I received a depressing "happy holidays" email from the CEO earlier this week. Like...really depressing. Foreboding, even. That was followed up yesterday by "the talk" by my director to the rest of my portion of the department. There will be some severe lay offs made by March. Like...16% of non-care providers. Normally, I'd be freaking out. As it is, I'm pretty comfortable. First off, I have 2 certifications which make me very marketable in the industry right now. Secondly, I look around and can see a number of people who should be laid off before me. Lastly, my manager pretty much loves me. I think worst case is, I'll be re-purposed w/in the department. Best case, I jump ship for a higher paying job. :) It's sad, though. This is a really great company to work for, and a place I'm proud of. So...if you're a healthcare provider with Epic and are in need of a clarity certified report writer and are willing to pay more than $70k per year, leave me a comment. Otherwise, say a prayer for me.
I've had a number of people comment on how much this sucks in light of the sacrifices my family has made in order for us to come out here. I agree. I wonder if managers and department heads take sob stories into account when making these decisions. If they did, they'd be hard pressed to find a sobbier story than me.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tewsday
Today is "Tewsday"! Bubba is learning the days of the week in preschool. I'm pretty sure Tuesday is his favorite one to say, and Saturday is his favorite day to live. Pretty much every morning, I'm greeted with, "It's Tewsday!" When I say, "No, it's XXXXday." He responds with, "It's Saturday". *sigh* I wish, kid...
Mornings have been going better ever since I resigned myself to being late to work everyday. People here haven't said anything to me, although I know they notice when I get in, and the fact that I leave when they do (or slightly before, a lot of times). But hey, I work hard, and so far, I haven't had any complaints. It's just a little counter to my normal way of work. One of these days, though, I'll probably have to stay until 5.
Today, though? I'm heading over to the dept holiday pot luck and then I'm going home.
Mornings have been going better ever since I resigned myself to being late to work everyday. People here haven't said anything to me, although I know they notice when I get in, and the fact that I leave when they do (or slightly before, a lot of times). But hey, I work hard, and so far, I haven't had any complaints. It's just a little counter to my normal way of work. One of these days, though, I'll probably have to stay until 5.
Today, though? I'm heading over to the dept holiday pot luck and then I'm going home.
Monday, December 12, 2011
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...
First of all, it's been under 37 degrees every morning for over a week. That is FREEZING. Well...on the lower end it's freezing. Today was 30. It has been so cold in the mornings because it hasn't rained in weeks. December is usually a dreary, cloudy, rainy month. Not this year. It's been clear and beautiful, but the trade off, of course, is the cold weather in the morning. And even though this causes me some discomfort during my walk into work every morning, I'm still walking into work every morning. Because it's actually pretty nice (sunny, the birds are singing, etc), which is way better than fighting traffic everyday.
We've been slowly getting ourselves into the Christmas state. Thanksgiving weekend, the traditional time when Christmas decorations and trees get put up around America came and went. Scooter was with her dad that weekend, so we waited until Monday evening to put our tiny tree up. The following weekend, we actually put decorations on it and put our stockings up. The next weekend was just this past one. To celebrate, we made sugar cookies. I've never made Christmas cookies before. I've done almond bark pretzels in past years, but never sugar cookies. I thought it'd be a nice way for the kids and I to build a Christmas memory in Oregon. Last year was a pretty crappy year (keep in mind that the first day of trial - which we had thought would be a one day trial - was on December 13th). So this year was our chance to start some Oregonian traditions with both kids. So that meant cutting out sugar cookies and decorating them together. I used my sister's recipe, but substituted whole wheat flour rather than all purpose flour, which made our sugar cookies look more like gingerbread cookies than regular sugar cookies. They're also a little...I don't know....grittier than a normal sugar cookie? Chewier? I can't quite put my finger on it. Other than that, though, they are pretty awesome. And I joked w/ Ben that the ones that didn't get frosting on them (we ran out about 80% of the way through) were "low carb." So...yay to us for making the world's healthiest sugar cookie. Don't you worry...there was still a pound of butter in them and almost as much sugar as "healthy" flour.
