Seriously? Did you not hear me?

I'm not sure what has been going on lately with me, but I find myself being irritated easily. It could be the full moon coming up. It could be I'm becoming less tolerant of stupid. Whatever it is I think I have handled myself quite well considering how much stupid I have dealt with this week. I won't bore you with all the stupid. Just one piece of stupid. 

Wednesday at work (I manage a tobacco store) I received a phone call, the following is the conversation I had... 

me: Joe Schmoo tobacco mart (ok I made up the Joe Schmoo part, tobacco mart is true)

caller: I'm needing to speak to the person in charge of advertising.

me: That would be me.

caller: Hi, I'm so and so from (kinda garbled not sure I heard right) and we are getting ready to put out our new magazine and we're looking for advertisers. (did she really say what I think she said)

me: I'm sorry, who did you say you were with?

caller: The Kentucky DARE association (I heard right)

me: Oh OK. Uhm, who exactly receives this magazine? The parents or the school children?

caller: The children

me: So do you think it's appropriate for a tobacco store to advertise in a magazine that will be passed out to school children?

caller: Well ma'am you don't have to if you don't want to.

me: I don't believe this has anything to do with wanting to or not. Do you think you should be calling tobacco stores asking them to advertise in a magazine that will be passed out to school children?

caller: We are calling everybody.

me: I think you might want to rethink calling everybody!

The caller then abruptly says thank you, have a nice day and hangs up before I can continue!

I"m still not sure what part of "tobacco store" she did not understand?!?!

I wonder how far I could have gotten trying to advertise a coupon for $2 off a carton of cigarettes? 

Almost a year and the effects on my POA brain!

We are about two weeks shy of the one year mark. A year since I picked up Aaron from jail. A jail stay that was two months shy of two years. Such a peaceful time! I knew where he was. I had to assume he was clean and sober. I didn't have to lock everything up. I didn't count the guns, I didn't check the camera bag, I didn't take my purse to my bedroom and I didn't keep my bedroom door locked at all times! Guess what? I still don't!! Except for keeping my bedroom door locked at all times because I have a convicted felon in my home and that's where we keep the guns. However, a couple of weeks ago my heart fell to my stomach when I realized something was out of place. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was just sitting here in my chair with my laptop on my lap. I suddenly realized something was missing. It took a second for me to figure out what was missing. The WII. Where the hell is my WII?  I don't think I have to tell you what my first thought was. My second thought was he probably took it to his girlfriends house so they could play it but I didn't believe that to be true!!

For years the WII has sat just to the left of the clock on the TV stand.

So I closed the laptop, and grabbed my phone to text Aaron. 

 And this is what I saw!

See what "I" had done with the WII!!! I bought that stand for the WII a couple of months ago. The boy fried my brain with his drugs!!!

OK, you can stop laughing now!!

It's official!

As of November 11, 2013 I became a coal miners momma!
Of course that means no paycheck for three weeks so I have been providing gas money that he intends to pay back. It also means no money to make his car payment or any other payment for that matter. No, I didn't offer to step in and help! Instead, he talked to his creditors before hand and worked out arrangements with every last one of them! I couldn't be more proud of Aaron as he continues to become a responsible adult!!

On the path!!

Five days ago it ended. Parole is over. He is no longer supervised. Other than the label (convicted felon) and a few rules that follow the label, Aaron is a free man!! I assume he is also drug free. I try to keep it out of my business. I do know he is doing well! He still lives with us. He still has a job. He still has a vehicle. He still has a girlfriend. This last weekend he went on a Cursillo retreat. Don't ask me to explain exactly what that is because I have no clue and didn't ask. I know it had to do with church. I know that we wrote letters to Aaron for him to receive while there. He didn't know about the letters! When he came home Sunday evening he thanked me for our letter and said there was only one way to describe the weekend.... life changing. Aaron also received a job offer. In my un-nosiness I haven't asked what company he would be working for. I do know it's coalmine related. It requires him to take an underground coalmine class. This class started on Monday evening and Aaron managed to get into the class. Monday morning I had surgery to hopefully restore my hearing, afterwards when I was being wheeled down the hallway to leave, Aaron is telling me about getting into the class and grinning from ear to ear. Seeing him this happy is amazing. It's more exciting than being able to hear again!!

And so the story goes...

