Gawd. It seemed like the weekend was never gonna come! Another week from hell dragged on forever. But suddenly, it was Friday afternoon, and I was too ready for my Birfday Weekend.
Thursday I went to see Jackie�s teacher, Ms. Roseybutt. Ms. Roseybutt thinks she�s too good to interact with parents of her students. I had contacted her twice concerning a bully in my daughter�s class, and she didn�t respond. My daughter was really getting upset, she didn�t feel her teacher liked her, nor did she feel like she listened to her. The teacher actually told her �she�s not the problem, you are� and I was pissed. How dare she say anything like that? Now the bully feels she can let Jackie have it because she�s not going to get in trouble now. That�s really nice of the teacher to peg a kid like that.
So, Thursday morning, I went into work late because of this need to speak with Ms. Roseybutt. This Ms. Roseybutt looks like she perpetually smells fart, I noticed. When I approached her, she had her face squinched up. I waited until the children were inside class and I said, �Pardon me, Ms. Roseybutt, but Jacquelyn seems to think you dislike her..� in my best concerned Mom voice.
She snapped, �Well, maybe she�s just making excuses!� and I was incredulous. I�m sure it registered on my face. I said, �Why would she need to make excuses? I was asking her why she didn�t tell you that Paige was picking on her. She doesn�t need to make any excuses here and she�s not. She feels she can�t trust and confide in you�.
Her reply? �Well, maybe since she�s used to getting all your attention at home she expects it here�. Uh, gee, yeah, I�m a stay at home single parent�yeah right! Yeah, I have the luxury of spending every waking moment basking in Jackie's aura!
This woman sucks at understanding children. She�s totally missing that I�m conveying to her that my child is unhappy in this class. Jackie�s unhappy because this child picks on her, and she�s unhappy that her teacher has her unfairly pegged as a troublemaker.
After going round and round with me arguing with her, the teacher finally starts to understand. She, seemingly exasperated, says, �I will talk to her alone today� which made me think that she was going to make things right.
Jackie came home that afternoon. I asked her �Did Ms. Roseybutt talk to you alone today?� to which Jackie said, �No, but she did give me four tally-marks. Mom, I only remember her talking to me once.� Four tally-marks take Jackie from a green behavior day to a yellow, and is almost and orange, for which she would�ve lost a recess.
I was pissed now because my daughter had never gotten four tally-marks for bad behavior. That is, not until the very day I talked to her teacher. How strange! Jackie was upset because we had a deal that if she got five green behaviors in a row we could go to McDonald�s Playland. I give this lady a week.
The next day, Jackie decided to wear a shirt of hers that says, �Brat� to which I thought was fitting since her teacher was obviously under the impression that Jackie was a spoiled, self-centered kid. Normally, I�d say no to the obnoxious shirt her friend had given her, but I thought the teacher might be thrilled about it.
I planned to pick Jackie up early on Friday to make up for the hell she�d been through this week.
Friday, we got out of work early for an offsite. After the offsite, I ran some errands, and then, at 1:00 I picked Jackie up from school.
Jackie got into the car and was instantly stressed, �Mom, I forgot to get my homework folder,� I stopped fastening her car seat and said, �Don�t you worry about that right now. I�ll write you a note.� I mentally decided that I�m going to call Jackie�s principle next week too.
We talked about the morning events, and then we ran some more errands.
I had called Jackie�s doctor that morning because she�s had a low fever twice in a few days, and she was congested. He called in a prescription of antibiotics for her because it sounds like she has an upper respiratory infection.
But could Walgreens get it right? Nah! I had to go out in holiday weekend traffic three times. Who gives a six-year-old horse size caplets to swallow?
The only thing that soothed me was that during one of those Walgreens trips I decided to stop at Best Buy and get the new Seal CD for me for my birthday. I also got Jackie the �Annie� soundtrack. She loved it. She likes any version of �It�s a Hard Knock Life�.
My adopted mom, Cinders, was at our house by the time we got home at 4:00 p.m.
I treated her and Jackie to Penny�s Barbecue for dinner. After that we went to Hancock Fabrics. Mom bought some brushed flannel for some quilts she�s making, and I bought some hot pink fabric to make Jackie some Barbie clothes.
