It's been about a month since the last update... pretty standard for me. :-/ (?)
Anyway, the last entry was all about our anniversary and what crafty things I've done/been doing this summer. (yeah, I had to check what the last entry was, and I was surprised to find the craft entry! i guess i'd totally forgotten about it!) Well, unfortunately, not much else has happened in the line of craftiness. I'm still reading blogs about crafts and I still have ongoing projects, but I certainly don't have any progress that I find worthy of bragging about and/or taking pictures of... which I guess would just be a way of visually bragging--so I'm back to having nothing crafty to brag about.
Something I do have to brag about? My freaking awesome car! Some (most? all? none?) of you know that in March, Jay traded in his Toyota Corolla, began driving my Ford Focus (I love you, Irma!), and that we bought--and I get to drive!--a new Honda Insight (her name is Harley, in case you're curious). We get awesome gas mileage--I'm talking 42+ mpg, people!--and, I found out today, I'm doing pretty well on oil change frequency, even for the insight. Since purchasing Harley* at the very end of March, I've/we've driven 8,600 miles. Today, after some important meetings (more on that later in the post!), Harley had her very first oil change. Isn't that amazing?? 8,600 miles between oil changes! The service man at the dealer said that I was getting great usage out of my oil, that he usually has to change it around 7,000 or 7,500. Why is it "around?" you ask, Why isn't it predictable like every other car? Well, the Insight has a computer thingamajig (sorry if I'm losing you in the technical lingo here) that measures the oil life. When the oil life gets below 20%, a little message is displayed saying that the oil needs service soon. I have no idea how or why this is the appropriate time to change the oil, but I like that I don't have to keep up with it, that Harley will tell me when she needs new oil, just like when she told me her tires were low. I <3 Harley.
Earlier this week (yesterday and Monday, in fact) I attended some staff development sessions. Wait... does that mean? Yes! It means I got a job! And not just any job--but a job I really really want! I have been hired at Bowie Middle School as a sixth grade language arts teacher!! I'm super excited because this is the school where I did my student teaching last year, so I already know the population, the administration, my co-workers, and tons of other important things! I had such a wonderful experience last year that I couldn't be more excited to be a full-fledged member of the Bowie team. :D ...And yeah, getting a paycheck will be nice, too. ;-) (student teachers are unpaid interns) Today, in my important meetings, I signed my contract, I was introduced to some benefits options, and I picked up my school laptop. Needless to say, it was a pretty good day. Before today, I was unofficially-officially hired. What I mean by that is this: the school was ready to hire me, but HR hadn't done the paperwork or had me come in to sign my part of it.
So, knowing that I'd eventually get to the paperwork part of the process, my administrators and department chair enrolled me in staff development for yesterday and Monday. We learned all about our new curriculum and how to implement it and tweak it and rock it. I'm really happy to be a new teacher this year opposed to other years, because while I am new to teaching, everyone is new to teaching this curriculum--so we're in similarish boats and we'll learn together.
I'm also really happy about my job assignment because I found out that 2/3 of my classes are honors classes! SO EXCITED!! Sure, this means I have to plan a regular and an honors lesson every day, but we're a sixth grade team, so we'll do it together. :) I'm looking forward to it.
Add in a superawesome chick trip to Mississippi with wonderful women, and that's what's happened in the past month. Taa-daa! :-D
*Why in the world did I name a Honda Insight "Harley"? First, you should know that I like to name things, especially things that seem intelligent--cars, computers, printers, iPods (the only apple product that I own--Jay has other apple products, but they're not mine), etc. I couldn't just arbitrarily pick out a name for my new car, it had to feel right and seem appropriate. When we bought the Insight, the model and color I wanted wasn't in stock where we bought it, so we had to get a loaner car from the dealer. When we finally got our car and returned the loaner, I forgot to get my insurance card out of the loaner. Our dealer guy (Curtis, btw) called and told me, so I pulled over at the next available place so he could bring the insurance card to me; as it would happen, the next available parking lot was that of a Harley dealership. Jay and I looked around, and he suggested we name the car Harley. I liked it. And now that's her name.
