Out and About

Today was Central Book Exchange's anual parking lot sale. Hardbacks were $4 and paperbacks $2. My bounty...

I also decided to make a wreath for our front door. After burning myself multiple times with the hot glue gun and poking myself with the needle repeatedly, this is the final result.

We don't need no thought control...

I have had an incredibly lazy summer. That is partly due to exhaustion and lack of funds. The last session of summer school for Ogden School District starts tomorrow and I am teaching English I...aka 9th grade English. I've been putting off planning and thinking about it until the last possible moment. After being so extremely lazy for so long, my brain was having a difficult time making the transition to teacher. 

However, as I was driving home from Salt Lake this evening I got that little twinge in my stomach. It's a mix of nerves and excitement at being back in the classroom. Fortunately, it's only for two weeks and then I get a couple of weeks off until school begins in earnest. I'm not sure if I'll teach summer school next summer or not. But this time around, even though I've been dreading it, I think it will be a good way to ease me back into teaching. Last spring wasn't an ideal situation and I was really just trying to survive. I'm looking forward to starting fresh and setting my rules and expectations from the get go. 

At times I get a little uncertain about where or how to start...particularly when thinking about my actual, physical classroom (it's kind of a disaster). Yet, I'm excited to get back to it and do what I love.

....and it won't hurt to have some money in the bank again.

Just sayin...

Power House

I know not everyone likes country music. But these two have such powerful voices!

Adventures in dating...

A big part of being a single twenty-something is dating...more so for others than for me. However, I have dated a variety of "gentlemen" (we're using that term quite loosely, here). I've had some really great experiences, some horribly awkward and uncomfortable experiences and some downright horrible experiences. Last weekend I went on a date that fully justified and supported every judgmental thought people have about online dating. Yes, I'm doing the online dating thing. I do not defend or explain it. It just is. (I should probably insert a little disclaimer here. I'm feeling a bit prickly today. Which, I realize is not the best time to be blogging but here we are.) 

Anyway, back to my date. We'll call him Jack. Jack and I had been emailing for a while, texting and talking on the phone. He is from Texas, has a delightful southern drawl and made me laugh more than any other guy in the past. We had great chemistry and I was pretty excited when he asked me out on a date. Turns out that this charming southern gentleman is actually a self-proclaimed homophobe, an advocate of corporal punishment in schools and saw no problem, whatsoever, with the use of the "n" word. Needless to say, it wasn't going to happen between us. The quirky, appropriate jokes of our previous conversations had been traded in for crude bathroom humor and inappropriate stories. I just kept asking myself...who is this guy???  He also lived at home with his parents, did not have a college degree and didn't want to put forth the effort to get into shape after being warned by his doctor he needed to. 

This takes us to today. The last two guys I have gone out with fit the same description. I will tell you, Jack definitely took home the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Award, that's for dang sure. However, both men were 34, living at home with the parents, no college education, talked about dreams of a real career but had taken no steps to actually achieve it and had no drive beyond the next day. Now, I'm not saying that I am the best thing to happen since sliced bread but really...? I mean, seriously?!

I love google...it's both a verb and a noun!

It is 3:30 am and I am still up. Why you ask...I have absolutely no idea. I just am. This leads to much inter-webbing. I've had several conversations lately regarding what kind of personality I have. People have mentioned the color personalities like I should know what color I am. So, I googled "color personality tests" there were quite a few interesting choices. Now, I don't know if this one is the most reliable but it was free. According to this test, I'm a Blue Personality.

BLUES tend to be overly guilt-prone
You like stability and security in your relationships and in life in general. 
It almost seems paradoxical, because while you do seek meaningful relationships in your life, and enjoy the company of others, you also enjoy your independence to do what you like to do.
BLUES need connection – the sharing of rich, deep emotions that bind people together. As a BLUE, you will often sacrifice a great deal of time, effort, and/or personal convenience to develop and maintain meaningful relationships throughout your life.
BLUES have distinct preferences and are the most controlling of the four personalities, although they may not acknowledge (or even realize) the fact.


Sounds fairly accurate, don't you think?