We're planning on continuing our "quick trip" tradition from last year. Last year, we went with just Bubba to the coast for a couple of days (we stayed in room 111 on 1/1/11!). This year, we're *hopefully* going to Vancouver, BC for a couple of days. We have the passports, no problem. I'm just a tad concerned about the notarized document allowing me to travel out of the country w/ Scooter. We'll see. Maybe we'll all be in the Christmas spirit this year (ha ha ha). Hmmm...
We've been slowly getting ourselves into the Christmas state. Thanksgiving weekend, the traditional time when Christmas decorations and trees get put up around America came and went. Scooter was with her dad that weekend, so we waited until Monday evening to put our tiny tree up. The following weekend, we actually put decorations on it and put our stockings up. The next weekend was just this past one. To celebrate, we made sugar cookies. I've never made Christmas cookies before. I've done almond bark pretzels in past years, but never sugar cookies. I thought it'd be a nice way for the kids and I to build a Christmas memory in Oregon. Last year was a pretty crappy year (keep in mind that the first day of trial - which we had thought would be a one day trial - was on December 13th). So this year was our chance to start some Oregonian traditions with both kids. So that meant cutting out sugar cookies and decorating them together. I used my sister's recipe, but substituted whole wheat flour rather than all purpose flour, which made our sugar cookies look more like gingerbread cookies than regular sugar cookies. They're also a little...I don't know....grittier than a normal sugar cookie? Chewier? I can't quite put my finger on it. Other than that, though, they are pretty awesome. And I joked w/ Ben that the ones that didn't get frosting on them (we ran out about 80% of the way through) were "low carb." So...yay to us for making the world's healthiest sugar cookie. Don't you worry...there was still a pound of butter in them and almost as much sugar as "healthy" flour.
We're planning on continuing our "quick trip" tradition from last year. Last year, we went with just Bubba to the coast for a couple of days (we stayed in room 111 on 1/1/11!). This year, we're *hopefully* going to Vancouver, BC for a couple of days. We have the passports, no problem. I'm just a tad concerned about the notarized document allowing me to travel out of the country w/ Scooter. We'll see. Maybe we'll all be in the Christmas spirit this year (ha ha ha). Hmmm...
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Stress
Today's the anniversary of the historic bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. You know...the incident that lead to America joining World War II. According to some, my last name would require that I apologize today. But I'm not going to.
We got Scooter's report card yesterday. In grown-up terms, she's failing writing. As in, she does not meet the standard. Luckily, I knew that was coming, and we've been working on that (REALLY HARD) for a couple of weeks, now. And we're actually seeing improvment. Goal is to be awesome by the spring. That was a little stressful, but I've had worse.
Today, in fact, was worse. I got the ex's appellant brief in my email inbox this morning. Super awesome. It came while I was in a meeting in which 3 of my 4 proposals got denied pending further testing by me. The other one, I had withdrawn from the meeting at the last minute, anyway. Whoopsie! So yeah. Anything lawyerly related gets my stomach in knots and my heart in a panicked state. So today has kind of been horrific. But my head knows, after reading (and re-reading, and re-reading) the brief that we've got this thing in the bag. Unless we don't (hence, the panic attacks).
Do you know what I do to make my day better when I have days like this? I read the judge's opinion and ruling. It's very thoughtful, well-written, and (this is the best part) it goes in my favor. The amount of case law he pulled in to back up his decision is comforting to read, especially when everything else seems to be attacking me personally.
We got Scooter's report card yesterday. In grown-up terms, she's failing writing. As in, she does not meet the standard. Luckily, I knew that was coming, and we've been working on that (REALLY HARD) for a couple of weeks, now. And we're actually seeing improvment. Goal is to be awesome by the spring. That was a little stressful, but I've had worse.
