Back to work

I might as well continue with where I left off with the last post. I got my few things with class worked out and I started work this past Tuesday. Yay for going back to working. I also attended my last week of class in the evening. This has made me exhausted. I'm not sure how I'm going to survive this next set of classes, since I have class Monday through Thursday from 6-10PM. So work from 8-4:30 and then class after that. Needless to say, I won't be seeing much of my house, my friends, or Bryan. I'm glad to be working and I only have class until the middle of March so it can't be too bad. It's just going to be like my second year at CLC, 2 part-time jobs, 19 credit hours, two sets of private lessons, and a full time volunteer position. I, of course, wasn't trying to be dating anyone at that time so that was a little bit of a hitch. Currently, since I get off of work at 4:30 and Bryan leaves for work at 4:45ish, there is no way that I see him during the week, regardless if I have class. I guess we are going to be those people that only see their significant other on weekends, well when he's awake. Oh well, I guess it's part of life. I'm truly exhausted from working and going to school, and it's only been a week. My friend Cathy works two blocks over from where I do and so Friday (yesterday) we met for lunch. It was nice to be able to have lunch together. Working downtown is a little bit of an adjustment for me as is working in an office again. The people I work with seem really cool and I'm learning a lot. I've pretty much achieved rock star status already, but apparently I get a lot more done than my predecessor and I catch on quickly. My supervisor is thrilled with this. I have reorganized my area and labeled shelves and drawers so anyone can find things. I'm in the process of updating files, which is tedious but needs to be done. My mother is still a little upset that I'm not teaching but I'm done with that bureaucracy right now. That doesn't mean that I'll never teach again, but I can't do it right now. I still love music and although I'm currently unable to play in community band, I still keep the music going. I better go be productive, my house needs to be cleaned and I have a huge pile of firewood that still needs to be cut. I also need to see if the bookstore at school is open so that I can go get my books for my next set of classes. I better get out of my pajamas and on to my list.

Woohoo!!

Well this week has been interesting. I had an interview for a job with the Court system last week. On the upside I've had a few more interviews but I wasn't getting any job offers. It's life. I can admit it's gotten a little depressing. Then I got a letter from the unemployment department that said that I was about to exhaust my benefits. Great, not. I called them today cause I have officially exhausted my benefits but I qualified for the emergency unemployment compensation. You know the thing the government passed so that you could collect 99 weeks of unemployment. I qualified for 11 weeks but the government is going to stop paying that in December which means I'd be able to collect 8 weeks. Yeah I know kinda complicated. It wasn't the first thing this week. I've was doing some research for a paper I'm writing for a class about the Affordable Health Care Act. I make too much money (on unemployment) to qualify for the health care that applies to this. The more I read this Act, the less I like it. Of course I'm not a big fan of the government right now anyway. Regardless.. Monday it was my neighbor's birthday so I made a Blueberry sour cream cake with Lemon butter fluffy icing. It was really good. One of the people at the birthday party said it tasted like a blueberry cupcake (or muffin). This person also had three pieces. I'm glad it was a hit. I'm making the best of my word class that is kinda boring me. The instructor is good, it's the material. It's mostly review. Oh well. Whatever. Yesterday I worked part of the election. I set up touch screen booths. It was kinda cool. Today I turned in my time sheet from working yesterday and I talked to unemployment about my benefits (as I mentioned above). This evening I got a call from a place I interviewed with several weeks ago. They offered me the job. I have to get somethings worked out with school but hopefully I'll be starting next week. I'm excited to be working soon. I'll be a law office assistant with the state regulatory commission. I'm looking forward to it.

Well I'd love to say that I have something new on the job front, but I don't. Nothing has come of the interviews I've had. One place called to say that I interviewed really well and it was a really tough decision but they offered it to someone else. This is the story of my life right now. Oh well. It's life I guess. I also got a letter from the unemployment department and apparently my unemployment is running out. Great! I need to call them and figure out what is going on. I guess when it rains, it pours. I need to do homework this weekend. Of course I'm a huge procrastinator and I've waited to the weekend to get my homework done. Oh well. I wouldn't be me if it wasn't this way. Anyway, life goes on. I keep applying for jobs and find things to keep myself busy. Nothing really exciting is going on. It's been sunny and cold here. Although I don't really want to shovel, I'd kinda like snow. I guess on the positive side, I have a training next Saturday and I'm working election day. I'm also going to be getting on a plane to visit Illinois for Thanksgiving. My mom and I are going to go see Les Mis on Black Friday. I'm excited. Stay awesome everyone.

