Last Day in Kansas

This weekend was pretty fun. I went to the farm on Friday and camped out with my dad and his friends. Saturday, we had a pig roast and a bunch of people came. Not as many as we were expecting, but it was a pretty good crowd. Today we got everything put away and then we went fishing. It was a slow day for fishing. I only caught 2 fish, and my dad only caught one, which means it was a really bad fishing day!!! There was practically no wind this weekend, which is very very weird for Kansas.

I think I am all packed. I need to do some laundry tomorrow, but I will most likely do my dorm/apartment trick of just throwing everything into one load and washing it in order to save myself some time. I still need to figure out how to get all of those clothes into a bag or suitcase to take with me to Waukee.

I'm leaving tomorrow around 4 I think. I'm going to go visit my friend and his baby, then to my cousins' in Lincoln. Tuesday, I'll head to Storm Lake for my ISEA conference, and then on Thursday I will head back to the Des Moines area. I get to move into my apartment on Friday! I still have to call and get my electricity turned on and then I'll have to get my P.O. Box # and a new phone # all on Friday as well. It should be interesting. Then, full steam ahead for the next few weeks. It's hard to believe I'll be teaching in less than a month.

I hope for safe travels!!!!

Last few days in Wichita

It's been a pretty uneventful week. I've just been working and packing and seeing friends off. It's really hard to believe that I will be leaving next Monday for "good." That is, I'm going to become an official citizen of another state and move the majority of my belongings there. It's all just kind of weird.

My best friend and her husband left for Green Bay on Tuesday morning. I did pretty well until Monday night, and then I was in tears. All day Tuesday was pretty bad too. I don't know why. It's not like we can't keep in touch and keep each other informed about what's going on. Maybe it's that I probably won't see her on as many breaks, since she has to be there the majority of her time. This is no longer college where we can come home when we feel like it.

We're having a pig roast this weekend at our farm. It should be pretty fun. On Sunday, my dad and I are going fishing, and we may take my friend that moved here from Chicago. That would be interesting!!!! The farm is the once place I'm not looking forward to leaving. I'm not really looking forward to leaving my house and family either, but I will really miss the farm and my extended family. Now I'll probably only see them on holidays, or when I come back in the summer... This is going to take some getting used to.

I think I'm pretty much packed. All I need to finish packing is my clothes. I still have a few odds and ends and trinkets to pack up, but hopefully that won't take too long. I got a TV from my friends that moved to Green Bay, and I'm getting a table and chairs "on loan" for awhile. So, I have pretty much all the major furniture I need, it will just be purchasing the little furniture, kitchen things, and food that will be a major feat when I get back to the Des Moines area.

Lots to do in just a few days...

Summer Safari and Harry Potter!

So Summer Safari went really well. The tye-dye bandanas went over really well and turned out really pretty. I had tons of extra dye so I made bed sheets for my bed, and they turned out really awesome!!! The kids weren't too bad, just the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders were kind of crazy at times, but that's to be expected. Overall, I think it went really well.

I finished the Harry Potter book on Saturday. I was very happy with the book. But, I'm not going to tell the ending because that would be making a lot of people angry!!!

Today is my last day of snowcones. You have no idea how happy I am about that, it's been exhausting this year for some reason. Maybe it's because I get upset about the state of the stand every time I step into a new one because of how sticky it is. Oh well.

We're having our pig roast/camp out this weekend. It should be really fun, and I really hope to get some fishing in before I leave on Monday.

I will try to post more this week before I leave next week.

Harry Potter!

I finally went to see the movie the other night with my sister and my cousin. We went to the drive-in. Since the pickup's back window doesn't open, we had to use the speakers available, so we missed some of it, but it was still pretty good. I felt like the director just rushed through the book though, and hit the highlights. I guess that's what you're supposed to do, but it was a little disappointing that he changed some things just to get through the plot. Also, for some reason this director likes to make Neville a hero, when in fact, much of what he does in the movies is actually done by Dobby the house-elf. This is what I get for just finishing re-reading all of the books.

I finally pre-ordered my copy of the 7th book that comes out on Friday. Unfortunately, I will be teaching VBS that day, so I will not have a chance to read it until probably after 5, and then Adria is coming back in town, so I may not get to it until later. That, or I'll stay up all night reading it...

VBS this week. While I think some of the crafts are going to be kind of boring, I guess it will be fine. I feel much more relaxed about the whole thing this year. Mainly because they are all middle school age and don't want to listen anyway. They can do what they want, I'm not going to try as hard to control them this year. (Ask me at the end of the week how that went.)

Only 2 weeks till I move back to Iowa! I suppose I need to try to do some more packing!

