Job Prospects

For those that do not know already, I have been an occasional (supply/substitute) teacher for about FIVE, yes 5 years now. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job. But....it would be nice to have a more regular income and to be honest, less 5:30am phone calls.

It's tough to plan monthly spending, saving, etc when I really have no idea what I will be bringing home each month. 

Anyway things seem to be looking up. They've introduced a new priority list that some boards have adopted. Basically it's making the system more fair; instead of it being WHO you know, it's how well you are actually suited for the job, plus seniority. 

I have been teaching at this school locally for 4 days this week for one teacher who according to the principal does not seem to be returning anytime soon (at least not until after Christmas). Several of the teachers at that school have expressed that they want me to take over the position, I would absolutely love that and the posting just came out today. I applied right away. I hope to be granted an interview which will be occurring next week. 

Also, on Monday I had an interview with another school board in my area. My references were called today which I assume means I passed the interview process. It's just to be put on another occasional list but it will just open more doors. 

I love my job and just want to do it EVERYDAY!

Love/Hate Christmas Relationship

Yes that's my tree put up on Saturday, I hope it lasts until Christmas! It's J's first REAL Christmas tree :)

I absolutely love Christmas but I cannot stand Christmas shopping. Finding parking, waiting in lines, browsing things forever and not having any ideas!

I am a bit of a procrastinator as well so that never helps. This year I am almost done one gift and have a few ideas in mind for others too.

I've already started making J's gift. He is getting 6 months of dates (12 dates was too much at once)! He actually really loves gifts of experience so it will be perfect. He bought me tickets to see Aladdin for my birthday, and I got him tickets to a baseball game for his. This year although I am not quite complete he is getting...well let me just show you.

January snowshoe rental for trails and subway date.

February a twisted fairytale play and dinner out

March tickets to see one of his favourite hockey teams

April is going to be local movie theatre tickets (not purchased yet).

May is an ice cream date at a new place and tickets to a musical

June is undecided but likely going to be a comedy show or zoo passes...and DQ blizzards! Also not purchased yet.

He will also get a board game (Cards Against Humanity) so he has something to open on Christmas day because the rest are sealed in envelopes.

I think for something different this year, his family is going to get a GOAT! Not for them, but for a family in a developing country through a charity that I will decide upon soon.

My brothers are getting gift cards to stores close to them.

I'm lacking ideas for my three best friends and my parents...might be in the malls after all this year...

Gushing Post, the how did you meet question?

I've mentioned to you that D and I broke up in February. It was a really hard time for me since I was living with him, I was 27, I was supply teaching, and it seemed ALL my friends were getting married. UGH facebook can sometimes be a cruel thing to a single girl!!

I had plans to move in with my brother and those fell through and I was just down about life. I was living with my parents and decided I needed to be on my own but knew I could not afford a place on my variable income. What to do? Post an ad to kijiji of course! Kijiji is basically like a Canadian version of craigslist (although I've heard less creepy).

So 4 people replied to my ad. One was  very nice man but then turned creepy...out!
A girl who was 19 and couldn't afford anything more than $400 all inclusive...impossible here...out!
Another girl who was my age and wanted out of her place since she didn't like the pets her roommates had, sounded perfect but she fell through....out!
A guy who was close in age, had a full-time job and was looking to move closer to his work, had great grammar...maybe?

This last guy and I started chatting through e-mails since I was working in Toronto for 2 weeks. He seemed very proactive in searching for a place but every time I came home during that time period he was too busy with family obligations to meet. Finally he found a place he loved and I checked it out separately and also fell in love with the place and we decided that we should probably meet once before signing a lease and moving in with one another.

We met up in a local coffee shop the day I came back from the city and we hit it off immediately, we quickly sipped our drinks and raced to the apartment to sign the lease with the landlords.

For the first month we had no cable or internet since we lived in a location that was difficult to get regular high speed internet. So what did we do? We hung out with each other!! I started dating another guy at this time but found myself ending dates quickly to go home to hang out with my ROOMMATE!!

People teased me about dating my roommate and I was adamant that I would NEVER! However over the course of a couple of months he totally won my heart with canoe rides, bon fires, chasing waterfalls, roasting smores, movie nights, road trips, BBQ cooking, and making me laugh every day until I cried.

He admitted to me that he had a bit of a crush on me and I said the same to him and we started dating in June. I've never experienced happiness this way with anyone else, and I am pretty sure he feels the same. It's just...awesome.

Counting Change

I have been saving up my change for 2 summers working at a restaurant.

I try to get rid of a lot of my change while at work because honestly I prefer the bills (especially the red and brown ones), but I do accumulate quite a bit of change as well. I bought a change jar and have been filling it up with "snowflakes" as Jolie says and calculates monthly.

After buying two bags of coin rollers and trading a few with my parents I was able to roll $1026 in change! I had planned on using that jar money toward a vacation one day and I think that is exactly where it will go! Already starting to add to the jar again!

Off Track

I've gone off track in my tracking of spending....I was doing SO good until March of this year. Then I quit blogging and quit tracking...December I NEED to get back on board.

Where is my money going? I have a general idea since my spending habits are pretty much never changing, BUT it's nice to know how much you've been saving and exactly where you are spending your money. So new years resolution starting a month early, I WILL track my spending again.

Ugh December is the month I SPEND the most, but things can only get better from there right? Christmas is only 30 days away according to EVERYONE on facebook. I have only MOSTLY completed one gift so far. More on that soon...

How is your Christmas shopping going? Any ideas on what to get for boys in their mid-twenties that don't really need anything?

Oh just the last NINE months

I can't believe it's been NINE months since I last posted.

What's happened in 9 months? Well D and I broke up. I broke up with him just a couple days after my last post. I told him I was not happy with our relationship and he promised he would make it better. I just wanted to hang out with him more, for him to want to spend time with me. However the very next day he decided to sleep the day away, not do anything around the house (he was unemployed at the time) and I was done. It was so hard because I was really in love with him but I knew that I deserved better than that.

I moved in with my parents and went on a trip to Florida with them. Florida was absolutely amazing! We went for about three weeks and although the weather was awful I had such a nice time. I became closer with my parents and brother by going and spent a lot of time with them. I met a few new friends from the States while there too. Went swimming, saw Winter (a dolphin with a prosthetic tail), went out a lot, spent time reading and just relaxing. When I returned I started looking for a new roommate and put an ad on kijiji (more on that soon). Found an awesome place and an awesome roommate!

Now...I have a new apartment that I LOVE, friends that I LOVE, a path toward a career that I LOVE, A new boyfriend (since the beginning of summer) that I haven't actually said those little words to yet but are just about BURSTING out of me. Life is good :)