180 Degrees

It's been over a year since I last posted, so let's see if I can do updates in a nutshell, then expand on them later. One goal I have now set for myself is to update this blog frequently, with so many good things going on in my life. Of course, people may like reading about the bad stuff more, so I'll probably have no more readers than I ever had before! hahahahahahaha

Okay, if you read my (updated) profile, you're probably wondering how the heck I got from bitching about M. (father of my three younger children) as my S.O. to "engaged to the perfect partner." No? Well, I'll tell you anyway. It's a beautiful story. Oh yeah, nutshells here. I'll tell ya the whole story later (bet ya can't wait!). For now, the facts. In June I started a relationship - I say that because we intended to start dating at the time, but we clicked so well, it pretty much launched right into a full-blown RELATIONSHIP - with the person who turned out to be the man I have been dreaming of all my life. I had decided he didn't exist, and certainly didn't think he'd be right there under my nose. But he was. And the kids adore him (even L.) And we're getting married in the Spring. Yes, I know - I had also said I'd never get married again (to those of you who know me). I didn't think I would. But he is THE ONE. Amazing that it took me 40 years to find him, but here he is. To stay.

BTW - yes, M. is completely out of the picture, other than as "dad" to the kids. He's still nuts, maybe more so since he finally realized that I was serious about him being out of the picture as far as my personal life goes. Or maybe just in a different way. Either way, he has no influence on me any more, not even to piss me off with his idiocy. He takes the kids on weekends and pays (very little) child support, and it's working so far. We'll see if I end up having to take him to court. I'm thinking that might have to happen after I actually get married to someone else.

Next. Not to get into a religious discussion here, but I have also found my spiritual home. I have always had faith in God's work in my life (how else would I have survived being a single mom of four with no job all those years???), but I had never been able to find a spiritual home. I have now, in the Catholic Church. Lots of things on the road leading to that decision, dating all the way back to my childhood as a Baptist...but the upshot is, I am now on my way to becoming Catholic. (No, it's not for my future husband, although he IS Catholic. It's a personal thing first. And we're planning to get married in Vegas. LOL)

Don't worry, now. I will soon spend countless words extolling the virtues (and vices! hehe) of the man that I'm going to share the rest of my life with. You'll just have to be patient, because that will take a whole lot more time than I have right now! Back to the updates!

I dropped out of college. Again. I think. I was working on the BA in English, but what I discovered was that I already know the things I was being taught. Like how to write, research, analyze literature, THINK. Why waste $1200 a month to have that point driven home? I was getting an A+ on every writing assignment, and it hit me one day: What is the point of me taking classes to learn this stuff when I obviously already know it? It's the confidence thing. Starting to work toward my degree made me realize I don't actually need it to write. Just a sophisticated form of procrastination that fed my fear of success (Kim will get that one! LOL) Anyway, I have decided that the only thing a degree would enable me to do that I can't do now is teach. And I could even do that on an informal basis, if I wanted to. But I don't want to teach. I want to write. So there!

Kids. L spent the summer in a paid biology internship, which she just finished by attending a national conference to present her findings. Now she's back living at J's (her dad), working, and taking a break from school until next month. Or possibly until January. We're still best friends who talk on the phone nearly every day and hang out as much as we can. She's a busy girl. I'm a busy girl, too.


R is back in public school, as of almost two weeks ago. I've had so much going on that we hadn't gotten back into homeschooling nearly as much as I wanted to, and life was only going to get busier with us moving, and the wedding, and she asked to go back to school. I said OK, but not to the school I pulled her out of a year and a half ago. I got permission to enroll her in the "year-round" elementary school here that has a stronger academic program and stretches required attendance days so the kids are in school all the time, with just a month off in July. She'll be learning constantly. It's perfect for her, she's loving it, and she's doing very well. It's a bit of a logistical nightmare because we still have to provide transportation (and it's a lot farther to drive), but I have lots of help now, and we're working it out. I do have to note that I must not have done too bad a job home schooling her for second grade, because they enrolled her right into 3rd grade with no problems, and she's already shown that she's working at or above grade level in every subject. *pat Mama on back time* hehe

Well, the updates on D & B, and more about Big D (the man I'm marrying) will have to wait till later. Time to start getting ready for work (more on that later, too!)

Until then...over and out!

Life is full.

