and we're back. [Walt, Wizards, and....Woolungasaurus?]

[bumbershoot]

Oh and I'm so happy with how the ebay thing turned out. The seller said that she's had about 5 cases like this since '08, and from her happy-with-me responses, I have a feeling that the other 5 filed disputes (just like ebay told ME to), even though she got the info from ebay.

She's even sending me the original package, as it looks like it went through a war, she says. She cracked up at it and figures I will too.



OH, I didn't mention that we got E's curriculum yesterday! We're still waiting on a few things that were backordered, but it's still exciting. I have reading to do before we jump into it, so I really must reach the end of the internet soon so I can continue with that. We went with Oak Meadow. I got really happily and positively peer-pressured by the sister of my sister in law (what the heck does that make us, besides very weird twins in looks, hair, and beliefs (it's really quite strange how similar we are)?) who has a 2 year old and is considering their curriculum for the future. I realized that my ideals are in line with them, even if I do like to do workbooks just for the pleasure of finishing something tangible and "finishable", and it would peeve me if SHE did Oak Meadow and I didn't, just b/c I was concerned about having a beginning, middle, and end. Silly of me. Positive for E!


And along with the ebay/paypal thing that was going on, I seem to have finally "won" with a drugstore dot com vs insurance company issue, for Robert's prescriptions. Insurance wants us to use drugstore to get 90 day supplies. But once you've started just going to the local pharmacy, you have to get "overrides" to allow the company to start up a prescription that will actually reach you on time. Hubby's last endo visit was on the 9th. His endo faxed the prescription that day, I sent an email to them along with an order. And I've been on the phone multiple times getting two overrides, trying to convince the people running drugstore's pharmacy (bioscrip as of a month ago), etc etc, since then. Just today I got an email with NO apology for the delay, with nothing like that, in response to my email of the 9th. Without outdated info that I could see online! Anyway, it's actually out for delivery today (they upgraded it to FREE next-day b/c I've been patient and kind with them, and it's been going on for over 10 days), so I've won, as long as they got the prescriptions right.



I don't know why I think y'all care about these things...but oh well!

 

[kaoden39]

Molly I am pleased to hear about you victory in the prescription wars. I am so glad we have Kaiser.

Loren had his surgery today. They removed the tumor, the DR told me that he would be shocked if the biopsy comes back anything other than negative. Also he explained that there is only a 1% chance that the tumor will come back. All in all it cost us $35.25, and it looks really good.

Sorry I have been so erratic but life has been imposing on me terribly.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh gosh that's OK!

35 bucks for surgery, wow! That makes it hurt just a little bit less. I hope he heals up quickly and well, and I hope that all the news comes back happy and joyful.



Robert's on a goofy one night trip. for some reason it feels harder than the long trips. Probably b/c there was no time to prepare, and since R was taking the bus....

Oh CRAP. I was supposed to get the car today from the park and ride and I forgot to! Oh my gosh. That means I have to get up extra early tomorrow to get the car and go to E's swim class. Oh how did I DO that? Please don't give us a ticket please please please.

...OK well anyway, R drove to the pnr today and took the bus to the airport b/c it was so early. And he forgot to say goodbye last night, so E was really angry with me this morning. See, I didn't realize that R's flight was so early.

Gotta wake up early, so must sleep now. If only I'd remembered this earlier...

Please don't let there be a ticket, please.....

 

[Brady's Mom]

Thanks for the tip about the "corn sweetener"! We just discovered that little gem the other day. We were looking at some ice cream and it had corn sweetener on the label instead of HFCS or CS and I was suspicious - so came home and googled it. Lo and Behold - HFCS, just "relabeled" to be something more consumer friendly! AND the FDA is being petitioned by the HFCS people to let them change the name permanently. What a crazy world.

Good luck with the car - hope there's no ticket! I hate it when I forget little stuff like that. It totally ends up bugging me - dumb, but it does.

