Really, it's been friends only for a while... just making it official.
I'm not doing a friends cut or anything.
Comment to be added.
♥

My mom, dad and myself just got home from the vet.
We had to put my beautiful Sheltie, Snickers to sleep today.

She had been diagnosed with a tumor in her liver area a few weeks ago.
She's had a nose bleed since Thursday which has just been horrible.
We called her vet yesterday, and they apparently didn't want us to bring her in.
"There's nothing we can do."
It got worse today, so my dad called his good friend who is a vet in the area.
He had us bring her in after hours.
There was really nothing we could do.
She was bleeding EVERYWHERE from her nose.
It was just so sad.

So the 3 of us were with her when she went.
It was peaceful.
Just so sad... :(

She was a good dog.

You'll be missed greatly..
By us... and the kitties too.
We love you.


R.I.P., Snickers... you'll always be my "Puppy"
April 9, 1992 - April 7, 2007
....she would have been 15 on Monday....

I got my flu shot after school today.
Apparently my doctor was not going to get them til December (if at all),
so my mom went to Kroger pharmacy and got one for $25.
I'm just glad I had it done.
Hopefully it'll keep me from getting sick! :)

Today was our last day of school with students for the week.
Tomorrow is a professional development day.
I have to go to COBO Hall for the MAPSA conference.
It's some conference for Michigan's public charter schools.
They have some breakout sessions...
I was looking through them today... some of them look pretty interesting.
Hopefully it'll go by pretty fast.

I get my new phone tomorrow... yay!
I don't know which one I want though.
I'll just go to Verizon after the conference and find one I like! :)


Last night I subbed in my mom's card club.
I got 2nd place and won a whole $2, haha!
It was fun though. I enjoyed it.

Sad the Tigers didn't play last night... hopefully they'll get the game in tonight!
I won't be able to watch the whole thing, I'm sure.. I have to be up too early tomorrow.
Plus, I normally fall asleep during CSI on Thursdays, so we shall see what happens.

GO TIGERS!!!!!

My class was absolutely insane today.
They seriously could not keep their mouths shut.
I feel like I accomplished absolutely NOTHING as far as teaching goes today.
Oh well... I guess that is a Monday for ya... especially with first graders.
I try... but sometimes I just feel like I'm failing at it.

My parapro was sick today.
She was still at school which makes me nervous.
I don't like knowing that she was throwing up most of the day and stayed in my classroom.
I don't want the stomach virus that is going around!!
I have a terrible fear of throwing up.. it sounds dumb, I know, but I seriously do.
Her other thought is that she could be pregnant.
I hope for that one... though she does/doesn't.
I think she does.. her husband doesn't right now.
Here's hoping that stays

Anyway... moving on.. I forgot to mention in my last entry that while RJ and Natalia were here visiting we found out that my other cousin, RJ's brother Mike, has not been granted leave from the Marines for the wedding.
He was supposed to be the best man.
The wedding is in 2 weeks.
I feel so bad for RJ.
He's so upset that his brother won't be at his wedding.

Then, they don't want to give RJ leave for Christmas... which will be the first time he's seen Mike since he's been home from Iraq, and before Mike leaves for Iraq in January.
Also, Natalia leaves for Afghanistan in May.
Then RJ goes back over in September.
I hate the military! :(


OK, bedtime..

I got a call this afternoon from a charter school in Detroit.
I have an interview tomorrow morning at 9:30!
I have to prepare a 15 minute lesson to "teach" during the interview.
I'm a little bit nervous...
Hopefully all will go well.

I already know someone who is going to be teaching Kindergarten there this year.
It would be real nice to get a job working with someone that I have known for most of my life!
We'll see what happens.

I'm watching Friends...
It's the Hootie and the Blowfish episode... though they are never actually IN the show.
They only play the opening part of "I Go Blind"
It's still funny!!

