A while ago I mentioned becoming the national trainer for the photo job I do.  Well, today I talked with the co-owner and the job is finally becoming a reality.  As of this week I am the manager of training, or quality, or something like that.  My new job will involve keeping a single store for photos, but in addition involve filling in for others’ vacations, do quality control on their work, and of course train.  In fact, I will be training someone really soon now to take over two of my stores.  My compensation has also become consistent, no longer dependent on the number of cars I do.  As for traveling, that will come sometime as well- they already have stores in another state, though mostly for those stores they will bring the people here for me to train.

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So what do I mean by the end of an era?  Well, this job has now become full time so that means no more subbing.  Maybe once in awhile (with the co-owner’s blessing I should add) if I want to as long as I get the work done, but for the most part I’m done.  I will drop down to one district I think, probably hometown district and sub maybe once every other week just for the extra cash until the end of the school year.  Or mornings once a week if I can.  I don’t know.  In any event, that means a rebranding for this blog as certainly I won’t be signing up again for next year unless something goes very wrong with this job and so the name no longer works.  I will have to think about a new name though I suspect the URL will remain the same.

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I know I haven’t said this yet, so I will say it now.  In big bold letters:

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS PROVISIONS

AND HIS BLESSINGS!!!

As I’ve mentioned, I read the suburban Chicago newspaper online.  Today a headline about the town where I grew up caught my eye – a kid filmed a short little youtube.com movie in Warrenville, Illinois.  I couldn’t care less about the battle between fans of Star Wars and Star Trek, but I know there are some tangents.org readers who are fans of one or both of the franchises – thought they might enjoy this little video.  It’s a creative idea, really – what would happen if the introductory words at the beginning of the Star Wars movies fell to Earth?  For its small budget (around $100) and the small amount of time invested, the special effects aren’t bad either…

If you’d like more info about the kid or the video, here is a link to the original article.

I think I will try something new and make an occasional post featuring some of the music I listen to.  This will mostly feature Christian artists as it is pretty much what I listen to these days, though who knows?  I might post something retro to my life.  Of course what I post depends on what youtube has to offer- current music seems to be abundant, but older stuff, and probably certain genres, can be hard to come by.  All videos have been posted by other people and may be pulled by youtube at any time.

I think I will start with a Christian artist that has stood out to me in contemporary Christian music: Chris Tomlin.

I probably should put an Amazon link here to appease any industry readers in case you would like to purchase some of this fine music 😀 : Chris Tomlin

Or maybe that is what these so called “reality shows” are all about. I don’t watch but I do like to see the list of celebrities (most of whom I wish would just go away) who are willing to put their “talent” on display for better or worse.. probably the latter.  The talented celebrities for the upcoming cast of Dancing with the Stars defies my sense of logic:

• Pamela Anderson (will we never learn… Boobwatch was over like 20 years ago, right?  We won’t go into the Tommy Lee years.)
• Nicole Scherzinger (best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls… not to be confused with Josie and the Pussycats)
• Kate Gosselin (spent too much time talking about her already.  Doesn’t she have 8 kids to raise as a single mother?)
• Chad Ochocinco (the obligatory football figure WR for the Cincinnati Bengals)
• Shannen Doherty (WOW… is there anyone on the list who is actually noteworthy?)
• Evan Lysacek (just won the gold for figure skating… wonder if he’ll be as graceful without the ice)
• Erin Andrews (from the sports sidelines as a reporter to the dance floor)
• Aiden Turner (some soap star from All My Dingbats, I believe)
• Niecy Nash (“Reno 911?”  Nope… never seen it either)
• AND FINALLY…. MY PICK FOR THE SYMPATHY VOTE GARNERED BY CLORIS LEACHMAN A FEW YEARS AGO…. Buzz Aldrin?!.  That is just weird.  John Glenn next year?

I dunno… I wonder who Rod Blagojevich will fare on the new Celebrity Apprentice.

• In an unprecedented move, a new contestant was named that I did not learn of until this morning, the new Bachelor whatever his name is.  For crying out loud!  No wonder I don’t watch.

Okay, who can do a backflip?  Well, can you at least do one with the help of a trampoline?  I can’t either.  How about when driving  a several-ton monster truck?  Say what?  Apparently for the first time ever this stunt has been achieved.  Check out this video:

Maybe if I use the wall I can do it…  Without the truck of course.

I’m not sure if that is the name, but it is the name I give to this type of cooking. It is ideal for cooking for 1 and could be used to cook a variety of food for those fussy eaters. I’m not sure why I never used this much when my kids were young. I only remember doing it for fish. This is food wrapped in foil that gives you all you need for 1 meal. I guess you could put two meals in one packet, but much more than that makes it hard to turn.

