Our Island Family Life

Ok, the school guidance counselor came out to the island today. It's been a while since she has been here. She came to the house and we had some one on one time (which was really great for me) and I was able to catch her up on how Cade was doing. She brought us a food card as a Thanksgiving treat which was really nice. She was really impressed at my commitment at keeping the kids in therapy even with the extra effort of having to bring them in town. Not easy I can tell you.

So, things went pretty smooth last night. I have been sending Connor to go and walk Cade and Sofie home lately from the dock. It gives him a chance to see his dad otherwise he wouldn't. It gives Sofie and Cade a chance to regroup a bit before they get home. Sofie was very happy to be back. She always screams mommy and hugs me so tight it almost hurts. I am sure Sean is grateful not to see that. Not that I am doing him any favors. She was a mess. Hear hair was a tangled mess. I doubt it was combed at all since I did it Friday. She was covered in marker and she had a rash on her face and butt. Lovely. I gave her a nice long bath and covered her in creams and medicines. It took a while to comb the knots out. While we were at it I painted her nails a nice fall brown color. She was thrilled. It still amazes me she sits still long enough for the polish to dry. Will gets very disgruntled every time she comes home like that. He was mumbling about Sean being nothing more than a glorified babysitter than a father. I just let it slide. No point in getting into an argument about it. Cade said his weekend sucked. Then he said he wasn't allowed to say that there. He did go to the tournament on Saturday and had some good pizza and unlimited glazed donuts. So much for their "organic" life humm? When Sean is alone his true colors come out. Sofie had a huge bruise on her leg. I wondered if she fell but it isn't like anyone is telling me. Cade did mention Sofie got bit again and he saw the bruise on her leg on Sunday and was wondering how it happened. I am guessing she got it on Saturday when Sean and Cade were gone for the day. I am just going to go with the fact she is three and it's not surprising she might have fallen. I was glad to see they didn't have her hair cut. I am glad I kept my mouth shut and never said a word. I am thinking I am going to have to do it myself though. She comes back looking like medusa every Sunday and it hurts her to have to get it brushed out. I go real slow but still. When she's home it's a quick and bonding thing for us that doesn't hurt. Of course I always put it up at meal times and at other times she could get stuff in it. They don't do that. I am sure more stuff will come out over the week. Joy. Oh, and I got a picture from Sofie when she got home. In crayon so I wonder why she looked like a rainbow vomited on her hands? Anyway, the picture really made me mad. I mean I was so...so..sick. It was folded up in a baggie. She was happy to give it to me and I was shocked that Sean would be kind enough to send it to me. Then I looked at it. It said, To Amy love Sofie and Ragan. I didn't even want to open it. Cade looked disgusted. He looked over my shoulder at it like a person might look at a car accident. Morbid curiosity. I looked at it because Sofie wanted me to. Inside one half was a drawing from Sofie. Stick people and scribbles. Cute..:) The other side was from the girl and it said on it, Amy Rocks! Please. She has met me once. I feel like a bad person for wanting to shred the drawing. I know..know the girl acts the way she does because of her mom. It isn't her fault. She will be 8 years old next month. I just get into very angry mom mode though when I think of her. How can I like the kid who bites and punches my daughter? Who walks in on my son when he's naked? I want to be more compassionate. I want to be more empathetic. I just can't right now. I really don't like her. I have never not liked a kid before. I have thought some were rude and mean and stuff but not outright disgust. I wonder if she made that picture for me because she wanted to? I really doubt it. Unless they are telling her how wonderful I am which would be odd considering the woman puts me down in front of Cade. Twisted.

I need to work on making lists again. I was getting overwhelmed looking at them and stopped for a while. On the other side of the coin now though I am feeling overwhelmed that things are sliding a bit. I know my thinking processes are like molasses right now with my lovely head cold but I totally spaced the free flu vaccines at the hall yesterday for the kids and me. Now I will have to pay for them at the doctors. Plus a trip in town. Wonderful.

