Liar, Liar ~ Now What?

It was the best of days, it was the worst of days, it was a day of good reports, it was a day of bad revelations, it was a day of pride, it was a day of disappointment ...

And I'm done trying to mimic Charles Dickens! LOL (For the confused, that tidbit above is loosely in the style of the first paragraph – the longest run-on sentence I've ever seen – of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. EXCELLENT book. I read it my freshman year in high school and really enjoyed it. But I digress.

So, now I have a decision to make: Do I discuss the positive first, or end on the positive? Hmm...

Today was parent-teacher conferences throughout our school district. In the morning, I had Grant's (preschool) conference. He is doing VERY well, and progressing quite nicely in areas we wanted to work on. He's becoming much more social, and most of my fears have been laid to rest. YAY, Grant! :-)

Abby's school does student-led conferences. It's something I hadn't heard of prior to her kindergarten roundup night two years ago, but it works quite well. She basically runs the conference – shows me her work, progress, etc. We work together to make goals she can strive for, too. The teachers (she has a different teacher for reading/writing and everything else) are both there and answer any questions we might have. It goes pretty well. Overall, Abby is doing GREAT in first grade. We're very proud of her – at least on the academic side.

I'll explain the not-so-proud parts in a moment.

I feel background is necessary, especially knowing that I haven't really said much on this blog about anything concerning this particular subject. This year has been slightly more difficult than last year was, behaviorally speaking. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to talk. A lot. Nonstop. ESPECIALLY when she gets tired. This has led to her having some behavior issues at school – not listening and distracting others being the main issues. Because of this, we have been offering her incentives for good behavior. When she has a week of GOOD behavior (meaning no warnings), she gets to do something extra-fun on the weekend: see a movie (Alice in Wonderland last weekend) in the theater, spend some extra time with her best friend, stuff like that. Daily incentives include the privilege of playing games on Facebook, PBS Kids, or the Wii; watching TV between dinner and bed (not constantly, of course, just one show); sometimes even staying up a little later than usual. Those incentives seemed to have been working ...

Side note: Sometimes she brings a lunch to school, and other times she buys a lunch. When she brings, it's almost always a sandwich with some side items. She often doesn't have time to finish her entire lunch (some of it is her fault – for talking too much), but I tell her she needs to eat at least part of her sandwich. Whenever she brings a lunch, I ask her if she ate it. Last night was no different. While at dinner, I asked her if she ate her lunch. She said not all of it, but most of it. I asked about her sandwich. She looked me in the eye and said, " I ate about five bites." I said, "OK, good," and left it at that.

Fast forward to this morning, when I finally unpack her lunch bag (usually I do it right after school – not sure why I didn't yesterday) to find her sandwich UNTOUCHED! It was a Smucker's Uncrustable sandwich, and the package was still SEALED! She had a half day today, so I wasn't able to say anything to her until around lunch time. When I picked her up, I asked her about her lunch from yesterday – specifically inquiring about the sandwich. Her response: "I ate about five bites. Wait, no, actually, I ate about half of it." I couldn't help but smile to myself (not sure why, but I know she didn't see) while shaking my head. When we got home, I asked her to explain what I found in her lunch bag. It was then that she admitted to lying. I had to leave soon for Grant's conference, so my husband got to deal with the issue, but I think it's better that way. For some reason, she takes important chats more seriously when they come from him.

I must admit that I have wondered several times today how many other times she's lied about the sandwich, but threw it out instead of bringing it home. I did ask her about it this evening, and it sounds like it wasn't the first time she's lied about it.

And now back to the other part of this.

We walked to her school for her conference, and on the way there she confessed something to me. When I picked her up this morning, she said that she had a great day today. But, apparently, that was not entirely honest. She got a warning today. Meaning that she deliberately lied to me about her conduct at school. :-(

It gets worse.

We have thought for a few weeks now that she was responding quite favorably to our incentives. We were pleasantly surprised – and WRONG! :-( She has been lying about her conduct (and warnings) at school since late February! :-( She has been getting rewarded when she really didn't deserve them. In fact, she has had at least one warning on at least one day per week for the past several weeks – not counting last week (when she missed two days because of her tooth extraction). As I mentioned above, she got a warning today. Yesterday, she had TWO. By itself, not SUPER bad, but still bad. Coupled with the fact that she told us ZERO warnings for the day, SUPER BAD! I did discuss this with her teacher, who said she and the afternoon teacher would pay closer attention to Abby's planner – which is where she notes how the day went.

