all the little fire setters

i like my job. i mean i really realy do. the down side is the pittance i receive for what i do, and believe it or not i do a lot. my favorite part about my job is the FYRE program. that's Fire Youth Resource Exchange and i get to work with kids who engage in fire play. it's very interesting and i enjoy those kids a lot. tonight i had to go to a fire chief's meeting and speak to all the chiefs in chemung county (and one from tompkins). not surprisingly they were all men, all pretty big guys and most of them were older. i handed out my stats and my graphs that i worked so hard to put together and the brochures and the referral forms. i explained that while the numbers have gone down we need to have the fire departments on board with the program, to help connect us with the families who would benefit from the program. it seemed to me that there wasn't a lot of people in that room who thought the program doesn't do any good. and that's ok but i need them to buy in to the program if we're going to get them to make the referrals. but mike smith was really backing me and trying to get the word across that the program is making progress from where it was before i took it over and that was good. caroline wasn't even introduced, mike only intro'd me to the chiefs and caroline didn't even really utter a word, i mean she didn't really need to be there, but i think it was important to know that i didn't goof anything up or say something i shouldn't have. i tried hard not to offend anyone, but i think i pissed off WEFD a little bit...but they used to run the program and i think that makes them a little pissy about the program anyway. but i hope that some of the guys took something away from what i said. at least caroline said i did a good job presenting the information. that's gotta be a good thing right?

SO so so close to completely done.

well i just finished another course, child and adolescent psychology. pretty sure i'm getting an A, but i don't want to count my chickens just yet...i'm waiting for him to grade the paper i submitted on Sunday. i mean technically the class is still operating until tomorrow, but i just posted my last discussion and responded to another learner so I AM DONE!!! in january i start human sexuality. it was one of those courses i never took as an undergrad and figured i would just to have a well rounded education. and then the master's thesis. i'm pretty sure i am gonna write about juvenile firesetting because it's kind of what i know. i so can't wait to finish, to move away from elmira and to be making paychecks that aren't gone in 60 seconds. i mean i like my job, i used to love my job, but right now i just like it. the people are ok, gossip is insane there and i'm usually in the know. but i have had 3 supervisors and worked with 3 parent advocates it becomes a little annoying being the go to person when i get paid so little. or maybe that's just me. what evs. june of 2010 i will be done with my master's and i plan to take a little time off before i start on the Phd...that's right i will be Dr. Chichester some day.

insomnia

i can't sleep, usually by now i am dozing my way through randomly strange dreams. today i started christmas shopping and got dylan a few awesome things like vehicles for his action figures, a nintendo ds and two games (my sims agents and scooby doo)the 3rd installment of the diary of a wimpy kid books (mom got him the new one)and a random book about dangerous creatures. oh yeah and i totally picked up a kiss fleece throw blanket for myself, it was too awesome not to buy for a mere $10. to be honest, i'm not a real fan of the band's music, but i love their merchandising gimmicks, they put their painted faces on just about anything and make money. i also bought my mom her birthday gift (a nifty lil red cell phone...no more pay as you go crap) and since dyl had a good week we went to see where the wild things are. i loved this book as a kid, and pretty much set out to buy it when i found out i was pregars with dyl so i could read it to him (he's not much for reading, but he did like that book.) i saw a lot of parallels between max and dylan. dyl's about to turn 9, max is 9 in the film. max makes up stories, dyl makes up stories. max had a single mom who happened to get frustrated with him, i get frustrated with dyl a lot. it was a sweet story. the big difference between my dyl and max was that max just didn't know how to deal with his feelings, i think that's where the wild things really came from because carol was an angry wild thing and judith was a suspicious wild thing, alex felt like no one listened to him, douglas went along with everyone else to please them and kw was torn between her family and her "new friends". dylan loved it, but had some questions as to why this wild thing did certain things and why max did certain things and i answered those questions the best way i knew how. unfortunately he had to pee as the movie was drawing to an end, i made him wait (i know, mother of the year right?) until max was in his boat and left the island because i was pretty sure i knew what would happen when he sailed back across the sea. but i guess i'll have to wait for the dvd to find out exactly how it played out. it was a great book , and an amazing movie. i can't tell you how many people i work with had never read the book to their own kids (or grandkids for some) i loaned dylan's copy out to a couple of people. the movie was spectaular, i would see it again in a heartbeat.

