Manic Monday

Another day... another dollar. Well, six hundred of them. There was six hundred dollars in my bank account this morning and I had no clue where they had come from.

I looked at the atm slip and tilted my head and tried to figure out who my mysterious benefactor might be. Court case pay off? Stimulus check direct deposit? Deciding to call the bank when it opened on a break, I headed into work, munching cheerfully on an onion bagel.

Bank error in my favor: Collect $600

I got to work and worked for two hours. I called the bank. I asked for a history of my deposits. They said cheerfully (it was a Monday. I think Officeland is run on High Octane Coffee on Monday and everyone is cheerful or at least blasted on caffeine and sounds like it.) that I had deposited the money on Thursday.

No. Really. I had not.

I asked what check I had deposited. They said they did not know. It just said check. I admitted I hated to say it but could they find out. Because, honestly, no, I had not. I do not know who had but it was not me. But if they wanted to give it to me, hey... I will take it.

They quickly advised me they would research it and call me back.

On my next break I went out and found out that:

Bank error corrected: -$600

Sigh. Well, easy come, easy go. But on the downside I would have to deposit my paycheck now. And had I spent any of that check? I would have to call the bank again.

But before I could, I had another message.

My youngest had fallen and 'maybe' broken his finger in gym, probably not, and the school had taped it to the next finger and given him an ice pack and sent him back to class and what would I like to do?

I would like to become an alcoholic but I hate the taste of strong spirits.

I did not, however, think this was the appropriate response. I called the school back and without telling them that I was already bummed because I had just lost $600 (well, I had!) and was already crabby and here they had gone and broken my baby... I asked how they had broken my baby.

I then left work (more money... can you hear the flushing noise?) and headed to Rock Creek to get the young one. An X-Ray was in order. On the way, I made that call to the bank. On 422 somewhere between Niles and Howland, I was talking to the bank teller when I noticed everyone else had gotten in the far lane. I no longer could. They had done so due to the line of police cars along side the road. The lane was still free, so I could still pass. I wondered why everyone else had gotten over.

That was when I noticed that the road was on... FIRE! There were patches of fire on the road. And I had a gas leak. Not a major one but I was driving over fire and I could smell the fire and that was probably not good and where were the police officers from the cars if the road was on fire and I was driving over it?

Oh! There they were! Up the hill... leading... Pigs??? Pigs on leashes??? Large sow like pigs not cute little piglets too. What on earth were they doing and why was the road on fire?

I did not even realize I was doing a running dialogue until the bank teller began answering me.

She was asking me where I was that this was going on... and how and why. Like I knew. I was only looking. I mean, hey. I am just the observer.

So, I got back to my kid, took him towards the hospital. But we stopped for gas. In a continuation of my random luck, he won a pack of Mentos and I won 1000 bonus Speedy Reward points when we got gas. He held up his finger and said, "I started today grounded. I went to school, was having a good day, got hurt. Then I got to go home, which is cool. Then I win Mentos. Today is a weird day." I could see his point. It sure was. For me, too.

We went to the hospital. They did not make us wait to go back. They quickly took their pics and it looked like we were going to be on time to get the other kids from MJ's.

I curled around Ash in the hospital room. We waited for his results. We crashed and fell into deep sleep. I woke with my mouth tasting like glue, looked at the clock. I realized that although I was refreshed from my nap, I was also late to get the other kids and WHY WERE WE STILL IN THE HOSPITAL.

I asked the lady in the middle that. She advised that our results just got back. She smiled. Kindly. Cheerfully. I brushed my hair out of my face and wiped the drool from my chin.

They came in. They put a splint on his (lucky again) non broken two (not one, unlucky) fingers. Off we sped and gathered the other two kids.

And in the words of the Bangles..."Its just another Manic Monday..."

Book edits... and life getting in the way :)

Sorry about the delay on the posting of more of Boo! but book edits on Odd Stuff are coming back on the 23rd and Siren's Song is nearly done so although the plan was a more steady flow of words, life got in the way. More is coming by Weds, but until then... here is what I have been up to.

Siren's Song, book two of the Odd Stuff series, has been pushing me to finish it and has resulted in me losing more sleep than I can afford to lose. I have been running on mostly coffee due to the plot coming out as fast as I can type it and although this is great and my word counts are at an all time high, I keep looking back through and rereading it assuming that I must have done it wrong. None of my work comes quite this easily. But the flow is within the parameters of the outline, the word count per chapter is where I wanted it to be so I have not gone on long rants... it is both numerically and plot wise going great. My prereader is eating it up as it apparently sounds just as great as it has felt like it was going to sound.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. For either something to trip me up or for it to suddenly not flow so well. But it hasn't and I keep writing it. I am kind of amazed by myself at this point. I think that I have just spent enough time with these characters and enough time in their world that I know what is going on and once I got the set up done, the middle and climax are just... well, easy.

I am going to regret those words. Eight more chapters left and I should not have applied the word easy at this point... I just know it.

