Haven't updated in over a month >.<

Well, life has been interesting.

Most importantly, Chris lost his job :( He was at will employment and the board that had funded his position decided they no longer had the funds to do so... So once again scrambling to find work. He has taken up the quest of trying to continue the process of becoming a substitute teacher in Fresno County and looking for seasonal work for the holiday season. In the future may hold the credential program to get the experience, credential, and raise his overall GPA, but we will see.

Classes for the following semester have been posted so of course, I already have my schedule planned out :D I will be taking a total of 16 units. My classes on MWF are Applied Spanish Linguistics (9am-9:50am) and Historical Linguistics (10am-10:50am). On Monday nights, I also have Intro to Literary Analysis (5pm-7:50pm). On TuTh, I have Symphonic Band or Wind Orchestra (pending audition) from 4pm-5:50pm and Phonology 6:30pm-7:45pm. Additionally on Tuesdays, I have Intro to Student Teaching (2pm-3:50pm). The only snag is that Historical Linguistics is not showing up for students yet, but it is on the professors schedule (I have the professor scheduled to teach it for General Linguistics now so I asked) and have also been assured by the chair of the Linguistics dept that it will be offered. It is not necessary, but would be a fascinating elective for Linguistics. Unfortunately due to the time of the Intro to Literary Analysis class and the fact that I will already be taking 16 units, I will not be in orchestra next semester :(

Also something of note, I have decided that I will now be a double major! Spanish Credential and Linguistics with an emphasis in Interdisciplinary Language Studies. There was a 1 or 2 class difference with the major and minor (which I had already declared) and will help me in the future with a possible Masters program (which I have been toying with the idea). It will not add any time if I take 6 units this summer (last 2 upper division GE classes) and 6 units next summer (first two credential classes). With going alumni in TBS & most likely not doing orchestra (but still trying to do band) when the year is complete, I can focus more on school and be done with credential and BAs in Spring 2012!

In rattie news, Oreo had a lump removed from her throat about 2 weeks ago. She starting growing an infection and couldn't remove some of her own stitches, but with adding in her sister Dolce and some antibiotics, both are taken care of. Earlier this week we lost Maple :( She had a weird skin condition going on her nose, ears, and base of her tail and was suffering from pneumonia. With everything, despite eating, she was steadily losing weight. However, at the beginning of the week, we discovered her body had essentially given up on her. In a 24 hour period, she ate nothing but a single sunflower seed and 2 doses of antibiotics. She had no more fight left, so we had her put down :( We are now at 14 rats.

That is it from us! Sorry about the book >.< This is what happens with I don't update in awhile :P

Updates!

I fail at updating! Here's a few quick details on what has been going on.

Chris has a job! The county finally accepted the extra help position and he gets to start on Monday. Essentially what he is doing is helping create and implement economic development programs. Some of the projects up on deck are helping with the high speed railroad, providing a work study type deal for local businesses for them to be able to hire more people for a lower cost, water resistant crops, etc. He has been in the process of filling out paperwork this week and starts on Monday :) It was actually kind of funny because the call from the county happened on Tuesday and then the IRS called him on Thursday offering him a job as a Customer Service Representative. He declined the IRS since he will already have enough on his plate with a 40 hr a week job. But I do feel I need to add that we had just caught up on our tithing on Sunday! Shows that blessings do happen when you pay your tithing :)

We have 2 new little ones! Meet Sugar & Spice :)
















This brings us to 15 ratties :) Fudge and Dewdrop have been integrated back into the main cage and are doing very well. You can't tell they had surgery except that there are still a few bold spots where the fur is still in the process of growing back. Unfortunately, we did discover a lump on Oreo. It's located on her upper chest/ lower throat so she can't sleep very easily and we are afraid that before too much longer it will effect her ability to breathe :( Getting that removed in the next week or two pending our vet's schedule.

My auditions turned out ok. I'm first chair of the 2nd clarinets in Symphonic Band. I hoped for higher, but I'm trying to practice on a daily basis to get better and Chris said if I can keep it up, we might be able to afford some private lessons for me :D In orchestra, I'm playing violin. Last chair, but I did make it in. Concert dates are: Oct. 8th (Symphonic Band), Oct. 15th (Orchestra), Dec. 4th (Symphonic Band), and Dec. 6th (Orchestra).

We are now in the process of getting better car insurance (required by the county) and getting Chris some health insurance so if you have any good websites or companies we need to look at for either of those, please let us know!

Haven't made an update in awhile >.< And of course we've had a lot going on.

