The decision to audition for the show was the easy part. The hard part was working out the logistics of how I was going to get all the way down to L.A. (fly or drive? Hotel or stay with family?). I decided early on that I would go to the later 2pm call time vs. the 7am call time. I knew that there would be people camping out overnight just to be the first spot for the morning and I had no interest in doing that. I WAS, however, willing to get there around 7am to line up for the 2pm so I could be one of the first in line that way. In the interest of getting the most sleep possible we booked a room at the LAX airport Radison for two nights. The idea was that I would only have to travel about 20 min to get to the venue vs. the 1 hour it would take if we stayed with family.
If anyone from the Sacramento area has ever driven down to L.A. they know it is a tedious, long, boring drive. Stopping for gas, food, and the rush hour traffic got us to the hotel around 8pm. We left before noon.
Arriving at the hotel was a fiasco in and of itself. First of all there were no clear signs to show you where to self-park. We circled three times before we finally asked someone where the hell we need to go. We were directed to a PRIVATE parking lot about a block away. When we parked the car (which was totally cluster f*cked by the way) we were informed that the parking is NOT included in the hotel stay and that if we wanted in/out privileges it costs extra. By this point we just wanted to get the hell out of the car and into our room so we could have some dinner. We hiked it over to the hotel to find out that priceline made an error and our King size bed was now two doubles. Ummmm WHAT??
"Fine, that's not the hotel's fault, just re-book our room, we'll pay the difference"
"I'm sorry sir, we're full for the night"
Great.
So we head up to the eighth floor to our room. Down the hallway a bit, ok, far from the elevator, that's good....Here's the door to our room aaaaaaand there's the door to the stairs. Well, we're 8 floors up, nobody takes the stairs to the eighth floor, right?
WRONG.
All night long from about 11pm until 3 AM IN THE MORNING people would not only SLAM that door so it shook the entire room, but LINGER in the hallway talking or TALK IN THE STAIRWELL, which we could hear from about three floor up/down.
We called the night manager who offered us anything but a solution to the problem: money off our dinner, free breakfast. My husband explained that those were very nice gestures but none of those options GAVE US SLEEP RIGHT NOW. They said they would send a security guard to stand at the doorway and monitor the noise level.
Security never came.
How do I know this? Because the door slamming/parading/3 ring circus continued for 45 minutes after the mythical security guard was posted.
Yeah right.
OK SO, here's Irma waking up at 6am, operating on THREE HOURS or so of sleep, trying to look like a SUPERMODEL at this ungodly hour of the morning. Jim was kind enough to order room service and coffee, which helped. I'm finally ready and we pack up all our stuff and check out. Among the useless shit they offered us was credit toward the b.s. parking we paid for. Guess what was NOT credited on the bill? yeah. So if anyone is looking for a place to stay near LAX please listen up, b/c I'm only gonna say it once:
DO NOT STAY AT THE RADISON AT LAX. THEY ARE ASSHOLES. They are gonna ask me to go back under my bridge I'm gonna TROLL THEIR ASSES SO BADLY ON THE INTERWEBZ.
Ok, so most of you really care about the actual "audition" part of this blog. Here it is (thank you for your patience)
I arrived at the venue around 8am, which turns out to be PERFECT timing. There is already a line of, I would guess, a thousand or so people. I get dropped off at the back of the line and ask the ladies around me which time slot they are lined up for. They say "7am", in my head I say "SWEEEEEEET". I'm only in line maybe 20 minutes when the line starts moving forward. It's drizzling, but not really "raining" per se. I make friends in the line (as I always do) and it passes the time pretty well. It's about 10 ish or so when I get to what would be perceived as the "front" of the line (not to actually go inside, but where they allow you to start lining up)
A security person asks if anyone is in line for the 2pm slot and I raise my hand.
I am the first person in the line to do so. SCORE!!
They tell us to line up against another wall and I am at the front of the new line. Another guy in the line tells us that they are gonna start letting us in as soon as the 7am people are done. FWHAAAAAAAAAAAT? THAT'S AWESOME!!!!!!
So I wanna say we wait maybe a total of another hour and they inform us we are going to start moving inside. It's about 11am.
The line finally moves in and we are herded like organized cattle into the building, up some stairs and toward a security search station. I beeped several times (thanks belt grommets and zipper) so I lose my place as first in line.
The next room we hit looks almost like where you would sign in at a convention. Tables all the way across the room, dividers showing multiple lanes and behind those people are rows and rows of chairs, 10 in each row. I give the table person my artist pass and ID, they direct me to another table where I will get a wristband. They inform us we are to sit in one of the rows of chairs and wait. I might have been slightly choosier about where I sat if I had known that your "row" was also the group you would ultimately go and audition with.
We are then herded AGAIN to another room upstairs with MORE rows of chairs, but a front wall with two banners up depicting the show's logo. They lined people up by groups of 10 against the banners and asked us to wait. again.
After a few minutes we were asked to follow someone into an area filled with many hallways. In each hallway was three rooms on each side. Each room had 10 people lined up outside it. There must have been half a dozen hallways.
We are led to almost the last hallway and told to wait outside one of the rooms. A young man with a headset gave us the ground rules (be respectful to each other, sing one verse and one chorus of your song...etc) and informed us that we could not leave the room without getting the wristband removed. He collected our paperwork and instructed us that there were five chairs on each side of the room and a set of chairs in the back for legal guardians if the person auditioning was a minor.
Once we were seated and the door was closed the "producer" (I'm assuming that's who he was) told us all the same information headset guy did, but let us know when our name was called we had to stand on the x tape on the floor and sing.
I think I was called 3rd or 4th? I don't remember. But I sang my little heart out. Minimal nerves, hit every note. I kept singing until I was stopped (I almost got to the end!)
Some of the other voices were not that great, but two of the people in our group were asked to stay inside for a second. The "producer" informed us that this did NOT necessarily mean a call-back, they just wanted to either hear another song or ask some questions. As we left the room a woman was there to cut our writbands off and that was it.
The whole ordeal was over and done with just shy of 12:30.
SO, overall, considering how long I was willing to stand in line, it was pretty much about a 3 hour "line wait" and just over 4 hours for the whole process.
Seriously not bad.
I have to applaud the organization of the auditions. Those people had their stuff together and everyone was really nice to us. We were never treated badly or uninformed through the whole process. I really can only conclude that what they were looking for was not "the voice" but "a voice". The people that were asked to stay behind either had an unusual voice or an unusual look. I have neither of those.
Se la vie. See you all for another blog about "The X Factor" in April. Wish me luck!!!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
What a weekend
On Friday Feb 3rd (which also happens to be my husband's birthday) my youngest was outside during preschool and got stung by a bee. We watched for the usual signs of an allergic reation (given this was his first sting) and saw nothing unusual. The following week he came home on Thursday telling me he complained to his teacher about the same finger. I took a look at it without noticing anything different.
My oldest son has been having "issues" with his attention span in school. It is due in part to the fact that he has had THREE teachers since the beginning of the year. His original teacher applied over the summer for a position closer to his home and the district offered him a different job 3 months into the school year. Given he lived close to Apple Hill and drove over an hour to get to work each day he said yes to the offer. This left my son with a long-term substitute and total lack of accountability in the classroom. Over the course of the intermediate months we were given an official diagnosis for ADHD for him. The new teacher has been VERY understanding and it has been a continuing effort of open communication to establish a system that works to manage his behavior in class. We had one REALLY bad day and I took almost every toy he owns out of his room to make him earn them back one at a time. He has been making positive strides toward impulse control and re-directing, but it's been a long process. The week after the beesting, in an effort to motivate him further, we tried offering a movie excursion as a trade-off to improved behavior. He worked very hard and last Friday afternoon I logged onto Fandago and bought 2 adult and 3 children's tickets to "The Phantom Menace" in 3D.
Friday afternoon when I returned home from working at the charter school my mom mentioned Jason's finger. She said that she watched him complain to the teacher about it and the teacher said something to the effect of "oh the same finger he's been complaining about for a few days? He's fine" (I'm paraphrasing of course). When I looked at his finger it was pretty far from "fine". His entire digit was swollen down to the knuckle. I immediately got on the phone and left a message for his Pediatrician. I was called back toward the end of the day and told "If this was my child I would be in the car on my way to the ER" o_O
SO, instead of spending Friday night at the movie theater shoving my piehole with popcorn, I was sitting in the ER waiting room for someone to check out this poor kid's finger. The wait was mercifully short, but the doctor made no qualms spelling out the severity of his finger. Apparently the bee sting was now infected and the entire finger had cellulitis. The danger of having it in the hand is if it travels up the tendon it could spread very quickly. My poor little guy had to have TWO shots, one in each leg. The nurse told me that they actually had to put lidocaine in the shots because they would be so painful to him. I think the most heartbreaking part of the whole ordeal was watching him do the "silent cry" for a full minute before actually screaming in pain from these shots. He was unable (or unwilling) to walk after the shots, so here's mom trying to comfort him, pull out her wallet to pay the co-pay and carry him to the car with my horrible back.
On a side note I'd like to mention that the Ped told me to go to a Kaiser office with NO emergency service, so I drove to a different one (I should say I drove AROUND a different one for 15 min trying to negotiate the labyrinth that is the parking areas).
After getting him back into the car and realizing that he had yet to EAT DINNER, I spent the entire car ride bribing him out of a tantrum that resulted from missing the damn movie.
Then end of this story is a happy one: Fandango refunded our money, I took Jason to see the movie the next morning and he is happily bounding around like nothing happened. Gotta love the short-term memory of a 4 year old.
My oldest son has been having "issues" with his attention span in school. It is due in part to the fact that he has had THREE teachers since the beginning of the year. His original teacher applied over the summer for a position closer to his home and the district offered him a different job 3 months into the school year. Given he lived close to Apple Hill and drove over an hour to get to work each day he said yes to the offer. This left my son with a long-term substitute and total lack of accountability in the classroom. Over the course of the intermediate months we were given an official diagnosis for ADHD for him. The new teacher has been VERY understanding and it has been a continuing effort of open communication to establish a system that works to manage his behavior in class. We had one REALLY bad day and I took almost every toy he owns out of his room to make him earn them back one at a time. He has been making positive strides toward impulse control and re-directing, but it's been a long process. The week after the beesting, in an effort to motivate him further, we tried offering a movie excursion as a trade-off to improved behavior. He worked very hard and last Friday afternoon I logged onto Fandago and bought 2 adult and 3 children's tickets to "The Phantom Menace" in 3D.
Friday afternoon when I returned home from working at the charter school my mom mentioned Jason's finger. She said that she watched him complain to the teacher about it and the teacher said something to the effect of "oh the same finger he's been complaining about for a few days? He's fine" (I'm paraphrasing of course). When I looked at his finger it was pretty far from "fine". His entire digit was swollen down to the knuckle. I immediately got on the phone and left a message for his Pediatrician. I was called back toward the end of the day and told "If this was my child I would be in the car on my way to the ER" o_O
SO, instead of spending Friday night at the movie theater shoving my piehole with popcorn, I was sitting in the ER waiting room for someone to check out this poor kid's finger. The wait was mercifully short, but the doctor made no qualms spelling out the severity of his finger. Apparently the bee sting was now infected and the entire finger had cellulitis. The danger of having it in the hand is if it travels up the tendon it could spread very quickly. My poor little guy had to have TWO shots, one in each leg. The nurse told me that they actually had to put lidocaine in the shots because they would be so painful to him. I think the most heartbreaking part of the whole ordeal was watching him do the "silent cry" for a full minute before actually screaming in pain from these shots. He was unable (or unwilling) to walk after the shots, so here's mom trying to comfort him, pull out her wallet to pay the co-pay and carry him to the car with my horrible back.
On a side note I'd like to mention that the Ped told me to go to a Kaiser office with NO emergency service, so I drove to a different one (I should say I drove AROUND a different one for 15 min trying to negotiate the labyrinth that is the parking areas).
After getting him back into the car and realizing that he had yet to EAT DINNER, I spent the entire car ride bribing him out of a tantrum that resulted from missing the damn movie.
Then end of this story is a happy one: Fandango refunded our money, I took Jason to see the movie the next morning and he is happily bounding around like nothing happened. Gotta love the short-term memory of a 4 year old.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Life after Facebook.
Apparently I shocked the world the day I deleted not only my facebook, but my ridiculously time-consuming Zynga Farm. Initially the "cold turkey" (excuse the Thanksgiving pun) way of quitting was an adjustment. I never realized how much time I wasted on either/both of those activities until I counted how many times I sat down during the day expecting to log onto....nothing. I quickly assessed that I would have to fill the "wasted" time with this bizarre concept other people call "productivity". I have compiled a small list of things I now do instead of turning my brain into a rotting pile of mush:
* I CLEAN- Yes, I actually took some of my "free time" and cleaned some areas of the house I would hauntingly look at and think "I will just look at facebook/check my farm and THEN clean that clutter". Instead I just get off my lazy ass and clean it.
* I RUN- I signed up to run a 5k at my kids' school. Training for this gave me something to do and discipline to stick with a schedule for keeping myself healthy. Sunday November 13th I ran my first 5k and made my best time yet.
* I DO THINGS WITH MY KIDS- I actually sit down and eat meals with them. I play board games and walk to the park with them. I grab stale bread and get on my bike to feed geese with them. I paint my daughter's nails. I play xbox with them. I watch movies with them. I ENGAGE WITH THEM.
* I AVOID DRAMA- I have stifled at least a half a dozen of them with the simple phrase " I don't have a facebook anymore!"
* I SPEND TIME WITH FRIENDS- I go shopping, or out to lunch, or just hang out without fear of missing a harvest time and having my strawberries wither.
* I SPEND TIME WITH MY HUSBAND- I shit you not, the words "I just have to harvest these ______" has left my mouth at 10pm before I could hang and watch a movie with my spouse. Unacceptable.
* I LIVE MY LIFE FOR MYSELF- instead of pretending to live an interesting one just so my facebook followers won't be bored.
