense? I think I just needed to talk it out and look at all the sides. So, I guess this long weekend will be devoted to filling out the application and the FAFSA stuff.

Ahhhhhh! Long day. I am still mulling over the master's dilemma. Tim says I should do it and that makes me happy. We already have so much debt though, I hate to add more right now, but if I don't do this soon, I wont ever do it.

Do I want the degree. Yes, I think I do. Do I want to go back to school for the next 14 months? NO. I found a college that is online and the credits are accepted in out district. I also have the opportunity to do this particular program with one of the other teachers on my 6th grade team. We work well together and have been talking about this for the last year and a half. Working with her would make the whole deal a little more bearable.

I'm gonna chew on it a little bit more. Thanks for the advice, encouragement, and scary math reasoning.