Jeff (DS 14) gets super cranky when he has HFCS - but I wouldn't have known the reason if it hadn't been for you sharing your journey with R and E. So, thanks for the sharing, it's helped my family!

 

[kaoden39]

Good luck with the car and not getting a ticket.

 

[QueenDoOver]

ok, just going to send some no ticket Karma your way! Hope it works!

 

[bumbershoot]

Aw Shannon, I'm so glad I was part of your son figuring out what the problem was! I know that DS will be happy to know it. Though he's currently petitioning me to let him have the stupid cinnamon bread (holding onto it with thoughts of bringing it into their store, dumping it in the trash, and telling them why...perhaps on Saturday at around 11am, when it's packed with customers) because it tastes good. Keeps saying "I think I can handle corn syrup now!" Yeah, um, NO. Your behavior over the weekend PROVES that you can't. Shh.


All the good karma thoughts worked! No ticket, no towing. Car was right there, having had a lovely night out with its car friends. And it was kinda nice taking that walk (to the Tacoma downtown lightrail, at least) at 7am with the newly risen sun all bright and shiny and the air all happy and fresh (with added schoolbus fumes..we are right down the hill from Stadium High (where Ten Things I Hate About You was filmed) so we get alllll the buses going by).



Today is/would have been my mom's birthday. Would have been 66, I suppose, if I'm doing the math right. 11 of her birthdays have gone by. Just impossible to fathom, really.



And my stepdad, I believe, has lost his mind. Sent a nasty political email to several of us (he didn't forward it with other email addresses, and it seems that the only email addresses in the To area are family, so officially he's doing *most* of what I've requested) calling the current Pres a "maggot". The man that my mom married would NEVER have said something like that.

So I've gone from "omg stop stop stop" to "wow, does he need psychiatric help?"

 

[Brady's Mom]

Aw Shannon, I'm so glad I was part of your son figuring out what the problem was! I know that DS will be happy to know it. Though he's currently petitioning me to let him have the stupid cinnamon bread (holding onto it with thoughts of bringing it into their store, dumping it in the trash, and telling them why...perhaps on Saturday at around 11am, when it's packed with customers) because it tastes good. Keeps saying "I think I can handle corn syrup now!" Yeah, um, NO. Your behavior over the weekend PROVES that you can't. Shh.


All the good karma thoughts worked! No ticket, no towing. Car was right there, having had a lovely night out with its car friends. And it was kinda nice taking that walk (to the Tacoma downtown lightrail, at least) at 7am with the newly risen sun all bright and shiny and the air all happy and fresh (with added schoolbus fumes..we are right down the hill from Stadium High (where Ten Things I Hate About You was filmed) so we get alllll the buses going by).



Today is/would have been my mom's birthday. Would have been 66, I suppose, if I'm doing the math right. 11 of her birthdays have gone by. Just impossible to fathom, really.



And my stepdad, I believe, has lost his mind. Sent a nasty political email to several of us (he didn't forward it with other email addresses, and it seems that the only email addresses in the To area are family, so officially he's doing *most* of what I've requested) calling the current Pres a "maggot". The man that my mom married would NEVER have said something like that.

So I've gone from "omg stop stop stop" to "wow, does he need psychiatric help?"

Darn it, Molly - I read the bit about all the good karma thoughts and had a huge hopeful surge for you - until I read it was about the car!!! Not that I'm sorry about the car......

I hope you get the stepdad thing worked out. YIKES!! I live in a sort of apolitical family and don't have to endure those kind of discussions or emails. My fam sort of keeps to themselves about their political views - which I consider very nice. I am a closet political junkie and so is DH, but we discuss those things amongst ourselves instead of sharing them with other family members. And sometimes we just agree to disagree!

Tell E that he helped my son Jeff feel better because he is such a good example (or something like that). If he wants to see who Jeff is - he's the boy in my avatar wearing the Mickey Sorcerer Hat - although he is now about a foot and a half taller and proud of it! And the littlest boy is Nathan who is almost the same age as E. Nathan turned 6 three weeks ago.

