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Dreading the Doctor

6 Jun

Tomorrow, I’m taking the kids to the doctor for their well visits.  I’m not only dreading this because they both will be getting shots, but I’m also stressing because I’m taking them back to that same doctor’s office I didn’t like.

Before you get disappointed in me for not changing docs – just know that we don’t have many choices.  Our insurance only covers two others within 20 miles of us and out of all of them the office we go to now offers more doctors and has Saturday hours.  I weighed our options and have decided to give it one more chance.  If tomorrow doesn’t go well then I will do what I have to do – whether it’s try one of the other Winder doctors or drive the kids 30 minutes away.

This time, I’m not so much worried about the wait time (we have an early appointment so logically you wouldn’t think we’d have to wait long).  I just am so afraid that they’re aren’t going to let me hold Nia while she gets her shot.  (With Nate they told me it’s safer for them to administer the shot if he is lying on the table.)  I hated that but then thought it will be ok because he probably wouldn’t remember it.  Nia will.  She’s so afraid and I’ve been trying to tell her exactly how it’s going to be – we even read a few children’s books about doctor’s visits and shots.  I plan to take some stickers, lollipops and toys with us so I will be ready to reward her and Nate for being so brave and also ready to pass the time while we wait. (Remember they don’t have any toys at this office.)  She’s also going to bring one of her stuffed animals for support.  I just wish I had something to help me get through it all too – two kids plus shots equals heartbreak for mom.

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The Tragedy of a Tragedy

21 Apr

I didn’t want to write about this because it’s hard for me to put it all into words. In fact, I just spent way too long trying to come up with an adjective to describe what happened at Virginia Tech.  I thought of horrible and then deleted it – terrible? no – heartbreaking? – scary?  – shocking?  – when you think about it – any word would be too generic and using one makes me feel like I’m writing TV news and that just makes me want to vomit.  I’m just so sickened by how many news organizations are reporting what happened and then adding their thoughts about why it happened.

This is really why I’m writing.  A recent opinion article in our local newspaper really infuriated me this week. It was entitled “What are we teaching our boys?”  The writer used some stats to show that boys are responsible for the majority of extreme violence in U.S. schools over the last 10 years and then went on to say it’s because we’re teaching boys that in order to be masculine they shouldn’t cry. If you’d like to read it, click here.  If you did, please tell me what you thought.

Here’s what I thought – those stats about the attackers may be accurate but what about the percentage of victims who were boys?  They obviously were “taught” right.  Also, you can be the most loving, caring, peaceful parent who ever existed and your son or daughter could still have violent tendencies.  Along those lines, why is it when a woman is the attacker people tend to make excuses for her – she either had something bad happen to her or she’s crazy – but when a boy is to blame it’s because he wasn’t raised right?  I mean, how can she even say that when she really has no freaking clue how any of those boys were raised?  I just feel she totally generalized and it disgusts me that she is paid to have her opinion published.

What makes me even more disgusted and saddened is all of the “expert” opinions and finger-pointing that happens after a tragedy. Isn’t it bad enough that it happened?  Why is it people always have to make it worse by hurting others more?  It’s campus security’s fault – no it’s psychologists’ fault – no it’s the school’s fault – no it’s the parents’ fault – no it’s your fault!  AH!

I’m not pretending to know what anyone involved is going through – I know, for many, finding blame is a way to heal – I guess I just worry about what comes next for the people who thought they did everything they could and now have to live with the judgment and criticism.  Really, what it comes down to is that my heart is hurting for ANYONE who is hurting and I just wish tragedies like this would bring people together – not tear them down.

 

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Thoughts from an Outsider

4 Mar

I truly hope I didn’t anger people as much as television news writers are angering me now.

I don’t really watch the news anymore because usually I just end up screaming at the television – critiquing the newscast story by story – also cartoons are pretty much all I get to see during the day now and night time is reserved for our sacred shows.  The only time I ever watch the news is try to see what Atlanta traffic will be like for Andrew on his way home from work but even then it drives me nuts.

The latest incident that’s causing me to vent involves that peanut butter recall.  I like to think when I wrote a story or approved a reporter’s script – I made sure we didn’t b.s. the viewer and just told them what they needed to know without dramatics or treating them like they were idiotic freaks.  I like to think I did the opposite of what so many news people do – – – – “Now for a story that is sending fear into the hearts of mothers everywhere…”

WHAT?!?! Oh right – they’re absolutely right – as soon as I heard the report I ran to the pantry and threw cans of food out of the way searching for my peanut butter – when I discovered it had the dreaded “2111” code on it I ran screaming from the kitchen, grabbed the children, tossed them into the cars (without putting them in their child safety seats you know because there’s no time to buckle up for safety when that peanut butter is lurking inside them) and sped to the emergency room.

