On the Horizon

Lots of exciting things in the works for Josh, which makes me happy too.

Within the next few days, he'll be fitted for hearing aids that will dramatically affect his life for the better.  Words can't express how much I await this with anticipation....

Potentially only slightly less life-affecting, he has a new, exciting job prospect that has breathed life into him it seems. We went out for breakfast on Sunday to Chace's and he picked up the classifieds to browse while we waited for food. There, in the Employment section, was an ad for Firefighters for Tukwila FD.  He read me the details and it stated that all that was required was experience.  When we got home, he hopped online and found that EMT cert was also required.  He's planning to get the cert this Spring, but he's not slated to test for the program til next month...almost one month after the app is due.  After a series of phone calls, he learned today that they may hire for entry level in addition to the lateral FF positions, which would mean he could apply without being EMT certified.  Essentially, he got the go ahead to apply and then test for the IFSTA exam.  He began pouring over the phone book-sized text yesterday.  I want to help him any way I can, so I'm typing up his chicken scratch notes as he covers each chapter. The test will occur in a couple of weeks.  The EMT program entry test will occur a couple of weeks after that.  So basically, it'll be: cram, take test, cram, take second test, wait for results.  All excruciating steps.  But it could be totally worth it.  He could potentially be in a job he loves, with a good salary and/or have a certification that could allow him to work in a variety of positions and even seek another firefighter position should this one not work out.  I'm going to remain optimistic.  Especially since Josh is ever the half- empty-glass kind of person.

My job situation continues to drive me to an early grave.  One of my kindergarteners never arrived at daycare after taking the bus home, so naturally her parents were notified and her dad came to school in search of her.  We had no info. I had to call other children who road that same bus with her. One confirmed that she was on the bus, but did not get off at the stop with them like she was supposed to. Another confirmed that she got off at another stop, and they delivered her home.  The brother at home was called and said she never arrived. I was left no other option but to call 911. In the midst of describing her clothing that day, the father rushes back in to the office to tell me and the other teachers working on finding her that he reached his son again on his cell and she had just arrived at home. Apparently, she got off the bus at the wrong stop, on purpose, to play with her friends.  Where she was between then and the time she arrived at home (45 minutes) will probably remain a mystery. Arrrrrgh.  I hope she is taught how horrible this decision of hers was. She is the type of child that just doesn't seem to "get it".  

I watched Idol tonight and found it somewhat boring.  I hate Hollywood week.  I am anxious for it to get down to 10.  That's much more manageable and interesting to me. During our viewing, Josh and I put Peanut Butter on Lulu's nose and watched her in amusement (we sound like horrible dog parents, I know).  But it's so funny and cute!  I leave you with a photo:

Food and TV from the couch

Tonight we ordered delivery from Szechuan Bistro, on 85th at Greenwood. We got enough food for both of us to have dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow for under 30 bucks. Good deal! Initially, I had a hard time finding an online menu, but fervent searching finally led me to this. I hate trying to figure out what the options are with the person on the phone, so I was grateful for my internet find.

We ordered Sesame Chicken for Josh, Dry String Beans with Tofu for me, and hand shaven noodle in hot szechuan sesame sauce and veggie eggrolls to share. My favorite was the peanut sauce drizzled just on top of the noodles. Overall, I didn't care much for all the grease they use. I rarely eat oily things, so this was total overload for me. The homemade noodles were awesome, but the sauce they were in was essentially an oil soup. The dry beans were good, but the tofu was so fried it was unrecognizable as bean curd. The eggrolls were unimpressionable. Josh's sesame chicken looked to me to be just like the orange chicken at Panda Express and probably had the same corn syrup content. Naturally, he loved it. We would probably order from them again, but I won't be craving it anytime soon. Grease, grease, and more grease! I shudder to think what the people in the kitchen must smell like when they leave work every night.

American Idol was a bit of a snooze fest for me tonight. I can't wait til they whittle it down to the best. I thought the Australian guy rocked and I have a small crush on David Cook. That kind of talent is hot. I've already downloaded his version of Lionel Richie's "Hello" from iTunes and plan to download tonight's "Billie Jean" as soon as it's available. Seriously brilliant. I'm a fan. Josh and I tried to determine tomorrow night's bottom three and think it will be Ramiele, Chikezie and Brooke White. I think Chikezie might go, which saddens me. What a cool guy. But he bored me tonight, so it'll make sense to me if he's gone. Kristy Lee Cook should be cut from the ranks (long overdue), but she literally played the "Proud to be an American" card, so naturally middle America will vote for her as their Republican hero. It's so annoying because it's just prolonging the inevitable.