Socialization Update

We're starting to establish networks and routines. Dani has gone out with girls twice now on the weekends, and she's not eating her sandwich in the bathroom stall by herself any more. I have some pretty good work friends that I get all jazzed when I see we're on the schedule together. One of my co-workers is expecting a baby & I went to her shower yesterday. It was fun. I realize now that a big reason that they hired me is the expectation that I will fill in for her when she's on maternity leave for 12 weeks -- the bad part is that she works full time & I really don't want that. Kind of wishing they'd been up-front about that expectation, but I am per diem & the beauty of that is I am completely entitled to say "no". And I plan to.

Nile was caught snoozing in class and I had to go up & talk to his teacher. A little bump on this new road of me being a single mom during the week: I go to bed before the kids (that's what happens when you have to leave your house at 6:00 to be on time for work). And Nile was staying up pretty late, apparently. World of Warcraft is addictive and should be a schedule II drug. I hope I've fixed that problem but not sure at this point. And Nile still says "fine" to every question, no matter how ridiculous. (how was lunch? did you like math class? what do you think of the teacher's purple mohawk?)

No full license for Dani yet, but she's driving again and doing fine. She even drove in some of the downpours we've had lately and came through like a champ. She actually is driving with more confidence here than in NJ; maybe it's because the roads are not all windy little two-lanes up and down mountainsides.

More freaky-deaky stuff at the house. I came home last week to find that the guest bathroom had flooded several rooms. Not badly & all on the stained concrete so no true damage, but still a pain. I called a plumber. He looked really hard but couldn't definitively find the source of the problem. Finally settled on this: one of the kids had plugged the toilet in the morning as we were frantically trying to get out the door (is there any other way to start the weekday? not at our house). Ummm....OK. So we clean up and I lecture the children. But then it happens again, days later: water appears (same area) and it's hard to find a source. It was not the toilet this time, so now I'm questioning whether it even was that to begin with. Anyway, everything clean and working and no water today. Hope it stays that way.

I'm having lunch with Cecilia this week, the woman from Michigan that I met online. We didn't realize we were both nurses (although she hasn't practiced in more than ten years) until she came over with her girls. But we have a lot in common and it's great to have a non-work, non-family friend. I found a good pediatrician, whom I had to call on this morning when Dani had her first Texas migraine (last night was loads of fun, but - hey - we stayed out of the ED so it's all good.)

I haven't been able to swim in the pool for a while. This tropical storm has made it either too rainy or too cool almost every day. Except of course, the days I work 12 hours and get home at 8:00 or 9:00 pm. Those are the nice, hot sunny days; I'm indoors and never even look out a window. Getting worried that the lap-swimming days are over unless I get used to having blue lips.

Zilker Botanical Gardens

The Zilker Botanical Gardens in Austin are gorgeous ("gorg" as Dani would say). And it's free this time of year. The recent rains have made all the plantings lush and colorful. Just watch out for the mosquitoes - they are vicious. In fact, they drove me away early from my picture-taking. But here's some looks at how lovely it truly is.

So, if you need an activity, go to the gardens. Check out the info at http://www.zilkergarden.org/. The best time to go is early in the day, it's cooler and not as crowded and no parking hassles. Austin is full of little gems like this, another planned activity (soon to be seen here) is a tour of the local museums. Tours of all the Anthro stores (there are 2!) has already happened of course, no pictures needed. Well, I could show pics of all the clothes I've bought, but you probably don't need that.

Red Alert -- Another Stab at the DMV!

Dani and I made our third trip to the DMV today. I did actually find the small card issued by the state of New Jersey stating that she passed Driver's Ed. So we took our thick folder of documents up there for another attempt to get a Texas Graduated Driver's License (what we used to call a learner's permit) for her. Here's a list of what I had to bring (no kidding): birth certificate, social security card, NJ GDL permit, NJ commercial driving school certificate, verification of enrollment from Lake Travis High, state of NJ Driver's Ed card, and North Hunterdon High's driver's ed certificate. Whew.

Here she is at the window. Will we get it this time? Or will they tell us again that we are missing a piece of paper? Let's recap what happened on visit one in East Austin. After consulting 3 different supervisors, they tell us that she needs to both repeat her commercial driving school (because Texas requires 7 hours, not 6 as in NJ) and she needs a "verification of enrollment" from Lake Travis High. The nice fellow also tells us that we "should have stayed in New Jersey" if she wanted her license. So I grit my teeth and contact the school & they say they won't issue the form until the first day of class. When Dani gets that on day 1 (two months later, incidentally), we decide to drive all the way to Marble Falls to a DMV office a little friendlier than East Austin. The woman there tells us that we need the state of NJ driver's ed certificate, and makes up some other stuff about needing even MORE hours in a commercial course. I decide to ignore the bit about the course & just find the darn card. And I found it.

So we decide to try the Northwest Austin DMV office this time. It's open late on Wednesdays, and that's when we go. It's a long line of people as we arrive at 4:30. When we get up to the counter (this is just to get the paperwork to start filling out), the woman looks at us blankly and says, "What's a GDL?" I'm sorry, I couldn't resist elbowing Dani. Here we go again! She has to go ask a co-worker what to do, and makes a show of looking at each of our papers although it's obvious she is clueless and isn't really making any kind of judgement. She hands us two forms to fill out. Dani and I sit down and fill them out.

