It's back to school day at my house, though I know some people started long ago.
Whine: Snuggly Girl's new school anxiety was about as bad as expected.
Anti-whine: She unexpectedly snapped out it last night and started spinning tales about a Mr. Bean-like character for whom she has several humorous adventures planned. I can't tell you too much in case she publishes them some day . . . but one involves a boomerang, another involves hamsters, and a third involves a parking ticket. Hilarious!
Bonus anti-whine: I take total credit (though I probably don't deserve it) because the change in mood started with me asking her to list 3 Good Things about the New School. And she did. And was cheerier ever after.
Minor and expected whine: The wistful waving from the school bus window.
Bonus whine: Back to work, piles of emails, urgent meetings. But hey, at 3:20 I'm done and I vow to ignore the computer until she's in bed tonight.
What's whiney by you this week?
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46 comments:
Sorry to hear about SG's anxiety. I've so been there - probably at about the same age that she is at now. Only then they didn't name it as anxiety - everyone just thought I was odd.
Whine: I am odd.
Whine: My son was the local gay bar this weekend and two of his friends were brutally attacked outside when they were leaving. One was hit repeatedly over the head with a brick and has undergone surgery. He is expected to survive. His friend is so traumatized, but thankfully has a good support system around him.
Anti-whine: My son has been hounded by the media all weekend because of his role as Gender Issues Coordinator at the university. He was interviewed today and sent out a press-release about the incident. It's a terrible way to recognize it, but I'm so proud of how much maturity and class he is showing in dealing with the situation.
Whine: He's 25 and I can't tell him to stay home every night so he doesn't get hurt.
Oh, Sue! So sorry to hear about the senseless violence. But how lovely that your son is making you proud of how he handles the attention.
madeleine -- that is fabulous about SG's turnaround via 3 good things! a great start, indeed!
oh, sue -- what a horrible, frightening thing. there aren't words for the senselessness of it, or the twist in a mom's gut. but i nominate your son for an "our hero" award, for helping his communities on and off campus deal with this tragedy. and another award for you, because you raised him to be strong and caring, and he is.
Anti-whine: SG had a good day at school despite the fact that she got lost three times. This program is a much better fit for her -- she had no complaints, other than the maze of hallways.
Quote of the day: [list of all the pets in the room] "and we have two empty aquariums. Mr. K. says it's always good to have an extra aquarium or two just in case."
((Sue)) so sorry to hear of the attack.
Whine: My bank went under a week ago. FDIC covered it immediately, and things like online bill payment are still working, but the hassle of getting set up with new accounts is driving me nuts.
Antiwhine: Both boys said that their "something good about the day" was that it was the first day of school.
Whine: I'm hearing some bad reviews of N's kindergarten teacher. Nothing to do about it now but we'll keep an eye on the situation.
woo hoo! for extra aquariums! if you are interested, i'll tell you about harriet the tarantula, who put in an amazing 9 years as a classroom pet. [and usually summered at our place.] well, actually, that's the story, except the time she made an egg sack the first summer. but the kids loved her. "ewww!!!!!"
moving right along...
my sweetest cat has
a problem. drip. drop. drip. drop.
do not walk barefoot.
and in other news...
i want to kill my
computer. stupid, crashy,
slow. fireplace it all.
but in anti-whines, i might be getting my work mojo back! also, sending a dictionary and 4 packs of favorite chocolates to japan costs $27 not counting the contents, but it gave us something useful to do.
oh, elizabeth -- what a mess about the bank. and i hope N's teacher turns out OK. but it sounds like a great back-to-school report from your boys!
((((Sue, Sue's son, Sue's son's friends)))) Hoping for a speedy recovery.
I really like the idea of emergency aquaria.
I hope N's teacher turns out ok. I hope the bank situation gets solved ditto.
AW: MM loved his first day back. I got to hear about it at Posh Place, where I went to meet up with him before I rushed off to
AW: give a speech to the Alexandria Dems asking them to step up and volunteer with that Yes We Can attitude our President expects from us.
