Okay, so when did that happen? One minute school was letting out and the next minute I blink and summer's half gone. I said before that things had been pretty overwhelming and they did get significantly more so over the past month.
An older family member who had been seriously ill since the beginning of the year became critically ill, was hospitalized and was then transferred to palliative care for a couple of weeks before passing away. It's been a rough time for the whole family. Lots of time spent in the hospital, lots of stress, knowing that the outcome wasn't going to be good and less attention paid to a lot of other things.
Things are slowly getting back on track. Dear Child has spent one week at day camp so far and goes back for her second week tomorrow. The following week her nieces come back and all three girls go back to swimming lessons.
I got a big, brown envelope from the school in the mail the other day. I was thinking that things were all under control on that front because I already bought DC's uniforms and handed in both a series of post-dated cheques for tuition and a separate one that only gets cashed next June if I don't put in at least 12 hours of parent participation at her school. Silly me, I forgot about the school supply fee, the workbook/textbook fee, the field trip fee and at least one other fee of some kind. Lovely. Even better, they all have to be paid on or before September 1st, which is the first day of school this year (early, because all the High Holy Days come early this year, finishing at the end of September). Since the kids will barely be in school through September they get to start on the 1st instead of waiting for the day after Labour Day. Lest I forget, there will also be the hot lunch fee about a week after school starts.
I had intended to spend every other weekend and every long weekend at our house. Needless to say, that hasn't happened. I finally went for 2 days the other week, Sunday and Monday. It meant taking a day off work, but I desperately needed to do some yard work and there's tons still left undone. I hope to go again next weekend.
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, November 9, 2009
I'm Recovering, So it Must be Time to Overdo
This was another typically crazy Sunday. I spent about 6 and a half hours laying a laminate floor (including putting down underlay) in my granddaughters' bedroom with my Eldest Daughter. Hubby took Dear Child and the older of the 2 girls to the movies, which kept them out of our hair. The "baby" on the other hand was at home and we tried to keep her occupied with videos and dressing up. There were still a lot of interruptions and she managed to put off her nap for literally hours. What we wouldn't have done for a typical day where she sleeps soundly for 2 1/2 hours right after lunch!
However, we did almost finish, except for the last row where about half a dozen boards need to be ripped. We felt 8:30 pm was a little late to be using the power saws outside. I think we can probably finish up tomorrow after everybody is done with work and school. If not, we're all off on Wednesday for Remembrance Day. There's still a new heat register to buy and the baseboards to buy and install. Luckily they have a nailer that takes both staples and brads. Equally luckily, I don't have to pay for any of this because it's not my part of the house.
Afterwards I sat down to look at my bills and my bank balances again. Yes, I had to pay some more bills and still have more to pay. I have money for some of the remaining ones, but not all, and it's not going to get any better on my payday because I'll be getting just over half a cheque. Darn being sick anyway! Once I update my bank book and transfer some more money to the credit union I'll be able to finish paying as many bills as possible.
I'm mostly recovered from the flu now, although I'm still coughing and having some difficulties breathing. And I'm tired a lot. By the end of this afternoon I could barely get off the floor to go cut boards and I got kind of shaky but I made it. Oh yeah. Remember when I said maybe I'd lose some weight? I dropped 6 pounds and ended up at 125 (my goal is 120) and I've only gained back one pound since I started eating normally again and getting better hydrated. I bet my upcoming book, entitled "The H1N1 Diet" will be a best-seller! No calorie counting, no exercise and you can lose five pounds a week. What a deal!
However, we did almost finish, except for the last row where about half a dozen boards need to be ripped. We felt 8:30 pm was a little late to be using the power saws outside. I think we can probably finish up tomorrow after everybody is done with work and school. If not, we're all off on Wednesday for Remembrance Day. There's still a new heat register to buy and the baseboards to buy and install. Luckily they have a nailer that takes both staples and brads. Equally luckily, I don't have to pay for any of this because it's not my part of the house.
Afterwards I sat down to look at my bills and my bank balances again. Yes, I had to pay some more bills and still have more to pay. I have money for some of the remaining ones, but not all, and it's not going to get any better on my payday because I'll be getting just over half a cheque. Darn being sick anyway! Once I update my bank book and transfer some more money to the credit union I'll be able to finish paying as many bills as possible.
I'm mostly recovered from the flu now, although I'm still coughing and having some difficulties breathing. And I'm tired a lot. By the end of this afternoon I could barely get off the floor to go cut boards and I got kind of shaky but I made it. Oh yeah. Remember when I said maybe I'd lose some weight? I dropped 6 pounds and ended up at 125 (my goal is 120) and I've only gained back one pound since I started eating normally again and getting better hydrated. I bet my upcoming book, entitled "The H1N1 Diet" will be a best-seller! No calorie counting, no exercise and you can lose five pounds a week. What a deal!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Tooth Fairy Hates Me
Yes, I really think the Tooth Fairy has it in for me. I went to the dentist yesterday to have my teeth cleaned. I had put it off twice due to scheduling conflicts and didn't want to put it off again even though I didn't have any money. After all, today is payday and I figured I'd give them a cheque dated for today and then I'd have to juggle somewhere else on the bills.
It usually costs me about $50 to $60 for a cleaning. This time, because I'd put it off, they had to do more scaling, etc. I pretty much had a heart attack when the girl at the front desk asked for $159! Uh, that's 3 times what I usually pay. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do but pay it. My hubby's extended medical/dental plan will reimburse us $127 of that, but it will take a couple of weeks to arrive. I'm already looking at about a $500 shortfall without that extra cost and extra time.
Plus, I went to the doctor for my H1N1 shot and to talk to her about how my asthma has suddenly flared up out of the blue. I've had 2 attacks in 2 days when I normally have 2 or 3 attacks per year! And, even then, it's usually something like cleaning for Pesach that triggers it with dust and strong cleaners and exertion. The first time I was just playing with Dear Child on the bed, trying to tickle her while she held my hand. The second was when I carried the baby into the house from the car because she was asleep. I do both those things all the time without a problem.
