And not blogging. Basically we're in survival mode here. JM's been sick and we finally took him in for testing for some GI related issues he's been having. Probably bad timing, since the croup/cold may have thrown off his blood work which means it will need to be repeated. Of course they didn't get all the blood they wanted/needed, so we have to go back, anyway..and bring stool samples.
Went back for my single fiber EMG which they had the needle ready this time. Had I know how much fun it was going to be, I probably wouldn't have gone back. Well.. no, I guess I would have had to.. I just would have been dreading it more. In my mind, it was a 1-2 x stick the needle in and do a reading.. but it was repeated 20x and the needle is moved until it 'finds' the nerve.. in my face. So.. no, after this there is NO way I'd consider botox. ouch!
JM turned 2 this week. A new milestone here- having a child turn 2 without a new baby around. But he wasn't feeling well and had no interest in cake or cupcake. I have a picture of him looking puzzled by the cupcake and candle for his imaginary scrapbook, but we may have a 'do-over' next week when he doesn't look drugged. Last year we postponed cake until his black eye healed so he didn't have a black eye in the picture.. I see a theme here.. always plan on his birthday celebration a week after the real day.
Of course, like magic the day after he turned 2, he figured out how to undress. So, now I have a half naked (or fully naked) kid running around who likes to escape to outside every chance he gets. This kid WEARS ME OUT. It probably wouldn't be AS bad if he was an only child, but he has the older 3 bickering/fighting/getting hurt/into something so as soon as I'm looking the other way, he's off and causing chaos. He is by no means entertained by TV so while the others I can have a few minutes of peace with turning on the glowing tube of light, it's an invitation for him to find trouble without the others' tattling on him... In addition to the other 3 leaving their very precious belongings around which he eats/throw/breaks causing more turmoil under our roof. THIS was NOT in the new parent manual when I was thinking of having kids. Oh, right.. that book was fiction, not an actual manual..
We had midterm evaluation at the kids' school. Sonia showed off how well she can read and Joey has started reading, too. Amazing how fast they grow and learn. The school re-enrollment forms were due yesterday and despite heavy pressure to re-enroll them, I didn't get around to bringing the forms in. Literally.. I was thinking 'well.. I can put up with this for next year, I guess..' but in my scatterbrained way of doing life.. I forgot about it until it was too late. Actually it was on the agenda- drop babysitter off after EMG, stop at the school, but it was so nice outside, instead of stopping at school we detoured to Legoland and well... when I remembered it was night time. And YES.. I wrote it down on my 'to-do' list. I misplaced the list. Or the puppy ate it, she chews everything.
I think I'll look around at all our other schooling options nows. And honestly, we are in all likelihood moving and I see no reason to enroll or commit to something I know there's a good chance isn't going to happen. Buying LegoLand tickets was the biggest future commitment I could handle. Even our PO box we rented is only a 6 month lease.
So.. the answer is NO- still no word on next year. And while I'm trying to play the cool-calm collected wife/mom here, the planner in me is starting to pace anxiously and mutter at the sky "I know you're in charge of the details, but would you mind sharing some of those details with me?"
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The end of a crazy week
It started with part 2 of the fight with the dentist office that I am NOT going back to. I went with Kayla, for the second appointment day since they could only see 2 people on any given day. I would have canceled it but I didn't think to before Larry confirmed it when they called to confirm we were going..
Arrange Larry's schedule (ER, love the flexibility) so he's there watching the others and when we get there, power trip receptionist says 'we told you last week, you have to have someone here to watch her when she's done' and I say 'you told me only those with appointments are allowed in the back, we both have appointments' Needless to say, I have a few thoughts and will probably end up writing to their corporate office, but I suspect they may already know there's a problem... they have been kicked off base, effective next month and a new dental practice will be in their place.
It went really well, in a way that I think only this office could have achieved. I wasn't seen because I didn't bring a babysitter.. but I stayed with Kayla to see what horrors they were going to do to her. And.. I wasn't disappointed.
