A New Pursuit

As a kid, I used to stand out in my parents' driveway and practice fly casting for hours every day. I had some passed-down fly rods and reels from my uncle, but never actually got out on the water with them; I never even tied a leader and/or tippet to the end of the line...and certainly never a fly! So now, after all this time, I am re-entering the world of fly fishing; this time, though, I'll be throwing flies over water instead of concrete. I am planning to have my first outing with my fly "mentor" (actually my boss at work) today after work, so I should be thoroughly hooked (sorry, it was just too easy) in a few hours from now. I'll be sure to post photos of tonight and my rig (its a beautiful rig...seriously):

TFO Finesse 3wt 7'9" 4pc rod
Lawson Konic 1.5 reel
WRFS 3wt WF-F fly line
Furled leader and 3x/4x tippet

Cheryl's First Day at St. Vincent

Otherwise known as: Cheryl's first day as a professional, real-deal, full-blown therapist/counselor not working at Epworth doing social work! I'll let her complete this post when she has the time and energy and tell y'all all about it all. I'm still waiting myself on a full report, but she did send me a photo of her new office and it will need a woman's touch (namely, Cheryl's). I think she'll hang some beautiful new framed prints and maybe get a love seat...and some other Cheryl-touches that only she can bring!

Update on Anthro Instructor Position

So, today I had my interview at SCC by an old professor of mine. It was a bit odd and fun to be back on campus after so long...and especially for the purpose of possibly becoming a professor there!! The position is for an adjunct instructor of Anthropology/Archaeology, teaching 3 classes in the fall. Yes, this is my first and greatest love in academics.

Anyway, the interview went quite well (I think) and it seems that I may actually have a chance of getting this offer (God willing...). He'll make a decision this week and has a few more people to interview, but at least I'll know one way or another this week. I like the finiteness there! Updates as needed....

F.A.T.

Felines Against Terrorism

Surprisingly...

...I am relieved that the recent amendment failed and agree with McCaskill on this. Read this article and chime in yourself. I think state laws are extremely important to protect and I think the less that is mandated from one state to another or from the federal to the state...the better.

With all that is going on recently....

...with Sotomayor, HR45 and our president, it is a great time to join the NRA and call your elected officials. So:

Join the NRA

Who is my representative in Congress?

First Fruits

I came home today to find a cucumber on our bbq grill in the backyard. I thought, "That's strange. Maybe Audrey (our landlord) set her cucumber down and forgot about it." Later on, Audrey came to the front door and told me that her cousin was visiting her today and she picked our cucumber. The cucumber was from OUR garden! I couldn't believe it! I hadn't seen any growing and the one that she had picked was pretty big. Our garden actually produced some food! All of that hard work of hoeing and weeding might actually pay off!

Here's a picture of the "first fruits" of our labor. I placed it next to a 10 dollar bill for a size reference.

Update on a few of Will's applications

I called the three local places where I have current applications: St. Charles Community College (Adjunct prof. of Anthropology), Chesterfield PD and St. Louis County PD. I left messages at the former two, but I got to talk to someone at County PD and they were able to give me (very nicely, I add) a good update on the status of my app. It is: "Active, reviewed, and turned over to the recruiter." Unfortunately, the recruiter is currently on vacation (which is good for him!) but will return next week. So, hopefully, I will hear something from him soon!

Please keep praying, everyone, that my job hunt turns successful soon!

The Little Cheryl That Could

It's 8:07pm and I'm still in the office doing paperwork. I feel like I'm never going to get it all done.

Maybe some positive thinking will help-"I think I can. I think I can. I think I can."

Nope.

Didn't work.

Oh well, back to the stacks on my desk. Please pray for me!

7 days left....YIKES!!!!!!

No Guns Allowed=No Money Spent

These places are dangerous for everyone (more on this later).

An Unexpected Postgrad Event

So checking my email this morning, I found an email from Aberdeen informing me that I had been selected for the highly competitive Overseas Research Student Award (which covers the difference in tuition between home and overseas tuition). It is indeed highly competitive considering that I was competing with applicants from all over the world (and students from the US are not exactly exciting for institutions to fund) for every dept at Aberdeen (which is a lot, and also considering that I had applied with a proposal on linguistic typology [read: boring] when others were likely doing more exciting/relevant/flashy topics).

That award equates to about $4030/yr, yet does not cover the full Aberdeen tuition. Obviously this is encouraging and validation for my research and PhD aspirations, but as most of you already know--I have already declined all offers for study. Even with this award/bursary, there is still not enough money for Cheryl and me to go overseas and study. This will have to wait for some other time in our lives (i.e. post-student loan repayment!). ...and until then I will continue to seek FT employment state side (please keep praying!).

Give up yer aul sins

Some days you just need to smile and this is a super way to get one.

Office Day!

Today was our very first designated "office day" where my co-workers and I were supposed to spend the day working on paperwork. One of things that I was most looking forward to about office day was that we didn't have to answer our phones. Our office manager was going to screen our calls, take messages and only bother us if there was a true emergency. I arrived early at the office with the hopes of getting a lot done today. (Okay, the real reason why I arrived early was that I had to take my car to the shop and Will had to drop me off before he went in to work.) I was at the office for about 20 minutes before our secretary arrived. A little bit after she came in, a woman and a three men walked in the office and asked us if there was a black man who worked here who was wearing a Cardinals shirt and hat. Josephine, the secretary, and I were a little confused and they had to ask us again. We told them that there's not a man like that who works in our office. They had seen this man climbing out of a window in the building and confronted him. He told them that he worked here with us. After they spoke with him, he came back inside our office through the front door and then left carrying a briefcase.

