December 17, 2015

The field trip…my, my, where to begin?  It was a whirlwind of  adventure as we began early Monday morning and headed on a train to Oakland and Jack London Square.  From there we took the ferry to San Francisco and walked up to our hostel, about a mile and a half.  To be honest, after we were settled, I have no idea what took place.  I remember dinner made and then sleep.  The next day was the wild one – we were first group to go to a farm in the city and then explored SF by ourselves.

 I noticed a few things in SF.  A)  I like having my car because I can’t understand MUNI at all, B) drivers of MUNI are MORE than happy to help with directions, C) not all chaperons follow the school’s strict guidelines  

D) I do not necessarily forgive.  First thing Ethan said to me when we were back to the car after getting off the train is that he had to go see their chaperon’s dad in a hospital for a couple of  hours. When I asked my son that night what he did/where he went and he responded with “nothing/nowhere” I didn’t realize he was telling the truth.  Still, I was able to get to know some incredible parents and I wish I had gotten to know them earlier. 

And…not to “spill the beans,” but someone I may or may not know may or may not have a person in his life which may or may not be considered his (or her – remember, I’m not spilling beans!!) girlfriend.  There was hand-holding at the ice skating rink which was the first night we were there (oh yeah!  That’s what we did).  Super cool and I am so happy for him.   Another exciting point was sitting by a man with paranoid schizophrenia who seemed to think the SFPD and I were after him and he threatened me and called me every name in the book.  It was awesome when he told me I could tell my mom to suck his dick in front of about 10 kids (I texted and said not to send any more kids back in the bus, that it wasn’t safe).  He was having hallucinations and while violence is really rare, more kids back there to listen to him wasn’t a good idea.  When I gently whispered that I wasn’t afraid  (when he said “Your fucking afraid of me” with about 20 other curse words) he quieted down.  I like working with people with schizophrenia and my heart goes out to them.  

Last night, I got to lay down in my bed with my lovely flannel sheets which were so, so, so nice.  It was hard to get out of bed this morning, but get out I did.  I haven’t been receiving mail here, so I dropped by the PO, then ran by the old house  to check mail.  Nothing.  A lovely hair appointment with Nicole to get my “hur did” for Hipsmas (although why???).  Got to work and the day began.  

Once I got home from work, I received a lovely letter from my prior landlord with an itemized bill for “damages” to the house which more than cover what I would have gotten back from my deposit.  Malarky.  That piece of shit house had so many holes in, was falling apart.  He charged me for a shit that fell apart days after I moved in.  I also heard from the chaperon who can’t understand why I was upset about the field trip.  To cheer myself up, I packed for Hipmas (this weekend).  I can’t fit in anything.    Suddenly (the last 3 years) I have this pooch on my body and now I’m sad again.  Fortunately, in about 24 hours I won’t care.  

Pictures: My first medi-cal reauth!!; My one-year pin for working at NM.  :)

November 6, 2015

Fast 5aD because it’s late, I’m tired and we have the storage/garage sale tomorrow:

Woke up on time, but still rather late.  Next thing I knew it was 7:10 and Mags and I had missed having her to school in time for her early morning volunteer work at 7:15.  C’est la Vie.

Came back home and got busy with CDs and packing different areas – laundry room, closet, etc.  Spoke with financial advisor, sealed the deal with the house (we get keys the 16^th) and got tickets for Hipsmas!  Thrilled about that because this is hopefully my last one (meaning I hope CH works out).

I wrote out checks…and one was a very special one to a guy who loaned me money for a bus ride many, many years ago from Arkansas back down to Texas.  I was broke, but I was alive and grateful.  Around the time that it needed to happen, I headed to work, made some calls, then headed to school where I picked up the kids.  I drove them to the new house in about 7 minutes and showed them the outside.  They were squealing with delight from the onset, which made my heart smile, and before I knew it, they were jumping with joy on the trampoline.  They can’t wait to move here now, and that makes my heart so very happy.

We headed to Uncle Jeff’s to wish him a happy birthday and present him with the fudge Mags made, but first, I headed to ER to check on my precious client who was in a car accident.  All was good, but I’ll tell you – so much car stuff happening (bad, bad energy):  3 of our people at work have been involved in car accidents this week – a friend of so many was killed 2 weeks ago and 2 kids from Union Mine were killed Tuesday.  So many drivers have almost hit me in the last few days…I hate this – so much death and destruction.

Then, dropped kids, off, back to work for client, then picked up kids and we had dinner to celebrate nacho day and Friday.  Here, Maggie questioned me on whom I would considered to be my best friend since I don’t really have one…a few days ago she questioned me on men and said "I don't understand why your aren't dating anyone."   I’m concerned she’s going to have me evaluated.  Next was home, where we had great fun with the mouse traps (I pinched my finger once; then scrapped my arm when I screamed and jumped back in fear from the trap snapping).  We were playing Catan when we heard the trap, but nothing…until we looked in the back of the stove and there sat the deer mouse (a rat)– about a foot long from  nose to tip of tail.  So we got out the  trap, which makes sense as to why none of the mouse traps have been working.  We have mice too though, because I got one the other night.  The house is infested and I am counting the hours til we head to Europe.  I’ll let the landlord know and he can do stuff while we are gone.

 Pics 'n Flicks: Ethan balancing...the kid is good; Time to pay it back; Trampoline Joy; Violet loves that I finally turned on the heater yesterday; Kyle the deer mouse; How we catch rats in this house.