You can't make this up because no one would believe it if you did. It would be like the movie Armageddon where it just keeps getting worse and worse. But at least that has Ben Affleck in it, my morning, unfortunately, did not.
So, it FINALLY snowed here yesterday. It had spit snow on occasion, so we had put 2 shovels on the side of the house, one kid one and one adult one. Yesterday, T.J. asked if he could shovel the driveway after school. Well why look a gift horse in the mouth? Of COURSE you can shovel the driveway! This was my first mistake.
I should have known that his attention span for shoveling the driveway was extremely limited. Our neighbor, Daniel, came outside, and any hope for unsupervised shoveling was lost. But I was ok with that, since I knew that it would have to be done again anyways, it was still snowing and blowing pretty hard outside. I had to go to work last night, and by the time I got home (at 9:40) I was in no mood to shovel, and again, it was still blowing and snowing quite a bit, so what the heck would be the point? Then I realize: T.J. never put the shovel back. He's left it out in the driveway, yard... somewhere. Wonderful.
Woke up this morning, not too much earlier than usual, but a bit earlier, knowing that I'd have to find (somehow) the shovel that had been left out. I went outside at 6:50 (I leave the house a couple minutes after 7am) to start my car and look for the shovel.
The car won't start. Well, it starts, but won't stay running for more than 3 seconds or so. I tried 4 times before I finally got it to stay running. Phew! That was a close one. So I close the door of the car... or at least TRY to. The lock is frozen OPEN. I can't get the door to latch shut. Fabulous. I'm slamming it, fiddling with it, you name it, I'm trying it.
Tom is now outside and trying to get the snowblower working in the garage (having about as much luck with it as I was with the car). I love how prepared we are for winter weather here. At least I knew where the kids boots and snow pants were. I go to the neighbor's house (he's out shoveling his driveway) to see if he has any lock de-icer (not that I would know where to put it if he did). Nope. He says try rubbing alcohol. I go inside (Tom is now blowing the driveway)... FINALLY, a bit of luck. We DO have almost a full bottle of rubbing alcohol! Score one for Jen... in theory.
So I go back out to my car with the door that won't close and dump a bunch of the rubbing alcohol on the handle, the latch, the thingy on the inside of the door... yeah, still doesn't work. Tom (now back inside) thinks that pouring hot water on it is a better idea. My limited knowledge of the freezing/thawing process tells me that in a cold environment, hot water gets cold before it evaporates. But I don't know, that's just me. So I'm not very pleased with the idea of pouring water on my car's lock and handle, but at this point, I'm not going to argue. If I get stuck in the iced-shut car at work a custodian or something can come help me out, right? Sure.
Did I mention that in the course of all this I find out that our travel mugs for my coffee are all dirty? Yeah.
Of course, on the way to work (which I'm now already late for) I get stopped by a train, and EVERYONE AND THEIR BROTHER has to drive their kid to school today, so I'm now stuck in traffic with all the late kids.
Miracle of miracles, I can get out of my car at school, I'm not iced in. I end up only being about 30 seconds late!
It actually gets much better from here: I explain a whole bunch of chemistry concepts that I'm only remotely familiar with but the kids seem to get what I'm saying (that's always a plus), I learn about arcs and chords in geometry, then I get to go home!
All in all a good morning, despite a crazy start. Oh, and Tom was snowblowing the rest of the driveway later and came across the shovel. Yay! Life can get crazy again in 45 minutes when the yahoos get home from school.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Sunday, November 6, 2011
"Falling Back" as a parent. Whatever.
So last night we set our clocks back. I remember when the turning back of the clocks was awesome, because you could stay up an hour later. Oh, how foolish I was to think that it would always be so simple. Yeah. Babies/toddlers don't care. They just know that it's the same brightness today as it was yesterday, so they might as well get up. After all, they went to bed last night at about the same time last night because they were so tired that their mom couldn't imagine keeping them up an extra hour just to help them sleep in the morning (which I'm sure ALL of my children will achieve at some point in their lives, but I'm not holding my breath that it will happen anytime soon).
Which brings me to my other kids. I currently have a 2nd and 1st grader, both of whom know their numbers. They know the difference between a 5 and a 6. But in my husband's infinite wisdom, he let them stay up probably a half hour later than usual, and what do you know? They're up at 5:15. What's the point of having a clock in your room when you disregard what it says? When you get up and turn on the light?
I've determined that once you become a parent, the whole idea of "sleeping in" is a totally lost concept. Except maybe if you're a dad, then, for some reason, these rules don't always apply to you... but that's a whole other blog post. Even if you don't have the kids with you, your internal clock has a real problem with sleeping past a certain hour. For this house, that hour is 7:30am. Anything past 7:30 is a LUXURY.
