Got my boss's holy blessing (lol) to do Job #2 and then come back if I wanted. No word yet on Job #1. Will hang with a couple of women who hung with me in Japan starting Sunday probably. Take them shopping. :) These are the ones who took me to the spa. I'll probably take them as guests to the Y. Hey we hung out naked in hot bubbly water and discussed stretch marks. We've bonded! Chicks do that sometimes! I'm such a girl: I don't care about walking around naked in front of complete strangers (as long as they're female), but I'll be darned if any of them see my house in its utter disarray. Time to start cleaning.

Just got an 8-hour assignment in Blue Ash. Gotta go now.

Have had 2 job interviews- one yesterday, one today. Was offered the one today- unfortunately it's very temporary- and I'm still not sure but I think I'll take it and if I don't get another by the end of the assignment, hopefully they'll let me continue to interpret. By that time Rose will have moved to Japan and in the meantime a couple of other interpreters can get more hours if I do something else for 3-6 weeks. I'm hoping to hear from the interview yesterday soon- it went well (I thought!)- so- pray for me- that God is leading me into the right job- even when I interviewed for it, it seemed right- but even if they offer it to me I have to discuss pay, etc. I'm not hugely picky but I also won't give people slave labor. Anyway right before that interview there was a Guatemalan man trying to fill out an ap to work in production, and he was having difficulty with his ap, so I helped him- MY job would involve lots of interpreting and translating- and the person I interviewed with has mentioned the Guatemalan and Mexican communities are his huge untapped resource- they are quickly becoming integral to the community here. If all the Guatemalans picked up and left right now there'd be a lot of industry up a creek. I hate to see some of the places exploit them- there are places that know some folks are illegal and therefore take advantage of them every way possible- but the good and reputable companies check all paperwork for legality and over-verify everything, even though sometimes I don't think they pay them (or other workers) enough.
Hard to get legal when you can't jump the hoops because you're functionally illiterate, which many Guatemalans are. Maybe half are pretty good at reading Spanish. Maybe 5% can read both Spanish and Mam. I've seen the illiteracy in both men and women but more women seem to be affected. Would love to see a literacy program get started. Su Casa has some good programs. They need to be able to at least read in Spanish even if they never learn English. It would help them immensely. I've seen women act quietly ashamed that they don't know how to read- and it's nothing to be ashamed of- not even a measure of intelligence- just a measure of the opportunities you've been given.

In other news: My son Nathanael is 16. I am telling him now to just GET his license- I'll sign him up for whatever class he needs. And a job! GETTA JOB! Just a few hours a week in order to keep from being a sloucher. He's too smart to slouch. I hate seeing him paralyzed by inertia.

My son Micah has been getting lots of calls from girls lately. :) A couple of nights ago he got 3 calls at TWO IN THE MORNING!!! - from girls having a slumber party and calling boys. I realized it was his friend Allie and my boss' daugther Carina. Allie and Carina are friends, though Carina goes to a different school (Little Flower) and Allie goes to Micah's school (Whitaker). Somehow Allie's family and the Thiemanns are friends- I think it's through the Chinese-American society- Allie is I THINK adopted from China- anyway, there's another buddy of Allie that thinks Micah is "hot"....and she's in Columbus (whew!)...now normally, giggly girls calling is kind of cute but at that hour it isn't and if Gerry and Carmen knew, Carina would be in huge trouble- she and Allie got into huge trouble once before calling Micah (and probably other kids, too) and asking him things like "have you ever made out?" and other kinds of things that I remember because I was also once in 6th grade. Luckily I'm not overly hotheaded about the phone call. I'm debating whether to mention the hour to Gerry. Maybe I'll let it go this time and if it happens again I'll mention it.

I am not a conspiracist. I usually tell the paranoid that no one has a file on you, and no, the government doesn't care what you do and doesn't have a satellite beamed at your house. I think Bill Boshears is 100% nonsense. (The government's body is so big and brain so little that if it's bit in the ass it takes it ten years to feel the pain.) But no matter how skeptical I am, I cannot watch "Deliverance" without arriving at a parallel route to the plight of Terri Schiavo. Just how involved was her husband with her condition?


