Adventures in a West Valley tire store

While sitting at Les Schwab last Saturday (my tire blew -- thanks for the awesome plowing last weekend, UDoT), I had the opportunity to step out of my role as a DCFS caseworker and observe the way my clients likely act when the State isn't watching.

This beautiful blonde 4-year-old walked in, followed by her toothless dad in Wranglers and her hillbilly grandparents. The first thing she saw was the candy machine, and she immediately began asking her three loving caregivers for a quarter. They were too busy looking at tires to answer her (even with a "no") so she kept asking louder and louder until her grandmother finally turned around -- probably to smack her and tell her shutup -- but she just ended up spilling her coffee all over the floor instead. And then, grandma had the nerve to yell at the cutie pie, like it was her fault that grandma can't hold a damn coffee mug.

So the little girl gave up (wouldn't you?) and came over to ask me what I was doing. Talk about poor boundaries. We made small talk for a minute about my shoes and what she got for Christmas, but it didn't take long for her to get to the heart of the matter: "Do you have a quarter?" she asks.

Of COURSE I had a quarter for this cutie! She wasn't asking for a dollar for the vending machine like most kids would. She wasn't running in circles all over the store like most kids would. She didn't even throw a tantrum when her grandparents said "no" like most kids would.

But before I could even say, "Let's ask your grandpa," he was already yelling at her: "No, you can't have a quarter! Didn't we already tell you no?! If you ask for one more thing, I'm going to lock you up in the truck and leave you there for a couple hours until we're done here!"

No he didn't. I almost pulled out my badge and removed her right there. And the worst part is, I got the feeling he only said that to put on a show for me, like he was some big tough guy who takes care of business. I thought about "accidentally" leaving a quarter for her on the floor when I left, but I was afraid they would smack her around for stealing if they found her with it.

I don't really know what the moral of the story is. I guess just don't let me see you talk to your kids like that or I might slash your brand new tires.

For all you non-believers

Yes, my family really DOES act out the Christmas nativity from the Bible every year. Here is physical evidence.

This is a video of the video from 2002. You can hear us in the background (in 2008) making fun of ourselves.

Narrator = grandpa
Mary = Devyn (sister)
Joseph = Cory (uncle)
baby Jesus = a doll
shepherds = Sondra (aunt), me, Tyson (brother)
angels = Kristyn (cousin), grandma
wise men = mom, Jessica (cousin), Cayden (brother)
camera man = dad

This is a short clip from this year's nativity. My cousin's boyfriend didn't know how to work my phone so he didn't quite get the whole thing.

sheep with rug on his head = Cayden (brother)
wise man in blue robe = Joe
wise woman on Joe's left = me
narrator = Devyn (sister)
Mary and Joseph = my grandparents

Here is another silly tradition -- the pinata -- also from 2002.

Worst Xmas Present Ever

We do the Secret-Santa thing at work -- we each draw a name so we only have to buy one present instead of ten. It works really well, unless you get a present like a got.

I won't mention any names here to protect the innocent.

I opened my envelope to find a gift card to Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery. I had never heard of it but my co-worker told me it was downtown; she had eaten there before. I went home, excited to tell Joe that there was a great new place in town for us to try. We looked up their website to find the address, and low and behold, there are no locations in Utah. We thought: "Maybe it's BRAND new and not on their map yet."

I explained the dilemma to my co-worker the next day, hoping she could tell me exactly where it was. All she could come up with was, "I know there is one here! I ate there two years ago!" She looked online and found Rockbottom in Midvale, but for those of you have been to this dive bar, you know it's no restaurant and brewery.

Long story short, she got Rock Bottom confused with Red Rock! She bought it at Smith's, a national grocery chain that sells gift cards to places that aren't necessarily in SLC. She saw "beer" and "food" and knew I would love it.

I'm sure there will be a happy ending to this story at some point. There are tons of locations in Colorado, so Joe and I will try to use in when we go there in March. Or, I might try to exchange it at Smith's for a different restaurant. So E., thanks for the card, and thanks for a funny story!!

