Well, the woman I’m covering for is not coming back!!  And while the pay is atrocious, and it is far from my dream job, it’s 5 minutes from home and school and most importantly, IT’S EMPLOYMENT!!!!! I have to work another 528 hours before I go from “temp” to permanent (because I know there is no way my boss will do the buy out, although I’m trying to talk him into it) at which time my pay will go up a little bit.  I just have to make it until mid May.

 

Emma went to a class on Proper Pet Care Monday because she wants to be a vet.  When I picked her up she was wearing a surgical mask, hat and gloves.  And she then wore them the rest of the night.  Which was Shannon’s birthday.  My brother came over (with very cool gifts) for dinner, and she wore them all through dinner, right up until bedtime.  She would pull the mask down, take a bite and put it back up.

 

Now preparations for Shannon’s b-day slumber party are underway.  I am once again trying to bake a cake that is way too difficult and am way in over my head.  So I think I might scale it back a little.  But I will put up a picture once it’s done.

 

And wow, what a storm last night! At one point I couldn’t even see the apple tree 20 feet from my window because of the blowing.  I thought for sure the siding was coming off.  And here’s something interesting.  I have one light switch on an exterior wall, and the wind was so strong, it was coming in through the switch!  But the good news is the wind was so strong, it seems to have blown all the snow away, because we only have a dusting.  Now we just have to deal with -25 wind chills.  Brrrr!

 

Had my annual slip and fall last night.  Amazingly, once again, managed to not hurt myself.  At least this time it didn’t involve stairs.  I was walking out to my car and did a beautiful spin and fall on a patch of ice.  Good to have that out of the way for the winter.

 

I went to court today.  Big load of nothing.  He wasn’t there (yea) just his attorney who says he has the money sitting in an account and hasn’t spent any of it.  And she seemed to be under the impression that he a) was working and b) had voluntarily notified me of the money.  I find it hard to believe he hasn’t spent the money since he picked up the girls yesterday in a brand new, fully loaded Suburban.  I have to talk to my attorney, because I want to make sure he has to show proof that the money is still there when we go to court next.  Because it’s possible that he bought the car but asked them to hold the check for a few days.  So it would appear that he hadn’t touched the money.  But a big thanks to my friend D who kept me company while I waited.

I got into a fight with a teacher at the girls’ school the other day.  We have this drop-off lane which extends the full length of the parking lot.  When you pull in, you are supposed to pull up as far as you can to make room for more cars.  Normally I drop the girls off pretty early, so there aren’t too many cars waiting.  But we were running late and the weather was bad….you get the idea.

 

We’re all waiting our turn, the lane clears and we pull forward.  I am the fifth car.  I put it in park, jump out, help Emma with her seatbelt, it won’t unclip, help her out and give her the backpack.  Because it took a couple extra seconds, Shannon has walked around to hug me instead of me coming to her.  I tell her not to do that, it’s too dangerous with the snow.  I hug and kiss them and tell them to have a good day and turn to get into the car.  Takes a maximum of 1-2 minutes, I am not holding up traffic.  This teacher comes over and yells at Shannon and me!  He tells her not to walk around through the drop off lane (which I just told her) and tells me I can’t get out of my car.  Now the main reason I get out is to help Emma because she still has trouble with her seatbelt, but I also really have to hug and kiss them goodbye.  I feel very, very, very strongly about this.  Not to be morbid, but really, I never know if that’s the last time I’m going to see them or not.  And I want the last thing I say to them to be I love you.

 

Anyway, this teacher comes over and tells me I can’t get out of the car and I look at him and say, “You are not seriously trying to tell me I can’t hug my children goodbye.”  And he tells me no, I have to park in the lot to do that.  And I say, “You want me to park on the other side of the lot, weave through all the other parked cars with my kids, between buses and cars, through the drop off lane in order to hug them goodbye?”  And he says yes.  And I look at him and say, “I don’t think so.”  He cannot seriously think that’s safer.  And by the way, most of the other parents do the same thing.

 

Yesterday I tried to be faster, which only resulted in Shannon forgetting something in the car and me having to circle back around, park and go into the school to drop it off, which made me ½ hour late for work.  So today, I just figured, what’s he going to do?  Give me detention?  So I take my time.  And he starts to head over to my car, sees me and turns and walks away.  Hah!

