P, P, P, P, POSITIVE

Today has been a very long day. I feel like I’ve been going from the minute I got up this morning. Oh, wait a minute – I HAVE. Dolly and I put the boys on the bus for their last day of summer school; came in the house, grabbed my keys and pocketbook and were out the door. We stopped at Price Chopper, a supermarket, to see if we could put one of our fliers on their bulletin board. “We’ve only got one and it’s in the break room for our staff.” Yea, thanks, have a nice day. Then we went to her school to get her records, which were handed to me on the spot. It helps to know people in the school; I volunteer so I know, pretty much, all the administrative staff, and a lot of the teachers.

Then we went to Hy-Vee because they were holding boxes for me, remember? They held boxes for me alright. After we loaded them into the van, the only space open was Dolly’s seat and mine, of course. I had enough room to see out the rearview window but that was it. I kid you not. Now my living room is completely full of empty boxes. After Hy-Vee, Dolly and I drove to Hope House to drop off two boxes of toys the boys no longer play with and so I could request a copy of my divorce file. We chatted with the women I know there and I even got a couple of leads of people to speak with in the DC area about possible work.

From Hope House we drove back to the Pediatricians’ office, which is just on the same street as Hope House, just back in the direction of home. I filled out the form to get the kids’ medical records and the girl who took the form is the girl who prints the records. She said she’d have them for me after 3:00 tomorrow. Excellent. As it turned out, she called me about 15 minutes after I arrived home later and told me they were ready and that I could pick them up today. Even more excellent!!

After the Peds’ office we stopped by Apple Market to put up another of our fliers, drove on to Dollar General to get the kids a treat, got gas in the car, then drove home – for all of an hour. After the hour was up we drove to the school to get the boys’ summer school gift cards. If they attend school every day for the month, they get a $100 gift card; if they miss one day, they get $75; miss two days get $50. Ty got the $100 and Zach got $75 because he decided to be a pain one day and fake sick. We signed out the gift cards then signed out the boys and all headed to K-Mart to get the boys socks and each kid a new bathing suit.

The socks were because I’m tired of not being able to find full pairs after doing the laundry. I’ve got a box that I keep the socks in when they can’t be mated. Every time I do a load of laundry I pull out the socks and the box and play “The Mating Game.” I mate what I can and the rest go back into the box. Now, the socks aren’t disappearing to the dryer monster, my boys just can’t seem to get them into the laundry in pairs. So I did the only thing I knew to do; I threw out the entire box of socks and any that I found in the laundry, on the floor, under a bed, in a toy box, whatever. Each boy got around 12 new pairs of socks to start fresh. The each kid got a new bathing suit so they can each take two to their dad’s house for vacation. Then we went home – again.

The kids went outside to play and my friend called. I was supposed to babysit her kids over the July 4th weekend but it got postponed to the weekend of the 24th. She was calling to cancel and ask if I wanted to do it this weekend. I’ve got really no food in the house to feed extra kids. I’m trying to get rid of what I have here and will only shop in little increments until we leave so I don’t have a butt load of food to move with us. She offered to go shopping and pay me for watching her kids for the next two days. I can dig that. That’s money that went right into my moving fund; minus a bit that I needed to put gas into the car. After she left I put the pizzas she bought into the oven for the kids’ dinner; we ate, then three of them stayed under the watch of a neighbor while the other three went with me back to the Pediatricians’ office to pick up the medical records.

Got home from there and Zach, who had run to K-Mart with a neighbor, came home telling me about the new shoes his friend just got, “and they’re only $10, Mom.” So, back to K-Mart with Zach while said neighbor watched the other five kids. I got sneakers for all three of my kids and they cost less than $25 total. Not a bad deal; and a gift card paid for them. My kids are now instructed not to ask me for ANYTHING between now and the time we leave. I got “okay”s from all of them, but I’m wondering how long it’ll last. From the time we got home, my neighbor, her husband, and I sat outside talking until after 10:00. I finally got all the kids down about an hour ago (it’s 11:30 now) and I got to sit and listen to myself breathe.

Did I mention in there anywhere that, during the mini breaks I had throughout the day someone offered to buy my rocking chair? This is a real offer; she gave me her phone number and took directions to my house. She’ll be here tomorrow. I’m not selling the rocker for much, but it’ll go to the moving fund. With that chair gone, I’ll have a corner in the living room free to stack some boxes so maybe I can get some out of my kitchen. Now, if only the rest of my furniture would sell. It’s just got to.

All-in-all, today was a pretty positive day, with good things happening – OH SHIT, I TOTALLY FORGOT ONE THING. I can’t believe I forgot this. Remember I said, last night I think, that I tried going to the boys’ school to see if anyone was there during the summer and nobody is? I think I also mentioned that they’re doing some remodeling on some of the schools around here and the boys’ elementary is one of them on the list for this summer. It’s called Project Shine. Anyway, when Dolly and I were on our way back home from getting gas this morning (we have to pass the school to get to our street) I spotted someone standing by the reader board the school uses to post notifications of school events – it’s down by the road. One of the people was the school principal. I did a quick u-turn and went into the parking lot to talk to her. I volunteered there too so I know everyone in the school with the exception of a few teachers.

She told me her secretary would be in the school July 26 and would be able to get me copies then, or I could just wait until I get to MD and have them sent. I said I would check with the secretary to see how busy she’d be and, if she had the time, would get copies before I left. She said that would be fine. So, it was just another good thing that happened today. That’s what I was going to say in the last paragraph when I suddenly remembered this event. Today was just chock full of positive energy and I’m hoping it stays that way.

Some guy, tonight, was outside talking to my neighbors and me and said something about age. When I told him I am old enough to be his mother he just laughed. “Girl, you can’t be more than 30, 31…” Bless your heart, you little bullshitter. When I told him I’d be 43 tomorrow (he’s 23 – he mentioned it in an earlier conversation) he about fell over. Positive energy abounds. I like it and I think I’ll hold onto it for a little while. Maybe it’ll help my furniture sell; maybe it’ll just tickle my nose for a while. Who knows? Not me, but I’ll update you if and when I find out, okay?

Until next time…peace to all.