Bizarre Rainbows.

Today, Carter and I were driving home from the preschool when I looked up and saw this:

...a straight rainbow! I've never seen anything like it. It stretched in a straight line across part of the sky--not in a bow like a traditional rainbow or in a circle like a circle around the sun. And it SHIMMERED...I'll swear it on my life.

To myself I muttered, "What IS that?? It's so bizarre!"


To which Carter replied, "Some rainbows are just bizarre, Mom." Like it was the most normal thing in the world.

In other news, I got this in the mail today:

It's official.

Bizarre rainbows, indeed.

Ketchup.

Ok, so it's been a while. A little over a month, to be exact. Yes, I admit my gloomy week turned into an extended hiatus from blogging, but not because there was nothing happening. So let's play "ketchup," shall we?

--We have decided to use part of our tax return to finish a room downstairs for Brendan. Right now, his room looks like this:





It gets darn cold down there in the winter, although it's quite nice in the summer. And before you call child protective services, please understand that I've invited Brendan to move back upstairs numerous times and he refuses. He's just not too keen on having to share a room with little Carter and be bound by his bed/nap times and such. I can't say I blame him.

--We also used a little bit of our tax return to get some much-needed clothing for our kids. You see, when in the midst of a financial crisis (or financial cri-SES), things like clothing and shoes and such utter nonsense get placed quite hastily on the backburner of our lives. And so, with a little money in our pockets, we indulged the kids. And then,

--Randy indulged ME by inviting a business friend of his to our house to evaluate my closet and take me shopping.

This is Sarah. She's an image consultant and jewelry designer who is also part of Randy's small business networking group. As a surprise, he gave her some money with which to buy me some clothes, invited her to the house, took the kids, and left. And I was alone with....her. Any woman like me (one with issues. I mean SERIOUS issues.) would have reacted the way I did in the face of her cool sophistication, fashionable breeziness and shopping savvy--I started to get sweaty, I had a hard time looking her in the eye, and I began to think over all the clothing in my wardrobe and immediately decided it was all frumpy and I hated it. EVERY. SINGLE. PIECE.

And then 20 minutes later we were best buddies, heading to the mall to try on millions of outfits and be brutally honest with each other. We (or I, at least!) had a blast. Sarah helped me choose some good solid wardrobe staples and made me try on some things I NEVER would have tried on myself, which was good for me. All in all, I was completely happy with our session.

So, men (or sneaky wives who need some pampering and are good at dropping hints), go to her websites and see what she has to offer. She's AMAZING. (And thanks to my sweet husband for putting it all together!)

Cable Car Couture
Blue Bijou

--Carter has a new favorite game. It's called Cash Cab.

(I'm totally attracted to this guy in a "You seem really nice and funny, but there's something in your eyes that makes me think you could rob someone at knifepoint in a dark alley" kind of way. It's one of my issues.)

On the TV show, you get in a cab, answer trivia questions, and many people walk away with a couple of thousand dollars. In Carter's version, he climbs into my mom-taxi and then begins grilling me with questions like, "What is your middle name?" and "What street do you live on?" and "When is my birthday?" It doesn't seem like it would be that funny, but I'm telling you, the kid knows how to work it. He has his TV gameshow hosting duties down to a T. So, dear reader, next time you ride in my car, I'm putting YOU on the hot seat.

--I applied for YET ANOTHER job. (I know, I know, enough with the "trying to find your destiny" crap, Stephanie.) But this is the one job that I promised myself I would apply for if it ever came up.

Until three months ago, I worked for a small community newspaper called the Valley Journals covering Cottonwood Heights' city government. Two weeks ago, the city opened a job for a part-time Public Relations Specialist. My heart just about dropped through my feet, and I applied the following Tuesday. I would LOVE this job, the salary is phenomenal, and I would be able to spend more time home with Carter than I am now. So we've got our fingers crossed that it works out. I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, that's about it for now. On my honor, I will be better at updating the blog. Now, don't you wish you had a nice hot dog to go with all that ketchup?

A News Update

I feel the need to catch up on the "news" portion of this blog. So, here goes.

