Plenty to cheer about

All is well in Bubbles' world.  Plenty to be cheering about.

The drama surrounding Thing 2's major gap in judgement last weekend seems to be slowing down, which is fine by me.  She has no phone, no computer, and doesn't even bother to ask for social engagements, which all seems quite fair as far as I'm concerned.  She was a little pissy at first, but I think she gets it now.  I can't know for sure, but I think we have plowed through all the lies and the slate is clear.  God I hope so, anyway.  I'm very happy to see her returning to her former self.  She spends time with us instead of locked in her room or with her nose in her Blackberry.  She smiles and makes conversation, she helps around the house, and her room is all cleaned up and neat!  He school work has been good all the way through, so all is o.k. there.

I have to say that I may never be the same, though.  This morning her bedroom door was locked when I went to wake her up.  I knocked, called, then banged and yelled... no reply.  Finally I used a q-tip stick to unlock the door.  She was just sound asleep in there.  For those few minutes I was trying to get in I was scared she was gone again.  I sure hope that feeling goes away as time passes and no more stupid stunts happen.

I also hope that what I'm seeing in her behavior since the drama last weekend is real.  It feels so great to see the "old" Thing 2 again.  She has been absent since last summer - when she met the girl that got her involved in all this bullshit in the first place.  This girl is no longer in the picture.  Long story short, her parents and I both agree the two are better off without each other.  The mother said that Thing 2 is the third friend that this girl has lost because of sex, drugs, or alcohol.  Yet, the girl's father called me to yell at me for involving his daughter in this. Ironically, the only way I "involved" her was to share what I was finding out from Thing 2, which was that Thing 2 met these older guys through their daughter when they snuck out during an overnight visit at this girl's house.   Given the parenting approach and this girls general propensity to cover up lies with more lies,  I suspect they will continue to have trouble. I also pray that this phase will end as quickly as it began for Thing 2.

Mr. Ex has been completely useless in all of this, of course.  He sent some stupid email to Thing 2 about the value of finding a mentor.  The saddest thing was when I was exploring options for dealing with this - not knowing how bad it could be, I asked if there was an option to send Thing 2 to live with him if necessary.  Not that it was my first choice, but I needed to know what options I had in case a major intervention was in order.  His reply?  The very first thing he said in response was, "There would need to be financial adjustments."

OH. MY. GOD.  His first thought in a crisis with our child was how to pay less alimony.  What a dick.  Of course I immediately knew that sending her to him would be the worst possible thing. No matter how hard it gets, I'll never throw my kid under a bus like that.  I'd sooner find a way to pay for a top-end boarding school.  Hopefully it will NEVER come to that, though!

The chickens are proving to be very useful now that the local Science Fair is here again.  Thing 3 is required to enter, so he is doing an experiment to see if providing artificial light will improve egg yield.  (It does, at least in the major corporate farms.)  This week is our control week, using natural light only.  He records the daily yield, by egg color, the weather and hours of sunlight.  Next week we will add artificial light from dusk to dawn, and the following week we will only supplement light a few hours per night.  A basket of the colorful eggs, some charts and graphs, and some photos should make a nice display for the fair.  Thanks, chickens!

Thing 1 has been working on a project for French class.  A group of kids are producing a newscast in French on video.  Last weekend they drove to Flagstaff to do a weather report in the snow.  Thing 1 taped a commercial in the hot tub that I hear was quite funny - I can't wait to see the finished product.  I'm amazed how creative these kids are.

My job search is a big fat zero.  Ugh.  Of course, Mr. Ex is experiencing his annual "oh, the layoffs are happening again.  Business is bad... big cutbacks... ", it's the same damn thing every year.  Jesus, I'm so sick of it.  I just pray that I'll find a job before he loses his - which he is bound to do eventually.

I'm working on my second to the last class for the "Change Leadership" professional certificate from Cornell.  I've really enjoyed the program, but I'll be glad to be finished.  Woo-hoo, I'll be a well qualified unemployed person - along with thousands of others in the country.  

Go Economic Stimulus Package!  

Go Arizona Cardinals!