On this beautiful Sunday while Taylor was at work I temporarily turned into Susie Homemaker. Seriously, I cleaned the house, did about 5 loads of laundry (and I'm only half done), worked in the yard, went to the store, and made homemade lasagna...I'm not sure who I thought I was...but it was nice to have such a productive day. It's amazing what some good country music and gorgeous Spring weather will do to you!
While looking at my yard, that has begun blooming dandelions in this nice weather, I decided something needs to be done with it. I'm not quite sure what to do...but I've got to do something. This is my first yard (thank goodness it's tiny) and I'm trying to remember what my parents do in their yard. Since I own no garden tools, I decided to start pulling weeds that are sprouting up EVERYWHERE. As I'm pulling along, disrupting the ants and earthworms that call my yard home, I'm consciously looking for prickly weeds before I pull them. After pulling for an hour I've found no prickly weeds and I get careless. I reached under a hedge to pull the weed and the stinkin' prickles attacked my hand!! It stung so bad! My mom said, "you know they have these things called...gloves...they're very useful". I mean, I don't even own a shovel, let alone some garden gloves, but those very well might be my next purchase!
Anyway, it felt like I still had the pricklies (I may have just made up a word) in my hand even a few hours later. But after examining my hand closely I couldn't see anything, so I had to just get over it. But the whole situation reminded me of a story that my family knows well...especially Mama, my grandma.
When I was about 5 or 6 I was staying with Mama and Papa, my grandparents, in Siesta Key while my parents were in Naples. As I was playing outside at the condo I was chasing a lizard and ran right through a cactus garden, barefoot. Inevitably I got the pricklies all in the side of my foot. I had to go to the foot doctor to have them pulled out of my foot because my grandparents couldn't get them out. Now anyone who knows how well I do at the doctor's will understand what a miserable experience this was for Mama and Papa. I freaked out, I threw up all over the doctor...twice. They really loved me there. Anyway, they got all the pricklies out after two visits, as I cried and moaned for my parents and meanwhile they enjoyed a great trip to Naples...poor Mama and Papa.
Needless to say, I didn't need to go to the doctor today and my hand is just fine, but I couldn't help but be reminded of that lovely story! Just thought I'd share.
Alright, back to the VOLS game, half time is over! V-O-L-S, GO VOLS, GO!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
March Madness
Wow, I know I said it last time, but my job just isn't good for this blog! Sorry for the lack of updates lately! I really don't have anything TOO exciting. Just day to day life. Things are going great right now. We're in the middle of our volleyball season, I won't mention our record, but I will say we're still having a ton of fun!
Below, I'm including some pictures of some recent events. Monique's mom, Sandy, was in town for about 2 months and they had us over and taught us how to make salsa and guacamole. It turned out delicious! The secret ingredient to the guacamole? A spoonful of mayonnaise, it made it perfect!
Here are a few of the officers in the squadron: Eric, Greg, Chris, Chris, and Taylor. We have one deployed (Monique's husband) and there were 3 missing that night...I think that's everyone. It's a fun group :)
Below, I'm including some pictures of some recent events. Monique's mom, Sandy, was in town for about 2 months and they had us over and taught us how to make salsa and guacamole. It turned out delicious! The secret ingredient to the guacamole? A spoonful of mayonnaise, it made it perfect!
Monique also held the St. Patrick's Day party the weekend before St. Patty's. Taylor had to work on Sunday and so he only stayed for a little while. I fully planned on going back home with him because I had a busy Sunday, but a few mojitos later I changed my mind and stayed the night with everyone else! For some reason my mind got confused and temporarily thought I was 21 again...but don't worry...my 26 year old body took over in the morning and fiercely reminded it why we don't regularly act like that! Boy I paid on Sunday!
Pictured: Sharity, Monique's landlord, Monique, and Eric. Monique had glowing green glasses for everyone. And please notice the pots of gold she put on her wall! Such detail!
Our St. Patty's picture :)
The girls, we were missing Jenni and Courtney. There aren't many of us!!
