beadwork orders

been working on beadwork orders the last few weeks:

south TX

relocated to south TX again back in July since my time ran out at the housing program in Tahlequah back in June.

survived the Hurricane Harvey that hit our area just prior to Labor day weekend.  my cousins and went to OK for a few weeks for the evacuation.

our fence still needs to be completed along with a few touch ups around the walls and foundation.
still job searching in the area for myself.

started doing beadwork again this year since my cousin Danielle requested a set of Cherokee Star earrings.

dealing with manipulation

keep praying for me as i deal with this obstacle of confronting manipulative behavior with my roommate J.  i know i'm being challenged by this and my temper is getting the better of me lately.  i pretty much call out this crap whenever i see it and confront it with facts.  now that J has asked me to do a Bible study with her, i have to step up my game both as a leader and a Believer.

J likes to play the victim in almost every circumstance to manipulate others into doing for her stuff she's physically and mentally able to do for herself.  i keep telling her that she's an adult and that she can do it, which is the truth.  as far as her lying goes, that's in The LORD's Hands to deal with her heart.  J has a to choose either to continue lying for whatever reason (save face, or puff herself up, etc.) or choose to act more like JESUS.  this is my current prayer for her, that The LORD will do a mighty work in her heart and life as we continue to study The WORD together.  it's not enough to just read The WORD but to be do-ers of The WORD as well so that we don't deceive ourselves.  HE called us to go out into the world and make disciples of CHRIST, disciples work by doing and being The Light & Love of CHRIST.

did i mention i hate liars?!

monday night i lost my patience with EVERYBODY!  after watching a movie with my 2 roommates, i went to my room to sleep since i had morning appointments the next day. 

suddenly i could hear one of the neighbors, do-do, talking loudly in the living room. when his roommate came over & they started fussing at each other, louder over the volume of the TV, that's when i screamed from my room 'SHUT UP!' to all of them.  eventually they got quieter and went outside for a bit; then came back inside to watch their movie.  no one is allowed to visit or stay in the house except me & my 2 roommates; its in the contract agreement that we ALL signed. 

it took me forever to calm down & go to sleep that night.  plus, i stewed about it all day yesterday.  when i got home from my errands i had planned on talking to J about the guys coming over monday night.  at first J pretended to not know what i was talking about...that's when i blew up at her.  as i'm screaming at her recounting the incident to her, J still insisted that she didn't know that i had been the one who yelled 'shut up!' to them, claiming she thought it was do-do who had yelled it. i told J that she should have never let them in the house to begin with; that's when J tried to blame T for letting them inside.  i informed J that i already talked to T and shot down her lie right then; reminding her that she is a grown woman and that all she had to do was escort them out of the house.

J tried to act pitiful and manipulative by asking why i was yelling at her like a stepchild.  i replied that i'm pissed off and i have every right to be angry at her for what happened monday night. finally i told her that i'm done talking about it and that if it happened again i would call the case manager and report it.  J kept trying to be manipulative with her remarks about my yelling at her; i kept repeating that i was done talking about it and finally stopped replying to her. 

before she walked out of the house i did apologize for screaming but that's at it. 

J didn't come back until after 10:30 last night, and do-do was right behind her walking into the house.  i started yelling at him to 'get out of the house now!'. both J & do-do claimed that C (the case manager) had given him special permission to come get his movies.  i told both of them that i'm calling C since i didn't believe she would say that without notifying me & T about it.  C didn't answer her cell or the texts i sent her. 

Eventually he left.

First thing this morning C returned my call and said she did NOT give him permission to come over at all.  they will deal with him later today for breaking the rule. 

When J got up she came and asked me 'why did i hate her so much?' 

we had a long talk this morning & i clarified that i did NOT hate her but i hated being lied to.  i also despise do-do coming into the house...he's loud & obnoxious and i don't trust him! 

i still don't believe half of what J says to me regardless of how truthful she claims to be.  part of me thinks she's a con-artist playing the pitiful old lady bit.  especially when she makes 900 excuses for her actions.  until i see proof my suspicions will remain. 

chaos, relapses & revelation of character

the beginning of the week, sunday, was cool; me & the 2 roomies went to Bible Study that evening, had a good time and everything was pretty laid back. 

monday, however, was a whole other story:  the 2 roomies are hanging out with each other, running errands etc., i go to my Orthopedics appointment (my carpal tunnel surgery is scheduled for Oct.). by late afternoon J comes back to the house & asks me to cut a pair of old jeans up for cut-off shorts, to wear to the river bank with T. 

around 8 pm there's a knock at the door, i can hear the key going into the lock just as i'm unlocking the door.  when i open it, the neighbor (do-do) is there holding up J to steady her at the doorway; he tells me she's taken too much of her meds and she needs help to her bed.  i take her hand and start leading her to the couch, i'm also on the phone with my mom; just as i turned around J lets go of my hand and falls on the coffee table.  i hang up with mom and get J picked up and set her down on the couch.  what little talking J is doing is just slurred mutterings; trying to figure out if i'm dealing with an overdose of some kind.  i get J to her bed, eventually, mostly carrying-walking her down the hallway because by now she can barely stand up  before falling straight down immediately. J even fell off the bed twice before i could get her seated on the bed.  as i was leaving her room i thought about leaving her door unlocked just for tonight but i locked it anyway at her request. 

i got back on the phone with mom and gave her the highlights on my roomie J.  by then mom suggested calling 911 to see if she needed to go to the ER since she was overdosing on something. 

i called 911 and told them she was overdosing and in a locked bedroom do i needed both Fire & EMTs to get to her.  the EMTs showed up first and we kept talking to J through the door until we got inside to get to her.  we get J loaded up on the gurney and they head out to the ER.  once they left i asked do-do if T left her in the driveway or did J walk home from the river since her shoes were missing too.  He said T dropped her off in the driveway and she was already falling down out of the car.  J had staggered and fell on his porch next door, so he walked her over to our house; she fell at least once more during that walk to the door. 

i kept leaving text messages & voicemails for T and our case manager C about the whole incident. 

the next morning i get a call from D asking about J and if she made it home from the ER; she called there and she had been released already.  this concerned me since she left the house with no shoes.  J was still sleeping it off in her room, apparently she walked home or found a ride.  J had mixed alcohol with her meds, most of which you can't do anyway. 

i was just thankful J had survived the whole ordeal. 

i spent the rest of tuesday trying to come down from the stress of monday night; mostly avoiding J so i wouldn't snap at her. 

J has apologized profusely to me about that night and C apologized to me for having to deal with the crisis as well as thanked me for everything. 

i told J what both T did and what do-do did for her that night; 'do-do may be a jerk but he at least helped you to the door which T did NOT.' 

on the plus side: i have a job interview tomorrow afternoon (prayers for a gig)