Today we are going to play the Amazing Race all over town. I really hope I get a good group to work with since I don’t know a lot about the shops and restaraunts. I’ll edit this post later to let you know how it went. : )
I took this picture at the district meeting this morning. We met at the new high school. Can you imagine sitting in your school library and this is the view that you have?!? These kids don’t know how lucky they have it.
The one really stupid thing that I did today….. The clock in my room was not right. My watch battery died and I decided I need to at least have a working clock in my room so that I wouldn’t be late for meetings. At my old school all of our clocks were hanging on a nail and battery operated. Well, this clock was hanging on a metal thing and WAS wired to the wall before I started messing with it. I popped it off and then saw wires. Ooops! I told my principal and he just laughed at me. We put in a work order, but it may take a while. (that aspect doesn’t change in any school system) Next time I’ll just figure out how many minutes it is off and figure out what time it is. I am a math teacher for goodness sakes!
I finished my 3 days of orientation on Friday. I love all of my new co-workers. There were 6 of us in orientation, but one was special education. We didn’t get to spend much time with her. We were all fast friends and full of energy. I think our principal did a fantastic job hiring our faculty. Everyone is awesome. There were so many different personalities in orientation and our school had the best. No little yuppies or snooty people like the other schools. Go Cougars! That is something else that I find funny….I was a Cougar in middle school and now I am again. Our school color is RED!!! This makes me very happy, since the last time I was a cougar we were green and gold.
Friday night I finally got Mexican food! It was good, but not nearly as good as it is back home. I have no idea what came in a small dish beside the salsa, but it yummy. It looked a lot like cole slaw. It has peppers and onions in it so it had a good kick. There is another Mexican restaraunt that I want to try later. And the hottest restaraunt downtown is Italian. Everyone says that if you get there at 6:30, you have to wait an hour. An entire hour! I just laughed because we are used to waits in restaraunts. I’ll have to wait until I get paid to try any new restaraunts. Someone (I wish I could remember who it was) told me that there is a Chik-fil-A in Junction. I’m so excited. I need to make a trip over and check things out. (That’s Grand Junction. I’m picking up on the lingo.)
I think the best thing about moving here is that not many people are from here. Everyone has moved here from all over the country, so they are very nice about being new. They’ve all been in my shoes and want to help me adjust. : ) I went to my first rugby game yesterday. It’s fun to watch, but I had a friend from school there to explain what was going on.
The apartment - I have tile. I have carpet. I now have the drywall completed in the bathroom. The painters are coming either tomorrow or Tuesday to finish the bathroom. I put some pictures on the wall last night. I have, maybe, 4 or 5 more boxes to go through. They will probably be repacked and stored for the time being. My guestroom has many boxes living in it and is turning into my storage area. Molly has been c-r-a-z-y! She was batting my hands and biting me earlier. I guess she’s feeling frisky with the cooler weather. She sits in the window and watches all the people walk by. I think the cat from across the street comes to visit her.
Mom sent me a package this week. I don’t have cable so she was nice enough to send me some movies. I’ve watched all the DVD’s of SATC that I have and the movies that Mom sent. So, if you are missing me and want to send me some movies, sign me up for Netflix or even cable I would love you more than I already do. lol It’s not that bad. I stay busy at work. It’s just hard not to turn the tv on as soon as you get up in the morning or when you are trying to wind down at night. I’ll be doing a lot reading. You can send me books. : )
Monday I went to school and started to set up my classroom. I have boxes everywhere and haven’t made it back to organize. I started a second job on Monday afternoon. Louis (the tile guy) has a detail shop and asked me if I would detail cars for him. I know how ridiculous this must sound to all of you that have seen my truck, but I could use the cash. I detailed one car on Monday and two cars on Tuesday. I was tired by the time I finished last night. Monica (Louis’ wife) was having a jewelry party and invited me over. I went and met some more people. She fixed jambalaya and it was awesome! Louis’ family is Cajun and he likes all the spicy stuff. They live in an area called Canyon Creek. It is beautiful and quiet.
I started my new teacher orientation today. It was long and somewhat boring. Some of the information is really great, but too many people ask too many questions and I have a hard time focusing after a while. The new teachers from my school, my administration, and a few other teachers went out to lunch. It was a good time. We were twenty minutes late getting back to our meetings. We just blamed it on the principal. I have two more days of orientation and should have my work email by Friday. : )
I have carpet in the apartment!!!! It looks so much better. If I get some rest, I’ll finish unpacking so I can take some pictures to show you all. Take care. Sorry to be so boring.
Mom just called to let me know that my friend Angela is engaged!!! Congrats to Angela and Ben! I wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness.
I obviously found the cord to my camera. Above is Molly in one of her favorite spots. Below is how I spent many hours in my truck.
Unfortunately, many of my pictures from my last weekend at home are blurry. Not the pictures I took, but pictures that other people took with my camera. If you have pictures from this time, please, please, please send them to me. I want to print some off and put them in my new apartment. 
