day off

It's already Wednesday!  I am off today.  Monday was our Mock School Day and with the exception of one wrong turn I did pretty well, considering the village is re-doing the road in front of the Junior High.  So I had rearrange my route some. There's a bunch of new drivers and they seem friendly and nice.  My neice who is 23 got hired this school year too.  I helped  her get a monitor position.  Hopefully the kid will last as she was living with her dad (my brother) and he got them evicted.  Now she is living on the southside of Chicago with her boyfriend.  It's an hour away.  I told her she can stay here during the week as I have plenty of room.  My brother has a very huge ongoing drinking problem.  I mean to the point of having had a DUI, a bad accident (should have had a DUI), been in treatment once, been to AA a few time, but never quite got it.  His son who is 18 was in jail last year because the goofball was with a group of kids and broke into a house and trashed it for fun.  That kid is trying to stay straight, finish school and work.  My brother's ex was also living with them, and that woman is the type that tries to get hurt at any job she is at to collect lawsuits....so....that whole smoldering type bomb finally blew with my brother just giving up and getting them kicked out of their apartment. I am figuring he did it on purpose to get everybody away from him.  His ex took my nephew and got a studio apartment.  My brother I guess is staying with a friend.  Hopefully he doesn't kill himself. 

It's hard to watch family members mess up...but I was the one doing the messing up once, but I straightened up and now am with the rest of the crazy world just trying to make it in these unpredictable times .  At least I am up here in boring Illinois where the only effects of Katrina are the slight wind.  Otherwise I feel like so sad and sorry for all those poor folks who lost everything.  I no longer feel worthy of my complaining about my itty bitty little problems.  So I will just be grateful for the wonderful life I have. 

Last Saturday when we babysat for the boys, both kids woke up at midnight not feeling well. Dakota is teething up a storm....a steady stream of drool coming out of his little mouth, he's also learning how to crawl which is so entertaining to watch.  Jacob got sick and I let him stay with me on the couch until his parents got home.  Jacob is still sick, he gets sick a lot, but both his mother and grandmother (the babysitter) smoke, which with this asthma is awful.  But I mind my own business. 

Wow kids are a lot of work!  But being a grandparent means you get to leave the hard stuff to the mom and dad!

Yesterday was our big school district meeting.  There are now over 1000 employees in my district.  We have 16 school total with at least 1 new school being built a year until the housing growth levels off.  Who knows when that can be.  I wish it meant job security for me, but we have a limit to as how big the department can get. 

They did a presentation about everyday Heroes.  And yours truly was even pictured!  They took my picture last year while I was showing kids how to evacuate the bus in an emergency.  The lovely shot showed my mouth open and talking to the bus of kids.  They sure showed me at my normal best...always talking.  I do know myself though!  I got teased by my fellow bus drivers, but I was flattered to be included.

Today I am off, yesterday I took Liz to get her shoes and tops for the new year.  We have an outdoor outlet mall near here and I got some great deals.  I really don't know how I did all that shopping when I was shopping for 5 kids.  Of course the fees at school weren't like they are now.  We are charged for everything at Liz's school, lab fees, registration fees, etc.

With the gas going up 20 cents in one day yesterday I will be riding my bike at least a couple of trips back and forth to work.  It's only a mile but all those miles add up.  My sister in law in Michigan said they were rationing gas to only letting folks buy $20 worth.  I am a child of the 70's so I remember gas rationing.  And it was a big hardship to a teenage girl who wanted to drive her 1969 Ford Fairlane around looking for boys, and even had my parents giving me the gas money!  I often tell my kids to enjoy being a kid, growing up sucks and you have to actually make the money you put into your gas tank.

The world it is a changing...but we are strong and hopefully people will start car pooling and using less gas.  I know I am lazy a lot too, and drive when I could just walk.  Gonna practice what I preach.

That's about it, I slept in this morning, will work Thursday & Friday all day and have the long weekend off.  As will my husband.  The weather is beautiful, it's the promise of a beautiful holiday weekend. 

Be safe all...