Phoebe: "is that a hickey?
Monica: "noo.. I just fell down"
Phoebe: "on someones lips?"
.
.
.
Rachel: "who gave you the hickey?"
Monica: "that would be the work of a Blowfish"

Definitely makes me excited for me and Becky's Hootie-A-Thon in September! YAY!!
♥ Hootie and the Blowfish ♥


So I got an e-mail today from a charter school in the area.
I'm not sure if it's in a very safe area, but I e-mailed my cover letter and resume that they asked for.
I figure if I get called for an interview, I can go and see if I feel comfortable and go from there.
I also found another charter school that had posted that they are still looking for teachers.
A friend of mine got a job there teaching Kindergarten, so it would be nice to work with someone I know.
I wasn't particularly looking for a charter school... but I don't really have many options at this point.
At least I can hopefully get some better references...as well as more experience.. and then relocate next year like I wanted to do this year.

I also sent my resume to a couple day care centers.
Not my ideal job... but I really need some source of income.
Who knows if I'll get a call.
I'm starting to get pretty discouraged about this whole thing, that's for sure.
Ever since the lack of a clearance letter from Charleston/bad references.
UGH.

I'm so sick of looking for jobs.
I pretty much gave up on the out of state jobs.
I'm still thinking about trying to find another job in Charleston and move there anyway.
I loved it so much, and i want to teach there eventually... we'll see what happens.
If i'm not gonna be teaching, i could move in a few months or something...
I don't know.
I just know i wanted last year to be my last winter.
Now it looks like i'm gonna have to go through another one.
I didn't meet the goal i set for myself.
I'm not real happy about that.

I'm trying to find a babysitting job.
Full time.
At least i'd still get to work with kids.
I have a couple e-mails out for jobs around here..
If i don't hear anything back in the next couple days, that's probably when I'll really start looking more in Charleston.


Moving on...

Attn: BECKY!!!
Hootie concerts are:
Sept. 6 at Meadow Brook
and
Sept. 8 at Pine Knob

Tickets are not as expensive as I had seen originally...
Let me know what you're interested in! :)


Also, GABBY, I'm sorry that I missed your going away party.
I don't know if you'll read this since you're on your way to California now..
I had a massive headache for 48 hours.
Then my stomach started having one of those episodes that are so wonderful...
I was up til 4 AM.... then had to get up to babysit at 10.
Anyway - I'm sure it was a great time, I'm real sorry I had to miss it!!

I guess that is all for now.
Goodnight.

so my trip to charleston was pretty much amazing.
i absolutely loved the city.
i would move there in a heartbeat.

unfortunately, that is not happening. :(
i was struggling so hard to get ahold of my most recent host teacher (peg),
but i think she was on vacation or something.
i finally had to end up calling my other host teacher, karen, who i did not get along with.
she filled out a reference for me.
my most recent supervisor (ann) also filled one out.
one..or both... of them screwed me on my references.
when i got home from my vacation up north i had a letter from charleston saying that they could not grant me a clearance letter for the district because my references were "below-average"
WTF.
i was so angry.
i cried.
i still can't even believe it.
if either of them had such a huge problem with me that they couldn't give me a good reference, it should have been talked about DURING student teaching.
NOT when i have a job waiting for me.

i ended up finding out while i was up north that the principal had to give the job to a teacher who already had a contract with charleston anyway.
partly because he just needed to fill the position and couldn't wait for ann to send the stupid form anymore...(it only took her a MONTH to fill it out... ONE PAGE of multiple choice questions...UGH!!!!!)

so... i am jobless.
i've had a couple counties in north carolina interested in me.
i don't want to go there though.
looks like i'm going to be in MI for another year.
then i'll either try charleston again, or i'll go to florida with dan.

i need a job NOW though.
while i was up north the brakes on my car died.
i'm now in debt $1000+ for that.
wonderful.
when it rains, it pours.

on a positive note though, my trip up north was good.
dan came into town on friday, the day i got home from charleston.
saturday morning we left for beulah....
my family and my aunt, uncle and cousins had rented a cottage on crystal lake for a week.
it was a fairly relaxing time, sans the yelling by random members of the family for the "kids" to do things we didn't know needed to be done.
we did have a good time tubing down the platte river one day.
dan and i went to traverse city for a day.
duffy, mary anne, and (their) dan came up too, so we had a nice time out on duffy's boat.

