Job hunt

Since I applied for unemployment recently I have had to start applying for 2 jobs a week. I've been pretty picky - only choosing things that wouldn't cost me money to go to work, which severely limits the possibilities these days.

On Sunday I applied for 2 part time jobs over in Brigham. One was for a math tutor and one was teaching English/English tutor. I hadn't heard anything and just figured big surprise. Today though, I got a phone call from the person looking to hire the English tutor. She told me that her supervisor had gone over my resume and that it looked like I'd be the perfect fit for the job. It's part time and the hours are basically whenever the students don't have to work. The students are a husband and a wife. Her schedule varies but he doesn't get off work until around 5 or so. They'd pay me $10/hr. so if I can keep it so that I just have Caleb in daycare, it shouldn't cost me too much to accept this job. I for sure don't want to be making more than 1 trip a day over to Brigham, but it sounds like they're pretty flexible, so I think it will be ok.

The only hang up is that I have to provide all the curriculum. Great. Good thing I've taught English to a bunch of Spanish only speakers before!

Despite the providing of my own curriculum, I think I will like this job. And, as long as I don't make more than 30% of my weekly unemployment amount or work 40 hours, I should be able to still get unemployment.

I'm suppose to meet them tomorrow at the Brigham library, so, we'll see how it goes!

Labor Day Weekend

What a whirlwind weekend (week actually, since Travis has been home)!

The kids are into the full swing of things at school. We are doing homework regularly and trying to get back into reading together for 20 minutes every day. Nash is really loving the fact that he gets to go to a big school and learn things like his sister. Samantha, well, she's always excited about school (she's weird, like her mother). Caleb is a bit lost when both kids are gone. He wanders around the house following me around like a puppy. He's been really good, he's just become a hardcore "mama's boy." I have managed to get some fall cleaning done while the kids have been at school. The only time Caleb hasn't been exactly helpful is when I climbed up on the ladder to take down my light fixtures and he decided he wanted to shake the ladder while mom was on top. Next week I think I'm going to take him to my girlfriend's house for a few hours a day while both of the other kids are at school so he can play and I can finish up my cleaning!

This past Saturday we went to Bear Lake (or Brrr Lake if you ask me). We had planned to go to Flaming Gorge for the Labor Day weekend, but with Sam's arm and her missing so much school already because of it, I couldn't justify letting her miss another day for vacation. So, luckily I was able to convince my mother in law that we should go to Bear Lake. I thought we were going to go camping over there for the weekend, but it turned out that we only went for 1 day. This was good though because the day we went was supposed to be the nicest day and it wasn't that great weather wise. (Surprise!) I swear there was 4 million people at Bear Lake the same day as us! This is what we had to one side of us:

This was looking down the other side:
We were literally sitting at the edge of the water. I was sitting in my chair when I took these pictures so you can see how close I am to the edge. If we had backed up any further, we would have been on top of someone else!

Caleb loved playing in the sand and water and not hearing mom say, "No Caleb!"
Uncle Robbie was the hero of the day because get got down and dirty with my boys & built a major sand castle with them. They were so excited about getting to build a sand castle. And the fact that Uncle Robbie was doing it with them, well that was just the icing on the cake! It was fun to watch them run back and forth to get some drier sand and then hustle to the edge of the water and dump their buckets and build their castle up. They even dug a moat around it and found sticks to use as bridges.

On Sunday Travis, Robbie and Trav's dad decided it was time to put in a front yard. We've only been here for 4 summers and I've asked about it every summer we've been here. What results do I get with my requests? Weeds, weeds, weeds, and more weeds! What does Trav do when his dad brings it up? This:
Hopefully we will have grass sprouting before the snow falls. Otherwise, it will be spring. Meanwhile, I'm in charge of keeping the dirt wet.

He decided he didn't like how I had put my pavers around the tree a few years ago, so he dug them up and redid them so he likes it now. His justification was that "You should like it better, there's more flowerbed space." Uh huh. Thanks.
Nothing quite like laboring over Labor Day weekend I guess, right? I labored too. I made enough dinner to feed the small army we had at our house. That was a job in itself! Not to mention I had 4-5 kids running around my house that I had the privilege of entertaining in between! Oh well, it all worked out and now I don't have to listen to anyone ask, "When are you gonna put in a front yard Travis?"

Sam's 1st day of school pix

Book Review

I just finished reading Three Cups of Tea. The book club I try to follow was reading it so I thought I'd give it a try. To be honest, when I first saw the book I almost put it back on the shelf. It didn't look like a book I'd be interested in (a biography) and, after reading the back I figured I'd probably only read one or two chapters (to give it a chance) and then abandon it.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised! I had a hard time putting the book down & even though it took me about 2 weeks to read it, I was sad when it ended because I wanted to know more (it ends about 2003). After writing down some websites that I found in the back of the book, I got online. I am excited to learn that there is another book, Stones into Schools, that picks up where Three Cups of Tea leaves off. I'm hoping to find it at the library tomorrow! If I can't find it there, I think I might have to go buy it!

When I got on the http://www.threecupsoftea.com website, I jumped over to Pennies for Peace. This is another organization that Greg Mortensen founded. I am wondering if it might be something Canyon Elementary would be interested in, or at least Sam's teacher. I would love for my kids to get involved in this kind of philanthropic work. Obviously, I believe education is key (for all kids) and since this charity builds schools, it would be perfect for my family to support!

I have added 2 of the websites from this book to My Favorite Links list - http://www.threecupsoftea.com and Central Asia Institute. I'd highly suggest you check them out. And, if you can find the book - READ IT! I just passed the copy I checked out from the library to my mom!

Thanks Tannie!

Finally! Some good news!

It's about time, right? Nash has been so dad-gum loud all summer I was wondering if his tubes had come out or been clogged once again. That was the tell tale sign with Samantha. So, I scheduled him an appointment with the ENT. We went in today and I told our most favorite ENT Dr. Blotter what was going on. He told me he expected to find "tubes in the ear canal & an ear drum full of fluid." However, much to his surprise (and mine) his tubes are in and his ear drums are clear! After this nice surprise, Dr. Blotter had the audiologist come down and test his hearing. Come to find out, the little stinker, actually has "slightly better than normal hearing." What?! He has decidedly inherited his father's ability to tune me out?! When I told his dad that, he responded "Well, I can't really blame him." Brat. My official diagnosis then is that he must have more Reeder blood in him that I ever imagined! Thanks Great Grandma Ruth! He isn't deaf, he's just loud!

On a side note: Samantha went from 4 am until 1 pm with no Lortab today! Yay. I thought she was on the upswing of things. She was even asking if I'd take her to school. What? But, since 1 pm she's been pretty steadily needing the drugs again. Oh well. Some progress is better than no progress, right?

Now, if only I could get his little brother out of his "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad" Terrible 2 stage, we'd be set! HA!