(Third - and final, please God) First Day of Class

This is what I feel like right now.

Except my pj's are red and I'm not nearly that cute (or furry).

I walked right in the door tonight and downed a glass of wine.  And then another.  I'm now floating around the living room.

Are you aware that kids have like, endless energy?  Some observations:

**Those bracelets I got to cover the tattoo are an example of my brilliance.  Turns out some of the kids I work with one-on-one have disabilities and I'm already learning sign language.  I now know the signs for "no," "work," "shower," "bath," "first," "run," "wait" and "bathroom."  Not bad for my first day.

**I love not being chained to a desk and computer.  I love walking around for five hours each morning.

**Kids ask the same questions over and over.  Where's the off switch?  I just want to say, "No, you can't go to the bathroom again BUT we can talk about Willa Cather's use of Nature/Wilderness in her frontier literature, ok?"

Calgon, take me away.

**The introverts are going to have to get used to going straight from elementary school to grad school.  On another note, I have a feeling I nailed my first paper.  Hallelujah.

**This job transition is going to take me a while.  On my way home tonight I had a slight identity crisis that led to a tearful grocery run.  Change is hard for me.  Even good stress is still stress, and all that.  It takes me a while to adjust.

Now it is snowing outside and they are calling for anywhere from 4-8 inches tomorrow, so I'm not even sure if I'll have school.  All things considered?  I don't miss my old job.

Wish me luck, though!

(Second) First Day of Class

Well look who decided to join us back in the ole U.S. of A.  Mr. World Traveler himself.

Look at the German Harry!

In other news I started my tutoring gigs today.  Good Lord in Heaven, first graders are exhausting.  Cute, though.  Molding little minds.

I went straight from work to Target in order to get the essentials.

Wine in a box!  We'll see if it's any good.  We'll see pretty quickly.  :)

Things are picking up over here at dawrighthouse.  Yesterday I wrote my first grad paper.  Tomorrow I start work at the K-8 school.  It's all happening.

A Watched Pot Never Boils

Sorry, peeps, no dose of ridiculous for you today.  G thought it would be fun to go flitting off to Germany while leaving me as a single parent to the ingrate.  So you'll have to tune in for his musings next week.  You're stuck with me!  Mwahahahahaha!

Another snowy (cozy) day in Denver.

Lucy and I have been keeping ourselves occupied with homework, tutoring prep (I have some gigs!), chores, and napping.

My view when I read on the couch.

My view when I read on the loveseat.

Oh.  And with supper club, of course.  This was THE HIT last night.  For the recipe, go here (shameless plug just deal with it).

Chocolate Truffle Heavenly Deliciousness

I only have a day left of work in my current job.  It feels like a million years since I gave my two weeks notice.  As much as I appreciate the many good things in my current position, I'm chomping at the bit to move forward, and time is such a funny thing.  I start my new job later this week and it feels like it will never get here. 

Nat King Cole and I were talking about my job changes the other day, and she said, "this has all happened so fast!"  I was like, speak for yourself, honey.  It's been a drag over on my end.

I get what she's saying, because in the grand scheme of things, considering that it has historically taken me several months at least to find a new job, this recent experience has been a whirlwind.  But for me, it's been a long time coming, mainly because I had already been considering it for many months before I made the decision and wrote about it here...

So!  On to new things!  Here's hoping I can deal with youngsters.  Something tells me they're most likely more mature than many adults I've worked with.  :)

Happy Weekend, Peeps

What else is there to say?  It was a doozie of a day.

That rhymes.

I got my hair done.  Then went to the store for Supper Club ingredients for tomorrow.  Then inhaled Chipotle.  Then tried to cancel it out by going running.  (I need an intervention.)

G checked on our (other) house & hung out with C-peep all day.

Lucy Loo - who is now two - laid around.
{what else is new}
{that rhymes too}

Now I'm foam rolling and watching re-runs of The Big Bang Theory while Lucy smacks her hay and looks on, disinterestedly.  If it were Conan, she would be all.  over.  it.

This basically amounts to procrastination.  Time to bond with Ms. Cather and her critics.  And my pillows and quilts. 

Mmmmmmm, Saturday.

TGIF, people!

