So much of me is made of what I learned from you...

Wooo Hooo! I am healthy-ish.  I still have  a runny/stuffy nose, but that is no big deal after the germy week+ I had last week.  It's sad I am so pumped about this, but man did it suck being so sick.  I have been a busy girl, I have subbed for worthington, westerville (x2) and dublin this week.  I am not sure if I sub tomorrow, but I bet if I do, there will be a holiday party to supervise! I will need to be sure to wear red or green too.  I have had a pretty busy week outside of work, too. The roommates and BC and I went over to Joe and Jessie's house for dinner on Monday.  After dinner, we played Taboo!, which is my all-time favorite board game.  I miss playing board games, and will be sure to add board games to future gift lists.  Growing up, my family played many board games, but now that I live on my own, I don't really have many so I need to start getting some.  It's funny, my family is so competitive, that a lot of our games ended due my mom walking off because everyone was fighting over some stupid rule or the score, etc. but I still have many happy memories playing outburst and pictionary and taboo and the rest of them!  I am leaving on Saturday morning to go home for Christmas, and I really hope we can play some board games. :) It's a good way to pass the time on a snowy night!   Maybe we can also have a fire in our fireplace. Apparently Toledo is getting a ton of snow tonight, so it sounds like I might have a white Christmas.  We'll see if it melts by next week.  BC and I and our friends, the Millers, are supposed to go to Zoo Lights @the Columbus Zoo tomorrow, but rain is in the forecast.  Hopefully it passes by us before we go, because walking around in the rain sucks!
I am just about done with my Christmas shopping, I just need to buy some sugar-free candy at a local store in Toledo for my diabetic grandfather with the enormous sweet-tooth.  This Sunday my mom, sister, and I are spending all day making cookies, which is very exciting, too!  My dad, brother, and sister's husband are all going to the Browns' game, so we will have free rein of the house that day.  The roommates are I are making some cookies tonight too, we were going to do it last night, but exchanging stockings and pizza and TV wore us out! So we will just extend the festivities tonight.  Plus I am super-pumped that one of my roommates washed all the dirty dishes in the sink.  I was resigned to having to do that today when I got home, even though most of the dishes weren't used by me, so I was so happy to see a ton of dishes drying on the counter.   Thanks, Brandon! Now I can reach the sink to wash all my dishes that I still have in my room from being sick last week.... oops! 
Well, I think I have sufficiently updated, I probably won't update much during Winter Break.  I will be in Toledo until the 27th, and then I hopefully will spend NYE in Cleveland visiting friends.   I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and a great start to 2009!!!!

Per request, I have taken a couple pictures of some of my favorite Christmas cards I am making this year. :)

 





Well, I'm off to bed, I am subbing in 5th grade tomorrow... ugh. On a happy note, BC surprised me tonight at 10:30 at my apt. door.  I hadn't seen him since last Sunday, and when I told him I wanted to hug him to make him feel better (he's sick), he decided to come get a hug on his way home from Gahanna. :) What a wonderful surprise from a wonderful guy.

Today has been a lazy day.  It is gloomy outside and I didn't have a subbing job today, so I have yet to face the rain.  I am going to my aunt and uncle's house tonight for dinner, so hopefully the rain will be past us then.  Last night I made some more Christmas cards.  I decided a couple weeks ago to make my own cards instead of buying them because I really love scrapbooking.  It is definitely not cost-effective, but it is something that I am really enjoying.  I still have some pages from last summer to scrapbook, so maybe after I am done with my cards I will get back into "real" scrapbooking.  The one thing I hate about scrapbooking is cleaning it all up every night.  I don't really have a dedicated space to work - it's either a common area like the kitchen or coffee table or my room.   In my room the only place to really put anything is my bed, because my room is super tiny.  Lately I have been using my bed, but it is a little more difficult since it isn't a hard surface, but at least it forces me to clean it every night, since I need to be able to sleep there too!  My dream is now to have a scrapbooking room where I can have everything organizing and if I am in mid-project, I can just close the door and keep stuff out.  
I have been thinking lately what I am going to do if I don't get a full-time teaching job next year.  I don't really have a plan B I realize.  I mean, I guess I will keep subbing, but I definitely can't live off subbing for years.  I am trying not to dip into my savings, but that will only last for so long.  I just have to have faith that things will work out.  I think about how if I were to move across the country, either south or west, I would have better luck, but I have no desire to move any farther away from my family.  Even in Columbus, 3 hours away,  I feel too far.  I wish my sister and parents would eventually move to Columbus.  That would be awesome.  Then I would have everyone I love near me.  It is just such a tough time to find jobs, and it seems like all you hear about is that things are just going to get worse.  It is so hard to have faith that things will come together, when everything you hear goes against that.  I feel like I am a really great teacher, and I wish someone would notice that and take a chance on me.  I don't like not knowing what will happen, I feel like everything in my life is up in the air, and that unsettled feeling is not fun.  
The rain must be making me feel blah.  I should just remember that only one more day of work, and then home for Thanksgiving!  I already have my job booked for tomorrow, two 1/2 days@ the same school.  In the morning I am in 2nd grade, and after lunch I am in 3rd grade.  I also scheduled a haircut appt. for when I am home.  I got my hair highlighted a couple months ago in Toledo, so I am getting them done again there.  I haven't investigated places yet down here to go to, and since I am going home anyway, why not?  Maybe brighter hair will give me a brighter outlook on the future! :)  Here's hoping!