Two getting better, One getting badder

I know that Badder is not a word, but it is the best way to describe "Cheer". I need to changer her name from Cheer, cause lately she has not been so Cheery. I think Sneakey is more of a fit these days. But first the better. D-man and F-man are both doing really good. D-man is getting up and going to work all on his own. He seems to be more open and smiles a lot more. I believe that he is trying to avoid those temptations that he has a problem with and that altered his mood and his thinking. D-man, I am very proud of you.

F-man has had so many obstacles in his life. He is withdrawn and does not interact very well. But I do see a beautiful smile, and he is starting to open up to us some. He is spending time with his friend and playing his guitar and spending time with his friends. Cheers car broke down and he helped her repair it. I told him about a car that he might be able to purchase, it is old and needs some work, but he was really excited about it. I don't know about getting the car, it might be too much work to fix it up. But we will see. F-man, I am proud of you.

Now the Bad girl. She is not participating in school like she should. It look like it is going to be summer school, so that she can start her senior year on track. She is spending too much time on her computer and not enough time on school work. She has got some new friends, she hasn't brought them home to meet me. She almost always has shared her friends with me, and now she seems reluctant to let me know. She stays up and out to late. I am not happy about that. I try to put a reign on it, but because she works some evenings, and has to have a job to pay for her car insurance and expenses, she has an easy out. She just says that she is at work. I think that I can trust her, but not being very close to her friends, I don;t know if I can trust them.

I think that I am missing more sleep now with her, than I did when she was a baby. I just hope that she gets out of this stage soon, or I can learn to let her go a little more.

Parent hood = Sleep deprived, frustrated and worried. Does it every end.

Quilting round robin

Every 6 weeks or so, I have a quilt meeting/sewing day with my quilt buddies. We are currently doing a round robin of quilt borders. I will post the pictures here once they are done.
There are five or six of us participating. We all started with a 12 inch square. Mine is an applique of pool balls. It is in burgundy, green and white. Those are classic colors for a pool room. I am planning to hang it in my game room once it is finished.

I won't get to see it until it is finished.
So far, I have worked on a japanese style quilt
and a christmas quilt. I won't reveal anything just in case my friends are reading this.
(I would not want to spoil the suprise.)
My next one to work on is a really pretty peach, pink and celery green quilt. I like the colors, I am really going to be challenged with this one.

I am also working on a quilt top for a Family reunion in September. I am not even half way done. I need to really get busy with it, or I will never finish it. It is red white and blue and has a Texas theme.

Welcome new Employee

Today I recieved a beautiful plant from my Boss at work. It was to welcome me as a new employee. It is a basket with lots of green plants (I sure that my black thumb will not take too long to make it really sick) and some beautiful minature roses. I want to transplant them at some point. They do really well in the yard and you don't have to cut them back like you do big rose bushes. It was nice to be recongnized at work. Everyone has come by and said welcome.
I have been here for 3 months, but the first 3 months you are not considered an employee, you are a temp to hire. In that time, I missed being included in company events.

I missed going to a professional Hockey Game and the annual company meeting. I can't say that I am dissapointed in either of those two events.

The company takes thier employee's on a trip every year in November or December. You have to be at the company for a year before you get to go. I will have just missed it by a few weeks. It will be hard to come into work everyday, when I know they are all off having fun in Mexico. Next year, Hawaii, Woo-Hoo. Can't wait.

Last Night, D-Dad and I had our date night. It was nice. We went out to eat and afterwards went and had Ice Cream at a place that was way overpriced. I did not even like the Ice cream all that much. Two small ice creams in waffle cones - $9.82 Never again.....

Live and Learn. Should have left when we saw the prices, but we were the only customers in the place and felt like it would be to embarassing. Pride cometh before a fall.

The puppy saga

Just a few days ago, my Daugher (Cheer) found a little puppy wandering the street in the dark. She brought the preciouse little thing inside and said. Mommy - (she always uses "Mommy" when she is trying to get her way) I said no.no.no the puppy goes back. She said, I don't know where she came from. If I leave her out there, she is going to get hit by a car. So little miss precious came in. I insisted that she stay outside, that was hard for me to say, because I tend to treat my pets like humans. We already have 3 dogs and they are Inside dogs for the most part. They go out to eat and pottie, but then right back in. I just couldn't committ to another one and if I let her inside, I knew that I would become too attached. She stayed out all night and she cried. I had to turn the radio on to block the noise. It was really pathetic. I thought about her all the next day at work. What were we going to do? I couldn't keep her, but I did not want to take her to the pound. They do not take them when they are too small (puppies). I did not want her to be killed. So I got myself worked up to keeping her. I drove home and thought about what to name her and how she would fit into my already full life.

When I arrived home, I stepped into the back yard and called for her. Precious, here Precious.

