Alendo

Sysco came to see me

  What happens when 2 Canadian girls with high ambitions think they can do anything and everything? They arrive home tired and exhausted, 11 hours after leaving and still have to attend staff meeting. 

  One Friday night in June Papa’s and I headed to the train station to eagerly await the train. After a few minutes of observing one guy try to master some crazy stunt at the skateboard park while another guy vidoed him over and over, finally Sysco arrived!! Joyous reunions, short rides. Quick tours, explanations and introductions. And the rest of her stay flew by. 

  Saturday everyone was super nice and traded or just took my playduty hours. So we went to market and chilled and did random stuff and a bit of work. Sunday was a normal work day and then I had all of Monday off. What a day!! We headed off around 0830 to do a bit of local shopping and then we hit the road. Our first stop was a local rock attraction where we walked random trails hoping to find a way to climb up without asking directions for the right trail. Alas, no luck. So we turned away and headed for a tour of our sister home where Sysco’s mom spent a year of her life. McDonalds served as our lunch and we were on our way a again. After stopping at an old trading post and then viewing Canyon de Chelly from a lookout we wound our way toward Three Turkey Canyon. The backroads here are amazing. Roads, or shall I say ruts and potholes, branch off the main trail every few hundred feet and no sign of anyone in sight. You have to be good at following directions backwards to get out. And you have to know which side of which windmill to go around (it’s either the one you can see or the one you can’t see which may or may not actually be there.) We made it tho, after off reading for awhile with our trust little Titan and wondering if we were a bit lost. It’s quite the place and quite the climb, but if you ever happen to head down there please learn from us and take some water it’s quiet down in the canyon and there’s a trickle of water in some places. A little ways up one side are the ruins which were quite tempting to me except for the sign boasting a heavy fine and perhaps jail time if you were caught climbing up. I decided not to risk it. Another interesting story about the canyon, twenty-some years ago when Sysco’s mom was here, she and her friend were hiking the canyon one afternoon and got lost. Apparently it was coming morning before they were found. Since then a new and more clearly marked trail has been made but back then the trail was farther from the ruins and barely discernible. Well we were still a bit paranoid so we made sure we knew where to go and we easily for out. But it was a little exciting at times. Back to town for supper and a drive before heading back home for staff meeting. The next day was my first day of Head Cook and I was super happy to have Sysco here to help me with my ambitiousness. 

  Early Wednesday morning Sysco said goodbye and left. 

 When Dad, Mom, Bro and Sis came

  They arrived late one Friday night in July. Actually it was probably early Saturday morning by the time they got here. It was wonderful to see their faces again! The next morning I had off to go to market with them and do other shopping. We found a friend at market. His name was Nassar and when he found out we were from Canada he told us he was more impressed with the ‘president’ of Canada then the president of the states. He asked us to say hi to our president when we saw him. So Hi Trudeau. Hi from Nassar in New Mexico. The rest of the weekend they helped me with jobs and played with the kids and held the babies. We left the house early Monday morning and headed for Durango! We took our seats in a closed car on the steam train and soon headed up to Silverton. It was beautiful on a few hours of sleep and would have been more gorgeous on enough hours of sleep. We traveled 90.8 miles (round trip) following the Animas River til we reached Silverton at an elevation of 9000 feet. It took us about 3.5 hours one way but the scenery was worth it  (And once you paid 8 or 9 bucks you could have all the lemonade you wanted free for the rest of the ride.) we crossed over the Animas River numerous times and the occasional waterfall splashed down into it. It started raining just before we reached our destination which made for even more beautifulness. Apparently there were no roads up there.. only this train track. We could have got off the train partway up and zip lines they the trees for the rest of the day till the train came back but that’s not what we were there for apparently. After eating and walking around in the rain for awhile, we loaded back into the train and arrived back in Durango around supper time, tired and grouchy. 

  The rest of the time my family was here we just chilled and did stuff close to home. Tuesday night around midnight I said bye and went to sleep. Around 0230 they quietly left. So it ends. 