The hygenist made her throw up- not once but twice. In brushing her teeth, they went a bit too far back and she gagged and breakfast appeared. And saying, 'oh, that's never happened before' repeat on the other side of her mouth and what ever was remaining in her stomach came up. Lovely. I couldn't ask for a better first dental experience for my 3 year old. Covered in vomit and looking and smelling lovely... And since I had 1 kid and Larry's car, I didn't even have the spare set of clothes to change her into in the parking lot.
Followed by the highlight of our week- the mystery food coop box. Similar to SHARE or Angelfood ministries, it's a box purchased for less than retail. Unlike SHARE or Angelfood which are national, this is a small local one that I don't have to be organized enough to sign up ahead of time and pay for it ahead of time. And it's weekly whereas the other 2 are monthly.
So, anyway, the way it works is you go to the place and wait your turn- no ordering, no volunteer time requirement, no choices in what you get.. just be there at the right time and place - which happens to be at the parking lot at the entrance to our neighborhood. I'd been driving past it for months thinking 'that looks like a food coop' and thinking I should look into it.
The cool thing about it is that it usually includes alot of organic foods (milk, juice, cereals, crackers, veggies) we wouldn't ordinarily buy due to cost. Well, that's that I think is cool, the kids love that often times we got a box of sugar cereal and little containers of yogurt or juice (organic, lol). And last week chocolate covered donuts. I'm learning to cook from what we have rather than going to the store with a list.. it's made for some interesting concoctions. For example- we have 3 boxes of instant potatoes. I think they're gross. And while I intend on donating the food we're no-way, no-how going to eat.. (like the soup with tripe in it) I wonder what to do with instant potatoes (other than try to make them- I tried to make instant mashed potatoes and well... blech) Thus far I've tried making potato pancakes. Several times. And having never eaten or made them before, I'm not entirely sure what they're supposed to taste or look like. Some pictures look like hash browns, some like pancakes.. And none of what I've made make me say 'oh yum, I want to eat more of that.' It seems there is a box included every week, so if we continue doing this coop, I think the food bank will be getting a box weekly from us.. unless I find a way to cook them to make them edible. Otherwise it's a lot of random stuff, some of which we love, some of which we don't. And I'd never eaten dandelion greens before...
The week ended with the Marathon health appointment day yesterday. Larry and I both had appointments and mine being nearly 2 hours away gave me the longer straw in the-drawing straws-for-taking-the-kids. In trying to live somewhere within our means, hiring a babysitter for the day would be as expensive as a week's worth of groceries.. so it was the kid/parent swap thing. Unfortunately for me, I thought that meant that he was going to get the kids up, get them dressed and out the door. HE thought I'd have all that done before leaving at 7am. Ahh, yes.. communication. gotta love it. I was gleefully going to bed amusing myself with thoughts of Larry trying to brush the girls' hair and say something to the effect of 'I have all their clothes laid out on the couch for you for the am' and get a stare of shock back. Oh well.. At least he took them with him.
And he got a bit of attention from those he works with for it- unlike the attention I get, he gets the "I can' t believe you have 4 kids, you look so young" comment. (I'm thinking they've aged me more than him, since they're with me 99% of the time.. and he got botox last month..- an entirely different topic on how he no longer has the perma-scowl on his face for the next 4 months or until the botox wears off..)
Which was a good thing he had them..since my test didn't go as planned and after getting pinned and poked the machine couldn't read what it was supposed to.. and involved waiting for hours.. for them to finally think they'd be able to retry in another hour once the particular defective item was brought to the autoclave, autoclaved and returned...) which would get me home an hour too late for Larry to report for what he needed to. (there was no option to not report) Panicked calls to both babysitters on file and my one friend also failed to get a live person on the phone or a call back before the critical hour I had to leave to get back. It was a big disappointment, especially since I have to go back there next week to let them re-try. 3-4 more hours in the car, driving towards LA in rush hour, arranging for Larry to have the am off to watch the kids, this time with babysitter back up should I not be back in 6 hours.
