Sigh, back to the grind. It was pretty crazy yesterday. Monday mornings often are. As I arrived at the shelter, a mother and daughter (about 4) walked up to me and asked if I worked there. She said they had no where to go and were just walking. I told her I couldn't help her right now and tried to give her directions on somewhere else to go, but she was not from Athens. She said her daughter needed to use the bathroom. I got them some bread and let her use the bathroom. They left while I was on the phone.

Two families left over the weekend. I had known that one had gotten a chance at a place to live. Apparently she invited the other to move in with her. The second Mom, with one child, will probably not enjoy living with the first Mom, with four children under 5, but maybe I'm wrong. I think they are likely to engage in petty criminal activities, but maybe I'm wrong. A third Mom was moving out yesterday. She had bags and bags of stuff. Hoarding is not uncommon for people who are homeless. Her boyfriend came with a car and went away and came back with a truck. He was berating her and she was just calmly replying how her baby needed clothes and toys... Kerri is interviewing families to move in this week. Later in the day I had a call from a woman who wanted to know if a certain person was staying at the shelter. We often get calls like that, usually wanting to help them. We don't confirm or deny any residents. She said she and her daughter had asked for money and all she could scrape up was about $4 in change. She told her she would cash a check and bring $25 by the shelter (The woman said that's where she was staying). I told her we couldn't do that, but of course the residents had plenty of food and all their needs were met. She said yes, I should have realized that, and I thought I smelled alcohol, but I try not to judge... I also had a message on the answering machine from someone who needed a caretaker, someone to live in, and figured she would ask someone from the shelter. I have had those calls before too. Or people who stop by looking for someone to rake their leaves. The thought is good, but we don't generally encourage our residents to do that.

Ray and I came home about 3. Vanessa had been to the doctor and gotten lots of meds. They said this bug was going around. She seemed much better, with more energy. She was trying to put the dishes away until I scolded her and told her she was too germy to do that. The Captain seemed really glad to have me there to take over cooking and cleaning duties. He even followed orders really well, emptying the compost and getting some lettuce and herbs for our supper. He also cut the leftover lamb off the bone and looked on line for a recipe using lamb leftovers. Vanessa wrote it down and it will be waiting for us when we come home! I got out some of the ingredients and left them on the counter.

The down side of the time change is I fell asleep before 9.