Project Talk: I'm Going to Go Ahead and Blame the Weather

Cubist Socks-Done!

The weather around here has been absolutely ridiculous, it is early January the temperature is going to be almost 50 today. Global warming, the beginning of the apocalypse, forewarning of the impending zombie uprising, or freak weather abnormality? It is hard to say. Most of the people who come into the bank seem to be enjoying this freakish weather, but I am not most people. I love winter, I want to look out my window and see snow drifts, icicles, and frost; not brown wilted plants and dreary gray skies.

Because of the unusual weather (or not…most likely not, but hey, we all need something to blame), my knitting funk has continued. I’m doing better than I was, but I was focusing almost exclusively on the Cubist Socks. As of Monday, I have these socks completely done and off the needles. Which, of course meant that I had to base my outfit choice for Tuesday solely on the new socks.

I’m learning from past experiences, and decided to frog and reknit the Spatterdash fingerless gloves using a size bigger needle. I've roughly gotten to the point where I was when I decided to frog, so they are moving along well now. And, I finally got a picture that almost accurately represents the colors in the yarn.

Close Up of Spatterdash

I still haven’t even cast on for the second sleeve of the Sheepcote sweater (or taken the first sleeve off of the needles for that matter). I don’t know if there is an actual reason besides my laser like focus on the socks. I have discovered, however, that both Ms. Bode and Ms. Lily are big fans of the yarn I’m using for this sweater (Valley Superwash Merino, I’m a big fan too, it is super soft) and are willing to climb things and dig in baskets to obtain said yarn. That is going to make completing the sweater very interesting.

Today, I also spent some time on Ravelry and decided on the next pattern and yarn combination for socks. I'm going to knit Brainless (rav. link) by Yarnissima, I'm knitting them out of Knit Picks Essential (now called Stroll) in the colorway called Peacock Multi, a combination of purples, blues, and greens. Hopefully the yarn/pattern combination works out.

According to the weather reports, things should be returning to normal (or at least closer to normal) over the next couple of days, so I'm going to run out of excuses for not knitting. That should mean more pictures of finished products up here soon!

In other news, the new job is still going well. I’m feeling more and more comfortable, and have to ask less and less questions about how to do things. I’ve actually engaged co-workers in conversations (or at least attempted to, small talk is nowhere near a strength for me), which is a pretty big step considering my chronic, acute shyness, and have still managed to avoid letting them know that I have the sense of humor the your average fourteen year old boy, or a massive fear of birds. But we all know I can’t keep that one hidden forever, at some point, my true colors always show.

Back to Work

Way back when, in late September, I received a bit of a crushing blow, career-wise. My longtime goal of being a teacher wasn't going to work out, at least not a this point. I didn't want to talk about then and still don't. But I will provide a bit of an update what I've been up to.

The first month or so were pretty tough on me. A lot of soul searching, and trying to figure out what it was I really wanted out of my life, a lot of fretting about getting older (turned 30 last week) and a lot of applying for jobs that, well, frankly, I wasn't sure if I actually wanted to get or not.

A conversation with my sister offered an interesting theory. I'm not the sort of person who is defined by their career. I'm a wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, along with being a knitter, reader, and aspiring writing. I want to spend summers growing things in a garden and fall canning homemade food.
There are few things I love more than curling up on my couch with my pets, a ball of wool, and two sticks. Maybe a career isn't what I need right now, maybe I just need a job.

There was a teller position open at one of the local banks in my hometown, I applied, interviewed, was hired, and started last Monday. It is full time, good hours, with some pretty good perks.

Is it a forever job?
I honestly don't know.

Is it a right now job?

You bet.

I'll be working between 30 to 39 hours a week, mainly Monday to Friday, eight to six with a hour for lunch. Sure, I'll have to work the occasional Saturday, but it works out to about one a month. The pay is not the greatest, and I'll supplement with extra hours at the grocery store, (okay, with grocery hours, it'll work out to every other weekend). There seem to be oppertunities for advancement within the bank. And, one of the main things I like right now, I can leave work at work. I'm not devoting my hours at home to my job. I can come home, have dinner with the husband, and spend the evening doing activities of my choosing. It should work out just fine for the foreseeable future, maybe longer.

Things are still new right now, I'm not entirely sure what my typical schedule will look like. I'm expecting things to settle down a bit more after the holiday season, and am looking forward to getting into a bit of a routine in January.

Dear Old Dad

Recently, very recently, I have again found myself without a job*. I spent a lot of time preparing to be a teacher, securing a teaching job, and three weeks into said teaching job, it wasn't working out. I'm not going into details about it, what is done is done. Needless to say this has been an emotional time for me. Now I'm not sure where I want to go, what I want to do, or anything else. I'll be back at the grocery store trying to get my head properly aligned with the rest of my body for the time being.

