Office Space? The Office?

OK, I'm bored to death here at work today anyway, and I just got the following e-mail from our mail boy:

From: Joshua
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 3:31 PM
To: Everyone
Subject: read please

Someone had taken the tape dispenser from the mail room and we need it for over-nights. If you have it please bring it back ASAP. Thanks.

Josh


What kind of place do I work at?

3 Year-Olds Should Be In Charge!

Last night we were enjoying another rare night of having no plans. So I was in the basement playing with my daughter (because my son went to sleep at 7:30…is he really part of this family??? We don’t go to bed until at least 10:00! :) ). We were playing with her kitchen set, and she said she had to call the doctor. So she picked up the phone and immediately said “hello, doctor? Billy threw up and is allergic to eggs” (this is a perfect example of how absorbent children are…my son is allergic to eggs and throws up every time he eats them, so her imaginary friend (another story) seems to have this same problem). She continues on: “we should come in for an appointment? OK. Bye”. I sat there a thought about what was wrong with this situation…first of all, the length of her phone call and the time it takes me to make a doctor’s appointment were very different (I think it takes me a good 5 minutes to actually make an appointment). And then of course there was the fact that she actually got to “talk” to the doctor. When in the world have we ever gotten to talk to a doctor on the phone??? And then her doctor scheduled her appointment for her. Whatever! As if a doctor would EVER stoop to making their own appointments! Speaking of which…my pediatrician made what I thought was a very condescending statement the last time we were in there: My daughter was very concerned about getting a shot, so she asked the doctor (remember, she has no idea the different between a doctor and nurse) if she was going to give her a shot. The doctor’s response was “I don’t give shots”. OK, first of all, that’s NOT what my daughter was really asking, and secondly, what a snooty remark! We all know that it’s the wonderful nurses that have to give that torture, but it just sounded so degrading. I’m going to say something to my sister (who’s in her last year of medical school trying to decide if she wants to go into pediatrics or surgery) about being careful with every response that comes out of her mouth!

The experience just reaffirmed my beef with some doctors…you are not better than the average person! We are all given talents, and your talent was to be a doctor…no, I couldn’t do it if I tried. However! I have been given a financial talent, which I’m guessing 99% of you couldn’t do if you tried (that’s why you have accountants :) ). So just because you went to school longer than I did, that does not make you or your job any more important than the other occupations in this world.

OK, I know that was a total rant out of the blue, but I’ve had some not-so-good experiences with some pompous doctors, and I get mad. Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of other doctors that don’t think of themselves any differently (or at least don’t show it outwardly), and I do know that we need doctors…we also need other professions just as much.

Anyway, after listening to her cute little conversation I of course was not going to tell her how her little role playing was no where near reality. Instead I sat back and thought about how much simpler life would be if 3 year-olds were in charge!

Wide Open Spaces

I stood in the middle of the large space looking around. The walls were bare concrete blocks, and the floor was cement with some black stuff on it. Just on the other side of this room it dropped about 8 or 9 feet to gravel. But I could see the general vicinities for each of the other rooms. I turned back and looked at the space that I was standing in and absorbed it with utter amazement. At that time my daughter had left the car and come running up to us. I pulled her down into the space with me, and asked her “where do you want your slide to go? And your little house?” She looked at me very quizzically, and I informed her that we were standing in what would be her new playroom.

A Wedding and Relaxation!

I got to get out of work early on Friday because my son had a doctor’s appointment (he had to get his 12 month shots). Then my mom and I took the kids to an early dinner, and then we went to this awesome store that you have to be a business to be able to shop there (I sell Mary Kay). Everything is so cheap, and it has all kinds of craft items, toys, party stuff, home decorations…it’s called The Flower Factory, and it’s at www.flowerfactory.com.

Then we went home and got my husband and went up and looked at our new house! They’re coming along! Then we went and got ice cream, and by this time my stomach was not feeling well. At the ice cream place it got worse and worse (you know I’m sick when I’m not eating my ice cream). Then we went home and I tried to get some sleep. I was up the whole night…and I have no idea what it was! It had been hours since we had finished dinner. But it doesn’t matter because I woke up feeling 100% better!

