blah, blah, blah…

My commute on a normal day is about 20 minutes; however, when it rains it can be up to an hour and a half. No, I am not exaggerating, we haven’t had rain in a while and people in this part of the country don’t have memories long enough to recall how to drive in the rain. I doubt very seriously that my car ever made it out of second gear, hell I know I never made it up to 20 miles an hour on the expressway. I spent most of the trip in neutral to save on gas and wear and tear on my car. This is one of those little things that drive me crazy!

However, the rest of my day was pretty easy. Most of my kids have been sick at work, so I have not had all of my kids there for over a week. Most should be back by Wednesday hopefully… I am starting to get bored.

My drive home took another hour and a half, but it was not raining, but there was obvious something was going on. By the time I made it up to were the problem was there was a burned out SUV, and several fire trucks blocking two lanes of the highway. I didn’t slow down to look…

The president is on television trying to explain how the economy works and what we need to do to solve our quickly coming depression. Yes, I said depression, because that is where we are heading if something does not change quickly. I hear more and more of my co-worker talking about their spouses being laid off. Yes, this is scary when you see it happening to people that you know. I was listening to NPR news the other day, and there was a statement made that in the next few year there will be more women in the workforce then men because of the fields that they dominate.

In my place of employment the pre-k teachers are starting to worry about their jobs being cut, or even worse they would go to two half day classes. Now I have done the two half day classes, and it isn’t as bad as they think it will be, sure there is extra work, but hell at least they would still be employed. A job is better than no job at all.

 

My big weekend without children

Once there was a weekend free of children… this weekend. I was asked by anyone who knew I was going to be child free what my plans were and I told everyone, who was the least bit interested that I was going to enjoy myself.

Friday after the boys’ left I settled down for a Naked Juice and some Cheetos, the dinner of all over stressed mothers throughout the land. I connected the laptop to the TV and started watching all of the programs I had missed through the week, while I was obsessively online playing Scrabble. At about 1:00 am I finally feel asleep. It was a wonderful night.

At ten on Saturday my daughter stopped by because, she was bored. She wanted to do something exciting. So we jumped in my car and went to the bank so I could deposit a check. After that bit of excitement, we went to the grocery store to stock up on more naked Juice, followed by a trip to Walgreen’s to purchase facial cleaners, hair products and smelly candles. We were having a great old time.

I asked her if we could stop at the library before we went to lunch, so that I could pick up a couple of books on CD, though she was not happy about this five minute detour she allowed it. I ended up getting a few Janet Evanovich books and we went on to the Taco Bell drive through.

When we got home, I talked her into watching Mirror Mask, which I enjoyed but she declared trippy. After that, we spent the rest of the day watching movies, and looking for cats on craigslist. At about 9 pm, she went home and I proceeded to play Scrabble online until my partner fell asleep, as did I.

I woke up this morning at about 11 am to my phone pronouncing. “It’s dark it this pocket, get me out of here…” I calmly explained to the phone it was not in my pocket and answered it distress signal. It was again my daughter who was bored; she arrived a few minutes later (she lives three blocks away) and crawled in bed with me to watch SNL, from last night.

At about 1 pm the boys came home from Ikkicon, my daughter left and I told my son we would go grocery shopping in about an hour, 2 hours ago. I am still in my PJs, and now I need to get dressed. What a great weekend I had without kids.

 

unhappy

As I walked into my room today I noticed a toothbrush, mouthwash, and a plastic bag next to the phone. This could only mean one thing; my aid was back. Now my beloved aid has been to work for about two full week since November, something that is not only hard on the kids, but terribly hard for me too.

I depend on my aid way too much, she is awesome when she is there, or at least she used to be, until this year.

This is a woman I fought to get her hired. I put my ass and my reputation on the line and for four years, she never disappointed me. However, year five has been so up and down that I am in tears half of the time. I have too many kids, and their needs are so much higher than they have ever been before.

Over the last few months, so much has been brought to my attention. First, there is the sticky finger, which I took care of by getting a lock for my file cabinet. I could live with that because she is such a hard worker.

Then it was the phone calls all day from bill collectors, which made it so I had to put my work line on make busy just so I could make it through a lesson. When I come in on Monday mornings my mailbox is full with calls for my aid from this person or another. I have even heard her identify herself as me, so that she didn’t have to talk to them.

However, now it is the lying and borrowing money from everyone at work and not paying them back. All of a sudden, people are coming to me as if I had control over the situation. I do not. Every time I try to tactfully, bring up someone who is looking for her she lies to me, gets angry, and then does not come to work for a few days.

When she comes back there is always more lies, and stories. I put up with this because she is such a good worker when she is there, until lately. Now, well now things have gotten so out of hand I am again in tears. I really care about my aid, she has seen me through so much, been such a great working partner, that I feel horrible that I am even upset at her for this. However, when it starts interfering in the well being of our unit, and the stability we are supposed to be providing the student, that is when I have to do something.

