Sorry I know it's hard to see through the haze of dust here. It's been a while since I've had THIS much life upheaval that I needed a regular outlet. I'd call that a good thing. Mostly.
And boy have I had material to write about but my computer died a painful death about day 4 of the adventure. While it's been touchy with the power cord for years it appears that all the moving it around was the kiss of death. So it hit low priority to hack into my account because I don't remember logins or passwords for anything... And it's not first in line for technology failure in my life. My first link to the world my cell phone was first in line. IS first in line. Back in may it stopped backing up. It ran out of memory because I'm a spaz with pictures.. I needed to get pictures off to free enough memory to update and I needed to back up the pictures which it wouldn't do....
This is the point where my brother would point out this must be inherently because I use an apple product. And this is the point that I will point out that for 4 years my apple product worked very well..
Back to the current life. Actually let's back up about 6 weeks because that really sets the stage for where we are now.
6 weeks ago (cue music and blurry screen)
We were still in CA. Our moving truck arrived and we had just found tenants for our home. Our home was in the middle of getting new plumbing so that it wouldn't have another plumbing leak while we were renting it out AND it was finally getting the backsplash for the kitchen and new paint.
We hired help. This should have gone beautifully. I should only have needed to finish packing because we were also hiring cleaners.
HOWEVER
the painters. I don't even know where to go with them. I spend 2 days chasing them around wiping up paint they got on everything, including carpet, cabinets and even the rabbit. I kid you not. Supposedly they had a license to paint. I do not believe them at all.
the cleaner spent 3 hours was surprised when I said yes to her 'do you expect me to vacuum?" I could have and did spend 3 DAYS cleaning... and finally gave up.
the movers- I had a perfect system - I had triaged all the boxes - the must move, vs 'if there is room on the truck' move us boxes. The hired movers put everything on the truck, buried 10feet deep. We got the first 1/2 the truck filled with about 1/4 of our household items. As we realized this we started taking everything else apart to the smallest component including all the particle board stuff that will never make it back together again. seriously not sure why we bothered moving it.. but it's on the truck.
The truck itself - ever seen those mini tractor trailers with "ABF" on the side - that's what all our stuff went into. The theory is great- we fill it, they move and store it for us until we have a home. The jury is still out. Right now I'm saying 'never again' and I'll just let the military move us. HOWEVER will will have to pare down our belongings.. we were several thousand pounds over our weight limit and that would have cost us if they were moving us. I have my suspecions about what put us over our limit and 90% sure that of our 6 person family 1 person and all his heavy toys put us well over that limit. I mean really - have you ever weight a gun safe? And he left a TON - technically probably 3 tons of crap in CA.
Now this all is the normal moving stuff. Where the crazy part ratchets up is that we bought a motor home. A 35 foot used motor home. For a great price - so low that we should have known it was a run for the hills sort of deal. Larry is never one to run from a challenge and took it on.
We bought the extended warranty for it - the kind you add on and hope they cover what breaks - thinking 'well, at least it will get fixed when it breaks'
However unlike homes or cars when they break no one is on any sort of urgency time table to fix said thing.
So we picked it up in Jan. took it camping one weekend and found out that the hydraulic parts weren't' working. brought it to a rv fix it place who took custody of it for 2 months. between the "repair" and the extra things Larry needed onto it to tow the car and stabilize it so we didn't kill ourselves driving it.. it was 2 months and not. cheap.
Then he spends 2 weeks doing more add on repairs to add an inverter/welding stuff on the frame, batteries, etc... this is the last month- last weeks- last day we were in CA. When I say that that RV has become a sore spot with me I am not exaggerating. He thinks I over react. I can tell you I don't over-react I just slowly simmer forever until I hit a boil over point. It's been at a hard boil for a while now. I was ready to drive it into straight off a dock into the water yesterday... (spoiler alert: hydraulic parts have been repaired twice now and still don't work)
Have to run. Will be back- Wild offspring have hit their boiling point and I need to go run them for a while outside of this 35 foot cabin.. so off to 100% humidity, the smell of low tide and sweat that can't evaporate even if it tried.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
So it takes a state exam on vaccines for my 3rd grader to bring out my blogging mania.
There really hasn't been all that much time for me to blog. Or I manage it poorly. Or both.
But as a personal discipline thing I 've found as soon as I turn on the computer - even for 'just one quick thing' that minutes suddenly evaporate. And that's a big reason for me to just.leave.it.off. I have internet/email/facebook on my phone and it is there to quickly check when I really only have a few minutes - like in the parent pick up line.. it's finite.
But today, my friends, I picked up kids from said parent pick up line (which itself could be several blog posts on terribly behaving parents) in reply to my question of "how was your day?" I got "TERRIBLE!"
Well, I've gotten that reply once before in response to pre-teen drama. Today was because of the standardized testing.
Of course this is my child that cannot guess if she doesn't know the answer. She NEEDS to know it's right before she'll click submit. I'm sure she'll need therapy and lots of it at some point.
But the question that tripped her up was "what 3 shots are required at 6 months?" and was based on a chart provided.
First of all.. it is 5 shots "required" at 6 months. 6 if you include the oral vaccine as a shot. 7 if you're going to have a 6 month old during flu vaccine season.
Second of all.. this is 3rd grade, not nursing school.
And this makes me wonder "what else are the testing them on?!?!!???" I would like to see a copy of said test, frankly.
In other news..
We survived the Firestorm of the Century. And while I'd like to never, ever go through that again I know full well that we may well enter into North Carolina just in time to experience the hurricane of the century.
If they are going to have another evacuate the school emergency I'd just as soon not be a part of it. Wednesday they evacuated several schools. Including our middle school and elementary school. What happened was the middle school was called first. I don't know what their procedure was but with flames at the driveway apparently they weren't checking IDs or anything. Those parents promptly drove down to the elementary school and started pickup up their younger kids.
However, the elementary has a brand new "you much have your ID checked against the master emergency contact card policy" which means.. it's not as simple as releasing the hounds. They have the parent stay in the tiny office while they page the kid. On a normal day it takes my kids 20 minutes to be released if I have to take them out early for an apt or something.
So.. you can imagine as it's snowing ashes on the school grounds the level of panic was building as the line of parents was out the door and down the road. literally.
I was blissfully unaware at work that there was any sort of thing going on until the manager looked especially panicked and asked if "I was OK?" and while working there often I have not OK days it wasn't the worst. I said "am I supposed to not be ok?" when she told me the county was on fire and they were waiting for instructions on what to do. About 10 minutes later my neighbor texted me the picture from her backyard of flames and told me she was getting her son, should she get mine, also?
I left. Right then. They couldn't find my last patient and I told them if they did find her, they had lost me, got in the car and hit Armageddon levels of traffic.
So.. what I had never planned for in all our "if it hits the fan" scenarios was what to do when all major roadways are gridlocked/closed due to fire. Most of the freeways were closed due to fires and it blocked the secondary roads. I'm a country girl. I know pretty much every secondary/tertiary/unimproved road, paved or no. But it still took an hour to get to the school.
Once there...
