I'm Still Alive! =)

Hurrah! I got my story completed and sent off by the contest deadline! Now, I'm starting work on a different story for a different contest. =)

Let's see...what have I been up to?

Tutoring is going well...I'll be losing one student to football practice after next week, but I've just started a new student last week. I also just got an email from a lady in Tulsa that wants a math tutor, but I think it's getting too close to the start of school for me to be able to do much with her...I don't want to tutor on top of first-year teaching -- that would be just too much for me.

We went to the lake with the T's and Will H. last week, and we'll be trying out a new lake spot on Thursday afternoon with the T's, Hope L., and several of the H's. Wow, that last sentence was rather cryptic. ;-P ("Is it a code?" -- Jeeves and Wooster) And we also had a "poetry-fest" with the T's on Friday evening, complete with costumes. So much fun!!

I've also been getting a lot of work on Prescott (my car) done. I got the oil and filter changed, air filter and all fluid levels checked, interior vacuumed, frame straightened, front end aligned, and all four tires replaced (ouch!). He's been steadily eating tires for a while now, because the frame was too badly bent to really be able to align the front end, and getting the frame straightened looked like it was going to be way more than I could possibly afford. But our good old Honda Repair Specialist just recommended a frame shop to us that got Prescott straightened out for a decent price. Praise God! =)

So, next on my car maintenance list: Replace the rim on the back right tire, repair the radio and antenna, and get Prescott a wash and wax.

The principal of Claremore High School should be arriving back in town sometime tomorrow, and I should be hearing from him on Thursday or Friday. He left a message for me before going out of town that he wanted to talk to me when he got back and that he hoped I was still interested in working for them! Yay! Also, there are now three math positions listed as open for Claremore. So, that hopefully means that I have even more chance of getting hired there. =D

Interviews! =D Etc.

I ended up having two interviews yesterday! Just as I was getting ready to go to the first one (in Broken Arrow), I got a call from the Principal of Claremore High School, asking me if they could set up an interview! So, I interviewed with Broken Arrow in the morning and with Claremore High School in the afternoon, and both interviews went well -- they actually each told me specifically that I interview well. =) Both places still had other people that they needed to interview as well, so I won't hear back for at least a coule days, I think. Broken Arrow said that they thought I'd be an asset to their school, though, and Claremore seemed to think I would work well for them. Claremore said that they specifically like to hire newer teachers.

Now I need to figure out and practice what I'm going to read for the poetry night with the T's on Friday! =) Speaking of which, I'd probably better do my reading, etc., for our girls' Bible study that afternoon as well. =>

My other two big goals for the rest of this week have to do with Prescott and with finishing my current short story. Prescott needs his oil and filter changed, all fluid levels checked, and tire pressure checked. And actually, I also need to take him to get his alignment checked and tires rotated, as well as needing to see what I can do about replacing his antenna and fixing his radio. However, since I'm not driving him a lot right now, those two things may get postponed until early July, because the post-mark deadline for the contest quarter that I want to enter my story in is June 30th. As a matter of fact, I should probably ban myself from Blogger, Facebook, and any non-job-related emails until I complete and edit the story draft I'm working on right now. So, this may be the last you hear of me for a little while. =D

Oh, and I'm also going to get to drive out with Naomi this week to see Janie H's new mare and foal! We're so excited, and we'll probably get to do that on Thursday evening. And, probably on Saturday, our clan hopes to get together with the T. clan to go see the second Transformers movie -- fun!

So yes, this is shaping up to be a very eventful and enjoyable week. =)

Jacob Black, for Joel

I think this is the closest to your photo:



Hmmm...it looks a little weird with all the pink around it. ;-P

Woohoo!!

My teaching certificate arrived in the mail yesterday! Now I can scan it in and attach it to all of my online applications and I can give copies of it to the three schools that might hire me! Oh, and now I can finally fill in the "certificate number" field on my different online applications. =)

I have a job interview on Monday morning!!!! It's with a middle school in Broken Arrow, and the position is for an algebra teacher. I am so excited!!! I was starting to wonder what was wrong with me, because I hadn't received a *single* request for an interview! This makes me feel so much better!! The school is not too far off the turnpike, so I would have a fairly straight shot to work each morning. Because the position is for an algebra teacher at a middle school that only goes up to the 8th grade, that means that I would be working with the advanced students. (And I tend to like to work with either extreme of student.) Sounds like a pretty good job to me! The interview will be at 10am (CST) on Monday; in case any of you think of me at that time, send up a prayer for me! =)