Other news: People, please wash your laundry. Seriously. I interpreted at PH the other day and while waiting I got to talking with a very nice young woman with 4 kids. Her 4th, a little baby girl with soft little wisps of blonde hair, was there for a checkup. She began to tell me all about her kids, her life, her dad, etc. etc. as people are prone to do. The entire time I was able to smell her clothes, and her baby's clothes, and especially the baby's blankets. Every bit of fabric she owned smelled of large wet dog, feet, and smoke. In short, it smelled of IGNORANCE. I felt so bad for this baby who had to sleep in this stinky stuff. Anyway, at an opportune moment, when she told me "We-ell, the doctor said ya don't need ta put much powder on babies no more".... I said, "That's true, and I've heard too they shouldn't be in second hand smoke...." the stench of those fabrics was so strong it was hard to pretend I didn't smell it. MAN I wanted to burn that stuff! It should have occurred to me to say, "You know I remember using this really neat stuff called Dreft." But those poor kids in that house with those flea-bitten dogs and carpets and blankets! Not to mention the smoke! She said, "well, m'dad's comin' home from the hospital and he's on oxygen so we all hafta quit smokin' real soon..." I'm like SCREW THAT! QUIT for your KIDS! For that precious baby! But I tried to be nice, so at least she would MAYBE take a hint...maybe when the baby went to get checked the nurse said something. As is their duty. No one could miss that nasty stench.

I deleted the post prior to the one below. I think it's not for everyone to see. I was getting my anger out.

Here's the statement, Mom maybe you can bring this to Dad's attention, and I will talk to you about it later, but I feel sometimes he doesn't listen to me:

JUST BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW how the things work in your life- legally, healthwise, financially (and usually I don't ever bring any of this up) does NOT mean I'm hovering around waiting for your money or stuff. Mom had a meeting with the 4 of us a couple of years ago and showed us where everything is. She even showed us her self-written obituary. Dad, PLEASE do not patronize me by telling me you don't want me to know these things because, Dad, I'm old enough now that I HAVE to know these things.

I am NOT trying to take things out of your house- your crossword books or anything else. How old do you think I am? Sometimes I think you forget I'm 40 and not 14.

I'm sorry I have not become a great success in life- I am trying- it is harder in this day and age for someone to work at the same job for 35 years like you did. I hope to get a job that I can count on for 10 years. I really do. I have tried a lot to do that. I have a lot of social security built up. Do you know what it's like to teach school? Do you know that most teachers now are like me- do it for a few years and then give up on the whole thing? It is NOT the same as when you taught school. Mom knows. You know how much that took out of her. I did it for a few years. I'm not even current on my certificate. That profession was killing me. There's no comparison in teaching now to any other job. Do you know how much easier EVERY job I have had is in comparison to teaching? Do you really think I should continue in that profession when every day I couldn't wait to leave? And I hated the ridiculousness of policies, spending programs, discipline that never solves any problems?
I may teach again in a private school someday, but I'm not even current. Maybe in a private school that won't matter. But right now I'm looking for other things that maybe will bring in just a little more $$ and will be something I look forward to every day.

I know you have sort of turned the world over to "us kids" (all people that aren't retired, really) and you are thinking of your retirement life and have stopped being concerned with the working world. That's fine. But please realize I'm NOT a professor, I'm NOT you. I'm sorry things have turned out so bad for me. My jobs haven't always worked out even though I've done great in all of them. I think sometimes you don't realize the uncertain times we live in. Most people my age, no matter what work they're doing, are ALWAYS looking for another job.

I hope I am not too much of a disappointment. I know you thought I was talented and smart enough to do anything ever. I thank you for your encouragement and I'm talented and smart enough to do some things but not everything.