Friday night, I had the bright idea to buy my groceries from Wal-Mart since
Shop-n-Snot, Dierboogs and Schnots workers are on strike. Stupid. It was insane, but I survived. I didn�t want to cross a picket line because I believe that anyone who stands up for his or her beliefs should be applauded.
We sleep.
Saturday I go to K-Mart to buy Jackie some more kneepads and elbowpads. She lost them in her black hole bedroom. Fourteen friggin bucks for some ugly California raisin purple pads. I thought about buying her a new bike, because her intertube is slit and flat as a pancake. But I don�t have the money now.
When I get back, Jackie and Mom leave. Mom is watching Jackie so I can go out with my friends tonight. I was so excited.
I did laundry. Seven friggin loads. I was pissed. However, I love Gain with Bleach Alternative. It does the job well.
Finally, I�m done. Thankfully the Laundromat stayed empty so I didn�t have to feel compelled to make small talk with a smelly stranger.
I open the door when I get home and get a whiff of ripe hamster booty. Fred stinks. I�ve never met a smellier creature. If I don�t change his cage every week, it smells like ass in my house. �Why do you keep stinking up my house, Fred?� Fred glares at me from his cage. I tell him, �If I didn�t love you, I�d flush you down the toilet� because Fred is so mean that I have to wear two ply gloves when I pick him up. I think he was really mistreated at the pet store. Even when I give him treats, he tries to bite me.
I change all six gerbil, hamster and rat cages. I feel like a good pet mom. I feed Nemo too.
My weekend was fun..but I wish I spent more time with my friends. Everybody ended up being sick�so, no casino. No ka-ching. But instead of moping, I decided to go out and visit my spiritual momma, Ms. Terry. I really love Ms. Terry, oh, she of writing fame.
I can�t really think of the right words to describe her, except maybe, Queen. She is proud, wise and most of all, fair. I think maybe she judges me with a bit of love, a prejudice, shall we say, that others don�t use to gauge their opinions. Maybe it is because we have been to many of the same places in life, been through some of the same events, suffered the same indignities at the hands of those we love. She understands me like no one else.
When I go see her, there is always the gentle ribbing about me not visiting often, the gentle chiding for not giving 10% of my income to the spiritual needs of the world. She knows that I�m not chummy with the Mormies, so I don�t give to them. �Why not give to Larry Rice, who runs a homeless shelter downtown?� She takes all of the excuses out of my excuses.
We catch up on everything�and I realized I missed her more than I thought. I�ve never forgotten though what she did for me.
So, after I leave Ms. Terry�s, I go to my mom�s. It was a really nice evening. The next day we eat pizza and chat..very relaxing.
Jackie and I came home Sunday evening. She had a headache. Usually that means she�s gonna ralph. But we got home and she was okay.
I checked my messages. Kevin called and sang the birfday song on my answering machine. Today is his birthday, I hope he got my card.
Jackie went upstairs to play with Max, thank you Romy, while I got to go out and have a nice relaxing dinner. It was a really nice gesture and I appreciate that she thought of me.
Rene� took me to Rooby Boobies for my birthday dinner. They actually make Shrimp Po-Boys, my favorite. I was in ecstasy because I haven�t had one since I left New Orleans some years ago. Rene� had white chicken chili, which looked very good. He seemed fine for a while, but seems his flu was still hanging around. Rene� was okay for a while, but he started turning green again. So, we went home.
Monday I went to see Grandma and did the quickest cleaning job that I�ve ever done. I was on a schedule.
Salsalita and Jake came over and I got presents! Thanks, Salsalita.
It was a nice day. We took the kids to McDonald�s Playland, because I had promised Jackie, no matter what the wicked stepmother, I mean, Ms. Roseybutt, did to Jackie.
The kids enjoyed themselves immensely while we gossiped.
The evening ended with me sitting on my porch and serenely repotting 8-9 of my plants. The Seal CD was playing and I had the door open. It was just a nice way to end the weekend.
Thank you to all of my friends and family who made an effort to wish me
Happy Birthday.
11:55 a.m. - 2003-10-14
Recent entries:
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%%older_entries%%From hell - October 19, 2010
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