One Little, Two Little, Three Little Census Takers

Life got rather busy a few weeks ago. I mentioned in an earlier post that the Census had called and asked me to work for them again. The job kept getting postponed for a couple of weeks and that frustrated me some at the time. But the work finally started and it is still as much fun as it was earlier this year. The slow spell of the summer is over and we are gearing up to hire a lot of folk for the upcoming census taking. If you want a temporary job that pays fairly well and helps your government put resources where they are needed most then click here. One of the nice things I like about this job is there is so much to learn about the project. I’m a perpetual student and excel in learning environments. This one has a lot to teach me.

The fact that we do a Census every 10 years is dictated by law. I believe it’s written into the Constitution. There is a deadline for it. The Census totals need to be on President Obama’s desk on a specific date in the middle of next December. The goal is to do a better job of counting every person in the country than they did in past decades. We are aiming for 100%! That 100 percent isn’t just those of us who live in houses or apartments. It includes trailer parks too. That I could have figured out. But for some reason I hadn’t figured on them counting campground dwellers, boat owners who live in them on the water, and people in care facilities like hospitals, retirement communities, and jails. And then there are the people who live in shelters, under bridges and overpasses, and in boxes. Yep, we plan on counting them too. That thought brings to mind an old black and white movie image of hoboes around a campfire. I wonder if they will search railroad cars for people.

That’s the main news on my front. I’m busy and feeling good about it. Yay! Other news is that my list of friends on Facebook has grown. A bit of that is thanks to Classmates.com. I’m reconnected with a few folks in my high school graduating class. That’s kind of neat and I’ll probably try to go to a reunion when they hold it. On a more interactive front an old college chum got in touch with me the same way. I'd not heard from Harry in something close to 30 years but we were great friends when we attended the same college. He’s doing well and is in town for the holidays to see his Mum. We are meeting for lunch tomorrow. I wonder what we will talk about.

My Dad sent me a box full of pictures from the family collection. He is scanning them into his computer and was just going to toss them so I asked if I could have them instead. Yeah, I love a digital image and can look at one for hours if it’s really good. But just like books, a real photograph printed on paper is somehow more tangible and generates strong memories and emotions. Guess I”m just an old fashioned girl when it comes to some things.

I guess the last bit of news is that tonight I’m attending a Celtic Christmas Concert at my church. The music I’ll hear is going to be performed by Jeff Johnson, Brian Dunning, and Wendy Goodwin. I hope to come away with a CD or two of their music. If you want to listen to some clips of their stuff the website is here. I’ll try to write about the concert and my impressions later this week.

Peace, Hope & Joy!

Delightedly Happy Update

Yay! Pearson called and I've got 2 weeks of work starting the 15th of June. I've scored this type of test before and apparently they like that. Doing the "happy dance"!

How I Spent My Morning

Last week the Census office here in town downsized while they gear up for the next phase. That phase won't happen till possibly October. So they needed to get rid of a lot of people. We had done a fantastic job of doing the address canvasing. That's where they just go through neighborhoods and note down all the addresses so that we don't skip anyone. We did this in such a fantastic way that we are "victims of our own success." So the address canvassers all got laid off and so did a lot of the office clerks, me included. Friday was my last day. That's the bad news. I don't like bad news! So I'm going to try to maintain a positive outlook. This will be easier if I bring up the good points first.

Because I got laid off for "lack of work" I'm upgraded to "experienced" and eligible for recall, so when they open the other offices around town (probably in September) I should be among the first to get called back to work. This may take anywhere from 3 to 4 months, possibly more (God forbid). I'm also eligible for unemployment, or at least I hope so because I didn't work a whole lot last year. I'll have to go to the Texas Workforce Commission to see how that affects things. If I'm eligible for anything based on last years earnings it may be smaller but anything will help. I'm also able to rewrite the resume to include all the skills I gained from my office clerk position. I ended up pretty much in charge of personnel files, their creation and maintenance. That should help me find a job somewhere. Or perhaps do temp work since I'm a quick study.

So that's the good side of things. Other nice things that happened as a result of this is that I learned of several folks generous spirit. When I mentioned it at church one of my fellow verger trainees told me that if I needed food he and his wife had gift and reward cards at the local store that I could have. That was so sweet of Ron. I feel really blessed by the concern and friendship he exhibited in that offer. Sandi told me that my cats would never go hungry. :-) That was a relief and made me laugh. The office manager, my assistant manager, and my supervisor all gave me promises of references. So I can go into the job search with some really great folk that know and like me saying I'd make a great employee.

So now I have some time to spare. My goals are to find work, take care of me, and use the experiences I've had over the past 4 months to renew my own personal view and enrich my life. God gave me 4 months in an awesome office full of caring and wonderfully fun loving folk to help me grow. It would be a shame to waste that. I've got the phone numbers of several work friends. Some of them are in the same boat I'm in so we can be a support to each other. I was even able to hook one of them up with a fellow church member who needed someone with his unique skills for a possible job. That really lifted my spirits.

I've spent the morning doing productive things around the apartment. The cat box is cleaned. The trash has been taken out. I've started clearing off the desk and found several important documents in the various piles of mail I had stacked upon it's surface. I wrote a nice long email to my friend JS and we are talking about goals and routines. It's a good friend who can help you by being a goal buddy.

I'm also trying to start several small self enrichment projects. These are tentative but I'm hoping to make them fun and useful as well as spiritually renewing. Among the ideas I've had for these projects are: increase my vocabulary, spend more time communing with God, get outside at least once a day, and pick up my guitar again. There are others that will no doubt crop up as I talk about things. JS suggested exercise. My good friend Susan would suggest that too. She is a strong proponent of exercise as a way to manage depression. I figure if I get out for a little bit every day (probably early when the morning is still cool) I'll find myself walking and enjoying it. That's exercise although it isn't very strenuous.

