I feel a-change comin'

I don't want to go back to work tomorrow. I still like my library job. I still like my boss and I still like a couple of my colleagues. My problem is several fold. I do not like my "corporation" anymore, as you might all remember. I have no respect for it, obviously.

I also just don't feel like I belong there any more. I don't know if that makes sense or not. I really want something else. I know it's only been 3 weeks since I was there. It's not the big of a deal. Can I have such a huge personal change in the last 3 weeks? I feel like I have.

First I spent all that time at the conference with "regular" and honors kids and it was a pure joy. I just had such a great time working with them. I do know that I have take steps to make it happen for me to work with regular kids by signing up for the three classes so I can get my teacher license in this state. I know that must happen and I'm working on it. Also, I do know that will take a little time to acquire; by Christmas classes will be finished and I'll have a license and if all else would actually go well, I might have a teaching position for January 2013.

I spent all that time in a very cool college town at a huge university. I loved it. Every single minute of it. I love to shop and walk all over and all the cool food and the history and culture. I can't experience that where I live here in civilization.

I'm tired of working in a place with no windows. I'm tired of the adults making the same complaints all the time. That adage of "if you do the same thing every day you'll get the same results" (it goes something like that) applies to most of the people I work with. I just don't like all their negativity. I want something where I can work with people who are happy. I'm tired of working with the population I work with, and there's so little joy or hope. I just want to work with regular kids and a larger group of teachers so there might be some who are happy. Or some I share common ground with. Or a same political ideology at least.

I'm tired of having my life on hold. I love living with my father, I really do, and I appreciate it but I just want to move to the capital city and live with my guy and just see what happens. I love they guy and I love the city. I just want to BE. I want to DO. I want to LIVE.

I feel like I've gone through this huge metamorphosis and I just want to stop doing the motions of life and actually live it. I want to stop being afraid and I want to just take a chance on love and life and perceptions and work. I... I.. I.. dunno. I just don't feel like being in this rut. Maybe my life will be a new rut. I don't know.

I feel so different. And a huge part of that different is the fact that I really, REALLY, really do not want to do this job and live here and just survive.

I want to work with people who think and talk and like each other. I want to see kids use their brains. I want to eat Greek food from a food truck for lunch. I want to hang out with my man at night and go for a walk, have sex when we want, cook a meal together and just.... I don't know.

I want something else.

This post started out much bigger, with a more grandiose idea. I wanted to convey that I'm the one who's changed and I just can't seem to articulate it. I feel like such a different person than I did three weeks ago. I know that seems weird but I just feel like I want and need to much more in my life.

My daddy-o keeps telling me I deserve a life and should start living it. Maybe all this freedom for great thoughts and for great books and to have visions and dreams has been like a drug to me... I just don't know.

The winds of change are blowing,
Mags

Diet Week 13

I wonder if it's time for me to exercise? I've been dieting for 13 weeks so far and haven't really "exercised" in the traditional sense. I don't make it a point to walk or job or take a class for the express purpose of weight loss. I do make sure I take stairs instead of elevators. I make sure I park far way from buildings. I always go to the bathroom that's furthest from my 'classroom' at the school.

I think, if I'm guessing, that I've lost about 30 pounds total, other than the slight gain during the pig out week and while I've been on vacay I haven't been as diligent as I am when I was in school. The weight loss has leveled out.

Now I don't know if that's because I haven't been as diligent, as I mentioned. I could be not losing because I've broke down my routine a little bit into a mess and have allowed a bit more bread or other starches which I didn't do at all before.

I was also reading on several different weight loss web sites and in several books that once your body plateaus with weight loss, it's good to up the daily calorie count by 100 calories- something about the way the body metabolizes or something. That part I didn't really understand- eat more to lose less? The other option is, of course, to exercise.

I'm thinking that since I'll be back to school next Wednesday, I should have an easier time in getting into a routine, which certainly will help. I also think that if I keep doing what I have been doing for a few more weeks, and add a 30 minute walk to my week, at least three times, and not up my calories, then I can see where I'm at.

This is the hard part of losing weight! I just want the pounds to keep falling off.

So it's going to be back to fish and chicken and rices, lots of veggies and fruits, and other creative weight loss foods. I recently purchased several vegetarian cook books, not necessarily because I want to be one but because of all the super creative ways to cook veggies, and the other healthy substitutes that are recommended. I need to have that consistency back to see if I am losing or if I've leveled off.

Grrrrrrr, a healthy lifestyle is good but getting there is the bard part!

Mags

Oh Kenny! Oh Tim!

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing the Brothers of the Sun tour, which was AMAZING! This is the Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney tour. While I'm not a huge fan of country music as a whole, I do LOVE Tim McGraw. A lot.

After 2 opening acts, Time played for about 90 minutes, then Kenny did the same, then they performed together for about a half hour. It was awesome and so much fun! These guys are really good and know how to give a kick ass concert, for sure!

We also had great seats- we were at stage level about at the center of the arena. I went with Photographer, her daughter and some of her friends. I actually knew everyone and the 6 of us women had a great time! I'm go glad I had this chance to see Tim McGraw. And while I'm not a huge fan of Kenny, I have to say this: I saw him in my hometown in 1999 in a venue that holds 300 people. And then last night he was playing to a packed stadium of around 70,000. Holy wow Batman!

It was also a pretty good crowd. People were nice and having a good time, lots of drinking, singing, and dancing. The woman behind us, though, had a REALLY good time. She drank so much that when Kenny came on stage she sat down. And then fell asleep. Through his entire set. She woke up when Tim came back on stage and she swayed and staggered and we though she might fall down or puke on us but instead, she staggered out of the aisle and left. I can't believe she slept through a CONCERT! My ears are still ringing today and she slept?!?

I couldn't smuggle in a good camera so I took pictures with my phone. I wish I was standing next to Tim but...

And here's Kenny:

And my souvenir t-shirt and cup:

Here's the official video of one of my fav Tim songs that he performed last night:




Again, it was a great night and so much fun! these guys are fabulous performers and love their fans, and the fans do love them, me included!

Mags

Second hand and vintage clothing store love

I have a funky neighborhood I like to visit when I head to the state capital city. There are several vintage and second hand clothing shops in the area. Everyone seems to be on the vintage clothing store bandwagon, if you will.

The first one I found, Annie's, has amazing deals and bargains. I usually leave the store with several bags of clothing and only spend around $20. I also love the proprietress, Jennifer. She's a hoot, a former English teacher and just a fun character to visit with. I love her shop and she carries things in my size, too!

I went to a few other stores in the same neighborhood, and holy moly, their prices on vintage and seconds are unreal! What I would pay for an entire haul at Annie's would be equal in cost to one thing somewhere else. And there doesn't seem to be a difference in quality or name brand. It's appalling. While I can get a Jones New York suit at Annie's for $15, I would pay $50 at the other shops.