Bach'n It

G is swamped with work meetings these days so Lucy and I have been bach'n it (that's short for 'bachelor' as in single as in what Lucy and I are these days).  Unencumbered.  Livin' it up, etc.

Coping Mechanism (subject of a future post).

My vision from the couch while doing homework.

She's getting geared up to watch Conan.  No joke.  Every night.

Another snow day.  Starting next week I'll have to actually have to drive in this to go to work.

This is how lazy bug spends her snow days.

When G is busy I'm the one who has to clean her cage.  I'm very allergic to her hay.  Turns out the masks we got for Singapore really come in handy!  No more allergy attacks here!

In case you're wondering, yes those are my pj's, and yes I wear them constantly.  I'm incapable of wearing real clothes in the house.  At least they're cute.

Next Up!

First Day of Class

Some observations:

(1)  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  Just gorgeous.

This photo wasn't taken today but it's pretty nonetheless.  Just imagine this shot with way more sunshine.

(2)  Walking in the middle of campus with all the other students made me feel approximately 1,000 years old.

(3)  Because of my OCD tendencies, I forced G to scout out the class building with me last week.  So I wouldn't be nervous about finding the building today.  Turns out I should have forced him into finding the classroom as well, because it's located in a labyrinth.  I had to make like 4 laps around the place before I found where I was going.

(4)  When I finally huffed my way into the room, I needed to make sure I was in the right place, so I leaned over and asked the girl next to me if this was the Willa Cather class.  She didn't even look at me.  No response whatsoever.  Then I noticed she had earphones in.  I am the biggest dork alive.

(5)  Again with the feeling like a geriatric.  Just pass the Metamucil already.

(6)  The class is a combination of undergrads and grads.  This is great because compared to the undergrads I feel like a genius.  Someone with my life put together and a few years of adulthood under my belt.  However, this whole sharing-the-class-with-them sucks because we share a syllabus and I see exactly how much more work I have to do than them.  **sigh**

(7)  It was with great hesitation that I pulled out my notebook in order to take notes.  My old school notebook, you know, not the electronic kind.  As I hauled it out of my oversized purse, it occurred to me that I shouldn't have picked the color pink.  I fully expected all the other students to use laptops but most didn't.  Well, yet.  I found out many of them downloaded the texts onto their Kindles.  Kids these days.

Well, peeps, I'd love to make this post longer.  But I have homework to do!  Like, loads of it!  Cue the 75 heart attacks...

The Weekly Dose of Ridiculous

We're going to the small screen this week, for a commercial that I find totally ridiculous.  If you haven't seen it, here it is:

The person in this video wakes up in Los Angeles--after the sun has already come up--to find that she (I'm assuming from the way her hands look) is about to be late for her flight.  She frantically packs, impatiently mashes the elevator buttons, and gets in a cab.  She runs through the airport, relying on her phone to tell her what gate to go to, and is (apparently, since the jetway is empty) the last person--by several minutes--to board the aircraft (don't you just love those people?).

She then promptly falls asleep, and wakes up to discover she's the last person on the plane (guess she didn't learn her lesson from the night before).  As she struggles towards baggage claim, her phone tells her what belt to go to for her bag, and then we see her collapsing into bed at what we assume is her house (while it's still light outside).  At the end of the commercial, she's using her phone to plan her next trip.

I'm probably going to sound like a curmudgeon here, but I think a little prior planning on this woman's part would go a long way.  Why is she relying on a phone app to wake her up and let her know that her flight leaves in two hours?  What about traffic, security delays, etc?  What if your phone doesn't get the update for your gate/baggage claim/departure time?  (I've received messages before while traveling that my gate had changed--AFTER I landed at my destination). And then, at the end of the commercial, we see her planning her next trip--where she will (presumably) go through the same process.

All of this for a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle.  This is at most a 3-hour flight, that takes off and lands in daylight hours in this commercial (in case you couldn't see it at the beginning, when she got the reminder, it said LAX - SEA).  Not like she's crossing an ocean or the International Date Line.

We see a commercial like this and laugh at this bumbler, but the truth is there really ARE people like this out there, scrambling through life at the last minute with their hair on fire.  Showcasing their behavior, and basically saying there's an app for laziness and poor planning is, well...ridiculous.

