Yours Truly, Angry Mob

Long week.

Got bit by my moms basset hound.

Again.

Went to the urgent care and got a tetnus shot and a 10 day supply of antibiotics. Now on day 5 and it has turned into a nasty oozing mess. Not excited about that. It is really hard to keep a wound clean when it is on your dominant hand.

When you work around small children.

Children who have very little respect for personal space or washing their hands after they sneeze.

Fail.

I became an aunt x3 on Sunday. Breydon Joseph.



He is not feeling well and is in the hospital still. But they are taking care of him and hopefully he will be well enough to go home.

My grandpa is also in the hospital, he is having some troubles and I really wish that the hospital he was in wasn't made of fail.

I am tired and feeling antibiotic-icky. I want it to stop raining and start being sunshiny.

And I am hoping that things in general get better.

These Days We Go To Waste Like Wine, Thats Turned To Turpentine

One of my friends from college lost her battle with cancer today.

28 is far too young to be gone and 2 months is far too short a time to get a diagnosis and try to make a plan of attack. To mentally prepare yourself for the fight of your life. 2 months to go from being a healthy person to one who is taken by an insidious disease.

And I am feeling pretty ashamed of myself.

For wallowing in self pity and depression. For not taking advantage of the fact that I am a healthy 28 year old.

Wasting time. Time that is not guaranteed. Time that is on loan from nature.

So, more of my time will go towards playing with the dogs in the backyard. And going to the bookstore and drinking overpriced coffee. More time will be invested in enjoying the artwork that kids make and less time on the faults of the adults around us.

I will savor the car rides when I am alone and can sing as loud as I want. I will go to the movie with my husband and I will get the popcorn while I am there.

Appropriate lyrics for the moment:

These days we go to waste like wine
That's turned to turpentine
It's 6am and I'm all messed up
I didn't mean to waste your time
So I'll fall back in line
But I'm warning you we're growing up

Turpentine/ Brandi Carlile

The Beginning of The End

If you hadn't noticed by now, the economy is kind of in the crapper.

Until recently my small family had remained unscathed.

Rich people were still flying. Regular people were still having kids and needing child care for them.

I had a job that I really enjoyed.

J had a job with a respected company that provided great benefits for their employees.

The trip down the crapper began a few weeks ago when a bunch of folks at J's job were told their services were not needed. No longer could the company operate they way they were and survive. So folks got a few minutes to gather their belongings and turn in their badges to security and hit the road.

For the time being, J still has a position and hopefully that remains the case.

The very same day that people were turning in their badges, I was packing up my office. Not because I was told my services were no longer needed. But so that the new office furniture could be put in and the new paint color could be put up.

My bosses boss had requested that we pick out the color (crocodile tears). It was nice to be moving up in the world. Little did I know that the very next week, the new finance lady would be moving into my office and I would be moving back into a classroom, apparently being relieved of my administrative duties.

Enrollment was down, there were too many teachers. As bummed out as I was, I was thankful to still have a job - in some capacity.

So I spent last week with the knowledge that me moving into a classroom would ultimately be the catalyst for someone else losing their job. Hours got slashed in half for a few staff members. Lunch breaks became unpaid.

Today we had a very informative staff meeting in which my bosses boss told us that because our center was affiliated with a church, we needed to run with integrity. And that included taking breaks that complied with Federal Regulations. Lest the FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF LABOR come in and audit us.

If you are a reader of my lamesauce blog, you will recall that shit hasn't worked in months. Phones, fire panel, air conditioning, computers. In my somewhat simple mind, fixing those things would be a more pressing matter than fixing the unpaid breaks.

Apparently, however, the FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF LABOR is more concerned that full time employees clock out for their breaks than for the building in which they work to be safe.

So, the writing has been on the wall (or left on the copy machine for inquiring minds to read) for a while. That which does not bring profit will not continue. Even if it is a "ministry". Even if you tell your employees that you care about them.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you work in a child care center with less than 20 employees or if you work at a company that is run by the richest man in the world.

