Moving On Up...

But not to the east side.

You may or may not have heard by now that I am moving. I applied, interviewed, and accepted a 3^rd grade teaching position in Ulysses, KS. Deciding to move was not very difficult for me. I’m tired of small towns and their cons. For example, last Friday, Bonnie and I began to tell people in Ransom that we are planning to move. We told mostly coworkers and employees. On Saturday every person I saw asked about my move-some people I didn’t even know. It took all weekend but I did get my first Facebook message today. This isn’t the first time rumors of my leaving have spread like butter on toast, (“wildfire” seemed too cliché) but it’s the first time they’ve been true. Not everything is bad though, I will miss many people I’ve met here, and there are a few whom I hope will remain good friends.

This move is a good change, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy to leave everything behind. Unfortunately, the bigger and better is further and further away. I love my family, and being over 6 hours away from my grandparents is going to hurt so much.

Timing is everything, and this seems to be my time to step out of my comfort zone and find out more about the world. I’m going from a town of 200 to a town of 6,000 and I’m nervous but ready.

On a positive note, if nothing else works out there… I’m going to live close to a Sonic and I’ll get happy hour everyday if I want. It’s easy to look at a glass half-full if it’s a large styrofoam cup of Dr. Pepper with extra extra vanilla and easy ice.

***VOTE*** For which direction you would like to move for your dream location.

PCH!

I have a guilty pleasure. It’s the Publisher’s Clearing House. I like getting their thick envelopes in the mail. It’s like a puzzle where you not only have to find the right spots for the pieces to go to, but you also have to search through cheesy advertisements to FIND the pieces. Of course the ads for unnecessary, ridiculous, over-priced items make the searching even more fun. Who wouldn’t want an American Flag Wind Chime for only four payments of $3.99? It’s “A lovely way to show your patriotic spirit!” and you can get a second one for only anther $4.00! (This makes me think that if they’re making money off of just $4, the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th payments for the first set of chimes are adding $11.97 towards MY next big win!)

After laughing at the terrible ads for “Orange and Cherry Slices,” “Mississippi Harmonica Co. & Harmonica Playing Made Easy Books,” and “Battery-operated toilet cleaning brushes,” I turn to my personalized notices from several people. Each person seems genuinely interested in what is best for me, and strongly encourages me to complete the entry forms and buy three items to get seven more items (I don’t want) for free! And of course I must do it all NOW. Not a second to lose. After all, I wouldn’t want my number to be called but not receive my $1,000,000 because I merely missed the deadline.

Like I said I enjoy PCH. They give me a reason to smile at least once a week, and it’s worth the 40-something cent stamp (is it 44 cents? I can’t remember right now) because I’ll be guaranteed to have more entertainment soon. Please don’t think that I EXPECT to win. And even though they have printed off directions from the flower shop to my house (with the wrong directions) I have no intention of actually being presented with a whole bunch of flowers, balloons, and a giant check. But if that even does happen, please pray that I will be wearing pants when they surprise me.

My favorite prize was the $1,000,000 a day, everyday, for the rest of my life. Sometimes I discuss my options with my sister. Of course I can think of many churches, shelters, and non-profit organizations to receive my $100,000 a day donation. Maybe I’ll create a rotating list. Then I’ll be paying off all of my debts. Good-bye student loans and car payments! By the end of the week I’d be $7,000,000 richer, and I’d even pay my full taxes on it – you’re welcome United States Treasury. I’d pay for my friend’s wedding, my sister’s daycare, a couple of cars for the other two sisters, completely re-do my parent’s house, and have the absolute BEST classroom parties EVER! But don’t expect to be a “long-lost” relative coming to bug me for my newly acquired money. I’ll be generous, but not a push over, and if you’re not on my Christmas Card list now, you probably won’t be on my give-away list then.

This was a long sarcastic blog that I hope made you laugh a bit. Now have a great day, and enjoy life!

With Everything On My Plate, Why Am I Not Hungry?

I have a LOT going on in the next few weeks: Easter egg dying, student birthday party, Easter egg hunt, Easter traveling (which means Easter packing), hair appointment, nephews birthday, grandma's birthday, personal day in Kansas City (which means planning for personal day, and personal day packing) Mother's Day weekend plans (which means MORE packing) Elementary School Field Day Fiascos, district fiascos in general, music concert practice, music concert, class play, class awards and assembly, field trip, last day of school, packing my classroom for the move...