A little background - we live in the "country" here. This means that this is horse country. LOTS of horses and when you evacuate you take said horses with you. So.. at the school parking lot it looked like Noah's ark- trucks, horse trailers left any which way, everyone with a pet was up there. Dogs on leashes galore. No one could leave anything in a car since it was over 100 degrees... so just picture a line of 300 panicking parents, 100 barking dogs and horses and horse trailers in smoke and ash.. it was.. awesome.
While in said line, which of course moved up at a snails pace they decide to send out the emergency call to evacuate. This means that now EVERYONE has to be called and show up with ID and pick up their kid. There is no waiting until 2:30 to get in the drive though lane (which it jammed with horses) Pure chaos. We got home and later that evening we got a robo call from school 'thanking everyone for their patience as they followed their safety procedures' (well I was there there were alot of NOT patient people, I guess this is the new rule on changing parental behavior) and they were 'proud to announce all students were safely released to an emergency contact by 5 pm" Are you kidding?! it took them 5 hours?! What if this was an actual emergency??? Call 911??? I'd actually be surprised if there weren't parents calling 911 from the back of the line.
Yet another check in the "homeschool next year" column. Because in the unlikely event of an actual emergency you just can't depend on them handling it they way you'd like them to.
And now I bet they will add a new drill to the school drills- fire, earthquake, lockdown and now fire-surrounding-the-school drills.
So.. since our earthy possessions were not reduced to ash I have started culling and packing things. The fire and packing the cars to evacuate gave real perspective on life, though - everything priceless and irreplaceable easily fit in the car. The rest is mostly for sale on Craiglist.
Edited to Add: Bragging moment:
One of my kids tested highest in his class on all the standardized tests. Of both classes. His sister was close behind.
While I don't usually take this testing stuff seriously or brag about it- this time it means something because of THAT other parent. You know the one that on an open house night with EVERYOTHER parent there she has to make sure she asks if the teacher it up to teaching her more advanced children? Because they're so brilliant and all.. And she asks several times in a few different ways because they need to be taught more and challenged, etc... etc... YES. My twins beat your twins.!! But I won't be making any announcement to the class. just here. Although I guess next year those top spots will be open again for her kids.. bah.
But as a personal discipline thing I 've found as soon as I turn on the computer - even for 'just one quick thing' that minutes suddenly evaporate. And that's a big reason for me to just.leave.it.off. I have internet/email/facebook on my phone and it is there to quickly check when I really only have a few minutes - like in the parent pick up line.. it's finite.
But today, my friends, I picked up kids from said parent pick up line (which itself could be several blog posts on terribly behaving parents) in reply to my question of "how was your day?" I got "TERRIBLE!"
Well, I've gotten that reply once before in response to pre-teen drama. Today was because of the standardized testing.
Of course this is my child that cannot guess if she doesn't know the answer. She NEEDS to know it's right before she'll click submit. I'm sure she'll need therapy and lots of it at some point.
But the question that tripped her up was "what 3 shots are required at 6 months?" and was based on a chart provided.
First of all.. it is 5 shots "required" at 6 months. 6 if you include the oral vaccine as a shot. 7 if you're going to have a 6 month old during flu vaccine season.
Second of all.. this is 3rd grade, not nursing school.
And this makes me wonder "what else are the testing them on?!?!!???" I would like to see a copy of said test, frankly.
In other news..
We survived the Firestorm of the Century. And while I'd like to never, ever go through that again I know full well that we may well enter into North Carolina just in time to experience the hurricane of the century.
If they are going to have another evacuate the school emergency I'd just as soon not be a part of it. Wednesday they evacuated several schools. Including our middle school and elementary school. What happened was the middle school was called first. I don't know what their procedure was but with flames at the driveway apparently they weren't checking IDs or anything. Those parents promptly drove down to the elementary school and started pickup up their younger kids.
However, the elementary has a brand new "you much have your ID checked against the master emergency contact card policy" which means.. it's not as simple as releasing the hounds. They have the parent stay in the tiny office while they page the kid. On a normal day it takes my kids 20 minutes to be released if I have to take them out early for an apt or something.
So.. you can imagine as it's snowing ashes on the school grounds the level of panic was building as the line of parents was out the door and down the road. literally.
I was blissfully unaware at work that there was any sort of thing going on until the manager looked especially panicked and asked if "I was OK?" and while working there often I have not OK days it wasn't the worst. I said "am I supposed to not be ok?" when she told me the county was on fire and they were waiting for instructions on what to do. About 10 minutes later my neighbor texted me the picture from her backyard of flames and told me she was getting her son, should she get mine, also?
I left. Right then. They couldn't find my last patient and I told them if they did find her, they had lost me, got in the car and hit Armageddon levels of traffic.
So.. what I had never planned for in all our "if it hits the fan" scenarios was what to do when all major roadways are gridlocked/closed due to fire. Most of the freeways were closed due to fires and it blocked the secondary roads. I'm a country girl. I know pretty much every secondary/tertiary/unimproved road, paved or no. But it still took an hour to get to the school.
Once there...
A little background - we live in the "country" here. This means that this is horse country. LOTS of horses and when you evacuate you take said horses with you. So.. at the school parking lot it looked like Noah's ark- trucks, horse trailers left any which way, everyone with a pet was up there. Dogs on leashes galore. No one could leave anything in a car since it was over 100 degrees... so just picture a line of 300 panicking parents, 100 barking dogs and horses and horse trailers in smoke and ash.. it was.. awesome.
While in said line, which of course moved up at a snails pace they decide to send out the emergency call to evacuate. This means that now EVERYONE has to be called and show up with ID and pick up their kid. There is no waiting until 2:30 to get in the drive though lane (which it jammed with horses) Pure chaos. We got home and later that evening we got a robo call from school 'thanking everyone for their patience as they followed their safety procedures' (well I was there there were alot of NOT patient people, I guess this is the new rule on changing parental behavior) and they were 'proud to announce all students were safely released to an emergency contact by 5 pm" Are you kidding?! it took them 5 hours?! What if this was an actual emergency??? Call 911??? I'd actually be surprised if there weren't parents calling 911 from the back of the line.
Yet another check in the "homeschool next year" column. Because in the unlikely event of an actual emergency you just can't depend on them handling it they way you'd like them to.
And now I bet they will add a new drill to the school drills- fire, earthquake, lockdown and now fire-surrounding-the-school drills.
So.. since our earthy possessions were not reduced to ash I have started culling and packing things. The fire and packing the cars to evacuate gave real perspective on life, though - everything priceless and irreplaceable easily fit in the car. The rest is mostly for sale on Craiglist.
Edited to Add: Bragging moment:
One of my kids tested highest in his class on all the standardized tests. Of both classes. His sister was close behind.
While I don't usually take this testing stuff seriously or brag about it- this time it means something because of THAT other parent. You know the one that on an open house night with EVERYOTHER parent there she has to make sure she asks if the teacher it up to teaching her more advanced children? Because they're so brilliant and all.. And she asks several times in a few different ways because they need to be taught more and challenged, etc... etc... YES. My twins beat your twins.!! But I won't be making any announcement to the class. just here. Although I guess next year those top spots will be open again for her kids.. bah.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Am I just that cranky today?
We're only 2 days into Larry's week of night call so I really shouldn't be that cranky yet. But this afternoon I was considering joining one of those species that eats their young. Not that I really would, but...