Also, I would just appreciate general prayers for guidance, and for my situation with the two Claremore schools that I've applied with. Claremore High School has two math positions open now, and the principal seemed very interested in me and said that he'd call me back at the beginning of this past week. Of course, I haven't heard anything from him, and I haven't been able to get ahold of him by phone or by email. (This is the same guy that Samuel tried for weeks to get ahold of and finally had to give up on.) As for Will Rogers Jr. High, it's strange, but they finally have Mr. Crum's math position listed now, and Terry (the principal) has been assuring me for months that he wants to hire me and that he'll contact me just as soon as he has an available position for me. As soon as Broken Arrow called me on Thursday to schedule the interview, I tried to contact Terry to let him know what was going on and to tell him that I'd prefer to work for Claremore. He wasn't at the school, so I emailed him, but I haven't heard anything back from him, either.

Strangeness. Maybe God knows that I would actually be better off in another school district, even though I've really set my heart on not having to commute anymore. I'm starting to think I should use the same "fleece" that Chera did, and accept the first offer I get. I guess I'd better make that decision fairly quickly, *before* I get an offer. It would kind of defeat the purpose if I already have an offer before "setting out the fleece." =D

And, Lord willing, I *will* get an offer before school starts! Pray for Samuel, too!

In other good news, a large group of us went down to see "The Iris Lady" (Phyllis) in Sapulpa. I first went to see her a little over a year ago(?), when I was an absolute health wreck, and she prescribed the most overwhelming amount of (natural health) stuff for me! I tried taking some of it, but gave up pretty soon because it was just an impossible number of pills to take each day. Over the past several months, though, I've started taking vitamins and minerals regularly, as well as doing better about always taking my Metformin doses. I've also been getting off of Dr. Pepper and coffee, as well as just drinking less coke in general, and I've been exercising more regularly. Well, all of that is evidently paying off, because Phyllis was very happy with how I've improved! =) (She remembered me.) She only filled out one sheet of paper about me this time, and a large part of it was to say that several areas have improved! =) In addition, there were a number of areas she talked to me about last time that she didn't even mention this time. So, yay me! On the stuff that she did write down and prescribe things for me, she wrote down fewer numbers of supplements and smaller doses than she had before. She also said that the vitamins I've started taking are working well for me, and so she didn't prescribe for me to take the really nasty-tasting Life's Fortune liquid vitamins this time! =D So, it still makes for a rather large pile of pills at each meal (to my eyes, anyway), but at least this time it also seems do-able! I took all of my prescribed supplements last night and this morning, and shall endeavor to continue taking *all* of them faithfully for at least a week! ;-) (Then we can reassess and see about reducing doses, etc.)

Antzy

Well, I still haven't heard anything back yet from Claremore High School. And Will Rogers Jr. High has evidently finalized Mr. Crum's hiring for the Assistant Principal position, so now they have his math position listed as available. The principal had told me that he would call me as soon as he had something that he could hire me for -- that I wouldn't need to keep checking back with him. However, I haven't heard anything for him yet, either. Still not even any nibbles from all the other schools I've already applied to. The Tulsa Public Schools online application is perfectly dreadful. ORU was finally able to get things set up for all us Education graduates to begin applying for our teaching certificates from the state online, so that we should hopefully be able to get them early next week. But when I got online to apply for mine, the state had incorrectly listed which areas I would be certified in, so I tried to call them at 4:34, and it turned out that their offices close at 4:30, and I was only able to leave a message. To top things off, it seems like half of my summer has just disappeared unused while I've been feeling so sick and cruddy. Sigh.

Still! If I don't hear back from Claremore High School by tomorrow afternoon, I'll try giving them a call. I will also consider calling Will Rogers, although I might not want to press that yet, since I would actually prefer the high school position. (Or at least, from what I know right now, I think that I will.) I'm also going to see about emailing a number of different principals that I've applied to, as well as filling out applications for the Broken Arrow and Union school districts. And I'm going to just forget the stupid Tulsa application for now, especially because all the positions they have listed right now sound rather unappealing. And I will call the State Department first thing in the morning about my certificate.

I shall also enjoy the free time that I have available this summer by exercising, de-cluttering, maintenancing my car, working on my stories, doing things with friends and family, and reading! I am finally feeling so much better -- no more nausea!! I shall take advantage of this return to good health and do my best to make up for lost time!

