How exhausting!

Today was my day off work and I spent waaay more time applying for positions that I thought I would. This could be a good thing, though because that means there were a lot of positions for me to apply to. Today I applied for:

8 positions in Garland (probably require us to move)
1 position in Coppell
Kindergarten position in Blue Ridge (really far away! gonna have to move)
2 positions in Rockwall (thinking we would be moving for this one)
3rd grade position in McKinney
and
1/2 time Pre-K position in Northwest.

So, thankfully those positions were there for me to apply. These positions are all new since the last time I checked (August 1st). Please keep me in your prayers. Maybe one of these will be THE JOB! Now that I have spent 6 1/2 doing this, I think it's time for a nap.

Catch Up!

The last two weeks have seemed quite busy for me, but in a good way. I started working more hours at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately its not quite full-time hours, but its enough to cover what I was making at Children's Courtyard. I'm really enjoying being there again enough to know what's going on!

Landon is doing a triathlon in October so last week he started training. I'm doing the training with him and it has felt so good! I have been swimming and I even ran for 15 minutes straight (and I am not a runner!) It has been a really long time since I've done that. Training also means healthier meals. It has been so nice to cook healthy meals without getting an eeww look from Landon.

So far there has been no new news on the job front. I am coming to terms with the fact that I need to make a plan that does not involve teaching in my own classroom this year since school starts in less than 2 weeks. I will be substitute teaching for Lewisville ISD and working a Wal-Mart, sort of like I did before my long-term sub job last year. Just keep praying that the right position will come along.

Oh the joys of the morning...

So yesterday was my first day back at Walmart as my full-time job. With my childcare job I had been getting to work at 6:30 in the morning. Granted, I did get off at 2:30, but getting up at 4:45 was getting really old. So far today I have been able to sweep the kitchen, put some laundry in the wash, finish a movie, make breakfast (including enjoy a cup of coffee!) and tend to my cat's daily needs all before going to work! It's wonderful :)

California Trip

We (Mommy, Jason, and I) had a wonderful time in California. We had some interesting adventures at the airport, both coming and going we managed to get on earlier flights!

Here are some of the things we did:

-toured Warner Bros. studios in Burbank
---saw where soooo many TV shows and movies were filmed (totally cool!)
-ate at In & Out Burger (while I proved to Jason that Whataburger sells salads as well. Thank goodness for iPhones)
-saw so many more palm trees than I expected
-went to the "best spot to view the Hollywood sign." Corner of Sunset and sketchy! (Wish we hadn't listened to Frommer's on that one!)
-drove through some cute neighborhoods in the Hollywood Hills
-went "shopping" on Rodeo Drive
-visited Griffith Park and the observatory
-hiked at Griffith Park
-walked around on Hollywood Blvd taking in the freak show (too many people selling Michael Jackson stuff!)
-found movie star feet and hand prints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
-attempted to look at stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (too many people to stop and look!)
-shopped Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade (found some good deals too!)
-loved the weather! Hardly above 70 degrees the whole weekend :)
-ate at a great Italian restaurant in Santa Monica run by, get this, Italians! Also had the best canoli I've ever eaten, yum!
-walked the Santa Monica beach
-climbed up every single set of stairs at the Hollywood Bowl
-walked the Santa Monica Pier
-found the original "Muscle Beach"
-sat outside on the hotel's restaurant patio just to enjoy the beautiful weather
-watched Jason surf
-sat on the beach and got the worst sunburn of my life!

All in all, so much fun. I would love to go back to Santa Monica again!
Movie sets at Warner Bros. Studio
The infamous Warner Bros. water tower and one of those beautiful palm trees.
The Hollywood Bowl. Yep, Jason and I walked up all those stairs!My favorite find at Grauman's: Jimmy Stewart!