Facts and Non-fiction

  There’s not much to say about third float. The only time there are 3 people off and third float actually has a job is every 2-3 weeks on Alb day. And then 3rd float gets stuck with the worst job. In my case this was second nurse. And being second nurse on Alb day sucks. When I finally got a great at 1430 I had been on duty for 8.5 hours. Ok so lost people do that and more in a standard work day but they aren’t trying to keep track of twentysome kids on a meager staff. In the hot New Mexico sun. Ok maybe I am a Canadian wimp. Otherwise on normal days I had a bunch of playduty and daily clean up and random stuff. On Saturday 2nd and 3rd floats take the kids on outings. Unusually it’s the older kids but this time I made them mad when I decided the younger kids would go this time. We took them to a big old play structure with lots of hiding places. They loved it. 

  The highlight of my week was that my family was here for half of it!!

7-16-19 to 7-22-19

On Being A Monster

Greetings from the Master procrastinator. I meant to give you a post a month ago cuz I was pretty much caught up and I was going to stay caught up. Hah. I tried. Believe me I tried. But the inspiration left me. I wrote up a post about my boys and laundry week. But it was forced. Oh so forced. I was just going to tell you what I did at exactly what time. ‘At 0645 I stepped over the threshold of the laundry room to start my laundry. So just be thankful that I didn’t give you boringness whole you are unthankful that you don’t have anything new to read on here. I kept saying ‘oh I’ll write one up on break.’ We’ll break turned into tomorrow turned into weeks turned into months........and here it is. Today. So today I WILL do this. 

  I’ll explain a little bit about the title of my blog. ‘Why monsters?’ are some people’s thoughts. ‘She’s 19 and she’s had wonderful opportunities and a great life!’ Well those monsters sometimes get to a person. No matter if you have had a good life or no. Monsters, like dark clouds, can rain on anyone’s parade. Even if they are having a fairly wonderful day, week, month, year, whatever. Doesn’t matter if they are having a wonderful life or are hating life, the rain still comes. And either you can get over it and chill or you can be still whining when the sun is out. Enough preaching. 

  This, following, is what I wrote 2 years ago when my life broke irreparably.   

  

   It's the middle of the night. The deep breathing of sleeping humans is scattered thruout the house. Until a child's waking cry breaks the silence. It grows louder until she succeeds to rouse the sister <me> next to her. 'What's the matter?' I ask. 'Why are u crying?'

'Monsters,' she whimpers. Just 'Monsters.'

'It's OK, baby,' I whisper back. 'It was just a dream. Monsters aren't real.'

  How wrong I was.

  Everybody has at least one monster that makes its home under their bed. Some people call these monsters Satan. Some people call them Sin. Some people give them names like Pride and Selfishness and Mean-ness and Disobedience and Jealousy. I just call them monsters. These are not ordinary child-version monsters. These monters are not visible to the eye. Not tangible. But they are just as scary.

 This monster of mine can change its appreance. It can be huge or tiny. It can be red or it can be black. And it can do a myriad of different things. Sometimes this monster convinces me to do things I shouldn't do. It sees me talking and convinces me to get mad when I think someone else is wrong and I'm right. It sees me crying and convinces me that I have a harder life than other people. It sees me doing someone else's job and convinces me that I'm better than that someone else. It convinces me to think unkind thoughts about people and to treat them unkindly too. It sees me hurt and convinces me that maybe if I would have said and done something else than maybe my life would have turned out different. Better.

 But sometimes I fight this monster. Not by myself. If I try by myself it torments me worse. Instead I ask for the help of one certain Soldier. Together we can wound him and chase him away. But I always have to be careful because this monster never will die. It will keep on attacking me and convincing me to do wrong. The only way to keep him away is to follow my Soldier and do what he tells me.

 My own monster isn't the only one that can hurt me. Other people's monsters that live under their beds hurt me too. Sometimes they hurt me by convincing their person to say something mean. Or they convince their person to make up lies to take my little sisters away. But I can't blame these people. I also have a monster. And because our monters can change size and shape, no monster is worse or better than any other. I hate monsters.

  Memories. Two little girls. Hugs. Temper tantrums. Kisses. Scratches. Mischievous glints in two pairs of sparkling eyes. Time outs. Wise words spoken solemnly (repeated after Daddy). A few hurtful words rashly shouted. Yes monsters are real. But love is also real. And stronger.