I am at a complete loss! How in the world did this happen? And, more importantly, now what? Firstly, how do we respond to this? Secondly, how do we trust her now? And, most importantly, how do we prevent this from happening in the future?

If you have any advice, please feel free to share. Again, I am at a complete loss! << shaking head >>

Trying Not to Panic

I just received word from my husband that he has been officially accepted for grad school! It's something I know he's been wanting to do for quite some time, and he was finally able to get it worked out. His employer will pay for everything - including his salary while he's schooling. (Without that this wouldn't happen right now, as I'm not going back to work any time soon.)

Yes, I'm happy for him and proud of him. And, yes, I know it's a good thing and it's what needs to happen.

So, why the panic?

Because while he can do most of his work online, he is required to be on campus for at least one semester!

The school he has chosen (because of the program they offer) is 6 hours away from home.

Get it now?

Yup. And I thought his 30-day deployments were hard! Those will seem like nothing by this time next year! :-( I cannot imagine a full semester without him here! How am I going to get through it? Don't get me wrong, I know I will, but thinking about it just freaks me out right now. I was going to try to get off the Zoloft this year, but now I'm thinking maybe I'll wait. Yes, I know, it's a crutch, but with the prospect of going it alone for three months causing me near panic I don't know that I wanna fend for myself yet!

Again, I know this is what needs to happen now. I know he is following God's will by doing this. I know it's right. I know we'll be OK. But, man, does it scare me.

Plus, I can't believe I'm admitting it publicly, but there's also the fear of him being away at college for a semester - alone. Yes, I trust him - we wouldn't have recently celebrated our 11th anniversary if I didn't. But, I know sometimes people surprise you - and not in a good way.

I know that I just have to trust God. I will be prayerfully approaching the rest of this year. I need God to sustain me, but - more importantly - I also need God to be with my husband. I need Him to protect my husband in every possible way - spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally, sexually, and anything else that might need protection. Please, my dear friends, pray with me! There is strength in numbers. God says so Himself! If you are praying with me, please comment so I know. It's always comforting to know when someone's joining me in praying for things like this!

My nerves got the best of me

Today was my son's first day of preschool. I was a nervous wreck. Generally speaking, he doesn't separate from me very easily, so I was dreading a tear-filled good-bye. Apparently, that's not what I should've been worried about.

I have to get Grant there at about 8:30. I was very nervous - heart palpating, breathing shallow, slight shake. (There's a lot more to this than me just being worried about preschool. He has a speech delay, and was evaluated in June for Autism. Praise God, no Autism, but I get the feeling the school's not 100% convinced, hence my nerves!) It was very lightly raining - kind of a drizzle or sprinkle. You know, one of those times you'd wish it'd just rain and get on with things!

Anyway, we pull up, and parking is hard to find within a couple of blocks of the school. That displeases me, as we're running a tiny bit late and I have to lug my 22-month-old around, too. I spot a pretty long spot right in front of the school, where only parallel parking is available. (You can see where I'm going with this, can't you? If not, let's just say I don't normally do parallel parking ...) Having no other real options, I attempt to take the spot.

Bear in mind that this is a narrow street, and there's a full-sized school bus on my left. The spot I want is the second car in, so I have to maneuver with very little room around another car. That did not go well. As I'm pulling in, I hear the alarm go off on the car in the spot behind mine, followed by a scraping sound.

I muttered an F-bomb under my breath as I realized what that meant. (And, I must say, I'm quite proud of myself for keeping it so the kiddos couldn't hear it!)

First things first, I gotta drop the boy off. So, I get out and get the boy out of his seat, then proceed to the other side of the van - the side with the damage - and check it out briefly. Surprisingly, no dent or major damage - just scratches! Praise God, as it could've been MUCH worse! So, I get Natalie out and we head inside.

Grant shows me just how ready he is for preschool by dropping my hand the moment we enter the building. I was surprised - but happy. It must mean he's at least comfortable in the building! (He attended speech therapy there last spring, and we were there last night for the open house.) We go to the cafeteria, and he's fine. He was a little reluctant to let Natalie and me go, but his teacher held him and showed him the HUGE indoor playset they were going to be using in a few minutes. While he remained reluctant to let us go, no tears were shed!

Back outside go Natalie and I. The car I scraped is still there. I go look, and it's really not bad. Just the front driver-side fender, really. Unfortunately, though, both vehicles have scratches. Definite scratches. So, I wait with Natalie in the car, hoping the owner of that car comes out soon. (Natalie was a little upset by leaving "Dude" - her pet name for her brother - behind.) When they finally do come out, they get in the car and don't even notice anything. I feel EXTRA bad, because she is in tears - apparently her child didn't have as easy a drop-off.

