Jon Stewart is my personal hero.

This just about sums it up:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland - Message for Teachers
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

This, too:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland - Angry Curds
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

And while we're at it...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland - Apocalypse Cow
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

How dare we.

Rainy days and Mondays

There's so much in the world right now that just makes me want to bury my head under my pillow.

There's small things, like the fact that my cat puked on my comforter this morning. I could just punch that stupid, jerk cat. Look at his dumb face:

There's close to home things, like this article. 
OK, fair warning...here comes a mini-rant. I have nothing against Catholic schools in general. However, I went to one until I was in 8th grade, and let me tell you, they are cost-effective in part because teachers do NOT need to have a certification to teach. I went to college for 6 years to be a teacher and I'm better for it. It was valuable. On-the-job experience is valuable, too...but that mindset, that teachers are nothing more than glorified babysitters and don't need to have a degree or state certification, is (in my humble opinion) one of the MAJOR problems of society's perception of education. There's a huge disconnect between what we are really doing, and what people think we're doing. That's not to say I didn't have great, inspiring teachers in Catholic school--what's up, Mrs. Weston, Mr. Weston, Mr. Lurenz--but I also had some teachers that had NO business having even a small hand in the education of children because they were incompetent and mean, and no amount of being a good Catholic made them a good teacher. End of rant.

There's also big, national things...like this. 
What the heck is going on? Since when did the lowest levels of state and public workers become the enemy? Especially with crap like this still happening, even in light of the dire financial straits we're in. Really, guys?

I mean, I get it. State workers and teachers have really, really amazing pensions. Our health care is unheard of these days. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, and I'm in it for the kids, but I would be lying if I said those things, that reliability for the future, didn't play a role in my career choice. But isn't that the point? I opted to choose a job that didn't pay a dramatically high salary so I could raise a family with a steady income, great schedule, and security. Some people opt to be in riskier careers to make more money, or travel, or rise up the corporate ladder. Others may not have the schooling, or opportunity, to even have those choices, and that's terrible, but should I be punished for that? I remember being in college, and friends giving me such a hard time about being a teacher. "Oh, you won't get rich doing that!" and on and on. Now, everyone is up in arms about how teachers are these "fat cats" living off the public dime. What changed, besides perception?

Sure, maybe the system isn't realistic, and very likely, it's unsustainable. We might have to re-think, consider the greater good, give back. But why the vilification? Why can't we all act like grownups here? And why are the wealthy getting tax breaks and raises? Am I crazy?

So anyway, burying my head under the pillow seems like a good option these days. Wake me up when it's over, when the world stops being mad in both senses of the word.

When it rains....

...it snows so much that we have a state of emergency.
...on the day we have an author scheduled to visit.
...and we have no more snow days, so we're going to school over spring break.

This is what I woke up to:

So, our poor visiting author is holed up in the Red Roof Inn. He drove up from Maryland, and is booked the remainder of the week at other schools. Thank God we had him booked for two days, so I can re-schedule everyone into a single day. I've been up since 5am calling people, creating new presentation schedules, sending e-mails, and trying to stop hyperventilating.
Maybe one of these will help:

Yum. Adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe, the last time I made these I substituted greek yogurt for almost all of the oil in the recipe (I put in about 2 tablespoons before I changed my mind), dropped the temperature to 350, and cooked until they were tall and gorgeous. They were less sweet, and very moist.

This time, I used melted butter in place of the oil, and added peanut butter chips. (Sidenote: one of my new "frugal" initiatives is to cook with what I have, instead of running out to the store whenever the fancy to make something strikes. Triple points for saving on gas, being resourceful, and learning more about baking in one fell swoop. I digress...)
These were not nearly as healthy, or gorgeous...more flat and crunchy, but very, very tasty. Double yum.

I'm thinking of trying other add-ins, like coconut, cranberries, pecans...maybe even frozen blueberries. The options are endless with chocolate...and it always makes you feel better, even when it seems to be the year when nothing goes right.

Sunday Morning Bliss

Rain against the windows, coffee in my (disposable) cup, a warm house, a sleepy dog, and my favorite Sunday morning activity:

I even had a coupon for the coffee!

Later today, I'm planning to put together and send out another application, this time to a downstate college. There's two open positions, so I hope that doubles my odds of getting an interview. Hopefully, since it's an electronic submission, the process will be a little faster than my last attempt, when I burned through about 5 envelopes due to extreme anal-retentiveness (I just could not get that address to be centered correctly!) I  should also be seriously thinking about finishing the SLJ book reviews I neglected since the due date just so happened to be the day after THE news. Oops.

Have a lovely Sunday morning!

Life Revamp

One of the toughest parts of this whole "job loss" thing is being in limbo. Nothing's set in stone yet, so I sort of feel like this:



At this point, I'm not really sure if I'm going to be plummeting into an unemployed abyss, or if I'll make it across to the other side...aka, another year of employment.

Regardless, I've had to really start evaluating my spending. My husband Doug and I have been living a free-wheelin' lifestyle the past few years. We have no kids, our bills were comfortably within our means to spend, and we were saving, but not with the kind of fervor that we probably should have been. It was classic "this will never happen to us" behavior. New DVD out? Let's go buy it. Don't feel like cooking? How about dinner out tonight. New clothes, new shoes, random crap we didn't need....there wasn't much purposeful thought behind our spending. I didn't use coupons--what was the point of a few extra cents off? I'm a bargain hunter for clothes and love a good clearance rack, but I would never have called myself "frugal". My, how things have changed.

