Dear Governor Fallin,

So I wrote Governor Mary Fallin a letter. I told her everything I am mad about, I explained how we fell through the cracks, I let her hear it ALL. Last week we went unanswered for several days in an attempt to go to our worker’s office to discuss the stagnancy of our process and I told her that too. I assure you I’m much harsher in this post than the actual letter was but I definitely informed her of how I perceive our DHS office to run. Oh and I hear you three followers that are cringing at the thought of my DHS worker reading this. Guess what, there is about zero chance she is reading this little blog since she won’t even ANSWER MY EMAILS! Plus, maybe reading these will open her eyes to the irritation we are feeling at her not caring about us. Here is a taste of my letter…

Maybe after the entire process is over, I’ll show you guys the entire letter. Don’t want to give away all my secrets right now.

We are scheduled to go to the DHS office tomorrow and while I am all tough right now, I always melt in person because I know these people are ultimately in charge of us getting a family. I don’t want them to be any more hostile than they are already and since honey is better than vinegar and such, I will play it cool. No one wants to see me escorted out of the DHS office (except maybe my BFFF who would be disappointed in not being there).

Obviously I will update you as soon as possible. Hoping for the best!!

P.S. I don’t want to blame everything on one particular DHS worker so don’t think I am blaming this one woman. The entire system needs an overhaul and supervisors first. They are actually training their staff to prioritize in a way that is unhealthy to the organization.

 

 

 

Can We NOT Call it Oil Pulling?

 

There is a new thing that I’m trying and my friend Laura said I should share it with you. Basically you melt and then swish coconut oil around in your mouth for twenty minutes. I know, I didn’t believe it either. It is supposed to leave you with whiter teeth and endless other oral and health benefits. Its called Oil Pulling because it pulls the nasty out of your teeth and gums. It supposedly pulls ‘toxins’ out of your body too. What exactly is a toxin? I have no idea. Anyway, please don’t let the name make you gag like it did me. There are about 341 blogs about it on any given day and so I finally caved and tried it. I mean, besides the gag factor, what could it hurt, right?

While running errands, Laura bought us both a jar of the organic, unrefined coconut oil from Sprouts. My new officemate (from here on out being called New Girl) and I have been alone in the office a lot lately so we tried it last week during a quiet afternoon. Everything I read says do it when you first wake up but luckily for me, New Girl is up for most anything and understands I have the patience of a moth. I felt ridiculous but was determined to try this to see if I could do it for 20 full minutes. The answer was yes, I could but this first time I would not.

How did it go, you ask? I was not prepared for the amount of spit that would come to be in my mouth. The suggestion was 1 teaspoon – 1 tablespoon of oil. I split the difference and started at 1 1/2 teaspoons. I didn’t melt it before starting so when I put it in my mouth it was like a big bite of tropical Crisco. The coconut smell made me want to eat it but the Crisco-like texture made me want to dry heave. That initial 1 1/2 teaspoon grew to easily 2 gallons over the first five minutes. Ok, slight exaggeration but it felt like it at least doubled.  Because New Girl and I were giggling, because I had two gallons of spitty oil in my mouth, because I was trying to take oil-swishing selfies, I dribbled not once, but twice. While I was yanking my scarf off after the first giggle-induced dribble, I choked myself with my own damn infinity scarf and dribbled some more. My life is rough, y’all.

I would suggest running the jar under warm water if you don’t want to start with this thick stuff.

        

So besides ruining my shirt (which is why I decided not to do it at work ever again) it was not a terrible experience. I lasted ten minutes so it was a good, honest try. Your jaw muscles definitely get a workout so I see why they say it helps with TMJ and lockjaw. I felt like I could chew chicken bones after I was done. You know, because results are so immediate. The inside of my mouth wasn’t nasty feeling and my teeth felt like I had just left the dentist. I gargled a little Diet Dr. Pepper to get the tiny bit of weirdness out of the back of my throat (I may or may not have swallowed a tiny bit on accident) and was good to go. I would have liked to brush my teeth but I didn’t have any toothpaste at work.

Laura, Brother-in-law and Plano Girl all gave it a try too. Brother-in-law’s first question was ‘Does this get easier?’ I would say yes, definitely. I’m going to keep at it a while and see if anything changes. I honestly don’t think I see any differences yet but several of the things on the list aren’t exactly visible. Maybe all my ‘toxins’ are gone!!

Statewide Staffing – Part 19

blog.thatsgoodhr.com

Well, today is another Statewide Staffing. That means it is another opportunity for a caseworker to get our homestudy in their hot little hands and decide we are the best option for a particular group of kids. Please send up some extra prayers that this month will be the month we get a call. We are officially over the one-year mark now (for what is supposed to be a 9-12 month process) so we are a little sad. We know we are meant to be parents and we know we are doing what we are supposed to be doing but a little extra prayer can’t hurt! Thanks to everyone pulling for us : )

Carynn and Husbando

I’m ALWAYS Exceeding Expectations

To everyone that has to experience employee evaluations, I feel for you. They are my least enjoyable day at my job ALL YEAR. I hate it above angry people cursing me out, people invading my personal workspace, mandatory several-hour meetings and even more than days without air conditioning. Why is that? I have no idea but this year I am prepared. I’ve found the perfect attachment to my self-evaluation:

This should be a completely legitimate column on my form. Supervisors should have to take into consideration how much crap you put up with during the year and the level of cray cray your customers rate. I should obviously be allowed some brownie points for NOT shanking people. Some days I almost bite my own tongue off!

Rescheduled!

http://www.cher.com

I have one Bucket List concert left to see. Cher. I missed my chance in high school and cried like a sissy girl that I couldn’t go but being Cher and fabulous, there is a third farewell tour! I bought tickets the moment they went on sale and secured quite a good pair in the nosebleed seats. My dream is coming true!

Fast forward a few month to when they cancelled our adoption party. That was the beginning of February and they said they would try to reschedule for ‘soon’. Well guess soon means almost 2 months later but its ok, at least they are still having it.  When you ask? The day of the Cher concert. Two hours away. I know, a kick in the gut. I *think* we can get back in time but we won’t know until that day which is too late to sell the tickets. I’m convinced God is not going to make me miss this concert so we’re going to pack our concert outfits and hope we get two bucket list items off the list that day. #1. See Cher #2 See our future family

Sometimes all you can do is hope so here is to having faith that everything will work out.