What makes me sick is that they generalize and try to scare people into watching – JUST TELL PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW!

Since that really doesn’t happen anymore – I’m now not even trying to watch tv news.  Instead I look online for what I want to know – but even then I can’t escape the sensationalism – it “sends fear into my heart” every time I click on a story.

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Commercials

2 Feb

I’m just loving a few of them right now (of the ones I get to watch when Andrew is not fast-forwarding them).

Here are some that make me laugh out loud (in no particular order):

– The Geico one where the caveman is being interviewed by the news anchor.  I like those caveman commercials overall but that one just cracks me up!

– The BK one where the people are dressed up like burgers and junior says “I wish I’d never been broiled.”  Or the one where junior says “you treat me like I’m on the kids’ menu!”

– Some cell phone one where the family is sitting at the dinner table and the dad keeps texting his family to pass him things – I just really like when the dad giggles like a little boy because he loves his toy so much.

– Andrew also got me liking those Peyton Manning ones where he’s encouraging random people.

You know what’s even more funny about these commercials is that they don’t make me want to buy their stuff- I just think they’re funny.  I mean, I can’t even remember what product those last two were selling.

There is one on now that many of you might not see because it’s for Publix Supermarkets but it made me cry the other day.  It was so freakin’ predictable and I told myself as I was watching it, you’re not going to cry – you know what’s going to happen.  That didn’t work though because there I was standing at my stove cooking, spoon in hand, balling into the spaghetti sauce.  It was about a little boy who wants to bake a heart-shaped cake for a girl and asks his mom for help – his mom is all protective like, “who’s this girl?” – well of course that girl turned out to be her.

Do I want to go shop at Publix now because of that commercial?  Well, it doesn’t matter because I shop there anyways!

The I think bothers me the most is one of those “oh I’m just driving along talking when BAM a car slams into me” ones.  I don’t mind them – I actually think they’re kind of funny in a sick way but there’s one with a mom and her baby in the backseat and it just makes me sick to my stomach.  I guess it’s what being a mom is all about – when it comes to your sweeties – nothing worries me more.  I guess that commercial did what it was supposed to do – except make me want to give them money.  (I actually don’t know which company that one was for either!)

Do you have any favorites/most hated?

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Much Better

23 Sep

Because it smells clean, is it?  The want-to-be-normal side of me says sure – why not?  The paranoid-germ-o-phobe side of me says the nice smell is just covering up something gross.  No matter – the smell and look of this hotel room makes it WORLDS better than the one we stayed at two weeks ago.

Something that appeared (I hoped) was chocolate was splattered on the wall –
Crumbs/bottle caps/barbie shoes/hair clips covered the carpet in places –
Some sort of black crud that Nia called poopie lurked under the rim of the shower –
Several stains of who knows what were accenting the couch designs –

The first night there I actually cried about how disgusting the place was.  I cried because I was so upset at myself for worrying so much about it.  Andrew felt awful.  (He spent a lot of time trying to find a hotel that allowed dogs and offered two adjoining rooms so we could veg together like we’re used to while the kids slept.)  He said we could leave but we had just got everything in the room and it was really late – I wasn’t going to go that far – instead I ended up going just about a block away from that far.

I bought:

  • Comet to scrub the tub
  • Disinfecting wipes to remove any spot I saw and clean anything my kids touched
  • One of those new sticky broom things to collect the crap on the floor

I also made Andrew buy two blankets – one so I would feel better when Nia sat on the couch- another so I would feel better when Nate crawled on the floor.  I even built a barricade of sorts around the blanket so there was no way his hands touched the carpet.

I know – I’m a freak. Even when we got home I continued to drive Andrew nuts with my worrying.  He came up to me and said “Why are the bags in the hall?  I had already put them in the bedroom.”  Knowing he would seriously wonder if he needed to get me professional help if I told him why I replied, “You don’t even want to know.”  “Oh, come on,” he said.  “Well, I heard that bedbugs can travel and I didn’t want the bags next to our bed just in case.”

Now comes the best line from Andrew – “Should I burn the bags?”

Of course, that didn’t happen – but it was tempting to me.  Instead, we packed up those same bags last night and are now at another hotel – a much cleaner hotel.  At least it smells that way.

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