Here is a bigger picture if E wants to see it - since the little pic is so hard to see. It was taken on our first family trip in Oct. 2006 - so almost 4 years ago.

 

[bumbershoot]

I will show him the picture!



Robert just found an online course for all the weird computer programming things he's been needing! Found it, called them, enrolled. It's some sort of perl etc etc certificate program through the O'Reilly School of Technology through the U of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Pretty cool!

 

[kaoden39]

Very cool.

 

[kaoden39]

I heard the news story about Seattle. I hope everyone is okay.

 

[bumbershoot]

Your post made me all scared! Since hubby worked from home and we don't watch the news normally, I had to go to the news websites.

Was it the West Seattle shooting that caught your attention? What an awful thing. I will never understand what drives people to do those things. If you're that mad or freaked or crazed or concerned about money or the future or whatever and know you'll be taking yourself out at the end, just skip to that part. As least maybe that way people will think about you with some sympathy and good-feelings...

Just so awful.

 

[kaoden39]

I am so sorry that my post scared you.

It was that one but at the time I heard I just heard that someone was shooting people in Seattle. And you all were my first thought. I will never understand what draws people to do those things. It is so sad.

 

[bumbershoot]

Don't you just hate how they start with the "blah blah, shooting, blah" sort of news briefs? Don't panic us! Seattle gets panicked enough over things that don't concern us in any possible way, let alone dealing with the "we have no info but we're going to tell you what we know anyway" sort of early reports.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hmm, was I supposed to tip the water delivery guy just now? Just got a monthly water delivery service...suddenly feel like a fool if I was supposed to tip him. Then again, he was nearly an hour later than he said he would be (he called ahead of time), AND I just realized that we actually said that delivery between 8 and noon would be good (and he got here after 2).

Well nevermind for this time...but in the future, do water delivery people get tips?

 

[kaoden39]

Yes, it totally irritates me. I think that they do it keep people watching.

I have never heard of tipping the water guy and frankly he didn't deserve a tip. He was late, I can understand it if there is a good reason but after calling you and saying he would be there at x time. Also you set a time perimeter, they need to honor that.

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks!


***I wrote the saga below last night. It's long and boring and very likely confusing. I seemed to be channeling some annoying novelist who doesn't use proper punctuation or something. I'm posting it b/c I like to be true to myself and my feelings, but it's very likely it will just bore your pants off (so don't read it while at work!).***



Oh what a day. The MIL called last night, she needs to get her, her words, "medicine" this weekend, can we add her to our Costco account so that she can get it, etc etc. OMG of course, what's the matter, is BIL's partner not taking her anymore (which led to hopes that BIL has dropped his sorry, loser, leaving after stealing tens of thousands from the family, butt), of course we'll see if we can. To each other, of course....Oh I don't think we can, Robert, but it's OK, we'll just BUY her a membership it's NO problem let's do this.

(after all I just gave the same amount to a total stranger after reading about a family's tragic sad horrible loss (little baby in stroller in southern CA on visit from Australia got hit, while being pushed across a street, by a stopped car that was PUSHED by a car behind it who didn't realize there were pedestrians...baby died)... I cried all night after reading about it and *had to* donate money to the family to offset their costs)

Plus, we realized we needed to get up to Ikea to get a shelf thingie (4x2 Expedit) for E's homeschool stuff, and taking MIL to Costco was halfway there...win win!

We get up there...nope, she can't be added to your Gold Star Costco membership (though I supposed we could have dropped hubby and added her, but that might have been weird), so, no problem, here's your new membership, we'll keep renewing it, no problem, you're on a fixed income and we are happy to help, please, it's fine.

Everyone needs to do a tiny bit of shopping. So after the shopping is done I go to the pharmacy to wait for them (and see if they have a sharps container for sale for hubby's shot stuff)...they aren't there, they aren't there, they aren't there...I hear them in the aisle nearby, hey, I'm waiting for you... MIL: why is she waiting, where is she waiting? Hubby: at pharmacy, for your medicine, of course.