Our hotel on the beach!
Enjoying the beach on our last day...Little did I know I was getting burned!
Here's some video of Jason's surfing lesson:





Okay, he did have some longer runs on the board, but I didn't get any video of that. Here's a picture:
We had a great time...Wouldn't be surprised if my brother graduates from college and moves to Santa Monica.

Busy, Busy

Well, it's been a whole month now since my last post. Ever since my California vacation, things have been pretty crazy buys around here. My mom, Jason, and I had a wonderful time in California (I will post some pictures soon.) Sometime soon after that, Children's Courtyard asked if I was interested in a lead teaching position in a toddler room. It would mean a raise and a chance to get away from the Pre-K room which was causing me so much anguish. However, the next day at WalMart my manager informed me that one of the ladies was transferring to another store and told me she could get me more hours. As it turns out, She could offer me exactly the hours I need to make as much money as I do working 40 hours at Children's Courtyard and 7 hours at WalMart. This was the perfect opportunity to have a little more time in the week and have a more flexible work schedule for those interviews that I'm sure I'm going to be going on some time soon (fingers crossed.)

So, I gave them my notice and yesterday was my last day. I'll start Monday back at WalMart working only 30 hours a week, not every weekend (yay!) and having flexibility to do what I need to do to get a teaching job (something I did not have at Children's Courtyard.) So, looks like the Lord has answered my prayers and I know He's got something even better heading my way! Even if I don't get a teaching job in the next month or so, I'll still be able to work at WalMart and substitute teach. It's hard to make any plans right now because I don't know what I'm going to be doing a month from now. I feel like I'm in limbo, but all I know is that God is faithful. Somehow, and I don't know how, but He keeps us paying our bills! I think he's padding my paychecks!

Last weekend Landon and I became official members of our church. We are so excited because this is the first time that we have been church members in our married life. We love GracePointe and feel so at home there!

I'll try to keep more updated. Hopefully I'll have some good job news to tell soon!

Blueberries!

Here is the first fruit of my blueberry spoils. I made blueberry pie for dessert tonight, and as you can see, Landon enjoyed it!

Great week!

Landon and I enjoyed our very long trip this weekend to my grandma's in Mississippi for the annual Reeves family reunion. Along the way we stopped in Bossier City and spent the evening with Meme and Pappy. It was so good to see them and actually get to spend a little more time with them than usual because we got away from Denton a little early.

Friday morning we got up, ate breakfast with Meme and Pappy and made our way to McComb, MS. We enjoyed our time that weekend with Memaw, my dad and Uncle Ken. Saturday after the family reunion, I picked about 2 1/2 gallons of blueberries! No joke, see the picture of my freezer below. This is about half of what I picked! Sunday we HAD to eat lunch at The Dinner Bell. I wish now that I had taken a picture of what it is like to eat there, but I didn't! You can check it out yourself at www.thedinnerbell.net. Let me assure you, that eating there once a year is not quite often enough! Unfortunately, after eating a very full meal (which included fried eggplant, cream corn, chicken and dumplings, fried chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, purple hull peas, butter beans, bread pudding, etc.) making an 8-hour drive back home was far from what I wanted to do!

So far this week at work has been pleasant...at least it hasn't been as bad as it has before! I've gotten off work early 3 out of 4 days so far this week which is good for the mind and body, but not so good for the paycheck. I'll take it though!

No real plans for the weekend. I'm going to my mom's to meet with her and Jason to plan our trip to Los Angeles the next weekend. Landon doesn't have his truck right now because it is in the shop (finally!) from the accident he had a couple of months ago, so I will have to leave him at home all by himself! Poor baby. Then on Sunday after church we have a new members meeting. We are finally going to be members of a church for the first time since we have been married. We finally found a church we both love! After that I will be heading out to a pool party for a girl I graduated college with. She is getting married 4th of July weekend, so time to celebrate!

Have a wonderful evening! Check out the blueberries:
Each of those is a two-cup container, plus the extra in the bag on top. :) Yum!

