It’s My Wonderful Life

I know that I am stepping out of bounds, (being a professional in Monticello), but can we not get competent workers for our city. You call the water office/trash office and you get treated like dirt. What happens to the customers always being right and not trying to prove them wrong? Is it just too much to ask.

The story is that the county picks up trash on Thursday for Friday (since it was the 4th).   Stupid me assumed that this would be the city to.  I mean they picked it up a day early on Christmas and New Years.  Why wouldn’t they on the 4th since the county was?    I and several people on my street did the same thing.  I guess they were just as stupid as I was.  Needless to say, no trash was picked up.   Trash stayed on the street from Thursday  to Tuesday.   You can imagine the mess.

I called the office on Monday to inquire about why trash wasn’t picked up.   Basically, I was talked to rudely.   In fact they told me that my trash was picked up Monday and Thursday.  I continue to tell them that my trashed is picked up on Tuesday and Friday.   Of course they argued with me there too.   Basically after they agreed that Friday was my pick up date, they informed me their offices were closed and they would not be picking it up.  There was no “I’m sorry you misunderstood the memo in the paper.   We will make sure next time that notices will be sent out.   Thank you for your complaint.   We will work on our communication problem.”  I would have been happy with that answer, but no I am aggravated even more.

Today, the trash did get picked up.  Of course, not the trash that I and other neighbors laid out on Thursday.   I went and cleaned it up like a nice citizen of this town.  The trash that was drug out equaled one full garbage bag.  Now, that is disgusting.   My neighbor, who used a trash can, did not get all her trash emptied.  We she complained, they told her it was not the job of the trash men to empty the trash cans.  You are to lay the bags out without the trash can.  They then proceeded to tell her that the garbage men were not paid enough to deal with the garbage cans and cleaning up the mess.

Can the city just get any ruder?   I love Monticello but I hate the officials in charge.  I just feel like a citizen that is not worth living here.  Just forget the fact that I am a professional and teach the children of Monticello to equip them to become better citizens.

Here a few pictures of the nasty filth that was left at our curb.

All I can say is city of Monticello, you have not heard the last of me.

Just to warn you this is Lou on her soapbox, so be prepared.

Health Insurance? Why do you have it? You still have to pay medical bills out the butt.

My health insurance for my family (me, my hubby, and 2 kids) was $667.22 a month. They have decided to raise the price to $701.10. What? The co-pay is even higher. What? I am thinking that this does not make sense. You would think if the monthly premium is raised then the co-pay will either be lower or the same. NOPE!

Here we are trying to save money, yet prices on everything is getting higher. Gas prices, health insurance, milk, etc. You get the picture. You have to cut things back, yet you are making no progress in saving money. All you have saved is going into the other things that are a necessity.

We paid $4,003.32 on health insurance from October 2006 to August 2007. Yet I still had medical bills. Yes, I know I had a baby and that cost. Thank goodness for health insurance. One would think that $4003.32 would go a long way consider our co-pays. Nope, we got a bill from the hospital for $500, not to mention some other random medical bills. It is crazy.

Basically, we are going to have to drop our insurance to smaller monthly payments, which means higher deductable. I think it will be OK because we are fairly healthy people.

Who would have thought that a teacher would live at poverty level? Actually, we are just above it so we can’t get any assistance. We are the ones that teach these kids and they grow up to doctors, lawyers, etc and makes lots of money. Yet, we are barely over the poverty cut-off.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am not one to complain about money. After all, I knew this before I began thinking about a career in teaching. Just to watch the kids grow so much in their learning is enough for anyone to want to teach, but it doesn’t pay the bills. Yes, I could move away from south Arkansas and make more money, like most do. What about the kids down here? Don’t they deserve great teachers like North Arkansas?

Why do we look at children who are different funny?

You would expect stares from children. They don’t know any better. Stares from adults are another story. In my short teaching span, I have seen adults, even teachers give these stares. It is very disturbing to me. Sometimes, I make excuses for them, such as they are not around it like I was. (I have lived with an autistic sister all my life.)

There is really no excuse!

I encourage you to listen to this song. It brings tears to me every time I listen to it. I can just hear children, like my sister, saying this.

I love nothing more than working with kids with special needs. I actually have a degree in it but can’t use it.

What does it take to show people that you are worthy of working with these type kids? I have the experience. I have a sister who is autistic and lived with all my life. I interned in a resource room. I have also volunteered at Camp Aldersgate with kids that had epilepsy or spina bifida. I am currently teaching a student who has severe speech problems, yet I am not good enough to work with these students.

Why?