  There you have it. The day my little sisters left and I was left with tears streaming down my face from those dark clouds, I could have accepted those monsters. And I could have been grouchy and tearful for the rest of my life. But I chose to chase those dark clouds, those monsters away. Those two girls were my sisters for 5 years and I will always think of them as my sisters. I won’t forget about them but I’ll forget about those dark clouds that were in the way for awhile. 

  I see my little sisters in these children I take care of now. And it might hurt to see my sisters in these kids and know I will never see my sisters again. But I can’t not love these kids for the hurt they unknowingly cause me. Maybe I love them more for it. Maybe I love them more for the fact that I can see them and I will never see my sisters again. 

A Week In My Life

I've rarely in my life been more thankful than when Angelo's eyes slowly shut and he was at last sleeping.

The characters from my 'boys and laundry' week
 Asher - He's a _Daniel in the Lion's Den_ obsessed 10-year-old. One minute he wants to eat pulse and pray to the God of Heaven 3 times a day like Daniel and the next minute he's playing military. For awhile he was into making the other kids do exercises (he had the 5-year-olds doing pushups)  and getting them to take sides and fight wars. He's an intelligent boy with a mind full of ideas and interests. The chalkboards in the gym and the cement outside have been covered with math equations and roses. He's trying to stretch himself so he can lie about his age and join the firefighter ranks before he is legally old enough.
 Keegan - Tho outwardly tough, he's a soft 8-year-old inside. I guess life has thrown too many stones at him and softness has to work to get past the crusty exterior those stones caused. On the playground he can be a nasty one but in the evening when everyone is running around giving hugs he likes to come and sit on my lap for a few seconds.  He's right in the middle of two brothers- one who is intelligent and one who is a big baby- so he sometimes feels like he has to beg for attention. The sides of his head are buzzed, leaving the top long, which he always combs over to one side. His favourite thing to do is sneak a stuffy into the playroom after supper (where there are supposed to be no toys) to play a rowdy game of football with his friends. He and i have a never-ending game of tag that we play. Makes life interesting.
Jacob - He's a spunky, chubby 3-year-old. He's adorable and he's a mess. He's got long hair that is constantly in his eyes. He's not afraid of much. If he's supposed to be taking a bath or going to bed, or if he just feels like it, he'll run down the hall and dive under his bed. Apparently he doesn't want to be pulled out tho cuz when i ask if he needs help coming out, he always appears by himself quite rapidly. This is at least the second time he and his sisters have been here. Poor kids.
 David - He's a fearless 7-year-old. And he doesn't learn. Numerous times a day I'll find him writhing around on the ground like a soccer player after he tried a new stunt. It never takes long and he's up again trying something else stupid. Listening is another one of his weak points. If he could help it the word "listen" would not be in his vocabulary. Or even in the dictionary. He arrived here with his little sister whom he adores.  He had been the one who took care of her at home and he's very protective of her here too. He informed us that she loves watermelon. She's five months old.
 Angelo- Angelo was a doll. Still is but just not here. He was only here for two days. He's an autistic 3-year-old who doesn't talk and instead conveys his feelings and needs with chirps and squeals and screams and scratches. He gets overwhelmed easily. He would often take my face in his tiny hands and gently rub my cheeks. He always sat by me at mealtimes and when everything was getting too much for him he'd bury his head in my lap or grab my arm and pinch and scratch. He had long black hair that was in a beautiful French braid when he came. Apparently his mom always did it like that and I found that of you put him in front of running water he stood still long enough to do it. He was obviously well taken care of and taught when he came. Apparently there was some sort of mixup and he was released back to his mom very shortly. I talked to his mom for a while and I could tell that she truly loved him and took super good care of him despite his difference from other boys.
 Kaden - Kaden is a big baby. Big head, too, and big eyes. He likes to feel a lot older than his five years which seems to be typical for the youngest. He always has to be up to date on what's happening around here. When we're outside, he's forever holding the door open, wondering what's happening at the far end of the hall (the main part of the house and action) and hoping to be the first to know what's up. His voice is stuck on one setting. Extra loud, unfortunately.
Zander - Zander is a quieter 9-year-old. His round face and eyes make him appear innocent . He's not super innocent tho. He doesn't do anything major that you can catch him at but he's often slyly doing small stuff, often getting others in trouble. His football throws have a perfect spiral to them. He's a mean shot on the basketball hoop in the gym. He's quite protective of his little brother who will often go to him for protection from the other kids and who loves to sit on his lap at devotions.
 Edward- In the first few days he was here, I never heard 3-year-old Edward say a word. By now he has warmed up to this place and doesn't hesitate to be silly or tell you "he being _meeeean_." He's still kinda quiet like his big brother and he's very charming. His almost-buzzcut and round face and darling smile make him a favourite around here.
The facts from my 'Boys and Laundry' week
- to the best of my recollection, 99 loads of laundry passed through the three washers and dryers and back into their respective rooms with the help of my hands.
-101 sets of teeth were brushed under my care (eight different boys)
- I said the words "Boys are dismissed" 19 times. And I wouldn't be surprised if I heard "Addie, dismiss us quick" the same number of times after the cook dismisses teachers.
- another interesting thing is that the boys' teacher gives the 1st nurse teacher break from 1030-1145 every morning. At first I took my laundry in there to fold but pretty soon it was too busy in there with a very spoiled 8-month-old, a very squishy 5-month-old, a very sad 1-year-old and a very new baby. By new I mean two days old when we got her on the second day of my Boys week.