Up too late.....as usual

I have to say that not having a set schedule has really messed up my sleep pattern. I have class two days a week and I can still sleep in to probably 8AM and rush and get to class on time. Needless to say that I really need a job, not just for the money, but for the structure. I do best with structure in my life. The interview today seemed to go pretty well. I should hopefully know by Friday. I'd really like to have a job. Hmmmm what else is new. We got some free firewood back on the 7th and so we've been splitting that. I went outside today to see my neighbor out splitting some. He used my ax of course. I have gotten an ax and a chainsaw recently. Wow I really sound Alaskan now. My neighbor and I were talking while he was splitting wood. It's always interesting to talk to him. Sometimes he needs to borrow tools or something and I almost always seem to have it. We both commented on how it was funny that his girlfriend posted on facebook asking if anyone had space heaters and a couple days later a serger or sewing machine. We obviously I have both of those things (well not a serger but I do have a sewing machine). I joked that she just needed to do what he does and text me. He laughed. He had gotten home today and she was working on her Halloween costume (hence the reason for the sewing machine) and asked her where she got the sewing machine from. She said, "Becki." His comment to me was, "You have everything." He said that he feels like they have nothing since there is stuff they need that they don't have a frequently we have it. He joked that we have stuff cause maybe we'll use it for something, which isn't completely true. I can say that I've used all of my tools (except maybe the brand new ones) for something. I only buy things that have a purpose to me. Goodness knows that I already have too many things to begin with. I just don't know what I'd get rid of. I am definitely my neighbors' go to person for tools and such. It's kinda funny. I guess it's a good thing that my parents raised me to have the tools I need and to be self sufficient. (Well right now as self sufficient as I can be while unemployed). I appreciate that my parents have raised me well enough to know that I can solve my own problems without running to people, giving up, without trying to solve it first. Many things can be solved with a conversation (or duct tape). And of course my parents have helped out anyway that they can but I hate asking them for things. I'm not really good at asking for help and that is in direct correlation to my upbringing. I have lots of skills and it's a good thing too, cause who else is going to take care of me. I am woman, hear me roar....(musical interlude on a tuba). When I've dated other guys, they have almost all been intimidated by me. A friend of mine says that it's because they are insecure and immature. I would agree. I'm happy that Bryan is secure enough in himself that my ability to do a lot of different things (and do them well) doesn't bother him. Honestly I think he's glad that I can take care of myself. He takes really good care of me though. Frequently he'll cook for me, apparently I have a look when I'm getting hungry and he knows it. (I'm less than chipper when I'm hungry). We are a pretty good team. We frequently "bounce" ideas off of each other. I'd have to say we compliment each other well. Now don't go thinking that I'm out going on about finding my soul-mate or any other such nonsense. We're a good fit (most of the time) but it's definitely not perfect and like every relationship, it's work. Overall, I'd say our relationship works. (I hope I'm not jinxing myself by putting it in writing). All in all, despite the set backs, life is really good. Yes I'm unemployed, money is more than tight, I've gained a few pounds, and I hate being a student; but, I have so many blessings that it's hard not to be happy. Truly what more do you need than good food, good friends, and a good attitude. It makes life so much better.

What a month

I'm not sure where to start. It seems like a lot has happened since my last post. We got snow early this year. It didn't last long but it was the end of September when we got our first snowfall. It's snowed a couple times since then but nothing has really stuck. It has made driving places interesting. On Tuesday, there was actually snow on the road, which meant no one could remember how to drive. It took me 25 minutes to 4 miles from my house. It's usually a ten minute drive. That was exciting, NOT! Good thing I left early. We've gotten a new roommate. He moved in at the beginning of the month. He's more social than the last one but still keeps to himself. He's 18 (he'll be 19 on the 10th of November). He seems to be a reasonable person. He goes to work, hangs out with his friends, and does other fairly normal stuff. I don't think I posted about our last roommate leaving. His fiance broke up with him, over the phone, and so he decided to go home to Fairbanks. She broke up with him on a Monday, he told us he was leaving Tuesday, he had moved out Wednesday, and we had people looking at the room within a week and had rented it out several days later. It was all a little crazy. I started a new set of classes this last week. Neither of which are particularly interesting or challenging but that's life. I should have no problem having in A in either of them. I happen to have a 4.0 right now, not that any of you are surprised by that. I'll be done with this program in March, and I can't wait to be done. I hate being a student. As far as work is concerned....I, as usual, have filed out lots of applications and heard pretty much nothing. That was until this week. Monday I got a call asking if I would like to set up a phone interview for Wednesday, yes. Tuesday I got a call about setting up an in person interview on Friday, sweet. After my phone interview on Wednesday I got a call several hours later asking if I was available Tuesday for an in person interview. It's been quite a time. So I've had two interviews this past week and I have one on Tuesday. Woohoo!! I also got my hair cut on Thursday so that it looked a little better for my interviews. In the less exciting news, Wednesday the repair people are coming to do maintenance on the washer and dryer. The dishwasher broke about two weeks ago and I got someone to come out and take a look at it. That got fixed. Thank goodness for buying the protection plan cause otherwise that would have cost me over $100. All over a little piece of plastic that got caught in a tube near the pump. Now the dishwasher is back to working as great as usual. I bought Halloween candy and of course went completely overboard. I have more than enough for probably 100 trick or treaters but I doubt we'll get that many. I could probably give candy to my neighbors to give out to trick or treaters and still have a ton. What can I say. In other news, my birthday party was fun. I got a meat tenderizer, a small tool set, and a gift card for gas. All good things. I think we had about 18 people over. It was a lot of fun. Well I'm hoping that soon I have a job. Maybe something will come out of all of these interviews. Oh and the northern lights picture I took from my driveway. I'm going to finish up some homework and enjoy the sunshine.

