The air is crisp, like the first bite into a tart apple. The sky is blue with cotton ball clouds. The humidity is non-existant. All of which means I need a new wardrobe and shiny new shoes. And a new bag. With freshly-sharpened pencils!
Well, I got them for Muffin Man at any rate. Living vicariously is the new black.
He starts back to school next week and already has three friends in his class. So life is good.
What's on your minds?
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I'm going to leave the first whine, because I'm pretty sure it's going to be a common one today.
Whine, whimper, whine Gmail is down.
Oops! Sorry, Liz! That's my fault. I finally got a gmail account, and I must have brought the cootie bugs with me when I registered. My bad.
Whine: Sweet Baboo is a day ahead of herself and has made Tuesday into Whining Day. Sigh. Tuesday is also "Mama is really tired because you woke her up screaming" day. Not a good combo.
Whine? Antiwhine? My boobs and my tummy are having a race to see which will stick out the farthest. I believe that tummy has edged out a victory just this week, but perhaps boobs are unfairly held back by a too-small bra.
Also, whine: I have become aware that I am living my days waiting for the second shoe to drop. What is going to go wrong next with this baby? I *hate* thinking/feeling/living that way.
((Esperanza))
(((esperanza)))
Ya, the gmail thing today was a bummer. It's back up and running now though!
Whine: First day back after holidays - ten gazillion things to do. Honestly, I had to step out of my office at one point today and just go breathe in the sanctuary.
There is a MOUNTAIN of "urgent" mail/telephone calls to attend to. I'm sorry, but if something has been "urgent" for two weeks, and you haven't contacted the person who is covering pastoral care in my place - then it doesn't get to count as urgent. Period. Deal, people. Deal.
Blargh. Why is it so fireplacing hard for parishioners to understand that I earn holidays just like they all do/did in their jobs? If I happen to be on MY holidays when it's inconvenient for them, well boo-freakin'-hoo.
How can I possibly have compassion fatigue on the FIRST day back? Is that even possible?
Anti-whine: tomorrow has to be better because I tackled some of the mountain.
Anti-whine: No one died. (Some days I really have to dig for those anti-whines...)
((( esperanza )))
sue, it's the sheer quantity of the backlogged stuff on the first day back. it just comes exploding out of various inboxes like [fill in your favorite bodily fluid]. feed it a nice bland diet, and all will be well.
vote for amy for breaking gmail.
Thanks kathy a. - I know that sounded really b*tchy of me - you're right, it's just sheer volume and it's overwhelming. Tomorrow will be better and I'll be less crabby at the end of the day.
I'll second that vote for amy - who knew you had such power????
Got through first day of school in a new department. So, that's all good. Coworkers seem nice, and kids are going to teach more more than I'll teach them.
My major whine is Offspring's situation. Went to Open House two days before school began. (Two school days -- there was a weekend in there, too...) and found that there are so many gifted 8th graders this year, they've had to monkey with the schedules. Offspring, who has been in Gifted classes since 1st grade, got bumped to a lower-achieving class due to class size. Color Mama very confused and ticked. I talk to one of the teachers on her team, and he assures me that she will still get all of the gifted services that she's gotten in the past, regardless of whose roll she appears on, but he's not exactly sure what all that will be since he does not have access to her personal schedule.
Offspring goes home in tears, because she's afraid that she's been placed on the "dumb" team. She feels like she's been demoted. This is not helped by the fact that ALL of her friends are on the two high-functioning teams.
I call the school the next day, and get the runaround. I write a letter, explaining that my daughter needs Gifted services, and that I'd like her moved to one of the gifted teams if the team she's been placed on can't handle that. I take the letter TO THE SCHOOL, and still get the runaround. The counselor that I spoke with says she has to talk to someone else, and she'll get back to me. I wait all weekend, and most of Monday, and I then have to call her back -- again, track her down -- to try and get it resolved. Upshot is, she tells me that she'll be getting Gifted English/Comp Lit and French, but that she didn't qualify for Math. (And how did she NOT qualify for Gifted Math when her yearly GPA was a 91?!?) So, I don't argue the Math part, because she did have some trouble with Math at the beginning of the year. And, she leaves me with no doubt that no matter WHAT I think of the matter, she's not gonna do jack to help me, should I still wish her switched.
Offspring comes home today and says that there is NO separate Gifted class at all, and that their Gifted Comp/Lit counts as their gifted rotation. I'm now beyond confused.
My thing is -- as long as she gets everything she's entitled to, I'm okay with that. If she's getting shafted, I'm not happy with that.
