8 hours and counting....

I've got less than 8 hours to leave for the beach! We are driving half way (or so) down this evening...and staying in a hotel. Then tomorrow we'll drive the rest of the way to Myrtle Beach! YAY! I'm really looking forward to laying around in the sun, reading, hanging out with Brian & Jessica, and eating good food!!

I still have some stuff to get ready today... So, I guess I'm going to go work on that. I haven't subbed since Wednesday at GWMS. That will be my last day subbing EVER! I'm so so so so happy that I don't have to do that again! Its not that bad, but it gets really really old.

I called Cracker Barrel on Wednesday to see if I could get started working there the week of the 15th. They have a new GM now...and she said that I have to be available for nights and weekends (as in Friday nights, Saturday nights, and Sundays all day) to be "rehired." Even though they MADE me quit. I was kinda upset about that, but I think Jesse will be getting a job soon. So, it should be ok. Jesse said that I can take some time off and work on getting my stuff ready for next year!

Jesse & I both lost our jobs yesterday!

Yes, yesterday Jesse called me while I was at school to tell me that he was laid off from his job. He works for HSBC, a bank based in HongKong, and they decided to pull out of North American lending. So he is now without a job...again. But, he does get a severance package of sorts for 2 months. So look for him at Cracker Barrel in April. haha.





About my job... I got a call from Cracker Barrel while I was at school yesterday too. They said they needed to talk to me ASAP. So, I called them back after school and they said "We've decided that all of our once-a-month employees will now need to work at least once a week or we will terminate your employment. Yaddi-yaddi-yah" But they said I could be rehired in the summer..so I guess I'm going to do that because I do not want to work at that place once a week. oooooh no.





One of the teachers at school today took this picture. These are the ladies I work with... from left to right this is Suzy, Kim, Amanda, Kendra and me!

Right now I'm watching American Idol. I don't have any favorites picked out yet. So far they haven't been very good at all. I know I never want to see that kid with the headband ever again. More about Idol later.

me, big mouth? who knew?!

So... yesterday I went to work at school as usual. However I had to go to work at Cracker Barrel too. From 5 to 8 I was scheduled on Wednesday night.

I was busy chatting with a girl named Andrea that I haven't seen in probably over a year...and there was this new chick. I'd never seen her before. While we were talking in the vestibule, the new chick answers a to-go phone order. A couple seconds later, the girl turns around and says, "I can't hear!" Its always loud in there....so, I quieted down a bit and continued talking to Andrea. New chick turns around again, and says, this time with a bit more rage, "I can't hear! I'm trying to take a to-go order!" So Andrea and I walked away, but kept talking. Then, the new chick yells at all of us once again, "I said, I can't hear!"

So, I looked at her and she didn't even have her finger pressed on her other ear to help her hear the person on the phone better! So I said, "Put your finger in your ear!"

A few minutes later, she gets off the phone and starts yelling at everyone. She says something like, "I was just trying to take a to-go order and it was so loud in here that I couldn't hear at all and SOMEONE told me to stick my finger in my ear! blah blah blah"

By then I was ticked, "Whats up with this girl," I thought to myself. I spoke up, "I was the one that said it. If you have a problem with that stop yelling at everyone and you can take it up with me!" I could feel her tension building up and I could tell that she wanted to hit me. Secretly, I was kinda wishing that she would hit me. I may be little...but this is one chick that I wasn't afraid of. She looked like a strong wind might blow her over....kinda like your average Eastern Kentucky Methhead. I didn't see any open sores, but I did overhear her talking about her "bearded dragon." creepy.

Today was a good day at school. I got lots of hugs. :) I feel like I'm doing better with discipline and its making me a happier person and probably a better teacher, too.

Tonight I made enchiladas and black bean dip and Jesse couldn't be happier! It was really good. I think I could eat that dinner every night.

Tomorrow is friday and I couldn't be happier about that!

o-muh-gah... change of plans :(

ok.... so this morning I had zero plans for the day.

I woke up and made Jesse breakfast before he went to work. I vacuumed the stairs and the couch. I played around on the internet, changed my myspace background, videoed my cat, uploaded it to facebook.....you get the picture. A whole lotta nothin'.

