by Sarah | Mar 28, 2016 | Crap, Random, Redefining Perfect, WTF?
I don’t care if I’m a few days early.
I don’t care if it isn’t technically correct.
I’m calling it anyway.
March is DEAD. It can die now. It’s April -4 so far as I’m concerned.
HI APRIL!! You’re a beautiful month. I know you’ll be a fair sight better than that bitch, March.
After all, the only thing she gave me was broken drain pipes, cash flowing out way faster than it was coming in, heartache, and stress levels so high I couldn’t sleep.
April, I welcome your soothing rains, your signs of spring, you warming temps. I also welcome the arrival of April 20th when I can see and hug my bestie and my second mom again. Hell, when I can hug all those crazy, insane ICDC people again.
So hello, April -4th. Glad to see you. You’re a beautiful thing, you are.
by Sarah | Mar 22, 2016 | All About Me, All of Us, Crap, Random, Redefining Perfect
I have about 5 posts sitting as drafts in my wordpress from the past two weeks. They are reflections on the depression I’ve been in. The despair I’ve felt as crap-storm after crap-storm hit us from all directions.
Leaking drains.
Lying doctors.
Stupid cars.
The brutality of the flu.
One thing after another.
After another.
After another.
Much of my facebook feed has been filled with the same.
I do not often fall into the pit of depression, but I sure did this time.
It’s been tough, and painful, and I am still not all the way out of it.
And I know it is nowhere near what others go through every single day of their lives (those like my husband), but that makes it no less valid.
However, little changes are happening, and big changes, too.
In the depths of this all I went out without knowing where I was going.
A little voice in the back of my mind was telling me to hop a plane anywhere.
Another little voice pointed out a less expensive option, and the tattoo parlor in my path. And thus, I got my feather. A symbol of a lot – of freedom, strength, dreams of flying away, and perhaps even a nod to my upcoming book series.
A couple of days later I got a surprise package in the mail filled with my favorite candies from Canada (thank goodness my childhood friend found me on facebook a few years back. 🙂 ).
There are still struggles abounding. Still construction that needs to be done.
But I am trying to claw my way back out.
I cleave to the moments of good.
The tokens of happy.
I’m trying to find the upside of down.
*Random Note – after I wrote down the title of this post it hit me…I once did a musical by that name. In musical I think. Can’t find any evidence of it on google…but damn, isn’t weird how those things hit you at weird times!
by Sarah | Mar 15, 2016 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, Crap, Random, Redefining Perfect
It’s been a rough week and a half.
ROUGH.
And it’s not over yet.
As this is posting I’m going through a meeting I don’t wat to.
A meeting where I must get and use a backbone.
And I still have much to deal with in the fallout of last week.
So there is little left to do.
Except follow the immortal words of Dory…
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…”
by Sarah | Mar 11, 2016 | All About Home, All About Me, All of Us, Crap, Random, Redefining Perfect, WTF?
One leaking drain…in the wall.
One homeowners insurance claim.
One giant salamander in the backyard (for treatment of water damage).
Three different companies (so far) dealt with in repairs.
One doctor pissing me the *bleep* off.
One car deceptively decent attempting to bleed us dry.
One 100* home (due to aforementioned treatment for water damage).
One new extra PT job.
Five cranky household members.
One miserable pooch.
Zero capability to cook in an already over-baked home.
One teenager eager to flee the coop.
Two exhausted adulters ready to turn in their adult cards.
Can I go back to Disney?
And never ever leave?
~le sigh~
Done.
That is me.
Just done.
by Sarah | Mar 1, 2016 | All About Me, All of Us, Crap, Random, Redefining Perfect, WTF?
I work in a bank. I have for years, off and on.
My first teller job was in 1999 in Virginia. Back when banks had actual banker hours, and checks were still a thing.
Now it’s over 15 years later and the world of banking, like everything else, is so different.
I’ve seen what a plastic culture we’ve become.
Every day I see people that don’t have a register to keep track of their spending.
Don’t even know how to balance a checkbook.
Then wonder why they are in the hole, how could a charge have hit?
There have been so many times I’ve asked, “Do you keep a register?” only to get the identical response every time, “No…but I know what is in my account. I check it online every day.”
I’ve had teenager upon teenager, and quite a few adults come up to my window in a panic because they forgot their card, and “How on earth can I get money out?”
I am stunned on a regular basis on the ineptitude of people and how to handle their checking account. (and for the record, it is checking account…one of my biggest pet peeves is calling it checkingS. ~shudder~)
How did we come to this?
Plastic. It’s made everything so easy. I’m guilty of it myself.
So I implore every single one of you.
If you don’t know how to handle a checkbook, LEARN. Do NOT count on what you see on your online banking every day. Pending charges can drop off only to return. Some online payments don’t show up right away. And god forbid you actually write a check…you are bound to forget about it.
If your kids are coming of age to get their own accounts, teach them how to balance a checkbook. Teach them what a withdrawal is, and how it can be done without an ATM.
Remember that just because the card works doesn’t mean the money is there. It’s very possible your bank allows a certain amount of overdraft.
Also, remember you are dealing with real money, even if it doesn’t cross your fingertips. Plastic doesn’t make it fakes, just easy to abuse.
Oh, and please don’t blame the tellers for fees or errors. While we do make mistakes, often your issue is not our mistake. I promise, we really are there to help.
And lastly, teach them, and yourself, some basic bank protocol. I have some examples, but this’ll turn into a lecture. Let’s just say, use common sense and be kind to your tellers.
*~*
One final note: Try going plastic-free for one month. Use checks and cash. It’ll change the way you view money inw ays you never imagined.
by Sarah | Nov 23, 2015 | All About Denver, Crap, Cystic Fibrosis, Random, Redefining Perfect, Special Needs, The Teenager
For almost two years I thought we’d lost him. He never talked to us, he didn’t care about anything but the (now long gone from his life) girlfriend.
Back then he wanted to be a doctor. Now that dream has been put aside for another, but that’s another post for another time.
Because two days ago this kid came to me with a question.
He asked if there was a way to raise money, because he wanted to do something with his spring break. He didn’t want to go on vacation with his friends, or go party somewhere.
He wants to volunteer at Give Kids the World Village, the magical, wondrous place that provides a second home to kids receiving wishes for Disney World.
Together we are working on finding a way to make this happen.
I don’t know where this kid came from, or rather how we found him again. However, it seems my thoughtful, generous boy has returned into our lives.
I can’t tell you how many times I heard “One day it’ll just click and his head will be screwed on right again.” I honestly never believed it would happen, but it seems to have come true.
So welcome home, son. I hope we can find a way to send you away (for spring break).
I don’t care if I’m a few days early.
