anniversary

Next month marks my one year anniversary working at BFC. I've said this before,but it's so surreal that I still love my job! Granted,it's "only" been on year,but that's a lot longer than I've liked any other job! I was given a questionnaire to fill out for our "anniversary board" and I thought I'd share my answers with you. I did my best to make it different cause,let's face it,who wants to read the same boring answers all the time? Not me. Good thing I'm not boring.

Name: Andi Ottoson
Anniversary date: 9/29 (super easy for me to remember...my nephew was born on my first day of work!)
Position:preschool lead

Any awards or certificates you have received or been nominated for at the center: "Most Improved Classroom"(sooooo proud of this one!),"Ms. Tell It Like It Is"(a little less proud of this one but let's face it,it's true,ha)

Schools you've attended and degrees/certificates you've received: Central Washington University double major in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Education-3.5 years completed

Three things you do for fun in your spare time:
1.Go to the Tacoma waterfront and drink a latte while reading a good book.
2.Shopping at Target and challenging myself to only buy what I came for.
3.Going to shows and singing along loudly to my favorite songs.

What are some things you do with friends and family: watching free movies that are On Demand, making up recipes with whatever we find in our cupboards then eating the whole thing,changing the lyrics to popular songs so they're funnier.

What's your favorite memory while working at BFC: winter when we had all the snow-it was nice to have snow days and watch kids play in snow because some hadn't seen it before.

What is one goal you have for next year: start/complete my CDA

Why do you enjoy working with children: you always have a story to share and they say the funniest things that make me laugh. Also,they give the best hugs.(no offense to those of you that i've hugged,i'm sure yours are perfectly acceptable as well :) )

these are a few of my favorite things

(and of course, you know i had to throw in a few pictures of my most favorite little guy)

he's about 20 percent gangster,which he gets from me,obviously:


chillin with the homies:


i will never get tired of looking at those big brown eyes:

flying:fireworks:forth

On my aunt and uncles property...a barn where chickens lived. My tent was to the side of the barn and out a ways.



The tent we ate all our meals under. There's a big grassy area on the other side of it where volleyball and bocci ball were played, trampoline jumping was done,as well was where we set off fireworks and had the bonfire:



Just a tiny fraction of the farm that grows all the veggies for sale:



My uncles checking out the "Little House on the Prairie" cabin...you can see the green outhouse on the left. Apparently the house is on a sled so it can be moved from place to place!



Aunt Linda, me, and cousin Sue. Obviously on day 1. We look so clean and refreshed!



My aunt and uncle who own all the land that make it possible for us to celebrate the 4th together every year!



"the grandkids" on the trampoline that finally broke after many many many years of use. Really, I don't recall a time before the trampoline. It will be missed:



For some reason Connor kept doing this muscle man pose,totally cute(look,he has TEETH!):



best sister ever:



right before we left to go home...baby was woooore out!



(last connor picture,i swear) Connor had a 13 month old girl, Marley, as a playmate while we were there. He's only 9 months old and twice her size!



my grandma and grandpa,who are wonderful:



Uncle John, mom,dad, and Connor sitting by the bonfire:



Cousins Joe, Anna(1/3 of previously mentioned group "Word"), and me by the huge bonfire:

free tattoo,anyone?

yep, i did it. i got ANOTHER tattoo. and this one was FREE! jealous?

it all started this morning when i woke up. parker, heidi's 8 year old son called my name as i walked out of my room(the boys' room is right next to mine). now, usually in the morning me and the boys' conversation is limited to "hi boys, bye boys" as i walk by them on the way out the door. so parker calling my name was quite unusual. i walk back to their room where he shows me this sign:



and proceeds to inform me that he and his friend alex were opening a tattoo shop when they were 18. only 18 year olds will be able to come, and it will be for boys ONLY (because girls don't like to get tattoos). I said to Parker "you know parker, there are lots and lots of girls who have tattoos." "No there aren't." he replied. Ok then.

He then pulls out this fine piece of work:



and this one:



Now, not only are those the cutest 8 year old drawn tattoos i have ever seen...but the best part is...they're all FREE.
now, i had woken up late, so i was running late and did not have NEARLY enough time to decide which delicious tattoo i wanted temporarily placed on my body. however, when i got home later that day, you can be SURE i took FULL advantage of having a freelance tattoo artist living in the room next to me. i got this piece of work on my arm(which,i later found out, is actually Baker, the family cat):



SO bad ass. If anyone needs directions to my house, just ask. Parkers hours are listed on the poster.

inspired by the Tacoma Aroma

(this picture is one i took as i was sitting here writing this blog)

Not much new stuff has been happening lately...I HAVE had a weird stroke of luck in winning things,though. I won tickets to a concert i was attending via a radio contest, i won a signed electric guitar via a website contest i wasn't even aware was going on, and i won $11 from 2 one dollar scratch tickets!(i never buy scratch tickets, and on the rare occasion that i do, i never,ever win).

Life has been pretty much the same as usual. It's a 3 day weekend but I, unfortunately, had to work yesterday(sunday). The whole preschool team came to take inventory of our classes and rearrange and clean everything. this took ALL day. we were there from 830 am to 430 pm and did not stop working at all. i was exhausted by the time we were done. i wanted to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather but my body just would not have it. i ended up crashing on the couch for an hour or two shortly after arriving home.

