Hi Ho!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go! Tomorrow starts the routine drive to my new job. I've done 2 random days, but tomorrow starts a 4 day week, followed by another 4 day week(thanks Labor Day!) and then in to the standard 5 day week. Thanks God for breaking me in a little slowly!

Today was an afternoon at the Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota with my "singles" Bible Study Group, and hopefully Friday will bring another trip to the Twin Cities to do some school shopping with my nieces. If I'm feeling energetic, I'll be over that way on Monday to visit with my wonderful cousin Marcus before he leaves for Colorado on his latest acting-driven endeavor! Good luck to him! I'll try to post some picts from the zoo later on.

See you again soon,
Thanks for stopping by!
A

It's moist . . .

Looking out my window at 3:00am, I can barely make out the street light meant to be illuminating the street in front of my house. There are reports of dense fog warnings throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. As I peer out my window, I think whoever noticed this and made those warnings up was actually pretty darn smart! I'm not driving anywhere tonight or tomorrow morning, so I'm okay with this. The air is excessively moist though, feeling quite clammy and sticky, even indoors. I am the queen of strategically placed fans, in the hopes of bringing in the cool night air and cooling my apartment down as efficiently as humanly possible. Tonight, however, as I took the fan out of my bedroom window to close the blind, I noticed drops of water across the screen behind the fan. It hadn't been raining, so I though it odd. I walked out to my kitchen and noticed the same strange occurrence there. On the screen behind the window fan were little droplets of water, and only on that part of the screen. I turned the fan to exhaust and it promptly dried away most of the little drops. I had to try one last time. Within minutes of turning the fan to intake, water droplets had begun to reform! My theory is that the moisture of the outside air is condensing on the fan as the air is pulled through. If anyone knows of a more scientific theory about my pet water droplets, feel free to add to my limited, 3:30 in the morning brain!

I'm off to sleep now, hope I don't drown in this gosh-darn humidity!

A

today . . .

Today I struggled through 7.5 hours of literacy training with people I don't know yet, for a project I'm just joining in on, for kids that I haven't met yet. The woman presenting had an 80's style hairdo (bangs curled up and back, with some height, but mostly just feathered?) and a strangely hypnotic quality to her voice. In her defense, I've heard that she is wonderful and really, really knowledgeable in the area of reading, and one's fashion sense does not dictate the quality of instruction. An interesting combo, nonetheless! I'm glad I've outgrown my own 80's do!

I am an elementary school teacher. Should this result in my wearing of cartoon characters on my bosom or stomach, or any part of my body for that matter, please beat me up side the head. Please. Remind me that as a grown woman, there really is no excuse. This will be a major challenge(teaching them, not the cartoon thing!).

First day.

My first day was spent getting to know 2 of the teachers that I will be working with, filling out paper work, and carrying massive files to my room, then to my car so that I can be reading them at home! I have about 15 kids to get to know really well before I meet them! A long inservice Tuesday that probably won't mean anything to me until I've been there a couple of years. What do you do. I hope I can LOOK interested . . . .

Today was laundry, and working on some projects, tomorrow more projects. Rainy days are great for days like that! I love a rainy night, it's such a beautiful sight!

I must get ready for bed, I'm hoping to actually get up and get some stuff done tomorrow!

Hope things are well for all of you!
A

I start . . .

I start my new job tomorrow. We're getting together as a department at 8:00AM. Yep, AM. Back to school always kicks my butt hard. I'm a night owl by nature and it always just seems to happen that I find myself not going to bed until 3:00AM when I'm on vacation. This will be the first challenge, going to bed at a semi-reasonable time of night. I must start tonight, as I have to leave home by 6:45AM. I will be doing a lot of driving this year. Yikes. I bought an FM transmitter on Ebay so that I can listen to CDs or mp3s along the way. I am fortunate to be able to download bible teaching by oodles of teachers from church for free. I will hopefully be able to increase that part of my knowledge, as well as my school knowledge this year!

I had to find my social security card tonight, and my teaching license. I'm curious, taking a little poll I guess. Do you have a specific location for your important documents? Could you walk right directly into your house and pick up your passport and social security card, in case you needed to flee the country immediately for some reason? (If you have any stored at a bank, HA! I can leave the country faster and won't have to wait until business hours! I realize that I am a disorganized, cluttered kind of person and am striving to join the "grown up" world and organize and declutter. I was just wondering if I'm the only one? (Lizard Princess- I know where you stand! No smart alec remarks, mmkay?)

