Where Time Goes

I didn’t fall off the planet. I have just been very busy. I do have a very demanding job and two children. Occasionally, I like to have time to pee as well.

Work has been going pretty good. In all reality, I am still so new. There are three institutions and many posts at each. Different shifts do different things. It is a lot to learn. I tend to ask a lot of questions. I am not afraid to ask anyone around if I need help with something. I’ll ask other officers, I’ll ask the lieutenants, I will even ask a warden if there is one right there. Most people, including wardens, are happy to answer my questions and help me learn to do my job better. I don’t see my asking questions as a problem. I don’t ask the same questions over and over and I am a fast learner. I have found a few however, mostly other officers, who find my questions annoying, and think I shouldn’t be asking so many questions. Now I was told by the lieutenants, it was the responsibility of more experienced officers to help the new ones. At this point, there are now newer officers than me, and if someone asks me a question, and I know the answer, I give it. I don’t have a problem. I only get annoyed when I have to answer the same question to the same officer over and over. Do you think asking questions is a problem? At my previous job, I learned mostly by trial and error. I had no one to ask questions to. I am thinking that trial and error in my current line of work is not a good idea and there are hundreds of people I can ask. What do you think?

Speaking of my job, my friend Tabi went there today for a job fair they were having. Unfortunately, she was not hired. It’s the prison’s loss. However, perhaps it means she was meant for bigger and better things. When I moved here, I really wanted a job with the county. Really bad. So bad I was bugging the heck out of their human resources lady. But I didn’t get hired. Instead I work for the prison… and I get paid more, have better benefits, and the county is laying people off and the state is recommending unpaid furloughs. I work a full 40 hour a week, plus as much over time I am willing to do. So even though I was upset that I didn’t get a job with the county, it left me open for something bigger and better. I am sure that is what will happen for Tabi.

Speaking of friends… David’s truck is broken, again. Some fan thing (yep, that was the technical term) just fell off. (See my Wordless Wednesday pictures) It seems easy enough to repair and the parts don’t seem too expensive, it’s just he has no tools and no knowledge of car parts… despite what he thinks. He wants to see if Jackie’s husband Alan might help him, but I don’t want them to think the only reason we like them around is for the car fixing ability. We really do like having them over. And Jackie’s husband works two jobs and I don’t know that he’d really want to spend his free time here doing that. So I haven’t called them to ask. I hope they don’t think I am avoiding them.

I am not trying to avoid this blog either. I go through blogging phases. There will be times when I blog about everything, two or three times a day even. Then there will be times when I might feel like it once a week. It comes and goes. Right now, I didn’t have much to say and, well, I just didn’t feel like it. I got a new computer game, The Sims 3, and I have been playing that. I remember way back when the first Sims game came out and Trisha and I had to have all the expansions. She would call me and tell me what her Sims were doing and I would walk to her place to see her Sim house. We made houses that looked like our houses and little families that looked like ours. (Yes, we are cool like that.) I didn’t play The Sims 2. I had gotten a copy one time, but, like much of my stuff at that time in my life, it met an unfortunate end and I never got a chance to play it. This new game is very fun. I have been having a blast. I had been playing a bunch of Facebook games, but I have been totally neglecting Facebook all together for my Sims.

The kids are fine. Carolynn is a pain in the butt. Seriously, I am thinking of selling her and her smart mouth to a hard labor camp. She is currently grounded. Her grades are slipping, she has been caught trying to sneak out of here dressed like a hooker wearing a clown’s make up. Her friends are just as bad. She thinks it is cool. She is wrong. She was trying to get out of band. But she is stuck now. She used to love her saxophone. I don’t know what her problem is, but if she is going to continue down this path, I will have to lock her in her room.

Catherine is fine. She is still a messy little pain, but she is okay. She made some new friends. She joined the choir at school. She is getting good grades. She is on the third Harry Potter. She stated softball again last week. She will be on the Red Sox this season. Her friend Katelyn is on her team and a few girls we recognize from the other teams of the Spring season. Her coach seems okay, but I don’t know if I like him. Mostly because he said some not very nice things about Catherine’s previous coach and I didn’t like that. I felt his statements were untrue and that he had no right to judge, especially since he hadn’t even been there. And I liked Catherine’s coach and so did she and she had a good time. That is what was important.

In just a couple of weeks, our little Catherine will be turning 10. That’s a big one, double digits. She wants to have a party. She wants a bunch of stuff. She has a whole menu planned out, but no cake. She has never been a huge cake lover. She wants birthday pie, apple pie, specifically Dutch Apple Pie. I haven’t decided what to get her yet. She wants so much stuff. I have a few ideas. She has listed a bunch of Littlest Pet Shop junk, but I am not buying that. She doesn’t even play with them anymore. She wants some computer games. She wants some clothes. She wants some DVD’s and CD’s. Those are better choices I think. She wants a hamster or a guinea pig, but I think three dogs, a cat and a turtle are enough.

Speaking of pets, Drizella is still here and I haven’t pitched her yet. Really, she is a good dog. She has not had any accidents. She has chewed up some stuff, but she is a puppy, and it hasn’t been too major. She needs to learn not to eat Gibby’s food and Gibby needs to learn not to take her chew toys and rawhides. But mostly Drizella needs to learn that she is not the same size as Gibby. She jumps up on the furniture, she jumps on people and nearly knocks them down (in the case of Catherine, she actually knocks her down). She pounds on doors to go out or come in. She isn’t dainty. She is getting better though. She is a puppy. She will learn. She already knows not to jump on me.

I think that just summed up my life pretty well. I am currently making a pork roast with baked apples for dinner. I got the recipe from Tyler’s Ultimate on the Cooking Network. I love that guy. He makes such good food. This should be pretty good too. The recipe called for hard cider and I could only find it in a six pack. I drank one last night. It wasn’t bad. I hardly ever drink. It tasted just like I imagined it would, like apple juice with alcohol in it.

That is all I have until next time. See you then.