Happy New Year

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. Following is a recap of my New Year's Eve. I had to work (of course) and it was a humdinger!

I am so thankful that last night is behind me. It was a great night, followed up by a rough wee hours of the morning. Let me give you a little rundown on my celebration.

First off, when I woke up yesterday afternoon, and it was snowing. Tim said not to worry. It wasn't supposed to amount to much. By the time we were ready to head out to the grocery store, the car was covered in an inch of snow. Do the shopping and had to clear another inch off the car. Home and before leaving for work, yet another inch or so had built up on my car. *sigh* And it wasn't supposed to amount to much. Have I mentioned how much I'm hating snow this year?

At any rate, a twenty minute drive took me almost 45 to get to work. I clocked in late. *sigh* Hopefully, the manager won't take away my holiday pay because of that. She can if she really wants to. If she does, I'm going to raise holy hello with her! AND ... I was late because I got stuck in the parking lot at work because the plows had not been out to clear it, yet. *sigh* Managed to get unstuck with a little luck and a few choice words.

So I clock in and the girls are HYPER. They are getting ready to go out to church and then breakfast. No one wanted to listen to me about how dangerous it was to go out. I called the Manager and she said we still needed to go as it was all arranged. I reminded her it was New Year's Eve and by the time we head home, those who've been out drinking will be on the roads. She didn't want to hear me. Oh well! I shrugged my shoulders and figured it's time to shut my mouth and find a new job. I've really had enough of that crappy place!

We go out to get in the van and before we're all in, the girls wanted it pulled up so they weren't standing in a snowdrift. Ha! The van got stuck. I mean really stuck. Then it started to slide sideways instead of going forward. After about 30 mins, we managed to get it out and loaded and off we went to church.

Arrived late but so did others so no big deal. It was a nice service. Just as the new year started, one of my girls had an asthma attack. Guess who forgot to bring the inhalers for all our asthma girls? Yep! I'm not used to having to take them anywhere. Dang! Thankfully, there was a woman behind us who knew what was happening and offered us her own inhaler. Whew! That saved my butt big time.

We leave church and head off to IHOP for breakfast. At least now the roads have been cleared of snow, however it was still snowing. Got to breakfast and our youngest girl (who is 12) started to act up. It was 1:30 AM. Egads, she embarrassed everyone. By the time we left, she was pushing and swearing.

Get home and the drive was just starting to be cleared. Got stuck twice getting up to the front door. Most of the girls went right to bed. The youngest got mad when I told her she would be on TA (NO privileges) for her poor public behavior. Then she got mad at another youth and ended up throwing a broom at myself, the other staff, and two girls who were standing nearby. I was so angry that she could ruin what had been up until then a perfectly good evening.

Get her calmed down and another girl decides she isn't ready to go to bed. Plopped in the staff office and refused to leave. I told her if she didn't leave, I'd have to remove her. She said to do what I had to do. So I hauled her tiny little butt up out of that chair and escorted her out. A few minutes later, she had pushed past the other staff and was back in there again. I again removed her. She continued to refuse to go to bed until 4:00. I was so mad I could barely think.

From 4-6 I did all the paperwork for the shift. The other staff has never worked overnight and had no clue what needed to be done. I also counted all the medications and packed meds for first med dose of the morning. At 6:15 I went out to clear the sidewalk for day shift and find that the end of the sidewalk was buried thanks to the a-hole who plowed the drive. Not only that, but my car had been plowed in!

I grabbed the shovel and headed for my car. Forget the sidewalk! I'm so ready to head home. I clear off some snow from my car (by the way, we ended up with probably about six inches though that's my own guess) and started it, turning on the defrosters. Then I started to shovel. It was FREEZING out there, with wind whipping. My gloves got soaked and half-way through I changed them. I always keep two pair with me, thankfully.

Got it cleared and went inside. Almost time to clock out and remembered I hadn't written the TA packet for the girl to process in the morning. It's a series of questions about what happened that she ended up on TA. Things like "What do you think the poor public behaviors you showed were?" "What could you have done differently?" "Do you care that you embarrassed everyone else with you and how would you have felt if someone else had done what you did?" Lastly, "What is a more appropriate way to show anger than throwing objects at others?" Whew! I clocked out exactly ten hours from the time I clocked in. Darn system docked me 15 minutes! *sigh*

At any rate, I work tonight and I'm done until Saturday. I'm SO looking forward to those three days off. Sorry this was so long, but I figured I'd share my night with all of you.

I HATE snow right now. Bah humbug!

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes. It was a good day spent with Tim.

And Randy, I'm sorry to hear about the death of Sue's mother. I'll add her to my prayer list. I know the firsts are so rough and to have a death so near to the holidays is never easy. I still remember my paternal grandmother being buried on Christmas eve when I was a child. God bless!