Almost Fall and other updates

According to the calendar, it's officially Fall. I am so excited because this is my favorite season. I love wearing sweaters, eating homemade soups for meals, baking yummy treats, watching nature change, and feeling the crisp air. Of course, in southern California, it takes a while for the weather to catch up with the calendar, but I'm okay with that. It doesn't stop me from getting out the warmer clothes and decorating in beautiful fall colors. *contented sigh*

In other news, Malcom has a new job! Yes, again, another one. This means that he technically has FOUR jobs right now, all while taking masters classes. Don't worry, three of them are part time, but he still works a lot and gets barely enough sleep. What a stud. If you need a recap, here they are: 1) he works remotely for Varsity Gold in Arizona writing programs to help their art department run like a well-oiled machine; 2) he is doing contract work for Disney in their mobile phone division, creating and editing trailers/advertisements for mobile video games; 3) he processes dailies at Sony, taking the film shot during the day for random TV shows and converting it to digital format; and now the new one 4) he just got hired to process dailies at Technicolor doing the same thing as Sony, only FULL TIME. Jobs #1 and 2 he just squeezes in when he gets the chance. He's putting in his two-week notice at job #3 to do job #4.

I'm very excited for the Technicolor one. He's doing a 4-week probationary period first to make sure he trains well and understands everything. After he completely blows them out of the water with that, they'll hire him permanently. He's getting the same pay-per-hour as Sony, only it will be 40 hours a week, plus BENEFITS! Woah! They also mentioned that the company promotes from within and there will be plenty of opportunity for advancement. It's still the graveyard shift, from midnight to 8am Monday through Friday, and he'll sleep during the day. That's pretty much what he's doing now, only his Sony hours were inconsistent (sometimes starting at midnight, other times at 2) and it was only three to four days a week, different days each week. So this is much better because even though it's graveyard, at least it's the same time every night. He'll start October 6th and we will be very excited to be less strapped for money.

I'll still be substituting. Actually, I haven't even started yet, because no one's needed me. But I have a gig this Friday, and one next Wednesday. I've got lots of ideas about what to do if the kids are crazy, how to lay down the law, and still make sure their work gets done. I'm nervous, but it will be at "my school" where I taught before, so I'll have lots of backup if I need it. I may even know some of the kids in the classes. I'm anxious to find out if I am any good at being a sub, or if my teaching abilities only apply to being full time.

We found good daycare for Bekah and she likes it there. It's ran out of a woman's home and she only has four other kids, so it's small. But there's a good backyard, and the woman (Pat) is a veteran daycare provider (over 15 years experience!). She's licensed and certified and I feel good about it. I know Bekah will have a hard time adjusting because she's going through the mommy's-girl, clingy stage, but it'll be really good for her, and us. I took her there once last week to stay for part of the day by herself to get a feel for it. She was great in the morning, but wouldn't go down for her second nap an was fussy at the end. I'm trusting in her independent side to win out; she'll be a professional in no time.

I don't know if I've mentioned it to everyone that I'm training for a 5K run in December. I have a few friends that run and enjoy it, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm doing a training program I found online and it seems to be going really well. I'm actually enjoying it too! That surprises me because I had asthma growing up and in my teenage years and have no stamina for running. I've grown out of the asthma, but I still take my inhaler before any form of exercise. I'm running in chunks, like for 3 minutes, then walking for 2 minutes. The program will help me work up to running 20 to 30 minutes at a time, but I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to do that. I'd settle for running 10 minutes and walking 1; I'd only have to do that three times and I'd be done with the 5K (3.1 miles, by the way). Anyway, I've already lost some weight and if that continues, I may perpetually train for running events, one right after the other!

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers. I really feel blessed with Malcom's new job. I'm feeling very happy with the season and optimistic for our future here in California for the first time in a long time.