* I CAN GO A WHOLE DAY WITHOUT TURNING ON MY COMPUTER- The mere thought of this pre-facebook deletion would have sent me into seizing panic attacks. Now if my power goes out my reaction is "meh".
* I SPEND TIME ON A GAME I PURCHASED- instead of wasting time on a supposedly "free" game that is designed to get you to spend actual money.
* I ENJOY LIFE- this one is self explanatory.
* I CLEAN- Yes, I actually took some of my "free time" and cleaned some areas of the house I would hauntingly look at and think "I will just look at facebook/check my farm and THEN clean that clutter". Instead I just get off my lazy ass and clean it.
* I RUN- I signed up to run a 5k at my kids' school. Training for this gave me something to do and discipline to stick with a schedule for keeping myself healthy. Sunday November 13th I ran my first 5k and made my best time yet.
* I DO THINGS WITH MY KIDS- I actually sit down and eat meals with them. I play board games and walk to the park with them. I grab stale bread and get on my bike to feed geese with them. I paint my daughter's nails. I play xbox with them. I watch movies with them. I ENGAGE WITH THEM.
* I AVOID DRAMA- I have stifled at least a half a dozen of them with the simple phrase " I don't have a facebook anymore!"
* I SPEND TIME WITH FRIENDS- I go shopping, or out to lunch, or just hang out without fear of missing a harvest time and having my strawberries wither.
* I SPEND TIME WITH MY HUSBAND- I shit you not, the words "I just have to harvest these ______" has left my mouth at 10pm before I could hang and watch a movie with my spouse. Unacceptable.
* I LIVE MY LIFE FOR MYSELF- instead of pretending to live an interesting one just so my facebook followers won't be bored.
* I CAN GO A WHOLE DAY WITHOUT TURNING ON MY COMPUTER- The mere thought of this pre-facebook deletion would have sent me into seizing panic attacks. Now if my power goes out my reaction is "meh".
* I SPEND TIME ON A GAME I PURCHASED- instead of wasting time on a supposedly "free" game that is designed to get you to spend actual money.
* I ENJOY LIFE- this one is self explanatory.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Rantings of an axiety-ridden over-protective parent
Today was the first day in three years that my oldest son stepped foot in a "brick and mortar" school. In order to understand the aforementioned "anxiety" aspect of this post one must first understand my oldest son.
My son was reading before preschool. Yes, you read that correctly. Not "Kinder" but "PRE-school", as in BEFORE school. If you've ever had the pleasure of venturing into a Pre-K classroom it is lovingly and thoughtfully labeled with the word for each object. Imagine the kind of stimulation this would provide to a youngin' who is newly exploring the written world around him. As other children were singing "Old MacDonald" at circle time, my child was standing up in a swirling vortex of vocabulary shouting out "CHAIR! WINDOW! CALENDER!!"
Kindergarten was an amazing but productive struggle. His teacher was amazing and had the patience of Job. She worked tirelessly with me to come up with a system that would set my son up for success. We used a combination of progress charts, weighted pillows and redirection that had him functioning very well in the classroom by year's end. Fast forward to Grade 1: His Kinder teacher put EXTENSIVE notes regarding our communication and system that was established. None of this was looked at by his new teacher. In all honestly, I doubt this woman read anything that didn't involve bright colors and talking dogs. She was a complete space cadet who gave the students no accountability. I visited the classroom early in the year asking what her discipline policy was and was told "The school year just started, I don't know" YOU DON'T KNOW??!! When asked about a pile of incomplete work inside my son's desk the reply was "oh they just finish whatever they can, they don't HAVE to complete it" WTF?? >:(
SO I made the decision to start teaching him at home. By the 2nd grade I was having existential conversations regarding the meaning of life, creation, afterlife and the size of the cosmos. My struggle has always been to provide the best possible answers while still using the appropriate terms a 5/6/7 yr old would comprehend. For example: Rob asked me what radiation is. *I* know what radiation is, *you* know what radiation is, but how does one explain this to a 6 year old in a manner that A) he will grasp and B) won't have him with "my face melted" nightmares I now have to soothe at 3am?
By the end of his 3rd grade year, having watched his sister go to and from school each day, I was being asked "Mom, when do *I* get to go to school?" I had reached the end of my teaching-patience rope by that point (he can be difficult to motivate) and understood that I was fast approaching the point where my knowledge would be exceeded. He already understood concepts of basic algebraic equations and negative numbers. I can't be far off from "OMG HE IS DOING CALCULUS AND MY HEAD EXPLODED ALL OVER THE DESK".
Socially I wanted him to have some of the same experiences I had growing up: Playing and falling on the playground, understand social cues from his peers, getting in trouble, learning how to deal with someone not liking you, etc. I know these can be supplemented with an at-home learning environment, but honestly, I think we were BOTH ready for him to go to school.
I would like to apologize to Mr. Wood in advance for all present and future neurotic behavior. He was VERY gracious today to listen to my concerns and communicate with me about Rob's needs. He said no apologize are necessary but I promise he will take that back by the end of the year. (LOL ok, fine I'm not THAT heinous) I have a really good feeling about this school and specifically this teacher. It might be a bit premature but I really hope that I'm over reacting with my anxiety over the transition of my precious package into the hands of someone else. It's more about ME letting go than Rob. *crosses fingers, toes and cries a little*
My son was reading before preschool. Yes, you read that correctly. Not "Kinder" but "PRE-school", as in BEFORE school. If you've ever had the pleasure of venturing into a Pre-K classroom it is lovingly and thoughtfully labeled with the word for each object. Imagine the kind of stimulation this would provide to a youngin' who is newly exploring the written world around him. As other children were singing "Old MacDonald" at circle time, my child was standing up in a swirling vortex of vocabulary shouting out "CHAIR! WINDOW! CALENDER!!"
Kindergarten was an amazing but productive struggle. His teacher was amazing and had the patience of Job. She worked tirelessly with me to come up with a system that would set my son up for success. We used a combination of progress charts, weighted pillows and redirection that had him functioning very well in the classroom by year's end. Fast forward to Grade 1: His Kinder teacher put EXTENSIVE notes regarding our communication and system that was established. None of this was looked at by his new teacher. In all honestly, I doubt this woman read anything that didn't involve bright colors and talking dogs. She was a complete space cadet who gave the students no accountability. I visited the classroom early in the year asking what her discipline policy was and was told "The school year just started, I don't know" YOU DON'T KNOW??!! When asked about a pile of incomplete work inside my son's desk the reply was "oh they just finish whatever they can, they don't HAVE to complete it" WTF?? >:(
SO I made the decision to start teaching him at home. By the 2nd grade I was having existential conversations regarding the meaning of life, creation, afterlife and the size of the cosmos. My struggle has always been to provide the best possible answers while still using the appropriate terms a 5/6/7 yr old would comprehend. For example: Rob asked me what radiation is. *I* know what radiation is, *you* know what radiation is, but how does one explain this to a 6 year old in a manner that A) he will grasp and B) won't have him with "my face melted" nightmares I now have to soothe at 3am?
By the end of his 3rd grade year, having watched his sister go to and from school each day, I was being asked "Mom, when do *I* get to go to school?" I had reached the end of my teaching-patience rope by that point (he can be difficult to motivate) and understood that I was fast approaching the point where my knowledge would be exceeded. He already understood concepts of basic algebraic equations and negative numbers. I can't be far off from "OMG HE IS DOING CALCULUS AND MY HEAD EXPLODED ALL OVER THE DESK".
Socially I wanted him to have some of the same experiences I had growing up: Playing and falling on the playground, understand social cues from his peers, getting in trouble, learning how to deal with someone not liking you, etc. I know these can be supplemented with an at-home learning environment, but honestly, I think we were BOTH ready for him to go to school.
I would like to apologize to Mr. Wood in advance for all present and future neurotic behavior. He was VERY gracious today to listen to my concerns and communicate with me about Rob's needs. He said no apologize are necessary but I promise he will take that back by the end of the year. (LOL ok, fine I'm not THAT heinous) I have a really good feeling about this school and specifically this teacher. It might be a bit premature but I really hope that I'm over reacting with my anxiety over the transition of my precious package into the hands of someone else. It's more about ME letting go than Rob. *crosses fingers, toes and cries a little*
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Sonya's 4 Year Check Up
YES, her birthday was a month ago, cut me some slack will ya?
I had to call at the beginning of the month to schedule this appointment or I knew it would never get done. Two days prior to it I had taken her to the pediatric dentist. Our regular family dentist (who's been seeing my husband since he was Robbie's age) recommended she see a specialist due to the severity of her tooth issues and her possible inability to cope with dental work. The pediatric dentist was very nice, and overall she did well, but the work that needed to be done was too extensive for that office. They recommended we get her seen by a dental surgeon, who would do all her work while she was put completely under.
Jim hears about this and freaks out. He had me ask the pediatrician about the risks of putting a child that young under for dental work. I'm really glad I scheduled the dentist/doctor appointments so close together so I could discuss these issues with her regular doctor.
Knowing Sonya might be a bit stressed out in the latter half of the day, and also knowing my mom was going home that night, I took her to the gym with me that morning. She LOVES the kid's club and I thought it might be nice for her to get out a bit before boring things like doctor's appointments. (In all fairness NOTHING is ever boring when I have her with me).
After a good workout and some kids club quality time for her, I decide there's not enough time in between to go home. I call my mom and ask if she would mind if I took my daughter out to a meal and then head straight over to the appointment. She was fine with it, so we drove to that side of town and had lunch at a coffee shop type restaurant. We colored and looked for hidden pictures, had some funny face pancakes and had a generally good time. At the end of every kids meal apparently the lucky young patron gets their signature "cookie on a stick". I think you can guess how that ended. I'll give you a hint, in the car the cookie DID NOT stay on the stick and you can guess who was unhappy about it.
The pancake had whipped creme and mini chocolate chips, most of which had melted from the heat of the food. The "cookie on a stick" was chocolate. I don't have to draw you a picture of what Sonya's shirt and face looked like afterwards, not to mention her poor teeth. I went into my gym bag and found a travel toothbrush I had never used, and in her goody bag from the dentist was a small tube of crest. YESSSS! Can you say, "Impromptu manic toothbrushing in the car"?
We get to the appointment and they test her hearing and vision. She had to stand on a line and read a chart with one eye covered. They bust out these "picture cards" and start pointing and asking Sonya what it's a picture of. She stands there confused for a minute and I suggest they use the letter cards. The medical assistant says, amazed, "OH she knows her letters?"
ummmm NO I just suggested it because I like to publicly humiliate my children and make them look retarded in public. YES she knows her damn letters!
So the lady replaces the card and asks Sonya "What is this letter?"
"OH this is letter VEEEEE" she says loudly.
LOL
I talk to the Ped about her "going under" and he assures me it's very safe and recommended we proceed with whatever dental work she needs done. We finish up the appointment and he lets me know she's in need of booster shots. Ok, I'm thinking, not a huge deal. He prints out this piece of paper and starts going over the list. Shot after shot after shot after.....
FIVE SHOTS????
"Oh, and I've ordered her Iron test four times and it's expired each time. I'll order it again"
*bows head*
So this poor baby had to have FIVE booster shots (including tetanus which hurts like a BIOTCH) and at the end of her pain/cryfest they stuck the nasal flu vaccine up her nose. Nice.
OH but the day wasn't over yet! We walked to the lab and I'm thinking to myself "This poor child has been through it today. If the lab is full and crowded I'll just come back next week."
The lab was practically empty.
Her number gets called and they prick her middle finger. She is sad for a moment and the lady (who was completely taken with how cute she was) tells her to look away. This child proceeds to look AROUND the lady's arm to watch her blood fill up the little vials and says loudly "I think it's working!"
She was SO INTERESTED in watching those little tube fill up i was amazed. Her middle finger starts slowing down and finally closes up mid-way through the second tube. They had to prick her INDEX finger and try again. That one bled for them just fine, and sonya watched in wonder as her blood made the tube look like a little growing red line. They bandaged her up and we were finally leaving that god-forsaken medical building.
The next few days were fun indeed. /sarcasm
It's nothing really terrible, she's just being a bit more whiny and stubborn than usual. Given the amount of crap she had to deal with, and the after-effect to her system, it's understandable. But dammitall if she doesn't still frurstrate the hell out of me sometimes.
Her upper left arm is still red and swollen from the tetnus shot. She's letting me put cold compresses on it, but her brother had already grabbed her twice by that arm yesterday.
*sigh*
Ok I ran out of blog time b/c the baby WAS supposed to be sleeping and didn't. I discovered a cat snuck into his room and was meowing at the door to get out. I couldn't sleep through that either.
:(
I had to call at the beginning of the month to schedule this appointment or I knew it would never get done. Two days prior to it I had taken her to the pediatric dentist. Our regular family dentist (who's been seeing my husband since he was Robbie's age) recommended she see a specialist due to the severity of her tooth issues and her possible inability to cope with dental work. The pediatric dentist was very nice, and overall she did well, but the work that needed to be done was too extensive for that office. They recommended we get her seen by a dental surgeon, who would do all her work while she was put completely under.
Jim hears about this and freaks out. He had me ask the pediatrician about the risks of putting a child that young under for dental work. I'm really glad I scheduled the dentist/doctor appointments so close together so I could discuss these issues with her regular doctor.
Knowing Sonya might be a bit stressed out in the latter half of the day, and also knowing my mom was going home that night, I took her to the gym with me that morning. She LOVES the kid's club and I thought it might be nice for her to get out a bit before boring things like doctor's appointments. (In all fairness NOTHING is ever boring when I have her with me).
After a good workout and some kids club quality time for her, I decide there's not enough time in between to go home. I call my mom and ask if she would mind if I took my daughter out to a meal and then head straight over to the appointment. She was fine with it, so we drove to that side of town and had lunch at a coffee shop type restaurant. We colored and looked for hidden pictures, had some funny face pancakes and had a generally good time. At the end of every kids meal apparently the lucky young patron gets their signature "cookie on a stick". I think you can guess how that ended. I'll give you a hint, in the car the cookie DID NOT stay on the stick and you can guess who was unhappy about it.
