Thoughts on Life

Job Searching

General Impression: Frustrating.

Why: There are no jobs. Okay, not ZERO jobs, but very few jobs. Hence, very competitive. Basically, you have to know someone in the biz.

Do I know people in the biz: Yeeeesss...buuuuutttttt...I hate asking for favors. It is incredibly demeaning and humbling to ask someone to put your name in with a supervisor. I wish I could let my resume speak for itself, because it rocks. My social networking skillz? Not so much. 

Current Plan: Pray. And e-mail people. And attend job fairs. And pray some more.

Interesting Observations from This Past Week

•  What do you do if a university says they mailed you an acceptance letter/orientation packet 2 weeks ago, but you have still not received it?
• What do you do if you receive a save-the-date but not a wedding invitation? And you know wedding invitations have been mailed because you've seen one on someone's fridge? Burn? Go anyway?

• Perhaps our mail system at the apartment is the problem since most of our questions involve not receiving mail?

 

Cowboy Boots

I love cowboy boots! For months, I have wanted a pair of cowboy boots. Maybe it's the Nashville-native in me. Maybe it's because I'm moving back to Nashville next month. I really want cowboy boots. Today, Chris and I went to Pigeon Forge to do some outlet shopping and Apple Barn-ing (yummm). While we were there, we looked for cowboy boots. Holy smokes, they are expensive! I didn't know they were that expensive. After 2 shops, I reconsidered how much I really wanted cowboy boots. Then we found a discount, outlet boot store in Sevierville and I found cowboy boots! 

Next goal: Find outfits to accompany the boots.

 

 

Easter Pictures

Emily, Me, Chris, and Catherine

Family Photo 2011

When you live together for 5 years, you inadvertently dress alike often.

 

In other news, Chris and I got a new bed spread. This was pretty exciting (for us, boring for you) because we had been using the one I bought before I knew Chris. We learned that picking out bed spreads as a married couple is more difficult than one might think. We don't like: too girly, too boring, too stiff, too loud, or too expensive. This is what we landed on:

Adventures in Cooking: Last night I made apple slices with peanut butter. Today, we are not eating dinner. No, we do not have eating disorders, but Easter lunch yesterday filled us up. Apple Barn today did the same. We hope to move to at least 2 meals tomorrow.

Best Food on Earth

You Know Your Hair is Too Long If...: In a picture of yourself with two other people, you cannot see the bottom of your hair. (See above Easter pictures.)

Person I'm Missing Today: Sarah and our awkward, personal-detail-revealing chats at funerals.

 

Bible Verse that Rocks Today: 

Psalm 51:12 "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." 

Easter Preparations

The past two days have been quite an adventure.

I had to get a physical yesterday because I "promised" my insurance I would be a "partner" in health. Apparently if I get a physical, and my doctor gives me a health goal for the year, my insurance is lower. So off I went...fasting and all. Things were going well. I didn't have to pee in a cup, so I was pretty happy about that. They did need a blood sample, though. Having blood drawn doesn't bother me. I would rather have blood drawn than pee in a cup. This time, however, we had a little surprise. My nurse and I were happily chatting away when she looked down to remove the needle and gasped. This is never a good sign, so I looked down too. The area around my vein was HUGE! As if an Easter egg was shoved under my skin. The nurse explained that my vein must have popped, but she was pretty sure she could stop the swelling and subsequent bruising by slamming a wad of cotton balls on it. The swelling eventually went away, and the exam continued as expected. The only remained side effects are a pretty sweet bruise and pain (but only when I hold my phone to my ear or my arm hits my purse). Overall--much more exciting doctor visit than expected. You're welcome, state of TN group insurance.

Not this kind of popped vein.

Easter is quickly approaching! Chris and I are keeping with our traditional Easter plans, which include lunch at Rosalie's house. Rosalie is a super-awesome employee of UT's BCM, who always invites family-less college students to her house for Easter lunch. This will be Chris and I's 3rd year, but the first that we are bringing a dish. We figured since we are married and technically not in college, it's about time we contributed.

Chris volunteered that we would bring sweet potato casserole, which is interesting because neither of us has ever made sweet potato casserole. So the day started by boiling sweet potatoes. We lost the super-veiny one on account that it was entirely green inside. According to Google, green = toxic. So we only had 2 yams for the first dish.

Chris did most of the work on the sweet potato casseroles. Yes, there were 2 casseroles. For 2 reasons.
1. I like marshmallows on top.
2. Chris likes pecans on top.
I don't have any pictures of the final product because things got busy around the time they were done. Because...

We made shepherd's pie for dinner! Quickly becoming one of my favorite meals. So good, in fact, that we invited friends Catherine and Ermily over to eat it with us!

Shepherd's Pie. Beautiful.

After dinner we moved on to the dessert we are bringing to Rosalie's. Chess bars! A beautiful concoction of sugar, butter, cream cheese, and more sugar. Basically, diabetes waiting to happen.

