On the hunt

On the hunt

for a job

that can support a family

with benefits

that will not completely stress me out.

Is it out there?

Let's hope so.

Whew.

It's been a rough few weeks.

I was looking at the stages of grief and I think I'm at anger/frustration stage.  The next part is acceptance and I am looking forward to that.

We celebrated my mom's 60th birthday at the beach.  Austin started summer PreK at school.  I have a job interview next week.

Things are moving along.

Austin is singing which is huge for him.  I love to hear him sing "Jesus loves me."  He also loves to celebrate a birthday and will sing "Happy Birthday" any day of the week.  He looks forward to going to church Sundays and Wednesdays.  When he turns 4 he will get to do more fun things at church.

Khloe turned 8 months old & is getting more mobile and is a really good eater.  I could never get Austin to eat baby food veggies, but Khloe will eat almost anything.  She's even started eating tiny bits of table food.

Sometimes it's just too much.

Yesterday was our first day of summer.  We started at 6 a.m. with breakfast, then the playground at 8:30a.m.  Back home for Khloe to nap and lunch.  Austin never napped.  I took everything except his bed out of his room so that he will see his bedroom is a place to rest, not play.

I don't understand Austin's personality.  It is completely different than mine.  He will fight tooth & nail, bossy, loud, constantly talking.  He has other good qualities too and I love him with my whole life.  He is hard to parent alone, though.  I pray for him everyday that he will use his strong qualities for good.  That he will love Jesus fiercely, know Jesus's love for him, and that I am not screwing him up.

I am parenting alone.

Then there's Khloe who I pray will be sweet and quiet like me.  I pray she will love Jesus fiercely and know the love Jesus has for her.

On top of that I am working on my resume to start looking for a job, and thinking about buying a house.  With that comes daycare, budgeting, making decisions about what's best for the three of us.

So my life is stressful.  Our life has changed, things are different, parenting 2 children under 4 is hard. But life goes on and I have to parent these kids and get a job and take care of this house and myself the best way I know how.

My Dottie loved Frank Sinatra so here's to Dottie and 'ole Blue Eyes:

"The Best Is Yet To Come"
Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum
You came along and everything's startin' to hum
Still, it's a real good bet, the best is yet to come

Thursday & Friday

 

Thursday I went to MOPS - (Mothers of Preschoolers) from 930-1130.
We had a Spa Day with manicures, massages, make up, and good food.
Everyone also left with a prize.  I wanted to put all my tickets in the maid service, but I could only put one ticket in there.
I won 3 hours of babysitting & $20 to Moe's.  Not bad!
They fixed us a to-go lunch and I ate that later because I was so full from the breakfast they gave us.
I cleaned out my car and moved Austin's carseat to the side to make it easier to put him in.  He's 32 pounds so I needed to make it easier for both of us.

K had honor society induction Thurs. night so Austin and I had a ChickFilA picnic at home, played, had a bath, watched Mater and went to bed.  They're fruit cup was tasty!


This morning (Fri) Austin got up early.  I changed his diaper and put him in bed with us.  I think he fell asleep for about 10 minutes then we were up getting ready and eating breakfast.  K is working on taxes and playing golf with my dad.  I am working on scheduling Smudges for most of April and part of May.  I have 5 schools where I teach an art lesson to the 3rd grade classes.

We are excited about seeing my brother and his family this weekend.  We are celebrating Savy's 4th birthday and my cousin's wedding Saturday.

 Relaxing after a hard day at school.

Watching the rain & wind

Today at school: Deputy Boozer


Monday

It's been good so far!
Had a great interview
Roast is in the crockpot
Laundry is going
Meeting my Dad for lunch
Signed us up for A Weekend to Remember Conference in ATL
Got to see my Aunt Dar this weekend
So glad she is doing well!
I want a house and flowers like hers.  Ha.

And the Lord Provides!

