Arrrghhh!

I swear there are like 20 things going on this week or this weekend.  Most weeks I'm scrounging for something to do.  This week, on Thursday, there's a Weight Management Support Group meeting and my mom's group's monthly Mom's Night Out.   Ironic that those two things should be scheduled the same night.  

On Friday, there was a mom's group Mom's Night In that I had planned to go to but it was cancelled.  There's also an "Evening With Edward" Twilight screening and cocktail party at another mom friend's house and three separate scrapbooking events.  If I go out Friday at all, it will be to the vampire event but I think three nights out in a row may be too much to ask of Wayne.

Saturday is the actual date of the crop that I thought was last Saturday.  I can't go this week because I committed to attending a different crop, headed up by my friend Joanne, who is also my Creative Memories consultant.  The  mom's group is also having a lunch get together that afternoon. 

Arrrgghh!  Why can't stuff be more spread out???? 

Checking Facebook, I see a post from the friend who babysits the boys on Mondays.  Her status update was posted at around 9 am, about an hour and a half after the boys were dropped off.

Her update:  Person's Name Hates Mondays!!!

Now, Monday is the only day she has Andy and Joey.  They'd been there for a little while when she made that post.  I am assuming it has something to do with my kids.  It's an assumption, sure, but she's also commented to Wayne that if she didn't need the money, she wouldn't be babysitting. 

Argh.  Why does this have to suck so much? 

Argh!

When I dropped the boys off at Steve's on Tuesday, I noticed a gigantic bruise on Andy's lower stomach.  When I leaned in close to get a better look, I noticed two little punctures, like some kind of bite in the middle.  It's was purple and red, maybe two inches across.  

When Steve brought them home last night, I checked out the bruise.  It was a little faded but Andy still flinched when I touched it.  Steve said it could be a hernia, so of course I had to look up hernias online and see if I could find pictures.  Definitely not a hernia.  I thought it could be a spider bite so I had to look up pictures of those too.  

Whatever, I ended up taking him in to the pediatrician today just to be safe.  

When I got there, there was a new note taped to the glass--- "Any copay not made at the visit will incur a $10 fee."  Great... I'd been hoping to get them to bill me the copay.  When the MA brought out our file, she said there was already a $20 charge on our account.  Apparently our copay went up and I didn't know it.  Grrr.

This is in addition to the $20 they made me pay to fill out Andy's kindergarten registration papers.  And it took them a week to do it! 

They charge a "premium" for evening and weekend appointments.

Does anyone else's pedi do this stuff? 

Oh, and the bruise?  Just a bruise.

Forty years from now people will look back on the gay rights movement and wonder what the hell was wrong with some people that they beat on their bibles citing Leviticus as God's ordinance that homosexuality is an abomination when in the same chapter so many other things are labeled as equally abominable.  Like eating shellfish, shaving, planting two crops in one field and combining fibers in woven cloth. 

It will be just like the way we look at segregation in the south and the civil rights movement of the 60s.  What the hell was wrong with people that because of the color of another person's skin, they had to sit in the back of the bus or use a different water fountain.

I find myself falling neatly into that neat little trend recently in the news about my generation largely moving toward atheism.  When I look at the fundamentalist Christian churches, it makes me sick to my stomach to think about what these people cherry-pick to support or oppose in the name of Christ; a man who hung around with lepers and prostitutes.

So Miss California is enjoying her 15 minutes, I'm sure, but in the end she's just a bigoted punchline who looks more and more ridiculous with each passing hypocritical moment.

The process of trying to get Andy educated continues to be a massive pain in the tush. 

Last week I went to get the packet of information to get him registered at the local elementary school for kindergarten.  It's literally on the same road as my backyard, on the other side of this small town.  I Mapquested it earlier today... it's 1.95 miles away.

But that's not the school he will go to.  Get this, he has to go to a school NINE MILES away because for some reason, all the kids from this development get bussed to this other "historic" school-- a building that looks like it's at least 100 years old and is scheduled to be demolished in 2010.  Just long enough to force Andy to go there.  I am NOT happy about this.  I have issues with school buses as it is and now they're telling me I have no choice but to put him on a bus, driven by a stranger, to go 10 miles twice a day?  
( Click for map )

I don't know what to do.

