So you might find me at the beach. However later this week it's supposed to be colder (ohhh.. like 58 degrees. I know it's a rough life we have here) so I think we'll be heading to the mountains to visit snow. I'd been meaning to do that for some time, but haven't gotten around to it. And 58 here means COLD in the mountains. It actually might be snowing there.
In other plans- to take the van to get it's fuel filter changed. Larry thinks it'll fix the current issue with it and it'll be cheaper than a new car. And depending on the day, sometimes I can park the Excursion. Somedays I cannot possibly park it. It's big enough I can make my own spaces but also big enough it could eat a small car for lunch and I won't notice it until the telltale crunch sound. (don't ask)
I have exactly a week and a day before my parents get here which means I have that time to get my bookkeeeping in order enough to drop off my taxes to get them done and get their guest room ready. And instead of planning every waking moment getting ready, I'm planning a sledding and beach trip. I think I have a problem. Eh. The first step is recognizing the problem, right? I'm very seriously looking for someone who understands quickbooks to fix my problems here. The more I put into it, the more messy it becomes. I need professional help there, too.
So.. with that optimistic outlook on life I'll go toss some diapers on our front step for fedex to pick up and put some bathing suits on the kids...
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
The end of another week
WHERE does the time go?
This week flew by. Again. Started Monday with our toned-down lab day which means the kids have swimming lessons (yes. in the outdoor pool year round) and then Joey has his lego workshop, which is at the school during which Sonia gets to sit in the school library and read and pick out more books. You'd think that was boring, right? not to her.
Tuesday was spent traveling to San Diego for the sole purpose of getting prescriptions refilled. Yep. That's right. We have "the best healthcare for the best military" but they don't stock our prescriptions here at Pendleton. We have to drive down there to get it. And I'm going to have a chat the next time I see the one dr in particular who only prescribes 2 weeks at a time, which means 2 times the fun per month. It took the better part of Tuesday to go there, wait, and come back. And what's more- they have electronic medical records. They're all linked. BUT they can't order labs or xrays here, so should you or your loved ones need lab work.. yep.. you're traveling again.
JM's bowel issues persist, and I haven't had the heart to pursue it further. He's not potty trained, Seemingly prefers to go in his diaper. We put him in underwear, to see if that might give him incentive. Nope. Just made for some huge messes to clean up. I know. 3 year olds should be potty trained. I know. Try telling him that.
Wednesday is a blur, but I think it involved spending a great deal of time trying to un-mess-up my quickbooks records of the business for the year. Somehow all our sales are in there as red numbers. I don't know how I did that. I inport them as 'income' classified as sales, yet it registers as negatives. I need an accountant and bookkeeper. Asap. I have a friend coming over tonight for dinner and hopefully she'll be able to set it straight for me. If not I'm looking for someone with time on their hands who can figure out what I've done wrong.
Thursday we had the kids' conference to prove they're learning. It went better than last time. I brought the laptop and a movie for the kids to watch when not being interviewed and the principal wasn't supervising our visit. However.. some other mom shows up at our time and says 'oh, this isn't my conference time?' No. It's ours (and praise Jesus, we were on time, we we were already occupying the cubicle) She sighs and says 'oh, I don't know what I can do waiting a whole hour with my 4 kids...' PULEASE. Really? I resist the urge to say what I'm really thinking and just shrug. I look at her kids. Her youngest is about 6. Mine is 3. I have no sympathy. No. you can't have my time slot. Go hang out the in library like we do every Monday for an hour.
Thursday we also went to the town library and farmer's market. Not big time excitement for most, but for us, it's about as exciting as it gets. I hadn't been to this farmer's market in ages and had forgotten it's about as non-farm a farmer's market you can find. Lots of prepared foods- if you wanted tamales, tacos, gyros, kettle korn- it's your place. Produce, dairy or other farm products- not so much. Lots of crafty booths, too- baby clothes, incense, candles, glass vases- decidedly non farm-y. I guess that's what you get from a non-farm town. Surprisingly the Farmer's market in Downtown San Diego had alot more grown from the farm stuff than the one in Oceanside did. Guess I'll try the Bonsall one next.
So that brings us to today. My plans involve getting to the Commissary because we're out of pull ups. And since we're going there, we'll also pick up the other assorted stuff that I've been saying 'oh, I'll get that the next time I go there..' They're closing one gate for construction all weekend and the other will be closed for the iron man race on Sat. I know. Great planning at it's best. At least we had notice and I'll plan on staying as far away as possible.
This Sunday we're going to find a church that does actual palm something for Palm Sunday. It's the nostalgic person in me who has been in a non-Palm church for the past 6 or 7 years. I'm ready to go back to some of the old traditions. At least a few select ones.
This week flew by. Again. Started Monday with our toned-down lab day which means the kids have swimming lessons (yes. in the outdoor pool year round) and then Joey has his lego workshop, which is at the school during which Sonia gets to sit in the school library and read and pick out more books. You'd think that was boring, right? not to her.
Tuesday was spent traveling to San Diego for the sole purpose of getting prescriptions refilled. Yep. That's right. We have "the best healthcare for the best military" but they don't stock our prescriptions here at Pendleton. We have to drive down there to get it. And I'm going to have a chat the next time I see the one dr in particular who only prescribes 2 weeks at a time, which means 2 times the fun per month. It took the better part of Tuesday to go there, wait, and come back. And what's more- they have electronic medical records. They're all linked. BUT they can't order labs or xrays here, so should you or your loved ones need lab work.. yep.. you're traveling again.