--I am no longer a journalist. So strange to say that! I covered the Cottonwood Heights government beat for the Valley Journals for almost three years, and now all of a sudden......I just don't. I will miss everyone I've worked with, but I will NOT miss the stress of my deadlines. In fact, I have to say it's been heavenly!!

The city council was very nice and presented me with some Cottonwood Heights mementos (scarf, shirt, keychain, mugs) and a $50 gastronomy gift card. New Yorker Restaurant, here I come!! I've been having naughty dreams about your smoked gouda potatoes for three years now!



(A word about this photo: so not flattering. I look better than this, I swear. But at the time I was on day 5 of the three week respiratory infection that I am just getting over. And I was nervous because I was standing at the front of a roomful of people. And the guy who took over my job is the one who snapped this shot, and he was using my camera which he didn't know how to use, and he was nervous too because it was his first night on the job. I'm just sayin' you have to take this photo with a grain of salt.)

--Randy sold his business. For those who don't know, Randy had a small used car dealership called Car Snobs. After two years, it has not been as profitable as we thought it would be, but has eaten up about 10 bazillion times more time and money than we thought it would. So, he has merged his biz with a company called Polished Image Auto Detailing. We are grateful for the change and think it will turn out really well. Major plus: Randy might not be quite so stressed anymore, and we might actually get to spend time with him now!

--I turned 34 a week ago. This is not an interesting tidbit in and of itself. What is interesting is that my friends chose to honor the occasion the best way they know how--with plastic pink lawn flamingos. In JANUARY.




I love my sweet friends so much! Thanks for the flamingos and the yummy breakfast Tanya, Renae, Sheri, and Kaylene! I love you guys!!

My cool sister Kiirstin bought me lunch at Taste of Thai, my current favorite restaurant. (They're in Jordan Landing now, so you locals should go check them out.)

Then, Randy took me out for a steak dinner that night. It was going to be dinner and a show, but the show part didn't work out. And it wasn't just any show--it was a performance of broadway showtunes! It would have been fun....for ME. Randy would have suffered miserably the entire time. But he was going to subject himself to the agony because he loves me!! Isn't he sweet? He not-so-secretly rejoiced that he was spared.

--Randy and I got new callings at church. We now teach the Sunbeam class (three-year-olds). God totally knew what He was doing when He helped me land that job at the preschool four months ago! It was a forewarning of what was to come! But we're having fun, even though I miss my class of 12-year-old young women.

--Finally, I had an uplifting moment on Friday night. I'm sure everyone has heard about the travesty perpetrated by NBC last week, removing Conan O'Brien from the Tonight Show in favor of welcoming back the worn-out, obvious "humor" of Jay Leno, who will take over his old chair at the Tonight Show on March 1. I tuned in to watch Conan's last night on the show, and I was inspired by some of the things he had to say; specifically this quote:

"To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

(See the video here.)

He was gracious, he was grateful, and above all he was kind. What a great example to everyone who watched this! All I can say is, I think the brass at NBC has lost their minds. Viva Conan! I'll buy tickets to watch you in a 7-11 parking lot anytime.

I Quit.

I quit this job today.



This month is my last month as a journalist. For now.

This 'n That.

It's been a while. Mostly because deadline weeks (weeks when all my news articles must be turned in) really wear on me. For two weeks out of the month, I love my job at the paper, mostly because I'm not dreading deadline with all my being. Then the other two weeks fly by, I miss deadline by three days, beat myself up over it every waking minute (and some sleeping minutes, too) risk making my editor fire me, and STRESS OUT. All while trying to keep everything else in my life running. It's a downward spiral, and it's not pretty.

But, cope we must. And this week is NOT deadline week. So life is good!

Some slightly more uplifing items of note:

--I've made this pasta twice in the last week. I love love love it. I love it so much, in fact, that I will eat the leftovers straight from the tupperware in the fridge with a fork. Don't tell anyone.

--I got to have dinner with my awesome friend Alicia tonight. She and her little boys Hunter and Gavin came, ate the above mentioned pasta, and made me and Carter and Randy very very happy.

--My mom and dad are coming this week! They live in Minnesota, so having them come for a visit is a rare treat. I'm looking forward to lots of family time and good food.

--I think I'm obsessed with good food.

