How am I ever going to get a teaching job?!

I am very frustrated right now and need to vent! I called back that school in Santa Maria that called me last. Well, I guess the girl who they had making those phone calls really didn't know what she was talking about and this school refuses to do phone interviews, period. Not even a simple starter one to see that they would want me for more and to make it worth it for me to fly all the way out there for one in person. They just kept saying, "if and when you're in the area, we would be more than happy to set one up." So I kept telling the first lady, and then the next lady she put me on with, that I can't just move somewhere without a job... once we have a contract somewhere, then we will move with one job or two. She was worried about me not committing if Matt didn't have a job as well, because they are a Christian school and don't pay what the public schools do (I know!) and I was like we are living on one income and a smaller one than that would be right now, we can deal (besides, that's my concern, not theirs)! And I can't just pay all the money to fly all the way out there with absolutely no security or way of knowing how interested they are in me either! They were like, "everyone's interviews need to be exactly the same and we can't change any of that." So I kindly told her that I didn't think that was very fair or giving an equal opportunity to anyone out of state. She was like, no we are, we are.... just not in your case. GRRR!!!!

OK, enough of that, I did at least get to sit in the 45 degree sun on the deck while Samson played outside this afternoon. And I am off to snatch up a craiglist deal on more baby gates for Samson as well.

Work Hours Changing

Well, my hours at work are officially changing once again. The other preschool teacher and I haven't been getting enough hours lately, so now we no longer have a whole day off. We both work M, T, TH, F and then will be splitting Wednesdays to each work half of the day. Which means that until the middle of April while I'm still taking Will home after work, I get the 2nd half of the day, which kinda stinks. And this week we have a field trip, so I am actually working every day the whole day.

We had our early childhood conference this week Thursday-Saturday. It was pretty good, I enjoyed being able to go to the preschool things, which have some better ideas, versus the toddler things that I was doing last year. I did have to get up early on a Saturday to go, but oh well, it's good professional development.

I have a good Samson story.... we were watching tv the other night and look into the kitchen to see Samson with toilet paper hanging out of his mouth. Now I knew he loved tp and tissue, but I was still like, "what did you do?" Matt checked it out and said, "You're gonna want to come see this!" Samson had torn up a roll of tp and left a shredded trail all through the bathroom and into the hallway. It was hilarious! Here is a pic:

One of our friends in our small group just got a puppy and brought her over to play on Friday when she let Samson out at noon. I will put a link to the pics she took of them on facebook, but they were so cute together! I am bringing Samson over there tonight so that I can see firsthand. I am so happy that my puppy has a playmate :).

I got a call from a school in Santa Maria, CA this week about setting up an interview... except they didn't know that I was so far away and have to call me back about setting up a phone one instead once they have some time options for me. I am going to call them Monday to make sure they didn't forget about me though.

Sarah and I brought a meal to and visited Liz (my roomie from freshman year) and her new baby, Violet, last night. That was really nice to see them, but a little weird to see her with a baby ;).

It's supposed to snow tomorrow... that is so depressing! I am in spring mode now.... NO MORE SNOW! I hope this is the last of it at least.

Puppy Tales

Samson sure is making himself right at home! He is turning into quite the mischievous little guy, which is pretty amusing, most of the time. I was putting away laundry in our room and he was in there with me and found a tissue. He thought he was really getting away with something... he bolted down the hallway into the kitchen with it, then kept running crazy out of control back and forth from the bedroom, looking up at me each time. I was like, "Eat a tissue, I don't care you crazy puppy!" He grabs any shoe that he can get to and takes off with it so that we don't take it away. We finally just found an old shoe that he could have, ha ha.

I love it when Samson is in lazy lounging mode! Then all he wants to do is lay down at my feet. If I move, he gets up and lays down where I moved to. He always wants to be by us, which is very cute, but a little annoying when we want to watch tv and he can't come in the living room. He's getting so much better though at not barking and whining when we leave the room or put him in his cage. And he's so fun to play with outside! I love to just run back and forth and he follows on my heels.. I just have to try not to step on him. And when he runs, his floppy ears bounce up and down, priceless!

Samson tries to eat everything! He chomps on sticks, digs out grass and moss to eat. He was really excited about some mushrooms in our yard, but I took those away because I didn't know if they were bad for him. He is eating more of his real food though now too... he wasn't eating very much at first. Matt weighed him a week ago right after we got him and he was around 10 pounds, but I weighed him yesterday and he's almost 15 pounds, he is growing fast! His coloring also might be changing a bit too... more tan spots... but it's hard to tell for sure if it's that or just him getting dirty, lol.

Samson the escape artist! We learned right away that he can climb over baby gates, so Matt put a piece of cardboard over the front of the gate so that he couldn't get a foot hold to get over. Well, I was doing laundry in the basement this weekend and he would bark and whine every time I went down there. Finally I hear the barking stop, look out the door, and there is Samson wagging his tail with a big, "I'm so proud of myself" grin on his face! Now there is a piece of cardboard that is probably 4 feet high over the gate... he'd better not be able to get through now. We also have a make shift gate/fence keeping him out of our living room, held up by a chair. He tries to chew on it and learned to pull it to drag the chair too! Now it's bungeed to the chair, oh dear. Last but certainly the worst is outside. Samson discovered that there are a few inches under the gate on the side of the house... so of course, he started digging there, planning his way out. I shoved a log underneath. There are a few places in our fence that are missing just one piece, and we knew he could get his head through, but he never tried more than that... until yesterday. He totally slipped through into the neighbor's yard! Luckily their yard is fenced in as well. He was so proud of himself, prancing around over there where I couldn't get him. I enticed him back with his container of potty treats, then got to work boarding up any little hole that he could possible get through. This is the only thing that makes me want him to grow faster so that he can't fit through small openings anymore, lol.

