More Mice and Rats and I Have a Job!

Book #9: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

This is a very sweet book. It's about the adventures of an unusually small mouse, Despereaux Tilling, the princess he loves, a servant girl who wants to be princess and a rat who is determined to bring them all to ruin. It's a magical fairy tale that I think even boys would enjoy. I give this book 5 stars.

"Nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name. Nothing." (p. 258)


The job hunt is over!
Yesterday evening, I accepted a job as a 6th grade teacher. I will be on B track which means I start July 27th. Though I only get a 3 week summer (next year) I do get the ENTIRE month of December off. That is freaking amazing! And we have Thanksgiving break, go to school for 5 days, go off track for 3 weeks. Pretty sweet. I think I'm going to like this track business. I am very excited to get started and I think this school will be a very good fit for me. I am going to tour the school and meet my team some time next week (probably Wednesday) and I'll keep everyone updated.

Saul, Julie and Keoko

I had an appointment to get Saul's oil changed today. (Saul is my car's name. It's an old man name and I think my car is creeping to old man status pretty quickly so it fits him nicely) This oil change was supposed to happen 2 months and 1000 miles ago...oops! I've been a little preoccupied lately, anyway, I got up in plenty of time, took a shower, barely got ready but still ended up leaving late. How does this happen? When I was in high school I was impeccable at being on time to EVERYTHING. In this last 6 months to a year I've become horrible at being on time. Maybe my late-for-everything-friends finally rubbed off on me. Ugh.

Looking for a job...

is very possibly the worst experience in the world. I got an email from a principal yesterday wanting to set up an interview. Sure sounds great. I email back saying any time is great. She emails me "How about 10am on Friday?" I again say sure sounds great. She emails me back later saying wait that doesn't work, "How about in between 2:20 and 3pm?" I email back "Does 2:30 work?" Still no response. I'm showing up at 2:30. End of story. On another note, I heard from a professor that an elementary in Salt Lake was looking for a 1st grade teacher and wanted a Westminster grad. The professor said to call the principal, mention that I graduated from Westminster, was interested in the job and that the professor had told me about it. Easy enough. I tried to talk to the principal but I had to get through Maggie, the secretary. I think Maggie secretly wants to be a bouncer at a club and I'm not wearing a short enough skirt or slipping her a 20. So I just faxed my resume like Maggie said. We'll see what happens.

Book # 8: When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park

The first thing I noticed about this book was how similar it was to A Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi. This story is told from two perspectives--Sun-hee and Tae-yul. Sun-hee and Tae-yul are sister and brother. They alternate as narrators of separate chapters, and many times they both provide individual views of the same events. The book follows their experiences living in Korea as it is occupied by Japan during WWII. The novel provides accurate information about the war. Some chapters were dry and boring and I found myself skipping over a lot while I was completely engrossed by other chapters. I don't think I would give this book to anyone younger than 5th grade primarily because the level is pretty high and it would probably become quite discouraging for younger readers. Also, the content may be a bit controversial for some students. I'm giving this book 3 stars. If you're really interested in this subject, this is a good book, but there are better ones out there.

"You burn the paper but not the words. You silence the words but not the thoughts. You kill the thoughts only if you kill the man. And you will find that his thoughts rise again in the minds of others--twice as strong as before!" (p. 106)

"How could an alphabet--letters that didn't even mean anything by themselves--be important? But it was important. Our stories, our names, our alphabet. Even Uncle's newspaper. it was all about words. If words weren't important, they wouldn't try so hard to take them away." (p. 107)

Growing Up

Things I want...no, wait, NEED.

