A Lesson Learned

I am hoping that my kids take things out of mistakes that they make. Chandler had every reason to fight his F in ceramics. When it came right down to it, his case was worsened by the fact he didn't turn in ALL his assignments. So.....the F stands. I truly hope he has learned his lesson and turns in ALL his papers/assignements from now on. He truly is the most disorganized kid EVER. Today we are making a calendar of papers due/quizs/tests for Feb and March so he can prepare.

Unreasonable People

Ever just have to deal with unreasonable people? Chandler has an unreasonable teacher who just decided he was a bad kid and failed him. All his other grades were b's and c's. There was an "incident" in this class that Chandler was on the fringe of and he got no credit for anything he turned in after that. Want to venture a guess what class it is??? (Sorry to my artsy friends for any inference that this may imply).
Ceramics. She even had the nerve to tell him he was "no good at making pots". I thought art was supposed to be subjective!
After her refusing to speak to Chandler at all and ignoring my emails, I finally took it to the administration. Enough. Do you realize how much time and energy we have wasted on this? As Chandler said..."What a welcome to high school."

Gonna take a while to recover

from that Vikings game. I think I gave myself an ulcer during the 4th quarter. Man that loss was TOUGH to swallow. Why do I ever let myself get excited!!??

Another crazy week of stuff most nights. Is this just the way it is with teenagers or am I unusually busy? It's not like they are in lessons for everything.

Is it possible to give yourself a timeout??

This past week was supposed to be my "recover" week from the week before and having several things each night to be at or do. Well...it started off great with an awesome Vikings win on Sunday, but after that...it was downhill from there.

Monday my mom ended up in the ER with chest pains. Lots of tests were run and all was looking okay, so they just had her stay overnight for a stress test in the AM. The stress test was started and during the middle of it, they stopped it and told her there was something wrong and she needed to have an angiogram. CRAP. It all ended up being good, but it was very stressful while it was going on. She still can't figure out why she is having chest pain however. That is next on their list so they have cancelled their month long vacation.

Wednesday for supper we got take out from Panera. Aaron's spinach on his sandwich looked kind of funky, but he just took it off and ate the rest of the sandwich. Can you say food poisoning?? I have NEVER seen anyone as sick as he was. 9 lbs lost in 2 days. It was bad.

So yesterday our microwave decided to blow up. Yes you read that right. It blew. Scorched the countertops and the wall. Let me tell you, those magic sponges DO take out everything. It was time for new countertops anyhow, but the smoke smell is really hard to get out. We are wondering if we need to call our insurance company.

Today is the Vikings game....SKOL Vikings! I am so nervous that this is going to go badly. It would be so awesome to go to the Superbowl! I am just a little infatuated with Mr. Grey Hair himself (Brett) so I just can't wait.

This week is another week of something most every night again. Can I give myself a timeout from all of this??

Only 4 more weeks of full time.................

Busy Week

We have had something EVERY night this week. It ended with us going to watch Chandler in pep band at a basketball game. It was his first time playing at a game and as you can see he is playing the snare. Thats my boy.............
He is a busy kid with school, drivers ed and now pep band. He gets to school at 7:30a and today he got HOME from school at 9:30p. Now THATS a long day.
Ryan's having a good time too as you can see. :)

Starting anew

This week starts MANY things for me.

• My new adoption job. I have my first seminar on Tuesday. Am I ready? I think so. Do I think anyone will come? No. Not one person has signed up. I haven't put up alot of posters, but I thought maybe one person would be there. Oh well...there is always March.
• Working full time. I am working 3 days at my current job and 2 at our other facility. Nothing like 2 Mondays a week. I hope I will do fine up there, a different entity for sure.
• Exercise. Blech. I have been BEGGING Aaron to get our basement cleaned up so I can use the bike. It is a mess of his boxes down there. I can't complain too hard as those boxes ship out the merchandise he sells that is currently paying most of our bills. BUT....it would be nice to be able to use my bike for at least 20 minutes a night.
• 3 weeks of Chandler in drivers ed. How did this happen? When did I tell him he could grow up?

I probably won't be blogging much between working full time plus another job plus 3 kids. Just send me a note of encouragment once in a while...LOL!

As I sat in her room

As death approaches, I felt the lonliness she has been feeling for a LONG time. It was in her heart. No matter how much we told her, she still longed for more and couldn't figure out where to find it.
I found it today sitting in her room. It was overwhelming. The fear I had for me as death came had me wracked with sobs, but then I felt it. HIM. HE was there. For her...for me. I don't know as I will ever forget it. The sadness of life leaving, yet the calm of just knowing it will be okay.

This has been a hell of a week. State surveyors breathing down our neck, making our lives miserable. I was spared most of it, until today. When I went to sit with a resident as she was in her final hours, I was hoping for some quiet. I didn't get it. But what I got was so much more.

Sometimes I wonder why I picked long term care social work for my profession. Today, I get it.