Monday, January 26, 2009

Weekend Recap

I have to laugh at something: I have noticed that I have a couple of people who read my blog who are not only very conservative Christians but are ALSO completely Anti-Obama (and I am not talking about YOU, Steph, I love you!); while I appreciate the readers and think it is cool that they obviously find something about my blog compelling enough to keep reading, it just makes me laugh. So if this sounds like you, I am dying to know: are you simply waiting for my blog to burst into flames, do I need to be glad I am moving so you won't be able to bomb my house, or are you simply here because you find me interesting? Do tell!


I had a very unexpected invite over the weekend; Steve wanted to Go Away With Me! We went to a Bed and Breakfast Inn by Lava Hot Springs. Stopped and ate at Red Lobster on the way, then checked in to the Moose Hollow Bed and Breakfast before heading to the hot pools at Lava. First things first here: you all know that Steve has been a dick, and while you might not know all the details, you know by now that he is often "confused." In all these years together, be it "official" or not, he does this. he says or does something really, really mean, and instead of saying that he is wrong or that he said something in the heat of the moment, instead of God Forbid APOLOGIZING, he does something unexpectedly and out of the blue nice and thoughtful and loving. He doesn't apologize, he never will, but this is his way of doing so. I talked to a friend of mine about this and her suggestion was next time something like this happens-which it inevitably will-I could try to help him verbalize the meaning behind it, but at the same time accept this about him. That makes sense to me, and might help next time something similar occurs. I could bore you all to tears with the different little things that I never, EVER write about, but I won't do that. What I will say is that while we all know what he **should** do, that shouldn't be taken into account. I "should" do a lot of things that I don't, nor do I plan on EVER doing. So. In the spirit of the invitation, I went, and we had a lovely time. The B&B was-odd, to say the least, and I don't know that I would ever stay there again, but the rest was lovely. A note to anyone who might want to stay here: make the coffee in your room, don't drink it in the dining room, unless you like coffee the color of tea. If you do not like to eat right first thing upon awakening, get up early-because they will NOT let you leave without eating. And if you want to get "busy," do NOT reserve the Sunrise Room; the headboard bangs against the wall. LOUDLY.

Also on Sunday, we stopped at Costco and picked up some things (diapers and coffee, as you all know, and mundane stuff like laundry soap and toilet paper. Not very exciting, but I felt better getting home and mentally calculating how much I saved in the long term by buying there. Really, it is considerable; I figured in one month's time, I will have saved just over $70.00. Not bad at all.

I did splurge by stopping at Starbucks and indulging in a triple shot grande white chocolate mocha, EXTRA HOT, along with a pumpkin scone. Heaven. I don't care who you are, Starbucks coffee IS better. We then went to Lowe's, where I found two rugs-one for the kitchen (with, of all things, coffee varieties on it in varying shades of brown. Gorgeous!) and one for the little boys' room-it looks like a race track. It was very, very exciting to pick out these two brand new things for the house, things I LOVE.

Today, my friend Janet came by at lunch and we went to the local thrift store, where we found these things: a rocking recliner in beige, a mattress and box spring set (with frame) for ME, a brand-new set of bunk beds for the little boys (one of the older kids will have the set we have, which has a full bed on the bottom), and the loveliest old farm table for the kitchen. It has black legs and a brown top, all wooden, and I love it. It caught my eye immediately, and I thought "oh, it matches the rug perfectly!" When we were putting all the "sold" tags on them, Janet wrote out the check and handed me the receipt, saying, "Happy new house!" I just, predictably, cried with how blessed I truly am.

