If this doesn't just scream Merry Christmas...

...I don't know what does.

I wasn't crazy about having the big yellow guy in the picture, but The Boy loves him and was very excited about it.

I figure we'll both look back on this one day and laugh.

Or not.

CARE

When I went to work at the burger corp. full-time, I enrolled The Boy in after school care. It is a program offered right at his school called The CARE Academy. He goes there Mon, Wed, and Fri and my mom picks him up for some grammy time the other two days.

At CARE they do art activities, play games outside and inside, have help with homework if need be, and have some academic lessons. They even take field trips. Right before Thanksgiving the kids walked to a local nursing home and performed two songs for the residents. Very cute. I know when I was teaching, the old folks really enjoyed this type of interaction with the school.

Yesterday I got a call at 1:30 that The Boy had a tummy ache. What the teacher said is that The Boy was "quiet" all day and didn't appear to feel well. He had a low grade fever and really just wanted to come home. I picked him up and we came home to rest.

School gets out at 2:25. At 2:35 the phone rang. It was Mrs. So and So with CARE. She wanted to know if I had The Boy. I told her that I picked him up early because he was ill. The office forgot to add him to the absentee list.

"I just wanted to make sure he was in a safe place," she said.

Thank you.

What an awesome program.

Where did that come from?

On Wednesday I left work early. My mom had The Boy for the day and I took the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping before I picked him up.

On the way home we were talking about being thankful and I said I was thankful that he was able to come to the United States and be my son.

He asked, "Mom, how much was I?"

I was a little shocked. "What do you mean?"

"How much was I. How much did it cost for you to come and get me."

I believe in being honest with him, so I told him.

Then he asked, "Where did you get the money?"

I told him that, too. The subject was dropped.

Later I was able to ask him why he was so curious. We haven't really talked about that, and if someone else is talking to him about it, I want to know. He told me that he "just wondered".

I just wonder why.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cruel joke

Sunday was 59 degrees and sunny.

Yesterday, two days later, it didn't get above freezing and we awoke to five inches of snow on the ground.

'Tis the season!

First week on the job

I went from one extreme to the other.

My last job (the one that doesn't really count cause I was only there 5 weeks) was so boring it was painful. I am not a phone person at all, but I would hope the phone would ring just so I would have something to do. Plus the ringing would wake me up.

I don't answer the phone at the burger corp. In fact, my phone doesn't even ring. But I am so busy, that it was Thursday before I knew it. The week flew by until 3:00 on Friday afternoon. It was too late to start anything new and the office closes at 4:00 on Fridays, so I left early.

I like everyone I work with, but then it's early in the game and I have no reason to feel otherwise. The top four positions in the office are held by men, and the other eight employees are women. That is a lot of women thrown together in such tight quarters. They all seem to get along just fine, though, and I hope it stays that way.

The best part of the job as viewed through the eyes of a five year old boy? All the free soda you can drink. The corporate offices are above one of the 22 locations held by the company.

Things they learn in school

I take The Boy to bed at night. We have a story and a dance, and then we lay down to wind down for sleep. Sometimes we talk about the day. This was our conversation the other night.

TB - "Daniel's sister told him about two kinds of kissing."

Oh no.

Me - "Really. And what would the two kinds of kissing be?"

TB - "Well, there's the normal kind and then there's French. That's when you touch tongues!"

Me - "Ewwww! That's nasty!"

TB - "Yeah! I'm never gonna do that!"

I'll remember that.

Change

When I was going downtown for interviews and then my orientation, I needed change for the parking meters.

The first time I had coins in my purse. That is rare - I spend my coins if I have them.

The second time, MFH gave me the change I needed.

The third time I had to exchange a dollar bill for the change out of The Boy's money bag. He calls it his wallet. That evening I told him what I had done. I made it very clear that I put money in for the money I took out.

The Boy knows money fairly well, but he doesn't really understand that a dollar bill is the same as four quarters, etc. It must have weighed heavily on his mind, though, because a few days later we were driving and from the back seat his sad little voice said, "Mom? Are you going to need money out of my wallet everyday when you go to work?"

Watching him learn is amazing

I make a shopping list. We live in the boondocks and it's inconvenient to run to the store, so I go once a week. God forbid I forget anything. With the price of gas, it'd have to be pretty darn important to go after it midweek.

Since he was very small, The Boy would emulate my shopping lists. He'd take my pad and pen, ask me what we need, and scribble it down.

He did it today at C.ostco.

This was his list:

BTRE (battery)
BAKO (bagel)
WOTR (water)
GATRAD (gatorade)

I think he's a genius.

A pleasant surprise

O.zzy rocked the house. He sang songs from each of his albums, so it was a "greatest hits" show so to speak.

He encored with Mama, I'm Coming Home. Great finale. Metal ballads are my all time favorite.

He looks good, all things considered. No bat biting - he wasn't on the booze, and he said he remembers the seven rounds of rabies shots all too well to do that again.

