I think it's sort of driving home the fact that I should be preparing to take care of her if need be, and I don't even know how I'm taking care of myself long term right now.

I have a feeling that the answer to "how old is your mom" is going to depress me.

Yay for Umbridge becoming an ex. Yay for mind-altering drugs.

I apparently have rats again. I can't express how depressing this is. In the middle of the night, Mr Peabody started barking and alerting the way he does when he's found an rodent. Usually he does this outside, but in this case, he was barking at the kitchen cabinets. I started pulling stuff out the cabinet and discovered evidence of rodents. Also, I found myself pondering existential questions like "why do I have three cookie presses?" and "will I ever make a wedding cake again or should I get rid of all these cake pans?" at 3 a.m. In addition, my bathroom sink was full of little black ants and fruit flies have moved into my kitchen on a permanent basis. I'm thinking about an exorcism.

I vote Ativan. Of which I am full right now.

I actually prefer Ativan... but since I only have Clonopin that's what I took... thereby rendering it the best thing in the world.

Glad the interview went well Steph, and that you have booze to smoothe over the rest of the afternoon.

And Jilli, yay for moving on! No one should have to work for Umbridge.

well things sound pretty good for jilli and steph under the circumstances - and I am hoping things go that way for you to Sean

I said I forgave this person when she apologized, but I kinda need to vent here.

We had a long staff meeting this morning, including training on "Positive Behavioral Supports" to prevent violent behavior and then the physical holds and defenses we can use when violent behavior happens in spite of the Positive Stuff. Mind you, I can't remember the last time I had to physically restrain anybody, and all my coworkers love to work with me because when I am there, things are much happier and more relaxed. So, I think it is fair to say I have mastered both the theory and practice of "Positive Behavioral Supports". One of the strategies I employ is to offer a variety of activities to the individuals who live there - crafts, going for walks, coloring, games, sitting around BSing (seriously people, I am getting paid to be silly), singing goofy songs - one on one and in groups. And that isn't counting the stuff we go out into the community to do.

Bad shit happens when I'm not at that location sometimes. I was there last Friday. I've worked at my other locations and had a couple days off in between. On Tuesday, someone got so pissed off he punched the windshield of the van and broke it. On Wednesday, someone else had to be physically restrained for ten minutes & hurt the staff member who was doing the restraint.

I've worked there, doing the afternoon/evening shift for 8 years. L has worked there about 4 or 5 years. She is now wintering in Arizona, so she was gone for a while but came back for the summer. She used to work the overnight shift. Now she is mostly doing the afternoon/evenings. But you can see that she has not spent remotely as much time with the residents when they are awake as I have. She was there during at least one of the incidents this week.

During part of the discussion in today's meeting, she said how she thought the house should buy a bunch of craft supplies so she could do crafts with the people, keeping them busy and out of trouble. I pointed out that there are *some* craft supplies already in the house. (Yeah, not a heck of a lot, but lemmee see you use what's there before I endorse spending dough on more stuff, eh? ETA: I should specify that I have zero purchasing power.) She denied the value of what was already there, and said that nobody even tries to do any crafts. I pointed out the untruth of that because I know that I do. She said, "I've never seen you sit down at the table with them to do any crafts." This is true in a very literal way. We have worked two shifts together. On those two shifts there was a great deal of running errands followed by softball practice for two of the people. "But," says I, "You see that cheesy looking wall-hanging over there? I admit, it's wrinkled and it does not look as awesome as I hoped it would, but I worked on it with A and M - they helped me pick out the fabrics and hung around with me while I did the sewing - and S helped me staple it to the frame. So it may not look the best, but we had a heck of a lot of fun making it."

L said, "And how many years ago was that?"

I replied, "Try three months ago." (And honestly after we finished it, I was kinda crafted-out for a while.)

She did back-track and she apologized sincerely. So I am trying to forgive her. I kinda think maybe she was projecting more than a little.

Grr, Argh.

I'm waving at Beverly. Hi, Beverly!

Sorry I dumped and ran.

I have to say, the nerve damage in my hands...left thumb and third/fourth fingers of the right hand...is making typing weird.I can use them fine, but they are numb, so it's...odd.

Thumpity, thump, thump,_______. Weird.

I am healing fine, really. But it's just, you know, just.

I got a voicemail from the former friend 'reminding' me that I'm supposed to take care of her next door neighbor's cat tomorrow. Um. I think the neighbor needs reminding too, as he said last weekend only, expecting SHE would be doing it. Whatev.

She did say that she tried rehoming Speck, but 'it's a hard sell.' That is legit, of course.

She clearly expects me to help her out emotionally, but I just don't have it right now.

I've had good client sessions these last few days, so I'm okay but the constant reminders, along with the fact that I'm coming away with a lot of actual scars is a drag.

I can't believe it is nearly 3am and I'm not asleep. And don't even feel like sleeping. Blergh.

Hello again, stressed out 4am wake up. Really getting sick of seeing you every day

Joe drank all the coffee and I started my period.

Hopefully Joe saw the wisdom in making more coffee?

Bonny, I'm glad you have had some good client sessions and I hope those continue and help offset the not so good stuff.

so I get the kid's pain, but the parents ought have a longer view.

True. When I talked with A's mom, one of the things I said was that we needed to wait for them to get over their initial reaction before getting too upset at the snubs.

Hopefully Joe saw the wisdom in making more coffee?

He went to work very early. So I made more.