Speaking of which, I think I shall go practice guitar, because Samuel, Joshua, and I will be having another lesson tonight with Stokton. =)

News from this Past Week

Well, Samuel is a little jealous, because now I have actually met the principal of Claremore High School. =) Even the principal's secretary commented to me as I was leaving, "Well, you timed that perfectly!" Poor Samuel tried valiantly for several weeks to meet the fellow, or even talk to him on the phone, but finally had to give it up for fear of making himself too much of a nuisance. I'm hoping that it won't turn out that teachers employed at the school have too much trouble contacting him if necessary.

I think things went well...he perused the paperwork that I gave him, actually noting my scores on the state tests (and he was impressed by my perfect score on the OGET), and seemed pleased that I would be certified in two subject areas. He said he would be in Oklahoma City on Thursday and Friday, but that I would probably hear back from him at the beginning of next week. He just seemed pleased overall, and things went smoothly. So, we'll see how things go from here! =)

As far as this past week goes overall, I'm rather disappointed with how sickly I've been feeling lately. I really hope I get to feeling better soon, so I can make the most of this summer!

Speaking of which, I was going to write more, but since I'm feeling icky again, I think I'd better focus on finishing up what few odds and ends I can before going to bed.

Claremore High School

Claremore High School just posted an opening for a math teacher! CHS is my number 1 pick of schools that I would like to work in (with Will Rogers Jr. High being number 2). So, I'll be dressing up and taking my resume, etc., over there this afternoon. Pray things go well and that I get this job, Lord willing!

New Template

Ha ha! I just love this template! It's very much outside the box, it somehow makes me want to laugh out loud, and yet it's also beautiful in its own way. And I love the colors. =)

Quick Update

I still haven't gotten a single interview request yet. And today I tried to follow up with several places that I had applied to for various positions, but it seems that all the principals have gone on vacation, and even some entire school districts seem to have completely shut down. It's getting rather depressing.

Nevertheless, there are three more districts that I'm going to try applying to tomorrow. I'm also going to be emailing several principals over the weekend. And Will Rogers (where I student taught) has told me that they would like to hire me and that they will possibly have a position open for me in the fall. Everything's just still very much up in the air.

Tutoring is going well so far. I may or may not end up working for Gym City this summer...the number of students that has signed up is looking very low. So, we'll see how that goes, and it may turn out to be for the better if I just tutor this summer (job-wise) and have more time to work on some big goals that I have for the next few months.

This past week has just been an absolute blast as far as seeing different friends and relatives goes! Cherise came by on her way back home to Missouri from Tulsa. She met Naomi and I at Rita's and we all rode for a couple hours. And when I was going to pay her, Rita said "Surprise! This is your graduation gift!" How fun and how nice of Rita! And we all three had a great time riding! And then, of course, Chera arrived on Monday and stayed with us through Friday! The week went by way too fast, though -- I can't believe she's already gone! Still, it was so good to have her here! Also, she has some wonderful and exciting news that I'll refrain from giving away. It just wouldn't be fair for me to do that while she's still stuck in the airports and having to deal with delayed flights right now. In addition, we had the T. Clan (including Uncle Joel) over on Tuesday night to watch the movie Transformers with us. That was so fun, and Chera and I especially enjoyed our seats right behind Stockton because he got so into the movie and was so dramatic in his enjoyment. =D And then, we drove down to Texas on Wednesday morning/afternoon and came back Thursday night. While in Texas, we all got to see all of Uncle Kent's clan, including Erica, Tobin, and Molly! And various ones of us got to go to Midieval Times, Six Flags, or both. I got to go to both, and they were both very fun! Those who didn't get to go to Midieval Times got to visit with Uncle Rod and Aunt Leona, and then they were able to give all the rest of us all the latest news about them. And then, this afternoon (back at home), all we Bavido and T. ladies were able to get together for Bible Study. So, like I said, it's been a great week for spending time with family and friends. =)

Well, I'd better get myself into bed. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Sneak Peek

Anna's friend Suzie McComb did a graduation photo shoot for Samuel, Anna, and I a couple weeks ago. Since we're all three graduating this spring, we decided to save a whole bunch by just doing a group photo, group announcements/invites, and a group party. =) So, here's the shot that we finally picked to be our official graduation picture to send out with the cards:



Here we also have some others that we considered:





I also have some pictures of Dandelion and of my new haircut, but they're still on the camera instead of my computer, so I'll have to post them some other time. What do you guys think of these ones, though?