She was no where to be found. I walked all over the backyard, looking and calling for her. She was not there. Our house is on the corner of two streets. our back yard has a chain link fence and is visible from the side street. Someone came to the gate, and pried it open and took little Precious. I hope that it was her owner. Now I am worried that we have a puppy thief in the neighborhood. The puppy thief messed up the fence when they tried to open it and now I am afraid that we are going to have problems with "max" my Jack Russell Terrier escaping. He loves to peruse the neighborhood any time he gets a chance. You can't catch him, he runs around the block, checks out the other dogs and then comes back home.

A little message to the Puppy snatcher
I would have let you have your puppy back, if you had come to the door. I was only trying to keep her safe. She should have had a collar on. Then I could have found you and you would not have had to worry about her or mess up my gate.
Thanks a lot.

Hump Days are bad

I can tell it is going to be a bad day, when it is Hump Day.
Last night Cheer found a little puppy roaming the streets. She was small and looked well fed, so we did not want her to get hit by a car (we live on a fairly busy corner). We put her in the back yard and she howled all night. So I did not sleep much. (She has to go, as cute as she is, we already have 3 dogs and I can't take in anything else right now)

Anyway, I am just starting a new job. I was a temp and was hired as a permant person on Monday. There is one person in this medium size office who is not a happy person, he does not talk much and the only things he has said to me were very negative. I have tried to please him, and wouldn't you know that told me that I have to assist him when he needs me to. The only words he speaks are when he needs something, and then I usually do not do it to his satisfaction.
I have tried to say good morning to him, or smile when he is coming toward me in the hallway. He usually looks the other way.

I printed out a binder full of reports for him last week. I made a few mistakes. Rather than asking me politely to correct my errors. (it was my first time to print these reports) He came in and angrily chastised me and said that "it was not his job to review the printout, have I made myself clear" and then left the binder on my desk and walked out. Not so much of a thank you, sorry but or nothing.

Wep - it a hump day. The worst day of the week. Oh well, just smile and correct your mistakes and know that you are doing the best you can. Maybe next time, I will not make a mistake and he will think more of me.

I love my Job, I love my Job, I love my Job...... :)

a new beginning for F-boy

I have been really enjoying the post of so many others that I thought that I might have something to say, so here goes.
I am a 40 something Wife and Mother of 2. One 17 and one 22, and recently we have added another teen (18) to our brood. Not really by choice. It seems, my 17 year old (Cheer) brought home a wounded puppy. She seems to alway connect to the lost and helpless and we bring them under our wing for a time, make them better and then let them fly the coup....

Cheer has started to spread her wing a little, sometimes to my dismay, This time it had a little bit of a devastating consequence for her good friend F-boy. F-boy wanted to see a concert of his favorite band, and my loving Daughter, offered to drive him, because F-boy does not own a car and can not drive. F-boys parents (according to F-boy) were not kind to him and he knew they would not let him go. So he told them that he was working and the group took off for the concert in Cheers car. Some garage band, that I could not even begin to know. Cheer did not exactly tell me the whole truth either. Not because I would not have let her gone (it was a school night), but She is still a little of a new driver and I would not have let her drive on the freeway way across town late at night with three other people (teens) in her car.

I found out because my 22 year old son,(D-boy) asked me if I knew that she went to a concert. My Husband (D-Dad) knew and did not tell me either. He said that he figured that I knew. (He is not the best communicator in this world, unless you are talking about some battle in a computer game, or some political topic. Then he does not stop talking. But that is another story.

Anyway, when I found out that they were at a concert, I let my fingers do the talking and dialed the cell until she answered. I tried to be as calm as a trembling - angry Mom can be. I had to get her home still. She called me back after the Concert was over and I scolded her a little. Then she told me she was lost. I am the worlds worst direction giver, so she is lucky she got home at all, but they finally made it at 1:00 A.M. I was fit to be tied.

Then I find out that after they went to the Concert, F-boys Mother (Foster/Adopted Mother, left him a message on my Daughters phone, saying the F-boy was not welcome back and she was withdrawing him from School and he was "Our Problem now"

And sure enough, She did everything that she said she would. That was almost 2 weeks ago and he is sleeping on the Couch, or in D-boys room, when he is out. We are trying our best to figure out this situation, but I am afraid that F-boy will be our son from now on. He is a good boy. He is quiet and does not talk much. I think that is foster/adopted parents were not really good parents to him. He came to us with few belongings, and little else. He was put into Foster care at 8 along with a brother that is 2 years older. His older Brother has since joined the Armed forces and F-boy does not know how to get into touch with him, not like he could do much about F-boys situation anyway.

F-boy, re-registered himself into school and the school listed him as homeless.

For now we are coping. D-Dad is not very happy, but has humored me for now with the situation. We have told F-boy that he can stay for now, but any problems and he will have to find another place to go. Just where is an barely 18 year old boy, with no know family suposed to go? He has a part time job, can't drive and no Drivers License. We live in a city with no mass Transportation, so he would have to walk where ever he went.

We are just planning to take it a day at a time and see where we end up. I picture myself down the road with a house full of grand kids, both mine and my new adopted sons.
F-boy, I am not going to kick you to the curb, like the rest have done. You deserve a good life and I will do my best with the Lords help.

MOM