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Monday, February 23, 2015

Whines to Amuse Canadians

W: It's coooold here. Almost freezing. I had to find my gloves this morning.

W: It's supposed to be spring already. Even the trees think so. Flowers and buds are appearing.

W: (not here, but a good percentage of the state): it's icy. We can't go anywhere.

What about you, pixies? Weather whines? Illness whines? (If you don't have any, our household has plenty to spare). Old Skool? Albatross whines? Let us hear them all.

87 comments:

KLee said...

Bruise on face still hurts. Sinuii still clogged with all manner of disgusting crap.

A/W -- Offspring just got accepted to her School's Study Abroad program in London for Spring of 2016! We are very excited for her. Now, we just have to scrape all of our pennies together to make it happen.

So far, today's good outweighs today's bad! Hooray!

Liz Miller said...

Hooray!

W: Had to shovel snow. Break up ice. Scatter salt.

W: Then MS and I had to move some furniture around (move one desk downstairs and another upstairs) to make room for my manager who is arriving Wednesday.

W: Lo, I am sore.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

AW/W: Mr.Q is back to work, and this naptime was looking dicey. Five minutes after I put E down, the cleaners for upstairs arrived, and they remembered Upstairs Neighbour's instructions to have me let them in (the UNs return from vacation tonight), but forgot the "phone or text her cell and don't ring the doorbell" instructions, and so the doorbell rang five minutes after E went to bed, and then E thought that visitors had arrived to rescue her from naptime. And then there was all kinds of noises over the next hour, and E chattered in her room the whole time. BUT! I was on my way to let her out, when she quieted down and fell asleep.

Even More Old Skool Than The Above: I am in a very nice outfit, and I spilled tea all over my shirt, so much that it soaked two layers of shirts and my bra. (I actually think I poured tea INTO my bra.) I'm tempted to leave on the tea-stained shirt for the rest of the day, because it isn't THAT noticeable, and I don't want to dirty yet another shirt today.

Liz Miller said...

Tally of ouchies: Right knee, both thighs, lower back, shoulders, and upper arms.

Liz Miller said...

QWP, I have been the person who left the shirt on. Sorry about the nice outfit. If it doesn't show too much, I vote you wash it in tea later to even it all out.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Between Liz and KLee, we need some pain relieving pixie dust!

Cheering for KLee's Offspring. It sounds like she's doing really well in her first year of university!

Looking On The Bright Side: forty-five minutes of nap is better than no nap.

esperanza said...

ouch, Liz. That's a long tally.

QWP, I say leave it on.

AW: all of the nebulizer medications (steroid, brochial dilator) don't make Sweet hyper.

W: But, oh, do they ever jack Mini up.

AW: a friend loaned us their nebulizer so both Baboos could be using them at the same time, thereby cutting the nebulizer time in half. So nice.

esperanza said...

Oh, yes, hooray for Offspring! London! One of my regrets about my own college years is that I didn't take the opportunity to study abroad. So yay for Offspring!

Sue said...

KLee, that's so great about Offspring!!!

Sorry about all the ouchies Liz.

QWP, I've totally been the person with the tea on the shirt. Leave it on. And yes, 45 min naps are still naps.

esperanza, I'm sorry you need two nebulizers going in your house at one time.

AW: Made it through the Big Deal Chunky meeting. It went well. The youth provided leadership throughout the weekend and they were remarkable. I was blown away by their leadership skills.

W: Right on schedule, woke up today with a migraine. It's been two months since my last series of injections, so this is the usual time for a return appearance of the kind of pain I notice.

AW: I caught it early and feel much better this evening.

AW: I'm taking an extra day off tomorrow as lieu time for the countless hours of OT leading up to the chunky meeting.

esperanza said...

Glad you had a good chunky meeting, Sue. I almost always find that youth (a) have more leadership skills than we assume they do; and (b) make me even more irritable with grownups who have fewer leadership skills than they should and/or don't act like grownups.

