Apartment/House Hunting

Today I got up a little late. Normally I wake up at 9. My job starts at 1 p.m but I get up at 9 a.m because that's the time I have to be up to spend time with my kids, get them breakfast, and if necessary shower.
So after that its usually 11 a.m and at that time I am ready to make lunch and do last minute things for work. My job is half an hour away from my home so I'd prefer to be closer.

I woke up after 10 a.m today. I'm kind of feeling grouchy but that's after being hot and sweaty all day in the car and not having a good outlook. We went apartment hunting and rental home hunting and came out with nothing positive. Everyone checks credit and we have poor credit.Plus the job is brand new so most places that check into your job would expect you to be working there awhile. So for now we're shit out of luck on finding a place other than the hot and humid studio sized room in the attic.

The 5 places we looked at that were not too nosy and allowed small animals such as Popeye would let us move in today. We didn't want them though because there is absolutely no air conditioning and they are near the ugliest ghetto houses I've ever seen. I would not mind living in a sort of ghetto area if there was A.C.

Whatever Micke and I will find a place. Maybe he will get work at the same place that I get work at and we'll be able to afford a decent home. If he gets the same job I have he'll easily make enough that our combined income will be enough for a great home in a nice neighborhood.

I'm stressed out from it so we're not going to go house hunting again for a few more months. If Micke gets this job we'll go looking again.

Playing Cars!

Ugh I got up at 9 a.m this morning. I normally sleep in late because my children are young. I decided to get up early now that I am working full time because I can play with my 3 year old and 9 month old before work if I get up on time.

I fixed Angel some pancakes and sliced up a whole banana for him. Then I gave Abel a bath and put him in his Jumparoo. Now he's tired from jumping and is lying down to have a bottle and possibly hit the hay again but I don't know.

I also played cars with Angel and am going to continue to play cars and drive around with him. Maybe before work I will give him a piggy back ride. I am trying to juggle all my roles so that I don't miss a beat. I know working full time adds a new element to my life I never experienced previously but I think if other women can I can too. I am smart enough and I am highly motivated.

Today is my second day of work at the contact center. I can't wait to experience the phones, live. I am sort of nervous about it but its not like anyone will bite my head off if I am sub par at first. I think if I go on to love this job I might change my plans that I have made in the past. I may not move down south for awhile.

Finally a J*O*B

So I have a new job. It is pretty interesting and the environment seems to be a lot of fun. I started technically yesterday because EST it is 12:23 a.m for me. Anyway "yesterday" if tyou will I worked from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m. The job is very fun and all of the people so far seem to have high energy. I love to rapport we have to build with existing customers. I love that every conversation with a customer is meant to be like a conversation. I also like that when I am on my own for the first time, I get a cubicle! Hahaha I know its not totally rad but it feels like the first ADULT job I get to have.

In the past I worked as a home health aid, taking care of the elderly and disabled. That job taught me patience, love, respect and because I was self-employed, motivation.  Before that I worked for a lame-oh company but I won't disclose the name. I'd rather not be one of those people who always talks negatively of a company that for the most part is in good standing with their customers or the people they provide a service to. I'd rather be silent  about my distaste for their company than be verbal and make them look bad. They aren't a terrible company by any means. I just didn't like working with them.

The place I started at today has great benefits that the employees can enroll into and you have to practically be a complete moron to get fired. The place is high energy and feels like a family environment. It is so casual and relaxing. I know that every job comes with its hassles and heartaches but I have made a list of rules for myself to follow to make things as easy as possible. The list is at the end of this entry.

I have to read the company handbook soon, or I risk failing their test. If I fail that I can't continue being employed by them....I think.

I will have to fit my school schedule into the rest-of-my-life schedule. Between work, two boys under 4 and school I have a full plate that's going to be hard to balance at first. I bet I do well, though!

1.  Arrive 15 minutes early always.

        If an emergency arises on the highway call the supervisor to notify her of possible tardiness.

