Lizz

Alex and I had a fairly good week this week, although we could have done without walking to the hospital twice in one week I'm sure. We went to the park, spent some time in the backyard, Saturday was a rainy day so we mostly stayed inside but made apple pancakes and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies while playing Candy Land. Alex has started doing chores around the apartment and was a virtual saint this weekend. And the doctor finally put her on antibiotics for her ear infection. And now she's going back to Jeff's until Sunday. Poor Mommy.

I kept myself fairly busy today: while doing laundry this morning, I also ran some errands such as depositing my paycheck in the bank and yelling at Sprint yet again. I came home this afternoon to vacuum Alex's bedroom and finish taking down the Hallowe'en decorations. I've also managed to get the dishes all caught up and the kitchen clean. I'll be leaving to walk to work in a few minutes. Hopefully I can find a ride home. I think I'll be tired by the time I get out.

I learned a new word today and it's appropriate for today: Samhainophobia. It is the condition of being afraid of Hallowe'en.

For the past two nights, I have been woken up by Alex crying. So, I go into her bedroom and ask her what's wrong and both times it has been that she has to go to the bathroom.
Now we have had the conversation already about how she can get up and go potty if she has to at night. But it seems that I have to continue to tell her this every night. I'm not really sure why. Her door is partially open and there's no baby gate in her way. She knows how to go potty by herself and I've given my permission to let her go as long as that is all that she does (no playing at 2am, thank you). But I guess I get to be woken up every night until she understands that she can go to the bathroom at my place without waking me up.

I had a very busy day off today, I figured that I'd take a break from it to update.
As you may know, I am currently without a car so doing anything that requires transportation sucks. I had to do laundry this morning and have no facilities in my building to do it. And so, got to haul a bag of laundry down to the laundromat and bring it back again. I also had to pick up my paycheck, which my mother was kind enough to drive me to pick up. Then, we went to buy Alex's Hallowe'en costume and her birthday present for Sunday. I kind of went a bit overboard in my spending when I found a Hallowe'en advent calendar. It was the only one there and the first I've ever seen. So, you can see why I had to buy it.
When I got home, I had the presents to wrap and chores to do. And that is where I'm at right now. I have plenty more cleaning to do and money to deposit in the bank!

Apparently there are some people that want to impose a tax on soda and sugary drinks. $.01 per ounce of soda. Ugh. No. I understand that there is an obesity problem in the United States, but taxing sugar is not the way to deal with it. Said article is here

Alex had her first dance class yesterday and from what I could see of it, she was hilarious! When she came out she asked why her class was over, which I took to mean she had fun. She also said that dance made her tired on the way home, which I think is a good thing too! Haha! I'm glad that she gets the chance to enjoy this kind of thing.

The car that my father-in-law so kindly let me use for the past couple of years and gave to me earlier this year has finally bit the big one. I've had extensive brake work done on it and earlier this year I became fed up with it. I was sinking too much money into this 16 year old car and pretty much called it quits with it after two months running having it break down on me. A couple of days ago, it started making an unhappy noise, I had an oil change done and the mechanic told me that the alternator was going. So, I called around to find out how much a new alternator would cost and was not pleased by the answer. And when I left work yesterday, the car would not start. So, it's still sitting in the parking lot at work and I'll have to see if some salvage yard would like to come fetch it.

Jeff got Alex into Head Start, she starts on Thursday. This is terrific news, because she cannot go to school until next year due to the school system being full of putzes. I think she's ready for school: she's potty trained and intelligent and full of energy. The only issue with her going to Head Start is that they have wacky hours that are obviously not considering working parents. So, I'll have to find someone who can drop her off and pick her up when I have to work.

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My Beth has arranged it so that Alex will be doing dance classes. She starts that on Saturday. It will be a busy week for her! It will be so cute to see her dancing around and the social atmosphere will be good for her as well. I have to go out and buy her some barrettes and a leotard this week.

My sister's baby shower was Sunday afternoon. It was pretty good. Alex was also invited to the shower so I picked her up ahead of time and despite some babysitting difficulties, the week has been going well.

I had the day off yesterday, so I took Alex up to the public pool at Robin Hood Park to swim. We went with a couple of my work friends: Morgan and Michelle, and Michelle's son Luke. The children (and adults) had lots of good fun and despite my 70+ spf sunscreen, a little burned (at least I did). We were up there for over three hours and barely noticed the time!
Today, I had to work this morning, but it was a short shift and after work, we went up to Otter Brook Dam. We didn't stay as long, but we had fun and Alex played in the mud and the water.
I have three days off in a row coming up toward the end of this weekend and we're taking off to the beach. The real ocean beach. Alex has never been anywhere and it will be nice to get away for a few days.

I am livid. My insurance company gets $100 a week out of my paycheck, which is bad enough. Now, when I need them, they say they'll pay 80% of my dentist bill to get my wisdom teeth out and now they'll only pay 50%. So, instead of me having to pay $332, I now have to pay $880. They also refused to pay what they said they would pay for my daughter's dentist visit. I will be receiving the letter of appeal that the dentist sent to the insurance company and once I have that, I will be calling them up, yelling at them and then as soon as I can, canceling my insurance with them. Their treatment of me is completely BS. I have given them $2800 this year to handle my insurance and they can't pay the part of my $1500 that they said they would.