A prime example of the day was at "parent pick up" time. Other schools have school buses. We all have to get into one of 2 assigned lines and wait for a teacher with a megaphone to call our kids to the curb. TODAY 2 kids decide to do the 'no you go in first' dance while the rest of the dozens of parents/kids wait for them to GET.IN.THE.CAR Next time I leave their butts. Seriously. I threatened to do that when one of my dear cherubs decided to not hear her name called maybe 12 times, ignored her sibling who went to get her, so she could finish her game/conversation.
So I bring that home to try to keep them from killing each other or inciting others to kill them. I know when they were little my goal was to raise them to be perfect little beings. Now I'm just happy that when they finally fall asleep that they're all still alive. Today they had to fight over a pencil (twice, actually) we easily have 100 pencils here. THIS pencil, was worth 1000 pencils, of course, and it wasn't like they were even doing homework with it! No, better, they were writing in each other's notebooks either scribbling nonsense or calling each other names in writing. But wait! It gets better in the course of the pencil snatching, running away/holding it behind their back/you-can't-get-it game that was going on, someone gets stabbed in the face with the pencil. FAILING parenting here. And I quit before someone looses an eye and I get to explain THAT to the emergency room.
So I finally get them in bed, confiscate the flashlights and all other forms of light that are allowing them to fight sleep and I see a "you must see" military tribute movie.. ok. I need SOMETHING to put me in a better more before I end up eating chocolate with wine and playing some stupid game on the computer.. Ah, it has world war II vets, that's touching. Yes, that war sucked and no the current generation doesn't get it. Oh, wait, there's saluting.. OK, yeah, I can see the Vets saluting the new guys, it's a respect thing.. no wait.. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? DIRECTOR!! Did you research military protocol? The civilian kids don't saulte! Civilians don't salute. Sure stand in respect.. but. ARGH. We have been a military family too long. I can no longer watch all those stupid military feel good things without pointing out the incorrect stuff about it. Medical shows, also gone. The leaves the shows on vampires, which is just so ... eh.. Maybe if we had cable I'd watch something with food. Or not. Then I'd be hungry.
Yep it's just a cranky nothing going to fix this sort of night. I'll go find the chocolate. Chocolate fixes everything but my clothing size.
A prime example of the day was at "parent pick up" time. Other schools have school buses. We all have to get into one of 2 assigned lines and wait for a teacher with a megaphone to call our kids to the curb. TODAY 2 kids decide to do the 'no you go in first' dance while the rest of the dozens of parents/kids wait for them to GET.IN.THE.CAR Next time I leave their butts. Seriously. I threatened to do that when one of my dear cherubs decided to not hear her name called maybe 12 times, ignored her sibling who went to get her, so she could finish her game/conversation.
So I bring that home to try to keep them from killing each other or inciting others to kill them. I know when they were little my goal was to raise them to be perfect little beings. Now I'm just happy that when they finally fall asleep that they're all still alive. Today they had to fight over a pencil (twice, actually) we easily have 100 pencils here. THIS pencil, was worth 1000 pencils, of course, and it wasn't like they were even doing homework with it! No, better, they were writing in each other's notebooks either scribbling nonsense or calling each other names in writing. But wait! It gets better in the course of the pencil snatching, running away/holding it behind their back/you-can't-get-it game that was going on, someone gets stabbed in the face with the pencil. FAILING parenting here. And I quit before someone looses an eye and I get to explain THAT to the emergency room.
So I finally get them in bed, confiscate the flashlights and all other forms of light that are allowing them to fight sleep and I see a "you must see" military tribute movie.. ok. I need SOMETHING to put me in a better more before I end up eating chocolate with wine and playing some stupid game on the computer.. Ah, it has world war II vets, that's touching. Yes, that war sucked and no the current generation doesn't get it. Oh, wait, there's saluting.. OK, yeah, I can see the Vets saluting the new guys, it's a respect thing.. no wait.. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? DIRECTOR!! Did you research military protocol? The civilian kids don't saulte! Civilians don't salute. Sure stand in respect.. but. ARGH. We have been a military family too long. I can no longer watch all those stupid military feel good things without pointing out the incorrect stuff about it. Medical shows, also gone. The leaves the shows on vampires, which is just so ... eh.. Maybe if we had cable I'd watch something with food. Or not. Then I'd be hungry.
Yep it's just a cranky nothing going to fix this sort of night. I'll go find the chocolate. Chocolate fixes everything but my clothing size.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Life marches on
And I have so little to say these days.
The kids are fine. School is ok. One of the teachers has found an app that can tell me minute by minute my child's behavior. or so it seems. I get about 6 emails a day from it. And I'm going to start charting the mood of the teacher based on the calendar/moon/astrological signs. She makes me crazy.
Although crazy is the people I see at work. Literally. And then I realize it's much easier to work in a place you know you are leaving in a few months. And I started collecting boxes for this move. From work. It's kinda fitting.
We bought an RV to do this cross country nomad thing this time. One of my bigger complaints in the whole moving thing was that we were essentially homeless for 4 weeks. This time we will have a home, it has an engine. Although the whole forwarding address thing I still need to work out some details on.
The RV is used. And was (relatively, as far as motorhomes go) cheap. This means that Larry has been spending a fair amount of time trying to get it to run as it's supposed to. This was after 3 visits to pick up said RV without it being mechanically sound/repaired. It's been a learning experience. Part of that learning experience involves learning just how upset an RV parked on the street makes some people. Apparently, some people wish they lived in a area with an HOA. They leave anonymous notes in all caps sharpie marker handwriting. Give a very unstable serial killer vibe. We of course are not the sort who like to live in an HOA so we did not chose a house in a neighborhood that had one. And quoting city laws as county laws does not cause us to bend to anonymous letter's wills....
We still do not have written orders which means we can't continue our moving plans or reservations. The whole lack of orders thing is SOP here these days because of the budget/money/govt. While some are more than willing to mortgage our future and send aid to every country BUT the US.. they think the DOD is too big and too many expenses and so it's been a problem for some time now. Don't get me started.
So without written orders in hand I have started collecting moving boxes and purging and estimating weights and amount of moving truck we'll need and realize... we still have alot of stuff. Like a full 27 foot truck worth. But moving has it's good points - like the every 3-4 year looking at everything we own and deciding if it's something we really need afterall.. we keep the treasured, the memories... Nostalgia need not apply. She confuses everything.
The kids are fine. School is ok. One of the teachers has found an app that can tell me minute by minute my child's behavior. or so it seems. I get about 6 emails a day from it. And I'm going to start charting the mood of the teacher based on the calendar/moon/astrological signs. She makes me crazy.
Although crazy is the people I see at work. Literally. And then I realize it's much easier to work in a place you know you are leaving in a few months. And I started collecting boxes for this move. From work. It's kinda fitting.
We bought an RV to do this cross country nomad thing this time. One of my bigger complaints in the whole moving thing was that we were essentially homeless for 4 weeks. This time we will have a home, it has an engine. Although the whole forwarding address thing I still need to work out some details on.