With all that going on - and more will be added I'm sure- I feel restless and almost bored. Yes, there's tons of stress going on in my life right now. I have many things I'm worried about, most of which I can't share with you quite yet. No, I'm not completely caught up on my work and organized for what's going to happen. I feel more and more behind everyday.

With everything going on, why am I feeling so gosh darn blah?

I try not to use my blog as a venting tool, and I usually focus on the positives in life, and I'm sorry that this post is teetering on the negative side of things. Please don't disregard my blog, I'm sure I'll be much more Resplendent :) mood next time.

On a happier-more fun-note, I have a new poll at the top of my page so please vote for your favorite part of Easter.

Results from the last poll: 5 people chose Thunderstorms as their favorite part of Spring and 1 person chose blooming flowers.

New Design, New Poll

It's Spring, and along with the cleaning comes the rearranging. I rearranged my blog and tried to make it feel cleaner and more Spring-like. I added a weekly poll at the top of the page. So be sure to vote for your favorite thing about Spring!

Here to Receive The World's Best Aunt Award... ME!

To be honest, I wasn't exactly looking forward to babysitting my nephew this weekend.  It's my sister and her husband's 5th anniversary and they're celebrating with a weekend away and they asked me to watch their 4 year old son Quinlin.

I left right after school and made it to Kinsley a little after 5 just in time to get some instructions and let the parents head out the door for a massage. It was a good trial run and we had fun playing soccer outside and when mom and dad got home we ate pizza and watched some TV together.

This morning, mom and dad left and now it's Q and I until tomorrow afternoon. Today I spent the day walking up and down the alley while he rode his four-wheeler making about every single dog in Kinsley bark for about 30 minutes. We then rode our bikes around the block (because we didn't wan't to get lost) before heading to the park. We found the park pretty much by luck and Q had a great time playing with preschool classmate Casen (rhymes with Jason and a very cool name) before we had to make a quick trip home to bandage a bleeding wound. We patched it up and then went back to the park and played with a cute little fellow by the name of Sam.

My favorite part of the evening was getting ready for dinner. I had plans to make chicken & rice casserole, but Q wasn't too sure about it. Chicken looks and tastes like snakes and rice looks like baby worms. Appetizing, right? Fortunately he changed his mind and decided that it "actually tastes good!" In fact his direct quote was, "The next time you come here you have to make this."Basically I scored the Best Aunt of the Year Award.

Bed time was smooth sailing. After an ice cream cone and an obscene amount toothpaste he went to bed by 8:30 and he's completely conked out right now. I'm glad he's worn out, I'm hoping it means I won't have to wake up at 7 tomorrow morning.

Letter To March

Dear March,

You are a crazy month. Of course I never mind the snow, even during Spring Break, and the strange hail/rain storm the other day, even the chilly fog and the light covering of ice on my windshield this morning was fine. In fact, I don't have any complaints about you weather-wise. Keep up the good work and don't let global warming get you down.

I do however wonder if you could somehow make it possible to keep my work load simple. Not that I don't want to work, just the craziness of spring makes my life so busy. So many things seem to pile on the last 9 weeks of school, and we still have 8 more to go. Between assessments and field trips and meetings and field days and requisition forms and cleaning and babysitting and teaching and everything else that just hasn't appeared on my calendar yet, I'm exhausted.

March, please don't take this letter personally, as a month I like you and I'm sure we can continue our friendly relationship. You may pass this message on to April and May if you please. I'll contact June and July if I need to.

Yours truly,
Rebecca

Abandon Kansas Take 2

For the second (school) night in a row I rocked my socks off to the amazing sounds of Swimming With Dolphins and Abandon Kansas. This time in Hays, KS. It was the same show as Tuesdays in Wichita, but the energy was even more amazing. Both groups seemed to be more comfortable with their sets and more in the "tour-mode" than before. I only wish I could be traveling to Boulder, Colorado with them again tonight. It made me wish I was on Spring Break this week.

Some pictures from last night.

Swimming With Dolphins

Abandon Kansas

This is possibly my favorite picture of the night, I just wish it wasn't so blurry.