Reconsidering

I've been grappling with a problem:
- Do I pursue another full-time teaching job for next year, or
- Do I pursue some other, higher paying job, most likely in a faceless corporation.

Here's the issue: Teaching is not the end goal. While I love it, it's not my ultimate dream career, and I don't plan on doing it for very long. In fact, I only plan on doing it for as long as I need to before I can create my own dream career, which is running a little place that I call The Haven. I won't go into details here, but think of The Haven as sleepover camp for adults.

So, teaching has been the perfect pursuit for the meantime, because it is something I really do enjoy. The only problem is that it doesn't pay a lot of money, so I could be working in some other profession and earning more money, which would mean that I could potentially open The Haven sooner than if I continue on with the teaching.

Do I prolong my ultimate dream so I can enjoy what I do in the meantime? Or do I work as hard as I can now, potentially for little immediate gratification, but achieve my end goal sooner?

75. Volunteer 40 hours at a local animal shelter with DH Revisited

Oh.My.Cats.

Volunteering for animals feels really good, but it's a really difficult thing to do without adding to your own family of furbabies.

We are currently considering adopting two boxers. Olivia stole my heart the moment I saw her. She is nine-years-old and she has a lung tumor, so the thought of her spending the rest of her life in the shelter breaks my heart. And Giles stole Howie's heart. He's a big handsome boy, and I bet he'll eat a lot of chicken wings.

We'll see. We're still not sure we're crazy enough to take in any more dogs.

Oh, and did I mention that the shelter has about 500 kitties who need homes? Well, they do. And they are all starved for affection. I was in kitty heaven.

48. Get a book club going for at least one full round IN PROGRESS

We have reading, people!

Our book club has met twice already, once to discuss our plans and choose some books, and once to actually discuss a book. We meet at my house every time because I'm centrally located, and I love it. What better way to spend a Friday night than eating a meal and discussing books with very interesting people?

We've already read This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. Hilarious. Reads like a movie script, but funny enough that it's not annoying.

Next up: Hospital at War by Jonathan Friedenberg. Looks very interesting, can't wait to read it.

The most surprising thing about this book club? I'm reading *more* now that I have a book I must read each month.

And because I'm a nerd, I'm amused by this--I used an evite for the first meeting, this is what I put in for the response options. Extra credit if you can tell me the title of each work from which these first lines hail:
Who's there? (guest list)
It was love at first sight. (yes)
All this happened, more or less. (maybe)
I am an invisible man. (no)

Anyone?

75. Volunteer 40 hours at a local animal shelter with DH IN PROGRESS 11/09

Once upon a time a newlywed couple adopted a dog. They thought they were saving her life. It turns out that she was one of the best things that ever happened to them.

Now they want to help other families meet their own pups, so they volunteer with the shelter where they found their little girl.

The only problem with volunteering is that it is nearly impossible to come home without a heartache over the fact that you cannot adopt all of the dogs that need homes.

I'll be volunteering far more than 40 hours with the shelter, but once I hit 40, I'll cross this one off my list.

8. Get MA in English, focus: Composition IN PROGRESS

Just spoke with some peeps at a local university. I have two options as a potential MA student:
1) Full-time. Apply for an assistantship, which I will get, thankyouverymuch. The assistantship comes with TAing one three hour class, two full semesters worth of tuition paid for, and a monthly stipend. One school year total, and I earn the degree.
2) Part-time. Pay my own way. Two school years total, and I earn the degree.

SO, if I get a full-time position teaching community college for the fall, I'll go for option #2. If I don't, it's back to being full-time student, baby!

7. Learn to knit

Image from Maribel Made, sock monkey designer extraordinaire.

I'm working on it.

I bought a little starter kit called "I Taught Myself to Knit!" and it makes everything look really easy. It took me about 45 minutes of standing in front of the massive amounts of yarn rolls to figure out a) what all the little symbols meant, and b) which skeins I could use with the needles that came with my little starter kit.

And then I brought it all home. And the knitting ensued.
I'm really good at casting on. Knitting? Not so much. I'm not horrible, but I really have to do some serious work to get the tension right.

My inspiration for learning to knit is twofold. One, I've always wanted to learn to knit. And two, I'm making sock monkeys for all the kids in our family for Chanukah, and the moment I saw these amazing sock monkeys wearing hoodies on Maribel Made, I decided I had to learn to do them, myself. And Bob's your uncle.

29. Hire a photographer to edit wedding photos and create a beautiful album out of the pictures we have ☹

Well, we've accomplished a modified version of this goal.

The hubby and I met with a photographer to take some pro shots of the two of us with our beautiful pup, Bailee. We met her way out in the middle of nowhere at a very cool classic car museum and posed with an old Pontiac.

I haven't gotten the pictures back yet, but she did send me a teaser shot. I think it's pretty cool.

53. Use booze cruise tickets from Leti for a girls' night out

I FINALLY got around to using those tickets, and it was a blast! Eight girls, a super cheesy cruise from Navy Pier, an even cheesier DJ, and two bars, what's not to love?

64. Take in five live music shows at local bars IN PROGRESS

I went to a live music show. In a bar. Hub 51 in the city, to be exact.
When I created this list this wasn't *exactly* the type of show I envisioned for this goal, but the opportunity presented itself and I'm not one to let something that has this kind of potential for hilarity to pass me by.