--Finally, tomorrow is Randy's and my eighth anniversary. Eight. Yowza. This last year has made me believe that if you can make it through year seven then making it through eternity is CAKE. It's been rough in a lot of ways. But, I'm also grateful that we are closer now than we were a year ago because we've had to get through some tough things together. Our relationship is stronger. And I can honestly say that I love him so much and I'm grateful we've been able to build our life together.

To celebrate, we are going to Vegas in two weeks. Yup, Vegas. We went there on our honeymoon, so we're going to relive the high points (the Liberace Museum and the Luxor's buffet, of course) and we may even go see LOVE. Plus, we're just really really excited to get the heck out of this town.

So that's the update. Deadline week is still two weeks away, so there is a good chance I will post again soon. Until then!

Not just a job.

One month ago, I got a job. Well, at the time I thought it was just a job--something to help dig us out of our gaping financial hole. (Yes, I know. It's a lot like YOUR gaping financial holes. Who DOESN'T have one by now? But that's a different post.)

On Sept. 8, I dutifully showed up at Jordan Valley School (a magnet school for kids with disabilities) in slacks and a nice button-down shirt to start my first day as a teacher's assistant in a special education preschool classroom. By the end of the day, I had realized three things: 1) I wondered in half-horror what I had done, 2) I knew this was going to be way more than just a job, and 3) I knew that the next day I was going to wear capris and a t-shirt in order to better be able to play.

Because that's what I do--I play. Every day. With 15-20 kids of varying physical and mental abilities. But the way the adults play in our classroom is a lot different than the way the kids play.

The kids are there to be as kid-like as they possibly can. The classroom is a wonderland of toys, costumes and art supplies. They spend two hours each day "working" with all of those toys, playing outside or with teacher Anthony in the gym, and eating really yummy snacks made by Jane and the other really cute lunch ladies.

But as teachers, our "play" is much different. We structure the classroom without the kids' knowledge, so that they learn to self-regulate and transition between activities. Class is divided between Greeting Time, Small Group Time, Planning Time, Work Time, Gym Time and Snack Time. Every kid sticks to the routine, no exceptions. One thing I've learned is that routine is salvation for these kids, many of whom have disabilites that fall somewhere on the Autism spectrum.

We "play" at eliciting as much language from the kids as possible. We have typical kids in our classroom for whom this isn't a problem. But other kids are perfectly fine physically--except that they won't talk. Therefore, it's become a game between the teachers to see which kids we can get responses from and how many words they choose to say. Many times, hearing a child say in a whisper at snack time "juice, please" is enough to make you bounce off the walls in excitement.

We "play" at teaching kids how to behave around others. Most of the time, they do just fine. But I've lost count at how many times I've said "Hands to self" or "Pockets on the floor" while we're sitting at circle during greeting time.

Of course, not everything is sunshine and daisies. Changing diapers on a four-year-old? Ick. Watching the way some of these kids eat? Totally unappetizing. Listening while our most disabled student, who can't swallow, gets suctioned until she cries? Absolutely heartbreaking. But that's part of the job. And the reality is that these kids need people who can face every aspect of the job and not run away.

I can't run away from these kids. I'm all in.

Now, let me make an important distinction here. Dad wrote in an email last week that he turned down a substitute teaching job in an autism classroom. He said he didn't have my "strength of character." Dad, I don't think I would have had the strength of character to take that job either, knowing what I know.

I am painfully aware of the fact that I have it really good when it comes to jobs in the school. All I have to do is walk down to the cafeteria to be reminded of that fact. I've seen teachers get attacked by older students. I've seen teachers care for their kids as tenderly as parents, with the knowledge that they may never get a coherent response in return. I've seen and smelled some disgusting things. And I'm always happy to return to our fun, mostly-happy preschool classroom. I know my limits. And I don't think I could work in many of the other classrooms in the school.

However, I can concentrate on loving my preschool kiddos and caring for them and helping them learn as much as they can before they get released into an educational system that may or may not meet their needs. I am totally willing to do that. In fact, I enjoy doing that on a daily basis.

And so, here we go. It will be a very difficult, rewarding, and interesting year.

On joining the ranks.

