Secular Confessions

[Bridget]

I am going to call at 9 when they open. I hope they will let us come to another showing.

[daylilies]

Oh L! you were so cute!I think we are going to do $5 for the first tooth, too. The glitter is a great idea!

[Suja]

L, you look so cute! And so proud of your gap tooth.

We got some mileage out of the C story here as well. Mira woke up around 2:00, asking "Do my brothers have adventures like Dora has adventures?" (No idea where that came from, as we don't watch Dora). I said yes. Then she started bawling, talking about how she didn't brush her teeth (she had), and she needs to go brush right now. No amount of telling her that it was okay, she did brush, let's wait till the morning consoled her, so I told her about C's misadventure. She thought about it for a few, asked a few questions, and went to sleep.

Today's Morning Edition had an interesting piece on whether children make us happy: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/ (Scroll down).

[Suja]

And Bridget, if you ever want to get rid of those "retro" readers that you posted, I'd happily take them off your hands. That was hilarious!

I am sorry your plans for the day got messed up. Unless it is some sort of super popular show with no tickets left, they should be able to reschedule you.

[Bridget]

Actually, Suja, I was thinking of packing them up and dropping them at goodwill (where they came from!) If you want, I'll send them to you. Just pm me your address.Does anyone have any interest in I Spy Spooky Mansion computer game? Savana and Kai have both completed it so I doubt they will look at it again. We've moved onto I Spy Treasure Hunt. They loved it. It's pretty cool.

[Suja]

Thanks a bunch, Bridget! Just sent you a PM.

[Cosmosmom]

Oh no poor C! I do think tooth fairy should leave a $5 though. I mean I was getting $1 way back 25 years ago. Actually I think first tooth (natural or not!) should be $10. I might have a fight on hands to get that though. LOL Mr. Tooth fairy is kind of cheap. Suja it could be worse space wise....my parents kept my play kitchen because it is solid wood and was expensive. It's four pieces and similar to this http://www.playkitchens.com/play-kit...setnatural.cfm But in a dark late 1970's early 1980's wood stain. It will be going in little dude's room though, NOT my living room. That is partially why we cannot have a bigger than twin bed in there. I think my mom kept most of the dishes and fake foods for the set too. And probably the table and chairs though maybe I would get new ones that look better as I recall those being in a bit of a rougher state. Bridget I'm sorry that the roads are so bad by you. I pretty much avoid buying tickets to things in the winter because I worry about not going due to the weather. Only local things in the winter.

[missychrissy]

I couldn't hate my job more. Our calendars aren't quite right yet, and again CIT is ignoring our pleas for help. That's what they did the last time and it literally took 3 months to get their attention, and another two months for them to 'do something' about it, and a week to get them to fix the screw up they created when they finally did 'fix' (not) the problem. I'm so over this.

I got a ration of sh!t about bringing any of my daughters (if I did, I could only bring 1, and only if we participated in events on the hill and not here in the office) for Bring Your Child To Work Day. Today, for whatever reason, we have no less than 3 young children running around the 2nd floor. Not only are they not staying in their mother's cubes, but they're wandering the floor and visiting people and asking what they do. No mom in sight. Now, I don't necessarily have a problem with that and I think it's cute...except I was explicitly told my older teens could never just come hang out with me because they might 'pose a distraction to others while they're trying to work.' Not even on bring your child to work day-which, imo, they should actually shadow me and see what I actually do. Not play parades and arts & crafts and do stuff that has nothing to do with work.

I was instructed to make two tutorials for Windows Updates for our regional and northeast corridor folks. Yesterday, Lisa tried to get me to create a tutorial instead on how to back-up and remove an Outlook profile. Now, to do this I'd have to actually delete my own profile (to get screen shots of what happens when you do) and I wasn't keen on that idea. It would take me days to rebuild it, recreate my rules, filters, signatures, etc. And it was going to be for my technical colleagues. Supposedly, they're technically savvy like me and shouldn't really need pictures. I also pointed out the Win Updates needed to be run prior to our migration on the 27th, so I better get those done and sent out so our users outside this building could be up-to-date before the email migration.