Sorry everyone about the previous post- maybe I'm inferring a lot more than my dad's implying. Maybe it's his own fears about dying. I just wish he wouldn't think I'm just a little rat waiting for the moment to take the treasure. OK I guess he saw people do that when his own parents died, and to a lesser extent when my mom's parents died. My mom told me that she wants the heirlooms and family items to go to who wants them, and if I want anything to write it down. I said I didn't really know, I'm not so picky, if someone else really wants something here I'll concede, I'm not so super-attached to any stuff. Then I was kind of being silly and said, "Here. I want this wooden jar." Mom said, "Good. That's a good start. That's from Costa Rica." Then I went into a sort of Steve Martin/Jerk routine and got her laughing a little, "...and I want those knives..." she said, "Good. We got those in Germany." (btw there are very few countries they haven't been to now- trips to Norway, Finland, Russia, Peru, and India are in their pipeline)...Now the stocks and stuff are just split 4 ways and my brothers and I all know that and we aren't antipating their demise anytime soon and we aren't even thinking about this. But mom says, "Well when your dad and I croak, we have this sorted out with the investments and assets, but you kids all need to say what you're particularly attached to." I said, "Well, I like those things I mentioned and other things, too, but if someone else really wanted something I'm not so attached to it." But then my dad sees me and mom talking like this and he suddenly stops joking, not wanting to discuss the "croaking" or anything. Sometimes he'll yell at mom about it but lately he must think I'm a klepto, like the other day him thinking I was going to steal his crossword puzzle book. Is it me? Have I done something for him to think this way about me? Does he really think I'm hovering around the house for their investments and a wooden jar? Just waiting for him to die? OK I know he's afraid of dying and death and has this wonderful way of putting out of his mind anything he doesn't want to think about. Why does he think it's ME that's the greedy one? I just have to accept he's getting older and these thoughts get stuck in his mind, he's just like that...My mom just says "well you know how he is, don't pay attention to it" but it WOULD be nice for him to think I'm not a total loser.

Trying to get my shlock together for getting more work. I've had to work at the desire to dive into it and not procrastinate.

Speaking of procrastinators, Nathanael is supposed to ask about going for track- expert at hurdles- boy does he ever suffer from procrastinitis and forget-my-head-because-it's-up-my-butt-itis. He spends too much time reading and doing intellectual things, sometimes his things actually become more like contemplating how many angels can dance on the hangnail of his big toe. I also want him to GETTA JOB!!! Nothing huge to interfere in the other stuff he likes to do, but I found when I was his age (and still) that if I have some part-time work, it always makes me so much more organized in everything else I have to do, too. I don't have as much down time but more do time, though a certain amount of down time is necessary for him to write, which is his extreme strong point. But having something (at least in the summer) will help him regulate the rest of his life. He applied at the sub place but he hasn't heard from them. His friend Kimber works there and the manager's name is Summer and she hasn't looked at everything yet. But even failing that there are a plethora of jobs for kids his age around here. Heck I might take one of those jobs myself, though I'm trying for something that puts my years of useless knowledge to work. :)

I'm at the library downtown with Nathanael. Both our home computers are kaput. Steve's working on one of them now. Fed it more money. (sigh) Stupid things. His laptop- didn't even have it two years- and it's just a mess, despite his efforts to keep it alive. All I need is someplace to get online and somewhere to create documents and get e-mail. That's really all I need from a computer and if it were up to me, the basics is all I'd care about.

They're having a fest of some type here,maybe raising money, maybe lobbying to stop library funding cuts, who knows. It's anything but quiet, with a live jazz band and little kids milling about. It's quite acarnival. I think I may go see if Hai Bui is here so I can get something yummy and Vietnamese. He's the person who runs the small restaurant here and his wife's been recently in the hospital on dialysis. He occasionally interprets for Conversa, when he works with me and when his wife is well and when he's not here at the library.

I hope I can find something low-fat...I'm still trying to lose the weight I put on since my all-time low (which I gained eating Cuban food and at Waffle Huts in Fla., remember?). I want to get to that low and then go lower. My goal is 135. I'm 5'7". That would put me at probably a size 6. Right now I'm 8 and (gasp) sometimes 10. At my lowest I was a definite size 8 and 10's were too big!

