Preparations

Well for those of you who haven't heard, we are very close to buying our first house. It is very cute and in a good neighborhood. It is only five minutes from our church so we have no excuse for being late. We are supposed to close on Sept. 30th, but the owners are going to lease it to use this month for a very cheap $5 so that we can mow the water the lawn. We went to go and mow today and I discovered why it is considered men's work. I am a big wimp. I mowed the backyard all by myself and then I was spent. Jonathan couldn't understand, but let me tell you it was very hot. The air conditioner was on in the house, we could see it running, but we have no key yet, so all I could do is look in the windows and see the cool air.

It Was a Snickers Day

For those of you who understand the medicinal purposes of chocolate, today was one of those days. As soon as I was done with duty after school, I went straight to the snack machines to find a quick dose.

My day was great, the 5th graders were even corporative, but PK was crazy. PK is at the very end of the day so unfortunately that is what I remember at the end of the day. The deaf ed interpreter was in a meeting and couldn't make it to class, so their teacher had to come with them. I guess I haven't been teaching long enough, because I totally second guess everything that I do when there is someone new watching me. You might be wondering how you teach music to deaf ed students, well that is a whole different story.

So anyway, PK was a little wild and talking out the whole class. They didn't really want to cooperate and then when it was time to line up, we were 5 minutes late and they would not keep their hands to themselves. It was like they had only been making lines for two weeks!

Today I remembered what makes my job so challenging-the different age groups. I have to totally switch gears from 3rd graders to Pk in about 5 minutes. It really messes with your sanity. But at the same time, that is one of my favorite parts of my job, its never the same! The snickers bar was good.

Busy weekend

Jonathan graduated from TSTC on Friday night. I am so proud of him! We had a whopping 23 people there to watch him, it was great. Then we ALL went to the restaraunt to eat. There were so many of us that we had to split up in like 5 different tables. The poor waitresses had to majorly split the ticket between tables. Jonathan and I didn't even sit together-he had to work all of the tables.

We enjoyed seeing our families. Karen got to spend the night with us and came to work with me. It was fun to get to hang out again, but of course it was not enough time. We went to Salado to have lunch with Jonathan's family on Saturday and then we did a little shopping. Don't worry, it was only window shopping.

Jonathan has been off from work the past two weeks to study for finals. It has been really nice to see him every evening, but starting Wednesday he will be working full time at Dominos again. He is taking a semester off of school and then returning in the Spring for diesel mechanics. He will be way over qualified for whatever job he gets, but hopefully he will find one!

The New One

Well we found a good deal on another Toyota for Jonathan. It is a Camry and it seems to be in really good shape. Even though it is in good shape, it is a '92 so some things needed replacing. Jonathan has worked the past 3 days to fix lots of different things. He replaced the timing belt, spark plugs, water pump, and radiator. But the car was so cheap that we have only spent about $100 over our insurance reimbursement so far. We have some very sweet friends who let us borrow their driveway. Our apartment manager really does not like car work being done in the parking lot. She once told Jonathan that he couldn't check the oil. One great part about this car is that it came complete with duct tape!

Here are pictures of the car.

Hug Your Family

Jonathan had a wreck today. But don't worry he is okay, just a little neck ache. He rear ended an 18 wheeler. It was pouring like cats and dogs this morning and a truck two cars in front of him lost control and started spinning. The 18 wheeler slowed down really fast and Jonathan couldn't compensate fast enough because he was hydroplaning. He said his bumper went under the back of the 18 wheeler and pushed his battery and stuff into the engine. Needless to say the car wouldn't start. He thinks it is totaled, but we'll see what the insurance decides. The cops had to declare that he was at fault because he was following too close. Jonathan said he wasn't following very close, the 18 wheeler just came to a dead stop. The cop said he didn't really do anything wrong, but that he had to blame someone. At least he didn't give him a ticket.

So now we have to buy a car really fast, pray that we will find a good deal on a very used car.

Needless to say I came straight home and gave him a big hug!