And I went to a second hand wedding dress shop. Look, I want to know what's second about having dresses priced near $800-$1000. Seriously?!? If I wanted to pay that much, I'd buy new. And I was looking as name brands and beading (and the detailwork) but for a simple sheath dress, with no beading nor train and simple cap sleeves- used, for $900???? No fricking way. I was in another shop that sold second hand dresses for $20-$200, which seems much more reasonable! And at least four times a year, David's Bridal has $99 dresses. Not that I'm in the market for a wedding dress, but I'm just sayin'!

There's also a cool, true, vintage clothing store a few neighborhood's away. And she carries REAL vintage clothing, not just gently used modern stuff. I love to go in there and try on stuff that look like Marilyn Monroe over the air duct dresses, and Lucy Ricardo dresses complete with apron and crinoline. I love to go in there. I can look like a flapper or like I'm ready to sing at the USO during WWII. I even found an outfit that would let me star in a production of Hair. I found a Scarlett O'Hara dress but not in my size, dang it! Anyway, her stuff is priced in a fairly spendy range but that makes sense to me since it's either the genuine article from that time period, or it's an excellent reproduction knock off. And you never know what she's going to be wearing. She does the whole look, including a wig and make up and jewelry to match what she has one, plus she's a hoot to be around! I wish I worked somewhere where I could dress in true vintage fashion, depending on my daily mood! (I'm reminded of the Annie Potts character in the film Pretty In Pink, and of the character Penelope Garcia in Criminal Minds- I want to emulate them both!)

Now I must dash, because I heard there's a sale on flapper dresses!
Mags

I'm probably going to hell for this, or at least have to have a serious conference with God when the time comes

I called our minister at the church a few weeks ago. I wanted to ask him some questions about a part time job opportunity and to discuss some community service outreach ideas I have. And I wanted to talk to him about Social Media marketing the church. He wasn't in and I left a message.

He finally called me back. Three weeks later. By that time I couldn't remember what I wanted. He had been pretty sick and then on vacation. He swears he didn't the message that I called until that day. I laughed and then said, "Well, in my experience ministers don't usually return calls unless someone's dead, having a baby, getting married or wants to give the church a bunch of money."

Oh yeah, I said it. I can't believe I said it. It was out my mouth before I thought. I stumbled around and apologized profusely and said I didn't mean him specifically and just basically rambled and apologized like an idiot. He laughed and said not to worry and he wasn't offended in the least and sometime just being honest is good. And now he knows how I think and he will always make calling me back a priority. And I apologized some more.

As if that wasn't bad enough...

I remembered a few hours later what I wanted and I sent him a text. I didn't think I could bear another phone call. I simplified what I wanted and he responded pretty quickly and made arrangements to get together in the next few weeks to chat. I thanked him very much for getting back to me so quickly, and apologized again for my earlier gaffe. And said, "sometimes my filter doesn't work and I say stupid shit." Then i hit send. Then I re-read what I wrote.

To the minister.

At this point I should've just given up on the minister, the church, God and went back to the heathen that I was so good at being, or else just took a vow of silence. Or found a new church.

I'm apologizing again now, for the profanity, and he sent back text messages that were HILARIOUS! He actually thought it was funny and said that sometimes "there's no other word that's appropriate except for sh**".

I saw him on Sunday morning and he just started laughing before I could say a word. He said I was hilarious and honest and he appreciated that I just would talk and not have to worry about his "job". I said I could be a little more tactful but he said he was not offended in the least, he thought the whole thing was funny, and to not worry about a thing.

At least God didn't strike me down with a lightening bolt.

Yet.

Mags

Insurance company at fault

Daddy-O and I have the same insurance company; it's the place where I used to work as a telemarketer. I've always had great customer service from there. It's a nationwide company but we have a local agent- it's the guy who owns it, one other agent, and a receptionist. This same nationally recognized company also has another agent in town so these 2 guys are competitors.

Last month I called to speak to the head agent, the owner, the boss, but he was busy. I left a detailed message. I just wanted to know why Daddy-O's insurance went up. Again. For the third time in three years. He's not happy, and I wouldn't be either. And no, he didn't do any property improvements for the house to increase, no claims, no speeding tickets on the car, no wrecks, and no claims there, either. So, why does it keep going up?

I called to find out and left a detailed message. Daddy-O, unbeknown to me, also called the same week I did and had to leave a message, too. Last week he got another bill which reminded he didn't hear back and he said something to me; which reminded me that I didn't get a call back either. I was pretty pissed off. We both called and we both got the blow off? That's not good.

I also worked there and even though I worked evenings and weekends I knew that life insurance was the bread and butter of the business. I also know that any time I've called the agent with a question about my life insurance, I get a call back immediately. The agent has my home, work and mobile numbers, as well as my email. I've even received a text from him in the past. But this time I heard nothing. I thought it was pretty crummy that I get a fast response on the Life insurance money maker but can't get a response about a simple auto or home policy question. (I also know how important life insurance is because the owner agent called me last December to see if I would buy a life policy because he only need 2 to meet his 2011 goal. I did because I like him and had always been impressed with his customer service.)

So I picked up the phone and of course the owner agent was on vacation. I asked the girl who answered to have him call me back. She asked if she could help and I told her no because I spoke with her last month and she didn't help me then, nor did she ask head agent dude to call me. I also told her my father had called, too, and no one called him back either (or helped him).

At that point she wanted to know what was going on and I told her all we wanted to know was why his insurance kept increasing. I told her I expected better customer service than this, and to just have the owner call me. She said there was no reason for me to wait until next week because the owner was VERY busy next week and she didn't know when he would have time to return my call.

Excuse me?!?

I told her I used to work there and I know the drill, and that he should make time to return customer calls. She the proceeded to get shitty with me, saying that I wasn't there during the day to understand how busy they were, and that I just didn't have a clue. *screeching halt* Wha???? Yes, she really said that.

I told her I knew the owner was busy but whenever I called with a life insurance question, which is the big money maker, I had a response immediately and though this was just about an auto/ home owner policy, I still expected the same customer service.

She then yelled at me and said that she took it personally that I thought they treated life customers differently than others, and that they treat all their customers equally. Since she yelled at me, I yelled back and said if that's the case, then they must be treating ALL the customers pretty crappily if this was her example!

I told her she could find out the answer or not and call Daddy-O back, or not. I also told her I didn't like her being yelled at. I also told her I didn't think her boss would like that she yelled at customers, especially if it meant that I took my car policy, my renter policy, and BOTH of my life policies. And oh yeah, if I go, then my boyfriend would also take his car and renter policy, and father would take his home owners and car. And instead of finding a whole new company, I'd be more than happy to transfer to his competition right there in town, where I would get good customer service.

She got quiet and said she would take care of it, and hung up.

