A little bit of this and that.

1. Going corn free has fixed Autumn and allowed me to get down 5 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.  Here is a shout-out to no corn!!

2. I remembered the local company here that delivers organic fruits and vegetables and for a mere $32.00 per week, deliciousness is on my doorstep each Tuesday.  I just checked and next week I get cherries, limes, blueberries, pears and bananas, spinach, leaf lettuce, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes and cilantro, all organic and delivered. 

3. Tonight with my chicken we tried something new and I highly recommend it.  I found it on Pinterest (Greg claims that I only like recipes from Pinterest, but I claim Pinterest in just a really effective way of browsing the Internet).  We roasted carrots and zucchini cooked in olive oil and sprinkled with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.  If it weren’t 10:00 I would go make some more. 

4. I love that Owen just watched two episodes of Martha Speaks and then said, I am done with tv now and got up and turned it off.  Granted it is 10:04 and he should totally be in bed and I have no plans to go put him there yet, but nice job on turning off the tv on his own.

5. Kristi started watching Autumn this week while I work. I miss that little bug, but I loved being back at work and meeting with clients and dressing up for Court.  I love being home with my kids and having the flexibility that I do, and I truly love working.  I have decided over time that even though I have a horribly messy house and often times I don’t do any one thing very well cause I do a little of each half way, it works.  I am better at each because I have the other.

6. The other day Greg said he wanted to do a triathlon and then looked confused and said he thought he told me that.  Oh, wait, he remembered, he was talking to Jake at work.  Of course! Let me tell you, if Jake were a girl, I would seriously be worried. 

7.  My nephew Evan is a funny little thing.  He has a seat in my car and wouldn’t get in it the other day cause there were too many crumbs.  He came in the garage the other day and saw the shoes that are usually by the door in a huge pile neatly lined up against the wall and he proudly exclaimed, “oh, you cleaned up the shoes for me!”.  I hope he doesn’t refuse to come to my house at some point cause it is too messy for him…it is a true possibility.

8.  In the day time when Autumn starts acting tired I put her in her car seat for a nap.  Sometimes even, if she resists after I put her in the seat, I actually take her seat out to the car in the garage.  She sleeps in seconds.  A car seat for a bed, a car in the garage for a room.  Whatever works. 

9.  And now it is off to bed (I was going to go play our nightly game of UNO but Owen went up to deal the cards and fell asleep before he could do so).  I am still going to bed so that it can be tomorrow and I can roast some carrots and zucchini.  

 

 

8 months

I have always said that time they are outside my stomach moves like lightning. Time with this baby isn't any different.

She started crawling a few weeks ago, right around her 8 month birthday. She can wave and clap and thinks she is so neat to be able to do so. She is pulling herself up to stand and I found her doing just that in the front of the basket at Target tonight while I paid. I told her to say dada the other day and much to our surprise she did. Now she will say dada on cue but loves to whisper it for some reason.

She has two teeth, no hair, and is still tiny. She is allergic to corn and we are still working through that. Owen calls her his girl and she cannot get enough of him. She loves to pretend she can't crawl, fall on her tummy and lift her arms and legs and cry until I stand her up.

She loves her binky, her pink blanket and a blue phone rattle. She is not a good assistant at the office. She has a really special smile with her eyes closed that I adore.

She refuses to let us feed her and hates anything on a spoon. She eats peas, grapes, black beans, sweet potatoes, and mangos. Allergies make the food thing slow going.

She naps best in her car seat and naps even better in her car seat in the car. I call her seat her bed and the car her room.

I think we will keep her.

Costly Eating

Angie claims that we have organically eaten away all of our money.  It is true.  Let me give you an example:

We went to the Central Market the other night and we bought 18 Organic Pink Lady Apples.  Any takers on how much they cost?

I am putting this here at the risk of people saying that I don’t wisely spend my money.  Ok, here goes……18 organic apples = $33.00.  Yes.  We bought these apples on Friday night and I think we have 14 or so left.  We usually eat 2-3 apples a day, or 18 apples in a week.  If we eat $33.00 of apples a week, that means during the month of June we could spend $132.00 on APPLES. 

Something is seriously wrong with this picture.  Either, I am insane for buying those apples and the store people laughed all night that someone actually spent that kind of money on them, or the cost of eating organic is too high.  Please bless the answer is B. 

So what is one to do? Get a second job to buy organic? Tell the kids apples are too expensive and they can have Oreos (after all, you get about 36 Oreos for $2.50 or so)? Buy non-organic, which becomes harder and harder to do the more I read and research Autumn’s corn allergy? 

We will keep buying organic cause I feel like we have to and I feel good about it, BUT if I even see a hint of an apple being thrown out, these kids are dead.  If you ask for a coveted sacred apple, you will eat it and fully enjoy it, even if you are eating the apple while wearing your coat around the house…after all, we need to save money to eat apples! 

