A new outlook on my blog

First of all, thank you to Shauna for the new design. I love the new look of the blog. Funky, modern and toast inspired. So me. If you want to see more examples of her work, click on the button on the left side. Also she writes a blog, Bringing Home Ava, about her family's journey to adopting a little girl from Africa. Quite inspiring.
I mentioned in a previous post about being mad at my daughter's school again. No, its not the phone call that I got tonight at 8:30 that they can wear pink shirts and jeans tomorrow, no clue why. No, its not that or the continued crappy communication from the school. We got a notice in the newsletter that they went over the gym budget by $25k. Now, her school does not have a gym, we rent it from another source, and will start building one after they finish remodeling the original part of the school. So, they had said they will be asking the parents to make donations for the short fall. The first thought that crossed my mind was that they could not have said something back in, oh, January. They throw it at the parents with less than a month of school. So we get a notice that the last day of school is a mandatory fundraiser, if you don't donate, you kid(s) can't participate in the sports day. They get to participate in "other activities." So I decided to take her out the last day, wait for Jimmy to get out of school and take them to lunch. Why not? Its not a matter of the money, I could come up with the money, its the principle of the thing. As someone who's ancestors who helped start and end the Thirty Years War, its a matter of upbringing. We have times we are called to be peacefully disobedient. This just happens to be another one. Several parents are very upset how they handled this and I don't know what they have planned with their children, especially those with multiple kids in the school.
I had a nice weekend. I still have to post the zoo pics from today. We went with Peepa to the zoo since Eema and Uncle N are in Orlando. Saturday, I had to work for a couple hours. Not a big deal. Afterwards, I began our family project. I am creating a website of grave locations for our ancestors. Why am I doing this? I went to visit my Grandma T's grave site for Mother's Day. I got concerned because my grandfather's headstone is sinking bad. Then I began to think what will happen when its gone. I decided to start taking pics of the headstones and add the locations for our family. It will help in the future for anyone looking for the locations and the genealogy of our family. I am also doing this for my in-laws because I just cannot see them working on family trees. Maybe they are, but who really knows?
After walking pretty much all over Queen of Heaven (there is no rhyme or reason to the section layouts, if you can figure out where they are), I came home and we went to lunch. After that, the kids dozed off and we drove around and went out to do some shopping. Then, the brakes began acting up on our van, so we went home. Not a bad weekend, did not get much yard work done and am behind in cleaning. I'll get caught up on it one of these days.

Yeah that is SO not in the budget

So the sunroom guy came last night to give an estimate to add a sunroom to the house. He was here 3 1/2 hours! OMG! I thought he'd be here an hour, we'd take the kids to Toys R Really Expensive to look for a sand and water table, and see Eema off on her trip. No, three and a half fricking hours going over the sun room. Yeah I'm picky and a few other words I'm sure he thought, why would I want to add a room to my house if I can't get to it from in MY HOUSE???? So, care to guess what this little project will cost to add the sun room and access from my basement family room? Well the sunroom itself is $42,000 and then add about $20,000 of foundation work to the house, which they don't do. And then after its all said and done we would need to buy flooring, window treatments and furniture. Yeah, let me write the check for that one. We can finance it for the rest of my existence, but I don't want to take on another payment on top of everything else right now. Oh and the guy talked me out of solar for it. I've wanted solar panels since I was three years old and damnit one day I WILL get them for my house.
Bri asked us today when the sunroom was being installed, we told her not for a while. Last night I told James that we proabably will never be able to do anything to this house the way its going. He said maybe we will win the Lotto. Yeah, great financial planning. Oh well.

Economic Stimulus my foot!

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day. I'm in a funk again so bear with me. We're waiting for the sunroom person to give us an estimate. My hubby decided they need a challenge once in a while.
I got my check direct deposit yesterday and so far, I don't think I'm stimulating the economy in any significant way. I spent $77 at Walmart yesterday, buying Round up, a bird statue for my yard, seeds, shorts for Bri and other odds and ends. I spent $250 at Target today, which $212 was for meds, two for Jimmy, two for Bri, one for me. Three at $45 co-pays and two at retail. I wish they hadn't reformulated the albuterol inhalers. They cost twice as much now. Really sucks.
If W wanted to stimulate the economy he should have given us all a Visa Debit card or a Best Buy gift card with the money. They figured we would buy TV's and such with the money. I know I would have stockpiled Wii games if I could not have gotten a TV. I hate to tell him, but most people are cleaning up bills. Part of mine will be spend on meal plans at Disney and summer camp, so the Y will benefit. Oh yeah and finally paying off my balance to Early Childhood. Its not that I wanted to get behind, but you gotta decide; gas and electric or pay off balance this month? And I saw the most annoying sign at Wal-Mart checkout yesterday, "Why carry all that cash around, let us put it on our Visa gift card and we'll waive the fees." Yeah, just what I wanted, to spend $1800 at Walmart. It was bad enough having to spend the $77 there yesterday.
Everyone who has been cringing at the lack of design on my blog, take heart. I have contacted someone to help me get this old blog in fighting shape, so to say. So this should be looking much prettier soon, I hope. So I guess that would stimulate the economy also. I wonder if W knows what a blog is.

