Pistol Pete

Pistol Pete; via wikipedia

Two and a half weeks ago, I interviewed for a job at Oklahoma State University at Oklahoma City. I dressed up in my professional clothes, drove over to the small campus, and did a good job answering all my interviewers' questions, in spite of a cold.  By five o'clock that same day, I had a new job!  No more substitute teaching! Yea yea yea!!!

I'll soon be working at the school's testing center as a clerk, proctoring exams, recording results, working the front desk, etc., but for now, I am waiting on my background check!  The dumb thing was hung up on Los Angeles County, last I heard.  Oh well.  I am thankful that I have this job and that my supervisor is as anxious for me to start as I am!

Soon I'll be working at an extension campus of one of the top schools in Oklahoma (the main campus is in Stillwater).  OSU's colors are orange and black, their team name is the Cowboys (or the Pokes), and their mascot is an ugly little guy called Pistol Pete.

I am very thankful for the way that God provided this job for me...and I hope I like it! :)

New!

I added a new blog photo.  What do you think?  I used Photoshop (yes, the real Photoshop) to merge a picture of one of my watercolors, a map, and some text.  I like it!  I might need to change the blog's color scheme to match, but I'll leave everything as is for now.

Time may be in short supply soon (I interviewed for a full-time job today), but if any of my many friends across the globe would like a prayer card designed, I'd be happy to do it for you!

Out with the old...

in with the new!

In the library

Setting: The local library on a warm Saturday afternoon.  Patrons are using computers, perusing the stacks, sitting uncomfortably in too-small chairs.

Indistinct voice from stage right, indignant: Mumble mum mumble my shoes! Mum mumble!!

[Jennica's ears prick; she moves down the stacks to get a clear yet discreet view of the offended party.  She passes Amos and catches his eye with a delighted grin.]

Indignant: He took my shoes!

Librarian hurries up

Librarian, amazed: What?! He took your shoes?!

Indignant, rising above a stage whisper: Yes, he took my sneakers and left these flip flops!  I told him to stop messing with them.  I just thought he was bopping to his music or something, but he took my shoes!!!

[Jennica secretly wonders why she removed her tennis shoes in the first place]

Librarian, amazed: . . .

Helpful patron: Yeah, she told him.  I heard her.

Third patron brings up pictures of the suspect on a laptop or phone

Indignant: No, that wasn't him.  He looked nice.  He was dressed in bright colors, with pink.

Librarian: Pink!

Indignant: And he took my athletic shoes!  And they were women's shoes!

Librarian: Those aren't yours? [gestures at flip flops]

Indignant: No!  I'm from Arkansas, so I can leave barefoot [smoker laugh], but he took my shoes!

Librarian: This happened before, just a week or so ago!


Amos and Jennica are done picking out materials, so they reluctantly exit stage left.


Moral of the store: Never remove your shoes at the local library!

Quite a bit

I have quite a bit of time, yet WHY haven't I written a blog post in two weeks?!  Oh well, at least I'm writing one today!

Last week I worked every day at the Christian school connected to our Oklahoma church.  The classes are tiny and, substitute experience speaking, the students are very, very well behaved.  I'm not getting paid much, but that's okay.

Our apartment lease is about to go month-to-month, which is great.  We haven't found a place to live yet, but we will hopefully find one soon.

Danielle gave me the code for a free Shutterfly book, so I'm making an Aptartment 29 photo book!  I worked on it a lot yesterday, and I hope to finish it today.

I'm not a big animal person.  Animals are fun, but they take a lot of work and it is really sad when they die.  However, Amos and I have talked about getting a little mouse (I will name him Speedy).  We went to PetSmart on Sunday to look at them, but we only saw gerbils, rats, and hamsters.  I went to ask a checker about this.

Me: Do you have any mice?
Checker: Frozen.

I guess we'll have to look at Petco!

Labor Day

So far today...

Anne has refused to marry Gilbert.  (Oh, the horror!  I am listening to Anne of the Island.)

Amos has a headache...again. :(

I've made fried potatoes, eggs, and leftover chicken for breakfast; a new version of crustless quiche for breakfasts this week (zucchini, green onions, cilantro, and quinoa); and iced tea (currently brewing)

The September free audiobook is available at Christian Audio: How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer

We have finished off the cranberry-cherry juice.  It was okay; I thought it tasted kind of like Kool-Aid.


