Free Time?
 
It seems I no long have any free time to just veg out.  My weeks have been filled with work, housework, laundry, buying food for a growing 12 year old.  I finally have a little quiet time this morning, to give an update.

Instanta-family - just add kid
Ricky is doing well here but still bored.    He has met a few kids in the neighborhood but is not allowed to go to their homes and visit.  The circumstances dictate he have constant adult supervision.  I can't control how much supervision he has at their home, so they must come here and there isn't much for them to do here.  No knowing how long he will be staying here, I don't know if I should look into enrolling him in the local school system either or if he will be home-schooled by DCF.

Ricky's mom had her first supervised visit with Ricky's siblings.  Apparently it went well but was also a little disturbing.  The kids have had no contact with their mother since they were taken from their home and split up.  The girls, Chelsea and Tatiana, are in separate foster homes and Josh is with my parents.  The kids all appear to be adjusting well and are happy being away from home.  They were a bit upset when it was time to say good-bye but not as upset as one would expect.  Except for weekends spent with my parents the kids have never been away from home, not even spending a night at a friend's house, nevermind with strangers!

Work Update
It's been busy at work (short 3 office workers) and without the ability to work overtime, I'm obviously falling behind in my work.  On a good note, my hard work has not gone unnoticed.  I had my first review last week and it earned me a 5% raise.  While it wasn't as much as I hoped it would be, it was the highest raise I've seen come across my desk.  The normal raises are 3-4%.  I was told I need to work on my "people skills".  Apparently some co-workers don't quite understand my sense of humor when I ask if they are eating all the vacation slips.  Nor do they understand the words "just a minute while I finish my train of thought".  I am expected to immediately stopped whatever I'm doing and answer the phone; get paper out of the store room; leave my desk to see if my boss is in his office because people don't know how to dial an extention.  You know multiple bull shit things that don't need to be done immediately but someone asks me to do.

The Weekend
Today Ricky and I will be shopping for sneakers.  I really must get him out of the name-brand mode.  Every article of clothing he mentions is by name brand.  I refuse to pay big bucks just to have a recognizable name on any article of clothing.  After we are done shopping, we're going to go the movie theater to see the latest Harry Potter movie.  It's hard to believe it but Ricky has NEVER been to a movie theater.   So this will be a big treat for him.

My free time is now up.  Ricky is dressed and ready to head out the door but I'm still in my jammies.   I guess it's time for me to get ready to leave.  Take care my friends and I'll write more whenever I have a free moment.

"Life Update"
 
These last few weeks have been stressful and very busy.  I can't get into the details but my nephew, Ricky, is living with me temporarily.  Of course we have no idea how long "temporarily" actually could be.
 
On the work front, things have gotten MUCH better.  We have had a week of quiet since L stopped working at Watkins. It's amazing how quiet the phones have become without all her personal calls coming through.  Next week should prove interesting, it's time for my 6 month review.  Let's see if my boss shows just how much he appreciates me with a decent raise. 
 
The love life still sucks and won't be getting better anytime soon.  While my nephew is here, there won't be any happy hours or social life.  Then again, I didn't have much of a social life before his arrival.  My time is being spent trying to think of things to keep him occupied.  Anyone have suggestions on how to occupy a 12 y/o male?  Don't tell with to get him a 12 y/o female!   He does enjoy basketball so we may shop for a ball and free-standing hoop this weekend.   I don't have any place to hang a hoop so it has to come with it's own stand.
 
I guess I should get moving along.  We need to buy groceries today since Ricky has cleaned out my refrigerator.  The kid can eat!  I asked him to write a list of things he wants at the grocery store.  I need to add things like fruits and veggies since he didn't list any of those things.
 

Fireworks Update

Ok Leslie, here's a quick update since I'm getting ready to head out for the day.

When I arrived at work Monday, L wasn't there. Her desk had been cleaned out but no one said if she was coming in or quit what was going on. Later in the morning, I spoke privately with my boss about the verbal exchange that had taken place. I explained how shaken I had been, that I eventually lost my temper and was afraid to go to my car without an escort. He agreed with me completely this kind of behavior would not be tolerated and he would speak to L when she arrived at work. Apparently she had submitted a vacation request for a 1/2 day on Monday.

He did speak to her privately Monday afternoon and I have since learned she gave her two week notice to the Ops Manager after I left friday. I was prepared to give my own notice if she was not terminated or had not given her notice.

Since Monday, I have learned this is NOT the first time L has does this. She had been ordered into Anger Management classes the last time this happened. Somehow I don't think she learned much in those classes. I can only guess at what the outcome would have been if she had not given her notice. Because of it being the 2nd occurrence, I'm pretty certain she would have been terminated.

One good thing that came of this exchange, my boss assured me that he is extremely pleased with my work and very happy that I will be staying on with Watkins.