Hi guys!

I need more books for the reading library in my 4th grade classroom! If you have any children's chapter books laying around that you or your kids will never read again, please donate them! I'm specifically looking for books 4-6th grade but any books are fine. Post here if you have any and I'll figure out a way to get them from you. Thanks so much!

Note: I do not need the Twilight books (I don't even want to go there with 4th graders even though they are 4th grade reading difficulty) or any more boxcar children books. :)

I signed a contract yesterday! I will be teaching 4th grade in Glendale starting Jan 7th. :) WOOT!

So... I am still unemployed. Unsurprising.

Things are looking up though! I had a GREAT day at Disneyland with some friends yesterday. I haven't been in months and didn't realize how much I missed living 10 min away. It's all decorated for Halloween and super fun. I got SOAKED on Splash Mountain. Seriously. Completely wet from head to toe. I looked like I had been thrown in a pond. That's what I get for sitting in the front seat on a very front heavy log. Yummy ice cream and pasta was had! OH! And I got level 5 on Astro Blasters! WOOT!

I have a job interview on Monday. It's in Glendale which would be SWEET! I'd be very sad to leave Long Beach and our really nice apartment, but we'd be much closer to many many friends and family. I have no idea how many people they are interviewing but keep your fingers crossed for me.... again!

German Shepherd = The Perfectionist

Doggedly dedicated to getting the job done, you don't let silly little distractions get in the way of putting in a full day's work. And after you come home, chowing down on a little grub and taking a little catnap is all it takes to get you up and at 'em for round two, whatever that may entail. Your dogma emphasizes the importance of hard work, and you swim laps around your dog-paddling, time-wasting co-workers. Your cleverness leads to you often being entrusted with some pretty important tasks, which you are always more than happy to sink your canines into. You really dig being outdoors and love a bit of exercise, but you draw the line at the ridiculous stuff, choosing a game of beach volleyball over Pilates in the park any day.

Exactly one week from today I will be teaching. Fear is creeping in and I'm having trouble sleeping. I know it sounds dumb. It's something I am GREAT at and have worked for years to do. Still it's such a huge responsibility. I guess fear is a bad description for it. It's more like the mix of fear and excitement that you get before the opening night of a big show. Once you actually get out there and start doing the scene you're fine. I think it will be the same for me.

To cope with my fear I'm becoming more obsessive then usual. I read the entire Twilight Saga in two days and after I finished that I watched a whole season of Dexter on demand (very neat show btw but hard to watch at times). Lucky for me a Hottie I know lent me her kids for Thursday afternoon and Friday. That kept my mind off things.

I should be lesson planning and such things but my boss has made it clear that she wants our grade to plan as a team - thus my hands are tied until I have "team" time this next week. It frustrates me. My classroom is already one of the best ones in the school with all the decorating I have done. I even painted a huge mural on one of the windows with poster paint so that it looks like stained glass. I'm very proud of it but there isn't really much left to do there.

One thing is funny. Since my school is under construction we are using port-a-potties right now. This is rather humiliating to my boss who had hoped they would be gone before the new staff came in. She kept apologizing when I was there the first day and I kept explaining that they didn't bother me.

My first thought when I finally used one? "WOW It's a flushy! It has a sink and everything in here! NICE!"

I'm such a faire person. Now I just have to work on not calling it a Priv.

So this is it! Our last night in the old apartment! Tomorrow we will sleep in our new place! SOOOOO HAPPY!

All our stuff is over there and the furniture is pretty much set up where it should be. We got some lovely new pieces from TheBoggard's storage unit. We also now have a full adult set of (ugly) dishes. We will spend this weekend unpacking and improving! I will take pictures as soon as everything isn't covered with boxes.

We are looking for these items:
A light wood TV stand
A pretty stool that looks like it could go with a nice vanity
One of those leaning/tiered shelf units that is light wood
A light wood coffee table
Large DVD holders - we have a LOT of DVDs - also light wood

If you have these lying around and would be willing to get rid of them let me know!

WE GOT THE APARTMENT!!! I'm very excited! My emotions are really really nuts today. So many ups and downs. I'm sobbing and jumping around at the same time.