So I much prefer the Spring "spring forward". SO much easier to deal with. You feel like a new person, saying that your kids actually slept until 7:15 (you can live in denial about the fact that it is really 6:15, the rest of us parents won't tell).
Which brings me to my other kids. I currently have a 2nd and 1st grader, both of whom know their numbers. They know the difference between a 5 and a 6. But in my husband's infinite wisdom, he let them stay up probably a half hour later than usual, and what do you know? They're up at 5:15. What's the point of having a clock in your room when you disregard what it says? When you get up and turn on the light?
I've determined that once you become a parent, the whole idea of "sleeping in" is a totally lost concept. Except maybe if you're a dad, then, for some reason, these rules don't always apply to you... but that's a whole other blog post. Even if you don't have the kids with you, your internal clock has a real problem with sleeping past a certain hour. For this house, that hour is 7:30am. Anything past 7:30 is a LUXURY.
So I much prefer the Spring "spring forward". SO much easier to deal with. You feel like a new person, saying that your kids actually slept until 7:15 (you can live in denial about the fact that it is really 6:15, the rest of us parents won't tell).
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Serious and Sad
I know that this blog is supposed to be a humorous look at my life (at least that's what it says in the title, not that my last few posts have been a reflection of that at all), I've been thinking about things for a while that I think I need to get off my chest.
Let me preface this by saying that I took a new job. I'm working as a paraprofessional (an aide, for those of you not familiar with modern school lingo) at my local high school. It's something that I'd been thinking about for a while, and I was offered the job 4 minutes into my interview, so I figured that either a), they REALLY needed a warm body, or b), my past experience as a sub with a teaching background made me qualified, or c) both a and b. Whatever the case, I applied for the job on Wednesday, interviewed the following Monday, started the job Thursday morning. It was good to be back at the school that I worked at for several years, even if many of the faces had changed (or I thought they looked familiar, but wasn't sure of exactly how). I was surprised to find out that the following day (Friday) was a day off. Sweet! One day in, then a day off. Then, the unthinkable happened.
Thursday night, when I got back from my other job (at 9:45 at night), I got on the computer to check my mail, the news, etc. from the day, since I'd been without a computer since starting work at 1pm. The top story is that a girl from a town by us had been murdered when she got home from school... she apparently walked in on a burglar in her house and was stabbed to death. She went to the high school that I now worked at. All I could think about was "did I have this girl in class today? Did I see her in the hallway? If I didn't, what students that I work with did?"
They haven't charged anyone with this horrific crime yet. The monster that did this is still out there, somewhere. Yes, I know that bad people are out there, I'm not so naive as to think that bad things can't happen to people that don't deserve it. But I've never been close enough to an event like this (luckily) to really have to stop and think about this and what it's done to this community, to these kids.
Yesterday was the first day back at school since Kelli was murdered. It was a bad day. There was a memorial outside the building with candles, flowers, and the like. There were news trucks with TV cameras aimed at the school for shots of "the first day back." There were lots of extra counselors, social workers, etc. Everyone was wearing black. What should have been a fun day of silly costumes and makeup was a day of mourning. Some kids were bawling, some just sniffling, and others just stared blankly into nothing... it was the elephant in the room that people didn't want to talk about, but you couldn't dismiss that it was there. I didn't quite know how I fit into all this, because there I was, on my 2nd day of work, having to deal with kids that I didn't really know (and they didn't know me) in one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
The monster that did this to that girl didn't just kill that girl. He invaded the lives of everyone in this community. Teenagers have so much to deal with already, it's a horrible shame that they now have to deal with this too. I hope that they catch whoever did this and hold him (or her) responsible. However, he didn't just murder an innocent girl: he has unleashed a terrible demon into the lives of everyone in this community, and I hope that sometime down the road that's a debt that repaid too.
Let me preface this by saying that I took a new job. I'm working as a paraprofessional (an aide, for those of you not familiar with modern school lingo) at my local high school. It's something that I'd been thinking about for a while, and I was offered the job 4 minutes into my interview, so I figured that either a), they REALLY needed a warm body, or b), my past experience as a sub with a teaching background made me qualified, or c) both a and b. Whatever the case, I applied for the job on Wednesday, interviewed the following Monday, started the job Thursday morning. It was good to be back at the school that I worked at for several years, even if many of the faces had changed (or I thought they looked familiar, but wasn't sure of exactly how). I was surprised to find out that the following day (Friday) was a day off. Sweet! One day in, then a day off. Then, the unthinkable happened.