Arrange Larry's schedule (ER, love the flexibility) so he's there watching the others and when we get there, power trip receptionist says 'we told you last week, you have to have someone here to watch her when she's done' and I say 'you told me only those with appointments are allowed in the back, we both have appointments' Needless to say, I have a few thoughts and will probably end up writing to their corporate office, but I suspect they may already know there's a problem... they have been kicked off base, effective next month and a new dental practice will be in their place.
It went really well, in a way that I think only this office could have achieved. I wasn't seen because I didn't bring a babysitter.. but I stayed with Kayla to see what horrors they were going to do to her. And.. I wasn't disappointed.
The hygenist made her throw up- not once but twice. In brushing her teeth, they went a bit too far back and she gagged and breakfast appeared. And saying, 'oh, that's never happened before' repeat on the other side of her mouth and what ever was remaining in her stomach came up. Lovely. I couldn't ask for a better first dental experience for my 3 year old. Covered in vomit and looking and smelling lovely... And since I had 1 kid and Larry's car, I didn't even have the spare set of clothes to change her into in the parking lot.
Followed by the highlight of our week- the mystery food coop box. Similar to SHARE or Angelfood ministries, it's a box purchased for less than retail. Unlike SHARE or Angelfood which are national, this is a small local one that I don't have to be organized enough to sign up ahead of time and pay for it ahead of time. And it's weekly whereas the other 2 are monthly.
So, anyway, the way it works is you go to the place and wait your turn- no ordering, no volunteer time requirement, no choices in what you get.. just be there at the right time and place - which happens to be at the parking lot at the entrance to our neighborhood. I'd been driving past it for months thinking 'that looks like a food coop' and thinking I should look into it.
The cool thing about it is that it usually includes alot of organic foods (milk, juice, cereals, crackers, veggies) we wouldn't ordinarily buy due to cost. Well, that's that I think is cool, the kids love that often times we got a box of sugar cereal and little containers of yogurt or juice (organic, lol). And last week chocolate covered donuts. I'm learning to cook from what we have rather than going to the store with a list.. it's made for some interesting concoctions. For example- we have 3 boxes of instant potatoes. I think they're gross. And while I intend on donating the food we're no-way, no-how going to eat.. (like the soup with tripe in it) I wonder what to do with instant potatoes (other than try to make them- I tried to make instant mashed potatoes and well... blech) Thus far I've tried making potato pancakes. Several times. And having never eaten or made them before, I'm not entirely sure what they're supposed to taste or look like. Some pictures look like hash browns, some like pancakes.. And none of what I've made make me say 'oh yum, I want to eat more of that.' It seems there is a box included every week, so if we continue doing this coop, I think the food bank will be getting a box weekly from us.. unless I find a way to cook them to make them edible. Otherwise it's a lot of random stuff, some of which we love, some of which we don't. And I'd never eaten dandelion greens before...
The week ended with the Marathon health appointment day yesterday. Larry and I both had appointments and mine being nearly 2 hours away gave me the longer straw in the-drawing straws-for-taking-the-kids. In trying to live somewhere within our means, hiring a babysitter for the day would be as expensive as a week's worth of groceries.. so it was the kid/parent swap thing. Unfortunately for me, I thought that meant that he was going to get the kids up, get them dressed and out the door. HE thought I'd have all that done before leaving at 7am. Ahh, yes.. communication. gotta love it. I was gleefully going to bed amusing myself with thoughts of Larry trying to brush the girls' hair and say something to the effect of 'I have all their clothes laid out on the couch for you for the am' and get a stare of shock back. Oh well.. At least he took them with him.
And he got a bit of attention from those he works with for it- unlike the attention I get, he gets the "I can' t believe you have 4 kids, you look so young" comment. (I'm thinking they've aged me more than him, since they're with me 99% of the time.. and he got botox last month..- an entirely different topic on how he no longer has the perma-scowl on his face for the next 4 months or until the botox wears off..)