one night was exceptionally entertaining, not so much in a good way, and reminded me why i DON'T drink .
mary anne and duffy have friends that duff grew up with.. they live in beulah year round.
we had invited them over for dinner.
i noticed throughout the evening that carol, the wife, was drinking pretty heavily but didn't really think much of it.
the 2nd time she spilled her wine i was getting a little annoyed.
finally everyone started to get ready to leave... maryanne got up to use the bathroom.
when she came back, carol went to use the bathroom.
a few seconds later we heard a loud tumbling noise...
everyone still sitting at the table kind of froze....
i believe it was my uncle that said "it sounds like someone fell down the stairs...."
.
.
,
all of a sudden maryanne screams "CAROL!!!!!!" and runs into the kitchen.
she sees carol laying at the bottom of the basement steps on the concrete floor.
she then screams something along the lines of "holy sweet mary, joseph and jesus!!!"
by this time my aunt who used to be a nurse is downstairs too.
they determine that carol has broken her wrist.
they bring her back upstairs and outside.
when i finally go outside i see her laying on the grass... they were asking her if she hit her head.
she said she didn't remember.
after a few attempts, i finally convinced them to call the ambulance.
they shouldn't have even moved her from the bottom of the stairs.
after a few minutes the ambulance finally got there and took her to the hospital in traverse city.
thankfully her wrist was the only thing damaged.
it could have been a million times worse.

apparently she had drank a margarita and 2 glasses of wine BEFORE she even came over.
she then proceeded to drink a bottle and a half of wine at our cottage.
then, looking for the bathroom, fell down the stairs.
YEAH.
it was quite a night.


anyway, we got back to dearborn for homecoming weekend.
dan and i went to the fireworks on saturday night, it was nice.
sunday morning dan left real early.
i went back to bed after he left.
sunday i had a christening luncheon to go to.
i can't remember what else i did.
i was exhausted though.
i watched the fireworks from my front yard on sunday.
i had a great view, i just couldn't hear the music that went along with them.
bummer.

i guess that is about it.
this was real long, sorry.
i hadn't updated in a while though.
i had a lot to say.
ha.

time is just flying by now.
the next 3 weeks are going to be crazy.

wednesday: charleston (meeting w/ principal and apartment hunting)
thursday: charleston (more apartment hunting/looking for furniture)
friday: coming home from charleston/packing for crystal lake/dan comes here
saturday - following saturday: crystal lake
sunday: luncheon at the country club
monday - wednesday: getting my shit together
thursday: driving to charleston
friday: moving in to new apartment in south carolina


WOW.
then comes all my teacher planning days...
the students start school on august 23, but planning days start the 14th.

i hope i can do it!!
i really need to get my act together and start packing to move again.
i was hoping by making this schedule, i would help myself realize how little time i actually have.
yeahh.

so i guess i will explain this charleston move a bit more.

i had a phone interview last week for a computer lab position.
the principal told me i did well, and that he would be making his decision that night, or the following day.
when i didn't receive a call, i assumed i did not get the job and would have to try and find other places to interview.

i am having problems with the charleston county school district as far as reference letters,
but that is totally another story... hopefully i'll have that worked out tomorrow.. or in the next few days.

anyway.
friday i see on my caller id "south carolina call"
i was pretty excited.
it was the principal i had interviewed with.
he told me that he had filled the position that he interviewed me for, but he had another position open up.
this position was 5th grade.
he said that he was so impressed by my interview that he wanted to offer me the job before it even goes up on the website.
he came into school friday (his day off) just so that he could get my number, call me, and offer me the position!
of course i told him i was very interested.
he asked me if i would want to come down to charleston soon.
i said that i would be able to either tuesday or wednesday (my dad and i had talked about it previously)
we scheduled an appointment to meet at 4:30 on wednesday.

this 5th grade position will be team-teaching.
i will either teach social studies/language arts, or math/science.
i am hoping for the social studies/language arts since i was a social studies concentration in college,
but i'll take either one.

i have spent the last couple of days looking for apartments in the area.
i e-mailed the principal today to thank him for thinking of me to offer the position to me,
and i also asked him where i should be looking for apartments, being that i don't know the area.
i was excited when my favorite apartment choice fell in the area he told me.

