Merry Christmas

What you thought I would post this on Christmas? Silly Silly blog readers this is the Duchess we are talking about:-)

We had a lovely Christmas at Casa de German Last name! I got a lovely ring and earrings that match the lovely ring! Diamonds and gold make a Latina Princess very happy indeed:-) The Man got an Xbox 360, some games, socks, an IPod stereo thingee and various odds and ends.

I got a Coach bag from the Mommakins and a Vera Bradley bag from the Ohio Momma/Ohio family. I also got a pretty groovy Coach change purse from The Cousin. I got her a green Coach wallet that I think may match her purse however the buckle is yellow gold and The Cousin? Well she has some deeply held beliefs about gold. While she is indeed a good Mexican she is only Mexican on her dad's side so she likes her gold to be white. Me? I am Mexican on both sides so I like me some old school yellow gold.

The Cousin didn't come to Michigan for Christmas this year which is poopey as hell. I missed her horribly. So I am closing with a quote from a great philosopher, Winnie the Pooh:

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."”

Thinking

When The Man first lost his job I offered to sell my soul and apply for a state job in my field. A couple of the counties WAAAAAY Up North were hiring and I felt that with my experience I could get hired. State workers make double what I do and it appears that they do half of the work. He said that he would support my decision however while he had absolutely no doubt in his mind that I could do the job he was concerned that I couldn't handle not being able to see him everyday. Now keep in mind he was not being all macho and conceited with that statement. He was stating the truth.

I really don't do well when I can't see him everyday. I hate not being able to get a hug or hold his hand or snuggle with him before we go to sleep. I feel incomplete and my day gets all wonky.

Yep we have only been married for two years but I already can't picture my life before having the Ohio Boy.

I really do like this marriage gig.

Whooo

The Man's first day of WORK was today!!!
He was laid off Feb 18
His next day of work Nov 30

Oye I do love Michigan but for the love of the Bald Headed Baby Jesus this economy is for the birds!!

Monthly Meeting

I had a staff meeting for my second job today. We had to introduce ourselves and share a challenging time with the newbies. I shared one funny challenging time and one serious challenging time. I shall share my funny one here:-)
The non-profit that I work for is housed in a huge old house that is very typical in this college town that shall be known as A2. Now in A2 we have an unusual mix of people. You have the well educated comfortable to some serious money people to the I want to save the world from the evil of capitalism one hairy armpit at a time people. I tend to work with the second group because I shall be known as someone who loves children more than I love making a decent wage:-) In case you are wondering yes I was the only one there tonight wearing make-up, earrings and carrying a purse that I can't smoke when I am done using it.

On to my story: I HATE basements with a fiery passion. I will turn on every light in the house when I have to go down to our basement and that drives The Man batty. In fact, the only request I have for the finished basement project we have going is that I want lots of lights down there. The shelter that I work with is a three story home not including the basement. Part of the assigned chore for the overnighters is doing the laundry. The shelter part of the house is on the top floor. The basement is THREE flights of steps and the laundry machines are in the VERY BACK WHERE THEY USED TO KEEP THE COAL. Yeah the house is that old. When I work I have EVERY light on in the house and yes I am aware that I am wasting energy however it is a well known fact that the boogey man does not like light! The chick that comes in on Saturday morning is quite the earth mother type and she will turn off all of the lights before coming upstairs and she will call out without even seeing me "Good Morning Duchess" because apparently I am the only one that is that much of a dork to waste that much energy because of a mythical creature who does exist! I shared this "challenging" time with my co-workers and the chick sitting next to me told that I don't have to worry about being scared because there are light orbs in our shelter and they will protect me. Another known fact apparently is that light orbs are usually friendly spirits who look after us.

How many of you would like to bet on the chance of me EVER working at the shelter overnight again?

Drama

My mommakins is back in her apartment! She left rehab today:-)
Tomorrow I have a staff meeting for my second job and then supervision. I love that I have to have supervision for a one shift a week job that the kids are usually asleep for anyway.

So I had a nasty court date yesterday. One of my cases involves a same sex couple whose first foster placement was a doozy. We knew the kids were pretty abused however the mother in effort to gain the sympathy of the court provided even more information regarding the abuse and her complete ignorance of what was going on with any of the three children. This same birth mother stalked the foster parents, followed them home, had mail sent to their home and showed up at their office to just name a few things that these foster parents have endured. Anyhoo the foster parents believe that we knew the extent of the abuse and we withheld information. We didn't know the details and we did share our thoughts that we just knew the bare surface of what the kids had gone through but no the foster parents blame us. Our relationship with these people are not good and everything we do is wrong and we are against them etc. They are now adopting two of the three children and they are against the other foster parent who is adopting the other child even though they didn't want the second child just the oldest and youngest. Our last court date we had a substitute referee (referees are attorneys and they are below Judges. They can't "order" like a judge they can "recommend") who stated on record that she felt that there is a conspiracy against these foster parents and the state is in on it and it even got worse as the hearing went on. Mind you this is all on record. Our agency filed an official compliant against this referee. This referee has a reputation of not really understanding the law and just being wiley niley on what she "recommends". So I was dreading this court date because the referee had "recommended" that I have the adoption completely finished by this court date which is completely impossible and you would think that a referee with over 20 years experience would know that but yep she did indeed "recommend" this nonsense. Moving on with my rambling, I get to court and the foster parents are already there and they say that we were moved to another court room. Odd. Anyway I find the other court room and it is the head referee's court room. Our case was moved to another docket until the regular referee returns. Ok I get that and then one of the attorneys sitting next to me asks if I know why we were moved and I shook my head. The attorney said that the substitute referee was terminated!! The attorney stated that the referee finally ticked off the wrong person. I asked for details and we were not the only agency that had complained about her. She was really a dangerous person to have on the stand because even though they only recommend the Judge that signs off on the recommendation which turns it into an order relies on the referee to not be a nut case!