Which was a good thing he had them..since my test didn't go as planned and after getting pinned and poked the machine couldn't read what it was supposed to.. and involved waiting for hours.. for them to finally think they'd be able to retry in another hour once the particular defective item was brought to the autoclave, autoclaved and returned...) which would get me home an hour too late for Larry to report for what he needed to. (there was no option to not report) Panicked calls to both babysitters on file and my one friend also failed to get a live person on the phone or a call back before the critical hour I had to leave to get back. It was a big disappointment, especially since I have to go back there next week to let them re-try. 3-4 more hours in the car, driving towards LA in rush hour, arranging for Larry to have the am off to watch the kids, this time with babysitter back up should I not be back in 6 hours.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Is 35 too early for a mid life crisis?
Because I'm suddenly struck by the urge to look and act younger.
- I dug out my contacts and have been painfully getting re-used to them
- I'm thinking of getting one of those cool hair styles
- I bought 2 pairs of jeans- the kind that I see those in their 20's wearing and one of those new looking shirts that feel wayy too tight but apparently is the way they're supposed to look
- I started jogging again (to get rid of the fluff the shirt is exposing)
- I bought and used makeup (which prompted Larry to start asking questions as to where I was going and with whom.. )
- I started wearing shoes with heels with my new trendy jeans (who the heck came up with this fashion trend?!)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Facebook (again)
Everytime I go on there, I have to start singing 'it's a small world afterall'
Especially being raised in such a small corner of that small world. I see people on there I haven't seen since college and realize with a click of a button- I can see who they have as friends and holy smokes- people I knew from (very) different circles are now in each others' friends' list.. freaky. But, hey, half the town was related somehow anyway.
AND.. Andrew- take note- There are others with our (ok your) last name. And not the ones we've had Christmas dinner with. Check it out- (ignore the obvious porn stars and stupid ones...) but look - there are others cursed with that name among the wanna be porn stars and krispy creme fans.
I though it was fascinating. There's even an "Andrew" there. I double dare you to email him ;-)
Off to hunt down the rest of our family. Wish they didn't marry into names like 'white' and 'davis' sheesh. And what if I send them a message and they're not actually the right family member? Sorta like the time I decided to use the internet instead of the phone to mail Christmas cards. And mailed to the wrong Uncle John... Sorta embarrassing, but he and his family were so cool about it- sent a card back and mailed one the following year as well. I could have sent them a change of address for us, but I didn't send anyone a change of address... and of course updated my address book with the correct address, so.. I should google him again.
And go back to humming about how small this world is.
Especially being raised in such a small corner of that small world. I see people on there I haven't seen since college and realize with a click of a button- I can see who they have as friends and holy smokes- people I knew from (very) different circles are now in each others' friends' list.. freaky. But, hey, half the town was related somehow anyway.
AND.. Andrew- take note- There are others with our (ok your) last name. And not the ones we've had Christmas dinner with. Check it out- (ignore the obvious porn stars and stupid ones...) but look - there are others cursed with that name among the wanna be porn stars and krispy creme fans.
I though it was fascinating. There's even an "Andrew" there. I double dare you to email him ;-)
Off to hunt down the rest of our family. Wish they didn't marry into names like 'white' and 'davis' sheesh. And what if I send them a message and they're not actually the right family member? Sorta like the time I decided to use the internet instead of the phone to mail Christmas cards. And mailed to the wrong Uncle John... Sorta embarrassing, but he and his family were so cool about it- sent a card back and mailed one the following year as well. I could have sent them a change of address for us, but I didn't send anyone a change of address... and of course updated my address book with the correct address, so.. I should google him again.
And go back to humming about how small this world is.
What happens things are left unattended...
From the what happens when you leave things unattended file:Butter-
What happens to butter when left unattended.
That would be my 5 year old's fingerprints in there.
Still to come from this file-
the picture of what happens to hair when scissors are left unattended, what happens when chewing gum is left unattended,
and many examples of what happens when a certain toddler is left unattended...
Thursday, January 15, 2009
No pictures
So.. I brought the camera with charged batteries. Get there and they say "oh, only the patient is allowed in the room"
Come again?
