Looking ahead to summer 2010

Remember when I said that I would rather be a hunting season "widow" than a football season "widow"? Can I take that back? :)

Hunting season starts in a few weeks, so the boys are out at the camp getting ready, cleaning out shooting houses and putting up ladders. Eli went to Sunday school this morning and then left for West Alabama. Elsie and I stayed for church and then went to Dollar Tree after church to stock up on supplies to fill our Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes. We then drove through Checkers and were back at church, almost like we never left. It took about an hour and a half to wrap and fill the boxes. Now we're home. I should be working on lesson plans, but all the materials I need are in the car that isn't here. Oh, well.

So, about this summer job for 2010...

First, a little background. I desperately need additional income to pay off my credit cards, the last little part of getting out of personal debt. My student loans will be paid off in two years (October 2011)--woohoo!--so I need the push to get there. The only problem with this plan to pay off personal debt in a timely manner is Elsie.

Now, Elsie in and of herself is not a problem. It's just that I have worked every summer of my life since I turned 16. As a teacher, that means that for the last 8 years (except this past one, of course), summer income has been "extra" money, used to pay for trips to Guatemala and Japan, to pay off furniture, to finance moves, to pay down credits cards, to start an emergency fund--you get the picture. This summer, however, will be very different. I can't just up and work a job 40 hours a week, or even 20 hours for that matter, with a little one to care for. I was in a bind--the cost of childcare would not be economical, as I would basically be working for nothing--until I got an e-mail.

Summer 2008, I participated in the summer institute for the Longleaf Writing Project at the University of Alabama, and then in November I attended the National Writing Project Annual Meeting in San Antonio. Here in Auburn, I have partnered with Sun Belt Writing Project and am on the district writing committee. Well, the director of Longleaf sent out an e-mail this last week asking if any of the alumni were interested in a job working with the E-Team on the e-anthology--a web-based compendium of our summer writings that come out of individual sites, where members can post and get feedback from other sites around the country. The E-Team is paid a stipend to read through the e-anthology during institute months (mid-May to mid-August) ensuring that everyone who posts gets some sort of feedback (press, bless, address). It would be about 2 hours worth of work per weekday, most likely in the evenings after the individual programs end for the day. Perfect for after Elsie goes to bed.

Of course I e-mailed back and said I was interested, and my name was forwarded to the national E-Team director. I interviewed on the phone on Thursday and was accepted to the team on Friday. Yeah! There are only 12 people in the nation on this team, and I am honored to be a part of it. The commitment is for three summers, and I will be required to go to the annual meetings every November (paid for, though), with this year as the exception--this year's meeting is in two weeks in Philadelphia and would be a logistical nightmare with breastfeeding and all. That, and I don't have the $400 to make the quick trip up there for an all-day Saturday meeting. Since I was hired on for next year's team so late, they can't pay for this year's meeting. Anyway, that means I get a great trip every fall for the next three years! I'm excited.

So, I will have extra income and will get to spend my days with Elsie. It's a win-win situation.

Cheers!

Rice Rice Baby! (or, 6 months)

Dum dum diggy dum dum. (singing along to Vanilla Ice in my head)

Today, Elsie is 6 months old! I remember thinking that I wouldn't be able to make it through the first week home, let alone the first month, and here we are: half a year later! Woohoo!

I've sorta been chronicling all Elsie has learned this month in spurts throughout the blog, so I'll leave it at that. Her six month doctor's appointment is on Wednesday, a day when I don't have school, so I'll give you the stats then.

Elsie has been eating more and more and even more frequently this week. That, along with other factors, led us to the first serving of rice cereal tonight.

We sat her in the Bumbo chair without the tray (mistake) and with a bib (mistake). Eli fed her, and she was more interested in eating the bib at first, so we eventually took the bib off. She wanted to help, so she kept grabbing the spoon with both hands. Then Eli put the tray on the Bumbo seat, and after he took the spoon away, she would lean forward and lick the tray, eating the food that dropped. We didn't even tell her about the starving kids in Asia!

