My Cinco de Mayo Festivities

I said to stay tuned and here is a run down of how I celebrated Cinco de Mayo.

• Wore the colors of the Mexican Flag
• Wore a sombrero
  
  

• Put my dog (who is Mexican) in a sombrero

• Spoke in Spanish or with a Mexican accent
• Made a fabulous Mexican meal
  
  

• Listened to Spanish music
• Ate a taco (which stayed on my plate or in my mouth, not taco shirt today!)

That was the extent of the festivities today. Here is my toe now. The purple is gone but I have an odd bruise under my second and third toes. But we are healing, yippee!!

And I was accepted to Westminster's Master of Education program. I start Monday. Yikes.

So Annoyed but not about Cinco de Mayo

So I am a sub for Jordan, Granite and Murray school districts. At least I was until a few days ago.

Due to student teaching, I wasn't able to sub in any district except Murray (where I student taught) from the end of December to the beginning of May. This has caused Jordan and Granite to both drop me as subs. Ugh. Annoying. I called both and Granite put me back in the system while I was on the phone. Thanks Granite, you're fantastic. Jordan on the other hand has a new sub coordinator lady and she was not so nice. She just said I'd have to reapply in July. What? That's stupid. Just put me back in.

Now, you may say this is no big deal but I was supposed to sub for a friend who student taught at the same time I did. She was given a long-term sub job at the school where she taught but already had a vacation planned in early June. The school was cool with it as long as she could find a sub to cover all the days she would be gone. Knowing I'm on the sub list, she asked me. I was super excited because that's 10 days of guaranteed work. Now I have to go back and say, "Sorry Jen. Can't. Hope you find someone else." It's annoying.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I love this holiday because it's an excuse for me to eat tacos (which will be eaten, not spilled on my shirt) and listen to mariachi music. Here are some fantastic videos for your Cinco de Mayo viewing pleasure.



Ok, I said videos before actually looking for videos. You would think there would be entertaining videos on Youtube. This is the funniest I found. Sad.



Maybe I'll make a video of my Cinco de Mayo festivities. It will probably be amazing because I am amazing. Stay tuned for the festivities.

Creeps, Tacos and 2nd Graders...

This is what my day was filled with, but not in that order.

I began the day with 2nd graders, who by the way are precious. I have never been in a 2nd grade class and I truly enjoyed it today. They still are at that point where everything you do as a teacher is fabulous. They all want to be you and they wish the adults in their lives were more like you. It's great, almost like being famous but without the giant paycheck. I had a wonderful time subbing for them today and the more I spend time in the younger grades, the more I think that I really want to teach them. I'm torn.

I also spoke with the teachers at Grant and they asked if I had a job yet. I told them no and asked their opinions on what my next move should be. They all whole-heartedly agreed that calling is not a good idea. Hmmm...I would have never thought that.

I ate a taco today, or at least I tried. Most of it ended up splattered on my shirt. I spill on myself a lot. I also work with kids so I usually just blame it on them but I guess that secret is out now. Good thing I was wearing a cardigan today. Here is another secret: if you spill on your shirt and still have places to go, just button the cardigan up higher. Problem solved. You're welcome for the sound fashion advice.

Imagine the taco picture as a big blob of taco goo and the words as not being there and the t-shirt as a button-up shirt and me as the person add a head and body and then you get the idea.

I should have gone with a Crunchwrap Supreme because it "takes popular Taco Bell flavors and makes them portable by wrapping it with a tortilla, creating a unique hexagon shape, sealed on all sides to avoid spills."


The other place I had to go was Best Buy. I didn't really have to go there but I was waiting for a friend to get home from work so I could drop something off and I didn't want to drive all the way home so I spent some time browsing electronics I can't afford. As I'm looking at some really cool cameras, a guy says, "You're hair smells nice." WHAT?!?!!? First, is that a pick up line? Second, why in the world would you be close enough to my hair to smell it? Third, I didn't wash it today and I know it doesn't smell like unicorns, flowers, rainbows and butterflies. It smells like dirty hair, eww. Fourth, did you miss the day in kindergarten when they talked about staying in your own space? Fifth, you're old. Sixth, eww, just EWWW.

I imagine it probably looked something like this, except I'm a lot cuter than Hilary and he did it without me knowing. I'm pretty sure Hilary was in on this one.

I gave him my patented "You're a creep and you should probably get away from me now before I self-defense your butt to last week" look, flipped my nice smelling hair, and walked away... as quick as my broken toe could get me out of there.

Had it gone more like this, I may have given him my phone number...ok, it's the exact same thing but it's Zac Efron and he's dreamy. Sigh...

Flash Mobbers Unite!

I want to do this. I don't know how to plan it though and make it good. I'm also not a good planner. So if anyone ever does something like this, call me, I'm in!




