Do you think that the automated voice prompted systems on the phone can sense my attitude? Seriously. I hate those things. I just want to talk to a real person. Not someone that sounds like a nice lady. I want an actual nice lady. I tried ordering my prescriptions over the phone today. I would have done it online, but I didn't have my patient ID number that they needed, so I called the phone number listed, thinking they could give me the patient ID. Instead I got the voice activated system. Totally impossible with two screaming toddlers.
Fake phone lady: "Would you like to place an order for your prescription?"
Me: "Yes (with Jackson screaming in the background)"
Fake phone lady: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. Would you like to place an order for your prescription?"
Me: "YES!"
Fake phone lady: "Okay. Please say your prescription ID number"
Me: "1-0-0-1-2-JACKSON! WE DON'T PLAY IN POTTIES!"
Fake phone lady: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. Please say your prescription ID number"
Me: "1-0-0-1-2-2-3-5-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH"
Fake phone lady: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. Please say your prescription ID number"
Me: "1-0-0-1-2-2-3-5-7-5-8-9"
Fake phone lady: "Okay. Did you say '1-0-0-1-2-2-3-5-7-5-8-9'?"
Jackson: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Fake phone lady: "Please say your prescription ID number"
This went on for 2 prescriptions ID numbers and a credit card number. I really do hope that a supervisor was listening in on this call for quality assurance, like the disclaimer said. Maybe they will get a clue that these systems suck!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
I shouldn't have to explain.....
I don't think I should have to explain myself and defend the choices I make, but since I put myself out there for the world to judge, I often do get judged. So, here I am, defending the decision to move. Eric and I have decided to move to a smaller house in the woods. Yes, it's small. But I'm not exactly going to be roughing it.
This is a picture of the kitchen in the house we are wanting to rent. NO, we have not signed a lease on this house yet. We aren't stupid. We will not sign a lease until we find a good quality renter for our home now. Are we risking losing this new rental house? Maybe a little, but we've worked out a first right of refusal with the owner of this house and are putting ourselves in the best possible position we can. If it gets rented out from under us, we'll find another house. There are lots of rental houses out there. If we can't rent our current house, we'll just stay here and nothing will change.
This is a calculated move. We've run the numbers. We've thought things through. Although it might be coming out of left field to an outsider, it's something Eric and I have talked about and thought about for a long time. We didn't move to Colorado so that our views are of cars zooming by and the back of someone's house.
The view from our back door now:
View from the new rental home:
We didn't move here so that our son can't run and play in his own yard because of the cars speeding by. Yes, we love our current house. We wish we could take this house and pick it up and move it to a couple acres in the woods. But that's not possible. This morning I was woken up by the neighbors behind us. The little boy was waking up the little girl for school. He wasn't even being that loud about it, but when the houses are that close together and your windows are open, you hear it.
We could move to a bigger house in the woods. One that wouldn't really save us that much money. We are doing this to save money and see what it's like to live out there. If, by the end of the year, we find that we hate it, we'll move back here with a big cushion in our bank account. If we find we love it, we'll continue to rent out our house, or sell it, or whatever. We'll make it work.
So, why did we buy a house that was on such a busy street and so close to other houses 5 years ago? Well, first of all, we were the third house built in this neighborhood. It was tons of land and three houses. It wasn't on a busy street. Many of those streets that the cars are going to now didn't even exist. We weren't close to our neighbors. We didn't have neighbors. We knew that there would be houses built, but we didn't really have a good image in our head of exactly how many houses would be there. We also didn't have a child at the time so a small yard and close to traffic didn't bother us. We didn't think anything of it. But now we have a 2 year old that absolutely LOVES to be outside. And when he plays out there I just about have a heart attack the whole time. His balls roll into the street. He rides his little motorcycle and I have to catch him at the end of the driveway or else he will get hit by a car. I spend my whole time watching the road and yelling at cars to slow down instead of actually playing with my child.