About an hour later I had a voice mail from her saying she had an answer to our question. She also called and left father a message.

I'm just pissed off. I keep waiting for the owner to call me and either apologize or chew me out. (a whole defending his employee thing...) He hasn't yet but then again she would have to tell him that she yelled at me first, and she knows I'm pissed and will take the insurance policies and run so maybe she's keeping her mouth shut about the whole thing.

I don't like having to deal with situations like that but I was not going to take her telling me I don't know anything AND then yelling at me.

I'm still pissed off about the whole thing. Maybe I'll pull my policies anyway.

Mags

I want more summer vacation

I'm so not ready to go back to school. We such a short break from school, just barely three weeks. I know, I know, I've gone on and on about how great year around school is and I am officially recanting that testimony. I was full oh phooey.

My problem is this: I've never really taken the summer off before even when I had it off. I've either taught summer school or waited tables or did some other part time work to make ends meet. I've never really just been off. (Off my rocker, maybe, but never on vacation)

This July, since it was so short of a vacation, I just decided to not do anything except be a bum.

And you know what I learned from this experience? Summer vacations are awesome! Being a bum (with a tiny paycheck) is even awesome-r!

When I grow up and am a real teacher I am not going to work in the summer. I'm going to be a lady of leisure and continue this layabout gig. It's the best one I've ever had.

Wow!
Mags

I would suck during the Apocalypse

Today we finally had some great thunder and lightening rain showers move through out area. We're officially in a drought, as declared by some federal and state government agencies so it was really nice to have a lot of rain. It was storming sometime in the night and basically rained until late in the afternoon before it stopped.

But with the glorious rainy weather came one pitfall- a power outage. Because we had gusts of wind up to 70mph and all the storm stuff, somewhere along the way, out power went out around 8am and didn't come back until 4pm. Yes, the power was out all day long.

My big plan for yesterday was to do laundry and help Mac with some job applications online. Daddy-O was going to be gone most of the afternoon so I was either going to watch a bunch of tv on the DVR or listen to music really loudly.

Having no power really destroyed all my plans.

First when I got up I kept thinking it would pop on at any moment. When it became evident that wasn't happening, like after I called to report the outage and an automated voice said we were expected to have power back by 1pm, I knew I needed a plan for the day. Starting with coffee.

But I had no power so no way to run the coffee maker.

I couldn't operate a blender without power so I couldn't have my diet shake.

No power meant no hot water to bathe in, and obviously nipped my laundry plan in the bud.

Also, my car was in the garage with an electric opener and no way to get it out to get coffee.

Let's recap, shall we? No power= no electricity= no coffeemaker+ no blender= no coffee+no shake+ no way to open the garage door to get coffee+no hot water for a shower= oh shit. What was going to happen if I couldn't have coffee? Or a shower? How would I live? How would I survive? What would become of me?

Well... I did take a super brief shower with the remaining hot water in the hot water heater, by flashlight, Daddy-O manually popped the latch to get the car out of the garage and we foraged the city for a place with power and coffee.... or we drove thru Hardee's drive thru.

At one point during the day I found Daddy-O crocheting by oil lamp light. Not kidding!

I only had the Internet on my phone and no wireless for my Nook. And when the batteries died on these devices, how was I ever going to re-charge them?

I felt like I was stuck in an episode of Little House on the Prairie!

When the power wasn't back on by 1pm, I called and the new message said the energy company was doing its best to restore itself. And by 4pm they succeed.

But it was touch and to there for awhile. I thought I might be without a mobile phone since the battery light turned red around 3:30pm. And I was running on the last of the Nook battery; I might've had to read *ACK!* a book made of paper!

It was hell. Pure hell.

Thank goodness the power came back on and life was good again. Whew!

Mags

Diet Week 12

Still on the diet and after the eating fest 2 weeks ago, I won't even walk by a scale. So yes, I'm still dieting and will continue to do so.

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.

Mags

Cool place to learn but no one to share it with

I spent several days in the capital of my state, hanging with my man friend and while he was at work, I just chilled, and I realized it's a completely awesome city but I have no one to play with there. I need a girlfriend to hang out with there, or to drag my friends from here there to do awesome stuff!

I do like my alone time, and I like my man, but sometimes I just like being with the girls, and when I have to be alone, it can seem a tiny bit lonely.

Mags

What I want...

Mr. Yummy

Sometimes we all need a pick me up...

Mags

It only took 3.5 years

When I moved back to Civilization in December of 2008, I moved in with Daddy-O, thinking it would just be temporary like a few months, six at the most. I thought I would find a job pretty quickly and move in my own place with Mac. (For those of you who don't remember or are new and just don't know, Mac came for a visit and ended up staying and because his Sperm Donor is a complete and utter asshole, I resigned my teaching gig mid year and moved back here to be near him even though I didn't have a job, even though I applied for about a gazillion of them). Then the economy took a huge crap, unemployment skyrocketed, prices on stuff shot up, and I was poor and jobless and basically screwed.

At the time, thinking it was going to be temporary, we unloaded my U-haul into half of Daddy-O's two car garage. He only has one car so the other half he so generously let me cram with my stuff. and besides, the day we unloaded the u-haul, it was freezing cold and icy and Christmas, for pete's sake! A bunch of us just grabbed stuff and sorta randomly stacked everything so Daddy-O could get his car in and out and the door would open and shut. We didn't care much for stacking neatly or having any kind of organization to it. We had a deadline to get the trailer back so I didn't have to pay another day. And after Daddy-O almost whacked his car with the trailer (OMG- read that here- one of the funniest moments in our family history!!!), it seemed important to get the u-haul outta here ASAP.

Summer of '09 rolled around and I held the world's largest rummage sale. Curly and I sorta organized my stuff, which means I went through boxes pillaging my stuff for the best to sell and then restacked everything.

After that, since I was still here, I emptied my storage shed because the rental fee was killing me and my employment status still sucked so all that stuff went into the garage and some to the attic. And some got sold. The garage was still even more a mess.

Then Daddy-O 'cleaned' and his stuff got mixed with mine and basically it's turned into a potential episode of hoarders.

So here I am 3.5 years later and I still am living in Daddy-O's attic. And still have all this stuff in his garage. While I was at the conference last week, I was able to park in a garage and I was amazed at how cool my car was after sitting in a garage all week. And that did it; I decided it was time to clean our garage. Additionally, we have some weird freaking scary creepy icky undesirable people lurking skulking walking around all times of the day and night. People in our neighborhood have, lately, had car break ins so it's really a good idea for me to get my car inside in an effort to just be safer, especially when I come home at night alone, and won't have a weirdo person standing in the alley next to where I used to park.

Daddy-O agreed to help and thought he could do some of his own cleaning of his own stuff. Though we laughed because he said he wasn't going to help me ever move again. In a small technicality, he did help me move but I didn't go anywhere; we moved every single box of all my stuff and all my furniture that's here. So it doesn't count?