2. Never miss a day that I'm scheduled to work

    If its an emergency or something comes up give the supervisor an hour or more of notification

3. Never ever engage in gossip that is related to a co-worker, a supervisor, a team member or another person on staff.

   As a rule of thumb it's better to grant EACH and EVERY human being their  right to their own dignity. Gossip and slander unjustly strip another human being of their right to their dignity. So always NO Gossip especially not at work.

4. Attempt to be an 8-straight employee when possible. Take the 10 minute breaks in bursts not all at once.

5. Even on bad days wear a smile on your face for the customers. Poor customer service is the top reason customers leave a company!

6. Even on ROTTEN days do not speak poorly of the company. Even if I leave the job because of a rotten experience do not blast the company on whole on the internet. Future job offers can be negatively affected by  your own negative outlook on a previous employer. Leave in peace and do not start silent wars, especially not online.

7. Keep things told to you in confidence. If a co-worker says something you know you shouldn't repeat....even if its bsically a common sense thing....don't repeat it to anyone.

8. Be prepared everyday. Don't leave any work materials in the car or at home. Prepare a checklist an hour before you are due at work. Then you can say "Rhea you've got it all" and you won't have to turn back around and risk being late or being sent home because necessary equipment is not on hand.

9. Be courteous to supervisors and listen to their advice even if you don't take it all. Be an active listener. If a supervisor is rude there is always someone above them but instead of conflict on the floor or causing a scene, talk to their boss or bring it up with another supervisor. ALWAYS try to be curteous

10. Don't take customer dissatisfaction or complaints to heart!

And lastly, try your best and try to improve each day

Reminder: Never Shake a Baby

Camryn Jakeb Wilson not long before the violence that changed our lives and ended his

Yesterday we went grocery shopping and Micke was wearing his Baby Camryn Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness T-shirt. The front has "Camryn Jakeb Wilson" with his birth date and death date on it and on the back it says "Never Shake A Baby! My nephew died because he cried." Which actually, he died at the hands of a violent and angry man who let his jealousy rule him and he shook and beat his dear infant son because he was angry that his wife paid more attention to the baby than to him. He admitted that in court and in front of basically everyone. At the time of the creation of the shirt we thought it was because Camryn was crying and his father could not handle the baby properly. It was quite devastating and to this day I hate discussing it. Anyway Micke was wearing that shirt and a stock person in Wal-Mart asked him about the shirt. Micke explained the horrific story and the woman told us of her grand son who had a similar fate of dying to SBS.

It was really sad but soon we all moved past one another and went back about our business. I wish more people realized how stupid and dangerous shaking an infant or toddler can be. It is better to let a baby cry than to watch them die. I mean it. I watched my nephew die after having no activity left in his brain thanks to the horrors caused by his dad. No undo button on life, once you hurt a child like that you cannot undo their suffering or the suffering and pain of their family members. Its there written on their minds forever. And for the baby he or she will become a mere shell of their former existence.

RIP Camryn Wilson January 2008-March 2008.

Start Tomorrow

I haven't posted in here in awhile. Tomorrow afternoon I start working. I got the job I was interviewed for awhile back. I got the call to inform me that I would get the job last Friday. I was ecstatic. I called my dad and my mom. I wanted to tell Micke myself but he had been eavesdropping in on my call. I like a good surprise but Micke said he could not help it when he saw the company's name on the phone's caller I.D he picked up the phone and put it on mute and listened in.

I was so nervous because they gave me what seemed like a 3rd interview over the phone. Then they offered me the job and of course I accepted. I am excited to start. I have to convince Micke to get a good night's sleep so he can be raring to go tomorrow and won't be tempted to fall asleep while watching our boys.

I was going to  go and donate plasma today and earn a few dollars but Micke's dad loaned him 40 so I will donate plasma on Friday, my first day off. That way I can get gas money to get to work for another week.
I keep being fearful that the training is unpaid. I am sure it is paid but I let my anxieties get the best of me.

The reason we're putting it off is that Micke is exhausted because he refused to sleep at all last night. That's why he is asleep now. Also it's gloomy out and raining.

