christmas wish list

 Coach wallet // cinch belt // Clarisonic Mia // Just Dance 4 for PS3 // scarf // leggings

ugh

So tired of getting dicked around. I talked to the principal and she said they aren't calling anyone back in who interviewed for the first position and that they had just combined all the questions in the first round (which sort of contradicts other things she had told me). She said they hope to have a decision by early next week. Considering the fact that I don't have the appropriate endorsement and that I am not officially getting to interview for this position, I doubt I'll be getting an offer anytime soon. I really just wanted the chance to interview for it. I feel like I could have done so much better this time around. Last time I didn't even get a day to prepare, I was sick as a dog and deaf in one ear (had a horrible ear infection!), and I was only three weeks post-par tum. I felt like I couldn't focus and didn't give as many specific examples as I could have given. Oh well...dwelling on the past won't help anything. All I can do is update my resume and focus on ESL positions in the spring. In the meantime, I'll just focus on my beautiful babies, my health, and the holiday season.

virtuous patience

I hate waiting. There is nothing I hate more than ambiguity, than not knowing. I applied for a Junior English teaching position for a local public school (I currently work with this school as center director for an alternative education option within the district). I went in for an interview but didn't hear anything for a week. It turns out an internal candidate (the former Literacy teacher) got that position, so now there's a Literacy position available. I finally heard back from the Assistant Principal today that I'm still being considered for the Literacy position. She said with the holidays it could take a while to get the ball rolling. She said she hopes to have interviews scheduled sometime in the next two weeks and that I should call her back if I don't hear anything in that time frame. Sounds hopeful, right? I don't have a reading endorsement, but she said that isn't required (even though the online job posting says otherwise). I have an ESL endorsement, and it seems like a lot of the concepts and strategies covered in my coursework is very similar to strategies a reading specialist would use. Luckily, I'm still on maternity leave through December 17th. It would be great if I could just start a new position instead of returning to my old job at all. Keeping my fingers crossed that this works out!

dear dad

My father was a simple man...cereal for breakfast, work before fun, meat and potatoes for supper, the evening news on TV.

He always seemed happy. He worshiped my mother. He never complained, even though he worked construction in the Florida heat day in and day out, making peanuts for money. I don't recall him ever taking a sick day. Every year he spent his Christmas bonus on me.

He couldn't sing...but that didn't stop him; he sang me to sleep and sang me awake. He let me give him a real haircut when I was 8 years old and opened a pretend barber shop in my playroom.

With my dad, what you saw was what you got. He showed me what it means to honor your word. If he said he would, he did. He never let me down.

To me, he was safety and stability. He didn't sugar coat the truth or lie to make the hard times easier (but he did make the hard times easier).

My father wasn't my friend - he was my dad. He was the cornerstone on which my childhood rested.

Now a haircut isn't just a haircut, and the simplest things in life bring me the greatest joy. Thanks, Dad.