Time marches on

I'm updating this while babysitting, so I don't have any pictures to make this post more interesting. Sorry

Time has marched right along since I got the job on July 3rd. Seriously. It's already been a month! Since then I have: Finished up work at PC, gone to CO, and found an apt. I alternate hourly between being overwhelmed and excited about next year. Finishing up my part time work has made it much more real that I am actually changing jobs! Going up to the school and seeing my room made it even more real.

My first room was hideous and totally empty. This made me desperately want to paint, and completely overwhelmed at where on earth to put things. But I got a call yesterday that I am in a different room and I am SO excited. Excited that now all I need is to go up and measure things and I can start planning what my room is going to look like. Having the bones in place already will make this task much more doable with my current state as a novice teacher. Mom and sister are going to come and help me in a couple of weeks and we will get everything set up.

My Gifted/Talented training will start next week. I hope it will be interesting. The week after that is new teacher training. Then I have in school training with all of the other teachers. Then school starts. And so the insanity begins. At some point during all of this I might be packing and moving as well. Our lease will start on September 11th, and we are hoping to extend our current lease until then. (It ends on Sept 1) We will see.

So there is my life. Figuring out when/how I'm going to set up my classroom and then getting ready to move. Internet at home will be coming in September. As well as stories of the kiddos and the crazy things that happen in the life of a Middle School Math teacher. And so the adventure begins.

Big Day

Three posts in Three Days. This is a record. But I couldn't not say anything...


I GOT THE JOB!!!


I'll be teaching 6th grade math in a few short weeks and I'm SO excited. Freaking out a little bit, but SO excited. Now onto the bigger issues, finding a place to live closer to the school, getting some training done, wrapping up my part time work at PC and of course VACATION. This is going to be a crazy time for me, but when we move into town, we should get Internet and maybe I will update more often. :)

What a difference 24 hours makes

To think nothing much had happened on the job front 24 hours ago is so crazy to me. I got a call at 7:30pm to interview for a 6th Grade Math Position at a middle school in Tyler. There was much jumping up and down and a little squealing. I interviewed at 11am today and it went as well as could be expected. The principal was very encouraging and told me that even if I didn't get the position at his school, I should continue pursuing teaching and would make a good teacher.

On a funnier note, as I was waiting in the office, a couple of kids were there waiting on their mom to finish some work. They were probably in middle school and one of them had on some sneakers that seriously looked like the 80s had thrown up on them. They had neon pink, yellow/green, and blue on them. High tops. I just shook my head (inside of course, I wouldn't want to be rude) and was thankful that since I wore such things the first time around, I don't have to wear them this time around. I am not a fan of neon colors. :)

I'll find out about the job next week sometime. I'm just praying that God will let me know if this is what I am supposed to be doing or not. I know that He has a plan, and I can't wait to see what it will be. But for now, I am praising Him for the encouragement of the interview I had.

Not much new here...

I say that and now I will end up with a lengthy blog about something. No news on the job front. I emailed a principal with an opening today. But it is out of my hands. We will see.

I got my hair cut yesterday. It is identical to when I got it cut for my birthday in March. It wasn't the plan, but then again, I didn't really have a plan. Good thing I liked it in March and I still like it now.

I'm going on vacation in Colorado in 16 days. YAY! I love family vacations, and Colorado is definitely our favorite. We are spending 5 days there this time (vs 3 last time) and I know it is going to be great. However, I am going to figure out how to get myself out of bed so I can work some mornings. I'm trying to get extra hours in so that I won't have to worry about working while I'm gone. And at this point, I really can't do without a week's worth of income. Especially because...

I'm going to start looking for a new place to live in Tyler. Woo Hoo! I love the house we live in now, but it would be nice to be in town, and have internet at home. It would make work (and keeping this blog updated) infinitely easier. One of my roommates and I are about to start looking and see what is available. We want the lease to start the middle of August-ish, hence the looking now.

In other news, one of my dearest friends is having another baby and I am so excited! Who it is, you will have to wait and see, because the whole world doesn't know yet, and I'm not spilling it. Luckily all of my roommates now know and so I don't have to be quite so secretive. :) If only I didn't have to wait until January to meet this new little one! Well, it will give all of us time to get ready.

So there you go. For the four or five people who read my blog, a brief update of sorts. A blog about the not very much going on in my life. Hopefully one day soon we will all be rejoicing that I have found a job. We will see.

Road Block

All week I have been trying to eek out time to fill out my FWISD teacher application. I got all of my attachments ready and was prepared to spend an hour of this afternoon filling it out. Then I got online. Clicked around to find the application. And it wasn't where I was expecting it to be. As a matter of fact, I couldn't even find anything close to resembling the application I had been looking at for the past week.

I found their online application, only to have it tell me that there are no job opportunities. Which is funny, because they have a huge list of them available (even though I hadn't been able to find that information before today either). So now I don't know if this is a road block or yet another call to be patient. And now I really want a nap. Maybe that is what I will do since my original plans for this afternoon are gone. Sigh.

Another Day

I have managed to move to a more hour by hour laying things down that are out of my control. It is helpful to have certain things in my life calm down some. Others are totally hectic and crazy. (ie, I am working every night this week and have other craziness going on too.) It's amazing how one week things will seem dismal and the next doable. We are definitely in doable mode right now.

I am officially applying to teach at the school district where I grew up. I'm going to a teacher fair on Monday and we will see what happens. I think my biggest fear is that I will get a call back and be offered a job that day. I don't know what I would do. I desperately want a job and I don't want to move!!

My desire to stay where I am was enforced even more tonight when I spent some quality time with 4 munchkins who all know exactly who Miss Joanna is and how much they like being around her. The thought of not seeing them regularly breaks my heart. It's hard enough that my niece and nephew only see me every six months or so. And my friends that have become family. I know that we will always be friends, but it won't be the same. If moving is what God has planned for me, He is going to have to give me some SERIOUS strength. I don't like change.

So life is better. Held slightly more loosely. And harder, with my heart so firmly grounded here, the thought of leaving is not fun. We will see what the future holds. Tomorrow is a new day with new possibilities.

That Kind of Day

Oh what a day. Many things happened, none of which I want to openly disclose to the world, but to summarize it all part of my conversation with my mom went like this:

Me: "I feel like my life is in a blender right now."
Mom: "But think of what an amazing smoothie is going to come out at the end."

My sister and I decided we would prefer the smoothie to be frozen yogurt based with minimal banana flavoring. I am thankful for family that can support me and make me laugh during this crazy time, when literally NOTHING seems to be stable. I'm to the point of having to minute by minute turn everything over to God. Oh me and my planning tendencies. So good in some ways and so hard in others.

And so tonight I am going to go get some little people hugs. And then sleep. Until the problems rear their ugly heads again tomorrow. And once again return to the minute by minute reminding myself that God knows exactly where I am going to be tomorrow and the next day and the next.