They call our number and we go up to a window and hand over everything. Again, for the sixth time, I explain what each item is, although I sense right away that the young woman behind the counter knows what to do and is familiar with the process. Her name is Rebecca & you'll see why I bothered to ask her name in a bit. She looks at things carefully and looks up some information on her computer, asks us a few questions about dates on the forms. A woman with a clipboard behind her chimes in at this point that if all the documents are correct, Dani will get a Texas GDL and repeat her six months training. Dani starts to protest and the woman says, "Oh, but this is a Texas GDL, not New Jersey." I have to shush Dani as her voice escalates. Good god, if I hear something like that one more time, I will get violent. This doesn't ruffle Rebecca, however, as she calmly excuses herself to confer with her supervisor. When she returns, she says...you know what it is, right?...we need another document. The certificate from the NJ driving school just isn't official-looking enough. So I start begging. Really. With tears in my voice, I beg her to just give us a permit; this is our third trip, we have done everything they've said, we just need a permit, we don't even care that we have to repeat the six months. The sad thing is, I wasn't acting. I meant every word.

Rebecca and I look at the documents again and I point out that the state of NJ permit has the driving school data written on it. Obviously, the certificate was good enough for them. She agrees, and goes back to the supervisor. We wait anxiously.

When she returns, she is smiling. She tells Dani, "You're going to get your license. You've had a permit for over six months, all you need is a driving test." That's right, not just a permit, but a real, drive-by-herself license. We look at each other and almost cry. After a few more minutes, we pay the fee, take the picture and we're out the door. She has 90 days to go back for the driving test. Before we leave, I get Rebecca's name. You better believe I'm writing a letter to her boss about what a great thing she did for us. Here's Dani with her new temporary license. I'm still a little in shock. Dani's already looking at cars on Craig's List. Boy, life's going to change! Thank you, Rebecca.

School Started

We started the school year and it was an interesting first day for us all. I had a fender bender after experiencing such ferocious traffic that both kids were late on their first day. Surely arriving 30 minutes in advance would be enough, I foolishly thought. But no. I was so perturbed that I hit the woman in front of me -- who happens to live two streets down from us in our subdivision and was also dropping her kids off (she was very nice about it). She warned me that the first few weeks is a madhouse. Their carpool system is not ideal and since the kids bring a truckload of supplies the first day, I guess all parents want to drive. This one did but next year will be different, even if they have to strap on double backpacks.


I'm relieved that the suspense is over for the kids starting a new school, but the hard work (in terms of socialization) has begun. So far, Dani has only gotten into my car and burst into tears twice at pickup. Well...actually, one of those days was yesterday. This is certainly not easy. And Nile just says "fine" to every question (how was your day? how was lunch? did you slay any dragons at recess?). The schoolwork does not appear to be harder than NJ -- in fact, Nile is repeating his semester of studying the Holocaust, and I'm not sure that's such a good thing. Surely one semester of that is enough for a 14 year old to deal with. Dani's classes that are not AP are, as she states, "so easy". Better than too hard. Nile's pre-AP science is proving interesting, they are looking at hurricanes right now, which seems appropriate given Earl's action.


I started my second per-diem nursing job this week. This one is in a south Austin woundcare clinic and oh my goodness, folks, I've never worked in a clinic before but let me tell you something.....this is INCREDIBLY easy compared to hospital work. You get a lunch break! When you want it! You can pee when you need to! The doctor knows your name and he USES it to address you! The patients remember you from last week! They are happy to see you! Alright, you get the gist of it. Even better, this job pays as well as hospital positions because it's affiliated with a hospital and there's a single per-diem RN rate. All I can say is after 3 years of med-surg on 3 West, I deserve it. The only downer is I have to wear dowdy navy scrubs; here's a picture.


But you know, I definitely want to keep my psych job going too. It's just too much fun there. In a single shift last week, a patient wanted me to leave with him as I discharged him and get married. Really. He was serious. Why, how did you know that I really dig hyperverbal bipolar narcissists? And then a few hours later, another patient fired me as his nurse because I'm just too much of a bitch. Yes, he used that word. Here's the deal: I wouldn't discharge him without a doctor's order (that pesky little detail). You can't just let unstable psychiatric patients run out the door, for obvious reasons. Oh, but I'm a bitch. Good thing I didn't marry that first guy, he'd have been sorry.


We had another family gathering Sunday and (can you stand it?) here's more pool pictures. Someone at work said that if we turn on the heater, we can use this baby into November. Music to my ears. And my dearest brother Roy, who has a booth at Room Service (a very cool Austin store, check it out), took away some of the junk in our garage with the promise of more to be removed. The bedrooms and office were painted, so Nile is no longer in a pink room with fairies on the coffered ceiling looking down at him. It's a manly blue.


One sour note...still no progress with the DMV. The NJ high school told us they issued a completion card to Dani for driver's ed. She has no memory of this & if we can't find it, the state will have to reissue. Yep, that's the one and only state of NJ, in the middle of one of the worst fiscal crises in the nation. I'm sure some sweet civil servant will gladly issue us a new card. Maybe if I can figure out which agency, how to contact them, and who to ask. Alright, I'm tired just thinking of that. I'm going to swim laps in my new best friend.