Proof I'm No Chicken!

My life has done a complete change. No more driving hours to and from work. No more spending over half of my paycheck in gasoline. No more being away from my family. I don't know what changed inside me, but one day I guess I just got too tired of all of it. I happened to be with my mother in law and she wanted to stop for a soft drink. We pulled into a gas station and on the front door was a sign saying they were hiring.

Before I knew what I was doing, my mouth was moving and I had an application in my hand. Ten minutes later, I was speaking to the owner and setting up an interview. The next day I had the job. Just. Like. That. I didn't tell my former boss to take his job and shove it, but it danced all through my head. I hear he's still ticked off. Probably had to do with the fact he told me I "might" have to work 7 days a week for 3 months straight this winter if he had to leave town for family reasons. I could not imagine driving an hour each way,  every day for 3 months with no days off. I'm beginning to see why my mouth started moving by itself the day I asked for an application!

I can't even begin to explain how different life already feels. It feels like I'm home all the time, despite working close to 40 hours. Just by working 15 minutes away, I've already added 10 hours a week to being home instead of on the road. Couple with the fact that one of us is always home with the kids now, instead of us relying on others to help us out.

Something else I love is feeling like I belong. When I worked out of town, my customers weren't my neighbors. I had nothing in common with them. Different school calendars, different laws, not to mention paying their school and city taxes and not my children's. I've lived in my town for three years now and I have never experienced it. I'm excited to get to know who my neighbors are and to finally feel that sense of community. I'm also going to have to get a map and study the area, because working and living in two different places really messes with a person's sense of direction. I need to get to know my town. I can't even explain how excited I am that I made the decision to change jobs. I HATE change, even good change, but I seem to be adjusting just fine.

On to other news.. It's getting colder outside, so we saw the need to update our little chickie coop. It's been completely revamped with lots of improvements. The biggest improvement is that one whole side now raises up to allow complete access to the inside for feeding, cleaning, or to check out our flock. We also added new and improved nesting boxes to the side instead of on the inside like before. It's also much, much taller to allow the chickies to roost easier inside. Our nuggets have grown so much since we first brought them home in a container no bigger than a shoe box. They're nearly full grown and laying one egg each every day. I actually got to see one lay an egg yesterday because their coop wasn't completed yet and they had to stay in the run to keep them safe. When the urge to lay strikes, well, it's not like the chickie can tell itself  "not today". She cackled and turned in circles a few times, squatted for a second and when she stood up, there it was! Pretty cool stuff!

It's amazing the stuff I'm going to see now that I'm actually home!

It's Not What You Think

Ever get that nice pain that starts in you butt and shoots down your leg? Boy, I do and I would do just about anything to get rid of the pain. Today was no different. I needed a booty massage like nobody's business!

I limped in the door from work and started to put some things away in the kitchen. The pain shot down my leg and throbbed in my left hip. So I did what anybody in this situation would do. I asked the hubs to punch me in the ass. With each pelt, I felt the pain start to melt away. I was finally feeling the pain subside and I let out a satisfying groan. Or two. Okay, I was practically screaming like, well, you know.

That's when hubs started to laugh. I turned around to see we had awakened our 13 year old (who had fallen asleep on the couch). The look on his face was absolutely priceless. It was a mixture of confusion and disgust, all topped with the look of "this is what woke me up???" I quickly started to explain my pain in the ass, but he wasn't hearing it.

I sent him to his bed. Wonder if he's having nightmares now?

Sucky Day

Today has been such a sucky day. Sucky is just the right word for it. It started out when I couldn't fall asleep last night until around 5 in the morning. I managed to get up yelling and screaming at the boys to hurry up and get out the door. They were running late and as they went out the door, our puppy, Jasmine went out with them to do her thing. She usually runs around them while they wait for the bus, then comes home and barks to be let in when she's done playing.

Since I had only had about an hour of sleep, I conked out for another few minutes of snooze time before getting up to get dressed for the dreaded meeting at the school to address (yet again) my second grader's lack of motivation, skill, knowledge, whatever is holding him back. Third year in a row that NOTHING is getting done about his education. I'm usually made to feel like I'm a terrible mother and I go home with my tail between my legs. I expected no less today.

I opened the door to let in Jasmine, but she wasn't there. I called her. Nothing. I figured she was digging holes in Grandma's garden next door and decided that was more fun that coming inside. We got in the truck and left our drive and as we approached Grandma's drive, I saw her. She was already gone. Hubby pulled over so I could check, but it was too late. I couldn't stop the tears. There was nothing I could do at that moment. I was late for the meeting at the school. So, I cried all the way there.

Once I got to the meeting, I told them what had just happened. They said they had just been discussing how great Jasmine had been for my son this summer. Oye. Took a lot to keep the tears in right then. We had education to discuss.. Which leads me to the next part of my sucky day.

My child has issues. Deep, complex issues. Among them, ADHD, ODD, anxiety, mood disorder-NOS (not otherwise specified), encopresis and enuresis. Oh, and we buried his baby brother three years ago. Not exactly something that cheers a kid up. Depression was brought up today too. Bipolar raised its head again as well. I don't care that the word bipolar was said, as a matter of fact, I have a bit of a tangent here... What's wrong with giving someone a diagnosis of being bipolar? His therapist claims that "labeling" a child with something so "harsh" would follow him for the rest of his life. Uh, yeah, isn't that the point? If a child had asthma, wouldn't you want people to know so that they could react and treat the child if he had an asthma attack? If my child does ever get the diagnosis of bipolar, I would not hide it. I have depression. Mental illness needs to have the stigma taken away so that more of us can get the help we need.

So, back to the meeting. We finally got a 504 plan signed. I asked why we keep going round and round and nothing is getting done. No screenings, no special education. Guess what I was told. Yep. My fault. I'm supposed to be sitting down with him and MAKING him do homework every night, then signing my name to the paper in his backpack, proving I MADE him. How do I make an 8 year old with these issues do anything? He poops his pants every time he gets nervous or upset. He acts out. He destroys things. I may be out of line with my thinking, but back when I was in school, the TEACHERS did the educating. Blah, blah, blah. Now I am setting a timer for 15 minutes every day after school and torturing my child to learn when obviously, he isn't. I'm supposed to follow this plan of action for 5 weeks, meet again with the school and maybe by Christmas, they'll test him for special education.

To be perfectly honest, if I didn't have to work full time, I would homeschool him. I have an 8 year old who can barely read and hates school. I have been told two years in a row that he can't do any work without one on one assistance. Oh, how he would thrive if I could homeschool him and give him that one on one, but alas, I'm a slave to the establishment. Meaning I need my job to fund my internet addiction. Not really. Wait, yeah, I would work for bandwidth if I could.

Now to round out my perfectly dreadful day. Came home, took puppy out to the farm and gave her a beautiful final resting place. Took a nap for about an hour before the kids came home and I had to break the news to them. Tortured the boy with reading for 15 minutes (lots of whining, crying and telling me he didn't know the words). Then it was off to work...

My day ended with a horrendous busy day. An hour after I get there, a woman pees the floor while waiting in line for the restroom. I had the pleasure of mopping up her piss. I'm seeing the comedy of it all now, but in the moment, I was begging for hazard pay.. in my head.

Tomorrow is a new day. Let's hope all of my sucky stuff is over now. And I really, really miss my little dog. *sniff*