Happy Mother's Day

I hope all the moms/grandma's/aunts are having a great Mother's Day. I received a lot of e-mails this week about being a mom, but they never talk about those moms/grandmas that have a child with a disability/illness. So here is a mother's day wish for all of us:

For those moms who heard "I love you" for the first time this year, whether through spoken word, ASL or a Dynavox
For those moms who have never heard the words "I love you" and never will
For any mom who could become a nurse or doctor, if life experience counted
For those moms who know what abbreviations like OT, PT, ST, TPN, IEP, IV, 504, MRI, ABA, DNR mean
For those moms whose living rooms are cluttered with therapy needs for their child
For those moms whose therapy equipment consists of toys
For those moms who can rattle off all their child's medications without a second though (including spelling) but can't remember if they paid the phone bill
For those moms who cheer silently when their child tells someone to shut up and can be understood
For those moms whose child ate Cheerios for the first time at 6 years old
For those moms who can't slept through the night due to checking on the child to make sure he or she hasn't wandered off
For those moms who haven't slept in a long time since their child is afraid of their room
For those moms who are happy when they finally get a night nurse and can sleep three out of seven nights a week, all seven would be a true blessing
For those moms who have battled this year to get medical care or an education for their child
For the moms who constantly battle for their child's well being
For any mom who has had to scream at a teacher, therapist, doctor, hospital or insurance company to get what their child needed
For those moms who will be eating at home since going to a restaurant is a logistical nightmare for many reasons.
For those moms who will be spending Mothers Day with their child in a hospital, nursing home, psychiatric facility or at home
For those moms who became moms this year, whether for the first time or the 18th time
For those moms who go at it alone
For those moms who never got to take their child home, even for one day
For the moms who were told they would never take their child home and now he or she is 29 years old

I wish you all a blessed Mother's Day

All the embarrasing moments in my week.

So let's recap how bad of a week it was:


-at work we have a new way of doing renewals and have for a couple weeks. The last step is you divide three numbers together to see how a group is doing, good or bad. I had been using the formula and getting some weird numbers. Like, all three numbers for the formula would be positive, but the final number would be insanely negative. I could not figure it out. It finally dawned on me you divide them in a certain order 1-2-3, not 3-1-2, not 2-1-3 and so on. It took me two weeks to figure it out!

-It always helps to read the directions on the package. I bought a set of an die cut and an embossing folder of Mickey Mouse's head. I got the die cut to work no problem. But the embossing part would not work, I put the die cut paper under and on top, ran it through a couple times and nothing. I ran it through the Cuttlebug Kids and Cuttlebug machines and nothing. I sat at my scrapbooking table with the laptop, and the embossing piece and tried to figure it out. Finally I read the words "embossing folder." Umm this is not a fol...oh wait, it opens. Never minds. Works fine. Took me a week to figure it out!

-Searching through my purse to find a quarter because I needed a tampon, open a pocket in my purse and find tampons in my purse. I must have put them in last month.

So that's it, I hope next week is less embarrassing.

Let's have a happyish post, shall we?

Ok, We think we found a school for Bri, Catholic school #2 has so far won. I like the school and staff, classes are larger than her curent school. I have another angry post, but we'll save that for another day. Really. I mean it.

Wanna know some good news? Mostly good news? Guess were we are going in 29 days?

Care to say the Happiest Place on Earth?

DISNEY!!!!!!

Let me explain. My Mother in Law, Eema, has a Disney Vacation Club package. She is going with my sister in law, nephew and younger brother in law, and are all going to Disney in about a week. They were supposed to take my son with, except there was concerns, complaints about taking disabled brother in law and my son at the same time (one deaf, develeopmentally disabled 29 year old with autistic tendencies and a hyper 3 year old with speech delays and SPD? Not always a great combo when nephew is only one who can chase after them both). So Eema brought up us all going sometime to Disney and I said fine. Well, she ran with it. We go in early June.
Eema and I have had a love hate relationship, not too bad, I've heard worse. She loves my kids, they are her grandkids and she does well by them. Sometimes too well, but that is what grandparents are for (which is why my parents help with uniforms, school fees and college because Eema buys toys and clothes at every opportunity. Saves me money). So this will be an adventure. I have been in Orlando at the same time as her before and done stuff together. But at the end of the day, she goes to her room and I go to mine and all is mostly well. We even stayed at the same hotel, but different buildings once. But in the same suite will be interesting.
She and I also take different views on vacation. I don't cook or clean (I really try not to, its not my idea of a good time). Eema will do laundry on vacation. She also will cook if she has her one son with her. He changes clothes 4 times a day and does not wear the same outfit twice. I don't care about taking a suitcase of dirty clothes back home. Flying is fun enough without having to haul laundry stuff with (now that you can only take one suitcase with you). At least she doesn't care if I drink. It gives her an excuse to. So, now we have the logistical planning of all the gear that needs to go with. my living room will look worse than Jon and Kate going on a trip. All the meds and Jimmy's gear and we have to pack Emily's wardrobe.
Oh well, at least I get a vacation this year.