Yesterday I went out of town to do a temp. job for an acquaintance. It was easy work: I called a bunch of phone numbers to see if past customers would come in and be repeat customers. There were a few wrong numbers and I got hung up on a couple of times, but it was a very relaxed atmosphere and we had some fun. (I was also paid half a week's pay at PC for a day's work there!) I'll probably be going back if they ask me.

I'm constantly having to battle with Alex being rude lately and it's driving me nuts. We're getting ready to leave for the laundromat: "Hurry up! We have to leave!" It's the frickin' laundromat. There's no huge rush. I'm folding the laundry and ask her to fold the socks, which she actually enjoys doing: "Nope. I'm just waiting for my dolly." I ask her to take my bag so I can carry the laundry and she puts it on the side mirror of the car while I'm putting the laundry in the trunk. We're at the library and story time is about to start. I tell her it's time to stop playing and get ready for the story and get completely ignored. We're listening to the story and she's interrupting. They're doing an activity and she won't take turns. And that's just so far today. What have I done wrong? Why is my polite little girl such a brat?

I currently feel as though I'm just plodding through life. I don't do anything overexciting. My job is not teaching me anything new, I can do my work in my sleep. I have virtually no responsibility there. I'm living paycheck to paycheck and because of the car problems that I've been having, not making ends meet. And I've been working six day weeks. I just feel so...blah. Like, what's the point? I'd like to point out that these emotions only hit me when I don't have Alex - she keeps me plenty occupied! And mostly at work, because, as I've mentioned, there's nothing else for me to do. I need a change.

I was just subjected to a scientology commercial while watching CNN...

I don't really understand why anyone needs hardcore drugs for the pain associated with getting wisdom teeth removed. I mean, yeah, it's uncomfortable and if I don't take a ibuprofen, I get a nagging headache. But it doesn't seem necessary to go beyond headache medicine. I've had migraines worse than what I have now.
I feel that I can make this statement because I can't take my prescribed vicodin. It makes me light-headed and ill.
My mouth is still sore and swollen and I still can't eat solid food. I wish I had an ice pack at work.
I'm also finding it difficult to concentrate on anything for a long period of time. I find myself falling in and out of conversations.
And by the way, my mouth hurts.

I now own a purple Coke glass!

The past couple of Saturdays have been pretty busy for Alex and myself. Last week, we had my mom's wedding.
And yesterday we started the day by making apple pancakes, then we went to Keene's yearly Duck Race, sponsored by the Lion's Club, which is our own tradition. (We've been going every year since Alex was born.) Then we had to buy a birthday present because Alex was invited to a friend's birthday party for that afternoon. We then went to McDonald's for lunch (mainly because they have Coke glasses with the purchase of a large meal) and then got to walk all the way home.
After naptime, we went to Lucas' birthday party and stayed there until I had to leave for work. The next Saturday that I have Alex, I'm planning a barbecue so I'll be busy then too. Maybe I'll get a break this coming Saturday.

Yesterday, Alex was an absolute terror as four year olds are wont to be from time to time. She wouldn't do anything I asked her to do until I got so frustrated with her that I was yelling. This happened multiple times. It was maddening. I was not unhappy when I had to leave for work.
And then my car wouldn't start. I had to call my brother to come over and give me a jump and call work to tell them I would be late.
By the time I got to work, between being late and the obnoxious child, I was in need of chocolate. Badly. Unfortunately, the only money I had was to buy bread. My savior came in the form of a coworker offering one of my favorite cookies: samoas. Mmmm...Thank you!
I didn't get out of work until almost 11pm, which is rare for me, but we'll chalk it up to a stressful day. And to top the evening, I slept incredibly poorly all night. I think it was due to being cold. *sigh*
Here's to hoping today is a better day!

Alex and I were in my mom's wedding to Carter yesterday afternoon. Alex was the flower girl and I was the matron-of-honor. I walked Alex through her duties when we got there and she did it perfectly. And then she nailed it again for the real thing and was very well-behaved throughout the rest of the ceremony. My mom got to see a sister who she hadn't seen for almost 20 years and even though it was a complete mess straight through to the end, from the outside it looked terrific. My brother and I gave speeches to the newlyweds (which is completely out of both our elements) and Alex was an angel throughout the whole thing. I picked her up from Jeff's at 8:30am and we didn't stop until after 8pm. We didn't even have time to attempt a nap, but she didn't show many signs of getting cranky at all. Even when we were helping with the cleanup, Alex just wandered around and kept to herself. She wasn't getting in the way or running off - she was perfect. My Beth was a huge help. She sat in the front row of the ceremony so that when Alex finished her flower girl thing, she had someone to sit with and tell her to be quiet. And she followed her around while I did my daughterly duties and kept an eye on her. I don't know what I would have done without Beth on flower girl duty.

Alex also made a friend at the wedding. One of the bridesmaids had a five year old daughter who came to the wedding and she and Alex hit it off immediately. Of course this meant that Alex had two little girls to follow around when both of us parent were doing other things. But she didn't seem to mind and they kept each other busy.