We had a fire pit outside we sat around all night. Or in Chris' case, jumped over. Oh the wise decisions a few drinks inspire!
Last weekend we went on an Outdoor Rec ski trip to Corvara, Italy to go skiing. It was a day trip on Saturday. We left at 6am and returned around 7pm. It was a 2 hour drive to the slopes in the Dolomites, part of the Italian Alps. There was a big group from work who all went and we had a ton of fun! Minus the bus ride. We rode in big vans and the road was straight up hair pin turns the whole way up the mountain. Our driver drove like a bat out of hell, I'm not even kidding. We were flying around the turns, I at first thought we were on a one way road because the road was so small and we were all over the place...nope, it was two way. We luckily took a break half way through because a kid in another bus got car sick. We stopped just in time because 3 people on our 11 person bus got sick outside when we stopped. Yeah, it was that bad! But we made it, all in one piece...sort of.
The place we skiied was HUUUUGE. There were so many slopes interconnected all over the place! We seriously decided you could spend a week there and never take the same run twice. The slopes were WAY easier than Austria and I was a big fan of these mountains! Here are a few pics from the trip.
Taylor and Greg. We skiied down a slope...notice the road. Yep, cross the road, then you can keep skiing! Talk about a ski town, huh?
I'm holding Flat Brian in this picture. I'm sure most of you have heard of Flat Stanley, well we had Flat Brian with us for a week or two to visit Italy and take some pictures. He got to go on a few adventures. Anyone who is not familiar, Flat Stanley is a book character of a boy who gets flattened by a bulletin board and then can fit in an envelope and go on cool trips. So the kids create a Flat Stanley and send it to someone to take pictures with him and then mail him back and teach the class about the place he visited. A cool way to learn about different cities, countries, etc.
The preferred pose for a bit of rest. Crazy boarders...Taylor and I stuck with skiing!
Flat Brian enjoying the scenery again!
A few other places Flat Brian got to visit...the market. He hung out with the fruits. The person behind the produce stand gave me some funny looks and got a good laugh out of me taking pictures of a paper boy!
And the cheese guy really thought I was crazy! I did buy some formaggio from him. There's nothing better then some fresh grated parmesan...yummm.
And Brian hung out in our town square, piazza, in San Quirino.
And this might be my favorite picture with Flat Brian :)
That's all for now! Yay for spring time...had our doors open for the first time today, hope to do it tomorrow as well!
Ciao, bella!!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Who's Ms. Katie??
Let's see, I haven't been posting much on the blog, my house isn't quite as clean as usual, I haven't made it to the grocery store lately, I'm much more worn out, and I actually have to set an alarm.
What does all this mean?
I've started my job!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm now 30 hours a week busier then I was last month, and boy does that make a big difference.
I am working in the Youth Center with the School Age Program. My job is pretty much an official hall monitor :) But I actually stay very busy besides the rare 2-3 minutes here and there when everyone is in a classroom! The School Age Program (SAP) usually has around 58 children age 6-12 we pick up everyday after school. We walk them to the Youth Center and they meet with their counselors in the classrooms. My job is to verify we have every child and if we are missing anyone I go through a list of sources to try to find them. 2 weeks ago we couldn't find a child and the school had no record of him in an after school activity and the mother had no alternative plans for the child. So I went with my boss looking for the child around the base (a very small portion of the base where the schools are located), but I seriously felt like the Trunchbull from Matilda on a search for a run away child...searching through the rows of the library, the school, etc. We did find the child, he walked himself over to the Youth Center (bc he's not a regular and didn't know) and was playing in the gym until his karate lesson.
But anyway. After everyone is accounted for and signed into the program we begin opening classrooms for the kids to go in and out of as they please. Each child has a magnet with his/her name on it and they are free to move between classrooms whenever they want by putting their name on a board designated for that room. I stay in the hallway and open and close rooms, allow a certain number of spots in each room, ensure counselors are in the rooms, handle hallway issues, keep an eye on the older kids (9-12) who are allowed to hang out in "Big House" without a counselor, call parents about accidents, deal with issues between children if a counselor is having trouble, and speak with parents when they arrive to sign out their children.