Various Big News

~I passed my senior defense yesterday! (With flying colors!)
~The only thing I have left to do for ePortfolio is to upload and submit my recommendation letter from Ms. MG as soon as she gets it to me. Yay!!! (Even just a couple days ago, I wasn't completely sure how I would ever manage to finish the whole thing.) =)
~The only other things I have left to do for school involve rehearsing for or participating in various ceremonies to honor my achievements! (Along with other people's, too, of course.) =>
~By this time next week, I will be COMPLETELY done with school!
~Today I got my hair cut, drastically. It hasn't been this short since I was somewhere around Kindergarten age. I really like it so far, though, and people keep telling me that it looks really cute. So I'm happy, and I'll have to post pictures.
~I'm going to take a Sunday afternoon nap tomorrow!!! =D
~It's absolutely gorgeous weather right now, and I'm planning to enjoy it immensely over this coming week.

Okay, so maybe not all of my "big news" is technically all that big, but it's all very big to me! =D I'm so happy!

And now, I'm going to go to bed, simply because I just feel ready to go to bed now, and I don't have any assignments or anything to keep me from being able to go to bed when I'm tired and sleepy. *bliss*

30 days!

Just 30 more days until my graduation! I'm getting more and more excited! And only three more weeks of student teaching after I finish this week.

Dr. Radin's coming to observe me tomorrow morning. That will be the third out of four observations that I need to have. (And she'll come do the final observation sometime in the next two weeks.)

Also, starting tomorrow and Friday during my lunch/plan period at school, I'm going to be dashing around the county, filling out applications and handing out my resume, etc., to all the different school districts. If you guys could keep this whole job-seeking and decision-making process in prayer for me, that would be great! Hopefully, since math teachers can be hard to come by, I'll have to make a choice between several positions. But, then again, the school districts that I'm interested in are all on the smaller side. For example, I already know that the school I'm working in right now for my second placement does not expect to have any openings for next year. So, I find myself worrying that there won't be any open positions at any of them, and I would really prefer not to have to work in and drive to a Tulsa or Owasso school next year.

In other news, my proposition that the chicks had visibly grown in just one day was confirmed. The rest of the family got back from Bowie and exclaimed without any prompting from me that the chicks were bigger than when they had left the evening before! I had gotten some really cute pictures of my Dandelion the week before, so I'll need to post them, maybe this weekend. But they will already be out of date because she's actually much larger and grown-up-looking now. =)

March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion?

Wow, our spring weather has gotten a little mixed up. =) This month started out beautiful, and we've had lots of lovely days in the 80's and flowers coming up all over the place. *Peaceful sigh* But here at the end of this week, we've been having strong winds and heavy rains. And now, today, it's been snowing that lovely, sticky snow that's great for snowballs and snowmen, but not so fun to drive in. I don't have time to play in the snow, I'm sure it's killing all the flowers, and I'm waiting anxiously for the rest of the family to make it back home from the tournament down in Texas, so I'm not fully appreciative of the weather change right now. Still, all my little gymnastics students this morning were so thrilled when it started snowing, and the T. family has been hoping for it to snow "one to two feet!" (So, at Bible study yesterday, we prayed that it would snow up here and they would have a lovely time in it, but that our family would have a safe drive to and from Texas. =) Thus far we've already gotten the snow part, so I'm grateful on their behalf!)

Well, I can't believe how quickly the day has flown by! It's just Daddy and I at home right now, looking after the whole little menagerie of animals. I swear, the new chicks may have grown some more just since the morning! =) I'd better get something to eat and hurry to get my lesson-planning done for this coming week. I want to be able to spend all of my free time tomorrow working like mad on the short story that I should have ready to mail on Tuesday for the contest. (Ha! I'm starting to think I'm crazy, but maybe I'll still get it finished in time.)

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, the neighbor's shed is no longer burning and she, we, and all the neighbors in between, are all unharmed.

The only news that I have right now from the karate tournament is that Samuel made it into the big fight at the end (yay!) and that he was going to be up against Jason M. Either way, it'll be good for BattleCreek, but of course, I want Samuel to win. =D Other than that, we'll just have to wait until when they get home late, late tonight. (Assuming the roads don't get too bad and they end up needing to spend the night elsewhere.) They have Will and Mr. H with them, so at least we know we don't have to worry about what they'll do if they have car trouble.

Spring Break

Mama introduced me to this quote the other day:

"The trouble with doing nothing is that you can't tell when you're finished."
--Mason McCorkle's Grandfather (We don't actually know the grandfather's name.)