Here are some photos of her first "solid" food (in quotations because it was just soupy).







Contemplating licking the tray:





Check out the close-up of the 'stache:



All in a day's work.

Cheers.

More than just Wii bowling

The seventh grade incentive trip was today. We took all the kids who behaved for the first 9 weeks to the bowling alley. It has been a loooong time since I've been bowling for real. And though I bowled a respectable 116 and 106 (in that order), it will be a while before I bowl again. I reinjured my hand/wrist. My family will remember that when Elsie was 8-9 weeks old, I somehow injured my left hand/wrist from holding her awkwardly. I asked the doctor about it when I was there getting my thyroid checked, but she said there wasn't anything she could do. Ice and heat, and that's it. It eventually healed. And then I bowled the first frame of the second game and pain shot through my fingers and up my arm. I knew I had done something wrong. And yet, I still continued to bowl. I know. I'm a little competetive. I had to break 100 in the second game. Gladly, I was the highest scoring female teacher, second highest scoring overall. Not too shabby.

I'll have more to tell you tomorrow about my summer job for 2010.

Cheers!

Jolene

Yesterday, the teacher interns on the team next to us were having a conversation about the song "Fancy" by old-school Reba when I walked by on my way to the kitchen to put up my pumping stuff. On the way back, I poked my head into the classroom to comment because Eli and I had recently had a conversation about the song ourselves, and they told me that they were actually making fun of a sample student essay they found on the state department website. Evidently a 7th grade (13-year-old!) wrote about how wonderful it would be to have a baby girl, and that she would name her baby Jolene. Can you believe it? they asked. Hahaha.

Ha.

ha.

Um. What's so funny about that? That's my middle name.

It was kind of an awkward funny moment because they couldn't tell if I was kidding or not. When they realized that I was telling the truth, they reassured me that they liked the name. Uh huh.

I immediately followed their train of thought, though, from old country songs with women's names, and conceded that I had never actually heard Dolly Parton's song until I was in college, if even then. Anyway, that's my funny story to share today.

On another important note, our State Farm agent had one of her quarterly car-seat checks, and I took both cars to get the seats tightened down and to get the free cookies. Yum.

Cheers.

Endorsement

I'm a mess. I'm not particularly sure why today seemed so long, but it showed itself after school.

I had to run by the bank after picking up Elsie from the babysitter because I still had two Sylvan checks to deposit into the diaper fund. I got to the drive-thru and there were no other cars there. This is the type of drive-thru where the lanes face the tellers, so I could see straight into the window. I sent the empty canister and when the woman asked how she could help me, I told her I needed a deposit slip. She obliged, and sent me five of them. I thought that was overkill, but come to find out, my brain rotted a little bit today and I ended up having to start fresh on a second one when I totally botched up the first. It was ugly.

Anyway, there were still no cars in the drive-thru, so I was okay. Just as I was closing up my canister, another car pulled up next to me, so I hurried to put everything into the chute and press the send button. The woman is counting out money and entering numbers when I realize that I completely forgot to endorse the checks. Brain drain. I press the call button, but she doesn't respond. A good two minutes later she asks how she can help me. I tell her that I think my brain is broken (yes, I did say this) and that I'm pretty sure I forgot to endorse my checks, and she gives me a look. Then she has annoyed body language as she digs the checks out of her pile. She takes the money out of the canister, slaps the checks in there, and sends them to me. I sign them and return them. She takes them out of the canister, puts the money in, presses send, and turns away from the window.

Not even a thank you.

Or a "Have a good day."

Or even a "Try harder next time."

So rude. I've never been to this branch before, and I don't plan on going back. One teller, one bad day. And she made me feel like I was really inconveniencing her. Seriously, though, I already felt bad enough about myself and my day. I came home and was a little emotional, all things added together. Eli made one little silly jab about me finally remembering to close the bedroom door being ironic because BOTH cats were already in the bedroom. I lost it. Poor guy. He didn't have a chance. :)

He did, however, have lots of hugs. And all was right with the world again. Yay Wednesday!

Cheers.