This is a move that makes sense for us. It's something we want to try out and see if it works. We have more knowledge than the average person about real estate and rentals. We are being smart about it. Everyone that really knows us and has spent time in our house is being very supportive, and that's really all that matters. But for the rest of you, we do care about your opinion of us, and want you to trust that we are making the right decision for US, both financially and emotionally.
This is a picture of the kitchen in the house we are wanting to rent. NO, we have not signed a lease on this house yet. We aren't stupid. We will not sign a lease until we find a good quality renter for our home now. Are we risking losing this new rental house? Maybe a little, but we've worked out a first right of refusal with the owner of this house and are putting ourselves in the best possible position we can. If it gets rented out from under us, we'll find another house. There are lots of rental houses out there. If we can't rent our current house, we'll just stay here and nothing will change.
This is a calculated move. We've run the numbers. We've thought things through. Although it might be coming out of left field to an outsider, it's something Eric and I have talked about and thought about for a long time. We didn't move to Colorado so that our views are of cars zooming by and the back of someone's house.
The view from our back door now:
View from the new rental home:
We didn't move here so that our son can't run and play in his own yard because of the cars speeding by. Yes, we love our current house. We wish we could take this house and pick it up and move it to a couple acres in the woods. But that's not possible. This morning I was woken up by the neighbors behind us. The little boy was waking up the little girl for school. He wasn't even being that loud about it, but when the houses are that close together and your windows are open, you hear it.
We could move to a bigger house in the woods. One that wouldn't really save us that much money. We are doing this to save money and see what it's like to live out there. If, by the end of the year, we find that we hate it, we'll move back here with a big cushion in our bank account. If we find we love it, we'll continue to rent out our house, or sell it, or whatever. We'll make it work.
So, why did we buy a house that was on such a busy street and so close to other houses 5 years ago? Well, first of all, we were the third house built in this neighborhood. It was tons of land and three houses. It wasn't on a busy street. Many of those streets that the cars are going to now didn't even exist. We weren't close to our neighbors. We didn't have neighbors. We knew that there would be houses built, but we didn't really have a good image in our head of exactly how many houses would be there. We also didn't have a child at the time so a small yard and close to traffic didn't bother us. We didn't think anything of it. But now we have a 2 year old that absolutely LOVES to be outside. And when he plays out there I just about have a heart attack the whole time. His balls roll into the street. He rides his little motorcycle and I have to catch him at the end of the driveway or else he will get hit by a car. I spend my whole time watching the road and yelling at cars to slow down instead of actually playing with my child.
This is a move that makes sense for us. It's something we want to try out and see if it works. We have more knowledge than the average person about real estate and rentals. We are being smart about it. Everyone that really knows us and has spent time in our house is being very supportive, and that's really all that matters. But for the rest of you, we do care about your opinion of us, and want you to trust that we are making the right decision for US, both financially and emotionally.
The code to sex....
With big change comes sleepless nights. I'm okay once I fall asleep. It's getting to sleep that I've been struggling with. My brain goes a mile a minute, usually thinking of useless stuff. Stuff that I don't need to be thinking of. Stuff that, no matter how long I think about it, it won't change anything. So, I've had a hard time falling asleep the last few weeks. But the upside is that Eric has NOT had a hard time falling asleep and I've had a fabulous time listening to/engaging in sleep talking conversations with him. I'm not making fun of him. Really. I talk in my sleep too. I've also been known to walk in my sleep. And do other crazy things in my sleep, like take a shower and get ready for school but only kind of shower and leave the shampoo in my hair and get dressed in a crazy outfit and stand at the front door at 3:00 in the morning waiting for my ride. (That happened more than once in high school) The other night Eric told me in his sleep "find out which one requires the least music". I responded "what?". And he said "some of them, they have like.....ummmmm.....(long pause).....like hundreds of musics". A couple nights later he blurted out "it's a tube key!" in his sleep. I got a laugh out of that one. We've also had full on arguments in his sleep about him sleeping. One time he started talking in jibberish and when I started laughing he got really mad and went on and on about how I think he is sleeping but he really isn't. I was so far into giggle mode by that point that I couldn't stop laughing and was just egging him on. My very favorite sleep talk conversation with Eric happened a few years ago. I was lying awake in bed and all of the sudden he started laughing. "What's so funny?" I asked. "I finally figured it out!" he said excitedly. "Figured what out?" "The code to sex! I know the code to sex!" "What is it?" I asked. "7324!" he responded. Then continued to laugh. So if anyone is looking for the code to sex it's 7324. You're welcome.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
When the wheels come down.....
