Sorry for Slacking....

Thank you for all the advice regarding my "Snuggle Syndrome". I tried it all except for buying a king size bed. We still have the issues but I think I'm getting used to being over snuggled OR getting used to lack of sleep. I'm just happy to have Raymond here with us!!!





A few weeks ago, I realized I completely missed the Girl Scout cookies. Someone at work was sharing some and I was trying to figure out how I could have possibly missed buying cookies. I buy them every year, not that I need them.....!! Well guess what??? I havent been grocery shopping in several months!!! YEAH, YEAH!!! Some of you may know that I hate grocery shopping! Raymond has been doing all of the shopping for us!!! It's been FABULOUS!!! Well, it hasnt exactly been smooth sailing but I dont mind. I spent several weeks teaching Raymond all about shopping. How to get items on sale, teaching him my preferred brands, how to read a shopping list, etc. He's had a few glitches..like which kind of milk to buy...he's never seen so much milk in his life. Basically, we've had all versions of milk in the past few months, from ultra skim to full bodied organic. He also gets stuck in a rut, he's bought so much frozen lasagna that I just want to puke if I think about eating it again. He also has trouble staying on budget. He says he just keeps putting items in the cart and cant keep track of what he's spent. Last time he went 2 times over the budget.......opps.............I still make occasional runs to Target but I dont mind................



I've been working at DSHS for 7 months now. Things are going better. My job coach still monitors me like a hawk. Dont get me wrong, I go to her with questions everyday, but I dont need to be watched every second. I asked to switch cubicles cause I was stuck right next to her, and she's not friendly at all. Now, I'm in a much better location, near 3 of the other "new" people. I pretty much hang out with the other new staff. They are all in their 20's and I'm the old lady!!! I started another training class last week, big test this Tuesday. Then I have one more class called SSI Medical that starts at the end of April, and then I'll be officially done with "Basic" training. YIKES. This job is so complex. There are so many state and federal rules to follow. I've forgotten half of what I've learned but thank goodness DSHS has a HUGE online manual that I reference every day. I'm still job searching but I'm not sure what I really want to do.





Raymond's work permit has finally been approved! 7 months and $700 dollars later....It's supposedly in the mail...It should arrive this week sometime. This weekend he finished his resume and I showed him some job search websties. It's pretty overwhelming for him. I told him not to get his hopes up, and that it's going to be a long process to get a job. But a least he can work toward getting a job instead of just hoping and wishing and planning, like he has been doing all these months.We still have George and Helen. They keep us really busy! Savannah is doing good, growing up too fast!!!

Snuggle Syndrome..

So Raymond's been here almost 6 months and we are still snuggling...too much! I thought it would taper off but that isnt happening..YET! As I explained before, every time we sit on the couch it has to be a snuggle fest. I try to sit at the computer most nights to have some personal space. As I'm sitting there Raymond keeps staring at me, and asking when he can snuggle with his wife. The bed is the biggest issue for me. Maybe because I've been sleeping by myself for so long and generally like to have my own space. Here's my latest solution. I sleep on my side facing Raymond and stick my elbows and knees out at a 90 degree angle. This causes him not to be able to "share" my pillow. I cant stand sharing my pillow. He complains that my knees are poking him, and I gently suggest that he scoot over (he sleeps right in the middle of the bed so we can snuggle). Then I also suggest he turn on his side and face the wall. This is my favorite position because I have control over the space. Regardless of my many strategies, I wake up numerous times during the night feeling smothered and HOT. I'm willing to give it more time BUT I need my sleep and my SPACE! Please, all my long time married friends, give me advice. A few nights Raymond has fell asleep on the couch watching TV, and I sleep fabulously!

On Sunday we had a couple over for lunch. Raymond met Isaac here, but Isaac is from Ghana. Isaac has been over to our house a few times and has always been polite. I didnt realize it but he is married and his wife lives in Hong Kong. She's also a US citizen. Bonnie arrived in the US last week so we planned to have them over. Within 2 minutes of Isaac and his wife arriving, she told me she was in a very difficult situation and very unhappy. For the next three hours we listened to them share very personal things about their marriage. Many times Isaac raised his voice and Raymond had to quiet him. One time Isaac raised his voice while Raymond had stepped out of the room to get lunch ready, and our dog Buddy started growling at Isaac. I was so uncomfortable, it seemed like his wife was a nice, honest, and very unhappy woman, and Isaac was an a__hole. I was so relieved when we finally encouraged them to leave our home. Needless to say, we wont be inviting them over anymore.