JM's bowel issues persist, and I haven't had the heart to pursue it further. He's not potty trained, Seemingly prefers to go in his diaper. We put him in underwear, to see if that might give him incentive. Nope. Just made for some huge messes to clean up. I know. 3 year olds should be potty trained. I know. Try telling him that.
Wednesday is a blur, but I think it involved spending a great deal of time trying to un-mess-up my quickbooks records of the business for the year. Somehow all our sales are in there as red numbers. I don't know how I did that. I inport them as 'income' classified as sales, yet it registers as negatives. I need an accountant and bookkeeper. Asap. I have a friend coming over tonight for dinner and hopefully she'll be able to set it straight for me. If not I'm looking for someone with time on their hands who can figure out what I've done wrong.
Thursday we had the kids' conference to prove they're learning. It went better than last time. I brought the laptop and a movie for the kids to watch when not being interviewed and the principal wasn't supervising our visit. However.. some other mom shows up at our time and says 'oh, this isn't my conference time?' No. It's ours (and praise Jesus, we were on time, we we were already occupying the cubicle) She sighs and says 'oh, I don't know what I can do waiting a whole hour with my 4 kids...' PULEASE. Really? I resist the urge to say what I'm really thinking and just shrug. I look at her kids. Her youngest is about 6. Mine is 3. I have no sympathy. No. you can't have my time slot. Go hang out the in library like we do every Monday for an hour.
Thursday we also went to the town library and farmer's market. Not big time excitement for most, but for us, it's about as exciting as it gets. I hadn't been to this farmer's market in ages and had forgotten it's about as non-farm a farmer's market you can find. Lots of prepared foods- if you wanted tamales, tacos, gyros, kettle korn- it's your place. Produce, dairy or other farm products- not so much. Lots of crafty booths, too- baby clothes, incense, candles, glass vases- decidedly non farm-y. I guess that's what you get from a non-farm town. Surprisingly the Farmer's market in Downtown San Diego had alot more grown from the farm stuff than the one in Oceanside did. Guess I'll try the Bonsall one next.
So that brings us to today. My plans involve getting to the Commissary because we're out of pull ups. And since we're going there, we'll also pick up the other assorted stuff that I've been saying 'oh, I'll get that the next time I go there..' They're closing one gate for construction all weekend and the other will be closed for the iron man race on Sat. I know. Great planning at it's best. At least we had notice and I'll plan on staying as far away as possible.
This Sunday we're going to find a church that does actual palm something for Palm Sunday. It's the nostalgic person in me who has been in a non-Palm church for the past 6 or 7 years. I'm ready to go back to some of the old traditions. At least a few select ones.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
It's amazing how time flies
It's been the usual chaos here. We've been a bit distracted by the healthcare debate this weekend Or impending train wreck, depending on your view of it. We live with government healthcare which I have endless complaints about, and then come to find out that the bill that they're planning on passing will take Tricare out of the hands of DOD (dept of defense). Lord. you mean it could get worse?!!! I have never.ever.ever felt passionate about anything politics related until this much less donated to anything politics related. And I donated to the tea party. We've been studying the American Revolution. I get it. I just think not enough people do.
I've been working on getting our diapers on Amazon. And they should be live shortly. Hopefully we'll move lots of inventory shortly. And in addition to selling on Amazon, we're letting them ship it for me. So I send them stuff, upload it to the site and they deal with the hassles. AND then all our 'but we want free shipping' customers can get it- from Amazon. not us. I think it's a win-win situation. We'll see how it goes. It could be a nightmare. Like government healthcare. And it looks like I might want to keep the business option open since working in healthcare could be so.. ahem.. bureaucratic... again.. it goes back to that...
I've been working on our taxes. It's a yearly problem here that as April approaches, I realize I should have been better about keeping our records in one place. And frankly.. Moving.. again.. didn't help anything in finding stuff.
So if you don't see or hear from me much.. I'm somewhere in the bowels of quickbooks and taxact. Last year I really messed our taxes up. Big time. Apparently the DOD sent 2 w-2's who would guess that 1 employer would send 2 w-2s? You got it -the government does. So I found 1 W2 did our taxes and away the taxes went with the other 32 pages of forms.. and .. oops. Found the second W2. Sent our amended tax file. Twice, Then they send me their correction which didn't match my correction. With a bill for what we owed them and the interest for the past year.
So.. with that in my recent track record, I'm really considering hiring a real accountant to review my mistakes this year. Of course, I'm fully aware that they can't do anything more than with what I give them, so if I only handed them 1 W2, we'd still be in the situation we were in.
*sigh*
Anyway..
In kid news.. we have what could be our last conference at their charter school this week. I'm planning ahead and bringing a laptop and movie for the kids to watch while the other ones have their conference. They used to have a TV and dvd player, but they did away with them because.. I dunno.. it was too convenient to let the kids watch TV under the watchful eye of the homeschooling dept secretary. It's much more convenient to cram 6 of us in an office cubical designed for 1 person and attempt to keep the noise level down to below the point where it drowns out thought.