Oh no, she wanted to get flax seed oil capsules with something else included...because that's the medicine. OK I have NO problems with this, in theory! Vitamins are very important for many people, it's all chemical compounds that affect the body, I'm all over supplements for others (I have never much gotten into them for myself, but I support them all the way!). But...to call at 8pm talking about how you have to have your medicine the next day...and when I asked so hubby asked if they have it there for her (wondering how she got the prescription filled without a membership) ALL she does is say oh yes, yes it's there.... That, my friends, is manipulation. And that is not, so much, appreciated.

What's worse? 2 of the 3 bottles are being sent to Robert's uncle in Korea. OK again, I have NO problem with her buying him those things (I am certain he pays her back, he is always making "orders" from Korea and I know he overpays her for the items, since she worked her rear off to put him, her baby brother, through college and he feels he still owes her)...but...she didn't *say* that.


So she buys R and E pizza at the food area, and buys sodas all around (dude, have you NOT been paying attention? I'm just lucky she didn't get pepperoni!)...she takes a cup and gets diet, E takes a cup and gets water, I decide to live dangerously and get a pepsi (I'm not eating as I have other plans for food, and I end up with a NASTY headache after having the pepsi)... I happen to mention we're going to Ikea, and she nearly jumps out of her seat she's so happy...she wants to go, obviously, so I invite her. Yay she is happy, and she's so rarely happy I want to make it continue, so it's all good.

Well by the time we get there it was after 5 and I haven't eaten more than a granola bar since breakfast, and there was an hour's workout in between. R and E get uber-cranky when they miss meals, but with me I just get more and more intense and kinda scarily quiet, I think maybe I just try to conserve energy or something. And when I'm around other people I like to pretend like I'm never hungry, especially if they are skinny people that I'm embarrassed around...she has gotten on my case since the second time she met me about my weight ("ooh you so fat, how you get so fat, you vegetarian, how you gain weight?" I quote, exactly, the conversation...by the way, I was *maybe* a muscular size 12 during that convo, which looks not horrible on me (8, 6, even 4 I'm sure would be better, and I'm far above even a 12 right now, but still, I didn't look awful at that time)). So I normally am not at all hungry around her.

But by the time we got there....OK there's a 15 minute wait for the kid's playroom...hubby and MIL you sign E in, you wait with him in line, I am going to the cafeteria, buh bye! I mean, that takes a LOT for me to do, seriously...I was beyond shaking, I was that much in need of food. I finally ate. Whew.


So she bought, basically, what she wanted (simple candles for her chants/prayers), though they recently discontinued *exactly* what she used to get and I had to apologize for her severe annoyance projected to the employee who was helping her (trying to help her), and I found the Expedit shelfie thing.

And then we had the FUN of figuring out if it could even go in the car. We of course were going to take it out of the box. Of course we'd do a diagonal with the long pieces. Robert heard the length and got a wee bit confuzzled...I said "it's just over 58"", and he said "ooh I don' tknow, I could barely fit a 6 foot xmas tree in the trunk when we bought it at Ikea last year". Took me about 5 minute when I suddenly went "wait a minute...." Dude, 58" is shorter than me. I am not close to 6 feet. I think it'll be OK!

So MIL is worrying, E is having fun, Robert is doubting me...they are shoving the long pieces in any old way...I look at it...pick up the long piece...has anyone tried it like this? Put the long piece in parallel to the back of the car, it fits, of course, because I could just about lie in the trunk that way, and, remember, the length is shorter than me... I'm the conquering hero, isn't that exciting, I think that E did a fist-pump (learned from Jonas Brothers)...yaaaaay. I remind them that I used to make Ikea runs in my Jetta. Nay, my Bug. And I "made it work".

