Like AA, but for people with no follow through

I did things! Not big things, but some steps were made.

First for my weekly goals.

1. I did make my flyer for private lessons! It looks pretty good too. My husband also made a flyer for his sax studio and put together a list of the secondary music teachers our area of the county. 
2. I did spend more time with my kids. I don't know that they noticed, but I did. The problem here is that they have never had "enough" mom-time (or dad-time, or friend-time.)  My daughter especially has a bottomless need for playmates. So, in addition to spending more time playing with her myself, I made sure she had more time to play with other kids in the neighborhood. We need to be more strict about bedtime, but we'll work on that this week.
3. Cleaning! I actually did ok with that this week, up until Friday. On Friday I had a day when I was done.  I can't be the only one who's ever felt like this, but I didn't want to be productive, nice, motherly, or tidy. I was tired of being touched, called for, and being needed to mediate between a 5 and a 2 year old. So, Friday night I quit. Luckily, Friday is the easy day when I iron. Unluckily we had a storm come through yesterday, when I was supposed to catch up, and we lost power for about 8.5 hours. So, the ironing is still hanging on a rack in my den. Maybe during tomorrow's nap time. 
1. I would like to note that I did feel a lot better about things. There were still messes to be cleaned. We had some confusion between washable marker and dry erase marked that resulted in me scrubbing some paint off a door near the kid's play table, but there are enough layers of paint on that door that I don't think anyone will notice.
4. I did finish The Neverending Story.  And it was good. I liked the second half better than the first half.  The first half was pretty closely aligned with movie (visa versa, I guess) but because it was so close to the movie I was a little bored with it. The scene with Artax in the swamp of sadness wasn't as moving in the book (seriously, that was the saddest part of any movie, ever when I was a kid. See.) But the second half of the book was much better. The movie ended about half way through the book. In the second half Bastian comes to Fantastica (Fantasia in the movie) and has some cool adventures. It bears a passing resemblance to the second movie, but the book was better. In the movie there is an actual bad guy (lady) but in the book, while she makes an appearance, the conflict is much more within Bastian and a lot more thought provoking. If you stumble upon it in the library (which is how I found it) and you're a fairly fast reader, it's worth a few days. If you're a slower reader, while it was good, I think there may be other books more worth your time. 
1. Also I read The House at Pooh Corner including reading a chapter aloud to my kids. They seemed to like it more than I did. I still liked it, but maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it. I'll hold on to it, maybe renew it, and read a few more chapters to them.
2. Started Misquoting Jesus, which is a fairly interesting read. It talks about how the Bible, specifically the New Testament, has been changed over the centuries. Nothing that I didn't understand the basics of before, but it's interesting to get some specifics and learn about how the historians go about determining the most authentic reading of a text. (Most authentic because we don't have a single original document. From what I gathered the best we can do is about the 2nd Century. That's like reconstructing the Declaration of Independence based on what we all remember from 7th grade, when only about 5% of us can actually read. Yeah, really) 
5. Got behind and didn't pick an economics class yet. I'll put that on my to-do list for tomorrow, along with the ironing.

So, one cool thing, which I haven't had a chance to follow up on yet, was a step towards a teaching certificate. On Tuesday night my husband had a gig about an hour away and ended up driving the van with the Boss in it. During the two hours of driving my situation came up and J found out some cool things. The Lt.'s wife is also a music teacher, prefers elementary music and is currently working on her Master's degree. She commutes to the University of Washington via ferry (holy long commute, Batman), but apparently there are a lot of people there who are in about the same situation as I am. That is, a bit later in life and wanting to supplement an existing degree with a teaching certificate. So, it can be, and is being done. This week I'm going to try and get in touch with her somehow (I'm not sure about the protocol on this) and see what she can tell me about the program. If it's something that some of the classes can be done online, or a couple of days a week commuting we *might* be able to swing something. I hope so. 

I'm continuing to prepare for a 10k at the end of September, but I've gotten to the point where I'm kind of bored with running. I need to change it up somehow, but I'm not sure how to go about it. On Saturday I needed to do 4.5 miles, but because of the weather I had to do it on a treadmill at the gym and got so bored I could only do 3.5. (Also, this was a weird ol' treadmill and I don't think it was reading things properly, because by the end of 3.5 I was totally beat and it had me running really, really slow.) Running friends! Any ideas?

