Thursday, February 21, 2008

Have Whine, Need Cheese

I'm trying to keep this blog from turning into a complete whine-fest, but this has not been a particularly good morning. We got the DCFS investigative file last night and reading through it was horrible. I'll probably have more to say about it later, but reading a blow-by-blow of the events (and my reactions) through someone else's eyes was really hard. The nightmares I hadn't had in a few weeks came back and I slept terribly last night. Then I got a $100 parking ticket this morning when I left my flashers on at the end of a bus zone (half of my car was legal, the other half was illegal) to run Landon up to Maya's. I was gone for 3 minutes and now I have to divert my birthday money to a thoroughly crappy expense. I have no idea where I'll park when I do the pick-ups and drop-offs, I've always used the bus zone. There's no parking at all, so it's either block a bus (I wasn't really blocking a bus, the "zone" is as long as 3 buses) or block a fire hydrant. I guess I'll go for the fire hydrant.

The day is going to get better though. Tonight is my birthday party with girlfriends at a wine bar. I'm very excited to get dressed up and eat and drink with these girls whom I'm getting more and more upset about leaving in June. And the next several days are going to be really good. Tomorrow includes a dental appointment (okay, that won't be good, but I'll be downtown which is always fun), lunch with a possible future UC law student mom, and the aquarium with Landon and a few friends; Saturday brings a birthday surprise from JP (no idea what that could be, he's not usually big on the planning of things) and dinner out while friends babysit; Sunday includes an Oscar party I'm hostessing; and Monday is my actual quarter-century mark. JP is feeling better, I'm not feeling worse, and Landon kind of slept through the night again (woke up at 5 AM, not quite 6:30, but I'll take it). Things could be worse... though I'm still mad about that parking ticket!

13 comments:

  1. 100 dollars?! that's ridiculous, especially if half your car was legally parked :)

    Have an awesome Birthday!
    I'm so missing wine right now...six more long months...

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  2. Be careful what you blog about regarding the invetsigation file. The files are confidential and there is a hefty fine/criminal sanctions. At least in my state.

    The confidentiality protected is not yours, but the childs, and you can't waive that.

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  3. I'm sorry, hon. It will get better. Have a wonderful birthday and try not to let the parking ticket stress you out too much. Soon you will be back in Texas and have that wonderful daycare that I am assuming has a parking lot.

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  4. I got a ticket yesterday too! What a crappy day for driving. It was on campus between the football and soccer stadiums, and I totally saw the cop and slowed down, but apparently even though that is on the outskirts of campus and people go like 40mph, the speed limit is 15 which is insane. I had slowed down to under 30 cause I figured that was the speed limit, silly me. I don't think my car can even go 15 consistently without trying to stall cause it's so slow! Tickets stink!

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  5. I think there's a special circle of hell for parking ticket enforcement . . . and it looks like a waiting room where one waits 150 years and a nurse keeps coming out and saying "it won't be much longer."

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  6. lol that you call them "flashers" also. my husband makes fun of my for calling them that, but it seems the most logical thing. "emergency lights" just doesn't have the same ring ....

    hang in there.

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  7. grrrr, I have an irrational hatred of parking tickets after getting about 17 too many of them. Or maybe 170 too many of them, I forget.

    Happy birthday, hope you enjoy the festivities!

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  8. Ugh, I know exactly how you feel. My mom sent me a $30 check for Valentine's day, which arrived the exact same day I got a $30 parking ticket at the law school. I can't explain why, but somehow it makes me sad beyond belief to think of my mom's Valentine money going to parking enforcement. Probably those pregnancy hormones again...

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  9. oh that stinks!!!! all of it...the ticket, the file, the nightmares, the not-sleeping-well...ugh!
    But at least you have some really cool plans to look forward to. That helps take the sting out of things.
    Enjoy your nice outing with the girls and the wine...sooooo jealous. Need to figure out where a nice wine bar might be near me so that I can take the girls out, too. :)

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  10. Parking tickets infuriate me. A $100 one would make me intentionally tort a parking nazi with my car. Ugh.

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  11. Hmmmmm well I left a couple of unpaid parking tickets in Chicago when *I* moved from there....

    :-)

    Happy Birthday weekend!

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  12. Parking tickets are SO ridiculous... And yeah.. if you're moving in a couple months, it wouldn't be too unfortunate if you accidentally lost and forgot about that parking ticket. Consider it the city's birthday gift to you.. :)
    Happy Birthday!!! Enjoy yourself!

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  13. I am so sorry. :( Happy birthday. Do you ever drop off at the same time as other parents? Perhaps you guys could tag team and coordinate drop-off by cell so that you both arrive at the same time and watch each other's cars while you run up and drop off your child. Obviously Maya can't leave.

    As for the file, don't torture yourself. Their job is to construe things in a really harsh light (IMO), so it's all going to sound so horrible. How's your hubby holding up?

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