i love my wii fit

so in a little less than 4 weeks i have dropped 6 pounds all because of my wii fit. i work out every day with it for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, i've unlocked all of the exercises and do the 10 minute boxing in expert mode and really break a sweat. i do the balance games when i'm not too tired and do most of the yoga poses (i skip the one legged ones cuz' i'm not strong enough to do them yet) and i do almost all of the strength exercises (except the planks...same reason i skip the one legged yoga poses). the point is that it is working. and yes my eating habits are changing, i'm trying to watch my portions and make sure i eat lots of veggies but if i want a little chocolate i go for it, if i feel like chips i have some and i allow myself 1 soda per day cuz i get a slight headache when i go without (it's a caffeine thing, but i hate coffee and i'm not a fan of tea so...)so anyway, these are little things that i am hoping will amount to a larger thing in the end and as long as i stay motivated i think i will do just fine.

bored

I'm bored with my life, i feel like everything has become monotonous. work seems like the same old thing every day. yeah each of the kids that pass before me have different combinations of problems, but they have started blending into each other. often times i sit at my desk doing absolutely nothing, but i mask it well and always give the appearance of being busy. some of the people at work are grating on my nerves, they're lovely people but if i have to hear one more time about how much they hate their jobs or complain about the fact that they can't wear shorts to work anymore i'm gonna go a little nuts. it just feels like the same thing every day i guess is what i'm saying. meanwhile, on the home front i am trying to turn to a healthier lifestyle, eating more fruit and veggies than any other food group and getting out and exercising more. i have been realy breaking a sweat with my wii fit this past week, i just need to make it last longer than a couple of weeks. i have been making dylan walk with me at eldridge, he grumbles all the way, but i make him do it anyway cuz we both need to get active. i'm starting to plan for the move next summer, but then everytime i have an idea it gets shot down by someone. right now i am really feeling the scranton area, marywood has a decent PhD program for developmental psych with courses offered in the evening and on weekends which would be awesome...if i could get a job in the area which i might be able to, you never know, but like i said someone wants to poke holes in all of my plans essentially forcing me to stay in this area (which i am determined not to do) but i look around at my stuff everyday and wonder what i should take and what i should donate not to mention what mom is intending to bring, cuz god help me i am not lugging all of her crap along with us to where ever we move to that lady has too much crap!! but i am hoping that a lot of her stuff will be left behind for bill to deal with. but i guess it is still far enough away that i don't have to worry about things too much

it's been a while

what can i say? i've been pretty busy doing stuff. trying to get an A in a class that's too easy is harder than it sounds. I get bored and don't wanna do the work and, well grades can slip. but i have been doing well, i know myself and my downfalls and have been worked against my nature to make sure i have a firm grasp on that A. after this class i only have 3 more left before i graduate. and move on to more southern places. people keep telling me how nice north carolina is, and i am thinking in that direction, but we'll see what happens. dylan is going to the orthodontist on monday to see what needs to be done for him to have beautiful teeth, even though it has been asked why i am taking him if we won't be here when he is old enough for braces. the work front has been ok, even though there are a lot of changes. once more i am supervisorless and the CIS coordinator is my go to. She's usually pretty busy, so i try to deal on my own and i think she appreciates that. but the parent advocate is leaving at the end of this month which to me means i will be doing double duties until they can fill that position too. no big, i mean i had to handle a time when i didn't have a supe before, and i had to handle a time when i didn't have the advocate to do her part...just not at the same time. this summer has been pretty swell over all. we've done a lot as a family, taken a lot of trips, gone to the drive in, i scrap book just about everything now. in all honesty i think i've kind of gone overboard with it, but it gives me a forum to do something with my photos and hell i would have them anyway. we're going to knoebels in about a week, and bill might actually go as well...he hasn't taken a trip with us since dylan was a toddler and we rented a place at the lake. that's about it for now, who knows when i'll have time to write again?

4th of july weekend

i had a pretty good weekend, three days off from work is usually good. dyl spent friday at mom's where he and bill apparently played video games for a good portion of the night. i stayed home, watched fanboys, made a strawberry rhubarb pie for the saturday meal and finished harry potter and the order of the phoenix. and the weather was nicer than i thought, though not extremely hot, and the pool temp was about 72, saturday and sunday were both nice days to go swimming and i of course got a little color...red to be exact since i don't tan well. and we finished the weekend by hitting the fireworks. last year we sat right next to eldridge lake, and i planned to do that again this year, only the parking was insane. so i ended up driving around and parking in the back parking lot of a buiolding across from king kone with about 50 other people. but in reality we had an amazing spot, the fire works were being shot off just over the railroad tracks from where we were and the view was spectacular. and we didn't even leave the car, they were right there. so overall it was a pretty good weekend.