The RV is used. And was (relatively, as far as motorhomes go) cheap. This means that Larry has been spending a fair amount of time trying to get it to run as it's supposed to. This was after 3 visits to pick up said RV without it being mechanically sound/repaired. It's been a learning experience. Part of that learning experience involves learning just how upset an RV parked on the street makes some people. Apparently, some people wish they lived in a area with an HOA. They leave anonymous notes in all caps sharpie marker handwriting. Give a very unstable serial killer vibe. We of course are not the sort who like to live in an HOA so we did not chose a house in a neighborhood that had one. And quoting city laws as county laws does not cause us to bend to anonymous letter's wills....
We still do not have written orders which means we can't continue our moving plans or reservations. The whole lack of orders thing is SOP here these days because of the budget/money/govt. While some are more than willing to mortgage our future and send aid to every country BUT the US.. they think the DOD is too big and too many expenses and so it's been a problem for some time now. Don't get me started.
So without written orders in hand I have started collecting moving boxes and purging and estimating weights and amount of moving truck we'll need and realize... we still have alot of stuff. Like a full 27 foot truck worth. But moving has it's good points - like the every 3-4 year looking at everything we own and deciding if it's something we really need afterall.. we keep the treasured, the memories... Nostalgia need not apply. She confuses everything.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Did you get my Christmas card?
If you did it's a miracle since I didn't send any.
Again.
I will next year, since it's pretty likely that we'll have a new address. Although I say that and I think only 5 people bother sending us cards this year. Maybe I'll just send those people a card in October with the new address. Assuming we have one by then. If I send it before Halloween can it count as a seriously delinquent and rather early card?
But since so many others do a year in review letter with their cards, maybe I'll do that here.
So let's see....
2013
We did some memorable things. On the homestead front we went to a Rabbit raising and butchering class. Then we bought the cages to raise said rabbits.
And then I had a healthy smack to the head from reality and we never did get the rabbits. I sold half the cages, but I still have 1/2 of them left, for a really good price, if anyone would like them.
The healthy smack from reality came from the 2013 great quail massacre. I'll spare you the gory details, but they were very gory. And my dear sweet husband was away that month. So upon his arrival I informed him that there will be no further quail and no further talk of rabbit. I'm not sure he completely believed me because he moved and kept the quail cages, but they are unoccupied.
We still have a few chickens. I'm not sure if we are really terrible chicken owners or if they just aren't meant to live that long, but between selling 3 and nature we're down to 5 chickens. And a rabbit and a cat.
The cat was a recent addition this spring. We'd had 2 cats in the previous year disappear, so a free kitten to make child k stop crying about wanting a new kitten to replace the previously disappeared 2 seemed like a short lived solution to the problem. Previous attempts at feline domestication here lasted 2 months at most. This cat is going on a year. And I'm pretty sure the second I put down the chunk of change to get her fixed, she too will disappear, so I need to time this right that we're not going to be moving a cat across country with us. But I'm jumping ahead of myself.
We had my parents visit and threw a joint JM/Kayla party at that time. I'm in the midst of trying to plan 2 parties 2 weeks apart and realizing that as much as they don't like the whole "share our birthday party" thing it was at least on my end, somewhat easier. But as it is, we're aiming for 2 separate but slightly equal parties.
The kids survived school and I've never had such a breath of relief when Joey promoted out of his class last year. I'm still stunned that she's still employed but we all know nepotism is alive and well. At the risk of sounding like an overbearing whiny difficult parent I still think about writing a letter to the principal and superintendent about what I think they really should address. Although it's not my battle anymore. But heaven knows I do like writing to people to try to right wrongs. Or at least write about the writing I want to write is probably more accurate.
We went to Texas to become Texas residents and crash at my brother's home and pretend like we'd be able to move there in the next decade.
We went to Colorado to meet my family for a first in a long time family reunion. While I may not have appreciated the rustic bedding, cold and rainy temperatures and terrible food my kids reported that it was the absolute best vacation. ever. based on the horse back riding, zip lining, dodgeballing and craft hall. And the cousins. I think you could take the cousins to a landfill and they'd have fun. And the boys would probably try to out boy the others. We've added 4 more national parks to our travels and pictures. THIS year I promise myself I'm going to actually make photobooks.
This starting school year, 2013-2014 in historical fashion, of all the teachers there was one "anyone but Ms X" that I don't even remember speaking aloud that we got as a teacher. But what doesn't kill us will make us stronger and will make a psychiatrist rich in the future... I might have filed myself as a private school with the state so that I could remove him from his public school and into my private school when I've totally had enough. Of course this won't be compatible with my attempt to work school hours. And this may well be our option next year. More on next year(this year) later.
Kayla's class had a play, an environmental play. (I am beginning to think this is the only kind of play an elementary school puts on, having now sat through 4 kids in 4 plays all of them having an environmental theme.) She was the "moderately good witch" and did a good job of it. I have video I haven't tried to get off the camera yet. We don't use the video camera. I don't know why, I don't. But I busted it out for this only to realize that the memory card that I use in my normal camera didn't fit. So assuming the video camera has internal memory (I assume this, since I do remember taping something once) taping shows my age. I mean RECORDING something and uploading it with some complicated online program. Anyway, as the moderately good witch's mom, I got to costume said child and she totally rocked the old bridesmaid dress that had the bottom hemmed irregularly. Glad my mom had that hanging around.
2013 was our "disney" year where we purchased southern California annual passes and went on every non blocked out school holiday and one non school holiday we played hookey to hang out with my cousin visiting from Washington. While I still think Disney is kinda magical, having raised our kids on less Disney than I think I was raised on, it seems less overall magical to the kids, I think. And maybe they just overdosed on it because the last time we went they were little complain-y about it and really wanted to go swimming instead. So much for magic.
We did a farewell tour of New England this October. My parents have been trying to sell their house so they can either live in a RV (not likely) or move in next to my brother in Texas (more likely) because winter, retirement, golf taxes, grandchildren, etc... Although it appears that while many people want to move, few of them want to move into a large house on a pond in Connecticut. especially in winter. So they left CT in Nov and are doing the southern US grandchildren tour. We got them first and had company for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is about a rare as unicorn sightings at the zoo. They have recently moved on to Texas and will follow that tour with a trip to Florida. Some of us learned that winter and New England is better to visit than live through yearly. Not that Larry and I have a whole lot of say in the matter as long as he's in the Navy.
And that elephant in the room is that in all likelihood we will be moving this summer. It was definite that we'll be moving to Camp Lejeune, NC but there's still a very slim chance we'll be staying here. Unicorn slim. And to that end I'm going through the stuff we've accumulated and doing the "will it survive another military move?" and starting to sell stuff and plan on selling it. Including cars, furniture, etc. And this means the house is getting finished. Because it takes MOVING from it for it to every be 100% done. So the unfinished part particle board mantle was finally painted, tile for the fireplace surround was bought and a back splash is going to happen in the kitchen. Finally. Although it needs a new paint job and that's on the list for this week/month also.
To accomplish this move we've decided we're going to get an RV. We've 90% of the way done buying it, we're waiting to hear the repairs are done and then we'll go pick it up later this month. I'm sure it will be fodder for stories. And in addition to selling every vehicle we currently own, we're looking for one that seats all of us that weighs less than 5000 lbs and is towable. I'm planning our trip in vague details we have a few national parks we haven't yet gotten to experience and there are 4 or 5 states I haven't been in as an adult, so I'm thinking we'll have to hit those, too. besides driving through the southern US desert in the summer is just so 2013. I think 2014 will have to include Mount Rushmore, Badlands, and perhaps Niagra falls and Quebec. We're probably going to spend the amount of some small country's GNP in gas to pull this off, but hey, this is why we're a Navy family - see the world and all that stuff. Of course we are very very grateful that the world we're seeing is the continental US/Canada. We weren't super exited at the prospects of Japan and Korea all all places hanging out on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Maybe next time.