Thursday night, when I got back from my other job (at 9:45 at night), I got on the computer to check my mail, the news, etc. from the day, since I'd been without a computer since starting work at 1pm. The top story is that a girl from a town by us had been murdered when she got home from school... she apparently walked in on a burglar in her house and was stabbed to death. She went to the high school that I now worked at. All I could think about was "did I have this girl in class today? Did I see her in the hallway? If I didn't, what students that I work with did?"
They haven't charged anyone with this horrific crime yet. The monster that did this is still out there, somewhere. Yes, I know that bad people are out there, I'm not so naive as to think that bad things can't happen to people that don't deserve it. But I've never been close enough to an event like this (luckily) to really have to stop and think about this and what it's done to this community, to these kids.
Yesterday was the first day back at school since Kelli was murdered. It was a bad day. There was a memorial outside the building with candles, flowers, and the like. There were news trucks with TV cameras aimed at the school for shots of "the first day back." There were lots of extra counselors, social workers, etc. Everyone was wearing black. What should have been a fun day of silly costumes and makeup was a day of mourning. Some kids were bawling, some just sniffling, and others just stared blankly into nothing... it was the elephant in the room that people didn't want to talk about, but you couldn't dismiss that it was there. I didn't quite know how I fit into all this, because there I was, on my 2nd day of work, having to deal with kids that I didn't really know (and they didn't know me) in one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
The monster that did this to that girl didn't just kill that girl. He invaded the lives of everyone in this community. Teenagers have so much to deal with already, it's a horrible shame that they now have to deal with this too. I hope that they catch whoever did this and hold him (or her) responsible. However, he didn't just murder an innocent girl: he has unleashed a terrible demon into the lives of everyone in this community, and I hope that sometime down the road that's a debt that repaid too.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
So it's official
I'm venturing out into uncharted territory in my life: church shopping. I've never had to do this before, never even thought about it, as a matter of fact. But, the time has come that I'm at that point in my life where I need to do it. It hurts to do it. It's like I'm betraying an old friend: I was brought up in this church, confirmed in this church, traveled the country with this church, was married in this church, and had all three of my kids baptized at this church... but it really doesn't feel like this church is my church anymore. And that makes me sad.
So how does one go about finding a new church? There are SO many questions that I don't even know how to start. I would like some place that's local, so I don't have to travel a ton to get there. But should I stay with someplace that's within the Methodist Church? Do I have to? Can I go to another denomination? I don't know the answer to any of these questions. Truth be told, I'm not sure if I'll be able to find a "church home" after 30+ years with one church being my home.
I want my kids to have a church to call "home" the way that I did. With Tom being a non-practicing Catholic, I'm the one that has to do this for them. I hope that I can find a place that they like to go to and WANT to go to.
The strangest part of this whole experience for me is how all-consuming it is. I'm not sure WHY that is, because I've not thought myself to be all that religious... but I almost feel as if I was betrayed by my family, and that's why I need to leave. The way I told it to a friend was that I feel like a sheep without a flock. I don't so much need a good shepard right now, but a flock would be nice.
So how does one go about finding a new church? There are SO many questions that I don't even know how to start. I would like some place that's local, so I don't have to travel a ton to get there. But should I stay with someplace that's within the Methodist Church? Do I have to? Can I go to another denomination? I don't know the answer to any of these questions. Truth be told, I'm not sure if I'll be able to find a "church home" after 30+ years with one church being my home.
I want my kids to have a church to call "home" the way that I did. With Tom being a non-practicing Catholic, I'm the one that has to do this for them. I hope that I can find a place that they like to go to and WANT to go to.
The strangest part of this whole experience for me is how all-consuming it is. I'm not sure WHY that is, because I've not thought myself to be all that religious... but I almost feel as if I was betrayed by my family, and that's why I need to leave. The way I told it to a friend was that I feel like a sheep without a flock. I don't so much need a good shepard right now, but a flock would be nice.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Losing Faith
I've been thinking about this for a long time, but have never had the desire to put my thoughts to paper (er, screen) about this until now. For reasons that I don't want known at the moment, I'll be keeping part of this veiled in secrecy, so don't get all up in arms about why I'm being somewhat vague about certain things here.
I'm very annoyed. I'm annoyed with people who are supposed to be good, honest, caring people who are letting those who may be less than that represent them. No, I'm not talking about politics, but unfortunately, the situation has become political. WHY the need for a power play lately? It makes those of us who are on the fringe feel even MORE on the fringe.
