I'm back

Still here! I didn't write for a while because 1) my job hunt did not go as well as I had hoped; I found that out the Tuesday before break and didn't feel like doing much of anything in the way of blogging, 2) last week we did have break and I didn't go near the computer because it was so gorgeous out that I spent hours on my screened-in porch reading and playing with the puppy. I came back to 80 messages in my inbox (most from the NY Times and Ann Taylor Loft).

Fortunately, I did get a silver lining: The woman who I hoped would take another year of maternity leave is indeed doing so, so I get to stay. This helps a lot, although things are still up in the air for the year after that. We'll see what happens, but it makes me feel a lot more secure to know I have a job next year. Clutch heart, laugh with relief.

I have so many terrific Penny pics I need to post and fun stories to tell--it's all on its way, promise!

I will say one cool thing: For the past two days I've slowly prepared the students for reading Macbeth by teaching them about Elizabethan language. I have them write their own conversations, teach them some "thee" and "thy" pronouns and a few fun Shakespearean words, and then have them rewrite the sentences. So, I'm getting a lot of "How wast thy break?" "Cool. How about thou?", but what do I care? They're getting it. The best happened yesterday when they broke up into groups and I handed each of them a weirdly worded Shakespeare sentence with each word on a different index card. They then had to put the sentence together. They all came up with something slightly different but still Shakespearean, and they friggin' loved it. I loved seeing them so excited about making a sentence. They even asked for more! How much better does it get? Who knows if they'll have the same thrill once we get into the real play, but I'll just keep looking back on this as a good day.

Question: Who was your favorite teacher and why?

Two Updates

OK, first of all, due to problems in personnel (read: someone wasn't doing his/her job when he should have), I now won't find out about my job status until the end of the month. Because that doesn't mean too much longer and because I have no control over the situation, I will patiently wait. Or just wait.

In other news, instead of getting our puppy in May, we will go get her next weekend!!!!!!!!!!!! This means we're frantically reading our Cesar Millan and cleaning the house so little girlie won't lick anything she shouldn't. Here are a few pictures of the pups. I don't know which one we'll get, but one of those little balls of fuzz will come home with us! The one boy, Clancy, likes the soccer ball, and that's Mom with all of them.







Prepare for me to bore/dazzle you with various tales of puppy cuteness and woes with training. I'm sure the woes will mostly be us screwing up....

Pseudo-update

Nothing new to report this morning because Cousin T's father has become quite ill (he's elderly and now probably going into hospice), so, funny enough, painting our house hasn't ranked high on his list of priorities. I can't imagine why. I'll just post after everything's finished. I will mention that DH has put his den back together and it looks like an entirely different room. All we need to do now is hang some art. We have so many paintings that I suggested we keep a few up at all times and then rotate the rest, like a museum.

In other news, as of Monday I will have made it through half a year at my job. Teachers announce their retirements at the end of this week (technically) and I know of at least one who probably will, though she's keeping quite mum about the whole thing. It will just give me a little more perspective on my prospects for next year...keeping in mind that the other three new people will also vie for any openings. I never knew the world of teaching could get so political! Wish me luck.

Oh and one more thought: We're considering Hurley or Hugo for dog names (LOST, anyone?) We had settled on Barney (also from a favorite show, How I Met Your Mother), but feared too many others would think of the big purple one. No thanks. We're not TV freaks; we just like the sound of these names for a dog. I welcome your thoughts.

I recently added a reader in CA (my dad), so hello, CA! One more red dot on my reader map!

Moving, Part II

OK, I'm alive! We JUST got Internet last Thursday night--the TimeWarner guy didn't finish setting up until 11pm, so this is the earliest chance I've gotten to sit down for more than five minutes to update. I appreciate your time and patience...and have to ask for a little more, as DH has the camera at work with all my pictures on it.

I will try to give the Reader's Digest version, but if you read this blog at all, you'll know that's a bit of an exercise in futility.

We moved in on Monday, August 27, after expecting to do so the previous Friday and being told that previous Wednesday that that would not happen. Super. Honestly, we ended up needing the days--ever notice how 80% of your stuff takes 20% of the time and vice versa? That last 20% included all the little items that don't go anywhere except a large trash bag for easy carrying...but then half of that needs bubble wrap (or a ratty old pillowcase; whatever's handy) so it won't break and only three items fit in one box and why the hell do I even have this thing anyway? What IS this? When did I get this? You understand.