Fall Craziness

In case you haven't heard, we've had quite a bizarre fall. We've had 3 wind storms. All of which have had gusts of high speeds. The first wind storm knocked out power in all of Anchorage. They even cancelled school here. We, thankfully, were only without power for a few hours (in the middle of the night). There were lots of people that it took days to restore their power. We had a lot of trees blow over. I had two tomato plants blow over. Everyone finally had power about five days after the storm. Then a week after that we got another wind storm. Lots of high winds but less power outages. A few days later we had another wind storm. Of course with all the wind, it's rained tons. There has been flooding and road closures and wash outs. It's been an adventure here in Alaska. I was talking with my neighbor and she said that we've broken the rain record for the year. That means in 2012 we've broken the snow and rain records. We almost set a record in July for the coldest July. It has been a crazy year for weather. In ways we didn't get summer. We had some nice days but not what we're used to. We also had our first frost earlier than usual. Usually it frosts hard on September 29th, this year it was September 9th. Needless to say I lost almost all my tomato plants way too early. It frosted for 3 days and it hasn't frosted since. I guess the upside of fall is fires in the fireplace. It is also getting dark at night. Sunset is around 8PM with sunrise being close to 8AM. It's going to be getting more dark faster until we hit the winter solstice. It's supposed to rain most of the week. Honestly, it's getting a little old. With the wind and the rain, it reminds me of living in southeast in the winter. Still nothing on the job hunt but I'm still looking. I'm also kinda bored with my classes but I'm trudging on. Otherwise I can't say there is much exciting going one. I just wanted to make sure I updated this. Have fun :)

It hasn't been exactly an exciting week but it's been alright. The new roommate seems to be working out pretty well. I've finished this module of classes. I think I did pretty well. I've gotten A's on all my assignments (not that it's a huge surprise). I told Bryan the other day that I hope I did well and his response was, "well you've gotten A's on everything so you have an A." He's probably right. My next set of classes are online. I'm not totally thrilled. I've never been a fan of online classes. Oh well, such is life. Still no job and I'm getting sick of being unemployed. I just keep filling out applications. It's all I can do. Otherwise, I've hung out with Bryan and the neighbors. I've done some baking. I really need to get out of the house more. Of course my walking buddies are back at school now so I'm going to have to find other people to go walking with. I could also take the neighbors dogs. I always get weird looks when I take them walking, I think it's cause I'm walking pit bulls. They are really sweet dogs. Like I said it hasn't been really exciting but it's been a decent week.

Well it's been an interesting summer. I guess since it's September, summer is over. With the end of summer came the end of a million people living in my house. Ok, I admit, that's an overstatement. It was only five. Sometimes it felt like a million. Carol moved back to the lower 48, Maz and Seth moved back into the dorms. Bryan and I had the house to ourselves for a while but with our current financial situation we had to get a roommate. After 4 people coming over to look at it and many emails, our new roommate moved in yesterday. He's quiet (or at least so far). He seemed happy with the place and the price. I'm happy that we'll have a little bit more money so that we can pay bills while Bryan is still working part time and I'm still unemployed. Life is real exciting when you have bills to pay (and large ones like car insurance and a mortgage). I've had a few interviews for jobs but nothing has seemed to come of that. I just keep applying for jobs. And I must be crazy cause I'm taking classes. I'm currently working on my paralegal certificate. It's been really interesting. I know it's a far cry from music but it's a nice change and I haven't given up music. Nor have I given up the idea of teaching. I'm appreciative of all the supportive people. I would say that overall life is great. Other than no job and being strapped for money, life is awesome. I'm enjoying taking classes, even though homework is tedious. I've gotten to work on my quilt, which has been put away for 4 years. I'm happier than I've been in a while. I'm trying to not let the job or money things stress me. It's tough but we're making it. Bryan is still working at UPS and he talks about getting a second job but with his current hours and trying to get some sleep, that's been tough. He does have a lead on a second job though so that's a plus. I'm still waiting to hear back from my second interview with Apple. I doubt anything will come of it. I felt pretty indifferent when I left the second interview. I've spent more time with neighbors lately. We've gotten to know the neighbors across the street better and have enjoyed spending time with them. I have to say, I like my neighborhood. Anyway, I better get ready to go to class. I have a final today.

