Possibly the hardest thing that he ever had to do...

The week in review

My first week at new job was great. I’ve learned more about the company and I think it’s going to be a great fit. God has been doing great things too. We have had no insurance since July. The old new job had a 120 day waiting period, now I have to wait 30 days for the new new job to be insured. Well all that to say with money so tight, being unemployed for 6 weeks (with no unemployment benefits due to a loop hole for non-profits), but God has made sure we have had all we needed. This week He out did Himself. I went to get Brother Bears’ asthma meds. We use the same one but it’s $200 a pop so I decided he needed his more than I needed mine (Mamas do dumb things when money gets tight). Well long story short when I went to pick it up, the Pharmacist said “We had a coupon that could only be used by someone without insurance. It gets you a free month supply” God is so cool! Next I decided to call in mine too (our church helped us so we could afford it). Well when I picked mine up she said “Guess what we had two coupons, isn’t it your lucky day!” I know it was God not luck. Thanks so much Lord for taking care of us.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-31 (NIV)

Waking Up is Hard to Do

I haven't needed an alarm clock in years. The boys always wake me up with their bickering. I was up late last night, and then had trouble getting to sleep because of allergies. This morning, the boys didn't fight. GL was up early, as usual, but he didn't wake BB or start a squabble. He came into my room to make various announcements as he always does in the early morning and, as usual, I went back to sleep. When I finally woke up enough to see what time it was, it was time for GL to leave for school. I ended up getting him there fifteen minutes late. Waking Up Is Hard To Do.

The new new job starts tomorrow

As most of you know in July I got the ax from my caregiving job at an institution for the mentally disabled. I spent about a month looking for a job better than the local Walmart (no offense, but minimum wage won’t feed my family). I found one that started in early August. It was waaayy more physically challenging than the interviewer lead me to believe. The first shift job often had shifts that went to 9 pm, and 11 hour shifts both days every other weekend. Well long story short I have looked for & found a job that looks a lot better & I start in the morning. Here’s to a brighter future.

Good News / Bad News

The Good News: GL has been wiping the jelly off his hands after making a sandwich.
The Bad News: He has been using my jacket for a napkin.

Someone had this for a Facebook profile pic. If you copy it, you're trying to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen.

The Big Stinker

This morning, I heard GL yelling at BB, so I went to see what was the matter. He was standing outside the bathroom door yelling, "BB, unlock the door and come out of the bathroom!"

I told him, "BB wants some privacy. Leave him alone, and he will come out when he's done." GL has a problem with privacy. Since GL had already had plenty of time in the bathroom, and it was time for him to leave for school, we left. When we got back, MB was trying to unlock the bathroom door from the outside. BB had not been in the bathroom, but had not contradicted GL because he was, in fact, asleep at the time. GL had locked the bathroom door, blamed his brother, and left for school.

It's been a hectic week in Lake Wobegon

Dee at http://www.snippetsnstuff.com/ sent me an award, but I'm just now getting time to acknowledge it. If she hadn't notified me in my comments, I still wouldn't even know about it because I'm so far behind on reading blogs. Apparently I'm supposed to tell you 7 things you didn't know about me and pass this award on to an unspecified number of bloggers.

Seven things you didn't know about me? I guess that depends on how long you've been reading this blog. You should go back and read Dee's list; it is much more interesting. Here are seven things I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned here:

1. I never walked around Las Vegas with an icepack on my boob.
2. You're not any more likely to see me in a gown, tiara, necklace and earrings than Dee in the same get-up. Considerably less likely, in fact.
3. I don't have a time capsule.
4. I am only vaguely aware of who Stevie Nicks is.
5. I love thunderstorms. They are like the Best Fireworks Show Ever. Tornadoes, not so much.
6. I am completely unable to smell most roses. Maybe it's one of those weird genetic things. The leaves smell like a freshly mowed lawn. The flowers have no scent that I can detect. The few roses I can smell smell like old lady perfume, but very faint.
7. I love going to potlucks and sampling different foods. I cook most meals at home, but my wife usually does the cooking for potlucks. Does that make me a freeloader?

I'm going to wimp out and say read the blogs listed on my sidebar. If any of them want to come claim the award or pass it on, fine. We now return to our irregular schedule.

First Day of School or, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth

Yesterday was GL's first day of high school, first day of public school, and first day of anything but home school. On the whole, it went very well, but there was some confusion about his schedule.

Back in May, when we worked out his IEP, we insisted on starting him with one class period a day, and gradually adding to his schedule as he adapted to a full day of classes. At home, when I gave him an assignment, he would hurry to complete it so he could have free time. When he was on-task, he would finish his work in about an hour. His school has four 95-minute class periods a day. We felt this change, on top of the social adjustment of just being in school would be a bit much for him to take all at once. And so it was written in his IEP.

About three weeks before school started, I looked on the school web site to see if we needed to do anything else to complete his enrollment. The web site said there was an online registration, and parents would be getting an instruction packet in the mail the following week. I waited a week, and no packet. I downloaded the packet from the school web site. It said to go online and enter the user name and password that had been mailed with the packet. I called the school to get a user name and password. They said they had no record of GL in their computers. I explained that he was a freshman, but was coming from home school rather than the local middle school, and that we had already met with his IEP team and they had written his IEP. They said we would have to meet with a guidance counselor and set up his schedule before they could put him in the computer.

We made an appointment and met with his guidance counselor, who had been in the IEP meetings, but hadn't said much. He said that since the class period GL was starting with was second period, and was vocational, not academic, he thought it would be better to start him with two classes: his first period class, where he would be in a classroom with his main teacher, and second period, where he would be going through the school collecting the recycling. We hesitated for a moment, but we thought it would be good to start him with an academic class right away and, since he had enjoyed the recycling when he visited, he could probably handle that afterwards. So, under the impression he had cleared it with the necessary people, we agreed.

At New Student Orientation, where freshmen get their official schedules, locker assignments, and combinations, there was none for GL. But we saw his counselor there, and he assured us that the verbally-agreed-on schedule was set.

The day before school started, I got a phone call alerting me that on the first day, there would be a brief homeroom meeting, and first and second period would be delayed. Since his first period class is in his homeroom, it sounded fine to me, so I just confirmed what time to bring him to school and what time to pick him up. I dropped him off for homeroom at the agreed-on time, and all appeared well. When I picked him up, the person who met me at the door said that everything had worked out fine today, but we really needed to stick to his IEP and consult with his teacher before making schedule changes.

I explained that it was fine with us either way, but that his counselor had suggested the change and we agreed, thinking everyone was on board. She said she would check into it, but to bring him only to second period on Friday, and she would find out what to do about his schedule for next week.

Later that afternoon, I called back to find out what time to bring him for second period, since I didn't have the schedule firmly in my memory, and we had nothing in writing. That's when I found out what had happened. His counselor had come up with the idea of the schedule change. He had called GL's teacher at home and, not having a copy of GL's IEP in front of her, she agreed. So he made the change without telling anyone else. We were caught in the middle, not knowing what was going on, and everyone under the impression that we had made the change and had left  them out of the decision. I explained that we were happy to go along with either plan, we just needed to know what time to bring GL to school and what time to pick him up.

So it was settled that we would stick to the original plan: GL will start with one class period a day, recycling, second period, and we will meet with his teacher and discuss adjusting his schedule at the parent-teacher conferences at the end of the month.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to High School

We took GL to New Student Orientation. We weren't sure what to expect going in and afterward, we weren't sure what he'd got out of it. So we asked him what he'd learned. He said, "The most important rule in high school is "Don't Panic!"