Monday, August 14, 2006

Pooped

Good things are happenin', but, man, we are exhausted. To sum it up, I have started my job as a teacher for Howard County Public Schools (or the orientation portion anyway), Dan has taken up gardening on the side, and Abster is doing time in daycare. Ugh. We are just too pooped to pop, ya know? More later.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

The New Job, Dakota and the Puppet

I got a job!!! (big, long sigh of relief, as I have been freed from the possibility of going back to retail or substitute hell, for a year at least) I will be teaching seventh grade English at a middle school about 19 miles away. I will not name it because it is highly possible that people who work there will slip into a post or two, and I don't want someone recognizing them and saying, "Say, aren't you the one Mindi was bitching and moaning about on her blog for the whole world to see?" Suffice it to say that, so far, the people there are really nice and welcoming and I have a room with windows that open and a view of the pond. Yeah, buddy!

Dakota, our wonderful five year old collie/lab mix, is finally warming up to Abster. I mean, she has always liked her, but now she REALLY likes her. Wanna know why? It is because Abster now eats solids foods, like cheerios and fruit puffs and pasta. Those of you who don't have a dog might be asking what this has to do with anything. Those of you who DO own dogs know where this is going, so you can just stop here if you like. Abster likes to try to feed herself, and is pretty good at it, as long as she does not have a utensil in her hand. She makes it to her mouth about 80% of the time. The other 20% ends up either under her bum (which is some sort of miracle of physics, because she never shoves it under there - it just travels there on its own), in her hair or on the floor. Here is the part where the dog becomes relevant. Hoover, Dyson and Oreck don't got nothin' on Dakota Marie. That dog can hear boiled pasta hit the floor from outside on the back deck. She is immediately whining at the door to come in, beelines for Abster's high chair and commences the cleaning process. First, she sniffs out and eats all of the big chunks, then she does another once over for the little stuff. Finally, she revs up the licker and licks my entire dining room floor clean. Seriously. Anybody who stays here will tell you that that particular room of the house gleams. We can see the table reflected in the floor. Good girl, Koda, good girl.

In return for the spoils of meal time with Abster, Dakota protects her from the evil scottie dog puppet. This is a little, and one would think harmless, grey scottie dog puppet that Abster LOVES. I can hardly get the thing on my hand and she is cracking up! I guess Dakota had never seen me tickle her with the puppet before. I guess she thought that Scottie was attacking her new source of food. I guess Scottie is dead. While I was tickling Abster, Dakota stood silently by, eyes on the prize. Once it was no longer touching her precious charge, she tenderly closed her mouth around it's head and removed it from my hand. Then she ran away at full speed, growling and shaking it vigorously. Rest in peace, Scottie. So sad.

Teaching is Hard

I'm have been teaching in some capacity since 2003. I started out as a substitute teacher and did that while I went BACK to school and g...