It all started in August, when I got the call for an interview at Southtown Pre-K to be their aide. I was excited and nervous and scared to death, but I got the job.
It was the PERFECT job for me because 1.) working in a school means perfect hours for a mom and 2.) I'm awesome with kids.
In the interview, I talked about all the crafts and projects and science experiments I liked to do with my own kids. I said something I think they get tired of all the stuff I have them do, so it will be fun to be part of a classroom and participate in these activities with a larger group of kids. Or small groups. Whatever works. I had so many ideas!
It turns out, the job was nothing like what I expected. I quickly learned that at Southtown, we're basically given all the troubled kids with behavior problems. This isn't on purpose, but rather a result of the registration process at the preschool.
Every spring, there's a screening and an early registration. Parents who participate in this early registration can choose whether to place their child in half-day classes or full-day classes. They can also usually choose the teacher their child gets. Most parents don't choose to place their children at Southtown because it's separate from the other classes, and most people don't know where it's at. I didn't even know where it was until I had an interview there, and I lived two blocks away growing up!
Anyway, in the fall there's another registration where all the parents who missed or didn't attend the early registration can register their children a few weeks before classes start. These parents have a bit of a choice of where to place their children, but may get stuck with half-day classes when they wanted full-day, or may get stuck with a teacher they don't know or don't like. Most of our kids come from this registration, or from late registration where there's no other choice.
Not to be mean, but the type of people who miss every chance to register their children for school and wait until the very last minute tend to be somewhat lazy people and lazy parents. Lazy parents have children with very few rules at home, and children with very few rules at home generally don't do too well in school. Our class is filled with these children.
Another factor is that Southtown is in, well, Southtown. It's in the "bad part of town" and parents who live close often chose to register their children here because it's so close. A lot of our parents don't have cars, so it helps to be within walking distance.
These past few months have been a challenge. I've been so close to quitting so many times, but I have two children of my own who I have to take care of.
I even got hired at a gas station, and nearly took the job. I had to work all evening hours, though, and would rarely see my kids. This job is perfect for me in that I have great hours, make over minimum wage and get free childcare. I just don't like it at all. It's not what I expected at all.
While the kids drive me crazy, I still love (almost) every one of them to death. There have been many times when I long to take one home because I'm pretty sure I could fix a lot of their problems. I know I could provide them with some structure, some discipline, some healthy food and exercise, and most importantly LOTS of love. It breaks my heart to see these bright little boys and girls not being taken care of in the way I want them to be taken care of. There's one little boy in particular who is SO smart, but has such bad behavior. I can see where he's headed in life and it makes me sad because he has a lot of potential.
Today was our last day of class, and it's a bittersweet event. I'm so glad it's over with, but I'll miss most of my "babies" and I'll be wondering how they're doing for the rest of my life. This post is about remembering this experience forever.
Some of the photos have Lailah in them because she goes to the daycare at Southtown in the mornings, because she's in a half-day afternoon class. There was some time in the fall where I was in the daycare every Tuesday and Thursday instead of the pre-k. I'm also in there sometimes on early dismissal days. Now I'll be in there (though I don't know which room) through the summer.
So here's to the experience, good and bad.
I got this awesome 1 Second Everyday app after seeing a TED talk by the creator, Cesar Kuriyama. At first I wasn't really sure if I wanted to have a theme or just wing it, so my first video wasn't too interesting. Also, I started mid-month, so it was shorter than if I had recorded a full month. I decided not to continue the project in March because I had lost my inspiration.
I actually look back on that little February video and enjoy it because it reminds me of some of the fun stuff we did, like have Japanese food in Carbondale, IL and go to the movies.
I knew there had to be more I could do with this app, though.
My first thought was of those cool time lapse videos that show your child growing. I have two children, though, so I couldn't really make that work without either making one child feel left out, alternating days/months and messing up the flow, or buying a second iPhone.
Then I thought I could do a video of myself everyday, but I quickly dismissed that idea. "Why would I want to watch myself get fatter and fatter?" I asked myself. I thought yeah, that would be a great idea if I could watch myself LOSE weight instead of gain.
Quick history lesson - I've been gaining weight steadily every year since my son was born. I'll go on diets, lose some weight, then put it all back on. Every year I can see myself in photos getting fatter and fatter.
Anyway, this is where it hit me. I WOULD take a video of myself everyday for a year, and I WOULD get thinner rather than fatter. I made a plan, set a date and waited.
I started this little project on April 1st, one month ago today. So far it's going really well, and I have my first monthly video to share. It's a little uncomfortable to share because I don't like taking pictures, I don't like my face, don't like my body. I'm only putting this out there because I hope it changes over this year and I think it's important to see where I came from so I'll know why I never want to go back.
My starting weight on April 1st was 216 and my last weigh day of the month was April 29th where I weighed 202.6. That's 13.4 lbs lost in a month! The goal is 2 lbs a week, so I'm happy with my results so far.
I'm using several apps to aid in this process, one, of course, is 1 Second Everyday. The others are Lose It!, Water Your Body, Munch 5 and Fooducate. Honestly, I think the video everyday is what's keeping me in check more than anything. I've used lose it in the past and it's a great tool, but I found myself "cheating" all the time by not tracking certain things that I knew would put me over my daily amount of calories. I can't do that when I'm taking videos, though, because it will all show up on the scale on Monday.
