Hi again!
Wow. We’re already into August! Summer is just flying on by.
Anyways, the last time I wrote here, it was July 22ond. Since then…
There was a CAS home meeting. Pretty much just giving an update, and the worker needs to check in with my eldest daughter, as usual. Same old same old. Just close the file already, shes doing fine. Sorry for being a little snarky about it, but CAS and the court should see by now how not involved in the court proceedings my eldest children’s father is. Rather then dragging our case on and on for profit, making as much money as possible from my family by keeping this case open, close it! Grant me Sole Custody, because clearly the father will not even take the responsibility of participating in the legal matters regarding his child. He pretty much gave up after his son became a crown ward. He said long ago, he’s done. He’s out.
Anyone can see that I am being dicked around by the system. They just take their precious time and prolong it. There’s only one reason for that, money. Fuck off and give me my child already! So sick of being stuck in this game. They say it keeps being dragged on because the father needs to “respond”. No he doesn’t. And no he wont. So let’s move the fuck on. Seriously, how many more years do they want this to go on for? Err… so annoying. It’s not rocket science. It’s a pretty transparent case. So yeah, I dont care how high and mighty and powerful they all think they are, cut the crap. Come the Settlement Conference in September, I want this closed.
Anyways, the FFIP worker from Namerind mentioned that she will be leaving soon. And the other worker will take her place at the meetings until they can find a replacement. She will be returning to school, so yeah, good luck and best wishes to wherever her passions take her. She will be missed.
The meeting went well. My eldest daughter gets a little snarky with the workers, but I think she too is getting pretty sick of this nonsense.
Other than that, the meeting went well, AS USUAL!
However, the CAS worker said she passed on my letter to my eldest sons worker, and she said it made her tear up. It’s a beautiful letter. It’s basically an attempt to invite my eldest son out for a family visit. So he can meet his little brother, and see his little sister again that he hasn’t seen since she was a year old. Plus my eldest daughter would be there too, even though they weren’t getting along in May or June. Geez, I cant even remember when their last visit was. They didn’t have a visit in June because an agreement on location wasn’t made. And my eldest daughter kept demanding to be able to bring her little sister. Like she thinks her eldest brother’s behavior and his workers behavior will be different if she has a toddler present. Smart kid. But with a toddler present, that would take all attention off eachother and on the wellbeing and safety of my toddler. So if she really wants to bring her little sister, then why not let it be a family thing? Let me chase my little toddlers around. Lol That way, her and her brother still get time together, and he meets his younger siblings at the same time.
Anyways, I have not heard a response back from my attempt of reaching out to my eldest son through the letter. But it was worth a shot either way. It would be nice to see him again. It has been 2 years.
What else? Not last Thursday, but the one before, my eldest daughter invited 2 of her friends to come with us to the New School of Colour. I thought it was a good idea to try to bring New School of Colour back to life with more youth. To introduce more young minds to an environment of creativity and inspiration. Turns out, it wasn’t such a good idea after all and we will not be returning.
I mean, when we got there, the Facilitator made us feel so unwelcomed. He was saying that the 2 new kids we brought parent should have been there with them. Way to make them welcomed! They actually behaved really well. Once they were all set up, they dove right in.
My toddlers however start to get cranky around 2pm. This program starts at 1:30pm. They normally nap at 3pm.
Anyways, my younger daughter was having fun, and accidentally splattered paint onto one of the other girls painting. She said it was okay, she’ll work with it. But the Facilitator freaked out. He grabbed a wash cloth, normally to wipe the tables and tried to clean my younger daughter up. She wasn’t done painting yet, so she started to scream!! It must’ve been so scary for her for how rough he was being. For how forceful he was being. He had her blocked against the wall. So she screamed and screamed. And he started to become more aggressive and intolerant. He said she was no longer welcomed there anymore. I was devastated. Shocked. Because saying my child is no longer welcome, is like saying I am no longer welcomed. I started to pack up and get ready to go, and cued the girls to follow. The Facilitator literally physically carried my screaming toddler outside the building.
Nope. The New School of Colour definitely isn’t what it used to be. It’s not a welcome to all kind of place anymore. The current Facilitator killed that. Hes far too controlling. And creativity cannot thrive in an overly controlled environment. Creativity is messy. Creativity is spontaneous.
Ya know? He was freaking out about the splattered paint. When I used to go there years ago, and it was busy with all sorts of people. Paint would splatter. The tables were always getting bumped. Here’s the thing that that taught me. Art cannot be “ruined”, it transforms. When paint splattered onto my work, I learned to work those splatters into the peice as if they were always meant to be there. And maybe they were. That’s the magic of art, its unpredictable. It creates itself.
The New School of Colour now, is basically for elderly people that need very little guidance. It’s not busy and alive as it used to be. You have to work quietly in your little corner. Copy images from books. It’s no wonder it’s not as successful as it used to be. The magic of imagination and creativity are gone.
Whatever you do, DO NOT bring your kids there. I think it was a very traumatizing experience for my little girl. I should have never gone back. And I should have never brought my kids there. The Facilitator clearly isn’t good with kids.
Now I gotta figure out how I’m gonna get my kids art work back without having to interact with the Facilitator, or bring my kids back. The Ark Aid Street Mission wont bring me their paintings. So I need to figure something else out.
I could ask my childrens fathers, but one I am trying to distance myself from, and the other is at work during their business hours. The only one that could is the one I am trying to get some space from.
