So much to do!

And before we begin, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!! I really thought Erin would pass the phone to me and Thak when she was done talking, but I guess she didn't, so here we are, a birthday wish in our little corner of cyberspace. Happy birthday from the far-west Texas relatives!!


Erin's school year starts back on Monday, meaning we have a little under 48 hours to get everything ready.

We have a massive school supply list (which is NOT actually a school supply list, but a list of crap the district couldn't be bothered to buy for the schools, by the looks of it) and Erin decided to cut her own hair last week, so I need to even up her hack job as much as possible. Otherwise, Thak found out that the New Balance outlet is having a sale on kids' shoes, so we're going to head over there and get her some new shoes. Otherwise, her uniforms still fit and were barely worn since we transferred in so late last year, so I'll just have to find those and maybe tumble them around in the dryer a little to freshen them.

We still hate her school. Being the token middle-class family is harder than I ever thought. I mean, maybe I shouldn't get offended that they always assume we live in an apartment, but if you saw the complexes near the school, you wouldn't want anyone to think you lived there either. They always hound me about not filling out the free/reduced lunch form, but we miss the income cutoff by nearly $2000 a month! We will not qualify, and I don't want to waste my time filling it out, knowing it will be for nothing. Yet still, they hound us about it, telling us that over 85% of the students receive free lunch. Yeah, 85% of students apparently also live in apartment complexes I wouldn't have my DOG live in. They also hounded me about not putting down Erin's medicaid number on her emergency card. Um, did it ever occur to them that we're not on medicaid? Apparently that puts us squarely in weirdo territory with this crowd. Wait until it dawns on them that we're not illegal aliens!! I'll bet they'd post our picture on the wall of the school as some sort of freak show. We live here legally, in a HOUSE in a decent neighborhood, make too much to qualify for free/reduced lunch, and aren't on any type of welfare!! Call the papers!!

Upon hearing about this, and how much trouble the people at the school gave me, Thak said we're pulling Erin out of there and putting her in Catholic school as soon as we find one we like. There are many in El Paso, and I'll bet we'll probably be much happier in that environment. Hey, at least our kid wouldn't be the only white kid in sight, nor would she be the only one in brand name shoes...

Otherwise, it's all the same stuff. I've got tons of orders, pretty much put my competition under within the past week. In fact, one of her former customers was just here to pick up what she ordered from me. (tee hee!) Other than that, I didn't schedule any weekend appointments this time because I've worked five weekends in a row, and that's just not fair to Thak or the kids that our house is Grand Central every weekend. Plus after this week, I needed the break. Those customers who were horrible over email, but seemed fine in person, actually turned out to be quite horrible. The one of them, I finished her bag, and it was identical to the sketches I drew up for her while she was here, which she approved. I emailed her a picture, and she said, "Eww... hope it looks different in person." It does NOT look different in person, and it is a very well made, top quality bag, which I can name at least a dozen people who would love to have it. No, but she apparently thought she was going to get something like my friend May's bag, which she saw when she was over here (because I had May come over and hang out with me that day, and she was showing her bag off because she loves it). The thing is, that's NOT AT ALL what she ordered, and she didn't say, "I'd like what she's having" or anything to hint that she wanted basically a different colored copy of May's bag. Had she done that, I'd have made it that way. Since she didn't, I made her what she ordered, and she hated it.

I was shaken by this because I have NEVER had that reaction to my work. Ever. I had one girl who wanted different straps on her bag because she thought she'd like them lined in color, but didn't end up wanting it that way, while I was at Ft. Stewart. That is the ONLY time I've had to change something about someone's bag, and that girl didn't make it seem like it was my fault. She knew she ordered the lined straps, and when she didn't like the look of them, she paid to have them changed out for plain straps. No problemo. This idiot, on the other hand, wants her purse redone because she ordered one thing and wanted another. What a fool. I'm redoing it, but I'm making her wait a few weeks for it. (In reality, I could have it done tomorrow, but I don't want to. If she had been nice to me, I would have. Since she wasn't, she'll wait a few weeks, maybe a month. Frankly I'm too disgusted with her to sew ANYTHING for her anytime soon.)

May said she got a bad vibe off of her when she was here. I see her point now. After having her over again tomorrow to look at the bag, which she treated as if it were infected with bubonic plague, I saw that this girl's energy was so bad that I couldn't get her out of my house quick enough, and called May freaking out as soon as she left. She said, "see my point?" I said, "I do! You told me so!" because she did...

It's also been a hard week for Thak at work. There was a death in the battalion yesterday. The guy isn't one of Thak's soldiers anymore, but used to be. He was really messed up, and everyone was happy on some level when he disappeared. Everyone's kind of kicking themselves now since he turned up dead. There is a criminal investigation open, but they probably won't find anything. That's all I can say really... There is also another issue within the battalion with a sensitive item that went missing three days ago. It's an item which is worth thousands on the black market, so I'm sure whoever took it has sold it by now and we'll never see it again. I've never heard of anything like this happening, in all my 8 years in or with the Army. It's been a bad week for the battalion.

However, I have been tapped to be on the Battalion's Family Readiness Group Steering Committee. It's basically a bunch of Officers' wives, plus me. I'm on there because Thak is on Colonel's special staff, and Colonel thought I was squared away when he met me, so he gave my name to the Major's wife, and the rest is history. I don't know that I'm really ready for this kind of leadership responsibility, but I don't think anyone who truly is, actually thinks they are. In my experience, the ones who think they are ready for this type of thing (and have no prior experience at it, nor any formal Senior Spouse Leadership courses) are the ones who have no business doing it in the first place. That's what May said, and that it's better that I do it than some lower-enlisted wife who got married yesterday. Good point, May. I just hope I don't screw it up.

So that's really about it. My customer has come and gone, and it's now time to go out shopping. Maybe I can even pick up a new dress or two for myself while we're at the outlets!! Hey, I'll use my purse money... Why not?