After I spent 2.5-3 hours making the first one, I sent it to her. She responded that she wished she'd known I was doing that because 'they' decided last week that the Northeast Corridor folks wouldn't be doing it that way after all, instead the updates would be pushed via the WSUS server and those users were simply being asked to activate their VPN. Uh, she did know. That was my argument for NOT doing the whole Outlook profile tutorial. I swear to goodness she does absolutely NOTHING except make more pointless, worthless work for me to do. I spend much of my time wasting time and I'm so done and aggravated. I sincerely flat out hate this job. Hate it.

[missychrissy]

/rant. I'm home and over it. I didn't realize how long it was when I spewed all that out. I need out of this office. I'm just miserable.

[Bridget]

Sorry, friend.

[daylilies]

Sorry Chrissy

[Suja]

That sounds miserable, Chrissy. Can't blame you one bit for feeling like giving up. I thought Faye was your boss now, and things had changed for the better, except for this whole fiasco.

[Gwenn]

I'm sorry, Chrissy. That does sound miserable.

L, you were adorable!

I have to mention that I once again today I had to hear numerous times about the kid from my previous rant who gets speech and PT. First because everybody is telling me I have her placement code wrong (including the person who TOLD me to use the code I used and now denies any knowledge of the conversation, and second because the speech therapist "doesn't have time" to see her. So she is stirring up **** by asking questions about her code, which is why it's coming back to me now.

[missychrissy]

Oh Mandy It must be in the air.

Faye is my boss now, however she takes days off here and there and then Lisa comes out of her office and stirs things up. Or she pushes Faye to do things Faye doesn't think are a great idea. Or one of my colleagues runs to Lisa, over Faye's head and behind her back, with a harebrained idea and rather than discussing with the the manager, Lisa says, "Sure! Go ahead!" It's just a nightmare.

[pepperlru]

Chrissy, that sounds so frustrating. I'm sorry you have to deal with that stuff at work.

L, you were so cute. Guess we know now why your kids are so incredibly photogenic!!!

[demigraf]

Yes. It's definitely in the air . I have unreasonable amounts of work to do. I am halfway out the door at this point if this is the way things are run at that company. In all seriousness, if it stays like this, I will start looking for something new in mid-March when we're back. Chrissy, I totally feel you. You're being given poor direction and unnecessary pressure to do things that don't feel right to you. :/ Mandy, I'm sorry they're getting all up in your grill too. That speech therapist is taking the low road to get out of seeing that child, if I understood you correctly. I'm starting to become convinced that rising thru the ranks in the American workplace takes a certain breed of obnoxious overconfidence, and that's all you really need. Competence is optional.

Did you guys see this about the mom who hired a stripper for her son's bday? http://gawker.com/5985496/new-york-m...birthday-party

[Gwenn]

There is a saying about people being promoted to their level of incompetence, and then staying there. I find that to be sadly too true.

[Bridget]

Chrissy, I hope today is a better day. For you and me both. I lost my patience with Kai yesterday and that put a sour end to our day. This cold weather has to go away! We need to play outside!

[missychrissy]

Aww Bridget

Mandy, I think universally they're the only people that get promoted anywhere.

[Bridget]

But on a happier note we get to go see the play on thursday! That is assuming the weather cooperates.

[missychrissy]

That's great!

As for me having a better day at work, I long since gave up any hope of that happening. Not here. I like the immediate group I work with, minus the director who unfortunately has the power to cause major issues for everyone (it's not just me, and it's just as awful to watch her bury someone else and then turn around and query why something else wasn't done)....but the attitude we get from the staff we support is deplorable. We're really treated as if we're separate from them and don't deserve to be communicated with even basic manners. I've never had more email exchanges CC or BCC a manager in all my working life. They're ridiculous about it here. Everything becomes an issue. They're rude, demanding, and the cattiest bunch of b1tches in one building I've ever seen. That bit about 'them' having their kids yesterday whereas I wasn't even allowed (nor any of my IT staff colleagues) to bring our kids on "bring your child to work day" is just par for the course around here. I don't know how anyone could work in this environment and not feel bitter about it.