Independence Day Cookout

Today we went to Micke's cousin's house. They were having a cook out. By the time I got there I was starting to feel hungry. I had taken care of Micke and Angel by getting them scrambled eggs a few hours before the cook out but I had forgotten to feed myself. We got there and I decided to join the game of cornhole that they all wanted to play. I was terrible. More times than not I threw the sack of corn into the bushes, the plants, almost on top of the roof, once it hit Crissi in the legs etc. During our second game of cornhole I beamed Jaidyn, Crissi's almost 6 year old, in the chest with the corn filled sack.

I was tired, everyone thought I was being sore about not winning but I was actually just getting very tired. I was not bitter, just in a daze. Angel got to play in the pool and be rough with the other boys. I waited a long time it seems for Angel to be old enough to rough house and now that he is being rough and tumble I worry so much he's going to be severely injured. You'd think after my second born I'd be easy and laid back on parenting. I get crazy about everything. I think to a point I need to learn to let Angel be his own person and kind of get the scrapes and bruises and bumps he's going to get.

On the one hand; Angel is no new comer to pain and injury. He has had scrapes, burns, bruises and even stitches. He's been so rough that we thought he broke his nose once. He's been to the E.R over injuries received in the home or near it around 3 times in his life.

On the other hand; I worry about his susceptibility to head injuries. I am concerned he'll end up falling so hard on his head he'll end up with epilepsy. I am worried someone might accidentally cause him to drown or have an occasion of dry drowning.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2096982_determine-dry-drowning.html

. I am worried and I suppose my fears are irrational. I think too much freedom would land him in the arms of a stranger or dead. So I don't want to go there but I don't want to shelter the poor child either. I hope I learn a happy medium soon.

Anyway, he's pooped. He had so much fun today that he can't even move. He just fell asleep 15 minutes ago which is a decent bed time for a 3 year old. I just hope he stays asleep through the night. That will help me get some much needed quiet time.

Finally some relief

Micke and I took the kids to an appointment for a basic physical. Angel and Abel are still both underweight. Abel is just over 16 lbs now and I guess he is supposed to probably be around 18 or more by now. He's 27 inches long so he's also not very tall for an 8 month old. Angel is 28 lbs some oz and he's 37" tall. He's also not extremely tall only in the 25% for height and 10% for weight.

Then we hit the grocery store and got the basics. When we got home the mail had come and I received a check  for the excess funds from my student loans. It is not the usual amount but it was something. It will be enough to turn my phone and Micke's phone back on along with getting my student copy of Microsoft Word 2010. I might hold off on buying Microsoft Word 2010 until after I get the rest of the dispersement, if I get it.

Maybe I'll get that job and it really will not matter.

On Human Dignity and Facebook

As a Catholic Christian I firmly believe in human dignity and that everyone from conception to natural death is created in the image and likeness of God. I believe that every human should be afforded their dignity regardless or race, color, creed, religion, sex, age or culture.

I also believe in people's right to free speech. I wish nobody to take that from us because I want  to say what I think without fear of imprisonment. If I am not to keen on the President, I want to say that. Facebook offers everyone with an opinion, stupid, ignorant, illogical or otherwise the ability to tell the world in just over 400 characters if they choose, exactly what their opinion is. In fact, people can even blurt out every ridiculous rambling of the brain, a factoid, a video clip, or a news piece. Facebook is nearly unlimited in the content of what you can post in the character limited blurb you can share with the world. I know they don't allow pornography or offensive images and things like that but for the most part you can get by with nearly anything.

However, I find that Facebook has become a competitive kind of market place for people to voice the most shocking things that they can think of. Perhaps, in society this has always been a problem that these sorts of people have always voiced loudly their shocking and disgusting comments in the public square and it is only more noticeable that jerks exist because social media is fast, easy and world wide, of course. The comments I notice now are ones that go to the extremes of being shocking. On Facebook people seem to be more free to strip the dignity from every human being from the weak, poor and destitute, to the powerful and rich. Everyone is a target for shock "comedy" and status updates. Perhaps mimicking the ways of Family Guy and American Dad are seen as rebellious, cool, different and bad ass. I just find them repetitive,rude, and obnoxious.