So we pack up some boxes in the basement, and I’m getting ready to go out and lay in the sun and the phone rings. They want to schedule a showing, for Sunday between 10:00 and 11:00. Perfect…we’ll be at church then, so it works out. The problem is that the last time our cleaning guy was supposed to come my sister was sick, so I called and wanted to reschedule, but he never gave me another time. So our house had not been cleaned in 1 month. Now of course, I have mopped the kitchen floor a couple of times, and we have done some other things, but we haven’t done any real dirty work. So since we had a showing, there was no time for lying in the sun, it was time to clean. So I did, until it was time to get ready to go to our friend’s wedding.

The wedding was the most laid-back wedding that I had ever been to…it was beautiful and classy, but at the same time, it was so relaxed. We took our daughter with us and the whole time she just kept asking us when it was time to dance. She was so adorable! And being at the “loser” table wasn’t so bad…we got to eat with the photographers who we found out have kids the same age gap as our kids, only they are 2 and 1 month! So we had a lot to talk about over dinner. It was just really weird because we have never been to a wedding where we didn’t know anyone. We know the bride and groom really well, but that’s it. And what’s horrible, is the only way we know them at all is because I lived with the groom’s ex-girlfriend of 5 years in college. They broke up a couple of years ago, and I’ve stayed in contact with both of them. My husband became good friends with Chris – they played basketball and football together. It was weird sitting at the wedding thinking that just 4 years ago we were sure that Steph and Chris were going to get married someday…she talked about it. But how things change in just a couple of years. We only stayed until 9:00, and then we went home because our daughter didn’t have much of a nap that day, and we still had a lot of cleaning to do.

Yesterday was very relaxing….we went to church ready to teach, but we had no kids show up! It was promotion Sunday last week, so our list went down to like 7 kids (it was a list of about 30 kids), and none of them showed up, so we got to go to the service, which was nice. Then we went shopping for a new blower and weed eater…yippee! Home Depot really bores me, yet we seem to spend a lot of time there (and the kids like to drive in the big orange cars). Then we went to lunch, and then home to do some yard work. I mainly got to play with the kids while my husband did some work, but it was just a very slow-paced day. Oh, and would you like evidence that my kids think I’m the coolest mom and most of you out there will probably think I’m a bad mom?

1.) I taught my 3 year-old how to stand on the swing and then swing herself, and
2.) I encouraged my 1 year-old to completely climb up the slide all by himself! Hey, at least I don’t have to worry about him trying to climb the ladder!


Nothing too exciting this weekend, but it was very relaxing and I hate that I’m back at work on a Monday. Hopefully though the next couple of days should start getting busier and busier, and I’m really looking forward to that because it’s gotten kind of boring around here. I work better when I have tight deadlines, so when those don’t exist I get bored pretty easily. I could really use a nap right now and it’s only 10:30 in the morning.

Oh, and I decided that I really need to lose at least 10 lbs. before vacation in the middle of August. So I was looking online for appetite suppressants (because 1.) that’s my problem, I’m always hungry, and 2.) I’m done nursing now so I can take whatever I want!), and I found these pills that 60 Minutes and the Today Show did segments on. They have Hoodia in them, and supposedly that’s a plant grown in Africa that suppresses the appetite. The 60 minutes lady tried them and she said she wasn’t hungry the rest of the day. So being the sucker that I am, I ordered them, and hopefully they should be here early this week….I’ll keep you posted!

Misc. Thoughts

The weather here is so gorgeous! We have had highs barely making it to 80 degrees and the sun has been shining nonstop! I even walked yesterday during lunch, it was great! I was going to bring my tennis shoes and walk again today, but I had plans to have lunch with a friend…but guess what? My friend cancelled. I was mad, because I hadn’t brought a lunch with me, and I could’ve walked! Oh well.