Hope your head continues to feel better, and enjoy your day off!

esperanza said...

Sweet has the flu now. Ugh.

Liz Miller said...

Dear Universe, please stop sending all the germs to Esperanza's house. Not that you should send them to mine, either, mind you. But I bet Ru$h L1mb@ugh could use a case of the flu.

kathy a. said...

Yay, Offspring! My daughter's year abroad was wonderful.

Ouch, Liz! But yay about the incoming campaign manager!!

QWP, welcome to the Moms Who Spill Club! Who among us wants to do even more laundry, just because of a little accident? (BTW, if you meet me in person, I will not be wearing white. Ever. The last time was my wedding.)

Oh, Esperanza. Dueling nebulizers. Bonus flu. When will this winter end??? It is great you could borrow a neb so the girls can do their treatments at the same time; but oy.

Sue, great the chunky meeting went well! Hope this head monkey scoots along swiftly.

kathy a. said...

Liz for mullet! Amen.

kathy a. said...

Reason # 1489 why it sucks to work at home: when one of the smoke alarm batteries is running low, and it beeps beeps beeps, and you don't figure out which one until the third try. On a ladder. And you have no more 9v batteries.

kathy a. said...

AW: we have a lot of smoke detectors! W: the entire rear of the house is out of commission, and probably the rest of the batteries are ready to go as well. AW: did you see how brave I was on that ladder? ;)

esperanza said...

Fantastic idea, Liz! And that guy in Idaho who thinks a v@gin@ is connected to the digestive tract? I think he could use a cough that keeps him up all night.

AW: Same friend with the nebulizer went to the drug store to get Sweet's medicines, so Sweet could stay asleep. (Mr. E, of course, is on a business trip).

Liz Miller said...

For that matter, the whole Republican contingent of my state's general assembly is due for an old-testament-style plague for taking the Lord's name in vain, and for assuming they know what He (or She) wants from the rest of us.

Miranda said...

I'm still hibernating here. Except Teen Son needs a bunch of dental work. I also broke things off with my sweetie. We're still friends.

The work albatrosses, they're multiplying. Reinforcements are held up in red tape.

AW: I was on a team that received a national award. That was kind of nice.

kathy a. said...

I'm kind of sick of everybody and his donkey's interpretations of the Bible being shoved down other people's throats during political discussions.

Mr. Lost in Idaho deserves a special commendation for really, REALLY not paying attention.

((( Miranda ))) Oy, oy, and oy -- dental, romantic, and work. But a yay for the team award!

KLee said...

The only bad thing about Offspring's chance to go abroad was the $375 (non-refundable) deposit that is due next Wednesday.

Thank God for the Grandpa with nothing better to spend his money on -- he paid the whole deposit! (Which is wonderful, because I couldnt have gotten the money together in time.)

Offspring smartly requested the check be made out directly to the college so she doesn't have to cash it.

Still sick. Still have a bruise on the face. Still have a show in two weeks. Freaking out.

Anonymous said...

(((KLee)))
(((esperanza and sweet)))
(((Miranda)))
(((sue)))
(((Everybody!!!))) what a week

W: closing on a new house next week.
but, apparently an issue with clear title. but, all lawyers involved including ours say they have title insurance and indemnification and so will we and it is prob a clerical error and will be fixed. and is not uncommon.
but this is stressing me out.
along with , you know, moving.
within town, same schools for kids.

each will have their own room but overall might feel like a smaller place? hard to imagine.

and, my fave house in the world (the dream house we always drove by and said 'if ever it is up for sale...') went up for sale. But is too $$$$. and also has already been bought. I didn't know because it is along a route I stopped driving to work because it is so narrow, and what with all the snow....

I drove it yesterday and had to pull in a driveway when a car came the other direction.
And saw the dream house being sold.

oh yeah,
SNOW. the perennial whine this year.

--Neighbor Lady


Liz Miller said...