• A teaching job in Murray School District


• A house/condo/townhouse


• A super cute boyfriend or a sugar daddy (I'm not really this serious about a sugar daddy.
  "The Sugar Daddy and Sugar Baby Relationship--The typical Sugar Daddy is an older gentleman who has the financial means to support or help out his Sugar Baby, whether she needs help in paying bills or just wants to enjoy some of the finer things in life that she otherwise couldn't afford. The typical Sugar Baby is young, attractive, and in need or seeking a more financially stable gentleman. She could be a college student, a single mom, a model, or even an aspiring actress.)" BARF! Please ignore the 'I need a sugar daddy' comment. I was trying to be funny but apparently people join websites for this purpose. For a funnier side of 'sugar daddies,' read this blog. In sacrament meeting of all places. Hilarity at its finest!

I've been thinking I would start looking for a place of my own once I graduated college (i.e. right now). I've been making mental lists of places that are for sale for some time now and I went out to really look at them, make some calls, etc. today. YIKES!! I've never bought a townhouse before but I never would have expected them to be so expensive. I would need 10 roommates and a 0% interest rate to afford the places I like and I'm not even looking at super expensive places.

Now, I don't need anything extravagant but I'm not going to live in squalor. I've done that before. Not fun! I want somewhere in a nice-ish area, close to Murray (because I will be working there!). I'm thinking 2 bedrooms so I can get a roommate to share the expense and then one day when I find said 'super cute boyfriend' and he turns into 'super cute husband' we'll have room to grow as a family. Nice carpet is also a must because I won't have money for furniture so I'll be spending a lot of time sitting on the floor.

Ugh! Growing up and being an adult is a lot of work and takes a lot of money.

Two Principals?

Thinking that I'm the greatest, I went to Parkside Elementary today to introduce myself and drop off a copy of my e-portfolio so the principal would know who I was and would be able to check out some of my work. "Wahoo...Great idea Ashley. You'll get a job for sure!" is what I'm thinking as I'm walking up to the door.

I meet Mrs. Kranz and am informed that the interview is taking place at the district offices because another principal from Murray will be there, Mrs. Kupferschmidt from Horizon. So no worries, if I blow this interview I will blow it with not one but two schools I really want to work for. Great! Now I'm even more nervous. Ugh. Wish me luck and pray for me tomorrow at 3:30. :)

Hello Blogging World!

It's been a long time coming and I've finally decided that I'd give the world of blogging a commitment, maybe a month or two to see how it goes. I've tried to blog three times in the past but had a few snafus (is that a real word?). First time, forgot password, blog lost in space somewhere. Second time, super busy with school and never really got passed the 'name your blog' part. Third time, again busy and couldn't get anything out of my mind onto the blog so I stopped. Maybe the fourth time is the charm?

I have been a closet blog stalker for quite some time and really enjoyed reading about and catching up with some old friends so I thought I'd give them the same enjoyment in catching up with me. But, this is where I always get stuck...who really wants to hear about me an my life? What should I write about? After a bit of thought about what this blog will rotate around I've decided it should be my job hunt and love life (ha!).

Let's start with the job hunt. I just finished student teaching (wahoo!!) on April 24th and have finished all my screening interviews with the districts in the and around the valley--Salt Lake, The Canyons, Jordan, Granite, Murray, Alpine, Davis and Park City. With the economic climate in the toilet, I expected this job hunt to be long and difficult but I got a call from Parkside Elementary in Murray today to set up an interview. Hallelujah! My interview is on Wednesday and I am so excited! My goal is to be in a district I like (i.e. Murray) and preferably in a Title I school. (i.e. Parkside, Horizon or Liberty). So, if this interview goes well (cross your fingers) I'll have a job and it will be at a school I love!

Kindergarten Class

5th Grade Class

Onto the love life...Ugh! Finding a job is much easier. Being an elementary major and not living on campus, the majority of men I have met are (1) attached, (2) gay, (3) old or (4) super weird. With those options, my dating life is floating in the toilet with the economy. So, here is my plan. Since I no longer have school to keep me out of the dating pool, I'm going to go to activities where there will be men who are not attached, gay, old or super weird. Institute, Singles Ward FHE and activites here I come. Any blind date, I'm up for it. Good idea? Bad idea? Any other ideas?