So far this morning I been outside twice and read a little bit of the dictionary. Outside was gorgeous. There was a nice cool breeze, the birds were singing, and the trees are green. One of my neighbors drove past and we smiled at each other. What did I learn from the dictionary? Well, besides the fact that the letter "A" is in a lot of abbreviations and is a word in it's own right, it is also the first letter of aardvark, aardwolf, and abaca (I'm skipping names of people). I knew there were aardvarks. I didn't know there was an aardwolf. Apparently he eats termites and insect larvae. The abaca is a plant that is from the Philippines and the dictionary classifies it with hemp. So there you go, a new animal, a new plant, and a possibly useful word for scrabble if you have 3 A's.

Since I have more time I'll try to blog more regularly. I'll keep you posted on the job search and how I'm doing with the tightening of the purse strings. I'll also let you know how I'm going with the self enrichment projects. And if I find a job. Till the next post, "Have a good day!"

Butterflies are Free and So Are My Evenings!

Thank you so much for your patience with me not posting for 3 weeks. That job took a lot out of me! Now, thankfully, it is finished. Yay! My evenings are my own again!

So are my lunches. Before I started the evening job I could take an hour lunch on days I didn't have evening obligations, like choir practice. When you take an hour lunch you have time to spare. You aren't left with that rushing to eat and then get back to work feeling. Instead you can sit and work a sudoku or read a chapter or two. You can go outside and enjoy the day. Or you can sit and chat with other people at the lunch table and make friends. That's so soothing!

My boys were glad to see me when I got home yesterday. Hyram told me that waiting till 10:00 PM for his supper was not good for his digestion. Hooboo said my absence took away from his night time socializing. They both got spoiled last night. Hyram got extra treats, Hooboo went in and out several times, and I kept the sliding glass door open so that they could sniff the night air and feel at peace. My reward for this was to wake and find both cats on either side of me in bed this morning.

So what are my plans with this new found freedom? Well, I intend to get the desk cleaned off and do some better house keeping than I've had time for. I also plan on treating myself to a morning matinee today. It's been a while since I've gone to a movie and there's the new Star Trek movie out. That's just today though.

Another thing I hope for is renewed time to play scrabble with Sandi online. This is one of my favorite evening activities. We chat up a storm when playing and are often so busy chatting that we made a rule that we wouldn't extend each other's time so that we would get playing done too. (g)

Reading is also a goal. Sandi sent me a bunch of books to read and a work friend lent me another so there are about 7 books on my bed waiting for me to either start or finish them. Do you read more than one book at a time? I seem to lately. Right now I'm working on "Hide and Seek" by James Patterson and "Birsinger" by Christopher Paolini. There's also the short story "A Tiny Feast" by Chris Adrian which I printed off of "The New Yorker" website. My friend Susan gave me the link to that one.

Other things I hope to do with the evenings that are mine again are: update my resume, catch up on Internet TV watching, make it to Wednesday evening choir practices again, and more frequent blogging. Somewhere in there I need to finish my taxes. I was so rushed this tax season that I just filed for an extension and now I have time to look for a couple of documents. Plus I've got some pictures I want to share with you, but that will be another post. Enjoy the puzzle!

A Job and a Half

Life is exhausting these days. Every workday I get up, drive across town to my Census job, put in 8 hours there, race across town to my second job (scoring tests at Pearson), put in 4 hours there, and then I hurry myself home (before I collapse) and unwind for about one hour before going to bed. This schedule has made me so tired that I spent 12 hours in bed on Saturday night.

Don't get me wrong, I like what I'm doing at Pearson. I'm just not as young as I was the last time I worked a string of 12 hour shifts. But scoring tests is fun and I feel like I might be making a difference in a child's education. The pay isn't bad either. It's temporary work. This project is till mid May, so about 4 weeks.

When I originally agreed to take a night shift at Pearson I was told 2 weeks. That changed on the first day of training. For a while I thought about only doing the 2 weeks I'd agreed to, we have that option, but then I heard from HR at the Census job that we may be down sizing the office where I work in a month. So when I told Sandi not to let me talk myself out of the 4 weeks of extra pay, I guess God was listening in. Four weeks working 12 hours sounds pretty good right now. It also means that I'll have possible day projects to fall back on if the Census job lays me off for a bit.

Because all my weekday evenings are filled I've missed 1 choir practice and will miss several more. That bums me out because I like having something social and vocal to do once a week. The choir director just added in several new pieces to our notebooks. I don't know when they are going to be performed and we move through them really quick. Hope I have several weeks to practice on them but probably not.

Sunday I did the bare minimum at church. Usually I go early to see if I'm needed for anything at the early service, have breakfast in the fellowship hall, make choir practice prior to service, and then church and home, after a short stop in to coffee hour. This time I cut the early service out. I've also asked for a sub for this Wednesday night when I'm on the schedule to be Lay Minister at the Healing Eucharist. No can do when income calls. I wish it were the other way around as I get much more from church, but I really think God has put this job in my life for a reason, so maybe it's time to learn a bit of time management.

When my friend, JS, sent me a blank time schedule out of some book she was reading it had something called "sharpening the saw" on it. She explained that was for rest or training. What ever it took to get you back on track and working better than the long hours had dragged you down to. Sunday could have been such a day and to a certain extent it was, but not as much as I wanted it to be. When I entered the sanctuary for choir practice I looked out the back windows. There were two guys walking around the labyrinth towards the gardens. That was when I noticed that they were in full bloom. Suddenly I no longer wanted to be inside. Instead I yearned to be outside getting down close and personal with those flowers. Sigh! I elected to be responsible and stayed inside for choir. Then I went home to call Mom and do the house keeping chores. What a loss! I won't have time to go back there till this weekend. I'm going to have to remember to pack my camera in whatever I use to haul a journal and purse around in because I definitely want to capture those blossoms. Last year I took some pics of the garden at the back of the church. I think it has expanded and someone has planted different flowers this year. If I'm supposed to learn something from all this more than busy time, maybe one of the things I need to learn is how to take those moments when they happen and also keep a fast and furious pace when necessary. That makes me look forward with joy and also the feeling of being challenged. All prayers gratefully accepted.

Peace! Hope! & Joy!

Work Mishap

Monday started out good. I got two people to train on a certain function and found out that my Census job would last into 2010. Yay! I love the thought of long term work at this job.