That poor third guy! Japanese television is a bit crazy.

Musical Spring Cleaning

I'm a musical pack rat. I have almost filled my iPod (about 7,000 songs, I know...ridiculous). I have recently noticed my computer really taking its sweet time to do things so I decided that today was the day that I would get rid of music I don't listen to any more. I have tried to do this often but I always have this paranoid thought of "What if I decide I want to listen to them again one day? Then what?" Today I pushed those paranoid thoughts out the window and started deleting. I'm down to about 4,500 songs now which is still insane but I can't bare to part with them.

Because of all this 'cleaning,' I have rediscovered some music that I at one time loved but due to the vast amount of music on my iPod, I haven't listened to in a long time.

Forgotten Favorites

• Daydreams -- Adele
• All That Matters -- Addison Road
• All I Want is You -- Barry Louis Polisar
• Dear Bobbie -- Yellowcard
• Bedroom Talk -- The Starting Line
• Build Me Up Buttercup -- The Foundations
• Don't Let it Go to Your Head -- Fefe Dobson
• World Spins Madly On -- The Weepies
• Summer is Over -- Allred
• I Can Love You Better -- Dixie Chicks
• Here's to the Night -- Eve 6
• Just One of Those Things - Meg & Dia
• Today -- Joshua Radin
• Ain't No Sunshine -- Bill Withers
• Annie Waits -- Ben Folds
• Boston -- Augustana
• When It All Falls Apart -- The Veronicas
• Check Yes Juliet -- We the Kings
• No Rain -- Blind Melon
• Paint it Golden -- Colbie Caillat
• 1234 -- Feist
• Sam's Song -- Dave Melillo
• Silent All These Years -- Tori Amos
• Screaming Infidelities -- Dashboard Confessional
• Existentialism on Prom Night -- Straylight Run
• Changes -- David Bowie
• Make Me Believe -- Angel Taylor
• Say Anything (Else) -- Cartel
• Like You'll Never See Me Again -- Alicia Keys
• Bang Bang -- K'naan
• Styrofoam Plates -- Death Cab For Cutie

These songs bring back so many memories! I can still remember the first time I heard some of the songs or the exact things I was doing when listening to them. Screaming Infidelities reminds me of my senior year of high school, skipping class to drive around in a friend's new car and sing this song over and over again at the top of our lungs.

Styrofoam Plates reminds me of a college professor that was a bit wacky but taught me so much.

Here's to the Night and Sam's Song remind me of the year I lived in Sugar House and was so poor and trying to survive my first year at Westminster.

I love how music has such a prominent place in many people's lives. People are so connected through music.

Saturdays

You know what I love? Naps, gummy candy and rainy days. All of which happened today. It was a blissful Saturday. My life is nice and peaceful right now and I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

I work on Saturdays at The Children's Center at the group home. I love my job and I think I do really important work but it also frustrates me. Not because of any of the drama that inevitably happens there but because of the biological parents of the kids who live there. It makes me so ornery that people who are obviously horrible parents can bred like rabbits while people who want children desperately and will be fabulous parents can't have kids and have to go through the difficulty of adoption or other means to have children. It's just something that has always really bothered me and today was a day that I really felt the turmoil and devastation bad choices by a parent have on their children. If only their parents had been 'good' parents and had cared for them from the start, they would be happy healthy kids.

We get "volunteers" or "trainees" who come to the center and play with kids. In reality, these are potential adoptive parents who need to see what they are really getting themselves into. We are not allowed to tell the kids who these people really are because that would get their hopes up. But we have really smart kids who have seen "volunteers" take kids home with them. These kids are not idiots. They know what's going on but we still have to keep up the appearance.

We had some new "trainees" today. A little boy who has been at the center for quite a while was assigned as their "trainer." He is supposed to teach this couple how to play with kids (Gag me!). However inappropriate I think it is, that is how things are done now. Back to the play by play. He became so anxious and upset while his trainees were at the center, he could not hold it together. This is why:

When he first came to live at The Children's Center, he was a happy boy but because of the difficulties in his life, he has become an anxious, angry, volatile child. He has been abandoned, rejected and 'given back' too many times to count which has in turn caused him to put up a wall to any family who consider bringing him into their family. I don't have a Masters in Social Work, but it seems to me that he does this so that he can't be hurt again. If he never lets anyone in, he won't have to deal with the hurt and loss that comes when they decide they can't handle him and never return. Then he is told that "their car broke down" or "they are really sick." Doesn't this also set him up for failure? Isn't he going to imagine them fixing their car or going to the doctor and getting better and then finally coming back? He wants a family desperately and asks adults at the center constantly why we can't take him home. When other children begin to get visits and soon leave the center to live with their new family, he asks when it's his turn, when will he finally get to have a "forever family?" He recently said he wanted to cut of his head and come back as a baby because "babies get a lot of attention." When adults talked to him about what babies can't do, he rescinded his comment and said he wanted to come back as a mouse or something small so he could "take care of himself."