WE HAD BEEN ROBBED!!!! Josephine and I didn't even hear anyone come in. (And we have a really annoying doorbell on the front door.) There was a strange man in our office with us and we didn't know it!

After we found out about the man, I quickly went through the front offices to see if there was anything obvious that was missing. I noticed that there wasn't a laptop on the desk in the last office that's across from the men's restroom. I called the police to report the man and thankfully our friendly neighborhood watchers got his license plate number. We waited outside for the police and THREE police cars rushed up to the office. They interviewed each of us and got our stories. The lady in the last office drove up and verified that her laptop and briefcase were missing.

A little bit later the crime lab came to dust for fingerprints. I think they found a few fingerprints where the man climbed out of the window in the men's restroom and had closed both the window and the screen back up. (A very conscientious burglar!) The police also ran the tag numbers and got a possible address of the man.

All of the excitement took about 2 hours out of my office day. And our secretary was so shaken up that she had to go home so she wasn't here to screen our phone calls.... So much for a productive day.

Two Weeks...

Today marks the first day of my last two weeks at Epworth. For those of you who haven't heard, I accepted a position as a therapist at St. Vincent Home for Children. Beginning 7/27, I will be the therapist for the boys in the residential unit.

I have been looking forward to this day for the past 3 years. I only became a foster care case manager because 1.) It was a job and 2.) I could get licensed. Now that the end is quickly approaching I am facing a wide array of emotions. I am very sad. I'm sad to leave my co-workers and I'm sad to leave my foster kids. I've had some of my kids for the entire time I've been here. The others I have had since they originally came into foster care. I have been involved in every aspect of their lives and at times have been the most stable figure in their lives. In a way, I feel guilty for leaving them. I am just one more person in a long line of people who have left them. I really hope my replacement genuinely cares for them as much as or more than I have. I am also feeling very excited. I am so excited to finally get to (officially) do therapy. I'm excited to have a somewhat normal schedule. I'm excited to not have to testify as much in court or deal with as many angry parents. On top of my excitement is a lot of nervousness and fear about moving to a new place and starting over. (Especially with the way the economy is right now.) What if I don't get along with my new co-workers? I'm also afraid that I won't be a good therapist. What if I'm not? What if I don't like it? Then what will I do with my life? .... We'll see!

I have heard some not-so-positive things about St. Vincent and the boys that I will be working with. So, I do feel like I'm walking in with my eyes open. I really hope to be able to help make some changes there and I also hope that I can build really good relationships with the kids. Please pray for me if you think about it.

I have a ton of work to complete in the next two weeks. I have never been "caught up" since I have had this job. It really is not possible. Everyone is behind. So, I have to accomplish the impossible and I have a short time to do it in. It really does help to have an end in sight. I'm really looking forward to the weekend between ending Epworth and starting St. Vincent because I will have absolutely ZERO work hanging over my head. (And, for that weekend, I will refuse to think about housework either!) I can't wait!!!

The Rabbit and the Pole

It has been so hot around St. Louis that I haven't been walking Maddie as much as I probably should. When I got home Monday night the weather was actually nice. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and take Maddie for a walk while I waited for Will to get home. It was probably about 9:45 and so I decided not to stray too far away from our house. I just have to say that I love walking at night because it is so quiet and peaceful.

Before I tell what happened I need to explain some logistics.... Maddie walks on my right side and so I put my left hand through the loop on the leash. I hold the leash close to Maddie's body with my right hand to keep her from pulling (which she NEVER does.) Since it was after dark I was carrying my mace in my right hand with the leash. I had my keys in my left hand. Can you picture it? OK, so this is what happened...

Maddie and I were headed back home and were about 2 1/2 blocks from our house. We were walking down a very quiet street and passed a bunny in someones front yard. I was so proud of Maddie because she didn't try to run over and get it. She really didn't pay attention to it at all. The rabbit stood still as we passed and started hopping off after we had our backs to it. Well, Maddie must have heard the grass rustle or something because she looked back and she.... (I know you are thinking that she chased after the bunny).... got scared and took off running down the sidewalk AWAY from the bunny. Since I had my mace in my right hand with the leash, the leash slipped out of my grip. My left hand was still inside the leash loop and so when she took off she pulled me along with her. She was running at top speed and I was running behind her in a skirt and flip-flops trying to keep up. She turned toward the street and all I could think of was "I'm going to die!" I tried to pull my wrist loose from the leash to just let her go but I couldn't get it out (because of the keys in my hand.) I then got a mental picture of me falling and her continuing to run and drag me down the street. The next thing I knew we were headed straight toward a telephone pole next to the street. I finally yelled, "MADDIE. STOP!!!!" and as I slipped and hit the telephone pole straight on, Maddie stopped in her tracks. She stood there and looked at me while I peeled myself from the telephone pole. I ended up hitting my shin on one of the edges of the pole. (It wasn't really round but more like a hexagon.) I hobbled the 2 1/2 blocks homes while trying to hold back the tears. When I took an inventory of my injuries, I found a long cut on my shin with a huge knot underneath it. It hurt A LOT!!! My big toe also hurt but it was only scratched a little.

From this little adventure I learned first hand how strong Maddie really is. And boy is she STRONG!!! I also learned that she is scared of rustling grass at night (or cute little brown rabbits.) So much for being protective of me. She left me behind to be attacked by the bunny!!!