Halloweenie 09

We seem to be spending a lot of time at the Halloween store. We can't wait for the all the fun of the spooky season!

Vista Elementary

This month I pulled Bella from Sunset Elementary and put her in Vista School, which is a charter school for elementary students. She, along with cousins Devin & Savannah, is enjoying the experience there much more than at Sunset. She gets to have dance class, computer class, musical theater, art, choir, and 2 other classes 2-3 times per week. This is handy for me, because I've had Bella in dance class on an extracurricular level since she was 3. This is a much more affordable way for her to have the chance to learn dance.

El Salvador

What can I say about El Salvador? I can say that going there gives me an immense appreciation to live in the US.

When we first got to El Salvador, we went to a shopping center. It was weird to see a large amount of people wearing soccer jerseys that were royal blue. We later learned that the national Salvadorian soccer team was going to be playing an international game that night. The soccer tournament was on TV that night. Our apartment had 16 units in it. Across from us there was another apartment building, housing another 16 units. Many of the houses had the soccer game blaring. The Salvadorian team scored 2 goals that night. The reason that I know that is that when a goal was made, the surrounding game-watchers in our neighborhood roared! Horns were honking, fireworks were booming, people were hollering.... It was actually really fun to hear. I loved the patriotism that the soccer game seemed to provoke. It got me thinking about how we don't really have a national sport in which most everyone get involved and how cool it would be to have something like that.

Tonight I was kind of frustrated for a couple of reasons. I am frustrated that people tell me that it doesn't matter if your an LCSW, LPC, or a LMFT it's all pretty much the same. I feel confused because I talked to the head of one of the youth facilities, who told me that I will be able to do much more in this community with an LCSW. However, I have a negative stigma about social workers, and what was said in class today about social workers doing more with administration just solidified that for me. I'm not interested in administration, I'm interested in personal growth and well-being for myself and anyone else who'd like to join me. I really want to teach classes (seminars) about parenting, inner sentences, group therapy, individual therapy.... It's just that the limitations with staying here and trying to get a degree are not optimal.

It was also strange to me to talk about termination today, because I've never officially terminated my relationship with my therapist, though I haven't seen him in about 8 months, and before that it was more than 6 months. He told me 8 months ago that he had to go to his storage to get out my file. I thought that was cool that it sounded like he thought I was done, too. I don't know what to make of the fact that we haven't officially terminated.

I started my motivation assignment. I did notice that I use have to and need to in regards to work and responsibilities of being a mom. I talked to my employee about it. We’re both still a little confused on how work is not a need. It’s also interesting to hear those extrinsic phrases when other people say them. I’m amazed how often they’re used. I hear 'I need', 'I have to', 'I should' a lot in society. It’s been useful for me to take responsibility for my actions by taking the choice and want phrases in. I find it a bit freeing to be more mindful of using words like 'I choose to', 'I want to', 'I'd like to', 'I'm willing to'. I'm excited to continue this process.