I do not see the appeal of shock comedy. People only find it hilarious when it deals with situations they have not been in. When Peter Griffin on Family Guy had a flash back to a time that he killed his own child because of SBS I nearly vomited. Some people laughed, but Shaken Baby Syndrome is absolutely not a joke.

The thing about shock comedy, as it is nowadays, is that anyone can do it. It takes no talent or creativity whatsoever to come up with something morbid and disgusting to say about another person or being. I have tested this many times. All you have to do is find a type of person or a tragic situation and make a derogatory comment about them using much foul language and that can make for shock comedy or a multiply "liked" and commented on status message.

The biggest problem I have with these kinds of status updates and attempts at comedy is I highly doubt a lot of what it said on Facebook would be uttered out loud. I highly doubt that someone would go into their work place, stand by the cooler and start saying stuff like "Retarded people are funny! They remind me of dogs" (have seen this)
Or "Toddlers are stupid little expletives deleted!"

When I signed up for Facebook I guess I was naive.

A clean room again

I feel like every time I turn around I'm cleaning and cleaning. Well I cleaned the attic again today and hopefully it can stay clean. Its not yet perfect but its good and when we leave I hope it will remain like this. I am awfully tired of spending hours on one small room.

I can't wait until we have our own place. It will be so nice because it will just be us. My ideal place will not have stairs to climb, will allow pets, will be small and low maintenance. It would be a bonus if the place had 1 1/2 baths because of how long it takes Micke to use the bathroom.

Today I played with Abel on the floor upstairs. We usually play downstairs because of the clutter up here but we got to play up here. I was playing with him and Angel simultaneously when Angel came over with a few sets of blocks and built toy guns from them. He claimed they were sensory guns. We pretended to "kill" people that didn't exist and slowly I started to fall asleep while playing.

I didn't sleep long, though, Angel wouldn't allow it.  He started waking me up saying "You're not dead! You can't be dead that long, Mom!"

I need to go freshen up A.J's bottle. I hear him suckin air.

The Attic in the Picture is not my own actual room.

The Lord buys me Taco Bell.

Okay so I had the second interview today and also did some tests. They are considering me for a position in the inbound calls section. It would deal with current customers updating their information for the company. Anyway I'd just have to change any information as necessary. The base pay is 9 dollars an hour and the work is 40 hours a week.
So I think I did okay at the interview now I am soliciting prayers from friends and family. I am also going to be praying. It seems like a good opportunity if I can get it. I will be following up sometime around Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, since that's when the selection process begins.

After the interview I was starving. I wanted to go home and cook up some Ramen but Micke wanted to go to Taco Bell. I almost had him turn into McDonald's but he really wanted to try Taco Bell.

We sat down and ate and we discussed my job interview. The training would not start until the 11th of July is all I told him. I think I said that's a little bit of the ways off but we'll make it. Other than that I didn't talk about much. We discussed the nutrients of  Taco Bell food because the food has high calories.

As we were cleaning up Micke was cleaning up the food and I was wiping down the baby and a man walked in and asked about gift cards. Believe it or not,  I was not actaully being nosy.  I could hear him ask because he had a booming voice. As I turned to wipe food off of Abel's face I heard the cashier answer "10 or 20" He said 20.

Then that triggered a thought about my mom buying Angel a 10 dollar gift card to eat at McDonalds. I drifted off in my brain about the gift cards and how my mom had bought one and started thinking there must be at least 5 left on it because Micke and I reloaded it. I don't know I had all these thoughts and then Abel started clapping his hands which is always cute so I joined him in clapping my hands when the man from the counter approached to tell us we had a lovely family. I smiled up at him and said "Thank you!" He said "You're welcome."

When my husband came by he slammed the 20 dollar gift card he had just purchased onto the table. He said "The Lord told me to give this to you" and smiled and said something like "He died and rose again, ya know" and shook Micke's hand and we thanked him a few times but were puzzled.  Anyway he walked out and that was that.