The pancake had whipped creme and mini chocolate chips, most of which had melted from the heat of the food. The "cookie on a stick" was chocolate. I don't have to draw you a picture of what Sonya's shirt and face looked like afterwards, not to mention her poor teeth. I went into my gym bag and found a travel toothbrush I had never used, and in her goody bag from the dentist was a small tube of crest. YESSSS! Can you say, "Impromptu manic toothbrushing in the car"?
We get to the appointment and they test her hearing and vision. She had to stand on a line and read a chart with one eye covered. They bust out these "picture cards" and start pointing and asking Sonya what it's a picture of. She stands there confused for a minute and I suggest they use the letter cards. The medical assistant says, amazed, "OH she knows her letters?"
ummmm NO I just suggested it because I like to publicly humiliate my children and make them look retarded in public. YES she knows her damn letters!
So the lady replaces the card and asks Sonya "What is this letter?"
"OH this is letter VEEEEE" she says loudly.
LOL
I talk to the Ped about her "going under" and he assures me it's very safe and recommended we proceed with whatever dental work she needs done. We finish up the appointment and he lets me know she's in need of booster shots. Ok, I'm thinking, not a huge deal. He prints out this piece of paper and starts going over the list. Shot after shot after shot after.....
FIVE SHOTS????
"Oh, and I've ordered her Iron test four times and it's expired each time. I'll order it again"
*bows head*
So this poor baby had to have FIVE booster shots (including tetanus which hurts like a BIOTCH) and at the end of her pain/cryfest they stuck the nasal flu vaccine up her nose. Nice.
OH but the day wasn't over yet! We walked to the lab and I'm thinking to myself "This poor child has been through it today. If the lab is full and crowded I'll just come back next week."
The lab was practically empty.
Her number gets called and they prick her middle finger. She is sad for a moment and the lady (who was completely taken with how cute she was) tells her to look away. This child proceeds to look AROUND the lady's arm to watch her blood fill up the little vials and says loudly "I think it's working!"
She was SO INTERESTED in watching those little tube fill up i was amazed. Her middle finger starts slowing down and finally closes up mid-way through the second tube. They had to prick her INDEX finger and try again. That one bled for them just fine, and sonya watched in wonder as her blood made the tube look like a little growing red line. They bandaged her up and we were finally leaving that god-forsaken medical building.
The next few days were fun indeed. /sarcasm
It's nothing really terrible, she's just being a bit more whiny and stubborn than usual. Given the amount of crap she had to deal with, and the after-effect to her system, it's understandable. But dammitall if she doesn't still frurstrate the hell out of me sometimes.
Her upper left arm is still red and swollen from the tetnus shot. She's letting me put cold compresses on it, but her brother had already grabbed her twice by that arm yesterday.
*sigh*
Ok I ran out of blog time b/c the baby WAS supposed to be sleeping and didn't. I discovered a cat snuck into his room and was meowing at the door to get out. I couldn't sleep through that either.
:(
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Robbie's school drama, take 2:
We toured the new private school and met with the principal. I don't know if they just put on a good face b/c they want my money, but I was VERY impressed with the entire organization. Robbie's entire first grade class is the size of this entire school. One grade level in public school = entire student body at private school.
The principal made me feel like the expectations and concerns I had for Robbie's schooling were completely normal and what every parent should want. The people at Rob's other school looked at me like I had a second head when I wanted to be so involved in his classwork. The actual property and classrooms are phenomenal. They have two pre-K classes, two Kinder classes, two first grade and two second grade. All the children looked engaged and *gasp* INTERESTED in the schoolwork. They have a separate room and teacher JUST for art and music. In a society where arts and music are being cut from public education funding this school that only goes to second grade has a separate teacher for both. I was in heaven. The play structure was completely shaded. Robbie's public school has absolutely NO SHADE whatsoever for any place the students play or eat outdoors. Teacher eat lunch with their students and supervise on the playground for recess. Everything was so far meeting or exceeding my expectations for what I wanted in a school for him.
We finished the tour and they requested that Robbie come for a trial first grade day on Friday. They also insisted (now get this) that MY MOM be the one to bring him and observe. They said b/c she had volunteered in Robbie's Kinder class AND observed in the first grade class that she would have a basis for comparison. If it passes the picky grandma test, I'm confidant in sending Robbie there.
In the meantime I was getting ill at the thought of continuing to send Robbie to this horrible place they call a public school. I kept him home a few days this week and last, and decided to send him yesterday b/c my mom was there to watch out for him. (Plus I wanted to make sure that the bad report she gave me last week was not just a fluke) I was assured it was no fluke. While they were at school I started researching the CA law regarding homeschooling. Since they appealed the law that required you be a certified teacher to homeschool (holy uproar about THAT batman!) I figured I might be able to keep him here until he starts at the private school. From everything I was reading it sounded like that was a viable option, but I called the homeschooling hotline just in case. According to CA law, I have the right to homeschool him and enroll him in a private school w/o filing any paperwork at this time. He has to be enrolled SOMEWHERE by Oct 15th (by which time he'd be in the private school). The lady on the phone suggested I file the paperwork to homeschool him on the off chance the private school doesn't work out, then I don't have to scramble to file it later.
Robbie will spend the night at my mom's house tonight, and in the morning they will go to the school early so Rob can play on the playground with the other kids before school. They recommended that he get a chance to interact with the other children before the classroom setting so he doesn't feel completely thrown into the unknown.
IN THE MEANTIME, I informed my mother that he does not have to go back to that awful teacher. My mom STILL insisted that I listen to about twenty minutes of horror stories regarding her day at that school. I shudder to think how long the conversation would have gone had I not decided to keep him home. Much like her daughter, my mom has a flair for the dramatic (LOL). She used the phrase "wanted to throw up" several times in her narration and guess what reaction that had on me...
So hopefully problem solved. I go to Rob's school sometime in the next few days and inform them that he is being enrolled in a private school. GOD HELP THEM if they ask me my reasoning. I just want to pull him out and go about my life in peace.
If they DO ask, they better get ready for an ear full.....
The principal made me feel like the expectations and concerns I had for Robbie's schooling were completely normal and what every parent should want. The people at Rob's other school looked at me like I had a second head when I wanted to be so involved in his classwork. The actual property and classrooms are phenomenal. They have two pre-K classes, two Kinder classes, two first grade and two second grade. All the children looked engaged and *gasp* INTERESTED in the schoolwork. They have a separate room and teacher JUST for art and music. In a society where arts and music are being cut from public education funding this school that only goes to second grade has a separate teacher for both. I was in heaven. The play structure was completely shaded. Robbie's public school has absolutely NO SHADE whatsoever for any place the students play or eat outdoors. Teacher eat lunch with their students and supervise on the playground for recess. Everything was so far meeting or exceeding my expectations for what I wanted in a school for him.
We finished the tour and they requested that Robbie come for a trial first grade day on Friday. They also insisted (now get this) that MY MOM be the one to bring him and observe. They said b/c she had volunteered in Robbie's Kinder class AND observed in the first grade class that she would have a basis for comparison. If it passes the picky grandma test, I'm confidant in sending Robbie there.
In the meantime I was getting ill at the thought of continuing to send Robbie to this horrible place they call a public school. I kept him home a few days this week and last, and decided to send him yesterday b/c my mom was there to watch out for him. (Plus I wanted to make sure that the bad report she gave me last week was not just a fluke) I was assured it was no fluke. While they were at school I started researching the CA law regarding homeschooling. Since they appealed the law that required you be a certified teacher to homeschool (holy uproar about THAT batman!) I figured I might be able to keep him here until he starts at the private school. From everything I was reading it sounded like that was a viable option, but I called the homeschooling hotline just in case. According to CA law, I have the right to homeschool him and enroll him in a private school w/o filing any paperwork at this time. He has to be enrolled SOMEWHERE by Oct 15th (by which time he'd be in the private school). The lady on the phone suggested I file the paperwork to homeschool him on the off chance the private school doesn't work out, then I don't have to scramble to file it later.
Robbie will spend the night at my mom's house tonight, and in the morning they will go to the school early so Rob can play on the playground with the other kids before school. They recommended that he get a chance to interact with the other children before the classroom setting so he doesn't feel completely thrown into the unknown.
IN THE MEANTIME, I informed my mother that he does not have to go back to that awful teacher. My mom STILL insisted that I listen to about twenty minutes of horror stories regarding her day at that school. I shudder to think how long the conversation would have gone had I not decided to keep him home. Much like her daughter, my mom has a flair for the dramatic (LOL). She used the phrase "wanted to throw up" several times in her narration and guess what reaction that had on me...
So hopefully problem solved. I go to Rob's school sometime in the next few days and inform them that he is being enrolled in a private school. GOD HELP THEM if they ask me my reasoning. I just want to pull him out and go about my life in peace.
If they DO ask, they better get ready for an ear full.....
Thursday, September 11, 2008
I'm pretty much done with Robbie's school
Since the first day of school I've had an off feeling about Robbie's teacher. He had such an amazing kindergarten teacher I had concerns about this year living up to last's expectations. A number of little odd things occurred, nothing REALLY offensive, just small red flags being raised with almost every encounter I had with Robbie's teacher. She struck me as a bit "spacey", like she didn't quite know what was going on or how to do things. I noticed inconsistencies in things she said and did, and she seemed a bit taken aback at my desire to be so involved in Robbie's schoolwork.
Robbie needs motivation. He is the kind of child that if nothing is given as motivation, nothing gets done. He is NOT self motivated in the regard that he does work just because it is required of him. I made a point chart for his performance in school, which worked AMAZINGLY last year. Based on his behavior at school, and his ability to get his schoolwork done I award points. He works toward a larger goal of his choice. This year his point chart is earning towards a trip to Chuck E Cheese's.
The first week of school she seemed discombobulated. I gave the benefit of the doubt since it was her first year teaching this particular grade (she had taught third grade before I believe), but intended to have a long conversation with her regarding her discipline system. I base the amount of points Robbie gets on the color card system they use in class and I was confused about a few things.
Things died down so I decided to talk to her during Robbie's second week of school. I asked her if the children have a chance to earn back their good card or if once they had a warning it was forever changed. She responded with "It's only the second week of school"
So essentially she could not tell me what the discipline policy was in her own classroom at that point.
Robbie was not making good use of his classroom time. This happened last year (hence the point chart). The teacher did not even bring this up, I discovered it on my own. She was making conversation about what Robbie had done that day and suggested he show me his classwork binder. I thumb through only to find incomplete sentences and blank drawing boxes. I inquire as to why Robbie did not finish his work (speaking to him) and the teacher butts in with "oh that's ok"
ummmm NO IT'S NOT!
So speaking to Robbie I say "You know sweetie, if work doesn't get done in the class time you have to either finish it during your recess and you miss it, or you bring it home as extra homework. It's very important you use class time wisely"
The next day I pick him up from school and the teacher says "If you were serious about him completing work at home (NO I was just f*cking around saying that) then I made a list of the pages he needs to have completed"
Again, Robbie needs motivation. In order for him to realize there was some kind of ramifications for him bringing schoolwork home, I told him for every incomplete page he brought home he lost two points; one point for the incomplete sentence and one point for not drawing a picture.
All his schoolwork was completed and returned the next day. The teacher noticed this and afterschool asked if Robbie "liked" drawing the pictures. I failed to see what difference that made. She explained that she only requires the children to finish the sentence and the picture can be drawn "if they feel like it"
WTF??
So that's just a sampling of some of the "small things" that had me anxious about her teaching ability. I kept telling myself I was looking for things to be picky about and should give her a chance to settle in. Meanwhile I'm telling my mom about all these weird goings on and she agrees to volunteer at his school once a week just to keep an eye on him and give me an outside perspective of what's going on in the classroom.
She left to volunteer yesterday morning and by midday was ready to bring him home.
I called to leave her a message about something and to my surprise her phone was on. I talked to her briefly but could hear in her voice that she was very unhappy about her day.
She comes home and tells me that all the suspicions i had abot this teacher had been confirmed. She does not address the children by name, she speaks in very general terms instead of direct discipline, and she's extraordinarily boring and not engaging to the students. Instead of specifically asking a student not to do something, then having them turn their card if they do not comply, she makes general statements like "you guys are not listening" She had Robbie turn his card because he was "not cooperating". No specific request to stop a particular behavior, just pointed at him and made him turn his card.
Robbie is reading at a third grade level. He was tested at the beginning of the year and scored the highest. At back to school night she referenced him three times and claimed she would have to "work hard to keep him engaged"
Her solution to this was to let him look at more books throughout the day.
At recess (which the teacher is nowhere to be found) my son had to use the restroom. He's been having bathroom issues for a few days and takes more than two minutes to "do his business"
My mom waited outside the restroom for him and watched to bigger kids go in. After a few minutes of shouting and ruckus she walks in to discover the two boys pushing on the door trying to force their way in and my son with his pants down holding the door for dear life.
The yard duties were twenty feet away talking to each other watching the 100 kids on the playground. The bathroom stall my son was in was one of two they have. TWO stalls for one hundred children and the other door didn't close all the way, which is why the big kids were fighting my son for his stall. So technically there is ONE boy's stall for that amount of kids.
After the incident my mom told the yard duty people what had occurred. They did not care.
My mom walks my son to the office so he can have some privacy and get his business done in peace. She explains to the office what happened and why he was required to use the bathroom there and they did not care.
She went back to the classroom and explained to the teacher why they were late coming back and what had occurred in the bathroom and SHE didn't care.
At lunchtime the children are herded into the cafeteria where the meek children are pushed to the back of the line. They are on a tight schedule and are only allowed a certain amount of time. Because the smaller kids get shoved to the back of the line, by the time the sit down they have about ten minutes to eat all their food. Then they are forced to throw away their food when the time is up and clear out for the next group of children.
My mom watched a little girl sit and look at her food. She didn't have a single bite. Instead of the staff asking the girl what was wrong, or trying to get her to eat something, she was simply instructed to throw away her food when the time was up and ushered out of the cafeteria. She left the lunchroom having eaten nothing and nobody cared.
