I really enjoy spending time in the classrooms of my kids. Especially my five year old. It is a lot of fun to see them in action and witness how involved they are in their day. This particular classroom is always busy. The kids never stop learning and moving. My kids come home from preschool exhausted. But there are a few things that I would change about each of the classrooms that my kids are in. And the biggest one would be field trips.
Field trips are a necessary evil I know, but I am worn out! My oldest does not have too many anymore. Just one or two a year but they are so expensive! They go to fun but educational places that the kids seem to enjoy. They are taken there on a bus and brought back on a bus. They always end up going somewhere I would never think to bring them myself so that is a nice touch. But the Preschoolers...
They have,it seems, at least one field trip a month. At least. They usually pick somewhere that the kids would like and some of them are free, but some aren't. And those are the ones that kill me. From the moment school begins I feel like I am nickel and dimed to death by these schools. First they need supplies like Kleenex and cleaner etc.. Then they have events to pay for and fundraisers I have to buy the stuff for.
The worst part is that they hype the kids up for weeks about going to the field trip in the classroom and then I have to be the one who breaks their heart saying we can't go. It just isn't right.
For instance the next field trip is in February for the 5 year old. The 4 year olds class is not going. The field trip is 30 minutes away and starts at 10:15. The 4 year olds class ends at 11:30. Do the math. I am supposed to be at the field trip for 45 minutes after He has been told he will have lunch there and stay a couple of hours? The sheet says "no siblings" . Why not? Wouldn't that just be more money in the destinations pocket if we could? More screwed up logic. I flat out told the teachers that I had no choice as my youngest would need to be picked up either she could come or we couldn't come at all. I felt bad, I certainly don't want to be "that" mom. the mom who thinks that she is entitled to make that demand, but I am stuck. And if they say no? Then Tucker would be devastated since they have been talking about going . The teachers okayed it. But I still feel bad. Then there is the fact I have to add another $10 to the trip. Because they are going at lunch time And I cannot NOT feed my kids and the place ingeniously demands you do not bring ANY outside food or drink. Of course not. Less money for them. Crazy. Why couldn't the younger class go at the same time? ARGH!!! More parental frustration.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Dear Jenny and What-his-name,
I have been sucked into this show called "Raising Sextuplets" on the WE network. I have never seen two people more ignorant surrounded by such a negative support system. The gist of the show is that this husband and wife had sextuplets and lived in Arizona surrounded by his parents. And hers lived only 3 hours away. The sextuplets parents decided to move to Florida to start their own life away from all the interference of their parents. His parents were nothing but negative and his dad,several times, announced how they would fail and move back to Arizona within 2 years. Her parents were just a little more supportive than that.
The kids keep saying how they want it to be the 8 of them to strengthen their family unit and kept repeating how happy they were to have had all the support that they did for the 2 years. But they wanted to do it on their own.
His mother went so far to berate him for what he was doing to the kids taking them so far away. He kept repeating his stance on why they were doing it and telling her he was sorry that she was hurting so bad. His father kept making scoffing noises about every choice that he made.
When they got to the house the couple started fighting about furniture placement and petty stuff. Mostly because they were so stressed out from the 4 day trip across the U.S. Then all their parents jumped in with options and then it got ugly.
Here is my letter to Jenny and her immature husband
Dear parents,
Your poor planning, flawed execution of a simple plan, and bad management of a good reason have resulted in you having a hard time with something Billions of Americans do everyday. You didn't double check your job status, which is him starting his own "business" and she took a huge pay cut to take a job that all of a sudden doesn't start for another month. You have been living with mommy and daddy to help you and are incredibly absent with common sense for your kids. Idiot Husband- you are emotionally immature, you sound like you bat for the other team, and you are verbally abusive. You are in desperate need of anger management. Telling your wife,"Don't be like Kate, you are emasculating me" just shows how emotionally ill prepared you are to be married with 6 kids. And BTW, you can't emasculate what was never there. You are incapable of fixing anything or following through on your end of any of the bargains you have struck with your wife. If my husband had talked to me like you talk to your wife, he would be sporting a flat head from where I had smacked him with a frying pan. Everything that comes out of your mouth is ridiculous. Shut. Up. I am wondering how many episodes it will take before you buckle under the pressure and move home divorced and ashamed. I have to say that maybe if your parents had been more enthusiastic to your faces and supportive all around then you might have had a better chance of making it. I am betting that by Fourth of July when you have been living on credit and the house is being repossessed, that the lawyers will be knocking on your door ready for you to sign the divorce papers. Who on the WE network thought that this would be a good idea? Are they trying to take up where the Goslins left off? They should be financially responsible for these people when they fail.I am really sorry for your luck.