I must go to bed, 5:45 will come especially early on the first morning!

A

I HAVE THE POWER!!!

Oh wait, I HAVE power! The storm that raged through Wisconsin and Minnesota last night caused several trees to fall throughout town, ultimately causing our lack of electricity at about 10:20 pm. I'd gone to a friends house to watch a movie, but the storm proved to be much more exciting! When the power went off, the movie, trapped in the DVD player, quickly took it's place further down my priority list! We watched the storm outside until nearly 2:00am, when we dozed in the living room instead. The entire neighborhood in the center of town was pitch black. I didn't want to come home, though, to a dark house when my friendly pet bat from the previous night was still on the loose! I can handle dark. I can handle Bats(barely). I CANNOT handle bats IN the dark. However could I hit it with my broom? (I had done this the night before at 3:30am and the little beast had crawled off and is currently AWOL)

Anywho- a tree had split and gone down(conveniently) in between my friend's house and the house next to it. That was only one of many that had come down in the winds. This one, unlike a few others, hadn't hit any major power lines. Fortunately, or unfortunately, when I got to my house, the section of town starting across the street from me still had power so my house was vaguely lit by the street lights. I woke up sure that the power would have been fixed, I even left fans on in the windows and my phone on the charger in anticipation. No such luck. At 10:00am I canceled my plans for the day, knowing that when the power came back on, I could have to take care of the food in my fridge and freezer. I heard on my car radio that Xcel reported that 13,000 people were still without power, and my town should be restored by the end of the day THURSDAY. I repeat: the. end. of. THURSDAY! I went to the gas station in another part of town to get ice for my fridge items, but there was too many people. I decided to wait. If it was going to be DAYS, another solution would need to be found anyway. I was sitting in my living room, doing what ever people do when they have no TV, no internet and only a little battery operated radio for entertainment, picking my nose, wait- no I was talking on my phone to my new boss, when the power came back on! My fans started blowing, my smoke detectors and microwave beeped and my fish tank resumed its general hum and gurgle routine. It was almost 2:00pm, making the total time without power more than 15 hours. For sure the longest period of time I can remember being without power. I confess my indisputable guilt. I TAKE ELECTRICITY FOR GRANTED! Thank you, Xcel, for your hard work! I have a whole new appreciation . . .

birdies!

My birdies flew away. I have a major case of empty nest syndrome going on. I'm house sitting for some friends who will be back in less than 2 weeks. What will I do with my time then? No extra plants to water, birds to watch. If you don't hear from me, I'm either really stinking busy, or in a puddle of depression . . . (looking at the previous post, probably the busy option!)

A

Life changes . . .

"In life it is good not to get to comfortable." -Fortune Cookie Fortune

A couple of years ago I received this fortune in a fortune cookie. Deep thoughts, I know, but it spoke to me for some reason. Lately, I feel that God is speaking to me regarding certain holding patterns and comfort zones I've been clinging to in my life. For several years I lived in housing rented from my church, with thoughts of getting married and moving out in my head. I finally came to peace with being single, and leaving the college ministry and moving out on my own was the next step. I moved out into a little apartment with a great, if uber-cluttered, yard and a non-existent living room. I stayed for a year and a half, because it was easy, it was comfortable (not because the apartment was great!). I was then blessed to move to another apartment, owned by friends. I've been here since Thanksgiving.

The one area of my life that I've been holding on to is my job. I've spent 6 years as a para-educator. What the hell is a paraeducator? (I heard that!) It's in my chosen field of special education, but is more of an assistant than a full teacher. My big news of the week is that I got a teaching job! I will be working with little kids, grades 3-5, with learning disabilities. I currently work with high schoolers with learning and other disabilities and teach summer school to little kids of all ages. I will be driving an hour and 10 minutes or so each way(I live 6 blocks from my current school!), so moving closer may be in my fairly near schedule! I'm in my apartment until Thanksgiving, so it won't be until then at least! There will be no comfort for the next year, except Jesus! I think that this is something He has been preparing me for and for me, so I fully anticipate clinging to Him this year! I will still be driving back and forth to my church in Menomonie, so at least I won't need to find all new friends too!

A friend of mine during my college years in Utah always tried to do something new every year. One year she took up hiking, and one year she started running. I've lost track of the other things, but she has committed to not getting comfortable in life. I admire that, and hope to continue that in my own life. Does anyone else have a similar commitment? And if so, what are some of those new things you've tried, or what is on your personal future list? Let me know!