Sisters and Abraham Lincoln

I have a large, involved family composed of Cousins, Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents etc.... My mom's side of the family is pretty big, I have a lot of cousins who all act as siblings that happen tpo live in different parts of Texas.
My mom is one of three girls and one brother, poor uncle Mike. However none of them had more than one girl, enter Cousin-Sisters. I have two Sara and Emily, and Sara is getting married! After the appropriate amount of pouting (being that I HATE change) about how different everything is going to be and how old we are all getting I have snapped out of it and am SO EXCITED for her, which is helpful being that I am the Maid of Honor!

Both Sara and Emily will be bombarding my humble apartment around 6pm today and I can't wait to giggle and vent and be 100% at ease in my surrounding. There is something so refreshing about family, these girls are the best friends I could ever have and I am so thankful for them.

Yay for Friday!

End of the week anecdote: 

Setting: 2nd grade classroom, the gremlin is drawing out of a Halloween book.

(I was in there to observe this little guy who exhibits majorly inappropriate behaviors ....I was lucky enough to be present and an active participant in this conversation. )

He looks around after copying a picture from said book...and cant seem to find someone to talk to so he looks right at me

Gremlin: "Want to see my Abraham Lincoln?"

Me: "...... what?"

Gremlin: shows me his drawing, "my Abraham Lincoln."

Me: "you mean Frankenstein?"

Gremlin: looks at his picture..."oh yeah, I'm always getting those two confused."

I love my job.

Miss Chelsie, is that weed in yo necklace?

Oh yeah, that happened.


So, this week I am on a trial run as a behavior Interventionist in the district I already work for, this would absolutely be a promotion so prayers and finger crossing would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, the class is a "behavior" classroom or a "transitional" room....basically baby jail for 4th and 5th grades most wanted. The skinny is, these kids are actually awesome...some have Autism others are just classified with ADHD and "emotional disturbances" which basically means....something is weird with them, but we don't really know what and or don't really care to find out....but they are super sweet deep down and really funny to boot.

Today was my first day in the class and it was interesting........these kids act like I do when my dog uses my apartment as the restroom ....on a constant. Angry, swearing, cute little kids.

I smell great blog potential ...in a big way.


Favorite quote of the day: "A brother want to get in a front of a line too, ya know."


Ohhhh shaaaa....

After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says W T F.

Wednesday: Keurig- Green Mountain Coffee, Fruit Bats Pandora station, Blogger = pre-work party.  Today is the 28th of September and the high in lovely ol' Fort Worth, Texas is 96. I am about to crank up my ac, throw on a sweater and brew some apple cider/ lose my marbles if it doesn't cool off soon. I am bursting at the seams to wear scarfs and caps and sweaters.
One thing that has to be said about the terrible drought this past summer is that we actually seem to have fall foliage, I will take what I can get.

In other news, I just finished a book called The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Brief summary, you ask? Sure. A travelling circus only works at night and always strikes its multitude of tents by daybreak. Its shows are truly amazing because real magic plays a large part. But it is also the arena around which two late 19th-century enchanters pitch their protégées against each other, in a contest that has to end in death for one of them.....and they may or may not fall in love with each other. Sounds a little dark and fabulous, well....it is. I recommend that you pick it up.

Unfortunately with the ending of another good book I am left with the age old debacle ....what should I read next? As always I am taking suggestions.....semi okay, mediocre books need not apply. I have a strict 100 pages rule, if I am not sold by the first 100 pages....it goes on the shelf potentially never to see the light of day again.


Happy Wednesday interwebz.

Sabbatical, schmattical ....

The month of self pity is officially ending and with it, my sabbatical from blogging. I feel really sorry for my fabulous boyfriend to have to put up with me, although he always does such a great job cheering me up....but some things you have to do for yourself. For the past month I have been sleeping more than I ever have, feeling stressed, sad, angry... hair turning grey and falling out etc....a general sense of wallowing.

Be gone with you.

After 6 months of a good friend of mine telling me how cool her "non-church", church was ...I finally was trapped and forced to go (being that I bailed on her birthday brunch to get my hair done for free, and because I was broke and had nothing to wear insert pity party here) and being that I could not bail twice on a good friend in one weekend. The long and short of it....she was not kidding, this place was magical.
On top of that, another dear friend of mine came over and we had a much needed heart to heart ....talking about the crappy things in life and working hard to try and remember all the wonderful things in life. 