So, I ended up getting the seasonal shot instead (because they were only given 80 doses for people with underlying conditions and those were *gone* by the time I got there) and a prescription for Ventolin and a temporary cortico-steroid called Flovent. I couldn't fill them yesterday because I didn't have any money. Today I'll find out how much they'll set me back. Again, the extended covers a lot of the cost but there will be some outlay. At least they deduct the plan amount and I only pay the difference. The problem is that I wasn't planning on needing prescriptions when I made my list of bills that Must Be Paid. And I still have to find time to go back to the doctor when they get more of the H1N1 vaccine in. At least it's free. Well, except for the time I lose at work, of course.
It usually costs me about $50 to $60 for a cleaning. This time, because I'd put it off, they had to do more scaling, etc. I pretty much had a heart attack when the girl at the front desk asked for $159! Uh, that's 3 times what I usually pay. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do but pay it. My hubby's extended medical/dental plan will reimburse us $127 of that, but it will take a couple of weeks to arrive. I'm already looking at about a $500 shortfall without that extra cost and extra time.
Plus, I went to the doctor for my H1N1 shot and to talk to her about how my asthma has suddenly flared up out of the blue. I've had 2 attacks in 2 days when I normally have 2 or 3 attacks per year! And, even then, it's usually something like cleaning for Pesach that triggers it with dust and strong cleaners and exertion. The first time I was just playing with Dear Child on the bed, trying to tickle her while she held my hand. The second was when I carried the baby into the house from the car because she was asleep. I do both those things all the time without a problem.
So, I ended up getting the seasonal shot instead (because they were only given 80 doses for people with underlying conditions and those were *gone* by the time I got there) and a prescription for Ventolin and a temporary cortico-steroid called Flovent. I couldn't fill them yesterday because I didn't have any money. Today I'll find out how much they'll set me back. Again, the extended covers a lot of the cost but there will be some outlay. At least they deduct the plan amount and I only pay the difference. The problem is that I wasn't planning on needing prescriptions when I made my list of bills that Must Be Paid. And I still have to find time to go back to the doctor when they get more of the H1N1 vaccine in. At least it's free. Well, except for the time I lose at work, of course.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
But She's Coming to Our House Tonight
The tooth fairy, that is. Yeah, I know. Yesterday's post was titled "The Tooth Fairy is NOT our Friend". So, what happened?
I got a call in the middle of the morning from the school saying that Dear Child was fine but she'd lost a crown. As it happened, I was out of the office when I found out and I happened to be in the building where her dentist is located. I went and asked them if she should come in and they said "Yes!". I went back to work, finished some reports, picked up the 2 little girls from preschool, picked DC up from school and took them all to the dentist.
First of all, that's not my favourite thing to do. I just didn't have a choice. And they didn't run too rampant while DC was in the chair and I was talking to the dentist. He said that it had come out cleanly (all the roots having dissolved) and that it wasn't going to alter our plan. That was good news. My fear had been that he'd want to move the surgery up and I'd have to try to come up with $3,000 out of nowhere in a matter of weeks instead of months. The bad news was that I had to pay another $18.48 today that I really didn't have to spare.
I took DC back to school afterwards so she could have her hot lunch (a hot dog on a whole wheat bun, a bag of chips and a bottle of water). I went home for about an hour and a half with the girls and then had to go back to pick her up when school was over. I felt like I spent my entire day in the car (not to mention putting kids into carseats and taking them out).
I'm relieved that I don't have to come up with the money for the surgery any faster. I'm still concerned about how much I have to come up with in a short timeframe ($1,600 for Home Depot by early February and $3,000 for the surgery by about March). The other issue is that we're paying out a lot of money for her teeth and we've spent almost as much recently for the car. That money would have made a really big dent in our already pre-existing debt but it has to go on new stuff instead. That's really frustrating.
Anyway, back to the Tooth Fairy. DC went to sleep with her tooth (in the cute little "tooth box" necklace that her school hands out) under the pillow. She had been all over the place with suggestions for how much the Tooth Fairy should leave, ranging from 5 cents to $100!!! Hubby and I turned out our pockets and came up with a toonie and 2 loonies. I don't think $4 is too bad for a crowned tooth. After all, it's damaged.
I got a call in the middle of the morning from the school saying that Dear Child was fine but she'd lost a crown. As it happened, I was out of the office when I found out and I happened to be in the building where her dentist is located. I went and asked them if she should come in and they said "Yes!". I went back to work, finished some reports, picked up the 2 little girls from preschool, picked DC up from school and took them all to the dentist.
First of all, that's not my favourite thing to do. I just didn't have a choice. And they didn't run too rampant while DC was in the chair and I was talking to the dentist. He said that it had come out cleanly (all the roots having dissolved) and that it wasn't going to alter our plan. That was good news. My fear had been that he'd want to move the surgery up and I'd have to try to come up with $3,000 out of nowhere in a matter of weeks instead of months. The bad news was that I had to pay another $18.48 today that I really didn't have to spare.
I took DC back to school afterwards so she could have her hot lunch (a hot dog on a whole wheat bun, a bag of chips and a bottle of water). I went home for about an hour and a half with the girls and then had to go back to pick her up when school was over. I felt like I spent my entire day in the car (not to mention putting kids into carseats and taking them out).
I'm relieved that I don't have to come up with the money for the surgery any faster. I'm still concerned about how much I have to come up with in a short timeframe ($1,600 for Home Depot by early February and $3,000 for the surgery by about March). The other issue is that we're paying out a lot of money for her teeth and we've spent almost as much recently for the car. That money would have made a really big dent in our already pre-existing debt but it has to go on new stuff instead. That's really frustrating.