"only the patient, you can't leave the other kids in the waiting room and you can't take them with you"
Well, that would have been useful information when I called for the appointment.
I should have been tipped off when they said "we can only see 2 people from a family in a day" I didn't think to ask "well, can I only take 2 people WITH me??" for crying out loud , it says FAMILY dentist. FAMILY.
grumble grumble growl and hiss
so.. I say "well, you'll have to reschedule us"
She says "isn't there someone you can call to come watch them?"
WHAT IS IT with people here that they keep thinking this is a viable option? Is that what people do here? They call someone and say "hey, meet me at the dentist in 20 minutes to keep me company and watch my kids"
Yeah, I have A (one) friend and she works. So.. sure.. I'll call her and ask her to leave work, drive 40 minutes to get here or if she's off work, she'll take her 3 kids here to completely fill this waiting room and it'll still be 40 minutes.
Or perhaps you'd like to talk to my husband's commanding officer and explain why he has to leave work because you can't deal with kids in a dentist office that deals with kids. IF I had an option to leave the kids at home, I WOULD HAVE.
but no- they don't want to reschedule, because that's a canceled appointment.. times 2
so.. 20 year old with the power trip says "oh, they can go by themselves, the hygenists are good with kids" I repeat- this is their first visit, they're nervous and Darn it. I'm their mom. I have a right to be there.
we're at an impasse. I ask Joey and Sonia loud enough for ding dong at the desk to hear 'do you think you can be brave and go without mommy?' and it's a resounding NO with tearfulness.
So.. I look at the grandma sitting there watching her 2 year old grandson (so.. yes, apparently that IS what they do here) and ask her- will you be here a while and do you think you could keep an eye on the little 2 so I can go back for a few minutes to make sure the older 2 are ok- it's their first visit..
And she agrees. Shoot power tripping receptionist the 'ha, I win' look
I stayed long enough for them to read me the riot act about being near radiation (they took xrays first thing there before looking at them or ANYTHING) and telling me I couldn't be there. Anyway.. the kids seemed ok when reassured that they wouldn't get a shot in their mouth like little critter does in his 'going to the dentist' book
So.. I'm looking for a different dentist. But.. again.. socialized medicine/dentistry has it's price in both choice and convenience. So.. none of the dentists others have recommended participate with our socialized dentistry plan- only offices like this one who know their only competition is about as friendly as they are (that would sarcasm) And I call it socialized, but it isn't really - we pay for it out of our check like normal people do, but it's government run so.. we'll be continuing to pay for it and I'll continue to blog about it while remembering it could always be worse- like I could have had to pay for this charming experience out of pocket.
Come again?
"only the patient, you can't leave the other kids in the waiting room and you can't take them with you"
Well, that would have been useful information when I called for the appointment.
I should have been tipped off when they said "we can only see 2 people from a family in a day" I didn't think to ask "well, can I only take 2 people WITH me??" for crying out loud , it says FAMILY dentist. FAMILY.
grumble grumble growl and hiss
so.. I say "well, you'll have to reschedule us"
She says "isn't there someone you can call to come watch them?"
WHAT IS IT with people here that they keep thinking this is a viable option? Is that what people do here? They call someone and say "hey, meet me at the dentist in 20 minutes to keep me company and watch my kids"
Yeah, I have A (one) friend and she works. So.. sure.. I'll call her and ask her to leave work, drive 40 minutes to get here or if she's off work, she'll take her 3 kids here to completely fill this waiting room and it'll still be 40 minutes.
Or perhaps you'd like to talk to my husband's commanding officer and explain why he has to leave work because you can't deal with kids in a dentist office that deals with kids. IF I had an option to leave the kids at home, I WOULD HAVE.
but no- they don't want to reschedule, because that's a canceled appointment.. times 2
so.. 20 year old with the power trip says "oh, they can go by themselves, the hygenists are good with kids" I repeat- this is their first visit, they're nervous and Darn it. I'm their mom. I have a right to be there.
we're at an impasse. I ask Joey and Sonia loud enough for ding dong at the desk to hear 'do you think you can be brave and go without mommy?' and it's a resounding NO with tearfulness.