Weirdest thing to happen all week. How boring is my life? :P

Pina Colada Soft Serve

Late last night Micke's sister came and gave us some money for the household items we need. Today we went out and got them and Micke had some money left over on our bank card so he treated us to soft serve. There's this place a little bit away and it serves flavored soft serve. There  is something like 24 flavors of soft serve. Anyway we ate there and I picked Pina Colada, Micke had Peanut Butter, and Angel had some kinda nasty kind.

The cashier who served us the ice cream said they only came in medium. But medium there is like a large anywhere else.

You know after I ate the ice cream there I kind of regretted being there. Mc Donald's has ice cream for 50 cents and when we got the 50 cent ice cream cones before they were huge....plenty of ice cream for one person. They are only vanilla but, honestly, vanilla is good enough. The added flavors didn't seem to flow through the entire soft serve swirl anyway. It was more like the first 5 licks were awesome exploding with Pina Colada the rest was iffy vanilla.

And if I am going to get a huge swirly soft serve of ice cream on a cone that tastes plain I can go with Mickey Ds. We could have all had ice cream and sandwiches and small sodas for the price of all of the cones we had at the ice cream stand.

Ah, well, Mickey D's is bad for ya anyway.

Later we went shopping and got our fat cat, Popeye some diet cat-food. The little food pieces look like brown peas. I poured him a whole bowl, and Micke said it defeats the purpose of diet if he gets that much  in one sitting. That's like having a diet soda because you are on a diet but drinking a whole pitcher in one day.

So I scooped most of it out and left about half a cup's worth. Perhaps that is the appropriate amount. I probably should look up serving sizes online for this particular brand of cat food.

We got home and Micke's sister called and said we should visit Papi in the nursing home. Micke said sure but changed his mind when he realized how sick he felt after taking his flexerill to make his back feel better. No driving for dizzy Daisy, over there. :P

Phone Interview and Testing

Okay so I got a call at 11 this morning and it was a phone interview from a local company. I don't want to get in a lot of trouble because blogs get narc'd on quickly so I will just say I was nervous on the phone. However, even with my stumbling through the questions the woman still offered a test  for me at their local offices. I suppose the next step to the hiring process is the testing that I have to do.

We'll see in a week if I have a job with these folks or not. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed. I might even cross my eyes. Yes I'm that desperate.

Faithfully

Micke and I are listening to this:

We looked in our account and we have less than 10 dollars to our name and I have no job. Micke was in that auto accident on May 8th so he cannot get work because he is in so much pain he can hardly move from the couch where he sleeps now.

I am looking for work but nothing is turning up. I  am getting desperate. The kids have no bread, we are almost out of milk and Abel might soon be without formula.

This is completely depressing. We cant go to a Food Bank because we have canned goods we don't  need more canned goods. We need bread and milk and baby formula. We can't get food stamps that takes 10 days and we'll need the milk and bread stuff now, like tomorrow.

I'm stressed out.

A Heavy Package

My mom's package came in the mail today. Well it is for my kids but it came from my mom. It had a load of cute baby clothes, including some stuff from Carter's. Most of it is winter clothes but I love the summer stuff she sent as well. She even sent Angel a scooter.

My brother in law put it together because I had no idea what the instructions were asking me to do. Meanwhile, Angel played upstairs with his dad so he didn't even know that the thing inside of the spider man box was a toddler scooter. He just thought it was an empty box.  So I decided to place the scooter on the porch until he came back downstairs.

When I called him down he said "Where's my box?" I said "Right there" indicating the box all of the stuff came in. He said "No that's my garage! Where's my spider man box?" I said "I threw it in the trash it was bent." He was sort of disappointed but he said "Oh.." and moved on.

I got him dressed in some new clothes he had gotten in the package and told him to put on his shoes. When that was all done he was ready to go outside. When he went outside to the porch he saw the contents of the box....the scooter and started jumping around and was so happy.

He grabbed me and said "We have to ride this we have to now" but I had to attend to the baby so I said "Just wait" then he remembered he needed his Spider Man helmet so he asked me to grab that. By the time I grabbed the baby and the helmet it started to rain.

I said "Oh its just a little drizzle! Let's try this scooter." So I showed him how to use it and told him to try it. He tried it but he couldn't seem to manage the concept of gliding one foot back while keeping one foot intact on the board.