W: Missed bedtime with MM.
My whine today is that there are not enough whiny people here. Where are the whiney people?
Where have all the whiners gone, this 4 day work week?
Where have all the whiners gone, this first week of school?
Where have all the whiners gone? Are their lives happy, every one?
No annoyances, no pooping cats?
No mammograms or cranky brats?
Where have all the whiners gone,
This rainy Wednesday?
Where have all the whiners gone,
oh-nine-oh-nine-oh-nine?
Where have all the whiners gone?
How will I get my procrastination done?
I need my whining friends
I need my whining, my friends.
kathy a and liz for style points definitely.
Anti-whine: Son did an AMAZING interview with the CBC - sort of the Canadian version of NPR - about the attacks. He was so well-spoken, tactful, had his facts in order, and spelled out in perfect detail what the community can do to help improve things. He rocks the catbox. Totally.
Whine: It's only 1:20 and I want to go home. I've had such a busy morning that it feels like a full day already. But alas, it ain't.
In the "Aging Actually Sucks" category - I can't see a damn thing anymore without my cheater reading glasses. ~sigh~ time to see the eye doc and talk *cough* bifocals.
Oh, liz! I'm breathless.
Work. More Work. And more Work. That is my whine. And daycare sucks too, but that isn't new.
Sue, link please.
sue's son: my hero.
liz for style!
jenr has old skool covered, but details! we need details!
sue -- i can't believe you've limped along this far without discovering the wonders of progressive lenses. do not waste any time getting a new prescription! i understand they also have progressive contacts.
Hmmm.......must read up on progressive lenses. So far, I've just had to use the plain old magnifying "readers" - as my mother used to call them. I definitely need to move a step up though...
Really lame whine: Because of the long weekend I missed my Monday yoga class, so this afternoon's class just about did me in. Who knew that those inner thigh aductors could tighten up that much in a mere week?
Ouchie.
Have just been informed that my school has 3 documented cases of H1N1, otherwise known as swine flu, and I feel like crap.
Unfortunately, I WOKE UP feeling like crap, and did not find out about the swine flu cases until lunch. Am now frantically trying to talk myself OUT of getting anywhere even remotely sick.
This is not helped by the fact that I have a deaf/autistic student who loves to both climb me like a jungle gym and snuggle, but also loves to lick me anywhere he can reach and puts *everything* in his mouth. God love him, he's a sweetie, but he's a germ factory, and illness just waiting to happen.
So tired. School is cranking up, and so are Girl Scout meetings, both adult and troop-wise, and my next college class starts on Sept. 14th. Add in the fact that I was also asked to "please, please, please audition" for a show a friend of mine is running because people decided not to participate at the last minute....and I am way over extended. Again. And it's all my own blasted fault. Stoopid me, and stoopid overdeveloped sens of volunteerism!
(((KLee))) please take care of yourself, feel better soon and learn a full sentence - "No."
See? I say that as if it hasn't taken me 50 years to learn that myself. *snicker* I'm such a poser.
Anyway, take care of you.
oh, klee!
this is an antiwhine, but i feel bad about it. i took up a door-to-door salesperson on a "free demonstration" of the absolute gold-plated-best vacuum/shampooer. so even though i've told the guy a half-dozen times that this is the machine of my dreams BUT i can't afford it, he is still cleaning all the cat poop off of my hall carpet. apparently he only gets credit if he does the full demo, which so far has run over an hour.
Yay! For clean carpet. Though I understand the guilt.
Hugs to KLee. That is a lot. Also, being licked by a student. Mmmmm. Not so fun.
so, i'm here to report that a $2300 vacuum works much better than the piece of crap upright hoover with the broken tilter switch, as demonstrated by dozens of embarassing demo filters. and even at the twice-discounted, today-only special low-low price of $1300 [just $50/month!], it is more machine than we can afford.
my leaky cat christened the newly-clean carpet as soon as the noise died down.