Did you know...

Francis with an I is the masculine version of the name; for example, Francis Schaeffer
Frances with an E is the feminine version of the name; for example, Frances the badger

I made cookies yesterday, and they actually worked, once I got the oven up to the correct temperature; it has problems.

Middle of the month

We are in the middle of August already!  Whoa!

School started yesterday in Santa Clarita, and if Amos and I still lived there, I would be in junior high right now, taking notes for Pinkie.  (I just typed Pinkie into my blog search bar, but I accidentally substituted an O for the P: Oinkie.  Oh dear!)  However, I am NOT in California, so I'm not in school yet, but I will be soon!  I'm signed up as a substitute teacher with three school districts and a Christian school.  I should start working in September; hmmmmm, I should probably find out where all the schools are...If you prayed for us, thank you very much!  The Lord showed us just in time 1) that I needed a job and 2) where to get one. :)


Today I am doing several things...

- reading this post from Mike Gaston about a mutual friend with a brain tumor (Our friend went back to work yesterday, teaching high school history!  Talk about a good recovery so far, thanks to the Lord!)

- making tapioca pudding using Amos' mom's recipe

- burning a nice pumpkin-somethingorother candle

- eating Aussie Bites!  I adapted this recipe a bit (vanilla, some chia seeds, a little regular flour), and the cookies/fiber muffins/whatever-they-are were really good. Amos likes them, too!

- listening to Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (Anne was a nut!)

- cleaning vegetables out of the sink and washing dishes

- looking up books via Modern Mrs. Darcy's August twitterature post (check out her website; I like all her posts about books and reading)

- investigating new places to live.  Our lease is up in six weeks!

Books and snacks

When you have lots of books on your "currently reading" pile, sometimes you pick the one that lies the flattest so that you can read and have a snack with minimal effort.

Hint of Lime chips, guacamole, water, and
The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

I was reading The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy.  The title is great, and cute little pictures are sprinkled here and there in the book, but it was just ehhhhh.  The climax was anti-climactic, the characters were interesting but not inspiring, and the ending was cliche' (one of the characters basically says, "I'm going to write down all our adventures and turn them into a book!").  I picked it up to see if it was appropriate for Gio and Luke, and it's probably fine, but, ironically, The Hero's Guide definitely wouldn't spur them on to be better young men.  Oh well!  Better luck with...


The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Kai Bird (biography of a CIA agent working in the Middle East)

One Vision Only by Carolyn L. Canfield (biography of Isobel Kuhn, including Isobel's abridged, unpublished Vistas; must get the unabridged version from Wheaton College)

Elisabeth Elliot: Joyful Surrender by Janet and Geoff Benge

My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme

Odd, continued

Here are a few more strange things about Oklahoma...

Okra.  The grocery stores sell fresh okra and frozen okra, and it seems like Sprouts has dried okra on sale every week!  Another grocery store had dried okra samples; I didn't try them.

Chicken.  Chicken restaurants are everywhere.  We have Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane's Chicken, Church's Chicken, KFC, Ann's Chicken Fry House, Slim Chickens (haha!), Popeye's, Eischen's (apparently this is the best), etc.

Water towers.  Amos says that the water towers create water pressure (Oklahoma is pretty flat).  The water towers all look different.  Some of them, like this one, are orange and white.  The water towers in Yukon all have red lettering.  (I like water towers, but they kind of creep me out, too.  They look like huge, blood-sucking bugs!)

Masonic lodges.  There are lots and lots of Masonic lodges. I have no idea why!

405. The whole state has just four area codes; FOUR.  405 is the Oklahoma City area code.  Since one-third of the population of OK lives in the Oklahoma City Metro area and thus (presumably) shares this area code, I have been writing my own area code (530) REALLY BIG on all of my applications so that the school districts will call the right person. :)

Gas meters.  Most of the homes in Oklahoma City (or at least NW OKC) have gas meters in their front yards.  Not the prettiest thing to have poking up out of your lawn, but it could be worse.

I am listening to...

someone's music turned a little too high.
librarian voices.
magazine pages turning.
a clicky keyboard.
clearing of throats.
magazine shelves clanging up and down.
automatic doors opening.
more coughing.
textbook pages.
cracking knuckles.
my thoughts.
book receipts printing.
sniffing.
yawning.
discussions.
muffled, shuffling footsteps.
a printer.
protestations.
whispers.
the beep of a scanner.

the library.