The Economy

As many of you may already know, Steepandcheap.com and Whiskeymilitia.com are two of the best shopping sites around. Not only are their prices dirt cheap (usually upwards of 50% off), but their warehouse is here in Salt Lake, so you can pick things up and avoid a shipping fee. Well, not anymore. I got this email today:

We just wanted you to know that we'll no longer offer the option to pick up orders at our warehouse. If you have any orders still waiting to be picked up, you can come and get them, but from now on, we will only ship orders.

It's a bummer, we know, but it's what we have to do to keep the deals great. The good thing is that no matter which shipping option you choose, if you live the area, you'll usually get your order within a day or so.

Thanks for understanding.
Whiskey Militia

Can someone please explain to me how this will "keep the deals great"? If anything, it should be cheaper to pay one guy to stand at the counter all day and walkie-talkie to the back that I'm here to pick up my hoodie, rather than pay the $7 to ship it and lose $2 since they only charge $5 for shipping. Then multiply that $2 by the 500 hoodies they ship every day. And what if I buy a snowboard? I think it's still just $5 shipping, so now they are losing like $50 on shipping. Retards.

I guess I'm done shopping there since I'm not a boarder/skier/skater and the only reason I was shopping there was the deals. This is lame.

Excuses, excuses

Everyone makes mistakes. It's part of life. I'm all about "forgive and forget," but it really gets to me when people can't accept responsibility for their mistakes. See, for example, the allergy tech who messed up my face in October. How am I supposed to forgive you if you don't admit you did something wrong in the first place? No one likes to admit they are wrong, I get that. I HATE admitting when I'm wrong, especially to Joe. But sometimes you just have to suck it up and take the blame.

So this is why I was so annoyed to read this news story. It states, "People late for school or work because of New York City subway delays can get notes from the transit agency to give to their teachers or bosses." OK, I can see that this might be a legitimate excuse on occasion, but then I read how many notes they send out each year: 34,000!!! And this is not just a simple form letter, you see: "Each letter shows the subway line taken and the durations of the trip and the delay." And to waste even more time, "NYC Transit is working on an online system so it can accept Internet requests and e-mail the excuse letters."

Please stop wasting our tax dollars on this program. If you're late to work or school, that's your own damn fault. Leave an hour earlier. Buy a car or carpool. Get a different job. Or, keep being late if you must, but know that it's all on you. I'm late every damn day, and you don't see me blaming the traffic, the weather, or my alarm clock. I'm late cause I SLEEP IN. But when I need to be on time for something, I'm a big enough girl to make it happen.

Mystery Revealed

My surprise date was FINALLY last night! Here's how it unfolded...

Joe had been giving me hints all day. First he said, "It's south of our house." But my next hint an hour later was, "It's north of our house." What a brat.

We left the house headed south. He promised it wasn't a Jazz game, so I replied, "GOOOOD cause I really couldn't figure out why you would think I wanted to see a basketball game!"

Our first stop turned out to be Mikado for sushi. I guess the initial plan was Ahh Sushi (one of our favorite places) but Joe got off work late and we missed Happy Hour at Ahh. Luckily, Mikado has Happy Hour until 7. It was nice to try somewhere different!

Then came the main event. We headed north on I-15, got off downtown, and headed towards The Gateway/Energy Solutions Arena. Can you see where this is going? Yes, it was a Jazz game! Man, did I put my foot in my mouth!

But here's the tricky part. Joe knows I LOVE the Celtics. I go to the game every year, paint my hair green and get all crazy trying to piss off the Jazz fans. Apparently, tickets are only sold in 2-game packages, so last night's Bulls game was a extra bonus/preview to the Celtics game! Once I figured out WHY Joe would take me to the Bulls game, I could actually enjoy myself, knowing that he really does know me! And it was an edge-of-the-seat game. Unfortunately, we lost by 1 point in the last second.