Of Course she Said that

I think my car is fixed.  I have my doubts, but things seem to be working.  I had to work with Christine again.  I didn’t mind her this time until I went to pick up my car.  I had requested a loaner car as I had no way to pick up Owen from school without one.  I was turning the car back in (as an aside, why do loaner cars always smell bad) and I explained to her that I understood that I had signed the paperwork stating that I would bring the car back full of gas but after I signed it and got to driving away, I began to regret the JN on that box and I didn’t really feel like a fill-up was necessary based on our recent history together.  Not only that, but I drove 30 miles.  15 home and 15 back.  

With a smile, the one they learn in customer service school that you can see right through, she let me know that she would waive the cost of the 30 miles.  It couldn’t be that simple, right? Nope.  I was then presented with an inquiry as to whether I at least understood the logic behind it. 

Of course I understand the logic behind it but does she understand the logic behind me not wanting to pay for it when the only reason I was even there was due to their incompetence and inability to diagnose a problem and fix it.  I refrained from saying mean things and simply replied with a calm yes.  She then went on to say that she was glad I understood because sometimes people from other countries come in and don’t understand the logic behind it.  And then she must not have believed that I understood the logic because she went on to explain the logic behind it is that you would be driving your own car. 

A little clarification was now in order to which I explained that had my car been fixed right the first time, I wouldn’t be driving my car anywhere on this particular rainy Tuesday.  No, I would be home doing puzzles and waiting for my son to get done with school.  

It was then she looked at me like I was from another country, and left me to conclude she did not understand the logic behind that at all. 

And they remain useless

I called the car dealer first thing on Friday morning.  I informed “Lisa” that I just had my car in there the day before and the problem didn’t appear to be fixed at all.  She said, “you had your car in here yesterday?”  Awesome.   I was then asked to hold for a minute.  After holding I was suddenly transferred to the tail end of someone’s voicemail.  I called back to find out if that was intentional.  Lisa answered again and I asked her if she meant to transfer me to a voicemail.  She said she was trying to transfer me to Christine who I was assigned to from the beginning (I will be asking for a new person, not a fan of this Christine girl) and she would try to page her again. 

This time a gentleman picked up the phone and asked what seemed to be the problem.  I , as nice as humanly Jenniferly possible, again explained the problem, to which I was again presented with the same question, “you say you dropped your car off yesterday?”  Even more awesome.  Maybe, if they forgot to work on it, it would explain why it wasn’t fixed.   Again, the gentleman says he needs to speak with Christine and we would get some answers for me. 

Answers? Here, let me help you: My car was fixed, it doesn’t work, I need to bring it back in, you suck.  Seemed pretty clear to me.

I wait and wait and wait some more for a phone call back.  2 1/2 hours later I call and ask if I could speak to someone about my car.  I am informed the service manager will be calling me back.  Okay then. 

Another hour and half or so passes and I still have heard nothing.  I call up again and ask to speak to the service manager.  Naturally, I got his voicemail. 

Fast forward to the long awaited return phone call:

“Hi, this is Kevin, is this Jennifer?”

“Yes.”

“I have a message here that there are some problems with your vehicle.”

“Yes, I brought it in yesterday, had new parts installed and it doesn’t seem to be fixed and no one seems to be able to talk to me about it.”

“Well, what can we do for you to make you happy?”

Here comes an extra long pause while I try to formulate a sentence over my utter shock.  Nevermind.  Impossible.

“Um,  it seems pretty simple, I want you to fix my car and I am beginning to think nothing was done yesterday.”

“Well, I assure you it was worked on and the parts were installed.  In fact, you had my best technician work on it and those parts cost more than $1,000.”

“I don’t really care what the parts cost or who worked on it, I am bothered by the fact that you installed parts for nothing and I have to be without a car again.”

“I am sorry, when can you come in.”

“Tuesday morning.”

“Ok, thanks, see you then.”

He was obviously very concerned.

And then there was my favorite part with Christine.

“Hi, I had called earlier and made an appointment for Tuesday to bring my car back in, but I was just wondering if I could bring it in toda…"  “Oh, sure you can bring it in today”   “….to have it looked at so that perhaps you could fix it on Tuesday.”  “Oh, well, we can’t look at it today but you can bring it in.”.  “Why would I want to drop off my car on a Friday so you can look at it on Tuesday?”  “Well, I can loan you a Tacoma.”  “Three kids in the Tacoma doesn’t work so well, nevermind.”  (and then there were words in my head that are not nice.)

This could have been so simple, here, let me show you: “Hi, I had my car in there yesterday and it doesn’t seem to be fixed.”  “Oh, that is terrible, I am so sorry.  I am afraid we will have to have it back in to look at it.  I am sorry for the inconvenience for you, but we will take a look at it and make sure it gets done.”  “I can bring it in on Tuesday.”  “Ok, see you then.”  Done.  Nope.  Useless I tell you. 