Been deep spring cleaning the kitchen since about 10 am.  Much has been done.  Scrubbing, cleaning, degreasing.  Cabinets emptied, cleaned out, reorganized.  

It's not a big kitchen and looking around, post dinner, it seems there is still much to do in that room. The dining side of the room hasn't been touched yet and there is much junk mail/school stuff that needs to be gone through and appropriately dealt with.  Windows need washing. 

The kitchen walls are a mess.  This house was new when we moved in and the walls were painted with flat, contractor grade suck-ass paint.  Two years of living here with four kids has wreaked havoc on the walls.  They sooooo need to be painted.  The lady who owns the house (we rent) dropped off 4 gallons of paint for us to use to paint and it's white.  More white.  Have I ever mentioned how much I absolutely hate white walls?  She also didn't bother to provide things like rollers, tape, brushes, drop cloths or other painting necessities and expects us to do the work ourselves.  I have no problem with doing it.  I'll be happy to cover the crap we have now but arrrghh, white.

Sitting here, discussing this paint situation with Wayne, I think we're agreed on painting with colors (neutralish, easily covered colors) and dealing with the fallout later.  So I'll likely buy a quart of a medium hued paint and mix it into the stuff she bought us to lighten it.  

Back to the cleaning:  much to do, time is short.  I'd like to have the kitchen, living room and kids' bathroom done when the boys are dropped off tomorrow.

Driving in to work this morning, I tuned the Sirius to Bruce Springsteen singing, "My Hometown."



Those lines were playing as we drove down Main Street in Newmanstown and I noted the "Public Auction" sign in a few front yards.

Scary times.

I didn't understand it.  I barely passed Economics.  This video is helpful.

I'm shocked and outraged over the video out of Seattle of a couple of police officers beating the crap out of a 15-year-old girl in a holding room at the police station.  Speechless.


I don't care how "lippy" a 15-year-old girl is, there is no reason at all for a police officer to attack that way.  

Is it just me that it seems like police brutality-- caught on tape-- is happening more frequently?  Republican National Convention?  Amadou Diallo?  Abner Louima? Sean Bell? Donta Dawson?  Roy Lynn Weeaks?   ?


My parents always taught me to respect police officers as authority figures but then the police forget that our government is a "government of laws, not of men" and act as if they are above the law, then something needs to be done.  Every government employee is held to the same laws as civilians, regular people living in America.  Citizen or not.  Unfortunately, the system often fails to hold police to appropriate standards.  Google "Mollen Commission" and you'll see reports from the 90s about rampant corruption in New York City's police department.  

Funny how a decade later all those dirty cops became heroes.  I'm not one to downplay 9/11--- I still cry at the hole in the skyline where those familiar buildings stood-- but I don't think that it's okay to cannonize people en masse undeservedly. 

I agree that the people who choose to go into police work get a raw deal.  I acknowledge that in many cases, they're just doing their job- doing it well- protecting the public from harm.  But it's that same sense of heroism and power that can lead police to treat people like they treated Malika Calhoun.  I just think that when it's as obvious as this case, the officer in question deserves to go to jail, the same way I would if I beat the hell out of a minor.

Excerpted from his speech today about the economy...

This is America. We don't disparage wealth. We don't begrudge anybody for achieving success. And we believe that success should be rewarded. But what gets people upset - and rightfully so - are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.

 

For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis is not only in bad taste - it's a bad strategy - and I will not tolerate it as President. We're going to be demanding some restraint in exchange for federal aid - so that when firms seek new federal dollars, we won't find them up to the same old tricks.

 

As part of the reforms we are announcing today, top executives at firms receiving extraordinary help from U.S. taxpayers will have their compensation capped at $500,000 - a fraction of the salaries that have been reported recently. And if these executives receive any additional compensation, it will come in the form of stock that can't be paid up until taxpayers are paid back for their assistance.