Monday afternoon ended rather badly. A filing cabinet fell over onto me and bruised my right forearm and left knee. In many ways I was blessed when it happened. Two folk were with me, saw it happening and jumped under it to stop its fall. Then the HR manager jumped in as well to get it since all the 4 drawers were trying to fall down and were absolutely full of files. It took 3 or 4 people to stop that cabinet from hitting the ground, one of them was me since it landed on me first. It took 3 strong men to get it back upright from its over 45 degrees tilt towards being face down on the ground. And in the process they shoved it too far back so it took off that black rubber wall base trip that lines many offices. But get it upright they did, Thank God!

Then came the process of checking me out. My right wrist and forearm were dinged by the corner of a drawer and also scraped. That is ugly looking but not very bad. The knee which stopped a heavy drawer though is rather badly bruised and somewhat swollen. Every one was asking me if I was okay, including the HR manager. I said I thought so but wasn't sure. I was very shook up. HR Mgr asked me if I wanted to go to the doctor and I said I didn't know but wanted to fill out an incident report. He got me some paperwork to start on and called Dallas for advice. They said send me to my doctor or the ER. My Doc would have taken several days so the ER at the nearby VA hospital it was.

They asked me if I could drive. My leg could have handled it but when the Office Supervisor cracked a joke to make me laugh I lost control of my emotions and laughed and cried at the same time right on his shoulder. Ouch! I felt totally unprofessional but really grateful for his grabbing me and hugging me cause I needed that comfort. Then he made me laugh again and I had the same reaction so I got hugged twice. Based on that lack of emotional control I asked if someone could drive me in my car and another person followed in theirs to drive that employee back since it wasn't the end of the work day. What a great bunch of people!

When I got to Audey Murphy VA Hospital we used valet parking and they handed me my backpack. One of the gentlemen wanted me in a wheel chair but I said I could walk in. So I did and they headed back to work. This was about 3:30. That's a mere 40 minutes after the accident. I was "triaged" by the nurses and set at a fairly high priority based on my knee and possibly my blood pressure which had shot up due to stress, adrenolyn and anxiety. Even then I sat in the VA waiting area for 3 hours before being seen and sent home.

When I did get seen the doctor didn't have me unrobe, he just prodded my knee some through my slacks and asked where it hurt. He offered to x-ray my patella. I asked if I'd be able to walk if the knee cap was broken and he didn't offer again. He did say that if I wanted to come back and get it x-rayed later I could. His prescription was Motrin or Aleeve twice a day at a higher than usual dose. He also gave me an ace bandage for support and a return to work chit after asking me if I did lots of climbing. And that was it. I went to the front, got my car key, located my car, and drove myself home.

A good hot soak in the bath that night plus 2 Aleeve helped me relax. I took a pillow to bed to support the knee with and hit the sack about 8:30. When I woke up that morning I felt much better. I took myself to work and also the Aleeve and a cane just incase I felt the need of knee support later in the day. Everyone at work was asking me how I was and I'm really grateful for all the concern shown. One person told me that in the middle of the accident I cried out, "Don't worry about me, get the cabinet!" Everyone laughed and said that was dedication. I blushed, cause I didn't even remember saying that but it sounds just like me so I'm pretty sure I did. Heck, we had 4 drawers falling out with all their files, why wouldn't I have been concerned?

Today I'm going to work again. I'm doing better than yesterday when I felt a little tired and wanted to basically take things easy. Last night on the way home I stopped by Walgreens and bought an elastic knee brace and am wearing that today so I think I'm doing the right things. When I opened my door last night there was a Fedex envelope that had been slid under my door which has paperwork to fill out for my claim. I get mileage to the hospital, the hours I left work and maybe the extra time I spent in the waiting room. I'll get help filling that out at work today. On my way home tonight I want to get some lotion with arnica in it because that will accelerate the healing of the ugly bruise on my knee. Now I'm getting ready for work. Have a good day everyone!

Working for the Census

I'm modifying this post at the suggestion of my HR director. It's good advice. He suggested that I simply direct folk to the census website. That's much more practical as I'm not the Census Bureau and don't want to say anything that might cause someone to think I am. Most of the article is still in tact. What has been deleted is the stuff that you can find on the Census website.

It's been almost a month since I started working for the Federal Government and the 2010 Census. The hours are good. The pay is decent, steady, and on time. The work crew is friendly and feels like a team. I couldn't have asked for better. The only things that are a downer to this job are: 1) it is designed to be temporary; 2) you don't get benefits. That's okay, I'm delighted to have work of any length and the skills I'm gaining will help the resume look better for the next job search. The lack of benefits I can handle through other resources like the VA and my bank.

I got hired just before Martin Luther King Day. The first thing that happened, after I'd been through the 1.5 days of training, was that I monitored the phones. That meant I was helping people apply for the job by scheduling them to take the mandatory employment test. For a first experience in customer service it was great! People really want jobs. Anything I told them about the process was important to them and they were very grateful. One guy even said so to my boss. I found that I was pretty good at phone work. It wouldn't be my dream job or even a favorite chore, but that I come across as friendly, caring, and helpful is a good thing to know about myself. That will definitely go on my resume.

Then I went and worked the data entry section. There we key in all the stuff from the applications, and if something is missing or confusing we may call to clear it up. That's an area where you have to be very discrete. Nothing that you learn about someone can be shared or even left where someone else could see it on your desk. This too is good experience because you learn how to handle sensitive issues and information.

While working data entry, I revamped some of my Excel skills and now create a report from other types of data (not personal) that I get to enter. I've signed up for "finger printing" and "advanced copier" training. These will all be handy at some point in my life and the training is free. Yay! More skills! Even better is the knowledge that I'll get cross trained in every position in the office. This cross training is vital to census operations running smoothly. It's even better for my resume.

