Finally a JOB!

Thanks for your comments and support either here or on twitter for the last couple of posts, I really appreciate it. I could tell you about her groveling for me to come hang out but I won't because I'm over it and not making that trek anymore. And? This post is happy!

Yesterday I spent the day with K and B. That in itself is enough to make me super happy, but the phone call from their mom where she told me she'd heard from the school district and had pretty much begged them to hire me? And the lady's response that she was just waiting on one reference? Definitely brightened it a bit.

And then, while we were bowling, I got a call from Colorado. I have a summer job! I'll be teaching science to second grade ESL students about thirty minutes from where K and B live. I barely even said to their mom "I don't know what I'll do about where to live, but..." and she said "you'll live with us of course!". With the stipulation that she won't charge rent, all I have to do is pick the kids up from their summer camp and spend a couple hours in the afternoon with them. Can you say perfect?

The job starts the 2nd of June with two days of training, with summer school starting on the 7th. I have tickets to see Tim McGraw here (well, three hours from here) on the 28th of May. I will be racing to get there in time, but it will totally be worth it.

I will keep applying to jobs as they pop up and hopefully being there will help with the application/interview process. Now off to update my resume and cover letter to reflect this amazing change.

Friend Update

Back in January, I wrote about a friend who was quickly becoming far from a friend.

I'd like to say I walked away and didn't look back. But that would be a big fat lie. I walked away for about a month and then looked back.

We hung out on Valentine's Day (hmm, somehow, I'm the one who bought the fondue even though she still owed me dinner from her meltdown in November, but whatever) and took pictures at the park, followed by some light shopping and fondue at our favorite little place. All was good. Neither of us mentioned January and that was fine with me.

I took her four year old to a dance competition that one of K's friend's was dancing in. We had a blast. And then again we went shopping. All was good.

I sent her a link for this really cool bar/bowling/pizza place that offers awesome deals on Sunday and we made plans to go last weekend. Well, she went the weekend before (again, whatever, I don't really care) and apparently had no desire to go with me the following weekend. I drove fifty miles one way to meet her at noon because that was the agreed upon time. She had another friend come do six month pictures of the baby. This friend is always running late and subsequently, they didn't get to the bar/bowling/pizza place until almost 130. I had been sitting there by myself for over an hour and a half. Whatever, I enjoyed myself, watching basketball and NASCAR. She had the nerve to blame picture friend and another friend who also happened to tag along. I had no idea so many were coming, but honestly I didn't care, so whatever AGAIN. She and picture friend left about 1/2 game into bowling. This is where I was annoyed. But I moved on. World revolves around her, I got it, I can't expect anything less.

Yesterday was the breaking point. She had a rough week (who hasn't, hey I've been severely depressed for six months and never once has she ever stopped to listen) and used it as the reason we couldn't go to an event at our favorite little baby boutique and then have a picnic afterwards. If she'd left it at that? I'd be okay. The truth was picture friend was taking family pictures and then they had plans to go to the mall. Even though we had talked about this for at least the past week. My problem with the whole situation is that she could have just said "hey, I'm hanging out with picture friend, sorry I don't have time to do what we had previously talked about". Instead, she told me she wasn't up for anything. And then posted the plans on facebook. Because that's how grown-ups work, right? Rather than own up to things they post it on facebook?

I'm not innocent - I posted a status about preferring not to be lied to, because it hurts more than the truth. She got very defensive and claimed she didn't lie. Whatever. She retaliated by posting a status about kicking someone while they are down and how she deserved an apology, blah, blah, blah. I'm tempted to recap the last eight months for her. But, I won't because it's not worth it.

I need a new best friend. Any takers? Offer comes with free babysitting (and likely a wardrobe for your child(ren) - I have a shopping habit, I can't kick) and a friend you can apparently walk all over and come out as the hero.

Home

I wrote this post about a month ago in response to one of the Writer's Workshop prompts at Mama's Losin' It. I didn't post it. But now feel like the right time. This week, Twitter became 'unsafe' for a minute (and possibly much longer - this isn't okay to me.)