This Tuesday, I will join the ranks of the gainfully employed. Well, sort of. The pay isn't going to stop traffic, and it will only be part-time. But I will be doing something that will make a difference...I hope.

I will be starting at Jordan Valley Elementary as a special education preschool assistant.

I know. Whoa.

And this position allows me to get my teaching license.

Yowza.

I think it's funny how life comes full circle. Growing up, all I wanted to be was a teacher, mostly so I could write on the blackboard all day. When I went to junior college, I had other more responsible reasons for wanting to teach. But after I got an associate's degree with an emphasis on elementary ed, I decided that teaching was maybe not what I wanted to do with my life.

And now, here I am. When I was going to school again this last time, I thought about getting my teaching license. But paying for the 15 extra classes (and going to school for another year and a half, at least) didn't seem like the thing to do at the time. However, with this job, licensure is a distinct possiblity and this time it seems like a reasonable goal.

I am excited--and scared, and worried, and overwhelmed, and a little sick to my stomach--about this opportunity. It will be a good thing--yet another twist in my twisted life, a curveball I didn't see coming. But an adventure, nonetheless!

And thank you so much for your time.

Well, today was the big day--THE INTERVIEW. I actually wasn't very nervous going into it, probably because I've had so many other things on my mind--like the fact that today is my newspaper deadline and though I have all my research and interviews done, I've yet to write a single story. (School burnout is still plaguing me. That and the hope that my editor, Tom, does not read my blog.)

I showed up at KSL Broadcast House appropriately early. I should know by now that interviewers usually show up fashionably late. But at about 10:20, I was met by this very nice (but very accomplished and intimidating) woman.

Sheryl Worsley is the KSL news director, and she is the one who interviewed me. She very deftly wove small talk with interview questions, so much so that I now know that she is a mother of two daughters who love the Twilight series, which we agree is not well written and somewhat formulaic. (Sorry, Megan.) We also spoke about news stories that have come out of Cottonwood Heights and how print journalism and public radio--the strong points on my resume--are very different from commercial news radio. She tried very hard to make that point hit home with me. It did.

I then had to do a writing test--take three print news stories, organize them in order of importance and glean a 20-second news story out of them, in less than 10 minutes. I am pretty sure I failed miserably. My strength is quality, not speed. (Tom would agree with that wholeheartedly.)

All in all, I think I made a good impression but I would be surprised if they offered me the job. And I am OK with that. The hours would be really hard to manage with my family and other responsibilities (7:30am to 1:30pm on Saturdays and Sundays). But I'm really glad I took a chance to see what would happen. It was a positive experience and it helped me practice my job skills.

Now I'm back to square one: do I try to help out our family financially or stay home with Carter and be the best Mom I can be (which I would actually prefer)? Still looking for the answer.

Possibilities.

Those of you who know me well know that I did a two-year stint at the hoosegow lovingly referred to as Ricks College, now BYU-Idaho. Three things saved me from complete and utter apostasy from my religion during my time there--Prof. Nielsen, a few great friends (Nat, Cam, Kirsty, Jane, Kat), and my job as a radio announcer at the NPR/Classical station on campus, KRIC/KBYI, "The Voice of the Ricks College Campus." (OK, OK, maybe my family played a part in my continued activity in the church, too. Thanks for putting up with me, Mom and Dad!)

I LOVED my job on the radio. And I think I was pretty good at it, too, which is always nice. For these reasons, I have--perhaps foolishly--applied to be a part-time weekend news anchor/reporter on KSL Newsradio 102.7 here in Salt Lake.

And they have--perhaps also foolishly--asked me to come in for an interview on Wednesday.*

Nervous? Yes. Out of my league? Probably. Unsure if this is even what I want to do right now? Totally. Worried about how it will impact my family? Uh, yeah! But I thought I had to at least give it a shot.

See, there's this feeling I get when I'm supposed to do something. It usually comes when I am looking for an answer to a problem I'm wrestling with and then, unexpectedly, some weird solution that I'd never even dreamed of falls out of the blue and hits me up side the head. It's just so improbable, impossible even, that I know I'm meant to go for it. That's what happened when I applied to work at KRIC, and 15 years later it's happened again.