Hugs to everyone. I will not be here much of today, due to CM starting. I didn't know I was anxious, but my intestines just told me.

Sue said...

Mullet for Liz! I think a plague of frogs would do nicely, don't you?

Congrats on the award Miranda, and sorry about the break-up (great that you're still friends though).

kathy a - great ladder-climbing! Most impressive.

Yay for Grandpa and Offspring for making that deposit right away!

Good luck with the packing up and moving NL. Moving is such a major stress-monkey, but think how great it will be to get into the new place!

((Liz))

W: Seriously, I'm over the deep freeze. Another -36C day here. Gah! The rest of the week doesn't look any better.

W: I need a haircut. I saw myself on film this weekend and thought "What is UP with All That Hair??" I thought I had it under control with my straightening iron, but alas, I was mistaken. This mop could scare small children.

kathy a. said...

Liz, here's to a good transition to the new level of campaigning!

NL, fingers crossed, and may the move go smoothly. Glad no changes of school are involved.

Sue, I can't even imagine that cold.

W: Daughter is looking for work again. She has been at this place 6 months; was supposed to move off probationary status and get a raise after 3, but the Mothership just stalled out on that promise. The co-worker hired at the same time just quit. It's been a decent job, except for not earning enough to afford an apartment, and the frustrations of the overseas Mothership wanting to micromanage (and not doing that very well). When the co-worker quit, the local boss got anxious and wanted promises about daughter staying a long time, and she admitted she is looking elsewhere. Meanwhile, she is doing 2 jobs for the same low salary.

Nobody thought this would be a forever job, but I wish ye olde job search did not have to crank up again so soon.

esperanza said...

((Liz)) change is hard, even if it's good.

((NL)) I hate moving

Good luck to daughter. Sorry this job turned out to be a pit.

AW: Sweet is a new girl today. Only minor fatigue, no fever. She's going to school tomorrow. Barring any other illnesses, I'm going to next-biggest-town to run some errands I've been trying to get done for three weeks.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

(((Miranda)))

Kathy, I'm so sorry that Daughter's job isn't working out! I hope she can find something more stable really soon.

I'm echoing both of Sue's whines: it's COLD here, and I'm overdue for a haircut (but I'm not sure when I'll have the time to get one). And an added bonus: Mr. Q's warm gloves (the ones the he needs when he waits outside for the bus) have gone missing. They may have been misplaced at the mall or the library on Friday (a day that became suddenly warm: hence the not noticing that he misplaced his gloves), but they haven't shown up in any lost and found boxes. Also, E's good pair of mittens have disappeared, but I'm hoping they're at the Grandparents' house.

This is the best and worst time of year to lose warm winter clothes: if you can find them in stores, they're marked down, but you have to be able to find them. Piles of snow (which will likely stay for months), and it's all raincoats and rubber boots in stores. (This is almost as bad as my difficulties finding a good bathing suit in August: stores, please stop clearing everything out before the season is over.)

kathy a. said...

Passing the shrimp fried rice (or you can do shrimpless, if desired). All the stray veggies, a tad of leftovers, that mostly-full pot of rice, ginger, etc. Nummers.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Hey! We did beef fried rice yesterday. (I was following my old landlady's principle that, if you have some leftover meat and rice, and any vegetables on hand, there's no good reason not to make fried rice.)

Queen of West Procrastination said...

W: I was planning on taking E to Library Time this morning, but we're under an extreme cold warning (windchill below -40). The only mittens I can find are her very warm mitts, but they're getting to small, and they make her cry.

I think I'm just going to hope that tomorrow is warmer.

Sue said...

QWP - I hear you on the lost mittens and hats. One warmish day and it's so easy to put them down in a store and not notice when you step outside.

-36 here again today. Seriously, enough already.

AW: I love watching the clips on the weather network of children playing in the snow in Texas. Makes me think of Baboos!

Liz Miller said...

W: Snow again
AW: Warmer than -37.

kathy a. said...