This past week I put some budding coordination skills to work. I'd helped coordinate an event at my church once. On Friday at work, we held a "Jason's Deli" day and I was the mover and shaker on that. I'd driven past the deli along Loop 410, saw the sign, and was suddenly really hungry for a muffaletta. So I asked around to see if anyone was interested. Then I got the permission, requested a menu, and started taking orders. It went over well and I'll hold another in about a month. Folk were grateful and several who didn't participate will probably be ordering the next time. They kept sniffing and commenting on how good the food smelled as they walked past. LOL

One of the nice things about working for the Census is the job is flexible if that is what you need. I know that lots of us hold down more than one job, take care of kids, or go to school. If you need part time work you can do that, instead of full time, and flex your hours around your life. Everyone who's commented on my post, "Suddenly It's Raining Jobs," has said that this was the better choice. I couldn't agree more. And I want others to have the same opportunity that I had.

We have a website. Click here. Or if you need to write it down and give it to a friend the web address is www.census.gov. When you have reached the website, click on "Become a census taker". That's where you can read all about the job, the requirements, the nature of the work, and find the forms to fill out and where to call to apply. There is even a practice test. You will turn in your application at the same place you take the employment test.

Right now, the 2010 Census is happening in the U.S.A., and we are at the very beginning of a year and a half long project of conducting it. If you live in another country, I'm pretty sure that your country does the same sort of thing. I just don't know the census cycle over there, but you probably do. Census work is important because it helps your government put money and resources where they are needed based on population and area income. So, if you need a job, apply for a census one. It's worth the time it takes to apply in skills and income, and it will help your government put that economic stimulus package to work where it is needed the most. By applying you become a part of the biggest job creation project going on at the moment. Good luck!

Suddenly It's Raining Jobs

Today's interview with Radio Shack seemed to go well. The hiring manager informed me that all potential employees are interviewed twice and, since the hours I wanted to work are day time, he said he'd call the manager of another store near me and ask her to call and set up a second interview as I would probably meet her needs better. I left feeling hopeful.

Went home, chatted briefly with Sandi, and then, while I was working at the computer, the Census Bureau called. I was offered a position working as an administrative clerk and the training is to start on Tuesday next week. Yay! I'm working! The Census job pays better than the sales one would have. I'd have loved the technology of Radio Shack, but more money and serving your government is even better. While talking to Lou, the hiring manager, I learned that the job may go for much longer than the 5 to 10 weeks being advertised. The training is paid. No overtime. Office dress is business casual. There will be about 30 to 40 people in the office. I'm to bring my own lunch and they don't have a refrigerator so I guess it will be peanut butter sandwiches till I get more creative.

After that good news I called my folks to share. No sooner had I gotten off the phone with Mom when Jenny, whom I met working at Pearson, called. She told me to call a certain person at Pearson because they were now taking on people and I could set myself up for work on evening shifts later when the projects start. That would be nice as it is something I'm familiar and good at. I called and left a message with my phone number and the information they asked for. Hopefully I'll hear back sometime next week.

Considering the state of the economy and the skyrocketing unemployment rate, I feel blessed. Thank God for friends who pray and a Lord and Saviour who has the grace to listen!

Shared Letter to a Friend

Wrote the following in response to a reply from JS this morning. I'd shared the current Rose is Rose comic with her. Rose is Rose is created by Pat Brady and distributed by United Features Syndicate.

:-) You're welcome!

When I was a kid, I would sometimes stay overnight at the grandparent's house. They didn't have a fireplace either. We'd sleep under lots of covers, sometimes with hot water bottles at the bottom for our feet. In the morning, Grandmother would get up and hurry to light the large gas heater in the living room. When it was lit we'd all rush in there with our clothes to change in front of it. This stove was just wide enough for two to stand in front of comfortably. There would be 4 of us, so it was turned up high to spread the heat for this activity. There were no carpets in the dining room we had to pass through, so the wood floors were very cold on little feet. Sometimes we held our clothes in front of the heater to warm them up before putting them on. Even so this was a fun time for my sister and me because we started our mornings with two folk we loved better than just about anyone in the world and the morning chatter was fun. Then we'd help Grandmother make breakfast. :)

Sometimes I envy you all the wonderful family time you have. You are so blessed! Thank God! Please keep sharing the wonderful stories of your family times. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Friday I have a job interview. Tuesday I walked the 281/Henderson Pass shopping center and looked for help wanted signs in the windows. I brought home 2 paper applications and 2 cards that gave websites to apply on. Two hours after putting in the Radio Shack application online I got a call from the manager of the store in Rolling Oaks Mall and he wanted to set up an appointment time. So I'm to be there at 2:00. Please keep me in your prayers. If I get the job I'll be trained on all their products and will gladly work any hours they have as long as it doesn't interfere with my much needed church activities. The pay for a starting sales associate isn't much. About $7/hr plus occasional incentives for sales made, but they have benefits for full time employees and of course discounts on products. Even it I don't get full time work it will be some money coming in and I know you understand the importance of that. It would also go a long way towards making me feel useful again. Plus it would be working with the public which is something I need some experience with. I am both excited and nervous.

Did I tell you I took the Census employment exam? I did well on it. My raw score was 95 and with my 5 points veteran preference I should be getting a call from them the beginning of February when they start hiring. All jobs for that project last 5 to 10 weeks and pay 11.75/hr. I could work that job around the sales job and be bringing in some decent money for a little while. Prayers for that too would be appreciated. I'd rather work in the office than in the field. I'm directionally impaired and finding my way from place to place is very dicey. I'd do much better handling all the filing and data entry that is required for this huge project. Plus it is a government job and that looks good on the resume. So will the sales experience.

Sorry this is so long in the middle of your busy day.

Love you bunches and wish you were here to give me a comforting hug!

Misc. Bits

It's been nice to be busy this past week. Work is interesting and going well. I'm working a field test so details can't be shared but it is Math and the grades I'm on are 5 though 7. Each question is under development so they get created and then given to a sampling of students before they are put into an actual test. It takes a long time for test questions to be developed to the point of test inclusion. This is one of the reasons the education system doesn't have enough money to hire teachers. Tons of it is going to pay for the proof that they are doing their jobs, these high stakes tests.

