My poor little Peanut

For about three weeks now my daughter has been going to a Day Camp that our fitness club puts on. It's more expensive than the babysitter she'd had since she was 6 weeks old, but it's about 10 blocks from my house as opposed to 10 miles. And, with gas being $4 a gallon, every little bit helps. We did the math and even though we pay more weekly AND have to pack a lunch every day, we're saving money by not making the drive.

She's absolutely loving it!!! They do arts and crafts, fitness activities, and most importantly of all they swim for no less than 2 hours each and every day - that's her favorite part.

Yesterday the campers held a car wash in the parking lot for an hour and a half. They were in their swimsuits on the blacktop washing cars for and hour and a half. Need I say more? She's F R I E D. And fried is an understatement. Think of a super ripe tomato....THAT is what her back, shoulders and backs of her legs look like. It's so bad she's got little white blisters on her shoulder.

Poor little thing.

We've been slathering aloe gel on like it's going out of style and she's been popping pain relievers like a fiend. Still, no relief.

So, I'm calling the doctors office to see if they have any suggestions of what we can do. There has to be something that can offer more relief.

In the mean time, I've made my displeasure known to the staff at the camp. There is absolutely no reason this should have happened. And if it happened to my kid, how many others did it happen to?

This isn't the ONLY reason I totally love my new job but....

It's 4:00 p.m. on Friday and I'm on my second, yes SECOND, vodka and diet pepsi.

Sitting at my desk, working, answering the phone, drinking my SECOND vodka and diet pepsi.

Does it get any better than this?

Quarterly update

Seems funny to type "Quarterly Update" but the reality of things is that I simply don't have time to keep my posts up like I have in the past.

Work is going really well. Busy. Very very busy. Like my husband says, my profession is probably one of the few where we don't see the crappy state of the economy because, like it or not, at some point in life 98% of people will need a lawyer for something. How very true. Seems like more and more people are getting divorced and in a majority of the cases they are also facing some serious debt issues, so much so that divorce and bankruptcy filings are going hand in hand at an alarming rate.

So far I haven't been burned on my helping out family deal. It has, however, branched out and now I'm helping the brother of the cousin I've been working with on the expungement. He and his girlfriend had a baby and he's trying to get the baby on his union insurance and they're making them jump through hoops. I swear, from what they're making him do you'd think he was the first person on the planet to have a child out of wedlock. Crazy stuff.

Summer in Illinois has officially begun! I drive 25 miles to work 5 days a week and my drive now has approximately 7 miles of roadway that IS NOT covered by 45 or 55 mph work zone speed limits and lane closures. It's soooooo frustrating! And the DOT has grounded all it's trucks so the crews are not out anymore filling potholes, picking up roadkill or mowing. They say it's because of the fuel prices and that the amount of salt and overtime expending over the winter wrecked their budget. But, they have still kept each and every employee and have them in the barn their entire shift. My husband has a former co-worker who now works for DOT who told him that they're playing cards, working on their personal lawn mowers and doing personal projects ON ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION's dime. Meaning, we are paying them big bucks to do nothing all day long. Isn't that great? I wish I could find a job where I made no less than $30 an hour to sit on my ass and drink coffee playing cards working on my on shit.

The last day of school was a week or so ago and as we were getting into the car to go for the last 40 minutes my daughter said she wasn't going to cry this year. That she wasn't too happy or too sad that school was over. I knew it wouldn't happen that way, but, as her mother I had to acknowledge her attempt. And, as I suspected, when I went back to get her she was bawling her head off and her face was that fantastic splotchy red that kids get when they cry uncontrollably for long periods of time. From talking to her teacher the tears started as soon as she walked into the classroom for the last time. I do think it's great that she loves school so much that she's upset when summer break rolls around, but seriously, we have to work on these emotional issues. She's so sensitive.

That's about all the time I have to play hookie today. TTFN!