Tuesday, August 30, 2011

There's been some changes round these parts

Figured it was about time for an update... That and Anthony has the car at the copy shop & I'm late for work and have already done everything I can think of to bide my time until he gets back.

ANTHONY: school is in session and my goodness is that boy happy. He really likes his classes thus far. Oh, he had his first voice lesson yesterday and his teacher, Bill, told him there are no major flaws they need to work on, just "polishing" things up. Hooray! Anthony accomplished his goal of fixing the big stuff while an undergrad.
He's been studying hard and learning his role for L'Incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea). He has a big death aria (aka he sings a song as he dies).
Anthony has also been invited to audition at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico. The audition is next weekend in Albuquerque and he & I will drive with a soprano from OU and a Tenor from Oklahoma City University to the audition. Fun stuff. If anyone wants to meet in Albuquerque (such a funny looking word) we'll be there Sept. 10 & 11.
Today Anthony auditioned to song the National Anthem at one of the OU home games. His text to me when he was done with the audition said "It went well. A couple of mediocre low notes but my high F was money!" So, if he's selected to sing at one of the games you just might see/hear him on tv or something. I don't know.
Speaking of OU games, any first semester student (like Anthony) is not allowed to buy tickets outright and your name is put into a lottery to "win" the opportunity to buy tickets. Well, Anthony was selected in the lottery so he can buy one ticket for each home game. Want to know the best part? All I have to do is show up at some office in a few days to show them my smiling mug & marriage license and I get to buy a ticket too!! OU games here we come!! First game is this Saturday... we've been warned to stay off the roads or get stuck in hours, literally HOURS, of traffic.

ALISHA: did I ever tell you I got a job? I work for NorthCare as a CHBS (Comprehensive Home Based Services) worker. Families are referred for services by DHS Child Welfare. "CHBS services are intensive, in-home interventions designed to preserve, strengthen and restore the family. CHBS service goals include the prevention of further incidents of child abuse or neglect, and family reunification. Case managers (that's me) provide comprehensive services suited to each family's needs, including: child health care, parent-child bonding, home safety, budgeting assistance and problem solving, crisis management, parent-child visitation and family reunification."
In other words; if there are allegations of child abuse or neglect DHS goes into the home and completes the initial steps, then call us. We go in and teach the family what to do if their children are sick, teach discipline techniques, teach parents how to better interact with their children, help clean up homes to make them more safe for children and loads of other stuff. Cases are usually open about 6 months so hopefully by the end of that time the parents have learned some techniques to make the whole household better, and in most reunification cases (where the children were removed from the home and we're trying to get them back in) the kids do end up coming back home. Yay!!
I like my job thus far. My first day was August first and I've already got 6 cases. Average case load is 10-14 so I'm doing pretty well I guess. I like most everyone I work with, so that's good too... don't feel as awkward in the office as I have in some other places of employment.
What else... I'm getting my paperwork ready to submit to OU to see if I'm accepted for the Masters of Social work program. It's all due October 1st, so well see what happens.

Thats about all that is going on with us. Toodaloo.

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