At 1 I started doing a Jillian Michaels workout DVD and around 1:30 I got a phone call. I looked at my phone. "Cracker Barrel? What could they want?" I was curious, so I answered it.

Sandra, one of the managers, says "Hey, you know that shift you picked up 12-7 today?" and I was like, "umm, no...thats tomorrow" and she says "no it was today" Oops.

When I picked up the shift last week I wrote it down in my server book. But when I got home I noticed that I wrote Wed. 12/30 12pm-7pm. I realized that the date couldn't be right since Wed. is the 31st. So I called and talked to another manager, Paul (who is a little spacey and kinda lazy). I told him what I had done and asked if it was Tuesday or Wednesday when I was supposed to be there. He acted like he was checking something....and said, "you're on for Wednesday"

I'm guessin' that he never even checked.

So of course I was all sweaty, hair up, headband on, no makeup..... and now they wanted me at Cracker Barrel ASAP. I finished my workout. (I know, I'm hardcore) I washed up, prettied up, dressed, found something to eat and left the house all in less than a half hour.

It all worked out well for me. I missed 2 and a half hours of my shift. (of course I was supposed to get off at 7 originally, but ended up staying til 9) Tonight was probably gonna have more business then tomorrow, so I probably made more money. And... we are going to Winfield Baptist Church's New Years Eve event tomorrow night with the Rosenberg's so now I don't have to worry about rushing home to get ready for that. Thanks Paul!

Tomorrow I have plans to drop off some junk at the Goodwill and drop off some books at the Library. We'll see if those plans change.

last day of 4 day job

nothing exciting happened today at school....but after school I met my friend Amy at the park and we ran together. I hadn't really seen her since high school so it was great to chat even if we were out of breath! We are gonna do it like once a week or so. YAY!!!

After that Jesse and I cooked grilled chicken for dinner. Then we watched some TV (even though there was nothing good on but Dancing with the Stars and I don't like that show) and then we went to get gas (cause Jesse said the price was gonna go up tomorrow) Then we got ice cream cones from McDonald's and stopped by his mom's house.

I haven't got a phone call for tomorrow yet...and I'm hoping that I don't!!!! hahaha... cause I have to work at the Barrel tomorrow night. Hopefully it will be my last night there for awhile..... maybe ever. Plus tomorrow I REALLY need to get my car inspected and my oil changed...AND I need to go to the grocery store!!

Now...time for bed!

3 day job...turned into 4 with a bonus~!

So I got a 3 day sub job on Wed, Thurs, and Fri for a traveling teacher that goes between Winfield and Buffalo High. So I've been doing that for the past 3 days. I found out that the reason I'm there is because the former teacher resigned after just 8 days of teaching. It was his first year ever teaching. He was an engineer and I'm sure he was very good at Math. He was superbly (to the point of being ANAL) organized. But... he was a terrible teacher (according to the students and other teachers) and he could not control the students.

So.... he quit.

But thanks to him I made some money. I was asked to come back on Monday (Monday night there is a board meeting and they will be voting on the new teacher) So my 3 day job turned into 4....plus another teacher while I was at Buffalo asked me to sub for her next friday! YIPPERS!

I have been emailing back and forth with the doctor lady who wants me to teach her son private art lessons. It looks like that will be happening as of next week...and there may be two other students added in....which will make me mucho dinero.

I have to work at Cracker Barrel this week....but I'm thinking that this may be my last time. I've waited A LONG time to be able to say that!

3rd days the charm!

So today... I didn't substitute but I did work at Cracker Barrel from 5 to 8. It was a pretty decent night even though I rolled 2 pans of silver, was on middle Delfield and the "front round," as we like to call it. I made close to 40 dollars. (I rolled 2 pans as opposed to the typical 1 pan, because another girl's fake fingernail ripped off taking with it her real fingernail...which made it very hard for her to roll silver. So I was nice and made a deal with her, she racked it all...and I rolled it all)

While I was there I had my phone calls forwarded to Jesse's phone in case I got called for a sub job for tomorrow.

So... when I got out of Cracker Barrel I had a text message from Jesse that said "Got you a job for tomorrow" So I called him and I will be subbing for an Art teacher tomorrow! Yippee!! It made me sing, "Goodie Goodie Gumdrops, My heart is doing flip flops!"