Until next time, dear readers...please show up on time for your flights.

It's Getting Real (+ books)

Proof that it's getting real:

(1)  I paid my tuition for the Spring semester.  I guess I have to actually go to class and write papers and try to embed myself into the English department so they'll hire me to teach undergrad classes next semester.  So that bunny mama can get a paycheck and afford to like, eat.

Someone pass me the fire water to put in my coffee.

Source

G and I are trekking to campus today to make sure I know where my class is this week.  Turns out I'm not nearly as familiar with campus when I'm not living on it!

(2)  One thing I'm looking forward to about my job at the K-8 school is being able to move around all day.  Goodbye, desk!  Adios, computer!  Phone con?  What's that?  In preparation for all that movement, I've ditched my work skirts and headed to good ole Ross to buy some slacks.  Gotta love a place where you can get a nice pair of pants for like $9.

See those cuff bracelets?  That's my fantastic find from the Stock Show yesterday.  It occurs to me that covering up the tattoo from little eyes is a good idea.  I hate bracelets and probably should have thought about that before getting the tattoo but you only live once and all that.

(3)  I also met with our accountant in order to get ahead of all of these upcoming financial changes.  Are rabbits deductable?  How about the mileage to and from hiking places on the weekends?  That sort of thing.  I even brought my own paper bag to breathe into during the appointment.

-----------------------------------------------------------
And now for what is quite possibly the last of the frequent books reviews.  School starts this week and I'm not quite sure how the ole "spare time" concept is going to pan out at DaWrighthouse.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Yet another fantastic John Green book, Looking for Alaska.  This is the story of high-schooler, "Pudge," who leaves his Florida hometown to attend a private high school in Alabama, in search of The Great Perhaps.  He finds it, and tons of adventure, in his new roommate and their feisty female friend, Alaska Young.  This is a pseudo coming of age tale, full of sardonic humor, high school pranks, and life lessons.

I have recommended John Green before, and I think you should read this one as well.  This one is also an award winner in young adult literature.  But I just have to say one thing.  Apparently this book is on many high school reading lists and I understand why.  It is written very well and raises many questions about life, our purpose, what kind of person to be, how to face (and overcome) challenges, etc.  But - and I'm going to sound like a prude here - there is one sexual scene that would have burned out my eyeballs as a high school student.  I simply cannot imagine a bunch of 16-year olds discussing this with their teacher.

I think John Green is a superb writer and I'm in the process of getting his other works that I haven't read.  His books are very appropriate for young readers and the unique challenges they face as they leave childhood behind and become adults.  That said, you read them first, then decide if you want the youngsters in your life exposed to this stuff yet...or if they should wait a couple of years.

The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve

Have you read any Anita Shreve books?  Apparently she has published several.  I've been holding on to The Pilot's Wife for years now, and recently felt like reading it.  (I make decisions about what book to read based solely on what I'm in the mood for at that point in time.  I'm wondering how this is going to play out in school, what with assigned homework and such.)  It's the tale of a woman who learns that her husband's international flight exploded.  As she comes to terms with her feelings, and tries to hold her family together, new facts reveal themselves causing her to question how well we ever know anyone, particularly those closest to us.

I would recommend this book for sure; it is a page turner and has me wanting to read more stuff by Shreve.  Any recommendations?

P.S. Don't read it on a plane.  Just sayin'.

Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses*

Today we kicked off winter in Denver (a lovely 55 degrees) in style: at the National Western Stock Show!  More denim and rhinestones than you will ever again see in the same place.  (Lest you think I'm mocking, this is where I tell you that I'm from Arkansas and grew up riding horses.)

There is no place on earth quite like a stock show for the people watching.  This man, bless him, had such skinny legs that even his size 0 Wranglers were fallin' off him.

My pants, on the other hand, were fitting me a little too well, thanks to food like this...

...and this...

...and this...

 

We also love love love to watch the cattle judging, and to just hang out with them in general.  I can't explain why except to say that they are totes adorbs.  I think they're so cute I just want to love on them all day, if only they weren't bigger than my SUV.

G is very sensitive and says things like, "Dang, that's a lot of hamburgers."

