Good riddance, March 2010!

March has felt like a very long month. The entire month has been part of Lent, and we've gotten all sorts of unexpected bad news (is bad news ever expected?). I can hardly wait for April. . .

Grandma Carlson

Last Thursday, March 11, would've been my Grandma Carlson's 97th birthday. That doesn't seem right, but I've double-checked my math, and it is, in fact, correct. It also doesn't seem possible that it's been over 5 years since she died. She had a massive stroke in the early morning hours of my 30th birthday, and she died 6 days later, surrounded by her husband and children. I was really missing her last week. I've made "cook 'n' serve" chocolate pudding a couple times over the past month. I reminds me of Grandma's chocolate cream pies. Yum! When I lived in Colorado, I'd often stop for an overnight with Grandma and Grandpa when I'd drive back to Wisconsin. More often than not, Grandma would have made one of her chocolate cream pies for my visit, knowing how much I liked them. That always made me feel so loved!

I had a job interview last week. It was for a half-time office assistant job in Fitchburg. I think it went well, at least from my end. They said they'll be making a decision sometime this week, so I won't have to wait too long to find out if I got it. If so, I'll be quitting the cleaning job (yippee!!) and possibly adjusting my schedule at Tweedee. I'll still have to wait tables a few nights a week, but it's a step in the right direction.

I heard back from the Department of Public Instruction about my application for Wisconsin teaching licensure. I need to take 6 credits (probably just 2 classes) of continuing education coursework in order to get my license, unless I have a job offer from a school district. If I get a job offer, they will grant me a one-year license, during which time I'll need to earn those 6 continuing education credits. I need to call them to find out what sort of classes I should take. Perhaps I could get one of those classes taken care of this summer.

Oh! And I ran the Shamrock Shuffle 5K yesterday. My time was 31:23, which I was happy with, for the most part. The route is fairly hilly, so I shouldn't be too disappointed, but I always want to finish in under 30 minutes. Maybe next year.

March forth!

When I was a kid, every year on March 4th, my mom would remind me that it's the only day of the year that's also a command, and she would send me out the door to march forth. I look forward to it every year! It seems like I should spend March 4th working toward social justice. And I've missed my chance this year. But perhaps, starting next year, I will make March 4th a personal volunteerism day.

I finally got all of my teaching license application components completed and mailed. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction website, it will take 12-16 weeks for my application to be processed. And that doesn't guarantee that I'll be approved for a license. *sigh* At least I'll know before the last minute job postings come along.

My training for the Lake Monona 20K continues to go fairly well, although I've been having a hard time fitting the weekday workouts into my schedule. Luckily, the training program I am following only requires 2 weekday runs, and I've made sure I fit them in. But I've been a bit lax about the cross-training workouts. I'd really like to find a good at-home strength training workout to do on those cross-training days. This Saturday, I'll be running 9.5 miles with a friend of mine. We did 7.5 a couple weeks ago, and it went really well, so I think 9.5 will be just fine, too. And it's supposed to be relatively warm and sunny on Saturday morning, which always makes running more enjoyable.