All the details you have been requesting!

So, I promised the details of my final straw with the current school Bri goes to. Now, the letter hopefully will be to them Monday of all my outrage, but I highly doubt a) they care and b) I'll ever hear from them.
So onto the story:
Friday the 25th, in the middle of celebrating my co-worker's very merry retirement, I got a call from my daughters school (actually I had just gotten back from running to Archivers to de-stress over other events of that day). The secretary asked for me and I said this is she. Secretary said Bri was sick and asked if I wanted to speak to Bri, so I said sure. Now when Bri is sick, she gets quiet and sounds different, keep this in mind as we go on. So I asked what happened and "Bri" said her lunchbox smelled funny and she got sick. I asked if she had told dad her lunchbox smelled bad, after a looonnngg pause replied no. I asked if she could wait until dismissal time to pick her up, she said no. So I asked to speak to the secretary again. I told the secretary she said she threw up, so the secretary questioned her and she said she did and told the teacher. Ok, I'll pick her up if she sounds that bad and threw up, probably best bet not to push it. So I hang up, go into my boss' office to let him know and leave. I drive the 15 minutes to her school, calling hubby that she is sick and I'm getting her. He offers to go, except he's stuck at a bank that has no power and he needs to wait around until they do to reset some stuff.
So I get to the school and ring the doorbell. Principal lets me in and walks away, does not even ask who I am or why I am there. (the school has a HUGE security policy in the handbook, which I can't remember anyone enforcing when I went there the 5 times this year). So I'm standing there and there is no one in the office except a child by herself. I figure the child is in K because of the gym uniform and its Friday. So she's looking at me, I'm looking around for help. Finally, after a few minutes, the Early Childhood/aftercare teacher sees me and asks if I need Bri. I tell her I got a call she was sick. EC teacher looks at me funny and walks to the K rooms. EC teacher comes back and tells me Bri is in class and fine. I tell her again I got a call she was sick and threw up. EC teachers comes down to the office, looks in the window and said "Oh they called the wrong mom!" WTF????? At this point, another mom I know (who is overly involved in the school) walks in, says hi and asks me what is wrong. At this point I am so mad, I could kill someone. EC teacher explains to mom that they called me, but called the wrong Brianna's mom. Mom looks horrified. I said I need to leave now or I am going to yell at someone, and walk out. I called James and told him the story and we are taking her out of there. I am glad James did not go, or it may not have been pretty.
So, care for the next part?
I went back to work and discussed this with some trusted people (after my bosses laughed at me for what happened. I told them I didn't find a possible Amber Alert too funny). So one of the people, who is a mom to a two year old and a second due any second, told me I should really call the other Bri's mom. When I picked Bri up, EC teacher told me secretary was sorry for the mix up and this was an exception. The woman did not call me herself, she had to send it through another teacher becuase she probably knew I would take her head off. I told EC teacher this whole incident was unacceptable and I cannot keep my kid in a school where I cannot be sure she is safe and will be there when we pick her up.
I got home and verified other Bri's mom name is NOWHERE near mine. I left her a message and she called me back. I told her what happened and I apologized if I upset or scared her daughter, but I told her I talked to her because I thought it was my daughter. I also said I ask a lot of questions of my Bri when they call me and I did the same to her daughter. I told her I did not swear at her kid or anything along those lines. She thanked me for calling, but no one had called her to tell her. They sent her daughter back to class. Her mom also told me that the other Bri hates school and fakes a lot, but still, they should have called her. I also found out the long pause after I asked if she told her dad was because her dad is not in the picture. I apologized that I did not know, but I thought I was talking to my kid.
So, the two girls have the same first name and last initial, but they had separated them before the year began to avoid confusion (there are two K classes due to the number of kids they had). The other one has short hair, Bri has long. The other Bri's mom does not have the same or similar sounding name as me. She doesn't even have the same last name as the child. And it was Friday, so their names were on the gym shirts they wear.
This was my final straw with the church and school. I've had issues with the church for a while. I don't like sermons where I feel beat down afterwards. I did not grow up with that. I grew up with church is supposed to make you think about your faith and be buoyed for the week ahead. The priests we had made points but did it in a way that made you think and act, not feel guilty and crappy afterwards. We've had issues with not getting notices from the school with adequate time. Nothing like 4 days to do a service project, one day to figure out if a grandparent can go to May Day celebrations and having to call for a replacement enrollment packet, even though they swore up and down it was sent to us (and it contained all the critical forms such as immunizations and dental history). Or course anything dealing with money makes it home in plenty of time.
Oh well, Catholic School #1 "Admission Committee" never called, we see Catholic School #2 Tuesday AM, and we found a Catholic School #4. #4 is independent, not attached to a church and costs about 1 1/2X what we pay now since there are no parishioner envelopes to support it. I also called public school, they can send me a packet in June to enroll, if needed.
So there are all the details in their beauty. If you wonder how I can be so calm now, you should have heard me calling James after I left the school on the 25th. It wasn't pretty. I made some truck drivers blush.