Diva's school honeymoon period is over

She made it seven days before getting suspended. I got a call from her grade principal this afternoon. This grade principal is different from last year's. We have a woman this year, Mrs. S. She seems like a nice lady. We had as pleasant a chat as possible considering the circumstances.

Diva's offense: hitting another student (male) in the head/face with a three-ring binder. The story as I understand it: the boy got too close to Diva as they were getting their supplies for class -binders or calculators, I've heard it both ways. He might have pushed her, but he definitely got too close to her. According to Diva (as related by Mrs. S.) he called her a bitch. According to Sproing (he's in that class, too, but was on the other side of the room and missed most of the drama) she told him something along the lines of "get the fuck out of my way." It sounds like something she would say. Also, by the way, not that it makes a difference, but she is a bitch. However, it's inappropriate for anyone to point that out on school property.

I haven't seen Diva yet. She either went with the volleyball team to an away game or rode home with her friend on the other school bus. So I haven't heard the story from her. Sproing told me the story according to the injured boy, who told Sproing. The kid's eye was bleeding. Sproing says the binder hit him in the eye ball, but I'm not sure it wasn't just the skin around the eye. I don't know.

I had to stifle my laugh while on the phone when I learned that Diva hit the poor kid. Sounds just like her. Really really didn't want the principal to hear me laughing at Diva's antics. I feel sorry for the boy. Hopefully he will stay out of her personal space from henceforth.

The girl is suspended for three days beginning tomorrow. She'll be home Friday, (Sat, Sun) and Monday is a holiday (Happy Labor Day) so that doesn't count. Suspension days continue Tuesday and Wednesday. It seems she often gets suspended on days that correspond to holidays and/or weekends. So yeah, she gets a whole week off. And it's my pain in the ass to get to keep her busy and NOT having any fun for a week. Oh, we'll let her slide (a little bit) over the weekend, but tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday I'll have work for her. Housework if not school homework. Haven't discussed it with Superman yet, but she'll be grounded for the time, including the weekend.

That will be difficult to enforce on Saturday, when Superman, Twitch and I drive to Charleston to deposit Twitch in his new digs. I think I don't care. We'll tell her to say home and get (list of chores) done, but if she goes off with friends, what can we do? If she's still gone when we return, she'll be in deep weeds.

I feel like shit. Here it is, all over again. I have an annoying desire to beat her with a whip.

Any suggestions about what kind of chores around the house she can do?

Good grief

So yeah, I guess it has been a while since I put up a post here. I've been avoiding the internet again. Nothing personal, y'all. Just depressed.

The kids got back into school last Tuesday. They've been at school for just over a week and neither of them has been suspended yet. Yay! I haven't had any calls from the principals. So far so good. Diva says she has all A's so far. She's also going to be part of the girls' volleyball team, sort of. She's been drafted as a line guard or something. She'll watch the boundary line (or whatever it's called) and judge whether the ball is in, out, or on the line. Good for her. She really is trying to keep her nose clean and do the right thing. I'm annoyed with her, but I think that has more to do with the antagonism between the two of us.

I don't want to talk about Sproing. Suffice to say he isn't behaving well. Got another B&E charge (felony) a couple of weeks ago. Still hasn't been to court. Grrrr.

Twitch is moving to Charleston! (South Carolina) He spent last week there with a couple of friends and looked for a job. So far nothing, but he did pay September rent at the apartment there. He'll be the third roommate with those friends. It is my fervent hope that he is gainfully employed within the month and can afford October rent. It's a good move, him leaving here and moving to Charleston. I don't want him to have to come back home. He doesn't either. Superman and I will take Twitch and his load of stuff to Charleston on Saturday. I'm looking forward to seeing Twitch's new apartment and spending some time alone with my husband after we drop off Twitch at his new home.

I am relieved that the annoying teenagers are back in school. I've not recovered from the summer break. Seriously. My nerves are raw and I can't think clearly. Is this a minor case of PTSD? Maybe. I feel as though I'm wounded.

Shall we talk about the dog? Oreo. Predominantly black lab, with rumors of pit bull parentage and signs of possible other breed influences. Dalmatian has been suggested. I'll tell you what, though, he's a smart pup. He's about 6 months old, maybe 6.5. We have him in beginner obedience classes at PetSmart. He learns fast. He is a very good dog. We have considered finding him a new home because we are not really ready to have another dog right now. However, the longer we have him and work with him, the more we want to keep him. If you recall, Sproing brought him home, saying he'd take good care of him, etc. Yeah, right. I said "no." Superman said "no" but the dog (for reasons I can't recall) spent the weekend here, at which point Superman changed his position on keeping the dog. Although he's a wonderful dog, he is a puppy and requires a lot of work, supervision, and diligence to keep him from chewing up my entire house. Right now I want to keep the dog and get rid of Sproing. If only it were that easy.

Do we want to talk about my depression? Disclaimer: I do not want to hurt myself, have no plans to do so. There is no joy in my life. I have a good life, indeed, and I am deeply loved. That helps. I am mortally tired of the shit I have to deal with. I don't really know how to describe it. I'm stuck. Pretty worthless for many values of "worth." Oh, I have many fine qualities, but really? Day to day I'm barely surviving.

I don't want to talk about it anymore.

Braves baseball helps. Fewer than six weeks left in the season, and "we" (the Braves) are almost a shoo-in for post-season playoffs. We're 13 games ahead of second place in the National League Eastern Division. And as of this evening we have the highest win percentage of any other team in the MLB. For most of my readers, that means jack shit. The significance here is that I'm not too depressed to want to watch Braves baseball. So it could be worse.