Another thing to work on this week in being more steady about my scripture reading. Because I'm working on finishing the Doctrine and Covenants before the end of the year I have daily readings in my to-do list. But lately I end up missing a day or two, or three, and then spending a bunch of time reading in one day. And then I miss the next day and the process repeats. The daily readings help keep me on track and remind me that it's been a while (other wise I've been known to go back and realize it's been weeks and weeks since I've read the scriptures) but I need to make it a daily habit. So, this week I will try to set aside time everyday just for scripture study. (I will note that I have found a HUGE difference between reading my scriptures and doing scripture study, but that's a soap box for another day.)  I'm not sure when that time will be. First thing in the morning I'm pretty bleary eyed and when I get back from running (when I run the am) the kids are usually awake and hungry. By afternoon nap I need to do the cleaning project and by evening I'm just ready to check Facebook and go to bed. But! There is time there. I have the same 24 hours everyone else has. If it matters I'll make the time. So, we'll go with first thing in the morning. Before or after my run I'm not sure, but it will be in the am. 

So, in summary, for the week to come:

• Pick an Economics Class
• Talk to the Lt's wife about UW's teaching certificate program
• Find something to reinvigorate running
• Daily scriptures first thing in the morning.
• Finish Misquoting Jesus and read... something else. I'm up next for The Lightning Thief and I just checked out Outliers.

Pithy cheer to keep me motivated!

Bummers

The big thing that happened this week was a set back.  On Monday I finally heard back from the school about the music teaching job I interviewed for. I didn't get it. The principal said I was at the top of their list, but because I don't have a teaching credential HR wouldn't go for it. Honestly, I get it. The school has to show the State that they are hiring people who are "highly qualified" to teach. The bummer is that the principal, the one who actually interviewed the applicants, thought that the best choice for the job wasn't necessarily the one with the right piece of paper. So, I need to figure out a way to to get the magic piece of paper. That's harder than you might think.

Actually it's not THAT hard, there are just more obstacles now then there would be if I were 8 years younger and didn't have kids. Had I just graduated with my undergrad and could spend the time student teaching it really would be no problem to jump through the hoops. But student teaching, maybe especially for a music teacher, is more than full-time work, and it's unpaid. I need child care for a two year old for the full day, and for a 5 year old after school. And my husband's work schedule is kind of erratic. Not awful, but the band he's with now will be traveling a week or two a month, and not all at once. It's more like 3-4 days out and some time at home, then a week out and a week home, etc.  If I student teach at a high school I'll have to work with marching band and jazz band, which are often taught outside of regular school hours, as well and put together lesson plans and practice conducting. I'm not sure any other teachers actually have to rehearse teaching...

Actually though, I don't want to student teach at a high school. Mostly because I don't want to teach at a high school.  While I love making good music, I don't think teaching high school is where my skills lie. What I'd really like to do is work with elementary school kids to give them a firm foundation of musical basics. I think I can do cool things to help them understand rhythm, beat, pulse, melody, and the joy of music. I'd like to introduce them to some of the great works of music so that they understand how cool it. I think I can get them ready so that they understand how to count, subdivide and read music. Then I can send them up to a good middle school teacher where they can learn fingerings on an instrument, but they'll integrate that into what they already know. They'll learn so much faster if they don't have to learn everything at once.

But, I have to figure out what to do. There are some programs where you can do the coursework over an intense summer semester and then student teach the year after that, but you have to have district that already wants you to work for them. And there's still the problems of child care and a traveling spouse. Essentially there is very little I can do about this for about a year.

So, I decided to reassess (there's a word that just doesn't look right) and figure out somethings that I CAN do. So, some plans for this week:

