Is it a job or a calling?

I have been to my fair share of seminars as a pre-school teacher.

The best one I have been to was from a company called - Appelbaum. Those of you that know of it will say that they give the best seminars. This company is based in Sugarland and the woman who started it - can be most recognized by her laugh. :D

Her name is Marlyn Appelbaum. If you click the link above you will find out a little more about her.

Anyway, she has a blog where she posts her "Thoughts For the Day" and you can sign up to receive them via email.

My boss signed up for them and really enjoys them.

This morning, when I got to work - I found a printed out email of one of these "Thoughts for the Day" in my box. The following note was written on it, "Maria, I thought of you when I read this."

The following is the "Thought of the Day" that was in my box,

"A job is something that you do to earn money. It is work, and it can be work without passion. A calling is something else entirely even though it involves a job.

When I was a little girl I wanted to have 27 children. I told everyone I was going to have that many children, and they just would smile and look at me with amusement. When I grew into adulthood, I married young, had only two children, but I still wanted to help other children. I kept following my heart, and doors opened up for me to do what I did. It was my calling.

Many of you may have planned to work with children. Others had different dreams. Regardless of how you came into this profession, it is where you are now, and I don’t believe that is an accident. Every time you go to work, you have a chance to do more than just have a job. You have the opportunity to have it be your “calling,” your chance to make a difference.

Have a great day making that difference today and following that calling.

Maryln"

I myself have often thought that I "fell into this postion" and since then have been told multiple times that I am "in the right place" and I definitely am doing what I should be doing.

It touches me deeply to hear these things from parents, my family, and now most recently my boss. Most of all - I am really surprised to hear my kids (students) recite back some of the things I have tried to teach them. The most special thing to me is the fact that they are SO proud of what they have learned or what they have made in my class.

Most of you know that my pre-school class falls in the age range of 3 - 4yr olds.

At the beginning of the September - our lesson plans started with learning one letter of the alphabet a week. On Fridays, we have "show-n-tell" in which each of my students has a special bag (one of our crafts that has a felt cut out of the student decorated with felt clothes that matched what they were wearing the day we made the bags). One of the little boys wears the same outfit every Friday just so he can match his bag.

Each Friday, they bring things from around their house that start with the letter we have been studying. They get to stand in front of the class and show everyone each item - while I write the word for it on the board. I have seen students go from being the most shy student in my class (never wanting to leave my side) to one of the most outgoing from this "show-n-tell" time alone.

Last week, was letter "B". Everyday, we have a "worksheet" and a "craft" that we complete. One particular worksheet we worked on had lower case b's across the bottom that are intended to be traced by the child (basic dashed lines). As I was helping them trace the letters; I would recite, "Down and Around, Down and Around" for each letter "b".

Today we were studying the letter "C". However, on our worksheet the WORD they traced had a "b" in it. Our director was helping me in the classroom. She was helping one student trace the word, (it slips my mind what word it was now) and when they got to the letter "b" the student mentioned something. She said, "Ms. Jean, you need to say 'down and around' like Ms. Maria."

It may be something simple - but it truly touched me, that she remembered my saying from a week before and recognized the letter that it belonged to.

Another such story - the first time I passed out crayon boxes to them, they got crazy and decided they loved how they sounded when they shook them as hard as they could. Thus, me telling them that if they shook them, the would break them. Then that turned in to our saying, "If you shake them, you will break them."

Now not only do they NOT shake their crayon boxes - but as I pass out the boxes; all I have to say is, "Ok boys and girls what's our rule?" In unison they will all reply, "IF YOU SHAKE THEM, YOU WILL BREAK THEM!"

Labor Day

Today is Labor day and I definitely am not laboring away!

I'm off from work today and have been sick for about the past 4 days. It seems to be going away now so maybe all I needed was some rest.

I was pretty much just checking in here - I know I haven't posted much, but like I always say - I do plan on writing more...I just need to get into it.

Well, signing off...see you soon!

M

Happy Birthday to me!

Hey!!

Just thought I'd do a quick update!! Today is my birthday - and for whatever reason this year seems to be a really great one. I'm also noticing there a lot of May babies.