Kiddos are doing well... at least two out of three are. Justice has decided it is her new life's work to drive me batty. Apparently my hair is not graying at a pace that suits her because she has gone utterly boy crazy. Her studies have tanked, I am getting calls from the principal and she has suddenly become belligerent.

Where has my sweet princess gone?

Oh, yeah, puberty. What was I thinking?

The boys have settled into the new school with an ease that has amazed and thrilled me. They both had friends and "engagements" (David's word for his plans for the weekend) set up. I am now little more than a taxi. But I am still a cuddleable taxi, so no beef on my part and their grades were awesome, so they shall live yet another day.

Now if I could just get the dishwasher here from the farm... all would be well and right in my world...

September Party

Every year for our birthday there is a party. Technically it is Santino's birthday party, but since a bunch of our birthdays all fall in September it has gotten named the September party and we all crash it and celebrate at once.

Last night (well the whole weekend really) is the September party. Me, Jus and Ash and this year Jamie, loaded up my grocery-go-getter and headed over to the barn for our "life" reunion. Better than any family reunion, better than any class reunion, the September party over the years has evolved into a reunion of all the people who matter because you chose to make them matter.

Class reunions are reunions of people you went to school with because you had to. Family reunions are people you were born into. The September party was a bunch of us who became friends, for some reason or another over the years (I got in by default at age 17 and then got custody of Santino through the divorce, or so I like to joke) and have stayed friends through thick and thin. When we were younger it was a drunken mess of us all slogging around. As we have aged, it has evolved into a tri-generational party. There is the parent generation, the our generation and then the herd of kids. It boggles my mind sometimes that the kids are now getting to be the age that some of us became friends.

For instance one of the kids used to come strolling over to my apartment when she was nine or so for "high tea" and to do art. Now she is seventeen. The age when I first started appearing on Santino's hood at Chanel Products. About a hundred years ago. About a minute ago she was even tinier and I could pick her up and carry her. She was a tiny little thing on Chestnut Street, all hair and eyes.

I stare at her the most as she reminds me how very old we are all getting.

Anyway, once a year we all herd to Santino's and eat and drink too much and visit. There is some drama, some laughter, some romance, some tears. Always it is a huge chance for writer me to people watch. Always it is a huge chance for me to let down my hair (which I don't do) and be a person not just a mother, worker and otherwise upstanding member of the community. At Santino's I am The Virg and nothing greater or lesser. I am all that I was at seventeen. I am all of my mess ups, all of my flaws and yet they like me any way. All of the gritty bits no one in the real world knows are out there when I go there... divorce bits. Nasty hide in the closet bits. Dumb things I did when I was a kid bits. And none of it matters.

And as well it is a time when I get to be proud of who I have become. I get to talk about what I have done. I sold my book. I am still able to be on my own with three kids. All of the health stuff has not gotten me down. They are my friends. It is a strange sort of safe zone. I feel really lucky to have it.

So after all that lead in, I went to the Sept Party last night and as advertised it was all of the above. I had a few dramatic moments. I had a few exceptionally deep conversations that may or may not be remembered by the people I was having them with due to alcohol consumption. I planned two weddings and one divorce (well, I have to divorce one of them so that I can marry the other and have the second wedding...) and I got more hugs than I get in a year outside my family.

I am relaxed in a way I won't be for a year and I have a smashing headache that is fortunately my only hangover side effect.

That and lack of sleep were my only bad side effects. I have to go over and clean up. I have to get some laundry done. But part of me wishes reality could back off for another day. I have a feeling one conversation I had is going to result in an argument... but life is dull without some drama and you only live once. Once spin around per person and my friend in Warren is going through something right now which sort of brought home to me, in combination with my own health issues, that if there is something you want to do, you kind of just have to do it and let the consequences be damned. God does not promise us tomorrow. He only gives us this moment. And I took my moment. I am content with that.
For now. Then again, that is easy to say in my cocoon.

Speaking of the moment, Pray for Lucas.

Lucas is a little boy in Warren. He went to a minor league baseball game. He was sitting in the stands in his parents lap. He is four. He got hit in the head by a foul ball.

He is now and has been in Akron Children's Hospital and has had multiple surgeries due to the major trauma to his brain. They almost lost him and don't know yet what will happen to him.

All in a moment. And he is four. He went to a baseball game and was safe in his parents lap. In a moment it all changed. The team was the Scrappers and it is all over the Youngstown news but isn't getting any coverage down here. My friend Penny is his great aunt. Can you imagine?

Between that and my issues lately, I have been praying for Lucas and thinking hard about my choices. No one promises you tomorrow. Live for now, do what you can, and never regret.

*Grin* Probably I should wear a warning to that effect.

This was the newspaper article re:Lucas
http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/sep/03/prayers-go-out-to-boy-hit-by-foul-ball-at/?newswatch
He was on the news too, but I can't find the link to the show.
This is the link to the hospital if you would like to send well wishes to Lucas, he is having a rough day...
https://www.akronchildrens.org/