I’ll try to get some pictures of the apartment, the mountains, school, etc. to post sometime soon. : )
I found my school this afternoon. It was very easy to find. My principal was not there at first. The door was propped open so I wandered in and started hunting for the office. I took a left into the main hall. Everything was clean and nice. There are posters on the walls. I finally turned around since the only thing I found were classrooms and the gym. The office was just to the right of the main entrance and would have been easy to find if I had just turned my head. Not knowing who or what was in the office, I opened the door and took a deep breath. There were two ladies working. I told them who I was and that I just wanted to look around. One was a secretary and the other was her daughter. She gave me the grand tour of the school and left me in my classroom. The windows have blinds in between the window panes and a little knob to open and close them. I’m so excited about this. At my old school we would get in trouble if we covered our windows no matter how strong the sun was shining in. The teacher’s workroom was stocked floor to ceiling with PAPER. Paper that is provided to the teachers by the district. : ) While I was admiring my new room and talking to Mom on the phone, my principal and assistant principal came in. I finally got to meet them face to face. Both seem very nice. Principal came back in a little while later and brought me a new toy! A brand new still in the box Apple ibook. I am using my new toy to type this post and using my other laptop to watch an episode of The Nine. I don’t have any stations on the TV so I’m having to be creative on the internet. I will be going back to school to take my stuff and organize on Monday morning. Tuesday I have a benefits meeting and Wednesday I start new teacher orientation. I did make it to Target for hangers today! I went ahead and bought coffee, milk, and cereal so I have breakfast. The maid is coming tomorrow and will be cleaning part of my apartment since it wasn’t clean when I arrived. Back to my unpacking. Anyone want to come help?
I have unloaded my kitchen and was working on my bedroom when I ran out of hangers. That seemed like the perfect time to stop and update everyone. My new carpet for the apartment is going to be installed on Tuesday morning. I won’t be here since I have a benefits meeting. Let’s just hope the installers don’t have a hard time moving all my furniture and boxes around. Molly is wild at night. She runs around talking and playing. I hope her schedule adjusts soon. She is eating well and still very loving. : ) Mom’s friend Matthew just called to check on me. We are planning a trip sometime soon. I’ll probably go to Fort Collins where he is so I can meet some people. He set a deadline that we need to get together within the next four weeks and not put it off any longer than that. We determined that it will be about a 4 hour drive. He also said that he spends a lot of time close to here in the Winter and will teach me to ski/snowboard. He’s in for a real treat since I’ve never done it and will probably spend most of my time on my butt. Well, I am going to get myself together and at least drive to my school. I don’t know if anyone is there. I called the principal earlier, but haven’t heard back from him. On the way back I guess I’ll swing by Target and get some more hangers to finish unpacking my clothes. I’m busy, but I miss everyone!!
Well, I’m in Colorado. I’m typing this post from the bedroom of my new apartment. Molly draped herself across the dash first thing this morning. I took a picture so I could show everyone. Are you wondering where it is? It’s still in my camera. I don’t have much moved in yet and I’m not certain which box has my computer cord in it. I’ll find it eventually.
The apartment….well, I knew I had to enter through their house. I have to walk through their living room and open kitchen to get to the stairs that go down to my apartment. I guess they get to monitor my guests. The apartment is not finished. My landlord is putting down new tile and carpet for me. Great! Well, it would be if it was done already. The tile is finished and looks nice. I have no idea when the carpet is going to be installed and I’m just going to move in on top of the old. It will all get worked out eventually. It wouldn’t be right if things went smoothly. I have already found Target. : ) We went to dinner at Chili’s tonight and Target was just across the parking lot. There was also a Petco, Marble Slab, and Starbucks. You all know how excited I was to find Target and Starbucks! Tomorrow will be a day of unloading the truck. I’m not looking forward to it, but it has to be done.
The drive today wasn’t too bad. I saw lots and lots of sunflowers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen fields of sunflowers before. They were really pretty. I saw lots of cows. There was an advertisement for steaks or ground beef or something off a cow in a pasture full of cows. It was very ironic. If you called me today and I didn’t call you back, sorry! I was tired and grumpy. Did you all know that this trip was the farthest that I have ever driven? I never drive on road trips. Jason always liked to drive, so I never did. I don’t know if it was a control issue or I scare him. I know Mom’s driving scares him.
I am exhausted! I’m going to bed for the night. Molly is eating for the first time today and checking out the new place. I’ll check things out later. Hug-n-kisses to everyone.
Well, I have survived the first day of my big move. We left around 6:15 this morning. I had every intention of heading out at 5:30, but Uncle Donald came over and I wanted to spend time with him before leaving. I didn’t get much sleep last night. My beautiful kitten was very talkative last night and kept me up. She was fine as long I was rubbing her head, but very loud when I stopped. I only stopped when I fell asleep. She got her super special little pill first thing this morning to make the car ride more enjoyable for me easier on her. I felt bad putting her in her carrier, so I left her out to roam the truck. The first place she found comfortable was draped across the dash. I had to move her over so that she wouldn’t be in my line of sight. She would climb around the truck from the very back to right under my feet. She slept in my lap, in the passenger seat, and right behind my seat. She’s a very active kitty even when she’s doped up. Now that I’m in the hotel room she’s checking everything out and playing with toys. She keeps me entertained since there’s not a lot to do while stuck in a car. I listened to one book on cd today and talked to many friends. My phone calls started at 6:30 this morning and continued all afternoon. Thanks for checking on me! The most interesting thing that I saw on the road was probably while talking to Jana. We stopped at a rest area and there were two guys beating a pop-up camper. The camper was neon green with yellow trim. It looked like one corner popped up and they didn’t know how to get it down. They had taken a piece of the yellow trim off the side and were taking turns beating on the corner that was raised. Yes, I think I was still in Arkansas when that happened. I’m staying the night in Kansas and plan on being back on the road by 6:00 in the morning! I’ll try to update this as much as possible, but remember I do have a lot to do. I miss everyone and love you all!