 

In other news, still working the temp job, everyone there wants me to stay because I can do in half the time all the work of the woman I am covering for.  She doesn’t want to come back, I guess she has a really bad attitude, asked for a $5.00 per hour raise to come back, said she wouldn’t come back without it, that it wasn’t worth her while.  But when she was turned down she started whistling a different tune.  So I still don’t know if I can stay.  The people are really nice, so I hope I can.  Plus I don’t live with uncertainty well.  And I keep applying for other jobs, but there just isn’t much out there. 

 

Shannon had her first orchestra concert this past week.  I thought about bringing ear plugs, but I’m glad I didn’t.  They weren’t bad!  Almost everyone was following the beat and on the same notes.  I’m very impressed!

 

I go to court on Monday.  That I am really not looking forward to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Maria Means

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way! You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

Last night I took the girls out selling Girl Scout cookies.  We decided to go back to my brother's neighborhood because the girls were pretty successful there last year.   This year they are both selling, and I'm working in an office with only 7 people, so we (me) are having to work harder to get sales.
 
ANYWAY, we were in the neighborhood for a maximum of 30 minutes (after stopping to torture Bart with my very presence), when what should walk right past us?   Yes, it was a raccoon!  Only this time instead of screaming hysterically, Emma says, "wow, that's raccoon's chubby".
 
In other animal news, it seems that word has gotten out about us, because we are now on the regular route of a coyote.   He actually comes all the way up on the deck, right up to the door!  I even took pictures of his prints in the snow.
 
There must be a sign posted somewhere…..

Visitation went OK today.  For the first time (except for during the time change when he forgot to change his clock), he was early.  And we weren't ready.  Normally he's at least 1/2 hour late, usually more.  But we was very careful around me.  He waited some distance away from me and was very short but polite with me.  And Shannon said he only yelled once and the Stepford wife corrected him.  They were in a popcorn store and there was a tip jar and Emma took a dollar out of her purse (which she wasn't supposed to have taken with her) an put it in the jar.  And he got really mad.  But after being reprimanded he apologized. 

 

Then they went to see The Waterhorse which was nice.  But oddly, the girls were asking for popcorn and he bought them candy instead.  And he didn't even ask what kind of candy they would like.  And when he dropped them off, he basically just dropped them off and left.  But really, it went pretty well.

 

I really wonder tho what he tell the Stepford wife about me.  Doesn't really matter, just curious.  At least I feel like I can sleep tonight.  Thank you all for your thoughts prayers and support.

 

And in answer to someone's question, yes I have an excellent attorney. Incredibly good looking too. Not important, but a bonus!

I’m very stressed right now.  That’s one of the reasons I haven’t been around much.  I just can’t concentrate.

 

My ex had a pending lawsuit when we divorced.  Because the suit had affected both of us, it was written in the divorce decree that he was not allowed to do anything with the settlement without first notifying me, providing me with the paperwork and coming to an agreement regarding the split of it.

 

It was scheduled to go to trial last December, a full year after I had been deposed and more than four years after the suit had been filed.  But in November, my ex decided to take it thru arbitration instead (something I completely supported).  Then, December came and they still hadn’t come to an agreement, but they decided to continue negotiating instead of going to trial.  Fine.  I continued to check with him about it every week or so, and he just kept telling me nothing had been decided.

 

I’m a little slow, but even I know that isn’t very likely.  So I called a friend in a law firm in that county and she looked it up for me.  And it said it was dismissed by stipulation or agreement which apparently meant it had been settled.  She explained that no lawyer would dismiss without it being settled.  I asked my ex and he basically told me he didn’t know why it said that, that nothing had been settled, that he would call his attorney. 

 

Then the holidays came and it kind of got pushed to the back of my head. But my ex’s mom kept calling me, telling me she thought it had been settled (she really hates him, so much so it’s kind of scary).  She also continually apologized to me for being so crazy mean to me when I was married and when we first got divorced, because she believed all the lies he told her.  Right up until he tried to throw her down a flight of stairs and then stole her credit cards.

 

Anyway, I finally had enough, and I called his attorney.  And the case was settled in December.  As in, he had the check in December.  And he had no idea that the check was not to be cashed.  So I called him one last time and asked about the settlement.  And he said it still had not been settled.  Needless to say, I called my lawyer.  And we filed a petition in court.  And my ex calls me, yelling about how I’m suing him and now he’s going to come after expanded visitation (his is very limited), he wants one of them for a tax credit, etc.  Then he offered me 10% (I should point out we had a verbal agreement for 50/50 which I knew he would never honor because he wouldn’t put it in writing).  I turned him down.  He asked me what I wanted and I said, what we agreed on.  And he said no way.  And I said then we’ll let the judge decide.  I pointed out that if he spent any of that money he could go to jail and he blew up and said he wasn’t going to let me ruin his life again (?). 

