Snogged: An Insatiable State of Mind

If you like lame, you should meet me for a drink tonight after I have dinner with my mom and pretend to go to bed. -Lem, Better Off Ted

Thing A Day 1: I want to thank sweet_lyri, niki1988, velvetwhip, aaronlisa, novemberrain007, and spike7451 for the chocolate userheads. It was very sweet of you. :P

( Thing A Day 2: Meme )

Thing a Day 3: Saw my friend, Sabrina, and her newborn, Anthony, today. We had a really nice time hanging out together. Oxygen was running a marathon of America's Next Top Model's Cycle 10 so we half-watched a few episodes while we chatted and ate the cheesecake sample I picked up. Anthony did very little fussing and one of the few times he did, I managed to calm him down! WOO!

( Anthony and his proud not-related-by-blood Auntie )

Thing a Day 4: There's a man from the State coming to the Pauquette Center tomorrow to critique, and hopefully credential, our day treatment program.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.

Thing a Day 5: Harry Potter tomorrow night!! WOO!!

( Playing Catch-Up Again - Day 20 and 21 )

My friend Sabrina's baby shower was awesome yesterday!

I went over early because I wanted to assist Dionne with set-up. We were super proud of ouselves for getting the canopies up by ourselves (because, you know, ladies can do anything!) I also loved that Dionne decided on a Pirate theme for the shower since Sabrina loves pirates and the initials for her baby boy will be ARR.

I was pleasantly surprised to be chosen as the winner for the first game. We had to draw a skull and crossbones with a blindfold over our eyes. I've always considered myself a no-talent drawer but apparently, my skills improve when I can't see what I'm doing. *g* I also happened to be the only one who chose to use the whole page for my drawing. Everyone else did really small ones. My prize was a bottle of Mango Margarita Hand-Soap from Bath and Body Works. It smells awesome. :D

I think the funniest part of the shower was when Dionne brought out a sword and a skull cane and said: "All right, ladies, who's feeling athletic?" She wanted to do a Dizzy Bat contest (where you put your head down on the item, spin around really fast, and then run across the yard.) We all opted out though as it was too hot and we'd just eaten cake.

When I got home, Nick and I picked up a Gourmet Vegetarian pizza (zucchini, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatos, artichoke hearts, spinach, cheese, and a creamy garlic sauce) from Papa Murphy's. It was a great way to end the day, plus I have leftovers for lunch. WOO!

On a final note, only three more days until I start at the Pauquette Center and only two more weeks until I get to go to IOWA!

Would you introduce me to your folks? Would you tell your friends, "No moose jokes!" - If I Were A Moose by Fred Small.

( 17. if there was to be a third part to AVPM, what do you think should happen? )

( The Rest Of The Challenge )

I picked up my paperwork for the Pauquette Center so I get to fill that out this weekend. :) I'm also doing the Susan G. Komen Walk For The Cure on Saturday with my friends Sabrina and Nicole (along with some of Sabrina's fellow Miche purse salespeople.) I'm excited to be doing that and I hope it doesn't get too hot. We are doing it in the morning though (8:30-10:45) so here's hoping it won't be bad.

In other news, a bat snuck into our apartment today. I was helping Nick in the kitchen when I saw something black fly across my line of sight. The little critter had taken up residence in our second living room (where my computer is) and was hanging out above our front door. I screamed like a girl. Nick was pretty much a nervous Nelly on account of never having dealt with a bat before. He didn't want to spook it and make things worse. I headed out of the house to call my dad, but thankfully, our neighbor Lee was outside having a smoke. Turns out Lee just happened to be a bat-catching expert. In no time, Lee had the bat wrapped in a towel and released him back into the wild. My neighbor totally wins the awesome award for the day.

This girl!

So with that in mind, permit me to make my choice for today's Starkid challenge with a gif that expresses what I'm feeling right now.

16. Joe Walker as voldemort or umbridge?


( The Rest of the Challenge )

I had my organizational meeting with the Pauquette Center tonight and I learned a lot. For starters, I learned that the woman I interviewed with back in December is no longer an employee there. From the sound of it, there were some complications surrounding her departure. Be that as it may, she left behind all her notes for the day treatment program.

At the moment, they aren't sure when we'll be starting the program itself (earliest would be July, latest would be September.)

But never fear, kittens. Dr. Hayes is pushing to have me in the office by next week Thursday. His goal is to have me work on updating the assessment procedures and also wants me to make phone calls to various schools and other agencies that would be able to send us referrals.

Right now, it'll only be 8 hours - one day a week, but I think I can convince the law firm to work with me on that because I'd like to keep working for them if I can (at least until they've caught up with their workload and don't need me anymore.)

In any case, I'm signing hiring paperwork tomorrow after work.

WOO!

( 10. favorite line in Little White Lie? )

( Rest of the Challenge )

I want to thank everyone who has wished me a Happy Birthday so far. I can safely say this has been one of the best days I can remember in awhile.

Events of the day so far:
1) The gas station I interviewed with rejected me, but I'm not really surprised or bothered by it, given that I told them I had all my weekends in June booked with family events and I would leave if a counseling position was offered.

2) The folks that got me the Power Packer temp job called to say that a law firm was interested in having someone come on for 2-4 weeks. I'm 95% sure that I will be that person for them and if I am, then I start on Thursday.

3) I have an interview with another counseling agency. This one is in Madison (~an hour drive) and they have a children/adolescent day treatment program that I expressed interest in being apart of (when I sent them my letter last week.) The interview is scheduled for tomorrow at 2.

4) (And I've actually known about this for a few days, but I'm sharing it for the first time on LJ now.) The organizational meeting with the Pauquette Center for their day treatment program has been scheduled. That will be taking place on Thursday, June 2nd.

Dr. Hayes, of the infamous Pauquette Center, emailed me today and let me know that they have moved on to step 2 in the process of starting a day treatment program.

This means, they filed paperwork with the state of Wisconsin and now they're waiting for the certificate (he guesstimated it would take two weeks for the state to send that back to them.)

They plan to have an organizational meeting once that comes in and I asked if I could be present for it.

He said YES.

One step closer, guys. I'm one step closer.

The Pauquette Center found an occupational therapist this morning!!!

That means, they can now apply for state certification and their hope is to have kids starting in April (which means my late March estimate wasn't far off.)

The executive director at the Pauquette Center was finally able to respond to me and while the news isn't totally gumdrops and flowers, it's also not an apocalypse.

I still have a job. I still don't have a start date.

Here's a brief outline of what I was told:
1) They're still trying to fill the occupational therapist position.

2) Although Elissa will be building on her outpatient practice, another therapist (Lee) will be stepping in to pick up the time.

3)There cannot be a definitive start date until the state delivers a certificate to them stating that the program is approved and credentialed.

4) After the certificate is received, they can start applying to third-party vendors/insurance companies for approval for funding.

From the way it sounds, he would love to give me a start date, but it's out of his hands as there are a lot of third parties holding the purse strings.

I also realize that it may sound weird, but even though things are still in a holding pattern, my mental health has improved knowing that this is what the BOSS knows and that he's on the fish hooks just like I am.