Just Another Manic Monday

So after my last somewhat dramatic post, I felt I should come back and give an update for anyone out there actually reading this.

I ended up working almost all day Saturday (with a brief break for lunch at Chili's) and got a ton done with no one to come in waving bills to be paid at me, and no phones ringing. And had a good long talk with my boss/friend. We brainstormed about possible scenarios. She'd ideally like to work less then 10 hours per week, and mostly stuff she can do from home. I committed to working 16 during business hours (the days Pigpen is in school, from 9-1), and then either another night or two, or a weekend day, up to about 25 if necessary. She thinks we need someone with more of an "accounting" background than either of us have (we were both English majors--but I've never worked in my field, and have worked in banking or finance my whole adult life, other than the 4 years I took off completely after having the boys.) The problem (well, one of many) is that the sort of person she is describing doesn't sound like (a) someone who would want to work for a tiny company--they'd want to work for a CPA or a big firm, and (b) someone we could afford. She wants an almost-accountant who's willing to be called a bookkeeper and paid as one. She's frustrated because while we're both intelligent enough to look at reports and realize when something is amiss, we're not intuitive enough about accounting to immediately realize all the things it might be, and all the things we have to fix if we change that one item. I have a pretty unorthodox approach to accounting (but it works for me). I imagine how a transaction should be, then reverse it. I'm from a banking world where a deposit is a credit and a check written is a debit, so as long as I do everything exactly the opposite in accounting, it turns out right.

So for right now, we're not making any major moves. I've been extremely dissatisfied with our current CPA firm, so I've lined up interviews with four new ones next week. The firm we have now is a large one, and we have a junior associate, who finally managed to pass his CPA exam on the third try. Last month, we received a bill for $760 that merely said "Accounting Services." I emailed and asked for a breakdown of hours, such as our attorney always provides (his is so detailed that it goes on for pages, in .10 hour increments). When I reviewed the breakdown, I found, among other small errors, that we were charged for 3 hours for a meeting that took 1.5 hours (and I am being generous, because he took a personal call FROM HIS WIFE to discuss their lunch plans during it!) When pressed, they claimed the rest was "travel time." At $125 an hour. And their office is about 15 minutes from ours. Um, yeah. So this month we got a bill for $60 with no itemization, and no one has had any contact with them all month--no meetings, no emails, no calls. When I questioned it, I was told it was for the time they spent researching last month's bill. Unbelievable. They agreed to waive it--how kind of them. Anyway, one of the firms we're interviewing is a fairly small one, a woman who left a larger firm to start her own. She has a website, and it looks like they offer more comprehensive services for small businesses, which I think would be perfect. I've also offered to read books and receive online or phone training with our software guru/business consultant. And even if tomorrow morning a gal in a conservative suit and pumps, wearing horn-rimmed glasses and clutching a briefcase containing a calculator and several accounting texts, wafted gently down to our doorstep holding an umbrella over her head, it would still take me several months to train her.

I am loving Ravelry It is such an incredible time-waster, that I don't know how anyone on there gets any knitting done. Right now, you have to give them your email addy and wait for an invite--guess they are keeping out spammers--but supposedly it will go "public" sometime in the future. I got my knitting books listed, and a little of my yarn. Still need to take pics of my FOs and finish listing yarn/needles. For the non-knitters among you, it's a couple hundred thousand people who like to knit/crochet/spin, etc. You set up a profile and avatar. You can track your projects, yarn/needle inventory, and books/magazines. There are tons of specialty "groups" you can join, for anything you can imagine. I joined several: a regional group, knitters with anxiety issues, fat knitters, fans of (respectively) Kevin Smith, Monty Python, and Family Guy, and finally, a group for members with autistic spectrum disorders or family members thereof, called "If You're Autistic and You Know It, Flap Your Hands." Sorry if that offends anyone--I found it quite amusing, given how much hand-flapping Beaker does.

So does anyone out there have recommendations for a good, reasonably priced dishwasher (yes, I know Bosch and Fisher & Paykel are The Best, but I'm not made of money.) Because The Man has just killed mine, only he doesn't know it yet. I have never felt like this dishwasher did a very good job. It's a GE, maybe 8 years old, and I've tried several types of soap (currently using Cascade All in One packs), Jet-Dry, using the temp boost for hotter water, and nothing helps. Plus, having small kids, I have a lot of plastic cups, and it will not wash them...just flips them right side up, and then they're full of dirty water. There is always a little standing water in the bottom after it's been run, which is just plain nasty. It's been getting worse, so after extended bitching last night about having to hand wash dishes by Yours Truly, The Man took apart the filters and yucky stuff today and PUT DRAN-O IN THE DISHWASHER. I had told him repeatedly I did not think that was a good idea. His response was, "The Dran-O bottle didn't say you COULDN'T put it in a dishwasher." Well, it probably doesn't say not to stick it up your ass either, but that's also probably not a good idea. So he left to go out to dinner with some muckety-muck clients from work, and told me to run the dishwasher twice more, on potscrubber. After the first cycle, I peered in, and there's standing suds in the bottom. Plus it seems some water is leaking around the door. A quick Google confirms that it's an "Obvious Bozo No-No". I hope The Man is better at installing appliances than he is at "fixing" them.

