Hopeful. Spring.

Great News! My brother is back from Italy, safe, and about to talk to his boss (who I have babysat for for a few years now) about getting me a job at his restaurant. Pray/cross fingers/donate to charities in my name/sing a song that this may come true because I would love to have a lucrative job when I get home. If not his restaurant, I will be applying to every single restaurant in town. And then some. So here's hoping.

I can really feel spring upon us. I have a pink cardigan that I plan to rock tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about this. I received my USC schedule, and I am extremely excited about starting that.. but I need a tiny break before I start ! Luckily I get about three weeks. In that time, I need to buy a Flip Camera and a Headset. Tech savvy? We'll see.

As my time with Mrs. R comes to a close, I feel compelled to document the things I have learned. I now see how easy it is to become comfortable in a classroom with your ways and methods. It's important to feel comfortable and develop routines, and I think that once I have my own classroom I will feel even more comfortable. I hope that I can always keep things fresh and current. I hope that I never stop loving children. I hope that I can always do the things I want do, even though I wont have two colleagues in the room to help me.

I am losing my train of thought... American Idol is on. :) More later.

The one with the illness

I threw up five times this morning. Hoorah!

Orientation

Today was a good day. Nay, a great day. St. Patrick's day proved to be a very profitable holiday. That is, if you are into green-colored food prepared by the generous parents of second graders. We sent home a note that encouraged parents to send in finger foods, if they could. We received a feast, including but not limited to: pickles, broccoli, individually bagged pieces of honey dew melon, brownie cup cakes, cupcakes sans brownies, cookies, whole apples?, and the list goes on.

It was a good time for all parties involved. The kids were wacko, but that'll happen.

Anyway, I am doing my USC orientation right now. I spent three hours napping, four hours cleaning and watching the office and wasting time, and now I am not ready for bed. Why do I feel the compulsion to online shop? JUST SAY NO. I am having to re-learn how to handle money. God is granting me a favor with my tax return... it'll be enough to pay off my credit card debt (I specify credit card debt, because that is just one sector of my admirable debt collection). Anyway, I just need to be a good girl if I have any hope of being financially successful in the future. Here's to... trying :)

Uncle Kracker

<--- Me in front of Bev's Burger Cafe. Just one of many gems in small-town High Springs. Meg and I walked in and sat ourselves in a booth. She pointed two the next two guys who entered and aptly said "I think this booth is permanently reserved for those two guys... we've upset the balance". They did give us The Eyes. Maybe thats just because we are female.

Anyway, Bev's didn't dissapoint. Then again, it didn't excite me like I predicted it would. The burgers seemed home made... which was a good thing. The fries were average. The water was sub par. All in all, it was simply decent. The atmosphere, AKA loud southern women who sat in the booth next to us and meatloaf advertisements, made the experience worthwhile.

Anyway....

I am laying in my bed watching The Office Season 4. It is such a treat. I love watching t.v. in the dark. I wish that I could stay up all night sometimes... but it's hard when you have to get up super early!

Mrs. R was sick today so we had a sub. We will also have a sub tmr. Subs= us doing lots of work.. which is fine by me. Today the kids were out of control.. and there was An Incident with some punching. Well, not some punching. A punch in the nose from one by to another. Gotta love that! I wasn't in the room because it happened at lunch. It's for the best that I wasn't there... I don't know what I would have done. I guess it would have been a learning experience. I'm sure there are plenty of brawls in my future. I just didn't think it was going to happen with second graders...

I feel as though I am getting better at classroom management. Our field advisor said that L and I were very adept at managing behavior. This is going to sound silly, but I think that part of what makes me feel more confident is that I have been singing a lot in my car and my voice has been getting less... weary. You have to have a commanding voice to gain attention. People with weak voices get eaten alive! Though, I do have to work on differentiating between my commanding voice and my conversational voice... sometimes I end up talking to one child in the voice I should be using to talk to 20. "KAYLEE, IS THAT WHAT WE SHOULD BE WORKING ON?"

Mrs. R has such a talent for getting attention. The way I felt about her teaching in the beginning is so different than how I feel now. I used to think she was so intense. Now I understand why she is the way she is... however, I do believe that the only way to teach children how to handle freedom is to give it to them. That balance what I am still working on.

Today I tried a new thing: A rolling suitcase instead of giant, shoulder-destroying bags. I'll let you know if this proves to be a successful system.

I have been working on relaxing lately. Not so much doing less (but I am), but focusing on my body and how tense I feel. Sometimes you have to make an effort to relax! Haha. I am also cleaning out my car, and trying to do less at once. Spreading yourself too thin is never a good thing.