No, not OF anything...just FULL. And about to get moreso. Next week, after Labor Day, because I've never liked it when public school started three weeks before the official end of summer, we are starting Rachel's "second grade" homeschooling. We've been doing some warm up stuff and assessments and such, but next week will be the real thing. When I pulled her from public school last spring, we sorta cruised along because she pretty much had all her first grade skills down pat. Now it's time for some REAL schooling at home. One subject I was kinda concerned about (Math) is now covered. I found the Saxon Math homeschool program online, but it was a hundred bucks (plus shipping!)...and I just finished winning an auction on Ebay & am getting a brand new, still-wrapped set for around $75 total. Yay me! I'm much more confident about teaching her everything else based on her interests (I've had her make a list of things she wants to explore), but the math thing was kinda scary. With Saxon, they give you the exact lessons & they're even scripted so you know how to teach what needs to be taught.

As if that weren't enough, I've finally got all my paperwork in place for my financial aid to be processed so *I* can start school in the next (hopefully) couple weeks. B. A. in English, here I come!

Then there's Damian's birthday party to get ready for. Oct. 7th. At the park around the corner. Need to get invitations out and figure out what kind of food we're going to eat. Probably just grill hamburgers & hot dogs & stuff, since we'll be a the park. Hoping the weather will cooperate and it's not raining & chilly. That would suck, although the kids probably won't care unless it's below 30 degrees. Only thing I don't have to decide is the theme...he wants Cars (The Movie)/Lightning McQueen. Big surprise there. NOT.

Rachel just got over a pretty mild case of the chicken pox, and I discovered (thankfully!) that the other two actually did get their shots, so they don't have to suffer with them. Bethany has been sick with a stomach bug the last 3-4 days, though. I suspect this bug was a direct result of her penchant for playing in the toilet, even though she knows the meaning of "Ca-ca!" She's much better today, though, and I count myself lucky that I only had to bathe her & change all her bedding in the middle of the night twice this time.

Laura and Alex are moving today, to an apartment much closer to their jobs. Well, Alex is moving. Right now, Laura is lying here on my couch nursing a migraine. Like mother, like daughter. The big stressful things (no matter how much of a GOOD thing) always trigger the migraines for me, too.

As for me, I have to run and get ready for work now! Cash office tonight, so at least I get to do my work relatively undisturbed.

Until next time....over and out!

Life has gone on...

...even though, as you may have noticed (or not), I haven't blogged about it. I do remember saying in my last post that my bosses and everyone at work liked me, and I have found out in the last several weeks just how much. After less than six months and despite my "questionable" initial background check, I'm no longer a cashier. I now work in the cash office four days a week (counting & keeping track of the big bucks they rake in on an hourly basis) and am "Front End Team Leader" one day a week (supervising about 20 assorted cashiers, courtesy clerks and others & making sure customers get help with everything they need, get checked out in a timely fashion, and keeping the cashiers supplied with change and overrides when a customer wants to void something over $5 or they make a mistake (!) and ditto, or when a customer's check needs approval, or there's trouble with the registers (including four self-checkouts), and taking the above-mentioned big bucks from the registers to the cash office when the drawers get too full of it. Among other things. And there's talk of me becoming a manager one of these days. Hmmmm.....funny how things go, huh? Good news is, I still LOVE the job (and the money!) By the way, they did pay to re-run my background check before they started me working in the cash office. Must have been clean like it should have been in the first place!

Besides working, I'm also going to start work very soon toward a B.A. in English. I've applied, been accepted, and am awaiting one transcript to be sent so I can get my financial aid, then I'll be starting the online program of National University (based in California.) As if I don't have enough to do already. But this is something I've wanted for a long time, regardless of how "useful" it might be or how it might change/advance my career prospects. It WILL advance my writing, that I'm sure of, since I haven't been doing a whole lot of that in the last six months since I started working. It's time for a fresh start on that front, too...all of my previous writing work is languishing on the hard drive of my dead laptop, and I don't have $500 to pay someone to retrieve it, no matter how worth it!

On the home front: Right after my last post, I decided to withdraw Rachel from public school and homeschool her. She was thrilled. We went up to the school, and I signed the paperwork. She went into the classroom, gathered up all her stuff, and walked out of there without looking back. It made for a much, much easier routine in our household. Everyone was happier, and we all got a lot more sleep. We're pretty much on summer break (other than the everyday learning opportunities that pop up), but we will be starting back up full speed next month. I bought a bunch of supplies and resource books, and we'll be shopping for more "school supplies" (takes on a whole new meaning when you homeschool!) soon.