No idea how to even think about negative temps. Yikes!

This week's new trick for the many unsolicited calls: a quick pickup and immediate hangup. They all hang up when it goes to the answering machine, but then I have to listen to 4 rings.

In further W's -- more calls for my SIL on my office line, from bill collectors. (I don't do the hangup trick there.) They all ask for her by first name, same as my first name, and then I have to ask for the full name they're after, and only then can I say that this is not a good number for her.

We are two years into caring for SIL now, and I've grown weary of explaining she is debilitated, in a care home, and there is no money, either. And no, I'm not picking up the old debt myself. If you start talking out of politeness, they will try to keep you on the line until the cows come home, and then they'll keep calling since you've gotten to be such good friends. Sigh.

Sue said...

(((kathy a))))

kathy a. said...

That's an old skool submission: annoying phone calls, and the cranky people who do/don't answer them. But thanks for the hug!

esperanza said...

No snow in our part of Texas, Sue. But it's not -37 here, so there's that.

Liz Miller said...

Folks, I need suggestions.

I am having hot flashes out the wazoo, and they're waking me up at night.

My room is over the garage, and it's pretty darn cold if I don't turn on an electric heater but, I've found out the hard way, if I have the electric heater on, my hot flashes are way worse, to the point where I can't get back to sleep.

But if I leave the heater off, I freeze my tuches in the morning.

Any of you ever experienced this? If so, what worked for you, if anything?

kathy a. said...

Is there a way to turn the heater on low, just keep the temp above "freeze your butt off?" Or adjust the output in your room?

Hot flashes and me are old friends. I always have to keep my feet free, be able to stick them out and cool down. And I keep blue ice under my neck pillow, so I can switch the pillow over in case of overheating. I do better with cotton knit jammies. Other people go for "the patch" or other hormone replacement, but that wasn't really an option for me.

kathy a. said...

Oh, for the chillier morning -- robe and slippers. You don't have cats, do you? Because they are heat magnets, and talk about making it worse...

esperanza said...

put the heater on a timer, so it comes on a little while before you need to get up?

Signed,
no hot flashes yet, but the fireplacing smoke detector malfunctions woke me up last night. And then it sounded like something was eating our house.

Liz Miller said...

Thank you everybody! And YIKES esperanza!!

esperanza said...

What's worse is, I can't figure out what the noise was. I turned on the light, went outside, and looked at the roof where I thought it was coming from (cathedral ceiling, so hearing things on the roof is common). Nada. When I went back in, the noise had stopped. Really hoping I don't hear it tonight, because I really don't want it to be a rodent of some variety.

kathy a. said...

Spot the Brave and Handsome has been extra-meowy lately. He is asking for rubbing! He lets me pet him when I'm standing up now! And he even *jumped on my desk* a couple times today, to get his share. (This is a very shy cat.) Progress, baby!

Sue said...

Oh dear. Noises in the night = sleepness nights. Not good. Here's hoping tonight is quiet esperanza.

Liz, I like my feet out from under the covers too. And really loose cotton knit jammies. I've become an expert at turning my pyjama top into a makeshift middle-of-the-night fan. (hold fabric just above belly-button level and pull out, back in, out again very quickly - creates some breeze!)

kathy a. said...

Esperanza, let's just hope it was squirrels on the roof, and they decided to go elsewhere. Or it might have just been the house (or furnace?) creaking with temp changes?

Sue has excellent jammie advice for Liz and others afflicted.

Whatever you do, don't buy something called a ch1LL0w -- I was desperate and it sounded like a great solution, but omg the smell of the thing. There are very few things I hate so desperately that they go straight to the trash, and this was one.

Liz Miller said...

Sue, I use that flapping technique!!! As to feet, mine are like gophers, popping in and out from under the blankets as hot flashes come, go, come, go.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

I am of no help here so far, but I'm filling away all this advice for when I need it in the future. (And I know to do that, because the only reason why I knew how to deal with a clogged milk duct was because of advice I'd read in Wednesday Whining, nearly a decade earlier.)