2014 brings Joey's enrollment into First Tee. My dad should be happy but it's a program that helps kids learn golf. He did orientation on Saturday and his first golf lesson is wednesday. Sadly there isn't one of these programs in Lajeune, but we'll enjoy it while he can, I guess. He's super excited he can earn enough points to "buy" new gold clubs through the program, and I'm excited that his parents' lack of any golf skills and knowledge won't inhibit his chances at the PGA.
So tomorrow brings the return to drudgery of work and school and getting up and packing lunches. Some things change. Some things don't.
Again.
I will next year, since it's pretty likely that we'll have a new address. Although I say that and I think only 5 people bother sending us cards this year. Maybe I'll just send those people a card in October with the new address. Assuming we have one by then. If I send it before Halloween can it count as a seriously delinquent and rather early card?
But since so many others do a year in review letter with their cards, maybe I'll do that here.
So let's see....
2013
We did some memorable things. On the homestead front we went to a Rabbit raising and butchering class. Then we bought the cages to raise said rabbits.
And then I had a healthy smack to the head from reality and we never did get the rabbits. I sold half the cages, but I still have 1/2 of them left, for a really good price, if anyone would like them.
The healthy smack from reality came from the 2013 great quail massacre. I'll spare you the gory details, but they were very gory. And my dear sweet husband was away that month. So upon his arrival I informed him that there will be no further quail and no further talk of rabbit. I'm not sure he completely believed me because he moved and kept the quail cages, but they are unoccupied.
We still have a few chickens. I'm not sure if we are really terrible chicken owners or if they just aren't meant to live that long, but between selling 3 and nature we're down to 5 chickens. And a rabbit and a cat.
The cat was a recent addition this spring. We'd had 2 cats in the previous year disappear, so a free kitten to make child k stop crying about wanting a new kitten to replace the previously disappeared 2 seemed like a short lived solution to the problem. Previous attempts at feline domestication here lasted 2 months at most. This cat is going on a year. And I'm pretty sure the second I put down the chunk of change to get her fixed, she too will disappear, so I need to time this right that we're not going to be moving a cat across country with us. But I'm jumping ahead of myself.
We had my parents visit and threw a joint JM/Kayla party at that time. I'm in the midst of trying to plan 2 parties 2 weeks apart and realizing that as much as they don't like the whole "share our birthday party" thing it was at least on my end, somewhat easier. But as it is, we're aiming for 2 separate but slightly equal parties.
The kids survived school and I've never had such a breath of relief when Joey promoted out of his class last year. I'm still stunned that she's still employed but we all know nepotism is alive and well. At the risk of sounding like an overbearing whiny difficult parent I still think about writing a letter to the principal and superintendent about what I think they really should address. Although it's not my battle anymore. But heaven knows I do like writing to people to try to right wrongs. Or at least write about the writing I want to write is probably more accurate.
We went to Texas to become Texas residents and crash at my brother's home and pretend like we'd be able to move there in the next decade.
We went to Colorado to meet my family for a first in a long time family reunion. While I may not have appreciated the rustic bedding, cold and rainy temperatures and terrible food my kids reported that it was the absolute best vacation. ever. based on the horse back riding, zip lining, dodgeballing and craft hall. And the cousins. I think you could take the cousins to a landfill and they'd have fun. And the boys would probably try to out boy the others. We've added 4 more national parks to our travels and pictures. THIS year I promise myself I'm going to actually make photobooks.
This starting school year, 2013-2014 in historical fashion, of all the teachers there was one "anyone but Ms X" that I don't even remember speaking aloud that we got as a teacher. But what doesn't kill us will make us stronger and will make a psychiatrist rich in the future... I might have filed myself as a private school with the state so that I could remove him from his public school and into my private school when I've totally had enough. Of course this won't be compatible with my attempt to work school hours. And this may well be our option next year. More on next year(this year) later.
Kayla's class had a play, an environmental play. (I am beginning to think this is the only kind of play an elementary school puts on, having now sat through 4 kids in 4 plays all of them having an environmental theme.) She was the "moderately good witch" and did a good job of it. I have video I haven't tried to get off the camera yet. We don't use the video camera. I don't know why, I don't. But I busted it out for this only to realize that the memory card that I use in my normal camera didn't fit. So assuming the video camera has internal memory (I assume this, since I do remember taping something once) taping shows my age. I mean RECORDING something and uploading it with some complicated online program. Anyway, as the moderately good witch's mom, I got to costume said child and she totally rocked the old bridesmaid dress that had the bottom hemmed irregularly. Glad my mom had that hanging around.
2013 was our "disney" year where we purchased southern California annual passes and went on every non blocked out school holiday and one non school holiday we played hookey to hang out with my cousin visiting from Washington. While I still think Disney is kinda magical, having raised our kids on less Disney than I think I was raised on, it seems less overall magical to the kids, I think. And maybe they just overdosed on it because the last time we went they were little complain-y about it and really wanted to go swimming instead. So much for magic.
We did a farewell tour of New England this October. My parents have been trying to sell their house so they can either live in a RV (not likely) or move in next to my brother in Texas (more likely) because winter, retirement, golf taxes, grandchildren, etc... Although it appears that while many people want to move, few of them want to move into a large house on a pond in Connecticut. especially in winter. So they left CT in Nov and are doing the southern US grandchildren tour. We got them first and had company for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is about a rare as unicorn sightings at the zoo. They have recently moved on to Texas and will follow that tour with a trip to Florida. Some of us learned that winter and New England is better to visit than live through yearly. Not that Larry and I have a whole lot of say in the matter as long as he's in the Navy.
And that elephant in the room is that in all likelihood we will be moving this summer. It was definite that we'll be moving to Camp Lejeune, NC but there's still a very slim chance we'll be staying here. Unicorn slim. And to that end I'm going through the stuff we've accumulated and doing the "will it survive another military move?" and starting to sell stuff and plan on selling it. Including cars, furniture, etc. And this means the house is getting finished. Because it takes MOVING from it for it to every be 100% done. So the unfinished part particle board mantle was finally painted, tile for the fireplace surround was bought and a back splash is going to happen in the kitchen. Finally. Although it needs a new paint job and that's on the list for this week/month also.
To accomplish this move we've decided we're going to get an RV. We've 90% of the way done buying it, we're waiting to hear the repairs are done and then we'll go pick it up later this month. I'm sure it will be fodder for stories. And in addition to selling every vehicle we currently own, we're looking for one that seats all of us that weighs less than 5000 lbs and is towable. I'm planning our trip in vague details we have a few national parks we haven't yet gotten to experience and there are 4 or 5 states I haven't been in as an adult, so I'm thinking we'll have to hit those, too. besides driving through the southern US desert in the summer is just so 2013. I think 2014 will have to include Mount Rushmore, Badlands, and perhaps Niagra falls and Quebec. We're probably going to spend the amount of some small country's GNP in gas to pull this off, but hey, this is why we're a Navy family - see the world and all that stuff. Of course we are very very grateful that the world we're seeing is the continental US/Canada. We weren't super exited at the prospects of Japan and Korea all all places hanging out on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Maybe next time.