Following are some of my kids' amazing creations. Also the mommies with their creations. I was going to put these in order but the thing that posts doesn't do it that way. Grrr.

Visited Virgi today.

These 18 pieces arrange to form a cube. Nathanael is great at woodwork!

Micahnation

Nathanael's camp stool

Micah's balloon ride!

One of Nathanael's many fonts, some of which have been computerized.

This is Nathanael's creation in school last year. It needs a glass pane. This will be my favorite thing for a long time to come.

Micah's inventions

This kind of vehicle makes one king of the road. Awesome, Micah!

This is Micah and my oceanfront property. I'm thinking West Palm.

This is the Adirondack chairi Nathanael made in shop class. It needs repainted, yes. But it is proof my son's genes contain some non-nerd DNA.

Fiona and babies

Obviously this is getting mixed up with the pix here. This is Helen.

Micah's creations

John Stamos is on Jimmy Kimmel. I never liked any role he played but WOW is he a hottie...hubba hubba...:) Who else is a hottie...lessee...I thing Dean Cain is gorgeous! Lou Diamond Phillips, Jason Scott Lee, and very much Jimmy Smits. Also like Adam Beach. (Notice a trend???) Breaking that mold- I like Kevin Costner, too. Oh and someone else who's really smokin' to me is Brian Stokes Mitchell. Some of these guys are better actors than others but they are all just hot. Right- I'm married, NOT blind.

Tried the kitten swapping but it isn't working, at least for Fiona. Fiona, who was so attentive and wanted to help Helen while Helen was giving birth, now growls at Helen. Helen was gone for some time today and while waiting for her to come back I put her kittens with Fiona's. Fiona growled but conceded. Fiona did NOT like the smell of Helen's kittens. I suppose she would get used to it if I pushed it. I tried putting Helen's box right by Fiona's and putting all kittens with their own mommies, but with proximate boxes Helen started rejecting her kittens. When Helen's box was returned to her OWN closet in Nathanael's room, she was much more comfortable and will even nurse Fiona's kittens there. Neither wants to move. Eventually we are going to have to put both mommies in the shed so I am hoping we get them used to living with each other. I may have to stay home that weekend if they aren't at that point.
Easter weekend we are supposed to be in W.Va. I like to visit but to be quite honest I don't look forward to the pastor's sermons at their church. Their church does not set the standard that it should. It strays way from God's word. A lot of people, media, institutions, etc. adapt to the trends of the day. A church should be constant. Steve doesn't like Pastor Linda's sermons, either. I just don't feel right there. Our pastor, Pastor Curry, is SO true to God's word. He is such a loving person, one reason I've stayed with that church for so long. He stays true to his convictions and his understanding of the Bible no matter what the consequences are. He doesn't sway with ideas and philosophies of the day. I could stay on this soap box but I won't. But don't misunderstand- that man is one of the most non-judgmental people I know. He loves people but does not condone certain teachings or actions. There's a huge difference.

Vote for Pedro.

Imagine becoming a mommy and grandmommy in a week.

Miss Helen and her first litter.

Fiona and one of her babies

Do you want a kitten?

KITTENS! KITTENS! KITTENS! YOU WANT THEM, WE HAVE THEM! GOING FAST!

Plenty of colors! Mix 'em and match 'em!

(Seriously they will be ready in about 8 weeks if you're interested. Pix to come shortly.)

Helen has 3 girls. 2 gray, 1 b/w....with some really neat markings. So- the b/w is now Oreo (so named by Micah). Helen is very tired. I remember Mrs. Poccia's cats when I was little- they'd have litters on litters and the females would nurse all the babies, no matter whose...so maybe at some point these cats will do likewise, since Helen and Fiona are such good friends, not to mention mother and daughter. These kittens are cousins, brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles to each other. Pictures of the kitty families are forthcoming. Both baskets o'cats are now in my room. Will see how the queens adapt to that. If they don't like that I will put Helen in Nathanael's room. That room's usually quiet. Micah's room is usually filled with a passel of 12-year-old boys.

Make that triplets!!!!