tomorrow will be spent calling about 20 different complexes in the charleston area.
hopefully a few will have openings for me.
i'm excited!!!
and jarod moved down there a few months ago, we're gonna hang out after i move! yay!!

i got offered a job.
i'm going to be a 5th grade teacher.
i'm moving to charleston, south carolina in a few weeks.
:) :) :)

so.. once again things change.
i was planning on going to a job fair in ft. lauderdale, but it's just not going to work out. :(
i signed up for it and everything... then got a letter in the mail stating that if i get hired, i am expected to be down there by august 7.
that is just way too much too soon for me.
i'm not comfortable with it.
soooo i'm back to charleston.
if charleston doesn't work out... maybe i'll try ft. lauderdale again next year.

charleston gives me 2 extra weeks.
i sent my resume to every principal that had openings posted on the county website.
so far i have 2 responses.
...i sent them around 10:30 on thursday night, so most of them probably won't see them til tomorrow....
but, i have already had 2 principals respond to me.
i was offered a phone interview which i have to call and set up tomorrow.
that would be for a technology position (computer teacher).
then tonight i received an e-mail from another principal saying:
"i may have a 1st grade position opening up, i will let you know asap"
i sent out about 10+ resumes, so hopefully i'll get more feedback tomorrow.
i'm still not sure where this "i REALLY want to move to charleston" thing came from...
but everyone i have talked to tells me how beautiful it is.
i keep looking up apartments in the area, i want a job so that i can actually pick out an apartment and everything!

if that doesn't work out... if i don't get a job for the fall, there is a possibility that i could be moving back to NY for a while.
it would be rochester, not syracuse.
i'm not sure yet though.
hopefully i'll just get a teaching job though!!

moving on to things other than the job front...
this weekend has been spent babysitting and teaching swimming lessons.
i made some pretty sweet money.
i needed it.

friday was for cj, alex, emilie, and clare... i came home with the worst headache ever.
it seriously lasted 24 hours.
saturday was just swimming lessons for gracie and stella.
they're the cutest.
today was some neighbors of my aunt... the kids were gower and nolan...
they watched "the magic schoolbus" for 8 HOURS.
yes... EIGHT HOURS.
apparently they are usually "holy terrors" according to my aunt... so i guess i was lucky.

ok... i guess that's all.
tomorrow = calling to set up my phone interview, calling oswego to get a document faxed to charleston...and maybe laying out after all that??
we'll see.
waiting for dan to call.
he's been at work since like...forever ago.
he had inventory tonight.
obviously sucked.
yeah.

I PASSED MY THIRD (and final) NEW YORK STATE TEACHING CERTIFICATION EXAM!!!!
YAY!!!!!!!
I am so excited about this fact!!
Now I am a step closer to getting my actual certification.
Everything has been mailed in, I am just wating for the certificate.
:) :) :)

Hopefully soon I will get a job.
Perhaps at the job fair in Broward County.
(KENZIE - we need to chat about my flights and such... I need to book it now that I know I have passed, but I need to make sure when is good for you!)

I talked to my cousin RJ for a while yesterday.
He's doing ok in Iraq.
He's coming home in "38 days"
(Which is now 37)
I'm so glad that he is almost done.


My swimming lessons went well today.
I got paid today which was nice.
$25 of it went to my mom as soon as I got home for my stupid cell phone bill.

I guess that is about it.
Time to watch some Seinfeld.

