Write From Karen

C..C..C..Cold. The high got up to 15 today. That’s freaking cold. I’m pretty sure I was numb the entire morning.

Kevin took the boys to school (because the roads were slick and I’m a big wuss when it comes to driving on slick roads) and he came back to pick me up so we could both go to his office and work. We’ve been following this pattern and it seems to be working pretty good for both of us. We go back home for lunch (except for Wednesdays, that’s our lunch date day) then he returns to his office by himself and stays until five. I stick around the house, catch up on emails then pick up the boys from school.

His office was freezing cold. He turns the thermostat down at night, to save on utilities, and it never really catches back up until after lunch. So, I quite literally froze while I surfed job sites.

Oh yeah. I surfed job sites. In FACT, I found a job that would be perfect for me, but I’m terrified of applying for it. Mainly because they state in their application guidelines that they will issue some sort of work test to see how I do.

I’ll be honest. I’m pretty good thinking on my feet, but honestly? Only when it comes to areas I’m pretty comfortable in. This particular job requires technical writing skills, which I have a Bachelor’s of Science in, but which I haven’t actually used since I gradated. I stumbled into the website design business shortly after graduation and that’s where I’ve been ever since.

If I apply for this job, I will need to brush up on my technical writing skills. Which, in essence, is everything to do with technical writing. The job title is a “Document Specialist” and it’s with a software company that sells software to insurance companies. It sounds awesome. And reading the requirements, I’m pretty much a shoe in … but I’m TERRIFIED.

I will be a (bigger) fool if I don’t apply, I think. I’ll never get over my fear of doing what I’m actually trained to do unless I just take a deep breath and jump in. The problem is, there aren’t many of these types of jobs around Springfield (at least, there didn’t use to be, maybe there are more now – I mean the last time I seriously looked into the industry was back when I graduated from college, in 2003), so I’m not sure how many “practice” opportunities I’ll get before the opportunities run out. You know?

Also, I registered on the hospital health care site today and found another position that looks like I’d be a shoe-in for – it’s in patient registration and the location is pretty close to home. The hours are 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, though I would be a “floater” and would be required to work other locations, if they needed me.

I was pretty encouraged by my searches today. I’m feeling excited and scared. I’m working on my resume now, which is another sobering experience considering I haven’t put a resume together in YEARS and I’m trying to come up with a creative spin on my working from home all these years. One of the things I think might be a good thing to point out is that now that our boys are (virtually) grown, or at least are at the stage where they are self-sufficient and not really relying on me anymore, I won’t be called home to take care of a sick youngster and have the time and motivation to commit all of my attention to my job duties.

Kevin has a resume book I can consult, but it’s really old. Do resume tips expire? I know NOT to pull the same “am motivated, friendly and work well with others” stint because let’s face it, that’s what all employers are looking for anyway and putting that on a resume is redundant and mundane. I’m thinking I might make a trip to our local Barnes and Noble and thumb through some resumes books to see if anything new and different jumps out at me.

I also saw a pretty slick “about me” page that I would like to incorporate into my resume/cover letter package. In essence, it’s one page with a picture of me and a short paragraph listing my abilities and accomplishments. I don’t know how “different” that really is, but I’d like to try it, at any rate.

My desk still hasn’t arrived. Kevin said that the company where he ordered the desk from shows it’s supposed to arrive sometime next week. I’m really ready to move into my own space. Though technically, it won’t really be MY space, but just SPACE, since I’m carting a laptop around and pack everything up before I leave so that you can’t even tell I was there to begin with. I have a pretty good idea what I want to do with Kevin’s website, I’ll likely start on that tomorrow, providing I can find some decent pictures to purchase on iStockphoto.com.

I’ve got to do something about this fatigue. It gets to the point where I can’t even concentrate, I’m so tired. And when I say tired, I mean droopy and can barely keep my eyes open tired. I’m back to drinking coffee in the afternoons. It’s funny, but I don’t truly start waking up until around mid-afternoon and I’m pretty awake until around 10:00 at night.

I was late picking the boys up from school today. Did I mention the high was only 15 degrees? I didn’t know they got out of school early today and they were forced to stand out in the cold for about ten minutes before calling Kevin, who told them to go back to the school and warm up. (Why they don’t have the presence of mind to do that to begin with is beyond me). They tried calling me multiple times (I had eight missed calls), but I had the radio on and didn’t hear my phone. (I’ve since changed the ring tone and turned the volume way up). They were frozen and quite annoyed with me. Jazz had the good sense to at least zip up his jacket and pull his hoodie over his head. Dude’s jacket was unzipped and flapping in the wind. When I asked him why he didn’t zip it up, “My hands were too numb.”

I’ve told the boys repeatedly they need to wear something other than a t-shirt and sweat jacket to school when it gets this cold, like a sweatshirt and a heavier jacket. But Dude just told me that that “Looks dorky” and he flat out refuses to dress warmer. This is the part where I shrug and say, “well, then you’re going to freeze and I don’t want to hear about it.”