The funny thing is Joe actually put "Special date with Joe" in my phone on February 19, but I never looked that far ahead after I found last night's date scheduled in my phone. He's a tricky one!

Now I gotta plan a suprise date to get even with him!

Blackberry Storm

Well, people, it's finally here! I've been waiting for this phone like, a whole week, haha! About once a year, I get these intense cravings to buy the latest electronic device, and this year it was the new touchscreen Blackberry. Other people have been waiting for this phone for months, so I knew there would be a line when Verizon opened at 7am this morning. I drove by last night around 8pm just to make sure the line hadn't started. Would I have waited? Probably. Luckily, there was no line, so I snuck in a few hours of sleep. My plan was to show up at 6am, but I kept hitting the snooze button, so I got there at about 6:55. I was person #30 in the line. The first guy in line apparently got there at 10pm last night and slept on the sidewalk. Most other people got there between 5am and 6am. Thank GOD there were exactly 30 phones. I got the last one! I only had to wait about 45 minutes in the cold, and then another 45 minutes to complete the purchase and have my data transferred. Overall, it was a very pleasant morning.

So far it's pretty cool. The touchscreen will be a big adjustement. It's similar to the iPhone's but you have to physically depress the entire screen to select, like a giant mouse button. It's pretty accurate and I'm getting faster at texting. The coolest part is that I can check my email! I've never had that feature in a phone, and man, is it nice. I just need to figure out how to sync my work email. My only complaint so far is that I can't rearrange or hide the icons on the mainpage. I'm sure there's a way; I just need to figure it out.

Overall it's pretty sweet!

Mystery Date

Joe's been planning this "surprise date" for me. I've known about it for over a month, and he refuses to give me any clues. All I know is that it's Monday, November 24, from about 5pm to 11pm. I need all your brilliant minds to help me figure it out, because it's driving me INSANE!

Top ten differences between grad school and Hell

10. It doesn't rain in Hell.
9. Everyone has heard of Hell.
8. It's a lot more fun getting into Hell.
7. You can't fail out of Hell.
6. At least you can sleep in Hell.
5. Hell is forever; grad school just seems like it.
4. People smile in Hell.
3. You only have to sell your soul to get into Hell.
2. There are hot men and women in Hell.
And the #1 difference between grad school and Hell...
1 . You would never tell a friend to go to grad school!

my inner demon

I was listening to this blog today about various people trying to "exorcise their inner demons". The first story was of a guy who built up all these prejudices against Arab people after serving in Iraq. In order to "therapize" himself, he voluntarily joined the Muslim Student Association on campus to become more empathetic and culturally aware. I have to say props to this guy. I CANNOT IMAGINE sitting through one meeting of the Young Republicans, let alone joining their Goddamn association. I would rather be stoned or dipped in a vat of boiling oil than listen their conservative retoric.

Cultural Competence

"Cultural responsiveness" is the new catch phrase in the social work field. It's one of 7 values in the DCFS Practice Model. I was required to take a Diversity course in grad school. The point is, culture is constantly on my mind.

So what is culture? Wikipedia says it is "all the ways of life including arts, beliefs, and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation." Okay, that's pretty clear cut. But have you ever thought that the way one culture views another is part of the first culture's culture? For example, the way Americans view Muslims is part of the American culture, because it probably differs from the way the French view Muslims. I'm talking stereotypes here -- the stereotypes we adopt become ingrained in our culture.

Now, flip that idea around, and think how other cultures might view Americans. What stereotypes come to mind about our silly little country? My question was answered last week while I was getting my nails done at my little Vietnamese salon. They were playing this video (from Vietnam) of some popular variety show set in a huge auditorium. It was like an American awards show, except instead of giving awards, they had alternating acts of singing, dancing, drama, comedy skits, etc. I can honestly say it was the weirdest and most hilarious thing I have ever seen. I'm not sure if they were trying to imitate American culture or make fun of it.