Back to Work

So today was my first day back at school. We were sitting in meetings with administration and I realized how thankful I should be to be at my school. In case you hadn't read from Karen's blog, I am at a brand new school this year. My principal transferred and I got to go with him. So anyway, back to the meeting. We were in the principals office going over the staff handbook and some of the other teachers started to ask questions about procedures and stuff. I found these things out about the way that other schools are run:

Teachers are not allowed to talk in the halls
Teachers are not allowed to even touch the copier, much less make a copy
Teachers are not allowed to use their cell phones at all
Teachers have to turn their lesson plans in daily to be checked over

None of these things are happening at my school. We are treated like the professionals that we are, no micro-managing.

The President...CORRECTED

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted, thanks for your patience! I graduated from my class and I am now officially a Kodaly Queen!

Jonathan and I got to furniture looking (not shopping) today. We will hopefully be moving in to our house soon and of course we have a wish list. We found a table that has a leaf in the middle that tucks inside when not in use and a beautiful entertainment center thing (you know the kind with doors).

Anyway the reason that Jonathan was off from school today was because the President of COLUMBIA was in town. Anytime President BUSH goes to his ranch in Crawford Jonathan is on lock down in the hanger. One time one of his friend walked out to have a smoke and looked down and there were about 20 red dots on his shirt. No one has ever attempted an escape again. But since the President of COLUMBIA is in town they aren't even allowed to have class. I guess they think that everyone in college is up to no good.

I DID CHECK WITH MY SOURCE AND SOMEONE TOLD JONATHAN IT WAS THE PRESIDENT OF CUBA. SORRY FOR THE MISINFORMATION

Doctor's Orders

I have been having trouble with my vision over these past few weeks. I keep feeling dizzy and I just have a hard time focusing. Last weekend I went to the doctor and he found wax on my ear drum. He cleaned it out, which was excruciating pain and then I thought that was it. Well I was still dizzy when I went back to class. I had to wear my glasses a couple of days because I hadn't gotten enough sleep and I noticed there was no dizziness. So I figured out it was my contacts.

I went to the eye doctor yesterday and she said I was putting too much pressure on my eyes. I have to take 2 minute breaks every 20 minutes and my prescriptions had actually swapped and I had to switch my contacts. She ordered me to take a vacation from studying. So under doctor's orders, we went out to dinner and a movie.

We went to see Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I wasn't really all that excited about it, but there wasn't anything else playing. Well I loved it! It was the craziest movie I had ever seen, but it was so creative. The really fleshed out some details behind the story that the 1st version did not. Johnny Depp did an outstanding job of being "odd." It was just what the doctor ordered.

Emmy

One day during our 5 minute restroom break everyone was looking at my cute screensaver with all of my nieces and nephews. We started talking about cute things that kids say and I of course had lots of things to contribute. Well I told them about my little niece, Emmy. When you ask her a question and she is not sure of the answer or she's not ready to complete a task, she will reply, "Two minutes!"

So the other day one of my classmates was presenting a lesson and the professor stopped him and started to give corrections, it was a lot to take in for him so he looked up and replied, "Two minutes!"

And yes I know I should be at church, Jonathan and I decided to have a devo at home so I could get some sleep.

We survived!

I have noticed that most of my posts have exclamation points, I wonder if there is something psychological behind that.... Anyway....

So still in San Marcos taking my class. There are three levels of this course. Each year you learn the pedagogy behind teaching certain melodic and rhythmic elements to kids. I remember when I was in level one we got to watch some level three teachers teach their peers in front of us. We call it teaching lab. They were such good teachers, they had beautiful transitions between games and their songs, I was in awe. Then the 3rd week of level one, we had to get up and teach a mini lesson for about 2 minutes, I survived. 2nd level was about 5 minutes, and today I had to teach for 10 minutes. That doesn't sound very long I know. I usually teach kids for 45, but those are kids! Today I had about 40 adults watching me, plus the 3 faculty members who were taking notes and checking my pitch with their tuning fork. But it went pretty well and I learned a lot about the language that we have to use to ask questions to children.

Then the 3 faculty members got in a heated discussion about how to present the concept that we were working on, one eighth note followed by a sixteenth. It was very interesting and they were very passionate about their theories. Who knew that teaching music was so much like a science?