Artwork

Since moving to OKC, I've found some little projects to while away the hours, one of them being watercolor painting!  I copy ideas from Pinterest or I just paint different color schemes.  All of these are on 4x6 pieces of paper.  Click to enlarge.

My anniversary card for Amos :)

I used a AAA sticker to make this one, haha!

This one is supposed to be vertical...

A sailor turtle with freckles!

Fifty-cent peanut butter

It's that time again!

Amos and Jennica: Ummmmm, where did our money go?!  We haven't spent THAT much of it.

*Amos does a quick expense report*

Well, no more Chick-fil-A!

I don't like not having money.  It makes me feel anxious, and now I really should go out and get a job.  It was nice being Pinkie's note taker because I went to work every day and I got paid every day.  I was making close to what Amos was making, so we almost doubled our income and thus we paid off my school loans, bought a new computer to replace Amos' dying one, tuned up our car, paid for my trip to Canada, spent more money on groceries, put money away in our savings account, bought some nice Christmas presents for people, went out to frozen yogurt once a week, paid for a few trips to NorCal, etc.

Everyone we talked to said that the cost of living would be a lot cheaper in Oklahoma, but as Amos said, that was just people talking; we really didn't know, and I just trusted what our California friends said.

But, car insurance isn't cheaper (hail damage), internet isn't cheaper (they just raised the price on us, too!), food isn't cheaper (farther from the fields, orchards, and ports), rent isn't cheaper (we had the cheapest place available in Santa Clarita), even gas isn't that much cheaper (per gallon it is cheaper, but stores and church are more spread out in OKC).

So now we are back to scraping by, and it isn't that fun; I'm sure many of you reading this can relate.


But in the mean time...

Before, we couldn't get by just on Amos' income (I had to sub at least a few days a month to make it work), and now we can, though I'm still going to get a job.

I filled out applications, looked up substitute opportunities, and e-mailed a lady at church for information about the Christian school that shares the church campus.  I heard back from the headmaster today (I didn't know headmasters existed in the United States), saying that there weren't any openings at the moment but that they are always looking for substitute teachers and I am welcome to drop in and meet him; I plan to do this tomorrow or Wednesday.

Amos and I figured out how much I can spend on groceries, and it isn't very much, but I like shocking people with how little I spend for how much I get.  (I got all-natural peanut butter for $0.50 a jar today.) :)

Matthew 6:8b: "...your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

Canada

I've been to Europe once, Africa twice, and Asia four times, but I'd never visited another country in North America, until last Tuesday.  I spent a week in Canada with Lester, my college friend and semester-long Aptartment 29 roommate.  We had a great time wearing Chacos, listening to a crazy guy in a bookstore, eating Timbits, visiting Niagara Falls twice, petting all the puppies, checking out the new library, going on walks and hikes, not getting ticks, talking about books, picking up and delivering anodized aluminum parts for her dad's business, attending her church, and getting to know her family a bit more.

Here are some pictures of my trip!  Click to enlarge.

Lester: "I don't think you should take any more pictures now..."
At the border crossing

Lake Ontario at sunset

A church in Saint Catharines

Sunset in Toronto

A field of huge clover behind Lester's dad's shop

Niagara River and Rainbow Bridge, looking at the Canadian side

American Falls, from the deck of the Maid of the Mist

Maid of the Mist, with the customary blue ponchos
and drops of water on the camera lens

Beside the American Falls

American Falls in the foreground, Horseshoe Falls in the background,
city of Niagara Falls, Canada, across the river

We may or may not have stepped into the river at one point...

Horseshoe Falls, with a Maid of the Mist boat

Horseshoe Falls, with the American Falls out of sight on the left,
and the old power plant building in the foreground on the right

Maid of the Mist in the basin right below
Horseshoe Falls

RIGHT at the drop-off of Horseshoe Falls

It was very bright and wet

Hiking through the woods down to the whirlpool,
where the Niagara River turns a sharp right angle

Out to lunch/tea

From the left: Lester's sister Andrea, Lester's mom's mom, Auntie Eleanor, Lester's dad's parents, Lester's mom Mary Ann, me