2014 brings Joey's enrollment into First Tee. My dad should be happy but it's a program that helps kids learn golf. He did orientation on Saturday and his first golf lesson is wednesday. Sadly there isn't one of these programs in Lajeune, but we'll enjoy it while he can, I guess. He's super excited he can earn enough points to "buy" new gold clubs through the program, and I'm excited that his parents' lack of any golf skills and knowledge won't inhibit his chances at the PGA.
So tomorrow brings the return to drudgery of work and school and getting up and packing lunches. Some things change. Some things don't.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Another beautiful day in the neighborhood
I realize the blog is woefully neglected. I just so rarely get online and even more rarely remember anything to say. It was far more an outlet for the insanity of life when I was cooped up at home all day with young kids I was attempting to homeschool. Life is still chaos now, but the chaos leaves the home.
So, in happy news my annual skin test for TB was negative. Totally surprised me since it was 'almost' positive last year and I got to see 2 people with active TB this year (yea!). In other happy news we haven't lost the cat, yet. Although when we were at the vaccine clinic for it, Kayla wanted to trade it in for a turtle. I let it outside and then she cried that it was going to get eaten. I tell you, I can't win with her.
I'll start with her, I guess. The excitement of the month is that her class is putting on a play. An propaganda rich "environmental play" wherein she is the "moderately good witch" who was demoted from good to moderately good because she recycled the tin man. I'll post pictures, it's next week. She does well at everything except deal with any emotion or adversity. And she started writing notes to her teacher on her math scrap paper about "needing a break" for a certain boy in her class. I saw this and asked Kayla about it, she said the teacher already talked to her about it and told her to just yell at said boy when he's bothering her.
Yeah. That's really going to work. You do know that she's bothered by the fact that he breathes the same air in the room as her? Giving her permission to yell at others who annoy us is kinda the exact opposite of what we teach here. But, hey, your classroom, your rules. When you change your mind I'll understand. She still won't be permitted to screech like a banshee at her siblings when she has problems with them at home.
Sonia.... well.... I'm getting home "incomplete AGAIN!!!" underlined about 3 times with places for me, her parent to sign. Apparently if it's not something she's interested in or feels it's due or doesn't start when everyone else does but rather the 5 min before it's due.. it's not getting done. Am I surprised? not at all. This is actually the first teacher who thinks she should have her school work done when the rest of the class has it done. As far as I know the homework is getting done, but again, I'm not signing anything or checking anything. I'm only signing the incomplete school work packets. No, I don't get it. Not even going to pretend to.
She did get to go to the "daddy daughter" dance at church this month. Cowboy theme. I have a picture somewhere. Larry got that evening off. Sonia was quite excited and happy. Although apparently Larry plays redneck a bit too well, because in talking to one of the other dads, he gave the impression that he drove tractors for a living. They didn't have much in common. Aside from having a 4th or 5th grade daughter.
Joey is the steady one of the bunch. Still has his quirks. But does well in school and sports. Finished up soccer season with a 0 win season. But he never got discouraged and the coaches did try.. it was not a well divided up age group. We were by far the youngest and smallest team. Our one "big" kid was the average size of the other teams, and when the other team kicks at about your own kid's head level it's hard to watch. But he managed to escape with all his teeth and no closed head injuries - so big win there! He's moved up to being the kid primarily responsible for the chickens and gets paid for it. He likes getting paid.
Jon/JM seems to be able to drive me batty in nanoseconds. But still my most attached kid. This week I was down with the stomach bug that took out most of our family for a night and Larry told him to leave me alone. When I surfaced for a drink you'd think he hadn't seen me for a year. It's kinda weird. I probably overthink about it. Does great at sports. The joke being he's going to go to college on a sports scholarship. He was the highest scoring kid on his soccer team despite missing 3(or 4?) games and spending the last one on defense. He is doing well academically in school. I was there this week to volunteer in his class and noticed that the class is now down 4 kids from last month. Still waiting to see how this year is going to play out or if I'm going to pull him to homeschool or put him in a charter. The whole common core stuff is a little unsettled at this grade. While the whole revisionist history stuff is going on at older grades, JM's teacher said they need to raise the standards they are teaching to match common core. So I'm hearing California standards are the standards for a state with a 40+% ESL population and when/if we transfer to another state we're going to have to go back to hoping for a football scholarship? Whatever. This whole teaching propaganda for a standardized test has grown old. I've got no problems with propaganda if it's something I agree with.. in this case.. uh....... no.
Work.. blah. I'm just a cog in the wheel there. And a pretty uncooperative one at that. I resent that my entire day is micromanaged by a half dozen people or more who want percentages of things addressed/clicked/immunized and quotas of people seen... sigh. I was told I needed "more training" on the new Nextgen system and that I needed to schedule that but nothing further on how to do that. Last month. I didn't know I needed more training, since I *thought* I was more or less doing it right. Apparently more less than more. But it's not like I see it as a priority. When I took those "what are your talents" surveys that sent my bleeding heart into nursing no where on there did it have a talent for computer savvy categorizing every person into a click box and churning through 4/hour. As I tell them, when I went into nursing it was BECAUSE it was a field you didn't have to stare at a computer all day. I had no desire to be a numbers crunching accountant or actuarial clerk. This EHR stuff stinks. Thank you, Government.
Well, it appears that my masses of yearning to be free masses expect me to feed them dinner. Except for the one in bed with the stomach bug.
Speaking of.. are my kids the only ones that seem to need to come to the kitchen/dining/living rooms to announce they feel sick followed a split second later by demonstrating? I swear it's impossible to get them to understand 'if you are going to throw up, please do so IN THE TOILET!" not the floor, dining room table while others are eating, etc.... Sigh.. hopefully we're on the last day or 2 of this. If not, I'm going to need more rug cleaner. And probably a stronger stomach.
So, in happy news my annual skin test for TB was negative. Totally surprised me since it was 'almost' positive last year and I got to see 2 people with active TB this year (yea!). In other happy news we haven't lost the cat, yet. Although when we were at the vaccine clinic for it, Kayla wanted to trade it in for a turtle. I let it outside and then she cried that it was going to get eaten. I tell you, I can't win with her.
I'll start with her, I guess. The excitement of the month is that her class is putting on a play. An propaganda rich "environmental play" wherein she is the "moderately good witch" who was demoted from good to moderately good because she recycled the tin man. I'll post pictures, it's next week. She does well at everything except deal with any emotion or adversity. And she started writing notes to her teacher on her math scrap paper about "needing a break" for a certain boy in her class. I saw this and asked Kayla about it, she said the teacher already talked to her about it and told her to just yell at said boy when he's bothering her.
Yeah. That's really going to work. You do know that she's bothered by the fact that he breathes the same air in the room as her? Giving her permission to yell at others who annoy us is kinda the exact opposite of what we teach here. But, hey, your classroom, your rules. When you change your mind I'll understand. She still won't be permitted to screech like a banshee at her siblings when she has problems with them at home.