Chris : Chris lost that job that he had. Reason being that he had really bad shoulder issues pop up, but they claimed "That his performance wasn't up to par while he was working." Hello!!! He was in training. He couldn't give extensions on rent when he didn't regularly work at that property. Whatever. For the shoulder, we actually went into the ER (on my birthday might I add), and their best guess was that it was brusitis (similar to repetitive stress injury) and prescribed him some vicodin (which still only take the pain down to a 3). It is getting a little better over time, but he is still limited in what he can and can't do. He is still waiting to hear from the county at some point this week since there was a board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday. He had an IRS assessment/ evaluation test on Saturday and has another one this Saturday. He also had a group interview at Apple on Friday. A LOT of possibilities are up in the air right now. Oh, and he passed his CBEST :) We haven't gotten the official notification, but we did receive an e-mail with his un-official scores on Monday.

Rats: We still have 13! We are happy because luck has never been with us when we've had an odd number. Fudge went in Tuesday and had a ginormous lump removed from her crotch/ lower tummy and is home with us recovering. She loves the anti-biotic though and will actually lick it off the end of the syringe :) Dewdrop went in for surgery today and we got the word about an hour ago that it had gone smoothly and she was in the process of waking up. She also had a huge lump on her hip that was actually throwing off her balance.

Me: Got my financial aid last week thankfully! We promptly got stuff we have been holding off on that were needed (like the rat surgeries, a few music supplies, stocking our medicine cabinet again, etc. ). Only spent about$250 on textbooks which I'm very grateful for :) Started classes and am proud to say I'm enjoying each one of them so far! Musically, I have had 1 audition so far and have 2 more this week. On Tuesday, I tried out on clarinet for the symphony orchestra and on Friday, I have the violin audition for the same ensemble. I would prefer clarinet, but it will depend on how many clarinets he needs and how the other players did. I KNOW 2 clarinets did better than me and he said he is taking 2 or 3. I will take violin, just as most of you know, clarinet is what I consider my primary instrument. Today, I have my band placement audition which determines which university band I make it into and my placement in the ensemble.

That's about all that has been going on. A lot in the air with Chris' job situation, but we are managing rather well. I should have more news soon-ish to post for you guys on that front :)

Rats, jobs, CBEST, and birthday celebration

Now we are down to 13 rats. On Friday, I got up and went to wash a load of dishes and when I came back to the bedroom to check on Chris (he had a migraine), I noticed that Smores was lying in a really awkward position and not moving. Sure enough she had passed away in the night :( We suspect pneumonia since she had been having issues on and off for awhile but of course we can't be certain.

Chris HATES his job. It's fully dealing with the public when someone needs a repair in their apartment or can't pay rent or to show them an apartment. He also doesn't like that he is not at the same location from day to day since the company owns about 50 complexes and he is a relief manager so he is assigned to where he is needed. Unfortuntely, it's something which is MUCH better than nothing. Hopefully we will hear back soon on the IRS or county job, but in the meantime, he is continuing to look.

He took the CBEST yesterday to start subbing when school starts and despite not being good at math he fells like he was fairly confident on all but 3 answers on the entire 100 question(reading comprehension and math) exam and of course writing is his strongest suit so we aren't worried about him not passing the essay portion.

Yesterday, Chris' parents and my mom came into town to celebrate my birthday a little early :) We went to Applebee's for dinner and Tutti Fruiti for desert (local frozen yogurt bar). It was wonderful and I still have half a quesadilla burger for lunch today!

Not much else going on. Rain is still continuing to gain motor control. Starting sorority stuff on Friday for the upcoming school year. Signed up for orchestra since I haven't found a steady on campus job and it seems slim to none that I will find one. Plus I do enjoy orchestra :)

Rats and jobs!

Rain is doing much better! Every day she is able to use the right side of her face a little more :)

And for the better news that I'm sure everyone has been waiting for! Chris got a job!!!!! He is know a relief manager/ leasing agent for a local apartment complex company that owns around 50 of the local apartment complexes. He would be working anywhere from 8-40 hours a week for $9/hr. It's not much, but it's a job. If he gets the county job (we find out around August 11th (which is also my birthday!!!!)), there is a possibility that he could work at both. I know he would prefer the county job, but with the economic crisis we have to take what we can get. With this, he could easily substitute teach as well. So anyways, that's our news for the day!

Down to 14 rats. Had to put Fate to sleep on Wednesday of last week. He wasn't getting better and he was trying to fight when he nothing left to fight with. He was losing 10-15 grams a day and when you only weigh 350- ish, that's a LOT. He also had decided that he didn't need to drink water so we were trying to supplement with bread soaked in water. It was just his time :( Rain is doing better. She had lost some control on the right side of her face. The ear infection was so bad that one of the nerves controling that part of her face got damaged, but yesterday she starting using it just a little, so we are hoping that she continues to make progress in getting better. She also finished getting over a bladder infection. Poor thing :( At least she is making improvements!

