I'm outside Chicago right now at the Marytown Retreat Center, a very Catholic sort of place, which is both nice and a little much. I'm at the National Catholic Social Workers' Association's conference, and it seems okay. Wendy and I drove out here- left early Wednesday morning, stayed with Jess in Iowa that night, then drove to Chicago yesterday ( Read more... )

Good morning, Friday ( Read more... )

Nothing like going to bed, and ten minutes later jolting with anxiety about two major things you've screwed up at work recently. I'm pissed at myself and I think a co-worker is going to be pissed at me too. Now it's close to one in the morning, and all I want to do is cry, erase my brain, and re-do things with both these clients, last week and ( Read more... )

The news of these days is that I've officially applied for co-membership with the Loretto Community. I've loved the Lorettos for a long time- Sister Anna, who runs the Catholic Worker out here, is a Loretto, and has been after me to think about co-membership for years. I asked for information on it a few years back, and then never did anything ( Read more... )

I wrote out this little care package for Maura and Ryan last night. I'd been thinking about it a lot, and wanted to come up with some funny things to entertain them when they drive to LA soon to start their training and formation. Before, you know, they move to Cameroon in July for three years. So I wrote up some funny things, some informational ( Read more... )

And it's okay. Not 100%, but okay. Joe went over to pick up his half of the beer-making supplies tonight, and Tom was all short with him and unhelpful and snippy. Then Laura told them that they should sit down, just for five minutes even, and talk some things through. And they did. It's going to be a slow adjustment, easing back into spending ( Read more... )

I'm crabby and sad this morning. Not overwhelmingly so, but enough that I can't get my butt off the couch to go to the pool. I can go tomorrow, I know, but I've been awake since about 6:00, and while it seems a waste to not go today, I just can't get motivated to do it. So I'm telling myself that I'll spend my morning cleaning up the house and ( Read more... )

Ooooh, I need a vacation! I’m in such a pissy mood today. I’m crabby at all my clients. Not all of them. Only the ones who are pissing me off and not taking care of their shit or of their kids. Most of the moms I work with are awesome, and while I feel like I say that pretty often, it’s tough to bitch then about the ones who don’t do anything ( Read more... )

We did it! Spirit and Struggle was a success ( Read more... )

Confirmation email from Amtrak says nothing of the address of Union Station, only to arrive 30 minutes before departure. Email also contains a barcode to print off so that I can print my ticket at the station ( Read more... )