Laura survived (barely) a summer "vacation" trip to California with her dad and is preparing to move to a new apartment (with her boyfriend) at the end of the month. Still working the good job she's had for nearly 2 1/2 years and starting college in a couple weeks (the bf is going, also.)

Damian is potty trained FINALLY. During the day, at least, and during naps, too. I'm happy with that. I have no problem putting him in a Good Nite thingy at night for awhile longer. He's so tall, and he's thick, solid, strong, AND articluate...it's hard to remember sometimes that he's only 3 1/2.

Bethany is walking everywhere FINALLY, instead of giving me the evil grin & dropping to her knees in defiance. She did it when she wanted to, about four months ago when she took her first steps at about sixteen months old. Just been the past couple months that she decided to walk EVERYWHERE instead of crawling. She's as ornery as god makes little girls, and she has lots of words and even a few sentences in her vocabulary. "I don't know," is funny to hear coming from a 20-month-old's mouth when you ask her a question, especially when she accompanies it with the traditional palms-up shoulder shrug.

And me? Well, yesterday was day one of a rare two-days-off-in-a-row. Tomorrow I have to take all the kids & go get Damian's glasses from the eye dr's office, and then I really need to get home and clean up this totalled house. It definitely shows that I'm working full time and spend all my off time with the kids. Neither of which are bad things, of course.

I will promise to TRY to update more often, but if anyone actually reads this and wants to know what's going on with me at any given time, e-mail or leave a comment!

Until next time...over and out.

P.S. In a post way back in February I said something about putting a link to my "johari page." I can't do it because I have no idea what it is (the link, not the page). Can't even find the host site or whatever it's on (www.johari.com did NOT work!) So if anyone (Tiff???) is reading this & can tell me where I can go find it, I'll rediscover the link to mine and post it.

Been awhile, hasn't it?

Going back to my (working) roots?

I hope so, cuz I sure need the money. I should hear tomorrow whether I get to go back to my roots (so to speak) and be a grocery cashier again. Why would I want to be a grocery cashier again, you wonder...well, it was an easy job for me, I was good at it, you make decent (if not terrific) money, the hours are good, and I'd get to get out of the house and have face-to-face conversations with live adult human people again at a job that won't suck the life out of me because of office politics and less than family friendly policies.

Plus, I think my writing will benefit from getting out in the real world again. I've been in my cave here, nurturing and protecting my young, for so long, it's about all I know any more. Yes, I get plenty of inspiration from the Moonlight Mob, but I want to write intelligently about more than Bethany's penchant for fishing through the trash can and cat food bowls for snacks, or Damian's frustrating refusal to use the potty except to pee (and even that only when his lower half just happens to be naked, not necessarily when he actually needs to relieve himself), or Rachel's latest visit from the Tooth Fairy, or Laura's first excursion to NY upon turning 18.

Am I bored? Maybe. I've been home with my kids for four years. Time  to re-expand my horizons. Anyway, after a bit of a fiasco involving the application process (i.e. you assure the person interviewing you that your background check will come up absolutely pristine, and then--surprise!--it shows up an arrest plus a warrant for arrest, neither of which ever happened, then try explaining that to the Store Director who's decision it is to hire you--or not. Yeah.) Anyway, I got it cleared up. Beyond "clerical error" no one could tell me WHY it was there in the first place. The S.D. was to re-run the background check yesterday afternoon, but is off today, so I should hear tomorrow whether I get to go back to the wonderful world of the grocery business (which I always loved, btw, and which also has nearly infinite potential for article and market ideas.)

On Friday when I found out those (ridiculous) things were on my "record," I asked the S.D.: "If I can get this taken care of on Monday, would you still be able to hire me?" (because of course, they couldn't proceed with me having a "record" that I swore I didn't have, no matter how much I explained it was a mistake.) They said they probably could, but given the reaction I got Monday morning when I called to say it was taken care of (near-shock), I'm not so sure it's a slam dunk any more. They're supposed to "get back to me and see what we can do" (er, once they've spent another twenty-five bucks to re-run the background check) tomorrow. Non-committal, I can understand that. But it's driving me NUTS!

Wish me luck, would ya? Crazy as it sounds, I really WANT this job!

I can't remember what number I was on with my 365/39, so I'll do one of those later, along with a link to my Johari page (if you don't know what that is--like I didn't--you will after I post it!)

I'll be back!