Not everything is well and good here, though. I got a call from the school informing me that Hannah is failing her classes. ALL.OF.THEM. We are talking FAILING. Zeros in more than one. I have a meeting at the school at 7:15 in the morning, because they want to transfer her to the local Alternative School, which just doesn't seem like a reasonable solution to me. Why in God's name, unless she is a discipline problem (not), would they want to throw her amongst a group of kids that I try desperately to keep her away from? Anyway, I know that part of the problem this year has had to do with the whole CSG incident and then the CF incident; it still isn't an excuse for Hannah to simply fuck of school, and I am holding her responsible for silly little things like not turning in HOMEwork, but with hope the school is willing to be a bit more lenient. I will let you all know what happens tomorrow; I have a couple of things to propose, to with hope they will be more willing to explore other options as opposed to just throwing her out.

All in all, I feel really good today. I think-I don't know if I would call it "grace," but something is happening and I just feel very calm. Not that things don't still suck in some respects-we still have problems and worries and fears, of course (don't we all?) but today I feel strong enough to face them and deal with them by simply taking the next step. I am wearing a necklace* that says "Courage" and a bracelet* that says "Strength," and maybe that is making the difference.

*Both of these items were given to me for Christmas by Mr. Lady, but she bought them from Nicole Lorentz; go check out her Etsy shop, you will be amazed at the talent this woman has.

19 comments:

GypsiAdventure said...

sounds like you had a nice time away...glad everything is going so well ... I'm excited about the new house!
~K

Ms Crazy Princess said...

Seems like most of the stuff you wrote made me angry! Not mad angry, but jealous angry!! Because *I* want to go to Starbucks.. *I* want a costco here!!
Oh and hey.. I'm Christian.. but I'm ohh sooo FOR OBAMA!! ;)

Julie@My5monkeys said...

I love you too even if I'm the comeplete opposite of you in regards to church and voting....

But we are moms and we relate there. I'm glad you had a good weekend and had starbucks. Sorry to hear about Hannah and school. Sending more Hugs and prayers your way.

FreedomFirst said...

I really hope the school is willing to do something else. And I hope she is able to pull it together for a while and get through this. She must be having a rough time.

I'm so glad for the new house furnishings. And my Mom always used to get annoyed that her parents had exactly the kind of relationship you describe with Steve. Her Dad would bring her Mom flowers or a piece of candy (they were very poor) in lieu of an apology, and to this day she is still upset that her Mom would accept that. But they're still together.

The Tutugirl said...

Its too bad that high school can't be flexible like college- if you're going through something awful, you can take off a semester and start classes again later without screwing up your academics. Sounds like its time to talk to the therapist again- if its depression that's affecting her, maybe getting the creep prosecuted isn't as important as keeping Hannah's life on track. I'm sure there's someone in the school system who can help you figure this out.

I'm so glad you took a weekend vacation! You definitely deserved some time relaxing.

Shiona said...

Glad to hear everything went so well. Hope that advice works out with Steve. Sounds like you got some great things for the new place :)

As for Hannah, I hope she realizes thgat school is important and starts turning in work. You are right an alternative school is definitely not the answer. My half brother has been doing this for years. Just not turning in any homework OR classwork. I just don;t get it but I rememberm I had my bad moments in high school but was able to rebound

Good luck with everything.

Rachael said...

Um... you totally bought the EXACT thing that I would buy at Starbucks. Those pumpkin scones? SO FREAKING GOOD! I love them.

I'm sorry about Hannah. It's a shame that they haven't done more to help her before she got to failing. It's sort of a problem - they dont' really do anything when kids are just struggling. I had this conversation on my vacation w/my stepmom about my 10 year old sister. She's not doing well, but not failing, so no extra help is offered.

I hope your meeting goes well tomorrow!

LiteralDan said...

All else aside, I just want to toss in there that a Costco membership is a fantastic (and very small) investment for almost anyone in the country.

Most of the time you don't even need any math skills to see it. 10 Eggos for $3 or 60 for $7? I've always got the freezer space for a few extra packs.

Anonymous said...

Well Kori I would be one of the Anti-Obama readers that you have.
I come here because....well...I really don't know.
I'm drawn to your blog.
You write well, you are very straight to the point & I find myself to be a little that way sometimes. We all have different OPINIONS but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop reading your blog. I'll just skip over your Obama loving rants..haha

Kori said...

