Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Some Saturday!

16 had a track meet Saturday 2 hours away. So, we got up too early and headed out while it was still dark and I should have been sleeping. The things we do for our kids. We get there and traipse across mushy trails and muddy tracks to where are team is set up. Oh, the joy. I haven't had coffee yet and need to find the bathroom. After emptying and refilling we browse the vendors and see that there's a huge sale on running shoes with cleats and offer to buy 16 a pair. He jumps at the chance and decides to wear them for the race right then and there despite the parental advice of not breaking in new shoes for a race but what do we know; we're his old out of touch parents.
2 hours later its finally his race time. They are all lined up. We are all lined up to cheer them on. There's the gun! We yell and cheer. Our entire JV makes it across the bridge in the first half of the bunch. Great. We jog thru this lovely mush covered with grass that has been trampled on by hundreds of runners to get to the next corner we can see them closely. I jockey for the perfect spot to take my picture of him coming over a hill. I wait. Here come out leaders. We cheer. I see in the distance our coach standing at another corner cheering and coaching with a shoe in his hand. Honey, didn't we just buy 16 a white pair of shoes? Yes, why. Look at coach. He's got a white shoe in his hand. I bet its 16s. How can it be? Why would he not have a shoe? That's impossible. Here come some more kids I think 16 should be coming soon. I turn on the camera and get set. There he is. Look! He's only got one shoe on! I started laughing so hard amidst others yelling Hey, you lost your shoe that I hope you got the picture because I didn't. I couldn't cheer or yell out his name all I could do was laugh. As he passes me, I jolt out of my hysteria and jog over to the next spot to cheer him on. I compose myself enough to yell and cheer as he passes. I hear my name being called. I turn. It's coach he tosses the shoe over to me. I don't' have the energy to get to the finish line. Hubby went with the camera and I headed to the tent to wait for everyone to come in. They get to the tent and 16 has a grin from ear to ear. He PRd (read: set a Personal Record) with only one shoe. Apparently someone bumped into him and stepped on the back of his shoe pulling it off the back and he ran for a while with it like a slipper until he saw some school parents and then he kicked it off towards them and yelled at them to pick it up and just kept going because he'd already passed the mile marker and knew he was doing well. He didn't want to stop. The teasing, the jokes abounded and we threatened to have him run next week with no shoes at all. He ate up all the attention and was very pleased with himself. It was all too too funny.

After the meet we race back home to try and catch the end of 18s football game which we can see online through the schools website. We spot 18 on the sideline and then I think I see him get in the game. The bickering begins among the 3 of us. I insist he went in for the kickoff after a score. Later we see him go in for the punt block team. Now, they begin to think maybe he did play earlier. Hmmm. He calls us after the game and he DID get in because someone else got hurt earlier in the game. The team lost in the final seconds but he played. YEAH!

Since I've hardly done anything at all yet, I head over to GMs ALF where I have a notary coming to see if we get GM to sign a POA. She has said she would in the past but when push came to shove, she never did. I told her that I was going to stop fighting with her and everyone else. If she doesn't want to sign it then, fine. She can find someone else to try to take care of her and her things. We have a pleasant visit and the notary shows up. He explains the POA. She starts balking. Now, she is going to take EVERYthing. (note: there' s nothing to take, she makes enough to pay for the ALF). She's going to send me to the loony bin because she thinks I'm crazy. All of this at the top of her lungs as if we were torturing her. I calmly get up. Give her a kiss and say don't worry about it but don't call me when you go back to the hospital because I am no longer fighting with drs. and nurses and hospital admin to manage your care. I give her a second kiss and walk out. I go find the owner of the ALF to say my good-byes and head for the door. They call me back as I am getting in the car (she can see me thru her window) and tell me she's signing it. I go back in. I'm crying. The notary is explaining to her how and why this will make things easier. I stay at the door. Once she signs it, I go in and thank her and give her a big hug and a kiss. She tells me she doesn't understand why I got so upset and left, I'm so serious, no one can joke with me anymore. I don't comment. I walk the notary out and stay a few more minutes visiting nicely.
I let the ALF tempted to buy a lotto ticket but I didn't want to push my luck. I thought that would be greedy so many good things had already happened that day.
That was my Saturday. How was yours?

Friday, September 26, 2008

Still stunned

I got someone fired yesterday and I am still stunned.

Last week when my GM was being discharged from the hospital I had to deal with her assigned Case workers. I thought they were supposed to be Social Workers to assist me in finding adequate care and housing for my GM. Over the span of 3 days I had a few verbal exchanges with 2 separate case workers that did not go well. Every time I asked for the names and # of some places fro me to go check out I was told it wasn't their responsibility that it was the families. On day 3, I was flat out told that if I didn't pick her up within an hour they were filing an abuse case against me with that govt agency that handles these things (not writing the name because who knows what hit I will get from it). So, fast forward to me getting my GM placed by the sheer grace of God and a friend's help to me calling and setting an appointment with the hospital's Risk Management (read: legal) department. I also called that govt agency on my own and discussed the hospital's handling of the situation. Their rep offered to go with me to the meeting. I'll call her Rep.