And with my short-timer homeschooling mentality, we've done several field trips. 2 weeks ago we went to the desert and learned about desert habitats, cactus and wildflowers. This past week we went to Old Town, a state park that is a reproduction of an 1800's California town- a museum and other buildings. Wednesday is living history day and they have living exhibits- like the blacksmith, school and donkeys. While it's not Old Sturbridge Village, it's a whole lot closer. And cheaper. (It's free).
I'm planning on doing a homeschool trip to Sea World next month, too. Since it's another last-hurrah. sort of thing. They also have homeschool day at legoland, but after our year at legoland, I'm not rushing back there right now.
Friday they had the Marine Corps Silent Drill Corp and Bugle and Drum Corp perform on base. Of course I took the kids. Joey was mesmerized. JM plugged his ears for most of the bugle corp performance (it was a little loud) and Kayla and Sonia wouldn't stop talking and asking "what are they doing?" during the SILENT drill corps performance. So much for broadening their horizons.
So after the Drill corp was done, the Color Guard had their turn and they did the national anthem during which I lost count of the times of telling the girls to be quiet and stand, because that's how you show respect (why is everyone standing? Why are the marines saluting? is daddy here?...etc..)
So as the Anthem is done, I grab the kids and tell them we're leaving. JM bolts. I can't find him and the marines are frozen in attention. ( I think they were doing something with the Marine Flag...??) And we're weaving around them to try to find him. Find him. He'd made a b-line for the stroller we'd parked behind the bleachers. And we nearly run over the toes of more Marines standing at attention doing their best to pretend like we're not there.
And as we walk down the sidewalk to the car. They play the Marine Anthem (the one from Monetuma to the shores of Tripoli..) and it was like a sci-fi movie. All marines. Exactly where they were, in uniform or not- frozen. Eerie. Like time stood still and we were walking and the rest of the world was stuck. Like in Narnia- the queen froze them into statues.
Wove around them on the side walk, side stepped around a few. Heck, if they're statues why not? beside, the kids were noisy, distracting and not acting appropriate for the level of somberness and seriousness all things Marine Corp are treated here.
So I get home and later that night tell Larry.. "hey, did you know if they play that 'from the halls of Montezuma song' that all Marines freeze in attention, in uniform or not?
he looks at me in an odd way. and asks 'you didn't?!'
'uh, no. was I supposed to?'
Shakes his head and tells me next time tattoo 'Navy wife' to my forhead before doing something like that.
Sheesh.
Who knew? And if there are these rules, why don't they give them to each new to Marine base family? Then again.. most of the rules have been either word of mouth, or told to Larry to pass on to me but somewhere was lost in the transition..
Just blundering my way through life. It's worked 36 years, why look for a different method?
I've been working on getting our diapers on Amazon. And they should be live shortly. Hopefully we'll move lots of inventory shortly. And in addition to selling on Amazon, we're letting them ship it for me. So I send them stuff, upload it to the site and they deal with the hassles. AND then all our 'but we want free shipping' customers can get it- from Amazon. not us. I think it's a win-win situation. We'll see how it goes. It could be a nightmare. Like government healthcare. And it looks like I might want to keep the business option open since working in healthcare could be so.. ahem.. bureaucratic... again.. it goes back to that...
I've been working on our taxes. It's a yearly problem here that as April approaches, I realize I should have been better about keeping our records in one place. And frankly.. Moving.. again.. didn't help anything in finding stuff.
So if you don't see or hear from me much.. I'm somewhere in the bowels of quickbooks and taxact. Last year I really messed our taxes up. Big time. Apparently the DOD sent 2 w-2's who would guess that 1 employer would send 2 w-2s? You got it -the government does. So I found 1 W2 did our taxes and away the taxes went with the other 32 pages of forms.. and .. oops. Found the second W2. Sent our amended tax file. Twice, Then they send me their correction which didn't match my correction. With a bill for what we owed them and the interest for the past year.
So.. with that in my recent track record, I'm really considering hiring a real accountant to review my mistakes this year. Of course, I'm fully aware that they can't do anything more than with what I give them, so if I only handed them 1 W2, we'd still be in the situation we were in.
*sigh*
Anyway..
In kid news.. we have what could be our last conference at their charter school this week. I'm planning ahead and bringing a laptop and movie for the kids to watch while the other ones have their conference. They used to have a TV and dvd player, but they did away with them because.. I dunno.. it was too convenient to let the kids watch TV under the watchful eye of the homeschooling dept secretary. It's much more convenient to cram 6 of us in an office cubical designed for 1 person and attempt to keep the noise level down to below the point where it drowns out thought.
And with my short-timer homeschooling mentality, we've done several field trips. 2 weeks ago we went to the desert and learned about desert habitats, cactus and wildflowers. This past week we went to Old Town, a state park that is a reproduction of an 1800's California town- a museum and other buildings. Wednesday is living history day and they have living exhibits- like the blacksmith, school and donkeys. While it's not Old Sturbridge Village, it's a whole lot closer. And cheaper. (It's free).
I'm planning on doing a homeschool trip to Sea World next month, too. Since it's another last-hurrah. sort of thing. They also have homeschool day at legoland, but after our year at legoland, I'm not rushing back there right now.
Friday they had the Marine Corps Silent Drill Corp and Bugle and Drum Corp perform on base. Of course I took the kids. Joey was mesmerized. JM plugged his ears for most of the bugle corp performance (it was a little loud) and Kayla and Sonia wouldn't stop talking and asking "what are they doing?" during the SILENT drill corps performance. So much for broadening their horizons.
