Yesterday was my first day at the new job and I think I am going to LOVE this job! Let me tell you a little about it...
When I arrived, I found my way to the main office and checked in with the daycare director. She showed me to my classroom, introduced me to a teacher from the room next door (thankfully!) and she left me alone. Yep, my first day there, I have no idea where anything is, no idea even what the kids names were and I'm all alone for an hour and a half until the second teacher comes in. As the children arrive, I introduce myself to them and tell the parents that I'm the new teacher. I take the kids' lunches and put labels on them and put them away until lunchtime. I briefly considered using those same labels to label the kids' shirts as they came in so I wouldn't have to say "Hey, you" but decided this would look a bit impersonal. Most of the parents had been told I was coming and prepared their kids, but a few of the children seemed a little freaked out by me being there. The morning went by smoothly enough, but I sure was glad when the other teacher came in!
The kids have a schedule that they go by and they are all pretty much aware of what to do and when, so I didn't really do much yesterday but watch. It was fun though. I enjoyed meeting the kids and you can tell right away which ones run the show and which ones will be the quiet ones. By the end of the day, I knew everyones names, where things go, and have a rough idea of the kids' schedule. I came home last night, took a shower (no AC in the building yet...it was 97 degrees and like a sauna in there!) and took a nap. That's the good think about getting off work at 4:15! Today, I go in at 8:45 and stay until they close at 5:45. It's nice to find myself actually looking forward to work instead of dreading it like I used to. I even came home last night and did some "homework". I made up some lesson plans for next week and got some great ideas for future projects. Should be fun!

Can we be done now? OK, I want to be finished with this cleaning marathon! We are almost done, but I still have to scrub the kitchen floor and then I am finally done! My house is so clean you could eat off of every single surface in it. And I've also been cooking today. I made a dry rub for our ribs tonight. (Recipe to follow) I also made some pasta salad, some sweet tea, and a low-fat cheesecake that I'll dress up with...yep, strawberries! And I've done two loads of dishes, dusted every single thing that needed it (WHY do I never dust? It only makes it harder when I finally do!) and Jason has vaccumed and steam cleaned the couch and the loveseat. (They were SO GROSS!!!) I'm very proud of all that we've done this weekend, but I am ready to call it quits and have some down time. (Or should that be downtime? Or maybe down-time? Who knows.) Anyway, I think Jason still wants to mow the grass. I think while he does that, I'll sit on the deck and make a picture frame with some of the shells we brought back from the beach.
Try this rub and let me know what you think. We're using it on ribs, but I think it would be good on anything. Enjoy!

Amy's Rib Rub
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 to 3 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (trust me, the flavor isn't too sweet, just spicy and good!)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp celery salt (or Beau Monde seasoning by Spice Island if you can find it)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground mustard

Combine ingredients in bowl. Sprinkle over meat and rub in, making sure to coat evenly.

Happy Memorial Day weekend! It's been a busy one here at the Crafty house. Friday was my last day at the old job. It was a 1/2 day so it was pretty short. Not too much to do, so that was nice. They had a card for me and cake made that had stick people on it to look like me (Ms. Amy) and a bunch of kids. It was nice. Also, I have rethought my plan to post that letter I wrote about the REAL reasons I left that job. I've even halfway decided not to send it at all. I would be totally justified in sending it to the doctors I used to work for. But I guess I sorta left on a positive note...you know, following my dream, going back to school, etc. I just don't really want the last thing they remember from me to be a nagging, finger-pointing, "It's all her fault I'm leaving" type of letter. Guess I'd rather just forget about it all and move on. I'm really looking forward to the new job starting on Tuesday. (But not so much the 7:15 am time I have to be at work. YIKES!)

Friday after work, I went to a nursery I've been wanting to visit since we moved here. I found a gorgeous plum-colored rose bush that has the most amazing smelling roses I've ever smelled. It was on sale, so I bought it. Nevermind the fact that I do not know the first thing about growing roses. Guess now's as good a time as any, right? After the nursery visit, I stopped at an orchard where you can pick your own strawberries. (Yes, I know strawberries grow in fields, not "orchards", but this strawberry field is actually behind an apple orchard.) I picked 10lbs of strawberries! I was planning on making several recipes this weekend and didn't know how many I'd need, so I just filled a flat full and it ended up being 10 lbs worth! That's ok though, because as soon as I got home, I made a batch of strawberry freezer jam, sliced some strawberries to freeze, made strawberry-banana bread, and made a pitcher of strawberry margaritas. We still have a few to eat just plain, but I think I did pretty well using up those strawberries.

