I bought some reusable cloth bags from Food Lion for just 89 cents each! I also switched to brown paper bags for cleaning the litter box, so I’m going to plan on reusing what plastic bags I have to make another bag. Here is one that I made last year:
I’d like to make a tote-sized one. They are very sturdy, and also waterproof!
Check out this site for information about countries that have banned plastic bag use!
I’ve been pretty busy with training for my new job. I really like the group of people that I work with, and what I do is so fun! I now am trained to teach the regular classes that we do with the equipment in the gym area, and I’ve been learning about the art and music classes too. It’s definitely a fun curriculum to work with, but a lot of stuff to remember.
I changed the pukey background color to a blue. It’s definitely an improvement, but I’m still deciding how to set-up the rest of it.
I was thinking of joining twitter. Do any of you use it?
In my spare time I have been cleaning up and trying to redecorate my apartment a little. I’ll have details and pictures soon!
This entry comes with lots of new pictures in my Flickr albums!
Well, it has been a fairly busy couple of weeks. During the weekend of June 6, we went to Assateague Island, Maryland. We did something that never in my life have I done.. camped at the beach. You could never rent a beach front house or hotel room for only $40/night. Although, those places have neat little air conditioners and electric lights/appliances. There is just something that I love enough about camping to make it worth it though.
We drove 7 hours there, stayed 3 nights and then came home on Monday, June 10th. We were there with Sam’s aunt Annie and her husband Bill, her daughter Merrick, his daughters Kelli and Shannon. Kelli was with her boyfriend and Shannon was with her boyfriend and his daughter Morgan. Annie and Bill had a couple of friends come along, and Merrick invited her friend Kelly. We all had a wonderful dinner cooked by Kelly, John and Shannon the first night, followed by some cake to celebrate Annie’s birthday. After that: s’mores and cards and beer. The next day we hung out on the beach all day, but because it was so hot during the day, the grocery store and local cafe’s were a cooler place to hang out. That night we went out to eat at this place called Waterman’s. They have a special that is $35 for all you can eat snow crab legs, blue crab, hush puppies, coleslaw, fries, corn on the cob, applesauce, fried chicken, and shrimp. I wish I had remembered to bring my camera there! The table cloths are big pieces of brown paper, and the waiters come buy and just dump all of the sea food on the table. There are buckets to throw shells in, there are baskets for the sides, and you even receive a wooden mallet to break the shells with. We were so stuffed and messy by the time we finally left.
The next day we hung around mostly in the shade to console our sunburns, but we did catch a glimpse of one of the wild ponies that live on the island. After getting into the water for a little while (it was so cold!), we cleaned up and got ready for our night to cook dinner. Merrick and Kelly decided on kabobs. So we prepped our kabobs with steak, chicken, onion, red peppers, green peppers, yellow peppers, and pineapples. YUM
After that, Sam and I went to go clean up the dishes, and I came back to a surprise birthday celebration from everyone. Kelly and Merrick, Annie and Bill, and Kelli and Shannon all bought me cards - plus they got me a cookie cake! I was so surprised and happy that they did that for me Then we made a few drinks, because how better to celebrate your 21st than with coconut rum and pineapple juice and hanging out at the beach?
Alas, it was time to leave. Since the trip, I have just been doing a lot of working and chillin’. I found out that my car is getting closer to the beyond repair catagory, and I will also be looking for a new job soon so that I can afford to save more money for a new one. I had enough money to see about fixing the A/C - which would be nice during these 100 degree (F) days - but instead had to pay the majority of it just to find out that my compressor is pretty much dying and won’t allow the fluids to run through properly. I also have a leak in my radiator somewhere, my coolant system badly needs a flush, I have an oil leak that at last check wasn’t serious but still existent, plus my shocks could use some attention. I suppose it isn’t terrible for a ‘97 that I bought at a junk-yard-car-fixer-upper for $1800 cash. But, it’s going to take at least that to fix it. I should also mention that I paid for 4 new tires and new brakes last spring, and my parents helped me out with a pretty penny when my radiator pump blew out not so long ago. The bummer is that I don’t think that I can get one financed right now. I have not been at my job for long at all, and I have lived in my apartment for only 9 months. I’m definitely looking around at options. I was hoping that I could get something new in time to hand off the car to my sister because she will be getting her license in a year and a half, but no way do I want to leave someone with that hunk of junk.
But, I’ll count my blessings.. at least it runs!
This coming week I will have more pictures to add.
As you may have noticed, I’ve given my site a little make over. I actually have more to change, but I felt like going ahead and showing this much. My header even features my kitty, Schroeder!
I also have some new content ready (it’s about time!), and I plan to delete a lot of old stuff. One thing that I’ll plan to add is some downloadable content. I have some emoticon sets, including these that I made to go with the layout , as well as some other fun little things.
So, on a less technical note - it’s been too long since I published a personal blog entry. Today is offically my last day working in the NC Office of Environmental Education. It was a temp job that was supposed to last 6 months, but it actually lasted a year. There is a chance that the office could aquire more funding to bring me back in July, but I won’t know about that until it happens.
I’ve spent the last month or more so so so stressed out about finding a new job. My temp job allowed plenty of money for rent, bills, and even play, but it was hard to find something new. I looked through internet classifieds and job ads every day, sent out probably 40+ resumes, and ended up getting about 5 call backs. Of the handful of offers, one was a daycare that seemed nice - but it was much more work than I was used to with pay not even comparable to what it should have been, one offer was less than I was making even though it was 10 more hours a week - plus it was 30 minutes away from where I live, and the others fell through or went a similar way. Then I got a call for an interview with Gymboree. Gymboree is a place that parents can take children age 0-5 years old. The classes are fun and targeted toward age groups in 7 levels. These levels specifically target mental and physical skills that the child should be developing at the time. For example, group 3 (10-16 months) is more about social interaction and physical movement, but group 4 (16-22 months) is all about problem solving/abstract thinking and group 5 (22-28 months) is all about imaginative play. It’s such a neat program, and I’m so glad that I’m a part of it now!