I've been back on Facebook for 4 days. I went 31 days without my typical social networking. I'm not gonna lie. I did go on Facebook last month, however, it was for business purposes. I'm working on selling kids shirts for the 110 alum, and I needed to get contact info for some people, and send some messages. So, I was, occasionally, logging on to see if people had responded to messages and whatnot. I didn't check my newsfeed or notifications, and I didn't chat with anyone, which is what I usually do on Facebook. So, I would say that I, more or less, followed the rules.
So, I didn't go on Facebook that much, but here's what I did do this month:
* Made some new friends
* Reconnected with some old friends
* Figured out a way to make more money, starting in September
* Learned to sew
* Figured out how much more I can get done in a day if I wake up a little earlier
* Answered the age old question of how to lose weight and keep it off
* Gave myself a commute
* Watched Toy Story ten gagillion times
* Organized the house
* Read a couple books
* Saw a model rocket launch
* Gave myself a Brazilian wax.....kind of
* Invented a yummy mixed drink
* Went camping
* Bought ballroom dance lessons for Eric and I. We will go later in the summer.
* Reserved my spot for a painting class on August 13th.
So, am I ready to give up internet social networking? ABSOLUTELY NOT! It was nice to take a little break, but I feel much more comfortable being in the loop. I did learn a lot about myself this month though. I learned that I am my happiest and most comfortable when there are major life changes happening. (Thanks to my BFF for pointing that out ;) Both Eric and I are that way, and we excel as a couple when we have major life changes on the horizon. We don't do stagnant very well. And this is the first time in my life I've been stagnant. As a kid, everything is new and exciting. Then I started dating, and we all know how exciting that is. I went to college. New and exciting. I started my relationship with Eric. New and exciting. We moved to Denver. New and exciting. We got engaged, then married. New and exciting. We built a house. New and exciting. We got pregnant and had a baby. New and exciting. And what has happened since then? Nothing. Not new. Not exciting. And now I watch kids out of the house and am trapped at home all day. Really not exciting. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Eric and I were daydreaming about how great it would be to have some land. Well, those daydreams have become serious conversations. The daydreams have become going out and looking at homes in the woods. They've become calling lenders and getting quotes. And since we've been daydreaming and acting on our daydreams, Eric and I, as individuals and as a couple, have been happier than we have been in a while. We are ready for a change. We are those people that need change regularly. And while we are both working on being truly happy no matter what our circumstances, this is something that is making us happy right now. Selling our house isn't something we are ready to do quite yet. We LOVE our house. We HATE how small the yard is. So, we are thinking of renting out our current home, and renting a place out in the middle of the woods. This is rather funny, given that we own 5 (soon to be 6) rental units and we would, ourselves, be renters. However, we wouldn't be your ordinary renters. We would be renters with a purpose. A purpose of seeing if we really do like living in the middle of nowhere. Seeing if we can handle the commute. And also, we can save a ton of money if we go through with this. Enough for a down payment on a dream house in a year or two. We haven't made an definitive decisions, but we are getting the wheels turning. And in the past, when Eric and I turn the wheels, stuff moves.
So, I didn't go on Facebook that much, but here's what I did do this month:
* Made some new friends
* Reconnected with some old friends
* Figured out a way to make more money, starting in September
* Learned to sew
* Figured out how much more I can get done in a day if I wake up a little earlier
* Answered the age old question of how to lose weight and keep it off
* Gave myself a commute
* Watched Toy Story ten gagillion times
* Organized the house
* Read a couple books
* Saw a model rocket launch
* Gave myself a Brazilian wax.....kind of
* Invented a yummy mixed drink
* Went camping
* Bought ballroom dance lessons for Eric and I. We will go later in the summer.
