Destiny Skywalker

Ugh

I'm a little disgusted with our new neighborhood. Q tells me the girls speak openly about being gold diggers and how they are going to marry for money, not love. They're 11 and 12, wtf. This is considered to be some of the nicest neighborhoods in the school district, but I would still call this neighborhood solidly middle class. But they seem to think they're rich, and I think that's the problem. I'm told our local middle school is very rough in the hallways, and the teachers don't do anything about it. The principal used to be the HS principal and then he badly bungled a sexual Harassment case and it made the local news where he made some really poorly chosen statements blaming the victim. E has been to a bunch of different schools. Honestly, I think the best one was the Title I school where most kids were on free lunch. Although E is now at a "better" school for once. I will say that his classmates are very inclusive and offer to help him when he's having a hard time with something. It's a good environment, hence why I asked Q to be transferred there. Q does have a 504. Most of her accommodations are for anxiety. And part of the basis for the HIB report was that she was being discriminated against for her sensory differences. I sent 3 pages of documentation from just this past school year alone. I didn't even include anything from last year, which is when this began, with 2 of the girls. I mean some of what I had to document was just ridiculous, their insults are just so terrible but they are clearly trying their hardest to be nasty. Like one of the girls called her a furry because she had a fox tail in her Roblox avatar or something. When Q asked her what she meant by that, she said it meant your dad went to store to get milk and never came back. It was really hard to keep a straight face when Q told me about it. But more damaging has been the insults about having acne and telling the class that she never showers. Part of the problem is Q is just very friendly naturally and continues to talk to some of these girls because they're her classmates and she's just good-natured and friendly. My other issue is that 1 of the moms is a substitute teacher in the district, and all 3 moms are heavy volunteers at the school, and one of the girls has absolutely used her mom's volunteer status to isolate Q when they tried a "distance" method at lunch (basically even if Q sat down first, the girl would tell a volunteer that they weren't allowed to sit by each other and make Q move to the boys table). This is why I requested a variance. There's no way the Harassment is going to stop with their moms being in the positions they are in. E had a pretty rough day yesterday, he couldn't even keep water down. He perked up a little bit today but then he's been napping for the past 4 hours. He doesn't even care that he's stuck in his room, he's so miserable.

Luna doing a concern for her smol hooman.

Rejected for the variance, twice. The special appeal board rejected in less than 3 hours, so you know they really agonized over that one. Filed a formal bullying complaint and 2 of the girls were dumb enough to harass Q about it, when she hadn't even been named as the victim. So that got added to the investigation. And now E has the flu.

Luna (or Isis) always gets a bully stick or a bone. She got kind of sick from a bone recently so might just get her a bully stick. She's not that into toys. Isis had a couple of favorite toys.

I took a picture of my tree because Tami asked on Facebook and then I forgot to post it lol. My tree has a bunch of photo ornaments (I do a new one of our family every year) and handmade ornaments from the kids and me (from when I was a kid). We also have a bunch of silver metal snowflake ornaments from when we first got a tree and had no decorations. Then we have a few silly decorations like Funko Grogu and R2-D2. I do a little bit of ribbon and beaded garland. And then there's the baby gate because my husband still doesn't trust Luna (we have a few handmade wooden ornaments that she's chewed up the last few years, golden retrievers gonna retrieve). We had these beautiful glass icicles when I was a kid and I have no idea what happened to them. They would catch the lights on the tree and be so pretty. I wonder if I could find something like that again.

I think best case you're going to get like a hundred bucks out of something. Millions? Even hundreds of thousands? No way. There's just been way too much mass produced shit since post WW2. But seeing as that's when my parents grew up, they think that old = $$$. But really I think it was rarity that drove antiques to be worth something. I watched a reel about a millennial who said she didn't care if her house was boring because all of the Boomer decor she grew up with was cluttered and ridiculous. This got some Boomers mad, who claimed her house looked like an asylum. But she had a point about all the displayed collections and tchockes. I started to do that shit when I first moved out because my parents were like take all your shit with you, but I realized I didn't want the junk, either. Like I have a China hutch because thats what you're supposed to do and now I wish I had more of a buffet to just store all the stupid dishes instead of displaying them. I think people used to think that collecting was a way to show off your "wealth", but really its just showing off your hoarding.