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Old Skool: I gave myself a headache because I stared at a bad picture of a dress for too long.

Sue said...

QWP for Old Skool! What is UP with that picture????? I saw both colours. The Je$e&el post last night said the dress colour is "Fireplacing Ugly." Ha!

Yay for Spot the Brave!!!

Liz Miller said...

QWP, I got that same headache!

Muffin Man totes saw Blue/Black. I saw White/Gold. We were looking at my iPad TOGETHER.

Liz Miller said...

Last night I slept without the heater on. If I had any hot-flashes, they weren't bad enough to wake me. Turned on the heater at 0600, got back in bed, and the room warmed up enough to get dressed at 0700.

Thank you all for the help!

kathy a. said...

Oy, that stupid dress.

Liz, good work!

One of my old friends is about to take custody of her sister's teenaged boy. Her sister is pretty mentally ill. There is no father. It's a huge commitment, but she has been deeply worried about the boy, and I think she'll do a great job. Can't help but admire the people who step up when they are needed.

Liz Miller said...

Oh, Kathy, now I'm all verklempt. Can you please send your friend all our best wishes? I'm out here rooting for them both.

kathy a. said...

She's shy, so I'll tuck those wishes quietly in with my own for the time being.

But she's given it a lot of thought, consulted with a therapist and an educational consultant, heard reservations from at least one close friend, etc. etc. If she wasn't the only aunt, she'd still be the cool aunt, too -- down to earth, artistic, giving, has horses and other animals.

Sue said...

What Liz said. Your friend is good people.

esperanza said...

Wow, kathy a. I'm impressed.

W: albatross weighing me down. It can be easily broken down into smaller albatrossi, my colleagues are pitching in admirably (really, so happy to be working with these folks), yet I can't seem to get started.

AW: completely boring parent-teacher conference for Sweet. Almost as good as a completely boring doctor's checkup

Liz Miller said...

Esperanza, go get a timer and your favorite treats.
15 minutes of working on the albatross = a treat.

Don't look at the whole, or even at the parts. Look at the next 15 minutes.

What can you do in 15 minutes? Write a bit? Sort a spread sheet? Write an outline? Call a person who has information you need?

XOXO

Liz Miller said...

I talked with Dr. Corndog today!

esperanza said...

Thanks, Liz. I use that technique all the time writing sermons. This is a bit more out of my comfort zone, just need to get started.

Tell Dr. Corndog to come visit us!

Liz Miller said...

(((Esperanza)))

I did tell Dr. Corndog to come say hi. My cm was in the room, so I used our initials.

Sue said...

(((esperanza)))

Dr. Corndog!!

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Dr. Corndog! It has been a while.

Esperanza, Huzzah for the boring p-t conference! Yes, they are just as good as boring doctor's appointments. (I'm also a big fan of boring airplane flights.)

AW: I found a snow suit for next winter, and it turned out to be cheaper to buy a separate parka and ski pants (which is good, because my kid has always had short legs). And the whole thing cost $63, which is much cheaper than I was anticipating.

But you guys: $63 for clearance toddler jacket and snow pants. There are some jackets and ski pants at thrift shops, but not much. As I said before: how on EARTH do people who make less than we do afford to keep their kids warm? (I need to set a calendar reminder to take all of this year's warm coats and her snowsuit - - all of which will be outgrown by next winter - - to the local outreach by mid-autumn. You guys would like the outreach: it was founded by UCC church ladies, who had a free clothes shop, a few days a week. Now, it's nondenominational, and provides a lot of services to the community, including free clothing, housing services, and a needle exchange. Increasingly, I'm giving all my in-season donations to them instead of the thrift stores, especially as thrift store prices, and the general cost of living, skyrocket in this city.) (That was my I Find Clothes Expensive At Thrift Shops, And We Make A Comfortable Income: What the Fireplace You Guys? rant.)

kathy a. said...