* Reserved my spot for a painting class on August 13th.
So, am I ready to give up internet social networking? ABSOLUTELY NOT! It was nice to take a little break, but I feel much more comfortable being in the loop. I did learn a lot about myself this month though. I learned that I am my happiest and most comfortable when there are major life changes happening. (Thanks to my BFF for pointing that out ;) Both Eric and I are that way, and we excel as a couple when we have major life changes on the horizon. We don't do stagnant very well. And this is the first time in my life I've been stagnant. As a kid, everything is new and exciting. Then I started dating, and we all know how exciting that is. I went to college. New and exciting. I started my relationship with Eric. New and exciting. We moved to Denver. New and exciting. We got engaged, then married. New and exciting. We built a house. New and exciting. We got pregnant and had a baby. New and exciting. And what has happened since then? Nothing. Not new. Not exciting. And now I watch kids out of the house and am trapped at home all day. Really not exciting. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Eric and I were daydreaming about how great it would be to have some land. Well, those daydreams have become serious conversations. The daydreams have become going out and looking at homes in the woods. They've become calling lenders and getting quotes. And since we've been daydreaming and acting on our daydreams, Eric and I, as individuals and as a couple, have been happier than we have been in a while. We are ready for a change. We are those people that need change regularly. And while we are both working on being truly happy no matter what our circumstances, this is something that is making us happy right now. Selling our house isn't something we are ready to do quite yet. We LOVE our house. We HATE how small the yard is. So, we are thinking of renting out our current home, and renting a place out in the middle of the woods. This is rather funny, given that we own 5 (soon to be 6) rental units and we would, ourselves, be renters. However, we wouldn't be your ordinary renters. We would be renters with a purpose. A purpose of seeing if we really do like living in the middle of nowhere. Seeing if we can handle the commute. And also, we can save a ton of money if we go through with this. Enough for a down payment on a dream house in a year or two. We haven't made an definitive decisions, but we are getting the wheels turning. And in the past, when Eric and I turn the wheels, stuff moves.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Don't you dare.....
It is "World Breastfeeding Week" this week. Which to me reads as "You-Should-Feel-Guilty-Because-You-Couldn't-Give -Your-Baby-What-He-REALLY-Needed-Week". I just read an article about Supermodel Gisele Bundchen saying that she thinks there should be a worldwide law that every mother should breastfeed their baby for at least 6 months. It infuriates me that she can be so stupid.....EVEN FOR A SUPERMODEL!!! Look, I know that breast milk is what is best for babies. Everyone knows that. I would never ever argue with someone that they shouldn't breastfeed. I would also never ever tell someone that they are harming their baby by giving them formula. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to breastfeed. You should consider yourself very lucky if you can. You will save money on formula, you will save time on cleaning bottles, and most importantly you are giving your baby what is best for them. But if you aren't able to nurse, you shouldn't be made to feel guilty for not doing what's best for you and your baby. (I know no one can make you feel guilty, but when you are super hormonal, plus in major pain from having a baby and trying to nurse, and sleep deprived, you can easily fall into feelings of guilt, even if you are otherwise a very strong person) I know, for me, I gave it my best shot. My doctor finally had to tell me after 6 weeks to JUST STOP TRYING! It wasn't what was best for me and the baby anymore....formula from a bottle was what was best for us. And although no one was downright mean to me about not nursing, I did feel very guilty among my nursing mother friends who were trying to be encouraging. I have no intention of trying to breastfeed if/when I have another baby. No, it won't be different next time. I WAS THE PROBLEM....NOT THE BABY! (Which makes me feel even worse about it!) In fact, I wasn't allowed to take Jackson home from the hospital until he drank a certain amount of formula from a bottle......AND THAT WAS BEFORE I EVEN HAD PROBLEMS NURSING! So, if you are able to breastfeed, consider yourself blessed. Have your week to rejoice in your awesomeness with other equally awesome mommies. But don't you dare pass judgment on me or any other woman who is unable to breastfeed. There!