So... tomorrow night I'm sure you will get the pleasure of learning about my first day subbing the great state of WV.

until then...

day 2

Day 2 of substitute teaching.... still no calls.

I'm gonna have to try Cabell County too cause this is ridiculous. I was actually really depressed about it this morning.....so much so that I couldn't bring myself to run. I got dressed in my running clothes...went outside...tried a little, but I just couldn't do it. So I power walked it through Hurricane.... over 3 miles.

Then I read my book on my rocking chair for awhile... and was still kinda bummed

Then I got over it mostly...and cleaned up my kitchen, did my Jillian DVD (level 2...and I KICKED ITS BUTT!)

Now... I'm chillin' and getting mentally ready to go to Cracker Barrel for the first time in over 2 weeks.

sigh... someday I will have a big girl job.

i'm addicted!

Today I woke up and ran in the morning again. It was nice...not as nice as Saturday morning, but still good. I ran over 6 miles this time.

After that I basically wasted the day playing on Scrapblog (As you can probably tell from my Blog!! haha!) I am crazy IN LOVE with that site! Its so fun for me! hahaha....I'm sure I'll get over it eventually. As for right now...I'm addicted. I keep thinking up more things to scrapblog!

I had to work at CB tonight... from 5 to 9. It wasn't that bad, except I kept getting the crappiest tips...AND I had a table of three STIFF me on a 45 dollar check! Plus they left their stupid cell phone on the table and I had to carry it out to them...and they said, "OH thank you!" and I wanted to say, "YOUR NOT WELCOME!" I'm frustrated with waiting tables. blah. I had $216 in sales, but I only made 26 dollars...thats $6.50 an hour....thats not worth my (5 dollar round trip) drive to B'ville.

no news is good news?

So... I was SO anxious to find out if I was going to get this job at Hannan Jr/Sr. High School. The Board meeting was on Monday morning and I still hadn't heard anything on Tuesday afternoon!...and I had the day off from Cracker Barrel on Tuesday...so I got REALLY anxious.













So, I called them and asked if I had been the recommended teacher. The receptionist said that the Board meeting on Monday was cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday night. So... again I was waiting.













After I heard that... I decided I wanted to go shopping! I went toin Teays Valley and they had a lot of stuff on clearance...and I ended up buying 5 dressy shirts and a really cute charcoal grey skirt suit. My grand total was around 140 dollars. Not bad for all that.













Then I went to the Clinique counter where I spent over 70 bucks...but it was bonus time, so its ok, right? hehehehe



Then I went to Walmart....brought home a Subway sandwich...and then went for a jog. I had bought a pedometer that measures distance at Walmart and I couldn't wait to try it out. You have to set it up to match your stride length. I estimated mine....and at the end it said I ran over 5 miles. Its a pretty neat little gadget. Today, I ran with it on the treadmill to test it to make sure the distance was right...and I think I have it fixed to be almost perfect.

Today I went to work at Cracker Barrel from 10 to 4. Again, I got to leave right at 4! YAY! I had a whole, full bus tub spilled on me today....ew!! It was nasty! I smelled like cocktail sauce for the rest of the day!

When I got home.. I decided to pull up the Mason County Board of Education's webpage. They had posted an Agenda for the monday meeting (that was cancelled) and when I checked it before it said that number 18 on the agenda was to "Recommend the Board approve the employment of ___________________, _Teacher, Art 7-12. Hannan Junior Senior High School effective for the 2008-2009 School Year"

Of course, I was hoping that the _____________________ was ME!

I checked it tonight to see if they had updated the agenda and to see what time the board meeting was tomorrow. Well...

When I did that.... it was updated....and it said....

"18. Recommend the Board approve the employment of Brianne Solomon, _Teacher, Art 7-12. Hannan Junior Senior High School effective for the 2008-2009 School Year."

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I was happy and sad. First of all I realized right away that the reason I was so anxious about finding out if I had the job wasn't because I wanted the job so bad, but because (I'm a perfectionist) and I wanted to start working on all the stuff I had to do!