Today, in fact, was worse. I got the ex's appellant brief in my email inbox this morning. Super awesome. It came while I was in a meeting in which 3 of my 4 proposals got denied pending further testing by me. The other one, I had withdrawn from the meeting at the last minute, anyway. Whoopsie! So yeah. Anything lawyerly related gets my stomach in knots and my heart in a panicked state. So today has kind of been horrific. But my head knows, after reading (and re-reading, and re-reading) the brief that we've got this thing in the bag. Unless we don't (hence, the panic attacks).
Do you know what I do to make my day better when I have days like this? I read the judge's opinion and ruling. It's very thoughtful, well-written, and (this is the best part) it goes in my favor. The amount of case law he pulled in to back up his decision is comforting to read, especially when everything else seems to be attacking me personally.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Brrr!
I started this yesterday, but never finished. So I'll revise to make it sound like I wrote it today. It was COLD yesterday. When I took Bubba to daycare, the car said the outside temp was 26 degrees. He had a hat and mittens on. I had gloves on. There was frost everywhere (except for some reason, my car, which is parked in an open air - but covered parking space was frost-free). The sky was completely clear. Lovely to look at. Horrible to walk in. It was noticeably warmer in Portland, where there was dense fog.
Today, there was fog in Beaverton and clouds in Portland. I think the car said it was 6 or 7 degrees warmer. There was still frost on the ground, but it wasn't too bad, really. I especially don't mind the cold weather because the dirt trail shortcut that I like to take to and home from the train is now frozen enough to walk on. It's generally only a summer trail, as the rains of fall, winter and spring generally deter me from walking on a dirt (mud) path with work pants on.
But I digress. As I was walking yesterday, I was convinced that Oregon had usurped Nebraska's cold temperatures. I've been trolling msn.com for weather updates from the midwest. Imagine my surprise to see that our high temperatures have been very similar so far this year. Granted, the lows in NE are much lower than the lows in OR, but the high temps have been pretty nice back east. So after my 25 degree walk into work, I logged on to check out Omaha's weather. I was delighted to see that their "current temp" (which would have been 2 hours after my walk into work time) was 16 degrees. Their low was 3, their high was 24. Whew. This move really was a good idea, and I'm happy to report that today's current temp is 20 degrees warmer.
Even so, we're cold at our house. We've finally gotten the space heater out (before bed only), and we have turned the heat on in the kids' room (overnight only), but it's still probably in the low 60s in our house at any given time. The kids are learning the power of blankets and sweaters, I hope.
We went to the zoo on Sunday for a playdate with Bubba and a friend from preschool. We've been asking Bubba about this friend, since his parents contacted us about a playdate. Bubba seemed disinterested in this particular boy, but he did say that he liked the boy's mom. She comes everyday after lunch to pick up her son. They seemed like a really nice family. Hopefully we left an OK impression with them. The zoo was cold, so there were very few people there. We spent a good deal of time looking at the lions and the polar bears. There is a "conservation" exhibit near the polar bears that shows carbon footprints from the average American, the average person in an industrialized nation, the average person worlwide and the goal average world wide. It was striking. And disappointing. The average American is nearly twice the average for an industrialized nation. Yipes. It also had 10 ways to conserve. Turning down the heat is one of them (as is taking mass transit), so Scooter really thinks we're doing our part. She's probably right. But that means that there are some people with even bigger carbon footprints than our family. It's scary.
Anyway, Bubba had a very good time w/ his friend, and now he wants to hang out with that boy again. I think that would be fun. Maybe we'll choose an indoor venue next time.
Today, there was fog in Beaverton and clouds in Portland. I think the car said it was 6 or 7 degrees warmer. There was still frost on the ground, but it wasn't too bad, really. I especially don't mind the cold weather because the dirt trail shortcut that I like to take to and home from the train is now frozen enough to walk on. It's generally only a summer trail, as the rains of fall, winter and spring generally deter me from walking on a dirt (mud) path with work pants on.