Just because you can blog doesn't mean you should vlog.
There are several blogs that I read. All but one of them are people I know. The one that I don't know is a really popular blog and she's absolutely hilarious. Well, this blogger recently started vlogging. (video blogging) I've gotta say, just because you are a really funny writer, doesn't make you a funny vlogger. I watched a vlog of her's yesterday and I don't think she's funny anymore, even though she essentially read her blog on video. Her delivery sucks! It was awkward and contrived. I'll still read her blogs, but I'll pass on the videos. I'm not saying I would be any better at vlogging. I wouldn't even try it actually. I don't need to see or hear myself, and I can guarantee that mine would be awkward, because I would be really uncomfortable recording myself. I'll stick to writing and being obnoxious at parties.....
Monday, August 2, 2010
We went camping....
We went camping this Saturday. And by camping I mean, we went to a state park that's about 20 minutes away from our house. There are lots of way cooler places to camp around here. We do live in Colorado after all, but we chose this place because it is close to home. And because they have bathrooms. I don't pee in the woods. I don't consider myself a diva or someone that's not comfortable being outside and camping, but I can't pee anywhere other than on a toilet....like....nothing comes out. I physically can't do it. So, a campground is a more appropriate choice for us. We weren't sure how it would pan out, so we wanted to stay close to home. We got there around 2:30, after Jackson woke up from his nap. We decided where the tent was going to go and started setting up. After a while, Jackson and I left Eric to do the setting up and we headed to the playground. When Jackson's little face was so red from being hot, we headed back to the camp site to find Eric sitting under a pine tree in the shade. This is where we all hung out until it started cooling off a bit, listening to music and relaxing. Once it got a little cooler and we got hungry, we decided to start a fire. In the past, we've had a heck of a time starting a fire, so I got a duraflame log to get things going this time. It worked. We had a great fire going and put the hot dogs on our big fire forks and started cooking. The hot dogs were looking a little.....ummmmm....black, though. Like, not charred in a fire kind of black, but covered in chemicals kind of black. Eric insisted it was fine and devoured 2 hot dogs. I ate a bite and thought it tasted funny. I gave Jackson one bite too and decided to google "cooking over duraflame logs". My search told me that it can actually be poisonous to cook over duraflame logs. Whoops! I gave Jackson a cold hot dog and a ton of Doritos for dinner instead. After poking the duraflame log and breaking it up a bunch, I finally got our fire to be only wood and not duraflame and we made smores and popcorn over the fire. By around 9:00, Jackson was kept saying "night-night" so we put him in his pajamas and tried to lay him down in the tent in his new Buzz Lightyear sleeping bag. By 10:30, all he was doing was screaming in the tent, obsessing over every little thing. He would hear a car and yell "CAR! CAR! CAR! CAR!" over and over. He wanted to play with the flashlight so he yelled "LIGHT! LIGHT! LIGHT! LIGHT!". This continued for quite some time until I finally threatened him with going home if he didn't knock it off. Then he started screaming "HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME!". FINE! WE ARE GOING HOME! Eric was practically asleep by this point and told me that he would sleep at the campsite while Jackson and I slept at home. I told him that he was going to wake up at the crack of dawn and we weren't so he's going to have to wait for us in the morning. He was okay with that.....at the time. Jackson and I drove home and I tried putting him to bed. It was well after midnight before he finally calmed down and fell asleep. I decided that since I had only had one bite of poisoned hot dog, Doritos, Oreos, Smores and popcorn all night I should have some healthy fruit before bed, so I had some maraschino cherries, right out of the jar, and a chocolate covered frozen banana. It was now officially August 1st, so I went on Facebook and checked everything out and finally fell asleep. I got a text from Eric around 7:00 the next morning saying that there is NO WAY Jackson would have made it through the night anyway because it was sweltering in the tent and really noisy all night long. Jackson slept until 10:00 in the morning and we headed back to the campsite to pick up Eric. Maybe we'll try camping again next year? Not in July?
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