 

Companies receiving federal aid are going to have to disclose publicly all the perks and luxuries bestowed upon senior executives and provide an explanation to the taxpayers and to shareholders as to why these expenses are justified. And we're putting a stop to these kinds of massive severance packages we've all read about with disgust; we're taking the air out of the golden parachute.

 

We're asking these firms to take responsibility, to recognize the nature of this crisis and their role in it. We believe that what we've laid out should be viewed as fair and embraced as basic common sense.

 

Finally, these guidelines we're putting in place are only the beginning of a long-term effort. We're going to examine the ways in which the means and manner of executive compensation have contributed to a reckless culture and quarter-by-quarter mentality that in turn have wrought havoc in our financial system. We're going to be taking a look at broader reforms so that executives are compensated for sound risk management and rewarded for growth measured over years, not just days or weeks.

 

We've all got to pull together and take our share of responsibility. That's true here in Washington. That's true on Wall Street. The American people are carrying a huge burden as a result of this economic crisis: bearing the brunt of its effects as well as the costs of extraordinary measures we're taking to address it. The American people expect and demand that we pursue policies that reflect the reality of this crisis - and that will prevent these kinds of crises in the future.

This hits home especially hard after receiving mail yesterday from a credit card company that is jacking their APR to 21.99%.  The card started with an APR of 9.9%.  Nothing can be done about it.  Yet, executives are headed to luxury spas.  They're trying to but a third private jet.  Seriously, the amount of money these people award themselves, after begging the governemtn for taxpayer funds, can't be spent in 5 lifetimes.  

When I logged in to Facebook earlier and checked the status of my friends (like I always do) I was surprised and then appalled at some of the comments in regard to tomorrow's inauguration.   I've tried to keep the politics out of my journal since election day but in the immortal words of Popeye, "I've had all I can stands, and I can't stands no more!!!!"

The election is long over and in a landslide, in a mandate the people have spoken and rejected the Republican ideologies of greed, corruption, torture, needless killing and a market without restrictions.  Bush and Cheney are laughing as they get away with destroying the UN, ignoring the Geneva Convention, needlessly killing 4,229 American soliders and injuring 30,634 over WMDs they've now both admitted they knew didn't exist, ignoring the Constitution and setting themselves and their buddies up for further riches.

These aren't crazy conspiracy theories that can be written off. These are FACTS- either in body count or by their own admission. 

I am repulsed by anyone who could stand up and say that this pair were good for our country without vomitting.  It makes me feel good to know that a significant majority of the populace of the country now recognizes the mistake made in handing those men the reigns on our nation (because, you know, they were never actually elected.) 

I am furious that anyone can be anything less than thrilled about the direction our country is taking.  

Where was President Obama today?  He was painting a homeless shelter for teenagers- not at parties, not being fitted for a tux or rehearsing his speech.  Today was our national day of service and I'm so sorry I couldn't help out today.  Where was Bush the day before either of his inaugurations.  I guarantee it wasn't doing an act of charity or service for anyone other than himself.  

How can anyone not stand up behind a leader who wants to return America to her status as the greatest country in the world?  To redeem us in the eyes of our neighbors, allies and enemies?  A man who suggests we all pitch in and rebuild our infrastructure, our economy, or society as a whole?  He is the epitome of the American melting pot and the American dream and he gives me hope that my boys can grow up and change the world for the better too.  
 

The last thing I posted was about my friend dumping Joey.  That was Monday.  Tuesday we woke up and took Joey to a different friend's house.  

Friend #2, Rachelle, is a Supermom.  Like so much of a supermom that she should wear a cape and leotard.  She's AMAZING with kids.  She's always doing crafts and teaching them stuff, and being fun.  She is amazing.  I am thrilled that Joey will be with her for the month.  

Tuesday started with dropping Andy off at his school and then we drove over the mountain behind our house in pretty crappy weather to get to "Joey's School," Rachelle's house.

Drop off went fine.  No crying from Joey.  We got in the car, with me in the driver's seat.  I made a comment to Wayne about how we'd have to fly up the Turnpike and I wouldn't freak out as much if I was the one driving. I shifted the car into reverse to go down the long, narrow driveway.