Now it's yesterday, we met at the hospital early, go to the Risk Mgmt office and the woman goes into a tirade that I am there the wrong day, she can't see me now, do I think I can show up whenever I want yadda yadda. I calmly state that I need to speak with someone this morning. If not her then someone else that I would appreciate her finding someone to hear me out. She has no idea who the woman with me is. She tells me I can meet with M and C, they run the Case worker dept. I had to insist that she call over to see if they were there, available and ask for directions. She unwillingly complied. Rep has not said a word this entire time. They don't know who she is. We find C and I introduce myself and start to introduce Rep when C interrupts me can calls for M to join us in the conf room. Fine. We all sit and they ask me why I am there. I pull out my notebook where I had all my notes of who I spoke to when and what was said. Rep is sitting quietly, they don't know who she is. They ask me some questions and we calmly and go over all the details. M, their immediate supervisor, apologizes and explains that they were in fact a bit abrupt with me, thank you for coming. Rep says, that's it? They were abrupt. C then asks me, "well exactly what do you and your mother want us to do?" AHA, I think. They think Rep is my mother. Rep tells them "I am not her mother" as she pulls out her business cards and hands them each one. Their eyes are as big as saucers. They excused themselves and step out of the room. The com back momentarily with a file. They apologize again and explain that their behavior did not follow their policies and standards and ask us to please be quiet as they call the 2nd case worker. We sat there as they called him and fired him over the phone! Told him not to come in the next day, to come in Monday for his final paycheck and they would go over the reasons then. They hung up, thanked us for coming and said their good-byes. Rep and I walked out and didn't speak until we got on the elevator. She said, WOW. I said, Dayum! They fired him! She said, I've never seen that. Me neither.

It's a day later and I am still a bit stunned by it. I actually feel bad for the guy even though he made me go through hell. I can only imagine that there were previous complaint or problems with him and maybe he was on probation or something because how could they just do that like that? WOW!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Long weekend

It's been a few days I know but I have been going through various levels of Dante's Inferno with my GM. She has taken things to a new level and pushed not only my last button but the last button of others who have been trying to assist her all along. Having said that I won't go into it because it exhausts me to even think about rehashing it. Suffice it to say that may get legal...

Meanwhile back at the ranch....have you ever gone to a Cross Country Meet? You know running 5k. Well, 16 has been training forever (read: a year) and we went to his 2nd race this past Sunday. It almost killed me. It is SO hard for me to watch the physical exertion that all those kids put out to finish. He ran a personal record, taking a little less than a minute off of his time. He finished 74th in a field of 198 runners and he scored points for his team by being the 5th man in the JV to come in. The JV placed 4th out of 27 schools. As he came around the last quarter mile to the finish line, he dug deep down and from out of no where kicked in some speed. His face showed all that effort being forced through his body. I cried. It's do hard to watch. Of course, everyone teased me and said but you have a son who plays football! That's so much easier than this, I told them. They have pads on to protect them, they wear helmets, they are down on a field where I can't see his face, playing with teammates that help him make his plays. Running is you and a pair of shoes on your own against everyone. You can share a tackle you can't share a finish in running. In football each play lasts a few seconds and then they regroup. In running you are on your own pounding it out for 15/20 minutes. The coach came over to me and just put his arm around me and said "Thanks for coming." We all laughed.

There's another meet today and then another one on Saturday. He has goals to PR each time.

I am going to try to schedule my life a little better. I know things come up and plans change but I have so many things that I want to do. I think I need better time management. I have to work on this. I am sure you will hear more about it. I am going to start with a list of stuff, broad idea of what I want to do. Then I will try to see how I parcel out time to do each of these things on a regular basis. I have to noodle this some more.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Communication

As per dictionary.com
Communication–noun
1. the act or process of communicating; fact of being communicated.
2. the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.
3. something imparted, interchanged, or transmitted.
4. a document or message imparting news, views, information, etc.
5. passage, or an opportunity or means of passage, between places.

Just in case you needed to know. I know some people who need to know. Unfortunately, they probably won't read this blog. Gimme patience!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Yahtzee!

I mean BINGO!

We really did a lot this weekend. It was very productive and busy with house things, crafting, cleaning, errands and add to that GM in the hospital and that makes for one jam packed weekend.

I actually went to the scrapbook store on Saturday for about an hour and as per usual spent more than budgeted. But oh well. I got ALL my cleaning and then some done. Microwave is fixed. Missing shutter was replaced. I changed the weather stripping on the front door. Did maybe 6 scrapbook pages and the cover of a scrapbook, made some birthday cards. Set up all my online bill paying for the month. Packed up clothes for donate to Haiti. I saw the movie Smart People on DVD. I thought it was hysterical and laughed out loud. Hubby fell asleep. As you can see it was a wide variety of things that got done this weekend.

But the highlight was relaxing Sunday evening with friends who came over to watch football. The husbands and 16 watched football and my friend from The Mind Wobbles and I played Scrabble. For the first time in my life I got a BINGO! You know, when you are able to put all of your tiles down in one turn. My word was r-a-n-t-i-n-g-s. Coincidentally, she had played the night before with her hubby and she got a BINGO too. I think it's a hoot that we both did it the same weekend. We constantly say that we share a brain. There's just more proof.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Cool Quote

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.