If you believe for a second that the people you are employed by care about you or your family; odds are you are wrong. Business people are business people for a reason, even if they are the leader of a church.

Lamesauce

I haven't written in 3 months. The summer got away from me. It was not what I expected it to be. Things seldom are, right?

As of late, I have been saturated with negativity. I am doing my best to prevent taking so much of that on. It is difficult for me, because I already tend to be on the cynical side.

It takes VERY little for me to be a crabby, sarcastic, glass-half-empty witch.

But I want to remind you people out there, if there are any of you actually reading this: niceness matters.

Small acts of kindness matter.

Rushing to judgment is not ok. Projecting your lack of life enjoyment on others is not ok.

My list of "ok" things:
-Loving your dogs, to the point where they eat better than you and you are reluctant to clean the inside of the windows in your car, because their nose art is pretty rad.
-Loving music, listening to it at your desk, in the car, while you are in the shower.
-Watching a reality tv show. And looking forward to the nights it comes on.
-Salt and Vinegar Kettle Chips.


I am trying real hard to add to that list. I really wish others would follow my lead on that.

Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

I have never experienced such fail as the fail that I have experienced this week.

Fail in all aspects and areas of my life.

The weekend could never possibly be long enough.

Friends in Low Places

I am certain that if you have ever read any of my previous blogs, you are aware of the complete and utter FAIL of the building I work in. We haven't had proper and consistent air conditioning or heat since the great fire alarm debacle of March.

Because I am employed by The Lord, we do not use actual repairmen to fix our problems. We use friends of friends who may have, at one point in time, looked at an air conditioning unit. One of my favorite friend of a friend "repairman" is named Jim* (named changed to protect the innocent). Jim has been out several times to fix our HVAC issues. Jim is missing several teeth, has a fondness of Mt. Dew, and often times smells of body odor.

Jim also has no real clue of how to actually fix a commercial air conditioner. So yesterday when Jim came to my office and declared that the ac for the toddler room was in fact working, I was a bit skeptical. Then he told me that the reason it was so hot in the toddler rooms was because the thermostat in the janitors closet was not kicking on because it was so cold in the closet.

At this point my brain had a minor explosion and I pointed out that the thermostat that controls the toddler rooms is not in the janitors closet, but (wait for it) ... is in the TODDLER ROOM.

So we fought for a good 5 minutes about this at which point I decided that the impending stroke was not worth it and I went back to my office to calm myself.

Jim apparently is not a big fan of the women folk having an opinion and called his boss (who is a board member ie. friend of a friend) and expressed his displeasure with my interference in his genius work. The pastor comes this morning to talk to me and I explain the idiocy that took place yesterday and my displeasure with having to coach the HVAC man how HVAC things worked. I believe the phrase "not in my job description" was used.

So he said that he understood and to let Jim know if he had questions, to call the board member or himself. Novel fucking idea eh?




and that's why it's good to be .....



Me.

Breathe Us In, Slowly

So Week One of CPAP usage is in the books. I wish I could say that I am feeling refreshed and lively. I am not. But, it hasn't been AS bad as I thought it would be. My biggest issue is waking up in the middle of the night. If something (cat,dog,husband, ect) wakes me up, I have a very hard time getting back to sleep. Getting the mask to seal perfectly is somewhat of a science and once you start messing around with it you might as well forget about falling right back to sleep.

I have a Resmed Swift mask.

Basically this little nasal pillow fits nicely up to my nostrils and attaches to tubing that goes into the cpap machine.



The tubing connects to the machine which pushes filtered air over a heated humidifier and into my nose. If the humidifier is too warm, it can cause water to pool in the mask, waking you up with something akin to waterboarding.

Other than the sensation of being forcibly drowned and knowing that you look like a cyborg in the bed, it hasn't been too terrible.

Last night was our Preschool Graduation. I am not sure why Preschoolers need a Graduation ceremony, but it seems like a good excuse to hand out portfolios and eat cake. Several of the kids won't be staying for the summer and I will miss them.

Work has been increasingly frustrating. Besides the fact that the air conditioning is STILL NOT WORKING, we have been dealing with a check forgery case, and losing our self payers one by one as the economy has slipped. I know that things will turn around, but I don't like when our numbers are not as high as normal.