1.  I want to get started on looking for some private students. This doesn't actually help reach any of my goals, but it does help with the money thing, and it might help me get to know some of the local secondary music teachers in the area
2. I need to spend more time playing with my kids.  This is something that is strangely hard for me. I'm not good at playing little kid games. Sometimes they just bore me. But my kids NEED me to play WITH them. Seeing me productive and interested in the world is important for them, but it is also important that they see me interested in them.
3. It's time to get back on track with my cleaning schedule. I know it sounds super dorky, but a cleaning schedule really frees me up in the housekeeping realm. Here's the thing: I like a clean house. I don't even mind cleaning most of the time. But I can't keep the whole house clean all the time. And when I try to I get annoyed with my house of 4 mess-makers, and throw up my hands and ignore it all. We end up eating macaroni or PB&J and sitting in a pile of half folded clothes, mixed into which are the kind-of-dirty socks that none of us like to keep wearing once we've taken off our shoes. So, I have a cleaning schedule. One room or set of rooms (bathrooms, bedrooms) gets cleaned everyday and the rest of the house tidied. Apart from that I can do as little or as much cleaning as I want with no guilt. But I haven't been on schedule lately, and I'm feeling it, mostly in my apathy toward clutter. And clutter actually makes me apathetic and grouchy.
4. Finish The Neverending Story and start The House at Pooh Corner, and perhaps move on to Misquoting Jesus. I love the Library. I may start  The Lightning Thief,  but it depends on when the ebook becomes available. Again, I love the library.
5. Decide which free economics class to take. MIT has some, but you don't get the lectures just the lecture notes. I kind of feel like if you can get the whole lecture from the notes than your teacher is worthless and MIT should be able to offer better than that. But, maybe not for free. There are some lectures available from other schools, but they don't include any readings or quizzes to test yourself, so that's just running ear-fodder. I guess education ain't free huh?But I will pick which one to take and get things set up so I can get started once E starts Kindergarten in a few weeks.

Onward! Forward! Hurrah!

Pruning

I noticed a theme as I studied the scriptures and *gasp* actually got to listen to a sacrament meeting talk this week. The theme was pruning.

In Doctrine and Covenants 24:19 Oliver Cowdery is told "For thou art called to prune my vineyard with a mighty pruning, yea, even for the last time."  The phrase mighty pruning got me thinking about this video about a currant bush that gets trimmed back. The tough part about trimming a plant is that you have to trim good growth. Or, at least, it looks like good healthy growth. When you get done you wonder if the poor thing can survive with what you've left. But to one who understands, we can see that when we have too many branches, we can't grow good fruit on all of them. Oh, sure, there are some people in the right season that will get a bumper crop, but most plants, in most seasons, need to be trimmed and thinned to give the best results.

Then I was reading in D&C 25, which is counsel to Emma Smith. She's given some pretty big duties; acting as a scribe, expounding scripture, exhorting the church, giving her time to writing and learning, comforting and consoling a young and inexperienced prophet, compiling a collection of hymns to delight the Lord's soul. She is also counseled to "lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better."  Poor Emma didn't have many of the things of this world. I think at this point she and Joseph had barely lived in their own house, mostly they stayed with others while Joseph translated the Book of Mormon. Even the short time they had their own house it was borrowed from her father. And here she was being told to lay aside the things of this world. I started to think about all the things of this world I have been seeking after. These things are not necessarily bad. Some of them are even good. They are branches that lead to good fruit. But they may not be the right fruit for us. Sometimes we have to lay aside some of the things we are spending our time on because the important things need more attention.

Then during sacrament meeting the speakers both spoke about using our time the best we can. (At least that's what I got from it. The guy that gave the closing prayer was apparently in a different meeting than I was. He mentioned the great counsel we received on serving others. I guess the Spirit tell us what we need to hear.) Once again I was told that I need to make sure I am using my time the best I can. Which has led me to do some pruning on what I expect of myself.

There are soooo many things that I want to do. Things that will make me a better person. That's mostly what this goal list is about: who I want to become as a person. But more important than what I want to become is what the Lord wants me to become. Our High Councilman (local leader) spoke today about a missionary companion of his named Chad Hymas. (Check him out here) He said he recently had a chance to talk to Brother Hymas about his accident and what has happened to him since then.  The High Councilman (don't know his name, sorry) asked him if, if he could, would Brother Hymas trade the opportunities he's had because of his paralysis for the chance to play with his kids. Brother Hymas said that would be tempting; he would love to tickle his daughters, or play basketball with his sons. But he wouldn't do it. Because of his paralysis, he as become who the Lord wanted him to be. He had to trim some good, worthwhile, most would say necessary things from his life, but he has been able to do things he never would have been able to do otherwise.

So, I'm going to look at how I spend my time. There may be good things that need trimming. This week I took Facebook off my phone. Not that Facebook is bad. I like it. But it was taking too much of my valuable time. To put it in perspective, I was charging my phone at the end of the night with about 5% battery. I've now been two days without charging and am only at 28%.

I'm sure there are more. Some of which I will want to keep. But it's not about what I want to be. It's about what the Lord wants me to be.