Steam packet one
1 or 2 Turkey sausage (brat size) — Too much fat from a regular sausage for this.
1 small onion diced
1 small-medium potato diced
1 medium carrot sliced or diced
Salt/Pepper
2 tablespoons of your favorite salsa

wrap all ingredients in foil — Crimp edges well so it doesn’t leak too much.
cook in Frying pan over medium heat or on a grill at medium heat or in the oven at 325 degrees (on a cookie sheet). Cook for about 30 minutes. When using Grill or frying pan flip over at 15-20 minutes. Slice open packet, if sausage is not done just cook until it is.

More to come (or look back at the fish recipe) 🙂

On today’s beautiful, sunny, 40+ degree weather I did enjoy the company of my song filled ipod.  However, I found an even better use for it.  While cleaning the beauty shop, I had it plugged in and it made the time zoom by.  Before I had finished, an hour had passed and it seemed like no time at all!  The power of music… it is able to transport you to a “long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” or to “Space: the final frontier.” It can also take you to Neverland, Narnia, Krypton, Hogwarts, or Missitucky.

My ipod library is not limited only to film scores or Broadway shows.  I do enjoy some popular music pas and present.  For every selection from my vast collection of John Williams masterworks (from the 6 Star Wars movies (even the prequels), the four Indiana Jones movies (have ’em all), Superman, Hook, E.T., etc) and James Bond scores  there is some Jason Mraz (I think I’ve read about him somewhere?) with some Elvis, Beatles, Carrie Underwood, Mariah Carey, and Motown classics thrown in for good measure.

Of course when the (in my humble opinion) best recording of “This is the Moment” popped up… it was NOT the Hoff’s butchering,  I had to sing along as I walked the sidewalk.  Yep… one of those.  I get carried away but still focus on little things like cars at intersections.  I did feel like the pied piper on a recent walk as three dogs began following me until I turned around and they went safely back to their home.  And, yes I did stop as a I came upon a school bus which was on its way back from the morning kindergarten return trip 😉

Last week for date night, we saw Shutter Island – not much to say about that; it was disappointing.  We then went out to eat, and my husband mentioned that his fingers were tingling.  At the same time, I noticed that he was slurring his words – uh,oh.  Although he is only in his mid-30’s, I was sure that he had had a stroke; I know those are two of the warning signs.  He did not want to go to the hospital, so I agreed that we would drive home, pick up the kids, and I would look up these symptoms on the internet to see if he should indeed get to the hospital.  When I looked it up, the info was scarier than I originally thought.  It said yes, these are indeed symptoms of a stroke, and a person needs only to exhibit ONE of them, not all.  It also said that people who have strokes often refuse to get medical treatment, and their loved ones must INSIST that they seek medical treatment – so I made Hubby go to the ER while I put the kids to bed.  Well, before you panic, let me say that the stroke tests all came back negative.  Turns out that his arm had gone numb during the movie because it was a long movie and he was giving me backrubs (AWW!), and his “lazy tongue” was a result of his visit to the dentist in the morning – he doesn’t like novacaine, so when the dentist re-did one of his fillings, he sprayed some kind of numbing spray which got into my husband’s bloodstream and caused him to feel it 9 hours later.  PHEW!!!  It was a wasted night at the ER, but I’m so glad that he went because otherwise I would STILL be wondering and panicking that he had had a stroke.  And besides, it made for a really funny story to tell later…  people really seem to like the irony of the directions on the internet:  “Expect the person to protest — denial is common. Don’t take “no” for an answer.  Insist on taking prompt action.”  Well, insist I did, and as a result, poor Hubby spent the end of date night in the ER!

The Thursday before last, I shot all of one car at two dealers- highly unusual, so on Monday that was more than made up for by having 18 cars to do between the same two dealers.  Normally this would make me quite happy, but not so much on a Monday following a snowfall.  For starters, I knew I couldn’t leave as early as normal because the dealers needed time to clean up their lots.  The first one was still doing it when I arrived.  Monday nights I have small group at my church, so it is the only night I need to finish on time so starting late and then finding I had so many cars to do, some of which would have to be brushed off, was less than thrilling.  I finished the second dealer a little before 7PM, then headed back.  It was dark and I was traveling 50MPH, so I can probably be excused for not seeing the massive pothole in the right lane.  I kept moving, but I feared it would cause my tire to go flat on the way home.  It didn’t and I was able to drive the car for the rest of the week, but when I brought the car into the shop Saturday because I needed a brake job, surprise!  A $500 repair bill.  Actually, it was higher but he gave me a break (on top of the four brakes 😛 ) because my mother and I were good customers.  $210 was for the brakes, $30 was for the oil change- that meant the rest was for the new axle and bearings on the potholed wheel.  Incidentally, I was an hour late for small group, partly because I stopped to eat on the way.