It may turn out that they don't want me. Or that I don't want them. Or that I need to go through this process for some completely unknown reason. Either way, it can't hurt to at least try.

So, ready or not, here we go. Stay tuned.

*UPDATE: They called me today and changed the interview to Monday June 22.

Stress Relievers

School and work have been kicking my lily-white trash lately, to the point that I have been living in a pretty constant state of stress/panic for the last two weeks or so. On Saturday, when we all went to Carsnobs so Randy could meet a client, all that built up pressure finally got a release. As I was standing outside the shop, I realized that the huge muddy field behind the office could be my salvation.

I don't think Randy believed me when I asked if he would mind if I drove our Acura through the stewing ponds of lava-grade muck. But he did believe me when I loaded up Carter and Camryn, carefully made sure their seatbelts were buckled, and then roared through the field, spinning cookies and tossing mud everywhere.

It was FABULOUS.



I wish this image could do justice to the large amount of mud and rocks that caked my car on Saturday. Actually, after two car washes there are still remnants of my moment of glory on the running boards. And I can't tell you how much it drives my obsessive compulsive son absolutely BONKERS to see that the car is still muddy. He comments on it every time we get in the car. As for me, I fondly regard it as a memento of my journey.

Other stress relievers this week:

Loud music:



Food:




And of course, Family:



(I am on my laptop and I don't have a pic of Randy, but he's been really really kind and helpful this week. Thanks, Hon!)

I will be ok if I can get through this week, so the end is near. I just hope the car and my waistline make it through the end of the semester without too much damage.

Random thoughts and happenings

It's been a few days since I posted anything--mostly because I have been literally drowning in work and school. But I have a few free minutes right now to breathe, so I thought I'd give an update on us.

Randy started a new job on Monday. He left the Intermountain Taylorsville clinic and moved to an urgent care clinic affiliated with a private family practice down in Lindon. YES, we know, it's a long drive. However, if this job works out like we're hoping (and praying) it will, Randy will be spending more time at home with us, possibly making more money, and will not be bringing home mountains of paperwork and messages that he used to have to work on for HOURS at home when he worked for IHC (not that we're not grateful for IHC...we are.). In my book, it's a no-brainer.

(Excuse me while I calm Carter down and pull his hand out of the pirate ship it's been shoved into.)

Since Friday, I have done the following: finished two novels and a short story for school, conducted phone interviews for work, done grammar homework from hell, written five stories for the paper, written a five-page paper for class, managed to keep the house in order (somewhat) keep meals on the table and even did a load of laundry, all while being the supportive wife and mother of my family's dreams.

In other words, life has been crazy busy.

But tonight I get to chill for a while and get grounded again before the madness cycle starts over.

Two thoughts:

1) This evening at Target I bought some really nice swiss chocolate, just for me. Tiramisu flavor. I highly recommend that everyone shop at Target and buy some really nice swiss chocolate for themselves--any flavor--because it was really nice to pop some of that creamy deliciousness into my mouth, and I want you to feel as nicely as I did!

2) Many of you know that I worked for a company called Apex Alarm for a few years before Carter was born. It has gone from being kind of small and unknown to a nationwide giant in the home security market. Today I saw an ad for the company along the entire left side of one of the UTA buses at the Trax station, and it brought back fond memories of my time there. Like all jobs it was frustrating sometimes. But the owners and employees are good people, and it's a good company. So if you are in the market for some beefed up home security, call Apex. www.apxalarm.com.

That's about it for today. Kind of a long and rambly post--sorry about that. My next post will be way better, I promise.

It just isn't Christmas without...

This is what I did today. I made dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies. The bad news: we are so sick of Christmas treats. This is the pile as of today, and it's still growing.



And that doesn't even count the two gallon-size plastic bags full of Christmas Mix in my pantry.

We will be travelling to spend Christmas with Randy's family, but it just doesn't seem like Christmas unless you make cookies. So I took one for the team. (Actually, I enjoyed it. So did Carter.) And we'll just pack them up and take them with us to Idaho and hope everyone else eats all the stuff we shouldn't be eating!

Tomorrow: Pies, laundry, and hopefully a couple of phone interviews. (Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. I HATE THEM!)