But I digress. As I was walking yesterday, I was convinced that Oregon had usurped Nebraska's cold temperatures. I've been trolling msn.com for weather updates from the midwest. Imagine my surprise to see that our high temperatures have been very similar so far this year. Granted, the lows in NE are much lower than the lows in OR, but the high temps have been pretty nice back east. So after my 25 degree walk into work, I logged on to check out Omaha's weather. I was delighted to see that their "current temp" (which would have been 2 hours after my walk into work time) was 16 degrees. Their low was 3, their high was 24. Whew. This move really was a good idea, and I'm happy to report that today's current temp is 20 degrees warmer.
Even so, we're cold at our house. We've finally gotten the space heater out (before bed only), and we have turned the heat on in the kids' room (overnight only), but it's still probably in the low 60s in our house at any given time. The kids are learning the power of blankets and sweaters, I hope.
We went to the zoo on Sunday for a playdate with Bubba and a friend from preschool. We've been asking Bubba about this friend, since his parents contacted us about a playdate. Bubba seemed disinterested in this particular boy, but he did say that he liked the boy's mom. She comes everyday after lunch to pick up her son. They seemed like a really nice family. Hopefully we left an OK impression with them. The zoo was cold, so there were very few people there. We spent a good deal of time looking at the lions and the polar bears. There is a "conservation" exhibit near the polar bears that shows carbon footprints from the average American, the average person in an industrialized nation, the average person worlwide and the goal average world wide. It was striking. And disappointing. The average American is nearly twice the average for an industrialized nation. Yipes. It also had 10 ways to conserve. Turning down the heat is one of them (as is taking mass transit), so Scooter really thinks we're doing our part. She's probably right. But that means that there are some people with even bigger carbon footprints than our family. It's scary.
Anyway, Bubba had a very good time w/ his friend, and now he wants to hang out with that boy again. I think that would be fun. Maybe we'll choose an indoor venue next time.
Friday, December 2, 2011
What a day dad had.
Have you ever read Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss? It's a pretty great book. It uses simple words that rhyme in funny scenarios that a kid can understand. Both my kids love that book (well...maybe Scooter not as much anymore), and I remember it as being one that I used when I was learning to read. So anyway, there's a part that goes something like this, "Dad is Sad. His day was bad. What a bad day dad had." I might be wrong, but you get the gist. Anyway, the picture that goes along with those sentences is kind of like what I felt like this morning.
It started last night as I was falling asleep. I probably woke Ben up with my exclamation of distress. I had forgotten our CSA shipment yesterday. Veggies get delivered to my workplace at 3pm, and I have until 7pm to pick them up before they get donated to a homeless shelter. Needless to say, if I remembered as I was falling asleep last night, we didn't get the veggies. But I'm happy to say that I donated a weeks' worth of veggies (for a family of 3.5) to some homeless this holiday season, even if I didn't do it on purpose.
So this morning, I missed my new #1 train, and had to take #2. It wasn't too busy (yay!), but it was late (boo!). Also, the electronic sign that tells me when the train will come also told me that I'll have to take a shuttle tonight for 1/2 of my trip. In my experience, that greatly slows my commute. Bummer. I trekked into work and positioned myself in front of the coffee caraffe for some warmth and happiness. It was empty. So was the tub from which we scoop our coffee. I went about finding, refilling and then making the coffee. When I got back to my desk, I realized I had forgotten my work shoes. I have to wear my hiking shoes all day today. Normally, I'd keep my head down and bear it, but today we're having our make-up all hands meeting with the CIO (chief information officer...my boss' boss' boss). I usually try to have the appearance of professionalism during those things. Oh well.
