Happy New Year...almost

Sorry to all of you who follow my post regularly, I have had some almost crippling back pain for the past week and it hurt to sit at the computer. I am doing much better now.
Now that Christmas is over, I wonder where has the time gone. It seems like it takes so long to get here and everyone is so busy prepareing for Christmas and it is over in a blink of the eye. I was able to spend some time with my parents and that was nice. I hope that you all had a chance to spend some time with loved ones.
It is time to prepare to ring in the new year. It is hard to believe that in a few short days 2006 will be behind us. It will be a time to start over in whatever part of our lives needs starting over-even those of us who don't make resolutions.
I want to wish everyone reading a happy and safe new year.
God Bless!

The gift wrapping had to wait

Just when I thought I wouldn't get called to sub the week of Christmas break, I have subbed every day this week. I am hoping that I don't get called tomorrow, which is only a half day for the district. I still have the gift wrapping to do-we are leaving Friday after Brian gets home from work. I also have some Christmas cut out cookies to make. I am taking a short cut thought-we bought pre made dough and I am going to dye some of the dough to cut down on decorating. Hopefully it works. So I am hoping that I have all day tomorrow as well as Friday to wrap, bake, decorate, and not to mention clean the house that has been neglected since last week. Working 2 jobs is tough some days.
And tiring. Since I have had to backspace several times on this post, I think this would be a good place to end it and think about going to bed. These 6am phone calls are really starting to get to me!!

Let the gift wrapping begin!!!!

I have decided that I am going to start gift wrapping today, or at least making sure I have boxes for everything that needs to be wrapped. I once again have the day off, at least so far, and I do not know if I will get called at all next week. So I have decided to make good use of my time off once again. After all, there is only so much house cleaning one feel like doing in a week. So, in between making cookies for Brian's company Christmas party tomorrow and the little straightening up I need to do, I will begin the gift wrapping. It should be done in no time, since no one took me up on the "gift wrapping for donations". Oh well, at least mine can be done in case someone does at the last minute. No procrastinating for me this year!!!!

Where have all the sick teachers gone?

I haven't been called to sub at all this week. I even gave the lady my cell phone number so she can get a hold of me while I am online(yes, we are still in the stone ages of dial-up). Oh well, I am getting some much needed cleaning done. I should be using this new found time to be wrapping Christmas presents, but then I have to lug everything up from the basement which would tire me out before i even started wrapping. Course, I guess I could just wrap everything down there. Oh well, I think I will continue a bit more cleaning today and worry aobut wrapping tomorrow if I also have the day off.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...inside the house anyway. We finally finished putting our tree up this weekend, which completed the decorating we started last weekend. The christmas shopping is complete, with the exception of my father, and I have no idea what to get him. Course, we had to venture anohter weekend to the mall. This one was even worse than the first time. I almost got backed into twice. It is like christmas shoppers are in their own little world and forget that there are other 4 wheeled things on the roads besides their own. Oh well, we made it out of there without any scratches and now I have vowed not to go back to the mall until February-unless it is a matter of life and death.
Now, let the baking begin!!!!!

I'M DONE!!!!

...with my Christmas cards, that is. I used my day off yesterday to my advantage. Not only did I do some much needed house cleaning, but I finished signing and addressing all 40 something Christmas cards. Now they are sitting on my coffee table waitng for stamps and return address labels. Since I am also not subbing today, I will have to get to that. I can't remember ever having all my cards done this early. It feels good to know that I don't have to worry about those anymore and now I can focus on gift wrapping-but not until at least next week, I wouldn't want to over do things. And besides, we don't even have the tree up yet to put the wrapped gifts under anyway.

A Day Off!!!

Well, kinda. I haven't gotten called to sub today, but it is only 10:30am. I do have to work at Sylvan tonight and I have to clean the house today. So it is a day off of subbing, but not of work. Now that AJ has gone back to his house, I can get some of the cleaning done that would have freaked him out while he was here. He is such a chicken, even though he tries to act tough with his small bark every time someone walks by the window.
So, I am almost done with my Christmas shopping after a trip to the mall yesterday. I try to stay away from the mall at all costs, but had to go to use a Bath and Body works free gift coupon. It was a pretty productive trip though, because we knocked out gifts for 4 more family members. We have 3 people left to complete shopping for. Then comes all the gift wrapping-call me crazy, but I actually enjoy that part. (I am accepting donations for gift wrapping for anyone who doesn't want to do it themselves!!)
I hear some dishes calling my name, so I am off to the kitchen.