It breaks my heart to see him in so much pain and to also know that he is causing most of his pain. If he could only take down that wall and trust a family. He is a loving child, it just takes him a lot of time. He has said to a few staff members that he trusts "I love you to the moon and back." He just needs to be given a chance. He needs patience. He needs love. If I had the resources, I would take him home in a heartbeat because I have the training and patience to put up with him and I know that in time he would be a happy, healthy kid.

Gosh! This post started on such a happy note. I'm sorry it was such a downer today but it's something I've been thinking a lot about today and needed to get it off my chest.


"Just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings."
~ Elie Wiesel

Fragmented Thoughts

I don't know why I feel like I have to write on here everyday (seriously, my life is pretty lame right now) but I do. It's an obsession. Maybe because I never write in my journal and I'm trying to make it up somehow...I don't know. I also know that I will severely disappoint my loyal followers if I don't post everyday. :)

I subbed today at Parkside (one of the schools that interviewed me on Wednesday) in a special ed. class. It was so boring! You'd think that I'd get to do something but I just sat around most of the day. It really was not fun. Also, I didn't feel like I was appreciated at the school. I know I already said I didn't do much but I was there and willing to work. I asked for jobs to do and I got breakfast duty, bathroom duty, filling in bubble sheets, and lunch duty. What a great day to spend a day...at least I got paid. After being there, I don't know that I really want to work there at all.

I love quotes. This is a quote I heard in my Creative Arts Methods class during the Fall of 2008 and I loved it. This quote is also one of the handful of helpful things I got from that class.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant,gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciouslygive other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,our presence automatically liberates others.

~A Return to Love, Marianne Williamson

"If You Are Unhappy"

This is a story I just read on a friend's blog (Thanks, Jenelle!) and I thought it was fantastic, hence the double post for today.

Once upon a time there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon the weather turned so cold that he reluctantly started to fly south. In a short time ice began to form on his wings and he fell to the earth in a barnyard, almost frozen. A cow passed by and crapped on the little sparrow. The sparrow thought it was the end. But the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings. Warm and happy, able to breathe, he started to sing. Just then a large cat came by and hearing the chirping, investigated the sounds. The cat cleared away the manure, found the chirping bird, and promptly ate him.

*The Moral of the Story*

1. Everyone who craps on you isn't necessarily your enemy.
2. Everyone who gets you out of the crap isn't necessarily your friend.
3. If you are warm and happy in a pile of crap, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!

I think it's important to choose happiness even when life is in the dumps. I also choose to accept the crap that happens in my life and I know though the times may be unhappy and trying, I will learn something and I will come out if it a better person. I also know that if I have faith, good things will happen.

I'm Only Slightly Broken

I woke up today and my toe was quite a bit larger than last night and very purple.

I went to sub for my kindergarten class anyway. I limped through the day and decided at 11 am that I should probably go to the doctor to see if it really is broken. I was able to get an appointment at 2 pm and found out that I have a hairline fracture that starts at the joint closest to my toe nail on the outside of my toe, curves around the top of my toe and almost makes a complete circle. Had that happened, a chunk of bone would have fallen off and I would have to have surgery. Thank goodness that didn't happen and all I have to do is wear this lovely boot and tape for three weeks.

Do cute, single men think these boots are attractive?

The Interview

Dun Dun Dun! My interview was at 3:30 this afternoon...15 minutes after I got out of school. Ugh! It was a rush to get over there but I made it on time and wasn't too sweaty (we just finished playing a game of kick ball in which I may or may not have broken my toe).

Unbroken Toe

Possibly Broken Toe--Ick! It's so fat and ugly!

I interviewed with both principals, Mrs. Kranz from Parkside and Dr. Kupferschmidt from Horizon. I had heard from my buddies at Grant that they were both a bit intimidating so obviously I was super nervous to start. Good news, they both were pretty easy on me. I don't know if that is a good thing though. Do they think I can't handle the real questions? I don't know. I'm probably over analyzing again.

I really hope it went well and that I get one of the jobs. My question is, do I send a thank you? Do I call? When should I expect an answer? Ack! I don't know interview etiquette. I just really want them to know that I am very interested and I'm a great candidate. What to do? Life will just be so much more relaxing when this whole ordeal is over and I finally have a job.

Two hours later...I decided to mail a letter to each principal thanking them for taking the time to interview me and letting them know that I am the best candidate for the position. Hope it works! Cross you fingers!

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?