The week that you just read about was July 9-15.

On Being First Float

Well my lucky two weeks. It just so happens that if you are 1st float on a week that’s not Alb week, you will most likely be mopping almost every day. Now that’s not so bad if you didn’t have to do most of the mopping the week before. Out of the last 14 days, I have mopped 10 of them. Needless to say I was happy to hand the mop and pail over to the next person. My next complaint about my 1st float week was that I had to be KA for 2.5 days and Head Cook for another half. Oh well. C’est la vie.

First float does a lot of floating.  It has a few daily and weekly jobs but not too many. If someone has a whole day off, first float has to take their job. If there are 2 people off (whole or half day) then first float gets to choose which job they foist on to second float.

My Week Looked Like This:

                          morning       afternoon
Tuesday.         1st float.        Girls.
Wednesday.    1st float.       OFF!
Thursday.        1st float         KA.
Friday.              KA.                 KA.
Saturday.         KA.                 KA.
Sunday.            1st float.        Girls.
Monday.           1st float.        Head Cook.



This all happened July 2-July 8, 2019.

A Day in the Life Head Cook

There is this confusing thing that goes on here. On a normal morning 1st float mops the dining room, kitchen and bathroom floors. If there is one girl off in the morning, then second float does it and if there are 2 off then the kitchen girls do it. So if you happen to be head Cook on Alb Week* like I was, then you will probably be mopping almost every day.

I have this problem where I like to make fancy food. So this week was quite busy for me. Thankfully I had food in the freezer from my nights week, and I had help sometimes. Otherwise IDK if we ever would have eaten on time. Another kind of stressful thing was that the Alb unit was here on Saturday and Sunday. But the guys did all my wiping chairs with Clorox wipes and sweeping so that part wasn’t stressful.

Most Saturday mornings the kitchen girls go to Market with 1st Nurs Teacher. (Market is 2 long rows of stalls in the hot heat and sandy sand where they sell jewelry, blankets, pottery, food, trash, and whatnot all.) This Saturday Papa’s were gone so I had to monitor a visit besides making company lunch, so I didn’t go. And when Papa left I must have looked like the most convenient person around, so he got me to be the foreman on the job the Alb guys were supposed to do. Busy morning it was. But then in the evening we got to play ball and do other crazy stuff (double down the hill on the wiggle cars anyone?).

So what head cook does is: get some sort of protein or grain on the table for breakfast, and then protein and grain for lunch and supper. And make sure to do one whole grain a day. We get refunded for 3 meals a day, so everything has to be documented meticulously. Then there are a bunch of weekly jobs to do. I was not bored. Bored of being in the kitchen yes but not bored as in not knowing what to do.