Momma and one of the two cubs

A bit of an update

I know things have been a little quite on the blog end here, sorry. I've decided that some of the most recent things should be kept off the internet. Well then there was a bit that I was without internet. Regardless, here is the update you've been waiting for. Well I am currently unemployed. Things didn't work out at my last school and honestly, there isn't a lot of love lost there. You come across people in life who just don't like you. So I've been applying for jobs. My intention is to stay in Anchorage since I have a house. I've been plotting my next steps and looking for work. My unemployment is messed up at the moment so I'm not collecting that so suffice it to say, money is really tight. But I'll make it, I always do. My parents came up to visit for over a week back in June. We went and did some cool stuff. My dad decided to wipe out on my bike and fracture part of his arm (that they can't cast). So that really cut down on our outdoor plans that we had made. No fishing or bike riding for him. We did get to take the train and my parents enjoyed that. My dad and I did part of the planet walk. My parents slept out in a tent in my backyard cause my house is quite full. I currently have 5 people living in my house, but more on that in a bit. Overall it was a nice visit. About 4 days after my parents left, Bryan's family came in to town. Some of them for just one night and some of them for 3 nights. I can honestly say that 10 people in my 3 bedroom house is way too many. *Quick side note. Currently there are 5 people in my house. It's me and Bryan, our roommate Carol, and the twins Maz and Seth. The twins are only here for the summer. Carol is possibly moving at the end of this month. So by the end of August it will just be Bryan and me again (I think, but I really don't know). So with Bryan's family in town it was multiple trips to the airport and driving the guys out to scout camp in Palmer. It also meant retrieving them and more trips to the airport. All I can say is that there really needed to be better communication. Next week my good friend Tasha is coming up from Wrangell to go car shopping. She is going to come stay with us. :) Well now that I have some of that caught up, I can tell you about my road trip that Bryan and I took at the end of May/beginning of June. I guess I should start at the beginning. Bryan works at UPS and our facility is out at the airport. When he went to go get his badging stuff done, customs told him there was a flag on his background check and he needed to get it taken care of. Well surprise, that flag was a 5 year old warrant from Utah, that we didn't know about. So Bryan flew down to Utah in April to turn himself in and get it taken care of. Well after they moved his court date, to a month after it was supposed to be. I bailed him out and we made plans to go back down on his court date. So towards the end of May we flew down to Denver to go visit with his sisters for a couple of days. Then we drove in our rental car (that I disliked) to Salt Lake to wait for court. Originally he was supposed to be in court on his birthday but since he wasn't sitting in the jail they moved it to the day after. We wandered around Salt Lake on his birthday and drove down to Provo to have lunch with a friend. On May 31st we went to court. We sat there for better than an hour before the public defender said anything to us. She explained that she had just gotten his file and needed to look over it. She also said that she suggested we get the court date moved for a couple weeks later. We explained that we had flown down from Alaska for this and she said she'd see what we could do that day. It was probably about another hour before she came to see us again. Bryan went out in the hall to discuss everything with her. He explained the whole situation about how there hadn't been any charges filed while he was still in the state (cause in Utah they have 4 years to file charges) and that he had notified that court that he was leaving for Alaska and that he was never notified of the charges or the warrant. So they came back in and the public defender got some more information and talked to the district attorney. While they were talking, Bryan and I were talking and he mentioned that since they didn't do their job that it the public defender thought it would be best to fight the charges. Well after some time and the lawyers talking it was finally Bryan's turn to stand in front of the judge. (While they lawyers had been talking and looking over a previous transcript the word dismissal had gotten tossed around). Well Bryan stood before the judge and the district attorney recommended that the charges get dismissed. The public defender stated the why dismissal was appropriate. The judge dismissed all the charges. It was a better outcome than what we could've expected. We got all the paperwork while we were there and got back on the road. Of course there were multiple texts and phone calls made to let everyone know the good news. We drove down to Parowan to see our friend Cara. We spent the night down there and had a great time hanging out with her family. We then drove to Hoover Dam and then back to Las Vegas, where we stayed at the Stratosphere. All I can say is that I am not a fan of 115 degrees. We had a good time. Next we drove to the Grand Canyon. After about a day there we drove back to Colorado so that we could be there for Bryan's cousin's wedding. It was a nice wedding. Finally Tuesday June 5th we left Denver and got home Wednesday the 6th. My parents came in on the 10th so there wasn't a lot of downtime. It seems to be just a busy, busy summer right now but it's kinda mellowed out. Thankfully Bryan still has his job and things have started to return to normal. Hopefully I will find a job soon. Till then it's more applications and spending time outside walking and hiking. Bryan and I went hiking on the 4th and I think I strained the muscles in my calves. I'm sore but I still get out and go walking with the boys. Till next time. Happy summer and stay cool.

