That's that

Ok- I vented yesterday, so now just good news. Our office is coming along nicely! I am going to visit my new chair and phone tomorrow!! This is so exciting, but I'm not letting myself get carried away until I'm actually in and doing work. We will be going to court next week where I'll meet his current clients and I'll start familiarizing myself with his files and programs. Oh- and I went to Target yesterday and got myself some new clothes!!! Don't worry, I used 3 hoarded gift cards, so it only cost me 94 cents!! My son started a new hockey clinic with some famous ex-player named Ivan and my daughter started her spring swim clinic yesterday. Her records have been updated on the wall at the Y so I went to take another photo. At clinic another swimming mom and I began to sort awards and ribbons that will be given out at the banquet on Friday. Squirrel man is coming today to help get rid of the critter in my attic, and that's that.

Nice, huh?

So this past weekend when the kids were with dad, they went to a 50th birthday party for a friend of his. When he brought the kids home, they were joking about the gift they got her. It was a bucket filled with jokey things. Ha ha. I go online to do my banking and I see $85.00+ spent at Walgreens. Walgreens!!! I ask the kids yesterday if they were with dad at Walgreens over the weekend. "Yeah, to buy those gifts for Pani _____." Ho HO- $85.00 for a gift for a friend. And not even anything NICE- it was all JOKEY STUFF!!! Let me tell you- he never spent $85 on me on my birthday!! Maybe when we were dating. Once we got married, thwpt. Nice, huh? $85 on crap. I swear to God, the second I can get some financial independence from this tool, he can pay his bills himself.

Then, when we were driving home from Hockey (new clinic) my daughter asks me (she loves to ask random questions out of the blue!) "Mama, what is the worst thing that happened to you as an adult?" And I'm thinking how can I tell them that when their dad left me/us and my marriage disintigrated was the worst thing. But I say, "Hmmm, I'm not sure. I'd have to think about that." So she says, "How about as a kid?" and I say when I was sick (I had an autoimmune disease when I was 13 which SUCKED and scarred me for life) and she says "OK, but how about as a grown-up?" and then my son says, "Let me guess, the day you married Tato." Nice, huh? I'm thinking that isn't something a 10 yr. old could generate himself, so I'm sure he's hearing that type of talk from good ole dad. Nice, huh?

Quitting Time?

Well, I had an extremely quiet weekend. Kids went to dad's Friday after school, and I was all alone! Killed some time, then ordered a Stellas pizza for dinner. My kids don't like this kind, so I was glad to finally be able to eat it for myself! Saturday was Uki school and Plast. My school kids are a real piece of work. First of all, this was the first time in forever that no one was absent. I have kids who cannot sit still, one who I am convinced is on the autism spectrum, kids with crippling speech impediments, with a couple of good ones thrown in. So during lunch, one boy spilled some yogurt. He asked nicely for me to wipe it up and as I was he says, "Pani Wesia, I wuv you!" See, it happens every time! Just as I'm ready to throw this kid out the window after the 500th time he hit himself in the head with his own hands and interrupted me for the millionth time, he goes and says "I wuv you." Then another little one said, "Me too!" and another one said "Me too" as well. Just as I'm ready to quit....And Plast went well too! It didn't feel like I was stuck in a black hole of time suckage. Then, the assistant principal presents me with an offer- because the group I have this year is such a challenge, they want to give me a break and have me teach third grade, with really nice kids, next year. See? Just as I'm ready to quit, they go and give me a viable option. Crap. I don't know what I'm going to do. With my new job, I won't really need to work there, but I feel like I should try and keep active in the community and teach what I can. GAH! What a dilemma.

Plugging away

Yesterday was a wacky day- sorry for not posting!! I had a meeting with my boss in the morning. We met at the new office and started thinking about furniture layout and he gave me a bunch of tasks to start to get myself ready for work. I am so excited I can't stand it!! Then, my kids had an early dismissal for parent teacher conferences so I zipped over to school. Both went well. I promised the kids if the conferences were good that I would take them to the movies for a treat. When we came home around 3:15 they did homework and then we went to see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules." All 3 of us have read the whole series so I felt like we had to see the movie in the theater when it came out. We got home late-ish, so dinner was late as well. And that was my day! As for today, I turned in $21.55 worth of cans and bottles- YAY!! And I still have to plan some Uki school stuff and a Plast lesson. Kids are going to their dad's after school. They haven't been there in a long time, so I have to admit I'm looking forward to some quiet. Never ever would I have thought I'd admit that 2 years ago when this whole mess started. I love them more than anything, but they absolutely exhaust me. And that's that! Thanks for your support, your nice words, either on here or in my email, and I hope you are still finding this entertaining.