Since then I have been working at the office on some days and training at Gymboree other days. Soon I will be working all week training (which I get paid for ). Soon I’ll be able to do classes for groups 2-6 on my own. I will also be helping with an art class and a fitness class. The girl who teaches the art and music classes will be studying abroad in Spain in the fall, and the other girl who is training in music and art will be in school full time. So there is a good chance that I’ll be getting plenty of hours then. If I could work all week, I would be making more than I have been at my office job!
As much as I love Gymboree, I have to find a way to make some more money for the time being. I’ve been working on some super cool crafts lately, and although I don’t expect much money to come from it, if I can make a dime off of something that I love to do, why not try? But I do have some money saved up because I knew I might need it if I couldn’t find a new job right away, which is good.
Well, I’m going to go and finish packing up my stuff from my desk. I also have a Friday High Five posted for today in the last entry. Web comics, ftw!
I was tagged by Ms. Christine. I luff her, and you should go visit.
The Rules:
- Link to your tagger and post these rules.
- Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
- Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names and link to them.
- Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
* I am allergic to nickel, so I can’t wear most of my earrings more than a couple of days in a row.
* I played in my high school’s drumline.
* I just got a job working at Gymboree!
* I love eggs (over-easy), grits, bacon and toast.. all mixed together. Some people think this is really weird?
* I eat things in bite sizes. If something needs to be cut, I cut it all up first and then eat. I tear sandwiches into small pieces.
* I drink 2 cups of coffee almost every morning.
* My 21st birthday is in 3 weeks.
I’m breaking the rules and not tagging anyone. Most people have been tagged already. If you decide to do it, leave me a note
I could lie to you all and talk about how insanely busy I have been, but that really isn’t true. I’ve just been doing all of the usual things.. work, game, clean, cook, clean, game, sleep, repeat. That’s about the extent of it. Although, when I don’t have anything to do at work (and when I grow tired of refereshing PerezHilton.com every 3 minutes) I have been reading and sketching.
Whenever I met Sam and realized how into art (and how talented) he was, I sort of forgot that I like it too At the time I just wrote it off and something that I liked to do but wasn’t as talented at, so I put it on the backburner and dubbed him the artist. I became busy with other things and other interests, but it didn’t really occur to me until very recently that there is no reason only one of us can be artsy. I’m very crafty, and I love to crochet. I create computer graphics or will try out some photo manipulation once in a while, but somewhere along the line I stopped sketching and gave up the idea of painting because I figure next to him I am such a newb. And he would never encourage such craziness. If anything he would only encourage me to experiment and practice and just to do anything I have an interest in.
ANYway, I found THIS post on Craftster and became so inspired. The only sketching I have done has been more on the cartoony side, so I figured that I should just take time and practice and try something new. I don’t have the CD’s to install my scanner to my computer, but I’m going to try and find the drivers and post some experiments.
I have gotten back into reading some lately too. Mostly it’s just during my lunch hour, but if it’s a book that I’m really into I’ll read it at home too. I’ve checked out most of the thirft stores around here, and I’m looking forward to raiding my mom’s collection of classics to see if I can borrow anything neat next time I travel home.
There are a few sites here and there that I have been keeping up with, but for the majority I’ve been a terrible webmistress and visitor this last month (or more..). SO, I’m going to go and catch up some and get some other things accomplished. I’ll try my best to have pictures next time. Happy hump day!
I also switched to brown paper bags for cleaning the litter box, so I’m going to plan on reusing what plastic bags I have to make another bag. Here is one that I made last year:
Well, it has been a fairly busy couple of weeks. During the weekend of June 6, we went to Assateague Island, Maryland. We did something that never in my life have I done.. camped at the beach. You could never rent a beach front house or hotel room for only $40/night. Although, those places have neat little air conditioners and electric lights/appliances. There is just something that I love enough about camping to make it worth it though.
I wish I had remembered to bring my camera there! The table cloths are big pieces of brown paper, and the waiters come buy and just dump all of the sea food on the table. There are buckets to throw shells in, there are baskets for the sides, and you even receive a wooden mallet to break the shells with. We were so stuffed and messy by the time we finally left. 
The next day we hung around mostly in the shade to console our sunburns, but we did catch a glimpse of one of the wild ponies that live on the island. After getting into the water for a little while (it was so cold!), we cleaned up and got ready for our night to cook dinner. Merrick and Kelly decided on kabobs. So we prepped our kabobs with steak, chicken, onion, red peppers, green peppers, yellow peppers, and pineapples. YUM 
After that, Sam and I went to go clean up the dishes, and I came back to a surprise birthday celebration from everyone. Kelly and Merrick, Annie and Bill, and Kelli and Shannon all bought me cards - plus they got me a cookie cake! I was so surprised and happy that they did that for me 
about finding a new job. My temp job allowed plenty of money for rent, bills, and even play, but it was hard to find something new. I looked through internet classifieds and job ads every day, sent out probably 40+ resumes, and ended up getting about 5 call backs. Of the handful of offers, one was a daycare that seemed nice - but it was much more work than I was used to with pay not even comparable to what it should have been, one offer was less than I was making even though it was 10 more hours a week - plus it was 30 minutes away from where I live, and the others fell through or went a similar way. Then I got a call for an interview with 