This past weekend Hooboo managed to get himself into a fight and got his ear chomped through. There is a hole all the way through although it is healing. But over the three days before I realized it needed attention it developed an infection. When I looked at it on Tuesday it was weepy with stuff that turned scabby and was a little bit pink when I washed his ear out with ear cleaner. Uck! Yesterday evening I ran to the store and picked up hydrogen peroxide and some antibiotic ointment. With a treatment yesterday and again this morning it is looking better. The swelling is going down and the heat is gone. Whew! Thank goodness for kittens fast metabolisms.

Life has gotten really busy for me at church. Normally I'd think you couldn't do too much at church, but I may have been wrong. I added in choir as an activity about 3 weeks ago and while I love it I'm having to give up some of my adult education time. I'm already a Lay Minister and on Altar Guild, so the first Sunday I sang I was at both services since I was serving at the early service and singing at the late. This past Sunday I was singing at the late service and had altar guild duties afterward. Did I mention we are having a really good Sunday school class on spirituality and how to return to its center? I hate leaving early to warm up but I can't let the choir down. This Sunday two of those serving areas want me to help out by manning a table during our ministry fair which we are holding to try to increase the number of people contributing time to church service. I'm trying to decide if I want to attend early service to visit with my friend Kathy and keep in touch with what is going on there (because I'm also signed up for verger training and knowing how things are supposed to go is the main responsibility there). So when am I supposed to be at home and calling Mom? She sits by the phone waiting for those calls that I make with love every Sunday! And why did I pick up choir? Because it's fun and I wanted some socializing other than just on Sunday's. And I'm getting that! I get to sit next to Paschal's wife Tina most practices and Sunday's and when Betty comes back from traveling I will get to sit next to her too. Last night Marise, who I know but don't spend much time talking to, offered to sit next to me so that I'd have a strong singer to follow, I'm singing alto and haven't followed sheet music in over 30 years. I was delighted! It made things so much easier! And how nice of her! :)

Newsy Bits

Church of Reconciliation Episcopal, my church for the past 6 years, is having their 40th birthday party in December. We held the organizational planning meeting yesterday. I'm on the liturgy committee. Celebrations will last almost a week and there's an air of excitement all around.

My poor kitties who've been fighting off flees, Hyram more so than Hooboo, are seeing the Vet on Wednesday morning. Before then I've got to get Hooboo his own carry case. He's smaller than Hyram so I guess it can be smaller than his.

There's a scoring job at Pearson lasting 2 weeks in September. I'm signed up for it and get trained for a half day tomorrow. Productive activity! Yay!

Last night I finished reading "The Joys of Love" by Madeleine L'Engle. It's a pretty good coming of age story. Overall the feel was less complicated than her other fictional writings. The writing seemed more straight forward and the ending while adequate was almost, but not quite, abrupt. I wonder why she didn't publish it. From what I read about it's publishing, it was kept by her for a long time and her granddaughters are responsible for its being published now. If you'd like to visit her website go here.

Bright Colors, Beauty, and Activity Help

It's been days since I posted anything. Sorry about that! I've been in a blue funk! Yeah, that picture above of "Misty Coastline and Sea Stacks" by Corbis/Punchstock pretty much fit my mood. Life can get sad and scary you know? I don't want to sound sorry for myself, but I'm going to be going through an emotional adjustment for a while; and it isn't something I want to do, but part of the reason is something I'm glad to see happening.

My life is still in flux from the not finishing student teaching. That will have to be handled at sometime and soon. I keep meaning to get back to work on redirecting my life but right now I am involved in a job that has me sitting all day scoring tests for Pearson and at the end of the day I'm just exhausted. So I still have the dreaded but exciting job search to kick off and complete.

To add to that, my best friend, JS, the one God put into my life, is going to Vermont to become a priest. And while I love that she has gotten a great job to move her and her family up there (becoming a priest can be a long process), and has a huge house to move into, I'm also gonna really miss sitting next to her at breakfasts on Sunday and taking notes together in Sunday School. Or dropping by for something or other to visit with her, and her wife and kids. I'm gonna have to find someone else to hang out with which will mean I'll probably be bouncing from acquaintance to acquaintance for a bit. I guess right now that's a good thing because I can get really insular when I've found a comfortable niche. But like I said, I'm really excited for her and we've promised to stay in touch even though she will be way up north. So it isn't all bad. I'm not losing a friend, I'm just seeing her off.

On the positive and active side, I'm planning on becoming a Verger for my church. If you want to know what a Verger is go here. I won't be alone in this. There are four other people who want to be vergers and they are all men. Yep, I'm to be the sole woman verger at my church. There will be a course of study to follow and a test to take. I'll be mentored by the present verger, Ted, and Robert, our priest. I'm hoping this will move me further into my church community and get me more involved. I'm already a Lay Eucharistic Minister(LEM) and on Altar Guild, so that will help with my new responsibilities.

A short bit about LEM duty. On Wednesday, I was supposed to help with the Healing Eucharist by supporting out priest as he lays hands on, anoints, and prays over those who attend the service asking for healing for themselves or others. Well, Robert had gone out of town and no one who was ordained showed up to take his place. Neither did our seminarian, Lisa who worked with me last time to do the service when Robert was unavailable. So there I was, in my robes, with three people in attendance. I had to do some kind of service all on my own. Eek! By church rules, I'm not allowed to officiate at Eucharist so we didn't do the communion. I am allowed to do Morning and Evening Prayer Rites. So, that is what I did, combining part of Evening Prayer Rite II with the prayers for healing from the regular healing service. And once I got started it went ok. The scriptures to be read that evening seemed to fall in line with the requests of the people, a sign I took to mean God was in attendance, and everyone was familiar with the service so we were able to do what was needed and tend to all there after a fashion. That was my first time doing a Prayer Service with people in attendance. I was scared at the start but when I was done I felt good about how it went. Now I know that I can handle it and will be ready should it ever happen again.

Ok, so that's activity. On the inactivity side, I've got a 3 day weekend and am resting up. Yes, I could have been scoring and making overtime. But my project has ended, I'm scheduled for another one on Monday, and I felt that I needed the time off to recoup my energy and try to take care of myself for a few days. So that's what I'm doing and why I'm blogging now.