It is quite an extensive program and while there are not a lot of rules allowed to be enforced in the facility because of Air Force regulations (i.e. can't force the children to stand in a line...yes, I'm serious), the program is quite structured. We have a Homework and Science room that is for Homework time the first hour, it is also full of science experiments, computers, a pet rabbit, and all kinds of stuff. Fun Zone has legos, games, a Wii, and other toys. Creative room has puppets, instruments, a stage, "house" materials, etc. Art is full of arts and crafts stuff. Big House is for the older kids with a pool table, computer, foosball, Wii, PS2, keyboard and instruments, and an arts and crafts area, and Cafe where snack is served every day for an hour after school. Each room has a curriculum for the week with a project that gets completed at some point during the week. And the kids have free reign to move between rooms as they please as long as there are spots available on the board.
So it has been a bit crazy and my first week was tough (well, my first week on my own after the girl who trained me left) But I've now finished my third week on my own and it is getting easier and easier every day. Actually easy isn't quite the word, but it's getting better and better every day. I have learned almost every child's name which helps tremendously when you're trying to speak with them or get their attention in the hallway among 15 other kids. And I'm working on matching children with parents when they come to pick them up, I probably have a little more then half of them memorized, so not too bad. And along with that I'm working on ensuring the kids who leave for instructionals (karate, ballet, gymnastics, piano) make it to their programs on time and keeping up with the sign out sheets for kids coming and going, that's getting better and better too. So it's just a slow process and I have to give myself a bit of slack, but it's coming along.
I really love the group of girls who work in the SAP, actually at the Youth Center in general. They have all been very welcoming and helpful, which is exactly what I needed! We've all signed up for a ski trip with Outdoor Rec on March 20 that I'm really excited about. Hopefuly it goes through since our boss just informed us TODAY of a workday on that Saturday to get ready for the upcoming inspection. But hopefully we can work around it and put in our hours on another day. There are 7 of us going (out of about 15 employees in the facility!) I have also started playing intramural volleyball with the girls and we have our first game next week. We are the "Bruisers", yep our name pretty much sums us up. And it's not our opponents we're bruising :)
So things are good, I'm busy, but things are good.
Thomas (Taylor's brother) FINALLY made it in town on Monday afternoon. I'm really thinking his trip just was not meant to be. He was supposed to arrive Saturday morning, but between flight cancellations, re-routings, and delays he was 2 1/2 days late and without luggage. Taylor had to pick him up and drive straight up to Austria for their ski trip. Since being in Austria, Thomas lost his wallet (luckily he has his debit and credit cards and driver's license still with him), Taylor wiped out on the slopes and lost his wedding ring in the snow, and the next day his brand new skis he got for his birthday (in January) were stolen from outside the lodge. Yeah, this was a VERY pricey trip! They come home tomorrow, please pray they don't wreck the car, that's what's next at this point!! Phew. My cousin Megan is our next visitor and I hope her trip is a bit smoother. At least in June a snow storm shouldn't be a problem, in fact, snow won't be a problem at all since there will be no skiing :). And along with Meg my brother might be coming over to visit at the same time! I'm SUPER, SUPER excited and really hope he can make it over!!!!
Alright, over and out.
What does all this mean?
I've started my job!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm now 30 hours a week busier then I was last month, and boy does that make a big difference.
I am working in the Youth Center with the School Age Program. My job is pretty much an official hall monitor :) But I actually stay very busy besides the rare 2-3 minutes here and there when everyone is in a classroom! The School Age Program (SAP) usually has around 58 children age 6-12 we pick up everyday after school. We walk them to the Youth Center and they meet with their counselors in the classrooms. My job is to verify we have every child and if we are missing anyone I go through a list of sources to try to find them. 2 weeks ago we couldn't find a child and the school had no record of him in an after school activity and the mother had no alternative plans for the child. So I went with my boss looking for the child around the base (a very small portion of the base where the schools are located), but I seriously felt like the Trunchbull from Matilda on a search for a run away child...searching through the rows of the library, the school, etc. We did find the child, he walked himself over to the Youth Center (bc he's not a regular and didn't know) and was playing in the gym until his karate lesson.