Clean up

I am in major cleaning mode. Maybe because it's spring, maybe because I'm sick of looking at all the crap everywhere, maybe because major changes will happen here- I don't know. But I'm in the zone. First, I decided to tackle my Ukie school stuff. There are boxes and bins and plastic baggies and folders and baskets filled with markers, clips, tape, post its, construction paper, stickers, albums, pens, pencils, rulers, copies, drawings, cut outs, photos, puzzles, yarn, all in my dining room! GAH! What a turn off. Also, because I've been to two houses of my daughter's teammates and they were spotless, I think I'm feeling like I can part with a lot of stuff. So, I'm trying. I will tackle one area each day, until it gets to a point that I can comfortably live with it. And maybe feel like I can invite people over for a nice dinner. Maybe...

Frugal Living

So things seem to be on an upswing around here. About friggin' time! Swimming was fantastic and I am going to have a job! WOW! Good timing, as I am almost out of money! Thankfully I am one of the most frugal people you'll ever meet. Let me give you an example- last summer I worked in the camp kitchen where my kids went for a three week Ukrainian Scout camp. I made a decent amount of money for those 3 weeks. I took out the last $100 I made a few weeks ago!! Granted, that money isn't being used to pay bills or the mortgage, but it's used for what I call "Wallet money"- cash for small purchases, like if I run out of cream for my coffee, I need 2 rolls for hamburgers, Dairy Queen for the kids, hot lunch at Ukie school, that kind of stuff. I know that may sound stupid, but I am an envelope/pile/compartment kind of money person. Earnings from Ukie School go in one place for certain purchases, money from gifts for other things, earning from a primary job go for something else. So, can you believe it- my last $100 just taken out, and I still have $23 left. I think I'm going to need some nicer clothing too. I have stuff, but I think I'll need to suplement a bit. Target gift cards!!! See, Ms. Frugality to the rescue!

Results!!!!

For those of you waiting with baited breath to find out the results, here we go!!
How best to describe the afternoon at Harvard?? It was undescribeable!! I do not really have the words to explain how great it was. I'll start with a simple rundown of the meet.

First event, 25 butterfly. My daughter is seeded 6th. There are 8 lanes rather than the usual 6, so more competitors per heat. 6th is a tough spot to be in. Someone in an earlier heat could knock it out of the park, you have a mediocre swim, and you drop to like 10th. But not my girl- she WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She came in FIRST in the 25 fly!!!! It was flawlessly gorgeous!! She is the best in NEW ENGLAND in the fly!!! AND her time set a new record at our YMCA- 16.24 seconds. UN-BE-LIEV-A-BLE!!!!! After the boys swim their 25 fly, they announce and award medals to the top 8 and when the announcer said "And your New England Champion in the 25 fly..." it was friggin' awesome!!!!

Next event- 100 yd. medley relay (4 girls, 4 strokes). We are seeded 4th, we get SECOND (of 40 teams!) with the best time to date, even better than at Championships. Nice...

Next- 25 yd. backstroke. My daughter is seeded 3rd. She ends up 5th, (NOT BAD AT ALL!!) and a teammate is eighth. All is good...

Next- 50 yd. freestyle. Teammate gets 3rd!! Overall standings, Wallingford 95,
Greenwich 83. Yay...

Next- 100 IM- one girl, all 4 strokes. No one in this event, Greenwich goes up against us 97-95. Yikes...

Next- 25 yd. breaststroke. Teammate gets half a point, Greenwich leads 132-95.5.
Gulp.

[Now- we don't actually know the team standings. This is all in the results that I got last night after we came home. Had we known that this was happening, I think I would have needed a defibrillator!!]

Next- 100 yd. freestyle relay (4 girls, each does one lap of freestyle). We are again seeded 4th. After a super close race....WE WIN with my daughter as the anchor!
We get 40 points, but Greenwich is still leading 166-135.5

Last event, 25 yd. free. We have girls in the last heat seeded 4, 5, and 6.
After some tense waiting, our three go 3rd, 4th and fifth, my daughter getting the
5th,and after more tense waiting for the final team standings, here is how it went down--Greenwich 177, Wallingford- 180.5!!!!!!! WE WON THE NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!! I am still in awe of what they did! Proud doesn't begin to describe it. I am so glad my parents, brother and his girlfriend were there to watch it all happen. So, my daughter got a 1st, 5th and 5th in individual events and another first and a second in the relays. If my calculations are correct, she finished SECOND overall as well. This was just beyond words. 6 months of intensely
hard work. And it all paid off. We got to celebrate at the hotel pool with lots of junk food and pizza, and more swimming, if you could believe it, and memories that will certainly last a lifetime!!