See you all should become social workers! We lead exciting lives:-)

WOW

I last posted in July?!?! Really?

Hmm that is just sad very very sad but life has been crazy and not in the good way.

My mom is really struggling with her health and now it looks like she is moving in with us early next year. She has to have a shunt put in to help her not retain so much fluid (she has liver problems and her stomach is always extended which makes it hard for her to move about) and one of the side effects of this procedure is heightened confusion so The Man and I discussed it and she is moving in. We have a three bedroom house and she will have the bedroom next to the bathroom and we are going to finish the basement to increase our living space.

The Man had a CAD test which followed an interview so we are hopeful. The job is only a contract position but it will put a bit more experience on his resume and we keep hearing that the economy is picking up so lets keep our fingers crossed:-)

We have been married two years and Lord it has been quite the adventure. I would not change a minute of it though because the challenges are making us and our relationship stronger. Well that is what I am telling myself at least:-)

Hey another blogger friend got married! Check out: mylifeasacrazycatlady.blogspot.com
She was another beautiful bride.


How do you do those link things where you can just click on the text and it magically takes you where you need to go?

I promise to try to be a better blogger:-)

An Update

Sorry, sorry! I have been reading all of my blogs but I have been so tired lately I haven't had the energy to update my own blog.

The Man is still looking for a job however K-Pooh just gave him a lead so we, of course, jumped on it. Please cross your fingers, toes and send up some serious prayers please. I do appreciate it and so does The Man.

I just got Consent on a competing party adoption and it made my day! The state worker assigned to the case was putting up numerous road blocks because she wanted the foster parent of the siblings to adopt the baby even though the older siblings are all sexually acting out on each other and the two younger brothers refuse to speak to the older brother because he scares them. The oldest sibling is 12 and the youngest is 2. Yeah good idea to place a non mobile baby with significant developmental delays in that home. OY!

The Mommakins retired on July 1. Her health is absolute rubbish and I terrified when she doesn't answer a text within an hour of me sending it. I am constantly in contact with her doctors to arrange the appointments and tests and what have you. The Man is the one that has to take her to the majority of her appointments since he is not working yet so at least that is helpful. It will be a struggle to schedule her appointments when he does get a job because he won't be able to take any time off but we will manage something when that time comes. She can at least take her short bus to two of her doctors. She hates it but if she can get there I can pick her up after work.

So two weeks ago I met The Man and Mommakins at the doctor. I placed my planner, also known as MY LIFE thank you very much, in the pocket of the wheelchair. That is where I left the darn thing! I didn't even realize it until Oatmeally called me on Saturday asking me a question. I panicked!!! I called the hospital and there was nothing in the lost and found and the medical building was closed until 7:00 am Monday morning. Me and my chubby bum was at the medical building at 7:03 on Monday morning. It wasn't in the medical building so I walked over to the hospital and as I approached the information desk a beam of sunshine hit my beautiful planner. It was a glorious sight and as I reached the desk a choir of angels started to sing!!! It was kind of funny because I have my business card and my name plastered all over the planner and no one thought to open it and call one of my numerous numbers. Maybe they would have if I hadn't claimed it so fast. Anyhoo my baby is back where she belongs and I know where I am supposed to be:-)

Did I ever tell you that my planner is color coded? It is and I am not ashamed to admit it!! I would take a picture but I haven't figure out how to alter photos yet and I have it coded by clients too.
My system? Why yes I will share it with you:-)
Pink is personal
Orange is court
Green is home visits
Blue is meetings
Yellow is my second job

I have an alien nation setting up camp on my nose and being the goofball that I am I had The Man take a picture of it and I sent it to BunnyButt. You need friends that you can do that to and she is looking forward to performing a minor operation on Saturday when I see her to celebrate Oatmeally's birthday.

This no job thing is getting on The Man's nerves so I have been praying very hard that he finds something soonest. Lately I swear I have been hearing "Around the corner". So me being me I feel that this could mean one of three things:
1. I am experiencing positive symptoms of schizophrenia
2. G-d is telling me chill out and just trust Him
3. The Man is getting a job at Dairy Dan's

I think that is it for today my loves:-)
Hugs:-)

By the way: CONGRATULATIONS TO MS. MINDLESS!!! She got married last Saturday and I can't wait to see the wedding pictures:-)