Anyway, back to the Tooth Fairy. DC went to sleep with her tooth (in the cute little "tooth box" necklace that her school hands out) under the pillow. She had been all over the place with suggestions for how much the Tooth Fairy should leave, ranging from 5 cents to $100!!! Hubby and I turned out our pockets and came up with a toonie and 2 loonies. I don't think $4 is too bad for a crowned tooth. After all, it's damaged.
The Tooth Fairy is NOT our Friend
Bright and early this morning I had to take Dear Child to the dentist. Today cost me very little, an hour of my time and about $18. Unfortunately, the real bill is coming soon.
As folks who've been reading for a while know, I have 4 kids. Three of them are adults, the youngest is nearly 7. Children 2 and 3 have your average teeth. A few cavities over the years, a little ortho for one of them, some wisdom teeth extracted, but nothing out of the ordinary. Child 1 and Child 2 on the other hand, are giant dental money pits. All four have been raised basically the same. I nursed each of them extensively, including at night. They started solids around 6 months, they've all eaten their fair share of junk. None of them was particularly OCD about sticking a toothbrush in their mouths after every meal when they were little but none of them ran screaming at the sight of a toothbrush either.
Child 1 (a boy), first developed little brown spots all over his baby teeth at about age 2. We'd go to the pediatric dentist, he'd fill them. Six months later, there would be decay around the fillings. We'd put in bigger ones. They'd decay again and there wouldn't be enough tooth left to fill, so we'd crown it. One of them decayed under the crown and formed a nasty abcess. That tooth had to be pulled and a space maintainer put in because he lost it about 6 years early.
This was 30 years ago and people mostly thought we were insane. "They're just baby teeth." "They're going to fall out anyway." "Why would you pay all that money for a toddler's teeth?" Those were examples of the kinds of questions and comments we got. He also ground his teeth so badly that he could be heard in the living room all the way from his bedroom upstairs. I bought a silicone sports mold for him that took care of that, although that was the one place I cheaped out. I could have paid a few hundred dollars for one "custom-made" by the dentist. Instead I shelled out about $20 for a sports one, stuck it in hot water then had Number 1 Son bite it. Voila, instant "custom-made" mouth guard. It worked like a charm.
He's had continual problems with his teeth as a teen and as a young adult. Over the past couple of years he's had most of them extracted and has a full upper and partial lower plate.
Dear Child (Child 4) also developed brown spots as a toddler and it progressed to "apple core" front teeth as we didn't have a dental plan intitially, although we were doing cleanings, etc. She went from a regular pediatric dentist to a specialist one once I sold my condo and we put about $5k worth of work into her mouth at that point. Ten silver crowns, 2 white ones under anaesthetic in a special facility. Now, her 6 year molars are mostly in and starting to show decay (at least one came with a "factory installed" cavity, which is not unheard of because the decay goes down from the existing teeth to the buds below the gumline). One of her silver crowns is sideways in her mouth because the roots are resorbing into her jaw and, of course, it's one she shouldn't lose until she's 12 so she's going to need a space maintainer there when it either falls out or is pulled.
We had a panoramic x-ray done 3 to 6 months ago and can see that the first 8 permanent incisors are moving into position although she hasn't lost any baby teeth yet (2 are slightly wiggly). We can also see that the new teeth are about half again as wide as the current ones. That's a problem. There isn't room for them. If they try to come into the space they'll have, they will all be crooked and the ortho will be getting involved pretty soon. (I, myself, had orthodontics twice. Once as a teen. Once as an adult. Plus had 4 bicuspids and 4 wisdom teeth extracted. Plus had jaw surgery. I know this road. It's neither fun nor cheap.)
So, what's the plan? Well, we're trying to wait another 3 months for the molars to come in a little more fully. Then the dentist says we need to do surgery again. Pull 8 to 12 of the front teeth so the new 8 front ones will have room to come in straight. Pull the one that's half out and put in a space maintainer that attaches to the molar (why it has to come in more). Then pray.
All in all, it will cost us about $3,000 because the cost of the facility and (I believe) the anaesthetic aren't covered and there's only partial coverage on some of the rest (50% to 80%). Ain't that fun? I know I'm just all warm and fuzzy about it right now.
First there's the little problem of all that money, which we don't have at the moment. Second, that's really major to take half her teeth out at once. Her speech is going to be impaired as well as her ability to eat solid food. I'm worried she'll have that caved-in look around the mouth typical of old grannies who don't wear their "teeth". And I know there will be a rough few weeks recovering while her gums are all soft and sore. But I also know that this is the best chance she's going to get for the teeth to come in straight. And, as the dentist pointed out, if we only did part of it we'd just have to go back and do more in 6 months or so. It would end up costing more in the end and she's already nervous about a second surgery, let alone a third one. Besides, it's best to minimize the number of times a person has to undergo a general anaesthetic.
So, it looks like this is what's in our future. We may have 6 months, but that's probably the maximum timeframe. I'm just glad individual picture day was this Monday! I can't imagine that she'll be smiling for a long time after all the extractions.
As folks who've been reading for a while know, I have 4 kids. Three of them are adults, the youngest is nearly 7. Children 2 and 3 have your average teeth. A few cavities over the years, a little ortho for one of them, some wisdom teeth extracted, but nothing out of the ordinary. Child 1 and Child 2 on the other hand, are giant dental money pits. All four have been raised basically the same. I nursed each of them extensively, including at night. They started solids around 6 months, they've all eaten their fair share of junk. None of them was particularly OCD about sticking a toothbrush in their mouths after every meal when they were little but none of them ran screaming at the sight of a toothbrush either.
Child 1 (a boy), first developed little brown spots all over his baby teeth at about age 2. We'd go to the pediatric dentist, he'd fill them. Six months later, there would be decay around the fillings. We'd put in bigger ones. They'd decay again and there wouldn't be enough tooth left to fill, so we'd crown it. One of them decayed under the crown and formed a nasty abcess. That tooth had to be pulled and a space maintainer put in because he lost it about 6 years early.