And that's what Daddy-O and I did last Sunday. I bought a whole lotta Rubbermaid tubs and we hit it full force. He sorted through his junk (and some of mine) and re-organized all his Christmas stuff to create space. I went through my boxes and condensed and threw away and all that type of thing. We lugged and tugged. We re-packed boxes and threw stuff away and recycled. We put junk on the front lawn with a huge sign that said "free stuff" and people took it!

By the time we were finished, 5.5 hours later, every single box was stacked on a shelf or fit neatly around the perimeter of the garage. Everything was labeled. We were both covered in sweat, dirt, grime, spider webs, and who knows what else (I sat on the floor of the garage at one point and when I stood up there was a weird red powder on my leg that even now we have no idea what it was...) but the entire garage was clean. We even pushed a broom and got the basic grunge off the floor.

And both of our cars fit in the garage. That's right; after 3 and a half years, I have an indoor parking space- that's all it took, just 3.5 years. Now I'll never leave!

Mags

More pencils, more books, but hopefully no teacher's dirty looks

I've decided to stop messing around and go back to school. I need to flipping classes to get my teacher certificate in this state. That's it. 2 stinking classes.

Look, let's face it. I'm not getting any younger. I like teaching. I'm good at it. I know how to do it. I need to just stop messing around and make a choice in my life and do it!

This is what I learned after the job incidents the last few weeks. I said I want to be the change I wish to see in the world, like Gandhi. I said I want to make a difference. I said I wanted to change the world. Well, the world better look out because I'm going to armed with a license to teach and I plan to us it. Erin Guwell, Jamie Escalante, Mark Thackery, Miss Honey, Dumbledore, Miss Bliss, Mr. Miyagi, Mr. Kotter, Mr. Holland, Mr. Shuster and all those other famous real and pretend teachers better watch out! I will RULE!

I called my Alma mater and spoke with the Education Dept.'s chair and he reviewed all my paperwork. I need 6 hours. One class can be taken at the Master's level. One class is working with special education students (this is required by our state). Another class is just 2 hours and it's about teaching in our current society, educational trends, federal education policies and teacher's legal rights, focusing on all the changes in my state that just made teachers' unions non-essential, did away with tenure and made teaching jobs and those who hold them under the same employment standards as all others, they're now 'right to work'. Then I have to take a 1 hour arranged class where I will teach and write lesson plans for 1 hour a week. I have to write a plan, teach it, and then have it reviewed by my advisor. This is because of a weird sort of loop hole in the state's regulations and will also allow the 'student teaching" portion to get a waiver (because I've also taught for 13 years, this will just allow me to stay fresh.).

I will take all three of these classes starting in August and operate on a regular semester and be finished in December. The catch is that I have to take AND PASS our state English teacher exam by Thanksgiving to be able to have my license by Christmas. And while one class was originally scheduled to be online and the other in person, there was a glitch and BOTH are in person, BUT, thankfully, they are both in the evening and only one night each. AND on a campus that's only a 20 minute drive from home. I have to get accepted to the college, but that shouldn't be a problem because the education chair already called admissions to say my application was coming AND he accepted me into his program.

The biggest problem is money. I don't know how I'm going to pay for it yet. I don't quality for any sort of students federal or state aid and I'm not sure I can get a student loan because my undergrad loans are still not paid (but thankfully not in default) so I'm going to see what payment arrangements can be made or if there's some sort of money at the school itself since I'm a grad or if I can borrow it from anyone.

I did the online application and am just waiting.

Ooooooooo, I'm gonna be a co-ed again!

And a teacher when I grow up. A real for sure teacher! Gee whiz Jiminy Cricket!

Mags

Diet week 11

All I have to say is that last week I ate way to much junk and went off my diet completely and totally.

This week it's back to 1100 calories as day. I'm not getting back on the scale again for a month.

It was like the "lost week" is how I'm going to think of it, just like the lost minutes on the Watergate tapes.

Salads and fruit and chicken, oh my.

Mags

Part 2- the Job drama continues

After the mess with the other job offer, I settled down, resigning myself to the fact that I couldn't quit the corp job (but keep the library position). After turning down the position on Monday morning I felt pretty good. I shared all the other stuff with my principal and he was just agog at it all. I completely wanted to quit my weekend receptionist gig but I just can't afford it. The principal and I tried to come up with other ways I could make that money but we just couldn't generate enough income for me to do so. As I mentioned yesterday being poor doesn't allow me to stand on principle.

Anyway, I continued doing my library thing for 3 days until I got a phone call asking me if I was interested in another position but for the fundraising office. They wanted to hire someone who could do some basic administrative work, and who also was a talented writer. Again, this was for a job I did NOT apply for.

I. am. totally. not kidding.

I had yet another heart to heart talk with my principal (you know, I try and stay off his radar and do my own thing. I think I talked to him more in those 2 weeks than I do in an entire school year!!!!!!!) and he said since I am an excellent writer I need to go and at least have an interview. He said he understood my perspective about all of what transpired already but he encouraged me to hear what they had to say. He also emphasized the fact that he does NOT want to hire a new librarian but he understands if I decide to take the job since the focus would be on writing and social media marketing. He also reminded me that I'm still working for them, however minimally, so I wouldn't still be selling myself out, and to think of it as means to an end.

I interviewed.

I was offered the job.

I declined.

I gave my same song and dance about teaching and school in the fall. REALLY, it's not a song and dance and REALLY my passion is teaching but if this were any other place and any other situation, I would've taken that writing/ admin position in a New York minute, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it here.

After all, while I am poor and can't afford to completely stand on principle I can still keep doing what I have been doing all along. I really wanted to quit the receptionist job and do school only because our county school system employs me for the library, not this corporation. If I did library only then I wouldn't be working for the hypocrites. But I can't afford to do that. Yet. But at least I'm not working for them full time.

I've written an ad for Craigslist to help kids write college entrance exams. I know how much I need to make a month on that so I thought I would post it in August and see if it generated any money. If it does, then maybe I can quit.

HOWEVER, all is not over for the writing cum secretary job. Last week while I was at the conference, the woman who wants to hire me called and offered me more money because she can't find anyone as "talented" as me to do the job. I still declined. She then asked me if I would work part time for her department, and just do writing and blogging, and all other forms of social media. And I could do those on my own time, at home. For about $11-12 an hour. If she could arrange it, which she won't know until she finishes the rest of her interviews today, would I be interested.

Shit.

Shit. shit. shit. shit.

I hemmed and hawed around and said I would consider it. She still had more people to interview for the writing/ administrative job. The woman is offering me a chance to get paid to blog, Tweet, google +, facebook, and pinterest.

