To the person who...

Is acting like they are 12, and cannot realize that she is the person who is "starting things". So when your friends email or comment people it's considered okay, but when the other person decides to finally defend herself against your stupid, snarky, and childish comments, it's not okay? That is just completely bassackwards. So why don't you and your friends just grow up? It's not hard--just quit talking about my friend. If you had quit talking about her in the first place, there wouldn't be a problem. Also, it was your friends who told her what you were writing in the first place because they thought the whole situation on your end was stupid. She wouldn't have gone and looked at your blog if your friend hadn't told her you were talking about her. She was even nice enough to take down everything she wrote about you, (which wasn't even bad) and changed her blog and twitter names. This whole situation is ridiculous. I would not have gotten into this myself if your friend had left mine alone. She didn't give me your email either; it was on a forward she had sent me some time ago, so don't think she is always discussing you or your friends. She has her own life, and will continue to live it her own way. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. You cannot just blast people and call them names when theirs is different than yours. And on the copying issue? You're just nuts on that one. I took a piss earlier, did you? Wow! You "copied" me! Stop harassing my friend. Honestly, if you think "blocking" me hurts my feelings in any way, you are dead wrong. I'm glad I and my friend do not have backstabbers in our lives. Who needs enemies when they have a friend like you? You are probably going to end up old and bitter because you will have burned all of your bridges with your "friends".

Boredom sets in...

When boredom sets in, it is usually right around this time of day (3:00 PM). I am currently at school, doing "homework" in the computer lab. I still have two more hours here, and all of my work is done. I would like to say that I was on Facebook last week (I am notoriously NOT on the computer) and I saw a group that has the sole purpose of supporting drug testing on welfare recipients. Now, I know that this could be a good thing. It would cut down on the amount of money each state is spending, it would cut down on the amount of people who are on welfare, and it would give people a reason to either get off drugs or get off welfare. However, what I saw on this group was a bunch of comments pretty much just blasting people who receive welfare. That is wrong. Not everyone who is on welfare is stupid. Not everyone is a drug addict, as these people believed. It made me angry. You see, I am on welfare. I am not ashamed to admit this. I needed help at a time in my life when things were not well for me. I was a single mom to one child, going to school, and working when I began to receive welfare. I then found out I was pregnant with my son, and I needed more help. That is when I started receiving the money benefits. It is ridiculous for people who don't know me or really anything about the welfare program to stereotype everyone who is on it. So I just want to list some things that I have to do in an average day to comply with the federal rules and regulations and receive my benefits.
1. I have to work at least 18 hours a week.
2. I am in school, so I must attend all my classes everyday they meet and have an attendance sheet signed. I am in 8 hours of class time a week.
3. I must have 7 hours of study time every week. This is monitored by having the lab assistant in the computer lab sign my study hours sheet or by going to the supervised study room.
4. If someone is not in school, they must perform so many hours a week dedicated to job study at a determined location (here it is the worksource office). This is usually around 20 hours a week.
5. If someone does not comply with these rules and regulations, they are sanctioned, which means some of their benefits are reduced for the next month. If they are still non-compliant by the next month, they will be removed from the program.

So you see, welfare recipients do not just sit on their butts at home watching soap operas and Maury paternity testing all day. Now some people may think that these rules sound pretty simple to follow, and yes, I admit they are. However, let me give you a rundown of a typical day for me:
1. I wake up at 7 AM, shower, put on makeup, and get dressed.
2. My son and daughter wake up about 8 AM and I get them dressed and ready to go.
3. About 8:30 AM I eat breakfast and attend to last minute details around the house.
4. We leave the house at 9 AM to get to the sitter's house on time.
5. I drop the kids off about 9:15 AM and head to school, where parking sucks.
6. I get to school about 9:40, leave the car and head to my 10 AM class, English 235.
7. Enlgish is over at 11 AM and I go to work.
8. I leave work at 2 PM and head off to do my study time.
9. Here is where it differs, depending on the day: On Mondays and Wednesdays, I am done with study time at 3:30. I arrive at the sitter's at 4. I spend roughly an hour with the kids and head back to school at 5:15 at the latest. I go to my night class, which is speech, at 6. That class ends at 8 PM. I get back to the sitter's and take the kids home. It is usually about 8:45 when we get home. I get the kids ready for bed and read them a book. At about 9 PM, I sit down, my first real "break" of the day. Then I do homework that has not been done during study time, if I have it. Around 11, I am in bed.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am done with study time around 4 PM and get to head straight to the kids. We either go right home or go to the store. I cook dinner and we eat between 6 and 7. At 7:30, the kids get baths and get ready for bed. Roger goes to bed at 8 and Rae goes to bed at 8:30. Then homework for me if I have it, and around 11 is my bedtime.
10. On Fridays, I work from 10 AM to 4 PM and our nightly schedule is the same as on a Tuesday or Thursday.