I'm chuckling over the clean carpet. Can you send him my way?
Anti-whine: I've been asked to speak at the rally being held on Friday night for the young man who was beaten last weekend. The theme is Community Unity and the organizers wanted someone "to say something spiritual" ~grin~ My son suggested I might be up for it.
He's right. I am.
I have about 5 minutes to speak. I'll keep it simple and from the heart - that's always best anyway.
I love that the event will close with a Buddhist prayer about peace, repeated by everyone as they leave the venue....
Oh Sue - what a horror for your son. And his friends. And your community. And you. Hugs and may the rally make you feel better.
I am mostly small whines this week: the expected permit for the new garage is delayed, the woman who wants my furniture on craigslist can't come until Friday and I feel nice waiting for her but will kick myself if she doesn't show, I hate job searches, the kids cried about school the first week, but I think that's over. I am having the first birthday party for my youngest, whose first birthday is today, on Sunday and the house will not clean itself.
Huge anti-whine: u/s @ 20 wks went great (am 23 tomorrow) and am apparently more than halfway to having a healthy baby girl!
Small coordinating whine: have "placenta brain" and can not for the life of me remember if I remembered to post this three weeks ago. Also, am too lazy and tired to check ;)
Medium-sized accessory whine: was feeding 15-month old at work his bottle, and the little stinker grabbed my [sore for the last 23 weeks] right boob ::HONK:: Umm, OUCH!!!!
Hugs to all the pixies, before I forget to say that, too ;)
details... hmm. Well, day care sucks because we pulled the baby boy out for two weeks to play with Grandma for a week then spend a week on vacation with us. He was happy happy happy the whole time and I hate that I have to send him back (not that he's unhappy there, but obviously happy and learning more when he's not there). Then we come home to find out that they closed his room, moved all the kids in his class to a new room, and got a new teacher. Oh, and after all that they are moving him up to the older 1-year-old room next week. So two weeks off, then a new room, then another new room. Yuck. The second new room is actually with a teacher he knows and likes. After some carefully worded complaining they skipped the 1st new room and moved him straight to the 2nd. My head is spinning.
I'm still mad though. He has been in day care for 1 year. This is his 6th teacher, not counting the one he had for a matter of hours on Tuesday while we straightened out the mess. Am I wrong to think that's crazy?
As far as work, it is the same as usual - giant project, unrealistic deadline, changing requirements, and too many interruptions. My boss threw the "no working from home" rule out the window yesterday and sent two of us home for the week to try to get something done. That will help at least.
Thanks to debangel for remembering what it's all about. And...um....OUCH!!! Glad all is well with the growing wee lass still in da momma. ~gentle cyber pat on the belleh~
Whine: Morning. That is all.
Anti-whine: appt with family doc this afternoon to debrief ineffective trigger point injections and see where we go from here re: head pain. I hope he's in a good mood. I have a lot to ask him about.
i'd like to nominate sue for this gem: "*snicker* I'm such a poser." if not mullet, perhaps "Yes, I r a grownup. No, rly."?
i'd like to nominate KLee for a second "My Hero" prize for her work with the deaf/autistic child.
my whines? i missed wednesday. yesterday was the tot's first real day of kingergarten, and after she left on the bus, i wandered the house lost until it was time to get her at midday. i should have come here for some love, but i clearly couldn't even accomplish that.
an antiwhine is that she got on the bus fine, even after her reservations about starting school. (i think having open house on tuesday helped with that. good job, school department for doing that! she got to see her room, meet her teacher, and do an activity with me and her dad while we were there.)
in further "first day" whines, i couldn't find my camera or my husband's ANYWHERE. the antiwhine here is that my next-door neighbor, whose girl is also starting k-g, had hers and took some adorable pics of the two of them.
another antiwhine is that i found my camera this morning in a bag of unpacked groceries. wtf?
then i started my semester last night, and i missed my babies' bedtime. we are making up for it this morning. tater nursed for 40 minutes (2x the norm), and the tot is in my lap right now, creating more of an obstacle to typing than any accomplished cat can.