I'm so struggling. Part of me wants to stand firm in my resolve. Another part says I can quit being the receptionist and quit lunch duty. Another part of me says stand on principle. Another part says I'm getting paid to do a dream gig. Another part says I am so not going to have time to do that with 2 classes (maybe 3 from the email I received from the college today...). Another part says I could keep doing the front desk and get paid to sit and do homework. Ugh Ugh Ugh!!!

Another part of me argues that while I would still be working for the hypocrites, just like I am now at the receptionist job, but if I were to be the staff writer and social media person, I would also still be working for them but I would be doing it all from home and at least I wouldn't have to be there. If I'm still willing to take some of their money now, is it bad if I take a little big more of their money but I don't even have to be there? I would be writing and not a face person. I don't know!

And I'm not a religious zealot or anything but it has crossed my mind that I wonder what's up with God. Is this a test to see if I will stand firm about what I think is right? Or is it an answer to my prayers for more money and a better opportunity? Is it a response to my dream of always wanting to be a professional writer (Because He and everyone else knows all English teachers are really closet wanna be professional writers) ? Is it like the old joke of the man who prays to win the lottery and finally God speaks to him and says "Help Me out and buy a ticket"? (Or like the other joke about the man who was in a flood and prayed for God to save him. A boat stopped to help and he said "no God will save me" and a helicopter tried to rescue him and the man declined saying "No God will save me". Another family floated by and offered the man to come on their raft and he still said no because "God will save me." The man died in the flood and went to heaven and asked God why he didn't save him. God said to the man "Well, I sent you a boat, a helicopter and raft. what more did you want?" Is it like that?) I wish God would send me a text! I can't help but think about it. Is this my lottery ticket? Is this my rescue from the flood? (Don't answer that; it's rhetorical...)

I have no idea what's going to happen next. I still want to say no.

I sometimes hate being an all by myself grownup who has to make decisions on her own.

Tomorrow I'll post about the school decision and "how Maggie is going to be a teacher, a real, live teacher by Christmas!". And I might know what's happening with the writing thing- who knows- maybe her last round of interviews let her find someone as "talented" as me, who can do the right and left brain secretary and writing stuff!

Mags

Part 1: Sometimes I have to do what's right, not what's financially stable

I know it all sounds crazy, especially after I've been complaining about no money and crappy insurance for years now (OMG it really has been YEARS!) but I really did turn down 2 full time jobs.

As I've mentioned and just assume everyone remembers but for those who don't, I work as a facility for kids who are part of 'the system'- Dept of Family and Children, or Dept of Corrections or Probation. This is a place where kids get sentenced and we have mainly non-violent offenders who are ages 12-18. Kids live here, go to school here, go to church here, and have therapy here. I have 2 jobs- one at the school at this facility which is, strangely enough, an actually public school which is where I am the librarian, and I also work as a weekend secretary and answer phones at the Welcome Center for the entire facility, which includes the school and all the residential buildings. This is a non for profit, Christian facility which is sustained with very little state funding and mostly through donations, private donors, grants, and other private dollars.

The non school part of this corporation is starting a new type of program for girls with problems. I won't go into many details because it's not important in only that they are starting a new program and it's going to be a HUGE money maker if it is successful. HR is being super selective in the hiring process, and it's completely different than any other programs be have because it won't be for kids who are part of a 'system'; instead it will be for girls who's parents' have money and pay for these girls to get help. (Can you tell I'm working really hard to not use any buzz words so people where I work don't fall upon this blog???)

I haven't applied for a position with this new program because I don't want to be part of it. It doesn't interest me nor does it drive me. It's certainly not my passion at all. I do want the program to be successful and I wish it well but it's just not "me". So imagine my surprise when the new program director called and asked me to interview for a supervisory position. I was curious and I interviewed. At the end of the interview, while I was practically glowing with all the praise and compliments I received, I still didn't feel like it was my passion. The director said he wanted to run some figures passed the CFO and would get back to me, but it was going to have health benefits, provide housing and be in the neighborhood of $26-30k/ annually. The down side is that it would be salaried, it would be essentially on call 24/7 for weeks at a time, it would be living under a microscope personally and professionally. It would also be about 50 hours a week, before the on call stuff, doing supervision of all the staff in the program, as well as all the case work paperwork for the girls in the program, all housing duties and issues, and scheduling of all girls activities, therapy, school, chapel, volunteer work and anything else. Whew!

I didn't turn them down flat. I wanted to think on it and talk to my support group- family and friends. While I was thinking and while they were figuring out salary and stuff, I was called in for a meeting with the program director AND the CEO. Since it's a new program and pivotal to the survival of this business's future survival, the CEO wanted to chat with me.

That meeting was a disaster. It ended with me in tears. I felt like the CEO was attacking me for what happened at work with ITSam back in October. He asked me only questions about the situation, and nothing about the job. He wanted to know what I felt was my responsibility in all of it and about my personal walk with God and growth. It was a mess. I have to say the program director looked stunned as I felt. All I can say is that muddled through it and it was awkward and terrible. I went home and told Daddy-O what happened and I think he was as appalled as I was. I also told my school principal and he was so upset FOR me and told me he doesn't feel the same way about me as the CEO does and doesn't think any of those things either. I talked with friends and got feedback and decided I was going to work on Monday and tell them thanks but no. I hadn't come up with a complete speech yet, but I was working on it. This all happened on a Friday.

The next day, Saturday (like I need to point out that Saturday follows Friday; yes, I am Ms Obvious!) I had to work my weekend receptionist gig. One of the company's very upper level manager's stopped by my desk- this person also happens to be my immediate supervisor over my receptionist position. This manager is a relative of the CEO (yes, this place is VERY incestuous!) and this person and I had a talk about just work in general. I've never really been sure about my thoughts regarding this individual overall; this person is a fine boss so that's all that really mattered. But this person said, in conversation to me, and I am NOT taking this out of context, the following "we would never knowingly hire homosexuals because it's against everything we believe here" and "we need more color but the right kind, ya know?" AND "we should only have Christians working here".

I thought I was upset over the interview but this about blew my mind. I went home ready to tell the entire company to stuff their jobs and their programs where the sun don't shine.

The problem is that when poor, a person cannot stand on principle. I had a big talk with Daddy-O and friends and we all determined that I just couldn't quit. I'm in too much of a financially dire situation. I could probably not have a trouble with my library job, maybe, but the CEO is a powerful man and is well connected with our school superintendent and suddenly in this day and age of budget cuts, I could see my job vanishing. I don't know this for a fact; it really is just a guess but it wouldn't surprise me.

So I made a decision. It was do or die time. I went in on Monday and said no to the job. I was firm in my resolve but turned it down flat. I kept all my comment about hypocrites to myself, all my legal thoughts about questions about religion and sexuality and race being against CEO guidelines, about the whole mess. I said no thank you, my passion is for teaching and working in education, and I'm going to take classes this fall and be a certified teacher by Christmas and I am just wanting to devote all my time to that process, and stay in the school. I thanked them for the opportunity to interview but to please remove my name from their list of candidates if they hadn't already. Then the program director told me the job was mine if I wanted it but he understood and respected my decision and he was sorry for the interview with the CEO. I thanked him for the offer but firmly declined.

