These kids are awesome!

Can you believe this two?! These pictures were taken less than a year apart. They've changed so much in the past 12 months!

Summer 2014

June 2015

Writing

I've never liked writing. For as long as I can remember, I've not liked it. It is hard for me, and I feel that I'm not good at it.

But, since I majored in English and then earned a Master's in Communication, I've done a lot of writing. You'd think that would improve my confidence. Or my enjoyment. But you'd be wrong.

I've even been told that I am a good writer. I have a hard time believing that. And yet, I WANT to be a writer. I want to be a GOOD writer. So, I offer up these occasional blog entries as practice. And maybe, if I practice enough, I won't dislike writing so much. And maybe I'll even start to believe that it's something I'm good at.

What am I going to do with my life?

Lately I've been thinking about this question a lot. For the past two years, I've been trying to get a teaching job, with no success. Not even an interview. And so I've thought that maybe I need to go down another path. That's why I've thought about getting a nursing degree. But I don't know if I feel called to that. I'd probably enjoy being a nurse. I think it's a noble job.

I've always had a heart for mission-based work, and I'm often drawn to work that serves the hungry and/or homeless. Can I turn that passion into a job? Work for Second Harvest Food Bank, or a similar organization? Or Habitat for Humanity? Or become a missionary in Africa? I'm open to suggestions should you have any.

Last Day

I'm sitting at my desk at Tweedee Productions this afternoon for the last time. It's weird. It's oddly quiet. One co-worker is out of the office at a meeting and then will be working from home. Another co-worker just left for the day (but not before giving me a good-bye hug). One of my bosses is taking her mom to an appointment, but she'll probably be back around 4. And my other two bosses are working at their desks. There's no music playing. The phone isn't ringing. The only noise is the sound of typing and the air conditioning when it kicks on from time to time. Like I said, it's oddly quiet.

I spent the morning doing my usual cleaning at the church. And tonight I will wait tables at Mariner's Inn. But the afternoon - the filling of my work sandwich - is at Tweedee. My last day at Tweedee. It still seems surreal to me. But I'm sure I'll adjust.

I'm still looking for work. I haven't gotten a single interview for a teaching job. I haven't heard from NCME about the position I applied for last week. I am being patient. Or rather, I'm trying to be patient. I keep reminding myself of Matthew 6:25-31. "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." I am doing my best to trust God. I often find myself praying, "Lead me. Guide me." For now, it's enough.

On another topic altogether, for the past several months, I've been working on redesigning the website for our church. Today, it went live! If you've never seen the old site, you won't appreciate the improvement. If you have, enjoy the new design!

Possiblity

About a month ago, a guy I work with at Mariner's Inn told me that a job would be coming available where he works (National Center for Media Engagement), and he thought I'd be a good candidate for it. I told him to let me know when the job was posted. Two days later, I found out that I'd be losing my job at Tweedee at the end of June. I sent him a text message to let him know and to remind him to keep me posted about the possible job.

The following week, I saw the opening for Engagement Manager on their website. I downloaded the full job description, and I immediately felt overwhelmed by the application process. I would have to submit a 2-page narrative, my resume, writing samples, and complete their application plus a couple other forms. It was going to be a bear to apply. But my friend told me he thought I'd be a great candidate, and he agreed to give me some advice.

Long story short: I mailed my application yesterday, and they should have it today! My friend gave me some advice about my narrative and resume last week, but when I asked for a final review this week, he told me he couldn't offer me any more assistance. Because he is on the hiring committee! I feel that my chances at getting this job are pretty good, but I have no idea what the other candidates will have to offer. Now I'm in wait-and-see mode. Please pray that I at least get an interview. I will keep you posted as things progress.

Ellis

A few weeks ago, a friend of ours asked if we'd be interested in going to a concert in town at the High Noon Saloon. She described Ellis, the singer/songwriter, as pretty folksy and one of her favorites. I asked if she could loan us some of Ellis's music, but that we'd probably go. When I finally got to listen to some of her music, I immediately thought, "This is my kind of music." It's exactly the kind of songwriting that has made me love David Wilcox, Paul Simon, Peter Mayer, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

So, we went to the show, and it was great! She played for about an hour and a half, by herself, talking and telling stories. If you haven't heard of Ellis, check her out. You can start by watching this video:

Ellis at Sisters Folk Festival 09 from michael kevin daly on Vimeo.