And I went right off the asphalt, onto her lawn and thumped into her mailbox, knocking it askew.  

And then I tried to move forward to get back on the asphalt and spun the tires in the mud.

And then Wayne got out of the car to see what was going on and I spun the tires again, this time covering him in mud.

Yes.  Seriously.  I wish I had taken a picture.

It took someone coming down the road to bump me back onto the driveway so we could go. 

We wanted to stop somewhere and get Wayne a new ensemble but nothing was open at 7:30 in the morning.  We were about half an hour late to school.  Wayne taught class all day covered in mud.

Days 3 and 4 were much less crazy in the morning. 

On Thursday we were in the car from 1:00 in the afternoon until after 7 pm.  We left school at 1 and went to pick up Lexi and Nathan.  Then we went to get Joey, then Andy.  We stopped at home for five minutes for Wayne and I to change clothes, not even pulling the kids out of the van.  We drove to a halfway point to meet Steve and exchange the boys and then back home.  

It looks like this: 

( Click for map )
 

 

LJ is in trouble.  There have been layoffs and now there's a panic that it could disappear forever.  So of course everyone is over at LJBook.com trying to back their journals up to a pdf and it's crashed.  Are there any other services that do that? 

Northwestern lost the Alamo bowl in overtime after maintaining a lead three quarters of the way through the game.  I should know better than to have hoped that they could break a sixty year bowl game curse in my anniversary year.

Sniffle, sniffle.

Andy just knocked our Christmas tree completely over.  He was screwing around on the computer chair and fell over.  He's fine.  Water spilled everywhere.  Star broken but fixable.  Glass Northwestern ornament shattered in a million pieces along with any Christmas spirit I'd built up.

It really f#$*%&# annoys me  when restaurants list something in their menu as a specialty but don't know how to spell the name of the dish.

I have a bunch of gift certs from Restaurant.com I got dirt cheap (80% off their already fabulous prices!!!) and I was looking at the menus for somewhere to go tomorrow. 

So I'm looking at the menu for this place called Christine's Creekside Inn and it lists a dish called "Shrimp and Scallops D'Avola." 

I'm like "D'Avola?  What the hell is D'Avola?"

Based on the description, I'm guessing they meant "Diavolo" or really, Shrimp and Scallops Fra Diavolo, which means "of the devil."  It's a spicy dish, you see.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

And I'm just as bad because I just spent 10 minutes blogging about it.

Back from my LSAT (for a few hours now) and have had time to come down from it, so to speak.

The test itself was no better or worse than I expected it to be.  It  was challenging but I think I did well.

The test site was not really good.  There were three proctors, all students at the school where the test was held (Franklin & Marshall College).  They didn't seem to really know what they were doing.  The guy who was reading the instructions from the proctors manual kept calling it the "El-stat" exam.  

I checked the box on my application to indicate that I am left handed.  I knew that I was taking the test in a lecture hall so I hoped that, like Northwestern, the seats on the left hand side of the aisle would have a left-hand desk.  Nope.  So I had to take the test in an auditorium type seat with a tiny little desk top that covered my right thigh.  So in order to make use of the desk top, I had to sit in the seat sideways.  Being a larger woman, I found it quite uncomfortable to have the desktop jammed into my stomach.

Whatever, I took the test.  Then halfway through section 4, the proctor's cell phone rang.  Loudly.

Grr.

Working on the analytical reasoning questions for the LSAT tomorrow.  I get them right if I get enough time, but when I take the section timed, I only answer like, 10 of the 25 questions.

Argh.  I suck.

Broader medical refusal rule may go far beyond abortion
The Bush administration plans a new 'right of conscience' rule that would allow more workers to refuse more procedures. Critics say it could apply to artificial insemination and birth control.
By David G. Savage
December 2, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- The outgoing Bush administration is planning to announce a broad new "right of conscience" rule permitting medical facilities, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare workers to refuse to participate in any procedure they find morally objectionable, including abortion and possibly even artificial insemination and birth control.