KLee, it sounds as if you and Offspring have a better idea of what's going on at the school than the school does! Good for you for staying with it and continuing to advocate for the services Offspring NEEDS in order for this to be a productive year.
And I'm soooooo glad that things look better for you already this year. Yay!!!
sue -- brawling crises ["me! mine needs you first!"] are award-worthy, in my opinion.
klee -- oy.
AW: just got back from a glamorous couple of days in a warehouse, looking at stuff for work. it was a really productive trip, though, and i had a wonderful dinner with my husband's fabulous aunt!
W: my SIL with dementia turned up at her mother's doorstep the other day, several hundred miles away -- they had not even spoken in months -- and wants to buy a house near there. this is a disaster on so many levels.
AW: daughter is having fun in japan. she's dealing with a class registration problem.
W: follow-up boobal squashing today. which should be no big deal, chances are it's nothing, but they stopped staffing the imaging center with radiologists, so i have to go to the hospital. to the breast cancer center. more cost, and bonus worrying!
AW: my cats missed me when i was away. spotty the shy feral came and asked me for some loving right after i got back.
liz, your famous former teacher would love this post! very exciting about MM's back-to-school: the brand new supplies, the news about friends in his class.
one more W/AW: got roped into doing some short-deadline crisis work, but i get to work with an old friend and colleague!
Good balanced W/AW work there kathy a.!!!
I hope the boobage squashing goes well today. I'll be thinking of you in the waffle press and thinking good Anti-whine thoughts...
Anti-whine: Today's mountain of work is at least one inch smaller than yesterday's.
Way to go, Sue! By many a man's measuring, that'd be, what? Two and a half inches?
[sigh] That was like T-ball, it was so easy.
(Sorry. I'm irritated by every male I know today except Tater, and even he's pushing it.)
Hi Pixies! I'm so happy to see you all. We got back last night from a week of roadtripping.
Whine: 2500 kilometers. That is a lot of driving.
Anti-whine: One of the most wonderful weddings I've been to, fun and meaningful, full of great people and lots of love.
Whine: the usual post trip stuff, laundry and unpacking and empty fridge. Plus my Mom is coming tonight for a visit. I should have said no. Really, I should have.
Votes for Sue's post-vacation mountain (not looking forward to that next week) and Klee's back to school hassles (ditto) and everyone getting boob squashage.
Welcome back Madeleine. You're right - that's a lot of miles. Good luck with next week...
IMPORTANT PIXIE MEMO:
The gathering formerly known as the Stoopid Breakfast Meeting (or SBM) is now designated, officially, as the Stooopid Fireplacing Breakfast Meeting (or SFBM).
The first SFBM will take place tomorrow morning at 7:00 O'Dark.
~sigh~
Anti-whine: I'm all zenned out after tonight's yoga class, so it is remotely possible that no one at the SFBM will be injured or harmed in any way. Just sayin.....
SFBM's are stoopid.
And I forgot to say that whining about the weather last week cured it!! We had this wet stuff that fell from the sky, and then we had like four days in a row where the high was under 95 degrees. I went for a (short, low-impact, doctor-approved) walk. Today, not so much, but the break was very nice. Whining works!
That anonymous is me. I was signed in to the wrong account.
boob passed inspection! but they have to go back in 6 months again.
i nearly got creamed in the hospital parking structure by someone who tailgated, screamed, honked, and shook her fist at me all the way up 5 levels, because i was not going fast enough to suit her. silver lining: however cranky i might get, i've never lost it with innocent strangers in a parking structure.
the breast center itself was brand-new and tres fancy-pants: custom tiling and decor and art, fresh floral arrangements, recorded waterfall and bird sounds in the entry, a couple of soothing meditation areas, nice non-hospital-ish robes embroidered with the outfit's name, big flat-screen monitors showing birds and flowers, etc. it is the sistene chapel of medical facilities.
i think they switched breast imaging over there to help pay for the new digs. this is sticking in my craw, because there are so many impoverished and uninsured people in the city where the hospital is located. i kept wondering how many basic mammograms would be covered by the cost of the ceiling sculpture or the art-glass plaques or the wall art.
Yay kathy a.!!! Yay for the positive boob results and for not getting out of your car to go postal on the miserable woman behind you in the parking lot. When that stuff happens to me, I try to imagine the scenario of that person and just how uber-awful her/his day must be going for them to behave so poorly. You did a great job of staying calm.