The first choice (really just cheaper) didnt work out. I could use some opinions on whether the blue vanity is too dark blue for this shower tile? Any other suggestions for a color? My other thought was dark gray? I am going to do light gray for the floors since everyone dissuaded me from black floors.

I finally escalated to the deputy superintendent, who is responsible for Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying. The school counselor is ineffective and conflict avoidant. The principal did eventually step in and it helped for awhile, but now one of the little snots is back at it again. Our psychologist is disgsuted. I've requested a variance to E's school, they said they will take a look at it. We also toured a nearby private school that has multiple campuses, and has a much smaller campus locally. There were 30 6th graders (a few kids from church recognized her) and there's less than 10 teachers for all of middle school. Their very large campus does have a reputation for being a good school but also for being a little more conservative than I'd like. They were open to her joining at the semester break in mid-January. I'm going to see how the variance falls out, but Q has had a significant increase in anxiety that is starting to look more like depression. I've had to pick her up from school multiple times and there have been a lot of sick days that are really anxiety days. I mean, the school nurse is probably the most concerned for her. Her teacher is amazing but a lot of the comments happen at recess or lunch. Any time I have brought it to her attention, she has dealt with it immediately and effectively, but I was trying to not make her life harder because she has 30 other kids that she needs to deal with. The girls knock it off for a few weeks and then they start right up again. I'm done. Q is done. Even if I do get her to transfer to E's school this year, I'm pretty sure we will have to go back to private next year because the middle school is a nightmare and most of my friends have decided to homeschool their kids.

Got out of going lol. Finally someone looked at all the people going on this boondoggle and said having me there for a work statement planning session was a waste of my time. That's right! My rival also told then I wasn't necessary when they said I would be much more useful the week before for the strategy session. I think management may have actually noticed that little slight but they said fine then because I think they were trying to cut the list of people going anyway. But still going to finish my Hepatitis B shots (it is only 2, fortunately). I'll wait on yellow fever and typhoid. They said they might send me later in the year.

I usually do a favorite candy and things like a set of USB chargers (because they are always going missing in this damn house). Maybe a fidget item.

I spent 5 hours today specifying materials for our remodel. What a pain in the ass. I had to pick out kitchen and bathroom faucets and shower hardware. We still don't have the countertops decision done because our designer hasn't come back with a quote. I can't find a bullnose tile in our first choice shower tile (well, the sample arrives Thursday, so we will see if it's still the first choice).

Oh I love picking out wine! I'm good at picking out wine for people who don't know wine. If they like sweeter whites, Riesling is almost always the safest bet (don't get the super sweet stuff, though). Riskier but usually a good payoff is a Gerwurtztramier or Viognier. Personally I love a good sauv blanc like Tami likes, but it tends to be a little too dry for those that like sweeter wines. Please don't buy any Texas wine, that shit is rancid. Sorry, it's just too damn hot to grow good wine grapes. Stick to west coast wine or European stuff. I also prefer Japanese whiskey. My bottle of choice is Hibiki. My husband likes Angel's Envy rye. I prefer bourbon to rye. Old Fashioned is my go to liquor drink as of late.

These were my husband's recommendations for that price range.

Smoky or not smoky?

I love Christmas lights. They make me so happy. I don't do much other than the tree and lights, maybe a live wreath because they smell so good and last until February. Other than that, I don't do the kitschy stuff.

My MIL has bought Q clothes that are so painfully ugly that it's been comical. She wants Q to be her mini me so bad and Q is my little jock girl who lives in t-shirts and adidas soccer training pants. I definitely didn't dress her frilly when she was little because she was at daycare and rough and tumble and tearing holes in the knees (she's 12 and still gets rips in the knee). So we never did the Princess dress theme other than Christmas dresses for choir concerts. So a couple of times she bought her old lady outfits with roses and cardigans and shit in toddler sizes and Q was so glad they didn't fit. Otherwise, she did buy stuff on the list this year. But it looks like the alarm clock is arriving tomorrow so I will have to return that myself and get a credit. I did put some funny stuff on there like a back scratcher. He's a funny kid, he likes weird stuff. And all the Boomer grandparents are staying away from anything video game related because video games are the devil even though that's what he likes.