And that's all I know.

Thought for Today, and other stuff

You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. -Naguib Mahfouz, writer, Nobel laureate (1911-2006) 

7.5 days until the kidlets go back to school. It can't start early enough. Tomorrow (Tuesday) they'll go over there to get their IDs made and pick up schedules. Superman took them both shopping for clothes last weekend (two weeks ago?) and Sproing was in a mood and didn't get anything except a pair of shoes. He asked a few days ago if we can go out and get him some clothes. He is so out-of-favor with me that I'm not getting him anything. Not now, anyway. A week or four into the semester I'll get him some pants, maybe shirts. He probably needs socks and underwear, too. But he ain't gettin' it this week. 

It's bloody hot here. Hot and humid with intense sunshine. I just checked; current ambient temperature is 91F but the heat index is 99F. It feels at least that hot to me. Diva and I were out in it. She had a doctor's appointment and we drove my truck, Manny. No air conditioning, of course. And no shade in the doctor's office parking lot. But we're home now, so it's alright. 

However, the passenger side window doesn't work. When we got home I pushed the switch to close it and - nuthin'. That's one disadvantage of electric windows. I suspect the window motor is dead. Superman happened to be home for lunch, and he put a sheet of plastic over the window for me. Manny still needs to get his "check engine" light checked out. The light came on as I was driving north on Hwy 7 in Vermont, now two months ago. The light isn't lit when I first turn the motor, but comes on and stays on after I drive for a couple of miles. 

I avoided my computer all last week and through the weekend. When I was going through my email this morning I unsubscribed from quite a few email newsletter things. Not all, but a lot. I still have A.Word.A.Day. That one stays. That's the source of the above quote. 

I'm still depressed. August does this to me. Well, probably not August specifically, but things that happen in August. Like the oppressive heat, and the kids having been on summer break from school for so long! Really, we ought to have school all year, with two or three week breaks between semesters. That, plus all the regular holidays and teacher work days and such, there would still be 180 days in the school year. I've figured it out before. 

That's all I got, folks. Ask me questions, maybe that will give me some ideas about what to write.

Here's the thing

I dread spending time with my children. Well, with some of my children. One in particular. The young boy is being a pain in the ass, and has been all summer. Although to my surprise and delight, Diva is doing very well. Though I'm not eagerly looking for opportunities to spend time with her, when these opportunities occur they can be almost pleasant. It's a process for both of us, Diva and me, learning to get along in each other's company. Sproing, though, isn't attempting to make things better. He's just obnoxious and rude and inconsiderate, etc. School starts in 15 days. Yes, I'm counting them, the days.

Today has been difficult for me, and it's a "me" thing. I slept in, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. I got up and showered, which is good, since some days I forego the shower. (That's one of the signs that I'm depressed, the skipping of the shower. Also the sleeping in.) I spent a few moments in the same room with Sproing. That was stressful, so I left. I was finishing my morning grooming routine in the bathroom but the cat's litter box made the experience odiferously unpleasant. Well, what to do except clean it out, right? Superman usually does that job, but he's at work and I'm uncomfortable with the stench, so here I go. And make a mess of it. Dumped half the cat poop on the bathroom floor. I cleaned it up effectively. (Sometimes when I try to clean up my messes, I end up making bigger messes.) But in the process I stepped in dirty cat litter (no icky solids, but nasty nonetheless). And I'd just had a shower. So I washed my feet in the sink. One at a time; I didn't levitate over the lavatory to wash both feet simultaneously. Now, on a good day I'd have a laugh at my clumsiness and go about my business. Today is not a good day. I very nearly cried. And I've been anxious and on edge ever since. I have some pills to help that, but I'm going to try eating a healthy lunch (I had a healthy breakfast, though it was small) and see if that doesn't help soothe my nerves somewhat. I have to go through the living room where the Sproing is lying in wait to be ugly to me, and that increases my resistance to leaving the relative safety of my bedroom.

As you may have noticed, I'm not writing much here these days. Actually, I went all week last week without turning on my computer at all. I think it was yesterday, Sunday, that I finally logged on and checked my email. I deleted most of that without reading it. Just too depressed. Facebook depresses me these days, too, though I did peruse the 'book for a while yesterday. Probably won't mess with it today.

I watched the Braves win all three games against the Phillies this weekend. That was about the only "fun" thing I could do all weekend. I was strong enough one day last week to get my hair cut. That's a stressful activity for me, as I've mentioned in the past. But it was OK. And I spent the time with Twitch, too, which was pleasant. I picked him up from work (he has a small part-part-time job doing warehouse stuff at a department store), we went to the cheap haircut place and waited a long time for my haircut, then he helped me buy $300+ worth of groceries at Aldi. Aldi is the place where you bag your own groceries in your own bags/boxes. I have a few market bags and miscellaneous small containers for that sort of thing, but not for $300+ worth of groceries. I had an old medium sized dog crate rattling around in the back seat of my truck, though, and we assembled that to hold lots of groceries. Used bungee cords to secure it in the bed of the truck. Thankfully it was a rare sunny day here in the 'wood. The whole thing was kinda funny. Perhaps I should have taken a picture of it, but I didn't. Anyway, that was a busy day. Buying, bagging, transporting, unloading, and putting away that much stuff takes a long time and lots of energy. Way more energy than I have today, for sure.

These paragraphs are too long. I reread them, looking for a good place to divide them into smaller chunks, but find no good breaking point. So there you have it; long, rambling paragraphs. It's the best I can do today, and I'm OK with that.

Let's go find some healthy lunch. Maybe that will help. (It won't help the paragraphs, but will hopefully help my emotional condition.)