Its getting very wintry here. There are still beautiful fall leaves, and lots of bare trees. No heat this morning in my apt, feels pretty cold! Apt living is interesting. Hearing neighbors banging around, kids running up and down stairs, music in the entry way coming from one apt. It's all good and part of life and I like being surrounded by a diverse community. Of course the downside is people all the time, garbage left around, dog poop left by irresponsible pet owners, handymen coming and going in your apt to repair broken pipes or whatever!

That was last week, a broken sewage down pipe was split behind the wall in my bathroom! So I came home to two big guys in my bathroom cutting holes in the wall! They were very nice and apologetic, but had to happen as the girl downstairs had the leak in her apt! They cleaned up and left the wall open. The cat, used to being an outdoor cat, found the hole, looked back at me and was gone! I was freaked! Called and called, rattled the food dish, ignored for awhile and back he came! relief. Closed the bathroom door and promptly forgot.  

Bernard, my new best friend, is the handyman my property manager uses. He has been here repairing cracks in the walls and replaced my kitchen faucet. He called to say he was coming to fix the wall, great! Just before he arrived I left the bathroom door open, saw the cats tail just as he went in the hole again! Shit! So Bernard came and repaired the bigger patches and left the small bottom hole open. Of course as soon as he left the cat came out! I blocked the hole with a piece of drywall, but he was determined and tried to knock it away! I managed to secure it, Bernard was back the next day and we are solid again, no holes in my wall!

Now this morning no heat in my apt! Also I had put down some runners as Skye was struggling with the steps up to the apt. I used double sided tape to secure and my neighbors were all cool with it. It was an awesome fix for Skye, she went up and down easily. Yesterday I came home and they were gone, ripped up and a little pile of tape left behind! So bummed! Have no idea if it was a neighbor who wanted the runners, or maintenance, or ?? Poor Skye!

So big news is my wrist is broken and in a cast for 3 weeks! First broken bone for me! Lets hope it is not the start of something! Everything healing well.

Next big news is I have a job! Working with a group of therapists, New Beginnings! So poetic, no? Steve Greenstein Phd, has a very interesting history and perspective. He and his wife Francis, a therapist, run this group, and have various programs they are trying to build. They had a much larger organization which got too big for them. Also I gather Medicare didn't like how big they were and funding got cut. So I am working on getting a Therapeutic Day Treatment program up and running for them in the schools. I will also be part of a team that goes out to schools and works with kids. I am participating in trainings to become a trainer for Ages and Stages Questionaire (ASQ) and for the Center on Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL), both of which I have been using for 5 years in Sonoma County! Now I will be a trainer! My work as an Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant (ECMHC) is very new here, they are just getting trainings going and setting up a consortium here for Early Childhood Mental Health. So it is a very good time to be here!