I'm still beating... thankfully

I'm still here, alive, somehow! Its been a crazy week. I learned (the hard way) about a SPED student. I finally met with the SPED teacher to address the students I have in class and feel a little bit more confident about my students. However, this confidence doesn't extend far... I feel like I need to step it up quite a bit. I've been getting to my classroom early enough in the morning, but I need to put more time in at night. I get done with volleyball and just want to go home! It's hard for me to mentally push myself when my brain activity is at an all time low. To add to the inactivity, I was introduced to a new book. I absolutely LOVE The Hunger Games. Thanks to Tina I have been able to see what all the hype is about. I have only been spending 30-45 minutes a night, but its taken away from my prep time. I have only 1 more day till the weekend! Pray that I'll make it!!

Modern Day Chivalry

I realize we are no longer a part of the Medieval times (thankfully). We have science, education, and history to help better our lives in every single aspect; however, I believe there is something to chivalry. You might find my existence a walking contradiction since I have feminist tendencies, but I'm willing to set myself up to express my opinion in this matter! Many of you know that we are buying a home in Blanding. We are very excited to purchase our first home! We've been able to rely heavily on my mom as far as opinions and adult expertise lie. That being said, my mom is always acting on our best interest and does not do the things she does out of selfish gain. In Blanding there is one mortgage company, Chris and I decided to use their services instead of going through a credit union. We didn't gain anything by using the local company... NOTHING. In fact we were quoted a slightly lower interest rate and were always handled with the best customer service by the credit union, but we went local feeling that the act would start us out on the correct foot in such a small town. My mother has been communicating with the company throughout the process and has been surprised by their "customer service."

.... At this point in my ramblings I feel like I should share a memory with you. I have a very vivid memory of my mother being yelled at by an obscure neighbor and his son when I was a teenager. These two men were tall, well built, and very loud. They towered over my 5'4" mother and were relentless. They were upset about my brother's loud car and driving speed. (Mind you their home is located 3 houses down from ours and my brother would always brake before approaching our home... putting two and two together leads me to believe that his driving speed was around 15-20 mph.) I was shocked to see a mature adult male yell, use profanities, and try to intimidate my mother. It has always upset me....

Back to my ramblings. The local mortgage company's representative has been very rude over the phone to my mother. He has been courteous to me (home buyer), but shows his true colors to my mother. I realize my mom is very passionate, but I know she is always honest and respectable while on the phone. She would never stoop to the level of yelling or being abrasive to a client. This representative, unfortunately, does not have the same mentality. It bothers me first because we are customers and secondly because my mother deserves more respect then was shown to her. I feel the urge to tell him to shove it where the sun don't shine, but we are in a small town where word travels. I'm back to age old dilemma concerning family honor. When this whole process is done with I will be happy, no ECSTATIC, to not have to deal with him ever again!!!!

One Down!!

Day one is done! I can finally check that off my list of things to be nervous for. Looking back I was very nervous for the unknown. My fear had also stopped me from planning for more than just my first day. I don't know why my brain shuts down at key points, but it's the sad reality. Now I need to start planning for more than one day at a time.

The students were great... I'm becoming more and more familiar with what 7th graders look like. I think it'll be a struggle for me to remember that they are in fact still working on maturing a bit. Tomorrow I am going to be helping with volleyball tryouts!! I'm pretty darn excited about that :)

Overall I think we are going to like Blanding! Good luck to all of my friends who still have their first days to check off their teaching lists! You can all do it! I know you'll be amazing!

Skyping~

Chris really likes to joke around while skyping with Larry and Roxy. The only difference with this last call was the snapshot button. We saved these few gems :) Enjoy!

The picture that started it all :)

School Starts Soon!

It's sad to say, but this picture has more confidence in its small statement than I do in my entire body!! School starts this WEDNESDAY!! I can't believe it's almost time to be a professional teacher. I found out a few things that are very scary: 1. I am teaching my loan processor's son, 2. I am teaching the district ESL director's son, and

3. I am teaching my Principal's son!!!

I realize I decided to come to a small town, that I am working at the district's only middle school, and that I would actually have students, but I never realized I would know so many of the parents on a social/personal level. I feel a little bit better running this dialogue through my mind, "Well the principal wouldn't have hired you if he didn't think you would be successful for his own son." I cannot believe school is starting so quickly and how under prepared I feel 4 days before school starts! I realize everyone says first years teachers all fail to some degree, but I feel like I'm the exception... I am one of those teachers who will fail starting from day one all the way till day 183!

On other news we are scheduled to close on our home on September 3rd! Yay! I am really excited about it! I can't wait to start playing house :)

Blanding holds a little personal history for us... There once was another Merket that taught for San Juan School District. His name was Mike Merket and I met his daughter in law Audrey up at USU. They pronounce Merket with such finesse and poise (Mer-ket) while we pronounce it with the Utah in us (Merkit!). I have had to clarify that we are not directly related (Mike Merket was my father in law's adopted cousin) to several people already. I was interviewed with other new teachers by the Blanding newspaper and included that gem of information. Hopefully it'll clear up any confusion for us!

Evidence!

Here is a random video I shot outside our rental today. The washer was on spin... can you hear that? Sorry its sideways.

BLANDING!!

We made it to Blanding! We got all of our stuff unpacked at the ABF terminal in Salt Lake on Monday. Chris and I continued the journey with our UHAUL the same day and, with the help of our new ward, were moved into our rental by 8 pm that evening. It was a really long day, but all went well in the end! Our new house has its charm... Realtors would title it a "charming fixer upper!" The house is just SO old that it can't help but having a few weird quirks to it.

For example this hole is in the kitchen floor. After investigating for awhile we have decided it must be the old dryer outlet... all the air and dryer fluff (technical term) ended up in the basement I guess...

This is our extremely creepy basement. There is one door into it and out of it. I hope to never be forced to enter it. Chris said it isn't that bad... but he often lies to placate me.

This picture is of the washer hookups that are also in the kitchen. I really wanted this rental for the simple fact of washer/dryer hookups so I shouldn't complain about the condition they are in! The only reason why I complain is to voice my concern over the stability of the floor under the washer. When our washer is on the spin cycle the kitchen floor MOVES A LOT! The years of water damage have most likely taken a huge toll on these floors. Our washer just might become a new addition to the basement :)

Here is the view of our home. It has a beautiful English walnut tree out front and apricot trees on the side. Our landlord is really nice and the house overall is great...

...but what if we could buy a home? The home pictured below was built by the college CEU, which means it is a good deal for a brand new home in Blanding. Since labor, transporting materials, and lack of contractors adds to the price of homes in Blanding, this is a steal of a deal. We never thought we would be buying a home at the age of 23! As a first year teacher without tenure I am also nervous about my job, getting used to Blanding, and Chris' future career. What if something takes us away from Blanding and we struggle to sell the house (something we've been told isn't hard to do)? What if we HATE Blanding and want to move? What if I suck as a teacher :) and I am not offered another contract next year? What if, what if, what if...

We put an offer in for full asking price with the seller paying closing costs last week. We just found out that they rejected our offer... It is so stressful making such BIG decisions!

Yesterday we made our first trip to the closest Wal-mart. It's in Cortez, Co which is about 1.5 hours away from Blanding. The drive going to Cortez wasn't bad at all, but the drive home was horrible. We got there in the evening and had to drive home during the sunset. We saw beautiful skies and rolling hills, but we also saw all of the deer crossing signs warning us we were driving in a deer migration area. We saw 2 dead deer in the middle of the road on our drive home alone! I was really nervous because I didn't have my glasses, but we made it home safely! I don't think we'll be making it to Wal-mart again for awhile.