So.. I look at the grandma sitting there watching her 2 year old grandson (so.. yes, apparently that IS what they do here) and ask her- will you be here a while and do you think you could keep an eye on the little 2 so I can go back for a few minutes to make sure the older 2 are ok- it's their first visit..
And she agrees. Shoot power tripping receptionist the 'ha, I win' look
I stayed long enough for them to read me the riot act about being near radiation (they took xrays first thing there before looking at them or ANYTHING) and telling me I couldn't be there. Anyway.. the kids seemed ok when reassured that they wouldn't get a shot in their mouth like little critter does in his 'going to the dentist' book
So.. I'm looking for a different dentist. But.. again.. socialized medicine/dentistry has it's price in both choice and convenience. So.. none of the dentists others have recommended participate with our socialized dentistry plan- only offices like this one who know their only competition is about as friendly as they are (that would sarcasm) And I call it socialized, but it isn't really - we pay for it out of our check like normal people do, but it's government run so.. we'll be continuing to pay for it and I'll continue to blog about it while remembering it could always be worse- like I could have had to pay for this charming experience out of pocket.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
No news..
Nothing new or exciting to report here. Tomorrow will be Sonia and Joey's first dentist appointment. I'm sure the recommendation is that they should have seen the dentist before.. but.. well.. I knew they were going to loose those baby teeth, anyway, so why make a big deal of it.. (and I have vivid childhood dental trauma memories I'd prefer to spare them... WHO in their right mind pulls out baby teeth because they're not falling out in the right order?.. apparently the only pediatric barbarian practicing dentistry where I grew up. Considering that Kayla got an eye tooth in before the others, I assume her atypical teething has something to do with her mother's atypical teeth..)
I'll probably take pictures for the imaginary scrapbook* and of course, share them here.. but that assumes a) I can find the camera b) the batteries are charged c) I remember the camera and d) the dental staff puts up with my camera.
But.. we don't know where we'll be next year. And infact, we don't know when we will know.. So.. until I say otherwise.. we don't know.
But it's a bit frustrating- IF I want to re-enroll the kids in their charter school, I need to send the forms in this week. Well.. what if we're not here next year? huh? why all this pressure to re-enroll??!! There didn't seem to be a problem enrolling them at the last minute.. The real problem is that I'll have to take them in for a physical.. which I'm dreading. For a variety of reasons.. but mostly because it's my goal to avoid spending any time at the hospital there.
But of course, if they offered me a job.. I just might take them up on it.
* imagainary scrapbook- the one I think I'm going to make for the kids, but in reality it will probably never get done. To be honest, they HAVE scrapbooks and the lucky ones have a few things stuffed in them waiting to be pasted, formatted or otherwise turned into a scrapbook page.
I'll probably take pictures for the imaginary scrapbook* and of course, share them here.. but that assumes a) I can find the camera b) the batteries are charged c) I remember the camera and d) the dental staff puts up with my camera.
But.. we don't know where we'll be next year. And infact, we don't know when we will know.. So.. until I say otherwise.. we don't know.
But it's a bit frustrating- IF I want to re-enroll the kids in their charter school, I need to send the forms in this week. Well.. what if we're not here next year? huh? why all this pressure to re-enroll??!! There didn't seem to be a problem enrolling them at the last minute.. The real problem is that I'll have to take them in for a physical.. which I'm dreading. For a variety of reasons.. but mostly because it's my goal to avoid spending any time at the hospital there.
But of course, if they offered me a job.. I just might take them up on it.
* imagainary scrapbook- the one I think I'm going to make for the kids, but in reality it will probably never get done. To be honest, they HAVE scrapbooks and the lucky ones have a few things stuffed in them waiting to be pasted, formatted or otherwise turned into a scrapbook page.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Another day in Paradise
So seriously. Today is a day of thanks that God made a place with weather and climate such as here. Today was............. in the 70's, yesterday in the 80's.