Now I know I mentioned at the beginning of the post that I turned down 2 jobs, AND I'm going to school in the fall. So stay tuned for tomorrow's post for the details of "the second job in 2 weeks that I didn't apply for and turned down."

Not kidding,
Mags

A few cool pics from last week

I waffled all week long between taking pictures or not. I was alone most of the time so I would've ended up with a bunch of pictures with no one in them that I know. The older I get the more I want a blend of pics with people and of 'stuff' so for the most part, I didn't take many pictures last week. HOWEVER, I did take a few.

I had a favorite place to hang out. It was the South Lounge in the Union on the third floor. I don't think I even need to explain why I love this. I bet you can tell from the photos.





Another thing I thought was cute was the old fashioned phone booths which no longer have phones in there but people with mobiles are encouraged to go here to talk. The doors close and a light comes on and so does a little fan which helps muffle sound for those "private conversations" as well as generating cool air. The funny thing is, though, these are located in a section of the building with the worse mobile service on campus!



Finally, and this has nothing to do with the actual university where I was but the following pictures are from a restaurant in town. It's a local place called the Runcible Spoon which is located in an old house where all the rooms have been renovated into little dining rooms. First I had wonderful food (a fabulous Ruben and grilled veggies!) and wonderful company, with Photographer.

The coolest thing about this place is the bathroom. Yes, the bathroom. It's been featured on the Travel Channel, all because of the bathroom! It's a traditional old fashioned bathroom, like you'd find in a house, with a toilet, a sink, and a claw footed bathtub.




Now how cool is all that?

Mags

What an awesome week!

I love this week. It was a completely fabulous experience. I know I was there for work but I had such a great time it was like vacation. I wish all work could be like that!

As I said before, I worked at a high school journalism camp as an intern. I worked with kids who are appointed section editors of their school papers. Kids came from all over the US and they were awesome, fun and smart. I loved how their brains processed information and I loved that they shared their creativity.

I learned quite a bit myself. I have some great ideas for a school publication if I ever have a chance to be a sponsor or journalism teacher. I'm going to take some of these ideas back to my current school and see if I can convince the principal to let me do a student publication. We shall see!

In addition to working with kids on story packaging, grading, student instruction, facilitating leadership activities, and news/ feature/ op-ed writing, I helped my friend Photographer, who got me this gig, prep for her fall semester. I developed 50 research writing topics on Native American Indians for her to use with her advanced juniors, and an additional 30 research topics on the 1920s/ Gatsby for her AP juniors.

I met some cool people and made a few contacts (which I don't think will really turn into anything for a teaching job BUT will be very helpful in the future if I want to teach for this program!). I also met neat kids, of course. And people in the community were wonderful.

Obviously I loved the food* and the culture. I wish with all my heart that I had gone to a huge school. It's such a cool town and the school offers so much that I love and couldn't experience except in that sort of setting. It's such a historic university, rich in so much. I felt so at home in that setting.

All in all it was wonderful and I so was NOT ready to come home. Especially since I had to come home and go straight to work at my part time weekend job!!! Ugh! (I really need to get rid of that! If only I could get a raise....)

Mags

*I did real Turkish food, after trying to decide after I wrote about all my good eats here. The food was plentiful and excellent. The staff was good, and really helpful since I had never eaten Turkish and had no idea what to order. And the price was right! I had wonderfully seasoned lamb kebabs on a bed of rice with a red lentil soup drizzle with a salad with a funky dressing, warm homemade bread, a white bean soup, and hot Turk Tea.I chose to eat a table with a chair rather than on the floor with huge cushions because I was alone and all I could have visions of was myself on the floor, with a full belly, and unable to stand up! Excellent meal and I want to go back!

Food, glorious international food!

This is a diet free post!

I'm in love with food. It's probably great that I do NOT live here in the college town of the conference for I would weigh about 400 pounds. Food is everywhere and plentiful and it's completely ethnic and mostly authentic.

I've never left my home state and I've eaten around the world.

Monday night was a good old dish from the motherland, Ireland. (My motherland!) I found an Irish pub and had fish and chips and a hard cider. And a shot of Jameson whiskey. Good food, great atmosphere- very much like a Dublin pub- good service, fine company, and great music, albeit not live, but still good.

Tuesday took me to Greece. I don't think I've really had much Greek food before so I indulged in a Lamb Gyros. Yes, a pretty common item BUT this lamb is on a spit and is roasted for days (or something like that) and patrons can watch it be sliced off the rotating beast. I had a Greek salad, too. They make homemade and daily baked pita bread for the sandwiches and the hummus is also made fresh and served with homemade pita chips. Oh baby, yes!

Last night was Mexican. I know I can get that at home but when other people LOVE Mexican and I'm the only one who isn't really fan, I decided it was better to just go along and get a salad for something. Oh so NOT necessary! I love to get arroz con pollo (traditional chicken, cheese and rice) but at the Mexi place in my hometown they use so much black and white pepper it's overloaded and I just hate it. It's also never consistent there, either- something hot, sometimes mild and sometimes FLAMING hot. At home they also use a very spice cheese which adds to the burn. If the place I ate at last night was like at home, I would LOVE Mexican. The waiter heard me tell someone I was getting a salad because of the hot factor at home and he PROMISED if I got it, there would be flavors but not heat or pepper. So I got it and it was wonderful!

Tonight is dinner on my own. I was thinking French but the place is really expensive as is the Tibetan place. I have it narrowed down to Turkish (yay kebabs!), Thai or Indian. I found the menus online and the Indian place as non-hot curries so that's a plus. We shall see what happens and I'll update you tomorrow!

Loving my food,
Mags

Is it work? Is it a vacation? I can't tell the difference!

Not only am I having a super cool week working with the kids at journalism camp, I'm also having a great time in this college town. It's a wonderful atmosphere and I just love the culture.

There are tons of amazing little shops all over the place. I'm not shopping so much as just wondering in and out of all these cute little places. I love the options and variety. I can find just about everything and then stuff I never thought of before. I love all the New Age stores, in person esty shops, vintage shops and tons of bookstores.

Speaking of bookstores, I went into one that has the biggest collection of newspapers and periodicals for sale of anywhere I've ever been. There were papers in at least 12 different languages plus papers from all the major North American markets. There were periodicals for every topic under the sun, appealing to everything. The collection of books- and this wasn't a used book store- ran from best seller and popular to rare and eclectic. I explored for hours there. It also had all sorts of fun and quirky novelty gifts for the reader and the artist. I bought a Monet coloring book, and almost bought a book of pin up girl paper dolls (but I wasn't sure what to do with it other than just owning it because it was amazingly cool).