“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned” ~ Maya Angelou 


Home. The place you belong. The place where you are happy?


This quote from Maya Angelou is so true. 


Right now, I do not have a home in this context. Sure, I have a house. The same house I've lived in for the past six years. With the same people I've lived with for the past 25 years. 


Lately however, I do not feel safe. I have not felt safe in some ways for quite some time, but lately, anytime I say anything or make any decision, I am jumped on. I am either given a look saying "don't bother I don't want to talk to you or hear your concerns" or it's said "shut up, shhh, stop talking." Why thank you? 


When people ask me why I use twitter or why I spend so much time on my computer, I'm never quite sure how to answer without offending. I use twitter and I blog because I feel SAFE. I feel like even if no one ever says anything here, I can vent, I can express things that are bothering me. And yet, I'm so sensitive that when someone says something in response on twitter, I am often quick to take it the wrong way. So really, how safe is that? 


I cannot right now move. I can however continue looking for a job in a state 1000 miles away. I can continue to look at apartments and imagine decorating. I can dream of making my own home.


And hopefully six months from now, that home will exist.

Decisions, decisions

I have been debating for a long time. March for Maddie - LA is the same weekend as my cousin's bridal shower, which is being held in Santa Clarita or somewhere near there. It is also 2 weeks before my cousin's graduation that I had planned to attend.

This was difficult. Until, I asked her which one she'd prefer me to be at, and we decided the first weekend was by far a better choice. I'll actually get to spend time with her instead of watching her walk across a stage and say goodbye to a ton of people.

So, last night, I registered to walk in LA in addition to my walk here the next weekend. I am so excited. After all, I get to meet several people that I have been tweeting and blogging with for years. The excitement is probably heightened because everything went quite well with the meetup a couple weekend ago!

So, if you are walking in LA at the end of April? I hope to catch up with you and say hi!

Kalorik Sunny Day Tea Kettle Review

In our house, we drink a lot of tea. Often dad will have tea in the morning, and I like to have tea in the afternoon or after dinner. What I don't like about tea? Having to wait for the kettle to boil. It takes too long and often I've got other plans and need to keep going with my day. So when I was given the opportunity to review an electric tea kettle? It made sense to jump on the opportunity!

I was sent the Kalorik Sunny Day Tea Kettle from Cookware.com. When it got here I discovered that there is prep work to using a kettle for the first time. I had to boil and dump water four times before it was drinkable, which was a bit of a bummer for two reasons. 1) that's a lot of water down the drain, 2) you have to wait for it to cool before boiling again, which meant it took a long time to boil it five times (probably still less than the kettle on the stove method, but it felt long!). Once that process was done though, I have been happy with how quickly we have water ready for tea. 

Features of the kettle (from the website):

Features:

• Revolutionary cordless design
• Boils water twice as fast as a microwave oven
• Cheerful white and tangerine orange color scheme
• Includes 2 ceramic mugs and 2 table mats

Specifications:

• Color: White and tangerine orange
• Capacity: 1.75 qt / 56 oz
• Power Output: 1500 W / 120 V
• 1 Year Manufacturer's Warranty

Overall, I'm very happy with the kettle. It boils water quickly, it is clearly labelled so that you know how much water to put in for the amount of boiled water you want. Once it boils, it's shuts off automatically, which is a great safety feature. It came with two fun striped mugs and placements, a nice touch! One thing I noticed is that this kettle seems to be a little flimsy compared to the kettles I had used at relative's homes in Canada, hopefully it will hold up for a while and prove me wrong there.

Interested? 

Buy it from Cookware for $34.95 with Free Shipping. Who doesn't like free shipping?

Disclaimer: I was sent the kettle in exchange for a review.

Changes are coming!

First of all- I bought a domain tonight! Over 5 years of blogging and I finally decided I had to have my domain.