It was such a relief when we were done that my roommate and I decided that we would celebrate and go and get a smoothie. As we were leaving our dorms we looked at each other and thought, I hope no one finds out that we didn't go straight home to start on our homework. That is when you know you are overworked.

I Love My Husband!!!

Well I just got home from a grueling week at my class. I decided on my way home that the house would not be clean because Jonathan has had a very busy week. I have found that if I don't plan on stuff like that, I am not disappointed. Well as I walk in the living room and dining room they are spotless!! Then I decided to go up to bed for some much needed sleep and I walked in the bedroom and it is cleaner than it has ever been. He even straightened the closet and we can see the floor!!!

Plus on top of that he is working extra hours for the next couple of months to save for our new house. I am blessed.

Wireless Myth

My class had a project to turn in by midnight tonight, but we weren't quite finished so I stopped by a classmate's house in south Austin on my way home to Temple. We worked hard on the assignment, but we didn't quite finish before he had to go on a date. So I told him I would finish it up and email it to our professor. Well I had some errands to run in North Austin and I didn't want to backtrack to Mom's house so Mom and I went to Barnes and Noble; wireless internet right? WRONG! Well not completely wrong. I got a great signal for the internet, but it turns out that you have to pay for the internet kind of like a calling card. Their provider was even SBC (my internet provider) but I have to pay an additional monthly fee to use it away from my home.

No problem, we think, let's just go to Starbucks. We drive over there, same drill but their provider is T-Mobile. So then we drive to some random apartment complex to use someone else's server, but everyone in this apartment complex has a password, they are smart. So we call Mary Ann and she gives us some great advice-Schlotsky's. It works!! We didn't even have to get out of the car. Technology is amazing. There I was typing an email in my car! Anyway, the moral of the story is, if you need internet, it is less trouble to just drive all the way home.

I Am Now One of Those People

I am in San Marcos right now taking a three week course in Kodaly. For those of you that don't know, Kodaly is a method of teaching music developed by a Hungarian. They don't really teach you how to teach in college, so that is what this course does. It is very prescribed and very challenging. We have to do this huge song collection which is equivalent to a Master's thesis. My collection currently has around 350 songs in it and it fits in 2 3-inch binders. So I am now one of those people I promised I would never be. I am one of those teachers that must roll a big dorky cart around with all of my stuff in it. I can see all of the college kids here looking at me thinking, "There's one of those people."

Good news. I found out yesterday that they are offering scholarships for graduate credit for these Kodaly courses. At the end of this one, I could have 18 hours towards a masters and I would only need 18 more! So I got the graduate application and the booklet for the GRE and we'll see what happens. Can you believe, I might have a masters degree? The official degree would be a Music Masters with an emphasis in Kodaly. And the funny part is I am going to be done with my thesis before I even take the other classes!

Any advice about the GRE would be appreciated

grrr

I am frantically trying to get ready to leave for my class tomorrow. I have to stay in the dorms for 3 weeks, but I feel like I am packing to move there. If I had a camera, I would take a picture of all of the stuff that I am taking. Now that I am no longer living in a dorm type of space I am used to all of the luxuries. I really wanted to take my toaster oven along, but Karen advised me against that. She informed me that it could burn down the dorm.

So here I am ready to pack the car up so I can leave right after church and one of Jonathan's friends calls to talk. I am so glad that he has friends that want to talk to him, but man talk about bad timing. I think they have been on the phone for a little over an hour and I really need his muscles to help me with all of my junk. I keep giving him the "help" signals, but its just not working. So I guess I will call upon my muscles, here I go!!

Here We Go

Okay so we finally have a blog. Everyone has been bugging me to make one so here I go.

I have been frantically running around trying to make graduation invitations. It seems like such a nice idea to make graduation invitations at home, save money with not too much work right? Well I spent just over an hour looking for a sort of template on the internet to even see what a graduation invitation is supposed to look like. I ran to Staples to buy printing supplies and then spent an hour trying to feed the "special" paper into the printer. That didn't work so I went back to staples and had to buy even more stuff. All in all I think that I only saved about $10 in making my own invitations. The things we will do for our husbands.