The Apartment * The Job * The Kids * The Hubby

The Apartment: is great. The best self-funded place we have ever lived in since tying the knot. It isn't perfect, but I am ridiculously happy with it, especially after hearing about a teenage "shooter" a block away from a townhouse we had been looking at and wanting(and almost got except the leasing guy went out of town and we couldn't get a hold of him and didn't want to wait). The area down here in South Ogden is much safer, prettier, and out-of-the-way without being way out. Dallas and Chelane are sharing a room (and a bed... it is a full), the Ward has many old people and young couples (I really love having "old people" wards, they have so much more experience and a much better perspective on life), and there are many kids in the apartment complex. I am sure pictures will come shortly.

The Job: is great. I really enjoy teaching but I get WAY stressed out over all the things I need to do. It isn't helping that about a quarter of my Algebra students do not have books (we discovered this a few days before the school year started, the wrong books had been ordered over the summer; we fixed it but the correct books are on back-order) so I am making worksheets for everything lately. Also, it is Parent-Teacher Conference this week so grades need to be in and I get to stay at the school until 8pm on Thursday (yay, me!).

I am still not very organized either. I feel like I am mostly treading water and only making little progress at a time, but it still is progress. I have to keep myself from thinking too long term (of all the things I need to do) or I REALLY freak out. Poor Cam has to deal with it all; I think my moods may have been worse than when I was pregnant. Dallas tells me to "calm down" and asks me if I am OK quite a bit. I have been having a little depression, but I think it is just tied to the new-working-Mom thing. I believe this would be all easier it I knew the kids weren't at home waiting for me to come home. Also, since I do teach math, there are always students who want to stay after because they do not understand something (especially if they missed class), which isn't conducive to the getting-things-done-quickly-at-school-in-order-to-get-home-early desires I have.

However, I did find that the school has a grant for teachers with Math and/or Science licenses: $30/hr for after contracted time spent with tutor students. I already have over seven hours since the beginning of the school-year. It is like having another part-time job.

I do love teaching and I do love math.

The Kids: are great!
Dallas: Dallas' speech is getting better. He talked to his "Nana" on the phone a few weeks ago and she could understand what he was saying without a translator. He is getting better at correcting himself and mimicking correct speech. He is also a puzzle whiz. He doesn't sit still for many things but puzzles, movies, and learning new things he does. The kid is a sponge!

He likes to help in the kitchen: measuring, baking, cleaning. His favorite is to crack eggs and he does so masterfully. You will see a video soon.

We also have a pretty awesome Children's Museum here (I bought a family membership the first week we were here) and we frequent it often (every Friday at least). Aside from there very cool exhibits that keep Dallas and Chelane busy, they have a "step on stage" program and hold a "partici-play" a few times everyday. At these "partici-plays" the kids get to act out parts while a museum employee narrates a story. Dallas loves them; Chelane has a hard time sitting through them. We have some pictures of these as well.

Chelane has started saying three word phrases like: "sit on you" and "stop it, Dallas" all very clearly. She is among the youngest in nursery at church (nursery ages are 15-36+ months and she is only 23 months) but she is almost the tallest (the only child that beats her is over 3 years old). She asked to use the potty the other night and actually went... we are thinking maybe trying to potty train her during my break in October. We haven't decided yet. She is more attached to her binky than ever. She has taken to hiding under the kitchen sink and running away from you when you call. What can I say? She is two.

The Hubby: Cam didn't start school this semester. We didn't realize that tuition was due so soon (which I should have remembered from going to college) and we didn't have all the necessary things to apply for residency yet. While we probably would have been refunded the extra tuition cost, we didn't have the money to front it all right then and were still trying to adjust. So Cam decided to take the time off. He was initially looking for a job, perhaps back at his old work, but we decided against it. The hours wouldn't work well for school and it is a solid 40 minutes away (in good traffic).

He is still looking into other part-time-in-the-evening possibilities, but he is being the stay-at-home daddy for now. During the first week he commented, "Chasing after the kids all day is tiring." Really? I mentioned that if you try to get a schedule going it works better than just trying to keep them out of mischief all day. They are usually car-less during the day so that makes doing things outside the home tough. Right now he and Dallas are doing a 100 piece astronaut puzzle.


An older gentleman sat next to me and the kids in the pew at church(Cam went home a little early with backpain). Chelane sat on his lap from time to time. He said it took him back to 50 years ago when his kids were that little. I know I will cherish these days. Working makes me miss being home. I would change places with Cam in a heartbeat.

Trepidation

I am getting a little antsy about the move and the up-coming teaching job. A few justification for this feeling:

We still have no housing nailed down. We did submit an application today (we got to fax 18 pages to Utah, so fun), so barring something the apartment complex doesn't like (such as the lack of money in the bank or the our inconsistent employment for the last 18 months), early next week, we will have an apartment reserved for us .

We haven't finished packing yet. I feel what is left can't be packed until the last minute, it being clothes, some toys, and toiletries. And I am sure that will come back to bite me.

On the job front, I still have no idea what subject I will be teaching. Well, duh, it will be math, but there are many subcategories there, and Algebra is very different from basic math or geometry or... you get the picture.

I will not be able to be at the school (to prep my room, meet any teachers, etc.) until the start of the teacher preparation week. And I just got the schedule for previously mentioned week, and it is a doozy. On top of all that, it appears I will be working a few evenings that week; student orientation and all that.