-Yiddish proverb


That thought made me smile. So, here's a laugh to cleanse your soul...


"Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So - if you give her any crap, you will receive a ton of shit."

Love and appreciate all the women in your life… or else!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Full Swing!

Fall is in full spring around here. Everyone has stuff going on.

18 got his classes and today is his first day of class. 16 is doing well in his classes (I almost didn't want to write that to not jinx it) and he's very excited because he may be able to run in some upcoming Xcountry meets. It depends on how many kids they can enter etc. but apparently he's got a chance and he's very excited. This Saturday FIL is coming over to do some odd jobs around the house. Hubby isn't thrilled because that's not his best event but his dad's available so I snagged him.
He's coming to fix one of the hurricane shutters for our back door (important), my front doors are double doors and the stationary door lick thingy that goes into the floor needs to be fixed (important!), the light in my kitchen is only turning on when it wants to (necessary!), the microwave didn't work this morning - a recurring theme that I think has to do with how much power it's not getting, weather stripping on the front door- I already bought it and I can probably do that. Hmmm there was something else and I can't think of it now.
Believe it or not I already started thinking about my Christmas list. I have a few homemade items that I'm going to start working on in the evenings. I bought some more material to make a jumper for my niece. It's absolutely adorable. This pattern actually requires interfacing and a zipper! So, this is a big deal for me. We'll see how it comes out.
I'm getting bored with my cooking, I've got to sit and think of something new that 16 will eat. I started working on his high school scrapbook. I actually did 3 pages the other day. This weekend I will work on the cover titling.
Lots to do, everyone is busy. I love it!

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

It's a beautiful thing!

Sleep.
Since I wasn't feeling well, I left work early and laid down for a few minutes before I changed and 2 hours later I woke up hungry. I felt rejuvenated. Sleep is a wonderful thing!
After dinner, I watched a bit of the game with hubby and 16, 18 sending text messages to 16 throughout. After the first quarter, I said good night and went back to bed. I put the CMA Festival on thinking I'll watch that for a while. I have no idea who performed. I fell asleep almost instantly. Sleep is a beautiful thing.
I feel very rested today. I hope it lasts.

Monday, September 08, 2008

'Tis the season...

I am still sick. Yesterday I actually felt better and did a few things around the house and later that evening I felt like I had run a marathon and was beaten with a bat along the way!
This morning it was SO hard to get up.
In case you are one of those who has no idea what sport season is in. It's football. It started this past Thursday. 16 & hubby have watched +6 football games since Thursday. They saw the Thursday night game, I organized my sewing things in 18s room. On Friday they went to the local high school game, I stayed home cleaned out my email all cuddled up in bed watching reruns. On Saturday, they watched a college football game in the afternoon, I saw pieces of it as I was in the kitchen making myself chicken soup. That evening we went to a friends house to watch the Miami Hurricane game, I sat in the kitchen with some of the other moms, chatting and drinking my soup. On Sunday, I would say they watched 2 more games but in reality it was pieces of all the games since we have the NFL Ticket and they get them all. Every time I went by there was a different game on. I did 4 scrapbook pages, fixed my lunch for today and laid in bed watching old movies and snoozing.
Last Wed. 16 moves a sign that I have in the kitchen and hung it on the front door like a wreath. It says. "We interrupt this family for football season."
18 did send some text messages asking what time certain games were on over the weekend and
and to say that he missed HD.
I don't fight it anymore....I tried to once....I just use that time to do my things uninterrupted and they all lived happily ever after....
Tonight the Packers (16s FAV team) and playing the Vikings (hubby's FAV team). I have sought and been granted asylum and refuge at a friend's house because I fear the competition and therefore their noise level may be too much for me in my frail condition.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Life imitating art?

I had quite a chuckle yesterday when 18 called and said "Boy!, Did I think of you today! You will love what happened to me!"


He's been in NY for a while now and finally did his first load of laundry, actually it was 2 loads because according to him the machines there are smaller than the one at home. So fine, he separated his loads and started 2 machines with nary a care because there was no one else there. He leaves, goes up to the cafeteria for a snack and some tv watching. He's not in a hurry because again, there was no one there waiting for a machines or anything. He goes back 45 minutes later and freezes at the doorway. His mouth drops and he thinks OH CRAP! What did I do?! There was soapy water all over the floor, a machine sounded horrible and was spewing water and bubbles. Bubbles were everywhere! He thought he was walking into a cartoon. Freaking out and thinking OMG how did I break a machine? What did I do? He waded over to the bubbling machine and opened it to make it stop and was deliriously happy to realize that it wasn't his machine. He didn't break it. He's not an idiot. His clothes was fine. It was another machine that was broken.

Relieved. He found someone to clean up the mess and said he couldn't wait to tell me. Naturally I laughed hyterically and have told everyone.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Yuck!

I have been sick in bed for 2 days! Today I dragged myself to work...

If I could be granted 3 wishes right now they would be:
* To be able to breathe
- through my nose
- with my mouth closed
- and not have it hurt