So to anyone who says that welfare people just sit on their asses is welcome to read this and see all of what I do in a day. Of course, now that you do see everything I do, the argument is going to be that I don't spend enough time with my kids. Well, I'm sorry. Not everyone is perfect, and I am definitely not going to claim to be. We have the weekends though, me and the kids, and we put those days to good use. Also, once I am done with my degree and find a normal job, I will have much of the same schedule. So for everyone who says that welfare recipients are lazy and drug addicted, take a long hard look at your schedules, and see which one of us actually does more work.

A long time coming

I realized that I have not written anything in a long time, so I thought I would play catch-up while on my lunch break at work. I hope I don't get caught, lol. I work in the athletic department for our community college, and it is pretty laid back here.

My son has learned how to remove his clothing. I have to invest in some onsies, or some footy pajamas or something. My daughter never did this, so it is a whole new ball game here. At least he is cute. That makes it funny. Except nothing is funny at 4 am when you have to change the baby, the bedding, and clean the mattress. Last week, my sister was watching him and he took off his POOPY diaper and I guess the poop went flying. At least I wasn't home, lol.

My daughter started preschool this past September and is doing well. She is learning a lot of things, including how to make up excuses to get out of going at all. My favorite so far is, "My elbow hurts." Drama queen.

I have recently learned that my son is scared of hula hoops. My mom bought my daughter one and when Roger saw Rae hula hooping, he thought it was hilarious. I love his laugh. But then when she put the hula hoop down, he would not go near it. He walked completely around it. My sister thought it would be funny to roll the hula hoop at him, and I have honestly never seen that kid move so fast in his short little life. He tried running, but tripped and fell and then just crawled really quickly away, out the door and across my mom's deck. Happy news, though: I tried scaring him with it yesterday, and he just played with it. Darn. I really wanted to get that on video.

With my winter quarter here at school coming to a close, I am hoping that there will be some sort of job out there for me when I graduate in June. I have great contacts, great references, great grades, and I will have a diploma and several certificates by the time I finish, so I'm certain that my hard work here will pay off in a great job.

I think I remember starting off this blog last year with a post about my daughter's father and his girlfriend, who is now his ex. A couple weeks ago, he told me that he still loves me. I'm not really sure what to do with this information, but I told him (after a lot of thought and a couple of weeks) that I loved him too. I do. I'm just not sure I want to live with him, lol. He is really messy and I am something of a neat freak. He is the type who will throw his clothes on the floor next to the laundry basket. How insane is that? Why do people do that? And when I say people, I mean men, because generally they are the ones who do it. And then not even pick them up! It's horrible.

Time to get back to work. I enjoyed catching up, and I hope I will have more time in the future to write a little bit more consistently.

Haircut

Before





After

The Danger Within....

There it sits, quiet, unassuming. Nobody knows the danger that lurks within....my car.















Yes, that is right. My car. I got into it awhile back and I go to insert the key into the ignition and to my surprise I saw a snake slithering across my dashboard. Now, I'm not really afraid of snakes but to see one unexpectedly like that startled me. I jumped right back out of the car and stood there for a moment in disbelief. Did I really just see what I thought I saw? I called my mom, although what she was supposed to do about a snake in my car I do not know. Anyway, after a few minutes I calmed down, got back in the car, and drove to my mom's to pick up the kids. I haven't seen the snake since, but it was just a tiny little guy and he was kind of cute. On a good note though, it sure does get me out of giving rides to people I don't want to. The thought of driving with a snake is a little too much for some people!

Roger is one!

Starting to eat cake



Was ok for a minute...















Then he put some in his mouth, discovered he did NOT like it,
started to gag, and then started to scream.

My kids are so weird...neither one of them likes cake.
What kind of kid doesn't like cake?

First Day

My daughter started preschool last month, and although, I did not cry on the first day, I was at my mom's one afternoon when the bus dropped her off and I did get teary-eyed then. My daughter. How do I put into words the feelings of love and frustration this child instills in me? From the moment she was born, this beautiful daughter and I have cuddled, laughed, cried, and read bedtime stories together. Now that she is close to being five, is in school, and has an attitude equaling a 16 year old, I am hoping for just a few more moments of mother-daughter times before I am viewed as "Mother" instead of Momma or Mommy. Where has all the time gone? I was told when she was born to enjoy those moments because time flies. How right that person was.

This is Rae and her Daddy on her first day of preschool