Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 117

Hi Team!

I'm still in kind of a melancholy funk, but it feels a little less gripping.  Your encouragement has helped quite a bit.  I still hadn't found Pete this morning so I have no steps to report but I did drink my water and herbal tea today, 2 quarts and a little more but I didn't keep track of it.  I did sleep well last night and did not feel the urge to crash today as I have been.  That makes me 2 for 2 (since I can't really count 3 without the means to do so).  Good news though.  A few minutes ago I found Pete!!  He was hiding under a box of tissues on my desk next to the computer.  Funny thing is, I asked my son if he had seen Pete and he told me exactly where to find him.  And he say's I put the tissues there after asking him to get them for me a few days ago.  I have NO recollection of that.  That of course does not mean it didn't go down that way, but I am not claiming what I do not remember! :)

I still have not made it to mom's to weigh in.  I'm sorry about that.  I will try to get that done by the end of the weekend if not sooner.  I really keep meaning to do it but some of my work stuff has had me a bit distracted.  For example, with the theme, "underground railroad"  what kind of art projects (3) does one come up with for k-2nd graders?  Not only do I have to come up with these projects but I have to make them so my boss can have examples.  In two days of racking my brains I have thought of "some kind of lanterns" and making the little and big dippers (paint on paper with marshmallow "stars" in the constellations and glitter on the North Star.)  Pretty lame, huh?  None of the themed websites offer any help for crafts for that theme.  I do not teach school, I teach a recreational and social skill building program aka before and afterschool child care program.  Education has to be through play and discussion during play.  Reading and writing are not activities that the kids generally choose to do after school.  And I am supposed to provide fun things to do.

I like the teaching part, when I teach kids to solve problems and deal with differences effectively my job ROCKS!  When I teach kids to express how they feel with words instead of fists my job is amazing.  When I help a parent figure out how to resolve her child's social issues at school, home, and soccer practice, I feel great!  When I get a kid who can't seem to make or keep friends and watch him or her blossom into a social butterfly with lots of friends and new found confidence, I can't believe I get paid to be a part of it.  When I teach parents how to discipline with love and logic and not be door mats and not be mean to their kids I know that I have made a difference and I love doing it.  When I have to spend hours looking for some craft project tha will thrill my boss to fit a theme I think is stupid ( for our purposes anyway) and had no say in choosing the themes to begin with, I want to slam my head in a door a few hundred times.  Sometimes I just get overwhelmed and frustrated when I have to put so much into something and I don't like the outcome myself.  It isn't that I'm planning things that the kids won't enjoy on purpose, it's just that sometimes I cannot find the resources to  find something that will be fun AND make the boss happy because the theme doesn't lend itself to it.  And then my finished product doesn't make me happy either. OK, rant over!  I just needed to vent.  Sorry.

On a positive note, I get to work out with Coach Alex tomorrow, my birthday is Friday and I have a Fire Buff Battalion meeting on Saturday.  Lots coming up! =)

Until next blog, stay safe!

Hotflash out.