So after the Drill corp was done, the Color Guard had their turn and they did the national anthem during which I lost count of the times of telling the girls to be quiet and stand, because that's how you show respect (why is everyone standing? Why are the marines saluting? is daddy here?...etc..)
So as the Anthem is done, I grab the kids and tell them we're leaving. JM bolts. I can't find him and the marines are frozen in attention. ( I think they were doing something with the Marine Flag...??) And we're weaving around them to try to find him. Find him. He'd made a b-line for the stroller we'd parked behind the bleachers. And we nearly run over the toes of more Marines standing at attention doing their best to pretend like we're not there.
And as we walk down the sidewalk to the car. They play the Marine Anthem (the one from Monetuma to the shores of Tripoli..) and it was like a sci-fi movie. All marines. Exactly where they were, in uniform or not- frozen. Eerie. Like time stood still and we were walking and the rest of the world was stuck. Like in Narnia- the queen froze them into statues.
Wove around them on the side walk, side stepped around a few. Heck, if they're statues why not? beside, the kids were noisy, distracting and not acting appropriate for the level of somberness and seriousness all things Marine Corp are treated here.
So I get home and later that night tell Larry.. "hey, did you know if they play that 'from the halls of Montezuma song' that all Marines freeze in attention, in uniform or not?
he looks at me in an odd way. and asks 'you didn't?!'
'uh, no. was I supposed to?'
Shakes his head and tells me next time tattoo 'Navy wife' to my forhead before doing something like that.
Sheesh.
Who knew? And if there are these rules, why don't they give them to each new to Marine base family? Then again.. most of the rules have been either word of mouth, or told to Larry to pass on to me but somewhere was lost in the transition..
Just blundering my way through life. It's worked 36 years, why look for a different method?
Friday, March 12, 2010
In pursuit of new things...
We added deserts to our experiences.
Ya know- the dry arid generally hot places? not the sugar filled after dinner snacks.
And I hear and read about desert wildflowers and this year being a particularly spectacular one because we've had rain.
So we went. We took the scenic way there, through an old mountain mining town (put on the list to return to in slightly warmer weather)
And it was indeed beautiful. If only we didn't need to live near civilization to work...
Did the visitor center thing, the kids' discovery center (because it's all about learning) and then did more wandering in the desert.
And when I was home looking at maps and planning our trips, I saw many many 'unimproved jeep roads' with 'high clearance and 4 wheel drive recommended' and thought 'hey, I'll take the truck, not problem..' when I actually got there I started to loose my nerve. Not so much because I thought I'd get stuck but because it was so.... desolate...
We parked and did alot of walking around. Joey was hunting for snakes, mostly determined to find himself a rattlesnake. I think because he's afraid of them. And then when that wasn't enough thrill for him he decided to try cactus touching. The Barrel Cacti mostly. The didn't really hurt.
So.. without much more babbling on, here are the pictures: (yes. Sonia got a haircut this week. We donated her hair to locks of love. She decided she'd rather have short hair than fight about brushing it every.single.day. She likes it. I think her father thinks it's a little too short for a little girl. oh well. it'll grow.)
OK. failed at an attempt at embedding a slide show, so click below
http://smg.photobucket.com/home/gcowles/recentuploads?view=slideshow
Ya know- the dry arid generally hot places? not the sugar filled after dinner snacks.
And I hear and read about desert wildflowers and this year being a particularly spectacular one because we've had rain.
So we went. We took the scenic way there, through an old mountain mining town (put on the list to return to in slightly warmer weather)
And it was indeed beautiful. If only we didn't need to live near civilization to work...
Did the visitor center thing, the kids' discovery center (because it's all about learning) and then did more wandering in the desert.
And when I was home looking at maps and planning our trips, I saw many many 'unimproved jeep roads' with 'high clearance and 4 wheel drive recommended' and thought 'hey, I'll take the truck, not problem..' when I actually got there I started to loose my nerve. Not so much because I thought I'd get stuck but because it was so.... desolate...
We parked and did alot of walking around. Joey was hunting for snakes, mostly determined to find himself a rattlesnake. I think because he's afraid of them. And then when that wasn't enough thrill for him he decided to try cactus touching. The Barrel Cacti mostly. The didn't really hurt.
So.. without much more babbling on, here are the pictures: (yes. Sonia got a haircut this week. We donated her hair to locks of love. She decided she'd rather have short hair than fight about brushing it every.single.day. She likes it. I think her father thinks it's a little too short for a little girl. oh well. it'll grow.)
OK. failed at an attempt at embedding a slide show, so click below
http://smg.photobucket.com/home/gcowles/recentuploads?view=slideshow
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Our trust fund
(One of) This morning's crisis: toddler snatches 'princess' and runs away with it.
She's chasing him screeching to 'give it back'
I intervene, address the snatching and tell him he's a boy, could he use the prince instead..
he tells me, 'I'm not a boy. I'm a girl.'
I see therapy in both our futures.
Some people start trust funds for college educations. We'll need one for therapy.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The beginning of a new week
I hope it's a good one.
We've ended this week at the Zoo. In nearly 2 years we've lived here, Larry had never been to the Zoo.
We fixed that.
He had a procedure at the Hospital at Balboa on Friday. And since it required leaving the house at 6 am, he decided that he'd drive himself and I'd just mosey down there later to pick him up. Since there was 5 or so hours of observation afterward, I had plenty to time I'd be killing with the kids sitting around waiting.