This was 30 years ago and people mostly thought we were insane. "They're just baby teeth." "They're going to fall out anyway." "Why would you pay all that money for a toddler's teeth?" Those were examples of the kinds of questions and comments we got. He also ground his teeth so badly that he could be heard in the living room all the way from his bedroom upstairs. I bought a silicone sports mold for him that took care of that, although that was the one place I cheaped out. I could have paid a few hundred dollars for one "custom-made" by the dentist. Instead I shelled out about $20 for a sports one, stuck it in hot water then had Number 1 Son bite it. Voila, instant "custom-made" mouth guard. It worked like a charm.
He's had continual problems with his teeth as a teen and as a young adult. Over the past couple of years he's had most of them extracted and has a full upper and partial lower plate.
Dear Child (Child 4) also developed brown spots as a toddler and it progressed to "apple core" front teeth as we didn't have a dental plan intitially, although we were doing cleanings, etc. She went from a regular pediatric dentist to a specialist one once I sold my condo and we put about $5k worth of work into her mouth at that point. Ten silver crowns, 2 white ones under anaesthetic in a special facility. Now, her 6 year molars are mostly in and starting to show decay (at least one came with a "factory installed" cavity, which is not unheard of because the decay goes down from the existing teeth to the buds below the gumline). One of her silver crowns is sideways in her mouth because the roots are resorbing into her jaw and, of course, it's one she shouldn't lose until she's 12 so she's going to need a space maintainer there when it either falls out or is pulled.
We had a panoramic x-ray done 3 to 6 months ago and can see that the first 8 permanent incisors are moving into position although she hasn't lost any baby teeth yet (2 are slightly wiggly). We can also see that the new teeth are about half again as wide as the current ones. That's a problem. There isn't room for them. If they try to come into the space they'll have, they will all be crooked and the ortho will be getting involved pretty soon. (I, myself, had orthodontics twice. Once as a teen. Once as an adult. Plus had 4 bicuspids and 4 wisdom teeth extracted. Plus had jaw surgery. I know this road. It's neither fun nor cheap.)
So, what's the plan? Well, we're trying to wait another 3 months for the molars to come in a little more fully. Then the dentist says we need to do surgery again. Pull 8 to 12 of the front teeth so the new 8 front ones will have room to come in straight. Pull the one that's half out and put in a space maintainer that attaches to the molar (why it has to come in more). Then pray.
All in all, it will cost us about $3,000 because the cost of the facility and (I believe) the anaesthetic aren't covered and there's only partial coverage on some of the rest (50% to 80%). Ain't that fun? I know I'm just all warm and fuzzy about it right now.
First there's the little problem of all that money, which we don't have at the moment. Second, that's really major to take half her teeth out at once. Her speech is going to be impaired as well as her ability to eat solid food. I'm worried she'll have that caved-in look around the mouth typical of old grannies who don't wear their "teeth". And I know there will be a rough few weeks recovering while her gums are all soft and sore. But I also know that this is the best chance she's going to get for the teeth to come in straight. And, as the dentist pointed out, if we only did part of it we'd just have to go back and do more in 6 months or so. It would end up costing more in the end and she's already nervous about a second surgery, let alone a third one. Besides, it's best to minimize the number of times a person has to undergo a general anaesthetic.
So, it looks like this is what's in our future. We may have 6 months, but that's probably the maximum timeframe. I'm just glad individual picture day was this Monday! I can't imagine that she'll be smiling for a long time after all the extractions.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Good Health for the New Year
Just wanted to get in a quick post before Shabbos to say that I've been working on some things that pertain to my health. I had been to the doctor a little while ago and finally finished the various tests I was supposed to have. They only call you in if there's a problem and I haven't gotten a call, but I should go in again anyway. I want a referral to a dermatologist for a couple of moles that I can't see well and that should probably come off (since it's hard to see in between one's own shoulder blades).
I've been going to the physio now for about 6 or 8 weeks and my shoulder is much improved. If I'm still doing well at my next appointment in a couple of weeks then I'm done with that, although I'll keep wearing the core shorts and sitting on my little round thingy that makes me sit straight. I paid for them, so I'd better keep using them! Now, I just have to put the paperwork in for the reimbursement for the cost of the physio sessions themselves.
And, today I signed up for a free month at the gym here at work because I want to see if I can actually force myself to just go downstairs and use the treadmill for 20 minutes or so every day or two. I get half off for working here but I had given up our family membership earlier because we weren't using it and it was costing about $45 per month. If I don't keep it up there's no point in taking on even a single membership for myself but, if I do get in the flow of it, it's a little cheaper (about $30).
First of all, my health is important. Second, I'm still wanting to lose about 10 pounds and my weight just isn't budging (other than the normal 1 to 2 pound variance I see over the course of the month). It's a new (Jewish) year. It's a good time to take charge of my health and I'm trying not to bite off more than I can chew.
Are you doing anything now to improve your health? Even for non-Jewish readers, the kids are back to school and it's a good time to make some changes!
I've been going to the physio now for about 6 or 8 weeks and my shoulder is much improved. If I'm still doing well at my next appointment in a couple of weeks then I'm done with that, although I'll keep wearing the core shorts and sitting on my little round thingy that makes me sit straight. I paid for them, so I'd better keep using them! Now, I just have to put the paperwork in for the reimbursement for the cost of the physio sessions themselves.
And, today I signed up for a free month at the gym here at work because I want to see if I can actually force myself to just go downstairs and use the treadmill for 20 minutes or so every day or two. I get half off for working here but I had given up our family membership earlier because we weren't using it and it was costing about $45 per month. If I don't keep it up there's no point in taking on even a single membership for myself but, if I do get in the flow of it, it's a little cheaper (about $30).