After looking things over, I give them my insurance info. Come to find out, we have the same agent - hopefully that somehow works in our favor. (Thankfully, we did avoid involving the cops.) I apologize profusely, fighting back tears. We finally go on our merry - er, not-so-merry - way and I freak over how my husband will handle it. Our renewal is coming up in a couple of months - how will this affect our rates? He's gonna kill me!

You'd think that after being married to the man for 11 years I'd know him well enough to know I didn't have to be so worried. He was fine and understanding. Just told me to call insurance and get it settled. He closed with "Just don't make it a habit, OK?" LOL He made me laugh - I should've known he'd do that. That's his thing - breaking stress by making me laugh.

Pick-up time was at 11, and I decided to leave early in hopes that we get a better parking spot - with less trouble. It worked out. When picking Grant up, he was doing just fine. Didn't seem upset or anything - slightly concerned (probably wondering where they're going now), but not upset. I had to call his name a few times before he heard me. He was all smiles when he saw me. On the way back to our car, we ran into his teacher, who said he did great. When asked, he says he had fun, and when we ask what he did, he says "Play with friends." That makes me smile. Perhaps he most enjoyed playing with his peers, rather than his older and younger sisters - must be a nice change of pace.

As for the car, I took it in for an estimate - which was just shy of $1,800! Shocked me, especially since I was told the other car only had about $300 of damage. Thankfully, we have a low deductible - only $100. I also learned it'll take THREE DAYS! Fortunately, we also have rental-car costs covered. Praise God for insurance!

Now, I just pray our rate doesn't increase too much. This is our first accident of any sort in 11 years. Hopefully they take that into account!

So, I've learned a few things today:

• Yes, my son will be OK without me.
• There's a reason I generally don't do parallel parking.
• While expensive, car insurance is DEFINITELY worth it!
• I have an amazingly awesome, caring, understanding, and sweet husband. (Well, I already knew that - just needed a reminder.)
• There's a reason I generally don't do parallel parking. (Yeah, I know, I already said that - but it's worth mentioning one more time!)
  

Now I Remember

Not that I really forgot, but now I really remember why I HATE Walmart. HATE it. My husband is out of town for a couple of days, so it's me and the kiddos. We're doing fine, but last night I found out we have hardly any cat food, as in what I fed them last night was it. No more. My wonderful husband usually feeds them, so I don't generally know when we need food unless I'm told. See where I'm going?

While DH is gone, I have to drop Abby off at school. That's fine, we've got a good routine down now. Yesterday we needed groceries, so we just went straight to Jewel before heading home after dropping Abby off. I wanted to go to Target, b/c I generally prefer it over Walmart, but they didn't open for another 15 minutes. It takes about 5 minutes to get there from Abby's school. I didn't want to sit in the parking lot for 10 minutes. So, I headed to our 24-hour Walmart. Dumb move. Really dumb move.

Firstly, it's like a black hole of time. I never, ever can get in and out of there quickly. For one, it takes me forever to find what I need - they keep moving the damn store around. And, well, there often are things I wanna check while I'm there. I go there so rarely that there's almost always a good-size list of what I want to check out there. That part, I'll admit, is not Walmart's fault - well, at least not my having a list! ;-)

Secondly - and finally - they never, ever, ever have enough checkout lanes open. NEVER. Today was the worst I've ever experienced. Some stupid buyer three people ahead of me was causing all sorts of trouble. I waited in that line for half an hour - that's THIRTY MINUTES, folks - before finally getting checked out! If I was at Target, the second I lined up (three deep), they would've opened a new lane and taken me right away. But, it wasn't. So, the kids (minus Abby) and I sat - er, I guess stood. And stood. And stood. They did remarkably well, although Natalie got tired of being strapped in the cart after about 10 minutes. Poor kid.

So, this just reaffirms my hatred of that stupid store called Walmart. Ironically, I probably would've gotten in and out of Target faster - and home earlier, despite the fact that they weren't open yet! Teach me to make that choice again!