:-D

it's raining, it's pouring!
i love the rain.
i need to go to bed soon and fall asleep to the sound of it.
i'm also exhausted.

my mom woke me up this morning to go to target with her.
we went and got 2 air mattresses and a bocce ball set to take up north.
we got home and opened the bocce ball set to see what it was like,
and one of the yellow balls was cracked!
right down the center!
so back to target we went.
we tried to exchange...
my mom asked the kid to open the new set.
again...yellow ball...cracked..right down the center!
so we combined sets.
now we have a complete bocce ball set for up north.
it will be fun times!
i'm excited.

after all that, i ended up going over to lauren's for her block party.
first we watched the world cup.
then it was time for the corn hole tournament.
i made it into the 3rd round and got eliminated.
(if you don't know.. it's pretty much trying to throw bean bags onto a wooden..thing...or into the hole in the wooden thing.. yeah..)
anyway - it was fun.
i made friends with two of the 2 year olds on the block.
ava and clare are my new little buddies.

later in the evening i was talking with lauren's neighbor kathleen.
she is a teacher..
she moved to dearborn a few years ago from fort lauderdale.
she said that she still knows a principal down there and that she will e-mail info to my aunt.
she also has family all over the syracuse area, she's actually going there tomorrow.
it was weird, all the connections.
but she assured me that i will get a job in broward.
i sure hope that she is right!!!

ok... time to watch the rest of seinfeld.
then bedtime.

today was fun.
i woke up early and taught my swimmimg lessons.
gracie and stella were cute as always.

when i got home i ran some errands with my mom, then text messaged josh to find out what time the show was.
he wrote back and also asked what i was doing.
when i found out they were sitting at a truck stop somewhere north of detroit, i decided they should definitely come hang out.
so i gave them some directions, and a while later, they made it.
from there we went to target and then to get food.
finally to the pool.
or, back to the pool for me.
it still sucks not being an employee there.. i miss it..
but it's fun to go hang out.

anyway - so we hung around the pool for a bit.
brad came up too so i chatted with him for a few.
after the pool was back to my house for some e-mail checking...
or as my mom called it "the computer lab" in our livingroom.
all the mac's...everywhere in the room.
it was pretty funny.
i wish i knew where my camera was, it was definitely photo worthy, i have to say.

after that we took off for the show.
after a bit of confusion due to stupid michigan construction, we finally got to modern exchange.
since we were real early..there was a 7-11 run (slurpees were a total let down though!) and just some hanging out.
it was fun.
long since forgotten ended up playing first.
i only stayed for them and alucard, then decided i was tired and came home to relax for a bit before bed.

(caleb - i didn't know where you went as i was leaving so that i could say goodbye!! i figure you probably turned into superman or something and had to go save the world! ;) )

it was fun to hang out with all of them.
it had been a very long time since we had all hung out, even when i lived out there.
it made me miss new york some more though.
particularly when i was saying goodbye to steve... and he told me that he'd tell trish i say hi, and all that.
i miss being able to just go hang out at their apartment whenever.
part of me still feels like i should be going back to syracuse.
that i'm not done with school.
but i am.

i barely got to see anyone in my last few months there due to student teaching...
but we had some fun times during the other year and a half.
i'm so glad that we got to be good friends after i moved out there.
i just hope those friendships stick...even when i'm back in michigan (for now).
and wherever i happen to get a teaching job as well...

i keep thinking about how i get the results of my ATS-W on monday.
that being the last of my certification tests.
if i fail, i am stuck in dearborn for probably another year.
i'll just sub.
and coach gymnastics.
but still.
i want to move away again.

i start teaching swimming lessons again tomorrow.
i hope it goes okay.
i feel a little out of practice.
it's just the first day.
i meant to go buy some pool toys today, and i forgot.
i'll just do that before our next lesson on monday.

lsf is in town tomorrow.
i felt bad not being able to house them tonight.
but they were going to be coming in fairly late and i have to be up pretty early.
my mom was being a little weird about me leaving for the pool at 10 and leaving them, so it just didn't work.
so i looked for other places for them to stay...
thank you to mr. andrew loehr for offering them a place to stay.. i don't know if you got ahold of them after you called me, but thank you anyway :)
so i'll be attending that show tomorrow... even though i found out also in that conversation that the weakend is not playing.
i'm quite sad about that.
i have not seen them since i have been back in MI.
i surely need to do that soon.

i still need to fix my tan lines some more.
i probably need to stay at the pool and lay out after my swimming lessons.
yep.
i also need a new LJ icon and new myspace pictures.
if only i could find my camera which is burried in some unknown box from moving home.

ok... bed time.
i wanted to go to bed early... and its nearly 2.
at least it's not 3... that's my usual bed time these days.
i'm terrible.