Dr. Corndog! When daughter and I met him a few years ago, he wore a cookie monster t-shirt and gave us the best darned tour of the Museum of Natural History. Seriously excellent.

Esperanza, I'm stuck in a pit, and Liz's advice makes sense. And a boring parent meeting sounds good to me!

QWP, the outreach place is great!! Don't schools or other places have snow gear exchanges? Because I've heard of them around here, and we don't even have snow.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Kathy: I haven't heard of anything of the sort. It's a lot of clothing consignment and online selling (for not nearly low enough) here. A friend of mine used to run a clothing giveaway at her church, but that hasn't happened in a few years. Everyone I know does a lot of hand-me-downs with winter clothes, but the twins that handed down to E are small, and E is now wearing the same size as them! (And, in my family, E is competing for hand-me-downs with a same-aged cousin.)

I really can't complain much: we've hardly had to buy E any clothes up until now. I'm just surprised by how much more expensive everything gets, as soon as they get past infant sizes!

Sue said...

What a great project QWP. And an important rant!

I'm all for boring appointments - they're the best kind.

W: I had one of those panic dreams where I discover there is no sermon at the beginning of the church service.

May have something to do with the fact that I've got nothing - nothing - ready for tomorrow. Gah!

kathy a. said...

Late-breaking VICTORY! Remember when my SIL's old nursing home lied to us about closing the memory care unit and throwing my SIL out? We filed a detailed complaint with the licensing division of the department of public health, and just heard that the department's investigation substantiated the complaint!

This won't be final for a few weeks, and I don't know what action they will take. But it is really sweet to be vindicated, and I hope this teaches those jerkfaces a lesson about treating people decently.

Liz Miller said...

Hooray for winning one, Kathy! Though I know you wish you'd never had to fight that battle in the first place.

kathy a. said...

It's bad enough my SIL has all these problems, without the people we rely on compounding the whole situation. And by LYING! Boy, that really burned my butt. Of course they are able to get away with things. I would never have known about the LIES if I hadn't made inquiries with the relevant public agency.

For your daily dose of irony, I only learned about that agency because the care facility said the agency was poised to approve discharging my SIL and closing the unit. (Lying liars who LIE.)

The past couple years we have faced a lot of crap around this situation. I am ever grateful for the support here. xoxo

esperanza said...

Awards are not happening. I am weary, pixies. Whine as needed, till someone else (a draft pick to be named later) puts up the new week's post.

Liz Miller said...

(((Esperanza)))

No need for awards.

Liz Miller said...

Lo, I am tired. What is it about 6 screaming teens and tweens in one's home that is so exhausting?

Liz Miller said...

Screaming, because that's apparently how they express joy and wonder.

kathy a. said...

Keep the food coming. Eventually they'll settle down. By the next decade, at least.

((( Esperanza )))

Queen of West Procrastination said...

(((Esperanza))) Thanks for hosting this week. Awards are always an extra. (And are you guys having trouble figuring out who can host for the next week? If everyone is busy and tired, I can host.)

Kathy, I'm so glad that the investigation substantiated your complaint, but boy, do I wish they had just treated SIL properly in the first place. (How is it that these memory care wards seem completely unable to handle her dementia? I know that there are a multitude of varieties of dementia, but even I know that you have to expect that some patients are challenging. You don't just try to find a way to get rid of them.)

Liz, I'm tired just thinking about a house full of teens and tweens!

kathy a. said...

Awards are optional. It's the party that counts!

QWP, I'll admit my SIL's kind of dementia is just a horror show, and she is much younger than most dementia patients. But they knew that going in. We have tried so hard to put all the medical and caretaking people in touch with good resources, to talk things through, find the right meds for her. xoxo

esperanza said...

Liz, if tweens are anything like kindergartners, their screams and/or squeals suck your energy right out through your eardrums. Scientific fact. And now you know why I'm weary.