So I'd told them I'd take them to the zoo.
And then decided that I'd just take them to lunch and drop them off at hourly care and go find Larry.
And while I have little nice to say about military medicine's patient friendliness... their hourly care ROCKS. Seriously- other hospitals should try it. You register you kid and pay $4/hr to drop them off. If you have 1 or 2 kids that's a fantastic deal. Those of us with 4, it's less of a deal. BUT... it's oh so convenient!!! Nothing is quite as nice as not having to stress about finding a babysitter for the day so you can go to you dr apt. And you're not paying her 2 or more hours of your commute time, so it does actually end up to be cheaper, in general. AND they let me drop off my 6 year olds. No questions asked. (well, they asked the first time, I told them we homeschooled and it was a non-issue) Pendleton's hourly care - not at the hospital and not specifically for that reason- doesn't let me drop off 6 year olds. And they don't always/often have 2 spots open when I need them. Sometimes they do. But they're a real care with drop in space on a space available basis.. the Balboa one is specifically for dropping your kids off so you can go to the dr.
It does have some downsides- it closes at 4pm. A bummer since if you make an apt at 2 pm or later, you run a serious risk that you won't be done before the day care closes.
And then they call you asking you where you are (ask me how I know this...) even if you walked out before the dr finally came in to see you, explaining the day care your kids were at was about to close- you'll get stuck in lovely SoCal traffic and that's where you'll be at a traffic crawl, waiting for the police man next to you to pull you over for answering the phone when the day care is asking where you are.
But.. now that I know that, I can plan. And I PLAN on not having to use them very often and never for appointments after 2 pm.
But other than that... getting care there is just so much like going to the DMV. For example. I needed to get a prescription filled at this pharmacy. While Larry was waiting, I figured I'd kill an extra bird with this trip and go downstairs to the pharmacy. The fact that there were any empty seats told me it was less than at maximum business. The hold area is about twice size of the area you wait at the gate for your airplane to start boarding. And set up with half as much room to maneuver between the seats. I find the deli-counter number dispenser, get a number, take a seat and wait. The overhead speakers blare "number 635 to window number 5" repeat it once and moves on to the next number/window combination. Like one of those Farenhiet451 scenes, only in real life. (on an aside- WHO decided that was required high school reading?! what made that a classic?)
Get to the window, hand the robotic person there my id and number ticket, without even looking at me, she starts clicking the computer screen. I have never seen what the screen shows, but in the time it takes her to find my name, I think she could have written the next 3 chapters in the weird sci fi book. Hands me another number and ID, still not looking above my waist level.
Sit and wait some more. Watch the screen since it shows your number before the computer says it, waiting for C0429 to be called. Which is pretty much all you are while you're there- a number of some sort. In this case it's last name initial with last 4 of your social security number. Watch the screen that shows the already called numbers and realize it's been frozen since some time in 1999. since none of the numbers on the pick up end change to the ones called. In fact it's the same number there from when I was there last month getting JM's prescription. I think the person died while waiting. Guess they don't need that heart medication after all.
When your number if called you get to wait in the pick up line. I think they're kidding themselves since the roped off section where the "line" is supposed to wait is 5 feet long- one of those little pole with cords long on both sides. The actually lines STARTS there, works it's way along the outside of the wall, across the entrance doorway and further down the wall in front of the people sitting in the chairs- just enough room to not step on their toes if you're careful, but not enough room if you have a walker, stroller or 4 kids waiting with you... My kids of course thought the waiting in the line when it moved in front of the automatic door was a blast. As soon as it closed they'd dance around to make it open. Repeat.
And if you think that's fun, just you wait until the government's fixed civilian health care.
We've ended this week at the Zoo. In nearly 2 years we've lived here, Larry had never been to the Zoo.
We fixed that.
He had a procedure at the Hospital at Balboa on Friday. And since it required leaving the house at 6 am, he decided that he'd drive himself and I'd just mosey down there later to pick him up. Since there was 5 or so hours of observation afterward, I had plenty to time I'd be killing with the kids sitting around waiting.
So I'd told them I'd take them to the zoo.
And then decided that I'd just take them to lunch and drop them off at hourly care and go find Larry.
And while I have little nice to say about military medicine's patient friendliness... their hourly care ROCKS. Seriously- other hospitals should try it. You register you kid and pay $4/hr to drop them off. If you have 1 or 2 kids that's a fantastic deal. Those of us with 4, it's less of a deal. BUT... it's oh so convenient!!! Nothing is quite as nice as not having to stress about finding a babysitter for the day so you can go to you dr apt. And you're not paying her 2 or more hours of your commute time, so it does actually end up to be cheaper, in general. AND they let me drop off my 6 year olds. No questions asked. (well, they asked the first time, I told them we homeschooled and it was a non-issue) Pendleton's hourly care - not at the hospital and not specifically for that reason- doesn't let me drop off 6 year olds. And they don't always/often have 2 spots open when I need them. Sometimes they do. But they're a real care with drop in space on a space available basis.. the Balboa one is specifically for dropping your kids off so you can go to the dr.
It does have some downsides- it closes at 4pm. A bummer since if you make an apt at 2 pm or later, you run a serious risk that you won't be done before the day care closes.