I am never going back there. The more I think about it, it upsets me. Like the Facilitator wouldn’t do this to another person’s child, why is it okay to disrespect mine? Shes only 3 years old jackass!
If you ask me, hes unfit to be a Facilitator of an art program. Sure I may be one of the people that supported to have him as a Facilitator back in the day. Back when he seemed passionate about that position, like that’s what he wanted to do with his life. Not anymore. You can tell he hates the job. So yeah, either shut it down, or pass on the torch to someone understands what it takes to build a community and is friendly and good at building relationships with a wide range of people. They need a people person to facilitate that program, the current Facilitator is not a people person.
Anyways, yeah. The last visit there was clearly an eye opener. And that maybe I should look for other places for my children, and their friends, to be creative. The New School of Colour is not kid friendly environment. Not anymore. It looks like they even lost their connections with University Students that used to volunteer to help within the studio.
Its disappointing to see such a wonderful program go down the drain like that. But yeah, walk away and move on. I’ll find another place more geared to families and community.
Who knows.. I never did make it to the Art Hive when it was up and running at Re-Imagine Co. But maybe, it might be brought back to life in the future. There’s still hope that a free art community can exist within this city.
Anyways, enough of that. It’s in the past. And yeah, I dont want to be stuck there. So moving on.
My eldest daughters father started his visits with his daughter through Namerind. It’s kind of nice to be out of the picture. I dont want to be hanging out with an ex every single freaking day. No thank you. Plus, its obvious hes still wishy washy in the head. Supposedly the baby thing was a lie. But I’m just a crazy and bitter and don’t know what I’m talking about. Right? Maybe because the shit he says doesn’t make any freaking sense! So yeah, I dont want to hear about his pointless drama anymore. Dont care. Shut the hell up! And Keep it away from the kids and I. Keep us out of your addict & hooker land.
Thank the workers for setting up access elsewhere and no longer through me.
But yeah, hes got his visits with our daughter. She seemed to enjoy the last visit. Right on. Access can be possible without blabbing my ears off, and taking and taking and taking from me. There is no need to enter my home. I will let him see his daughter. Ya know? Just focus on your time with her, and not me and what you can get or steal from me. I got a family to raise.
Anyways, enough about him.
At least the father of my youngest children isn’t like that. It’s not like I interact with him every day. Just during pick ups and drop offs mostly. Sometimes I’ll get a text during the week. Just silly stuff to make me laugh. Like pictures that reminds him of our children, or funny videos from FB.
Our kids come back happy from their visits. So yeah, it’s going well.
I guess he locks his food in his bedroom now, so that his roommate isn’t eating the food he gets for our kids anymore. Which makes sense, hes buying the groceries for his kids, not to feed this grown man of a roommate that should be able to go out and get his own.
He has been looking for a new place, and thinks the best price that suits his budget for rentals is on the east end. So if and when he does move east, well have to arrange a half way point for drop off and pick ups. I think it will be okay. Our daughter loves going on the bus. Lol Its an adventure every time!
Anyways…the kids and I went Blueberry picking at Parks Country Store. It was crazy. I had 2 cranky hot toddlers that seemed to have taken turns with the hissyfits. However, I am thankful for Namerind for taking us out on the trip anyways. It was good to get out of the city for awhile, and picked quite abit of blueberries thanks to my daughters. However, once my son got extremely cranky. Yeah, it was time to get out of the open field, and out of the heat. Little man needed to cool down, and he was refusing to drink his apple juice. We all went inside for lunch. I used the gift card to order lunch. Once my little boy devoured his pizza and chocolate milk, he was fine.
My eldest daughter went Blueberry picking again through the Akwego program. Thank you Namerind again. I’m sure it was a little more relaxing for her without her little tantruming siblings. Lol
We went to the Childrens Museum on Thursday for the TD Free Family Fun Night. The kids had a blast. There was lots of activities for them to get their imaginations going. I loved it. Finally, a place for kids where they are allowed to be just that, kids. Even my 11 year old had fun. My little ones slept real good that night.
This weekend my youngest 2 went to their fathers, and visited other family members in Saturday.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, my eldest daughter and I went to Grand Bend for a day on the beach all thanks to the Bend Bus. It was lots of fun. It’s been so long since I’ve been to a beach, and I am glad I got to share that experience with my eldest daughter. We spent hours in the water. And we even went out for lunch and treated ourselves to some poutine and beaver tails.
When we got back home we had fire in the backyard and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. It was a great day.
Anyways, my two youngest children return home today. Their father has to work a half day on the Civic Holiday. But we agreed that he can pick them up again when he’s off work tomorrow. Normally if his weekend visits land on a long weekend, his visits gets extended. But since hes gotta work, we gotta work with that schedule.
Yeah, summer is almost over. And I seem to be less focused on my art, and more focused on creating memories for my children before summer ends.
I could use a break from art anyways. My current creative projects have more to do with writing anyways. A fictional story, and a collection of poetry. Something I can pick up, and work on in small breaks. Since during the summer, I have no time to myself. So yeah, no time to paint. Unless I want to stay up all night. But honestly, when schools out, this mom needs her rest because shes working overtime in the summer. Not to mention, I dont have to clean up a mess and put things away. Writing is just more accessible as opening and closing an app. Bam! Write 5 minutes, back to Mommy life in seconds!
Anyways, my fiction story has 3 pages. I have to start over because I lost what I originally had.
As for my collection of poetry is up to 19 pages already. So yeah, in one form or another, I will be imagining, and creating.
Anyway, I shall end it there. Thank you for reading! Peace and love! – Pooks