Monday, August 15, 2011

Integrity #4

As most of you know I'm almost 18 and while I'm kind of excited to officially be an adult, there are a few things that I need to get done first.  The biggest priority is to finish my personal progress.  I have 4 experiences and three projects to complete before September 25 : / Yikes!  Anyway, I figured that since I'm on the computer so much that I could use the blog to help me complete those last few items, so if you could help me out with your responses I would greatly appreciate it : )

Integrity is defined as:
-The state of being unimpaired; soundness or wholeness.
                  The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary 
                  Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
     
-adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.  
-the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.

-a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition.
                 dictionary.com
-honesty, incorruptability
-wholeness, entirety
-soundness
             Oxford American Dictionary 1980
What is your definition of integrity?
What action do you think of when you hear the word integrity?
Who would you consider the greatest example of integrity?
Name an experience when you or another person exemplified integrity?
What blessings do you believe come when one applies integrity in his/her life?
Why is integrity important?/or is it?
Do you have integrity?  (this is just food for thought)
If you can please respond.  You do not need to answer all or any of these questions, it may just be a good thing to think about today, but if you are willing please post the answers or send them to me on facebook or on my e-mail (taysomew@yahoo.com).  Thank you for your help :)
Taysom

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Summer - What Summer??

I guess it is about time to "catch up"... but honestly, I don't know where to start.  These last 3 months have been jam packed.  It hasn't felt like summer with the exception of the crazy high temperatures and a wonderful but too short family reunion.  Here is our 'summer checklist':
  • 5th grade field trip all day in Springfield, MO- children's discovery museum, Incredible Pizza, and the zoo with 50 fifth graders, a few parents and two awesome teachers
  • Henry's 5th grade celebration (that night after returning from Springfield) at Carousel Park here in Joplin
  • Taysom's high school graduation (future blog post)
  • Joplin, MO F-5 tornado (future blog post)
  • worry and prayers
  • clean up debris
  • chainsaw trees
  • move displaced families
  • do laundry for tornado victims
  • make phone calls to students and staff to account for everyone
  • have house guests
  • school cancelled for last couple of weeks
  • organize all of my students' stuff that was left in classroom
  • create 5th grade video to give to students
  • finalize grades
  • Joplin students go to various places to pick up belongings etc.
  • Mike salvages what he can from his classroom
  • 5th grade end of year pool party
  • more clean up and helping tornado victims salvage what they can
  • pack and move people's belongings
  • Helping Hands (yellow shirts) service projects
  • church is moved to Carthage, MO building (2 weeks of sacrament only while Church tries to figure out what to do with 2 displaced wards)
  • Taysom and Tucker head to Nauvoo for Youth Conference
  • prepare for family reunion in Nauvoo, IL (dog stuff, car stuff, packing, little shopping)
  • Taysom and Tucker return from Youth Conference and quickly get ready to return to Nauvoo two days later
  • WONDERFUL CROSBY REUNION***** (future blog post)
  • Ilah stays with G&G Crosby to head out West for a little vacation with family
  • WONDERFUL quick visit from Lamb family
  • get Tucker ready and send to EFY in TX
  • WONDERFUL quick visit from Keyes family
  • start subbing for June session of summer school
  • drive to Denton, TX to pick Tucker up from EFY
  • help Tara move
  • pick Ilah up in Kansas City, MO from her summer trip (Thanks Mom, Dad, Zadi, Russ, Nat, Chris, A, Mom and Dad!)
  • get email (on July 3rd) about teaching summer school for July session (SURPRISE! Didn't really want to, but college tuition changed my mind)
  • host 4th of July party at our home with four famililes
  • start teaching summer school on 5th of July
  • Mike gets a taste of summer school as he had to cover my subbing commitments (I'll have him write a blog about it... FUNNY!)
  • finally celebrate Taysom's graduation with a trip to Bentonville, Arkansas for dinner at PF Changs (Taysom's new favorite chinese restaurant)
  • get van ready for Tay and Tuck to take on road trip
  •  take Henry to Sirloin Stockade for early birthday dinner
  • sneak in an orthodontist appointment for broken retainer and a doctor visit for possible UTI before they leave (morning of)
  • send Taysom and Tucker off to Iowa for their 1st official job! (Thanks B&B for your wonderful hospitality!)
  • Henry turns 11
  • miss Lincoln's blessing
  • get Ilah ready for her 1st year of girl's camp and send her off to 110 degree camping - Oh, how we miss the mountains!
  • have my summer school students perform three reader's theaters for entire school that we worked on for past two weeks
  • Mike finishes his masters program - Woo Hoo :)
  • field trip with summer school kids in 108 degree temperature... outdoors all day at boy scout camp.  I survived!
  • summer school DONE (on July 29th, Friday)
  • on Monday, August 1st, meet with fellow 5th grade teachers to start brainstorming for 2011/2012 school year
  • on Tuesday, August 2nd begin working in classroom - which continues to this day.
  • take Ilah to get physical so she can participate in school sports
  • Henry starts Camp Invention (lasts all week- awesome program right up Henry's alley)
  • find out that Snoop has diabetes
  • host going away party at our house for our friends the Cramers who are moving to Kansas City, MO area.  6+ families over - home made slip and slide, water tramp fun, karaoke singing, guitar playing, eating and visiting
  • Taysom and Tucker return from Iowa after a tiring yet fun 3 1/2 weeks
  • start 'encouraging' Taysom to get a job (see Taysom's post below)
  • prepare for and present mini workshop on prayer for stake Activity Days activity
  • register Ilah for EMS (Mike's school)
  • help Mike move school "stuff" to the 'Far East' warehouse that will be EMS for a couple of years
  • help Mike clean and organize classroom
  • try out Zumba with Taysom and Ilah (pretty fun!)
  • Henry goes to 3 day Webelos camp which culminates with a pack meeting where he received his Arrow of Light and advanced to a real scout
  • Attend all day mentor meeting - UGH
  • attend Royal Heights "retreat" (fancy way of saying all day meeting)
  • girls and I get our hair cut (and mine colored - bye bye gray)
Mix in some guitar lessons, dentist appointments, doctor appointments, volleyball camp, football camps, Mike's various coaching stuff,  friends over, a few sleep overs, etc.