The kids keep saying how they want it to be the 8 of them to strengthen their family unit and kept repeating how happy they were to have had all the support that they did for the 2 years. But they wanted to do it on their own.
His mother went so far to berate him for what he was doing to the kids taking them so far away. He kept repeating his stance on why they were doing it and telling her he was sorry that she was hurting so bad. His father kept making scoffing noises about every choice that he made.
When they got to the house the couple started fighting about furniture placement and petty stuff. Mostly because they were so stressed out from the 4 day trip across the U.S. Then all their parents jumped in with options and then it got ugly.
Here is my letter to Jenny and her immature husband
Dear parents,
Your poor planning, flawed execution of a simple plan, and bad management of a good reason have resulted in you having a hard time with something Billions of Americans do everyday. You didn't double check your job status, which is him starting his own "business" and she took a huge pay cut to take a job that all of a sudden doesn't start for another month. You have been living with mommy and daddy to help you and are incredibly absent with common sense for your kids. Idiot Husband- you are emotionally immature, you sound like you bat for the other team, and you are verbally abusive. You are in desperate need of anger management. Telling your wife,"Don't be like Kate, you are emasculating me" just shows how emotionally ill prepared you are to be married with 6 kids. And BTW, you can't emasculate what was never there. You are incapable of fixing anything or following through on your end of any of the bargains you have struck with your wife. If my husband had talked to me like you talk to your wife, he would be sporting a flat head from where I had smacked him with a frying pan. Everything that comes out of your mouth is ridiculous. Shut. Up. I am wondering how many episodes it will take before you buckle under the pressure and move home divorced and ashamed. I have to say that maybe if your parents had been more enthusiastic to your faces and supportive all around then you might have had a better chance of making it. I am betting that by Fourth of July when you have been living on credit and the house is being repossessed, that the lawyers will be knocking on your door ready for you to sign the divorce papers. Who on the WE network thought that this would be a good idea? Are they trying to take up where the Goslins left off? They should be financially responsible for these people when they fail.I am really sorry for your luck.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Frustration..
In the last year I have had 3 mammograms. Three. All because the Dr. kept finding lumps. The first mammogram was interesting. Since I had no idea what to expect I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't the mashing that other women had described it as. Or, maybe I was in so much pain on a daily basis that the smashing was mild in comparison. The Radiologist,or "breast specialist", told me they were fluid filled cysts. She then proceeded to tell me that if I changed my diet and my lifestyle that they would probably go away. Her suggestions were:
No drinking
No smoking
No caffeine
As little salt as possible
Eat lots of Flax seed so the water retention would be less
And my favorite, less stress.
Now I did less drinking, gave up smoking, paid WAY more attention to the salt intake(have you ever read a label for soup? WOW! ) Bought some Flax seed,un-ground,ate it in my oatmeal,but the stress...In order to lessen my stress I would need a whole dfferent life. I even cut out caffeine, for a day, then I decided after a bad headache that I would wean myself off of it slowly. Well the first of the year came around and I was drinking and smoking like normal and back to caffeine whenever.
And my breasts still hurt.
So I decided to crack down and do it for real. My caffeine is all before noon . My coffee is 1-2 cups in the morning and it is the half-caffeine. Sometimes I have a diet coke,but again, before noon. I gave up smoking and drinking,again. No red meat, still keeping an eye on the salt intake, and trying to lessen the stress.