And then they call you asking you where you are (ask me how I know this...) even if you walked out before the dr finally came in to see you, explaining the day care your kids were at was about to close- you'll get stuck in lovely SoCal traffic and that's where you'll be at a traffic crawl, waiting for the police man next to you to pull you over for answering the phone when the day care is asking where you are.
But.. now that I know that, I can plan. And I PLAN on not having to use them very often and never for appointments after 2 pm.
But other than that... getting care there is just so much like going to the DMV. For example. I needed to get a prescription filled at this pharmacy. While Larry was waiting, I figured I'd kill an extra bird with this trip and go downstairs to the pharmacy. The fact that there were any empty seats told me it was less than at maximum business. The hold area is about twice size of the area you wait at the gate for your airplane to start boarding. And set up with half as much room to maneuver between the seats. I find the deli-counter number dispenser, get a number, take a seat and wait. The overhead speakers blare "number 635 to window number 5" repeat it once and moves on to the next number/window combination. Like one of those Farenhiet451 scenes, only in real life. (on an aside- WHO decided that was required high school reading?! what made that a classic?)
Get to the window, hand the robotic person there my id and number ticket, without even looking at me, she starts clicking the computer screen. I have never seen what the screen shows, but in the time it takes her to find my name, I think she could have written the next 3 chapters in the weird sci fi book. Hands me another number and ID, still not looking above my waist level.
Sit and wait some more. Watch the screen since it shows your number before the computer says it, waiting for C0429 to be called. Which is pretty much all you are while you're there- a number of some sort. In this case it's last name initial with last 4 of your social security number. Watch the screen that shows the already called numbers and realize it's been frozen since some time in 1999. since none of the numbers on the pick up end change to the ones called. In fact it's the same number there from when I was there last month getting JM's prescription. I think the person died while waiting. Guess they don't need that heart medication after all.
When your number if called you get to wait in the pick up line. I think they're kidding themselves since the roped off section where the "line" is supposed to wait is 5 feet long- one of those little pole with cords long on both sides. The actually lines STARTS there, works it's way along the outside of the wall, across the entrance doorway and further down the wall in front of the people sitting in the chairs- just enough room to not step on their toes if you're careful, but not enough room if you have a walker, stroller or 4 kids waiting with you... My kids of course thought the waiting in the line when it moved in front of the automatic door was a blast. As soon as it closed they'd dance around to make it open. Repeat.
And if you think that's fun, just you wait until the government's fixed civilian health care.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
So after a month of not posting a major rant
Dear Church-
(and I'm using the universal term, not a specific branch here, although I can name names if you're really want me to..)
Peace and greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus (isn't that how all the epistles start?)
It has been a long standing thorn in my side that I've asked the Lord to chill me out about and He hasn't. So, here are my thoughts:
This so-called meals ministry or hospitality ministry or whatever the local church calls it- where people bring meals to a particular person for a particular reason-
Is it really the best use of our resources and time to be making and taking meals to families with at least 1 non-working/non-affected adult in the house who is perfectly capable of making that household's meal that night?
Isn't there a verse about if they don't work, nor shall they eat?
Really this burns me up. And probably because I value self reliance so strongly, but...
If you have a cousin/mother/sister/adult daughter/perfectly capable adult living in the house with you.. do you really need someone in the church to make and bring you a meal?
*sigh*
I just feel taken advantage of when I get to a house which is immaculate (of course, because they have help living there who isn't cooking..) and find the extra adults just waiting for their (take out) meal to arrive. Which was delivered at meal time when I'd be better spending the time feeding my family rather than driving it to deliver it. (which here in So Cal at dinner time is 1.5 hr drive time because of traffic)
So I return to a disaster of a kitchen with hungry kids and annoyance in my heart.
Twice this month.
I don't think that's serving with a joyful heart.
And more so that after volunteering twice outside of the "reply all" system they have here, there was an email sent saying "please don't take this the wrong way, but why did you volunteer to serve on the team if you haven't volunteered?"
Well. Fine. I quit. Effective immediately. And I want my baking dish back.
And I'm pretty tired of all the "reply all" emails I get.
So, if you plan on having a baby and having family there for the week or two afterward, please don't ask for someone to bring a meal to you at your convenience, if it could please feed 4 healthy adult appetites and include dessert. Pick something up on your way home from the mall you were at when I first arrived at your house. Plan ahead, buy a frozen meal, get a pizza but really.. try some consideration for those who actually want to help those in NEED.
And dear ms meals coordinator, let's try screening out some of this nonsense, shall we? And keep in mind, if you have to say "please don't take this the wrong way" it WILL be taken the wrong way.
So "please don't take this the wrong way" but I quit and I think this "ministry" is a sick and twisted bastardization of what ministry should be.
Oh, what? your feelings are hurt?
I told you to not take it the wrong way.
(and I'm using the universal term, not a specific branch here, although I can name names if you're really want me to..)
Peace and greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus (isn't that how all the epistles start?)
It has been a long standing thorn in my side that I've asked the Lord to chill me out about and He hasn't. So, here are my thoughts:
This so-called meals ministry or hospitality ministry or whatever the local church calls it- where people bring meals to a particular person for a particular reason-
Is it really the best use of our resources and time to be making and taking meals to families with at least 1 non-working/non-affected adult in the house who is perfectly capable of making that household's meal that night?
Isn't there a verse about if they don't work, nor shall they eat?