SO . . . the show was a private concert with Kelly Clarkson and around 100 fans (including my best friend) who won tickets by calling in to a local radio station. You know, Kelly Clarkson, as in "OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH KELLY CLARKSON!" from the 40-Year-Old Virgin. I can't really act like I don't know of her, because I just saw her in VH1 Divas, which I watched after my BFF was all "OMG, Divas is on and you aren't watching it?! Who are you?"

I didn't know what Divas was. Well, I have a vague conception of what *divas* are: large, demanding, rhinestone-clad women flocked by men in black fedoras. Anyway, I did watch said Divas show, so I attended the private Kelly Clarkson concert with a bit of background knowledge and two expectations:
1) Girl was gonna rock it with that voice.
2) We were likely to be the oldest people there.

I was right. Which, as always, made me happy.
And being that close to someone who is actually so hugely talented was really cool, too.

65. Take in two live plays or musicals

Halfway there! We went to see Jersey Boys with my best friend and her husband. It was much better than I expected, being musical theatre and all. The best part: DH actually liked it. A lot.

One more live show to go, and I can cross this one off my list.

We Interrupt this Blog to Bring You an Important Report

This is a true story. So, so devastating.
I'm going to make some Save the Woodcreatures buttons this week. Comment if you want some. This senseless crime cannot go un-protested.

39. Keep up our yearly fall apple picking tradition

We definitely kept this up for 2009! The apple picking was perfect, we made a delicious apple-themed feast, and we had more than 20 people over to help us eat it. So much fun!

92. Only buy coffee for the worst Thursday morning all-faculty meetings DONE 7/27/09

I actually managed to stop buying coffee altogether by putting a coffee maker in my classroom and eschewing the whole buying issue. Pretty genius, huh?
AND, now that I quit that job completely, there is no risk in my ever buying coffee again to help me get through those tortuous Thursday morning meetings, anyway.

CCCCCHHHHHHECK!

57. See Indigo Girls in concert

DONE! And they were amazing.

Went with The Weasel. We had amazing seats, delicious food, and of course, the best entertainment that $10 can buy.

And we sat next to the cutest couple EVER. They brought their Ravinia rolling table, of course, and dined on your usual fare of cheese and crackers, wine, and things you can dip in other things.

But the really special thing about them? They played Yahtzee. Yes, you read that right--Yahtzee. We called them the Yahtzees the entire time, and they were just darling. Do you see how deep in Yahtzee strategic maneuvering Mr. Yahtzee is in this picture? I love the Yahtzees.

Inspiration

Words worth considering. Found here.

66. Attend a roller derby bout DONE 5/30/09

I LOVED it! I really want to join. In fact, they're having tryouts this Saturday.

The good news: I can skate really well.
The bad news: I broke my elbow yesterday. Roller skating. At least I did it in style in my sweet new pair of Reidell 265s.

Guess I'll have to wait until the next round. One big question still remains, though: Do I choose Anya Knees or Miss Etta Kitt for my derby name?

Family & Home: 25. Visit Helga at least twice a month

Good news/sad news.

Good news: I've been visiting Helga FAR more than twice a month. We've spent a lot of quality time together, and some visits have been wonderful.

Sad news: She's dying. Her lung cancer is getting worse. She had a heart attack a month ago. She was in and out of the hospital for a while, and now she's in an assisted living home. She's miserable, and in pain, and most of the time she doesn't know who I am.

Nonetheless, I'm going to see her whenever I can, and I'm just hoping for some more good visits.

EDITED TO ADD:
Helga passed away on May 6th. I will forever miss her.

91 & 92: In progress!

91. Bring sack lunch to work every day
92. Only buy coffee for the worst Thursday morning all-faculty meetings

I've successfully done BOTH of these for this entire school term, which would be SEVEN weeks, thankyouverymuch. AND, I'm proud to report that even though this past Thursday's all-faculty meeting was a particular doozy, I resisted Dunkin Donuts on my way to work and had the coffee we brew in our reading lab, instead. I'm going above and beyond, people, above and beyond.

Family and Home: 38. Get our ketubah professionally framed!

We did it! We took advantage of Hobby Lobby's half-off custom framing sale, and now our ketubah is in a gorgeous frame. We also had one of our wedding invitations and the engraving plate framed, which look really cool.
This is what $570 worth of custom framing looks like:

Do: 40. Go ice skating downtown with DH is DONE!

We did it! Millenium Park, Chicago. January 3, 2009.
We waited in line for about an hour, but it was fine because we had a blast taking pictures of everyone who fell. (Who wouldn't?) And we had delicious hot chocolate.
DH did not take well to his first ice skating experience. He went around once, and then relegated himself to the sidelines. That's okay, I think he secretly liked it.
We went to Geja's for fondue after the whole thing. It was delish, in case you were wondering.

Here are the best shots we got of the falls. BAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yes Man

We just saw the movie Yes Man, and it was hiLARious.
And it reminded me of this little 101 in 1001 thing.
Any movie with actors from Elf in it is okay with me.
Highly recommend it.