I'm still sick but getting better. No fever and no oink oink flu for me. That's the silver lining for me on feeling miserable.

More good stuff. My island car is running. I hope it lasts the winter. I got my DHHS money today! I have already spent half of it on bills. I have more bills but I am trying to stay conservative. I need to get the town car all fixed up for the winter and inspected so I am going to do that first then see what I can do. Will made more money than me again last week. I feel pretty crappy about that.

Connor did go see his dad. Again he was gleeful about trying to bleed his dad dry of funds for xbox games. Whatever. Let them have a dysfunctional relationship.

Progress report cards are coming home today. These are not the final grades just a progress thing the school sends out so kids and parents can see what needs to be worked on before the final grades are done and gives the kids a chance to fix things.Will is exceeding all his classes but one. He is smart and lets me know before the cards come if he is having trouble. He also lets me know what he is doing to fix the problem. I wish all people did that with me. Connor on the other hand is almost a mystery. He didn't tell me what he was getting but he did tell me about the one class he was behind in and what he was trying to do to fix it. I am crossing my fingers I won't get punched in the stomach when I see the progress report.

I need to go and take a rest. I didn't work today but I am tomorrow and there is a field trip on Wednesday so I need to be over this thing by then.

Let's start off with some good news. I got my laptop back. It's fixed and it works. Bad news, won't connect to the internet unless plugged in....now I need to figure out the problem. It means a phone call to the provider which always ends in misery...for me. Oh and I might need a new battery and/or adapter. Still cheaper than a new laptop. More good, called the DHHS hot line and the money was collected yesterday. Bad news, still not in my account even with direct deposit. Called DHHS back and was told it can take up to seven days for it to be dispersed. Good news, the mechanic came and looked at the island car yesterday...finally. Bad news, it still isn't running. Good news, it isn't the wiring. Bad news, it might be the battery after all but not sure yet. It says it's charged but it might just be too old. Good news, the guy thinks he has one at his house in town and is going to get it for me...for free. More bad news, while talking to DHHS found out they still do not have verification of Sean's job and there is not a wage attachment in place yet. So, in theory after I get this money I will be going through this process again. As it stands they are going to let him make payments to them himself. I pointed out that was why they had to do this bank attachment in the first place because he wasn't paying. I was told they are just waiting for the verification. I pointed out again they have been waiting for almost a year for one of them and since the beginning of August for the other. What does it take to get the places to answer them? I was told that they will just keep doing bank attachments every month if they have to. Riight. Because it worked so well this time. Giving Sean some points he did make a payment at the end of September all on his own outside of the attachment. That was added to the payout yesterday. I give points where they are due. Still, his numbers are very low. I guess I get to call them next week. I am thinking I am going to have to call the school myself. I really am not the kind of person with the skill set to do this kind of thing. It raises my stress levels big time. More bad news, got my credit card bill and those places I called before that I had charges from that I didn't make are still charging. They "said" I was refunded and off the records. I called one place twice. Now I am going to call the credit card company. I am so mad then tired at the same time. More phone calls. ick. Even though there is more in the bad news side I feel as if I am taking some steps forward. That may sound weird but maybe I am just feeling optimistic right now. I guess that's a good place to be...oh more good news. My new books rock! I am so happy they are so fun to read. It makes me happy and I need all I can get in the makes me happy bucket. Connor said I made him sick when I finished one book in a day. I told him he was just jealous and he laughed. He was teasing me. That was nice though. It's good to see him connecting. Speaking of that, more bad news, one guy on the island Connor is pretty close with got real sick on the boat ride home yesterday. They have EMT's on the boat and they stopped at the nearest island and met up with the fire boat that took him to the hospital. We don't know yet if he had a stroke or had an allergic reaction to some meds he had that day. (He had some teeth pulled) He is in his 70's but still works for the government and it's a real shock. Healthy guy. I will hear more today.