What a week!!!

This is a picture from the holidays when my nephew. Jesse, was home. This is the second time he's been home in one year. I was soooooooooo happy to see him. I think about him every day. He officially graduated Army Ranger school. It took him 3 attempts to graduate. I'm proud of him for sticking with it. Most of the guys that fail or get kicked out of class give up and switch their Army career, but not Jesse. The training is VERY difficult, kind of like the training for the Navy Seals. He is stationed in Savannah, GA, which has three Ranger platoons on the base. There is always one of the three platoons in Afghanistan for a 4 month deployment. Jesse's platoon doest go until August, I'm going to be a nervous wreck while he's in Afghanistan. He's a smart kid so he'll do alright.

Work has been VERY stressful the last 2 weeks. I feel like I've been thrown to the wolves. I've been interviewing clients and working at the front desk, which is what I wanted to do right? Oh man! There is so much I still dont know! I can pretty much fake it at the front desk and, I dont mind interviewing clients, but I HATE making mistakes! And I really HATE the way my trainer scowls and frowns at me all the time. She never says anything positive, and she frowns all day long. So can you imagine how much she frowns when I make a mistake?? One of the problems is that I've learned so much over the last 5 months that I cant remember all the details. I have 5 HUGE binders, one from each class on my desk. I'm sure I'll get it eventually. One good thing about my trainer frowning at me so much is that I'm never gonna make the same mistake twice.

I have plenty of friends at work now. I just avoid the people that are unfriendly and concentrate on the nice people. I even laugh out loud at work, sometimes!

I miss you all so much! I hope everyone is doing good! It's not fair, you guys get to hear all my silly stories and I dont hear anything from you!

Oh happy day...I think?

The first picture is a picture of my friends I've been working with at the Mercer St office since 11/30/09. A few of the gals have been in my earlier trainings also. Last Friday was our last day together, and now we're all going back to our own offices. I'm really gonna miss this group! We all are very different but we looked out for each other and helped each other out every day! I wont get this kind of camaraderie back in my office at White Center. The one good thing about going back to my office is now I'm fully trained! So, I can finally see clients. We have two groups of financial workers in my office and we rotate the duties each week. One week, one group sees clients and does interviews all day, and the other group works the front desk, answers phones, and works on the back log of forms that come in. I'm nervous to work the front desk cause all kinds of crazy stuff can happen up there! But I guess I'll be relying on my charm :).

The second picture is of Raymond posing with Michael Mudge's car! Cute!!! One of the many endearing things about Ray is that he likes to take his picture with everyone and everything!!!

For Christmas the little kids received some gifts and a turkey from the Highline Fire Department. I cooked the turkey yesterday and it was yummy. While I was getting the turkey ready I pulled out the neck and the giblets etc. Of course I was ready to throw those nasty things in the garbage. BUT.. Ray grabbed the neck and said he wanted to cook it. No problem....I figure he's going make a soup with it. NOPE! He decides to grill the neck on the electric burner on the stove...I was so startled when I saw him with the neck directly on the burner, I started screaming! OMG! He jumped when I screamed and was trying to figure out what the problem was. He said "It's just like cooking out doors on a fire". He had the burner turned on high and he was flipping the neck over and over and of course it was burning and smoke was filling the kitchen! I begged him to use a fry pan but he was adamant that this was how he wanted to cook it! In the meantime the smoke alarm is going off and now we have the kitchen door open for ventilation. He proceeded to cook the neck this way for about 15 minutes, it was completely blackened when he was done. My eyes were about 10 times their normal size by the end of his cooking adventure. Now the burner is forever encrusted with turkey skin even though Ray insists he thoroughly cleaned the burner. Tonight I cooked chicken, and when I used the big burner the entire kitchen filled up with lovely burnt turkey smoke! Gotta love being married!!!

Savannah's doing really good at Denny Middle School. She's made friends with a nice group of kids. Her grades are good. She's really growing up!

Guess what it's almost February..........and I dont even have to think about Partners with Youth!! It's kind of weird! I feel like something is missing but believe me.....I dont mind that it's missing!

Happy New Year!!!

Raymond and I went to Karen N's house to have some holiday cheer! It was so fun to see everyone! I havent seen Noreen since I left the Y, and I havent seen her baby Miles since his baby shower!. He is so cute! So I had 2 drinks at Karen's house and when we were about to leave, I somehow zipped my leather coat and my sweatshirt together! It was so ridiculous, we were all laughing like crazy! (that's the first picture) Maybe I didnt need that second drink??

