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Tonight we had an awards program at V's school. She received a "Stellar Writing" award for her excellence in writing. Go kid! We were so proud of her. During the presentation, they mentioned something about each student and V's said something to the effect that she shows her personality and uses her voice in her writing. Her stories were very entertaining. MY KID? Nah. She's just boring. LOL!
On the way home, she was tired and wound up after all that excitement! and talking with friends! and turning around during the program! so Tim was talking firmly with her about how she needed to behave during a program the next time she went to one. She was being her typical 8 year old self and arguing and backtalking, so it became necessary to pull the car over. Yeah, nothing good ever happens when that event occurs. Tim had an even firmer talk with her and we headed back on the road to get home.
About five minutes from home, the arguing and backtalking started again (don't you just love the age of 8? Evidently about 2 minutes after you turn 8, your parents turn into idiotic morons and you know everything. Just a warning for you parents of 7 year olds out there...you will soon be stupid). Here's what happened next...
Tim: V, I have already talked to you several times about this sassiness and if it continues, I guess my hand will have to have a talk with your bottom.
V: (very serious and polite) Oh, no sir! It really doesn't feel like talking right now.
I almost DIED laughing!!! I am sure it was not helpful for the whole parenting thing, but it was a stress reliever that Tim and I needed. We looked at each other the rest of the drive and kept cracking up. That kid of ours...it's a good thing she's so stinkin' cute.
School is winding down and I am getting ready to start standardized testing with my 2nd graders, so needless to say, things are hectic and really busy this time of year. I hate to disappoint my blog readers (all 3 of you!) by not posting, so I thought I would invite a close personal acquaintance to guest post. I hope you will enjoy...
"Why girls are better than boys" by V. Patterson (age 8, 3rd grade)
Boys and girls can be different sometimes but sometimes boys and girls can be the same. Here's some examples why I think girls are better than boys. Girls are as sweet as sugar and boys are as mean as a tiger. What are little girls made of? Little girls are made of sugar, and all of the nice things. What are little boys made of? Little boys are made of snakes and spices and lemons and other mean things. Girls do good things like clean their room, share their toys with everyone (even the mean boys)! Boys do gross things like leave their room messy and get dirty with dirt all over them and scare girls. Boys like to play with dirt and trucks while girls like to play with pretty dolls and dress up and they also like to play on swings and slides and some girls even like to read everywhere, even in bed like my mom did when she was a little girl. My opinion is that girls are better. But sometimes boys and girls can yet be the same in some ways.
**Reprinted with permission from the author.***
I wonder if she will still feel the same way when she gets married...hmmm? :) I think God needs to send someone a little brother. Haha!
I recently got a new insurance carrier. Why, you ask? Well, I adored my old insurance carrier. Their name may or may not rhyme with "Pigna" but they were wonderful. They had super co-pays, they covered all my medicines, but there was one tiny problem - they literally doubled their premiums last year. So, because I don't have an additional $160 per month to spend on insurance, I had to switch. My options were kind of limited - I could go back to Green Cross (not their real name of course) and have a deductible that I never met because I don't get sick that often or I could try their new HMO version, Green Choice where you get to choose your health plan! and choose your own doctor! and have co-pays! Plus, they were the same price monthly that I was paying with Pigna so I switched. That was back in January.
I have been a happy Green Choice customer. I have had zero complaints...until last week. If you aren't living under a rock, you realize that the allergy season this year has been one of the worst ones ever. In SC, we had a late snow. While that meant we got TWO snow days (woot!), it also means that the grass and the tree pollen are blooming at the same time instead of being spread out. It's been pretty stinkin' miserable around here. V and Tim and I could be the poster family for an allergy commercial - sneezing, itchy eyes, scratchy throat...the whole nine yards. I take a WONDERFUL allergy medicine that I love but I don't need it all the time so I already had about 2 weeks worth. It still had 5 refills, so when I ran out I called it in to the pharmacy and went to pick it up. The pharmacist informed me that I had to get "prior authorization" from my doctor before my insurance would pay for it. I have had that happen before once or twice with Pigna, so I wasn't worried. I called the doctor first thing the next morning and asked them to call the insurance and authorize it so I could get my medicine. A few days pass - no word. The nurse finally calls me back and tells me that Green Choice will not approve my allergy medicine. HUH? They have a policy - it's called a "try and fail" policy. Here's how it works: they ask the doctor to write me a prescription for an over the counter allergy medicine. I have to physically take it to the pharmacy and get them to fill it so it shows up in their records. After trying that for 21 days, if it is not working, the doctor can write a prescription for my old allergy medicine and they will pay for it. I believe that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my entire life. Only an insurance company would get away with that. I know I couldn't go into my school and tell a parent, "I know the reading method that I am using is not teaching your child to read. However, I have a a try and fail policy. If the method doesn't work for 21 days, then I will try a reading program that will work. Have a nice day!"
So, today is day 3 of 21. So far, I'm still pretty miserable - in addition to the allergy medicine that doesn't work, I got a sinus and double ear infection during the week that I didn't have any allergy medicine, so I'm on an antibiotic as well. Fun fun stuff. In the mean time, here's my theme song...