Week 2 or treading water

I didn't get much done this week. I finished I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings which was very good, and started on How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming which is very entertaining. Either this is an astronomer who has some killer story telling skills, or he got a good ghost writer, (I'm guessing the later). Either way, it's a very entertaining read, especially for non-fiction. 

I heard back from the HR department about the job I applied for. She was wondering where my teaching certificate was. I explained I didn't have one, but the principal in question was totally aware of this. The fact that I got a call means the principal probably wants to hire me. The face that I haven't heard back means that HR is probably pushing back about my lack of certification. Well see who wins. We go in to register my daughter for kindergarten tomorrow, so I'll ask while we're there. 

That's really about all I did in goal-land. I am still working on doing a 10k in a few weeks. I'll keep you (Hi Mom!) posted.

 

Update 1 or a Week of Exploration

One week down! No check marks yet, but some progress in a couple of areas.

First and foremost, I had a job interview! Kind of a big deal for me. First, because it was my first job interview since before my daughter was born. (And that interview only sort of counts because the guy that interviewed me was the one that recommended I apply for the job in the first place, so I would have had to totally blow it to not get that one.) The bigger deal was that it was the first time I've applied for a job as a music teacher. I started school in 2003, left in 2006 for my mission, came home in 2008, got married, moved to California, had a kid, moved to Utah and finally got back to school part time. With some persistence and ingenuity I managed to finish a degree as a Bachelor of Science in Music in 2013, two moves later and about 2 months before my son was born. Upside: A degree! Downside: You can't student-teach over the internet, so I don't have a teaching certificate. But, all is not lost! My current state has a sort of emergency certification they can use if they decide they want to hire me anyway.

A little about the job I interviewed for: It's part-time, elementary music, and I would be working with a full-time teacher who really seems to know what she's doing. She's been working at the school for a couple of years and has a well-established program.  I would take all of one grade level and half of another, filling in where she just doesn't have the hours.  This would be perfect because I would only have to find a babysitter for a couple of hours each day, and because it would allow me to work with someone; sharing ideas and getting support where I, as a first-time, not-100%-sure-what-I'm-doing, teacher will need it.   I can totally rock the job, but I know I will have days where I won't be so sure about that.

I'll hear back about it sometime this week, with any luck by Wednesday. So, good vibes please. :)

I checked into a couple of other things on my list, some of which turned out more promising than others.  Red Cross offers CPR classes on base about 6 times a year (there is a fee.) The next one is next Saturday and after that there is one in October.  I think I'm going to sign up for the one in October, partially because Friday is our anniversary (7 years, no itch in sight :) and we want to go out on Saturday. But the option is there so I can sign up whenever I'm ready.  Yea for military perks!

I also looked into Orff Certification. I got started on that a little late, which is a bummer. The Washington chapter actually had it's Level 1 certification class this week. They only offer them once a year, in August, so teachers can take them during the summer. It's nice to know that it is there and they have other workshops and what-not, but I won't be able to work on the certification itself until next summer at the soonest.  This is also a bummer because I was hoping to incorporate the Orff material into the elementary job, if I get it.  But there are workshops, so I might be able to get my feet wet with those during the school year.

So, since very few people know what Orff is, here's a link to the website http://aosa.org/. Basically it's a school of music-educational thought that incorporates a lot of movement, percussion, dance and improvisation into elementary music. I like the concepts because the more ways you can present information the more likely it is to be internalized by the students. When the students get to dance, hit things and make up what they want, the learning process becomes much more like play, which is the way it ought to be.

That's about it for goal progress. I did finish a book about pirates this week. It was surprisingly dry. The author wrote much more like a researcher than a story teller so even the sections about sea battles and mutiny ended up being kind of dull.  Up for this week is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.  I decided I needed to read more books not by old white guys, and this seemed like a good place to start. Also, I'm trying to work my way through Rough Stone Rolling. It's actually really good, but a bit of a beast.  I feel like I need to keep checking the references section in the back to see if he put any good clarifications in there. But it is great reading.

Other minor things: Started training for a 10k. Not a specific race because everything is on Sundays up here, but I found the route for one so I think I can just run it on my own and still count it. And, my daughter started swimming lessons this week. Since now I spend half an hour, four days a week watching people swim laps while I wait for her lesson to finish, I really want to go get a suit and goggles and start swimming on my cross training days.  We'll see.