Thanks for the hugs, everyone. Long day, cooped up, cold weather blah.

KLee said...

I am SWAMPED this coming week, or I'd offer to host. It's Hell Week, which means late night rehearsals every night. I am still freaking out because I CANNOT get Act II, Scene I in my head. It's like i have it perfectly until I hit the stage, and then my brain turns into a bowl of grits.

Offspring's deposit for London is paid! Now, we just need to sort all the attendant effluvia -- get her passport renewed, find out about arranging for four months of birth control, get any and all inoculations, what to do with the car, what airport to fly out of, set up a GoFundMe page, and so on and so on....

I am glad to hear Dr. Corndog is doing well. I thought of him the other day when I launched into "The Donut Connection" -- 'the dreamers, the slackers, and me!'

kathy a. said...

KLee, the play will come to you. You've got it!

I think they have birth control in London, too. And universal health care! Passport renewal is a breeze; http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/renew.html.

xoxo

Sue said...

Yay kathy!!!!!!

Thanks for hosting esperanza. Rest trumps awards every time.

Teens/Tweens = exhausted. That's a universal law, I think. Still, fun!!

Queen of West Procrastination said...

So, should I host this week? I'm available.

Kathy, I'm sending you so many hugs. My Grandpa's variety of Alzheimer's caused him to be violent for a couple of years, and so I really understand. Xoxo

You guys, I'm tempted to rant on the Book of Faces, and so I'm hiding here. People keep sharing this parenting article that claims that kids aren't expensive, it's greed that's expensive. And I'm just so annoyed right now. Everybody, maybe stop and evaluate how you define "expensive." Because a large percentage of the population isn't worrying about how to afford fancy electronics and brand-name clothing for their kids: they require specific things (car seats and then booster seats that haven't been in a car accident and haven't expired; daycare; the choice between formula or expensive pumps; diapers, whether they be cloth or disposable; warm clothing for these endless winters; all those extra fees for field trips and supplies that you get charged at the beginning of the school year), and a large percentage of families consider these costs to be non-insignificant, or even overwhelming. Charities in our city can not keep up with the demand for donated kids' parkas, for pity sake.

I'm about to shout "CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE!" at a large number of my peers.

esperanza said...

I saw that but didn't read it. I'll add: doctor visit co pays, medical bills, therapy appointments, gas to get to said appointments. Even healthy kids have costs, but kids with extra medical needs can add up pretty quick. And that's not greedy, it's taking care of your kid.

QWP, it looks like kathy a signed up for this week (right hand side bar), but feel free to sign up for another week.

kathy a. said...

Oh, excellent rant, QWP; and great points, Esperanza. Just the basics for kids can be way more than a parent has available; and a big pinch even for families in more secure positions.

Liz Miller said...

Exactly.

I am furious with my son.

I spent the whole day knitting a hat for Muffin Man for a project he said was on Tuesday. While he was watching videos. Fine.

But now (as in Sunday, at 6PM) it turns out that he needs us to FILM HIM for this project BEFORE Tuesday. Like, as in, we could have been doing it all day today. WHY WASN'T HE DOING ANY OF IT? "Because I forgot".

Fireplace that. I am steaming. STEAMING.

kathy a. said...

Boy, does he ever owe the videographers and knitters....

Liz Miller said...

It's done now. It ain't what it could've been, and we are still hella pissed off at him, but it's done.

kathy a. said...

Cheers to the weary parents.

Liz Miller said...

School cancelled on account of ice.

Muffin Man (who has lost screen time due to yesterday's adventures) is home. He is currently writing Thank You notes to the friends who gave him gifts on Saturday.

MM: "But I thanked them in person!"
Me: "Who do you think paid for those presents?"
MM: "Their parents"
Me: "They didn't hear you say 'Thank you'. A Thank You note will be seen by their parents. And didn't I tell you not to argue with me?"