Really this burns me up. And probably because I value self reliance so strongly, but...
If you have a cousin/mother/sister/adult daughter/perfectly capable adult living in the house with you.. do you really need someone in the church to make and bring you a meal?
*sigh*
I just feel taken advantage of when I get to a house which is immaculate (of course, because they have help living there who isn't cooking..) and find the extra adults just waiting for their (take out) meal to arrive. Which was delivered at meal time when I'd be better spending the time feeding my family rather than driving it to deliver it. (which here in So Cal at dinner time is 1.5 hr drive time because of traffic)
So I return to a disaster of a kitchen with hungry kids and annoyance in my heart.
Twice this month.
I don't think that's serving with a joyful heart.
And more so that after volunteering twice outside of the "reply all" system they have here, there was an email sent saying "please don't take this the wrong way, but why did you volunteer to serve on the team if you haven't volunteered?"
Well. Fine. I quit. Effective immediately. And I want my baking dish back.
And I'm pretty tired of all the "reply all" emails I get.
So, if you plan on having a baby and having family there for the week or two afterward, please don't ask for someone to bring a meal to you at your convenience, if it could please feed 4 healthy adult appetites and include dessert. Pick something up on your way home from the mall you were at when I first arrived at your house. Plan ahead, buy a frozen meal, get a pizza but really.. try some consideration for those who actually want to help those in NEED.
And dear ms meals coordinator, let's try screening out some of this nonsense, shall we? And keep in mind, if you have to say "please don't take this the wrong way" it WILL be taken the wrong way.
So "please don't take this the wrong way" but I quit and I think this "ministry" is a sick and twisted bastardization of what ministry should be.
Oh, what? your feelings are hurt?
I told you to not take it the wrong way.
As you can tell.. I've been a little uninspired in our blog.
I've had plenty to keep me busy, not to worry. Just haven't' taken the time to write it down. And my sense of humor seems to be hibernating.
Lets see.. in the past month since I posted much we've done quite a bit.
One of the bigger events was a field trip to a farm in the mountains. The charter school made the reservation. There were several other schools there. Normal-send-the-kids-from-school-on-a-bus schools.
And we left the house at 7:30 and it was 58 degrees at our house. Sure, chilly by our standards. And I'm sure that's the temp the kids went to school in. (which would be why they were in shorts and t shirts and freezing! there was a fire in a building the teachers were supposed to take their inappropriately dressed students to warm up by periodically)
But there that particular phenomenon that happens here where the higher in altitude you go, the colder it gets. As we were pulling in at 9:45 it was 42 degrees.This farm is the site of historical re-enactments and in the mountains. Just below the current snow line.
Anyway.. another new experience for us.. it was in the mountains that burned in one of the recent San Bernadino mountain fires. So the landscape as we neared the farm was 'standard burned out wildfire', but the new part was the mudslides- because it's been raining this winter. And when you pour rain on the burned dirt, there is nothing to keep the dirt in place- not that a whole lot was there to keep it in place, anyway.
So as we're driving the windy mountain roads, we see warning signs about mudslides and then.. the road is covered in mud and the road recently dug out form the last mudslide that had covered it.
I of course had to take pictures of this, but the camera is with Larry in Arkansas today (ask me about that later). So no pictures on the blog.
As we pull into the farm, the van's 'low oil pressure' light goes off and the idiot 'ding ding ding ding ding' starts going off for those of us who rarely look at the control panel. This of course put in into a bit of a panic. We were 2 hours from home, a good 20 minutes from the nearest something that resembled civilization and I wonder if AAA wishes I wasn't a card carrying member.Oh, yeah, and in the last 30 minutes Kayla got car sick, so I was OH.SO. ready to get out of the van for a while. Have I mentioned that we have kids that get carsick often?
Anyway.. since there was nothing to do about it, I get the kids out of the car and bundle them in their winter coats while listening to them complain about it being cold. If there is a next time we'll bring gloves, too. Sadly our gloves were eaten and nest-y from a mouse infestation so they were thrown out. And gloves are a little hard to find in stores here.
So the kids were spilt into groups with the guise they were from the town they were grouped under. Since this was a Revolutionary War field trip, our kids were from Concord. They rotated through stations where they had a blacksmith show how to make musket balls and tin soldiers out of pewter.. but the 2010 California twist to it was the blacksmith fire was run by propane. lol.
They had a weaving station, a period etiquette tent, a games area (the hoop and stick and graces games), a few discussion areas on the conditions leading up to the revolution- corrupt judges and taxes in partucular.
And then they had a period "militia lunch" of cornbread, an apple a piece of cheese that was probably cut last week and a small piece of beef jerky. The kids were glad I had packed them peanut butter on bread.
The final event of the day was a re-enactment of a revolutionary war battle, including the statement don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes and the marching and firing in lines and then reloading their muskets.
The adults fired real gunpowder, they gave the kids sticks and let them pretend, lol.
I hope our kids remember something from it.
In all it was a neat experience. And much like living in New England- they had classic capes, colonials and barn there, in period dress and it was COLD and you could see snow in the distance. I really like being able to visit this and still make it home at night.
Part of the day brought us through parts of California that were both beautiful, not crowded and rural. (oh, yeah, even had green grass since we've seen rain). If I had a pick somewhere to live, I'd probably move there. Really being this close to the beach is over rated.