My son is a very sensitive soul. I understand I can't shelter him from the whole world, nor do I wish to. But I have seen what things like this can do to a mind like his. Our family has some very messed up smart people because they were not in a nurturing caring environment.
If this was my daughter I doubt I would have even written this blog. She stands up for herself, is enormous for her age (LOL) and can hold her own wherever she goes.
My son is a bit different. The last thing I want is to have him in an environment where he withers away and falls through the cracks. He is SO excited about learning, and absorbs so much information wherever he goes, I'd hate for him to loose his passion and have all my years of hard work erased by one bad teacher. He is so vulnerable right now, and I know he will have many trials as he gets older, but at this particular age, this particular time, I can't in good conscience send him to a school that I know is destroying who he is.
I have an appointment to tour a private school about 15 miles away and I have told my husband in no uncertain terms that if I like the school I'm signing him up immediately. It's disgusting to me that should I not have had that option, I'd have to put up this horrible fight with the school system, principal and teacher and be labeled one of "those" parents.
Well, let them call me whatever the hell they want behind my back WHEN MY SON IS GOING TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL and their precious state money is gone b/c they can't get their shit together and run a decent curriculum.
I'm so sick to my stomach over this. It was very difficult to drop him off at school today. I have no desire to speak to that teacher and feel very sorry for the children still left in that class. But if I can improve the situation for my child that is no longer my battle to fight.
Wish me luck.
Robbie needs motivation. He is the kind of child that if nothing is given as motivation, nothing gets done. He is NOT self motivated in the regard that he does work just because it is required of him. I made a point chart for his performance in school, which worked AMAZINGLY last year. Based on his behavior at school, and his ability to get his schoolwork done I award points. He works toward a larger goal of his choice. This year his point chart is earning towards a trip to Chuck E Cheese's.
The first week of school she seemed discombobulated. I gave the benefit of the doubt since it was her first year teaching this particular grade (she had taught third grade before I believe), but intended to have a long conversation with her regarding her discipline system. I base the amount of points Robbie gets on the color card system they use in class and I was confused about a few things.
Things died down so I decided to talk to her during Robbie's second week of school. I asked her if the children have a chance to earn back their good card or if once they had a warning it was forever changed. She responded with "It's only the second week of school"
So essentially she could not tell me what the discipline policy was in her own classroom at that point.
Robbie was not making good use of his classroom time. This happened last year (hence the point chart). The teacher did not even bring this up, I discovered it on my own. She was making conversation about what Robbie had done that day and suggested he show me his classwork binder. I thumb through only to find incomplete sentences and blank drawing boxes. I inquire as to why Robbie did not finish his work (speaking to him) and the teacher butts in with "oh that's ok"
ummmm NO IT'S NOT!
So speaking to Robbie I say "You know sweetie, if work doesn't get done in the class time you have to either finish it during your recess and you miss it, or you bring it home as extra homework. It's very important you use class time wisely"
The next day I pick him up from school and the teacher says "If you were serious about him completing work at home (NO I was just f*cking around saying that) then I made a list of the pages he needs to have completed"
Again, Robbie needs motivation. In order for him to realize there was some kind of ramifications for him bringing schoolwork home, I told him for every incomplete page he brought home he lost two points; one point for the incomplete sentence and one point for not drawing a picture.
All his schoolwork was completed and returned the next day. The teacher noticed this and afterschool asked if Robbie "liked" drawing the pictures. I failed to see what difference that made. She explained that she only requires the children to finish the sentence and the picture can be drawn "if they feel like it"
WTF??
So that's just a sampling of some of the "small things" that had me anxious about her teaching ability. I kept telling myself I was looking for things to be picky about and should give her a chance to settle in. Meanwhile I'm telling my mom about all these weird goings on and she agrees to volunteer at his school once a week just to keep an eye on him and give me an outside perspective of what's going on in the classroom.
She left to volunteer yesterday morning and by midday was ready to bring him home.
I called to leave her a message about something and to my surprise her phone was on. I talked to her briefly but could hear in her voice that she was very unhappy about her day.
She comes home and tells me that all the suspicions i had abot this teacher had been confirmed. She does not address the children by name, she speaks in very general terms instead of direct discipline, and she's extraordinarily boring and not engaging to the students. Instead of specifically asking a student not to do something, then having them turn their card if they do not comply, she makes general statements like "you guys are not listening" She had Robbie turn his card because he was "not cooperating". No specific request to stop a particular behavior, just pointed at him and made him turn his card.
Robbie is reading at a third grade level. He was tested at the beginning of the year and scored the highest. At back to school night she referenced him three times and claimed she would have to "work hard to keep him engaged"
Her solution to this was to let him look at more books throughout the day.
At recess (which the teacher is nowhere to be found) my son had to use the restroom. He's been having bathroom issues for a few days and takes more than two minutes to "do his business"
My mom waited outside the restroom for him and watched to bigger kids go in. After a few minutes of shouting and ruckus she walks in to discover the two boys pushing on the door trying to force their way in and my son with his pants down holding the door for dear life.
The yard duties were twenty feet away talking to each other watching the 100 kids on the playground. The bathroom stall my son was in was one of two they have. TWO stalls for one hundred children and the other door didn't close all the way, which is why the big kids were fighting my son for his stall. So technically there is ONE boy's stall for that amount of kids.
After the incident my mom told the yard duty people what had occurred. They did not care.
My mom walks my son to the office so he can have some privacy and get his business done in peace. She explains to the office what happened and why he was required to use the bathroom there and they did not care.
She went back to the classroom and explained to the teacher why they were late coming back and what had occurred in the bathroom and SHE didn't care.
At lunchtime the children are herded into the cafeteria where the meek children are pushed to the back of the line. They are on a tight schedule and are only allowed a certain amount of time. Because the smaller kids get shoved to the back of the line, by the time the sit down they have about ten minutes to eat all their food. Then they are forced to throw away their food when the time is up and clear out for the next group of children.
My mom watched a little girl sit and look at her food. She didn't have a single bite. Instead of the staff asking the girl what was wrong, or trying to get her to eat something, she was simply instructed to throw away her food when the time was up and ushered out of the cafeteria. She left the lunchroom having eaten nothing and nobody cared.
My son is a very sensitive soul. I understand I can't shelter him from the whole world, nor do I wish to. But I have seen what things like this can do to a mind like his. Our family has some very messed up smart people because they were not in a nurturing caring environment.
If this was my daughter I doubt I would have even written this blog. She stands up for herself, is enormous for her age (LOL) and can hold her own wherever she goes.
My son is a bit different. The last thing I want is to have him in an environment where he withers away and falls through the cracks. He is SO excited about learning, and absorbs so much information wherever he goes, I'd hate for him to loose his passion and have all my years of hard work erased by one bad teacher. He is so vulnerable right now, and I know he will have many trials as he gets older, but at this particular age, this particular time, I can't in good conscience send him to a school that I know is destroying who he is.
I have an appointment to tour a private school about 15 miles away and I have told my husband in no uncertain terms that if I like the school I'm signing him up immediately. It's disgusting to me that should I not have had that option, I'd have to put up this horrible fight with the school system, principal and teacher and be labeled one of "those" parents.
Well, let them call me whatever the hell they want behind my back WHEN MY SON IS GOING TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL and their precious state money is gone b/c they can't get their shit together and run a decent curriculum.
I'm so sick to my stomach over this. It was very difficult to drop him off at school today. I have no desire to speak to that teacher and feel very sorry for the children still left in that class. But if I can improve the situation for my child that is no longer my battle to fight.
Wish me luck.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
WTF is up with "U"?
I mean seriously, is it REALLY that difficult to type those TWO extra letters? Does every post have to read "Do U really...."
wow.
I feel sorry for anyone who cannot exert the energy necessary to move their digits those two extra keystrokes to complete the word "you"
perhaps "YOU" should learn to type properly. Perhaps "YOU" should really study the vernacular that "YOU" are choosing to use. Perhaps "YOU" should not be allowed to occupy the space that other more intelligent life forms require.
Do "YOU" know what those people would say to me, I bet?
F U
wow.
I feel sorry for anyone who cannot exert the energy necessary to move their digits those two extra keystrokes to complete the word "you"
perhaps "YOU" should learn to type properly. Perhaps "YOU" should really study the vernacular that "YOU" are choosing to use. Perhaps "YOU" should not be allowed to occupy the space that other more intelligent life forms require.
Do "YOU" know what those people would say to me, I bet?
F U
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Viva F*cking Mexico
This trip has been the thorn in my paw. We've been planning to go back to our honeymoon spot for almost six years now. The plan was to renew our vows and take a nice vacation where we could get away from the kids for a bit.
Well, arranging babysitting has been a bitch. We decided against having one person watch all three kids for several reasons: 1) The only person who would stay here at the house that amount of time is my mother and I don't want to hear about how hard her days were for weeks when I get back 2) The baby won't sleep anywhere but his own bed, so sending all of them to my Father in law's house was not going to happen and 3) I don't even like watching all three of my kids 24/7 for four days, how am I gonna dump them on someone else?
So my father in law and his wife are taking the older two (even though they offered to take all three of them, bless their hearts) and my mom is watching the baby here at my house.
[insert 6468746876874687687 possible problems into this scenario)
FIRSTLY, our original plan was to go from Friday-Monday so Jim would only have to take one day off (b/c of Memorial Day), but he was able to get the Thursday off as well. My father in law's wife had taken the day off on Friday specifically to watch our kids, so asking her to take ONE MORE day was going to be a bit of a stretch. I bring up the possibility to my mom that she may have to watch all three of the kids just for ONE DAY on that Thursday and she starts talking about calling one of her friend's daughter to come and help her that day.
Um....you want to invite someone I've never met to my house WHILE I'M OUT OF THE COUNTRY TO TAKE CARE OF MY CHILDREN???? ARE YOU CRAZY??? So I told her in a very pleasant, nice way that i was "uncomfortable" with that and I would call my Sister in law who should not have a job by that point. My sister in law was happy to help (she's offered to watch the kids for me before, i've just never taken her up on it)
Crisis averted.
Secondly, my mom decided she's flying to Texas to go to my cousin's wedding (that I cannot go to b/c we're spending all our money on mexico) and she has an office to clean every other weekend. Well, b/c she's gonna be out of town, she HAS to clean it the weekend we are gone. So yeah, I had to find someone to watch the baby for two hours on the Saturday so she can go clean the office. **big dramatic sigh**
Now it comes time to actually reserve, book and pay for the vacation.
Piece of cake right? LMFAO
The travel website I was trying to use wanted ridiculous prices for flights, and some of them had us doing over 10 hours of flying for what should be a 3 hour or so flight. Yeah, b/c my idea of a good use of vacation time is spending TWO of my FOUR days flying.
No thank you.
So I call the 888 number and see if the booking agent can do anything better for me and we get everything booked, squared away and i'm ready to purchase. They need full payment today. GREAT! I have more than enough to cover it in my account.
Our card was declined.
Turns out there is a daily limit on our card, and without getting it lifted it doesn't matter HOW MUCH money i have in my account, I'm not authorized to use it. We get my bank on the phone and they are unable to lift the daily limit and tell me I have to go into the branch. What should have been a 30 minute phone call ran over and i was late taking my kid to school.
I figured since I was already having to pack up the kids, I may as well shoot over to the bank and ask about the limit thing. I waited in the bank lobby for 15 minutes (AN ETERNITY to a small child, let alone TWO of them), finally go up to a teller and ask only to be told to sit BACK down and wait for a banker. Oh, you mean the bankers THAT IGNORED ME FOR 15 MINUTES??? Yeah, ok I'll just go back and SIT QUIETLY WITH MY THREE AND ONE YEAR OLD
GRRRR!
Someone FINALLY comes up and asks me if they can help. I tell him my issue and I'm informed that the only person that can help me is a branch manager and the ENTIRE DISTRICT of branch managers are in a meeting until after 3. So, I could not drive anywhere in a 20 mile radius and have a bank manager that could help me until after they got back from their buttplugging meeting.
Basically, in not so many words b/c of my children, i told them to fuck off.
Meanwhile I'm calling my husband who's out in the bay area for an appointment trying to let him know what kind of ridiculous hoops i have to jump through to book this damn vacation and he doesn't answer the phone.
Nice timing.
I finally get ahold of him and he suggests that I pull the money out of our account there and drive across town 25 minutes to our other bank and make a huge payment to our credit card and charge it on that.
At that point it officially became HIS problem.
So I'm crossing my fingers that by the time we actually pay for this damn thing the cost doesn't go up $500.
I need a vacation just from the stress I have from trying to book the vacation.
**sigh**
This is all topped by the fact that our original plan was to go back to the same hotel that we honeymooned at....we waited so long to do that, now the WHOLE place is booked solid.
SO wish me luck, I'm gonna need it :)
Well, arranging babysitting has been a bitch. We decided against having one person watch all three kids for several reasons: 1) The only person who would stay here at the house that amount of time is my mother and I don't want to hear about how hard her days were for weeks when I get back 2) The baby won't sleep anywhere but his own bed, so sending all of them to my Father in law's house was not going to happen and 3) I don't even like watching all three of my kids 24/7 for four days, how am I gonna dump them on someone else?
So my father in law and his wife are taking the older two (even though they offered to take all three of them, bless their hearts) and my mom is watching the baby here at my house.
[insert 6468746876874687687 possible problems into this scenario)
FIRSTLY, our original plan was to go from Friday-Monday so Jim would only have to take one day off (b/c of Memorial Day), but he was able to get the Thursday off as well. My father in law's wife had taken the day off on Friday specifically to watch our kids, so asking her to take ONE MORE day was going to be a bit of a stretch. I bring up the possibility to my mom that she may have to watch all three of the kids just for ONE DAY on that Thursday and she starts talking about calling one of her friend's daughter to come and help her that day.
Um....you want to invite someone I've never met to my house WHILE I'M OUT OF THE COUNTRY TO TAKE CARE OF MY CHILDREN???? ARE YOU CRAZY??? So I told her in a very pleasant, nice way that i was "uncomfortable" with that and I would call my Sister in law who should not have a job by that point. My sister in law was happy to help (she's offered to watch the kids for me before, i've just never taken her up on it)
Crisis averted.