SO! While I also did about 80% of the packing, DH did the same amount of heavy lifting, so I think we came out pretty even-Steven. My mom thinks I did the lion's share--mommies are good like that. A number of lovely and strong friends of DH's came to help us move everything in that Monday, as did the gorgeous and talented A., in from Colorado on a whirlwind East Coast tour. Not only did she haul in boxes, she did so in a skirt. We schlepped everything in and DH set up the bed and the alarm clock so we could spend our first night in the house. I admit freely that I loved falling asleep to crickets and nothing rather than sirens and "HEY! WHERE YOU AT?", which did happen on occasion in the old place. For the rest of the week we put things away and straightened up, putting things to rights slowly but surely. Mom and my sister M. helped tremendously by hanging pictures, moving furniture that DH and I had obviously put in the wrong place (I write that lovingly), and buying those little touches like curtains and towel rods that truly do make the house a home. Right now we've got things more or less set, although I have stowed a few boxes in the basement (WE HAVE A BASEMENT!) or in cupboards. The whole place still needs paint, but I did have a blast peeling off the majority of the hideous old wallpaper in the front hall. Wait until I post the picture of that bit of gorgeousness.

Now, recall I moved on a Monday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I had all-day new teacher orientation at my new school. Fortunately I now live quite literally a five minute walk away, and I kept a few nice pieces of clothes and the iron handy for just such an occasion. I don't know how other orientations for other jobs go, but picture a large group of excited people becoming more and more bewildered and freaked out as a person stands up, talks about what we need to know for this area of the job, gives us a form to fill out or something to read and know well so we can do our jobs properly...all repeated about ten times. Fortunately I'm in a group of six new English teachers, so we all spend a lot of time muttering, "Did anyone tell you you have to do X by tomorrow?" "WHAT? No! What are you talking about?" "Yeah, I happened to overhear that we have to do X." "Oh, crap."

However, everyone has been extremely nice and helpful, from neighbors to teachers, and while I'll miss the city, I know we made the right move, literally and figuratively. Plus I still have friends in Buffalo who won't allow me to become a scary suburbanite, and I'll have to go there so I can go to a restaurant where I won't know any of my students. Thus it all works out.

I'm sure my next post will include something about the glories of the crock pot because our oven is so old that you just have to turn on the burner and look at the thermometer the previous owners have mounted inside to see if it's at the right temperature. Hence we've stuck to the stovetop and microwave. Ah, the glories of house ownership. I still love it anyway.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us through words, gifts, or backstrain!

Our House!

So I wrote about house hunting and the terrible places we saw. And then, DH's mom called and mentioned a place she'd seen near her house. Three bedrooms, great yard, close to the town center but not too close, dry basement, etc. Long story short, we fell in love. After having my parents scrutinize it (R. has looked through many a home and we wanted his and my mom's input) and getting their OK, we made an offer... and we got the house! I'll post pictures soon. Trust that it's very cute. The interior decoration smacks of "early grandmother" (think 70s kitchen, several old windup clocks, and yellow/orange/brown floral wallpaper) but that's fixable. As the Realtor said, it has "great bones". The former owners raised their family there and obviously gave it a lot of love. My favorite part so far? The inlaid cherry bookshelves in the living room. Love 'em!

This may sound silly, but it feels so adult to own a house. DH and I now have a mortgage and a yard and a real, live basement (well, nothing lives in it as far as I know) and everything. We even have a raspberry bush! I find it all rather amazing and exciting. The house also happens to sit behind the football field of the local high school--not so close that stray passes will fly into the yard but close enough that my friend H. pointed out that the house will get egged on Halloween. It's all pretty exciting that we're really moving on to the next part of our lives, the part that will probably include children and Christmases and repainting and fights and everything. Mindblowing.

7/10/07 What makes this even more significant? Through a series of events, I found out said local high school had an English job opening. Bear in mind that the school is close enough to my house to literally walk out my door and across that field in five minutes. I figured I'd check it out just to see what would happen... and they actually offered me the job! I hadn't even thought of going elsewhere but I had to take the opportunity. Thus this means starting over again, but I think this could be something more permanent, finally. It also means I have to teach yucky boys again, ewwww.

So anyone want to come over for a painting party?