And I started to feel better.
Then I stopped. I had hurt both of my knees and had a stress fracture, so I was now unable to run or even walk fast to alleviate what stress I could. Slowly I started to slip into the bad habits again. In June I went back to my Dr. because the pain was so bad I just knew they had gotten worse. I was right, she felt more. So back for another mammogram I went. I chose a different place because the last Dr. was all holistic.I had also been reading on the Internet about the cysts (Never, NEVER, do that.)And I thought a different place would give me a different answer.
Nope, same thing. Cysts. So the Dr. there said the same thing. After much over -thinking on this I went to see my GP Dr. I was now having anxiety attacks in the middle of the night and day. I couldn't focus for all the ruminating I was doing about these lumps! I just couldn't live like this. So the Dr. agreed and he prescibed a daily medicine for the anxiety. It took about a month but it began to work. Thank god. In the meantime, some things around the house came to a head and that is when I took care of the other stress issues. I began to section myself off from everyone while I took back control of my life. I grappled with a few things but quickly realized that I couldn't drink anymore. It just made me feel like such wasteland the next day. Even if I only had one beer. Since I wasn't drinking the smoking was easy to stop. I went back to my previous caffeine schedule and a few weeks later I noticed there was no pain. NO PAIN! A revelation, the hippie holistic Dr. was right. Until Christmas. I have had more pain in the past month because of all the stress. It built up and up and up until I almost had to scream every night. It.Totally.Sucked.
I went back for my annual exam at the Dr.s and she found more lumps and on both sides. It was getting worse. For all my hard work and the damn things were growing and expanding. So she ordered ANOTHER mammogram. They found more and apparently I am doing everything I can so ... that's just apparently something I have to live with.
What? I have to live constantly uncomfortable because they won't recommend anything? No. I will not accept this.
This New Years was better than most. Why? Because our insurance changed,thankyougod.
Now we have insurance that covers just about anything. Including total mastectomy and rebuilding. Now I just have to get my Dr. to put it as medically necessary. You see I asked and the cysts won't grow if there is no tissue.
No tissue=no cysts
No tissue=no cysts
No tissue=no cysts
Sounds like a no brainer to me.
I know a lot of women have cysts. But I don't care. I refuse to let this be the end of the conversation. I refuse to Constantly wonder if this new pain is really "the lump" The lump they find for cancer. You see I have a grandmother and an Aunt who both had it. SO every pain,every lump I find I worry. Wouldn't you?
No drinking
No smoking
No caffeine
As little salt as possible
Eat lots of Flax seed so the water retention would be less
And my favorite, less stress.
Now I did less drinking, gave up smoking, paid WAY more attention to the salt intake(have you ever read a label for soup? WOW! ) Bought some Flax seed,un-ground,ate it in my oatmeal,but the stress...In order to lessen my stress I would need a whole dfferent life. I even cut out caffeine, for a day, then I decided after a bad headache that I would wean myself off of it slowly. Well the first of the year came around and I was drinking and smoking like normal and back to caffeine whenever.
And my breasts still hurt.
So I decided to crack down and do it for real. My caffeine is all before noon . My coffee is 1-2 cups in the morning and it is the half-caffeine. Sometimes I have a diet coke,but again, before noon. I gave up smoking and drinking,again. No red meat, still keeping an eye on the salt intake, and trying to lessen the stress.
And I started to feel better.
Then I stopped. I had hurt both of my knees and had a stress fracture, so I was now unable to run or even walk fast to alleviate what stress I could. Slowly I started to slip into the bad habits again. In June I went back to my Dr. because the pain was so bad I just knew they had gotten worse. I was right, she felt more. So back for another mammogram I went. I chose a different place because the last Dr. was all holistic.I had also been reading on the Internet about the cysts (Never, NEVER, do that.)And I thought a different place would give me a different answer.