And in an ironic tidbit of trivia, 3 years ago today I had my first sinus surgery.

06/06/06


heh.

Why does it say paperjam when there is no paperjam?

Reasons I am not feeling my place of employment right now:

1. Lack of functioning air conditioning
2. The color printer/copier does not print in English. It is some sort of Arabic font.
3. Dead people down the street.
4. Lack of leadership willing to be assertive.


I am fixing to go Office Space on this place.

I've Seen Enough

The birthday is over. It was a mediocre event made significantly better by some good friends who I happen to work with. Cake, italian food, and a group of 5 year olds singing Happy Birthday made up for everything else.

Yesterday marked the annual field trip to the Columbus Zoo, or as I like to call it "Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?" Trip. The WTTWAGI Trip always seems exciting in the days leading up to the event.

Baby Elephants!

Gorillas!

Manatees!

In reality it is a pointless excursion that involves a very cranky child locked into a stroller, too short to see over the rail at the bears. It also involves going into a food court that apparently feeds the entire population of Franklin County, fighting for a dirty table, standing in line for 58 minutes to get a cold slice of pizza.

And you know what else? The train ride is ALWAYS broke. Never mind the fact that while you were walking up the damn hill to get to the train station you see it running. With people on it. By the time you get to the depot to buy tickets, it is no longer in service. So then, you have to walk down the damn hill, with the kid in the stroller who does not understand why they can't ride the train. The kid who is hot, tired, hungry, and too short to see over the railing.

So, you say, lets stop at the pretzel stand. We will get a pretzel and an ICEE and that will make up for the lack of a functioning train ride through the zoo. So, you stand in line, and of course you are behind "those people". The ones who are only capable of communicating with their children by SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS so loud that the meerkats on the other side of the zoo twist their heads in confusion. By the way, they are out of pretzels.

By this time, the children in strollers are typically in a dark, quiet room, laying on a cot, listening to lullabies for a nice two hour nap. By this time, they don't care about the Baby Elephant, or the train. Their kind parents who have naively volunteered to chaperone a field trip are wondering what the hell they were thinking and how soon can they leave without looking bad.

So, you decide that you have had all the fun you can possibly stand in one day and you make your way to the exit. You wonder how come the car seems SO far away. You barely have time to unstrap the kid from the stroller and strap them into their car seats before they are snoring.

In the midst of it all, you thank the great Flying Spaghetti Monster that no one was lost or stolen, that there is indeed a Starbucks with a drive thru on the way home, and that you didn't get arrested while taking a picture of a misspelled word on the back of a bathroom stall.

All in all a great day.

I'm Afraid of Americans

There is something about the mention of "shaving your soft palate and uvula" that makes a CPAP machine suddenly seem a much more pleasant option.

Went to the ENT today and he told me that even if he did the aforementioned procedures, along with removing my tonsils and adenoids, there was no guarantee that I will see all of my apnea symptoms go away. So, I suppose I will be calling the sleep doctor and telling her that I won't be having surgery and would like (?) to try the CPAP machine.


Last Thursday brought the disturbing news that a man who lived down the road from my school was found murdered in his home. Apparently he had been deceased since Tuesday. There hasn't been much information released, other than the fact that it happened, but I have a hunch that it was drug related. The thing that bothers me (other than people being shot in my general vicinity) is that after the day the incident happens, you don't hear anything more about it. I suppose that is just the nature of the news outlets.



Klaus is doing very well after his surgery on his tail. I am still amazed how resilient he is. Every once in a while he will bump his little nub on something or Lola will nip at it and he will yelp. We are hoping that the hair will grow back quickly, so it won't look so strange.




The Husband and I went to the movie theater this past weekend and saw the Angels and Demons movie. I had already read the book, so I knew how it ended, but I still really enjoyed the movie. Ewan McGregor is one of my favorites and I really want to go to Italy.


My 28th birthday is quickly approaching. I have been out of High School for 10 years. Today, I feel old.