What a week!

After two weeks of fall break, it's always hard to get back into the routine of school. We are busy during the whole time off but there are fewer time issues. Appointments that are usually crammed into too-few after school hours are rescheduled for during the day, allowing us some time to actually breathe.

Sunday night, the switch flipped and Deb went off. I was kicked, hit, scratched, pinched, punched, and whacked in the head with a 4-foot tall plastic Uncle Sam (I never said my life was normal). It was no worse than any other rage but I was DONE. I loaded her up in the van, called my best friend and had her waiting in the road for me to pick her up, and drove Deb to the hospital. Along the way, Deb (who sat in her seat and stayed buckled for whatever reason) kept kicking me in the head and shoulders. When she's in this state, she is oddly agile and better able to inflict pain. My friend was turned around trying to block some of the kicks. I called the on-call DCS worker and gave her a brief account of what was happening and asked if it was okay to take her to the hospital. (In my almost 10 years of fostering, I've never done this.) In the only amusing moment of the whole evening, the worker said, "Sure, I'm already here. Just bring her on in." After parking at the ER, Deb refused to get out. I "helped" her out of the van. She refused walk up the hill to the entrance. I just grabbed her wrist and started walking. My friend walked behind, ready to stop her if she pulled away. We got into the lobby and the screaming stopped. She was still red-faced and panting but she flipped the switch the other direction and became an angel. I had multiple marks on my hand, arm, and shoulders from where she had hurt me. They got into the back quickly and that was the last thing that happened quickly the whole evening. It took three HOURS for the crisis counselor to arrive. While she was talking to me in another room, an idiot nurse gave Deb a Pepsi (at 11:00 PM, thank you very much) and turned on the Disney Channel for her. The crisis counselor wrote a safety plan with excruciating slowness and we finally left there just before midnight. All in all, Deb had a great time. I full expect her to want to do it again. Not the outcome I wanted. There have been a few positive outcomes for me. DCS (who knew full well I was having these problems with her) is suddenly falling all over themselves trying to find me some help. I've been begging for help with her for months but only now do they feel the need to even attempt to find it. There is something very wrong with the system.

Being up until 1:30 AM and then having to get up at 5:30 to start my first day back at work was not easy. Teaching little kids requires a lot of patience and, working on only 4 hours of sleep, I didn't have much. After school, Deb had a visit with her bio mom at a local library. I'm not usually involved in these other than picking her up afterwards, but her worker wanted me to come in and give them all an update on her behavior. Let's just say that meeting didn't go well. Bio mom is loud under good circumstances. She left the library screaming - several times as she kept coming back in to yell at the worker that she would have her child back home before Halloween. Mmmm, I don't think so, Chick. Other than the embarrassment factor of the yelling in the library, the action didn't bother me too much. It was just more evidence against the mom. Monday night, Alli and Elvis didn't come home. (Am I asking too much that she at least call and let me know they are spending the night elsewhere?)

Tuesday was okay. Alli even pitched in Tuesday afternoon and helped get Cori to me so I could get her to her counseling appointment on time. She also took Beth home and picked up Deb from her after school program. Cori's counseling is an hour away so that one-hour session ate up 3 hours of my time. We got back to town and went straight to Deb's baseball practice. I left home at 6:45 that morning and didn't walk back into my house until just after 8:30 PM. As I got out of the van, Alli was walking out of the house. She'd left her favorite jeans at the house where she and Elvis had spent Monday night. She was going to grab them and be "right back." This, of course, left me in charge of a really cranky Elvis. When she been gone an hour, I called and texted but go no response. She finally got home an hour-and-a-half after she'd left. The friend lives about 10 minutes from our house so I have no clue where she really was.

Wednesday, we had school and Beth had a local counseling appointment. We had a successful family night that evening.

Thursday was school and then Deb's mental health case manager (who has been MIA since July, even though she's supposed to see her twice a month) had to come to see her. She was scheduled to come at 5:30 but didn't show up until 6:05. She stayed until after 7:20, leaving me with hungry, cranky kids.

Friday finally arrived and everyone got to school on time with everything they needed. My day at work went better as they have hired new teachers and my class got smaller!!! For the first time in 7 years, my class size is under 20. Deb had a psychiatrist appointment for a med adjustment. The doctor was wonderful and thinks she can really help. I left there feeling much better. We got home and the kids were going in 20 different directions. Alli and Elvis were out. Cori had a dance at her school (small rural school, about 20 minutes from our house). Beth wanted to go the the football game at her school (huge school about 30 minutes from our house). Luckily, I could send Cori to the dance with someone else. I dropped her off on my way to take Beth to her game. On the way home, Deb and I grabbed fast food for dinner and went home to do our own things. She was excited that a new Hannah Montana was coming on. I was glad to be myself in the den until I had to reverse the route and go pick everyone back up. I was pleasantly surprised to not have to go back out. Beth called and wanted to spend the night with a friend. Alli came home and needed to go to Wal-Mart. I offered to keep Elvis if she would go grab Cori from her dance. She agreed. Elvis and I snuggled in bed and watch Lingo (his favorite TV show) on the Game Show Network. He's such a nerd.

So, it's Saturday. Alli is getting ready for work. Beth is still with her friend. Cori has been up, eaten breakfast, and gone back to bed. Deb is still asleep. (I'll pay for that tonight when she won't go to bed but I'm loving it now.) Elvis is on my bed watching trash on TV. On the agenda for today is removing the carpet from the living room. It's been the site of a few too many pet accidents and smells like pee. I can't take it any more. I know the hard wood floors underneath are probably stained but they won't be as smelly. I'm hoping a nice area rug will help.