Saturday, Jason and I went to Hagarstown (Maryland...about 30-45 minutes from our house) and went to Petsmart, Sam's, and Lowe's. I ended up buying 3 more rosebushes (red, white, and pink), 2 tomato plants, a jalepeno pepper plant, and a watermelon plant. Jason laughed when I told him I wanted to try to grow watermelons here...especially since I have more of a brown thumb than a green one, but I thought for $0.97, it couldn't hurt to try. We came home and planted the roses in the front yard right in front of the porch and they look really good.

Today, we got up and started cleaning. And I mean CLEANING! We've cleaned today like we're trying to get our security deposit back from a place we've rented. (That's the only time we really get down and deep-clean it seems. And we usually don't even get to enjoy it!) We moved everything out of the living room and dining room and vacuumed and steam cleaned the carpets. I took stuff out my spice drawer (it's huge and usually a wreck) and also from about 1/2 of the kitchen cabinets. I re-organized and cleaned and put everything back in. I wiped down all the counters, the fronts of the cabinets, the fridge (even the top, which only my dad usually can see), the stove...everything. Tomorrow, I need to scrub the kitchen floor and that room will be done. I think Jason will keep steam cleaning the floors so we can get the whole house done this weekend. Man, it smells good in our house!

But we didn't just clean all day. We also watered the plants, pruned my hibiscus, and went to the grocery store. We found some good sales and stocked up. We got a good price for a huge slab of ribs that we'll throw on the grill tomorrow. Guess I'll make some baked beans and some of my grandma's potato salad. (YUM! My favorite!) That's about it for us. Just spending a nice weekend around the house. Happy Memorial Day!

Oh, I SO want to post a copy of the letter I just wrote to my bosses! Whenever I think I can, I'll change the names (to protect the not-so-innocent) and post a copy of my letter on here. But just know that it is good. Very good, if I do say so myself. I finally get to have my say. And MAN does it feel good! Will post it when I can. Meanwhile, just know I'm eagerly awaiting my last day at the current job. 3 days!

Remember that job I was thinking about taking? The one that was a substitute job and couldn't guarantee me hours? Yeah, well I agonized over that one quite a bit and finally decided that there was NO WAY financially that I could take the job...even though I KNEW I would love it. So I called back and said that I just knew I would love to work there, but unfortunately I would have to turn it down and try to find something full-time. And guess what? She said "As a matter of fact, we just had an opening for a teacher in the 3-year-old room." Woohoo! I am now officially a teacher.

But as soon as I accepted that job and met my students (I went by to fill out my paperwork and just say hi.), I freaked out majorly. I have really only had one full semester worth of education classes. I have no kids of my own and really no idea what the heck I'm doing. But on the positive side, I do LOVE kids and know tons of fun activities and songs and craft projects to keep them busy. And the director and assistant director are there to help me get familiarized with the VA state standards for that age, so I guess there's really not too much to freak out about. But something about having 12 little people relying on me to teach them something every single day really just makes me feel like "Wait, do they know I'm not a certified teacher? Will they let just anyone do this? YIKES!"
Then I called my friend Jenni and my friend Kristin and also Michelle and Leslie and they all said I'd be fine. Agreed I'd do a great job and that I was perfect for that position. I hope they're right.

Thanks all of you, for the words of encouragement. Thank goodness I finally found a job that I think I will love, not just one that pays the bills.

As promised, here are some pics from our vacation. We had a great time and I can't believe it's time to go back to work tomorrow! We met Leslie, Terry, Mason and Teresa, Kyle, and Falon at the condo in Panama City. Somehow I don't have any pictures of the inside of the condo...probably because we weren't in it very much!

We hit the beach as often as we could (it was cloudy a couple days) and I'm happy to say none of us ended up looking like lobsters. We went on a cruise on a pirate ship called the Sea Dragon. Mason had a blast and I think all the adults did too! (Leslie, hope it's ok I put your picture on the internet.)

We went out to eat a few times...Jason and I ordered crabs (insert lame "got crabs" joke here.). Turns out, I'm pretty good at shelling crabs (shelling? is that the right word? Who knows.) Anyway, the food was GREAT! Some nights we cooked. I took some Pampered Chef stuff and cooked a PC dinner one night. I think (hope) everyone enjoyed it. There weren't any leftovers, so I guess that means it was a hit. :) Some nights we had Coronas on the patio and some margaritas too. We went for lots of walks on the beach and I got more shells than I know what to do with. I'm planning on making a few picture frames from some of them when I get a chance. Others I'll add to the shell collection we've got in a big glass jar in our bathroom window.