For more than 30 years, federal law has dictated that doctors and nurses may refuse to perform abortions. The new rule would go further by making clear that healthcare workers also may refuse to provide information or advice to patients who might want an abortion.

It also seeks to cover more employees. For example, in addition to a surgeon and a nurse in an operating room, the rule would extend to "an employee whose task it is to clean the instruments," the draft rule said.

( the rest of the article )

I figured out the sewing machine and it's wonderful.

Saturday,  I thought I was being all domestic goddess-y and took down all my curtains in the house and washed them.  The thin tan ones from the living room came out great.  So did the heavy ones for Joey and Nathan's room but I need to shorten them so they haven't gone up yet.

I took the heavy red drapes from the sliding glass doors out of the dryer and hung one panel.  I was all proud of myself until I looked down and noticed that the mutha f*#@%^ shrunk about eight inches and now looks utterly ridiculous.

Damn, damn, damn.

Dumbass.

Poking around the internet, I discovered this...

Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq

It's an executive order from W himself and it has me absolutely terrified.  Why? In it, he gives himself the power and authority to seize the assets and property of anyone who "threatens" or "undermines" his plans for Iraq or any person who supports those who do.  The order is vague and open enough to allow the interpretation that someone (like me) who supports a movement to bring our soldiers home, who support peace, can have their property "blocked."  Being a member of moveon.org, I'm terrified.  How did this order get passed?

redqueenmeg linked to a post by someone named naamah_darling who said it best.

Go read this and become as outraged as I am.

Just got a phone call from my mom. She just got back from St. Michael's Hospital in Newark, where she went for some tests on her hands. She's had some pretty intense pain and has lost significant function in her right (dominant) hand. It came down to either Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Neuropathy as a result of Diabetes.

Carpal Tunnel is reversable/curable with surgery. Neuropathy is not. So of course, the results show that it is, in fact, peripheral neuropathy.

From the Neuropathy Association Website:

Peripheral Neuropathy is one of the most common diseases most people have never heard of…in fact, upwards of 20 million Americans have it. Peripheral neuropathy is caused by damage to your body’s peripheral nerves. This damage disrupts the body’s ability to communicate with its muscles, skin, joints, or internal organs. It is like the body’s wiring system breaking down. If ignored, neuropathy can lead to numbness, pain, weakness and incoordination. However, if it is diagnosed and treated early, peripheral neuropathy can often be controlled, slowing the disease’s progression.

Some types of peripheral neuropathy can be cured, however, most cannot. However, many can be helped. Therapy is directed at treating the underlying disease and at improving the symptoms with the right medications. An experienced neurologist can help patients feel more comfortable, and their quality of life can be greatly improved. But it is extremely important to get to an experienced neurologist as soon as you notice the symptoms before the disease has a chance to cause too much permanent damage.

According to Wikipedia, the current treatment for this is something called Pregabalin, which is actually an anticonvulsant drug and is marketed by Pfizer under the trade name Lyrica. Pregabalin was initially developed by medicinal chemist Richard Bruce Silverman at Northwestern University, so I have some faith that it should help my mom.

Stupid, stupid machine!  Why did you forget to record American Idol last night!?!?!??!

I hate you!  I hate you! Ihate you.

Please don't forget tonight.

Grrrrr.

njsteve left a link as a response to my post about the end resolution with the mom's group drama.  It's a video of six girls in Florida screaming at another teenage girl and beating the crap out of her for things she wrote on Myspace.  Steve's link doesn't include audio because it's a clip from the local news.  I found a more comprehensive article at Salon.com. 

This kind of thing absolutely horrifies me.  I don't think it's anything new-- teenagers ganging up on people they perceive to have wronged them--but the idea of video taping it and plans to post it on a web site so other people can witness their brutality is a pretty new thing.  Do these girls have no sense that it's *wrong* to physically attack another person simply because you don't like them, or believe they don't like you?  I know kids can be cruel to one another.  I know how mob mentality works in kids and it makes me fear for my kids and their friends. 

I don't expect my kids will have lives where they never face adversity and that everyone will like them all the time, but I don't want to fear that they're friends will turn on them like a pack of wild dogs either! 

I'm just stunned.