[Bridget]

Any other options out there for you, Chrissy? I mean, not that that's riveting advice that you never thought of. I hate to see you dreading you job. That just sucks the life out of a person.Last night my kids were bombarding me with questions about our friends that have started coming here again for childcare. WHY does the 4 year old have her own ipad and sit in a booster carseat when Kai is still in a harness? Will they get to have a cell phone and watch a show called Teen Mom (seriously??? She does though, talks about it a lot) when they are 9 like J? WHY do I make them be babyish when other kids get to do grown up stuff? Trying to tread lightly because I don't want to say anything negative about other family choices but the "everyone does things differently" is only getting me so far these days. They want ANSWERS.

[Suja]

There is definitely something going around, I think. We're down 3 hands, so I'm basically doing it all. Went to bed after midnight yesterday, because that's when work was finished. More of the same for at least a week.

Bridget, that's a tough one. It might be time to have a more in-dept conversation about WHY you make the choices you do. Your kids are smart and logical enough that they'll get it if you can explain your rationale, I think.

Myles & Mandy, so sorry you guys are having a rough time of it too. Hopefully, it will get better for all of us soon.

[Cosmosmom]

I don't suppose a quick, because I'm the mom and make the rules the rules for this house. When you are the mom, you can make the rules. And we will not do cell phones (or whatever it is) until you are x yrs old. Or I don't like the show Teen Mom so that is something we will not be watching. That sort of thing.....probably wouldn't work on them huh? I am also sorry for those of you having work issues. I actually haven't seen a lot of that in my field but all managers have masters degrees and most programs that i have seen require a management class. At the time I thought it was a silly class to have to take but in hindsight, it is really quite a useful one.

[Bridget]

It might work. But I'm not a big "because I said so" type of mom. I am fine with them wanting to know why. In fact, I think they should ask why and not blindly follow rules. I just struggle with how to say, "Kai can't be in a no back booster because he's too small and it's not safe" when G is in one and she is smaller and younger so basically I'm telling them that she is not as safe as she could be and her mom made that choice, you know? I don't want to turn them into judgy judgertons.

[Suja]

It is what it is, Bridget. The mom IS making a less safe option. You don't have to say it of course, but if that's the conclusion they come to, there is nothing you can do about it. I think they're old enough to understand that there are gradations to everything, and just because something could be safer, does not mean that it is unsafe.

[Cosmosmom]

Yeah I get that. I know DH was little and was like I don't want to come in and keep playing with vickie (girl next door who was actually younger than him). His mom was like it was dark and I love you too much to let you stay out in the dark (he was like 4 or 5 yrs old). So he goes and tells her that her mom doesn't love her because she lets her play outside after dark. Of course MIL was mortified. But maybe instead of say because I said so, maybe because that is how I prefer things? Or that is how I like things? Or this is the booster we have you Kai and don't want to buy a new one?

[missychrissy]

I would perhaps frame the answer as, "All mothers (and fathers if you want to include them!) give careful thought to what car seats they want to use for their children. Your dad and I thought about it a lot, did a lot of research, and for us this seat makes the most sense."

Work is a bit better today. Still busy, but not quite so antagonistically so. Right now my current plan is to hang out and wait and see if another Arts & Sciences position opens up. I really think that's the college I would be happiest at, however I'm reading all IT jobs that come up. If something else comes along that looks intriguing, I'll apply for it. But in my heart I want A&S back. Different building though. I cannot work with my former boss again

I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I feel like I entered the Twilight Zone where time takes 50 times as long as it should. But only at work. Once I'm home time flies right by.

[Cosmosmom]

So I heard today that my agency placed 45 babies in 2012. This is mostly in state and they work with the birth families as well. Some were probably independent adoptions (like if I suddenly knew of a situation and just used the agency for the legal stuff) but most are likely agency facilitated. They keep generally 70-80 waiting families on the books...every year families come off for various reasons but new ones are added. Longest waiting families are at the front of the book, newest go in the back. When if a woman goes in, she is given a book with those families in it unless there are special circumstances and than is presented only the families that fit those circumstances. I also heard that June 12-Dec 12 was fairly slow in birth parent activity but that 2013 seemed to be picking up there. I think it sounds like my chances are fairly decent for something to happen in the next year?

[missychrissy]

Oh Jennifer I hope so!!!!