My Dilapidated Gingerbread House and My Pretty Sugar Cookies

A few months ago I bought a Gingerbread House Kit for my daughter and I to put together. I forgot about it until my husband reminded me of it this morning. So, my daughter and I set out to make the ultimate Gingerbread House. What I didn't factor into the equation was my son. He simply wanted to help, but at 18 months isn't the most gentle. Also, as my daughter was using the candy to decorate the house and the walk way and the trees my son was grabbing the candy and eating it. To complicate matters I broke the tree, thus requiring me to try to glue it back together in four different pieces and then still praying it would stand upright upon completion (it did; the mission was successful). We finally had it all done and ready to move when my son came and smacked his huge hand down on the roof splitting it in two. That also was fixed hours later as I glued it back together, let it sit, and then remounted it back on the top of the house. So, it's put together completely, but it is a rundown looking gingerbread house.

Later this evening I was talking with my husband and I used the term "dilapidated". My daughter asked what it meant. I explained the meaning to her and finished with, "so when something is beat up looking or run down." She said, "Like our gingerbread house?" Yes, exactly like that!

On a brighter note I made sugar cookies tonight, had my daughter use cookie cutters to shape them, and then also had her decorate them. They turned out very tasty and very pretty looking as well. So one out of two ain't bad, my friends.

Anyone else started baking? How goes it for you?

Sex With Dead People

I love Grey's Anatomy. It is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. However, I am so not diggin' the whole Izzy has sex with her dead fiance Denny thing or Izzy walks around the hospital in conversation with Denny. What the heck is going on?

Anyone else find this story line a bit odd?

Mess With The Bull...

My son was hospitalized last February. We paid the balance of his hospital bills months ago. For the past month we have received a series of phone calls from the hospital asking us to call them. We have, we leave messages, and then the process repeats. Today we get a notice claiming we owe $100 still and that we have ten days before they turn it over to collections.

When I called today to find out what the deal was, Cesar tells me that he was conducting an audit and noticed that someone else's $100 payment was credited to my account so he took it upon himself to deduct $100 from what we have paid. The problem is I have a paper trail of everything I paid and the $100 payment was our copay upon discharge.

So, he has erroneously taken our money and credited it elsewhere. Big mistake. I understand when mistakes are made and as long as they are corrected in a timely fashion I can move on. No harm, no foul. But when someone makes a mistake and acts like they didn't I'm poised to attack.

Cesar starts backpedaling when I tell him I have confirmation numbers, etc. of all payments made and that maybe he better redo his little audit before I file a police report for theft, contact the hospital's governing agency and exhaust all other legal recourses available to me. I told him I wanted printouts of daily activity from my account since February so that I can see when money came in and when money went out.

Apparently, he will have to get back to me as he was ill-prepared to do battle with the force that is one pissed off mommy.

A Hodgepodge of Randomness

* I love my ob/gyn. So much so that my husband made fun of me for soooo looking forward to my appointments with him when I was pregnant with my daughter and son. Well, I had to call him today and usually a nurse calls back to answer whatever questions or concerns I have. Today he called back (which he does occasionally) twice. Is it wrong that that made my day?

* My freshman year in high school we dissected these small sharks in biology class. I was mortified to discover that mine was pregnant and there were nine little baby sharks inside. I was heartbroken. That day at lunch I remember eating french fries but having the smell of formaldihyde (spelling) and shark still on my hands. (It did not come off for days no matter how hard I scrubbed). I couldn't eat french fries for about a year after that. Today I snuck a few of my daughter's fries from a restaurant and that smell came back and almost overpowered me. It was like I was heartbroken for that poor shark all over again (and queasy from the dead shark smell).

* I am used to not getting much sleep. I think all parents are. However, for the past month or so my husband and I have been operating on about 2-3 hours of sleep a night (another story for another blog post, I am sure). I seriously feel like I am ready to collapse. Not to mention that I am grouchy.

* When I tuck my daughter in at night she always asks, "Will you lay with me for a couple of minutes?" I almost always say, "Sure, but just for a couple of minutes." She then says, "Okay, but I really want you to lay with me for all of the minutes." Precious.