It isn't that I haven't been thinking about blogging. I have been. I've just been too exhausted and blue to think of anything to say. However, I do have a couple of bright pictures to share. They are both Jigzone jigsaw puzzles. One I worked about 5 days ago and the other one I did this morning. So I'm going to embed them here.



This first one just attracted me so strongly. I love it's strong bright colors and maybe I'm crazy but the light seems to glow through the petals of this lovely Icelandic Poppy. So that was the earlier one I wanted to share.



Here's the other one. It's full of flowers and that Butterfly just looks ready to take off doesn't it? I love bright colors. I also love butterflies and all things winged. That winged group includes angels, fairies, dragons, kites, and anything else you can put into the sky. Hmmm...if I believed that I had past lives I'd almost think I might have been a sky creature in one of them.

Please enjoy the puzzles. I get them daily and now use them to share daily bits of news with my mom to whom I send an email of that day's puzzle so that she and I can share them long distance. Cheers!

Morphing the Dream

David pointed out that I'd been silent and he was concerned. :) My good friend, JS, has been letting me pop in to visit as her schedule allows. My sister is calling me every two weeks now. So what's up with me? Well, as the title implies, I'm morphing the dream.

Several years ago, a good and beloved friend suggested I become a teacher. His wife had been using my semi-expertise in computers. "Why not," I thought? "I'm good at it!" So, with the help and encouragement of friends I stepped onto a path.

This was about 2 years after my marriage broke up. I'd never changed careers before. If I had I might have tackled it differently. The path I took was designed to be short. It turned out not to be short. It was designed to get me in a job quickly. There were none to be had. So things went on for a while with me knocking on doors and taking training workshops. They called this the alternative route. I eventually took a job doing something much lower in the teaching field. I became an aid in special education.

My job taught me much. It opened my eyes about the education system. While working in it I found that I really love children. I like teachers. That I love the learning environment, I already knew. One-on-one teaching is something I excel at. Something I'm not good at is arguing. And kids today really seem to know how. I'm also not good with large groups of people be they kids or adults. If I'd thought about the type of person I am, because I already knew some of that, I might have rethought public school teaching as a career.

Because I was challenged and happy, eventually I went back to college and got even more classroom experience. That was so much fun and I loved being creative with lesson planning. There were signs that I was on the right path, good grades, success in lessons planned and given, people who believed as I did put in my path to guide me. Then came the moment every education major dreads, student teaching. That was a different sort of learning experience. In student teaching I felt like I had hit a wall.

Someone once told me, "intelligence is not level across the board." Well it seems that I've met a ceiling. And it is a very hard ceiling. Down I crashed. Determined I could learn from this experience I mustered my resources and bravely, albeit with some trepidation, tried again. Again I hit the ceiling! This time I didn't even see it coming.

The thing that surprised me the most was, I felt relieved to be out of the public school classroom. That doesn't mean that I'm not good at teaching, or that education in some form isn't the right path for me. It just means that I should train small groups, preferably adults who value education, and find a job that will use some of my other strengths. So, with the help of a responsible university, caring friends and family, and my own desire to grow into something I will love, I've decided to look for a new type of job.

What's my new dream job? Well, that is still to be determined, but I can tell you the skills I have that it will include. It will include writing! People keep telling me that I'm good at it and I really enjoy it after I get over the fretting about what I'm going to say part. :) It will include me training others or developing something that helps with that! I am a good teacher and one of my strengths is clear step by step explanations of things, even those that are rather abstract. It will involve the use of computers! After 21 years in the Information Processing field I have gained skills and shown aptitudes that shouldn't go to waste. I'm even good at teaching you how to use them. Put those three tings together and you have a lot of possibilities in many different career fields. And that's where I'm doing my work for the moment.

Right now, Career Services(CS) and I are working on giving me job search skills. One thing they did was have me take a neat personality test. LOL! You know me and tests, right? This one was based on the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. I'm an INTJ! That "I" surprised me because I love being the center of attention. The results also said I'd be bored doing repetitive things. Well, heck, I've done them. I always found that the repetitiveness gave me time for mental wandering. Maybe I was bored. I definitely found ways to entertain myself. Another thing CS has me doing is job searches to see if the job descriptions fit my interests. We are going to rewrite my resume and set it up to be customizable for different types of jobs. I also plan on going through one of those simulated interview sessions to make sure I don't have any major impediments in my presentation.

In the meantime, I'm once again scoring education tests for the same place I worked at late last year. Yes, I'm going to look at that company. I'm looking to see if there are publishing firms in the Texas area. I'm also looking at the IP/IT field to see if there are jobs there that I can fit well. So, please keep me in your prayers? I'm morphing my dream in hopes of a better fit.

A Really Rough Week

This was the week every student teacher dreads. It's the one where you get your first formal observations. Mine didn't go well. I was already on shaky ground having a Cooperating Teacher who didn't want to share her classroom. I'm told that every teacher feels this way but I think that here it was worse than normal. After my observations there was a huge conference between myself and the administration of the school. I was there for part of it but after I left my supervisor asked that I be given a different classroom. They did. I'm now teaching in 3rd grade instead of 1st. This teacher also is very uncomfortable about giving up her classroom and she has never had a student teacher before. The biggest difference here is that she is teaching to the TEKS which means that as long as I teach to those she will be happy and I can write my own lesson plans or follow hers or modify them as I see fit. Yeah! I won't be stuck in a script that doesn't fit. I'm hopeful and eager to get started and show that I really can teach.

That is the upside of the situation. On the down side, I have to gather together my subjects in less than the normal amount of time. In one week I'll be picking up 2 subjects instead of the usual one. The week I pick up my 5th and final subject I'll be starting my Full Teach. So there is a lot of pressure on me to perform extremely well, better than my best. I'm going to put forth every effort to do this. I will gather what resources I have to help me think of creative ideas. I will make sure I know what my CT planned and write my lessons either around that or to the TEK they follow. She said she would be happy either way.

So, with all this stress going on in my life I woke up this morning to find that I had come down with a cold. My throat is killing me, my nose is running, I don't think I'm running a fever but I'm taking aspirin for the throat. I'm going to bed early. I have to sit in the car shop tomorrow to get my check engine light diagnosed for the 3rd time in a month. Please, please, puleeese! Keep me in your prayers. I could really use them. Peace!