Speaking of Monday, my video every Monday is of my weight. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are food video days. Wednesday is the day I take a video of my face to track any facial weight loss, skin changes, etc. Fridays are for the body shots and Sundays are "free days" where I can take a video of anything relevant to the whole weight loss thing. It's usually just another shot of food, though. I enjoy the food days. I think, though, that in the end I'll enjoy looking at the face and body days because I'll be able to see a big change by the time this project is over.
I'll be back on June 1st for the May video!
No, I don't actually have one of those awesome draw my life videos. I'm just talking about them.
So anyway, I've been a huge Jenna Marbles fan for a while and today I saw that she posted a draw my life video. These videos have been making their way around YouTube, and they're really cool. The vlogger draws pictures on a whiteboard while narrating a brief recap of their childhood, teen years, young adulthood, etc.
Here's Jenna's version - really great!
Since I liked her video so much, I started looking around YouTube for other draw my life videos.
They're all pretty interesting, and it's nice to see that a lot of people have similar stories. A lot of people had to deal with broken families, moving away, not being popular, breakups, etc. It made me feel like I had something in common with them because my life hasn't exactly been all sunshine and rainbows either.
Then I started thinking about what my draw my life video would look like. Not that I actually plan on making one, though! They seem like a LOT of work, although probably worth it.
Anywho, my video would be crazy! I started thinking about all the step-dads I would have to list, moving every few years, living in a meth house (we'll save that story for another time), losing a baby brother, my first teen pregnancy, my teen marriage, my second teen pregnancy, etc. My video would be way too long and way too complicated.
Then I thought about how the video would end. They always end with what's going on right now in the person's life because obviously the person doesn't know what the actual end of their life will be like.
My end would be great! This is the most normal and most stable my life has ever been. Sure, it's not perfect. I'm not settled into my life just yet. I still have to finish school, graduate, move to a new city and get my career started. I want to buy a home and maybe even get married for real some day. For where I'm at right now, though, life's good.
Hopefully by the time my children are old enough to make a draw my life video, theirs can be a little less complicated.
This post is all about comic con!
I don't really even know where to start.
We got tickets in February, and the time actually passed pretty quickly.
Friday was the first day and it was awesome. I tried to be conservative with my purchases so I wouldn't be completely out of money the rest of the weekend, and I did pretty well.
We got some free stuff, and here's a picture of what I bought.
1.) Battlestar Galactica shirt
2.) Dharma Initiaive shirt (LOST)
3.) Venom/Spiderman/Carnage print
4.) Deadpool VS. Deathstroke print (coolest thing ever!)
5.) White Deadpool sticker
6.) Green Boba Fett sticker
7.) Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, signed by Cullen Bunn
8.) X-Force : Sex + Violence
9.) Secret Invasion
10.) Wolverine : Weapon X Adamantium Men
We ate some awesome food on the trip, so I'm going to talk about that stuff on here as well. Friday we stopped at Jack in the Box on the way to STL and I got one of their new Hot Mess sandwiches, which was amazing. I was a little drunk already when we ate.
For dinner we planned on going to the steakhouse in our hotel, but it was WAY too expensive. We got our menus and quickly decided to leave before we spent $150 just on dinner! We went to the hotel bar instead and I had a burger very similar to the one I had at Jack in the Box, with jalapenos, onion strings and pepper jack cheese. We also got what they called "fancy fries," but they weren't really all that fancy.
On the second day we decided to visit the arch before going to the con. I've lived so close to it all my life, but never actually been. We didn't get to go to the top, but it was still fun to see the museum at the bottom.
Aren't we cute in our Deadpool shirts?
We got a little drunk after that, then headed to the con.
It was super crowded on Saturday and I was so hot, especially after drinking. I think we decided to eat before really buying much of anything. We had this awesome steak and cheese sandwich they were selling at the con.
Then we started shopping. I didn't get many books the first day, so my goal was to get more books the second day.
1.) X-Men : Deadly Genesis
2.) Voodoo Child
3.) Star Wars Jango Fett
4.) The Sixth Gun Book 1, signed by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt
5.) Serenity Those Left Behind Book 1
6.) Haunt of Horror
7.) Strawman issue 10
For dinner that night we went to T.G.I. Friday's and I got a steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables. I also got two really good blackberry Long Island iced teas. After dinner we went to the con's after party for a while, which was fun. We drank "Wizardtinis" and I had an orange juice and vodka. It was way too hot, though, so we didn't stay long.
Sadly, I didn't take pics of everything I got on day 3. I know I got a totoro/batman car sticker and a LOT of books. I also got stuff for the kids - a spiderman purse/backpack for Lailah and a Lego Star Wars Darth Maul light-up keychain for Izak.
I'll try to list all the books I got, but I may miss a couple.
1.) Heaven, LLC book 1
2.) Rising Stars : Born in Fire
3.) Manhattan Projects book 1
4.) 30 Days of Night : 30 Days 'Til Death
5.) Daredevil Noir
6.) Wolverine Weapon X Files
7.) The Zombie : Simon Garth
8.) Rest
Lunch was another one of those steak and cheese things from the convention, and dinner was two more Hot Mess sandwiches from Jack in the Box on the way home.
