Not a great first impression

THE BACKGROUND 
(If you're not interested in the background skip down to the story)

So, as many of you know, I got a new job.  I have been subbing for the past year in Brentwood School District but the school year was going to end June 10th and I needed a job for the summer.  Plus, subbing pays 1/2 of what I was making as a teacher so I was also looking at jobs for next school year.  I'd given up on finding a teaching job with a school district because last year I sent out 20 different applications (we're talking 25 page packet applications) and I didn't hear a peep from one person.  I figured it wasn't worth it to go through all that again.  So I've been looking on craigslist for a job as a nanny, daycare provider, summer camp counselor, waitress, etc.  Anything that would pay decent money and that would hire me.  I couldn't find anything that would pay enough and I wasn't excited to do any of those jobs any way.  Then one day I got an email from the IU which is government run and provides specialized services to all the schools in the county such as ESL teachers, Sp Ed, and Head Start programs.  They are starting a new program in Pittsburgh for Early Head Start which is for kids from low income families ages 6 weeks to 3 years.  They were only hiring two teachers and after two interviews they offered me the job!  It's salary and I'll be getting benefits, paid vacations, and lots of professional development opportunities.  Yay! I'm really excited!  The classroom will be in Carnegie which is about 10-15 minutes from my house.  We will be doing training and setting up the classroom over the next couple of months and then school starts August 2nd.  It will be very interesting.  I have a lot of experience teaching Preschool though 5th grade.  But how do I teach a 6 week old?  There will be 8 kids and two teachers so it should be really fun. After subbing for a whole year I'm excited to have my own classroom and to be able to bond with my kids.


THE STORY
For the training the next couple of months we are meeting at the IU in the waterfront which is about 30-40 minutes away.  My first day of work was today.  Last night I dreamed that I kept forgetting about meetings I had to go to in my new job and I was always late for everything. It's ironic because this morning I tried to leave pretty early to make sure I wasn't late on my first day.  I got out to my car, turned the key in the ignition, and....nothing.  I tried again.  Nothing.  MY BATTERY WAS DEAD!  Yesterday I gave my car its annual cleanup and while I was polishing the steering wheel I must have turned the headlights on.  I was even looking at my battery yesterday while I was checking all the fluids thinking, "That's a pretty crusty looking battery.  I'm glad it has never died on me!"

Well I ran to my neighbor's door (neighbors we never talk to) and started knocking (at 7:30am).  Finally they answered but said they didn't have jumper cables.  We own jumper cables but of course they are in Danny's car and he had already left.  I called Libby who lives two houses down from me but she didn't have any jumper cables either.  She did offer to drive me all the way over there though with her 3 children, bless her heart.  (She's had to do it before when I left my keys in Danny's car.)  Then I called the Betteridges who also just live a couple houses down from me.  Luckily Justin was just walking out the door and he did have jumper cables! He drove on over and after a few tries we got the car to start!!!  My hero!  It took a couple calls but I finally got a hold of my Director and told her what happened and that I would be late.  I got there about 8:15am and they had to wait for me to get started.  Not a great first impression!

The day went really well though.  We had fun getting to know each other and learning more about the program.  They bought us lunch from Panera and let us go home 2 hours early (with lots of homework to do).  They also gave us laptops with a Sprint 3G wifi air card so we can connect to the internet anywhere Sprint gets coverage. I love my new job!

Home Grown Beauty

I never claimed to know how to garden.  I've never been able to boast of a green thumb.  I don't know if I'll ever get any home grown vegetables this summer, but what I captured out on my deck yesterday has made all my work worthwhile.  Look at my gorgeous tomato plants after a rainfall!

The Dance of the Pittsburghers

There is a dance that all Pittsburghers have to learn around the time they turn 16.

I never learned it growing up in Texas.

It wasn't one a the dances they taught in my Social Dance Class at BYU.

Even in Philadelphia I didn't need to learn this dance.

It was when I moved to Pittsburgh that I had to learn real quick.

No one ever explained the dance steps to me.  I learned by watching others and then I practiced the steps my self.  I made mistakes at the beginning, but I've been getting better and I have gone several months without messing up so far.  Sometimes when I'm in the middle of dancing I think I'm about to mess up but I've come out just fine.

More often than not you will dance with complete strangers and then never see them again.  Some people talk to their partner during this dance even though their partner will never hear them so many people use gestures as well.

Your feet will not get tired while you dance.  You use them very little.  They only have to tap slightly up and down.  You don't even have to be very musically inclined.  No one cares if you can move to a beat.  People listen to a variety of music during this dance; some might even be dancing to a book on tape or talk radio.

This dance is danced in your car.  Almost all of the neighborhood roads here are two-way roads which would be fine because they are wide enough for two cars to easily pass each other going opposite directions.  The problem arises because most people don't have driveways so they also park on these streets.  These streets are no way no how three cars wide.  So we learn to dance.

I've mapped out the dances for you so if you ever visit you will know what to do.  The dances are listed in order of difficulty from least to most challenging.

Dance #1 The Side to Side (solo dancing) - When you are driving down a street and you see a car parked in front of you, you swerve over to the left side of the street until you safely pass the parked car.  Then you may swerve back to the right side of the street.

Dance #2 The Stop and Go (group dancing) - When you are driving down the street and you see a car parked in front of you but there is also another car driving toward you so you can not swerve to the left side of the street. In this dance you stop before the parked car, wait for the on-coming car to pass, then you may go around the parked car.  Variation #1  If multiple cars are coming in consecutive order you must stop and wait until there is a big enough break in the congo line for you to sa-shay around the parked car.  Variation #2 There may come a time when a car is coming toward you but there is a car parked in front of him and he should be the one stopping for you.  The rules to this dance change when that car is bigger than you or does not look like he is going to stop.  You must be vigilant in this dance.  Safety first.  You have to be the better person.  If the other car is not slowing down you will need to stop in your lane so he has enough room to swerve around the parked car into your lane and back into his before you can go.

Dance #3 The Do-si-do (partner dancing) -  When you are driving down the street and you see a car parked in front of you and 50 yards or so down the road there is a car coming toward you and another car parked on his side of the street.  (This happens a lot more often than you may think) Now you do-si-do.  Almost simultaneously you both swerve into each others lanes as you pass the parked cars but to avoid the second parked car you have to swerve back into your own lanes without hitting each other.  This dance is my favorite and it is beautiful when executed correctly.

These dances will need to be repeated in random order several times before you reach your destination.

Now if you ever come to Pittsburgh you will know how to dance.

I looked out the window and what did I see?

I just realized I post a lot of pictures about plants.  I'm sorry if you guys are sick of it.  Tough.  Until I get kids, plants are my love.  Look how gorgeous all these trees are!  These are some of the blossoms I see when I look out my back window.

Let's just say, Pittsburgh did not disappoint me this season.

I'm in love

With my precious tulip that just bloomed!

Manis and Pedis

My good friend Rachelle just had a big birthday, and we've been partying ever since!  For one of our celebrations we all went to get pampered with a delicious breakfast and manis & pedis.  So fun!

I have an obsession with taking pictures of my feet.  Can you tell?

We had all our nails under the special light to make them dry quicker...I just like the way it looks!