Act 1: American Gangster rap (in English)
Act 2: Traditional Vietnamese opera
Act 3: A Britney Spears and/or stripper impersonator
Act 4: A comedy skit in Vietnamese
Act 5: More gangster rap and some Chris Brown-type dancing
Act 6: A female Vietnamese performer whose style of singing resembled Celine Dion
Act 7: Cowboys and indians, running all over the stage, fake-shooting each other. The dialogue was something like, "Lao tze dao de jing HE GOT ME yih jian tai hai tao tang!"

It's pretty embarrasing to realize that's how other cultures think of us, but I guess we're kind of asking for it.

Judges

I won't get detailed because I don't want to lose my job, but let's just say that not all Judges are created equal. One particular Judge made a horrible ruling on one of my cases this week that is going to negatively impact some great kids for the rest of their lives. If this Judge were up for election this year, my blog would be a campaign for ya'll to vote him/her off the bench.

What I CAN encourage you all to do is vote to retain Judge Valdez. While he can be controversial and his ratings weren't so favorable, I can tell you, after many hours in his courtroom, that his decisions ARE based on the kid's best interest. And at least he's open enough to talk about it and accept feedback.

medical malpractice

I learned earlier this year that I have pretty bad allergies. I guess that's why I was sick 10 times last year, and I had no idea. So now I'm doing immunotherapy, which involves weekly shots of gradually-increasing doses of whatever I'm allergic to (mostly weeds), and supposedly I'll be allergy-free in five years. It's pretty cool!

Or, it was until last Tuesday...

I pull into the parking lot at 4:40, five minutes before the allergy clinic closes. I need to get my shot today because I don't have time later this week. My phone rings. It's this therapist I've been playing phone tag with all week. I really need to talk to her, so I answer. I talk to her in the car for a few minutes, hoping it will be a fast call, but she clearly wants to chit-chat about the client. I walk into the office, still on the phone.

It's 4:45, just under the wire. The lobby is packed with people who already got their shots, and are now waiting the required 20 minutes to make sure they don't have a reaction. I walk up to the counter to sign in. All 25 slots on the sheet are full, so I write myself in as number 26. The first 25 people's names have a hash mark, so I know I'm next to get my shot. I don't even bother to sit down because I know she's going to call my name soon. I wander around the waiting room for a minute, trying to wrap up the call with this therapist, waiting for my turn.

I look back at the counter. The nurse opens the fridge and grabs some vials. I know they are mine, so I meet her at the front. We smile at each other, no words exchanged because she sees I'm on an important call. She knows me -- I've been coming here every week for six months. We go in the little room. I pull up my sleeve (right one first, I know the drill) and she sticks me.

Then, she hesitates......

She leaves the room without giving me the other shot. I tell the therapist I need to hang up. The nurse comes back and says, "I didn't see your name at the bottom of the sign-in sheet..." I guess some chick walked in after me and signed up on spot #1 on the second page. The nurse grabbed her vials instead. I say, "So I got the wrong shot?" She says, "Yeah." I'm waiting for her to say I'm going to die, but she seems cool about it. She gives me the correct shot in my left arm. She tells me to sit in the waiting for 20 minutes -- standard practice. I'm the last person in the waiting room. Staff wants to go home. By 5:05, I'm feeling fine. She tells me I can leave. No problems here!

At home, I cook a nice dinner for Joe, and sit down with a glass of wine to wait for him. Around 7:30, I notice my throat is hurting. Maybe I'm dehydrated and shouldn't be drinking. I've been really tired lately -- did my mono come back? Shit. It's 7:45 and my ears start to feel hot. I check them out in the mirror and they are pretty red. Is it the wine? Maybe I just need to clean my earrings. Joe should hurry home because I'm hungry. At 8:00, my bottom lip starts to tingle. WTF this wine must be strong! I cut myself off and lay down to watch TV. I'm pretty cold, so I layer on the blankets. Must be the weather outside. At some point I fall asleep...

