It is that time of year, when everyone has their soccer tournaments and hubby has to go out of town every single weekend. We went with him last weekend, and I think we'll do the same this weekend. Otherwise, I get jealous thinking of him having all that free time and quiet dinners and such while I'm home all weekend with all the kids and NO quiet... This one is not so far away, only a couple of hours, and the kids love swimming in the hotel pool. It's like a major vacation for them.

My friends started back to nursing school this week. I see one girl at karate class on Tues. nights and she had her book there already studying this week. I had some light reading , which I've been doing a lot of lately, and yes I laughed at her.

Yesterday after taking the kids to school, I noticed that our lawn mower was missing; hubby had forgotten to close the garage door and I assumed someone came along and loaded it up. It didn't work anyway, so this was a blessing because now we could file the police report, call our insurance co., and buy a new one that does work! So, got on the phone, had the cops come out, made the report, etc. and etc. Then, last night, I was talking to my mom on the phone and when she told my dad about someone stealing my lawn mower he just broke into fits of giggles. Yeah, turns out HE decided to surprise me and fix it, so he stopped by on his way home from work the night before and took it.

I hadn't called the insurance co. yet thank goodness, but boy do I feel silly!

The baby is oh so grouchy, as he has 2 top teeth trying to poke through and I think they're really bothering him. YOu can see them there just below the gum line, and I'm sure he'll have 4 teeth by tomorrow. I hope he gets over this grumpiness soon!

He seems to think I should be paying attention to him, so I guess that's the update from here for now.

Ah, school. Yes it's true, I'm enjoying back-to-school much more as an adult. Still, it never fails that each and every year brings us some form of drama that I really could live without. This year it's the dress code. The high school has instituted a new dress code, and they thought it fitting to not inform parents until the first day of school. This means that all that money I spent a few weeks ago to ensure teenager would have an appropriate wardrobe? Money wasted as far as the school district is concerned, as none of his clothes fit the new dress code.

Now, what could be so outrageous that my teenager can't wear to school you might wonder? Well, long sleeved shirts for starters. T-shirts that are longer than wrist-length (as all of his are, it's his style). It's really quite preposterous. On one line, it says "oversized or baggy clothing is not acceptable." Two lines down, "tight, form-fitting, or low cut clothing is not acceptable." That doesn't leave much in between, does it? Also, spandex, nylon, leather, suede, vinyl (because I have oh-so-many vinyl shirts, how 'bout you?) or any stretch-type material is not acceptable. I find that amusing, as every t-shirt I own is stretchy. And since they can't wear oxford style shirts (long sleeved and all) I wonder what does that leave?

However, my main issue here is that they didn't inform parents until after school had started, ensuring that I've already spent way more than my budgeted allowance on clothing. I simply cannot afford to go out and buy a new wardrobe even if I wanted to. The other issue is the sheer absurdity of it all, and trying to wade through the ambiguity to decipher exactly what it is the kids are supposed to be wearing. It is at the sole discretion of the principal to determine what is appropriate attire for a student (taken directly from the handbook!) I think the problem is that they (school officials) wanted to adopt a uniform policy for this school year, but when they put it to a vote at the end of last year the parents voted against it. Apparently they want to have uniforms without officially having uniforms.

Inevitably, I will be at the school fighting for my son's wardrobe this week. Perhaps the principal would like to take him shopping so we can be assured that whatever he wears will be appropriate.

Two more days until school starts, two more days until school starts! They need a little dancy-singy smiley thingy! It would go here < >. Everyone is sooooooooo excited for school to start! Well, okay, not everyone. Teenager is less than thrilled, especially considering he's repeating some classes from last year due to his excessive absences at the end of the year. He's also not driving even though he's technically old enough next month because we had a deal that his grades would be Cs or better and well, as of last report card they weren't (again, due to excessive absences but those were due to suspensions that he thought were cute at the time).

He (teenager) also thought it would be cute to install a password on the computer he frequents so that his brothers and sister couldn't get on it while he went to spend the night with my mom last night. However, he forgot to account for the fact that his mom is pretty copmuter savvy and knew how to bypass said password and allow said siblings on the computer anyway. Not only that, computer savvy mom also CHANGED said password so that teenager doesn't know how to get on now. I'll let him back in later, lesson learned.