Job application after job application

Today I have spent about 6 hours on the computer filling out job applications for school districts. Some of them are districts that I have already applied to, but I have to recheck to see if any additional openings have been posted. I try to do this once a week. This week however, I extended my job search. I've started applying for positions in districts that are a looong drive from Denton.

I counted and I have now put in 40 job applications! That's right, 40! This has been one of the most frustrating and difficult things that I have ever done. When I was graduating 6 months ago, I would have never thought that I would still be struggling to find a job. I was so confident that I would get a job in Lewisville ISD (where I did my student teaching) that I never even considered not being interviewed for a position there and here it is the middle of June! I've got 2 months left before teachers start reporting to work for the next school year.

Please, please, please, keep praying for us. I have got to continue to trust in the Lord to bring me through this. I need the hope that my current job situation will not last forever, and I will be successful in finding a job. I know that someday soon (if it is His will) that the right job opportunity will jump out at me! I need the strength to get through everyday. I have never had a job that I disliked so much than the one I have now. I guess I have been so lucky the last several years to work with people that I enjoy in a fairly positive working environment. This new job has been such a challenge, so I hope I will take from it whatever it is the Lord is trying to teach me, but it is a hard lesson to learn!

Worst pain ever!

So, on Monday night I had finally had enough of the pain in my throat and decided I'd stop by Care Now on my way home from work on Tuesday night. Somebody recommended the Minute Clinic inside CVS to me instead which has a much lower cost than Care Now, so I decided to go there instead. They opened at 8:30 Tuesday morning and I had to be at work at 9:30, so I thought I'd go by that morning instead of waiting until the evening...and boy am I glad I did! I saw a nurse practitioner there instead of a doctor, which was fine with me because that's about all they have at the UNT student health center where I had been going all through college. Anyway, she took all my symptoms and suggested a strep test. I thought that would be good, just to be on the safe side, since I work with kids and all, I would have to let them know at work if I had strep. So when she started examining my throat she said "Wow, yes, you have 2 large ulcers on your tonsils." No wonder I was in so much pain! I had been battling this for 9 days before I went to see anybody about it. She said I was one tough lady for waiting so long to come in. Anyway, she said she did not see any signs of infection, just looked like a virus. The "quick" strep test came back negative, but we sent one off to the lab just to be safe. (Ended up being negative too.) Needless to say, she suggested I take a couple days off to rest and wrote me a note for work. I hated calling in sick, especially since I'm still in my first month of employment there, but I'm so glad I did. I needed those 2 days of rest. I'll tell you what though, the pain I had on Thursday was even worse than the previous 10 days of pain. Next time I have something wrong with my tonsils (when I have better insurance) I want to have them removed. I have tonsilitis and problems with my tonsils biannually (like clockwork.)

Today, I'm feeling much better and have hardly any feeling of discomfort in my tonsils. Yay!

Today has been pretty productive. I think I finally spent the last of my graduation money on a few new things at The Limited. Love their clearance section! I made a late lunch-early dinner of Italian subs and homemade fries. Yum! and the apartment is even clean (except for vacuuming--that will come tomorrow probaby!)

In other news, I did not get the job I interview for in Aubrey. I'm pretty bummed about it, but I wasn't hanging all my hopes on that job. I'm hoping I'll get another interview soon, but I really need to get the next job I interview for because I'm not sure how I'm going to get some more scheduled time off of work...They are not flexible in the least. Ugh. Soon, things will be different! I have faith.

Bike Ride

Well, today Landon went on a 20-something mile bike ride with a friend today. He's getting himself geared up for another triathlon! I'm so glad he enjoys doing that, I just wish he would be ready to ride with me when I am actually home!

I decided to go get myself checked out tomorrow and see if I've got strep throat or some other kind of infection. We'll see! I hope it's something they can give me drugs for and make me feel better ASAP.