OK so now we have 9 babies in the house!!!!

I'm a mammal, too, so I understand! (but I don't eat my afterbirth.)

Extra surprise- Helen came to me meowing and started screaming- I knew it was time...I yelled at Steve to get a basket ready- she's going to have kittens. I didn't know for 100% sure until now that she was reallly going to have them, as immature as she is (thinking she herself was still a kitten and nursing on mother until just last week!) but we had to think she was- her teats were all milky. I hoped she hadn't had some outside and abandoned them. Anyway, after much screaming out come twins! She's an inexperienced mom and needed help, which I provided. Like shoving her nose in the first placenta and telling her she has to eat it. Prodding her to lick the kittens more. She was freaked out- didn't know quite what was going on- her body was doing weird painful things she'd never experienced before- but of course instinct took over for the most part. Two little ones that look just like her. Don't know if more are on the way- didn't feel there were but there are a couple of little lumps that could just be her uterus if not another kitten. Will keep you upddated. Well now of course is the momentous task of having 2 queens and 8 kittens in the house. Will be ready to be adopted at 8 weeks. In a couple of weeks or so they'll all go to the shed, like last time. Micah and Nathanael are on a creek hike, so they'll be so happy when they see this surprise!

What's up with this crappy weather? The rest of the country, wait- the rest of the WORLD looks good in comparison. It still snows every day. No temps higher than mid 40's. And no end in sight. It's either still December or we've been uprooted to Toronto. I'm sick of winter. I like it less and less each year. Canadians- keep your air to yourselves. Caribbeans- send us all of yours. We'll take it!

I have a nasty head cold. Really prevented me from doing anything worth anything today. House is a mess. I've done a little but not much. Light week next week- more time to look for employment. Need to print out resumes. I want personally to go by the places where I want to work. It may be impossible to go everywhere but I have a couple of good places in mind.

Something weird's going on with Helen. Either she's getting ready to have a kitten or two herself or she already did and abandoned them/it. She's never gotten that big but her teats are big and milky. Her rear end doesn't look like the second possibility. Waddup with that? Could she be having sympathy milk? I haven't seen her nurse Fiona's kittens- Fiona doesn't want Helen around them and Helen doesn't like them. Waddup with cats anyway? Opinions from cat experts? Anyone?

Sick with ear infection and head cold. Bleah. Not what Steve had. Probably caught it from one of the babies at the clinics. I always think, oh, babies can't hurt me and their little germs can't be all that dangerous. WRONG.

Light week next week. Will gimme time to search more jobs. I need to print out my resumes. Maybe will go to my parents' to do it. Our printer works but the ink isn't great.

I'm out of it. Really. My kids are talking to me and I can't process it all. My head is all gunky.

I'm a proud "grandma" again- sextuplets! First time ever. Yes, everyone, Fiona skipped out on her spay appointment 2 months ago and by the time the second appointment came it was too late. We actually had her IN THE OFFICE for about 2 hours and they couldn't do her that day...the next day when I was supposed to bring her back, she was NOWHERE to be found. Then we found a few tomcats lurking around the house...presto chango we have sextuplets. 3 rust/white boys, 2 white boys, 1 white girl. Steve was sick today and when I came home about 6:30 I said, have you seen my cat? (She had been trying to have her kittens last night and was ready to bust). He said, no. Haven't seen her all day. I said, um, let me look under the beds...sure enough under my bed there she was. I guessed right- she was HUGER than before...I mean to be brutally honest she was so big she couldn't, um, how do I put this delicately, LICK HER FURRY BUTT so I had been bathing her. Now finally she had a change to clean things all up. The kittens had been born for some time when I found them. They were all alive and well. Cute colors, too. Never seen those colors before from her. Of course most of her kittens look just like her. White seems to dominate in cats. Micah's already claimed one of the rust ones that has some stripes around his ears and has named him Halo. (Told Micah he could have ONE CAT. Grand total of three. The others will go, as always, to good homes, and be a blessing to someone.)