Today I had lunch with a friend who i love with all my heart and all my soul and guts! We went to Olive Garden and had unlimited soup,salad,and breadsticks(which,btw,when did this go from 5.99 to 6.99?? blasphemy). I had the chicken and g-someitalianwordicantpronounce soup which is the best soup i've ever had in my whole entire life. seriously, if you love cream of chicken soup, or just creamy soups in general, you HAVE to try it. we ended our calorie fest by sharing dessert-italian donuts dusted with powdered sugar with a chocolate dipping sauce. simply divine. NO idea how we managed to fit through the doors on our way out, but we somehow managed it and i can't wait til we do that again.

I'm planning on heading to Mt. Rainier next weekend sometime. I LOVE hiking on this famous mountain. The views are always beautiful. Last time i was there, in august of '07 me at my friend stood at the bottom of this HUGE hill saying to each other "do you wanna try climbing that? there's no way we'll make it..." and in the end, wound up climbing the whole thing, all the way to the top. We felt SO good. that's probably my favorite part of going to mt. rainier, that feeling of accomplishment. oh,and the blackberry pie we stop for on the way home.

And last,but definitely not least, i get a new phone in 2.5 weeks!! those that know me and know my phone understand how ridiculous my need for a new cellular device is. basically it works fine internally, but buttons to make everything work have fallen off, and i have been known to ask a person or two for a bobby pin in order to start a new text.

anyway, that's about it for me...i'll write more soon!

scammed (not)

a little over a month ago me and heidi were leaving a local bar. as we were getting into the car this man approached us. he said "hi my name is (whatever name it was he said) and i'm a teacher up in (some place far away). i have been visiting my friend (gives friends name and room number) at the hospital right down the road all day and my car was broken into. all my cards and money and checks have been stolen. is there anyway you can spare some change please. i have no gas and no way to get back home." me and heidi both thought the story sounded kinda fishy,but gave him a couple dollars just to leave us alone.

reasons why the story was fishy: the bar we were at was NO where near a gas station. if you need gas to get home, wouldn't you be relatively near a gas station and trying to get money THERE? also, if you were visiting your friend in the hospital ALL DAY wouldn't you eat or drink something at some point? why would all your money be in the car? the third reason this sounded fishy to me was because i had heard pretty much the exact same story about a year ago when i was leaving a sushi restaurant. except this guy was from Oregon, not up north.

anyway, fast forward to the present. i'm arriving home at about 1130 at night after birthday dinner with my parents. i hadn't even had time to turn off my car when another car backs in next to me so their drivers side on the same side as my drivers side. he motions for me to roll down my window. so i do,about halfway. dude then proceeds to inform me that he was from up north and was visiting a friend in the hospital...at this point i rolled my eyes. he asked me what was wrong. not wanting to call him out on his BS and make him angry i just said "i'm just really tired and want to get into my house" he says "oh ok, i just have no money, everything was stolen.." i said "i have no money either,sorry!" he then,thankfully,drove off.

i'm not sure if my super cool 2000 mazda protege with the cracked windshield,missing left hubcap and broken drivers side mirror makes me look really rich, or if i,as a person, just look like a huge dummy, but i'm not sure why this keep occurring to me. i'm pretty sure the same guy who tried to bum from me at my house is the same one who approached me and my roommate at the bar.

anyway, this is just a warning, if someone approaches you and gives you a story similar to this, do not fall for it! unless you feel that you would be in danger if you didn't give him money, then by all means, go for it. but please, just be careful!

bad blogger

sorry guys for the lack of updates lately. I have no excuses!

so much has happened since my last blog! I'm back home from Texas. It was a pretty relaxing trip. We mostly just hung out at the house and I played with Connor a LOT. He's such a sweet little boy and making him smile is the most fun thing ever, i tried to do it as often as i could. on the night i was supposed to leave there was the hugest thunderstorm! my flight ended up getting delayed to the point where i just rescheduled one for the next morning. i spent one last night in houston and left for seattle at 6 oclock the next morning. it was still stormy, so that on top of my fear of flying, i was pretty freaked out. BUT i made it safe and sound! i arrived in seattle at 1030 AM and promptly went to work. after being up since 2 am Seattle time i was not the most qualified person to be taking care of 20 3 year olds, but i did what i could. i have some pictures,but somehow misplaced the memory card, so as soon as that is found(when i decide to clean my room)...i'll put them up!

a few days later...i turned 27!! i celebrated the night before my actual birthday by going to dinner with my parents, it's tradition! we went to this restaurant called BJ's where i had the most perfect dirty martini and the most delicious meal. after that we went back to their house and had cake and opened my present from them (a desperately needed iPod).

the next day, my ACTUAL birthday, i went to work! now,since i believe my birthday should be a national holiday i generally take the day off. but since i had just been on vacation a few days before that i decided the most responsible thing was to probably work that day. i'm glad i did,because i was showered by all kinds of presents! one of my favorite things about being a teacher is your childrens parents give gifts! i got starbucks giftcards(always welcome no matter what the occasion), a cute baby bamboo tree, and a picture frame. my coworker bought me a cake and i shared it with my class of kids. i'm such a nice teacher. that night my roommate heidi, her friend colin, and i went to see one of heidis favorite bands in seattle. it was a lot of fun and i'm glad they got to spend my day with me!

that's about all i've done since my last blog, all the major things,anyway. i saw tumbledown for i think the 4 millionth time last night. their record comes out may 19th and i'm so excited for that! i hope it sells 56 trillion copies.

so,consider yourself updated. if i think of anything else, i'll post it as soon as i can so my blogs aren't so dang long!

p.s. i might not blog before then...so happy mothers day to all the moms! i hope your day is wonderful!