Rain, Meetings, and Chocolate!

We have rain here! Yesterday afternoon, as I was leaving WalMart, I had to run to the car in it. Yay! I hadn't gotten wet with rain in a long time and felt totally like a kid again. Rain is cool! And we are going to have it all this weekend.

On Thursday as the school day was ending, My CT and I had a meeting with the Principal. She talked to me about the high expectations that they held for me. The feedback I gave her helped me clarify some things. Then my CT and I went back to our classroom and relocated the desks of several students whose behavior we hoped to improve by seating them next to other children.

Thursday night I called a good friend and talked about the challenges of student teaching. She was a great ear and had some good advice. Then yesterday I counseled with my supervisor who had more good advice. She reminded me that I'm still supposed to be merely observing and figuring out how this teacher does things. That's all I'm supposed to be doing...not helping...not interacting with the students...just watching. I can do that. I also need to remain aware that this CT is not going to be my friend and maintain a professional relationship with her. I can do that too. It isn't what I'd hoped to do. I learned tons from my last two CTs who have both become friends. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from this CT too. We just may never get to where we really like each other much. I do hope I can gain her respect. That's vital.

When I was at WalMart I found some of the things I need to help me organize the semester. I got a clear plastic filing box that wasn't too expensive. I really wanted a filing drawer but they were expensive. So I elected for something stackable and affordable. I also discovered the wonderful selection of chocolates that WalMart now carries. I was amazed and delighted. So much so that I bought 3 bags of dark chocolate and one bar. None of this was cheap but the choices were good. There was Ghirardelli, Green & Black, Hershey's Cacao Reserve, Cot d'Or, Lindt and a few others I can't remember. I aimed for chocolate that had at least 70% cacao in it. I've read somewhere that this high level of cacao is necessary for effective serotonin results. I'm not sure about that but it certainly tastes better. The Cot d'Or had 86%. Wow!

Adjustments and Judgements

My bedroom is still not quite put back together after the earlier mishaps but it is getting there. The comforter, after being washed, is now wonderfully fluffy. It seems that drying it with 3 tennis balls is a great boon to the loft. The bedroom is now off limits unless I'm in it. So far this has only inconvenienced Hooboo. Hyram is happy sleeping almost anywhere. Hooboo wants more play ground.

In my classroom, I'm finding myself already developing likes and dislikes. I have my favorites but I'm trying to make connections with all the children. Yesterday, I discovered that one student has the same birthday as I do, so I shared that with him. I hope it made him feel better. A couple of children are definitely getting my irk factor up. Neither pays attention to the teacher. They are both determined to do their own thing. One is a bit of a know-it-all. The other is a tattle tale. And although I haven't figured out yet why I think this, one of them seems to be a bit of a liar. I wonder if I'm taking denial of misconduct as a lie and over emphasizing it. I certainly don't want to be unfair. But I also want the students to own up to their actions.

At the university yesterday, I mentioned to my supervisor that my CT was less than enthusiastic about having a student teacher. So far she seems accommodating, but I worry about the things I might not be aware of and the results of any actions or attitudes she and/or I might display. I'm not always savvy about motives. My supervisor suggested that I simply be aware of it and be very, "It's your space and you rule" to her. I might even want to hold back on some of my idea generating. That's kind of sad because I really want to make learning fun. But I also don't want to step on my CT's toes in any way.

While reading Susan's blog I noticed her lovely slimy mollusk graphic and checked out TTLB. I am wondering about signing up but I know that my hit count is so low that I'd only be an Insignificant Microbe if I didn't drop off the chart entirely. I'm actually proud of my hit count. It is nowhere near Susan's but I get caught up in a lot of subject searches and so my count has climbed from 2 or 3 in the beginning to 8 or 9 a day. I've passed the 2000 mark and am almost halfway to 3000. Not bad for a beginner who is horrible at networking. I know that a few of the hits I get come from Susan's page or people who have read her page, checked mine out and came back later to see if I'd updated anything. So, Thanks Susan!

Ok, the 2nd alarm on my watch has just dinged telling me it is time to head off to work. Gotta run and do the klutzy, still finding her way, student teaching thing. Have a good day all!

First Day of School

Good morning to you
Good morning to you
We're all in our places
With sunshiny faces
Good morning to you
Good morning to you

When I looked at my watch it said 4:00 AM. Even though I had set the alarm for 4:30 I'm awake early. It is first day of school jitters. So here I am. It's 5:30 now, I'm awake, showered and dressed, and ready to go to school. My supplies are ready. The thank you note to my cooperating teacher (CT) is written. Having done all of that, I have an hour to kill before I need to get out the door to drive over to the same school I've done all my previous teaching experiences.

When I get there, I'll have about 20 new faces and names to learn. Lots of things to see. Old friends to get back in touch with. I need to take down the names of all the kids so that I'll know them well. The instructions for our behavior today were, observe but if you can help your CT do so. Don't be needy because she has 20 children to take care of. I think I can do that.

The day's instructions don't fit with the way I'd imagined my first day of student teaching. I'd thought it would be later in the semester. I'd bring my "Me" poster. I'd bring a book to read to the children, a photo of my cat, maybe my guitar. Nope, I'm going to be nice, polite, and observant of how my CT's classroom is set up. I'm going to see if she uses music in it. Does she have the kids getting up and doing physical activities in the classroom. What does recess with her class look like?

That doesn't mean I can't dream of things I'd like to do. I'm to be putting together lesson plans. First I need to look at the curriculum requirements to see what's needed. Then, I can see about fitting my ideas into that framework. I'd like to teach the kids how to draw a maze/labyrinth. I'd like to teach them how to work sudoku. I'd like to practice skip counting lots. In my experiences as a middle school aid I saw way too many 8th graders stacking numbers and adding them in pairs to reach a multiplication solution. A philosophy I'd like to teach them is that to master something you have to practice every day and working hard only on test day isn't going to get the job done.