I wake up to Joe yelling, "What is up with your face?" Hmm, it does feel kinda weird, like I've been at the dentist earlier today. Actually, I feel like complete shit. My chest hurts, I itch everywhere, and my eyelids are nearly swollen shut. And my ears are still burning!

Joe calls the allergist's after-hours hotline. The bitch tells him, "I can't contact the doctor unless you say this is an emergency." No, we're calling to make an appointment you idiot. Joe (who rarely yells) yelled at her for a while until she agreed to have a doctor call. Two hours later, no doctor has called, and my face is just getting more swollen. Now my chest hurts.

Joe calls back and gets a nice operator. The doc calls 5 minutes later. He tells me to take Benadryl every 4 hours and buy some hydrocortizone cream. I'm not putting that shit on my face! So I just go to sleep, hoping my airway passage doesn't close off in the middle of the night.

Here's my favorite part of the story. The nurse -- the one who jacked me up -- calls the next morning to check on me. I guess she got word from the hotline or from the doc that I had called. She says, "I know there was some miscommunication because you were on the phone (blaming the victim) but I just left the room to get your other vial because I only grabbed one the first time (backpedaling). You definitely got the right shot (LYING!!!). It's just that you're really sensitive to weeds, and there are lots of weeds in the air right now, so the combination of your shot and the air can really trigger a reaction (then why hasn't that happened after the last 25 shots?)" I'll call the doc to see if we can get you a stronger script.

Now the point of all this is: 1. to make you laugh at the visual of my face swelled up like a puffer fish, and 2. to ask why the HELL people can't take responsiblity for things. I honestly didn't care about getting the wrong shot. Accidents happen. I shouldn't have been on the phone. It got me a half day off work. But to change your story and flat out lie? That's just messed up, and now I might say something to her boss next time I go in there.

Pantyhose

I am FED UP with pantyhose!

Will someone please tell my why the hell they were invented?

Yes, they make my legs look sexier. Yes, they make the fact that I haven't been tanning in a year less evident. Yes, they conceal the stubble that is starting to show because I haven't shaved in 3 days.

But lately I am beginning to see that the downfalls outweigh the benefits. They tear so easily, especially with fake acrylic nails. And if you get one tiny little hole in them, it spreads like an August wildfire in Cali. They itch, they make your feet smell bad, and they dig into your waist. And DON'T ever put them in the wash with something Velcro!

Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind purchasing things that are disposable. I buy food every day. I buy gas every week. But a Lean Cuisine is only $2.00 and gas is only $3.30* a gallon. A good pair of nylons, even from the outlets in Park City, is over SEVEN BUCKS. So here is my theory:

Men invented nylons as an evil torture device for women, not just as a way to sexualize us, but as a way to keep us poor and submissive and under their control. The more powerful of a woman you are, the more likely it is that you are expected to wear pantyhose as part of your respectable business attire. But the more you wear pantyhose, the more likely you are to tear them and be forced to buy more! It's an evil, evil plan.

The unfortunate part is that I will continue to wear pantyhose each and every day because society expects that of me. Screw all you men. Especially those of you who have shared with me your sexual fantasies about me that involve any sort of pantyhose or otherwise restricting garment.

*Disclaimer: This is an old blog from my 2006 Mary Kay days that I'm re-posting to tide you all over because I'm too busy to write anything new this week.

Quincentennial Day

I remember a couple of years ago, on my friend Matt's 25th birthday, I said to him, "Man you are old! Do you realize you are halfway to thirty?" And Matt, maybe because he's a man and doesn't care about aging, or maybe because he was just messing with me, replied, "Actually I'm halfway to FIFTY!" I thought it was funny two years ago, but it's not so funny today.

The Decline of Social Work Values, Part 2

I have this Costco-sized bag of plastic forks in my desk drawer at work. It's become a habit to just grab one on the way to the lunchroom. Today, however, I brought soup, so I set the useless fork on the counter in exchange for a nice spoon I found. Then I sat down to eat and chat with my coworker, Jen.