Work stuff is going. Chris got an e-mail asking him to go in for fingerprinting and a background check for this morning. He went in and they now want an official transcript from Fresno State. They also let him know that they start off with groups of 300 and end down with about 10 and then start the process again until they fill the positions. All this for a temp position... We'll see and doing the steps to get the job, but he isn't too enthusiastic about a temp job that people will only call when they are having issues with their taxes. It's an option, but not high up on the list. He got a call from a local corporation of different properties as a possible leasing agent! Interview is Wed morning. Unfortunately in the mail, he got a letter in the mail from unemployment office stating that since he was working for the university while going to school there, he was no longer eligible for receiving unemployment :( Really hoping that something works out soon since the county thing is also still up in the air.

As for me, I'm hoping to work part-time at the bookstore on campus for the beginning of the semester and go from there. My textbooks are coming out to about $200 for the semester which is not bad at all. About half of that is for 1 class >.<

This past weekend we left Fresno for cooler weather. We were in Grover Beach, CA at Chris' parents' beach house with Matthew and Nichelle (Chris' youngest brother and his wife) and Chris' dad! It was so nice not being in triple digit weather. Got there Friday late afternoon. Got settled and then went to the beach to watch the sunset and then went back to the house and played games. Saturday was spent just doing some lounging, some games, and of course the beach. We were dealing with the cold of the ocean water and just having fun and taking in the weather and bracing ourselves for the next big wave that went a little higher than the last. We also did some digging for sand crabs :) I got burned on my back though :( Not pleasant, but it's already feeling better. Sunday we cleaned the beach house after having used it for the weekend and in the afternoon we went from the beach house to Chris' parents house for family dinner with the in-laws and all of their boys with their wives and grand-children and Chris' grandfather. Total of 11 of us :) After dinner, we chatted a little bit, and Chris and I made the trek back home. I had been suffering from a headache most of the afternoon (I suspect between dehydration, 30 degree heat change in the day, and lot of commotion with lots of family and little kids), and womanly issues going "Don't forget I'm coming soon!"... Plus when we came home and checked the mail, I had a Jury Duty Summons in the mail. Wasn't a good day, but it was still a great weekend.

Now I just need to work on the apartment before school starts up in less than a month and I have some homework for incompletes that I NEED to finish.

Rats and job stuff

We are down to 15 rats. We lost Aurora on Tuesday night :( I would post a pic of her except that I managed to misplace my camera cord at the moment >.< We technically only had her for about 4 months total. 2 months at birth since she was from one of the 2 surprise mommy rats we have gotten and the past two months since she was one of the 2 that we had found a home for. Unfortunately the person who had them for about a year had their living situation change to where she couldn't keep Aurora or Dolce. It worked out nicely since we still had most of their siblings and were able to take them in without any problems. Unforutunately on Monday Aurora had been acting a little lethargic and we figured it was just the heat since we haven't been keeping the apartment as cool as we normally would. Then on Tuesday evening she was by herself flaked out on her side and wasn't struggling at all when we picked her up to examine her. Not even when on her back. She was so weak that she couldn't fully grip with her paws. We knew we had to take her to the Pet ER to be put down.

On the job front, I have decided to not take the volleyball official position. As much fun as it would be, there were just too many upfront costs involved. I may not be getting the promotion to Event Liaison at my music department job with the budget cuts. Talking with my supervisor today, she wasn't sure if the position would continue to exist or not but that she hoped I would continue on Concert Staff. However, today I received a call from Radio Shack asking for an interview :) It's tomorrow at 1pm. The location is not ideal since it's way out by Shaw & 99, but the steady work would be nice and is definitely needed. I'm also taking part in a psycholinguistic study tomorrow for hearing and vision. For 2 hours of time, I'm getting $30 :D Not complaining!

Chris is still hunting for work. He filled out an hour long evaluation type thing yesterday for the IRS in response to an application he sent in a week or two ago. He also got an e-mail today from one of the county people that had interviewed him for the Americorps position saying that the county may be hiring him for a very similar position. Would be $8/hr with no benefits and 40 hrs/ wk. It's a step in the door for the county stuff that he is more qualified to do with his degrees, so we'll see. We should know mid-August.

So we both of little nibbles here and there. Hopefully something will stick and hopefully the 2 rats that we have on anti-biotics will continue to get healthy.