I realized that people (myself included in the past) would spend money to visit this weather in the middle winter and here I am living it everyday.
The leaking pipes that were giving us water issues here were fixed today but took so long that I didn't have time remaining to "do" the other things on my "to do" list so.. we went for a walk. Hike to be specific.
At one of the entrances to our neighborhood, there is a road that leads off to a junk yard and monastery and next to that there is a road that looks like it would go to the trail that I have yet to find a way to get onto.. and I decided we should go for a walk.. and it was a tie between down/up our street or the bike trail or trying to get to the trail that runs behind our house..
So.. it turns out it was 1/2 mile straight uphill.
And at the top there was a water treatment facility with a touchpad to call someone. WHO? I'm not sure. How do I know that it calls someone? My youngest decided to push some buttons.
And there was no way to get to the trails or the path that runs behind our house (which I have seen signs that say it's not open to the public.. still trying to figure why they have them if they're just to be there and not be used for anything by anyone....)
So.. it was straight downhill back to the van.
and you know what's going to happen, right? steep hill, pavement drop offs on both sides of the pavement... Right. I knew, too- so I tell them DO NOT RUN down the hill. What do they do? yes, you are right- they RUN.
now 2 of the 4 have road rash on their foreheads.
And the entire way down the hill the dog howled. I think she was tired and upset that the kids were outrunning her. There were others there that also were there for a walk with their dogs. One laughed as we walked past, hearing her howl, saying "oh, that's a good hound dog, listen to that"
yeah. I listen to that daily. you should have heard her when the landscape irrigation people were here digging up pipes for hours..... and every morning when she thinks we should be up.. before the sun.. and now.. she'd having a dream and apparently there's something to howl at in her dream...
I realized that people (myself included in the past) would spend money to visit this weather in the middle winter and here I am living it everyday.
The leaking pipes that were giving us water issues here were fixed today but took so long that I didn't have time remaining to "do" the other things on my "to do" list so.. we went for a walk. Hike to be specific.
At one of the entrances to our neighborhood, there is a road that leads off to a junk yard and monastery and next to that there is a road that looks like it would go to the trail that I have yet to find a way to get onto.. and I decided we should go for a walk.. and it was a tie between down/up our street or the bike trail or trying to get to the trail that runs behind our house..
So.. it turns out it was 1/2 mile straight uphill.
And at the top there was a water treatment facility with a touchpad to call someone. WHO? I'm not sure. How do I know that it calls someone? My youngest decided to push some buttons.
And there was no way to get to the trails or the path that runs behind our house (which I have seen signs that say it's not open to the public.. still trying to figure why they have them if they're just to be there and not be used for anything by anyone....)
So.. it was straight downhill back to the van.
and you know what's going to happen, right? steep hill, pavement drop offs on both sides of the pavement... Right. I knew, too- so I tell them DO NOT RUN down the hill. What do they do? yes, you are right- they RUN.
now 2 of the 4 have road rash on their foreheads.
And the entire way down the hill the dog howled. I think she was tired and upset that the kids were outrunning her. There were others there that also were there for a walk with their dogs. One laughed as we walked past, hearing her howl, saying "oh, that's a good hound dog, listen to that"
yeah. I listen to that daily. you should have heard her when the landscape irrigation people were here digging up pipes for hours..... and every morning when she thinks we should be up.. before the sun.. and now.. she'd having a dream and apparently there's something to howl at in her dream...
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Change.org
Is it just me? Or is it hard for others to take an organization seriously who has 2 of it's 4 top rated agenda involve legalizing/decriminalizing drugs/marijuana?
*sigh*
Among the other agendas- forgive student loans and make college affordable for all. (hmm.. I wonder if there's a particular age range voting in these polls..???) I'm all for making college affordable, but not on the tax payer's dime.. with all the other entitlement/bailout programs that are sinking this country.. (but that would be a different rant)
Anyway- it looks like there are some small victories in the battle of the CPSIA this week- it appears that there is provision for existing inventory to be sold, provided it doesn't have lead, it excludes used good resellers (consignment/thrift stores) and excludes from required testing natural/untreated materials- among which one is cotton (*phew*) I was surprized they included cotton in the natural state materials but not bamboo, but hey.. we peddle cotton mostly, so it's a halfway victory for us.