Happy Anniversary

This past week on Wednesday (June 3rd) was our 3 year anniversary. We both had to work and it was a loooong day for me! I've been sick all week, so it was not the ideal anniversary. Landon gave me a beautiful card, and some of my favorite candy!

Last night we went out to eat to celebrate! Quite surprisingly it was easy to convince him to eat at Maggiano's (one of my favorite Italian restaurants). He does not like Italian food, so for him to agree to it was amazing. He's such a sweetheart, just wanting to make me happy for our anniversary! :)

We had bruschetta, and I ate gnocchi for dinner while Landon had a steak and mashed potatoes (surprise, surprise!) and I ordered some delicious tiramisu for dessert. YUM!

Interview

Last week on Thursday I had a job interview in Aubrey ISD for a kindergarten position. Aubrey is a smaller school district just east of Denton, so it is very close to where we live! I really felt at home at the school and enjoyed meeting with the principal and counselor. I was very nervous (as I always am for interviews!) but by the grace of God, I think it went well.

The principal also told me the other elementary school in Aubrey is looking for a second grade teacher and a fourth grade teacher and she asked if I would be interested. This seems promising! I hope to hear back from them soon, and if it is God's will, then I would love to work there! Keep me in your prayers and hopefully I will be hearing from either them or another school district for an interview soon. And pray that I can get the time off my current job to go to the interview. It's very complicated when you don't want your current employer to know you are looking for another job!

New Job update

Well, 3 weeks ago I started my new job at the child-care facility and I am already wishing I'd never taken the job. I was hired on as a Pre-K assistant teacher, however I spent my first 2 weeks working in the toddler room. These are babies 15-22 months on average. They are moved into this room from infants when they are either walking or need to be exposed to walking children to get them to learn to walk. Needless to say, to me it was a great shock! I had absolutely no experience with kids this age. I had to learn how to change diapers (blech!) and I was washing my hands a hundred times a day. But, I really enjoyed those kids! They were so much fun! Even when they were crying and fussy. The only thing I did not enjoy was the diapering, but now I will be an experienced diaper changer when the time comes.

This last week I started in Pre-K, so now I'm getting used to a whole new set of kids and new teachers. Compared to my experience in the toddler room, Pre-K is not working out so well. The kids want to challenge me and my authority which I have no problem dealing with as a teacher or substitute, but when you have to do things the way the other teacher does things it becomes more complicated. The other teachers have done next to nothing to make me feel welcome in the classroom and have had nothing positive to say about how I am doing. This makes for an unpleasant work environment.

In orientation, they made it sound like we would be well-trained on all the "rules and regulations" they have to follow (which I am still trying to learn, 3 weeks later.) In orientation they also specifically said they would assign us a buddy to be there to ask questions about anything we need help with, like policies and procedures (asking for time off, scheduling, etc.) or where to find supplies/the bathroom/etc. I do not have a buddy so I have had to figure all this stuff out for myself! I guess I have always been spoiled by previous employers.

I don't know what I am working until the day before, so I can't plan anything during the week, including the interview I had last week for a kindergarten position at Aubrey ISD. So, when I had to ask to come in to work at a certain time in one week's time, I got the feeling that it was not appreciated. Well, what am I supposed to do the next time I have an interview?

To top it all off, I have been sick all week with some kind of cold (I hope!) and could not go to the doctor because I feel intimidated about asking to work it into the schedule.

Wow! I feel like I'm ranting, but that's 3 weeks worth of what's happened at work!

However, I thank God for giving me a job at this time! We need the money and jobs are scarce, so He has provided a way for us. I just can't wait until a better opportunity comes along!

Wonderful weekend!

This was a wonderful weekend, pretty laid back compared to how busy the last month has been!

Tomorrow I start my new job, so wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Summer Job!

Okay, Tuesday afternoon I headed out to the childcare center for the working interview in the toddler room. Boy was I out of my element! I really did not feel comfortable being responsible for those kids. It was fun, but I was thinking about how I would handle being a lead teacher in that room and I was really uncomfortable with the idea.