I've been having "worse" spells again, and I'm hoping that I can deal with it from home and not have to go back to that stupid place that shall remain nameless... Saturday was really bad, Sunday much better, yesterday mostly okay but today I'm hurting with every breath and wheezy as can be. Yuck. It's so frustrating because I don't know what triggers me and why I'll be going along just fine and then all of a sudden I can't breathe again. Maybe it's just like asthma or something and I'll just have "episodes" throughout my life? Good days and bad? I guess I'm still trying to figure out how to manage and hoping that every episode of poor breathing doesn't require a trip to the ER and a hospital admission. If I can manage at home with breathing treatments, steroids, and O2 then at least life can kind of go on as normal...

And here's a funny one to end for today: Due to not having insurance all those months, I owe the local hospital at least $75k. I've applied for their charity fund, but haven't heard yet whether I was approved or not for most of the bills. In spite of all this, yesterday I received a check for $50 and a note saying that I've overpaid my bill and here is a refund check ! Maybe I'll hang onto that note, it might come in handy since my bill is obviously paid in full. The next bill I get I'll just photocopy that note and send it in with the bill...

Oh well, I'll spend their $50 and I'll smile while I do it.

Well, last week was entirely crazy to say the least, and I'm glad it's over. This week so far is much nicer and calmer. Hubby is back on his regular schedule, which means he doesn't leave until 3 or 4, which gives me all day to do errands and such without 5 kids in tow and WITH a car! Woohooo! Both of these factors make a huge difference. Of course, he will usually only keep one child anyway but even leaving the baby at home is a great help.

It's time for back to school again. Oh joy. I think I finished my back to school shopping today, can you believe it? A whole week in advance! I went to Kmart sometime and bought up a bunch of their specials (love those $.10 notebooks and $.20 glue sticks!) And today I took my teenager to the mall and spent an ungodly ridiculous amount of money to ensure that he is clothed this school year. I'd already gotten my daughter's during our nightly excursions a week or two ago, so she's done. Which leaves my middler but he's with his dad this week and he ususally takes care of his. So I'm hopeful that I'm finished.

My 3 year old is being exceptionally mean this evening, I don't know what has gotten into him but I think he's headed for an early bedtime. I hate it when he has nights like this, it just throws everyone off. Especially the baby since that's who he's usually picking on, not to mention that baby is not getting any naps with all this ruckus. It's so frustrating and I have to just walk away sometimes. I can't tell you how many times tonight I've said, "Leave him alone!"

Ah well, if those are the worst of my problems then I've still got it made.

Why is is that a doctor's time is apparently more valuable than mine? This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine anymore, especially considering the fact that I've endured so many doctor appointments lately. Last week I had 2 on the same day; the first at 8:30, the second at 11:30. Figured I'd be finished in time for a late-ish lunch.

I arrived at my first appointment around 8:20, as I always try to be a little early. I sat in the waiting room until 9:10 when they finally called me back for my blood pressure check, weigh in, and to put me in that little room to wait some more. Oh joy. Finally about 9:20 the doctor comes in, spends all of 7 minutes in the room and I'm done.

I go run some errands and what not, feed the baby (had the baby with me this day but the rest were at my mom's), and so on, and arrived for my second appointment at 11:15 or so. And waited. Waited. Waited some more. By the time they call me back to the little room my blood pressure is up 10 points systolic from what it was 3 hours ago at the last doctor... Baby is tired, hungry, crying, I'm walking circles around the waiting room. Finally they call us back to the little room at 12:20. Yeah, over an hour just in the waiting room. Then another hour for the doctor to get to me in the room. Then 10 minutes or so with him for him to tell me to keep doing what I've been doing, call him with any changes, and he'll see me in three months.

Now, this would be bad enough except for the fact that there are signs all over BOTH offices stating that if you are late for an appointment the doctor will NOT see you and you will have to reschedule. And they're sorry for the inconvenience. However, if I wanted to reschedule because they were taking too long, who KNOWS how long I'd have to wait to get in! The first morning's appointment was made the day I got out of the hospital last time which was what, a month ago? So apparently my time has no value and I'm just supposed to suck it up and take it because after all, they're the ones with the M.D. behind their names.

I read something yesterday that said the U.S. is something like 42nd in the world in life expectancy, and I happen to think this is part of the reason. People are probably dying in the waiting rooms before they get in to see their doctors! Seriously, our health care system is a joke. It's bad enough trying to navigate insurance, and heaven help you if you don't have any. Then you have to find someone who takes your particular brand of insurance, find someone who is accepting new patients, wait who knows how long for an appointment to open up, and give up your day to wait in someone's office. Ridiculous.

I guess there are less pleasant alternatives, but I still have to insist that our current system SUCKS. I don't have to like it one bit.