First of all, my health is important. Second, I'm still wanting to lose about 10 pounds and my weight just isn't budging (other than the normal 1 to 2 pound variance I see over the course of the month). It's a new (Jewish) year. It's a good time to take charge of my health and I'm trying not to bite off more than I can chew.
Are you doing anything now to improve your health? Even for non-Jewish readers, the kids are back to school and it's a good time to make some changes!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
September and Back to School
Today was Dear Child's first day of Grade 1, her first day with a new English [secular] teacher, her first day in uniforms and....we were late. Sigh.
I went shopping for school shoes with her yesterday afternoon after Hubby came home to watch our granddaughters and we had mixed results. Just like last year we had to try on pretty well every shoe in Payless that was likely to fit her. This year that meant everything between size 10 and size 11 1/2. Some of the shoes came off when she ran. Some shoes hurt her toes or cut across her instep. Some shoes hurt her heels. Sometimes her heels came up when she walked.
We eventually settled on a pair of brown suede Airwalks for indoor and gym use (with Velcro straps for easy on/off several times per day) and the same black boots she had last year in a bigger size. It was BOGO but the boots were $50 so I spent about $68 all told. We had no luck at all finding "outside" shoes. Even the cute black shoes she had last year and wore out didn't work in a bigger size (they were among the ones that hurt the top of her instep). She ended up wearing her pink crocs as outdoor shoes today. They can't use crocs as inside shoes but they're okay as outdoor shoes. Don't ask me why.
I also took care of getting the school all the money I owe them in tuition (post dated cheques), textbooks and workbooks, school supplies, field trip money, etc. so as not to be in the huge crowd of parents who had to do that today.
The other thing I did yesterday was to get my new flipper. It's smaller and more comfortable than the old one, but it cost $361.60 because I hadn't had the old one for enough years to be eligible for a new one on our dental plan. Tell that to the Dog! Heck, if I could convince him to get a job maybe he could pay for it (seeing as how it's his fault I needed a new one in the first place). But, no. I show him all the working dogs on TV and he just ignores them....
Today, after I got Dear Child into class (with no tears!) I headed to my physio appointment where I got politely chewed out for not doing the exercises I've been given to do at home regularly enough. He wants to see me again in a week and I'm supposed to shape up in the meantime. Oh, yay. Fun.
I went shopping for school shoes with her yesterday afternoon after Hubby came home to watch our granddaughters and we had mixed results. Just like last year we had to try on pretty well every shoe in Payless that was likely to fit her. This year that meant everything between size 10 and size 11 1/2. Some of the shoes came off when she ran. Some shoes hurt her toes or cut across her instep. Some shoes hurt her heels. Sometimes her heels came up when she walked.
We eventually settled on a pair of brown suede Airwalks for indoor and gym use (with Velcro straps for easy on/off several times per day) and the same black boots she had last year in a bigger size. It was BOGO but the boots were $50 so I spent about $68 all told. We had no luck at all finding "outside" shoes. Even the cute black shoes she had last year and wore out didn't work in a bigger size (they were among the ones that hurt the top of her instep). She ended up wearing her pink crocs as outdoor shoes today. They can't use crocs as inside shoes but they're okay as outdoor shoes. Don't ask me why.
I also took care of getting the school all the money I owe them in tuition (post dated cheques), textbooks and workbooks, school supplies, field trip money, etc. so as not to be in the huge crowd of parents who had to do that today.
The other thing I did yesterday was to get my new flipper. It's smaller and more comfortable than the old one, but it cost $361.60 because I hadn't had the old one for enough years to be eligible for a new one on our dental plan. Tell that to the Dog! Heck, if I could convince him to get a job maybe he could pay for it (seeing as how it's his fault I needed a new one in the first place). But, no. I show him all the working dogs on TV and he just ignores them....
Today, after I got Dear Child into class (with no tears!) I headed to my physio appointment where I got politely chewed out for not doing the exercises I've been given to do at home regularly enough. He wants to see me again in a week and I'm supposed to shape up in the meantime. Oh, yay. Fun.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Finally, an Update
Wow, I haven't posted in forever. It's been a combination of all the previous reasons (Blogger issues, exhaustion, resistance, not wanting to blog when I'm not doing what I ought to be doing) but I really have to get over myself and just get back to it.
Anyway, I'm coming up on my birthday, Dear Child starts Grade 1 on the 1st, my new Executive Director arrives a week later and work is about to go crazy. Fun!
At least DC got to do 2 weeks at day camp before it ended in early August. She loved it and wants to do more next year, so I'll have to plan for that.
We went to the PNE the other day and had a great time although it cost about $100 all told. Oh yes, plus I entered the draw for the prize home (5 tickets for $25, including a draw every day for a car). It's a great house, very suitable for us, and this year it's supposed to be set up on a lot just outside of Kelowna (about an hour and a half away from where our rural home is). If I won I'd sell the lot (worth about $275,000 for the bare lot) and buy land in our area with that money. Then we'd have the house assembled where we actually want it. No, I'm not likely to win, but it would work out very well for us if I did.
I finally had impressions taken to replace my "flipper", the retainer-with-a-tooth that our Dog tried to eat a few months ago. It'll be ready tomorrow evening. I hated how discoloured my teeth were (which was really noticeable when you looked at the tint of the fake tooth) so I've been using special toothpaste and Whitestrips for the past several days. Maybe it's just because I'm about to be another year older, but I've felt the compulsion over the past few months to pull myself together a bit. Hence the new glasses, the new flipper, wearing lipstick (usually go "natural"), going to the physio.
This is one of the two times of year that I tend to do an in-depth look at how various aspects of my life are going (my birthday/Rosh Hashana time and the secular New Years). I'll do that privately (much of it is too personal for me to put down here) but there will likely be some new goals for me to discuss shortly.
Anyway, I'm coming up on my birthday, Dear Child starts Grade 1 on the 1st, my new Executive Director arrives a week later and work is about to go crazy. Fun!
