Part 1: Three fine gentlemen exit the premises
Today, Mike and Steve and their dear Schneider are moving to San Francisco. Mike was offered a job as a digital animator (I'm sure his actual title is more specific than that) at Pixar and he decided that it was an opportunity that he just couldn't pass up. We are having a final farewell dinner with the whole neighborhood group tonight and they are driving off in the morning. I know that we will keep in touch and hopefully have a caravan road trip to visit them in the near future, but it still saddens me that they are leaving. Mike, Steve, and I have shared some great times over Shrinky-Dinks, a collection of Madonna music videos, scones and jam, hand-made stuffed animals, and our shared love of fancy food. They are both exceptionally caring, considerate, insightful, joyful, intriguing, and entertaining. They bring a lot to the table at a dinner party, both in the form of delicious salads with homemade dressings, and in their lively conversation. They also have the best behaved and most distinguished dog in the neighborhood. All three will be dearly missed.
Part 2: Sicky-poo once again
I am sick AGAIN! Between January and September of 2008, I was ill with something or other a total of 8 times! I had strep throat, bronchitis, three head colds, two barfing flus, and shingles! I was so excited to have been given a reprieve during October, but that didn't last long. I now have some sort of upper respiratory infection that has taken away my ability to breathe and eat simultaneously and comes with a chest rattling cough that makes me nearly throw up every time it starts. I went to the doctor on Wednesday and she decleared that I "wasn't quite sick enough for any prescription medications," and to "call back if it lasts for two weeks or gets any worse." That was infuriating to hear, and what a waste of a co-pay. Here I was trying to do my part and solve the problem before it got too much worse, and she was all too eager to let it run me into the ground. Arrgh! I do feel a bit better today as I am now able to breathe through my nose some of the time and I am no longer achy all over. This is definitely the down side of working with snotty babies and toddlers all week long. I keep hearing that it is only that bad during your first year, but I have rounded that corner and got to celebrate my one year mark with three more illnesses. Now would be a great time to buy stock in Emergen-C or Airborne.
Part 3: Too much stress at work
This is the biggie, and is probably the reason that I keep getting sick. I spend all of my time worrying about whether or not I will have a job in a year, or 6 months, or after the New Year because PRIDE for Kids (the early intervention center where I work) is quickly running out of money. Here the deal: I work for a non-profit organization that is funded entirely by grants, donations, and federal and state funds that are related to the education portion of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As you all know, the economy sucks, and people who usually donate to organizations like mine are tightening up their purse strings. This is happening to all non-profits, but we are getting the federal and state funds yanked out from under us as well. To drastically sum up: someone in the government decided about 10 years ago that all early intervention (birth to three years old) services to children with developmental delays need to be provided in the "natural environment." That is to say, in their home or any other place where typically developing children usually go (preschools, libraries, playgroups, etc). That is all fine and grand, but it is expensive to send therapists all over the county to work only in homes. I am currently doing half home visits and see half of my kids at the center. I can see twice as many kids when they come to me due to the lack of travel time on my part and the efficiency of centralizing the services. There are many more details wrapped up in this, but basically, the feds are no longer going to support us if we are not providing at least 98% of our services in the natural environment by September of 2009. This will be very difficult for us because we currently have many of our kids in preschool-type classes and baby groups. We are very short staffed at the moment, with only three of us working full time out of eight therapists and teachers. The catch-22 is that we will need a huge sum of money no matter what we decide to do. If we deny the federal funds and go private we will have to hire more staff and do some serious marketing. If we decide to try to comply with the 98% mandate, we will need to hire more staff in order to serve all of the kids in their homes we currently see at the center. Also, we are all having a hard time with the mandate because we agree unanimously as a staff that there is great value in getting families and children together in a class environment to support and encourage each other. The parents like to meet other families who are going through something similar to them, and they like to be in a supportive environment where they know their child will be accepted and loved and won't be judged or ostracized. Sorry for going on and on about this, but I am worried that something I believe in so much might just go away if the board of directors doesn't decide to pony up the money to keep us afloat. The decision is being made on November 25th, i'll keep you posted. Start praying now that we either get a huge donation, the board decides to re-allocate some funds towards us, or some other miracle happens.
Part 4: Quilter's block (pun intended)
I have had a design planned and all of my blocks cut for about two weeks now, but I am simply unable to decide how to lay it all out. Maybe my brain is just too full of snot and work stress to focus on a creative endeavor, but I just can't make it happen. I think I need a quilting consultant to help me get started. It has all been laying out on our big table, mocking me and reminding me that I haven't even started on it. How have I allowed myself to be insulted by fabric? Maybe Cath can help me with it tomorrow.
Enough ranting for now. I am feeling a bit better having gotten that off my chest (and having coughed some stuff up out of my chest while typing). Thanks for listening.
In other news: our new Safeway has opened up across the street this morning, the new James Bond movie opens today (Daniel Craig is my celebrity crush for sure!), and my bike wasn't one of the ten that were stolen out of the bike room last weekend.
I am going to end on a happy note with a few pictures of Evan, one of the biggest little reasons why I keep going to work every week. Oh, and he's walking all by himself now!
1 comment:
Whitney, you look like a mom in that photo. If Evan goes missing, we'll know where to look. He's really cute.
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