Thursday

Anna and I dropped Jonathan off at school this morning, and then we drove up to the School Board to get her followup testing for speech therapy. I can understand her perfectly, but apparently not very many other people can! She did well for her testing, but acted very shy and kept her fingers in her mouth the whole time. Quiet, withdrawn, docile... just the exact opposite of how she normally is! So now I am waiting on both of the kids to have their meetings to determine what therapy they are eligible for. There was a 3 month gap between Jonathan's initial screening and his follow-up testing, and in those 3 months, he made huge improvements and can say all of the sounds except for one. I don't really expect him to need much, if any, speech therapy. But they might recommend him for some occupational therapy, we will just have to see. Jonathan has certain physical issues that make certain tasks difficult for him, and he has learned ways to cheat or compensate for his difficulties, that have sort of snowballed into other problems. But his brain is fantastic, so everything's good.
The kids both think it is fun and it will be free through the school board so, there's no harm in any of it.
While I was up at the school board, I went to human resources to talk to them about my file. I was dropped out of the subbing system over the summer, because I did not substitute teach last year. That means they took my entire file and scanned it, and so I now have to reproduce every single document if I want to get back in the system, both for subbing and also for looking for a teaching position. I understand why they dropped me out of the subbing system, but I was actively looking for teaching positions less than a year ago, so it just seems a little silly that they had to scan my ENTIRE file. I guess my subbing file was just in the same spot as my teaching file, so they just have a system where they scan all the inactive files after a certain period of time. I first became a sub 4 years ago, but did not sub last school year, and was dropped (not like being fired, my record was spotless, it is just their procedure).
Which means if I want to get back in the subbing system, I have to pay a total of 150 dollars (certificate, drug screening, training, fingerprinting, etc.) which I am reluctant to pay, because the reason I got dropped out of the system was that I could not find any subbing jobs during the 2007-2008 school year to begin with. And now, because of budget cuts and more people being out of work, they need fewer subs than ever, so I really don't think there is any sense in putting myself back through that process, and also paying all that money, which I really don't have right now! I also spoke to someone about my teacher certification eligibility, and my statement does not expire until October of 2009. I asked her what would happen if I did not get a teaching position before then, and she said I would not have to retake the three tests, including my certification area, English 6-12, but that I would just have to re-apply for the statement of eligibility. Phew. I am thinking about taking the Middle Grades Integrated Curriculum (5-9) testing, which means that I would be eligible for more jobs. I have the study guide already, but it would cost 75 dollars to take the test and have it added to my certificate (assuming I would pass!). Anyways, not sure who would want to read what I just wrote, but it helped me get it all sorted out in my own head.(Dear Diary...) I am not sure what I am doing. I am not sure if I want to throw myself into starting to teach full time, or continue working on my preschool credentials. I really love the class I am enrolled in right now, and fitting a job at a preschool into my life with the two kids still being young would just make more sense in a lot of ways. And I have given lots of thought over the past few years about getting my Master's degree. But I have two different paths I have thought about: 1.) I would like to get a Master's degree that would enable me to teach at the college level. or 2.) I would like to get a Master's degree in Counseling and work in the mental health field (or still, possibly, teach at the college level). I think my main problem in life right now is that I don't have any experience, and without experience, it is very hard for me to guess at what I would like to do. I don't know which way to jump. I just don't have any confidence to make a decision because I don't have any direction. And at this point, I really need to work for a few years before I think about graduate school. I think working would solve a lot of problems, in that it would give me some guidance and experience and clarification. And working would also help with all the money problems. Of course.
Other stuff that happened on Thursday: we had breakfast for dinner. Hash browns, bacon and pancakes. I made the pancakes with brown sugar, maple flavoring, and vanilla extract. Very delish.
My Mom and Ed went to the oncologist today. Ed was released from yet another pointless hospital stay yesterday. The oncologist started hospice for Ed today. I think this is a positive move (in as much as hospice can ever be considered a positive move) because being under hospice care will help keep Ed out of the hospital. He is fighting and stays really strong, but he is considered terminal. And hospice can be very helpful to him and my Mom at this point. They can provide more sophisticated nursing care and they can offer more help to my Mom in managing his care. If he gets dehydrated, they can order IVs at home, rather than make him wait all night in the ER, admit him at 3:30 in the morning, and then keep him needlessly in the hospital for four days while they try to figure out who is responsible for discharging him. That's what happened this past weekend. More than anything, Ed just wants to be in his own home, with his dogs, and his own bed. And I think hospice can help keep him at home as much as possible like he wishes.
Dave just snaked the clogged up shower drain and is doing laundry. Should I feel guilty that he does not know how to relax?
The kids are playing in Jonathan's room. Peacefully. And that is no small thing in this house! Jonathan just huffed out here and glared at Anna and said, I just had to pick up ALL OF THE Magnetix, because YOU wouldn't help me. Anna just ignored him like he had not said a word. Jonathan retaliated by taking off his stinky socks and putting them in her dollhouse. Then he had to go over and tell her what he did. She just stared straight ahead and did not bat an eye, like really, that's all you've got? Ha! Where do they get their relationship skills from???
My car is running pretty well. We ordered even more parts (some sort of wires, really don't care much about this) and my brother is going to install them when they arrive. I think my car senses that it will be paid off soon, so it must fulfill its Ford destiny and start breaking down every couple weeks.