Saturday, August 23, 2008

Looseyfur tagged me for this meme (my first!) so here goes:

1. Post the rules of the game at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read the player's blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?
I had just recently moved into my first apartment without roommates (unless you count David who lived there when he wasn't in Illinois for grad school) and was working full-time as a Community Relations Manager at Barnes & Noble. It was also just about five years ago to the day that David and I got engaged. I had told him that I wasn't going to move halfway across the country, away from my best--and let's be honest, pretty much ALL my-- friends and family without there being some sort of agreement that we were going to be together for a really, really long time. Procrastinator that he is, he waited until literally two days before he left to pop the question.

What are five things on your to-do list for today? (Disclaimer: I started this post yesterday, so here was my list from then.)
1. Go to the Farmer's Market as soon as Teagan wakes up. (Have I mentioned that she sleeps until 9:30/10 a.m. most days? If only I could convince her brother to do the same. At least on the weekends.)
2. Check out the local Co-op, which is opening in its new location which just so happens to be just a few mere steps from the Farmer's Market.
3. Head out to the Sweetcorn Festival, most likely after naptime.
4. Try to get the kids to nap AT THE SAME TIME so I can work on some of the eight (EIGHT!) lesson plans I have to write for this upcoming week.
5. Do laundry if it looks like the rain is going to stay away.

What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Strawberries
2. Veggie Booty
3. Carrots and Peanut Butter
4. Tropical Fruit Salad
5. Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?
1. Set some aside for retirement and the kids' college/grad school.
2. Buy a house in Blacksburg and lifetime season football tickets for VT games.
3. Set up scholarship funds at VT, EIU, and the University of Namibia for students who are studying Women's Studies or whose work focuses on issues pertaining to gender.
4. Make sizable donations to the Rape Crisis centers and Planned Parenthoods in the communities I have lived (and will live) in.
5. Travel, travel, travel. Maybe go on a world tour with the kids and David. On this note, I'd also make sure David could go on his "trek," but I still would not join him on it.

What are five of your bad habits?
1. Procrastinating. On just about everything.
2. Getting all worked up about my house not being orderly. I mean, I do have two babies for Pete's sake! My house is not going to be orderly and clean all the time.
3. Occasionally skipping breakfast when I'm running late. Which happens more than I like to admit.
4. Being late. I think this sometimes ties into the whole procrastinating thing.
5. Reading an email and not replying right away.

What are five places where you have lived?
1. Rosedale, NY
2. Staunton, VA
3. Blacksburg, VA
4. Oshakati, Namibia
5. Champaign, IL

What are five jobs you've had?
1. Bookseller
2. Community Relations Manager
3. Literacy Corps Coordinator
4. Primary School Teacher
5. Composition Instructor

Five people I tag:
I have no idea who to tag since pretty much everyone I know who blogs has been tagged... If you're reading this and want to do this, leave a comment letting me know you're doing it and "Tag," you're it!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Working Woman

For the first time in over a year, and the first time since I found out I was pregnant with Teagan, I've got a job outside our home. After three years of grad school (I still count the last year even though I didn't take any classes because I was working on my thesis), I have my MA and am finally going to be doing what I set out to do when I started graduate school: teach at the college level.

Both David and I were a little worried as the summer rolled along and it didn't seem like anything was going to pan out in terms of a teaching job for me. Because, let's be honest...being a grad student doesn't pay too well, and certainly not well enough to support a family of four by itself. Fortunately we had a little something to fall back on this past year, but between me not having any "income" (unfortunately the federal government doesn't see the work I do here in the home as "work") and the stock market being so crappy, it is definitely time for me to contribute to bringing home the tofu.

Now this was a big source of contention between David and me. He wanted me to apply for full-time jobs on the administrative side of the university (I worked in administration when I was at VT for a couple of years and actually really loved it) as well as applying for part-time teaching positions. I was adamant about not doing anything full-time. I mean, the whole reason I went to graduate school was so that I could have a nice, flexible schedule when we decided to have kids so I could be home most of the time with them. (Yeah, the kids came just a *wee* bit sooner than we had anticipated...) And, my husband lives in the Land of de Nile. Seriously, he had no idea how much full-time daycare costs when you have two kids. To put them in a facility where I would feel comfortable, it would cost in the neighborhood of $22,000!!!! Yes, that's THOUSAND, not hundred. And the starting salary for someone in an entry-level administrative position at the university isn't too terribly much more than that.

Um, yeah, if I ended up teaching part-time for two semesters, I wouldn't quite make enough to cover full-time daycare, but the beauty of being a part-time, adjunct instructor is that you only need to find part-time daycare. So, really, daycare for two kids will not cost nearly as much. And I wouldn't have to be apart from my kids nearly as much, either. But I digress...

So, last week I was offered a position teaching an introductory Women's Studies class at the university where I went to graduate school. This, my friends, if my dream job. Of course I said yes immediately. No questions asked. And I am psyched. I can't wait. I'm really excited about teaching something I'm so passionate about. So much so that I'm not even dreading the one-hour-each-way commute, which I will once again be making twice a week come August 25th. I was so excited about getting this position. The only thing that could have made it better was if they had offered me more than one section.

Then, just yesterday I got a phone call from the local community college offering me three composition courses for the fall semester, which starts MONDAY. I said yes, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I would probably really want to only teach two this semester. I mean, it is my first time out of the gate, so to speak. And I also realized that if I taught all three community college classes, I would essentially be gone from the time my kids woke up until the time they went down for nap almost every day of the week. Then I would get to see them for an hour or so before David got home and whisked them away to play while I did grading and lesson preps. Oh, and I would also need to figure out a way to pump since Teagan is still exclusively breastfeeding, which I seriously just don't want to mess with this time around. So, needless to say, I asked them to drop one of my classes, which they did (albeit reluctantly--we'll see if they give me any sections next semester!).

But, I'm feeling really good about the decision to teach only two composition classes along with my women's studies class. I'm going to have some adult, intellectual stimulation, which I have been missing so much, but I'll still be around quite a bit with my kids. I'm just feeling so lucky to have this opportunity. Oh, and the financial benefits won't hurt, either--we can finally buy Teagan that carseat she needs! The only challenge is that I just have to create three different syllabi in the next few days...Here's hoping I'm up for it!