I have to leave work in about 20 minutes to take my son to the doctor…he was too sick last week to get his shots, so he’s going back today. I hate it when they get shots…I feel so helpless. After that though I can do whatever…it’s the weekend (I feel like it was just the weekend…oh yeah, I only worked three days!). My mom is in town because she was watching the kids today, so maybe we’ll hit some stores (I have to go to a wedding tomorrow and I need to get a gift) and then we’ll have dinner. My husband is at a client’s until late tonight, so it’s just us!

Oh, and let me tell you about this wedding we’re going to tomorrow. It’s for some good friends of ours (we’ve known the groom since college), and it’s my husband and my daughter and I that are going (my mom’s going to watch my son). So anyway, the groom calls us up last night and says “I just wanted to let you know that everyone at your table has backed out…we didn’t put you at a ‘loser’ table, really”. Now it’s a big joke because we’re going to be sitting at a table all by ourselves! And he told us to invite anyone we want to come…free food because they’ve already paid for it. So if any of you would like to come to a wedding and aren’t offended because you weren’t invited originally, let me know!

OK, time to go to the doctor’s…have a great weekend! I’ll be in the sun the whole time!

A Great Accomplishment by Me!

I accomplished something major last night! From the reactions I’ve gotten from people I’ve told, I’m guessing that my accomplishment will just shock you (although I didn’t really think I was that apparent).

I’m getting ahead of myself….last night was the birthday part for our sitter’s son. So she took the kids over to this place we have in town that has HUGE inflatable jumping things. My husband and I met her over there and we jumped and did obstacle courses with the kids; it was a blast! My husband has not felt well for a couple of days now….he says that he feels hung-over, but he hasn’t had anything to drink! So jumping on these things only made the situation 10 times worse last night. So we get home, and he looked like he was going to die. The problem was the grass needed mowed VERY badly. I could tell my the looks of him there was no way he was going to make it, so I told him I would do it! Now here’s some history: I am not allowed to mow the grass. Period. That is my husband’s baby. He likes the lines to go a certain way, and he edges and weed-eats and all that fun stuff. Fortunately, I really don’t care because mowing the grass is the last thing that I would ever want to do. I know there are some women that absolutely love it, but I am not one of them! So the few times I’ve offered, he’s quickly said “no thank you!” I knew he was in bad shape when he really didn’t put up a fight to my offer to help.

This is where my brain says “hey you idiot, you don’t want to mow the grass…you have never mowed the grass, you have no idea how to do this”. It’s amazing what a girl will do for her hubby ;) So now I’m kind of going into panic mode because I have no idea how to do this, and you know what I was worried about most? Being the laughing stock of the neighborhood because OF COURSE every other guy was outside doing something to his yard. For some reason, based on the responses I’ve gotten to my accomplishment, everyone knows that I would never mow the grass (personally I thought I kept this “snobbish” feature to myself). So I could only imagine the comments to come from my male neighbors (luckily, no one seemed to notice that I was mowing because no one said anything). All of a sudden I realize that my husband is saying something…“there’s a lever on the left side that has to be down, but not too far, because that’s the choke…” I heard what he was saying, but it really wasn’t processing. I know I had to fill the mower up with gas, and then start it (thankfully we have a new mower and it starts with one pull). I successfully got it started and began mowing. Luckily my son was down for a nap and my daughter was a dream and just played in the yard the whole time. My husband got to relax for a while, which did him good. I think it really only took me about an hour to do the whole yard (my husband even tried to tell me not to worry about the backyard, but if I’m doing something, I’m doing the whole thing!). It wasn’t that bad, but my hands were vibrating the rest of the night!

When I came in at 8:30, my husband was in worse shape, so I made the kids dinner and fed them while he took a bath and went to bed. Then I gave the kids a bath and read them a story, and tried to put my son to sleep, but he decided he wanted to be up! Finally, at about 10:30 the kids were asleep, and dinner was cleaned up and I got to lie in bed and watch Sex and The City for a half hour before falling asleep. I continued being nice by getting up 45 minutes early this morning and taking the kids to the sitter’s.

I don’t mind doing all of this stuff for my husband when he’s sick, I just wish that he would remember this when I’m sick and not ask me why I can’t still help with the kids.

A Very Eventful Weekend!

