School Starts!

I have a job! Scratch that...I have a teaching CAREER! After months of searching, dozens of applications filled out, numerous pestering phone calls, and very few interviews....I can now call myself a teacher!

I will be teaching for Maricopa County Regional School District at Southwest Keys. This school is for refugee kids who are pre-emergent English speakers. I will be teaching ELLs! I have no doubts that it will be challenging, but it seems as though I have a supportive supervisor. I will be co-teaching with another teacher. This is actually a very good thing, since we can expect 20-25 kids in the classroom at any given time. Because they are refugees, I unfortunately will not have all the same kids until the end of the year. They will come and they will go. But I will try my hardest to give them a leg up by learning the English language.

I will have in-service this coming Monday through Wednesday, and schools starts September 1st which we will administer the AZELLA test that Thursday and Friday.

I am very excited and extremely anxious. Here we go!

Got Ya!

Shannon once accused me of having a heart of stone because I rarely cry during emotional movies (Armageddon excluded of course!) Because of this video, I now have to run to the store and get more Kleenex.

My Birthday Weekend-Days 2 and 3

So, you were waiting. Yes, I know you were. You were so desparately wanting to find out about my birthday weekend of fun!

On August 7, my mom came and picked up me. We then went to Color Me Mine-a cute ceramic painting studio.

Day 2:

My mom painted a really cute vase for her entertainment center.

I painted a cute cupcake container for my desk. It is perfect for paper clips.

Next, we went to the Diamondbacks game. We had dinner at the T G I Fridays, then we enjoyed a great ball game, during which Luis Gonzalez came to celebrate his jersey and number being retired.

My mom got me this cute turtle tealight holder

Day 3: My Birthday Day!

Shawn and I had a tasty lunch at Mr. Goodcents. (Best subs ever! Forget Subway-yuck!). Afterwards, we went to the casino. This was our second time going. The first time was a couple of weeks before my birthday. We took a day trip to Camp Verde-sigh-so pretty! We did fairly well, however....We didn't stick to Sarah's 2 rules. There's just 2 rules. How could we not follow them? I will tell you. When you are in the casino, time goes by so fast! There are no windows, no clocks....but they have....lovely machines that make great noises, many blinking lights, and cute themed slots that practically shout....come play me! I am the best!

So anyway. Sarah's 2 rules are as follows. I think (actually, I know) the first is the most important:
1) NEVER take more than you can afford to lose. The definition: Take a certain amount of cash that you don't mind giving away and stay AWAY from the ATM.
2) Once you win, CASH OUT. The definition: If you put a certain amount into a machine, say $5, and you win $15, cash out. Pocket the $10 and begin playing with the original $5. NEVER reach back into your pocket to play with your winnings.

Rule 1 is fairly simple for us to follow. It's Rule 2 that gets us everytime. On my birthday, we weren't as lucky as when we went to Camp Verde. We lost. Every time. But we had a lot of fun! And I came home with a winning ticket of $0.04. Yup, 4 cents. Because we lost, I ended up saving us 4 cents. Not bad-eh? =)

Shawn and I at the casino

Deuces Wild Video Poker-The great fun money sucker

Oh yeah...

She isn't bad either! LOL. She is 6. The talent kills me!

I Know...But First...

I know I still need to post pictures from my birthday.

But first, I need to share this with you. In case you haven't been watching America's Got Talent, check out this clip. Yes, she is 10. Yes, that is her voice. Yes, I now like opera. (Her words and the video are out of sync...but you get the idea!)

Forever 21

My mom and I tried this store out a few days ago. Good things: First, they have cute clothes. Especially the section I need for my upper half. Second, the prices are relatively reasonable. Third, I found a really cute dress (I know right? Out of my normal element here).

Bad things: First, I don't believe they cleaned the store after Meryvan's closed. The carpets have disgusting stains. The dressing room walls were nasty dirty with dried fluids I did not care to examine too closely. Second-Once you found a cute article of clothing, and it was the wrong size, it was really hard to find the rest just like it. Everything was in the wrong spot. Which brings me to the third thing. The clothes sizes are weird. My mom and I had to jump up THREE sizes to find items that fit. That doesn't help a girls confidence you know. Fourth-I was expecting really cute accessories. Nope. Just weird accessories. For example, I found this lovely necklace that I decided not to wear correctly. My mom found a choker with BIG flowers. Enjoy!

My Current Mantra...

I am not sick. I am not sick. My throat does not hurt. My nose is not stuffy. I will continue to say this until my birthday weekend of fun is over.

Technically, this started yesterday. Remember #12 from the list below? Well, yesterday me, my sister (Staci), her boyfriend (Brandon), and one of their friends (Shauna) went tubing down the Salt River! It was 113 degrees yesterday, but boy did we have fun! The water was soooo nice! Except in one part where the river wasn't flowing too good. It felt like ice cubes. Of course, that was where I decided I needed to cool off. I was shivering by the time I got back on top of my tube.

It was very peaceful and relaxing though. And if you paid attention-as I did-you could see some wildlife:

3 little turtles sunning themselves on a rock
Purple dragonflies-of which liked to land on me
The biggest squirrel I think I've ever seen
Long-legged cranes
A disgusting turkey buzzard
Beautiful yellow birds and black birds with streaks of red
And orange and white fish swimming by you or jumping out of the river.

Shauna has a few pictures-I was too chicken to bring my camera-I didn't want it to get wet, but I do have this photo. I have learned that I am allergic to....Rubber! This doesn't look so bad. Yesterday, it was a HUGE blister. Originally I thought I had burned my leg on the tube. I showed my dad after asking for burn cream, and he said....That's not a burn. You are allergic to rubber, just like me! Well. Thanks for that gene!
I went home and looked all over my body that was exposed and sure enough. I have the same thing on my upper-back. Although, it was more like a rash, like the picture below. This looks a lot better than the blister did. It was really hard to sleep though. (By the way-this is on the inside of my thigh!) I couldn't touch it with my other leg. I woke myself and Shawn up last night because I did exactly that. OOOWWWEEEE!