Oh, to teach in a public school

I think same teachers there have it made. During all my subbing, I have come to figure this out. The buildings are usually crawling with paraprofessionals(which is now the fancy term for teachers aides). In what I have seen, each classroom gets one, for at least part of the day. In some cases, they are there to help with independent work during a lesson. And in some cases they are there to do copying work for the teacher. I have been a part of both of these. Then of course, there was the middle school library which doesn't really fit into this all that well.
But again, I ramble only to find something to write about so people who may check back every day find something new to read every once in a while. Those of you who kow me well, know that I tend to ramble and am actually quite good at it. I am especially good at it when it is later at night I the Sandman is startign to creep into my world. Which of course, would be the time I usually do my entries since I sub all day and am at Sylvan all night.
I hope that I have brought some interesting reading to the table this evening. If you were not really impressed by what I had to say, check back again soon and maybe there will be some good stories from something. After all, with dog sitting there are bound to be some interesting stories-hey, that could be a whole nother post. Check back tomorrow when I may have that finished-if I am not called to sub.

Back to the grind

Now that Thanksgiving is over, things take on some sense of normalsy(?) again. I ended up cooking a lot more of Thanksgiving dinner than expected since my mom broke her foot a week ago and could not do much of the cooking. WE did go shopping on Friday, but not as early as we have in the past. We got to our first store by 9am. We got what little we needed and were back home by noon. Later that day we decided to go to the Milwaukee area and check out the newly remodeled Bayshore Mall. Holy Cow, has that place changed. For all those of you in the area, you know what I am talking aobut. It is hard to remember what the old mall looked like. Brian kept saying that is was like Milwaukee has gotten its very own Rodeo Drive.
And now we are back at home with the work week under way. And we have one more in our house then we did last week. WE have taken over care of the dog this week while my dad is out of town and my mom can barely take care of herself. So, things are going well. Just wish it wasn't going to be getting so cold this week. A.J really loves his walks and there are no sidewalks where my parents live, so this is like a treat for him.

Happy Turkey Day!!

Ok, so I am a day early but who is going to have time to type tomorrow. Luckily I didn't have to sub today so I can get things done around the house before going to Sylvan and then leaving for Watertown right after. Watertown is where the parents live and where Thanksgiving will be tomorrow. I figured it would be nice to go there tonight so that I can be on hand to help mom out tomorrow morning-even if it means not arriving until 10pm. The things we do for our parents:)
I hope that you all have/had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to spend quality time with loved ones. And for anyone that is planning to early bird-be careful. (I may also be one of those people, depending on the deals)
Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!!

I have picked the wrong career

I should have been a librarian. I subbed last week for the library paraprofessional at the middle school library and was checking in and out books all day long. When I wasn't doing that, I was reshelving the books or straightening the shelves. In the little time that was left during the day, I was laminating and cutting for the librarian.
Today, I subbed for that librarian. It was a very boring day. I did a little checking in and out and reshelving, but most of my day was spent sitting around. The library was having a slow day today, slower than last week, but the parapro was also doing most of the work.
So the moral of my career change is that I could be a librarian as long as I worked in a library that had a parapro. I would have very little work to do each day. Could life get much easier then that?!?!

Busy, Busy, Busy

That sums up my life from the past week. I subbed somewhere every day. So, my day started by being startled awake by the phone at about 6:00am every morning. Then I had to go right to Sylvan for my night job. I left the house at 7:30 each morning and didn't return until 7:30-7:45 each night. Then I had to cook dinner before i could relax. And if that wasn't bad enough, I also had to get up on Saturday morning to go to work at Sylvan. Today was my day to sleep in, and I was up by 8. Luckily I didn't HAVE to be anywhere, so I get a few things done around the house. As much as I love subbing, I wish I knew about the jobs ahead of time so I could slowly get up in the morning.
At least this week is only a 3 day work week. I am not holding my breath that I will get called this week. I mean what teacher wants to subject a sub to their class during the days before Thanksgiving. I know as a classroom teacher I wouldn't want to unless I was deathly ill. Guess we will have to see. Besides, i guess it would give me something to write about.

First Snowfall

Luckily I didn't have to be on the roads during it, I hear it was not fun. What is it about the first snowfall of the year that makes people forget how to drive? I mean, you live in WI and probably have for a number of years, so there is snow every year around the same time. I guess some people will just never learn.
I did go out Friday night after the snow had stopped-around 8:30. We went to a movie. The roads were fine-the salt truck finally made it to our road around 5.
We saw Santa Clause 3-a great movie to see after the first snowy day. If you have seen 1 and 2 I definatly recommend 3. It was a great movie to end the week with. And the great thing about going on a snowy Friday is that there are not very many people in the theater. I think there may have been 15, if we were lucky. Including a family with 2 young children who didn't seem to understand the concept of a movie theater-have to be quiet. Why would you bring young children to the 9:00 showing of a movie anyway. I mean, come on, these kids were already in their PJ's and by the time the previews were over, they were ready to go home. If your child cannot sit through an hour and1/2 movie, they are jsut too young to be there.
That is my advice for the day!:)