Secondly, my mom decided she's flying to Texas to go to my cousin's wedding (that I cannot go to b/c we're spending all our money on mexico) and she has an office to clean every other weekend. Well, b/c she's gonna be out of town, she HAS to clean it the weekend we are gone. So yeah, I had to find someone to watch the baby for two hours on the Saturday so she can go clean the office. **big dramatic sigh**
Now it comes time to actually reserve, book and pay for the vacation.
Piece of cake right? LMFAO
The travel website I was trying to use wanted ridiculous prices for flights, and some of them had us doing over 10 hours of flying for what should be a 3 hour or so flight. Yeah, b/c my idea of a good use of vacation time is spending TWO of my FOUR days flying.
No thank you.
So I call the 888 number and see if the booking agent can do anything better for me and we get everything booked, squared away and i'm ready to purchase. They need full payment today. GREAT! I have more than enough to cover it in my account.
Our card was declined.
Turns out there is a daily limit on our card, and without getting it lifted it doesn't matter HOW MUCH money i have in my account, I'm not authorized to use it. We get my bank on the phone and they are unable to lift the daily limit and tell me I have to go into the branch. What should have been a 30 minute phone call ran over and i was late taking my kid to school.
I figured since I was already having to pack up the kids, I may as well shoot over to the bank and ask about the limit thing. I waited in the bank lobby for 15 minutes (AN ETERNITY to a small child, let alone TWO of them), finally go up to a teller and ask only to be told to sit BACK down and wait for a banker. Oh, you mean the bankers THAT IGNORED ME FOR 15 MINUTES??? Yeah, ok I'll just go back and SIT QUIETLY WITH MY THREE AND ONE YEAR OLD
GRRRR!
Someone FINALLY comes up and asks me if they can help. I tell him my issue and I'm informed that the only person that can help me is a branch manager and the ENTIRE DISTRICT of branch managers are in a meeting until after 3. So, I could not drive anywhere in a 20 mile radius and have a bank manager that could help me until after they got back from their buttplugging meeting.
Basically, in not so many words b/c of my children, i told them to fuck off.
Meanwhile I'm calling my husband who's out in the bay area for an appointment trying to let him know what kind of ridiculous hoops i have to jump through to book this damn vacation and he doesn't answer the phone.
Nice timing.
I finally get ahold of him and he suggests that I pull the money out of our account there and drive across town 25 minutes to our other bank and make a huge payment to our credit card and charge it on that.
At that point it officially became HIS problem.
So I'm crossing my fingers that by the time we actually pay for this damn thing the cost doesn't go up $500.
I need a vacation just from the stress I have from trying to book the vacation.
**sigh**
This is all topped by the fact that our original plan was to go back to the same hotel that we honeymooned at....we waited so long to do that, now the WHOLE place is booked solid.
SO wish me luck, I'm gonna need it :)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
This happened yesterday...
Robbie: (turns around in his chair while eating dinner) "Hey, do you remember that part in Lilo and Stitch where Stitch climbs over the guy who is shooting and gets his rocket ship to fall down?
Me: No. Do you remember the time you were so busy talking about a movie that you wouldn't sit forward and eat your dinner?
Robbie: No.
Me: Well I do. Do you know WHY I remember that so well?
Robbie: No
Mom: Because it JUST HAPPENED. SIDDOWN!
**Grandma laughs in the other room**
friggin kids.
Me: No. Do you remember the time you were so busy talking about a movie that you wouldn't sit forward and eat your dinner?
Robbie: No.
Me: Well I do. Do you know WHY I remember that so well?
Robbie: No
Mom: Because it JUST HAPPENED. SIDDOWN!
**Grandma laughs in the other room**
friggin kids.
wonderfully shitastic times here...
Ok so i went to bed late last night b/c my SIL came over to borrow an easel from me, and she wanted to scan some images of henna work for a potential bride customer...
My new computer no longer has the drivers for my old network printer/scanner/thingamabbber (Don't you DARE tell me "thingamabobber" is not a word stupid Firefox)
So that took me an hour to get everything done to email her the images.
The baby woke up a bunch b/c JOY OF JOYS, he's got molars coming in.
So going to bed late + shitty sleep = VERY tired Irma this morning
*ring ring*
*half asleep Irma looks at clock*
*blinks b/c clock says 6:50 AM!*
Irma: (in her head) WHO THE FUCK CALLS AT THIS UNGODLY HOUR OF THE MORNING??
um it was my MOM!
See, she's been staying here while Jim is out of town and using his truck to go to work. She leaves very early in the morning and leaves the truck parked outside so the garage door doesn't wake up the baby. Well apparently this morning she went out the side door and locked it behind her, keys in hand. Um they were the WRONG KEYS...and she was locked out of the house and could not get the right ones
So she had to wake me up at 10 to 7 this morning for me to come downstairs and unlock the door so her stupid ass could grab the right keys.
I shoulda taken a clue from there on how the day was going to go.
The baby woke up pissy. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't play, so I figured he must be tired/teething and put him to bed.
Yeah right.
Bring him BACK downstairs to play a bit and he gets fussy again...
So I put him back down.
He farts around and finally goes to sleep an HOUR before we have to leave to take Robbie to school.
Beauty.
I get everybody ready to go, find Robbie's book b/c it's library day, get the other two books (2nd Grade level that he READS BY HIMSELF BTW) and his backpack is ready to go on the couch. I wait until the LAST possible second to get baby J so he can sleep as much as possible, get the kids in the car and back out.
**CRUNCH**
Oh thank you Mister Garbage man who left my NEIGHBOR'S CAN RIGHT where i back my car out!!
FINALLY get Robbie to school and unload the kids.
"Um Robbie, where's your backpack"
(everyone reading this blog knows DAMN WELL where his backpack was)
Yeah.
So he lines up with his substitute teacher and i run BACK to the car to go home and get Robbie's backpack.
What should have been a FIVE MIN venture turned into 15.
A friggin Sears truck wanted to pull right in front of me and OF COURSE it was going to my street.
NOT ONLY was it going to my street, but they were LOST and sat at the FRIGGIN STOP SIGN trying to figure out which way to go. (b/c i SO had time for this bullshit)
I honk my horn and he finally moves, i jump out of the car, get the backpack and jump RIGHT back in only to pull out and have my next door neighbor blocking the entire street CONVERSING with people crossing the crosswalk.
WTF??
SO i drive around her and get past the big intersection only to come up on the next street to a SPEEDING SPORTS CAR that was trying to turn right in front of me and blow the stop they had.
Jason's being Mr. Cranky head this whole time and I could not WAIT to get back home to put him down.
Drop Robbie's pack off, come home, get in the house...
"I wanna movie"
"I wanna snack mom"
"I wanna juice"
gahhhhh!!!
so I pour some kix in a bowl, pop in a blues clues and head upstairs with Jason.
He's quiet now, She's still watching Blue and Joe, and I need another cup of coffee. It's gonna be a long day.
My new computer no longer has the drivers for my old network printer/scanner/thingamabbber (Don't you DARE tell me "thingamabobber" is not a word stupid Firefox)
So that took me an hour to get everything done to email her the images.
The baby woke up a bunch b/c JOY OF JOYS, he's got molars coming in.
So going to bed late + shitty sleep = VERY tired Irma this morning
*ring ring*
*half asleep Irma looks at clock*
*blinks b/c clock says 6:50 AM!*
Irma: (in her head) WHO THE FUCK CALLS AT THIS UNGODLY HOUR OF THE MORNING??
um it was my MOM!
See, she's been staying here while Jim is out of town and using his truck to go to work. She leaves very early in the morning and leaves the truck parked outside so the garage door doesn't wake up the baby. Well apparently this morning she went out the side door and locked it behind her, keys in hand. Um they were the WRONG KEYS...and she was locked out of the house and could not get the right ones
So she had to wake me up at 10 to 7 this morning for me to come downstairs and unlock the door so her stupid ass could grab the right keys.
I shoulda taken a clue from there on how the day was going to go.
The baby woke up pissy. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't play, so I figured he must be tired/teething and put him to bed.
Yeah right.
Bring him BACK downstairs to play a bit and he gets fussy again...
So I put him back down.
He farts around and finally goes to sleep an HOUR before we have to leave to take Robbie to school.
Beauty.
I get everybody ready to go, find Robbie's book b/c it's library day, get the other two books (2nd Grade level that he READS BY HIMSELF BTW) and his backpack is ready to go on the couch. I wait until the LAST possible second to get baby J so he can sleep as much as possible, get the kids in the car and back out.
**CRUNCH**
Oh thank you Mister Garbage man who left my NEIGHBOR'S CAN RIGHT where i back my car out!!
FINALLY get Robbie to school and unload the kids.
"Um Robbie, where's your backpack"
(everyone reading this blog knows DAMN WELL where his backpack was)
Yeah.
So he lines up with his substitute teacher and i run BACK to the car to go home and get Robbie's backpack.
What should have been a FIVE MIN venture turned into 15.
A friggin Sears truck wanted to pull right in front of me and OF COURSE it was going to my street.
NOT ONLY was it going to my street, but they were LOST and sat at the FRIGGIN STOP SIGN trying to figure out which way to go. (b/c i SO had time for this bullshit)
I honk my horn and he finally moves, i jump out of the car, get the backpack and jump RIGHT back in only to pull out and have my next door neighbor blocking the entire street CONVERSING with people crossing the crosswalk.
WTF??
SO i drive around her and get past the big intersection only to come up on the next street to a SPEEDING SPORTS CAR that was trying to turn right in front of me and blow the stop they had.
Jason's being Mr. Cranky head this whole time and I could not WAIT to get back home to put him down.
Drop Robbie's pack off, come home, get in the house...
"I wanna movie"
"I wanna snack mom"
"I wanna juice"
gahhhhh!!!
so I pour some kix in a bowl, pop in a blues clues and head upstairs with Jason.
He's quiet now, She's still watching Blue and Joe, and I need another cup of coffee. It's gonna be a long day.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Untitled short story: Take 1
A million thoughts were swimming in Chrissy's head. "I wonder if I did the right thing?" "I'm just trying to do the best I can for my kids" "Poor baby"
The sounds of her one year old screaming and herself shushing him, letting him know everything would be ok was drowning out the sound of the traffic she'd hit. "It's only 3 o'clock, why the hell is there so much traffic? And of course, today of all days, when I've got a crying baby in the backseat there has to be something keeping me from getting home as quickly as possible"
She continued the conversation with herself in her own head, making note of some of the odd characters she had the chance to glance at in the other cars due to the slow goings. "That's an interesting shade for a lipstick...."
Candy was on her way home from work. She hated her job, but only b/c she had the glowing expectation of how much she would enjoy it and was so horribly, horribly wrong. She hated her boss, the people she worked with, even the customers...but she could not quit. She REFUSED to call in AGAIN because of not having enough money for gas. This time she'd find a way to get there, dammit. She was already late coming home to relieve her Mom of childcare duties. "Mom says she doesn't mind, after all, it's her grandkid, but the last thing I need is someone ELSE holding things over my head." Although she insisted it was no trouble, Candy's mom ALWAYS found a way to bring it up when she was trying to guilt something out of her. Today, she really didn't want to hear it. She had the day from hell and was not about to let her mother top it off with a nice guilt sundae. Her friggin' boss made her late AGAIN and THIS TIME wanted to embarrass her on the way out. Putting on that stupid shade of lipstick before she left "so the customers will know you have personal experience with the products" is the worst mistake she could have made. WHO THE HELL MAKES A LIPSTICK THAT STAINS YOUR LIPS??? And although she was not entirely sure, the tingling sensation she was feeling was suspiciously like the allergic reaction she had to MSG. God that Chinese food was horrible.
The traffic started to let up a bit...good thing, Chrissy was beginning to suspect there was in accident. Three o'clock traffic is NEVER this bad. She started to wonder if some kind of event was going on. She lived in the Capitol of her state, sometimes a stupid governor thing was going on and they blocked street and redirected traffic...She cursed living so close to downtown. The baby has slowed down to a quiet whimper and she should see her exit peeking around the corner, taunting her with it's bright green sign and white arrow. "If I can JUST get off the freeway and get this car going for a bit, maybe my little man will fall asleep and I can get two minutes of peace and quiet." Her day had been so traumatic up this point, a screaming baby behind her would drive her over the brink.
She pulled off the freeway and around to the light. Just as the baby threatened to go into a full cry, she gunned the gas and got the roar of the engine to lull the little one back to a light slumber. "Thank God" she breathed out quietly. She ascended the bridge that stretched over the port near her home, filled with guilt and worries about her little one. She knew intellectually that he would not remember this when he was older, but that lent her no reassurance. Feeling guilt was a right of passage in motherhood, and today was no exception.
Her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and decided not to take the call from her selfish, single, has no concept of what it means to have kids BFF. She was sure it was some idiotic reason for the call: She was bored, or tired, or wanted to talk about the cute shoes she found on her day off from work. As she looked at the phone and sped toward her home she glanced up at the cop car. "SHIT! I hope he didn't see me with my phone." She took her foot off the accelerator and threw her phone across the car just before passing the cop.
Officer Lipinski was SO tired. Not the kind of tired that comes from not sleeping well, but the aching kind of tired that came with having a bad marriage. He DID NOT want to go home, but that was nothing new. Work was the only place he truly felt appreciated. His boss used him as an example all the time with the newbies, and he enjoyed teaching others about the passion in his life. When thoughts of his nagging wife's complaints began to fill his head, he tried to remember the praises of his boss, but today it was no use. All he could hear was "You work too much." "I am better than this marriage." "I need space" "I don't know who I am anymore" "Loose some weight, I don't know how you still have a job with the force being in that kind of shape" He knew the relationship was beyond saving, but he just couldn't bring himself to accepting the advances of his coworker. If he risked being involved with someone else, it could tarnish his reputation. Man, was she beautiful though. And funny. And smart. She made him feel like he could do anything, be anything, accomplish anything. It was soooooo tempting, but he was blessed/cursed with being an honest man. There is no way, as shrewd as she was, he could cheat on his wife. Every fiber of his being said to do it, but his morality would not allow it. He cursed his ethics as he watched a minivan speed pass him. "I should probably pull her over", he thought but as quickly as the thought came into his head it left as he visualized finally telling his fat ugly wife to go jump off a cliff.