JenR -- I'm so sorry you and your little one are having to deal with this. That's a lot of transition. Good for you for standing up for your son.
fruit flies. blech.
JenR, that daycare sitch sounds remarkably familiar to the one MM was in until he was nearly 4. Look around for a daycare that prides itself on its staff retention.
JenR - what Amy said - good for you for knowing what your child needs and standing your ground while you seek it out.
((amy)) - I remember those days of "firsts" - no fun at all. Sending pixie dust of happiness for a better day today.
liz - sadly, it's not staff retention that's the problem, it's the administration. None of the teachers left, they just keep moving them around to other rooms. In his first 1-year-old room, the teacher moved after two weeks to an older kid room due to a medical issue. That's totally understandable, but then they replaced her with someone who was about to begin her practicum in early childhood ed and needed to teach 4 year olds. So after only 6 weeks, she was gone and off to the preschool room. Then they replaced her with someone else... and now 4 weeks later they closed that room, made that teacher an assistant in a different room, and made the former 6-12 month teacher the new 12-18 month teacher (she watches the kids from the "closed" room - really they just moved across the hall). I have no idea what they are thinking. But at least they put him in the 18-24 month room when we asked. I suppose that means that the teacher there is bound to move shortly since she's been the head teacher of that room for a whole year already.
JenR, If you decide to leave (or decide to tell them you're considering leaving if they keep this crap up - even if it's just to get them to straighten up and listen), you might take a look at your state's regulations or at the center's contract to see if there's anything in there about continuity of care for the young, young children. Because they are a center, I would not be surprised if they at least have something in their welcome packet about how they "pride [themselves] on continuity/consistency of care". You could point out how they are not living up to the promise they make to their clients and that your child's well-being and needs are not being considered as they try to manage their employees' needs instead.
You're right -- that administration has its head up its a$$. I'm a non-confrontational person, so if it were me, I'd probably write a letter. And then the passive-aggressive in me would CC everyone, including the owner. Ha!
jenr -- that is NUTS, moving young kids around so much!
congrats, debangel!
amy, glad the camera was located, and that first day turned out fine! my son's first day of K, the teacher finally had to throw all the parents out of the classroom. ~sniff~
Awards tomorrow morning, so whine as you wish!
Mine: tons of work. Plus the regrets hit SG last night and she thinks she may have made a "hasty decision." I told her to give it a few weeks and see how she feels. She asked if she can go back to Previous School next year and I said "I don't know."
AW: Watching the meteoric rise in Rob Miller's donation totals. Over 300,000 since 9PM last night.
woot, liz!
oh, madeleine. your poor sweetie-pie. transitions are rough for some of ours; my big girl is not exactly regretting japan, but not feeling she fits yet. patience is a virtue, no?
AW: my delicate cat is much improved!
so, once i finally got the nice young carpet demonstrator and his rock-stupid "team leader" out of the house, i looked into the company in question. 2-hour+ demos and pressure tactics are, alas, the norm from what i can find. i got off with a clean hall carpet [my dearest wish before they appeared], and the chance to pat myself on the back for not overtly grinding the team leader's bones to dust for treating me like a cheap-ass moron twit. but you might want to avoid the kay-eye-are-bee-why experience. i hope that kid gets a better job.
**applause applause*** Yay for uber donations!!! Yay for doorbell ringers and fundraisers of all sorts!
Whine: Went to see my family doc re: headaches that returned only 10 days after last trigger point injections. His response: "Come back and see me after you've talked to Dr. H in Kingston."
I told him Dr. H was really difficult to reach, but that I had emailed him right away when the first headache hit and was waiting for a response. (Email really is the ONLY way to communicate with the Kingston doc - he's so busy all the time, the phone is out of the question).