Dropped off the very very tired MIL (I don't think I ever updated, so go to the ** at the bottom for the update on her heart), got home, the guys had a bit of dinner (I was still full from my marinara on pasta plus salad plus Kozy Shack rice pudding), and I put the shelfie thing together with the assistance of my dudes. Let me tell you, it looks awesome! Got it filled (well, not filled, these are early days) with his homeschool stuff...just perfect, exactly what I imagined, yay!


And now I am beat. Hips hurting and nearly giving out, knees owie, back tight...the physical exertion along with the "why didn't she just SAY she needed the membership for supplements" stuff, etc etc...and I went and forgot to buy the epsom salts at Costco! I coulda taken a lovely muscle-happiness-restoring bath with the help of those salts...sigh.


But E went to bed happy, we did a seriously good deed [MIL is on a very fixed income and I am happy to help her, I just like to know the truth up front and not have her be sneaky...which, by the way, was the CRIME that Robert was always accused of growing up, he's the "sneaky" one, and she told me that the first, no, second time she met me, just so I would know and not "blame" her later when I found it out on my own, so it's just weird each time I catch her being sneaky when Robert's pretty much done with that (and he is SO easy to "catch" in those moments it's not even funny)...but anyway we're happy to help and happy to *be able* to help], R and I watched Jurassic Park 3 (scary! predictable! excellent graphics!)...it's all good, it ended well, etc etc etc....

And now MIL is bragging about me, again, to her friends (though honestly I would have preferred that she keep this quiet, as it will make my BIL and SIL all annoyed because she WILL play them against me UGH), which is better than when she was telling them that I was nearly evil!



Calgon...take me away....





**MIL's gen practitioner had been telling her she had a valve problem for 3 years, was treating, loosely, on this assumption...this started shortly after FIL died (which was a very long story but ultimately he just had the WRONG cardiac and beyond doctors at the WRONG hospital (seriously it had just received a very poor "grade" in cardiac care 3 days before he was transferred there)) and she just didn't trust anyone and refused to find a cardio guy, even though she should have already had one since she had two heart attacks in the year or so before I met DH. OK so I found her one in approx 5 minutes (google search: "her city cardiologist"=boom), he speaks Korean (bonus!), he has room for her nearly instantly and takes Medi-whatsis as FULL payment, all excellent.

Echocardiogram + stress test----she seems to have had a quiet heart attack at some point somewhat recently, and there's a not-small area of infarct, which is why she's suddenly having such problems with being exhausted, out of breath (GP had given her an inhaler, so helpful NOT), etc. She had labwork done to confirm, but hasn't discussed it with us at this point.

But she is definitely more exhausted than I have ever seen her, and she is walking SLOOOOOOWWWWLY, which is NOT her style at all, and she got handicapped parking permits which I can't even imagine she would have done without being very ill...

 

[kaoden39]

Molly, I hope that they get your MILs heart problems under control.


That said, she would just irritate the heck out of me. My mom is like that and I just want to smack her.

Goodluck with BIL getting rid of his awful thing.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yeek I'm sorry your mom is like my MIL!

I too hope they can help her out. At least she has a better diagnosis now! We can't quite get her to understand that her GP did her no favors for 3 years...the thing that finally got her to the cardio guy was that the GP kept telling her that she needed valve surgery, but it had something like a 90% chance of death, and she wanted him to stop talking about that! And she refuses to drop this GP for the dingbat that he obviously is...no official diagnosis and he's got her dying on the table from a valve surgery.

Robert and I were talking about his brother last night...we just don't understand what he sees with this dude. After a few years he took the guy back, but the guy has never paid back any of the money he stole...



E and I are having a very difficult day together. All day, a battle. And I'm having allergies for some heinous reason. The universe is conspiring against me, I tell you!


On the other hand, I finally got the cutie patootie autograph books and bags for E and his cousins. I'll take a picture later and post 'em. I know what you're thinking...finally, something trip-related!

 

[bumbershoot]

2 months 2 days!