Blissfully Busy

By -
It has been nearly two months since a real update on the blog here. If all of your knowledge about our comings and goings comes from our blog, I'm sorry I've been so lax in keeping things updated. Gretch and I have both been really busy in the most wonderful of ways.

Gretch has continued to love her work with AmPride Communications, using her skills at graphic design in awesome ways. AmPride recently published two of their magazines, American Concierge and Community Concierge, which has marked the first time her name has appeared in a professional piece as a designer. One of the coolest parts of her job has been being able to use her skills as a typographer. Someone else in the company wrote all of the copy for the magazines, but Gretch was the one who placed all of the copy (referred to as typesetting, even if she isn't actually setting type the way folks did way-back-when). She also designed several of the ads in the magazines. With both magazines printed, she's now working on designing fliers, brochures, mailers, etc. She'll also possibly be doing some office assistant work, since she has the skills from her time with Simply Spotless.

Speaking of Simply Spotless, we formally filed a corporate bankruptcy on December 8, had a hearing with the trustee on January 20, and have received word that everything has been processed and cleared. With taxes already taken care of, we are finally finished with everything relating to the corporation. Of course, we will be dealing with our personal liability associated with the business for several years, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and we have bright hopes for the future. And even though the business ultimately failed, I will continue to point out that I would not give up what I gained from my time as a small business owner and as an employer.

As for me, I have been teaching a lot, which has been wonderful. If it were possible for me to be hired as a full-time substitute in any of the districts in which I sub, I would jump on the offer. Alas, all of the districts hire substitutes on an as-needed basis. The work is awesome, the pay is good, but I still long for a classroom of my own. To that end, I have been working on fine-tuning my resume and letter of interest, searching for jobs within an hour and a half of Champaign (about a hundred mile radius), and making lots of contacts with teachers, administrators, students, and even parents. I hope you've taken time to check up on my other blog where I write about my adventures in substituting.

On days when I am not teaching, which are thankfully few, I spend time developing my philosophy of education. I am sharing this on my blog and will eventually compile, edit, and post the entire thing as (hopefully) a single document. However, it may turn out to be more like a short book. I think my word count is currently in the 5,000 range. It has been a great experience for me to put into words the thoughts I have on the how and why of what I do for a living.

In non-work related news, Gretch is serving as our ward's humanitarian aid coordinator (I'm not sure of the exact title), which consists of finding volunteer opportunities and sharing them with the other women in the ward. I've been serving as the Webelos Den Leader, which is an awesome experience and something I hope to do for at least three years. (I've told our bishop that I would be happy to take on other callings if he felt so impressed, but I want to keep this one). Last night we attended the Blue and Gold Banquet and had a great time celebrating the boys' accomplishments.

We've been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, courtesy of my parents' Netflix account, while my sister Ariana is watching at home. We already have plans to watch the movie with her the next time we visit. Speaking of visiting family, we had the opportunity to visit Adam, Meredith, and Gregory in St. Louis two weeks ago on a totally on-a-whim weekend trip. It was awesome hanging out with them, being introduced to Dorkness Rising and Shaun the Sheep, watching the Super Bowl, and just getting to hang out with them. We also went to the Temple for the first time in months and then went again last week to help out with a youth baptism trip.

So that's pretty much what we've been up to the past couple of months. I'll try to update more frequently, though, just so you all know we're still alive :)

Comments

Tom/Tabitha said…
We love Shaun the Sheep!
February 19, 2011 at 11:03 PM
William Reger said…
Yes, proof of life will be mandatory before any ransom is paid.
February 19, 2011 at 11:38 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crafty Craftiness

By -
Image
So... um, so much for writing a new blog post once a week. I don't even remember how long it took for me to stop. I keep meaning to update, but then life happens and I don't get around to it. I probably have too many blogs that I try to keep up with in the first place. I update my teaching blog every day there is school. I update the million minutes blog a few times each month, and I thoroughly neglect the GreedCycle blog that Gretch and I started over a year ago. Anyway, Gretch and I have had a lot going on, but since we really don't  want our blog to be just medical updates, I haven't been writing about them. And since the day-to-day activities of our lives rarely seem to be "blog-worthy" (other than my teaching which, as already mentioned, is blogged about elsewhere), I end up not updating this blog as much as I probably should. Who knows, maybe I'll get back into the swing of things this year. New year, new chance to hold myself to a standard of u
Read more

And This Is Life Eternal

By -
Many of you know that I am a professional educator. I work in the Freeport School District as the Curriculum Coordinator for 21st Century Teaching and Learning. Whenever I have the opportunity to share this with others upon meeting them for the first time, one of the first questions I get is, “Is that your real hair?” Apparently, there are things people care about more than know what it means to coordinate the teaching and learning efforts of an entire century. (The answer, by the way, is yes, this is my real hair; no, I don’t dye it; yes, it really is this curly; and no, you cannot touch it to see if it is actually a wig.)  Once I am able to get the discussion about my amazing naturally curly hair out of the way, we get back to the question of what it is I actually do. My favourite way to describe my job is that I am a teacher of teachers and that my main responsibility is to get them to put away the worksheets and step away from the PowerPoint so that they can engage their student
Read more

Who Are You?

By -
A thought has been running through my mind this morning and it doesn't seem to be planning on leaving any time soon. I have things I need to get done (such as applying for more jobs for the coming school year), so I am hoping that this may help me at least share the thought well enough that I can worry about other things. The thought is really more of a question. Who am I? Who are you? How do I define myself? How do you define yourself? So often in our lives, we have opportunities to introduce ourselves to new people. I've mentioned before how I have this habit of introducing myself as Alex Valencic but, if I am writing my name, it is always Alex T. Valencic. After sharing my name, it is inevitable that someone will want to know more about me, and the first thing they ask is what I do. How we respond to this question says a lot about what we think of ourselves, I think. When someone asks me what I do, I respond by either saying I am a teacher or I am a professional educat
Read more