Fighting kids, a job gained and then given back, a sick cat, and another death.

Where oh where to begin?
Okay. About a month and a half ago, Jennifer was offered a job managing a foundation started by the church we attend which is also where Jackson used to go to school. They couldn't pay much, but it was only part-time and the boys could be looked after on-site and for half price. Sounded awesome, and in a lot of way it really was. Jennifer wouldn't have a massive gap in her resume, we would get some extra cash, and the boys would be going to a pretty decent school. This is not exactly how it turned out.
The job part was fine, except that the retired pastor who ran it, and is getting on in years a little, turned out to be a bit of a Flibbertygibbet. A good man, and an excellent pastor, but a bit unorganized and scatterbrained. Jennifer is very left-brained. Disorganization in something she's being paid to maintain makes her want to beat up bags of cats. This, however can be dealt with.
What happened in the school turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. First off, Joseph has been sick every single day since he started going to school. First a cold then a crazy eye infection that looked like that disease coal miners get, then another cold, and a chronic cough that he still has.
Second off, Jackson started acting out. A lot. It started slowly, with a little more defiance than usual, but escalated into hitting and fits which is so not like him, and regression in his potty-training. I won't get into that. During all of this, he started saying some weird things about his class, like how he doesn't like being choked*, and saying that he didn't want to go there anymore. When Jennifer looked into this, it turned out that Jackson was being terrorized by another little boy in his class. This other kid's mom was getting a divorce from the kid's step-father (he's only three, and already has a step-father) who was pretty abusive, if you take that time he punched her in the parking lot as ant indication. So that kid was taking it out on Jackson I guess. They talked to the mom about the whole thing, and she was completely unaware of the situation, and was very upset about it, and agreed to go to some family counseling. Which is all fine and good on one hand. It's not really that kid's fault his parents are messed-up, and he'll probably settle down after the divorce and all that. On the other hand, fuck that kid. He's beating up Jackson, and that can't happen. So we gave it a couple weeks. On Tuesday, Jackson and the other kid got into a fight over a match-box car. When the teacher finally got there, Jackson was choking the other kid, who had just bit Jackson on the chin pretty good. That was kind of the last draw. We decided that this would be their last week there.
When Jennifer went in to quit her job, she explained that the good was not outweighing the bad any longer, and that she would be happy to work from home until they found a replacement, and suggested that she could work from home permanently if they would go for that. Well the good news is that the board members were all for it, saying that there was nothing preventing this, but the pastor was decidedly against it, saying he wanted someone on site as much as possible. So we will see how that shakes out. Hopefully the board will get there way and Jennifer can work from home, which seems likely because it will be a very difficult position to fill. Cross your fingers. Next week, everybody is home, so things should settle down.
On to the sick cat. I realize that this will may cast me in a bad light, but because of the boys, pet ownership has become less practical. Having two rambunctious boys, a cat and two small. obnoxious dogs was becoming way too much. Over the summer, My aunt's cat Lady, whom she'd had for years and years died. She was wanting a new cat, but didn't want a kitten, and wanted a cat that could get along with her son's two dogs. My cat Audrey fit the bill pretty good. So after a little discussion and a but of a cry, I gave her my cat. About a week ago, I get a call that Audrey wasn't eating and had dropped to 7lbs from her usual 12. My aunt has had numerous trips to the vet, and after an ultrasound, there seems to be a blockage of some sort in her small intestine. The pulled out a chunk to send to the lab so they can see if it is a virus, and infection or cancer or what. Those results will be here in a few days. I feel really bad about it. I gave my aunt a sick cat, and she just went through loosing a cat and now she may have to do it again. And she's paying all of the vet costs. And I miss my cat. I had her for almost 9 years. Bummer!
Now for the really freaky story. Remember the little girl Jenn used to nanny for? The one who's mom worked at the massage parlor? That little girl died last week. She was just about to turn 2. On Friday, Jennifer saw an odd message on the girl's sister's mySpace saying "RIP my baby sister" and a pic of the girl. Jennifer and I started investigating, and we found a death notice in the paper from the Sunday before. Jennifer called around to no avail, but ended up going to the funeral, which happened to be that day**. Once there, more questions were raised than answered. The "official"story Jenn got from the mom is that while at their current nanny's place, the girl started coughing up blood. They got her to the hospital where they thought she had a tear in her esophagus. When they operated, the girl had some kind of heart failure and died.
Everyone thinks this is bullshit. There were all these bruises and scratches all over her face that the mom said were from the tubes they put in, which is bunk. I guess the story has changed a few times. I had one of our reporters call the medical examiner, and they said that they had to do a more involved autopsy because they couldn't figure it out. That report takes a few months. The cops were equally confused. The whole thing was sketchy and weird.
It sucks because we really liked that girl, and Jackson still asks about her. We still find some of her toys around from time to time. She was messed up, but curious about everything and very sweet. And this whole thing could have probably been avoided by removing the kid from the circumstances. The mom had already had two kids taken away from her. Just before Jenn stopped watching the girl, she and the girl's weekend nanny were concerned enough about the girl that they called DHS. DHS said that nothing life-threatening had happened to the girl yet and unfortunately, there is no law against being a shitty mother.
There sure as hell should be.


-JP




*Yeah, WTF?
*8Ask Jenn to fill you in on the Funeral. It was a spectacle in itself.

Color me excited!

woo hoo!!

This is about how I feel...

Silly onion...


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Some thoughts on the election.

First off, congrats to Obama and Biden. You guys deserve it.

Finally people are engaged in the political process again. People are excited about performing their civic duty again. Gone, or at least lessened are the days of apathy. The feelings of why bother, my vote won't count, or politics has nothing to do with my day to day life.

Finally people other than aging baby boomers and values voters showed up at the polls.

It is very telling that when John McCain mentioned Omaba's name during his concession speech, the crowd booed, but when Obama mentioned McCain's name during his victory speech, the crowd cheered. It tells me that closed-minded arrogance has run it's course, and the American people are ready for real solutions that go beyond finger pointing.

I fear for Obama's safety and for that of his family. All the good ones get killed.

I can't wait to hear the political back-pedaling from the pendants.

It's a good day. Were it not overcast, I'm sure the sun would be a little brighter today.

I am sad that the State I live in is always way behind the curve.

More as I think of them.