Airborne Graduation this morning - more on that below!
This week has had its ups and downs. It was the last week of Airborne school for Mike which is called "Jump Week" because they complete the 5 jumps they need in order to graduate. Monday it poured buckets ALL day which means the guys didn't do any jumps. I usually do my grocery shopping on Mondays so you can imagine how pleasant that was with all the rain.
Tuesday I planned to head to Ft. Benning to see some jumps. There is an Airborne facebook page which is SUPPOSED to keep you updated on what time the jumps are going to be. This did not happen. In the morning it was extremely foggy so they did let us know that jumps were being postponed. That was the last update of the day though. Around 3:30pm I decided to just drive out there and hope that some jumps were happening. The other downside is that I have no clue when Mike is actually jumping...and there are like 200 guys in the course. Luckily, the jumps were happening when I got there and I got some pics and videos. Unluckily (is that a word?) none of the groups jumping were Mike's. Oh well.
Wednesday was my bad day. I have been working on applying to be a substitute in a few districts around here. Phenix City, Alabama is only about 15 minutes away (we are right on the border!) so I wanted to apply there and got some info from their website. A lot of school districts down south are not as technologically advanced as the ones I'm used to in Illinois. By that I mean they have no electronic application system, you apply in person or by mail. There were two lists on the website, one telling you what you needed to have with you when you went to apply and the other telling you what you would fill out in person. On the list of things you needed to have: fingerprinting done ($54), a TB test (two trips to the doctor's office), A $30 money order for a substitute license (because obviously an actual teaching certificate from Illinois is not acceptable), a social security card, license, and 3 references. Things to fill out there: the application and reference forms.
Last week I got fingerprinted and got my TB test. So Wednesday I called up the personnel lady and she told me to come on in around 2:00 if I had everything I needed. I left around 1:00 because I knew I'd have to stop at the post office to get the $30 money order and I wanted to make sure I could find the place and not be late. As I'm driving to Alabama and crossing the border a realization pops into my head. Alabama goes by Central time while Georgia uses Eastern. The clock in the car dropped back to 12:15 as I drove. Great, now I've got an hour and a half to kill before the interview!! I get the money order and sit in a starbucks for an hour reading my kindle (thankfully I had it).
Finally, 2:00 CST rolls around and I make it to the building. As I'm escorted into a conference room, the personnel lady says "We had you down for 2:00, did something happen?" I said, "it is 2:00, isn't it?" to which she replies, "oh, you must be on Auburn time, we use central time here." Two parts of this statement make no sense: "Auburn" time?? since when are timezones named after colleges? By this I assume she meant eastern time?? Second, why wouldn't I assume that an ALABAMA school district goes by ALABAMA time which is central?? Very frustrating. She seemed apologetic already, but something else was about to go wrong too.
As I'm pulling out all the materials that I needed to bring with me she says, "oh we don't require a TB test anymore, I have to have the website updated." THANKS, I really enjoyed those two doctor visits I squeezed into the past 3 days. Then, she asks for my references and I hand her a list of my three references and their contact information. Oh but that won't work. Apparently there are special forms that the references themselves need to fill out ahead of time. I tell her I'm confused because the website listed reference forms as something we'd fill out in person, not something we needed to have with us. "Oh, I really need to get that website updated, people are getting so confused," she says. "Are there any people in the area you can have fill these out?" No lady, I moved here three weeks ago and I don't know anyone that would be a reference.
As you can tell, it was an upsetting day. The personnel lady was very apologetic and felt bad that she wouldn't be able to get me started with subbing. I have to admit, with all of the frustrations of the day, I had a little bit of a cry session on my drive home. The day didn't get much better, especially because Mike didn't get home until 1:00am. Again, the airborne facebook page did not have any updates all day long so I had no idea what he was doing or what time he would get home. They don't have access to their cells either.
Thursday was much better. Mike didn't need to go in until 11:00 am so he finally caught up on some sleep, and he got home at 3:30pm since they were all done with the jumps! Also, the sub coordinator from the Columbus, GA school district called me to schedule a fingerprint appointment for subbing (Because, obviously, my Alabama fingerprints can't be used) This time it will only cost $40. And that $40 has to be in the form of a money order...back to the post office. I won't be able to start subbing though until I go through orientation and apparently there won't be another orientation for a couple weeks. Oh well, at least I've got two districts that are hiring me to sub! I won't be unemployed much longer!
Everyone is probably tiring of hearing my complaints about the week so I'll go ahead and start posting some pictures!
Thursday night's dinner:
It was a baked chicken & pasta dish with an extremely unhealthy, cheesy sauce. Very good, but it was a lot harder to make than I anticipated. I cooked for 2 hours before this baby was done. The only good news is that it made enough for me to make two of these dishes and freeze one for another night.
This morning I headed to Fort Benning for Mike's Airborne graduation. Although a little chilly, I was so glad it wasn't raining as the ceremony was outdoors. I even go to pin Mike's new wings on :o)
Can you find Mike??:
At the beginning of the ceremony, they did a little demonstration with some paratroopers. It was really cool, these guys came down with chutes but they were able to "steer" the chutes and do some cool loops in the sky and basically control where they landed. This is a little more complicated than the jumps Mike did, and when Mike landed it wasn't on his feet!
Mike came home for a minute but just changed and went out to lunch with some of the guys from his class. I've been busy getting festive for Valentine's day! Yesterday I stopped in Hobby Lobby where all the Valentine's day stuff was 30% off. I have a cool little thing planned for Mike for Valentines day...more on that when it comes (can't ruin the surprise for him!). Anyway, I bought some cute little doilies to hang up in the kitchen:
I found this little gem in one of Mike's "mementos" boxes. It's a valentine I made him in 2009, with a picture from 2006! It's hanging on the fridge now :o)
Have a happy weekend everyone!
Love, Christine
P.S. Answer to the "Can you find Mike?" pic: He's front row, 3rd from the right :o)
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