More Site Maintenance

We've been decorating our room a little bit. I'll be adding some kid photos to the bulletin boards over the next couple weeks. I gave the kids some artist trading cards to decorate, too. I hung a trifold board that says 'Our Art' and have been filling it up with interesting cards.

They're nice kids. I am not feeling as overwhelmed as this week ends, although I still have so many things I need to accomplish. Getting some things stored where they're not in my way will be helpful as will getting a ball cart and tossing out a bunch of things that have probably been sitting there for ten years, unused. Oh, and a new garbage can, too. The one we have is no bigger than a fart bucket, as my grandma used to say.

I got out some new watercolor paints Friday morning. Owen said, "Are these new?"

When I told him they were, he said incredulously, "Wow! How did you get them?"

I said that they'd been in the box I picked up at the office.

He said, "Wow. We never got new stuff here before. We're a small site, so they don't really care, I guess."

I didn't want to tell him that Heather, last year's site director, was maybe possibly sort of a little clueless. I met her at the pointless boring pointless and did I mention boring meeting yesterday. I was thinking that if I ran into the new site director at my old site, I'd ask about my kids. I'd want to know how they're doing. I'd maybe try to fill in the new person about things the kids really like or stuff they said that was funny or, I don't know... something.

She doesn't seem like the type of person who doesn't like kids, I think she's just really young and inexperienced. It seems like she didn't really try to find and do things the kids would like and enjoy/take care of business. The effort it takes to get to know the kids on an individual basis and find out what each one likes and is interested in is a good start.

I may be wrong. I don't know what she did there. But some of the things the kids have said about never getting new supplies, running out of cups 'all the time', never having milk for breakfast... those are things that she should have taken care of.

You can go to the office and get cups and trash bags and ziploc bags and paint and paper and books and toys and rugs (although apparently not a door mat... haha) and ask for things you need/want for your site. Yeah, it's a pain in the ass to drive over there. And I plan to not do it as often as possible.. but still.

We're handed 50 dollar gift cards to stop at the grocery store and buy milk as needed. "Keep your receipts and turn them in with the card when there's only a couple dollars left and we'll give you another one." So running out of milk isn't necessary. I did not have milk for the kids for a few days because the fridge was full of mold and unusable, but that wasn't my fault either.

Also, no one from the office has visited my site yet. No supervisory person has come in while program was in operation and observed what's going on and how the children are being cared for.

As much as I passionately hated, still hate, wished for a fucking meteor to smash her house, will always hate disliked Fluffy, things like site visits with a new site director would definitely have happened. She was incompetent in almost every way, but she at least knew to keep up appearances.