Here's what our future looks like after Christmas:

Austin still loving school
K teaching a new semester
Me teaching Smudges program with WMA
Looking forward to warm weather
Visits to the beach
Exploring Montgomery
Basketball & Baseball games in Troy
Potty Training

And the Lord provides

Subbing for a sweet 5th grade class tomorrow who are going Christmas Caroling through the neighborhood around their school.

Thankful.

Thursday

Well...

The job search begins.

12~12~12 at 12:12p.m.

Today I'm taking a day off.

I had breakfast with my boy

and took him to school.

I hung out with my mom

and bought Christmas presents.

I'm trying to clear my head

and get some things done.

Hopefully I can find somewhere new

to work after the holidays.

Something with less stress,

no cops, no panic buttons, no referrals.

Just happy.






K&I have been married 6 years and 4 months today!

Tuesday

Life is too short to write referrals and hit the panic button all day.

Getting a mini milkshake with my boy, watching a movie and looking for jobs - even better.

Let's just be honest.

I have a group of girls who make 2nd period art a living hell.

Austin is still stuffed up.

He will fight us when we come near him with medicine.

I miss my sweet little elementary kids who loved art.

I am thankful for the handful of high schoolers who like coming to my class.

So glad it's Friday!

Geez

I had to push the panic button today.

I also had to write referrals.

Why are kids so angry these days?

I mean, it's art for goodness sakes.  There is something really wrong here.

They don't pay me enough to hear students yell at each other and disturb the peace.

I deserve a cookie.

And that's just what I got...Thank you Panera!

Those punk kids made me miss my lunch so A and I treated ourselves after school and it was good.

Best part of my day...eating with my boy.

Here's to a great Friday....lets hope.

Wednesday

Frustrated? Yep.

Kind of wishing I was still teaching in Dallas.  That was going well.  I was good at that.

Sometimes I think things are fine...and then they aren't.

Oy vay

Thats me!

Elizabeth Boozer from the Wiregrass Museum of Art introduced the third grade students to a work of art by Will Barnett entitled Silent Seasons-Autumn. The students then crafted a book by using paper folding techniques and wrote about the painting using sequencing skills. Thank you, Ms. Boozer!

from Montana St. Magnet
find it here

The things we miss.

Every weekend K and I wake up to either a crying dog or a happy little boy next door to us.  K will say, "Man I wish there was a Taco Cabana close by or Rudy's to get some breakfast tacos."

We've been in a rental house for almost a year now.  It was built in the 50's.  It has hardwood floors and 2 bedrooms.  Our house in TX was built in the 90's.  It had carpet, an open floor plan, high ceilings, and inside laundry.  We are thankful for this old house, but hope one day we can have that kind of house again we had in TX.

I used to teach 850 hispanic children every week.  They were excited, energetic and happy to be in art once a week.  Now I teach 115 teenagers everyday.  They are quite different from my sweet TX ones.  Sometimes expressionless, sometimes not happy to be there.  Crazy how things change.

It's the little things.

DHS Artists

 Painting Great Artworks - Starry Night, Scream, Railroad Sunset

T is a great artist who loves to draw with charcoal.

I'm in charge here.

or

I have a referral & I'm not afraid to use it.

Ha...

Thats how my 7th period (2:20-3:15) goes.

So glad thats my only problem class. 

Pictures to come soon of our adventures these days!

Yikes

Oy

The life of a substitute is not easy.

Especially when their teacher has been out off and on since the beginning of school and classroom management is next to nothing.

Taking it one day at a time, I tell ya.

From the DHS art room

Mandalas and Landscapes

Halloween silhouettes coming next week

Wednesday

Today I was only supposed to teach art to 2 3rd grade classrooms.  They both went well.

Then I got a phone call.
And I went to sub this afternoon at high school.
It's been a long, good day.

I picked up Austin this afternoon and his teacher said, "Do you practice letters with Austin? He knows the letter A."  Wahoo all those mornings and reading books about the alphabet...feels good.

Then K came home with Atlanta Bread's avacado sandwich.  Yum.

Austin went to bed early because he didn't nap and now Mama is too.