 

The phone call got more volatile and I finally said I wouldn’t talk to him anymore and hung up.  He called back and I told him if he continued to call I would call the police.

 

Now the reason for the stress is that he has visitation with the girls on Sunday.  And I am scared.  For them.  I’m praying that he won’t take this out of them, but I just don’t know.

Did you ever have one of those days when nothing you do is right?

 

This morning we got up and were getting ready, planning on leaving a little early to mail Shannon’s invitations.  Suddenly I realized that it was Tuesday, and Tuesday is orchestra.  At 7:30.  And it is 7:28 and we’re not even dressed.  If she’s late she doesn’t get to play, just sit and watch.  So we decide, after a lot of crying, to just skip it. 

 

Then she can’t find her homework form I was supposed to sign (somehow this is also my fault) and so she is going to have to pull a card (level 1 in getting in trouble at school). Amid more crying I write her teacher a note explaining she did do the work.

 

So, I pack up Emma’s backpack and there is a note from her friend saying “I hope you can come to my party”.  I ask Emma and she informs me she brought an invitation home before Christmas break (but apparently she never bothered to show me).  Around this time I realize they both have Girl Scouts and have no way for either girl to get to their after school program.  And now we’re running late.  So I grab the directory and start calling moms begging to rides.  Having worked that out, I start to relax.

 

Day goes really well, actually got a great compliment at work.  This woman looks at me and says, “You know, you don’t have to be THAT efficient). 

 

Went to pick up the girls, Shannon looks at me and says, “I was supposed to have my permission slip for Girl Scouts and I didn’t.  It was due TODAY!” And she bursts into tears again.  I explain that she can take it with her on Saturday, that it’s fine, that the leader knew she was going. We get home and the girl scout leader had left a message reminding me about the permission slip, so I call her back and get that worked out.  Then I call Emma’s friend’s mom and get all the information for the party. 

 

I think I’m going to go to bed and stay there.

Shannon’s birthday is coming up.  For two years she has been begging me to get her ears pierced, so I decided to do that for her.  I thought it would be nice for her to go back after the winter break with them.  But I wanted it to be a surprised.  I also knew Emma would be reallllllllly upset that I wasn’t getting hers done, so I let her in on the surprise and told her it could be her gift to Shannon.  That seemed to appease her somewhat. 

 

So we go to the mall, and wander around a few minutes and go into the store.  Shannon assumes we’re there to buy goody bag stuff (she’s having a Hannah Montana themed slumber party, my head hurts already) and when I tell her we’re there to pierce her ears, she turns pale and says, “I don’t want to”.

 

What???

 

Apparently she’s afraid of how bad it will hurt.  And now Emma is crushed because she has blurted out that it’s her present to her and Shannon doesn’t want it.  And I realize what I have to do.  I ask her if she will do it if Emma (whose face has just lit up like a firefly) goes first.  And she says yes.  Great.  So Emma climbs up in the chair and the woman leans her ears, etc in preparation.  During which time Shannon changes her mind at least 20 times.  I’m ready to bang my head against the wall.

 

When the woman is ready to start, I grab Emma’s hand.  One, two three, click.  Emma jumps a foot.  And looks at me with this big smile on her face and says, “that really hurt!”  Then the woman goes to her other ear. One, two, click.  Emma says, “that hurt even more and I wasn’t ready!”  But she’s still smiling.

 

Finally Shannon decides to do it (I’m a little concerned that we will only get one done), but she powers through.  And amazingly, even though they haven’t stopped talking about it, no one is complaining.  Hmmmm, remember the flu shot complaints???

Ok, I am alive (although 6 lbs lighter).  While the girls recovered from the virus really quickly, it really wiped me out.  I started feeling better just in time to go back to work on Wednesday.  But between being sick and having a babysitter in the house with the girls all day, my house looks like a frat house after a party, without the fun part.

 

Yesterday when I got up it was -4 outside without the windchill.  Now that’ll wake you up!  And the news says it will be 50 by the weekend.  And we wonder why we’re all sick.

 

Lastly, the job is going OK.  So very unlike anything I’ve ever done, it’s really forcing me to think in a totally different way, which is good.  Challenging, but good.  Getting a paycheck is nice also.  I should know in a couple of weeks if it’s going to be permanent.  Might not be the job of my dreams, but its maybe 5 minutes from home and as long as I get my work done my boss is really flexible and that’s worth a lot.