Chrissy breathed a sigh of relief as she passed the police car and watched in her rear view mirror for his light to appear behind her. He seemed to be preoccupied with something. Good news on this bad day for her. "I better watch my speed now, since the baby's sleeping." She kept it at the speed limit and stayed to the right so as to avoid the honking irritations of faster drivers. "I know I did the right thing" she thought, but holding her baby down like that was torture....for mother AND son. She reassured herself that once the test results came back, she's know for sure what was going on, but making her hold his little arm down to get that blood draw was really cruel of them. Never mind the 15 minutes they spend calling to find out how much to draw in the first place. She saw in her mind's eye the FIVE empty vials they had lined up for him and heard herself telling them there was no way a one year old would fill that many. "Those idiots have no idea how hard it is to keep a mobile baby that gets into everything CALM for 15 minutes in a lab full of needles and strangers, and THEN expect him not to shriek and squeal when being HELD DOWN by TWO PEOPLE to get a blood draw." Her BFF popped into her head again. "I can't WAIT for her to have kids and FINALLY understand what I go through" she thought to herself. She slowly rounded the corner that led to her housing development when she caught sight of a well dress young man in a beat up Volvo. She cried a little inside knowing she was finally old enough to refer to someone like that as "a kid".
Braden had just graduated from High School last summer. He SWORE he would not be one of those freeloading kids that stayed with their parents, but his grades were not good enough to go straight to State college. "Too much farting around" he thought to himself. "Well, not anymore. This job is gonna be IT". He found his best tie (a graduation gift from his Uncle Tim) pulled out the white dress shirt he had just had dry cleaned and pressed, ironed his black slacks and headed off in his Volvo. "Cheap-ass parents" he mumbled as he slid onto the cracked leather seats, crossing his fingers it would not snag his pants. All his buddies were driving nice cars, Ben got a friggin beamer for God's sake. He was sporting a beat up, overused and under-cleaned Volvo. It seemed no matter how much he scrubbed or shined it, that car never looked right. It needed new paint, new seats, hell, new EVERYTHING. But unless he got himself a job he would never see anything for this piece of crap car. He waited at the red arrow to go over the port bridge and realized how ridiculous he must look. Nice, clean cut, well dressed kid in this hunk of garbage. "I better get this job" he muttered quietly.
She was finally on the home stretch. Her thoughts wandered from the lab incident to the vomiting baby she was holding just weeks before. Such an easy-going little man she had, and to see him limp and throwing up like that was frightening. She almost went to the ER but he stopped after a half and hour. The advice nurse had told her not to come in unless he continued and refused to eat or drink anything. It appeared that whatever had caused this was confined to the contents of his stomach, and once that was expelled all was well. She listened to the monitor that was turned all the way up, responding to the slightest hiccup, cough or stirring. His well baby check up was in a few weeks. If he vomited before then, she'd call for an appointment, but seeing as this was possibly a reaction to something he'd eaten she'd just wait and bring it up then. Those weeks seemed like an eternity, but getting those tests done was key. If he had a reaction to anything, hopefully it would show up. She had to swerve a little to go around a pedestrian who was walking against the flow of traffic on the side of the road. There were no sidewalks here, since the housing developments didn't start for some five miles down the road. Sometimes she felt like she lived in the middle of nowhere, but once you see the new houses on the horizon the nagging feeling you have that you're lost suddenly goes away.
Serenity was PISSED. Like, seeing red from the blood vessels popping behind her eyes pissed. Obscenities filled her head. "F*ck them. F*ck them all" She was tall, slender, beautiful. It looked as though someone had plucked her directly from a magazine. She was WAY better than this place. Way better than her parents. Way better than the haters at school. Not only did she have the looks but the talent. Her voice was that of an angel. She had NEVER been booed off a stage, never known what kind of rejection might lay ahead. Every role in every show she had ever tried out for was easily hers. Competitors would specifically ask her what role she was auditioning for, so as to ask for a different one. They knew going up against her would end in humiliation and disappointment. She felt like there was one reason, and one reason alone that she had been given these looks and talent; to be famous. She had the ambition, the drive, the talent and the looks....now all she needed was money. She had no idea how she would get it, but she knew others had made it with less than she had. She would find a way. Walking on this road seemed endless, but somehow the length of it soothed her. It gave her a chance to create a game plan in her head. Somehow she'd get to LA. Somehow she'd make it. Everything she had ever done in her 17 years on this planet had led up to this moment. It was the beginning of something amazing. Something bigger than herself. Something epic. She would get famous and show them all. Give the finger to EVERYONE that had ever spit on her. "F*ck them all" she muttered again.
"FINALLY" she screamed in her head as she pulled onto he street. The baby began to stir behind her, almost with some form of sixth sense that he was home. She was relieved to be able to put him in his own crib, with her bosom as comfort. Her original plan was to have him weaned by now, but seeing how sick he had gotten she couldn't bear to take away the one source of food she knew was safe. Until she got those results back solid food was severely restricted.
He quietly nursed and as she lay him down he had a look of peaceful content on his face. She marveled at the innocence she was staring at. If she had not just experienced the last hour and looked upon this beautiful face she'd be none the wiser. Ah, to be blessed with the short memory of a baby. If only......if only.
The sounds of her one year old screaming and herself shushing him, letting him know everything would be ok was drowning out the sound of the traffic she'd hit. "It's only 3 o'clock, why the hell is there so much traffic? And of course, today of all days, when I've got a crying baby in the backseat there has to be something keeping me from getting home as quickly as possible"
She continued the conversation with herself in her own head, making note of some of the odd characters she had the chance to glance at in the other cars due to the slow goings. "That's an interesting shade for a lipstick...."
Candy was on her way home from work. She hated her job, but only b/c she had the glowing expectation of how much she would enjoy it and was so horribly, horribly wrong. She hated her boss, the people she worked with, even the customers...but she could not quit. She REFUSED to call in AGAIN because of not having enough money for gas. This time she'd find a way to get there, dammit. She was already late coming home to relieve her Mom of childcare duties. "Mom says she doesn't mind, after all, it's her grandkid, but the last thing I need is someone ELSE holding things over my head." Although she insisted it was no trouble, Candy's mom ALWAYS found a way to bring it up when she was trying to guilt something out of her. Today, she really didn't want to hear it. She had the day from hell and was not about to let her mother top it off with a nice guilt sundae. Her friggin' boss made her late AGAIN and THIS TIME wanted to embarrass her on the way out. Putting on that stupid shade of lipstick before she left "so the customers will know you have personal experience with the products" is the worst mistake she could have made. WHO THE HELL MAKES A LIPSTICK THAT STAINS YOUR LIPS??? And although she was not entirely sure, the tingling sensation she was feeling was suspiciously like the allergic reaction she had to MSG. God that Chinese food was horrible.
The traffic started to let up a bit...good thing, Chrissy was beginning to suspect there was in accident. Three o'clock traffic is NEVER this bad. She started to wonder if some kind of event was going on. She lived in the Capitol of her state, sometimes a stupid governor thing was going on and they blocked street and redirected traffic...She cursed living so close to downtown. The baby has slowed down to a quiet whimper and she should see her exit peeking around the corner, taunting her with it's bright green sign and white arrow. "If I can JUST get off the freeway and get this car going for a bit, maybe my little man will fall asleep and I can get two minutes of peace and quiet." Her day had been so traumatic up this point, a screaming baby behind her would drive her over the brink.
She pulled off the freeway and around to the light. Just as the baby threatened to go into a full cry, she gunned the gas and got the roar of the engine to lull the little one back to a light slumber. "Thank God" she breathed out quietly. She ascended the bridge that stretched over the port near her home, filled with guilt and worries about her little one. She knew intellectually that he would not remember this when he was older, but that lent her no reassurance. Feeling guilt was a right of passage in motherhood, and today was no exception.
Her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and decided not to take the call from her selfish, single, has no concept of what it means to have kids BFF. She was sure it was some idiotic reason for the call: She was bored, or tired, or wanted to talk about the cute shoes she found on her day off from work. As she looked at the phone and sped toward her home she glanced up at the cop car. "SHIT! I hope he didn't see me with my phone." She took her foot off the accelerator and threw her phone across the car just before passing the cop.
Officer Lipinski was SO tired. Not the kind of tired that comes from not sleeping well, but the aching kind of tired that came with having a bad marriage. He DID NOT want to go home, but that was nothing new. Work was the only place he truly felt appreciated. His boss used him as an example all the time with the newbies, and he enjoyed teaching others about the passion in his life. When thoughts of his nagging wife's complaints began to fill his head, he tried to remember the praises of his boss, but today it was no use. All he could hear was "You work too much." "I am better than this marriage." "I need space" "I don't know who I am anymore" "Loose some weight, I don't know how you still have a job with the force being in that kind of shape" He knew the relationship was beyond saving, but he just couldn't bring himself to accepting the advances of his coworker. If he risked being involved with someone else, it could tarnish his reputation. Man, was she beautiful though. And funny. And smart. She made him feel like he could do anything, be anything, accomplish anything. It was soooooo tempting, but he was blessed/cursed with being an honest man. There is no way, as shrewd as she was, he could cheat on his wife. Every fiber of his being said to do it, but his morality would not allow it. He cursed his ethics as he watched a minivan speed pass him. "I should probably pull her over", he thought but as quickly as the thought came into his head it left as he visualized finally telling his fat ugly wife to go jump off a cliff.
Chrissy breathed a sigh of relief as she passed the police car and watched in her rear view mirror for his light to appear behind her. He seemed to be preoccupied with something. Good news on this bad day for her. "I better watch my speed now, since the baby's sleeping." She kept it at the speed limit and stayed to the right so as to avoid the honking irritations of faster drivers. "I know I did the right thing" she thought, but holding her baby down like that was torture....for mother AND son. She reassured herself that once the test results came back, she's know for sure what was going on, but making her hold his little arm down to get that blood draw was really cruel of them. Never mind the 15 minutes they spend calling to find out how much to draw in the first place. She saw in her mind's eye the FIVE empty vials they had lined up for him and heard herself telling them there was no way a one year old would fill that many. "Those idiots have no idea how hard it is to keep a mobile baby that gets into everything CALM for 15 minutes in a lab full of needles and strangers, and THEN expect him not to shriek and squeal when being HELD DOWN by TWO PEOPLE to get a blood draw." Her BFF popped into her head again. "I can't WAIT for her to have kids and FINALLY understand what I go through" she thought to herself. She slowly rounded the corner that led to her housing development when she caught sight of a well dress young man in a beat up Volvo. She cried a little inside knowing she was finally old enough to refer to someone like that as "a kid".
Braden had just graduated from High School last summer. He SWORE he would not be one of those freeloading kids that stayed with their parents, but his grades were not good enough to go straight to State college. "Too much farting around" he thought to himself. "Well, not anymore. This job is gonna be IT". He found his best tie (a graduation gift from his Uncle Tim) pulled out the white dress shirt he had just had dry cleaned and pressed, ironed his black slacks and headed off in his Volvo. "Cheap-ass parents" he mumbled as he slid onto the cracked leather seats, crossing his fingers it would not snag his pants. All his buddies were driving nice cars, Ben got a friggin beamer for God's sake. He was sporting a beat up, overused and under-cleaned Volvo. It seemed no matter how much he scrubbed or shined it, that car never looked right. It needed new paint, new seats, hell, new EVERYTHING. But unless he got himself a job he would never see anything for this piece of crap car. He waited at the red arrow to go over the port bridge and realized how ridiculous he must look. Nice, clean cut, well dressed kid in this hunk of garbage. "I better get this job" he muttered quietly.
She was finally on the home stretch. Her thoughts wandered from the lab incident to the vomiting baby she was holding just weeks before. Such an easy-going little man she had, and to see him limp and throwing up like that was frightening. She almost went to the ER but he stopped after a half and hour. The advice nurse had told her not to come in unless he continued and refused to eat or drink anything. It appeared that whatever had caused this was confined to the contents of his stomach, and once that was expelled all was well. She listened to the monitor that was turned all the way up, responding to the slightest hiccup, cough or stirring. His well baby check up was in a few weeks. If he vomited before then, she'd call for an appointment, but seeing as this was possibly a reaction to something he'd eaten she'd just wait and bring it up then. Those weeks seemed like an eternity, but getting those tests done was key. If he had a reaction to anything, hopefully it would show up. She had to swerve a little to go around a pedestrian who was walking against the flow of traffic on the side of the road. There were no sidewalks here, since the housing developments didn't start for some five miles down the road. Sometimes she felt like she lived in the middle of nowhere, but once you see the new houses on the horizon the nagging feeling you have that you're lost suddenly goes away.
Serenity was PISSED. Like, seeing red from the blood vessels popping behind her eyes pissed. Obscenities filled her head. "F*ck them. F*ck them all" She was tall, slender, beautiful. It looked as though someone had plucked her directly from a magazine. She was WAY better than this place. Way better than her parents. Way better than the haters at school. Not only did she have the looks but the talent. Her voice was that of an angel. She had NEVER been booed off a stage, never known what kind of rejection might lay ahead. Every role in every show she had ever tried out for was easily hers. Competitors would specifically ask her what role she was auditioning for, so as to ask for a different one. They knew going up against her would end in humiliation and disappointment. She felt like there was one reason, and one reason alone that she had been given these looks and talent; to be famous. She had the ambition, the drive, the talent and the looks....now all she needed was money. She had no idea how she would get it, but she knew others had made it with less than she had. She would find a way. Walking on this road seemed endless, but somehow the length of it soothed her. It gave her a chance to create a game plan in her head. Somehow she'd get to LA. Somehow she'd make it. Everything she had ever done in her 17 years on this planet had led up to this moment. It was the beginning of something amazing. Something bigger than herself. Something epic. She would get famous and show them all. Give the finger to EVERYONE that had ever spit on her. "F*ck them all" she muttered again.