Within a week of getting his monitor off Aaron had a job. In the beginning he was working 70+ hours a week. He was trying to save money for a vehicle. He tried to guilt trip me into cosigning an auto loan. Said he was over the past and everybody else should be too. Oh hell no!! You really just said that? What part of your past have you tried to correct yet. You cannot move on from your past until you correct it. He said fine, I'll figure it out. Figure it out he did! He opened a savings account because no bank would let him open a checking account (part of the past is his bad checks he wrote all over town that he hasn't corrected yet!!). He is now the proud owner of a Lincoln Navigator with a very high interest rate from a buy here pay here lot. He is also paying his very high monthly insurance premium. He figured it out. He did it all without help. He now has his independence and the ability to get into trouble. I have caught myself having bad thoughts. Is he clean? I don't know. Outward appearances say he is. Some actions make me wonder. I'm finding that I'm reading into those actions because I'm waiting for the other shoe to fall again. And what are those actions you ask? Well, the normal actions of a 23 year old male!! Actions any other parent wouldn't think anything of but actions a POA notices even when they try not to. Random trips into town, not coming home until 1 AM. Yeah that kind of stuff!! You know what I'm talking about!! See what I mean, reading into it, making it something it is not. One thing I'm 100% certain of.... he's not shooting up if he is doing anything. Most days I am able to let it go. Some days I'm not. Do I really believe he is using... NO! But the thoughts creep in none the less. One thing Aaron has not done... He has not set up his payment plan for his fines, bad checks and county jail time. I expect he will be back in jail very soon over this. They don't play around with non payment of fines and fees. Not my problem, not my problem, not my business!!

Today things change!

Aaron's monitor comes off today at 10 AM. Last night I woke up to the thought that I need to keep my purse and car keys in the bedroom with me at night. I have not had the feeling that I needed to at any point yet! I think it's time to break out the reading material again! I didn't realize how much I have relied on this monitor to feel peace! Hopefully Aaron proves quickly that my feelings are once again absurd!

It's about time for an update!!

Life has been hectic to say the least but I am happy to say it's been a good hectic for the most part. It has been an adjustment having Aaron back in the house. I don't mean that to sound bad but it had been just me and the hubs for over a year. Aaron is still on electronic monitoring. It has been quite the pain in the ass. A little description.... Aaron has a monitor around his ankle, looks like a watch. There is also a small "machine" in the house plugged into the wall. This "machine" uses cell phone towers to transmit it's signal. It's signal is dependent on the monitor Aaron wears. It's signal is also dependent on how well the cell phone towers are getting and receiving signals. If it rains, or is cloudy, and sometimes even windy this signal is disrupted. If it is disrupted there is a company that calls and Aaron and he has to take a piece off of the machine and take it outside for 5 minutes so it can connect again. The first couple of days this wasn't to big of a deal but by the end of the first week they were calling 7 to 8 times a day, one of those calls was around 2 AM. Aaron didn't have a phone so they were calling my cell phone since we don't have home service. Now when you miss answering a phone call they assume Aaron is not where he is supposed to be. I got a call from the probation dept. asking me to verify that Aaron was at home at a certain time. I mentioned to the PO when he called how often the phone calls were happening and at 2 AM I'm sleeping because I have to work and was told they have a lot of problems with the signals sometimes. It must have been coincidence that the call frequency dropped 75% after my complaint.

Ok enough of how things work lol! Aaron is doing great!! I kept him busy for several weeks. He painted the inside of the store and replaced the drop ceiling tiles. He has painted 3 rooms at home plus wood work and cabinets. He has been busting his ass looking for a job. Jobs are out there if you look for them. Even for felons. If someone tells you they can't find a job it's one of two reasons. They aren't looking very hard or they are not willing to take just any job until something better comes along. Aaron has had to turn down two jobs last week because he is not allowed to leave the state of Kentucky. We live 20 minutes from the state of Indiana. The two jobs required travel into Indiana. Probation dept said to bad, you can't go. He had an interview yesterday with the city gas dept. Four applied, two are being considered. Aaron is one of the two. Aaron has somebody pulling for him for this job. That person is the woman that Aaron stole from. Imagine that!!

Aaron is eating us out of house and home. Anybody willing to donate to the food budget? LOL! He has taken over most of the care of Maizy. He's still not willing to get up and take her out and feed her at 5 AM. I'm OK with that most of the time since I have other animals to take care of at that time anyway. About three weeks ago he had given Maizy a bath and she was running and jumping all over the house. At some point she jumped onto the couch and over my little 4 lb dog, Spirit, catching her on the head with her foot. It caused a head injury that we weren't sure she would live through. She is 11 years old but still in good health which worked to her advantage. She has been recovering nicely. 3 weeks ago she couldn't walk, today most people wouldn't notice what is wrong with her.

Maizy and Spirit on guard duty

I am doing good in the enabling/codependent dept. I did help Aaron get a prepay cell phone. He worked hard for it! He is now responsible for his check-in phone calls. Potential employers can get a hold of him. I have let him use my car twice. Once for a job interview and the other time to go to the college to get help with filling out his college app and filing for financial aid. It has been easier than I thought to trust him. On occasion mistrust rears it's ugly head but has been completely unjustified. 

Today we are good!!!