We weren't able to go to the rodeo this time - we missed out on the tickets which was a major buzzkill.  Next year we are totally going to buy the tickets in advance and make sure we get good seats.

Although the stock show is tons of fun for us, we realize it is serious business for thousands of people, from several states and even overseas.  As we were walking around the stock yard, I overheard two men in a hushed conversation saying, "It's a good cow, but is it a great cow?  Is it an investment?"  That was sobering.  These people farm the land and raise animals that end up on many of our dinner tables, and from what I could see, they are doing their jobs in a respectable manner.

I'll raise a fried Twinkie in honor of that.

* This song is like a country music anthem.  It was written by Paul Nelson and Gene Nelson, and recorded by Kathy Mattea.  If you listen to it you will never - ever - get it out of your head.

TGIF, people!

Goodbye 9 to 5

I resigned from my job yesterday.  T minus 2 weeks and counting.  It was time.  In all honesty, it was past time.

A Shark Cage in Hawaii.  This was a wonderful vacation after a horrific season at work and in life.

The short story is that things have been changing with my job since I moved to Denver.  Our office here was supposed to grow and it didn't.  My role was supposed to flourish and it didn't.  I found myself, through the course of events, farther and farther away from my talents and skills.  I found myself in a tight professional corner not of my choosing, full of ridiculous deadlines and bad office communication and an overall hopeless vibe.

At Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.  Because of my job, we were able to take the trip of a lifetime to South Africa.

This decision has been about a year in the making, but it has completely dominated the past few months.  It has been a season of tears and hand wringing and vacation planning and mountain climbing and a hundred thousand passionate conversations with G.  We have evaluated our lifestyles and our goals and taken a hard look at our future.  Because of this decision, that future looks very different than we expected.

One of my favorite pictures.  After I conquered that shark cage.

I'm saying goodbye to the 9 to 5 and hello to the 24/7.

Because of taking grad classes (and hopefully teaching undergrad classes in the coming months), I was not able to look for a traditional corporate job.  This, as it turns out, is a blessing.  Instead of finding one job, I have taken on many.  I have taken on some gigs as a private tutor, and essay reviewer, and as my "day job" I have been hired to work as an onsite tutor and teaching assistant at a local school.  Five hours a day, grades K-8.

I would never in a million years have thought I would work with younger kids.  My background is in education, but it's more of the adult variety.  However, I had a few interviews with peeps at this school and just saw myself there.  It fit and it was right and they solidified my job yesterday!  My new boss and I were discussing my interviews and she said I was their top candidate and she could tell I would be a good fit because I struck her as being "very methodical."  I was like, lady, you have no idea.  But it turns out a lot of my characteristics will be helpful to young students in this type of structured learning environment (it is a liberal arts charter school). 

So here's to molding little minds.

Up until yesterday, I alternated between completely freaking out and being genuinely excited about these changes.  Now that I have resigned, the freaking out is over.  It's kind of too late for that, once you give your employer the news.

Here's hoping we don't end up in the poor house.  (Please send us rabbit food and wine.)

Here's hoping grad school is as great as I remember.  (I'll be sending you my papers for your review.)

Here's to the grand 2014 vacation we have planned.  (More to come soon!)

Here's to The Next Chapter.

Goodbye, 9 to 5.  It's been real.  It's been fun.  It ain't been real fun.

Nightlife at Dawrighthouse!

This sums up my entire state of mind these days:

My mentality alternates between everything is going to be okay! and my life is a total failure and I have no idea what I'm doing! 

It's like, so fun.

I have had so much going on this week that I am zonked.  Dead on my feet.  But the bonus of getting up insanely early is getting to see sunrises like this one.

No filter on that puppy!  I <3 CO.

Last night I decided to take a picture so that I can show you Lucy's new habit.  A couple of times on week nights, we'll leave the TV on Big Bang Theory re-runs until Conan comes on.  We have taken to watching his intro (he is so funny!) and then turning everything off so I can read and G can play games or whatever.

Well guess who loves her some Conan?  This one!

See her?  In the middle/left of the screen.  She adores Conan!

No joke - every night before his show comes on, she situates herself by the fireplace.  And then watches it.  Maybe she does have a sense of humor after all!

This is the exciting life we lead.  Why do you think I post book reviews all the time?  :)