Well, in that spirit, here's what I was able to do during Spring Break (which makes me very happy):

++Finished the Honors portion of my senior paper and got it submitted to my professor. (That means I'm ALL DONE with my senior paper now!) =D
++Celebrated Pi Day and my birthday. (See posts below.)
++Completed and sent in the Weekly Report for last week's student teaching.
++Read a textbook that we were all assigned to read during our second student teaching placement.
++Completed all 6 homework assignments of questions to be answered over said textbook. (So I'm actually ahead on my homework now!) =D
++Got in quite a few extra hours at work.
++Compared notes and went over with Samuel the advice and information that our respective schools gave each of us about portfolios, resumes, interviews, etc..
++Caught up on sleep. =)
++Went out to lunch with Mama, Samuel, Anna, and Ethan. =)
++Caught up on Facebook stuff.
++Got my hair trimmed (thanks to Mama).
++Did some basic tidying and cleaning in my room.
++Had two lovely Bible studies with T./B. ladies.
++Went trail-riding with Naomi and Janie out at Rita's! =)
++Fell in love with some 5- to 20-acre lots of pasture land for sale in the Pryor area.
++Did some creative writing, although not as much as I would like.
++Got to spend a lot of time holding our new baby chicks, especially the one that I have picked to be mine. (I'll have to post pictures sometime soon -- she's so fluffly yellow that she looks like a cartoon!) =)
++Posted twice on my blog (as of right now), and caught up on reading my friends' blogs. =)

So, what I have left to do this evening:
++Reply to a couple of different emails in my inbox.
++Watch "The Pineapple Story" sermon on tape -- I'm hoping it might help improve my attitude about certain aspects of student teaching at Verdigris.
++Touch up the left side of my hair trim. (My wavy hair always makes it difficult for us to get the trim even on the first try.)
++Do at least a little bit more work on my current short story. (I need to have it finished and ready to mail on the 31st if I'm going to meet my goal of submitting a story to every quarter of the Writer's of the Future contest this year.)
++Go to bed by at least a semi-reasonable hour, considering that I have to get back on school schedule starting tomorrow morning. X-P

And, during this coming week, I'll need to work like crazy on my short story, and also start putting my portfolio together in order to apply for teaching positions at the local schools in early April.

Oh my! The neighbor's shed, three doors down, has caught fire! Her entire property is rather a fire hazard, but the volunteer firemen are on it, and it seems that they'll be able to keep it from spreading any further than the shed. We're under a fire ban right now because of hazardous conditions...it rained a teeny bit this weekend, thankfully, but it's still windy today. At least, as of right now, the wind is blowing away from the fire toward empty pasture instead of toward anyone's nearby houses. We've set Naomi as our official watch person (for both us and the other neighbors), in case the wind starts to change or it otherwise looks like we'd better start wetting down our trees and fencelines. We have also secured the locations of all of our various loose children and pets.

So, I think I shall go now. I'm sure Anna will post on her blog sooner or later about her ankle surgery and all. Someone else in the family also needs to post our slightly different perspective of the entire affair, though. We've taken it rather harder than she has, I think. ;-) Maybe this will be a way to persuade Mama to update her blog! =)

It's Gonna Be A Good Year

I wasn't necessarily feeling all that happy (or credulous) about my age when I turned 27 on Thursday. But then, we celebrated my birthday Friday evening, and we didn't have very many candles, so we were trying to figure out how to represent 27 on the cake. And then I suddenly realized that I am once again going to be a multiple of 3! (Three and multiples-of-three are my favorite numbers.) And then -- glorious epiphany -- I also remembered that 27 is 3 to the 3rd power!! That's so cool! (Squares and cubes are also favorite numbers of mine.) Years ago I had figured out that someday I would reach this glorious age, but then I had completely forgotten about it until yesterday. Wow! I'm so excited now! This is gonna be a good year!

Also, as an added bonus, the date of my birthday looked really cool this year: 03-12-09. Yay! =)

And, yes, I know I'm weird. But at least I'm very excited about being 27 now instead of being slightly depressed.

A Couple Wise Statements

This is such a wise quote (and it should be taken to heart by every cheerleader, clique member, and chronic complainer out there, as well as the rest of us):

You are not superior just because you see the world in an odious light.
- Vicomte de Chateaubriand

And here's another wise statement, especially so because Rockefeller had the resources to live a life devoted to pleasure but had this to say instead:

I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.
- John D. Rockefeller