At least DC got to do 2 weeks at day camp before it ended in early August. She loved it and wants to do more next year, so I'll have to plan for that.
We went to the PNE the other day and had a great time although it cost about $100 all told. Oh yes, plus I entered the draw for the prize home (5 tickets for $25, including a draw every day for a car). It's a great house, very suitable for us, and this year it's supposed to be set up on a lot just outside of Kelowna (about an hour and a half away from where our rural home is). If I won I'd sell the lot (worth about $275,000 for the bare lot) and buy land in our area with that money. Then we'd have the house assembled where we actually want it. No, I'm not likely to win, but it would work out very well for us if I did.
I finally had impressions taken to replace my "flipper", the retainer-with-a-tooth that our Dog tried to eat a few months ago. It'll be ready tomorrow evening. I hated how discoloured my teeth were (which was really noticeable when you looked at the tint of the fake tooth) so I've been using special toothpaste and Whitestrips for the past several days. Maybe it's just because I'm about to be another year older, but I've felt the compulsion over the past few months to pull myself together a bit. Hence the new glasses, the new flipper, wearing lipstick (usually go "natural"), going to the physio.
This is one of the two times of year that I tend to do an in-depth look at how various aspects of my life are going (my birthday/Rosh Hashana time and the secular New Years). I'll do that privately (much of it is too personal for me to put down here) but there will likely be some new goals for me to discuss shortly.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
And They Say You Can't Go Home Again....
There are definitely times when I think it would be useful if I could clone myself! As I mentioned in my last post, I've been incredibly busy. My lunch with my Executive Director ended up being postponed to this week because we didn't have time last Thursday!
I did go to the doctor and the news was all good. She said all my blood work was normal. I'm not anemic and my thyroid was normal. The stress test results were normal too (meaning that I didn't have any kind of problematic heartbeats during or right after the test and that my heart rate slowed back down afterwards within the appropriate time frame). She feels that I'm not getting enough exercise and told me to do a half hour per day, every day. I'm trying, but it's not always working out that way. I think it will take a while to get in the habit and to manage to fit it around everything else.
Dear Child had her Kindergarten Graduation (which was very cute) and only has 2 days left of school. Tomorrow is a field trip and Thursday they pack all their stuff up to bring home and get their report cards.
My summer schedule is going to be insane. Mondays generally home with all 4 girls. Yes, four. This summer my oldest granddaughter is joining us, as her mother is working Thursday to Monday (and my Number One Son works Monday to Friday). Tuesday and Wednesday my daughter-in-law is off and has all the girls. The catch is that my son-in-law (the one we share a house with) has to take our 3 with him at 7 am and drop them off with her on his way to work! This should be, um, interesting considering that I spend about half an hour on average from 7 to 7:30 am talking to Dear Child, stroking her, tickling her, anything that will wake her up (while not putting her into a grumpy mood). Then we normally leave at 8 am. She moves fairly fast once she's awake but she's very hard to wake up (her father's daughter). There is No Way I want to get up at 6 am and start trying to wake her. I have a hunch she may be going in the van in her nightie with food she can eat in the car! Thursday and Friday are my son-in-law's days off and he gets all 4 girls here.
So, on the surface, it looks like I'm getting a break over the summer because I'm only responsible for one day per week instead of the current 3. However, my 4 year old granddaughter is registered for 2 or 3 weeks of summer camp (and the baby is registered for a week, as of today!). The older camp kids eat lunch there and finish at 1 or 1:30 pm; the littles finish at 11:30 am. That means on Tuesday and Wednesday I can only work until 11:30, go downstairs, pick up Boo Boo, hang out in the building until the older group finishes, pick the 4 yo up too and head home. Meanwhile, my own child will be happily playing with her niece, half an hour or so from home. Mondays should be even more fun. I'll be doing multiple pickup and hanging out at the centre for at least 1.5 hours with the older girls too. And I still haven't decided if I'm going to try to put DC in camp for a week too! The best part of that is that it would be an Orthodox kids camp instead of the community centre one, so it's in a different place and I don't know if it has the same pick up time ('cuz you know I'm good with being in 2 places at one time, see cloning comment above). I've been putting it off because I haven't checked with all her friends' mothers to see if their girls are going and which weeks, etc.
Anyway, to get back to what happened over the past few days, Dear Child complained of an upset tummy on the morning of her graduation and threw up in the car on the way to school. Into a plastic Safeway bag. The kid gets brownie points for not getting anything on her Shabbos clothes because they were all supposed to be dressed up for the graduation. I ended up taking her to my office for a couple of hours and we just took her to school in time for the event itself (I talked to the teachers and that was the decision as we didn't know if she was sick or just nervous and we didn't want her to miss the graduation).
After the graduation party I took DC home, we threw things in the car and I headed off on a 4.5 hour drive with a kid who had already been car sick once that day! Yes, I gave her Gravol and she had a fresh bag handy! Baruch Hashem [thank G-d], things went well and we arrived without incident and in enough time that I accomplished about 2.5 hours of intensive yard work before Shabbos. It was the first time in about 7 months that we've been to the house, so not too surprising that there was a lot to do!
Shabbos we just hung out, went for a long walk with Dog (who is in 7th heaven whenever we go to the house) and she played some with the kids next door. And yes, I did warn the mother that she might be sick. While she felt fine (no aches or pains, no fever, no further queasiness) she did develop the runs intermittently on Shabbos and Sunday. When she had to go, she really had to go. Within about 30 seconds. I was terrified of putting her in the car Sunday afternoon for the long car ride back to the city because I wouldn't even be able to pull over to the side of the road in that kind of time frame.
