January 6, 2016

Never, never, never leave the dogs out of their crates anymore at night.  It wasn’t too bad, but the whining was a bit much at 5:17.  Was pleased to get a house concert ticket for the Ball-Point Birds at the end of the month in Chico.  That'll be cool.

Meet…meeting…mee…meeting.  Back-to-back-to-back-to-back.  4 meetings (the first and the third were the same one, I only caught parts of it), the second one was regarding juvie, the fourth was at juvenile.  There was no supervisor here, which made it more fun (I was told, as this was my first).

I’m enchanted with the way circles continue to close.  I’ve met the kid now – I worked with the parents before and so much has made itself more obvious.  I am going to make a statement which isn’t necessarily evidence-based, but I will say that kids do not turn out the way they do when they have family support.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it needs to be there.  “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” is true, though there are always outliers.

Ok.  I am not really like this all the time, but:     

 As I left the hall, there are a series of locked doors (obviously) that I had to be let out of by the guards.  There’s a system with the doors: some you wait on, some you push/pull as they buzz you through.  It clearly requires someone being in there.   I signed out, talking to dude guy, and then buzz, buzz, buzz I was out in the rain, loading things in my car.  Then I saw the yellow prog note…which should have been inside in the office.  So I quickly threw things in the car, and ran back to be buzzed in again (buzz, buzz, buzz).  This is my beginning here and I do not want the initial impression to be that I’m a blonde ditz; intelligent professionalism is my goal amongst colleagues and co-worker, but I swear unless I get a pocket sewn into my body where I can keep spare keys, I’ve got my work cut out for me.  Of course you know where I’m going with this – I get to the car and of course I had no keys, they are locked inside, so I grab my cell-phone which I had fortunately put into my back pocket and called my ex-m-i-l.  There was NO WAY IN HELL I was going to walk inside and say “hi, I also just locked my keys in my car.”  It wasn’t raining very hard – it is actually my favorite weather – a soft, warm (43F) drizzle).  I walked up to the library, looked around the books for a bit, headed back to the hall and just walked up and down the street as if I had a purpose.  I didn’t want to wait in front of the hall by my car, they probably had cameras outside.  Soon she pulled up and I got my keys, explaining my foolish mistake before walking to my car.  After about 30 minutes later, I finally opened my car to grab my – nothing.  I soon realized my keys were left inside when I had returned the yellow prog note.  I had to buzz back in, after all – and there they were, given to me by the guards on duty through the bullet proof glass.  Oh, Pride – you are a joy.  Always present. 

 

Quick run to the store to grab some bread, lettuce, fruit, and at home the kids showed me the box John had carefully packed and sent from Wisconsin.  Inside – 5 delicious cheeses and two packages of fresh cranberries.  The kids and I sat down and enjoyed the most divine “snack” we have had with a warm,  toasty fire making for a perfect evening. Thanks, John – you really turned my day around . 

Pictures: Wisconsin cheese from John!; Inuit dude takes a ride;  There's my car, sitting around waiting to be opened; What a day....