Politics in The Lion King

I have to take Grant and Natalie with me to pick Abby up at school every afternoon. On cold and/or wet days, we wait in the car for her to come to us. (On warmer/dry days, we meet her at the door.) Regardless of which we have, it is imperative that we arrive at the school as early as possible so that we can park nearby - and in a legal parking spot. I have gotten there as much as 25-ish minutes prior to school's release, and there are ALWAYS at least 4 cars there - with people inside! I don't get it - do these people have nothing better to do than sit by the school waiting for class to get out? Anyway, the waiting can be difficult with two little ones in the back seat. They get bored - and who can blame them? It took me more than half of the school year to figure a good way to handle that. (Why it took me so long, I'm not quite sure. I have a couple of theories, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say, I wish I'd figured this out at the beginning of winter, rather than the end of winter.) We have a factory-installed DVD player in the van, so now I play a movie while we wait. It keeps Natalie and Grant occupied, and my sanity in check! Added benefit: I can read while we wait for Abby. The current movie is - you guessed it - Disney's The Lion King. And, finally, I get to the point of this post! LOL

Today's "segment" (we generally get through about 30-45 minutes most days) started just after Mufasa rescues the lion cubs from the elephant graveyard. I don't know when it ended, but the beginning was shortly before Scar sings "Be Prepared." DH and I have always noted the dripping references to the USSR (man, haven't seen those letters together in who knows how long) and even Nazi Germany in this part of the movie. But, well, today, it hit closer to home for me.

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I'm a strong Republican. While I generally avoid too much talk of politics - simply because I'm not a fan of the conflict - the current state of our country worries me, to say the least. The USA is a republic - not a democracy, not a socialist nation. At least not at its birth. I hate seeing where we're headed. I hate seeing the big government we have headed our way. I hate seeing the class warfare that is being brought into our country. I hate that there's so much negative press about the corrupt, GREEDY people who make loads of cash. For every one of those, there are several hard-working Americans who also make loads of cash, but no one hears their stories. We'd rather hear about the CEOs who abuse their position for personal gain. I think it's criminal that those who make more pay a majority of the income tax in this country. Income tax should be flat and fair. Why should people be punished for making more than some "magic" amount of money? Just not right. Talk about killing productivity and discouraging those who would otherwise be driven. But, alas, I'm on a tangent. Sorry.

That said, there's a part of the aforementioned song, "Be Prepared," in which Scar and the hyenas are speaking between verses. And it goes like this:

Scar: Be prepared!

Hyena: Yeah! Be prepared. We'll be prepared! For what?

Scar: For the death of the king

Hyena: Is he sick?

Scar: No, fool! We're going to kill him. And Simba, too

Hyenas: Great idea! Who needs a king? No king, no king! La la la la la!

Scar: Idiots! There will be a king!

Hyena: But you said...

Scar: I will be king! Stick with me and you'll never go hungry again!

That last line is what struck me as so ... America right now! Sorry, but I hate Obama. I know I shouldn't, but I do. For many, many reasons. But, that's not my purpose in writing right now. It just sounds to me like what he's saying between the lines of his speeches: "I'm king of America. Stick with me - back me up - and you'll never go hungry again. We'll take what we want from the Haves and give it to the Have-nots ..." Yes, this is me simplifying my thoughts on this - and what I think Obama is doing. (It's getting late; I'm exhausted; and we have an early morning tomorrow.) People totally miss the point. The Declaration of Independence says everyone has the right to the pursuit of happiness. To me, that means we have the right to do what we can to make the most of our lives - but that does (or at least so far as I'm concerned, SHOULD) NOT include taking what belongs to someone else, even if that someone else has plenty to spare.

"But, you're a Christian. Doesn't God say to give, give, give. Not to hold onto your money and things?" Well, yes. But, God gives us free will. He tells us what we should do, but we can choose our own actions. If we choose to do as He says, He will reward us. If not, well, we're on our own. But, they key here is free will, something that doesn't apply to taxes and other ways of taking what belongs to the Haves. Christian or not, these people aren't given a choice - their hard-earned (in most cases) cash is taken out from under them, without their consent. Like it or not, you have to pay taxes based on your income. As a Christian, I'm happy to give - so long as I'm able to choose if, when, how, and to whom I give.

OK, wow, this is one long rant about something I'm not very qualified to argue. Sorry. These are my thoughts and feelings on this subject. No, I don't have all of the facts. But, know this: I am not in the class of the Haves, so I am not arguing this as one who wants to keep what is hers. I'm arguing this as one who sees big-time unfairness. Yes, people argue about it being unfair that these people have what they have when there are others starving to death or barely able to make ends meet. But, if these people are honestly working hard for what they have, how is it unfair for them to have it? You're not entitled to it simply for being American - and even in some cases merely for being in America, whether legally or not. (And that is a whole other ball of wax I'm just going to avoid, as I have even stronger feelings about that.) Let's not forget that these Haves are also the people with the money to employ others. When we tax the hell out of these people, there's less for them to share with others - whether it's by gifting, hiring, or something else! I'm sorry, but Reagan was right. Trickle-down economics does work. It did work. It would work again, if we went back to it. Alas, Obama is going the opposite way. Except, it's not going to work.

