couch surfing, FB and Kelly

Can you believe I've been this quiet for this long???
It's been a while since I've blogged. I hope I remember how..

Okay so anyway.. I was running out of things to blog about.. When you never leave the house, the only people that give you stuff to blog about, are the ones that live with you, and you can only talk about those people for so long.
So I was in writer's block.

Then the unthinkable happened.. I got talked into joining Facebook (FB). Kara Dowell has been on me forever to join, and I resisted.. Then Dan Welch gave me a bunch of grief about it.. And finally I caved in.. Now I'm trying to recruit my family (you'll find the irony in this in a minute).
It gets worse.. My friend Beth Hay sent me an invitation on FB to be her neighbor in FB Farm Town.. Farm Town is this game where you actually have a blot of land that you can farm. You have to plow the land, go to the market to buy the seeds, plant the seeds, wait until they grow, harvest the crop and sell to make money, then re-plow, re-seed etc.. You also have to help your neighbors by tending to their crops.. And you can't do certain things until you recruit 8 neighbors.. I need three more, so sign up for FB and come be my Farm Town neighbor.. I NEED YOU!!!

Anyway, that's not ALL I've been doing..

Are you ready for this?????

I GOT A JOB!!!!

I have been signed up with Kelly Services since like 2007, right after Heatcraft announced the shut down. They've sent me on 3 interviews.. One of the places actually told me I was overqualied (never heard that at my last job).. They offered me the job, but didn't want to pay very well.
So, I was feeling kinda low..
Then last Thursday the district manager for Kelly Services called and wanted me to come in Friday morning to talk to HER.. She was making a trip to Danville to meet me..
I went in Friday morning and an hour later, I walked out with a J.O.B. that started Monday.
Get this, I'm in HR.. I am a recruiter for Kelly Services.. My duties include screening, interviewing, supervising AND EVEN FIRING (if needed). It's awesome and I'm pretty pumped about it..
Today was my fourth day, and they threw me in.. I did my first two interviews today.. And besides a couple technical errors, I DID IT!!! And I got an Atta girl.

Anyway I'm still alive, and yes, bragging a little bit..

You want privacy????

Remember when you were growing up and your mom would do or say something you didn't like.
For example not letting you wear what you wanted to wear..
"No Kerri, you may not leave the house in plaid pink pants and an orange striped shirt".
And you would stomp back to your room to change, mumbling "When I have kids, I'm gonna let them wear whatever they want".

I had one of those moments.

Ryleigh (who turned 12 last Thursday) has a MySpace. Yeah I know, that's a little young to start. Beside the point.
The other night I made her log on to her MySpace account so I could see what she had been doing on it.
I went through her friends list asking her who different people were, looked over her profile, went through her photos, I made her take a couple things out, and delete a description under one of the pictures. There were a couple things I didn't like.. But nothing that made me want to call Dr. Phil.
Then I went to her MySpace email account and was randomly picking emails to open up and read.
I didn't like some of them (she cursed). And I told her she wasn't acting very lady like and if she wasn't careful she was going to get a not so pretty reputation. Told her that I was going to check more often and if she didn't get it cleaned up, I would kill her MySpace account..
Just mom stuff. I'm sure all she heard was "blah blah blah".

Then it came..

"When I have kids, I'm not going to invade their privacy like you do".

WHOA!!!! I told her it was my house and my computer and I could look at anything I wanted.
But inside I was laughing my butt off.

What did I do? I got a piece of paper and wrote down her exact words and made her sign it..
It's in her box of memories, waiting for the day that she has her first "I've turned into my mother" moment.

This was my baby then.

This is my baby now.

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Many moons ago Bev Ryan told me to write a book..
An Erma Bombeck "Life is a bowl of cherries" kinda thing..
I love to write.. But, I don't call myself a writer.
As I mentioned several times I suffer from attention deficit disorder.. Which basically means my brain works like a TV remote with the channel button stuck.. I go from one thought to another without realizing it, or being able to stop it.. It also means that my fingers could never keep up with a thought, making it near impossible to get anything in type before the next fleeting thought interrupts me.
But Bev was persistent.. I can't really come up with topics like Erma.. When I write, it's always about stuff that is important to me (or super annoying)..
So I thought about what was important and decided if I were to write a book (I haven't), it would be for other moms that have troubled teens.. To let them know they're not alone, and to explain how I survived it..

I cried for about 3 years straight when Andrew was in his early teens..
And then one day Dana Williams who was my sister-in-law (Andrews Aunt) at the time (now she's just one of my very best friends), called me..
I had never heard anyone laughing so hard.. She asked me when they had made a movie about Andrew.. I was lost, but she proceeded to explain that she had just seen a preview for movie and if the main character wasn't my kid, she'd kiss my ass.. But she couldn't remember the name of the movie..
The next week, I saw the preview.. I called Dana in tears of laughter and told her she was right..
The movie - Malibu's Most Wanted.

That is the day I decided I couldn't cry any more (thanks D), and if I was to survive being the mother of a troubled teen, I was going to have to find the humor in it..
It was work.. His actions were never funny or something to be taken lightly.. Some times I would have to call Dana and ask her to help me find something funny in one situation or another.. Some times, the laughter would be at my own expense, some times it would be at his.. But I HAD to find something.

Many people in my life that haven't had to deal with a child like this, judged me. But it's a totally acceptable defence mechanism.. Even if you're reading this today and never knew about Andrews antics, you might think my humor tactic is wrong.. That's okay, it worked for me.

If you got a call at 2 in the morning that went something like "your son stole a car, ran from the cops, wrecked the stolen car, was under the influence, and doesn't have a drivers license", how would you react?
I lost my mind.. Cried, yelled at the cop that called, begged him to take Andrew home with him (he was an awesome man, very supportive and understanding as he dealt with a crazed mother) and then I laughed.. Not because what he did was at all funny.. I was completely mortified at that part.. Humiliated, pissed, you name it.. I laughed because I couldn't believe he wasn't smarter than that.. Who does something like that?? And I laughed because I pictured him jumping out of the car and trying to run, while he held his pants up (he does that gangsta sagging thing)

Back to the book part, which is where this post started (prime example of ADD).

So I decided a good way to test whether I could attempt a book was to try this blogging thing..
If I could get short little stories out, maybe I could do something bigger..
I never really expected comments when I started.. But they came, and I liked it..
Now I find myself constantly checking my blog to see if anyone commented on my posts..
And when there are no comments, I start thinking "hmm.. maybe no one liked it, or maybe they've all stopped reading"..
No I'm not fishing for comments, I don't comment on everyone else's blog..
I was just hoping I wasn't the only one with this teeny tiny case of paranoia.

Does anyone else get just a little disappointed if they don't get a comment?