Second... I was upset because I'm assuming that this Brianne Solomon chick has the same amount of experience as me (since I was interviewed) Mason County had NO info. on me...no transcript, no high school grades, no resume, no recommendations...NOTHING except an application with a little bit of info. So... I guess they based this choice on the 20 minute conversation with me. (that I shortened my stupid vacation for and drove an hour to get there!!)

Oh well.. I guess I'll be subbing this year, but at least I won't be driving to the middle of nowhere and teaching remedial classes instead of Art.

As far as I am concerned Mason Co. is REALLY missing out on a good teacher. Next year, Putnam County! :)

waiting.....just waiting.

So here I am.... just sitting around the house, trying to forget the fact that I am waiting to hear back about that teaching job. I was really hoping that I'd hear from them today, but NO.

Tommorow I hope!

I went to Cracker Barrel this morning....and it was decently busy. I made about 50 bucks from 11 to 4....and I got to leave right at 4 which is rare. My friend, Whitney, was there with me so I was happy! :)

When I got home I did the treadmill thing... 5 miles...and then I cooked dinner....chicken fajitas.

Now, I've just been sitting around.... I actually am starting another blog. (we'll see if it lasts) Its about running and eating right and all that crap. Its called Triumph over the Treadmill.

I'm so happy right now...because I don't have to work tomorrow! YAY! Ive decided that if I find out that I get the job.....I am going SHOPPING tomorrow!!

Monday Night Power

Yesterday....on my way home from Cracker Barrel I called Jesse (like I always do) and he told me that his mother had 14 free tickets for the WV Power game in Charleston.

Jessica had already texted me to tell me that she couldn't come work out tonight (too much homework) so I came home...got right on the treadmill...and ran 4.2 miles...then jumped into the shower.

At 6:30 Jesse's brother Jeremy picked us up and off we went to my first ever Power game. I'll have to admit.. I wasn't thrilled about watching baseball for 3 hours, but it wasn't that bad. :) The kids...Braylan, Amiya, Haleigh, and Jonathan kept me entertained...as well as the fun promotional stuff the ball park did. Also...the ball flying past our heads kinda kept me watching the game. It almost smacked Amiya in the forehead...thank God it missed her!

When we got home I was beat... I only had time to watch the last 10 minutes of The Mole...shower (again)....and then I read a bit of a new James Patterson book (When the Wind Blows) until I got really sleepy.

Again.. I just ate some oatmeal and now its getting to be almost time for me to head to CB. Wish me luck!

have I given up on the blog?

Jesse looked at me tonight and said..."I guess you've given up on the blog?" and I said "No, there's just not a lot going on right now"

So I haven't been writing a lot lately..... but really I've just been going to Cracker Barrel, coming home, exercising with Jessica, running, making dinner, and then going to bed.

Last night, though, Jesse and I went to his sister Sarah's house. His grandfather had a heart attack this weekend so a lot of his family was in...some from out of state. So they all got together last night at Sarah's. We hung out for awhile on Sarah and Jay's back deck.

After that I came home and watched So You Think You Can Dance. I was very happy with Joshua's performances! and then tonight on the results show...he made it on to the FINALE next week!

Tomorrow I have to work from 9 to 3 and I'm kinda depressed that I have to wake up that early! Someone asked me if I could come in earlier..at 7 am! I said, "Don't think I can do that" 7 am is WAY too early, that would mean I'd have to leave here at 6:30!

I guess I better go to bed now.

crash & burn

So..I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance on Thursday evening (I'm still confused how Will got sent home and not Mark!!!)...and playing on the Internet. Jesse went bike riding with his brother, Mike.

At around 11 pm I started to get a little worried about them. Then Jesse pulls his car into his spot and walks in the front door. He says, "Before you freak out. I had a wreck and I'm really hurt"

So the first thought in my head was that he was in a car wreck and I was looking for broken bones, etc. But he had a bicycle wreck...and he was pretty beat up.

He was going really fast down the hill on Rt. 34 in Hurricane in front of the Reservoir. There weren't any cars coming so he pulled out onto the road to give Mike some more room. The problem came when he tried to pull back onto the curb.

He has a huge scrape on his shoulder...he scraped his palms....he got both his knees...a little on his lower back....a scrape on his right temple....and a gash on his chin. He had to pick a little rock out of his knee! Yuck! I guess he hit his head pretty hard because he was acting weird, too. I was afraid that he might have a slight concussion.