Knitting and working and advocating, oh my

Well, today I signed up for an invitation to join Ravelry. I'm still not sure I really "get" what it is, but it seems like every other knitter I encounter on the web is on there. There is a collection of screenshots there, but not enough to really let me get a feel for the site. The good thing is, it appears there are tracking tools on there for stash, needles, and WIPs. Since right now I am using an Excel spreadsheet to track these items, anything would be an improvement. And it says it's not a replacement for your blog, yet you can link to blog posts, so we'll see. I feel like I just signed up for a Scientology session..."We can't tell you what you'll experience until you get here, but you'll like it! Really, we promise!"

So Beaker's first few days at school have gone fairly smoothly. I had a chance to meet his aide (who prefers to be called Miss Paula), and the Hub got to meet his teacher. He's only had a few minor hissyfits (Beaker, not DH), and they were able to get him back on track quickly. I think he freaked out the aide by demonstrating his multiplication talents the other day. He's an avid watcher of Schoolhouse Rock, and even though he's seven, he seems to understand the concept, as well as memorizing the tables.

Pigpen starts tomorrow. I can only hope, for his teachers' sake, that he is in a better mood than he was on Friday at the Open House. First, he refused to get out of the van. I had to carry him in, screeching his lungs out ("I NOT going to school!") Then he tried to escape out the front door while I was filling out forms. We stopped by to say hi to his teachers, and he became incensed when he saw his name printed on an artist's palette, that the teachers had strung up on the ceiling. "I hate my name! Take it down!" he declared loudly, glaring at all of us. I know four-year-olds have an independent streak, but I really don't remember Beaker being this horrible for this long.

I thought I would have a few days of down time between Wednesday and now, but no. My part-time job keeps expanding faster than I can keep up with it. I am now the Accounting and HR Manager (but no raise--I didn't have the balls to ask after viewing our cash flow situation--maybe the end of the year will be a better time.) I also volunteered to do some work from home, writing procedures and editing the ones other employees have written. At least that will mean more money without having to pay for more child care.

Then I put on my Advocate Mom costume for a while. It's getting harder to be a superhero when there are no phone booths in which to change [and slightly OT, but why the hell did Superman always change in a phone booth when it's made of glass? Wouldn't it make more sense to say, go into the men's room?] I have a friend who is in the process of having her son diagnosed, probably with an autism spectrum disorder. He just turned seven and has never been to school, as our state only requires kids be registered in a school from ages seven to sixteen. The local school system is supposed to be testing him and is just draaaaaging their feet. They refuse to make any accommodation for him until the testing/diagnosis is complete, so if she registered him there, they would throw him in a regular first grade class with no aide and no help. So she registered with a cover school to home school him until this can get sorted out, so as to be all legal and everything. Now the school system is acting like she has Done Something Wrong and is being even harder to work with, if that's possible. I looked up a ton of references for her and prepared sort of a "speech" for her to give the head doofus in charge. I'm not sure if they don't know, or if they just think SHE doesn't know so are trying to pull one over, that they still have 60 days from the referral to complete the testing. I wish I could get her to take me to just one meeting with these folks.

I'm also on an e-mail list for a local autism support group. I never go to the meetings--I'm just sort of antisocial and not a joiner like that (heh-and I wonder where Beaker gets some of those Aspie tendencies) but I do communicate with some of the members through e-mail. This one poor lady sent out a cry for help. After the first day of kindergarten, her son's teacher (and the principal) cornered her and told her that her son was disruptive and that they'd have to transfer him to a special autism unit/classroom. She asked about an aide, and was told, no, "we" don't do that. So I was more than happy to share my experiences, the name and number of my paid advocate, and more links to articles on Wrightlaw than she probably ever wanted. Stuff like that just makes my blood boil. And for every parent that has been told something totally illegal like this, and has questioned it, imagine how many others were steamrollered by the system and just said "OK" because they didn't know any better, or assumed the school actually has their child's best interests at heart.

When I was a little girl, I always said I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. Not just any kind of lawyer, mind you, but a trial lawyer. I like to argue. I am good at arguing. I was a high school debate champ. I'm good at finding obscure little pieces of information to make my points. And I'm mean and tenacious (ask my husband.) But I'm not sure I ever would have made it through law school--hell, I probably never could have made it IN--I have test anxiety and tend to score very poorly on standardized tests. But this advocacy stuff is an awful lot like what I dreamed of doing when I was a kid. Someday when my kids are grown up, I would love to be a special education advocate. I would charge on a sliding scale. The people who need the help the most are the ones who don't have any money for it, and they should still have a chance. So I guess I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up...it's only taken 41 years.