all the baking soda in the world could not mask the scent of her despair

I had another interview today and when I met the principal he said, "I've heard good things about you." I said, "From whom?" But in my head I'm thinking, "Who told him good things about me? Who would do such a thing?" He told me that the other principal I interviewed with referred me to him and said I had a very good interview. Good, because she thought enough of me to refer me to another principal, bad because it most likely means her position was already filled. I haven't got the official email yet telling me I didn't get the first job but I think it's coming. There is still hope for the second job but after I had the interview I thought of how I could have answered questions better. I think it is kind of played out to say, "my strength is that I love kids too much." but after this interview I realize that is the kind of thing principals want to hear, maybe just not that cheestastically. So instead of pushing how professional, creative or personable (that's right!) I am, I need to slip more, "I love kids" in there. I think I am kind of a good interviewer. You should see me in there, you wouldn't even recognize me. I'm smiling, laughing, making lots of eye contact and just generally charming. I'm going to call it "Interview Shea" or "Work Shea".

Today I reached a new milestone by running 8 miles. I ran for an hour and 16 minutes which is really a long time. I have a lot of time to think when I'm running. I thought a lot today about my interview and how I can improve on my answers. I thought about "The Year of Shea" and that so far it's going pretty well but that I need to work on not letting people, who I don't respect, have control over me. While I was thinking/running, Hanna came downstairs to "life weights" and she looked really cute in her little exercise outfit she put together. So that got me thinking about my kids, who I think are cute, and what features of theirs I wish I had. Yep, I covet my kids features. I decided I would like Grace's hair and lips and Hanna's long skinny legs and arms. Oh and Hanna also has six-pack abs that are pretty amazing. These are just some of the weird things I think about when running. I'm not always thinking and sometimes run for a long time just listening to music while staring at the water heater.

My bestest friend from Michigan, Mel, sent me this shirt from My Mottoz just because she thinks I'm super awesome. Okay it's because I beat her in a running challenge but she is a very worthy adversary and I know I'll be sending her something soon. I was about to go on a bike ride with the kids when this picture was taken. On the ride, Grace wiped out and that just added to my anxiety about them riding their bikes in Beaumont, which is a bit busier than Santaquin. Luckily the neighbours have huge yards with fences so I've decided they must be fenced in at all times. That way, everyone wins! ;)



I was in Target today buying dryer sheets and they had the Bounce dye-free, perfume-free that I normally buy, plus a Target store brand. The store brand was about 50 cents less. This to me, is not a big enough discount for me to buy generic. Then I started thinking about how much something had to be discounted for me to buy generic. I think if it would have been $1 I might have switched. I kind of have a thing where I will not buy certain generic products (Kraft Dinner, Jif, Wheat Thins, GoldFish, Diet Pepsi) but Target could have convinced me to buy generic dryer sheets if they would have discounted them a bit more. How discounted does it have to be for you to buy generic? I guess I should think of any saving as good. Be all thrifty and shit.