Well... he's doing better now but he still looks pretty bad. I took these photos tonight (Monday)

Today I went to Cracker Barrel from 11 to 4. Well, at least I was scheduled off at 4. I couldn't leave until 3 fat cows got out of my section at 5 pm!

ok ok, they weren't REALLY fat cows, but they were fat, rude women that got seated in my section at a little after 3 pm. They told me right off that the last time they were there they had bad service, had to send their steaks back a bunch of times, and got soda spilled on them. I don't know if I beleive them.... they just wanted everything for free. It was RIDICULOUS!!

They ordered 3 well done Ribeye steaks...with house salads and baked potatoes. When their steaks came out (I made sure they were WELL done) they complained that they were dry! Maybe you should order them Medium if you like juicy meat! People are so stupid. One lady asked for her butter and sour cream ON THE SIDE....and then asked for extra. Whats the point of having it on the side?!?!?! I honestly think she saved the butter and took it home with her.

They just kept asking for biscuits. At one point I had brought out a TON of bread already when one old hag asked for more. I brought her one biscuit on a plate and she said, "Are you out of bread or something back there? Why'd you only bring one?" I was shocked that anyone could eat more (I had just brought out each woman an apple dumplin' for dessert!) and I said, "Do you need more?" and I know I sounded amazed. hahaha.... Then they had the nerve to ask for 4 biscuits in a to go box.

These people left with a shopping bag FULL of food.

I have been waiting tables for almost 5 years and Ive never seen people like that! It was awful. I hope they choke on it. I had to keep telling myself, "What goes around comes around."

As a matter of fact, when they got up..the table beside them even commented about them to me. Oh yeah, they kept me there for an hour over my scheduled shift..and only left me 2 dollars!! Their bill...even though they didn't pay ANY of it...was 55 dollars. Yeah that's a tip of 3.6%. Thanks a lot ladies!

ok ok.... enough about them.

After work Jessica came over and we did a new workout DVD that I got from the library. Its called Kathy Smith Matrix Method. I like it a lot. After she left I ran 4 miles on the treadmill (good stress reliever)...took a shower....and cooked dinner.

Tomorrow I'm training someone at CB.... and I have to work 10 to 4.

Tuesday, Wednesday...now Thursday

Tuesday I worked at the barrel again from 10 to 4. We stayed pretty busy. I think the B'ville CB gets a lot more business than the Clemmons CB. I made 75 dollars. I rarely made that much at Clemmons.

It was weird being at the Barrel again....because now it feels like I was never gone.

After CB Jessica came over and we worked out again. We did the Jillians DVD that I have...hehehe....we did both levels 1 and 2. I think I might have killed her!! hahaha!

Wednesday I had the day off! Jesse and I just kinda hung out, sat around the house, played on the computer, and listened to music. Then we went to Wal-Mart and after that I made dinner...Spicy Orange Chicken Stir-fry with Brown Rice and lotsa veggies!

After dinner Jesse said, "Lets go for a walk." So we drove over to the Valley Park and as we were getting out of our car and walking toward the trails, we hear someone yell out Jesse's name!

It was Sarah, Jay and Caylan over at the playground at the bottom of the hill! I played with Caylan a little and then we went to TCBY to get some yogurt together. I got Cake Batter it was good, but I think I should have got the orange sherbet instead. Oh well....maybe they'll have it next time! Needless to say...we didn't go for our walk. :) but thats ok!!

I watched So You Think You Can Dance last night while I ran on the treadmill. I ran 7.25 miles and then walked another mile after that. I'm a little sore this morning. If I have something good to watch, I could almost run forever!!!

I was happy that my favorite dancers did well last night. I like Joshua and Katee but I'm starting to like Chelsea more and more. If I could pick the top 4 it would be Joshua, Katee, Chelsea, and Will.

Now I am getting ready to go upstairs and get ready for another day of work. yippee! Jessica is coming to work out again tonight... I think we are gonna do a Tae-Bo or a power yoga video today.

CB...not so bad

Well, working today at CB wasn't too bad. I had to repeat myself a thousand times about where we'd been and what we'd been up to. Everyone wanted to know about Jesse, of course. But, other than that...it wasn't too bad.