Samson only woke us up once time Thursday night, then not at all Fri and Sat nights, but then last night it was one time again. Hopefully we'll go back to not at all... I think I just need to tire him out a bit more in the yard.

I am taking him for his 2nd round of shots next Monday. But the shelter told me that this puppy virus is running rampid and that I can't take him on the trail until after his 3rd shot, which is a whole month away! I am dying to take him for a walk... and he needs to get used to his leash because he hates is. Oh well.

That's all for now... here are a few pics:

Look at those eyes!

Samson loves to chew on Mushu

Aw, sleeping puppy!

Meet Samson!

Meet our new puppy, Samson! He is a golden retriever/husky mix and about 3 months old. He has white/cream super soft fur and light blue eyes (with a little green).

There is a shelter that brings their puppies to a nearby (Grandville) Petsmart a few Saturdays a month. We went on Saturday, just to look... I was only expecting that I would want one even more, but not that we'd even consider getting one. So we go and look at them, and then Matt is like, "So did you want one?" and I was like, "YES!"

There was our puppy and his sister whom we liked a lot, but we were not really ready to get one that day! Especially considering you have to sign your life away to get one. You have to give your employer, how long you're gone during the day, if it's like 8 hours like us then do you have someone to let him out during the day since it's a puppy), what kind of yard to you have, etc. So Saturday night and Sunday we got 3 people who said they would love to come let him out once or twice a week... what a blessing and answer to prayer they are! That really confirmed it for us that we ought to get him. Then someone from Matt's work said they'd loan us their puppy cage, Andrea from our small group is loaning us a baby gate (and a play yard until we got the cage), and some friends of Matt's parents are probably giving us a bigger cage later on.

I called on Sunday afternoon and the girl puppy was gone, so we said we'd take the boy! I went and got him Sunday night. And then the lady told me the sad sad story of this pup.... the owners of his mama wouldn't get her fixed, then she got pregnant during a midwest winter, there were some money issues involved, and the mom and pups ended up out in the cold and all but the 2 we saw froze to death! And the shelter just got him like a week or so ago... so he's not potty trained at all and not used to a house or other dogs or even things like the noise of a car driving by (he gets so scared!). He has some major separation anxiety or a fear of being left or something, but we're giving him lots of love and working on that :).

I can't wait to take him for walks on our trail! But he really hates a leash, and can't be around other dogs until the end of the month when he's had his second puppy shot. So... another thing to work on.

I am hoping and praying that we've got a few things figured out now and that he'll do better at night tonight. We learned that for now at least, he needs to be in his cage in our room... more with that abandonment fear i think.

Job and Puppy Hunting

Well, the job interview was a little disappointing. The interview went really well, but they don't have the possible lower-el opening, and I'm really not so qualified for the middle school math (and they don't even know if it's full-time or what) because I don't have any experience with middle school and only a math minor. And you know how the job market is right now... so many people are over qualified and applying for things, that if you're not, then you're out. It was also slightly discouraging because the principal said that it's extra hard to find teaching jobs in Christian schools right now because enrollment is low due to the economy.

Matt started teaching his rocks/minerals unit on Friday. It's so cool to see him to excited about teaching! He's amazing. I can't wait until we're both teaching in schools.

We went to look at some puppies today. We found two that we really like. We almost got one, but you have to like sign your life away to get them to let you adopt one! You have to give where you work and how long you're gone, and all this info about how and where you'll care for the puppy, and since we're gone during the day, we have to give names and numbers of people who will let it out to go to the bathroom during the day (since it's a puppy). So, we're working on getting that all settled, and hoping and praying that one of the puppies we want will still be there! They are golden retriever/husky (or something like a husky) mixes.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I made pumpkin pancakes on Saturday morning, and they were amazing! Here is a link to the recipe. They are easy to make, as long as you have all of those pumpkiny spices :).

Energy!

I am finally getting better! Earlier this week I finally got to the point where I woke up in the morning and thought, I feel pretty darn good! Instead of it taking until 11 am for me to feel not awful. And I actually had some energy! It was the weirdest feeling to not remember when the last time I felt so normal and alive was.... at least 2 months ago, that's all I can say. It felt so nice to be able to have more energy and be more fun for my kids at work. I'm sure I wasn't their favorite teacher the last while. And then the end of this week was freakishly warm, 60 degrees!, what a fantastic indication that spring is around the corner :). The combination of not feeling sick, having energy, the warm weather, and seeing people outside all over the place on my way home on Friday made me feel like I was coming out of a depression or something... I was downright hyper about it all :).

OK, let's look back this week a little. We had a great time having Grace here last weekend. We didn't DO a whole lot, just hungout (I was still sick at this point). We did go to Calvin to check out the new fieldhouse complex. Holy cow is it amazing! Makes me quite jealous that it wasn't like that when I was there.... and especially that they aren't allowing alumni to use the fancy new weight room. Darn Calvin. Oh well.

Monday we had that job fair. We both ended up with interviews with a school district near Colorado Springs. I had an on the spot one, and Matt went back the next day for one. Other than that, we just talked to schools and got info so that we can apply. Now we need to do that, but it all takes quite a while. This Thursday is my other interview, so you can keep that in your prayers.

So... I really want a puppy! I don't know what will really pan out with this... but I have been wanting one for like a year now. Matt is slowly coming around to the idea, I think. The 2 biggest problems are the costs, and the fact that we don't know where we'll be living next year. But our house now would be great for a puppy, and we have a fenced in yard... so I say get it, love it, and we'll figure the rest out when we get to it :).