Finally, has anyone else thought how ridiculous these stimulus plans are? Wanna get the country back on its feet? Spend, spend, spend! You don't have the money? Borrow, then spend. Nevermind that's what's got us into this mess in the first place: spending money we DON'T have! And printing more money. REALLY? Do you really think that'll help? I did HORRIBLY in my economics class in college, but even I know that'll just cause recession. That means higher prices for everything. More money floating around means it is worth less than it was before the newly printed money was released. That means it'll take more money to buy EVERYTHING! How do people not see this? *sigh*

This totally ended up being something I never intended it to be. But, since this is my place to share my mind, here you go.

Happy Hump Day!

Yes, I know, it's not Wednesday. But, it's still hump day - and, no, I'm not being dirty! LOL Today is the midway point of DH's absence. We've reached the hump - it's all downhill from here! :-) In some ways, it's energizing. In others, it's EXHAUSTING. But, I'm excited. Two weeks from TOMORROW, he comes HOME! :-) I'm so excited. It's odd, but I think I've missed him even more this time - which I so didn't expect. The other times I was pregnant, and I thought my hormones made it worse. But, perhaps this time it's b/c I don't work. It's me and the kids, day in and day out. Always. No breaks for me, unless right now counts, but even then I have to be ready in case I'm needed. I miss his companionship more than I have in the past. I'm sure our new situation accounts for that. But, I'm not complaining - especially with Thanksgiving being a few days away. My mom is coming out - and probably bringing my niece and nephew - so that'll keep us busy. Hopefully the time will FLY! Abby only has 2 and a half days of school. Part of me wishes she was off all week, but I know it's better NOT that way - we clash way too much! LOL

On a completely unrelated note, I decided I wanted a more seasonal template. So, I found a Christmas/winter one. It was so hard to choose! I again went with Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates - I just LOVE her stuff! She recently released her seasonal templates, so I decided to switch. She does an absolutely lovely job!

I have another post I want to write - about my faith. But, it'll have to wait until I'm not falling asleep at the keyboard! ;-) That said, I gotta get to sleep. I'll write more tomorrow.

For Crying Out Loud ~ Day 6

I woke this morning to find dog puke in two places in the kitchen. Nice. Good morning to me! At first I thought it was puke in one spot and shit in another, but cleaning up set me straight. It smelled like vomit. That's quite the interesting pile of doggy vomit, that's for sure. And it's enough to kill the breakfast appetite! That is for sure! Yuck. Now Scooba is running, and so far not getting the worse of the two puke spots. Of course! Scooba just might have to do double duty today.

Aside from that, the morning actually went pretty well. I got Abby to school on time for the first bell, which is a first for me I think! LOL Then I took the other two shopping for groceries. It went pretty well - Grant is definitely a morning person. There's no doubt about that. I've never had him so well-behaved in a store before! (Note to self: Always go as early in the morning as possible if Grant's coming!) There's the added bonus of not many people being there yet - that always helps expedite the trip. Plus, shelves were almost fully stocked throughout the store. Nice. Of course, I forgot to grab a frozen pizza, but oh, well. I remembered all of the milk I needed to get - and with three different kinds to get (skim for me, 2% for the kids, whole for the baby) that's quite a feat! ;-)

Well, Scooba needs some attention. So, I'm gonna get going. Plus, Abby gets off school in 30 minutes. Time to start changing diapers in preparation!

Day 5

Seriously? Only? We have 25 days still to go? Man, this time is creeping by slowly!

I had a ton I wanted to say about an hour or so ago, but - of course - could not get here to write until now. So, I've lost most of it. But, as I type, Grant is supposed to be lying down on the couch. He and Abby AGAIN were bouncing off the walls a little while ago. This is deja-vu, as Sunday night was like this. Why is it only school nights when they pull this shit? I love my kids ... I love my kids ... I love my kids.

OK. The boy is now in bed. Heads will roll, should they start screwing around again tonight!