I stayed pretty busy which made the time go by fairly quickly. It seemed like I was a lot more busy than at Clemmons CB.

It was nice seeing some people that I hadn't seen in a long time.

After work... Jessica came over and we did that workout DVD again. Our next work-out is scheduled for tomorrow!

I wasn't supposed to be working tomorrow, but a managed told me that someone quit and they asked me if I wanted to work tomorrow. So I said yes for some dumb reason...hahaha

hi-ho hi-ho...its off to work I go

its almost 10 am Monday morning and I have to be at Cracker Barrel at 11. (sigh) I'm glad this job is only temporary. I guess when school starts I'm going to be subbing in Putnam Co. and maybe working at CB only a few times a month. I've been thinking about working there every other friday night...that way I don't have to go in there on Saturday mornings.

Well.... gotta go put on that adorable CB uniform. haha...its anything but adorable. My pants are WAY too big and they are covered with grease stains. oh, this is gonna be a fun day.

ok... another blog 4 Jessica

I'm thinking that you need to blog too Jessica... this is a little one sided.

Ok... I had this great idea about 5 minutes ago when I saw that you put your picture on my Guestbook (Thanks for that by the way!) ok... anyway heres my sneaky plan. Next time that you work at CB let me know and I will go to their website and tell them what a great server you were!! :) And you can return the favor! hahaha... PASS ME A GOLD CARD!! Yippeee! What do you think? Leave me a comment at the bottom of this posting or send me an email to DanceERB@aol.com

Country Roads...Take me Home

Jesse and I spent the weekend in WV. We weren't supposed to go back until next weekend..but thats a long story.

We drove home on Thursday night... It was around 8 when we got to my parents house.

On Friday morning we went to Cracker Barrel in Barboursville to pick up a couple of paychecks from December. We talked to people for a long time. Charles and Ruth were there and they wanted to chat our ears off. I was happy to see everyone there...Allison Roe, Kathy Smith, Carmen, Brenda, Chris, Jeff, Alan, even Becky! :)

Then we went to Taco Bell. I had a baja chalupa, I love those things. They probably have 500 calories. I'd check the website but I'm afraid.

Jesse bought a new laptop at the Huntington Circuit City while we were there too.

Then we went to visit with his dad in Ona.... after we drove by the old house. It looked just the same.

We hung out there for awhile, watched most of Apollo 13, then we went to Jeremy's house. After that.... we went back to Mom and Dad's.

On Saturday we went to Sarah and Jay's around 1:30pm. Almost all of Jesse's family were there and Brian and Jessica. Sarah and Jay just bought a bunch of new furniture and a 42" plasma TV from Big Sandy. Jeremy was there trying to mount the thing on the wall for them. We were there for over 5 hours and when we left Jeremy was still working on it.

After that....we went to Mike and Allison's house to play some ping pong. Well, the boys play ping pong. Jessica and I play old school nintendo. We couldn't beat the 7th world of Super Mario 3. It was pretty pathetic.

They turned out all the lights and turned on the strobe light and some dancin' music. It was pretty fun :) Hannah, Abagail and Emma had a blast. Emma kept saying, "Now THIS is how you spend a Saturday night!" hahaha.

On Sunday we went to church at Maranatha. Then we went to my parents house and had Mexican Lasagna and a really yummy salad. Jesse wasn't feeling good. We took a 2 hour nap. Since he wasn't feeling well we decided that I would call in to Cracker Barrel and just drive home on Monday. :o) Yay! 4 day weekend!

After our loooong nap we weren't sleepy. Jesse stayed up watching TV and I finished a whole Nicholas Sparks book (Dear John).

If anyone reading this likes Nicholas Sparks...and enjoys a good cry...you HAVE TO read that book. It was the best Nicholas Sparks book I ever read.... but you'll cry more than you did in The Notebook! I hope they make this one into a movie too!

Since I finished both of my books, I reserved a couple more today. I should be getting Nights in Rodanthe pretty soon. I also got on the list to get The Choice but its new and I am number 61 in the queue.

I also reserved the new Homer Hickom book, Red Helmet. I think its about a mine rescue...I should get it very soon too! :)

I LOVE MY LIBRARY!!