Why are People so Useless

I bought a new car about 1 year ago.  I LOVE my van.  I would buy it again in a second, but a few months ago the passenger side sliding door started making this strange popping sound when I open the door and then as it slides open, right before it gets to the end, there is a strange grinding sound.  Since this is not normal and I spent way too much money on a car to make any grinding/popping sound, I made an appointment to have it looked at.  This appointment was on a Friday a few weeks ago.  The girls and I sat around the house all day, we walked to get Owen from school and then Ben risked being late to a movie to come help me pick it up.  It was at this appointment that they diagnosed my car with needing new parts.  Such parts were ordered and they would call when they arrived. 

Here we are today.  Parts are in and it is time for the fix and in case you thought differently, finding a good time to take a car into the shop with three kids who require car seats and to be driven to school and to speech and to the store and to t-ball and so on and so on is impossible!  I thought Angie and I did quite an amazing job working it out:  I asked my neighbor to watch Owen last night while Greg and I took the car to the shop.  It is much easier to fit two car seats in the 4-Runner than three.  We drove the 20 minutes and dropped it off and came home.  I arranged for Owen to go to the early care for school today for $5.00 at 8:15 rather than 8:50.  I arranged for Greg to arrange to come in to work late and drop Owen off.  I arranged Ivy’s speech to move to Monday rather than today.  I arranged for Angie to come here and pick up Autumn and I and let us ride to the office with her.  And finally, I arranged for Angie to leave work and drive me back to the shop. 

(Here comes the useless part of people)

I went in, got my key, signed the paper that says I got my car and went on out.  I opened the passenger door and what might I hear…yes, a loud popping sound.  I went back inside to tell the man that I think my car still makes a popping sound.  He said that sometimes the doors can do that.  I knew that he wouldn’t be able to hear it when he came out, it doesn’t always do it and further more it is sort of like having a toothache for months only to have it stop hurting the day you finally get in to see the dentist.  Sure enough, we open the door to regular door opening sounds.  I instructed him to make a note in the file. 

I arrived home a little grumpy, went to show Greg that it may still make a popping sound and what do my ears hear….yes, a loud popping sound and a grinding sound as the door gets to the end.  THE SAME SOUNDS THAT I TOOK MY CAR IN FOR TO BEGIN WITH. It would be one thing if they said they were just fixing the problem, but they actually ordered and REPLACED parts. 

So, here I am, I have spent two days without a car, parts were ordered and installed all for nothing.  What in the world did they do all day? Pretend to find the problem, pretend to order parts, pretend to install them, and then pretend that they fixed my car.   I can only assume a few things.  1. There was another problem and they fixed that with the new parts.  2. They installed the parts on the wrong door or 3.  They thought they could tell me it was fixed and I would believe it, sort of like the Emperor’s new clothes story.    I choose 1. cause otherwise I am too mad. 

I already left a message……

There is a problem with that

Last week my son was playing with his friends outside.  One of them was pointing to something and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, her finger ended up in Owen’s eye.  He came in crying and rubbing his eye.  He had a hard time opening it, I assumed it would get better and  I raced off to boot camp.  He slept while I was gone and when I got home he woke up and immediately started crying saying that he couldn’t see. 

I suspected that he couldn’t see because he couldn’t keep his eye open and not because he was going blind, but just in case, we decided to load up to head off to the night urgent care.  Upon arriving, they immediately gave him some numbing drops and it was like he was a new kid, in fact he asked if we could leave. 

The dr. came in and with some drops and a black light we determined he had a large scratch on his cornea.  He prescribed some pain medicine, an antibiotic ointment, and put on a little patch.  He told me eyes heal fast and within 24 hours he should feel better.

The problem with all of this is that he prescribed oxycodone.  He prescribed a 1/2 tsp every four hours to take for 5 days as needed.  75 mL of stuff.  An adult dose is 5 mL, we had 15 adult doses.  I was hesitant to fill the prescription as drugs scare me no matter what and anything that starts with “oxy” scares me even more and elicits bad feelings from my past with Ben. 

In that this wasn’t my eye and I didn’t know how much pain he may actually be in, I didn’t know what to do.  I decided to fill the prescription, not give it to him and have it just in case (and then I was going to dump it out to avoid any temptations with anyone).  The best news of the night came when the pharmacy said they didn’t have any in.  Fine by me, that is a sign not to get it and leave it at that. 

We came home and gave him Motrin.  One dose.  He fell asleep, slept through the night, and woke up and told me he forgot he even hurt his eye.  Now, I totally appreciate the dr.’s concerns and wanting Owen to be pain free BUT he did not even hesitate to prescribe that to me.  If I had been a drug addict, it would have been a very exciting dr.’s visit.  Not only that, but the prescription allowed us to take as needed for 5 days, despite the dr. telling me that within 24 hours he should really be all better.  5 days of pain medicine without blinking an eye.  I appreciate his willingness to keep my son out of pain, but it got me thinking what a sad state we are in. 

I now have kids crying, husband yelling at kids and it is entirely too late for the rant that is in my head. 

To put it simply, the use of medicine (any and all) has spun out of control. 

And I will leave it at that to save my kids from my husband deciding he needs to medicate them to sleep.