On the last full day there, we went swimming in the ocean and then came back to have cake for Mason's birthday. He is getting so big! And he is SO smart! :) Happy Birthday to you! (And after reading Jenni's latest post, I want to add Cha Cha Cha! I cracked up when I read that, Jenni! I'll never sing the song the same way again.)

And that's our Florida vacation for you. It was fun, but I'm sure glad to be home! But do I really have to go to work tomorrow?!


Couldn't resist a pic of the beautiful hibiscus 

Happy 4th Birthday, Mason!  

Mad Dog Mason and Phil the Captain of the Pirate Ship 

Beautiful sunset overlooking Shell Island 

Leslie and Terry on the Sea Dragon 

2 of the pirates on the pirate ship 

The Sea Dragon Pirate Ship 

Mason showing me his "shark tooth" 

View of the pool 

More of the view 

Our View  

We're back from the beach! :) We had a great time and hated to come home, but we've got to pay for that vacation somehow! We left the house a mess and have tons of laundry to do, so I've got to work on getting the house in order and then post some pics tomorrow. :)

I know this is like 4 days overdue, but what do you think about Monday's protest? I know some people I've talked to have some heated things to say about the subject, but me? I feel like I'm too uninformed to make a good decision either way, even though I do watch the news and read the papers and listen to the radio. But can we really rely that much on those sources for accurate reporting or does it all have some degree of "spin" on it for entertainment sake?

On this subject though, I will say that I agree with 2 things I've heard:

1. At one time, we were ALL immigrants to this country. Our laws, our ancestors, everything came from somewhere else. That being said, I do also think that

2. There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. There are immigration laws for a reason. If I went to another country and they said I needed to, I don't know, wear only red shoes. Well, then I would wear red shoes, you know? Because that's the law.

I think that's one of the problems with the world today. Everyone thinks they can do whatever they want if only their excuse is good enough. Killed somebody? Well, you're insane, so that's OK. Here in this country illegally? Well, you're escaping horrible conditions and trying to better yourself, so we'll just say OK. No! I think if someone wants to enter this country, good for them, but they should abide by the laws and follow the procedure to do so legally. But I also think that our lawmakers need to overhaul those laws and take a serious look at why so many people choose not to go that route.

Now, I don't know enough about immigration laws to suggest ways to make it better, but I do realize that something needs to be done. I wonder if President Bush feels the same way I do. I know there's a problem, but I have no idea how to fix it. Some people around here are so Anti-Bush, but I say to them, what would you suggest, then?

Happy Cinco De Mayo. Dos margaritas, por favor!

Yesterday, the job interview went well. I interviewed at a daycare. I think they liked the idea that I'm an Early Childhood Ed major (and will be again in the fall). The only bad thing is that the job is for a substitute position. They can't guarantee me any hours and I'd be on an as-needed basis. This summer it will turn into a full-time job temporarily while one of their teachers is out on maternity leave. AND the pay is $3.00 an hour less than I make now. So financially, there is no way I could take this job (that I think I would LOVE) unless I take another part-time job. I'm torn. I think I would really like to work there and I think they'd really like to have me there. The ages of the kids they care for is ages 0-5yrs and that is exactly where I'd like to work! But we really can't be without two paychecks right now, so I may have to turn this job down. That's unfortunate, too because it would be an excellent way to earn classroom experience and maybe even qualify as credit for my classes next semester. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm going to keep looking after we get back from vacation next week, but I'd love to hear any advice from you!

Did I tell you we're going on vacation? We're leaving tomorrow for a post-graduation trip for Leslie (my sis-in-law). We're driving to Panama City, FL and renting a condo for the week. We're SO excited! Hopefully, I'll get a tan and not a burn. (Yes, I've got sunscreen, but somehow I never remember to put it on more than once or twice. Get too busy having fun, I guess.) To quote one of the websites I read often: I'd like to be a more acceptable shade, meaning something between "ghost dipped in clorox" and "angry lobster." (That is courtesy of Beth over at www.sothefishsaid.com. She is funny, charming, a great mom and she writes far better than I do, so you should go visit.)

Anyway, I'll be sure to post lots of pics when I get back. We leave tomorrow and we should get back the 13th or 14th. I'm taking my laptop, so I'll post if I can.

P.S. Thanks for all the good wishes for the interview yesterday! Shawn, if I did not have a ton of packing to do, you'd have a dozen or so snickerdoodles on their way to you. :)

I've got a job interview today! Wish me luck! :) I'll post more tomorrow.