Turns out goals can be a lot harder to work on when you have little people that keep wanting things like food, love, attention, snacks, hugs, naps, clean clothes, food, rides, stories, games and food. But, I have to remind myself that the goal is not to completely focus on me, but to give me something to work on so I don't completely lose me.

My 40

I have a Facebook friend, (Ms. Rhan over at elrahnsideabox,) who has been an amazing inspiration to a bunch of us for setting and working towards goals.  I've always been one to give a lot of lip service to goal setting and what not, but not much for following through.  The last little while though I've been working more on actually acheiving goals instead of just setting them.  I read the entire Bible last year and I'm working on the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants for this year, which means I'll have read the LDS Standard works in 2 years. I'm working on 50 books this year, but moving has put me behind on that one...as well as trying to complete a 10k and a half marathon by the end of the year.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that I'd like to set some more long term goals. Since human being find repetition attractive, 40 before 40 sounds pithy and do-able. So, 40 goals/things to do before I turn 40:


Academic

1. Become certified in Orff and/or Kodaly teaching methods (update 3/23, not sure I care about this any more.)
2. Get and stay CPR and First Aid Certified (has to be redone every 3 years)
3. Take a class in Macro Economics
4. Take a class in Micro Economics
5. Take a class in Statistics
6. Take a class in Chemistry (These are so I can talk to my siblings and kinda, sorta understand a little about what they do at work.) (Kind of completed Spring 2021, Does high school chemistry count?  Wait, this is mine.  I say it counts.)
7. Read 400 books, or about 40 per year.  Re-reads definitely count, as well as any chapter books I read with the kids, as long as I read them in their entirety.  Picture books do not count. ( update 3/23 - 100% sure I have done this, I started reading MUCH more because of this goal, and I average about 60-70 books a year now)
1. As a sub goal I may put together 40 books to read before 40.
8. Get a job that utilizes my degree (Completed 7/22)
9. Read Don Quixote in Spanish
10. Read at least one other Spanish classic in Spanish (any recommendations?)
11. (Added 12/13/16) Get a teaching Certificate, to allow me to teach in public schools (Completed 2/23)

Spiritual

1. Spend one year of scripture study focused on Preach My Gospel
2. Complete the requirements for a Faith in God Award (They did away with this and focus on personal goals now, which is better)
3. Complete the requirements for a Young Women's Medallion (Ditto the above)
4. Make a habit of having personal prayer and scripture study every day 
5. Memorize the Proclamation on the Family and the Living Christ

Family

1. Visit Hawaii with Jared for our 10 year anniversary (Fun story, we set aside the money, but weren't able to go because I needed a tooth extraction and dental implant. Turns out those cost about as much as a conservatively priced trip to Hawaii)
2. Go Camping with the kids
3. Be done having kids (is this a terrible goal? I want more, but I'd like to be done with the whole pregnant thing by the time I'm 40) (No way to be sure, but as of 3/23 we have 3  and I'm done being pregnant.)
4. Set family Goals every year
5. Get a dog that can be a running buddy (Completed 2016)
6. Spend a weekend away with each of my kids
7. Buy a house (Completed 3/17 and again 9/21)

Personal/ Misc.

1. Do some sort of triathalon
2. Plant a garden and get a somewhat respectable harvest from it (Slightly completed 2016, will continue in 2017 with more space.)
3. Visit a moor. I know this sounds odd, but as I kid a read about moors all the time (why do all 19th century British books take place on or near a moor?) and I'd really like to actually see what one is.
4. Take a 1 month break from junk food to cleanse my palate and refocus on whole, not sweet, salty, fatty foods (Completed Lent 2016)
5. See the Statue of Liberty
6. See a play on Broadway (apparently I'll ha)ve to make it to New York at some point)
7. Make a real cheese cake (as of 3/23 Do it yearly now, never regret it)
8. Visit the Grand Canyon
9. Skydive - See that Jared?! There's a deadline now!
10. Read every book I have chosen to own (added 3-Jan-16)

Now, if ya'll have done some math (and I know you have) you'll see that this is only 31 goals  I decided to leave the rest blank because I hope to be smarter each year and come up with at least one big thing I want to do in the year to come.

This kind of seems like a big list, but I do have 10 years (minus 3 months) to get it done.  This week I'll break things down a little and decide what I want to work on first. I'll also break some of the larger goals down to see what I can do in the near future to work on it.

Wish me luck! and dedication...