So, needless to say, I did not take that position. However, the other position they had available was as an assistant teacher in a pre-k room, and I accepted it! Now, for the first few weeks I will be "floating" from room to room while the current assistant is still there. I really needed this job to get me through the summer and God has provided a way! Thank goodness. I will have orientation tomorrow and I start on Monday. Now if I can finally get myself a "real" teaching job, that would be fantastic. I'm still plugging away at the applications and checking for new job postings every week. Maybe sometime soon I'll be getting an interview call. (Keep your fingers crossed.)

Today I went to my CPR and first aid training for the new job. I also had to have a TB test and I nearly fainted. The little bubble of stuff they put in your arm under the skin really creeped me out and I was sitting in the chair feeling really dizzy and light-headed. It was not fun.

Tonight we have a Landshark softball game to go to. It is the first week for their tournament, so if they win these two games they will get to go on next week. (This is Landon and Jason's softball team, by the way.) They have had a really good season and they are all having fun. They've been competitive, but not bad sports or negative towards each other or the other team, which had been a problem in the past, so things are looking good!

Interview

I am about to head out to a "working" interview at a preschool in Lewisville. I interviewed there on Friday and now I am getting a chance to interact with the kids today. We'll see how everything goes!

On Friday I also spent some time with my mother-in-law at field day for Landon's little brother who's in 4th grade. I met a lot of the teachers and the principal, so I hope I am making connections.

Saturday we traveled up to Denison to spend some time with Landon's great-grandma Rains who is in the hospital. Keep her and the family in your prayers.

Sunday was a wonderful day. I got to spend some time with my Mommy and Jason. We had a great time just hanging around the house and eating some yummy food! Love you Mommy!

Money-Saving Websites

I just added a couple of links to great money-saving websites that I have recently started using. Check them out because they are great and can lead you to even more money-saving websites.

$5 Dinners is exactly what it sounds like. There are tons of recipes for meals that will cost you around $5 and give you tips on how to do your grocery shopping to save you money.

Deal Seeking Mom is a great website that does a lot of the shopping for you. There are current grocery and drug store deals listed so you know exactly where the bargains are.

So far both of these websites have saved me plenty of time and money. If I come across anymore great ones, I will add them.

The job search continues...

The job fair scheduled for today in Arlington was cancelled due to the Swine Flu. I picked the perfect time to graduate from college! This week one of the school districts I sub for is also closed due to Swine Flu.

I spent today working on even more job applications. I've started to broaden my search to areas that will require a long drive or a move. I figure that I might as well do as much as I can and let God take care of the rest. He will put me where He wants me. I'm also thinking about getting ESL certified in order to make myself available for more positions. I haven't looked into it yet, so I don't know if I will be able to register for any of the tests before August, or if I will be able to pay for it.

I also started thinking about a summer job and have come up with a long list of options. I will not be substituting this summer (obviously) and I won't have enough hours at WalMart to make it on that job alone. I have a list of child care facilities that I will try and some city summer programs to look into as well. Keep my job situation in your prayers. It is starting to get very messy!

Boise, Idaho

This past weekend Landon and I traveled to Boise, ID to visit his best friend Kevin and family. On our way to Boise, we had a layover that stopped in Los Angeles for a couple of hours. I was expecting sunny California, and it seemed from the plan that's what we'd get, but below all the clouds on the ground, sunny Cali was nowhere to be seen! Oh, well. So much for my first impression of California! I'd still love to come back to visit for longer than a couple hours.

Once we got to Boise, we enjoyed the weekend just relaxing and playing with Brayden, their 10 month old baby boy. What a cutie pie! It took him a couple days to warm up to us, but he finally did. I got to put him down for his nap on Saturday. He is such an active little guy, so he does not like nap-time.