And.. no word on our future. I'm not really expecting one anytime soon.. although when the decisions were being made, I initally was under the (incorrect) impression that we'd know mid December like we did last year.. but.. no. That would be incorrect.
I have a gut feeling on this one that we're going to be surprized. So..seat belts are fastened.. I'm ready..
I realized- it's hard to fly if you're planting roots somewhere. So.. I guess we'll be birds and let others be the trees.
*sigh*
Among the other agendas- forgive student loans and make college affordable for all. (hmm.. I wonder if there's a particular age range voting in these polls..???) I'm all for making college affordable, but not on the tax payer's dime.. with all the other entitlement/bailout programs that are sinking this country.. (but that would be a different rant)
Anyway- it looks like there are some small victories in the battle of the CPSIA this week- it appears that there is provision for existing inventory to be sold, provided it doesn't have lead, it excludes used good resellers (consignment/thrift stores) and excludes from required testing natural/untreated materials- among which one is cotton (*phew*) I was surprized they included cotton in the natural state materials but not bamboo, but hey.. we peddle cotton mostly, so it's a halfway victory for us.
And.. no word on our future. I'm not really expecting one anytime soon.. although when the decisions were being made, I initally was under the (incorrect) impression that we'd know mid December like we did last year.. but.. no. That would be incorrect.
I have a gut feeling on this one that we're going to be surprized. So..seat belts are fastened.. I'm ready..
I realized- it's hard to fly if you're planting roots somewhere. So.. I guess we'll be birds and let others be the trees.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
And a non-undate on the personal side of life...
Still no word on where we're going to be after June.
Lots of rumors and rumors of rumors at this point.
Almost as many as the rumors of war and deployments here.
BUT.. on the bright side- we are NOT eligible to be sent to Japan (those details surfaced yesterday). There is a 2 kids limit on that particular assignment- we could have gone with waiver with 3 kid, but with 4... breathe easy on that one, mom and dad.
And... I thought this was ironic- it's from the T-shirt the recruiter gave Larry when we signed up:
It really means you're going to feel really old really fast
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
CSPIA inspired post
If you are under the rock I was under until recently, I'm sure you haven't heard of the CSPIA.
The history of it lays in last year's toy recall- remember all those toys recalled? And the outrage that the CPSC hadn't done anything to prevent it?
In steps congress- who passes a law -HR 4040- otherwise known as the CSPIA which says that all items/products intended for a child under the age of 12 must be tested for lead and meet the lead limits set AND passed a ban on phthalates.
Sounds ok, almost, right- I mean-no one was happy that we were importing toys that were unsafe.. but this one went too far- ALL ITEMS for children under 12- ALL. Books, clothes, cloth diaper included. ALL.
Congress debated this law less time than it takes them to give themselves a pay raise. And because it's retroactive to all product in inventory on Feb 10th, it means what is sitting on selves unsold at that time is trash. unsellable unless it has a General certificate of conformity.
So why not get one of those certificates? Sure.
Follow the money on this one- I'll have to contact a CPSC certified lab (who is paid to certify them) to have them test every product I have from every production run and then have a way to label and track all items sold and provide the GCC for them... and this will be to the tune of $100-400/component.
oh, yes- that's component. In our products, it's pretty simple- Cloth and thread, maybe velcro. God help those who make clothes- the zipper, elastic, thread and each type of fabric must be tested.
And when we get the GCC for our product and someone wants to embroider it for burp cloths- ya know what? they're going to have to have it RE-tested because it's now it's a different final product.
Want to get involved? Check The National Bankruptcy Day website for links to petitions, addresses for your congressmen and get informed. This is going to be a huge unnecessary economic drain for LOTS of small companies.
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