"Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Writing Well"
TIME OUT!
LET’S DANCE!
I dare you not to tap your foot or snap your fingers to this song.
Double-dog-dare you.
(Click the blue arrow to play)
(On the Floor (Featuring Pitbull) by Jennifer Lopez)
Okay. Back to your regularly scheduled life.
I swear, music saves me from myself.
So. This happened…
… and then I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize and when I listened to the voicemail, it was from my boss and she said, “Don’t worry about coming in to work today, the roads are just too bad.”
And I was like, “What?? That’s NEVER happened in the 25+ years I’ve been working,” and because that was so weird and I was a little dumbfounded, I called her back.
“Jill. Are you SURE you don’t want me to come in? I don’t live very far …?”
But no. She said to stay home.
I just hope patients don’t brave the roads and show up to a clinic that may, or may not, be open to see a doctor who is most likely not there to see them.
It should be an interesting day tomorrow fielding calls and rescheduling people.
But I’ll be honest, I’m glad they told me to stay home. I’m not usually a scaredy cat to drive when there’s bad weather, but when it’s nothing but chunky ice like you see in the above picture and it’s sticking and about an inch thick?
*MEOW*
I’m more relived that the boys aren’t going to school/class today. Because the thought of THEM out there driving in this mess gives me gray hairs. It’s bad enough that Kevin went into work, but he went in so early this morning, it was actually BEFORE most of the ice was dumped on us so I know he made it to work safely … (Now to get him home safely).
So. No work day. I have the entire day laid out in front of me and I don’t even know where to start. Do I read? Blog? Vlog? Clean house?
(HAHAHAHHAHA on that last one.)
I think I’ll just sit here, sip my coffee and munch on my dry Eggo and simply enjoy the fact that it’s going on 9:00 o’clock on a week day morning and I’m snug-as-a-bug at home in my long johns and hoodie.
UPDATED:
I had my doubts on whether calling off school/work was a good idea, but the roads are pretty chunky/crunchy with some heavy-duty ice, so it was the right call. However. Getting to school/work today will be a challenge.
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More from Write From Karen
So.
I’m feeling cocky and my ego has grown two heads today.
I’m feeling more confident about my job. I’m getting faster and more efficient and I’ve been asked (okay fine, I just sort of took it over because I’m one of those annoying leader-type people) to train the new girl.
(And I’m not okay with her just sitting there and watching me – who learns that way? I have to explain what I’m doing and WHY I’m doing something, so I’m talking a lot. And I’m sick of listening to my voice, quite frankly).
The nurse’s secretary is also new. And she’s a little freaked out when it comes to precerting testing through insurance companies. Granted, it’s not fun. And a pain. BUT, there’s a … trick to it. You just have to know what the insurance companies want to hear.
Granted, I’M NOT LYING. But when you precert tests, you sort of have to think outside the box and read between the lines on the doctor’s notes because they don’t often come right out and say what they’re looking for or trying to rule out.
Anyway. I found out that this girl came out of the nurse’s area crying on Friday, after I left early, because she was frustrated. And no one wanted to help her.
Enter Super Karen.
I know. I know. But dad gum it, how is anyone supposed to learn anything if no one takes the bull by the horns and freaking SHOWS them?!?
She gushed all over me. And told me, once again, that the nurses loved me and thought I was the best scheduler, hands down.
Even though it was really cool to hear that, I was beyond mortified. Okay. Let’s all agree I’m awesome quietly, shall we?? No need to broadcast that all over the clinic.
*ahem*
Anyway. I’m afraid it’s gone a teensy bit to my head. I found myself strutting around the clinic today and I was, erhm, a little more vocal than I have been. And more opinionated.
And I know where that usually leads me – Hello Trouble.
It’s time to rein it in and shut my mouth. And mind my P’s and Q’s.
And continue to be QUIETLY awesome.
HA!
Congratulations to the Kickapoo Jazz Band on an outstanding performance at the Parkview Jazz Festival!! The group earned 1 ratings across the board & received numerous compliments from the judges!
So. I left work early Friday to attend Jazz’s Jazz festival at a local high school.
First of all, may I just say, I need to do that more often!! It felt WONDERFUL to leave work three hours early. I seriously need to do that more often – it does wonder for my morale.
Kevin met me at work and we drove over to the high school together. The whole performance only lasted about fifteen minutes, but we stayed to hear the judges critique the kids, which was interesting.
The judge hammered the group before Jazz’s group so we were pleasantly surprised when the judge that nearly embarrassed the last group merely clapped and said, “good job guys.” I don’t think the kids can truly appreciate how awesome that compliment was, especially since they didn’t see him with the kids before them.
The other two judges mostly picked on the drummer and the bass player – said they were too loud. And listening to the recordings, I can see why they thought that.
The videos below are actually in reverse order – the first one was played third, the second one second and the last one first. I put them in the order that I thought were the best – the last being the best, in my opinion.
I felt so sorry for their teacher, who you can see is VERY pregnant. In fact, I’m certain that’s why the kids aren’t traveling to their normal competitions this year because the teacher likely doesn’t want to be far from home when she has the baby.
Which, judging by these videos, should be any time! (Poor woman. In fact, after they performed, one of the judges tried to make her sit down. LOL).