So, I have another appointment in October with the assumption that I will have had some kind of communication with Dr. H in the interim.
Until then - I'm on my own.
The irony is that I will probably destroy my liver by taking the maximum dose of extra-strength tylenol every day and then he will freak out because of my liver enzymes being out of whack. EVERY study I have read says the same thing: Stronger meds, though more addictive to be sure, are not as damaging to the rest of the body as otc meds are.
But hey, what's a girl to do, right? I feel like a hot potato that every medical field tosses to the next one. One doc says one thing, another disagrees, the psych guy disagrees with everything, the yoga teacher tells me my chakras aren't aligned, the physio tells me it's all about muscle....
Wow. Major whineage. Sorry.
Sue, I know it's something you've already thought of, but can't you change your GP? He doesn't take your concerns seriously, he's not treating your pain, and (from my viewpoint) he's a fireplacing patronising do-nothing asswipe.
((( sue )))) does advil work for you, because i think that is less liver-toxic. the OTC dose is simply less than the Rx dose, but i've had docs say to up the dose of the OTC for bad pain [within standard Rx limits, of course]. with tylenol, you really can't go over the OTC dosage without risking the liver. ALSO, ask about whether you can do both a regular dose of tylenol and a dose of advil -- if i remember right, they work differently and can be taken together. [and i think, same for advil and Rx pain relievers -- my daughter did that after her wisdom teeth came out.]
Liz, I would dearly love to switch docs, but in a city of 100,000 people where 40,000 don't have a family physician at all, I can't give up the one I've got.
We have to learn to work together, or else I go to the walk-in clinic every time I need care. Walk-in clinics will not, under any circumstances, prescribe opiates or opiate derivatives. Ever. Therefore, back to the ER when it's unbearable. Ugh.
So you see my bind.
Alas, universal health care, though I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING else, does have its drawbacks - one of those being doctor shortages in high-need and far away places like the city I live in. Basically, if you don't live in Toronto or Montreal, you're lucky to have a doctor at all.
kathy a. - on a bad day, I take the max of tylenol combined with the max of advil PLUS (when it's really bad) a triptan (expensive migraine med which is thankfully covered so I don't have to pay for it - $20 a tablet!!!!! Can you believe that???? Yikes????)
For now, that's the best I can do. I'll try and stay away from the tylenol as much as possible as the ibuprofen is definitely easier on the liver. Tough on the tummy sometimes, but I can deal with that.
Last weekend marked four years of headache whines. Do I get an award for an anniversary whine?????
Amy, as much as I would really like to claim a "hero" prize, that should really go to the two fabulous ladies I work with who have devoted their lives for the past five years to the deaf, hard of hearing, and autistic. They have endured trials, tribulations, and have moved schools 3 times in order to find a home at ours. I am totally in awe of both of them.
I vote for Sue with the headache whines, because I can so relate. There's nothing worse than pain that you can't deal with, and then to have to deal with travel to get treatment, and people who think you're a drug seeker? No, thank you very-damn-much.
Hugs to all the Mamas who suffered the agony of the first day of kindergarten. Trust me -- as bad as you were feeling, the kindergarten teachers had that x20 on the OTHER end of the spectrum. :)
** applause for klee's colleagues **
something wonderful and unbloggable happened!! this project was a long time coming; my part was in the early/mid 1990's. some projects are more like relay races than sprints....
Kathy A.: YAY!!!
Oh Sue, the doctor runaround and the treatments sound as bad as the headaches. And eek on the doctor shortage.
Yay Kathy A!
Amy- I know what you mean about wondering around the house while the kids are gone. Didn't I have a dream to do list when there were 2 (in my case) less kids around all day?
Madeleine - I hope SG feels better soon. I think regret is my least favorite feeling, well, if pain is a feeling, then pain is worse. But regret just sucks.
Yay kathy!!!!!
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