I finally got some sun today.
Not enough, I need to go back to the pool.
I miss being there every day.

I'm going to be teaching some swimming lessons starting on Saturday.
My favorite little girls from last year.
Gracie and Stella.
Their mom called me the other day and asked if I would teach lessons again.
I'm pretty excited.
She also asked if I would babysit.
Being that I absolutely love those girls, I definitely said yes.
They also have a baby sister, Chloe.
She was just born at the end of last summer.
Cutest girls ever.
ANYWAY - It will be some much needed extra money.

My 4th weekend was pretty good.
I got to go to Monica's cottage for a few days.
Unfortunately the weather in Algonac was not as great as I would have liked, but we had fun.
It was a whole bunch Mo's family...and me.
We had a huge bocce ball tournament.
Mo and I got 2nd place.
We were obviously sweet.
I still wish there was more sun so that I would have wanted to go in the water.
I also wanted to use the jet skis.
I guess that will have to wait til I go to Crystal Lake at the end of the month.

I'm also going to Florida at the end of the month.
(Pending the passing of my final NYS teaching certification test)
I'm going for a job fair in Broward County.
Being that it is in Broward County, I also get to visit Kenzie!! :)
(P.S. it sucks that she is moving north when I am FINALLY moving south!!!)

So lots of vacations this month.
And a semi-job.
And Dan's coming to visit and go to Crystal Lake with us.
And LSF is coming this week and *i think* playing with The Weakend (??)

I should be in bed.
Instead I am watching stupid MTV shows.
I need to stop this.
I won't... but I should.

hi.
i'm boring.
it needs to be the end of july already so dan comes to visit and we can go up north.
i'm excited.
i haven't been up north in years.

right now, i have no life.
i am so lazy.
i need to do laundry.. and i just haven't.
my room is still a disaster from when i moved home...over a month ago.
oh well.
i'll get around to cleaning it one of these days.

i want to go to the pool tomorrow.
i just want to lay out and tan.
my tan is missing this summer due to the fact that i don't live (work) at the pool.
i miss it.
(my tan..and my job)

mo comes home tomorrow.
hopefully the weather is nice for her cottage this weekend.
i guess that's all.

i'll end my random entry and try to sleep.

yesterday lauren and i went to camp dearborn to see my biological family.
well, some of them.
it was: mike, (my biological dad), my brother jarrett, mike's sister lori, and her kids cody and kelsey.
lauren and i took kels fishing.
i was pretty sweet.
i probably caught a good 4 or 5 fish.
yeah.
granted i won't touch the worms or the fish because i'm a total girlie-girl about that stuff.
lauren took care of that. haha.

we also just chatted for a while with mike and lori.
we decided to leave just in time, because it started raining right after we left.
it was good to see everyone, i just need to try and see the rest of them soon.

monica comes home this weekend.
i'm pretty excited for that.
i'm going up to her cottage for a day or two.
hopefully the weather is nice so we can lay out on the dock and go swimming and such.
and also catch up, because i haven't seen her in quite a while.

yesterday i also got 2 interesting pieces of mail.
the first one being a check from my apartment complex for my security deposit.
let's just say it was for quite a bit more than i was expecting... but i'm not going to complain!
i think there was some confusion when they changed management companies (shortly after i moved in).
like i said.. i'm not complaining.
i DEFINITELY need the money.

the other thing i got in the mail was a postcard from broward county schools about a job fair.
it's july 21, which is the weekend before my family vacation up north.
i'm probably (most likely) going to go... hopefully i'll get a job!
but i'll also get to visit my wonderful mackenzie!!!
i'm so excited.
i hope everything works out! :)

i've now applied in both north and south carolina (in various districts)
and a semi-application to broward county which will be followed by the job fair.
they conduct interviews right there, so it's possible to get a job right there.
i hope that i am so lucky!!
i also keep getting random school districts e-mailing me since i joined this one teacher website.
a few days ago i got wyoming...this morning i got some random place in nevada..near the idaho border i think?
no thanks.

i just want a job!!!
at least i'm being a LITTLE less picky now...