I did about another 4 hours of yard work on Sunday, some by hand and a lot with my neighbour's heavy duty weed whacker that you hold with 2 hands and swing kind of like a scythe, while holding down a button on the side and squeezing the trigger all at once. Do you think that was what the doc had in mind when she talked to me about exercise? By the time I finished I was in serious pain from my back, arms and right hand. When I say "finished", I mean I did all I could do but had to leave one of the side yards for next time. I ended up talking to Hubby and Eldest Daughter on the phone and the decision was to stay over Sunday night and come back some time on Monday. She worked something out for her girls and we just stayed and relaxed. I left a voice mail at work and that was that.
I took DC into town Sunday evening to buy a couple of things from the store, including a small pack of pullups for her to wear to bed and in the car, just as an insurance policy. She still had 2 more bouts, one about 11:30 pm Sunday, the other at 6:30 am on Monday, so it was a smart thing to do, although she's been out of that sort of thing for ages. We stayed until 4 pm Monday, then headed back and she's been fine. Whew!
My son-in-law took today off to do some work on their van so I worked the whole day and went back for some more time this evening. Now I'm not short any hours, even though I didn't work Monday. I'm really tired though and I'm covered in giant, itchy mosquito bites. At least 32 at last count. I don't think they liked me cutting the grass. Either that, or I just taste really good to them. So, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is payday and Wednesday, so we'll see just what I can accomplish.
I did go to the doctor and the news was all good. She said all my blood work was normal. I'm not anemic and my thyroid was normal. The stress test results were normal too (meaning that I didn't have any kind of problematic heartbeats during or right after the test and that my heart rate slowed back down afterwards within the appropriate time frame). She feels that I'm not getting enough exercise and told me to do a half hour per day, every day. I'm trying, but it's not always working out that way. I think it will take a while to get in the habit and to manage to fit it around everything else.
Dear Child had her Kindergarten Graduation (which was very cute) and only has 2 days left of school. Tomorrow is a field trip and Thursday they pack all their stuff up to bring home and get their report cards.
My summer schedule is going to be insane. Mondays generally home with all 4 girls. Yes, four. This summer my oldest granddaughter is joining us, as her mother is working Thursday to Monday (and my Number One Son works Monday to Friday). Tuesday and Wednesday my daughter-in-law is off and has all the girls. The catch is that my son-in-law (the one we share a house with) has to take our 3 with him at 7 am and drop them off with her on his way to work! This should be, um, interesting considering that I spend about half an hour on average from 7 to 7:30 am talking to Dear Child, stroking her, tickling her, anything that will wake her up (while not putting her into a grumpy mood). Then we normally leave at 8 am. She moves fairly fast once she's awake but she's very hard to wake up (her father's daughter). There is No Way I want to get up at 6 am and start trying to wake her. I have a hunch she may be going in the van in her nightie with food she can eat in the car! Thursday and Friday are my son-in-law's days off and he gets all 4 girls here.
So, on the surface, it looks like I'm getting a break over the summer because I'm only responsible for one day per week instead of the current 3. However, my 4 year old granddaughter is registered for 2 or 3 weeks of summer camp (and the baby is registered for a week, as of today!). The older camp kids eat lunch there and finish at 1 or 1:30 pm; the littles finish at 11:30 am. That means on Tuesday and Wednesday I can only work until 11:30, go downstairs, pick up Boo Boo, hang out in the building until the older group finishes, pick the 4 yo up too and head home. Meanwhile, my own child will be happily playing with her niece, half an hour or so from home. Mondays should be even more fun. I'll be doing multiple pickup and hanging out at the centre for at least 1.5 hours with the older girls too. And I still haven't decided if I'm going to try to put DC in camp for a week too! The best part of that is that it would be an Orthodox kids camp instead of the community centre one, so it's in a different place and I don't know if it has the same pick up time ('cuz you know I'm good with being in 2 places at one time, see cloning comment above). I've been putting it off because I haven't checked with all her friends' mothers to see if their girls are going and which weeks, etc.
Anyway, to get back to what happened over the past few days, Dear Child complained of an upset tummy on the morning of her graduation and threw up in the car on the way to school. Into a plastic Safeway bag. The kid gets brownie points for not getting anything on her Shabbos clothes because they were all supposed to be dressed up for the graduation. I ended up taking her to my office for a couple of hours and we just took her to school in time for the event itself (I talked to the teachers and that was the decision as we didn't know if she was sick or just nervous and we didn't want her to miss the graduation).
After the graduation party I took DC home, we threw things in the car and I headed off on a 4.5 hour drive with a kid who had already been car sick once that day! Yes, I gave her Gravol and she had a fresh bag handy! Baruch Hashem [thank G-d], things went well and we arrived without incident and in enough time that I accomplished about 2.5 hours of intensive yard work before Shabbos. It was the first time in about 7 months that we've been to the house, so not too surprising that there was a lot to do!
Shabbos we just hung out, went for a long walk with Dog (who is in 7th heaven whenever we go to the house) and she played some with the kids next door. And yes, I did warn the mother that she might be sick. While she felt fine (no aches or pains, no fever, no further queasiness) she did develop the runs intermittently on Shabbos and Sunday. When she had to go, she really had to go. Within about 30 seconds. I was terrified of putting her in the car Sunday afternoon for the long car ride back to the city because I wouldn't even be able to pull over to the side of the road in that kind of time frame.
I did about another 4 hours of yard work on Sunday, some by hand and a lot with my neighbour's heavy duty weed whacker that you hold with 2 hands and swing kind of like a scythe, while holding down a button on the side and squeezing the trigger all at once. Do you think that was what the doc had in mind when she talked to me about exercise? By the time I finished I was in serious pain from my back, arms and right hand. When I say "finished", I mean I did all I could do but had to leave one of the side yards for next time. I ended up talking to Hubby and Eldest Daughter on the phone and the decision was to stay over Sunday night and come back some time on Monday. She worked something out for her girls and we just stayed and relaxed. I left a voice mail at work and that was that.