I think that is the trick, you don't have to hold everything inside and keep all the rotten things to yourself. Pretending everything is fine, is the fastest way to wear yourself out. Sometimes things are shitty. That's okay.....but sometimes things are beautiful, and wonderful and fabulous....very rarely is life just one shade. Accept the junk, embrace the magical and actively seek joy.

ANECDOTAL NOTE: This conversation happened last night on the phone with my mom ...talking about how much we are both working as of late...

Mom: "I'm out there humping my ass all over town."
Me: "hahahhahahaha, I think you mean busting your hump."
Hysterical laughing ensued. 

Attention dog and people lovers alike!

My dear friend Mariah and her pup Sweet Potato are going through a terribly rough time right now, and need YOUR help. Sweet Potato is a Boxer rescue and much more than just a pet but the heart and soul of my dear sweet friend. She is one of the most precious pups I have ever met and has brought so much joy into the life of everyone she meets, because she is a survivor.
Potato in Mariah's words; "Sweet Potato is a six year old Legacy Boxer Rescue pup. She was pulled from the shelter three years ago with her three sharpei-boxer pups and had obvious signs of neglect and abuse. What was once an anxious, fearful shell of a boxer is now a playful, independent fur ball of love. In the last 10 days, her happy-puppy personality has declined and she now has trouble walking, lifting herself, and moving around. I have been carrying her up and down three flights of stairs to potty. She is a suffering pup in need of relief or a miracle... Whichever comes first."
Potato has recently been diagnosed with either a herniated disc on her spinal cord, or a tumor. This is terrible news for any doggy mom to hear, especially when the testing alone will cost around $3,000.
Most everyone has a rainy day fund, and Mariah is sure to be drawing from hers, but she in no way has that amount of money right now. That is where we come in, ladies and gentleman, friends and family. It's time to pull out our pocket books and show this wonderful woman and precious pup that we are rooting for them. Any amount will help; all proceeds will go directly to Sweet Potato's vet bills. In the worst-case scenario, all of the money will be donated lovingly in Sweet Potato's name to the Legacy Boxer Rescue. Let's show them some love.
After YOU donate, please pass this along so others can pay it forward also.

Go here and help my dear friend, just cut and paste this and shell out!

http://apps.facebook.com/fundrazr/activity/c1df3670448d4e5294b6d745dd85f070?post=c1df3670448d4e5294b6d745dd85f070_40f784a70f9b4d229e34c49a88fd38bf_8e98f53d12f647c88c0a4d65e849274b&post_sig=7c8b0311607122eb40ba3148ca802d5efc84c093&post_id=1845519953_168027079942124#_

Back to school.....

It's that time of the year again, back to school! (Enter Billy Madison song here)

Due to this time of year I feel like I should provide a short summary about what I do, as to give my stories some context.

I am an ABA therapist (Applied Behavior Analysis), meaning that I practice behavior modification on kiddos with Autism and other learning differences. Is this the best career in the world you ask? Yes, it absolutely is.

Lucky for you, it also happens to provide a bounty of ridiculous stories, stories that I have chosen to share with you, dear readers...all 2 of you.

Today, I was working with one of my most favorite kids in the entire world, it was the end of our day and I was driving to drop him off with his parents. They were running a little behind so we were just chit chatting in the car when I noticed he wasn't really talking too much, I turned around and noticed he was casually stuffing a breadbox sized clock (I use to show lapsed time for my kids with autism) up his shirt.

Really? Okay, another day at the office.

I asked him if he could please try and not steal my clock that I use for work ...he said "oh sure, sorry". ..Then was silent for another minute or so clearly contemplating something potentially mischievous .....and out of the blue spoke up "Chelsie, I think you stole my mom's clock”.

What.....?

Hahaha, his mom has the same clock.... it is actually a really is an awesome tool and unbeknownst to my dear friend, not a one of a kind. I told him, that I in fact did NOT steal his mom's clock (that he was so gallantly stealing back for her) but that we both have one. This answer seemed to satisfy and he packed up the clock in my workbag that he had retrieved it from.... then handed the entire bag to me. "Oh buddy, that bag stays back there,” I told him. "No, it's too much of a temptation, please keep it up there with you" He replied. hahahahaha. Okay then, fair enough.

P.s. He's only 10 years old

Chels

Internet has no downside.

No internet still, super sad face. Will someone please remember to feed my fish (at the bottom of the page) whilst I am away. Thanks.

-Chels

My family has skills....

I need more allowance

Yodelahewho ....

The beets, obviously.... a band from Doug (one of the best cartoons ever) and that song is still so poignant I sing it every time I am on the job hunt....which I am! Positive vibes, crossed fingers and prayers are all welcome...equal opportunity and all that.