* We go on our train ride Sunday to the "North Pole." My son and daughter have spent days walking around the house chanting "North Pole, North Pole." (For my son it sounds more like "Nor Po"

Slacker

Here is what I needed to do today:
1. A load of laundry that consisted of clothes I need to pack for our weekend getaway.
2. Actually pack for both kids and myself (who are we kidding...my husband too) for said getaway.
3. Clean car to make room for all that is required to come along.
4. Go to Target to get kids mittens and son diapers.
5. Clean the stove
6. Organize my home office
7. Return library books

Here is what got done today:
1. I went to Target and got my daughter mittens and my son diapers. My son still needs mittens.
2. I returned 3 of the 6 library books. Forgot the other three at home. Huh? Not sure how that happened.
3. I did a load of my husband's work clothes, none of which are needed for our trip.

Apparently, very little of what I needed to do today got done. Tomorrow is jam packed so next to nothing will get done then so apparently it will all be crammed in Friday. It will get done; it always does....just something to stress about.

He's "That" Kid

Our daughter has never had a bad reaction to an immunization in her life. She gets her shots and keeps on trucking. It doesn't even phase her. So, when our son came along we expected more of the same. Especially, because by comparison he is such a brute next to our daughter. Little did we know. He's the kid who when he received his MMR shot had such a horrible and frightening reaction that we rushed him to the doctor and she had to report him to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) because apparently only 4/10ths of 1 percent of the population had ever had that type of reaction.

Because of this, we have to make multiple trips to the doctor to get him immunized. With most kids they'll give 3 or 4 shots at a time, but with him they can only give one or two, wait for the reaction to die down and then return a week later for the rest of the batch. Yesterday he received a Hep A and Hep B shot (both of which he's received before). He didn't cry at all; he just looked at the nurse like, "Hey, what are you doing?" Last night he was really cranky and just not himself which we attributed as a side effect of the shot. In comparison to previous reactions it was nothing.

Then today he kept holding his arm and saying "ow". So, I went to change his shirt and when I took his shirt off his left arm from his shoulder down past where his elbow bends is horribly swollen, red, and hot to the touch. It is seriously 3x the size of his other arm. I was shocked. I called the doctor who said that a rash or redness is not unusual but what I was describing certainly was. So, for now we are to just watch it and call back tomorrow if it is not improving. He seems to be fine other than minor discomfort which is reassuring but I have to admit that I was pretty stunned when I saw the condition of his arm. Could they have not injected the shot correctly? Or is it just another one of his weird reactions? I don't know.

Do your children experience any strange reactions to immunizations?

The Paper Man

There is a man who sells newspapers on the street corner that I pass everyday. He's probably in his 50's and you can tell that life has not been kind. He "lives" in a water passage tunnel under a bridge not far from where he sets up his newspaper stand every morning. For whatever reason I am drawn to him. Not in some weird, gross, twisted way. But drawn in the sense that I wonder what circumstances in his life have resulted in him not having a home or not having enough money for new clothes or food. I am also drawn to him because the guy busts his butt. He is out there as early as 7 am every single morning and out there as late as 8 or 9 pm....and he is always smiling and friendly. If that were how I had to spend my days I can assure you that I would not be so cheerful about it.

I buy a newspaper as frequently as I can for more than it costs and he is always so grateful and appreciative. Part of me wants to start taking him food everyday and I don't know why I haven't. It's weird. I just can't really explain why my heart breaks for him the way it does but maybe because I see him so frequently that he is not just some random guy on the street selling papers. As many know in our current economic climate, things can change and change quickly. One day you can be living high on the hog and the next you are looking at losing everything. Maybe that happened to him; maybe it was something for more sinister. Who knows? All I know is that I am sad for him.

It's times like these where I wish I'd win the lottery. I think of all I could do with the money. We'd certainly save the majority of it and put it in trusts for our children so they would be well taken care of. We'd also be generous with our family and friends. We'd pay off any debt and we'd certainly take a family vacation. But I never have envisioned us buying expensive cars or houses or blowing it on things we don't really need. I would like to think I'd donate a huge chunk of it to different charities and organizations (ones where the money actually went to them), but mostly I think I would just give it to those who needed it the most.

How would you spend lottery winnings and what are some things in our world that are weighing heavily on your heart these days?