Thursday, June 18, 2009

Guess where I am now!

More pictures here as I get them loaded!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Bonjour from Paris!

We're here, and the weather is gorgeous!! We don't know any French, but we're getting around just fine. :-)

I've started a Flickr page for my pictures here - I don't have them marked yet (maybe tonight), but I'm adding them as I can.

Yesterday was the Louvre, and today was a Seine cruise, Notre Dame Cathedral (and the crypts), and the Musee d'Orsay. We're hoping to see Versailles tomorrow before our dinner in the Eiffel Tower.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Welcome to my roller-coaster!

I know it's been 6 weeks or so, but it's been an interesting 6 weeks...to say the least.

I *finally* got a full-time English position next year. Thrilled doesn't even begin to describe how I felt about that - no more JDs! 4 classes of 9th grade English, and 1 class of 9th grade Basic English.

The other shoe fell 2 weeks later, though. The Tuesday after Memorial Day, we got an email stating that there was a "Sudden, Unforeseen Delinquency" in the school funding...to the tune of 5 million dollars.

On Wednesday, I received my RIF notice. 34 of us were cut at the high school (including 7 English teachers!) and there were 74 RIFs district-wide. We'll see how this plays out - we think that it's a little bit fishy that we were suddenly absolutely stone-broke...right as we were getting ready to start negotiating for a new contract.

I'm 2nd highest in seniority in the department, so I should be called back, but the waiting game is absolutely terrible. School's out for the year, though, so there is that!

Kelson graduated from high school on Sunday - a week after his 17th birthday. I think that if he could, he'd leave for college right now! He's happy - this is his first summer without marching band. :-) Commencement was held at the James A. Rhodes Arena at the University of Akron, and it went off without a hitch. Including speeches, choir and wind ensemble performances, and calling the names of 570 seniors, the entire ceremony took exactly 1-1/2 hours!

In knitting news, I have a new KnitPicks project in the catalog:Her First Party Dress, in Essential sock yarn. This was a very quick, easy knit!

Now I have to go pack. Oh - did I mention that I'm going on a trip? With my sister? No? Well, thanks to Mom and Dad, we're leaving Sunday for 3 days in Paris, and then we're taking the Chunnel to London for 4 days! :-) I'll update my Flickr account as I can - I'll have my laptop, but our hotel in Paris doesn't have internet (our hotel in London does, though).

Off to pack! :-)