On Sunday we traveled up to Idaho City about an hour outside of Boise. The views on the way there were spectacular. We stopped in a few places to take pictures. Once we got there we visited the Pioneer Cemetary...I know, kinda weird to enjoy looking at a burial ground, but It was really interesting! There were so many gravesites and tombstones from the 1800s, and some grave-markers for unknown graves.

The city itself was like a throwback to an original mining town, complete with historical buildings and all. We loved it! I put a few pictures of that below. Before the night was over we headed back to Boise and visited the Boise Depot. They had beautiful gardens out front, so of course, we had to take some more pictures! Here is Landon with Kevin and Brayden at the stamp mill in Idaho City. Then Landon, Nikki and Kevin walking through the town. Me in Jail! The last two pictures are of me and Landon at the Boise Depot.



















We had a great time in Boise with the Yorks and did not want to come back to Dallas. On Monday, we had a layover in Portland for about an hour, however it turned into 4 1/2 hours because of the rain in Dallas! Thanks Yorks, we had a fantastic trip!

So long...

Wow, it's been over a month now since my last blog! I started to get incredibly busy three weeks ago with my long term sub job. I spent a whopping 8 days with my 3rd grade class that I was supposed to spend the rest of the year with! The teacher ended up postponing her surgery until summer and came back on the Friday of my second week. Bummer!! I guess this means God has some different plans for me! The good thing is that I've already lined up some more sub jobs for that school, thanks to my early dismissal. I hope that I made a good impression and if they need positions filled, I will be highly considered for the job.

Since then I have applied to every school district within an hour's commute. Please keep praying for a job to start in August. I don't know what God's plans are for me, but that's what faith is all about! There is a job fair on Monday in Arlington that I am considering going to. Arlington is a LONG drive for us here, so I would not want to work for that school district, but there are also supposed to be many others in the northern side of the Metroplex.

Prayers!

I have been asked by a third grade teacher to do a long term sub job for her that will finish out the school year. This is what I have been looking forward to since starting in January. Keep me in your prayers. The date for me to start has not been confirmed yet, so I hope everything goes smoothly. This will be a great experience for me because I will have to plan lessons, do grades, etc. Basically, I will be doing all the work!

Keep me in your prayers!

Bowling!!!

Friday night Landon and I had the joy of bowling with some of our old bowling buddies. We had a blast. Here are some pics:

Me and Tiff


Me and Landon

Joel, Tiffany, and Landon

My PRO bowler!

Me and Beth

The ladies. We are a bowling force!

Saturday (March 28) is the Lewisville ISD job fair, so keep me in your prayers. I am very nervous about the whole experience itself, but I'm also nervous about getting some good job leads as well.

Spring Break

This week is Spring Break which to me means no subbing. I'm working more hours at Walmart to make up for "spring break." It's not as much fun as it used to be!

Since my last post Landon has started coaching a girls softball team here in Corinth. One of the guys he works with coaches the team (his daughter is one of the players) and he asked Landon to help. I think he is enjoying it so far and is great experience for his future coaching.

I have been filling out applications for school districts: Aubrey, Grapevine-Colleyville, and still working on Frisco. They have a very time-consuming application process. Just keep praying that I will start getting interview calls soon. I'm going to start looking at private schools on the advice of my mom, so we'll see how that goes.

Last week we bought plane tickets to Boise, so we will be going to visit Kevin, Nikki and little Brayden next month. Yay! We are so excited. Landon hasn't seen Kevin in a couple years, so he can't wait for us to go.

That's all for now!

Hello!

I have decided to start a blog to keep our friends and family up to date with what is happening here in the Cozart household. I will update weekly (hopefully)!

Right now Landon and I are excited about the amazing work God is doing for our church. We raised more than enough money today to put a down payment on some land for a new church building. God doubled what we needed!

Keep praying that I will find a job in the fall. God is faithful to those who believe and trust in him.