Good news and four jobs

Well, the good news is that my father-in-law's metastatic kidney cancer is responding well to treatment. After 8 weeks of drug therapy, all the tumors in his lungs have shrunk about 30-40%. In 8 weeks!! Can you believe it?!? God is GOOD!

I, on the other hand, struggle to remain positive about job prospects as the date of my last day at Tweedee approaches. I have added a 4th job to my arsenal: server at The Grumpy Troll. I'm only working 1-2 shifts/week right now, but I'm hoping that I can add at least one more there and one more at Mariner's Inn after I'm done at Tweedee. People have been assuring me that I'll qualify for unemployment benefits, but I don't think those benefits will cover our expenses, and I know they'll be adjusted based on my part-time job earnings. I'm going to try to figure that out before the end of June, but if my initial calculations are correct, I'll have to continue to work 3 part-time jobs until I can find one full-time job that pays me enough to have only it. And then? Well, then we'll celebrate! After we get our finances back in order, of course.

You've been eliminated!

If you've ever watched an episode of The Biggest Loser or The Amazing Race or Survivor or American Idol, you've probably heard people talk about being eliminated. How badly they want to avoid being eliminated. How they will react if they are eliminated. It all builds the drama. And as viewers, we talk about who we want to be eliminated, knowing that the drama has already happened (except for Idol) and that the participants know who won.

Well, I've never been on a reality show, but I now know what it's like to be eliminated. Last week, 2 of my 3 bosses at Tweedee Productions sat me down and informed me that my position will be eliminated effective July 1. They gave me 6 weeks' notice. That allows me a lot of time to try to find a different job. But I've been looking for work since they cut my hours in half in November. And I am still looking. I've been focusing on teaching jobs, and I remain hopeful that something will come along for me before school resumes in the fall. In the meantime, I also look for non-teaching jobs. To be honest, there aren't many jobs out there right now, though the economists say things are improving. We'll see.

Jobs

This week, I've been struggling with motivation: to exercise and to go to my cleaning job, mostly, but also to mow the lawn and to vacuum the house. I don't know if it's the weather, or if it's the fact that I work 3 part-time jobs for an average of 50 hours/week except for last week and this week when I worked 60 hours/week. I don't mean to complain. I am truly thankful to have each job, since it allows for bills to be paid. I am just getting tired of working from 7am-9:30pm at least once a week. And last week, I worked 7am-10:30pm on Monday, 8am-9pm on Tuesday, and 7am-9pm on Wednesday. That's 40 hours in 3 days. Yuck!

I have applied for and received my Wisconsin teaching license, and I've been applying for teaching jobs when I come across them. But the school year doesn't start until August, so I still have to make it through the summer. And there's no guarantee that I'll be hired as a teacher somewhere. It has been 9 years since I've been a classroom teacher, and in case you haven't noticed, the economy still sucks. There are a lot of people looking for jobs, including teachers. That said, if you have any connections in any school districts, I'd appreciate any advocating on my behalf.

On the upside, I'm spending this Saturday volunteering at Habitat for Humanity with my parents. Hooray!! And without requesting the night off, I'm not waitressing afterward. Even bigger hooray!!

Lake Monona 20K

Well, this past Saturday, I completed the Lake Monona 20K! It's a 12.4 mile run around Lake Monona here in Madison. It's really a very scenic route. It follows the bike route, so if you want to bike what I ran, you can! Just follow the spray painted markers on the pavement that say LMR.

A friend of mine and I had been training together, and we agreed to run together. The first half of the run was good - the wind was at our backs, and we were inspired by all the other runners. We were on pace for an 11-minute mile, which is significantly faster than we'd done any of our long runs (which were consistently 11.5 minute miles). And then we got around the northern side of the lake. The wind was now in our faces. My knees started aching. My upper thighs started chafing. My running buddy got her second wind. I slowed us down. But I didn't alter our run-walk pattern of run 2 minutes-walk 1 minute. Toward the end, I was reminding myself that I only needed to run for 2 minutes. No problem! I can totally run for 2 minutes. And I was singing "Just keep swimming" (from Finding Nemo) in my head, substituting the word running for swimming. I crossed the finished line, with tears in my eyes, 2 hours and 20 minutes after I started.

I'm really proud of myself to undertaking this run. I've never run that far, and it took a lot of training to get my body and my mind ready. Another friend of mine has asked if I might be interested in doing the Madison Mini, which is a half marathon (13.1 miles), in August. I'm considering it. . .