I'm about to call the clerk of court about the ex's child support abatement for his travel in October. Even though it's in the court order, this will be the 2nd month in a row that he has not sent me a copy of his affidavit OR his reciepts from his expenses. So I'll have to call the ol' lawyer, too, I'm sure. I haven't gotten a bill from my man for November. I usually get them around the 20th of the month, but I'm guessing with Thanksgiving in there, it's late? Maybe they'll grant me a reprieve. Doubtful. So, yeah. Thanks, mom, for the "anything" money for Thanksgiving. It's exactly one month's lawyer payment! We're living it up in Portland...
It started last night as I was falling asleep. I probably woke Ben up with my exclamation of distress. I had forgotten our CSA shipment yesterday. Veggies get delivered to my workplace at 3pm, and I have until 7pm to pick them up before they get donated to a homeless shelter. Needless to say, if I remembered as I was falling asleep last night, we didn't get the veggies. But I'm happy to say that I donated a weeks' worth of veggies (for a family of 3.5) to some homeless this holiday season, even if I didn't do it on purpose.
So this morning, I missed my new #1 train, and had to take #2. It wasn't too busy (yay!), but it was late (boo!). Also, the electronic sign that tells me when the train will come also told me that I'll have to take a shuttle tonight for 1/2 of my trip. In my experience, that greatly slows my commute. Bummer. I trekked into work and positioned myself in front of the coffee caraffe for some warmth and happiness. It was empty. So was the tub from which we scoop our coffee. I went about finding, refilling and then making the coffee. When I got back to my desk, I realized I had forgotten my work shoes. I have to wear my hiking shoes all day today. Normally, I'd keep my head down and bear it, but today we're having our make-up all hands meeting with the CIO (chief information officer...my boss' boss' boss). I usually try to have the appearance of professionalism during those things. Oh well.
I'm about to call the clerk of court about the ex's child support abatement for his travel in October. Even though it's in the court order, this will be the 2nd month in a row that he has not sent me a copy of his affidavit OR his reciepts from his expenses. So I'll have to call the ol' lawyer, too, I'm sure. I haven't gotten a bill from my man for November. I usually get them around the 20th of the month, but I'm guessing with Thanksgiving in there, it's late? Maybe they'll grant me a reprieve. Doubtful. So, yeah. Thanks, mom, for the "anything" money for Thanksgiving. It's exactly one month's lawyer payment! We're living it up in Portland...
Oops. Bad mom
I missed a day yesterday. Scooter didn't, though. Whew. I'm just not that good with solidarity, I guess. I did take off of work at 1pm to take her to a dr. appointment. 50th percentile for height, 58th for weight. She had a 5 pound weight gain in the past 6 months without much height gain, so I think she's due to sprout up. I'm happy about that, since she didn't grow at all for a year at her dad's. Yippie! But...based on her current height and the short amount of growth in the current pediatrician's system, the doctor estimates that Scooter will be 5'4" fully grown. I'm thinking that she'll probably be taller, but it was nice to declare that she'll never be taller than her mother. Of course, I'm not taller than my mother, either.
Last night was swim lessons night, which means we were busy. Scooter and I were at the doctor's office from 1:40-3:20. We came home, and I logged back in to work. I had left at 1 to pick Scooter up, so I kind of needed to make up a couple of hours. Ben came home shortly after that with Bubba, and made plans to go to the park. By 4, we were "ready" to go. Scooter and I walked, Bubba rode his bike, Ben met us up there later. We rode around the park once before attacking the play area. We didn't stay long, and for the 3rd time in a row with Bubba, he was cool with leaving when I said it was time. He just slid down the slide, put on his helmet, and off he rode.
By 5, I was coaxing the little man into his seat for dinner. We have to leave around 5:45 in order to drive to swim lessons, change, and get in the pool by 6. SOOO nice. In Omaha, we'd have to leave at 5:30 and already be in our suits before we left the house. Bubba and I had our mommy and me lesson, and Ben brought Scooter closer to her time so she could get another 20 minutes of reading done at home. Ben took Bubba home, and I stayed behind to watch Scooter swim. She did so well. In the past 6-8 months, she as really developed her swimming skills. It's amazing what happens when she's "ready" to do something. She just does it! With a child like Scooter, it's sometimes hard to remember how much effort goes into it behind the scenes, though. She's been struggling through lessons for 5 years, now, with me constantly worried that I'm moving her up too fast or not fast enough, etc. Well...I know now that she's doing just fine.