Sonia.... well.... I'm getting home "incomplete AGAIN!!!" underlined about 3 times with places for me, her parent to sign. Apparently if it's not something she's interested in or feels it's due or doesn't start when everyone else does but rather the 5 min before it's due.. it's not getting done. Am I surprised? not at all. This is actually the first teacher who thinks she should have her school work done when the rest of the class has it done. As far as I know the homework is getting done, but again, I'm not signing anything or checking anything. I'm only signing the incomplete school work packets. No, I don't get it. Not even going to pretend to.
She did get to go to the "daddy daughter" dance at church this month. Cowboy theme. I have a picture somewhere. Larry got that evening off. Sonia was quite excited and happy. Although apparently Larry plays redneck a bit too well, because in talking to one of the other dads, he gave the impression that he drove tractors for a living. They didn't have much in common. Aside from having a 4th or 5th grade daughter.
Jon/JM seems to be able to drive me batty in nanoseconds. But still my most attached kid. This week I was down with the stomach bug that took out most of our family for a night and Larry told him to leave me alone. When I surfaced for a drink you'd think he hadn't seen me for a year. It's kinda weird. I probably overthink about it. Does great at sports. The joke being he's going to go to college on a sports scholarship. He was the highest scoring kid on his soccer team despite missing 3(or 4?) games and spending the last one on defense. He is doing well academically in school. I was there this week to volunteer in his class and noticed that the class is now down 4 kids from last month. Still waiting to see how this year is going to play out or if I'm going to pull him to homeschool or put him in a charter. The whole common core stuff is a little unsettled at this grade. While the whole revisionist history stuff is going on at older grades, JM's teacher said they need to raise the standards they are teaching to match common core. So I'm hearing California standards are the standards for a state with a 40+% ESL population and when/if we transfer to another state we're going to have to go back to hoping for a football scholarship? Whatever. This whole teaching propaganda for a standardized test has grown old. I've got no problems with propaganda if it's something I agree with.. in this case.. uh....... no.
Work.. blah. I'm just a cog in the wheel there. And a pretty uncooperative one at that. I resent that my entire day is micromanaged by a half dozen people or more who want percentages of things addressed/clicked/immunized and quotas of people seen... sigh. I was told I needed "more training" on the new Nextgen system and that I needed to schedule that but nothing further on how to do that. Last month. I didn't know I needed more training, since I *thought* I was more or less doing it right. Apparently more less than more. But it's not like I see it as a priority. When I took those "what are your talents" surveys that sent my bleeding heart into nursing no where on there did it have a talent for computer savvy categorizing every person into a click box and churning through 4/hour. As I tell them, when I went into nursing it was BECAUSE it was a field you didn't have to stare at a computer all day. I had no desire to be a numbers crunching accountant or actuarial clerk. This EHR stuff stinks. Thank you, Government.
Well, it appears that my masses of yearning to be free masses expect me to feed them dinner. Except for the one in bed with the stomach bug.
Speaking of.. are my kids the only ones that seem to need to come to the kitchen/dining/living rooms to announce they feel sick followed a split second later by demonstrating? I swear it's impossible to get them to understand 'if you are going to throw up, please do so IN THE TOILET!" not the floor, dining room table while others are eating, etc.... Sigh.. hopefully we're on the last day or 2 of this. If not, I'm going to need more rug cleaner. And probably a stronger stomach.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
October? Already?!
Time flies.
I know the second half of that is "when you're having fun" but frankly, here it seems to fly at a frantic pace if I'm having fun or not.
So.. let's see...
School started. We were there the first day. I love 3 of the 4 teachers this year. Again. Joey and Sonia are in a team teaching group, so Sonia's homeroom teacher teaches language arts to both of them and Joey's homeroom teacher teaches science and math to both. Yes. homeroom. They're in 5th grade. When did that happen?! And if I believe them about their homework, they're getting a whole lot less homework than they've had in previous years. Or they're not doing it because parents no longer sign anything in 5th grade. Last year if I didn't sign the 3 different places Joey would loose recess, this year.. nope.. nothing. we don't need parents anymore.
In a weird twilight zone sort of occurrence, Sonia's suddenly in advanced math because she tested out of the math book. I have yet to figure out how that happened. Last I checked we still were shaky on the basic math facts. But apparently she's suddenly got them down. In the switching classrooms with Joey, there are 3 or 4 sets of twins. The twins share desks. My twins argue almost daily that the other one moved their shared red pen or pencils. I've bought them extra red pens and pencils so they can have extras and not need to argue. It hasn't settled anything, so we're back to the 'they'll figure it out eventually' mentality.
Kayla will either cure cancer or drive me to an early grave. She's smart, personable and the one I fear most. This week, for example, she sat on hand sanitizer container causing her to have a wet spot on her pants. Joey and Sonia thought this was hysterical and teased that she pooped hand sanitizer. (we haven't outgrown potty humor, I'm not sure we ever will) This brings on an onslaught of tears.
"mom, they said I pooped sanitizer"
well, did you?
"no, but they said I did!"
well, if you didn't, why worry about it?
"because they said I did!"
so they think you're so clean that you poop sanitizer instead of poop, that means you're really clean. that's a compliment.
(more tears, louder this time)
"no it isn't!"
why not?
"because that means I'm DIFFERENT!" (sobs hysterically)
So you can see that there might be reason for concern about getting her through her teen years. Elementary school right now is fraught with potential problems. But, hey, she tests well.
Jon/Jonathan/JM is another one that I'm pretty sure is payback of fate from any aggravation I caused parents and teachers in my past. And the model for why I no longer feel qualified to give parenting advice on anything to anyone. Should you try to breastfeed? gee, at this point I'm not sure, I'm re-thinking everything I thought was the right parenting decisions..... maybe I should go vaccinate him a bunch more.. And of course of all the teachers, he got the "academic" one. Which I think it administrative speak for the mean one that yells alot and doesn't allow fun. It's going just swell. I have this month to file my homeschool affidavit. I have it filled out and ready to go. I'd have to work out the work/childcare details. Apparently even if I'm working in pediatrics, I'm not supposed to bring my own pediatrics to work with me.
I did. once night. I got an email that I had to code 2 charts by 6 pm that night and they changed the home access procedure I haven't bothered to do.. so rather than leave them unattended I brought them with me. In all my passive aggressive glory. Because one of the other people there was demoted because her semi-adult child study in the waiting room waiting for her to clean up and they'd go home together. There was alot of crime in the parking garage, so frankly, going home alone was a "not recommended" activity per administration. Like the Australian guy who'd handle snakes and stuff would say "look at it arching it back, it's REALLY angry....... I'm going to touch it." And I didn't get fired. in fact the person who sent the email sent it in error, so I didn't have to do anything, anyway and got an apology. The world is unfair, folks. This is proof. And a teaching point for the kids that if you're going to work for someone else, if you're higher on the food chain you have greater freedoms than those lower on the food chain. Look at congress if you have any doubt. They do whatever they damn well please and there is no one to stop them. But this isn't a political post. yet.
Amazing it's coming up on 2 years that I've been treading the insanity of this work place. I know this because I'm due for my annual TB test next month. I dread it because every year, waiting for the year I qualify for a positive induration. And of course I had a patient with active TB this year... used to be once you were 35 you didn't have to do the treatment. That's changed. Maybe because there is active TB here in paradise..?