Probably one of the hardest things about the whole thing was telling my parents. They've put a lot of faith and support in me, and I can't help but feel that they must be terribly disappointed in me. Bless their hearts, they didn't show it. And of course, have offered nothing but more support but it was hard to do.

Truthfully, my dad's reaction got me thinking. He didn't get emotional, didn't really ask questions. I think his reply was something along the lines of, "Well that's too bad, would you like a beer?" And we drank a beer and talked about football. That's my dad for you, he doesn't let things get him worked up, at least on the outside.

Perhaps this is more of the approach I should take on. In many ways, I try not to show emotion. I'm not good at it, so I tend to avoid emotional situations, and make inappropriate comments at inappropriate times. However, I do tend to dwell on things, which probably isn't the best way of dealing.

In reality, it can't be healthy to sit on the couch, watching Sportscenter (a new favorite of mine, I've discovered the joys of not just professional sports, but professional sports coverage, which bodes well for my general productivity), and wonder what went wrong. That's not going to change things, and it's not going to help shape the future. I have to get off the couch, turn off the TV and do something. Then again, I'm getting paid to do nothing this week, maybe next week is the week to start.

In no way, is this to say that I didn't appreciate my mother's reaction and support. She's the type of woman who will sit and cry with you, bring you lunch (and a chocolate coconut muffin), make all your favorite foods and take you to see the latest Brad Pitt movie. All of which was needed at that time. In reality I needed both her sympathy and my father's bluntness.

At any rate, it is what it is, it sucks, and it's done. Time to have a beer, take a shower, and ask myself what's next?

Thanks, dad.

*In all honesty, I'm not really without a job. I'm using paid time off for this week, and my first shift at the grocery store is bright and early Sunday morning.

And Then the Students Came...

Today was the first day of my school in my district (and, I'm pretty sure in every other public school district in the state). I went into things very nervous, it's hard to plan for the first day, especially when you don't know your students. My aides were in a tizzy, worrying about how we'd cover all of our students, which I'll admit, still has me worried. In short, we were all worked up and on each other's nerves.


And then the students came. When that happens, everything changes about a school. The focus shifts from the staff to the students, as it rightfully should. Everyone pitches in, does what is needed and comes through for the students. Yes, we're still worried about coverage, and I think we could better serve the students with just one more para, even just a half-time para would make things considerably easier. But, when the students come, everyone does what the students need, and things get done. In short, it was a great day.


I've been in the educational field long enough to know that not every day will go this smoothly. Staff will be overworked, stretched thin, and exhausted. The students will drive us crazy on some days. And we will undoubtedly get on each other's nerves. There will be days whens students melt down and nobody gets to eat lunch. That's just the nature of the beast. But today, we managed to do what was needed when it was needed. And that's a good thing.


Overall, the day was a huge success. I got to know much more about the abilities of the kiddos on my case load. Then I got another student added to my case load (isn't life fun). Things went the way they should, and better than I could have hoped as a new teacher. I'm anxious to get back and see how things are different tomorrow. It will be another light day, I'm not going to start pulling kids until after the long weekend. Right now, I'm just getting an idea where the kiddos are, and planning for when the real teaching work starts next week.


But I won't worry about all that right now. Right now, I'm going to pick up my knitting needles for the first time in a week, and enjoy.

School Before Students

Unless you're a teacher, you may never think about or experience what a school is like without the students. First and foremost, it is quiet, very quiet, eerily quiet, disturbingly quiet. And if you comment on this unnatural quiet, you will inevitably be told to "enjoy it while it lasts," which all in all is not bad advice.

New teacher orientation started last Thursday, and I feel like I've been going nonstop ever since then. First was a day and a half with all the other new teachers (twenty three of us in all). It was a lot of meeting new people, which I never am comfortable with, but I did alright. 

Then all the staff returned to work, which led to meeting more people on Friday afternoon. I got to meet the paraprofessionals that I will be working with, who, understandably were full of questions that I, understandably, did not have answers to.

Friday was followed by my last two days at the grocery store. The schedule had me down for two opening cash office shifts. The cash office is my favorite place to work, but I really would have used some time to sleep in. My last days at the grocery store passed with no fan fair, which after working there for six years, was a little disappointing. My grocery career is now over, I hope.

Monday morning brought me back to school for the staff kick off breakfast. It was vaguely reminiscent of the days of walking through the cafeteria, looking for a place to sit, but I found some soon enough. After breakfast was the official kick off program, where I had to stand up and be recognized as a new teacher (which I dislike), and a guest speaker, John Antonetti, who was surprisingly entertaining. I usually hate guest speakers at things like this, but he did a fantastic job. Then back to the school for some work in the classroom, which was followed by the never ending payroll and benefits meeting (don't get me wrong, I'm all for both pay and benefits, but this meeting was ridiculous).