A few minutes later, one of the supervisors here walks in to heat up his leftovers. Jen and I are chatting away, and I happen to glance up just in time to see this guy quickly rinse off my plastic fork, and then slyly slip it into his pocket.

Some people around here just think they are exempt to social norms and boundaries.

"In God We Trust"

This email has been circulating around the Mary Kay world, and I'm sure some of you have seen it, too:

U.S Government to Release New Dollar Coins
You guessed it:
"In God We Trust" IS GONE!!!
If ever there was a reason to boycott something, THIS IS IT!!!!
DO NOT ACCEPT THE NEW DOLLAR COINS AS CHANGE Together we can force them out of circulation. Please send to all on your mailing list!

Here are some of the comments to accompany this email:

• I didn't know if you wanted to forward this to everyone, but I think it's important not to give up the things that our country was founded on.
• Dear friends and family, I am astounded by this............I hope you are too.

Can someone please explain to me why this is offensive? I am continually baffled as to why people think the absence of something is equivalent to the opposite of something. Now, if the new coin said, "God can kiss my ass," then I can understand the uproar. But simply not including the phrase should not offend anyone! Do these opponents of the new coin stop to consider the opinions and feelings of atheists? Wikipedia tells me that 11.9% of the world's population is "non-religious," and these people have been using our "God" coins for hundreds of years. You don't hear them bitching.

The same phenomena has manifested itself in my wedding-planning. My mother suggested that her neighborhood Mormon bishop perform our marriage ceremony. Now, Bishop Lang is a nice man, and I'm sure he would do a "neutral" ceremony and all, but Joe's family is CATHOLIC. It would be straight-up disrespectful to have a Mormon bishop marry us (not to mention that I've been to church about 3 times in the last 7 years). So I kindly explained to my mother that we would prefer a neutral person, such as a judge, to marry us. That will keep both families' values from being infringed upon, right?

WRONG.

The absence of a Mormon bishop seems to be just as offensive to my mom as the opposite of a Mormon bishop -- a Catholic priest. She says, "I can't believe that you disregard your family's feelings at the expense of Joe's family's." Like I'm purposfully trying to disrespect my upbringing. And no matter how hard I try to explain this idea of neutrality to her, there is just no winning this battle.

But I'm still going to hire a Judge.

murphy's law

as you may have read last week, i ordered these cute lip balms for kara's baby shower. and true to form, murphy and his stupid law stepped in. the customized labels came printed on 2" carboard cutouts, rather than 1.5" stickers. had any ONE of the following factors happened differently, things would have been fine, but of course they all added up for this great cumulative effect: 4 hours out of my Friday night on the phone with the manufacturor and driving to Kinkos and the scrapbook store to compromise a solution:

-- had i paid for 2 day shipping instead of 3 day shipping, they would have been here in time to fix the problem
-- had UPS not lied to me by saying this package didn't require a signature, i would have made sure to be home on thursday, and had time to fix the problem
-- had the driver not decided my neighborhood was "unsafe", he would have left the package on thursday, and i would have had time to fix the problem
-- had seop conferences been running on time friday, i would have opened the package soon enough to see the problem, and call before 5
-- had the manufactorer been in any time zone but the east, i would have reached them before 5 and they could have overnighted me the right labels
-- had these idiots not printed the wrong labels in the first place, things would have been fine. i better get my $ back.

my genetic code

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i don't know if i should be proud or embarrassed.

weber state game

i'm not sure why i keep going to U games. all i do is get bored and take pictures of weird stuff that has nothing to do with the game itself.

the enemy's section

the rich people's section


we should have just stayed home. i think our new tv is bigger than the jumbo-tron.


he kind of blends into the background, doesn't he?

the decline of social work values

i put these MK eye shadows for sale in the bathroom at work a few weeks ago. they were discontinued colors, ones i can't sell at full price anyway. the plan was to mark them down even more this week so i could get rid of them, because otherwise they would just go in my personal "makeup graveyard" or in the trash.