*Alb week ~the week one girls leaves and another comes. It happens on one day, and 3 girls and Papas are gone all day, which makes home crazy for the day. So we order pizza for supper. Actually it makes the whole week crazy.

BTW my cook week was 6/25/19 - 7/01/19

On Crazy Life

On Crazy Life






SCHEDULE
0600 playtime in the small playroom
0800 breakfast
0830 play outside
1200 lunch
1230 outside again
1500 snack
1530 bath time and play in the gym
1800 supper
1830 small playroom with no toys
1900 devotions
1930 bedtime




While most of the works out there start their new week on Sunday morning, our weeks start on Monday evening, kicked off by a staff mtg. Staff mtgs don’t take too long and can be quite hilarious and informal. Sometimes we tell the new girl that we wear tie downs to staff mtg but that usually ends quite quickly cuz we don’t really feel like wearing them if we don’t have to. One of the most interesting things about staff mtg is Papa’s stories. He usually receives a pinch from Mama or has us all in stitches. Or both. Tuesday’s we all start on our new jobs which I’ll explain a bit later. The days largely go the same. Two girls watch the kids all the time (check the playduty schedule on the fridge for tomorrow!) About 2 days a week we set up the pools and the kids go swimming in the afternoon. On Saturday the kids get to go on outings which is a big highlights for them. The big kids get to go bowling or rollerblading or hiking or whatever 1st and 2nd float girls decided to do and then the younger ones get to go play in McDonald’s while the teachers with them order snack for  everybody (think upwards of $60 for 30-35 people). Sunday morning at 1000 most of the kids assemble around the dining room table for Sunday School. Church starts in the chapel off the gym around 1030. Our services consist of a few songs by everybody, a verse and songs by the Sunday School kids, a message or talk by Papa or who ever dares to visit over Sunday, and a few songs by the teachers. By 1145 the button down shirt clad boys and dress clad girls are running off the steam built up from sitting in church while the kitchen girls scurry to get a fancy Sunday dinner on.  Sunday evening we have an early kids’ supper (1730) and when the kids are finally sleeping we have our own staff supper and party. Monday is our last day on our weekly cleaning jobs and we quickly try to finish the cleaning and whatever we should have done earlier in the week. And then our weeks are back where they started. Monday night staff meeting.



JOBS

Second Nursery children ages 1.5ish to 2ish.              
     A lot of girls claim their favourite job is 2nd Nursery. It’s not mine. You’re trying to get all their teeth brushed and some of them are off stuffing socks in the humidifier. You’re trying to get them all food and invariably one of them leaves half their meal on the floor. On paper, 2nd Nursery doesn’t have much to do. Brush teeth twice a day, naps in the morning, play duty, and put them to bed. But these kids are mighty. They may be small, but they’re mighty.

First Nursery
1st Nursery is stuck way down the hall where there isn’t super much action until the babies are sleeping. Basically you try to keep all your kids happy. When I first wrote this we had one baby. Now we have four, including a newborn. 1st Nurs is the only job that has set breaks. 1030-1145 and 1500-1530

Night Duty
Night duty is very much what it sounds like. I have a recent post called “A Night in the Life” you can refer to for more info.

Kitchen Assistant
One thing I can say, KA is my least favourite job. All you do is dishes. And make a fruit (remember to do dishes) and veggie for every (dishes!) meal. And do dishes and water flowers and do dishes and go to bed. Oh and set miles of table. And give 1st Nurs afternoon break.

Head Cook
This is not my favourite job either. Maybe because I tried to make too many extravagant meals. Do not do this. You will get no sleep. You supply a protein and grain for everyone at every meal and a whole grain once a day. Lots of cleaning. But all I have to do is write stuff on the list and Papas will go shopping or Papa will  order it online for me. Head cook will get a post all to itself in the coming days.

Boys and Laundry
Take care of boys and do laundry. And playduty. And first nursery break. More coming soon.

Girls and Cleaning
Try to keep track of the girls, a bunch of cleaning, playduty, repeat.

1st, 2nd, 3rd Float
Take over for girls who have off, vacuum and mop every day, drive school kids, helps with home work, do play duty. They do what they sound like they do. They float.