Christmas was fun!!! But BUSY! Savannah spent Christmas eve with her dad and came home around noon on Christmas day. After she came home we opened all the gifts! Love bug was so cute as she opened each gift, she was so exuberant!! I was we had got her reaction on video but of course we weren't thinking ahead. George's favorite gifts were the cars her received. We've been seriously lacking boy toys around our home but now he has plenty.

We went to Mom's house for Christmas dinner. Mom gave each of the little kids a new quilt, Love; a bugs bunny theme, and George; a John Deere tractor theme. The kids love them...they drag them out to the living room back and forth from their beds about 5 times a day.

Raymond has his first US cold. Normal cold symptoms, stuffy, congestion, sneezing, etc. He was expecting some miracle medicine from the Dr but of course the Dr didnt give him anything for it! Poor baby! He's still got some other lingering medical issues going on that he arrived here with. His Dr is treating him but we're still waiting for test results. All in all he hasnt been feeling good for quite some time. I'm hoping and praying he starts feeling better in 2010.

We finally found out why Ray's work permit has been denied. I checked a incorrect box on the original form I completed back in September. There is no way to "fix it" except to re-file and pay the $340 fee again. It's frustrating!! Now we have to re-file and wait another 8-16 wks to get approval.

Work is good, I''m learning more and more each day. There is so much to learn and so many exceptions to each rule. I received an audit back from about 50 cases I worked, and I only received 4 back with errors. I need to have my error rate at 2% so I have a ways to go. Some of the other students in my class have much higher rates of errors. I feel bad for them because they havent received as much support from their home offices as I have. My training coach is crabby and never smiles but at least she's training me. She got me an "easy button" for Christmas!

I cant believe Christmas is in 2 weeks!

Here's an example of us using the timer to take our family picture for our Christmas card. This was one of many reject pictures. It was like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation trying to get a good photo. You'll notice in the final version that you get in the mail, Buddy isnt in the picture because he couldnt take the chaos any longer. The topper was when Raymond set the timer and ran to the couch for the about the 10Th time.....and Love annouced she had to go poop! We all started laughing hysterically as she jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Kids are so much fun!

Work is going pretty good. I completed another session of training and had a five hour test last Wednesday. I finished around 2:30 and found out the next day that half the other students had to be kicked out of the building at 5:05. The test was a killer!!! The training was held at the main head quarters on Mercer st right across form the Seattle Center. All of us that were in the class are going to be working on a special project to help some of the offices catch up on their back log of work. So I'll be at the Mercer St office until at least 1/15/10. It feels a little weird to be away from my White Center office for so long. I was just starting to make friends and get comfortable there. The best part is that we are working shortened hours, to allow for commute time, but still get paid for 8 hrs per day! I get off work at 3:30 so I'm able to get a lot of errands completed after work, including Dr appts, school appts, etc, and not have to request time off.

How about this cold weather? Poor Raymond is having a very difficult time with the cold. He takes the bus to get around and waiting as the bus stops just about does him in. He thinks Seattle is the coldest place in the US. I tried explaining to him that Seattle isnt usually this cold, and for this long. He had never seen ice on car windows before. He was totally confused about it! I cant wait until it snows! He's a good sport but generally miserable with the weather!

Please meet George and Love. They've been with us for 2 1/2 weeks now. We 're just getting settled in with a good routine and the kids are generally pretty happy to be with us. Monday afternoon their social worker is having a meeting with their Tribe to discuss the best placements for the kids. As a rule, the Tribe always wants to place their children with native American foster parents but they have a huge shortage of native American foster parents. George and Love are from a sibling group of seven, age 3 months to 11 yrs, and I believe the siblings are spread between 4 foster homes. I hope they can stay with us, they are pretty fun kids.

Well, guess what? I quit my job at Joanne's. It was just too much with the kids. Raymond was getting overwhelmed and I felt like I never saw him or the kids. I'm sure most of you are not surprised it didnt work out. I think in a past life I was Superwoman.

I'm starting to enjoy my DSHS job. There is a ton to learn and a ton of work. As I'm learning more I feel more productive. I have another training session from 11/30 - 12/8 then I'll finally be interviewing clients and determining eligibility. I'm learning all kinds of computer systems; child support system, criminal systems, social security systems, employment systems, dept of health systems, property searches, all kinds of fun systems. I never thought to run a search on a high ranking official but I was told the systems have security in place and I could be fired if I did a search of someone like the Mayor. I'm not in the least bit interested!!

Gotta go! Miss you all!