i went in the bathroom this morning and what do i find? over half of them are GONE. at first i thought maybe someone took them with the intention of finding me later to pay me (it's happened before). but then i noticed that the container was up-side-down, and the eye shadows were all akimbo. it looked like a crime scene for sure.

like i said, these were basically worthless to me, so it's not the financial loss that hurts. it's the fact that some social worker, who is responsible for the lives of vulnerable children, can't even be trusted with a $6.50 cosmetic item. who even needs that many eye shadows? i go through like 3 a year, if that. are they planning to sell them on the MK black market ("the pink market"?) for gas money? i know we don't make a lot of $ here, but i thought social workers had better values and morals than that.

save the date...

Trisha + Joe's Wedding
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Point Restaurant at The Huntsman Cancer Institute
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.thepoint.hci.utah.edu/index.html

hideous or hottie?

i heard an interesting conversation on the radio the other day. this male DJ was saying that if his girlfriend were ever to leave him, he hopes that she would date someone hotter than him. he "just wants her to be happy." his female counterpart, on the other hand, said she would be PISSED if her husband remarried a hottie. she would feel much better if he married a woman 100 pounds heavier with bad skin and gray hair.

so i was thinking -- if joe left me, would i want him to end up with jessica alba or jessica feltcher? now notice i didn't say "if i died" because then i would definitely want him to get with jessica alba. dying would be MY fault, so why should joe suffer? (unless he killed me.) but i think if he left me, i would curse him to a eternity of cellulite and wrinkles. maybe i'm just shallow and vindictive. and is there a gender difference here? what do you think? please vote.

Baby Shower

I was really stressing about "party favors" for Kara's upcoming baby shower. That element of the party planning hadn't even crossed my mind, what with the food, games, presents, house cleaning, and broken microwave to take care of between now and then. Then Carly had to go and mention it.


So I just wanted to show off the super cute favors I came up with at the last minute. They are vanilla lip balms with a personalized message with Kara's name and the date of the shower. I'm so proud of myself!

things that make me want to quit

this week concluded our annual audit, in which child welfare cases are randomly pulled and caseworkers are scrutinized within an inch of their jobs. wasn't i so lucky that my "random" case happened to be a family with multi-generational substance abuse and domestic violence problems, over ten past cases with us, and a host of other environmental factors like poverty, lack of education, and the current economy crisis? despite my mad social-work skills, i just couldn't seem to "fix" the fact that this kid's mom died of a drug overdose, he's addicted to pot, he's flunking out of 11th grade, he can't keep a job, he's been charged for possession and trespassing this year, and he recently got into a "wrestling match" with his dad.

so, readers, i'll have you guess which portion of the audit failed -- "child status" or "system status"? if you guessed "child status," you are WRONG. apparently these reviewers felt that this kid is functioning just great! who cares that he has 5 F's -- it's an improvement over the 6 F's he had last quarter. and we're not so worried about his positive drug tests -- it's just pot! this is the "system's" fault, or in other words, it's MY fault as his caseworker. i should have updated my assessment more often. i should have invited his drug-addicted grandparents to a team meeting, because after all, they are his support system. i should have kicked the therapist's ass who gave him the wrong diagnosis, which prevented him from being in the appropriate treatment program. i doesn't matter that the parents told the reviewers that they love me and want my help with their kid until he's 18, because i just didn't do quite enough paperwork to fix him!

what a great message this is passing on to us caseworkers -- we don't care how your kid is doing, as long as you're typing more logs and have more meetings!!

welcome

i've decided to start a blog, due to popular request by certain people who seem to think my life is exciting, and my competitive drive to give my favorite bloggers a run for their money (i.e. http://wealthymusings.blogspot.com).

i'm not really sure what direction to take here. should i try to keep everyone updated on my schooling/working/wedding planning? or should i use this as a forum to vent all my rantings and ravings about the annoying people that surround me each day? or maybe i could just post my favorite recipes for y'all to read. any suggestions?