Anyway, I have a training session to go to for work today - downtown @ the Sheraton. It's supposed to be like a teacher in-service. Never been to one before so, we will see how it goes.

However - I'm not to happy about spending the majority of my birthday there. I mean...I had to wake up @ 6am!!! On my birthday!!!

I more than likely won't be home again till 4pm - so much for relaxing today!

Starbucks

Larry and I have been staying up quite late these days...working on the house.

Please see my other blog by clicking HERE. I just posted a new update. If you're not a follower, please be.

One of these wonderful nights we made a late night Starbucks run...they closed at 11 and we were there about 10:45pm. Let me just say -

How do you know when you need to seek professional help via Starbucks Anonymous?

1) Your cars transmission craps out on you and you can't make it through the drive-through of your local Starbucks.

2) You can't afford a car with working windows so that you CAN go through the drive-through of your local Starbucks.

I kid you not...we pull into the Starbucks drive-through with two cars ahead of us. The one DIRECTLY in front of us has to open the car door to place their order - because their window doesn't work.
They order and now it's our turn. We place are order and the lane moves. Next thing we notice the car in front of the broken window vehicle isn't moving. It doesn't pull up to the window, however the front passenger gets out and proceeds to walk up to the window to pay and pick up their order.

At this point...I mention to Larry that we should never leave the house after 10again, because only weird crap happens to us after hours. All kinds of ideas are being tossed back and forth between us as to why the crackhead in the vehicle just got out and WALKED to the window.

Next thing we see...two other girls emerge from the vehicle and go up to the window. One of them yells that her car just broke down.

Then the man (repping the Rockets in his late model Rocket jersey) driving broken window vehicle and my husband both get out to help push the car out of the way. The broken window guy tries to turn it on and guide it so my husband can push it tells us the cars transmission crapped out....how accurate this is (coming from a beat down car owner) is unknown.

Point is...if your vehicles are that bad off...maybe you should save the money you spend on Starbucks and get a few repairs done.

I love Starbucks as much as the next guy...but man...sometimes you just have to say no.

Keeping people in line!

Ok, so I've signed up with TWO employment agencies. I've been with one since July of 2008 and they sent me out on one job. I worked at that job for a while and then they let go of all the temps that were working there.

I really liked that job - it was in the Imports industry and it keep me much busier than the my previous job. I loved it. There was never a dull moment and there was always something to do, very unlike the previous job were I was constantly bored and my brain was missing stimulation.

Anyway, I loved this job and my boss even cried when she had to tell me they were letting go all of the temps. She has since been a really great friend and keeps my resume on file - in case they start hiring and even forwarded my resume to others she knows are looking for good workers.

Back to the point...this first agency (I'll call it Agency A.) has not called me out on any jobs in a few months. I happened to check their website with all the job postings and noticed a few I could EASILY do. I emailed the agency and asked if I had been considered for any of these. A lady we will call K, emails me back and stated that for these postions my test scores needed to be 95% or above and that she did not think my scores were that high.

Now, mind you I just signed up with Agency B and was told I aced my tests. They were the same as the ones I took at Agency A with a couple of extras.

So I asked K what my test scores where and if they were that bad could I re-test. She did not answer my questions about the original scores - instead she just emails me the tests to take at home.

I take the 3 test and my results are as follows: 100% on Word, 100% on spelling, and 90% on Excel. I VERY VERY RARELY use Excel!

I email her back and tell her I took the tests and let her know what my scores are and note that if I need to retake Excel I can. I also tell her that I would STILL like to know my old test scores.

This was last Thursday. I didn't hear from her. So, I go over her head to the owner of the agency. I've talked with the owner (we will call her J) multiple times so I felt I could email her. I emailed her the copies of the previous emails and within 2 minutes I get an email and a phone call from her.

She tells me that K - is no longer with the agency and she has a position she wants to forward my resume onto and wants to know if I would be interested. However, she might need me to test again unless she can figure out what K did with everything. She even had to ask me to resend my resume to her.

Funny how things work out.

I wonder why K no longer works there.

Quick Updates

Had a great time @ the rodeo last night...didn't think I knew as many Clay Walker songs as I did. Can't wait for Brad Paisley night. Thanks Jamie!