You can’t hear the girl singing very well, but at first, I was like, “What the …??” but somehow, they made it work. Her voice really blends well with the song and I thought it was a neat touch.
I was a little annoyed that the teacher stood in front of Jazz as he played his solo, and the video really doesn’t do him justice as he played really well, but that’s okay – I’m just happy he has the confidence TO stand up and be the center of attention for a short time. That takes guts.
I’m not sure I’ll have very many more jazz band videos. Like I said, they really don’t have a lot planned this season. I think they’re planning on playing at our local Art Walk, so we might show up and take some pictures/videos that day.
I’m really disappointed considering this is Jazz’s favorite part of band – playing in the Jazz band. And since this is his senior year, I was really hoping for a fun, exciting season, but that’s life, I guess.
I’m just grateful for band as that has made his middle school / high school years fun and tolerable.
(And my apologizes over the video quality – I took it with my phone).
Jazz went to court this past Friday.
He pled guilty to rear-ending someone.
He was wearing his jazz ensemble – all in black save for one skinny white tie. I bet the judge was amused.
The judge waived the fine and ordered him to go to defensive driving school.
We would have preferred the fine.
But that’s okay, this might be a good thing. It will teach Jazz the importance of keeping his eyes on the road, and to watch out for crazy drivers.
Because they’re out there in droves.
And they’re distracted, rude and inconsiderate.
You know it’s true.
Dear Diary:
All he ever wanted was to connect with them.
When we found out we were going to have sons, Kevin did what most fathers do: he fantasized about doing guy things with his sons someday. He would teach them things, he would grow close to them, he would have little buddies to hang out with.
That hasn’t really happened. Oh sure. Our sons love their father (probably more than me since he’s so much more rational with them than I am and plus – I’m a girl), but I don’t think Kevin feels like they are as close as he would like them to be. It’s taken him years to really find common ground with them. Kevin is a fix-it sort of personality. He enjoys challenges. He likes puzzles. He takes a hold of a problem and doesn’t let go until he figures it out and then conquers it.
I call him my bulldog because he simply doesn’t let anything go. (Which, on one hand, is a good trait to have because stubborn people are generally more successful simply because they don’t give up. But on the other hand, you have to learn when to quit because after you’ve reached a certain point, that point where you know in your heart it’s not going to work, it just becomes a waste of time and life is too short to beat dead horses).
But our boys aren’t interested in the same things as Kevin – not really. They could care less how to monkey rig a problem, or make something last longer than it was intended to last. They don’t care about creative maintenance solutions – they would rather just go out and buy something new than figure out what the problem is.
(They come by that mentality honestly. *ahem*)
They aren’t fascinated with problems or problem solving. (Kevin is an accountant and enjoys figuring out logical solutions to messy presentations).
They could care less about cars.
Or cooking.
Or music. (Though Jazz does love his saxophone, he’s not really interested in the type of music that Kevin loves – grungy guitar rock-type songs).
They don’t give a rat’s behind about yard work. Or house maintenance. (Though they should and will whenever they get to the homeowners stage one day).
Our sons are spoiled, entitled and have never really had a tough day in their life. And we take total blame for that. We molded them. We protected them. And they will have a rude awakening one day, I’m sure.
Reality is not all about rainbows and unicorns. Am I right?
So, when the boys saved up enough money to upgrade their computers (they both work with Kevin and Kevin pays them minimum wage and swears that he couldn’t run his business without them because he’s getting more and more clients) and bought customized parts to build bigger and better gaming computers and asked for Kevin’s advice on what to buy and then spent hours in the kitchen together putting those parts back together again, Kevin was in absolute heaven.
Finally. He found common ground. Finally. He found something they were all interested in and could bond over together.
He was happy. He told me he was happy. His actions spelled happiness. And it warmed my heart to see all three of them grow that much closer.
I have reached a point in motherhood where I am no longer inside their world: I’m outside looking in. It’s a weird position to be in considering I was one of those helicopter moms who wouldn’t allow their boys to say “BOO” unless I gave them permission to say “BOO.” In some ways, I miss those days. I miss my little boys who looked to me for guidance and relied on me to take care of them.
But mostly, I glad those days are over. I’m ready for them to take the reins of their lives and ride their choices into the sunset. I’m ready for them to meet adulthood without me hovering in the background. I will always be there for them if they need me, but I no longer wish to be the first person who they turn to if they have problems.
They are no longer boys, they are men. And they need their father now more than ever to teach them HOW to become men. It’s Kevin’s turn to take the parental reins and though one small part of me is sad, most of me is fascinated by the changes I see almost on a daily basis. I find myself in an interesting situation now: I’m the parent on the other side of the looking glass now. Though my job as their mother will never be complete, I think I’ve played my last mothering card – we’re using a new deck now and it’s Kevin’s turn to deal them a new hand.
It warms my heart to see Kevin so happy to take over. He eagerly took on that responsibility yesterday when he helped Jazz put his newly built computer back together again and their father/son conversation left me feeling warm, safe and secure inside – they are both in such good hands. Kevin is an excellent father – I couldn’t have prayed for a better father to my sons. He’s patient, kind, and considerate. He openly tells them he loves them, and is not embarrassed about the admission.
I think Kevin has solidified that father/son connection he craved.
Write From Karen 