Helped a lot of people today. Only had one on my list which turned into about 5 people. The last woman I helped got a thorn in her thigh when crossing the Sonoran desert to get into the US...8 months ago! It's now buried and causing a lot of pain. You can barely see it. It's desperate when you and your husband leave your 2 kids with your mother in order to come here and work as a cleaner or laborer or fruit packer or meat packer or ironer or cook. But that money goes to pay school, etc., in Mexico. YEAH I KNOW she's illegal (like half the people I see), NO LECTURES PLEASE. She's no less deserving of help just because some snot-nosed official didn't stamp a visa for her and did for someone else. You're seeing one of my few "liberal" sides. There's a HUGE difference between a shy little lady from Chiapas (that was a loooong trip from Chiapas to Sonora, too, let alone the trip from Sonora to wind up here)...and a Chechnyan or Al Qaeda trying to sneak across and frickin blow up the Pentagon. Anyone who can't tell the difference is just plain pig stupid.

Well so I'm mostly interpreting now. I know projects are slow but I'm off them anyway. Not too much in the pipeline but that changes in a day sometimes. Gerry tries to be diplomatic to me saying "your best skills are interpeting" (which may be true but I know I'm also good at PM- the last one had problems only because HE took the orders and did not relay info to me, such as due date and other details). Anyway I think most people can point to many instances in which they lost something because they took the blame for something NOT their fault. In my case there isn't a financial lost-interpreting pays much better than PM or editing- but now that I've got my old kind of schedule back, it's time to start looking, too, for other work.

I have a lot of possibilities to look at. Sometimes I hesitate to pursue one thinking "a better one will come up". Well I need to look to God to lead me in the right direction. Ideal would be for me to work 4 days a week or have some kind of schedule in which I'd have at least one day a week for interpreting. I just really enjoy working with the Guatemalan and Mexican community.

Next week I'm in doctor and dentist offices and one court date- the custody case I mentioned before.

Kids went on a long hike today. My 2 kids are about the only 2 in the whole district who ride their bikes to school every day. I just watched a show about Holland, where they ride their bikes everywhere. I know in Japan EVERYONE rides bikes everywhere- school, store, college, etc. etc. etc. No one steals bikes there. No one locks them up. Seriously it is the safest country! Anyway you go to a college and there are hundreds of bikes all parked everywhere. Wasn't there a movie about this guy who pretended to be Italian and rode his bike everywhere and finally outrode the Italian bike team...and then he met a French girl and from then on pretended to be French... LOL...sorry for my run-on blog...it's just my train of thought and you don't HAVE to read it...Well my kids are very fit even though they really don't care for many sports. They hike constantly, ride their bikes to school every day- at each school there's always ONE lone bike locked up in front- one is Micah's, one is Nathanael's. Oh, occasionally Brian bikes now because he wants to be like Micah. Brian's bike is the SAME model, same color, with the SAME accoutrements as Micah's- same basket. Same decals. I have a hard time telling the bikes apart. So often there are two identical bikes at my house.
Micah and Brian aren't friends at the moment because they argued the other day- usually those are resolved in 2-3 days if not sooner. Matt hasn't been around because he threatened Nathanael (okay my "d" key isn't working unless I practically sit on it so if I misspell, so be it).

Nathanael's been learning to drive- soon turns 16- and I have to get his SS card to get his temps- he's behind already but he doesn't seem to care- he has his bike. Anyway he's been out driving with Steve- and in a few minutes mastered the art of the stick shift which in many years of trying I have not been able to do. Not for lack of trying! Once on vacation Steve tried to get me to drive the Mustang and I tried, tried, tried, all I succeeded in doing was jerking the car around and making Steve yell at my incompetence.

By "shot" in my last entry I meant with a needle, not a gun!!!

Other stuff:

Nathanael's band had a great concert last night. Tonight he's at a competition in Dayton. We'll see what rating they bring home. They got a standing ovation. The jazz band (he's not in that but his buddy Matt is) played outstandingly last night. I couldn't keep still. They rocked with "In the Mood"- excellent.