Nope, same thing. Cysts. So the Dr. there said the same thing. After much over -thinking on this I went to see my GP Dr. I was now having anxiety attacks in the middle of the night and day. I couldn't focus for all the ruminating I was doing about these lumps! I just couldn't live like this. So the Dr. agreed and he prescibed a daily medicine for the anxiety. It took about a month but it began to work. Thank god. In the meantime, some things around the house came to a head and that is when I took care of the other stress issues. I began to section myself off from everyone while I took back control of my life. I grappled with a few things but quickly realized that I couldn't drink anymore. It just made me feel like such wasteland the next day. Even if I only had one beer. Since I wasn't drinking the smoking was easy to stop. I went back to my previous caffeine schedule and a few weeks later I noticed there was no pain. NO PAIN! A revelation, the hippie holistic Dr. was right. Until Christmas. I have had more pain in the past month because of all the stress. It built up and up and up until I almost had to scream every night. It.Totally.Sucked.
I went back for my annual exam at the Dr.s and she found more lumps and on both sides. It was getting worse. For all my hard work and the damn things were growing and expanding. So she ordered ANOTHER mammogram. They found more and apparently I am doing everything I can so ... that's just apparently something I have to live with.
What? I have to live constantly uncomfortable because they won't recommend anything? No. I will not accept this.
This New Years was better than most. Why? Because our insurance changed,thankyougod.
Now we have insurance that covers just about anything. Including total mastectomy and rebuilding. Now I just have to get my Dr. to put it as medically necessary. You see I asked and the cysts won't grow if there is no tissue.
No tissue=no cysts
No tissue=no cysts
No tissue=no cysts
Sounds like a no brainer to me.
I know a lot of women have cysts. But I don't care. I refuse to let this be the end of the conversation. I refuse to Constantly wonder if this new pain is really "the lump" The lump they find for cancer. You see I have a grandmother and an Aunt who both had it. SO every pain,every lump I find I worry. Wouldn't you?
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
A necessary evil..
Medical Insurance brings an extra pitter patter to my heart. I loathe the hoops you have to jump through in order to get what you need. I loathe the fact that our insurance started on January 1st and I have already spent a total of 5 hours on the phone with them and Dr.'s offices setting everything up and seeing who we can keep and who has to be forgotten.The pediatrician is the only one who made the cut.I am glad that it is there to protect us from full price Dr.'s visits, but now with this one I have a harder time finding doctors who take it and are close. They also seem to cover almost everything a hundred percent, it is just a matter of finding someone closer than western Illinois to go to. This is the year I am getting everything broken fixed. And as long as I jump through the appropriate hoops on the way we should all remain friends until the end. I have called them from my kids Karate class while hiding in the back of the building to hear and not be heard by others, I have parked in the duos preschool lot so I could get it done on the way to my next errand, I have used my oh-so-precious alone time this-the-most-important-week-yet to utilize the quiet to get some answers.I guess considering how bad the other insurance we had was, this is a dramatic improvement, I just wish it didn't have to be so complicated!
Friday, December 31, 2010
My apologies
I generally have a very relaxed attitude towards music in the house. I let the kids listen to just about everything. I,of course,control this with my Ipod selections. Out of nostalgia the other day I downloaded "Supersonic" by JJ FAD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3nPLoODtGU
It is very old school and very 80's which is why it brings back such memories of me from dancing and singing to it with my oldest friend when we were around first grade age. Now my kids have helped me add to those memories. They think that the girls in the beginning of the song say "We're JJ FAT.." which sets them to giggling. Then the "beat boxing" sounds at the beginning the kids think that the group is just making fart noises. Then they start giggling again. Makes me giggle listening to them. I have tried to explain it to them, but they just laugh right over my explanations. Oh well, sorry JJ FAD, I tried.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3nPLoODtGU
It is very old school and very 80's which is why it brings back such memories of me from dancing and singing to it with my oldest friend when we were around first grade age. Now my kids have helped me add to those memories. They think that the girls in the beginning of the song say "We're JJ FAT.." which sets them to giggling. Then the "beat boxing" sounds at the beginning the kids think that the group is just making fart noises. Then they start giggling again. Makes me giggle listening to them. I have tried to explain it to them, but they just laugh right over my explanations. Oh well, sorry JJ FAD, I tried.
sad but true
This will be the first year in 11 years that I have NOT had to watch football for 10 straight days and nights. I knew I did something right this year.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
New Year
I suppose it is time for some New Years resolutions. Again. It seems sort of redundant to do these every year knowing that they are hard goals to obtain. Who can lose 30 lbs in a year? Who can vow to clear their credit in a year? I think this year will be the year of attainable resolutions.