I feel that some people are being dishonest with those they are dealing with. THIS is not the group that I love. These kind of actions are those of power-hungry individuals who want to have things their way or the highway. Really? Is THIS the best way to be dealing with this? THIS will not make for a stronger whole, but rather, I think, it will be cutting up an already shaky, unstable group of people and helping those who are on the fringe to feel like NOW is the time to jump ship. You DON'T help a struggling ship sail by gutting it. By telling people who are working on the ship that they'll be leaving port ...only to sail away in the middle of the night without them.
Yes, I'm frustrated. Yes, I may jump ship. I don't want to take lots of years of my life and have to start over... but how many times do you put up with this crap and hang on for a better day? At what point do you just say "it's been a good run, but it's time to part ways"?
I'm very annoyed. I'm annoyed with people who are supposed to be good, honest, caring people who are letting those who may be less than that represent them. No, I'm not talking about politics, but unfortunately, the situation has become political. WHY the need for a power play lately? It makes those of us who are on the fringe feel even MORE on the fringe.
I feel that some people are being dishonest with those they are dealing with. THIS is not the group that I love. These kind of actions are those of power-hungry individuals who want to have things their way or the highway. Really? Is THIS the best way to be dealing with this? THIS will not make for a stronger whole, but rather, I think, it will be cutting up an already shaky, unstable group of people and helping those who are on the fringe to feel like NOW is the time to jump ship. You DON'T help a struggling ship sail by gutting it. By telling people who are working on the ship that they'll be leaving port ...only to sail away in the middle of the night without them.
Yes, I'm frustrated. Yes, I may jump ship. I don't want to take lots of years of my life and have to start over... but how many times do you put up with this crap and hang on for a better day? At what point do you just say "it's been a good run, but it's time to part ways"?
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Magic Number...
So this will be my 14th post in this blog... a new record for me. No blog that I've had has ever had this many posts. How pathetic.
We spent the day dealing with a lot of tears. Aren't holiday weekends supposed to be fun and relaxing? Not here. One of my boys spent the morning crying that he didn't want to go to the city (which he had told me previously that he wanted to do), but this child is famous within these walls for changing his mind... so I got all ready, fully expecting him to change his mind like he usually does. But he didn't budge this time, darnit. So I'm all excited to go, and he's put a total wet blanket on the "fun day with mom". Thanks, buddy. Love you too. So instead we went to Costco and bought large quantities of artichoke dip and cheese crackers. Thrilling.
After lunch, the other son decides that he's been left out of this morning's fun of crying, so now it's his turn. Oh goody. I couldn't even tell you what set it off. But all of a sudden, we're in the throws of "You HATE me!" "You do everything you can to make me miserable!" Dangit, he's caught on (and if you think I'm serious, stop reading my blog). I told him that if I really hated him, I would make him sleep outside, to which he responded, "Dad is the reason I don't. He loves me more than you do." There is no response to this nonsense. So I told him that he was being ridiculous and the conversation was over. What else could I do? I cannot have a conversation with someone that irrational and full of tears for no apparent reason.
What does a mom do? He KNOWS I love him, and, when he's more rational, he tells me he knows it. It's not as if I ignore him, or make him sleep in the basement, or any other number of ways that would legitimately make life miserable. But OH, the angst of being almost eight years old. I thought this was only girls who led lives of drama like this.
We spent the day dealing with a lot of tears. Aren't holiday weekends supposed to be fun and relaxing? Not here. One of my boys spent the morning crying that he didn't want to go to the city (which he had told me previously that he wanted to do), but this child is famous within these walls for changing his mind... so I got all ready, fully expecting him to change his mind like he usually does. But he didn't budge this time, darnit. So I'm all excited to go, and he's put a total wet blanket on the "fun day with mom". Thanks, buddy. Love you too. So instead we went to Costco and bought large quantities of artichoke dip and cheese crackers. Thrilling.
After lunch, the other son decides that he's been left out of this morning's fun of crying, so now it's his turn. Oh goody. I couldn't even tell you what set it off. But all of a sudden, we're in the throws of "You HATE me!" "You do everything you can to make me miserable!" Dangit, he's caught on (and if you think I'm serious, stop reading my blog). I told him that if I really hated him, I would make him sleep outside, to which he responded, "Dad is the reason I don't. He loves me more than you do." There is no response to this nonsense. So I told him that he was being ridiculous and the conversation was over. What else could I do? I cannot have a conversation with someone that irrational and full of tears for no apparent reason.
What does a mom do? He KNOWS I love him, and, when he's more rational, he tells me he knows it. It's not as if I ignore him, or make him sleep in the basement, or any other number of ways that would legitimately make life miserable. But OH, the angst of being almost eight years old. I thought this was only girls who led lives of drama like this.
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