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Tuesday I found myself in supersized district to sub- a rare occurrence these days as I can find few jobs available there even the mornings of.  And sub I dd- in bilingual kindergarten.  Fortunately there was an assistant with me for both classes- a different one for each class.  The morning had Spanish-speakers who knew very little English.  The assistant ended up running most of the morning.  It was a struggle.  Oddly enough there was a boy who I’m told actually knows English and very little Spanish, yet he was required to do everything in Spanish like the rest of the class!  The afternoon was supposedly Polish-speakers (hence the different assistant) but all of them knew English so I was actually able to take charge of this group.  I felt I accomplished much more with this group.

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Wednesday I had only a half-day in, what do I call it again- next-door district?  It was for middle-school math.  The website said 7th grade, but when I got there I found out it was 8th grade.  Oh well, the system has been wrong before.  It was actually quite easy- most of the classes had tests, though I also went over homework answers.  This teacher actually teaches five different classes out of her six teaching periods- unusual for middle school.  Usually there are no more than three different classes, repeating the same lesson for more than one.  Her one repeated class was in the morning so I only had two different lessons, though I did start the 5th-period class which would have been my third different plan.  She arrived less than ten minutes in and took over.

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Totally forgetting Wednesday when I had that entire afternoon free that there was a dealer in Barrington with two cars, I could kick myself when I realized I had forgotten and would have to fit them in Thursday instead.  This is a small dealer that only has a couple of cars every few weeks.  At least I did remember.  Eventually.  So I started off the morning by going there.  Of course, there had been some more snow Wednesday night so I didn’t get there too early.  I did the cars and was on my way to the next dealer when- 25-min in I realized I still had a set of keys from the first place.  Oops.  I turned around, angry with myself once all over again.  The better part of an hour wasted.  So I finally arrived at the next place, their lot cleared of snow, and found I had another bunch of cars like Monday.  Two of them were too loaded with salt to do (hey, I just used three forms of a homophone/nym!), so I breathed a sigh of relief and headed to the final dealer with a good three hours of light to go, though it would be less by the time I got there.  I finished with some light to spare.  You are probably wondering about Monday right now.  Yes, I did run out of light Monday, but when there is pressure to get things done at the end of the day like that I get all the photos out of the way first before I do the options and print the stickers, which tends to be the bulk of my time spent.

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Friday I had only one dealer in the afternoon so I took a morning job in next-door district (still not sure if that’s the name I gave it).  It was for 3rd/4th grade.  When I arrived, I said who I was there for and was handed a folder for a classroom that turned out to be 1st and 2nd grade.  I looked at the name and it sounded right when I said it to myself, but while I didn’t quite remember the spelling of the name I knew it didn’t look right.  I asked another teacher if this teacher taught 3rd/4th grade last year as sometimes that info doesn’t get updated on the sub system (remember Wednesday).  She thought for a few seconds and then informed me there was another teacher upstairs with almost the same name!  I went back to the office to verify I was in the right class and found out that I was indeed given the wrong folder.  Both teachers were out this morning, probably both for the same meeting I knew at least the one was at.  I went upstairs to let the other sub know we had been duped.  She had almost the same story as me, knowing something wasn’t quite right with the room she was in.  We traded folders and I finally got a chance to look at the right plans.  The morning actually went quite well.  For the afternoon, instead of the usual two or three cars I had nine because for some reason the other photographer either didn’t go there the day before like he usually does, or they didn’t have any ready when he did which would have been strange considering nine were ready this time.  Well, more commission for me I guess- something I will need because of the car repair bill.  Sigh.

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Saturday I was supposed to go cross-country skiing with a few guys from church, but when I called around Friday I couldn’t find anyone who rented skis close by, and the one store that was recommended to me closed at 6PM Friday night, too early for me to go there.  Well, I hope the others had a good time.  Instead, I stayed home to receive that repair-bill shock…

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Well, that was my week.  How was yours?

Second game night last night wasn’t. We had the wrap up from the last game we played and then we would start my little session. Nope, we needed some characters made up, and we were hoping to have a few other people show up. In the end, we sat around and talked a bit (a lot) and made up a couple of new characters. Maybe next week.

Today didn’t turn out as planned either. I had all sorts of things I was going to do, and ended up doing none of them Oh well, it will still be there tomorrow.

I really need to go food shopping tomorrow. I don’t have much left in the kitchen. I can’t get by on chicken or fish with nothing to go with it very long. I need spice, herbs, garlic and onions… Cheese please! Some vegetables. Taters?

Since my youngest went off to college, I don’t shop nearly as much. But then when I do go, I need everything. I just don’t want to have so much on hand it all goes bad before I can use it. Maybe I should shop every other day or so… I’ll have to think about that at least for the fresh stuff.