Steve got a nice bonus. He's also been my rock during the crap at work this past week. I am humbled when I realize what I have. Everyone's got their good and bad. I came home with my tail between my legs and I needed someone to lick my wounds. He rubbed my feet instead. :) It makes me almost forgive him for coming home this evening and watching 4 hours of sci-fi. In this one particular show there are robots that look like humans and they for some reason are trying to do away with the humans even though the robots have a "God" and the humans are polytheistic. One particularly annoying robot lives in one guy's head. Only he came see her. She follows him around in a slinky red dress licking his ear and seducing him. The only character I like is a woman named Laura who is president. She is the only multi-faceted character. Strong but not in the least bit masculine. She's suffering from breast cancer- a strange human ailment in this sci-fi thing in which other people get killed by robots or strange other ailments that we don't know of. Anyway the actress that plays her is doing a great job. The rest of the characters- they seem to be replicated in just about every show I've seen on this channel.

Micah's got his buddy Josh over. There are always several kids here who aren't mine. :) This kid says "My room's even messier than Micah's". Hard to believe. Micah's made another "fort" in his room with blankets, chairs, boxes, and other assorted moveables.

Well I really love doing the interpreting I'm doing. It's nice to be around these people;to tell a young couple they are expecting;to help a baby say her name for the first time while helping her mother deal with a new diagnosis of diabetes. It's even a change to see women get stuck in the butt (depo shots). :) Oh the best thing is always the babies...children...little Brenda saying "Ben- DAH! Ben- DAH!" and even though mother Josefa (the one who had the little stillborn I told about several months ago) has a pancrease that's pretty much given up, the bright moment of the day was to watch this cute little one (think "Boo" of Monsters, Inc. and you'll have a perfect picture of Brenda) learn to talk! And the smile on the mother and father's face even in the face of having to maintain a crazy illness like diabetes.

Today I watched several women get shot, played with some roly-poly babies while waiting with moms for nutrition counseling, pregnancy questions, etc. etc. etc....I really MUST watch it with overdoing it with the babies. Boy are they just cuddly!!! Even the babies that aren't of the Hispanic patients. They're all just so cute. Even today eating a salad at Big Boy there was a cute little baby girl next to me, and a six-year-old cute little girl...whose mother was babysitting the baby and the girl was "helping"- so cute. I love babies...those huge toothless grins, all gummy and innocent and drooly and surrounde by those fat little cheeks and rolls of neck...and they all smell so good, and they come in brown and tan and pink colors, babies...I love them!!! Someone help me. I might be annoying people so I HAVE to watch myself and don't get too carried away with the loads of babies coming into the clinics.

The projects are done. I am back to interpreting almost all of the time. I felt like I was punched in the gut lately but I realize this is better. I can do this an look for another job, too.

HARTA!!!!!!


Estoy harta de TODO hoy. Que alguien me explique. Que mañana sea mejor. (suspiros)

I'm at Pierre with Heidy, the new employee.

I SOOOOOO need another job! If I weren't mature enough to know that these type of people exist EVERYWHERE in EVERY JOB and I've never had a job without these types of people, then I'd be on the street today. But for financial and professional reasons, I still say...I REALLY need another *$&^ job!!! I'm tired of walking on eggshells with some people, trying to calm tempers, trying to calm people whose temper holds my future with a company, trying to assuage things and fix things, trying to fix other mistakes on top of my own mistakes (which are plenty). Just this morning I found 2 mistakes I made and I'm not even in the fricking office. 3, actually. One was a mistake I made yesterday based on someone else's wrong instructions (leaving a drop-off notarization in the wrong mailbox at Children's). One was an e-mail in which I pressed "save draft" instead of "send" (buttons right next to each other). Well I might get taken off assignments for things like this. Actually my last major assignment finishes up today. Then I'm interpreting for most of the rest of the week. I don't know what I'll do Thursday.
I pissed and moaned to Heidi today- so I said Please don't tell anyone I'm pissing and moaning about everything- I think she's cool and she won't. Back to interpreting in 5 minutes. We had a nice 2-hour lunch here. Too bad I spent it bellyaching.