I took DC into town Sunday evening to buy a couple of things from the store, including a small pack of pullups for her to wear to bed and in the car, just as an insurance policy. She still had 2 more bouts, one about 11:30 pm Sunday, the other at 6:30 am on Monday, so it was a smart thing to do, although she's been out of that sort of thing for ages. We stayed until 4 pm Monday, then headed back and she's been fine. Whew!
My son-in-law took today off to do some work on their van so I worked the whole day and went back for some more time this evening. Now I'm not short any hours, even though I didn't work Monday. I'm really tired though and I'm covered in giant, itchy mosquito bites. At least 32 at last count. I don't think they liked me cutting the grass. Either that, or I just taste really good to them. So, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is payday and Wednesday, so we'll see just what I can accomplish.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Life is a Treadmill, It's All Uphill
I'm getting very frustrated with Blogger. I'm back to having huge problems accessing the area where you type your post. It's generally late at night when I have the time to get on here and I don't like having to spend my time playing around, trying different things to trick Blogger into letting me type!
Today was the day I went for my cardiac stress test. I arranged for the mother of one of Dear Child's classmates to pick up DC from school today and take her for a playdate because I was quite sure I wouldn't be finished and able to get to the school for 4 pm. I dropped off my granddaughters with their mother at work and went to the hospital for my test.
They attach a bunch of electrodes all over your chest and up onto your collarbone, then strap a device around your waist with a bunch of leads that attach to the electrodes. You lie down for a few minutes while they take some baseline readings, including your blood pressure. Then you stand up for more of the same.
Finally you step onto the treadmill and hold onto the bar. The tech starts the test at a very easy rate but it increases in both incline and speed every 3 minutes. I was puffing a bit midway into the first 3 minutes and only lasted until a minute into the 3rd stage (yes, 7 minutes total). The tech was very nice all the way through. She kept asking me how I was doing, warning me before it would speed up and just generally helping me.
She showed me my heart rate on the screen and told me we were aiming to get it up to 170 beats per minute. When we started my heart rate was in the mid 120's for the 1st stage. It gradually moved up as I kept walking and would increase when the speed increased.
When we moved to the 3rd stage the treadmill was fast, but still not so fast that I had to run. The incline was the worst part of it. About 20 or 30 seconds in she asked how I was doing and I said I thought I'd have to stop in a few seconds. This was just about the time that my heart rate rose above 170. She asked if I could manage 20 more seconds and I did it. Then she slowed and stopped the treadmill and helped me off and back onto the bed.
I lay there for several minutes, puffing like a steam engine to start with and gradually calming down. She kept taking my blood pressure and finally I couldn't feel my heart pounding anymore and my breathing got back to normal. I felt pretty wiped though and she got me a glass of water after she unhooked me from all the technology.
I asked if there was any kind of average and she said it really varied but that it isn't normal for us to run uphill for several minutes at a time. I pointed out that I hadn't been running and she told me that, if I'd made it to the next stage, I would have had to run. She said if there's any kind of average it's probably the 3rd stage although she'd had athletic types go and go and go (why are they taking a stress test if they can run uphill for 15 minutes anyway?) and that she'd had someone today quit 2 minutes into the 1st stage. She also told me most of the people you see running on the treadmill at the gym for ages aren't using any incline and that most of the machines in gyms only go to about a 10% incline anyway. The stress test starts at a 10% incline and keeps getting steeper.
My doctor will have the results in about a week and then she'll call me in to discuss today's test and the blood work I already had done. Here's hoping that she figures out from all of this what's going on.
Today was the day I went for my cardiac stress test. I arranged for the mother of one of Dear Child's classmates to pick up DC from school today and take her for a playdate because I was quite sure I wouldn't be finished and able to get to the school for 4 pm. I dropped off my granddaughters with their mother at work and went to the hospital for my test.
They attach a bunch of electrodes all over your chest and up onto your collarbone, then strap a device around your waist with a bunch of leads that attach to the electrodes. You lie down for a few minutes while they take some baseline readings, including your blood pressure. Then you stand up for more of the same.
Finally you step onto the treadmill and hold onto the bar. The tech starts the test at a very easy rate but it increases in both incline and speed every 3 minutes. I was puffing a bit midway into the first 3 minutes and only lasted until a minute into the 3rd stage (yes, 7 minutes total). The tech was very nice all the way through. She kept asking me how I was doing, warning me before it would speed up and just generally helping me.
She showed me my heart rate on the screen and told me we were aiming to get it up to 170 beats per minute. When we started my heart rate was in the mid 120's for the 1st stage. It gradually moved up as I kept walking and would increase when the speed increased.
When we moved to the 3rd stage the treadmill was fast, but still not so fast that I had to run. The incline was the worst part of it. About 20 or 30 seconds in she asked how I was doing and I said I thought I'd have to stop in a few seconds. This was just about the time that my heart rate rose above 170. She asked if I could manage 20 more seconds and I did it. Then she slowed and stopped the treadmill and helped me off and back onto the bed.
I lay there for several minutes, puffing like a steam engine to start with and gradually calming down. She kept taking my blood pressure and finally I couldn't feel my heart pounding anymore and my breathing got back to normal. I felt pretty wiped though and she got me a glass of water after she unhooked me from all the technology.
I asked if there was any kind of average and she said it really varied but that it isn't normal for us to run uphill for several minutes at a time. I pointed out that I hadn't been running and she told me that, if I'd made it to the next stage, I would have had to run. She said if there's any kind of average it's probably the 3rd stage although she'd had athletic types go and go and go (why are they taking a stress test if they can run uphill for 15 minutes anyway?) and that she'd had someone today quit 2 minutes into the 1st stage. She also told me most of the people you see running on the treadmill at the gym for ages aren't using any incline and that most of the machines in gyms only go to about a 10% incline anyway. The stress test starts at a 10% incline and keeps getting steeper.
My doctor will have the results in about a week and then she'll call me in to discuss today's test and the blood work I already had done. Here's hoping that she figures out from all of this what's going on.
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