Secondly - layout change to come. I'm bored with mine currently. Will be changing within the next couple days or so (all credit for that goes to Mrs. Muffins)

Third - I finally got an interview. It's for summer school only, but it's in Colorado! And I found another job to apply for in Colorado as well for next school year. Here's hoping something good comes out of these opportunities.

Edited to add: It seems like when my blog moved over here, I lost ALL comments. Did I need to do something special- is there something I can do to get them back?

Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion Review

I recently had the opportunity to review Skin MD's Shielding Lotion. I am extremely picky about products that I will use on my skin and have terrible problems with allergic reactions to a ton of lotions, so I'm always a bit hesitant to try new things without reviewing their ingredient label. I was very impressed to find that Skin MD's lotion has no mineral oil and no parabans - it can be extremely difficult to find lotions containing neither of those ingredients.

I had a very dry patch on my arms, likely because of the winter air around here and decided that this would be where I would test out the lotion. I was immediately impressed. The lotion went on smoothly and didn't leave me feeling oily at all. Also, I didn't seem to have any kind of allergic reaction. Overall, I was very happy with the product. My mother and aunt seemed to enjoy it as well - since they stole one of the additional sample packets and couldn't stop talking about how nice it felt.

Interested? Visit Skin MD Natural online. A full size bottle costs $18 and has enough uses for 1-2 months. There is also a variety with SPF 15 that retails for $25. You can also use their store locator to try to find a retailer near you.

I've spent a lot of time asking for book recommendations - so much so that the stack by my bed is a bit overwhelming. In the last week, I've read several books and have 5+ more to go. I've always been a reader, so this isn't really a surprise. 


Before going to see the Alice in Wonderland movie (which I LOVED), I wanted to re-read the book, as I mentioned before. I go through Alice but not Looking Glass and my library books are due soon. I was reading The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition which was awesome, but now that I have to return it, I'm glad that I ordered Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (Penguin Classics) - a couple weeks ago! I also read Alice I Have Been: A Novel and loved EVERY page.

Next up is Jodi Picoult's new book House Rules: A Novel. I usually love Jodi's novels and am hoping this one is no different! I also STILL have to finish The Blind Side which I've been working on since November. Far too much football for me to understand, I may need to start over again and see if I can get through it!

I shop online. A lot. I shop for everything under the sun. I shop for clothes, luggage, books and the list goes on and on. In the last week and a half, I have received a package almost every day.

When I come across a new site that sells many products all in one place, I always find that to be exciting. So, when CSN approached me and asked me to do a review, I immediately checked out their website. Their website is actually a collection of a great number of websites, selling everything from kids bedding to luggage to cookware and much more.

I'm excited to review my Sunny Day tea kettle and share that experience with you (have wanted a plug in kettle for YEARS, this'll be fun!)

Shy

I am one of the shyest people you'll meet (in fact? You probably won't. Because I won't say hi). I don't talk in groups, I have never made it through a speech without tears. I panic upon hearing that speaking is a requirement in anything. I dropped more than one university class upon reading a syllabus that mentioned presentations.

I was an education major. Speaking is required to teach. And you know what? I came out a darn good teacher after some subbing and student teaching. Talking to seven years olds is a heck of a lot easier than telling a group of adults who are all older than you what to do and how to teach.

Oddly enough? I'm very active online. I've sent 8000 tweets in about 18 months, many of those in response to others. This is my 489th blog post. I read and (occasionally!) comment on 50 or so blogs. I feel safe in doing so, most of the time I think this is because it's not face to face. There is less pressure. Or something.

I am going to meet one of the people I tweet with most (along with a couple others I imagine) in 10 days. I have had two panic attacks already. One when booking a room (why does it have to be so hard to pick a place to sleep for six hours two nights in a row?) and the other when I thought about meeting up.

I want to do this. I need to get out of town. I am excited to meet these people. So why is it so hard? I don't want to spend my four hour drive stressing about what's going to happen. Maybe by typing it out I can calm myself some.

I can only hope.

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