Teenagers are so STUBBORN. Jazz is at least a little more reasonable when it comes to his clothes, but Dude wears the three exact same t-shirts all the time with the exact same three hoodies all the time and this does not deviate, ever. I have stopped buying him clothes because he simply won’t wear them. God forbid the kid stand out from his peers in any way. I did finally make him get his hair cut, so at least now he looks like a respectable young man instead of a homeless guy. And he will maintain that ‘do as long as he lives here. As I told him, “It’s time to grow up and look the part.” I mean seriously, if you were an employer, would you hire a kid that looks like he just crawled out of a dumpster?

Exactly.

At any rate, that was the drama for the day – mom screwed up. But to be fair to me, I didn’t KNOW the kids got out early, so they should have taken the initiative and made sure I knew that they did.

I’m glad we went ahead and bought a parking sticker for Dude’s car – it looks like he might be driving them both to school very soon. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.

Working at the office today. My desk still hasn’t arrived yet, Kevin called the company and they were waiting on the conference table, which is on back order, so they could ship everything together. But he told them to go ahead and send the desk, just send the table whenever it finally gets in.

It’s freeeeezing in here. Kevin turns the thermostat way down when he leaves at night so it takes a while for the office to warm up. I’m currently working with my coat on and my toes are frozen. But hey, at least our utility bill should be pretty low.

It snowed here yesterday and last night, I think we only got about an inch and a half, but it’s cold, like only a high of 20 cold and the windchill might be in the negatives. Our school district kept our schools open and people are throwing FITS over it. Honestly? It’s cold, and there are slick spots, but it’s really not that bad. I did feel sorry for the kids that had to walk and/or ride the bus this morning, that couldn’t have been fun. Hopefully they were bundled up.

But some of the complaints on the district’s Facebook page didn’t make any sense to me. For example: what about the poor kids that can’t afford winter coats, gloves, etc.? I don’t understand this argument. We have a clothing bank that supplies winter clothing to kids who need that sort of thing (for free!) so I can’t help but wonder why parents wouldn’t adequately clothe their children for this type of weather. Even if they don’t get the clothing from the clothing bank, (did I mention it’s free?), buy coats and other winter accessories when it goes on sale in the off season. In other words, prepare. We live in an area that gets ice and snow every year – EVERY YEAR – it’s not like this is a surprise or a rare occurrence. And anyone who lives in this city knows that our district is rather notorious for NOT calling off school in weather like this so … why aren’t they prepared?

I’ve been truly flabbergasted at the number of nasty comments on the district’s Facebook wall. I also wonder if their reactions are being noticed by their children and what sort of lesson those children are learning from all of this. That when the weather gets a little bad stay home and complain? Most jobs expect you to show up, rain, shine, snow or ice … I just wonder if parents are aware that their children are learning future coping skills from them.

Our boys? Didn’t even complain. In fact, they weren’t even surprised that the school didn’t cancel school. They got up and got ready as usual. They knew that there was no way we were allowing them to stay home, that when something like this happens, we tend to just shrug it off and say, “Oh well. We’ll deal with it.” They don’t even bother asking to stay home anymore because we’ve always been consistent in our answers – nope. We’ll get an earlier start and drive very slowly.

Though I understand everyone has different circumstances and must make the choice whether to keep their kids home themselves, I do wonder how they handle these situations and what sort of lessons their children take away from times like these. Children are sponges, they soak up this sort of stuff whether we’re aware of it or not.

I don’t jump on bandwagons … I prefer to stand back and watch people fight for a seat and make fools of themselves, myself. It’s really quite interesting to watch. Not to mention sad and a little disturbing, quite honestly.

Updated: I couldn’t take the insane comments on our district’s Facebook page anymore. I responded with:

I’ve read these comments all day and I’m confused. This weather is not unusual for our area. We have cold snaps come through every year.

Every. Year.

And every year, people get upset on whatever the district decides to do; the district can’t… win. I’m sure it’s a tough call, either way. It’s our job, as parents, to teach our children to adapt to the situation/circumstance.

I guess I don’t understand why people aren’t prepared. If children need coats, scarves, hats, gloves, etc. there are places you can go to get them: PTA Clothing Bank, churches, charities, thrift stores, garage sales, off-season sales. My point is, we know there will be days like this, have a plan, prepare. Talk to the kids. Prepare them. If they have to wait for the bus, then tell them to stamp their feet to stay warm. If they’re walking, then make sure they have adequate footwear and are wearing hats and scarves. If we’re driving them, then leave earlier and drive slower – show the kids, by example, how to navigate weather like this.

If parents sincerely don’t want to send their kids on days like this, then don’t send them. Again, have a plan, prepare where they will go before hand. And that’s it. Don’t grumble or insult other parents who have other plans or opt to do something different.

This has nothing to do with money, with education, with what side of town we live on but all about individual choices and preparing our children to endure these hardships. Just wait until they gets jobs, jobs don’t have snow days. Bosses will expect their employees to show up, regardless of the weather.

As far as the school’s responsibility, I agree with what others have said – if school is going to be in session, then please make sure parking lots and sidewalks are cleared off beforehand so that everyone can arrive safely.

I truly wasn’t trying to be an asshole, but don’t you think this is common sense stuff? I swear, people don’t seem to have the capability to think for themselves anymore. Maybe it’s just me. *shrug*