I'm hoping the same holds for her writing. We got home from lessons around 7:20 or so, and Scooter had to take a shower (and all the post-shower work that goes into it, like vanicream, etc), and still do 30 minutes (remember our ultimatum?) of writing. Her dad called as she was getting ready for her shower. Fine. Her shower waited until she was done. When she got out of the shower, she asked me to sit with her while she got ready. That's pretty standard procedure. We talked about her math homework and the writing she had to do that night, and she started crying. She said she was just so tired, and her dad told her she had to call him back and she REALLY didn't want to. I asked what she wanted me to do. She said nothing - they had already said good night on the last call.
After she calmed down, she got to work on her writing. Unbeknownst to her, I set the timer for 15 minutes instead of 30. By that time, it was already 8, and she needed sleep. I did tell her that she could write until the timer went off, and if I could tell that she was trying really hard and she had close to 100 words, I wouldn't make her keep going. Well...by the time the buzzer sounded, she had 102 words, and none of the sentences started with "After that" or "Then." I consider that a success. After that, *wink* Scooter went to bed feeling happy and relieved. I consider that a success, too.
Last night was swim lessons night, which means we were busy. Scooter and I were at the doctor's office from 1:40-3:20. We came home, and I logged back in to work. I had left at 1 to pick Scooter up, so I kind of needed to make up a couple of hours. Ben came home shortly after that with Bubba, and made plans to go to the park. By 4, we were "ready" to go. Scooter and I walked, Bubba rode his bike, Ben met us up there later. We rode around the park once before attacking the play area. We didn't stay long, and for the 3rd time in a row with Bubba, he was cool with leaving when I said it was time. He just slid down the slide, put on his helmet, and off he rode.
By 5, I was coaxing the little man into his seat for dinner. We have to leave around 5:45 in order to drive to swim lessons, change, and get in the pool by 6. SOOO nice. In Omaha, we'd have to leave at 5:30 and already be in our suits before we left the house. Bubba and I had our mommy and me lesson, and Ben brought Scooter closer to her time so she could get another 20 minutes of reading done at home. Ben took Bubba home, and I stayed behind to watch Scooter swim. She did so well. In the past 6-8 months, she as really developed her swimming skills. It's amazing what happens when she's "ready" to do something. She just does it! With a child like Scooter, it's sometimes hard to remember how much effort goes into it behind the scenes, though. She's been struggling through lessons for 5 years, now, with me constantly worried that I'm moving her up too fast or not fast enough, etc. Well...I know now that she's doing just fine.
I'm hoping the same holds for her writing. We got home from lessons around 7:20 or so, and Scooter had to take a shower (and all the post-shower work that goes into it, like vanicream, etc), and still do 30 minutes (remember our ultimatum?) of writing. Her dad called as she was getting ready for her shower. Fine. Her shower waited until she was done. When she got out of the shower, she asked me to sit with her while she got ready. That's pretty standard procedure. We talked about her math homework and the writing she had to do that night, and she started crying. She said she was just so tired, and her dad told her she had to call him back and she REALLY didn't want to. I asked what she wanted me to do. She said nothing - they had already said good night on the last call.
After she calmed down, she got to work on her writing. Unbeknownst to her, I set the timer for 15 minutes instead of 30. By that time, it was already 8, and she needed sleep. I did tell her that she could write until the timer went off, and if I could tell that she was trying really hard and she had close to 100 words, I wouldn't make her keep going. Well...by the time the buzzer sounded, she had 102 words, and none of the sentences started with "After that" or "Then." I consider that a success. After that, *wink* Scooter went to bed feeling happy and relieved. I consider that a success, too.
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