Larry is slogging through the final year of residency. I pray daily that he gets through this month and year. Assuming he does, we should have some idea of where we head next August this December. We are hoping to stay put. But as I've said before I don't expect to get my first, second or even third choice. And there is a nagging thought that if Larry is put on a probation or repeating a month that he'll be off the eligibility for choosing when everyone else is choosing and thus we'll get last pick. Like Japan. Although, the DOD is largely shut down right now, so I doubt they're going to spend money to move us anywhere anytime soon. They closed youth sports, the movie theater and commissary this week, so for sure the expense of moving a family of 6 overseas or at all is probably off the budget right now. We can hope and assume so anyway. But if not, I'm cleaning out the house of all things redundant and not being used. Except for Larry's stuff. He doesn't like it when I Craigslist or goodwill his stuff. And I don't appreciate it when he sells stuff I consider mine, either.
whelp.. I need to go feed the crowd here, they're going to start to riot since I withheld cookies and muffins a few minutes ago from the "starving" masses and the apples I offered were deemed not good.Personally I prefer them dipped in caramel... like from Buell's. Actually on my list of things I want to do when we're in CT.. in no particular order
1. see trees
2. visit autum
3. take kids to Sturbridge Village
4. take kids to Plymouth Plantation (both in case I succeed at #10 below)
5. gorge on Buells apples, possibly shipping a case back to myself.
6. oh, right. grandparents.
7. and other grandparents
8. and a great grandma
9. and cousins/brother/sil
10. encourage family to move from New England
California's ok. I understand Texas is better although it's still mostly hearsay.
I know the second half of that is "when you're having fun" but frankly, here it seems to fly at a frantic pace if I'm having fun or not.
So.. let's see...
School started. We were there the first day. I love 3 of the 4 teachers this year. Again. Joey and Sonia are in a team teaching group, so Sonia's homeroom teacher teaches language arts to both of them and Joey's homeroom teacher teaches science and math to both. Yes. homeroom. They're in 5th grade. When did that happen?! And if I believe them about their homework, they're getting a whole lot less homework than they've had in previous years. Or they're not doing it because parents no longer sign anything in 5th grade. Last year if I didn't sign the 3 different places Joey would loose recess, this year.. nope.. nothing. we don't need parents anymore.
In a weird twilight zone sort of occurrence, Sonia's suddenly in advanced math because she tested out of the math book. I have yet to figure out how that happened. Last I checked we still were shaky on the basic math facts. But apparently she's suddenly got them down. In the switching classrooms with Joey, there are 3 or 4 sets of twins. The twins share desks. My twins argue almost daily that the other one moved their shared red pen or pencils. I've bought them extra red pens and pencils so they can have extras and not need to argue. It hasn't settled anything, so we're back to the 'they'll figure it out eventually' mentality.
Kayla will either cure cancer or drive me to an early grave. She's smart, personable and the one I fear most. This week, for example, she sat on hand sanitizer container causing her to have a wet spot on her pants. Joey and Sonia thought this was hysterical and teased that she pooped hand sanitizer. (we haven't outgrown potty humor, I'm not sure we ever will) This brings on an onslaught of tears.
"mom, they said I pooped sanitizer"
well, did you?
"no, but they said I did!"
well, if you didn't, why worry about it?
"because they said I did!"
so they think you're so clean that you poop sanitizer instead of poop, that means you're really clean. that's a compliment.
(more tears, louder this time)
"no it isn't!"
why not?
"because that means I'm DIFFERENT!" (sobs hysterically)
So you can see that there might be reason for concern about getting her through her teen years. Elementary school right now is fraught with potential problems. But, hey, she tests well.
Jon/Jonathan/JM is another one that I'm pretty sure is payback of fate from any aggravation I caused parents and teachers in my past. And the model for why I no longer feel qualified to give parenting advice on anything to anyone. Should you try to breastfeed? gee, at this point I'm not sure, I'm re-thinking everything I thought was the right parenting decisions..... maybe I should go vaccinate him a bunch more.. And of course of all the teachers, he got the "academic" one. Which I think it administrative speak for the mean one that yells alot and doesn't allow fun. It's going just swell. I have this month to file my homeschool affidavit. I have it filled out and ready to go. I'd have to work out the work/childcare details. Apparently even if I'm working in pediatrics, I'm not supposed to bring my own pediatrics to work with me.
I did. once night. I got an email that I had to code 2 charts by 6 pm that night and they changed the home access procedure I haven't bothered to do.. so rather than leave them unattended I brought them with me. In all my passive aggressive glory. Because one of the other people there was demoted because her semi-adult child study in the waiting room waiting for her to clean up and they'd go home together. There was alot of crime in the parking garage, so frankly, going home alone was a "not recommended" activity per administration. Like the Australian guy who'd handle snakes and stuff would say "look at it arching it back, it's REALLY angry....... I'm going to touch it." And I didn't get fired. in fact the person who sent the email sent it in error, so I didn't have to do anything, anyway and got an apology. The world is unfair, folks. This is proof. And a teaching point for the kids that if you're going to work for someone else, if you're higher on the food chain you have greater freedoms than those lower on the food chain. Look at congress if you have any doubt. They do whatever they damn well please and there is no one to stop them. But this isn't a political post. yet.
Amazing it's coming up on 2 years that I've been treading the insanity of this work place. I know this because I'm due for my annual TB test next month. I dread it because every year, waiting for the year I qualify for a positive induration. And of course I had a patient with active TB this year... used to be once you were 35 you didn't have to do the treatment. That's changed. Maybe because there is active TB here in paradise..?
Larry is slogging through the final year of residency. I pray daily that he gets through this month and year. Assuming he does, we should have some idea of where we head next August this December. We are hoping to stay put. But as I've said before I don't expect to get my first, second or even third choice. And there is a nagging thought that if Larry is put on a probation or repeating a month that he'll be off the eligibility for choosing when everyone else is choosing and thus we'll get last pick. Like Japan. Although, the DOD is largely shut down right now, so I doubt they're going to spend money to move us anywhere anytime soon. They closed youth sports, the movie theater and commissary this week, so for sure the expense of moving a family of 6 overseas or at all is probably off the budget right now. We can hope and assume so anyway. But if not, I'm cleaning out the house of all things redundant and not being used. Except for Larry's stuff. He doesn't like it when I Craigslist or goodwill his stuff. And I don't appreciate it when he sells stuff I consider mine, either.
whelp.. I need to go feed the crowd here, they're going to start to riot since I withheld cookies and muffins a few minutes ago from the "starving" masses and the apples I offered were deemed not good.Personally I prefer them dipped in caramel... like from Buell's. Actually on my list of things I want to do when we're in CT.. in no particular order
1. see trees
2. visit autum
3. take kids to Sturbridge Village
4. take kids to Plymouth Plantation (both in case I succeed at #10 below)
5. gorge on Buells apples, possibly shipping a case back to myself.
6. oh, right. grandparents.
7. and other grandparents
8. and a great grandma
9. and cousins/brother/sil
10. encourage family to move from New England
California's ok. I understand Texas is better although it's still mostly hearsay.
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