Now, I am in panic mode. I think long and hard about every little thing before spending. Is there a cheaper option? Do I really need this? Can I go without? Not to sound like a spoiled little baby, but I think the hardest thing has been trying to cut down on my clothes shopping. Darn it if I don't love a new outfit. Sigh. However, I just keep chanting "mortgage, loans, electricity, heat" and the moment passes. Plus, it's forced me to use what I've got and try to put together new looks with old stuff.

To be fair, we had already started to seriously think about making some changes to our spending habits before the bomb dropped. I signed up for an account on Mint.com per my friend Sarah's recommendation...it tracks your spending, helps you set goals, etc. I highly, highly recommend checking it out.

I also signed up for the Sunday paper, and subscribed to CouponMom.com. This might be a huge "duh" moment, but you can actually save money with coupons! I'm being sliiiiightly sarcastic, but the point is, I never realized what a difference coupons can really make. Plus, Wegman's (my all time favorite grocery store) doubles coupons to up to dollar. My new favorite activity is to pour over the Sunday paper, clip coupons, and strategize a grocery list. It's funny how your perspective changes. Some other great coupon sites are RedPlum.com, Coupons.com, and SmartSource.com. Again, kudos to Sarah...as I clutch my little plastic coupon holder, I remember when we had a conversation about coupons a year ago. I was telling her that I didn't bother with them, and she pulled out her own plastic holder. She shook it at me, and said, "This is MONEY in here!" Amen, sista.

So, what are your favorite ways to save?

Photo Credit Here

Social media, I love you.

As a librarian, I hear a lot of social media horror stories. Like this one.

Oh, girl.

But maybe instead of costing me a job, facebook might just get me a job.



Love this:
I Need a Library Job.

The search continues.

Photo Credit Here

The job hunt begins...

So, I've started looking for a job. To sum it up, the market is slim pickins, chickens.

So far, most positions have been waaaaaay far away. Kentucky. Texas. Connecticut. Yeeesh.
In an ideal world...well, in an ideal world I wouldn't be job searching. But, in an ideal world in which I have to job hunt, I would be able to find something nearby. It's funny, prior to this whole business, my husband and I used to look up exotic sounding places and dream of moving away from where we grew up. "Oooh, how about Vermont? That sounds lovely," and so on.  I'd play on Sperling's Best Places and look at real estate. Now that things are getting real, the idea doesn't seem so fun anymore. I'm doing the mental equivalent of laying down in front of traffic and crying, "Puhlease let me staaaaaaay!"

The fam is here. The husband's fam is here. Friends are here. House is here. The life we built is here. Stupidly, just a week or so before this happened, I made an offhand comment to my husband,"Maybe a job cut wouldn't be bad. It would force us to have an adventure," and then I laughed a flighty little laugh. Oh, what a lark being unemployed would be! Until you're unemployed. Man, be careful what you wish for. Seriously. 

I applied for a few positions already, didn't make the cut for a few already, too. I'm really going to have to think about my cover letter, and how to apply for jobs that I don't quite fit into on paper but I know I'm capable of doing. I'm tech-saavy but something about "K-3 Librarian" doesn't exactly inspire confidence for an academic position labeled "Instructional Materials Design Specialist". And yet, I think the skills could be transferable. The trick is making the hiring committee think so, too...and beat out the qualified competition. Tall order.

So, as I write, I keep Googling and Monster-ing and CareerBuilder-ing and praying for some miracle job to appear...preferably in a school. Preferably in a commutable distance. Again, tall order.

However, to be fair..I have to chill out. And remind myself...it hasn't even been a week yet. Yes, yes, I know, I'm being a little hyper-paranoid. I like to have a plan...and when I don't, overdrive kicks in--my omg-its-3am-I-have-to-change-the-wording-on-my-resume-right-NOW-and-then-since-I'm-up-I-might-as-well-search-for-anything-new-that-could-have-been-posted-between-11pm-and-now-I-hope-its-OK-that-my-resume-paper-is-ivory-and-the-envelope-is-white-should-I-have-handwritten-the-address-I-should-have-typed-it-oh-god-the-world-is-ending and on and on and on. But, in my defense, it feels like forever since that bomb dropped, even if in reality it's only been about 6 days.

The kids at school know something is wrong...or I'm extra-sensitive to their sweetness knowing it might be gone next year. They've been really huggy and clingy lately...not that my little ones don't love a good snuggle on the regular...it just feels different.
Today, a little guy in 2nd hugged me supertight and said, "You're the bestest library teacher in the whole world." True story. If that's not a punch to the heart when you know it might be the end, well, I don't know what is.

The grownups are acting strange, too. There's a weird combo of shock, hurt, anger...denial. BIG time denial. Many people keep assuring me: This won't stick. Things will work out. There's no way you're really gone next year. Others are mad as hell. Others are feeling hopeless. There's lots of talk about the future...and it doesn't look bright.

One of the best, and nicest parts of all this (hey, I'm trying to catch that silver lining) is the crazy outpouring of love. So many coworkers and parents have stopped me and told me how much they appreciate what I do...how they'll miss me...how it's not right...how I'm the best. All these nice words could go to a girl's head, you know what I mean? Maybe things will change. Maybe the community will rally and all this love and support will turn the tide. Maybe not.

Either way, everything is so up in the air. That is just not a nice place to be,especially for Little Miss Type A like myself. So, I'm sending out another application tomorrow....and looking at new towns and real estate...and hoping I don't really need to go any farther than that, in the end.