The night before I go back to school after the Christmas hols. and I can’t sleep – typical! Too much floating around in my mind I guess. My brain is working over time with memories. Not sad ones, surprisingly they’re not bringing a tear -as I’m remembering, I’m smiling. Figured I might as well get my butt out of bed, type it…why waste precious awake moments staring at the ceiling – especially since I can’t even see the ceiling on account it’s too dark  :/

He taught me to ride a bike… I remember him holding the seat, running behind me, back and forth, back and forth – and he let go without telling me and I carried on… until it was time to turn and I somehow forgot how.  He was the other side of the street in a flash picking me up off the floor – and off we’d go again. He taught me how to swim, to do a handstand, to do push ups, a back flip, drive a car. I learned how to use a screwdriver, drill a hole, put slates on the roof, change a tyre or spark plug.  By 12yrs old there were few parts under the hood I didn’t know the name off.

Most importantly, he taught me to be independent and self sufficient.  “No shame in asking for help” he’d say, “but just in case there’s no one available, learn to do it yourself”.

You’d think having such a great dad and role model I’d somehow manage to pass the things I learned onto my children… Pffft – I think I’ve failed miserably. One doesn’t know the difference between the washer and dryer and if food wasn’t micorowavable he’d starve, and the other is too young to even think about how the little things in life get done.

Either I get cracking and start passing down the things I’ve learned, or put a file on a flash drive and make a list of ‘how shit gets done’ with detailed instructions so they can read it after I’m dead.

It’s been a year already? It’s usually ‘time flies when you’re having fun’, what does one say when you’re suffering a loss and it still flies by? One whole year since I spoke to my dad, 14 months since I felt his strong arms hug me, heard him call my name…

I’m doing better than I thought, stiff upper lip and all that. I really dreaded the coming of November, was convinced I’d go to pieces and managed to get myself all worked up in October. What is one to do? Now that it’s here it’s just another month, how can I miss him more than I already have throughout the year? News from home yesterday letting me know my uncle’s death is imminent has me thinking of those going through the same hell I did when my mom passed away – knowing it’s coming, trying to cope, doing the best you can and hoping you can hold it together. Life can’t go on forever I suppose, and my dad had his wish – “Lynne” he used to say”I don’t want to know anything about it, I want to go peacefully in my sleep”. Me, I’m going out with a fight.

You may have thought I didn’t see,
Or that I hadn’t heard,
Life lessons that you taught to me,
But I got every word.

Perhaps you thought I missed it all,
And that we’d grow apart,
But Dad, I picked up everything,
It’s written on my heart.

Without you, Dad, I wouldn’t
be The woman I am today;
You built a strong foundation
No one can take away.

I’ve grown up with your values,
And I’m very glad I did;
So here’s to you dad
from one grateful kid!

Conor, pick that up from the floor please – Why, will you fall, what will happen if you fell, will you hurt the other foot, will you be able to walk, will daddy fall, will he hurt his foot, will he have to go to the hospital, will he get a pink foot,… what about Matthew, would I break my foot if I fell over it, like this (pretends to trip over it) see nothing happened, I’m fine, you’ll be fine, hop around it….. OMG!

But not completely healed. There’s a tiny little bit not quite connected, but another week and that should fix itself.
Exibit one:

Trust me, it looks worse than it actually is. It’s not tender to the touch, there is no pain – although I haven’t put any weight on it yet, must refrain for another 4 or 5 days.
I can’t believe it’s still that colourful and swollen after almost 6 weeks.

So for the next two weeks I have to wear my Star Wars clone trooper boot when I go outside, I guess my Halloween costume has been decided for me :)
Exibit two:

On the bright side my foot is free of any restrictions during my time at home which is much more comfortable when I sleep let me tell you.

I don’t even think that’s the correct category to put them in, ’stupid people’ would be an apt description since you don’t really need to be technologically savvy to read instructions do you?

So what’s got me all pissed off today you ask? Stupid people, who else.

Pertaining to my school website, which incidentally has become a royal pain my ass and I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than check my email in the morning because it’s become the norm to have at least 10 emails off ’stupid people’ – spam is more entertaining!

I wonder why after 15 failed attempts to log into the website they somehow manage to miss the “CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN YOUR PASSWORD” link and instead choose to email me to inform me the site is broken as it won’t accept their password.

I have to wonder if they’ve been drinking when this:

Stop the Emails

If you made the mistake of subscribing to the website and no longer wish to receive email alerts from ‘blanked out’  School, please scroll to the bottom of the page, Insert Email Address, Put a check mark in un-subscribe, Click send.

Appears at the top of the page, yet they still email me asking to be taken off the email alerts.

The instructions are also repeated on the HELP page – something else they fail to see – typed in size 20 font and bright red.

Also on the help page these are detailed instructions WITH A FRIGGIN DIAGRAM explaining the difference between registering with the website and subscribing – registering being you have full control over what email alerts you get by simply putting in or taking out the check marks in different categories.

I’ve had it with ’stupid people’  – 61 emails since the beginning of the school year asking question about things that are already on the website, do I need to big flashy flashing arrows all over the place screaming:

PLEASE READ!

Oh and the icing on the cake? “Mrs. D, I don’t remember what email address I signed up with when I subscribed on the website so I don’t know how to stop all the emails”

WHAT!

If you don’t know what’s wrong with that message, sorry, you’re stupid too.

I’m about ready to delete all users from the database so no one gets anything and parents actually have to visit the website or check their kid’s folder everyday to see what homework and announcements they have.

Who knew? And yes, if I had found them 2 weeks ago, I’d be sporting purple crutches with tiger print arm and hand rests. Check out the little totes on some of them. Nest place to keep a cell phone instead of in my pants – how cool is that.

Unfortunately I’ll be stuck with plain gel pack black – at this point I need comfort over prettiness and I need it NOW! My hands are killing me