The smell is the best part.

WHILE all of this was going on today (8 hours of cooking), I also cleaned out my closet and switched my winter clothes to summer clothes. It was a disaster for a while, but I found 2 bags of clothes to give away. Now there's more room for new clothes.....!!!

All clothes in floor. None in closet.

Adventures in Cooking: Hello. Have you even read the above post?

You Know Your Hair Is Too Long If...: You are genuinely concerned that your hair will light on fire when you bend over to pull food out of the oven.

Person I'm Missing Today: Softball friends. Spring weather brings back allllll the softball memories.

I'm the one in the blue shirt.

Bible Verse that Rocks Today: 
John 16:7 "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."

Baby Beards and Special Education

Our future child.

Chris would like me to learn how to make this for our future children. This might be the greatest toboggan (hat, for some of you) on the face of the planet. I already can't wait to take a picture of our boys (and maybe the girls) next to Daddy in this.

I need to take a moment to thank the people of Anderson County for not stealing my car yesterday. I left it unlocked with the keys sitting in the console. All day. I also almost ran out of gas on the way to work. This never happens to me. Today I smell Easter bunny chocolate and onions. Something is not right. I blame it on stress.

My Essay on Special Education vs. Regular Education

I am a regular education teacher. Certified to teach any child in PreK, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade. "Any child" includes children with special needs. I am very happy to do this, and tend to fall in love most with those precious babies.  However, I have some growing concerns on trends in American education.

I had one course on special education in college. 5 years of college and a Master's degree, and I had one 3-hour course on how to teach children with special needs. Scratch that--I did not learn how to teach children with special needs. I learned how to identify various types of special needs and laws concerning these children.

"Special needs" itself is a very broad topic. I personally hate the term "special needs." Every child I have ever encountered has special needs. Everyone is different, learns differently, needs different motivation. However, I have no alternate phrase to describe disabilities (which we are strongly discouraged to use the word "disabilities"), so I will stick with "special needs" and assume everyone knows what I mean. Some children have low impact needs, such as learning disabilities, ADHD, or visual/hearing impairments. Yes--these significantly impact a child and I do not diminish that--but as a teacher, these can be handled quite easily. You try different strategies. You get creative. You work a little harder. That's my job. Teach every child, regardless of how they come to me.

Other needs are much more significant. Needing constant attention.

I find myself constantly battling a disorder/developmental delay/condition that I do not understand and far surpasses my level of education and expertise. Children are continually placed in my care that have needs far greater than I can accommodate. I am not helping them because I do not know how to help them. I do not have the resources, both knowledge or classroom materials, to help them. "Why not take more courses?" you might ask. I would love to. When? Where? How? And that leads to another question...

If I learn how to reach a child with special needs and the appropriate accommodations that must be made, can I do this with 19 other children in the classroom? Children without special needs who are waiting on me to teach them too? Today, a child with developmental delays spent the day in my classroom. We were hoping an "environmental change" would help her function more appropriately. It did. I stayed right beside her all, and she successfully made it through the day without any major breakdowns or frustrating behavior. But what about the other children in my classroom? I did not get to praise their work, or show them how to spell words in their dinosaur books, or help them count sea shells. I did not teach them anything.

End result: The child with special needs makes no progress. I do not know how to progress her. The other children in my class make no progress. I cannot help them while my attention is focused elsewhere. 

I have not done my job.

I don't know what the solution is. I very much understand and sympathize with parents of children with special needs. I don't want them to be isolated or ridiculed either by being in a special education classroom. But at what point does "how a child feels" conflict with preparing that child for the real world...with real skills they can use. Maybe all teachers should be dual-certified in regular and special education? Maybe the two classrooms should be separated. I don't know. I just feel like this should be addressed. This is part of the burden teachers face when they lose jobs because their classrooms did not meet TCAP standards. 

Okay, enough teacher talk for today. Chris hears too much of it already.

Adventures in Cooking: We went out to dinner tonight. El Chico off Merchants Ave. But last night I made honey glazed baked chicken on jasmine rice. It was good.

You Know Your Hair is Too Long If: You wake up in the morning to find your hair wrapped around your neck multiple times.

 

Person I'm Missing Today: Leslie and our Bruster's ice cream dates...every Friday...for lunch...in pajamas.

 

 

 

My Bachelorette Party

Bible Verse that Rocks Today:
Isaiah 44:22 "I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you."

First Major Purchase as Independent Tax Payers

 

This was on our door when Chris got home. Well, not on our door. A note was on our door that this was in the apartment office. This was good news because last time FedEx delivered a package, they just left it on our door step...of our apartment...on the main entrance...where 5 other apartments pass by. Anyway, Chris has a new computer thanks to my Apple Store employee brother, Mark, and grad school. It hasn't left his lap in the past 5 hours, but I'm happy for him. Hopefully PT school will be a little easier without the old Dell that we want to throw every 10 minutes.