From Snacktime (kids album) by Bare Naked Ladies
A few days ago I posted about a situation we had with the neighbors and a little boy playing with them who lives down the street. For more info, read this. Here was my response:
First off, we called V inside and had a big talk with her about what happened. She was very adamant that it was an accident and she was very sorry about the toy getting broken. However, she had been told several times before that she was not supposed to stay at the neighbor's house when the little boy from down the street came over because he tends to get rough and is not very nice. We told her that if she had obeyed, none of this would have happened, so part of it was her responsibility. While we were talking to her, Tim caught the kid from down the street and our neighbor's son listening at our window!!! I guess they wanted to see if they were going to score their $50 or not. I walked down the street and asked to talk to the little guy's parents - of course they were not home and their teenage son didn't know when they would be home. Nice, huh? I told him I would come back at 8 pm to talk with his mom if she was home then. When I got back home, I told V that I understood that it was an accident but even if something is an accident, if it is your fault, you are responsible for replacing it. I reminded her of when I accidentally dropped a coffee cup in Wal-Mart and we had to take it to the register and pay for it. So...she brought her wallet with all her money ($23) down and then we ate dinner and I put her in bed. Tim and I had already agreed that if this mom really pushed the issue, we would pay to replace the gun since we weren't out there and didn't see what happened and it had gotten broken - but we weren't happy about it.
8 pm rolls around...I see another car is at the house. I walked down the street with the now glued back together gun in my hands (Tim tried to fix it with epoxy - have I mentioned what a super guy he is?) I talked to the mom and filled her in on the situation and she called the little boy over to talk to her. He LIED to his mom and said he never asked for money - he just came to tell us that V broke it but he told us we didn't have to replace it. WHAT???? The mom kept reassuring me over and over that he didn't have the real air bullets - she throws those away as soon as they buy those things. Lady, I don't really care - what I care about is that your kid accused my kid of breaking something and then demanded money from me. I was so flabbergasted that the kid lied to his mom in front of me I didn't even mention the scratches and punch marks- it probably wouldn't have done any good because he would have just lied and said he didn't do that either. Ugh. She finally got past the bullet issue and said that she saw him going out with that and she shouldn't have let him take it, and so it was her fault, so we didn't need to replace the gun since it glued back together ok and she was sorry. Moral of the story: if V wants to play with the neighbor's daughter, they are coming to our house from now on.
Here's a hypothetical situation for you. Your child is out playing at the neighbor's house, in their yard. You are getting ready to call her home for dinner when the doorbell rings. The neighbor's big brother and his friend are at the door. They are holding a humongous assault rifle - play, of course, because who wouldn't give their school aged kid a huge toy gun. (Note the extreme sarcasm here). After you breathe a sigh of relief that you are not being held up in your house, you ask what's going on. The children claim that your child (who doesn't even OWN a toy gun) threw the gun on the ground and it broke. They are claiming that the gun costs $50 and are demanding that you pay for it. Your child says she accidentally knocked it out of the neighbor's tree house and shows you the scratches and punch marks the neighbor's friend left on her after the gun was broken. How would YOU respond?
I'll share my response tomorrow. My hypothetical response, of course. :P
Due to nighttime bedwetting issues, we always get V up in the middle of the night to help make sure she is still dry in the morning. She is not an easy kid to get to sleep, but once she is out, she is OUT! When you wake her up to go potty, she walks like a zombie and can say the funniest things. Here's a little snippet of our potty conversation last night...
Me: V, get up. It's time to go potty. (Here's where I have to take her hand and lead her to the bathroom or she blindly walks into the playroom, down the stairs, in our bedroom....)
V: Hey, Mommy, guess what?
Me: What baby?
V: I just got a job!
Me: (giggling under my breath) Really? That's great. What are you going to be doing?
V: Oh, you know. Job stuff.
Then we walk back to her bed, I tuck her back in, and I crack up laughing. That girl is a hoot, even in her sleep!
So I have been a complete blog slacker this week. I joked to my adoption forum friends about updating their blogs and then I didn't write a single post all week! Sorry, girls! :( It has been spring break week here at the P house and we have been living it up all week long. For the first time, Tim got to work through his spring break so he could be off for ours, and it has been so nice to have some dedicated family time. Here's a quick recap of our week so far...
Monday - a trip to the Greenville Zoo and Cleveland Park where Tim spun Veronica so fast on this twirly seat thing that I thought she was going to puke but she kept telling him to go faster! Haha :) We also took M (my 9 mo. niece) and had fun teaching her all about the animals.
Tuesday - this day wasn't so fun. I woke up SICK and didn't move off the couch all day long. Poor V had to make her own lunch (PBJ sandwich and grapes) but was so proud of herself. She also made me drink lots of water, took my temperature, and asked if I was ok every time I coughed or sneezed. What a sweet girl! Tim spent the day getting my car aligned so his day kind of stunk too.
Wednesday - I got to clean my house! I mean, really clean the house! Like sweep and mop and dust and super vacuum. I love being off and having energy to clean it all at one time.
Thursday - went on a mini-vacay to Charleston, one of our favorite places to visit. Ate dinner at Bubba Gump's with some good friends who drove all the way down just to eat with us. Got a good night's sleep in the huge king sized bed. :)
Friday - finished our Charleston adventure with a great breakfast, 2 hr. and 45 minutes in the indoor pool, and lunch with one of the greatest Christian musicians in the world. Oh yeah, and a large gelato at the candy kitchen and a new phone for Tim at the apple store - gotta love Apple's warranty!
Saturday - tried to sleep late (didn't work because of my barking DOG!), finished a really good book, watched the very last episode of ER (cried and sniffed all the way through it), ran some errands, and sat in the yard and read while V and the dogs played outside.
What a great week....I really don't want to go back to work. At least summer will be here before I know it!!!
What do you like to do on time off?