This weekend has been so long and so eventful that it is going to take me forever to write about it! I will definitely have to do it in groups at a time!

Friday night was my son’s first birthday party. It was so much fun! It’s the first time that I’ve done a birthday party on a Friday night, and it really worked out well. We had dinner ready when the people got there at 7:00, and then we helped him open his presents (he really wasn’t too interested in that!). Then we had the cake and he got it all over himself! He was so cute! Our one neighbor has this tradition of telling my children to “rub that bald head” when their hands are full of cake. It started with my daughter, who was bald, and now we tell it to my son who isn’t bald at all, but it’s still cute! Anyway, he was so full of cake! So we took him up and gave him a bath and the rest of us just hung out. It was very relaxing.

Then on Saturday my daughter and I went to the pool for a couple of hours. We had so much fun just the two of us…I think she really misses one-on-one time with me, so the few times I can give it to her are really precious. Then we went to my nephew’s birthday party. It was at a park and it was so hot out on Saturday! We left early because the kids didn’t have good naps and it was just too hot. When we got home, we tried to put our son down for a nap and then I laid my daughter on the couch with a movie, and my husband went over to our neighbor’s to help them move. My son was not going to sleep, so I brought him back downstairs and put him in the booster seat and gave him a snack. All of a sudden my daughter said that her belly hurt. I asked her if she was hungry or had to go potty, and she said “no”. So I told her to lie on the couch. All of a sudden she started screaming that her belly hurt, and she couldn’t find a position that didn’t hurt; she was jumping up and down and screaming her head off. I had never heard her scream that loud before. I ran to our neighbors and got my husband. I called my sister who is in her 4th year of medical school and she said to take her to the hospital. I started to get my son out of his seat, and my husband by that time had seen how bad our daughter was and told me to take our son to our other neighbors and see if they could watch him. Our neighbor had been the office manager in a pediatrician’s office, so she had seen a lot of sick kids come in and out. She looked at our daughter and said that we should call an ambulance. So the ambulance came and by this time she had calmed down a little, but she was still squeezing my husband really tightly, and was very fidgety. In the ambulance ride over she actually fell asleep, but when we got to the hospital she started crying and screaming again. The doctor’s came in and reviewed her, and they all asked the same questions over and over again and finally ordered some tests and x-rays. A couple of hours later when we were going in for the x-rays, all of a sudden she started acting fine. She was laughing and making jokes just like her normal self. When the doctor came back in she said she was looking at a different child. All of the tests and x-rays came back perfect and normal, so we never did find out what was wrong with her, but thank goodness she was OK. Our wonderful neighbors came and picked us up and took us home (where I found that she had done my dishes!). We went to bed around 11:30, which wasn’t bad, but we were all definitely very exhausted!

On Sunday we taught Sunday school, and then hurried to the grocery store to pick up some last minute items. We had some friends coming over and our neighborhood was having a bike parade and a fire truck and clowns that day. We had so much fun! It was so hot, but the kids seemed to enjoy the fire truck and the clowns and the face painting. Our friends that came over are so much like us, so we get along really well. They got to the house around 2:30 and the next thing I knew I was looking at the clock and it was 8:30! It’s so nice to have people that you can hang out with and the time just flies by! They have 2 girls that are 2 and 4, so my daughter has a great time playing with them, and then they have a little boy that is 5 months, so in about 6 months he and my son will have fun playing together!

Monday and Tuesday were so yucky out that we didn’t do much. Monday I went shopping with my daughter and my sister, and then that evening we had a neighborhood cook-out. We were out for a long time and ended up watching the city’s fireworks on TV outside with everyone. Then yesterday we were very lazy for most of the day, and when the weather cleared up we took some of our stuff over to storage and cleaned out the garage a little bit. Watching our neighbors move wore us out! But it also showed us how important it is to plan ahead for moving…so we’re trying to do a little bit each week. Now if our house would sell! Please pray for our house to sell…that would be the last stress off my back for sure!

We had a wonderful weekend and couple of days off. We had so much fun with the kids…I can’t wait for our vacation in August when we get another week off with them!