No leaf left behind

Or at least that was my plan as I set out this beatuiful morning to rake the leaves for one last time this season (final leaf pick up is on Monday and snow is expected for tomorrow). However, the leaves and Mother Nature seemed to have a different plan. I like to call their plan every leaf for themselves. Most of the leaves did make it to the curb, despite the wind. i only have to hope that they stay there until Monday. I wonder if they will still get picked up even if they are covered in snow. Guess i will have my answer on Monday.
I love the shade that mature trees provide, but the raking stinks. Even the pine tree likes to play his role in fall. He drops pine needles and tiny pine cones. So, no amount of raking will ever get every little pine needle up-and I have tried and have the blisters to show for it. I did notice today that our grass is really dead in spots. I may have raked up as much grass as I did leaves, especially in our front yard.
We need a smaller yard or a bigger rake next year:)

I voted

I did it. I performed my civic duty and voted. I went to the polling place at 7:45pm, my voter card in hand, prepared to stand in line until the close of the polls. As it turned out, we live in the district that allowed us to bypass all the suckers standing in line and go directly to the voting booths. Guess we picked a good place to live. So I took my ballot, stood in the booth and filled in my arrows. I inserted the ballot into the machine and proudly walked out with my "I voted" sticker. Walking out past all the people who were still standing in line, some that came after us. Sucks to be them. Now I am done with my civic duty for a few more years. Yeah!!!

Election day is finally here!!!

Thank goodness. Now all the ads and phone calls will stop. We will no longer get fliers stuck in our door or in the mail. We can also take down the sign we have in the yard to show our support for our canidate. What will we watch on TV now that the debates are no longer on and the "real" commercials are back?!?! Guess we will have to wait until the next election season so all this can start over again. Now all i have to do is go and vote!!

My hat goes off to Special Ed teachers

Wow! It definately takes a special kind of person to work with those children, and I am not sure that I am one of them. I subbed as a paraprofessional in a Special Ed classroom today. There were 5 students and 6 adults. One would think that would be enough to keep everyone in line. Wrong-I happened to be assigned to one of the mobile, more active students. He kept me on my toes, and to top things off-he was a runner. If I didn't keep my eye on him at all times, he would be off somewhere else, and into something else. I am thankful that there are prople in the world willing to work with children who have severe special needs. I am also thankful that I decided not to persue a degree in special education. I definately earned my pay today:)

Happy Halloween!!

Oh all the kids were so cute in their costumes tonight. Yes we had trick or treat at night-one of the joys of living in a relatively small town. We got the regular princesses and skelatons and packer players and witches. But there were also some original ones, my favorite of which was a pepsi can. Adorable. We also got some care bears, dragons, blues clues, a unicorn, tigger(friends baby), robin(from batman), and some others I can't quite remember anymore. But they were all so cute and I'm sure cold. Makes me excited for the day that I have kids that i can take trick or treating. Even if it is just for the candy I can "steal" from them:)

Success!!! (Knock on Wood:P)

I finally have Norton up and running and all seems to be doing fine-hence the knock on wood-with very little help from Tech support. Hopefully all continues to go well.
Now all I need is a day job and things will really be going well. I havent subbed in a week, but Thursday and Friday were teachers convention. I keep waiting for that 6am phone call and get a bit upset when it doesn't happen. Of course today I was able to rake the leaves before the leaf sucker came to get them this afternoon. Have i mentioned that I hate raking leaves, especially when most of them are from the neighbors tree or have blown into my yard. I guess I really shouldn't be complaining all that much, since it really is a nice day outside-with no wind.
Well off to continue scanning the computer for viruses and other things I couldn't do when Norton wasn't working!!

And the saga continues...

Still having computer issues. I have finally gotten the software uninstalled and reinstalled, but parts of it are still not working correctly. I have a few more things to try before contacting Tech Support again. Sometimes computers are more work than they are worth. Course, it could be the software too. Who knows. So what if my computer is not protected from viruses-make the software easier to use with less problems and I will use it. I am seriously considering giving up on Norton and switching to McAfee. Anyone who knows anything about McAfee, good or bad, I am open to your feedback.
Stay tuned for more.
Off to pack for the weekend with the parents.

Have you ever......