Boomer problems part 2: Earlier this week my dad sends me a big list of options for the kids and us and asks for my advice. On one hand, please stop making me do it for you, I've already given you a list to pick from. On the other hand, he is actually pretty bad at picking out gifts. (Last year he was going to buy me a Princess Peach Halloween costume I had put on there as a Halloween idea. No Dad, just no.) He wanted to buy E an alarm clock that was on there, but it was out of stock. So I wrote him back to tell him that it was now in stock. He missed it and texted me some other suggestions that were similar. I explained that what E really wanted was an alarm clock, not a wall clock, and it needed to be battery powered and not USB powered because the USBs are short and the plug is not close to his bed. So then he found other sketch places to buy it for a much higher price. I told him chill, there's 20 days until Christmas, it will come back in stock. My mother-in-law emails me this morning, asking for the 428th time for a link to the Amazon wishlists so she can buy presents. I go check the lists to make sure there is still decent stuff on there to buy. It's a little picked over but that's not my problem, and my MIL is notorious for not buying what's on the list anyway because she doesn't like the same things as the kids. (You don't say.) So she sends me her confirmation email and she just decided to buy a different alarm clock that is USB powered. Lady BUY SOMETHING ELSE OFF THE DAMN LIST.

Yeah that's where I'm going. I was admittedly being a little vague. But now I found out I need Hepatitis B, Yellow Fever, and Typhoid vaccines so I'm extra annoyed today. I won't be able to be fully vaccinated against Hepatitis B by the time of the trip, either. I thought it was just 2 shots but apparently it's 3.

I have been asked to travel to a South American country for a work trip in January. We recently opened a branch there because cost of living is dirt cheap and I'm sure they are cheaper than US labor. This country also has a new visa requirement that begins shortly before my arrival, so now I have to scramble to apply for that. First they asked me to come for a week. 2 days later it turned into 3 weeks and I said hell no. Then they agreed they only need me for 3 days. So then I looked into travel arrangements. Originally they wanted me there Monday. This happens to be my birthday. I get it, I'm an adult, not a kid, but I would definitely rather spend that day with different people. So then I looked into how to get there by Monday and it turns out I have to leave Saturday at noon to be there by Sunday early morning. It takes 16-20 hours to get there, even with a reasonable layover. Now they don't need me there until Tuesday. So I could spend Monday there, arriving super early, and not be traveling on an airplane on my birthday. But my company also will not pay me for my time to fly Sunday, only Saturday. It's a old Boomer company policy that pisses me off because nowadays they expect you to be some place Monday morning instead of giving you Monday to travel. I hate the idea of leaving Saturday but if I left Monday, I wouldn't arrive until 5:30 Tuesday morning and I would have to go straight into the office (which is also an hour from the airport). I think the answer is leave Saturday and go into the office on Monday, but I am pretty annoyed about losing an entire weekend. The only bright side is I will be done Thursday afternoon and I will get on a flight back and just sleep in business class, and be back home Friday early afternoon, so I can spend the weekend with family. I should be more excited about going to a foreign country, but I don't speak a lick of the local language. If this was Europe, I'd be a lot more game. Or, you know, if I spoke Portuguese or even Spanish so I could struggle along.

Nice! I'm sure it was a lot less hassle to deal with you than someone entirely new.

I have a first world problem. How do I get my Boomer dad to stop buying not just 1, but 2 proof sets every fucking year for my kids? They do not collect coins. They don't collect shit other than art supplies. I've tried to tell him it's just clutter, that it just goes into a box, that it's not actually worth what he pays for it. The man won't stop. He is convinced crap like will be worth something, especially if you have a lot of it, and he loves collecting junk.

I have 2 of that mouse, Tami. Works great and we've never had a problem with them. I think we got them at Target.

Oh man if you can do cash, absolutely do it. What do you need fixed?

Got the bathroom sample tile last night, and my husband didn't like it. He thought the grooves looked like grout. So it looks like we are going with the second choice, which is a blue large format tile we found. I was debating between a blue vanity and a gray vanity, but I was thinking gray floors. But then I need to figure out a linen cabinet too. I have a medium brown freestanding cabinet that I think I'm going to use short term and then I'll figure that out later, because a blue linen cabinet might be a bit much. I like this brand of vanity. We have a larger one in our master bath and it's good quality and has soft close features, while still being reasonably priced (under $1k).