Newborns and up....

Well now.  I certainly never intended to work with kids younger than the age of say... 5.  I'm absolutely not certified to do so.  But for the summer, 2-4 days a week, I'm helping my friend run a daycare out of her home.  It's a very new experience, not having children of my own (yet) and only really ever taking care of friends' kids, who are very well behaved.... and some of the little terrorists bundles of joy are a VERY new experience for me.  Like kids that never stop crying. And ten kids under the age of 4.  My oh my... This summer may give me gray hair. On the crafting front, I'm working on crocheting an owl hat.  And regarding the job hunt... all of the teaching positions have been filled in the districts that I'm looking at. So far.  There are always aide positions, and teachers who decide during the summer that they're leaving. But as of now... I remain unemployed, doing odd jobs here and there to make ends meet. 

In other news, Mr. IT got a new car! It's a Nissan Rogue, and we LOVE it.  Better than the Jeep, in that it's not a soft top and LOUD, and also, it gets roughly two times better gas mileage than we got... Oh man! And during my reign of unemployment, I shall stick with my old rusty trusty Honda.  Honda and I got to 215 thousand miles last week, and she's still goin strong!

And so it goes...

The hiring has come and gone in the school district(s) I'd be able to teach in.  Interviews/job openings for paraprofessionals haven't happened yet, but every actual "teacher" position has been filled. And, Oh well, I say.  I've been substituting in every corner of the schools, from Para to after-school program to office aide to classroom to the Thunderdome "contained behavior classroom."

Tomorrow is a subbing day for a 4th grade class that I've been in once before.  One of the boys came up to me after school today and said "You're subbing in our class tomorrow, right?" "Yep!" I said.  "Oh good," he says, "I like when you're our sub. It's fun." ... Has me a bit scared.  I'm almost wondering if I shouldn't just start with the ibuprofen NOW, and save myself the headache later.  Sometimes, 4th graders are scary. 

Happy Birthday to...

ME! Here's a quick recap.  23 years old, "unemployed", working odd jobs and substitute teaching whenever I possibly can (like the rest of this week, and ALL of next!) But... Couldn't be happier.  I'm blessed with amazing friends and family, and adopted families galore, and I have no complaints.  I have everything that I need (not WANT, but people don't always need what they want) and love my life.

The only sad thing in life right now is the "pet" situation... Mr. IT and I have an 8 year old tabby cat.  He's the friendliest most loving cat in the world. To humans.  We recently tried to adopt a dog from our local shelter, Toby. 

Toby was FANTASTIC. Also, horse-sized  very large, roughly 95 pounds.  Sweetest most loving, cuddly, friendly lab ever.  But... he doesn't love cats as much as he loves people. And our cat didn't love him as much either... And so unfortunately, purely because we couldn't risk dear sweet Toby eating "playing" a bit too rough with the kitty,  we had to take him back to the shelter.  Absolutely broke my heart.  I just keep reminding myself that now he can go home with a family where he doesn't have to compete for attention with another animal, and doesn't have to live with a cat.  

This leads me to my point: Adopt from shelters! Most animals aren't in a shelter because there is anything wrong with them--in fact, most animals are in shelters for the exact same reason as Toby.  They just need something a little different, or their owners couldn't take as good of care of them as they needed.  Adopt! Adopt! Don't spend 500+ dollars on a designer pet, when there are animals that desperately need people.
Because just like Toby, there are plenty of other animals that need good homes.

Toddlers in Tiaras.... or tutus and sports apparel ;)

Sunday was Mr. I.T's niece's birthday, and she's ONE YEAR OLD! wahoo! Along with cake, ice cream, and slightly exhausting super fun birthday parties, come PRESENTS! Now, his sister, her husband, and essentially his entire family (dad, mom, grandparents, etc.) are Cowboys fans.  Blegh. Being a Broncos fan around them is exhausting! Usually, I fight the good fight, but for birthdays, I'll give a little.  I saw the cutest thing on pinterest (of course I did. It's my favorite website in the WHOLE WORLD.) (Seriously. If you're not a member... what are you waiting for?) Anyway. Cutest little thing.  It was a onesie with a broncos logo on it, and a little ponytail holder with a broncos logo on it, and a blue, white, and orange tutu.  Of course, I would have been perfectly content with little niece getting THAT, but knowing her parents... it would never make it's way out of her closet! SO, I got my creative juices flowing, and decided that HEY! I could just change the colors and logo, and make it a Cowboys tutu! And so... I did.  I went to JoAnn's, and bought all this....

And turned it into this!

The best part? On the whole, it only took about 2 hours from start to finish, and the majority of that was cutting the tulle into strips and tying it on the ribbon! I decided to get a ribbon waistband instead of elastic because I was trying to figure out just how much elastic I would need (tricky process, when you don't know EXACTLY how big around baby is) and then... *lightbulb!* Why not tie the tulle onto ribbon, so that the tutu can grow WITH the little one! So, I did.  That tutu should last her at least two football seasons worth of growing.  Of course, the whole family LOVED it.  I can post a tutorial if anyone wants it, but honestly... one of the most straightforward processes I've ever done. I do believe it's one I'll be repeating for the rest of the babies in my life... providing their parents have good taste and like football ;)