...wanted to drop kick your computer out the window?? I have and let me tell you today is not the first time. Why can't people just make the virus programs to work and not so complicated to figure out what is wrong wiht them?? And don't even think about tech support. The online help is never helpful, the phone help costs money-don't I pay enough for thier software already-, and the e-mail help takes a few days to get a response-but it is free, so that is the option I pick:) So now I am in the process of figureing out how to run the checking programs, and them possibly uninstall and reinstall the program. Why can't I just have a computer geek in the family!!!!
...wanted to reach out and grab the tech support guy and bring him into your home?? Again, I have. Usually the e-mails are pretty helpful, if I can get past the problems the system is having in order to run what the guy suggests. if he were here, he could get it done much quicker, I am sure. Why didn't I take that Computer Science minor?? oh yes, more schooling. I am guessing it would have come in handy right abuot now. Live and learn-which I seem to be thinking a lot lately.
Tune in later for more of my computer saga!!!:):)

Thought I would have more time

So, I thought I would have time to write every day, but last week, subbing really kept me busy-3 days. I wouldn't give it up for anything and I love being back in the classroom, without having to write the lesson plans. My kindergarten subbing was interesting-bilingual kindergarten. It was team taught, yet was split most of the day. It was a very interesting day, which may have worked even better if I had taken Spanish in high school. (RAP where are you when I need you!!!!!!) They did get taught German, so I could understand there. Oh well.
This weekend we finally carved our pumpkins, with some friends. I always feel I am more creative when there are other people around. I still made a face on mine(it was one of the easy patterns left) but it was a bit more complicated than just the triangle nose and eyes and a mouth wiht some teeth. Brian did Tigger and it turned out really cool. Maybe someday soon I will figure out how to post pictures and I can show you our creative talents:)
We also attended a baptism. Those are always fun and babies are so cute. (Not cute enough to make me want to have one just yet!)
Well, off to clean the house for a potential mother-in-law visit this evening:)

Oh how I have missed the smell of dry erase markers:)

No, it is not my admission of being a sniffer in recovery!! I subbed again this morning in an actual classroom. (The 2 times before were a music room and a teachers aide). It felt good to be up in front of the classroom again, putting notes on the board(there are not many chalkboards out there anymore) Tomorrow I will really be back in my element as I will be subbing in a kindergarten classroom!!!! Hopefully all goes well. I love this subbing thing-just wish I could land something permanent. Oh well life goes on and so do I:)

Things may be slowly looking up

I subbed yesterday!!!! and I have anohter one lined up for Thursday!!! Maybe I can get another one for this week too. Bring on cold and flu season, I am ready!
Also got a letter to tell me that I met the requirements for the WE energies test. That was a shocker-must not have very high standards! Now all I have to do is wait and see if I get called for an interview. If I do that would be a big shocker because, as mentioned before, everyone else in the testing room got further on the test than me. Oh well.
Brian also has an interview this afternoon for a sales position within the bank where he already works-and that means a pay raise!!:) Think happy thoughts:):):):):)
I have gotten a "no" letter on Saturday, for Kohl's Department Store. "we are sorry, but we are unable to offer you a position at this time" but we will keep holding job fairs to find more mindless idiots for our holiday rush. Oh well, life goes on and so will I.
Stay tuned for hopefully more good news.

Unlucky Friday the 13th???

It really isn't any more unlucky than any other day of the week, at least not for me. Wonder if I can break a record for how many jobs a person can apply for in one day? I have done 3 today and confirmed another and gotten a sub job for next week. How hard is if for a company to send a we are not interested in you right now letter?? Wouldn't that be common curitisy(??) to all those of us waiting for a job and biting our fingernails down?? Oh well, I should find out the results of my Meter Reader test tomorrow, so heres to hoping I can move on to the interview step. As I said yesterday though, not really holding my breath!
Could it be any windier?!?! I wouldn't mind so much if it would blow the leaves out of my yard instead of blowing all the neighbors leaves into my yard!! If anyone is feeling that they are missing out on the leaf experience, let me know, you can have mine!!!

I've joined the blogging game

Well, here it is. My very first blog. This all started with a link to a friends blog. And I thought, hey I have plenty of free time on my hands, why not keep all my friends up to date on my uneventful life at the same time. Afterall, being unemployed, except for 3 hours a night, I have to do something during the day to keep me out of trouble:)
I did something I never dreamed I would ever do today. I took a test to become a temporary meter reader for WE energies. I dont think I will be getting a call for an interview, since the other people taking the test wiht me seemed to be a little fast then me. Oh well, it was an experience to add to the list of interesting things I have done.
Guess I keep looking for a job. Who would have thought that it would be so hard to find a teaching position in this day and age? Guess we need to talk those teachers into early retirement so we can all get jobs!! course, if we were willing to move back to hte Milwaukee area I am sure I would not have this same problem. But we just bought a house a year agao and are enjoying that, and Brian will not live in the Milwaukee area or any where near it for that matter.
Well, I don't want to over do it for the first day. So I think I will go and frost my cake that just got out of the oven. No reason for making the cake, needed something sweet in the house and the heat from the oven will help warm up the house a bit.