3 Weeks!!!

In three weeks I will be returning to Iowa. While part of me is a little sad to be leaving "for good," the other part of me is really excited to see what life brings! The other day a friend of a friend asked me what I do, and I replied, "I'm a teacher." Let me tell you, that was weird. Usually I say, "I'm studying to be a teacher" or something like that. But this time, I actually have a profession! I am an adult. Kind of a scary thought.

I have decided that I'm not going to try to buy a new car right now. There's really nothing wrong with the one I have now. Plus, I don't want to over commit myself to payments when I'm not sure about everything I will need to pay for on my own, especially on a teacher's salary. I could get by, I just don't know that I want to cut things that close. As long as my current car works and gets me where I need to be, I will trust it for a little longer.

The snowcone stand hasn't been too bad. I'm definitely working tomorrow, Wednesday, and Sunday, and the rest of the week I'm kind of "on call." Next week I will be teaching Arts and Crafts at Summer Safari, a VBS for students in grades 5-8, so I won't be working, which really doesn't bother me all that much.

I didn't get to go out and harvest this weekend because I got stuck at work :( It's ok though, because they got stuck because it was still a little wet. Although, my parents did go fishing without me, and that made me very sad...

Harvest!!

It has finally stopped raining long enough for my family to finish harvesting. This is a good thing, but I honestly don't know if they're going to get any good crops. We'll just have to wait, pray, and see what comes out of this. I think I'm going to try to go out there tonight after I get off work, but I don't know yet. Gas is high again (thanks to the flooding and destroying of an oil refinery close to here), and I have to be back by 4 tomorrow to work. I'll just have to see what I feel like later today.

I'm back working at the snowcone stand. I had to train a new girl yesterday and re-train one of the other employees because the stand I'm at was in ridiculous shape when I got there on Thursday. Although it wasn't her fault entirely that it was like that, she did need some re-training. I felt like I was stepping on toes all day though - it's hard to tell someone they're doing something wrong when they've been doing it that way all summer... I at least have a semi-schedule until next Friday, which is a plus.

Only 3 weeks till I leave! I guess I need to work on packing the rest of my stuff up. I'm also debating if I really need a new car at this point in time. I haven't heard back from Erin yet, so I don't know if I'm sharing an apartment with her or not, and that is kind of what will be the determinant, at least in my opinion. I will have enough money to buy a new car, but I don't know if I want to cut my budget that close. I need to do some more thinking on that one.

The sun is out!!!!! Maybe only for a few days since it's supposed to rain again this coming week, but for now, it's out and wonderful!

I am a pack rat

I have got to be one of the biggest pack rats I know. I partially blame this on my mother, who never throws anything away. The other day, I threw out bank statements, credit card statements, direct deposit slips, and canceled paychecks that I have had for probably 4 years. I asked my mom if I needed them, and she said, "I guess not, but it's hard for me to tell you you don't since I still have everything." Geeze. The only thing I need receipts and all of that stuff for are big things that have a warranty and may break. And those things are definitely not things I generally buy with my credit card.

I just spent the better part of 2 hours going through all of the cards and letters I have saved, and that was part 2 of the process. While it did inspire me to catch up with an old friend on Facebook, the majority of it all went into the recycle bin. I did keep some things - letters from really good friends, notes from my great-grandmother who never spells my name right two times in a a row, a few love letters from way back when, and postcards. I know one of these days I'll have another 3 shoeboxes full of things like this, and I'll have to go through all of them again, but....

The one thing I did realize as I was going through all of my letters and stuff was that I was an awesome pen pal. I really kind of miss writing letters back and forth to people, and waiting for them in the mail. I think email kind of killed it all. With letters, you have time to think about what you want to tell people and there's a bit of anticipation. With email, it's instant. Of course, you can always take the time to think about your answer back, but it also loses some of its personality and being authentic to the author. (I can't think of the right word for it... it'll come to me eventually).

Anyways, the sun has finally decided to show in the past few days. I hope it dries out enough that my uncles can finish wheat harvest. They were able to get our fields cut, but then it started raining. Most of it is on the ground anyway, so I don't know how good of a crop they are going to get. I would hate to be a farmer and put my whole livlihood in the fate of the weather....

I officially have an apartment in Waukee! The lady called me yesterday, and she's mailing me the paperwork to sign and send her money. I've also been looking at new cars. I was thinking about the New Beetle, but I realized I wanted 4 doors. Now I'm looking at the VW Rabbit or a Saturn Ion-2. There's quite a price difference, and I guess I'll know more what I can get when I find out if my friend wants to room with me or not. Maybe Mom and Dad will help out a bit too. We'll just have to see.

I'm still working on packing my room up. It's not a very fun process...