Finding what I'm looking for

Last night we went to dinner for my Grandma's birthday. We went to an Asian restaurant and ate way too much. At the end of the meal we all got our fortune cookies. Mine told me that "You will find what you are looking for tomorrow". Well I've been looking for a house. Every day the Realtor's site emails me with new listings for the day. I was really excited to receive that email this morning. Unfortunately there was only one house on the list and it was out of our price range. Now I have to figure out it was that I was looking for if it wasn't a house....

my dreams

Sometimes I have weird dreams. I had one last night that I still remember and it was weird enough that I thought I would post it here and let anyone who wanted to, try to interpret it.

Brad and I are driving down the street and lining the street is some sort of rally. The rally (as far as I remember it) was a Utah State rally where they were announcing that any BYU student who wanted to could just have their diploma say Utah State instead. We slowed down as we drove past and I was pointing out all the people that I knew from both USU and BYU. BYU's mens chorus was even there promoting the rally. (Along with a 75 year old version of a boy I know who once sang in the choir....?) As we drove past someone ran out to our car and offered me a USU water bottle because I am USU alumni.

All I can figure out from the dream is I need a new water bottle. And it's true cause my current water bottle leaks. Any other suggestions?

Too upset to blog

I can't think of happy things to blog because I'm a little bit distraught by all the Late Night tv problems on NBC. You see, I love Conan. It's ok with Brad because Brad loves Conan too. We planned our honeymoon to NYC so that we could see Wicked and a taping of Conan. Then the writers strike had the gall to happen at the same time so we weren't able to see a taping. Then he was moved to Cali so we thought that we would be able to go to a taping down there sometime. Now the word on the street is that he's done. I don't really like Letterman but I am going to become a fan just so that Leno will not only not get my ratings but his opponent will. I can't beleive I wont ever get to see a taping of Conan.

In other news.... Stay tuned for house hunting updates!

Farewell to 2009 and also to Canada

2009 has been a great year. But that's not what this post is really about. This post is about Canada.

I teach geography to 9th graders. (One of the many great things that happened in 2009) I recently finished a unit on Canada. The students each researched a province and gave presentations on their province. As an end of unit wrap-up I had the students write a farewell to Canada. There weren't many rules. It was to be 1 page long and it was to mention the required information from their powerpoints. (history of the region, culture of inhabitants, economic factors, and physical geography) Some students wrote poems, some wrote songs. I got a rap, I got an angry letter, I got several break-up notes. I'd like to share with you a few funny parts from their papers.

To Canada in general:
"Don't be an ice-hole." (The student gave credit to the Colbert Nation, I shouldn't laugh but I did)

To Prince Edward Island:
"At first I thought I loved you,
loved your fishing, beaches and pastures too.
But now Prince Edward Island we're done, finished, we're through.
At first I thought I'd stay with you forever, leaving you never!
I was drawn to Green Gables, the horses in the stables,
But those horses smell weird,
and Green Gables should be feared!"

To Canada:
"We still have 5 cents on your dollar!"

To Canada (tune of Frosty the Snowman):
"Farewell to Canada
goodbye to mind numbing cold
We've had some fun
Now it's time to run
On to Central America!"

To Canada (a 2 page breakup note):
"Red and white look especially cute on you my little bread basket."
On Canada's "Stunning Figure"
"You have very intoxicating Rocky Mountains plus clear reflective lakes specifically in Banff. I don't even know if I could live without your long luscious plains/crops."
"You have a strong history which makes you interesting. I mean French and English men were constantly fighting over you until I came in and swept you off your feet."


As you can see, we are having a blast in class. The last note I read to the class like I had confiscated it from a student and it took the class till about halfway through to figure out what it was. They crack me up.

So farewell 2009 and Canada, we're moving on to 2010 and Central and South America whether you like it or not.

P.R. for the H.R.

**Disclaimer**
I have a job. I love my students. My last post alluded to some of the frustrations I have been having with said job. I have begun more actively searching for a new job. Not because I don't like where I'm at. I am not full time where I am at. I want to be full time. I want to be taken seriously and not taken for granted like I am at my current job. The interview I am talking about is for a job that wouldn't start until next August so it isn't like I am abandoning my current job. I just wanted you all to know this. The real post can begin now.

Today I did my hair. This is a rare occasion. I like to save it for special days so that it means more. "Oh Amy did her hair there must be something really important today!" Or maybe I'm just lazy. It is much faster to just spray a bunch of product in my unruly hair and pretend like it's "done". I know I'm not fooling anyone but it just takes so long to straighten. I know it's been too long since I've put effort into my hair when people are convinced I've cut it or dyed it when all I've done is straighten it. But this is only part of my story today......

