2011 is OVER

I was going to do a Year-In-Pictures but since I put so many pictures up already I thought I'd just type out my musings on the past year.

What a year it has been! It's been a roller-coaster growing kind of a year.

It started out just like any other year in the past. I was working at Bright Horizons, teaching in Homebase F (the JR. Preschool class, which is mostly full of 2.5 year olds that you try your hardest to teach preschool...and I'm just going to stop myself right there). And I HATED it! With a firey passion! But I felt trapped; the economy sucks and I had a job and there were PARTS of it I really liked. Like lesson planning and (some) documentations.

I spent most of the beginning of the year spending time with John, going to church events and hanging out at home by myself.

In June, God hit my upside the head with a 2X4 (I'd say figuratively but really, He HIT ME UPSIDE THE HEAD WITH A 2X4. And the outcome? No more working at Bright Horizons.

I was unemployed for about a month when I had an interview with the Bellevue School District for a preschool teacher. Not to say I was all that excited about still being an underpaid preschool teacher. Needless to say, they have YET to call me back. I then received an offer from a family who left Bright Horizons a few months before I did who needed a Nanny for their 16 month old son, so I accepted the offer.

I have been posted on an autism research site for about 2 years now. I get postings for job opportunities quite frequently but most of the time nobody will do more than interview me because of my lack of experience. I get an email in my box for an opportunity to be a School Aide (Paraeducator) for a little girl and I think, why not just send my resume? Not like they will call me back anyway.

They offered me the job ON THE SPOT! And that's where I am now. This job has CHANGED MY LIFE! I get paid a more reasonable wage, my supervisor actually likes me and how I do my job and everyone is so supportive! I picked up another client (well, 2 since then) so I work about 35 hours or so a week. Not bad, not bad. =)

John and I went to Hawaii this last summer for our 4th wedding anniversary. We had a lot of fun but had to be rather thrifty as I wasn't working. I really hope we can go back again and do some more stuff. We mostly just laid around on the beach, walked around and went swimming. That was pretty much the plan the whole time anyway though. Maybe we'll go to Maui or Kauai where the whole point is to lay around and do NOTHING?

In the fall my Brother-In-Law Brian moved in with us. Hard economic times leave little opportunities for jobs for new graduates and California is a tough market to begin with. So we are trying to work with our budget to try and fit in another (full grown) mouth to feed and it's hard. A lot of what I do has had to change simply because of having a roommate.

I was in a car accident and crashed my car. I hydroplaned and lost control and went over a curb...but didn't total my car so I'm still driving the crappy Chevy Aveo for either another 2 years or when it craps out on me.

We put our condo on the market. We want to buy a house. We have lowered the price once and have had not a soul come by to view. The plan now is to see about getting approved for another loan or saving up for the next year/year and a half and buy a house.


My folks came for Christmas and it was fun!