Anyway, As I am in the presence of the Internet I thought I should take this opportunity to post a new one on this thing, not that thousands are waiting with baited breathe of course.

Onward and Blogward: This past weekend I went to San Antonio on business and my Charming and lovely cousin Sara (Etsy site here http://www.etsy.com/shop/RedBirdLane?ref=ss_profile) let me stay with her in her wonderfully Anthro-esque casa.

Not only is she under 25 and owns her own home (because she just really has her stuff together), but in all of her spare time (aside from her very full time job) she makes some AWESOME things, I have a special affinity for her light fixtures (shown above) ! The ones in the photo's are in my apartment that she sent me for my big bad 25th birthday....and I absolutely adore it!

That's all for now, go check it out!

Chels

Mulligan and then some....

When you start off the day picking a fight with the sweetest most gentle human on the planet, it is not a very strong sign for a good day.

So that's my day today. Lovely.

This sounds like a totally roll your eyes typical excuse, because it is...but I have been super stressed lately. The ever growing need for more money than I have is really starting to take a toll on me and clearly I am not a grown up enough to keep it to myself. Why in the world when I get stressed am I compelled to share this unwanted burden on anyone and everyone who crosses my path....well maybe that isn't correct... maybe it's not anyone and everyone but those who are closest to me, the ones who I know love me...why is it they who end up with the big emotional wallop?

Probably because most of us generally believe that these people will forgive and love us anyway, and most of the time they do...accidentally reinforcing that nasty behavior and unfortunately increasing the likelihood of its repeated occurrence (dropping some behavior modification on your ass there).

So I started to realize that I seem to really screw things up whenever I attempt to handle them myself. Whenever I tell God that he has done a pretty good job, but I can take it from here...without fail, I always fall smack dab on my mug. Fail.

Faith, such a difficult thing for me....the Bible describes faith like this ....Hebrews 11: 1 "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. " Sounds easy, no? No.

Assurance in what we do not see, is to me one of the most difficult things I can do and even worse than that, the mere thought of attempting to try and have faith is difficult for me. So naturally I being the geek that I am turned to Google for comfort, here is what I came up with:

"I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me--that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns."
— Anne Lamott

What a gem.

Whenever I get sad, or worried or stressed I inevitably get down on myself for not trusting in God but maybe Ms. Lamott really hit the nail on the head, maybe noticing the mess and LETTING IT BE until some light returns is the essence of this whole trusting in God thing.

Food for thought.

I can haz internet?

Sad news everyone, my very nice .....ambiguously gay neighbor, who let me have free Internet has moved :( I request a moment of silence for my loss.

Now then.....

While I am in the process of acquiring my own Internet connection my blogs will be few and far between, first world problem for sure.

Meanwhile, whilst on the interbewz hiatus of sorts, I picked up a book from the library (something I do fairly often) this particular book is GONE by Lisa McMann. It's the last book in a very short trilogy called the WAKE Trilogy ....To be totally honest, my first impression was that I couldn't believe I was ever interested enough to read the first two.... however around the middle of the book I became once again enraptured (probably due to the fact that I have no Internet ).
This is a short series of no great literary value, but "candy" for sure....It's written in a very lyrical way and the story is interesting enough that you want to know what happens at the end.

So blogland I'm in the market for book suggestions currently, if you have read something FABULOUS recently let me know!

Sunday Bloggings....

(Photo: Harvard square.....how I wish I was there right now!)

Sunday, ughhhhhh.....Not just Sunday but the Sunday after vacation is one of the worst kinds of Sunday's there are. Quick recap, Boston was amazing....The history, the weather, the people and of course the company....twas all fabulous.

Texas is......HOT, seriously like kill you in the street hot, hide yo kids, hide yo wife hot. Unfortunately I am back in town and reality hits again tomorrow along with another round of the infamous heat wave. With all this heat and after visiting a really great city I started to wonder, why in the hell does anyone live here? It's hot, it's spread out, crummy public transit... there isn't a tremendous amount of historical significance? Why are we doing this to ourselves, so I of course googled it and here is what I discovered:Nothing....Cost of living or something like that.....but for all practical purposes there really is no reason, just a bunch of people asking the exact same question. If any of you have an answer or a deep love of this state (aka the seventh circle of hell) I would LOVE to hear it.

I suppose I am off until tomorrow, so I will spend the remainder of this day eating bomb pops and try to hang my hammock in the deep freezer. Cheers.