If my stress level wasn’t already high, enough today I was snapped at for asking for a reminder from a co-worker. I usually just blow things like that off, I like the woman, and I understand she is under a lot of stress, but today it hurt. What hurt more was that another co-worker asked to give me a reminder and the snapper told her flat out no, she didn’t know how to react, but wanted to let me know.

Yes it is time for a change, when the job is no longer tolerable and the people one works with are not the people you thought they were it is time to move on.

So today, we start the countdown. Only 87 more work days until the end of the year. Now it is time for me to update my resume and start all over again somewhere else. Closer to home, with people that are not so unhappy, in a place that doesn’t make so unhappy.

 

Do you want a job?

I cannot understand why the ditz is still trying to talk to me. I have made it quite obvious that she no more than a pimple on the ass of the education system. If she gets her teaching certificate or is asked back next year I know at least ten teachers on the team that will be putting in for a transfer. I have never seen a group make one person feel so unwelcome, and she is oblivious.

*****

I saw my old boss today. She had thought she was transferring up to a bigger more prestigious job. There were many chuckles as we watched her performing her new task. She has been turned into no more than a scribe monkey for one of the big wigs that came to talk to us from downtown.

Overheard…

“Damn she got fat… giggle giggle.”

“She is still wearing those ugly cheap clothes.”

“And they pay her to do this?”

“Glad she is not here anymore.”

Observations…

No one talked to her after the meeting. She looked like a deer caught in headlights. No one was happy she was around.

*****

My aid is AWOL again. Since November, she has only worked one full week. People are starting to ask if she needs a job at all. The latter freaked me out a little; as I pondered that question, I could feel one of those I need a damn xanax moment slowly creeping up on me. That’s when I called her cell phone, which is not taking incoming calls.

I am sitting here trying to decide if I should say something…I need someone who wants a job enough to show up to work. My kids and I both need to not have a different stranger in my room everyday. Hell at this point I would consider taking the troll back, if I could trust her as far as I could throw her…right now I want to throw my aid into a damn wall to knock some sense into her.

*****

The boys are preparing to go to Ikkicon this weekend. My eldest is heading to his dad’s and for once in a long damn time, I am going to have my house completely to myself.

 

10 years later

Back in 1998 I wrote a couple of vague stories about a student I had who we turned over to the FBI. I was reminiscing about the story with an old co-worker and we decided to Google him and see what ever happened to the psycho. This is what we found.

And who said working with the kids I work with isn’t interesting.

 

Miscommunication

My eldest son sometimes has difficulty in getting messages correctly across to me. I got that he was going to the State Winter Games, but I wasn’t sure of anything else. I asked him when they games were being held and he told me in March.

For some reason that did not sound right to me, so I went online and found the schedule. It turns out that he is suppose to compete this Friday, at 9:00 in the morning. Okay this is news to me.

Now I am scrambling around trying to find his coach and figure out what the heck is going on and who dropped the ball.

Communication has never been my eldest’s strong suit, stories are switched, and his wants and perceptions become truths to him whether they are or not. Therefore, it has always been difficult to get information straight if it is not in writing.

Now I am waiting for my heart to stop skipping beats…

Okay while I was typing my son’s coach called and said that no one was able to do Friday including her. She talked to my son and he was not as upset about this as I am, or as his father will be when he finds out.

So, I called the ex and left a message asking if he could call me back. I may not be able to take the time off, but who knows maybe he will…

 

losing a lover

My daughter’s boyfriend has three brothers. They all lived together in a house across the street from my daughter’s apartment until last year when my daughter’s boyfriend Special Ed moved in with my girl. Then there were three.

For the last year the three brothers have continued to live across the street from my daughter, it is convenient for all involved. My kids are always over there when they are not at work or driving me crazy here. Well yesterday, Frog moved out. I should note all of the boys have nicknames; in fact, everyone has nicknames including me.

Frog and I have always teased my youngest about “our affair” he tells my son things like “tell your mom to leave her bedroom door unlocked tonight I am feeling randy.” This infuriates my son, but we continue to tease him. Well the last IM from Frog asked if he needed to return my house key, or should he give it Hap. I had to laugh and I told him to give it to Hap, so my son can continue to be tautened never really knowing if his mother is taking care of his someday in-laws desires. I should note here these boys do not really have a key, but my son will never know for sure.

Oh yeah, so Frog moved to Houston, leaving Hap and Sam alone to pay rent on the house. This is really a burden going from four brothers sharing a house, to three brothers sharing a house to two brothers. So, against my advice, and warnings they invited my youngest to move in. To say he was thrilled to be considered as a possible roommate is an understatement.

I was IMing with Sam last night and asked him if he knew what he was really getting into having Scoop (my youngest’s nickname) move in with them. He assured me he knew that money burns a hole in my son’s pockets, and that he also knew that he would have to hit him up weekly on payday in order to get their share.

I guess I am saying… I am losing a lover, acquiring another, and …oh yeah my son is moving out and he is leaving his friend here.