Especially when there is a big ole earthquake and your area gets Tsunami advisoraries. Not that we'd have much to worry about where we live even if a 30 foot surge came on land, but it would certainly make life here difficult for a while.
Oh, yeah.. the van?
At the end of the day I decided to try to coast down the mountain as much as possible and find a gas station of somewhere that sells oil. I find a hardware store get 2 quarts, return to the van and... it's oil is still full. Just like it was the week previously when I had it's oil changed.
*sigh*
Well.. it's running as it usually does. I refuse to admit I might be driving it long enough to make pricey repairs on it. In fact it's needed shocks for a year and I've been reluctant to spend the money to repair those because that means I'm committing to driving it another 3 years or so..
Of course this means I could be driving it another 3 years with lousy shocks. But any further trips to the mountains will be in the truck. Which I really should have taken anyway, particularly had I known about the muddy roads. We even have chains for the tires now so we can go play in snowy mountains.
Hmmm.. maybe we'll go this weekend
Lets see.. in the past month since I posted much we've done quite a bit.
One of the bigger events was a field trip to a farm in the mountains. The charter school made the reservation. There were several other schools there. Normal-send-the-kids-from-school-on-a-bus schools.
And we left the house at 7:30 and it was 58 degrees at our house. Sure, chilly by our standards. And I'm sure that's the temp the kids went to school in. (which would be why they were in shorts and t shirts and freezing! there was a fire in a building the teachers were supposed to take their inappropriately dressed students to warm up by periodically)
But there that particular phenomenon that happens here where the higher in altitude you go, the colder it gets. As we were pulling in at 9:45 it was 42 degrees.This farm is the site of historical re-enactments and in the mountains. Just below the current snow line.
Anyway.. another new experience for us.. it was in the mountains that burned in one of the recent San Bernadino mountain fires. So the landscape as we neared the farm was 'standard burned out wildfire', but the new part was the mudslides- because it's been raining this winter. And when you pour rain on the burned dirt, there is nothing to keep the dirt in place- not that a whole lot was there to keep it in place, anyway.
So as we're driving the windy mountain roads, we see warning signs about mudslides and then.. the road is covered in mud and the road recently dug out form the last mudslide that had covered it.
I of course had to take pictures of this, but the camera is with Larry in Arkansas today (ask me about that later). So no pictures on the blog.
As we pull into the farm, the van's 'low oil pressure' light goes off and the idiot 'ding ding ding ding ding' starts going off for those of us who rarely look at the control panel. This of course put in into a bit of a panic. We were 2 hours from home, a good 20 minutes from the nearest something that resembled civilization and I wonder if AAA wishes I wasn't a card carrying member.Oh, yeah, and in the last 30 minutes Kayla got car sick, so I was OH.SO. ready to get out of the van for a while. Have I mentioned that we have kids that get carsick often?
Anyway.. since there was nothing to do about it, I get the kids out of the car and bundle them in their winter coats while listening to them complain about it being cold. If there is a next time we'll bring gloves, too. Sadly our gloves were eaten and nest-y from a mouse infestation so they were thrown out. And gloves are a little hard to find in stores here.
So the kids were spilt into groups with the guise they were from the town they were grouped under. Since this was a Revolutionary War field trip, our kids were from Concord. They rotated through stations where they had a blacksmith show how to make musket balls and tin soldiers out of pewter.. but the 2010 California twist to it was the blacksmith fire was run by propane. lol.
They had a weaving station, a period etiquette tent, a games area (the hoop and stick and graces games), a few discussion areas on the conditions leading up to the revolution- corrupt judges and taxes in partucular.
And then they had a period "militia lunch" of cornbread, an apple a piece of cheese that was probably cut last week and a small piece of beef jerky. The kids were glad I had packed them peanut butter on bread.
The final event of the day was a re-enactment of a revolutionary war battle, including the statement don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes and the marching and firing in lines and then reloading their muskets.
The adults fired real gunpowder, they gave the kids sticks and let them pretend, lol.
I hope our kids remember something from it.
In all it was a neat experience. And much like living in New England- they had classic capes, colonials and barn there, in period dress and it was COLD and you could see snow in the distance. I really like being able to visit this and still make it home at night.
Part of the day brought us through parts of California that were both beautiful, not crowded and rural. (oh, yeah, even had green grass since we've seen rain). If I had a pick somewhere to live, I'd probably move there. Really being this close to the beach is over rated.
Especially when there is a big ole earthquake and your area gets Tsunami advisoraries. Not that we'd have much to worry about where we live even if a 30 foot surge came on land, but it would certainly make life here difficult for a while.
Oh, yeah.. the van?
At the end of the day I decided to try to coast down the mountain as much as possible and find a gas station of somewhere that sells oil. I find a hardware store get 2 quarts, return to the van and... it's oil is still full. Just like it was the week previously when I had it's oil changed.
*sigh*
Well.. it's running as it usually does. I refuse to admit I might be driving it long enough to make pricey repairs on it. In fact it's needed shocks for a year and I've been reluctant to spend the money to repair those because that means I'm committing to driving it another 3 years or so..
Of course this means I could be driving it another 3 years with lousy shocks. But any further trips to the mountains will be in the truck. Which I really should have taken anyway, particularly had I known about the muddy roads. We even have chains for the tires now so we can go play in snowy mountains.
Hmmm.. maybe we'll go this weekend
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