I'm on a boat

Bean town vacay has been such a blast I have completely neglected my dear ole blog, I had intended to post as usual but Boston has stolen our hearts ....and we have been spending every waking hour all up in it.

So here I sit, on a ferry to cape cod with my temperamental phone trying like Hell to avoid sea sickness...so I figured I could take this opportunity to say BRB blogland.....Post and Pics to come !

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I should be packing, but.....

Happy Saturday ! I didn't really plan to blog on the weekends, but what a great reason not to do chores!

Photo: Mom and Jerrett hamming it up at the Ranger's game.


I hope you have found yours more productive than mine, considering I have watched 5 episodes back to back of Animal Planet's The Haunted. Now, not only am I not packing for my trip to Boston and New York with my beau, I'm not even at my home. Of course now that I have been thoroughly terrified about haunted houses there is no way in hell I am going back to stay by myself in a nearly 200 year old building!

So a night in at mom's is just what the doctor ordered: Mom, Animal Planet and maybe a movie...it could most definitely be worse.
To illustrate the general tone of today I offer you this gem my mom just busted out.
1:30 pm Mom: "I need a vodka."

Me too, mom ....me too.

Why it's a really good thing I don't have children.

4am: I wake up to Rua my pride and joy barfing all over my bed, sheets, handmade quilt my aunt made me. Lovely. Immediately I strip the sheets, get a new set put the gross ones in a pile (potentially to burn) put a bowl of water in the bathroom with sweet barfing Rua and shut the door on her, ahhh...problem solved. Right.

6am :Open bathroom door, there is my sweet darling pooch drenched from ears to tail in her own pee, seriously...this is happening. Immediately I throw her in the bathtub, who doesn't want to give their pee soaked pup a bath before the sun rises.. As I try to will my feet not to slip and slide on the pee soaked tile I think to myself, this is why I don't have kids. I wasn't being particularly cruel to Rua, I may have dropped the F-bomb once or twice but I didn't spank her and tell her she was a bad dog, but still my attitude kind of sucked and definitely left something to be desired.

This also gave me time to reflect on my own mother, I have always had a bit of a chip on my shoulder that my mother wasn't June Cleaver, when I was sick and barfing on her carpet my ideal mother would say "there there, how's about some ginger ale and crackers" and in reality my mom had gotten pretty ticked that I couldn't make it to the bathroom in time, this was a terrible shortcoming of hers in my opinion....until now.

7am: Here I sit with a sleeping semi wet dog, and my guilty conscience and as soon as 8am rolls around I'm going to call my mom and tell her what a good job she did.

Happy Friday!

Sit, stay ....play dead.

Dog training is one of those things that seem really easy until you have a dog, and then it seems really ridiculous to think you could make this crazy animal do anything you want! This is especially frustrating for me, as I am a behavior modification therapist....completely trained in all the techniques that they use at Petsmart, or mans best friend etc....I do this for a living and with humans!

Recently I have adopted a pup, her name is Rua and she is super sweet and adorable....she can also be terrible. She only sits when asked about 40% of the time, "stay" is not in her vocabulary and because of some medical issues she has a lovely habit of eating poop! Also, I am completely convinced that she believes that this is her apartment and that she graciously allows me to pay rent and clean the place for her.

I have been slacking big time in the training department, to say the least and I have had about all that I can handle. For the past two weeks I have really been diligent to take the bull by the horns and get this, who's the boss thing situated. Results.....Rua is still allowing me to live here, how kind. She can sit on command about 60% of the time, "stay" still is fuzzy...however the boyfriend has been teaching her "halt" which seems to bring him copious amounts of joy to hold up his hand like a Jedi and command the dog to halt. However all is not lost, we did manage to teach her to give high 5's and high ten's. Who needs sit, when your dog can pound it.

Take one

As far as I am concerned this is my way of sitting down over a cup of Joe dishing with a friend, so there will be typo's...there will be bragging about my wonderful boyfriend, book reviews, also there will most assuredly be pictures of animals especially mine and hopefully some funny stories along the way too.

Where to start..........

You could say that this blog is directly in response to a close friend of mine sharing her blog with me, so naturally I wanted one. Speaking of, you can check hers out at alrightsonowwhat.blogspot.com . But to be totally honest, creating a blog has been on my mind for about a year... toying with the idea of ranting and raving on a public forum and a place to share all of the ridiculous things that happens to me, the wild things I hear at work or just about anything I would say to a girlfriend over coffee seemed like a rather charming idea..... and the narcissist in me is salivating over this! But aside from the obvious self involvement this could also be a way to stay connected with friends near and far much more in depth than a status update.

Let the blogging begin.