Whine: Issues with school and Gifted program still at a standstill. Offspring wants to switch to another team, but that's mainly due to the fact that she wants to be with her friends. ANY of her friends. My thinking is if she's getting a substandard education, that will not be allowed to continue, and I'll push until something is done.
Also, Offspring was very teed off that she forgot her Social Studies book today (her school has no lockers, and her bookbag weighed -- no kidding -- 27 pounds last year! We put it on the scale and measured it!) and her teacher called and left a message at our house that forgetting her book was unacceptable. While I could understand if this was a habitual thing, it's the second fricking day of classes! She got mixed up on which books to pick up! Cut her some slack. I hope I mollified her with an email, but damn! Second day, and already with the nasty-grams? Get the kids lockers, and it won't be such a BFD! Plus, no one should have to carry around 25+ pounds of crap back and forth every day!
HUGE a/w: School for me is going well, and I'm learning sign language to boot!
yay on your school going well, klee! and the ASL! my daughter went to a roller bag at a certain point, because of the weight of books.
sue, i was working that ground in my head, while i tried to avoid running into the double-parked cars stacked throughout the parking structure ["valet parking"]. nobody told me that the "valets" were on the top level -- who'da thunk?
It just dawned on me that a major contributing factor to me being mad at everything lately is the fact I keep forgetting to take my thyroid medicine, but I can't today's dose now because it's too late and it'll keep me up. Not cool.
In school news, somehow we are enjoying some good karma. (Sorry if we stole it from you, KLee!) The tot is getting ready to start kindergarten next Tuesday, and we got her school assignment last Saturday (FINALLY!), but it was bad news -- she was scheduled for the days I'm teaching in the evening and it was going to mean a nasty, complicated after school care situation two days a week. Blech.
So I enjoyed my first opportunity to self-advocate. I called and asked to be switched. The best part of the news, other than we did get switched, is that we got switched to the teacher whom I believe will be a better fit for the tot. I am hopeful about this year, but a little heartsick watching my little pumpkin worry so much about the unknowns. My poor little smudgy-wumpkin is feeling overwhelmed about meeting all those new kids. *sigh* She is definitely my daughter.
((( amy )))
((amy))
Luke: The force is weak in this one master.
Yoda: Too early awakened, she was.
Luke: Is there any hope for her?
Yoda: From only us. Otherwise, fried she is, and served up for dinner.
Luke: Yoda! We have to help her.
Yoda: Someday - watch now we do...ready she is not. Makeup she could use. Lots of it.
As you were...
Sue!
Keep on with the whining folks, awards coming tomorrow or maybe even Saturday.
nominate esperanza for the boob/tummy race! and hooray for whining changing the weather for the better!
hope that amy's boys are less irritating today. and that her smudgy-wumpkin forgets all about the worries when she meets her new friends.
madeleine -- that's a lot of driving! sending virtual refreshments for the mom visit. you don't have to share.
i'm on a roll today! got one piece of the emergency done this morning. working on the next. the electricity is holding.
I got these great new knives from my MIL for Christmas, like, almost two years ago. They are still the new knives and I still love them. Except that the frequency of blood in the kitchen is definitely up.
Today I set a new record -- I cut two fingers simultaneously! Woo! I didn't even notice the index finger gash until I was swabbing off the thumb.
Note to self: put it on a plate and cut downward. Thank you. That is all.
Ouch Madeleine! That's why I try to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible. Hubby likes to cook, and now that we've adapted the kitchen to his needs, I can steer clear of the place - too many opportunities for blood and burns. Eek!
madeleine -- stay away from mandolines. i speak from experience.
the wiki article on them says: "This is a dangerous utensil and food preparers may choose to wear a metal glove on the pushing hand." metal glove! every kitchen should have a pair!!
Ditto that - mandolines are bad, sharp things. In kitchens *shudders*.
Hubby made me chicken soup tonight because I had a BRUTAL headache (back up in the 6-7 out of 10 range).
Crappity, crappity, crap crap crap.
Saw physio today which helped some, but coming home this afternoon and lying down in the dark room with ice helped more.
Wait, haven't I seen this movie before???????? Argh.
Aw crap, Sue. I hope the chicken soup does the trick. This is NOT a good movie to see again.
aw, sue. hope the headache is better today.
nah. not much sleep b/c of Teh Hurt, so I'm still hovering at 5-ish. Blech.
Is it bad that I checked this morning's obituaries to make sure I wasn't listed there? Yesterday was pretty rough, but not THAT rough. Still...
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