Signed up with Twitter...something new for me to be addicted too...aside from MySpace, Facebook, and Blogspot. Thank you Jamie for that one too.

Larry finally had his tooth taken care of...I'm so glad he's not in pain anymore. It hurts my heart to see him hurt. However, he loves his new dentist...even though it is a small drive.

Still looking/praying for a job...hopefully that changes soon.

This weekend I have reserved for working on the house/yard...with Larry's help. Can't wait!

I think that's about it right now...dog wants to go outside...so see you later.

P.S. Here's a video featuring Rainn Wilson...thought it was funny.

Halloween comes early?

SO, yeah I know it is no where NEAR Halloween - but it is one of my FAVORITE times of year.

I love it so much that when I found out Department 56 (the company that makes small houses and decorations for Christmas Villages) also makes Halloween Villages I went NUTS!

This was a little after Christmas time last year...so I told him that what I want - once a year is for him to buy me either a Halloween house from Dept 56 or a Christmas house. I would much prefer the Halloween ones, but I would like to start collecting both. They can be a little pricey though.

This afternoon, I went over to my mom and dad's - they invited us over for food. While we were there, she wants to give me some canisters for my kitchen. So, she takes me out to the garage to get them and I happen to spot a Dept 56 Halloween house!

I asked her who it was for and why she had it. She doesn't collect them and I thought maybe it was a gift she had forgotten to give me.

She says that my aunt - the same one that gives my sister and I Hallmark ornaments every Christmas - gave it to her a while back. She just stuck it in the garage...I went crazy over it and she gave it to me. She also stated she had another one somewhere that was even bigger and would find it and give it to me also!!

So, now I have the makings of my first Halloween Village and I can NOT wait to put it up this Halloween. Even if it is only two houses. :)

Here's the only pic I could find of it online - check it out.

Valentine's Day...It's our Anniversary!

OK well, today STARTED out as a great day...my husband and I actually exchanged gifts early.

Partly b/c I can't wait to give him surprises and b/c I HAD to give him mine early he gave me his gift.

I bought him a computer game called, Left 4 Dead...yeah he loved it...but all I know is it's a game that you have to kill zombies...to hear him talk about it - it's the greatest game ever.

I received some lovely jewelry - however I knew what I was getting cause I picked it out. I like the gifts that I get to pick out the best!! So does Larry, he can never go wrong.

Anyway - it was a good day, my Mommy came over to give us her gift and a long time friend of the family called to invite us over for dinner.

This is where things started to go wrong. We went - and it was held outside with a fire going...very nice atmosphere...nice people, tasty food and drinks.

Then...about an hour later...I start feeling sick to my stomach - I'm the only one. I don't know if it was from the smell of the fire (this was also getting to my husband) or the food or what.

I make an excuse to leave - and on the way home (she lives two blocks from us) I yell at Larry to pull over...out comes everything I just ate.

It was horrible and embarassing...there I am in the street, in front of some strangers house just giving a show. Larry - had to turn the music in the truck up so he wouldn't start throwing up too, just from the sound.

So, there I am reliving everything I just ate with a soundtrack by T-Pain. I finally stop just in time to see a car coming up behind us...I hop back in the car and tell Larry to get me home quick!!

Ugh, come to think of it...whoever it was behind us probably thought I was drunk...what with the music being loud and the show I was putting on. It was rough.

Home at last...and apparently I felt the show MUST go on...b/c I cant keep anything down!! Not even Sprite. This was at 7:45pm and it is now...12:10 and I am only now beginning to feel better.

Once I was on empty...Larry put me to bed and b/c I was FREEZING - put me to bed with an xtra blanket on. I slept a little and then had to get up, hence why I am on here now.

I watched the Weekend Update on SNL - where Seth Meyers says, "And today is Valentine's day - so to all our viewer's at home - better luck next year."

My sentiments exactly!!

I am still weak and a tad dizzy....so I'm not even sure this post will make sense in the morning.

However, it's good to know that I have been married to someone that looked after me so well - and it's only been 4 years.

Anyway - THAT was my anniversary.