"FINALLY" she screamed in her head as she pulled onto he street. The baby began to stir behind her, almost with some form of sixth sense that he was home. She was relieved to be able to put him in his own crib, with her bosom as comfort. Her original plan was to have him weaned by now, but seeing how sick he had gotten she couldn't bear to take away the one source of food she knew was safe. Until she got those results back solid food was severely restricted.
He quietly nursed and as she lay him down he had a look of peaceful content on his face. She marveled at the innocence she was staring at. If she had not just experienced the last hour and looked upon this beautiful face she'd be none the wiser. Ah, to be blessed with the short memory of a baby. If only......if only.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Baby Jason's 1st B Day party
Well, I can't say I got the best pictures of the day (mostly due to the fact that my hostessing duties did not allow me to pick up a camera very much), but I did get some. Jason's Grandpa Chris got some AMAZING pictures of him eating the cupcake I made for him...unfortunately I forgot to grab his memory card and copy the pictures over before he left, but I was promised access to them at a yet-to-be-determined time.
Overall Jason did very well at his party. My older two were a complete tired mess by the end of their's, but this little man held out like a trooper. The only disappointing part was he got tired and I put him down for what I though would be the night, so we forwent the present opening....only to discover he was not, in fact, tired and talked to himself the entire time....
Yeah, we could have totally opened presents and he would have been just fine.
Oh well....so no "ooooh"ing and "ahhh"ing aloud in front of a crowd while we opened his booty (LOL) but c'mon, he's a year old, do you really think he's gonna know the difference??
So here is the little man on the day of holding Grandpa Randy's hand (he totally doesn't need it for support, but he won't stand w/o it)
Grandma Cherie holding him playing "bat the balloon". Look at his face in the second picture
Sonya getting excited about the same balloon
The decorations (I made the balloon bouquet)
The cake was paid for twice (YES I got my money back)
Cousin Anne- Two months younger but twice as big (LMFAO)
Robbie saw Mom acting like a nut and wanted in on the action
I'm dying to get my hands on those uber cute "jason eating cupcake" pictures....
*sigh*
so look for "baby Jason's bday party Part II"
Overall Jason did very well at his party. My older two were a complete tired mess by the end of their's, but this little man held out like a trooper. The only disappointing part was he got tired and I put him down for what I though would be the night, so we forwent the present opening....only to discover he was not, in fact, tired and talked to himself the entire time....
Yeah, we could have totally opened presents and he would have been just fine.
Oh well....so no "ooooh"ing and "ahhh"ing aloud in front of a crowd while we opened his booty (LOL) but c'mon, he's a year old, do you really think he's gonna know the difference??
So here is the little man on the day of holding Grandpa Randy's hand (he totally doesn't need it for support, but he won't stand w/o it)
Grandma Cherie holding him playing "bat the balloon". Look at his face in the second picture
Sonya getting excited about the same balloon
The decorations (I made the balloon bouquet)
The cake was paid for twice (YES I got my money back)
Cousin Anne- Two months younger but twice as big (LMFAO)
Robbie saw Mom acting like a nut and wanted in on the action
I'm dying to get my hands on those uber cute "jason eating cupcake" pictures....
*sigh*
so look for "baby Jason's bday party Part II"
Monday, March 24, 2008
My brief stint at modeling
My sister in law does henna (www.harmonyhenna.com)
/shameless plug
ANYWAY
for her website we did a photoshoot that was wrought with one mishap after another...
The photoshoot was originally to take place downtown in the park, like literally minutes from my house. The forecast said rain, so my SIL changed it to her house...(25 miles away)
ask me if it rained that day....
Then one of the models that my SIL spent over five hours of work doing full bridal henna on her hands (front and back of hands from fingertips to elbows) WASHED HERSELF the very next morning (BIG NO NO) and undid most of the work... *sigh*
THEN we thought "ok, let's just do a design on her back since she messed the other one up"
ummm, you mean her back that's full of GINORMOUS tattoos?
*sigh*
so the ONLY usable part of her back area was right above the huge music staff tattoo that spanned across her entire width of it....
well, let's do a medallion design just below her neck...
I go to put her hair up and HELLO 1/2 inch of BLACK ROOTS under your BLEACHED HAIR
*sigh*
fine, let's get a necklace or something and cover the roots...
So here comes a phone call from the other model
she's TOTALLY LOST and has no idea how to get to my SIL's house...
So I'm on the phone with her trying to figure out where the eff she's at....meanwhile my SIL is using my other arm to put a paste design so she can get more pictures b/c her OTHER model FLAKED on her...
*sigh*
I'm only supposed to be there until a little after one o'clock, so we figure I better get going on the posing...
we get some really beautiful shots of the henna, me on the floor posing with some pillows and stuff...
I was dying to see these pictures, and i was supposed to do makeup for the girl that had so far been a no-show
We (the kids and I) were already late to be at a birthday party that started at 1 o'clock for my neighbor's daughter across the street...
I got out of there at 2 o'clock...
Come to find out that all the really cool shot the photographer shot of me looked GREAT in preview size, but blurry when you blew them up...
the roots girl apparently didn't stay still enough for the henna to be any good, so all the shots of her medallion on her back were not good..
they did another design on the front of her as a necklace, and that was the ONLY usable shot...
so 5 hours of hand work=gone
20 min of medallion work= gone
cute shots of irma posing on the floor=gone
*sigh*
ok so here are the two of me that came out
/shameless plug
ANYWAY
for her website we did a photoshoot that was wrought with one mishap after another...
The photoshoot was originally to take place downtown in the park, like literally minutes from my house. The forecast said rain, so my SIL changed it to her house...(25 miles away)
ask me if it rained that day....
Then one of the models that my SIL spent over five hours of work doing full bridal henna on her hands (front and back of hands from fingertips to elbows) WASHED HERSELF the very next morning (BIG NO NO) and undid most of the work... *sigh*
THEN we thought "ok, let's just do a design on her back since she messed the other one up"
ummm, you mean her back that's full of GINORMOUS tattoos?
*sigh*
so the ONLY usable part of her back area was right above the huge music staff tattoo that spanned across her entire width of it....
well, let's do a medallion design just below her neck...
I go to put her hair up and HELLO 1/2 inch of BLACK ROOTS under your BLEACHED HAIR
*sigh*
fine, let's get a necklace or something and cover the roots...
So here comes a phone call from the other model
she's TOTALLY LOST and has no idea how to get to my SIL's house...
So I'm on the phone with her trying to figure out where the eff she's at....meanwhile my SIL is using my other arm to put a paste design so she can get more pictures b/c her OTHER model FLAKED on her...
*sigh*
I'm only supposed to be there until a little after one o'clock, so we figure I better get going on the posing...
we get some really beautiful shots of the henna, me on the floor posing with some pillows and stuff...
I was dying to see these pictures, and i was supposed to do makeup for the girl that had so far been a no-show
We (the kids and I) were already late to be at a birthday party that started at 1 o'clock for my neighbor's daughter across the street...
I got out of there at 2 o'clock...
Come to find out that all the really cool shot the photographer shot of me looked GREAT in preview size, but blurry when you blew them up...
the roots girl apparently didn't stay still enough for the henna to be any good, so all the shots of her medallion on her back were not good..
they did another design on the front of her as a necklace, and that was the ONLY usable shot...
so 5 hours of hand work=gone
20 min of medallion work= gone
cute shots of irma posing on the floor=gone
*sigh*
ok so here are the two of me that came out
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The day from hell...
So we finally got a brand new washing machine and WTF happens?
It leaks....
*sigh*
Last night from 11pm until about 3:30 am the baby woke up every hour.
every. f*cking. hour.
I called Jim at 3:30am b/c he was driving to the airport to catch a 6am flight from ND and let him know what was going on with Jason. I was promised that he would come home and help me. His flight was scheduled to arrive in Sac at 10am
Ask me if he's home....
Turns out where he was staying and where he had to catch the flight crossed timezones... so what he THOUGHT was arriving an hour before departure time turned out to BE his departure time....
He was on standby for the next flight, 1:10pm....
He did not get on that flight. They let a couple who was Hawaii bound go before him and there was no more room.
That flight would have had him home at 4:15pm
The flight he is currently set to take gets him home at 11PM
ELEVEN PM!!!!
Baby Jason is being a complete shit. He spends all night screaming, crying, waking up every hour, then decides to wake up for the morning at 6am
Glorious.
I go downstairs and wake my mom up, let her know I've had VERY LITTLE sleep and would she please take the baby since he's up and it's SIX FRIGGIN THIRTY in the morning.
I JUST BARELY fall asleep again
*knock knock*
"Good Morning Robbie, could you please go downstairs and see grandma"
*groans*
Then my mom knocks on my door at ten min past eight, and she's supposed to leave with Robbie to go to gymnastics at 8:30....
I come downstairs and it all hits the fan. First, she brought Sonya downstairs, who saw me and immediately asked for her juicebox and cereal...
The baby started screaming once he saw me and refused to stay with my mom...
The CATS kept bugging me all night and I finally checked and they were out of water...
ROBBIE was throwing a tantrum b/c he refused to get dressed and started KICKING my mom when I told him he lost the privilege to play Uno with me before school b/c he tried to shoot the teacher with a pretend gun and spit on another classmate's work...
Jason refused to nap after i put him upstairs and by the time i brought him BACK downstairs he was so pissed I had to put him to bed again...
He slept THREE HOURS (here's me thinking that he won't take another nap b/c of it)
LOL
suuuuure
I feed him lunch (sonya's yelling for food too btw and i'm trying to rotate laundry b/c i'm scared shitless i'm gonna be without my machine again while they repair it)
after lunch he's ACTING SLEEPY AGAIN!!
So he gets himself all worked up, and I barely have anything to feed him b/c he sucked me dry last night...
I'm thinking I might try and migrate him to soy formula (b/c his head spins around and he projectile vomits with dairy based formula), so I mix half my milk, half soy formula
*cue screaming frustrated frantic child*
He's quiet for oh, maybe TWENTY MINUTES
It's now 3pm....Jim is still sitting in an airport, my child is still upstairs screaming and I clearly have not had enough chocolate cake or coffee to get me through this nightmare.
I'm sure it will get worse, b/c every time I dare this day to do so, the day shows me what "worse" really is....
It leaks....
*sigh*
Last night from 11pm until about 3:30 am the baby woke up every hour.
every. f*cking. hour.
I called Jim at 3:30am b/c he was driving to the airport to catch a 6am flight from ND and let him know what was going on with Jason. I was promised that he would come home and help me. His flight was scheduled to arrive in Sac at 10am
Ask me if he's home....
Turns out where he was staying and where he had to catch the flight crossed timezones... so what he THOUGHT was arriving an hour before departure time turned out to BE his departure time....
He was on standby for the next flight, 1:10pm....
He did not get on that flight. They let a couple who was Hawaii bound go before him and there was no more room.
That flight would have had him home at 4:15pm
The flight he is currently set to take gets him home at 11PM
ELEVEN PM!!!!
Baby Jason is being a complete shit. He spends all night screaming, crying, waking up every hour, then decides to wake up for the morning at 6am
Glorious.
I go downstairs and wake my mom up, let her know I've had VERY LITTLE sleep and would she please take the baby since he's up and it's SIX FRIGGIN THIRTY in the morning.
I JUST BARELY fall asleep again
*knock knock*
"Good Morning Robbie, could you please go downstairs and see grandma"
*groans*
Then my mom knocks on my door at ten min past eight, and she's supposed to leave with Robbie to go to gymnastics at 8:30....
I come downstairs and it all hits the fan. First, she brought Sonya downstairs, who saw me and immediately asked for her juicebox and cereal...
The baby started screaming once he saw me and refused to stay with my mom...
The CATS kept bugging me all night and I finally checked and they were out of water...
ROBBIE was throwing a tantrum b/c he refused to get dressed and started KICKING my mom when I told him he lost the privilege to play Uno with me before school b/c he tried to shoot the teacher with a pretend gun and spit on another classmate's work...
Jason refused to nap after i put him upstairs and by the time i brought him BACK downstairs he was so pissed I had to put him to bed again...
He slept THREE HOURS (here's me thinking that he won't take another nap b/c of it)
LOL
suuuuure
I feed him lunch (sonya's yelling for food too btw and i'm trying to rotate laundry b/c i'm scared shitless i'm gonna be without my machine again while they repair it)
after lunch he's ACTING SLEEPY AGAIN!!
So he gets himself all worked up, and I barely have anything to feed him b/c he sucked me dry last night...
I'm thinking I might try and migrate him to soy formula (b/c his head spins around and he projectile vomits with dairy based formula), so I mix half my milk, half soy formula
*cue screaming frustrated frantic child*
He's quiet for oh, maybe TWENTY MINUTES
It's now 3pm....Jim is still sitting in an airport, my child is still upstairs screaming and I clearly have not had enough chocolate cake or coffee to get me through this nightmare.
I'm sure it will get worse, b/c every time I dare this day to do so, the day shows me what "worse" really is....
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Of course...
When everything else about this damn machine has been so horrible WHY would I expect the "get a new machine" process to be easy?? OF COURSE it would take me over an hour standing in Best Buy to get them to give me my machine....
First of all I had to drive in rush hour traffic to a best buy 20 miles away from me b/c they were the only ones that had the replacement washing machine my husband wanted....
and my Ipod was dead. no charge to it.
of course.
THEN I get to the best buy and tell the people what's going on, and customer service runs around like idiots for thirty minutes trying to figure out how i'm gonna get my machine b/c the return has to be done through the NATOMAS store b/c that is where we originally bought it and had it delivered from....
THEN they had to get the store credit from that store put on a gift card and sell me the machine a the citrus heights store by reading the gift card number over the phone to the lady in front of me ( I should say "kid" b/c they looked about 18 to me)
This seemed to take a small eternity, meanwhile my mom is calling me from home to find out when I'm gonna be back b/c the baby wants to go to sleep for the night and only wants ME to do it
greeaaat...