The choices of places to eat is also amazing. It's very much a "bar" culture but in the middle of all of that are some great places to eat. I've had some of the best food ever this week- diet be damned. I've had English fish and chips at an Irish pub, arroz con pollo at a Mexican place, and some wonderful gyros at a Greek place. I ate a fabulous vegetarian bagel at a local place where bagels are made fresh (and boiled) 3 times daily, on site, with homemade schmears. I still want to eat Indian or Thai before I head home.

And the culture is everywhere. There are tons of free galleries and museums. There are poetry readings and author readings. There's all type of classes like yoga or belly dancing or Pilates. The music that plays in shops and restaurants is as diverse at the people and food options. And people talk about politics and books and just all these wonderfully intellectual ideas. (I spend time eavesdropping on fellow diners and shoppers)

Campus is amazing. It's historic and majestic. It just feels like I'm surrounded by history and can feel brains and intellect just ooozing from the building and people, practically. I like the history in the buildings. I love the nooks and cranies.

Tis a lovely working vacation!
Mags

Smart kids are fun

I. love. smart. kids.

It's been a long time since I've worked with kids who seem, for all accounts, just really smart and really well adjusted. These are kids that take, in addition to journalism, courses like Russian Literature, Chinese III, AP Everything (Calc, English, Psychology, Chemistry, etc), Forensics, and other advanced thinking classes. These are kids who do volunteer work and take it seriously. They travel with their families. They have adventures. They use words like salient and reticent in everyday conversation. They read for fun and take music lessons.

I've spend the last several years of my life working with special education students and at-risk kids. The change of those kids to these is simply amazing. I know most of these kids are smarter than me. I think I've gotten dumber (or maybe I'm just not challenged intellectually) over the last few years.

This week I've worked with kids at this journalism camp who've come from all over the country and they are smart and delightful. They're funny and creative. They enjoy thinking and having a conversation. We say "work in groups and discuss a story package" and they do. They actually stay focused on the topic at hand. They really do!!! That is soooo cool.

It's been a good workshop and I'm learning too. Now I want to go back and have a student publication with my kids. It will certainly be a totally different experience, of course, but it will be fun, too. I think I want to publish a digital newspaper using blogger or Wordpress and let the kids upload their writings daily, staggering the deadlines for freshness. I think it would be a good experience as well as being super easy if it's all online. AND since our entire school is electronic I think it will make sense to have it online.

And there's an available stipend for student publications so I think I could make some money. I'm going to create a sample for our principal and see what he thinks. Because it will involve me getting $$$$$ I have to ask for permission (rather than forgiveness... heehee!)

Mags

Diet week 10

I. am. bad. OMG...

I've eaten stuff that I don't consider to be on my self imposed diet. I have a mental "no no" list.

That being said, I will, occasionally, treat myself to stuff. I mean occasionally as in maybe 4 times in the entire past 11 weeks. I usually try to eat just a tiny bit of something that I want, just to squash the urge and then I move on and stay on the diet. I try to not beat myself up if I eat an Oreo or something like that. I also don't think, "gee, I just ate junk so I might as well eat more junk" or "great, I ruined my whole diet so I give up." I just go right back on my diet and face my 1100 calories every day.

I try to stay on target and I consider how far I've come and I think I've done a good job- I've lost at least 25 lbs and probably more! (I still have scale avoidance)

I just want to re-iterate I do NOT cheat daily. I look back at my food log and I don't even cheat weekly; more like 1 time a month. I allow myself 1100 calories a day and the worst day in the last 11 weeks was a day I ate 1954 calories. And that was at the very beginning, on Memorial Day weekend, at a picnic.

Until today.

I'm at a professional development conference. There are famous cookies here. I was talking to a guy at the cookie store about how these Special K bars and no bakes are "famous" and we were laughing about it and I said I would buy 1. He put one of each in my bag.

When I opened the bag and saw 2 I about died. My intent was to just eat half of one. I figured I could still do that. I would eat half of one and save the rest for my friend Photographer or give it to the students.

Well, I had quite a bit of alone time yesterday. And I felt my sugar crashing and I was seeing the little black dots and had the shakes. I thought I was going to pass out. It was hot out and I was running around and exercising and hadn't had anything except my diet shake and coffee so I was on a caffeine and adrenaline high and I ate the other half of the cookie. Plus the extra.

Then I went out to dinner and had a beer, and fish and chips at an Irish pub. I had forgotten about the cookies. I really did. I was out of my groove and didn't write down my food so in my head I still had 1000 calories for supper. I ate all my fish, drank all my beer, and ate about half of my fries.

Shit shit shit.

I didn't go a calorie check until I got home. And remembered the cookies. Shit shit shit.

Each cookie is 1000 calories. EACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Worst diet day ever.

I made it through last week and the 4th of July cook out and being home all day and didn't go food crazy at all. Last week I came in 800 calories UNDER my weekly allotment, and today in one day, I ate 3 days worth of calories.

Damn it. I feel bad about myself because that's a huge, really big time, blow it.

And the worst thing is that these damn cookies are here, in front of me, every single frickin' day this week. I really need to kick my will power into gear.

Yes, I will be exercising more this week than I will have in the last 11 weeks just because I have to walk everywhere and this is a HUGE campus. To get from the auditorium to my classroom is a 10 minute walk at a brisk pace. And then it's another 10 minute walk to lunch. It's 10 minutes to the parking lot. I'll be up and moving with the students in class. It's a 20 minute walk to downtown, in the heat, where I'm going this afternoon. I will burn lots of calories. I will.

But I'm still amazed that I just let myself revert, in the matter of an afternoon, back to my horrible eating habits.

I wish I would've weighed myself before I left yesterday but I was in a hurry and forgot. My goal this week is to not gain weight. I don't care if I lose any this week because I am away and out of routine and want to just enjoy myself but gorging on the cookies and fried food and Irish beer was not what I had in mind. Oh, I enjoyed it at the moment but today I feel horrible what I ate.

I am not off to a very auspicious start. So much for being about to have anything "fun" for the rest of the week. It's salad city for me.

Mags

Birthday wishes!

Happy Birthday Bro! He's another year older- welcome to 37. Now he's closer to 40 than 35- bwahahahahahaha! (but yes I know I'm going to always be older...!)

And thanks for assist at Wally World! (tho I missed that call for ribs!)

Glad he's my brother!

Happy Day, Dear Little Brother!!!!

Hugs,
Your Older Sis!

Art can be placed anywhere

Girl day with XRayGirl: ate dinner, watched Magic Mike and got pedis. And check out my toe art!

Relaxation at its finest

I love doing nothing. I swear I do. I've read and cooked and visited with family.

I haven't worked. I even said "no" to extra hours at the receptionist desk.