1. Treat my body nicer. Eat even better. Try to start getting the inside and the outside symbiotic with each other.
2.Quit stressing. About anything. I think Karma or fate or whatever you beleive in has shown me that no matter how much I plan or think something out or set something up to run smooth,it is either going to work or not. Regardless of my preparation.
3. No peer pressure from the husband. I have already pretty much tuned out my friends opinions. I figure if they are really my friends, then it wouldn't matter to them what I choose to do or not do. This ties in to the "no stressing".
4.Continue in my efforts with the no smoking, no drinking, and add no meat, no sweets. I think of the 2 options the no sweets will be the hardest. Yes they taste good but the self recriminations are just not worth it.
5. Be happy with myself. START TO EXERCISE. It has been since last March. MARCH. Ridiculous. Now I am just lazy. The knees don't hurt so much anymore that I cannot speed walk or do the weight machines. I have a treadmill in my house, there is just no more excuses. Not to lose weight (although, I won't lie, that would be awesome) but to get my self moving. To regain some muscle mass and sanity. If hiring a sitter every other night is not financially a feasible option than I have to do something for ME.. To keep me sane. Or as close to sane as I am likely to get.
6.To continue to call a spade a spade. I am really liking the feeling of not being obligated to anyone emotionally. I will not be told something with the expectations that I won't buck the system just to make them happy. There is no need for that. I am no longer going to pretend to like something to make someone else happy.
7 I would like to say I will curse less. But I will be honest. I no longer drink or smoke. I don't sleep around, gamble or beat up little old ladies. I need one vice. Cussing is it. Sometimes there is something freeing about just blurting out a cuss word in a certain situation. Bad, but freeing.
There are probably a lot of other things I would like to change or wish for or improve, but this is a good start. A reasonable list of attainable expectations.
1. Treat my body nicer. Eat even better. Try to start getting the inside and the outside symbiotic with each other.
2.Quit stressing. About anything. I think Karma or fate or whatever you beleive in has shown me that no matter how much I plan or think something out or set something up to run smooth,it is either going to work or not. Regardless of my preparation.
3. No peer pressure from the husband. I have already pretty much tuned out my friends opinions. I figure if they are really my friends, then it wouldn't matter to them what I choose to do or not do. This ties in to the "no stressing".
4.Continue in my efforts with the no smoking, no drinking, and add no meat, no sweets. I think of the 2 options the no sweets will be the hardest. Yes they taste good but the self recriminations are just not worth it.
5. Be happy with myself. START TO EXERCISE. It has been since last March. MARCH. Ridiculous. Now I am just lazy. The knees don't hurt so much anymore that I cannot speed walk or do the weight machines. I have a treadmill in my house, there is just no more excuses. Not to lose weight (although, I won't lie, that would be awesome) but to get my self moving. To regain some muscle mass and sanity. If hiring a sitter every other night is not financially a feasible option than I have to do something for ME.. To keep me sane. Or as close to sane as I am likely to get.
6.To continue to call a spade a spade. I am really liking the feeling of not being obligated to anyone emotionally. I will not be told something with the expectations that I won't buck the system just to make them happy. There is no need for that. I am no longer going to pretend to like something to make someone else happy.
7 I would like to say I will curse less. But I will be honest. I no longer drink or smoke. I don't sleep around, gamble or beat up little old ladies. I need one vice. Cussing is it. Sometimes there is something freeing about just blurting out a cuss word in a certain situation. Bad, but freeing.
There are probably a lot of other things I would like to change or wish for or improve, but this is a good start. A reasonable list of attainable expectations.
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