So they finally figure it out (after over an hour) and the chick explains to me that b/c the machine is being swapped out it voids the warranty and i have to purchase another one...
really?
even though the machine i'm buying is CHEAPER than the one we originally bought AND the warranty we had on our machine was 5 YEARS and not THREE like i just had to rebuy????
But seeing as I had already been there so long, I was not about to stand around and argue the point, so i called my attack dog (JIM) and he ripped them a new one...
SO NOW i have two gift cards waiting for me with store credit that i have to drive BACK over WITH two kids and pick up....gahhh I was JUST THERE YESTERDAY
*sigh*
so yeah, wish me luck...
First of all I had to drive in rush hour traffic to a best buy 20 miles away from me b/c they were the only ones that had the replacement washing machine my husband wanted....
and my Ipod was dead. no charge to it.
of course.
THEN I get to the best buy and tell the people what's going on, and customer service runs around like idiots for thirty minutes trying to figure out how i'm gonna get my machine b/c the return has to be done through the NATOMAS store b/c that is where we originally bought it and had it delivered from....
THEN they had to get the store credit from that store put on a gift card and sell me the machine a the citrus heights store by reading the gift card number over the phone to the lady in front of me ( I should say "kid" b/c they looked about 18 to me)
This seemed to take a small eternity, meanwhile my mom is calling me from home to find out when I'm gonna be back b/c the baby wants to go to sleep for the night and only wants ME to do it
greeaaat...
So they finally figure it out (after over an hour) and the chick explains to me that b/c the machine is being swapped out it voids the warranty and i have to purchase another one...
really?
even though the machine i'm buying is CHEAPER than the one we originally bought AND the warranty we had on our machine was 5 YEARS and not THREE like i just had to rebuy????
But seeing as I had already been there so long, I was not about to stand around and argue the point, so i called my attack dog (JIM) and he ripped them a new one...
SO NOW i have two gift cards waiting for me with store credit that i have to drive BACK over WITH two kids and pick up....gahhh I was JUST THERE YESTERDAY
*sigh*
so yeah, wish me luck...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Why me??
Ok so it's been awhile since my last blog, and it's not like I haven't had things to blog about...it's been quite the opposite. I've had SO MUCH to blog about I started to loose track and only be able to remember the recent bad half. *sigh*
Ok so where to start?? Jim got his new job, he's traveling ALOT. I knew this was going to be a part of the job, and fully accepted that, but what i didn't expect was for my kids to get together and decide to be total shits the entire time he was gone. That was lovely. I'm hoping it was just them adjusting to him being away and this time will go more smoothly.
So any of you that followed the myspace blogs I had know about the broken washing machine that caused me to slip and fall on my ass....well the damn thing died AGAIN!!! Don't even start me on how friggin mad I was...
Jim calls Best buy and tells them about the washer and the lady on the phone makes it sound like the tech will just evaluate whether we need a new machine and that will be that....
LMFAO
i wish....
So the tech comes out and i can OVERHEAR him on the phone tell his supervisor, or whoever he has to talk to, that our machine is DEAD, as in NON FIXABLE, as in WE NEED A NEW MACHINE...
Ask me if we got a new machine....
NO!
INSTEAD they make him order a part that will take FIVE TO SEVEN business days....When he walked out of my house after telling me, I seriously sat on my couch and cried for 10 minutes...
Deciding to USE this emotion I had welling up inside of me i called "Best buy" customer service and ripped three people a new asshole....i KNOW they were walking funny and couldn't shit right after i was done with them....I was SOOOOO PISSED...
Of course, they did nothing for me. I call Jim and pass the baton, letting him know it is now HIS problem, and he calls and get the same thing out of them...JS (that stands for JACK SHIT)
But according to him they notated the account and blah blah w/e scheduled a tech to come out.
So this tech comes out with the part FULLY KNOWING that the part will not fix the machine. He claims he HAS to complete this repair before they will consider giving us a new machine. He says "just so we're all on the same page here, this machine was 'working' when I left" (which it clearly was not). "They will schedule me back out again after the long weekend and I'll come out, determine it's dead and you'll get a new machine"
w00t
or so i thought....
So Jim, thinking he can work the system, spends EVERY DAY of the weekend yelling at a new person, telling them our tale of woe in order to get some kind of faster turn around from them...
no dice.
So Tuesday rolls around and we get a call that the tech will be out between 12-2pm...
*fast forward to 2pm*
*ding dong* doorbell rings
OH hello mister NEW TECH that I've never seen before!
*sigh*
now i have to go through the ENTIRE STORY ALL OVER AGAIN with new tech guy...who's on the phone trying to verify information and figure out WTF the OTHER GUY repaired...
um...how would I KNOW what he repaired, don't you have a computer or something that TELL YOU???
anywayz....new tech guy is actually pretty cool. So I'm telling him I feel bad for them (the techs) b/c they are at the mercy of w/e the insurance people/customer care guys tell them to do...
So this tech looks at me and goes "We have alot more power than you think"
Really?? *looks intrigued*
So yeah, this guy spends a few on the phone calling around and says "I was unable to get you a new machine with the lemon clause they have in the contract BUT I'm putting in a code that basically says the machine is not cost effective to repair and you can walk into a best buy store with this code and get a new one"
:O
So I asked him "do you want a beer or something?? Cookies? I think I have some chocolate left from Valentine's day...."
I seriously would have washed his car, rubbed his feet WHATEVER....b/c he totally saved us another repair and having to wait for another part to come in....
So Jim went to a best buy there in Washington where he's working right now and talked to some really cool guys that went out of their way to help us...
There is a washing machine at a Best Buy 20 miles from my house that is STILL in the box (it was supposed to be a floor model but they never took it out) and is on special for under the amount we paid for our old one, but is worth more, with a big note on it that says "HOLD FOR IRMA"
I'm so happy right now i could piss blood...
Ok so where to start?? Jim got his new job, he's traveling ALOT. I knew this was going to be a part of the job, and fully accepted that, but what i didn't expect was for my kids to get together and decide to be total shits the entire time he was gone. That was lovely. I'm hoping it was just them adjusting to him being away and this time will go more smoothly.
So any of you that followed the myspace blogs I had know about the broken washing machine that caused me to slip and fall on my ass....well the damn thing died AGAIN!!! Don't even start me on how friggin mad I was...
Jim calls Best buy and tells them about the washer and the lady on the phone makes it sound like the tech will just evaluate whether we need a new machine and that will be that....
LMFAO
i wish....
So the tech comes out and i can OVERHEAR him on the phone tell his supervisor, or whoever he has to talk to, that our machine is DEAD, as in NON FIXABLE, as in WE NEED A NEW MACHINE...
Ask me if we got a new machine....
NO!
INSTEAD they make him order a part that will take FIVE TO SEVEN business days....When he walked out of my house after telling me, I seriously sat on my couch and cried for 10 minutes...
Deciding to USE this emotion I had welling up inside of me i called "Best buy" customer service and ripped three people a new asshole....i KNOW they were walking funny and couldn't shit right after i was done with them....I was SOOOOO PISSED...
Of course, they did nothing for me. I call Jim and pass the baton, letting him know it is now HIS problem, and he calls and get the same thing out of them...JS (that stands for JACK SHIT)
But according to him they notated the account and blah blah w/e scheduled a tech to come out.
So this tech comes out with the part FULLY KNOWING that the part will not fix the machine. He claims he HAS to complete this repair before they will consider giving us a new machine. He says "just so we're all on the same page here, this machine was 'working' when I left" (which it clearly was not). "They will schedule me back out again after the long weekend and I'll come out, determine it's dead and you'll get a new machine"
w00t
or so i thought....
So Jim, thinking he can work the system, spends EVERY DAY of the weekend yelling at a new person, telling them our tale of woe in order to get some kind of faster turn around from them...
no dice.
So Tuesday rolls around and we get a call that the tech will be out between 12-2pm...
*fast forward to 2pm*
*ding dong* doorbell rings
OH hello mister NEW TECH that I've never seen before!
*sigh*
now i have to go through the ENTIRE STORY ALL OVER AGAIN with new tech guy...who's on the phone trying to verify information and figure out WTF the OTHER GUY repaired...
um...how would I KNOW what he repaired, don't you have a computer or something that TELL YOU???
anywayz....new tech guy is actually pretty cool. So I'm telling him I feel bad for them (the techs) b/c they are at the mercy of w/e the insurance people/customer care guys tell them to do...
So this tech looks at me and goes "We have alot more power than you think"
Really?? *looks intrigued*
So yeah, this guy spends a few on the phone calling around and says "I was unable to get you a new machine with the lemon clause they have in the contract BUT I'm putting in a code that basically says the machine is not cost effective to repair and you can walk into a best buy store with this code and get a new one"
:O
So I asked him "do you want a beer or something?? Cookies? I think I have some chocolate left from Valentine's day...."
I seriously would have washed his car, rubbed his feet WHATEVER....b/c he totally saved us another repair and having to wait for another part to come in....
So Jim went to a best buy there in Washington where he's working right now and talked to some really cool guys that went out of their way to help us...
There is a washing machine at a Best Buy 20 miles from my house that is STILL in the box (it was supposed to be a floor model but they never took it out) and is on special for under the amount we paid for our old one, but is worth more, with a big note on it that says "HOLD FOR IRMA"
I'm so happy right now i could piss blood...
Monday, February 11, 2008
Nice start to a week full of fun [/sarcasm]
So Jim's flight was scheduled for the booty butt crack of dawn this morning. He was up most of the night packing (which was in itself an ordeal b/c for the FOURTH TIME since we bought it our friggin WASHING MACHINE is DEAD) and I knew he would have to get up pretty early to catch his flight.
He's been slowly ebaying all the belongings from his former office, but in the meantime his "inventory" has been housed in my garage. I've stubbed my toe on the crap a few times, and a few days ago banged my shin straight into the corner of a desk drawer randomly in my path....
He finally decides yesterday that he will clear out his side of the garage so he can now park his truck in there.
So he goes to give me a goodbye kiss and let me know he's leaving and right before he walks out says "I hope the garage door doesn't wake the baby up. If it does, I'm sorry"
"Nah", I say, "I just fed him at 4am, he should be good"
um....
guess who's been up since 5am.
I realize Jason was not going back to sleep after trying to put him down about four times....come downstairs at about 6am. He's happy as a clam, crawling around, cruising the house all giddy and bubbly. Almost as if to admit defeat I start a pot of coffee....
He's still cruising around by the time the coffee brews. Now, Jason does this thing when he gets tired...he starts crawling around after me and pulls himself to standing on my legs, looking up at me and fussing. That's baby speak for "Pick me up mamma!"
I like how he timed this just perfectly so that I could not even get ONE SIP of coffee before he did this to me.
Babies are evil.
So now he's in bed upstairs, I was downstairs drinking some coffee with (*shock*) nothing to do?? My oldest was still sleeping and Sonya almost always sleeps until at least 9am...
OMG i could take a shower!! w00t!
I glance at the time knowing my son wakes up about 7am....hmmm 15 min till, that's enough for a quick shower...
I get my shower in (double w00t) and get dressed....I halfway contemplate doing my makeup since Robbie always comes into my room to check if we're up or not....
and i hear crying...
not baby crying, SONYA crying
GAHHHHH
Now you have to understand, my daughter is just like me....you DO NOT wake her up early...nor do you WANT HER to wake up early...if she ain't happy NOBODY is...
I go into her room and inform her that it's still "night night" time and she FLIP OUT
"I go downstairs, I GO DOWNSTAIRS"
(keep in mind the baby had just fallen asleep like thirty min ago and she's in the room next door)
"ok fine fine, let's go downstairs"
*sigh*
So she's up, the baby is sleeping, it's now 7:37 am and my oldest who almost ALWAYS gets up at 7am sharp is still sleeping...
Is it National Bass Ackwards day and someone forgot to tell me??
He's been slowly ebaying all the belongings from his former office, but in the meantime his "inventory" has been housed in my garage. I've stubbed my toe on the crap a few times, and a few days ago banged my shin straight into the corner of a desk drawer randomly in my path....
He finally decides yesterday that he will clear out his side of the garage so he can now park his truck in there.
So he goes to give me a goodbye kiss and let me know he's leaving and right before he walks out says "I hope the garage door doesn't wake the baby up. If it does, I'm sorry"
"Nah", I say, "I just fed him at 4am, he should be good"
um....
guess who's been up since 5am.
I realize Jason was not going back to sleep after trying to put him down about four times....come downstairs at about 6am. He's happy as a clam, crawling around, cruising the house all giddy and bubbly. Almost as if to admit defeat I start a pot of coffee....
He's still cruising around by the time the coffee brews. Now, Jason does this thing when he gets tired...he starts crawling around after me and pulls himself to standing on my legs, looking up at me and fussing. That's baby speak for "Pick me up mamma!"
I like how he timed this just perfectly so that I could not even get ONE SIP of coffee before he did this to me.
Babies are evil.
So now he's in bed upstairs, I was downstairs drinking some coffee with (*shock*) nothing to do?? My oldest was still sleeping and Sonya almost always sleeps until at least 9am...
OMG i could take a shower!! w00t!
I glance at the time knowing my son wakes up about 7am....hmmm 15 min till, that's enough for a quick shower...
I get my shower in (double w00t) and get dressed....I halfway contemplate doing my makeup since Robbie always comes into my room to check if we're up or not....
and i hear crying...
not baby crying, SONYA crying
GAHHHHH
Now you have to understand, my daughter is just like me....you DO NOT wake her up early...nor do you WANT HER to wake up early...if she ain't happy NOBODY is...
I go into her room and inform her that it's still "night night" time and she FLIP OUT
"I go downstairs, I GO DOWNSTAIRS"
(keep in mind the baby had just fallen asleep like thirty min ago and she's in the room next door)
"ok fine fine, let's go downstairs"
*sigh*
So she's up, the baby is sleeping, it's now 7:37 am and my oldest who almost ALWAYS gets up at 7am sharp is still sleeping...
Is it National Bass Ackwards day and someone forgot to tell me??
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