But anyway. After everyone is accounted for and signed into the program we begin opening classrooms for the kids to go in and out of as they please. Each child has a magnet with his/her name on it and they are free to move between classrooms whenever they want by putting their name on a board designated for that room. I stay in the hallway and open and close rooms, allow a certain number of spots in each room, ensure counselors are in the rooms, handle hallway issues, keep an eye on the older kids (9-12) who are allowed to hang out in "Big House" without a counselor, call parents about accidents, deal with issues between children if a counselor is having trouble, and speak with parents when they arrive to sign out their children.
It is quite an extensive program and while there are not a lot of rules allowed to be enforced in the facility because of Air Force regulations (i.e. can't force the children to stand in a line...yes, I'm serious), the program is quite structured. We have a Homework and Science room that is for Homework time the first hour, it is also full of science experiments, computers, a pet rabbit, and all kinds of stuff. Fun Zone has legos, games, a Wii, and other toys. Creative room has puppets, instruments, a stage, "house" materials, etc. Art is full of arts and crafts stuff. Big House is for the older kids with a pool table, computer, foosball, Wii, PS2, keyboard and instruments, and an arts and crafts area, and Cafe where snack is served every day for an hour after school. Each room has a curriculum for the week with a project that gets completed at some point during the week. And the kids have free reign to move between rooms as they please as long as there are spots available on the board.
So it has been a bit crazy and my first week was tough (well, my first week on my own after the girl who trained me left) But I've now finished my third week on my own and it is getting easier and easier every day. Actually easy isn't quite the word, but it's getting better and better every day. I have learned almost every child's name which helps tremendously when you're trying to speak with them or get their attention in the hallway among 15 other kids. And I'm working on matching children with parents when they come to pick them up, I probably have a little more then half of them memorized, so not too bad. And along with that I'm working on ensuring the kids who leave for instructionals (karate, ballet, gymnastics, piano) make it to their programs on time and keeping up with the sign out sheets for kids coming and going, that's getting better and better too. So it's just a slow process and I have to give myself a bit of slack, but it's coming along.
I really love the group of girls who work in the SAP, actually at the Youth Center in general. They have all been very welcoming and helpful, which is exactly what I needed! We've all signed up for a ski trip with Outdoor Rec on March 20 that I'm really excited about. Hopefuly it goes through since our boss just informed us TODAY of a workday on that Saturday to get ready for the upcoming inspection. But hopefully we can work around it and put in our hours on another day. There are 7 of us going (out of about 15 employees in the facility!) I have also started playing intramural volleyball with the girls and we have our first game next week. We are the "Bruisers", yep our name pretty much sums us up. And it's not our opponents we're bruising :)
So things are good, I'm busy, but things are good.
Thomas (Taylor's brother) FINALLY made it in town on Monday afternoon. I'm really thinking his trip just was not meant to be. He was supposed to arrive Saturday morning, but between flight cancellations, re-routings, and delays he was 2 1/2 days late and without luggage. Taylor had to pick him up and drive straight up to Austria for their ski trip. Since being in Austria, Thomas lost his wallet (luckily he has his debit and credit cards and driver's license still with him), Taylor wiped out on the slopes and lost his wedding ring in the snow, and the next day his brand new skis he got for his birthday (in January) were stolen from outside the lodge. Yeah, this was a VERY pricey trip! They come home tomorrow, please pray they don't wreck the car, that's what's next at this point!! Phew. My cousin Megan is our next visitor and I hope her trip is a bit smoother. At least in June a snow storm shouldn't be a problem, in fact, snow won't be a problem at all since there will be no skiing :). And along with Meg my brother might be coming over to visit at the same time! I'm SUPER, SUPER excited and really hope he can make it over!!!!
Alright, over and out.
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