Today I had a little incident of my own. I went to Winn-Dixie to purchase groceries and almost had to leave them at the register because my cards were declined. Except one, which I knew had zero funds... so now I am over drafted! Hooray! I really need to learn how to manage my money. I can't wait to move back home... it'll be nice to have a break from rent.

Note to self: Start a "Finer Things" club. It looks like a good time ;)

Now that I know!

Accepted, accepted, accepted! What a wonderful word. Now I can continue my education. Not that I couldn't before, but Saint Johns River Community College wasn't nearly as exciting as The University of Southern California! Basically, the picture in this featured in this posting might as well be me. Except that I wont be a cheerleader, or living on campus.

But what if I was living on campus... MMM California!

The best part about this, besides all the obvious awesome education-related things, is that I get to shop! I have to buy a camcorder (probably a flip camera, per USC's suggestion), and I get to go buy gobs of USC clothing (per my own suggestion). I don't even own any UF clothing... I guess I should do that before graduating. Maybe just one t-shirt, for good measure. I have to do something to celebrate how UF has affected me...shopping seems appropriate. In a related story, I am so excited. So here's my new plan of attack:

1. Get this masters by May 2011 (Holler!)

2. Teach until 2016- ish, so that I can pay back my loans (Hooray!)

And thats as far as I have gotten with my accomplishing-things plan.

Oh right...

Oh! I actually have time to write more than half a sentence. Special, special day.

I've been noticing a trend in myself lately. Every time I sit down for more than five seconds in a comfortable position, I instantly want to fall asleep. Josh says it is because I never stop moving. I might have to agree with him on that one. The second I stop panicking and/or obsessively straightening and organizing things that don't even belong to me (sorry in advance, Jessica, but I am about a heartbeat away from giving away half of Tristan's old clothes that don't fit him. Today I nearly strangled him by trying to fit him into a 6 months-sized shirt... or is that my bad for not reading the label?).

Anyway, I have a lot of nervous energy and I don't know why. I guess its because I have been so ridiculously busy lately. It seems like ever since I started working again I have been on the brink of poverty. I have given up on the idea that I am going to save money. It is not going to happen on my 100 dollar-a-week salary. Ugh.

The amount of time I spend worrying about money is out of control. It's as if I think the cogs in my brain can create cash if they turn fast enough. I think I should just... stop. Not stop being careful, but stop...whats that word again?... panicking. Easier said than done.

I am in a weird place right now with this whole.... exercise.. thing. On the one hand, I am bitter as all get out because every time I eat an english muffin I gain a pound. On the other hand, If I don't eat enough bread I get heartburn that hurts quite, quite badly. I don't know what this has to do with exercise at all, actually. I want to... do more.. but where is the time? I am too busy being narcoleptic and falling asleep twenty seconds after I sit down. And Lord knows I can't take any time away from blogging...

On the plus side, I bought four movies today from Blockbuster for a total of twenty dollars (what was that about stressing about money?)

Logic behind my choices:

1. 17 again- obvious why I bought this. I want to do sick nasty things to Zack Efron. Step aside, 'nessa huds....

2. I Love You Man- tackles the interesting and complex subject of making friends, especially apropo for adult males who don't really know how to go about making new friends that are also male (Paul Rudd, you make it look so easy. Acting, not making friends. I think we've established that you struggle to make friends in this move.)

3. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist- I mostly bought this for the awkward scene at the end where Nick does inappropriate things to Norah in a record studio whilst the sound equipment starts creepin' on them. Don't know what I am talking about? Call me for a viewing session. Spoiler alert: Nick does inappropriate things to Norah in a record studio at the end of the movie whilst the sound equipment starts creepin'.

4. House Bunny- It's hilarious.

So today was a good day for movie selection. I can't wait to make everyone in my life watch 17 Again. I think I am really getting used to this "Spring Break" thing. It's already Monday night! I want it to still be Saturday. I want to wake up everyday and do outdoor activities in beautiful weather and eat delicious food and worry about nothing.

However, I do have a midterm glogster to tackle. Only in my college do we do "glogsters" (online scrapbook pages/posters) for midterms. Basically we still have four midterm questios to answer, but we get to do it with colored fonts and photographic backgrounds that feature long-haired girls sulking and listening to ipods. Hooray, art!

Tristan's coming towards me with his Bob the Builder ball. It's playtime.

Am I going to love twitter?

I feel like I might fall for twitter.

But not as much as I am falling for Modern Family, The Office (even now, forever more), and planning trips with Josh.

Alaska! Viva Alaska!