SWITCHFOOT

I'm a HUGE Switchfoot fan and have been since their "Learning to Breathe" days in the early 2000's.  They bring back memories of high school and driving to swim practice with Jen.  =)  Their earlier stuff is more "Christian" than most of their newer stuff has been.  They're actually my "gateway band."  They led me into other Christian rock bands (like Jars of Clay, By the Tree, and Tree63).  It was because they weren't obviously  Christian (you won't really hear them singing blatantly about God but you know that's Who they're singing about) that made them so appealing.

The Beautiful Letdown was a fabulous CD, but their 2 subsequent CDs were major letdowns to me.  They had signed to Columbia and I feel like the just sold out -- their music was, just, not them.  Not that I expected them to become a "real" Christian Rock band, but they got so far away form their roots that I was disappointed.  They  were still singing about the downfalls of mankind, but I felt like there was a disconnect.

Their most recent project, Hello Hurricane totally redeemed them in my eyes, though.  They were on an independent label and I feel like they've really reconnected with their calling and purpose that God gave them -- to reach people without being in their face about the love of God, to spread the Good News in a way that works for them, and that people are receptive to.

Anyway, that whole spiel was to lead in to a few videos.  The first is "The Sound (John M. Perkins' Blues)" which is totally their sound and why I love them.  Socially minded lyrics,


This second one is probably my favorite song off of this album -- in fact, it's currently my ringtone.  What I  LOVE LOVE LOVE about it is that it's actually part of a three song sort of trilogy (Your Love is Strong and Let Your Love be Strong) and it's about God's love and how it is EVERYWHERE.  "Your love is a melody underneath me."  LOVE!


PS: I didn't know an acoustic bass guitar existed.   Guess I was wrong!

Confession Time

I lost my temper at work yesterday.  No child was hurt, nothing got broken, etc, but I did realize that I don't like working with twos anymore.  It was a good "Get my foot in the door and get some experience" job but it's not what I want to teach.  There are a few kids that if their parents asked me to nanny for them I would do it in a heartbeat, but the fact of the matter is I don't really WANT to do that, either.

I had a job interview today (scheduled last week... purely coincidence) at a center in Maryland Heights that seems to be EXACTLY the job I would like to have.  You walk in the door and you can tell -- LEARNING HAPPENS HERE.  There's art all over the walls, the walls are bright, and there is a very low turnover rate which means they treat people right.  This position is a Pre-K position and a lot of my past job experiences might really help me nail this job -- they teach them swim lessons in the summer but "it would be nice to have someone know what they're doing."  They have all the CPR stuff but no one to teach it.

She said she was doing preliminary interviews and would be calling about secondary interviews.  I told her I'm headed out of town Dec 2 (the next available day I'd be able to come in) but could come by that morning since we can't leave till J is off of work.  She said, "I'll call you anyway because I think you're a good fit, so let's just schedule it now."  Whee!

I really want this job.  The hours vary -- always 4 10 hr. days but not the same shift day after day after day -- and the pay I asked for seemed acceptable to her.  And it's an independent center, which means no corporate people breathing down our necks about enrollment (my least favorite thing about my current center).

It's not a 2nd grade classroom, but it's closer than where I am now, and they implement multiple intelligences int heir curriculum (Google it... Howard Gardner is the man who created the theory).  Ah, can you tell how badly I want this job?  I don't want to get my hopes up though, because the last time in interviewed for a pre-K position I didn't get it and was freaking CRUSHED.  But, God has a plan, right?  I'm just trying to hold on till He clues me in.  =)

Wanna Read a Good Book?

Did you like The Time Traveler's Wife?  What about Twilight?  I just finished a totally awesome book that I want to recommend.

My Name is Memory was written by Ann Brashares of Traveling Pants fame.  It's a love story between Daniel and Sophia/Constance/Lucy through the span of time.  Daniel has "The Memory" -- which means he can remember all of his past lives, including the life in which he first saw her and the life in which he first fell in love with her.  Each life he spends remembering her, hoping to find her, hoping the for once they will end up in the same place at the same time at the same age.  (See the similarities to the aforementioned books?)

The ending just kind of was there, but apparently it's a part of a trilogy so I won't hold that against Brashares.  I spent a lot of the last week sick with a pretty bad cold (or SOMEthing) so I had a lot of time to read, thankfully.  I didn't want to put this book down.  In fact, I had to MAKE myself put it down today to get some work done while my kids slept!  It just came out in June so I don't see the next installment coming out for a while, unfortunately.  But I cannot WAIT for the second book.

My kids crack me up

• At our Halloween party, E dressed up like a dinosaur and I would ask him, "E, what does a dinosaur say?" "Dine-saur go RAWR!"
• On Tuesday, N was having a chill out in the corner (I don't remember what he was throwing a fit about).  The soap guy (who comes EVERY Tuesday at the same time to check our soap dispenser) comes in and N goes, "Daddy!"  The only thing similar is that both guys have shaved heads!
• On Wednesday, K1 wore her pants with squirrels on them.  The first time she wore them in September, I taught her a song I knew from camp called "Grey Squirrel".  In said song, the squirrel swishes its bushy tail.  K1 does an all-out swishing of her tail that is the darn cutest thing I have seen.  She throws her head down so her butt is straight up in the air and she shakes it.  I have a video that I would love to post but it shows her face a LOT and I don't know how to edit videos with little black circles or blur out her face.  Just trust me -- it's way cute!
• Also on Wednesday, during our free play in the AM after breakfast, I over heard H tell his buddies that "Mommy has a baby."  I looked at him and said, "H, is mommy going to have a baby?"  And he said, "Uh-huh, SOON!" And on soon his eyebrows went up and he stuck his hand in the air, pointing with his finger.  (Not soon, though... Mom's due in March.)
• On Thursday we had an in service where we watched a video about curriculum and me and E, my new co-teacher, rearranged our room and took a lot of things out of containers and just placed them on the shelves.  All day yesterday whenever we were having free play, C would take a purse out of Dramatic play and fill it up with the sensory bottles.  What a hoarder!

I wish I could say that my job is good birth control and a good reminder of why J and I need to wait before we have kids.

But that would be a lie.

I leave you with a photo I posted on Facebook, so I apologize if you've seen it already:

N is charged with DWR: Driving While Reading.  Let's hope he breaks this habit within the next 14 years...