He is touring right now with R.ob Z.ombie. Before last night I knew very little of this man except that The Boy loves him. MFH wasn't sure I would even like him. I did.

He kicked some serious ass up there on stage. Very high energy, with great stage props.

I hope my voice comes back by Monday, when I start my new job!

It's only hair

I hear people say this all the time.

I don't feel that way.

I love my long hair and I go to great lengths (HA) to keep it healthy. Even though I do realize that at some point it will only make sense to cut it because I hear that old ladies with long hair are only trying to hang on to their youth. Personally, I see nothing wrong with that.

Yesterday I had a foil weave, and since we moved I had to find a new salon. What did I do? Go to the one voted most popular in this city! Why not?

I told her to go ahead and cut a few inches off. It was waist length and we have a lot of wind out here so I thought the ends were getting a little skimpy.

She showed me what she was going to cut off and it seemed reasonable.

Well it's now just below my bra strap, and that is more than the three inches she showed me. I think my search for a hair stylist will continue, or else next time I'll take in my own ruler.

I do love the color, though. She used two different tones, one blond and one kind of copper-y. When I saw The Boy I asked if he liked it. He said it was okay that I cut it, but he didn't like the color.

"I liked it better with the black on top," he said.

Conference

The Boy got to red yesterday and the teacher had to send a note home. He was being wild and acting out. He was still tired, and fell asleep right after we ate last night. Can I blame the time change?

As a punishment, he had to miss hockey practice tonight. MFH feels that we need to help him figure out that there are consequences for his choice of action, and I agree.

Needless to say, we weren't looking forward to parent teacher conferences.

One of the first things out of her mouth was to ask us if The Boy likes school. I could see why she would think he doesn't, but he really does. The Boy is very social, and he is always ready to go in the morning.

One of the things I was looking for was any sign that she doesn't like him. I couldn't find any.

His experience with Kindergarten will set the tone for the rest of his school years.

Today was a half day due to conferences, as are the rest of the days this week. Today he stayed on green all day, which is good. He needs just two more good half days to earn hockey practice on Saturday.

He cried today when it was practice time, and it tore my heart in two. But for years I have spoken out against giving full ride scholarships to athletes that need full time tutors just to get by in school. School is about the learning, and sports should be an added bonus.

I've talked the talk, now I get to walk the walk.

Bad parents

Yesterday I got a call from the principal.

The Boy had a really bad day.

He's been doing so well.

When she quizzed him about why the change, he told her he had a birthday party, hockey, and the monster trucks during the weekend.

Two late nights in a row.

And then he promptly fell asleep in her office.

Done

This was my last day at that job I knew I would hate. Maybe my attitude doomed it from the start. I missed Friday because I had that second interview and also because I manage to get a sinus headache whenever I even think about my job. When I came in today I had an email from my supervisor that read "I know why you were really gone Friday."

No, honey, you don't.

And, in spite of being gone on Friday, by 11:00 I was out of work to do. That left me with 3.5 hours to kill.

I quit. I quoted my stress level, not working at my potential, not being able to deal with the demotion in spite of the pay, etc.

Then I came home and made an appointment for a foil weave and cut, and made a vet appointment for the pups to get the rest of their shots. I worked on getting The Boy into after school care three days a week and with my mom the other two days.

And I called the burger corporation and told them I would accept their offer.

I know this will be the job I've been waiting for. I can just feel it.

Now I need to figure out what to do about my old job that I'm still doing only I won't have time to do it when I go to work at that burger corporation.

Stop the insanity!

:)

The interview went well.

The references were glowing.

(They just want to be rid of me.)

I got an offer.

I'd just like to say that the burger corporation where that head guy was adopted has an awesome benefit package.

The atmosphere is energetic and positive.

It came down to me and one internal person. Yeah, that makes me uncomfortable that I beat an internal person. All three of the people that interviewed me assured me that they are fine with the fallout from this decision, whatever that may be.

Off to take The Boy to a birthday party (he's not sleeping over) and we are going out to celebrate.

MFH doesn't even know about this yet!

It seems I've made my decision.

Poor, poor Boots

Boots got his "beans" cut off Wednesday.

I was supposed to drop him off on my way to work, but he couldn't have any food and he was making me so sad with his meowing that I had MFH drop him off instead. He leaves earlier than I do in the morning.

I have taken all three of our other animals to have this procedure done in the past, as MFH refused to be the one they remembered leaving them to have such a heinous thing done. I told him he's nuts. (HA! Nuts!) "Animal's minds don't work that way," I said to him. "They can't possibly rationalize."

He had to stay overnight, and The Boy and I went to get him Thursday afternoon. He was so happy to see us. That's what worries me the most. What goes through their mind? "Are my people EVER coming back to get me????"

Boots literally turned his back to MFH. At one point he even stuck his butt up in MFH's face as if to say, "Do you see this? Do you notice anything missing?"

Maybe animals do rationalize after all.

My interview with the burger corporation went well. I got called back for a second interview tomorrow morning, with the president. I hear he's overwhelming.

*fingers crossed*