Soon the rain came pouring down so we rushed inside.

I grabbed Angel's scooter and told him he could practice in the living room. However, its just not as fun to ride indoors.

School and House MD?

Today started off okay.  First Micke had to go do some errands and visit his chiropractor. Then when he got home he had brought his 12 year old along as well. Angel admires his big brother, Joey. They all went out to play. I gave Abel a bath in the sink downstairs and then I took him out as well.

Later,Abel learned how to sit up. He's a bit of a late bloomer at 8 months old but better late than never. He isn't great at staying seated without support but he lasted over 30 minutes and even played with a ball with me. I gave him a big bowl of cereal, played ball with him and gave him a bottle and he was asleep in no time.

Now I am sitting here looking over a class assignment and am so confused on how to do it. The question involves choosing a scenario in which I use medical terminology to describe a patient's condition. Anyway, I decided to watch some House MD clips to get an idea and I came up empty. 

I try reading the book but its all a blur to me. I don't think the medical field is actually going to turn out to be right for me. We'll see but I am pretty sure I hate Medical Language.

Thigh Massage!!

Ahh my thighs hurt! They hurt really bad whenever I stand up, squat down, walk down a flight of steps and even if I walk up the stairs it hurts but not as bad as when I walk down. I woke up with this pain this morning. I am kind of hoping it will go away after tonight maybe tomorrow I will wake up fine. The pain is excruciating. It makes me afraid to walk  at all.

I don't know what caused it. Micke is of the opinion that its because I walk a lot but I walk a lot all the time, why now?

This really hurts I took pain medication and got nothing.  Good thing Micke is going to get the baby lotion and massage these sore thighs later on.

I cleaned the bedroom today. It looks okay now.

About Me

Well I did this in my dream blog except I explained what that was about and a little about me. So I guess that's said there. However, I like to do this anyway because it starts my blog off fresh. Also I can check out my fonts later and see how they appear in the blog.

Anyway:
This blog is about me, my mommy hood and whatever else rolls out of my head and into the blog. I am not an organized person. Occasionally I will add pictures. I might do this pretty frequently but time will tell if I will be up to it. I am not a photographer not even amateur. I just like adding photos because I like to brag, plain and simple.

As  I write this I am a mommy to two little boys and a step mom to one older boy. The older boy is about to be 13 but probably the next time I update this he'll be 24. He's autistic and he's very sweet and smart. I don't have a lot to say on my kids because it will be said probably in the blog as I think of it.

I have a cat that has one eye and his name is Popeye. Very original, there. Well we adopted him with the name and we didn't intend to change it.

We is in reference to my husband. I've been married to him since May 15th 2007. We had our two boys together (above mentioned) after we got married.

Let's see.......I don't know what to say specifically about myself. I will google a questionnaire real fast and see what questions I feel like answering. I might answer around 5.

1.) Do you drink?
Other than soda pop, water, juice or milk I don't drink. I don't drink alcohol that's what this meant anyway. I have before but I don't make a habit of it and when I do drink its very rarely like once a year......and no not on New Year's Day or Christmas.

2.)Do you smoke?
No not ever. Not cigarettes or the wacky stuff.

3.) How many pillows do you sleep with?
 None right now. My husband was recently in an auto accident so he's the pillow hog. Normally I like to have a body pillow and a normal sized pillow so that makes 2.

4.) Do you have any siblings?
I do have siblings. I have  4 1/2 brothers and a 1/2 sister and a step sister. In total I have 7 siblings. I grew up with only 4 brothers, though.  My older 1/2 brother I've never known and probably will never meet. My older 1/2 sister has nothing to do with our family and I only barely know her. She wasn't raised with my brothers and myself. My step sister is a brand new addition to my family.

5.) What are your fears or phobias?
I am afraid of palmetto bugs, closed in spaces, and socializing...


That's all for now. I don't want to turn this into one of those blogs where I am listing off stuff based on a bunch of questions written by some tween. Not that I'll ever have readers but I want to write about stuff that matters to me, not about the color of my underpants.