It doesn't feel like we had a summer per se.  But here we are starting the new 2011/2012 school year tomorrow.  Crazy.  Just plain crazy!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Job Hunting

Recently, Tucker and I returned from our expedition to the corn fields in Iowa.  We both learned to enjoy the job (when it wasn't 98* or higher outside)  and ended up having fantastic experiences, which I will tell about in a future post.  We came home tired, tanner, a little richer, and completely fed up with taxes! (which up till this point we did not have to deal with.)  It was wonderful to walk in and see our family after our 3 1/2 week absence, and we were eager to relax from our busy trip.  We sat down to a delicious dinner, talked about our work, and prepared ourselves to lounge in front of the TV for a few hours.  My mom had other ideas, though.  After having to do mine and Tucker's dish days for the past month, she was eager for a break as well.  I could see glee appear on her face when she asked whose dish day it was and I reluctantly raised my hand.  From that moment on any pity Tucker and I had warranted vanished.  It was back to business as usual.

Dishes weren't so bad, Mom had done a load previously so the sink wasn't completely full, and I had stayed in practice while in Iowa, so it took very little time.  It was the perpetual pestering to find another job that exhausted me.  My mom and dad made a great tag team.  For the next couple of days, they would make sure to mention how expensive college is and ask where I had applied.  I have to give them credit, it's not like they were attempting to persuade me just to gain work experience.  I really did need to save up some money, never the less, after working in a corn field for a month, I really wanted a day or two to relax.  My day or two expired quickly, and on Tuesday I started my job hunt.

It was a weird experience.  I had never looked for a job before.  Ben and Becca were nice enough to tell Tucker and I about the corn field job, and after we sent in our applications we were immediately hired.   I assumed that that was how every job worked.  So, after I sent my online application to Culver's (fast food place where many of my member friends had previously worked) I thought I was set.  I basically sat back and waited for my confirmation e-mail.  When I saw the looks on my parents faces after I relayed my efforts, I surmised that I was probably incorrect.  They then told me that whenever I applied online or in person I should always make sure to talk to the manager.  Now that was awkward!  I had already applied online, so I couldn't go in and ask for another application, but my parents still insisted that I meet the person in charge anyways.  I felt ridiculous walking in to the restaurant.  I could just imagine my future conversation with the person who might be hiring me. 

"Hi, my name is Taysom.  I already applied online, but my parents said I should come in and ask if there is anything else I should do, when I already know that the answer is no, just so you could get a good look at how adorable I am, so you could hire me right off the bat! (insert cheesy grin here)." The worst part would be that this would be going on in front of customers.  Dinner and a show! How wonderful for them.

Needless to say, it went much better than that.  My parents were right, if you ask the employer if there is anything else I should do, its like a code for "would you like to hire me?"  Giving the employer two choices to say either, well the only thing that is left is to wait (aka rejection) or no that's all you needed to do, but how about you come talk with me for a few minutes about your application (success!).  I received the latter response, but I still was not hired immediately or at all for that manner.  I guess 4 months of work (because I can only work till the end of December)  was not worth paying for me to take the safety classes and training.  She did say that if my schooling situation changed that I should let her know and she would hire me immediately, but it was still a humbling blow.  Thus, my job hunt continued.  I was hit with the rejection blow from Hobby Lobby, but Chik-Fil-A, the Red Onion, and Bob Evans all asked and received an interview with me.  Plus, Chik-Fil-A already scheduled a third (and final)  interview for me next Wednesday, so hopefully that goes well.  I am also waiting to here from the school district about a possible office assistant position, but I'll have to see how that goes. 

Wish me luck!
Taysom