In other news, we watched Girl, Interrupted tonight. It's about crazy people in a mental institution and one of my favorite movies. According to Chris, he has no idea why I like this movie, and frankly I don't either. I hate profanity, suicide, and promiscuity, but I love this movie. Chris liked it, though; once again proving we're perfect for each other.


"I come to the meeting last night. They done good" is not proper English. Just had to get that off my chest.

Alright. Segment time.

Adventures in Cooking:  Again, not much of an adventure today. Chris made Shrimp Scampi & Linguini. It was frozen and in a bag. My favorite types of meals. But it was especially great because Chris offered to cook it while I was pouting on the couch about how tired and hungry. He's the best.

You Know Your Hair is Too Long If...: You put on a high waist belt and 5 minutes later realize your hair is trapped in the belt and you can't look down.

Imagine this, with long red hair stuck in the back.

Person I'm Missing Today: My youngest brother Andy and how we would have made great twins if not for the 7 year age gap.

We'll be Nashville buddies soon!

Bible Verse that Rocks Today:
1 Corinthians 15: 3-4 "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

School Zones and Miley Cyrus

I go through 5 school zones on the way to my own school every morning. As a teacher, I feel like I should be more patient in school zones. I'm not. I probably hate them more than the average person. But I also go through them slower than the average person, because I'm pretty sure getting a ticket in a school zone as a teacher is quadruple the fine. However, only one of these school zones makes sense. After 2 years, I still haven't found the school for one of them. I might make the number of school zones I pass through a bigger deciding factor in my next job.

I teach PreK. It's a pretty special job. By special, I mean (church lady voice) "Isn't that special?" The most special conversations always happen during lunch. Today's was a gem.

Kids: We can't wait til kindergarten! We're going to have so much fun!
Me: You sure are! I wish I could be there with you guys.
Kids: [gasp] You won't be there?
Me: We've talked about this. You get a new teacher when you go to kindergarten. I am moving.
Kids: Where are you going?
Me: I'm moving to Nashville.
Kids: Where's Nashville?
Me: It's in the middle of Tennessee.
Kids: (one at a time) I live in Tennessee! I live in Tennessee! I live in Tennessee too!
Me: We've talked about this too. We all live in Tennessee. Nashville is far away in Tennessee.
Smart kid: Like Memphis?! And Elvis?
Me: Memphis is in Tennessee, too. But I'm going to Nashville. Like where the governor lives.
Kids: [silence]
Me: Like where the Titans live.
Kids: [silence]
Me: Like where Miley Cyrus lives.
Kids: [screams] Miley Cyrus! Do you know her? Are you staying in her house? I like Hannah Montana better.

So to sum up: They were pretty sad that I am not their kindergarten teacher, but all the sadness faded pretty quickly at the thought of Miley Cyrus.

Special.



I'd like to end today with what I hope will be recurring segments. I like things organized, so here we go.

Adventures in Cooking: 6 Can Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner tonight. This is more adventures in can opening than cooking, but whatever.

You Know Your Hair Is Too Long If....: You close your hair in the car door at least once a day. Sometimes twice.

This is not me.

Person I'm Missing Today: Catherine and our home(s) for the previous 6 years.

Circa 2008.

Bible Verse that Rocks Today:
Psalm 112: 6-8 "Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes."

Here. We. Go.

I started a blog.

Prepare to be blogged about.

Three reasons to start a blog:
1. Married people blog. This is the only "married people" fad I'm giving into. Other fads include: drastic hair cuts days after the wedding, not talking to single friends, and fascinations with pot-lucks.
2. There are lots of changes going on in Chris' and my life. People can't keep up. Chris and I can't keep up. Maybe if I blog, we'll remember all the stuff that's going on.
3. I like talking about stuff in my life, but when people ask me how I'm doing, I get all clammy and shaky and say "I'm fine!" With the exception of a few people who don't let me pass with "I'm fine," this is how I'm talking things out.

Between #2 and #3, I discovered I can't blog with Chris reading as I type. So I'm now facing the other direction. We've already learned something.

I'd like to jump right into my thoughts on life, but we need to bring everybody up to speed. First, we had planned to move to Atlanta since December. That changed 2 weeks ago. Tennessee State called and offered Chris an interview for the Doctorate of Physical Therapy program. After weeks of deliberating and many pro/con lists, we are headed to Nashville. (I'd share the very complicated pro/con list, but that's in the past, and we're only going forward. Just know it was a tough decision.) We are moving at the end of May because PT school starts May 31. I'm pretty pumped about it.

It's pretty. And has a building that looks like Batman.

Other interesting life facts before real blogging starts:

• Chris and I have been married 10 months and 5 days.
• I am currently a teacher in Anderson County Schools. I teach PreK. Prepare to hear about that.
• Chris is a physical therapy technician in Oak Ridge, but he only has 1 week of work left.
• We have a hedgehog named Rhino.