It's almost time to think about leaving. I've gotten my medications down. Drunk two cups of coffee and had a jello fruit cup for breakfast. Not the best of meals but it was something and I'm determined to lose the weight I gained over the summer. Yesterday I had to buy a size 16 pair of pants to have something professional to wear for the first day of school. All my interview suits are size 14. Time to lose the weight.

And while I'm talking about yesterday I want to thank my good friends JS and her wife. On a fairly busy family Sunday they shared JS's time for my emotional neediness. She went shopping with me while I got what I could of my school supplies. I also had a nice lunch with them. (g) That kind of friendship is priceless. I feel a little guilty having taken her away from her family, but the fact that she and her wife were able to do that tells me just how strong and loving their family is. They have so much love that they can turn it outwards to others from the richness that is theirs. Thank you my friends. Nothing could ever replace the things you are to me and your presence in my life. God Bless both of you.

Prayer for today & Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to work I go.

Today I start a temporary job. I'll be scoring math tests for one of those major test publishing firms, Harcourt. The job is supposed to last about a week. I'm glad to have something to do and a little money coming in. Yay work!

Looking to start my day with prayer, I went to World Prayers, a new link on my sidebar. There I found the following under Celebrations. Let's all try to do that more.

Wage peace with your breath. Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds. Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields. Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees. Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact. Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud. Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers. Make soup. Play music, memorize the words for thank you in three languages. Learn to knit, and make a hat. Think of chaos as dancing raspberries, imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty or the gesture of fish. Swim for the other side. Wage peace. Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious: Have a cup of tea and rejoice. Act as if armistice has already arrived. Celebrate today.

wage peace - judyth hill - september 12, 2001 P.S. If you click on the arrow cross above the prayer you will be taken to the World Prayers index of celebration prayers. Please go and have fun looking through this all faith inclusive site.

School's Out!!!

It's very strange, but also very adolescent, that when you want a student in the classroom they don't want to be there. Heck, they won't even stay in the building. But close school for the year ,send them out the door, and they won't leave! Instead, they keep sneaking back inside. That was the huge joke in Content Mastery Center (CMC) after we finished herding them outside. No matter how many times we closed the doors a steady string of individual students kept showing back up inside the building. The principal even rang the closing bell 12 minutes early. They just didn't want to leave.

Heck, neither did I. Sitting there in the room with my co-workers, I was filled with a huge muddled mess of emotions. I felt sad, happy, forward looking, angry, and very much wanted to cry all at the same time. I suspect I'll be sorting through those feelings for a bit. I was glad to see the year end. I didn't want to quit my job even though I had to in order to student teach in the fall. I will miss my co-workers. We've done a lot together and had some good/fun times and some not so good ones as we helped the kids work their way through the year. For some reason I haven't quite figured out yet, I was mad at the students for coming back inside. I found myself almost crying on the way to the car and again once I was in it. I did the same thing at the end of last year. That wasn't so much for the middle school I work in but for the elementary class I had done field experiences in. I'm beginning to think that once I'm certified and have my own classroom, investing in a paper products company that makes tissues might be a good idea.

So what do I do next? Well, I think I'll take it a week at a time. This first week I want to rest, relax, clean the house and get it better organized, and do some things for myself. Then I want to go talk to a temporary agency to see if they can put me to work for short jobs over the summer. I have a lot of reading to catch up on. Its been ages since I was able to haunt the public library just to find new SciFi to read. I think, even though it is supposed to be bad for your skin, that I should start working on a tan. I also want to start trying to get in a little walking. I seem to have put on a few pounds these last few months and my clothes are tighter than I like them. And lastly but maybe most importantly, I want to spend time at my church in the garden and also make time for blogging again.

Home sick - Moderately productive

Sometime during the past week I caught a cold. It manifested itself this weekend in the form of a fairly vicious headache and a very painful sore throat. This is a one sided sore throat and hurt so much that at 3:30 AM Sunday morning I was online researching symptoms of strep throat. I decided that I don't have it based on 2 things. I don't have a high fever. I do have sinus drainage. So I'm probably dealing with a regular viral cold and just feel awful. I called in sick for today and will probably be home in bed tomorrow too. I feel that bad. That's rare for me this year. Mostly my health has been good thanks to vitamins and frequent hand washing. Since I work at a public school those two measures seem to be vital to maintain good health. One of the desires of every public school teacher is that parents would not use the school as a baby sitting service when their children are sick. If you child is sick they need to be home in bed, not at school feeling crummy and making their teachers' lives miserable. That doesn't cover the fact that children who go to school sick spread their germs around and then everyone gets sick.

So, here I am at home, reading email, trying to get rest, and feeling I need to use the time productively. To accomplish the productivity I went searching for my student teaching packet, a task which got a lot of trash papers thrown away, and proceeded to take care of two necessary pieces of business. I emailed the student teaching department and confirmed my intent to student teach. I then went online and registered for that course for this fall. Yes folks, it's official! I will student teach in fall of 2007.

That's one of the things that has been worrying me of late. I am quite the perfectionist, so of course I want to do well. I also want to do my student teaching in a place that will put me in a good position to get a job when I'm done. I think I have that managed. I'm on my districts list as a student teacher and have written the student teaching coordinator (at her request) with my preferences for campus choices. Hopefully I'll get one of them.

This also puts pressure on me to update my resume, get letters of recommendation from teachers I've worked with, and make sure my financial ducks are in order for the fall. Thankfully I've done my taxes so I can reapply for student loans. They should meet the needs I have for that semester. I'm going to have to quit my job at the middle school. That makes me nervous. You do better looking for a job if you have one already. But you can't student teach and hold down a 40 hour a week job.

At some point I should probably go over my wardrobe and weed out the stuff I no longer wear, get some new shoes for work, and make sure I have enough professional outfits that I can wear to teach in. Fortunately, my beloved sister bought me a nice professional looking suit for Christmas. I already have enough short sleeved sweaters to wear with it and think I only need some nice discrete jewelry to add to the quality of the look.

With that being said, I'm now pretty much exhausted and am planning on heading back to bed for some more rest. Please keep me in your prayers for returning health and also for the upcoming semesters.

Peace!