I wouldn't call myself a Censervative Christian per say. But a Christian none the less. I don't come here to see if your blog has blown to smither-reens. I come because I adore you and we share alot more than a name. Like brutal honesty for one, mine just comes out a little different. I also come here for updates on the kids and you because I care and I worry. I pray for ya'll daily.

Congratulations on the House and all the goodies you got. I know you are more than ecstatic.

Hope you and the Teachers come to a reasonable agreement about Hannah. I know it's got be hard for her but like you said it's no excuse to let her grades go to pot.

justme said...

You don't have to explain or justify how you handle your relationship with Steve; at least not to me. Glad you had a good weekend...a little nookie does a soul good, no?

Good luck with the Hannah and the school.It SUCKS, but I agree that you can't allow her to say fuck it and screw up school because of that asshole, although I know it would be easy to do (were I in her shoes)...I also agree that the school is ABSOLUTELY WRONG to want to send her to the alternative school right away - what a fucking joke! What ever happened to helping kids?

Calm is good...I need to find a little calm right now...anxiety starting to creep in and suffocate me these days.

J'Ollie Primitives said...

catching up this morning to find that YOU HAVE A HOUSE.

YES!!!!

Briya said...

Maybe not grace... but did you know that COURAGE has all of letters of grace? Coincidence...?

:)

won said...

Kori,

About Hannah, I am glad you are not the type of parent who just blindly follows there suggestions. While I am not an expert, I have done a TON of research, etc into this issue. The school must make attempts to help Hannah. There are steps you can take. Legal steps, through a process you can take with the school called an IEP (Individualized Educational Placement. Legal, but not meaning needing a lawyer, etc. Just becoming educated about your rights and then holding them accountable. The federal law mandates that they help our children succeed. They must explore the other options. Please email me if you want to know more.

Also, my first question is how long has she been failing? If it was just last week that she began to not turn her work in, great (well, you know what I mean). If she hasn't turned work in for a month...I'd be damn pissed! Hopefully, they've let you know in a timely way.

And your friend Janet's kindness....I guess it's all cyclical. That's the way the world works best.

TnAHurst said...

Hey I dont know if I was one of those conservative not for obama people but um anyway I'm just wondering how it went with Hannah and whats going on i was left out of the conversation?! Let me know when you have time. I'll say a lil prayer for your fam

Anna-b-bonkers said...

First, I had to laugh at the Obama thing. I guess that I never thought of anyone not liking him. Up here in our community he is the talk of the town, funny thing is I think he has had more publicity than our own prime minister.

Yay you for getting away for the weekend, I have no judgments, I think you are awesome and it sounded like a fantastic time, the headboard thing, too funny!

I hope things get sorted out for Hanna, she just seems to have so much on her plate, I really hope the best for her and I think it will only be a matter of time, once the air clears she will be back on track.

I am so excited for you with the new stuff for the new place....what colors are you going with?
Remember that Christmas gift I wanted to send you?
I think I will customize it to your new place!

Mozi Esme said...

Hoorah for Costco - I wish we had one here... And I am drooling for Starbucks or any kind of coffee - I'm on a self-imposed caffeine ban at the moment. That headboard banging thing does not sound cool, but it does sound like an interesting weekend, and glad you had some good shopping finds! We've been trying to get a twin bed for Esme second hand here in OR with no success so far, so she is in our bed at the moment.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an awesome weekend and just the sort of thing you needed. Glad to hear you had such a relaxing time!

Sorry about the school problems with Hannah. Hopefully she comes around soon.

HalfAsstic.com said...

Oh man, Kori! I have a couple of questions about the school issue for Hannah.
First of all, are they aware of what has happened to her? I am guessing they are already clued in.
Is she so far behind that the homebound tutor couldn't get her caught up?
Maybe you could make arrangements with them to let her slide with some of the grades while she gets all caught up with him/her?