Today I was supposed to have a job interview. It was a special occasion so I did my hair. I wore heels. Teaching in heels isn't a fabulous idea. Walking down the halls in heels draws way too much attention to yourself from the classrooms you pass. (Is that a horse I hear coming down the hall?) I was supposed to have this interview before Thanksgiving but they had to reschedule because the administrator who wanted to be present couldn't make it to the first interview. I told them I am already teaching and would need to schedule an afternoon interview. You would think that this would be a pretty standard request when interviewing teachers for a teaching position on a school day...."I teach at a school across the valley currently can I schedule an afternoon interview?" "Sure. How is 12:30 on Tuesday." Seriously? Luckily that was the interview they decided to reschedule and so a 3:30 interview was looking much better. I did my hair, wore my heels and put my phone in my bag, in a filling cabinet while I taught. Because good teachers don't conduct telephone business while teaching. Which is why I was surprised when I checked my phone at 1:00 and saw that the scheduler had tried to call me multiple times during the morning. She left a message saying I needed to come a half hour early or tomorrow. I got permission to leave early so I could make it. I called and she didn't answer. I called again a half hour later and she said that my early option was no longer an option, so she rescheduled with me for next Friday. (with no option for tomorrow like her message said) She had the exact same reasons as last time. The other interviewer couldn't make it.

Where is the communication? Shouldn't the scheduler be checking with the interviewer before scheduling? If an administrator is agreeing to an interview time and then canceling repeatedly is this a good sign? I had many struggles with this same district over the summer and have actually been trying to schedule this interview since last March but have been getting the run around since then. Even in school as future educators when discussing job opportunities with current educators this district was never spoken highly of. Sure the schools are nice. Sure the teachers are good. Sure the kids tend to be highly motivated and well supported. But every time they talk about the district it was negative. (Think about it... I'm sure if you pay attention to the news and talk of education you know which district I'm talking about... what have you heard? making decisions without talking to the community, taking away retirement money from long time teachers or forcing them into early retirement...) So here is what I think. I think the H.R. department needs some P.R. training. (Ashley? You on this?) Stop treating the "customer" badly when that customer is actually the person who will be teaching your children. Because when you treat teachers badly, they go elsewhere or they never come at all.

Unfortunately, with the way the job market is these days, I'll take the job in a heart beat and the run around will be validated to them.

Not feeling witty...

I have been trying to think of something to write about, but I haven't had many adventures lately and I haven't been feeling witty so deciding what to write in posts is hard. To make it worse the last 2 weeks in church we've had journal writing lessons. That just makes me feel like I REALLY should think of something to write. So I'm taking a page out of my cousin Ashley's blog and I'm going to make a list of some highs in my life right now. I'm not going to list the lows because I know what they are and so does most everyone, but that's not where my focus needs to be right now.


1. My students tried to nominate me for a teaching award even after I told them I wasn't eligible since I'm not a full-time teacher. They were "sticking it to the man".

2. We've started talking seriously about where we are going when we leave the home we're in now. It will be hard, but I'm getting really excited about the possibility of owning my own home.

3. Our ward is awesome and I have met some of the kindest most caring women. They remind me of my mother and are exactly the kind of women I want to be.

4. A woman I was talking to in a professional setting (she will remain nameless) burped under her breath and apologized then said, "only not really because I love that feeling. Do you drink Diet Coke?"

5. Driving home today I turned on Ben Folds louder than usual and I sang as loud as possible. I laughed through my tears at the irony of the "black tears running down my face" while I tried to remember that life could be so much harder and that I really am truly blessed.

6. Tonight I made dinner, NOT from a box. We even had side dishes. We ate fruit muffins and the fruit wasn't canned pineapple and mandarin oranges. It was kiwis and blackberries and fresh pineapple and bananas. (Thanks Jackie for leaving the fruit here!)

7. People like me dang it! And I'm cute!

Ninjas vs. Pirates The great debate

So I gave my first "official" test last week. The students did fairly well, especially the ones who studied. There was also an extra credit question at the end of the test to help them out. The question was: "Which is better, Ninjas or Pirates? Support your answer." I've never seen 9th graders willingly write as much as they did. I got full page responses on the merits of both ninjas ans pirates. Any debate coach really should use this topic. I was impressed with the responses that I got and it led to a discussion on forming your own opinions and I even was able to sneak in a little soap-box on being an informed voter. We talked about listening to both sides of an argument and forming an opinion while still respecting the other sides views. Here are a few of the responses that got this discussion started:

One girl arguing for ninjas said,"Ninjas get to wear awesome black outfits that look good, while pirates look like they shopped a terrible thrift store."
Another girl arguing for pirates said, "Pirates get to wear colorful beautiful clothes while ninjas wear boring, drab, black."

One girl arguing for ninjas said,"Ninjas can kill you with their bare hands."
A boy who chose pirates said,"Pirates have guns and can shoot ninjas before they are close enough to use their bare hands."

One boy who liked ninjas said,"Ninjas train for years and are very skilled."
Another boy who liked pirates said, "Pirates don't have to work so hard, they just find treasure, drink rum and float in their boats."

So as you can see, there is no right or wrong answer. But I really was surprised that nearly all the arguments were the same argument just opposite sides of the opinion.

And since I know you are dying to know. Ninjas won in one class and pirates in the other. But over all Pirates took the lead.