Thanks for everyone's good vibes and thoughts. You are all the best! :)

So we finally got to see the inside of the wonderful apartment I have been calling about for a month.  It's just as wonderful as I hoped it would be. Really really perfect. We are filling out the applications tonight and will fax them to the owner in the morning. The Boggard has less then ideal credit so hopefully mine will be good enough for us to be approved. They seemed to really like us so maybe it will work out.

All your crossed fingers worked wonders with my job (I found out over 300 people applied for the position btw !!) so if you don't mind crossing them for this we'd appreciate it.

About how long does it usually take to hear back from landlords after an application anyway?

I GOT THE JOB!!! I GOT THE JOB!!!! I GOT THE JOB I WANTED!!! I GOT THE JOB!!!! *HAPPY DANCE*

I would be calling lots of people right now but its almost 1am. I might call some people anyways!

I got an email from the Long Beach school where I want to work. They spoke with one of my references (who sang my praises to no end, bless her heart!) and are waiting to hear back from two more. The school director said  "It looks good for you"!! WOOT! I am very excited!

Keep your fingers crossed! I might need help looking for a place near Long Beach before September!

Don't forget! I'm riding in the Tour de Cure in June! I have less then a month to finish collecting donations! Help us fight diabetes!

You can donate to my ride HERE

Thank you to everyone who already donated to team KEEPS ME FEETS! As a team we have already reached 37% of our goal fund raising amount - and we still have a month to go! KEEP THE SUPPORT COMING! You guys rock!

From the director of the school in Long Beach that I interviewed for (and my #1 job choice at the moment).

"Dear Ms. Hughes,
I was very impressed with your lesson, as I told you. I hope to find time this week to do a referencecheck on the applicants who are at this part of the application process. If I don't get back to you in a week e-mail me."

What do you think? I think it's good news! At least they are keeping me in the loop!

Still no word from the job.  Schools can take up to a few weeks I hear. I'm stressed. 

So.... no word yet about the job. It's not realistic to expect them to call already but I WANTED them to call by now. I'm not sure if they have called my references yet or anything. So... since I didn't get called to sub today I am turning my nervous energy to making my apartment livable again. Throughout my final student teaching and faire it turned more into a storage facility and a place to sleep rather then a home. So today I'm cleaning and organizing... and checking my email every 2 seconds. Still no word since I started to type this journal entry btw.

My biggest worry is that I am expecting to hear back from another job in Irvine this week. She told me I was a front runner and that she'd get back to me by Friday. I really want the Long Beach job though. There is more then 12k difference in pay but with the teaching job market like it is right now I'd be lucky to get EITHER job. I'm afraid to turn anything down. Do I sign the first contract that comes in? Do I ask for a few days to go over the contract and then hope the Long Beach job calls me? Do I call Long Beach and demand they hire me today like I really want to?!?!

*sigh*

All of this is assuming I get any offers at all of course. Maybe another load of laundry will distract me.

Ok yeah faire is over. Hot. Great. Fun. Whatever - more on that later!

The big news for today is that I had a second job interview!! I REALLY WANT this job. I've interviewed for 5 different schools but this one I am simply in love with.... plus they pay GREAT. My first interview was Friday and they really liked me so I came back today to teach a lesson for them. They really liked it and said I "hit it out of the park" and that they would be checking my references. :) I think at this point it's just a matter of the other people they are interviewing not doing as well as I did.

Keep your fingers crossed! I'd love to get this job!

Two of my hobbies collide. Very funny!

Today is DONE DAY! I am officially DONE with all the work I need to do for my teaching credential. DONE! FINISHED! COMPLETE!

There are no words to express my joy. The even better news? I have a job interview in about an hour. WOOT!

Celebrations will commence this weekend. For the first time in FOREVER I won't have any homework to do.... well except for the prep for my job interviews next week. And all the faire stuff I need to catch up on. And practicing the mandolin for the first time in months. And cleaning my apartment.. And.....

Doh.

Dress rehearsal went really well. All of our new songs seemed to be hits!! I'm REALLY excited for this season. We have a ton of new stuff, our shows are at good times AND I can totally see a huge improvement on my mando playing from last year! WOOT! Now if I could just find the time to memorize the chords for the new songs everything would be perfect.....