Gadgets and dentists

I got a new toy!! I shall ponder later how uncool I am when I consider cleaning supplies new toys? But I digress...

Its this thing from Dirt Devil.

I needed something that would get up the random items that my two year old drops on the floor. Okay the five and eight year old drop stuff on the floor too. You know what? I do it too I guess. At any rate, I don't like pulling out the vacuum every day. This thing is so easy to use I actually was able to use it with the baby in my arms. Pretty cool.

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We had to switch insurance about a year and a half ago and unfortunately we had to stop using the pediatric dentist we had. Normally not a big deal, but this dentist was the BEST! My eight year old would beg to go to the dentist. We are now back on an insurance plan that will let us use the same dentist again. Oddly though, when I called to make the appointment, the lady on the phone claimed we owed them $6.00 and that they wrote it off as a bad debt some time ago. The problem is that they actually owed US $6.00 and we just never went back to get it. I paid them a copay one day, they didn't have change, it was close to closing time so I said I would get it later. Hubby and I used to joke about that $6.00 when the gas prices spiked last year. Now they are saying we have "mark" on our record. (I guess like a permanent mark...tee hee.) I wonder if it will follow us to our next dentist. smile

So lesson learned. Always get your change.

Guilty Eating...

There is an alleged homeless guy who is always on a particular corner with a sign for food or money. I say alleged because one can never be sure. Here's the thing: He is always on this corner at the same time of day which is coincidentally the same time of day I may grab a bite to eat. So I pass this corner and he is standing there and I am in the car eating. Again, I have no clue if he is really homeless or not, but I always feel the need to stop eating when I am at this corner, in case he sees me. Don't get me wrong, I am a BIG supporter of helping others, but I had to learn to control my giving b/c I would stop all the time to help others. I once gave my umbrella to a homeless woman while it was raining, because I knew I could get another one. Then I sat in my car and cried because I couldn't do more for her.

So I don't know if this is my guilt or maybe I am over thinking it. I just can't feel right eating french fries and a milkshake while a man is begging for food less than ten feet away. (I tried giving a homeless person some food once - the fast food place gave me an extra burger on mistake - and the man wouldn't take it. I thought that was odd since I would think he would be happy to take it, but then again...).

Life is high school all over again

I had a mantra in law school about how life is high school in a loop. All through law school I saw the cool kids who sat together and partied together and ran SBA (Student Bar Association). I saw the not so cool kids who all joined the same organizations and were always talking about "the man" or trying to convince someone to be "different". Now being aware of all of this, I shouldn't be surprised at how often some people still act like the rules from high school apply.

I submit via Twilight Zone style a story of a woman. This woman has a disagreement with at least two people a year and its never her of course. Since we often are in the same social and professional circles she comes up from time to time as another person gets on her "_ish" list. We all let the person know, its not just them and not to worry about it and then we all have a laugh and move on. Well, one of the quirks of this woman is that she blogs incessantly about what's going on in her personal life. The name of the blog is always cryptic but the details are not and therein lies the reason she has lost a few friends. If you send her an email, it will show up on her blog. Leave a voice mail, the wav. file will be in her next day post. Write a letter, and she scans it in and its a PDF file for the word to see.

All of this wouldn't be so bad but she then emails her friends to read her blog, gets mad when they object to the posts and then passive aggressively posts items to talk at the person. Things like "I know you are reading this". I once asked her (before I was on the list) why she assumed that someone was reading her blog. She told me she checked her ...whatever the gadget is that allows you to see who is reading your blog. Apparently she checks it daily or twice a day. I will refrain from commenting on how I think that's a little paranoid. After venting via the internet, she then tells anyone who will listen and if you don't agree, well then you are on the list too. Silly, yes, but you try telling a lawyer that likes to argue, that she is not right. Did I mention she has been known to spend hours researching items to back up her point? It can be about hair products, silverware, carpet cleaners, or which McDonald's is the best in town. She decides that HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) is bad for her, and now anyone who uses it is doomed to a life of health problems.

Well, the other day I am reading a friend's blog who I haven't talked to since high school. We recently found each other online and she is a born again Christian who homeschools her kids. I am thinking about trying homeschooling and I go to her blog. She has links to the side and long story short, one of the links takes me to the new blog of Twilight Zone woman above. Crap. I don't know how the gadget works and I have no clue if she can tell I was there, but I am so not in the mood for her new attacks.

How do you deal with someone who refuses to grow up? Do you sink to their level because that's all they understand or do you remain the adult in the situation?

Daytime TV

I haven't really been home before long enough to really watch daytime TV. If I was home, I would watch something I had recorded on DVR or maybe a movie channel. So the other day I thought I would check out some of the shows that seem to be a staple for stay-at-home moms, particularly since I am supposedly their target audience.

Ellen, I like her show and I like her, but I didn't care for the guests she had on so I guess that one is one I can catch if I know before hand who the guests are going to be.

Soap operas annoy me. They always have. Mostly because I don't like romantic sappy storylines and I think I like the one hour drama. I want loose ends tied up and not a bunch of "wait until tomorrow" continuations.

The View...wow. I have never been the type of person who sits around with a bunch of women and chats. Actually I really don't like doing it. My mother in law is this type of woman and this is probably one of the main reasons we don't get along well. My husband refers to it as cackling and while I laughed at the time, that's exactly what came to mind while watching The View. They were talking about an issue that seemed kind of interesting but I swear I have no clue who was saying what except for what the closed caption caught. (I leave it on because I can't always hear what's going on with the kids running around). So here's a sample of what the CC looked like:

I don't think that....we can all agree....
...Exactly....
....that's what I think they should do...
....but that's not what you said! You said you didn't like ....

This went on for a good fifteen minutes and then Whoopi says they are going to commercial. I felt very confused and sad all at the same time. Confusion about what was going on and then sad b/c I realize that there are tons of women who can filter out what was being sad and I am not one of them. I started to wonder if I have to be able to pass the View test before I can converse with other SAHMs. I guess I need to study more.

Its all in the way you look at it

I tend to take a "wait and see" approach to a lot of things in life. I hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. That being said, this life of mine is a new adventure. I spent lots of time making sure I had an education and lining my ducks in a row so to speak. All that culminated in where I am now: a stay at home mom to four children. I love my life, don't get my wrong, but from time to time I find myself wondering if I will get "dumb" by not using my skills. I do go out of my way to make sure that I stay up on current events and read the industry news, but until recently I didn't realize how I could have been using my education to manage the household.

In college one of my favorite classes was Criminal Behavior. In short, what makes criminals tick. This has turned into me watching random strangers in the park or stores who "look" like they are up to something. I swear the guy in the bookstore on Friday was a criminal waiting to happen.

While getting my master's I learned about intercultural relationships. This is a great asset when my oldest has a play date one day with the kids whose parents Asian and the next day with the kids whose parents are Muslim and then there's the kid with two mommies.

And last but not least, law school. I am constantly amazed at how his actions are similar to so many of my colleagues in the legal community. I am talking full fledged temper tantrums because they don't like the ruling, submitting things into evidence that have nothing to do with the subject, and my personal favorite, thinking that the louder you speak, the more right you are.

The local paper had an article about how day cares were closing down because of the failing economy. Maybe the workers could get a job at a law school being a referee, kissing boo-boos (bruised egos).