Back to Work!

Well, today I returned back to work after a great Spring Break! I didn't go anywhere or do anything extraordinary but it was a good week of rest and relaxation!

The weekend before spring break started off great with having coffee and great conversation with an old grad school friend -Han. I love ya! The rest of the week I stayed at home and slept in, caught up on HGTV, continued reading the second book of the Mark of the Lion series (highly recommend!), ate lunch with some friends, made lunch for Cory on days I was home, cleaned, reorganized my pantry, played Sing Star with Cory, caught up with long phone calls to close friends, and found some new recipes.

Getting out of bed this morning and going back to work today was difficult. I was hoping for just one more day of laying on the couch!! :) The good news is that I only have 9 more weeks and then I will be off for the whole summer! I have a lot of kids to test, reports to write and conferences to attend between now and then so I think it will be fast and furious.

I do have one picture to share! One night after American Idol, Cory and I got an itch to get our video game Sing Star out and do some karaoke. Like I have posted recently -- I cannot sing but boy do I love to try! Cory usually beats me at Sing Start b/c he actually knows that A, B and C are something other than the first three letter of the alphabet! I beat him on my favorite song on the game -- "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Baily Rae. I took a picture of him and the screen for proof that I actually beat him!

Girl Power.
CEC.

Opening Pandora's Box

I have long spouts of time where I sit at my desk typing up reports on the kids that I have tested. It is painful for me to sit there without any music. Painful. About this time last year someone introduced me to http://www.pandora.com/ I LOVE LOVE LOVE Pandora. It is an online radio station. It is free, all you have to do is have a log-in. For starters you type in any musician or even a specific song that you like. From that song it starts your own radio station and starts to play songs that are similar or that you might like. Each time it plays a song you can "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" the song. It takes your feedback from each song and continues to play songs that you may like. You can create several different "stations" depending on what you are in the mood for. I have a Contemp. Christian, Easy Listening Office, WAKE UP (from when I am trying to stay awake at my desk) and a couple of others.

I have always LOVED music. In fact, when I was little I use to make up my own songs and sing them out loud in the car. My brother would be SO annoyed at me. He would always tell my mom to make me stop!! Although I love music, I have no musical talent or any sense of "pitch" or the right key. I think most people on American Idol sound fantastic -- even in the beginning rounds. Cory has an ear for music so he is always trying to explain it to me. I just don't get it.

Anways, when people ask me what type of music I like I don't really have a good explanation. I love country, praise and worship, rap, rock-n-roll, r&b, blues, gospel, etc. This is where Pandora has been such a great thing. For each song that it plays you can click on the button that says "Why are you playing this song" It will give this VERY detailed description. Example - "Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features basic rock song structures, major key tonality, a vocal-central aesthetic, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, and electric rhythm guitars." How can you argue with that?

I feel like I have opened up my Pandora's box of music. I have found tons of new artists that I love and have found lots of new songs that I like. It hardly ever plays the same song twice and it starts off right where you leave it when you log out.

I highly recommend that you check it out.

I (heart) my job.

In a time where job insecurity and job loss is highly discussed, I have caught myself thinking about my job. The conclusion: I truly love my job. It is not secret that I endured lots of years of school to land the gig that I have now but it was worth it.

I (heart) the purpose of my job -- to help kids who need help, truly NEED help.

I (heart) the opportunities that I have to interact with so many people a day --principals, teachers, speech paths, secretaries, parents and most importantly the kids.

I (heart) the flexibility that I have with my job -- four schools to keep up with, in no particular order just get the job done.

I (heart) the consulting I get to do with teachers who share a passion for children -- behavior plans and problem solving.

I (heart) walking down the hallways and seeing the kids learning -- the atmosphere that comes with the carefree attitude of kids.

I (heart) being in the building on holidays -- Halloween and Valentine's parties are the best.

I (heart) getting off work at 3:00 -- well, maybe more like 3:45 somedays but I will take it.

I (heart) the things that kids say to me sometimes -- today I was testing and had the student run back to class to get his glasses before we started....as I was standing at the door of the room waiting for him to come back another student walked by that I had tested a couple of day before. He looked up at me, and without breaking stride, he said "You back testing again?" I said, "Well, of course, that is why they pay me the big bucks!" He said, "Poor kid!" and kept walking. I am guessing that he didn't really enjoy his testing process the couple of days before. LOL. I love having these stories to tell.

I remember hearing that saying, "Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life." Somedays I come home and think -- did I just paid for what I did today! Fabulous. At the rate I am going -- I think when I retire I will be able to say that I never worked a day in my life.

Cheers to being a SPS.

Almost 2 years down and only 26 more to go till retirement, but who's counting.