Today wasn't nearly as bad as the weekend was. Thank God Abby had school yesterday! It'll be a lifesaver this time around, I am quite certain! Poor kid is having a bit of a hard time with her daddy gone, so I'm trying not to be too rough on her. But, I'm also not going to cut her too much slack. You know kids - you give 'em an inch ...

I have so much to do right now it's not funny. I don't like being the only person around to do stuff. But I think that's the lazy side of me. The other side of me thrives under these circumstances. It's fulfilling to get everything done that needs to be done. Even stupid things like taking out the trash. Of course, that could be in part b/c I finally get an opportunity to get rid of a bunch of crap DH had been letting pile up in the garage! But, that was yesterday. Today I have dishes - again. Thankfully, we have a dishwasher, so that means I need to empty, load, and start it up. Not too bad - not even when it's on a daily basis. But, I'll do it tomorrow. (LOL No, I'm not going to say that tomorrow, too!) Today has been nuts, and I need some downtime. I also need sleep. See why I'll do it tomorrow? ;-) I did get a small package to send to DH ready to go. After dropping Abby off at school, the other two and I will be heading to the grocery store. Milk - it's always about the milk! Either after that or before we pick up Abby (or maybe immediately after - it all depends on Grant and Natalie), we'll mail the package. He forgot something, and Abby wanted to send him a couple of things. He's also getting a bunch of candy! LOL

I gotta sit down and look at the checkbook. I've no idea where we're at right now, but my brain is mush. The good thing is with Abby gone, I can get more done during the day. Natalie sleeps all morning, and Grant's pretty easily occupied. So, I can get the dishes and maybe even checkbook taken care of after shopping. I just gotta get us ready to go before I go to bed - make my list, find any coupons I have, put my reusable bags where I won't forget them, etc.

I must say, though, that I did get a TON of stuff done today, not the least of it is finally getting the clean clothes put away - on time to start laundry again in a couple of days! LOL I also got the drawer under Natalie's crib back in place. A couple of months ago, Abby jumped on it while it was open. DH and I could NOT get it back in, so it had been placed under the crib, out of the way of walking feet. Today I decided it was enough. It'd be a PITA to have to deal with that next time I change Natalie's sheets. Plus, I was tired of not using the drawer! We paid for the damn thing. I had better get full use out of it! ;-) I'm not entirely sure how I got it in, but I did. I cleared plenty of room for me to work at getting it back in place. I said a quick prayer "Lord, please help me get this thing back in its place" - or something to that effect - and set to work. Once I finally got the rollers in place, I pushed until it resisted. Then I sat and pushed with my legs. That was cake - and I still can get it open. It sticks a little, but it's easily opened anyway. And, yes, I did remember to praise and thank God for that little bit of help. Proof once again that He does care about the little things, too! :-)

Well, it's getting late and I gotta prep for the morning. I also need to sleep.

In a Bad Mood

I guess. Or something. A ton of things are bothering the hell outta me right now.

Firstly, and most importantly, it's freezing. It's currently 45 degrees outside - the high is supposed to be about 64. As of about 30 minutes ago, it was 61 degrees here in the house. And, no, I cannot run the heat. I WANT to, but can't. We need to have it looked at. About a week ago, we noticed the house fan (at that point we were running the a/c - gotta love the Midwest) was making a weird noise. And DH wants it kept off to be safe. OK, I understand that - and I agree. But, the SOB FORGOT to call someone until TUESDAY morning - when I reminded him. (Nevermind he was off work last Friday and could've called no problem!) So, no one can come until TOMORROW morning! Poor kids and I are freezing. Oh, and DH is gone - he had to go for an overnight trip last night. Must be nice to NOT have to deal with this. Jackass! My poor babies! :-(

Secondly, with DH being gone today I had to drop Abby off at school. That's cool. No problem. We're running a tiny bit later than usual, but she was on time no problem. What pissed me off? On one side of the school is an alley. People drop off and pick up the kids over there all the time. I decided to go over there, b/c I could park quickly and I could watch her walk to her class. Or so I thought. But, apparently when dropping off one's kids all courtesy goes out the window. DO NOT BLOCK THE ALLEY SO NO ONE CAN GET BY! Seriously. It didn't happen just once - several people did it. I finally squeezed by some assholes to pull over and get Abby out and to the playground. And guess what, no one was stuck waiting behind my van while I did that! I just wanted to shout "Get the fuck out of my way people! In case you weren't aware, your child isn't the only child attending school today!" Idiots.

OK. I feel a little better! LOL Maybe having frozen toes feeds the foul mood?