Sitting on the sky bridge at the Grand Canyon

A lot going on

Well I can't say it hasn't been an eventful month. (and it isn't over yet). It's a busy time in the life of a music teacher. I have 3 more concerts left, I've already had one this month. I have one tomorrow, one on the 26th, and one on May 3rd. Not to mention that I need to be at the orchestra and choir concert to help supervise students. That makes 5 concerts I have to attend, 2 have to conduct.
I have other stuff going on too but that's not really for on here. Don't worry, I'm doing alright.
Well the snow is rapidly melting. I can't believe that so much of it is gone. We have considerably less than we did. IF you didn't hear we broke the all time snow record for Anchorage. I wish it had been by more but I'll take it. Lately the temperature has been about 50 degrees and it's been sunny. Not a bad April.

I'll write more later. Have an awesome weekend blog readers.

In a better mood

Sometimes we all wish we could be in a better mood. Things just get us down. It's really a rather awful place to be when it feels like everything is putting a damper on your happiness. Well it has definitely felt that way for the last several months. It's not an all the time feeling but there is definitely more stress than I'd like.
As far as my job is concerned, I'm trying to decide what I want to next year. Bryan and I have talked about what it would look like if I didn't teach and I worked on my masters and did some other kind of work. It's not that I'd never teach again but I'm just not happy teaching right now and it's been for as long as I've been at my current school. I'm not sure transferring schools would make the feeling go away. I'm thinking if I get my masters and then go back to teaching it would give me 2 years to make that kind of decision. Bryan is finally working again and we are both so happy about that. It's been a tight couple of months and it's going to continue to be that way until he is either full time or finds another part time job. So honestly this isn't the best time for me to be thinking about stopping teaching at the end of the school year. I always told myself that I would stop when I didn't enjoy it anymore and honestly I don't enjoy it right now. There are lots of moments when I do but there are still too many moments that I don't. It's bad when you lay in bed in the morning and contemplate calling in sick cause you just don't want to deal with it but you go because you don't want to subject anyone else to it. I still love music and I still want to teach it but I need a break. Like I've said in previous posts, I'd never received a bad evaluation until I came to this school and that is part of my mindset for not teaching next year. It's far more complicated than I'd write here and if you really want to know email me or call me, neither of those contacts have changed in a really long time.
I'm sitting in Juneau right now hoping that today at the settlement hearing some resolution with come rather going to court.
It's been nice to be in Juneau for the weekend. I've gotten to see some friends and just have been able to relax a little bit, which it feels like it's been forever since I just relaxed. It's been pretty refreshing, of course I wish it could last longer but spring break is right around the corner and I'll be able to do some of that then.
Bryan and I bought some flooring on sale on black friday and are looking forward to putting that in over spring break (which starts friday afternoon).
I finally got some water frogs for my fish tank, they are amusing to watch. I painted my living room and I'll have to post pictures of that. My kitchen project has been finished for several months but I have failed to get pictures up of that too so I will work on that.
Overall life really is good. I'm grateful for the people in it and all the good things. Honestly I'm kinda grateful for the not so good things to cause they really make me appreciate the good things.
Oh and if you haven't heard, Anchorage has had a ton of snow. And it's supposed to snow more. I'm still not tired of the snow. We've gotten like 120 inches of snow this winter and winter isn't over with yet. Bryan texted me yesterday to tell me that the shovel broke but like most good craftsman things it has a lifetime warranty on it so he exchanged it for a new one. He has scraped down the driveway and the picture he sent me looked really impressive. It absolutely amazed me that he would do that. It's supposed to snow another 3-5 inches today. We are on our way to breaking the record for the snowiest winter in Anchorage. The current record is at 132.8 inches. We'll see what happens.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and I'm going to get going on mine.