I haven't made plans to go see FutureHusbandGuy in his city.

I've done noting but be a bum, laying around and just doing nothing.

And I adore it!

Now, I must admit that tomorrow I do have official plans with XRayGirl to see a movie, go out for dinner, and to get pedicures. And I should probably do a load or two of laundry before I got out of town for my conference next week. But, as Scarlett O'Hara says, tomorrow at Tara because today my focus is to continue to be a bum.

Maggie the Layabout

I'm a sucker for a cutie!

Fab Finn, my ever adorable nephew, is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay so adorable!!!!

We had a family dinner tonight- my aunt and uncle from Texas are here- and Daddy-O, my bro and sisIL and the kids. The Divine Ms K was divine, of course, but she wasn't really wanting to have much to do with anyone except her mama.

Fab Finn on the other hand, was a pure delight. At first he wasn't going to have a thing to do with me. I, like any good auntie, bribed him to like me. I gave him dum-dum suckers and let him drink out of my adult cup and swish around in the ice cubes with his hands. I was totally IN!

He just jabbered at me and talked to me; he called me by name. He wanted to go with me when I went to the salad bar. He gave me high 5 and good-bye kisses. He smiled and giggled.

He's such a flirt and a charmer.

Good times with the little guy! Probably the best date I've had this month!

Auntie Mags

Boom Boom Boom, Even brighter than the Moon, moon, moon

Our family doesn't usually do much on the 4th of July. None of us are people who likes heat so it's often a bad time for us to try and do anything that regular people do: no beaches, being outside, and such.

Last year, ITSam and I were not having a good 4th so I stayed home and then went to watch fireworks. The year before that we went to his family's home for a cookout, fireworks and games.

Today was a good day but no fireworks. It's been so hot that our county (and most of our state) has a Burn Ban and that includes the town sponsored fireworks. I went to XRayGirl's house for a cookout. She had assembled an array of characters and good food for the day. It was fun. I didn't know very many people but it still seemed a good time was had by all. It still felt like something was just missing. I love fireworks...

I remember one of my favorite Independence Day's when I lived in the Wild West. It had been so hot and dry that summer. I lived in the desert area and it was unbearably hot during the day and just nice and cool at night. But dry. We hadn't had rain forever. No one was sure if the tiny town I lived in would actually put on a fireworks display or not. Our town had fire watchers keeping eyes peeled for heat lightening because we were in a prime situation for wildfires.

But amazingly enough, just days before the big event, it started to rain. And rain. And rain. It rain steadily and surely for about 3 days, day and night, and then it cleared up. Oh, it was still hot and fires were still a risk because of lightening strikes, but everything was wet.

And we had fireworks.

I went uptown and sat in the back of a pickup with a bunch of other people, drinking beer and we watched that pitch black inky sky light up. I hadn't used my camera to take firework shots before but here's what I did get, which is still cool, to me.


Happy 4th!
Maggie

Random Stuff on a Tuesday

Got my hair trimmed because it's grown so quickly. My stylist was just chatting away with me and she ran the clippers over the back of my hair and suddenly stopped and realized we 'didn't do that last time' but it was a little late for that now. My hair is REALLY short now. Yikes! More Gennifer Goodwyn short than Katie Holmes short.

And speaking of Katie Homes, does anyone else think "it's about damn time" that she divorces Tom Cruise and gets away from his mind control whako-ness?

And speaking of clippers, my household is in an uproar looking for Daddy-O's hair clippers. Mac uses them to give himself a haircut last week and Daddy-O helped him. Mac said Daddy-O took the clippers back and Daddy-O thought he gave the clippers to Mac. We've turned the house upsidedown looking for those suckers in all the obvious places and some not.

Does anyone else just LOVE Subway?

Is anyone else going to watch the new show on CBS this fall called Sherlock?

Does anyone else just love hotel sex?

I'd love to learn how to use Pinterest. Still can't figure that sucker out.

I've been thinking it would be cool if I could operate a Mac Book laptop.

Daddy-O and I went to a Kroger Market Place which is a cool twist on the super store idea but BETTER. It has furniture and home stuff. We found a "painting" on canvas in the lobby and after I finally found a clerk and made her scan it, we found it was $30. This thing usually retails for $80, and it's about 4x5 feet and totally cool. I grabbed it and had them hold it at the cusstomer service desk; hey, with that discount it HAD to be bought!!!!

It seems the new trend in the area I live is to now NOT find out the gender of the baby. I know all these pregnant women, or women who've very recently had babies, and no one is finding out the boy or girl answer. And just a few years ago, everyone was finding out the gender as soon as it was possible. Interesting. I don't care either way, but I think trends are interesting.

I want to have a Bernese Mountain Dog instead of a baby. Naming it will be just as fun!

I don't care what anyone says; Charlie Sheen is just hot and still sexy.

Today was a super busy day at work. Since we have tomorrow until Monday off for the 4th holiday, and then I'm going to be at a conference from Monday thru Thursday and then we have our July Recess until the last day of July, I won't be back at school for a MONTH! Go me! however, this does mean I had about a million things to do today. I made a to-do list and crossed off every single item! And for the first time EVER, I have to say that every single library book was returned!!!!!!!! I didn't have to go to the kids' res halls or do locker searches. Kids brought them back. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This weather sucks and I hate it. The heat is killing me. And it's only early July; it's going to be a very long, hot, miserable summer.

My phone is telling me I have very little storage data left. I thought I'd delete stuff and there's all this Sprint shit I can't get rid of but I never use it like the football and NASCAR app. Nor do I Facebook and I can't delete it either. It's taking up valuable space and it just pisses me off that because it's part of the "phone company's promo" stuff, I can't remove them.

Mags

Diet week 9

Still not getting on the scales today. Just can't bring myself to do it.

I did buy a new skirt off the clearance rack and it was a size smaller. AND I can wear it without having to add Spanx!

I just wish it would come off more quickly.

It's coming off. I know. Slow and steady wins the race but man, I wish I could be skinnier faster!

Mags

A professional growth opportunity AND a vacation of sorts!

I get summer vacay a week early! Goooooo me!

I have an opportunity to work at a special camp for high school kids who are into journalism. I'll get to help teach, in workshop style, journalism writing, elements of layout and design, and use of photos and graphics in yearbooks or newspapers. My minor is actually Journalism, so I'm excited to use it in another way. This is going to be great!

I get to actually teach!

I get to miss work for a week but it still get paid- we're calling it professional development!

It's a fabulous addition to my resume!

I get to be in a very cool college town for a whole week and can explore, and will have time to myself to do whatever- read, shop, research. I love that there's play time built in!

I can make professional connections in education and in the world of news media.

I get to work with kids who are INTERESTED in writing/ journalism/ photography and who are usually good students.

I'm excited. I head out on July 9! Whoot-whoot!

mags