Tuesday brought an all staff meeting at my school, where I had to stand up and introduce myself (which I really dislike) and more classroom time. A lot of that time was spent reading IEPs in the hopes of getting to know my students. Tuesday night brought our open house, which gave me the chance to meet students and parents, all but one and I have met the mother. This got me excited for the school year to begin.

Today, panic set in. Students are arriving tomorrow, and I feel in no way prepared for them. The next two days will be chaos, no matter how much more I prepare, but I'm hoping I have enough coverage figured out to get us through tomorrow and Friday. I'll use the long weekend to hammer out the schedule details and continue on from there. 

Tomorrow the halls will be filled with students, and I'm sure I will miss the quiet from the past few days. 

When It Rains, It Pours

It's been a time of celebration in my household. After a year and a half of searching, applying, interviewing, and rejection, I have finally landed a teaching job! A real, actual, full time with benefits, in charge of my own classroom, teaching job. A true to the whirlpool that is my life, it all happened very quickly and at the absolute last possible minute.


After a soul-crushing number of interviews, and an equally soul-crushing review of my interview skills with the Director of Pupil Services at one of the districts where I sub, I was seriously at the point of giving up on a teaching career. There was some amount of allure in a mindless sort of 40 hour per week job. And as I'm pushing 30, the lack of retirement was getting scarier and scarier.  I began searching for other jobs in the area that might be willing to hire a currently underemployed teacher.  However, I still searched for teaching jobs, kept an eye on the market and occasionally applied for the posted jobs.


It the past couple of weeks, I have applied for four teaching jobs. A couple of days after applying for one, I got an email setting up an interview for the next week. I ended up having to shift my entire work schedule around to make it, but I did go in for the interview. Despite (or maybe due to) the cruel frank review of my interview skills, I decided to go in swinging for the fences (I know, I'm not a baseball fan, but none of the sports I actually follow have as good of a metaphor). My husband recommended that I go in with my customer service attitude (after 6 years in the local grocery store, I've had to smile at and chat with a lot of people, ones I liked and others, not so much). I left the interview feeling pretty good, but didn't want to get my hopes up.


On my way to that interview, another of the schools I applied to called to set up another last minute interview. They were looking for a long-term sub for a semester in a position that could turn into a full-time position. And the school was on the fringe of the commuter radius I established at the start of this never ending job search. Not ideal, but better than nothing, and they were willing to interview me on a day I had off from the store.


The following day, I had a pretty good omen. The school I had interviewed at called one of my references. Well, that's a step farther than I had gotten on a lot of these interviews. Again, I didn't want to get my hopes up, but they were starting to rise.


The next day rolled around, and the interview at the second school. I didn't feel that one went nearly as well, but the drive sucked and it was only for a semester, so I didn't get too upset about it. What I did start to get upset about was the fact that I hadn't heard from the first school. I was feeling pretty down, but then a call from the third school raised my spirits.


Then, it happened. The first school called back and said they were recommending me for the position. I needed to come in for what they called a "second interview" with the school superintendent. I was worried about this second interview, even though the teachers I talked to made it sound more like a formality. Not wanting to jinx anything, but feeling pretty confident, I told a select group of friends and relatives (that's right, feel honored if you were in that group).  


The weekend passed. Before setting up the second interview, I heard back from school number 2 (the interview I thought I bombed). Apparently, they also wanted to hire me for the long term sub job. I'm not going to lie, that one shocked me. The school needed an answer right away, so I took a bit of a gamble and told them I had already accepted another job (hoping that it was indeed a formality). Of course, the second interview was scheduled at the same time as the interview for the third school, so I had to take another risk and cancel the interview at the third school (really, really hoping that it was a mere formality).


And yesterday, I went into my second interview. Believe me, I breathed a sigh of relief when some of the superintendent's first words to me were, "The committee recommended you for the position, so I'm going to recommend you." After a chat with him, I had an actual teaching job. An actual teaching job where orientation started in only two days, with students starting school in only eight total days (see what I mean about the last possible moment?).


Despite the rush of all of it, I thrilled to have this job. The school district has a wonderful reputation and everyone that I've met seems to be friendly and helpful.  I alternate between that feeling of elation and the feeling of terror when I think about being in charge of a classroom, a caseload of students, and two paraprofessionals in a little more than a week.


I'll be teaching, at the elementary level, students with severe disabilities. I've visited my school, and seen my classroom. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that both are beautiful. I have access to a wide variety of technology and professionals to help my students. Starting tomorrow, I'm looking at nine days straight of work (this weekend will be my last weekend at the grocery store), but I'm excited about it. We will see how I feel after two days of orientation, two days in the grocery store cash office (yuppers, 5:30 am shifts for my last days), three days of in-service, an open house for parents, and two days of students.


Wish me luck as I embark on this (hopefully) wonderful new journey!