Don't let me fool you, I am still very tickled that: I HAVE a job (doing something I love to boot), we will have money, Cam will be able to go to school, and we don't have to put the kids in child-care to do any of it.

I need to find a way to keep this positive attitude going because I KNOW sooner or later (and my bet is "sooner") the stress will get the best of me...



Oh, the apartment is not 3 blocks from a Costa Vida... can I tell you how happy this makes me? Too late, I already told you :)

My Name is Kassie and I have a problem...

I buy way too many toys for my kids at clearance sales... Seriously. Kmart and Targets seasonal toy clearances kill me. I don't really spend too much but I LOVE going there for birthday/Christmas presents. However, we were pretty set for said holidays after the LAST clearance sale, but I still went to another one today and Target hasn't even done their summer clearance sale yet. I can't miss Target's sale...

Today I went shopping at Kmart in Kent, who is having their "additional 50% off clearance toys sale", but I brought the kids with me, which I am deciding is not a good idea. The one purchase I am super happy about was a pack of 10 transformers, all about the size of matchbox cars, that actually do transform (and some rather complexly). But Dallas saw them and LOVES them; so of course they were taken out of the box and "transformed" within a half hour of returning home. So much for Christmas and Birthday presents.

I should probably just take the other three things I bought at Kmart back, especially if I am going to hit the Target sale coming up in the next few weeks...

No Children in Student Housing?

Cam received an email assigning us to out campus housing on Thursday. Also in the email was a "reminder" that children were not allowed in married housing... say wha?!

I badgered Cam into making an irate phone call (he wasn't really irate but I was) to the housing office. There was nothing on the school website with that stipulation, but apparently there was something in the contract Cam signed, but didn't read. I can't be mad at him, I never read it either...

The campus housing person said that no children in married campus housing is a Utah law (say wha, again?! we had a kid not four years ago when we lived in BYU married housing... however they are a private university, maybe they got out of it, so I let it slide). We did the only thing we could do, pulled out of our contract. Luckily we hadn't paid any deposit, just an application fee.

We have been looking at renting websites all weekend and found a few places, and hopefully will be starting on the paperwork for one today. There is an upside, campus housing didn't have W/D hookups, and I am not fond of community laundry.

On a side note: I think that law was made up. A web search turned up the exact opposite: "Any rules which limit the rights of families with children violate the Fair Housing Act and are not enforceable."

Maybe schools have special circumventing rights, but it is by no means "a state-wide law" considering Utah State University allows children in their housing.

The Interview

I know this is in reverse order (telling you that I got the job and THEN talking about the interview) but the interview(s) were just too fun not to share. So here it goes.

The school contacted via email and asked to set up a time to do a phone interview. That morning I got the kiddos fed and all situation with a movie to await the call. When it came I went to a back bedroom, to reduce extra noise but so I could still hear the kids. Well the interview was going (apparently) well when Dallas decided to pick that 30 minute period I was going to have a phone interview to have a bowel movement.

I hear a, "Mom! I went poop in the potty!" Followed by a, "Mom, wash my bum!" The yells got more and more desperate as I left him on the toilet, culminating in a shrill, "MOM!". Finally, craddling phone against my shoulder, I figure I can get Dallas taken care of without stopping the phone conversation.

I am sure most of you moms out there are betting against me already. And you would be right, it didn't work.

Nothing crazy happened, like dropping the phone in the toilet, but, much to me chagrin, I had to excuse myself. The ladies on the other end were very understanding of my leave. After I returned, they finished their questions and ended with a promise to give me another call at the end of the week.

A few days later, I decide to take a shower after breakfast while the kids are watching TV. As the water starts, I think, through the sound of the running water, I hear the cell phone ringing.

Now, I have thought I heard TONS of things through the shower. It started when Dallas was a newborn baby and I was so nervous about leaving him sleeping in his crib while I showered that I would stop the water 2 or 3 times when I "heard" him crying. Now-a-days, when I "hear" something while I am showering, I write it off as the running water playing tricks with my mind.

Only this time it wasn't.

After I stopped the water, Dallas walks to the bathroom door and informs me that Grandma had called as he hands me the cell phone. I pulled up incoming calls and, sure enough,the number of the school called 5 minutes ago.

I was a little mortified.

I immediately called them back, wondering what Dallas had done/said and how it had been taken on the other end... The school secretary puts me on hold for the director (read: principal), who answers my call with a, "How old is your son?" Yes, the two ladies, the school director and the math department head, who had conference called for my interview, had called back (on conference) only to be answered by my 3 year-old son, who talked to them for a short while before hanging up. They were both laughing fairly hard as I tripped over myself apologizing.

They had called back to offer me the job and, after all that, amazingly enough, they went through with it. I think this school may be a good fit for me.

On a side note I have been so used to, "You were one of the best interviews and we would love to have you at our school but, we went with someone with more experience..." that I was quite speechless when they offered me the job. When I could finally make words come (I had a few "gracious looser" responses prepared but no acceptance speech) I accepted the job on the spot, to which the ladies replied (laughing) "Wouldn't you like to talk it over with your husband?" Oh, yeah the husband, oops...

On a more sider note, in the last month Chelane has learned:
1. milk + straw = geyser of bubbles
2. inhaling air + drinking = burp on will (no joke)

While Dallas has started letting himself out of the house for walks (complete with shoes and snacks).

/sigh