TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM

Last night I got a little present.  An ace of spades, a golden ticket, a free pass, if you will.  A really good one.  One that can only be used once, so it better be good.

And to get what I want, or to get out of what I don't want, all I will have to say is this:

"Andrew, remember the time that you forced me to help you work on your bug, (even though it was freezing outside and I am a girl and I had expressed concern over the absence of safety glasses), and you sprayed half a gallon of premium gasoline directly in my face?  Remember that?  The burning, the eye-washes, the 9:00-on-a-Friday-night calls to poison control and my optometrist, the ice packs, the inability to use a blow-dryer for who knows how long for fear of my head bursting into flames, and, oh yeah, the insane burning?  Remember that?

You owe me."

And that, my friends, is all I will have to say.

Now I just need to use this ace wisely.

One of these would have been exceptionally helpful.

A Bucket List

About a week ago, I got a phone call from my great-aunt, Diane. She is the fabulous sister of my fabulous Grandma Kay. She told me of her Thanksgiving trip to Mexico, and that she had crossed two things off of her bucket list. I was beyond impressed. I was...inspired! I don't know her exact age, but we now know that she isn't old enough yet to sit down and let the rest of her life pass her by!

She told me that she rode a boat in the middle of the ocean, even though she is terrified of water. Check! She also tried sushi. Check! I asked her if she liked it, and she said NO!

So I've been thinking about what I want to do or accomplish before I die. I have already checked a few things off of my own list, such as getting married, having children, visiting Alcatraz... But that, I'm afraid, might be it. Oh, no, if you count a high school production as being in a play, then I've done that too. Maybe if I really sat and thought about it, I'd find that I've done more than I originally thought. And I definitely want to sit down and make an entire Bucket List. But not today.

Today, I wish to tell you about the next item to be crossed off of my list. Some of you may remember me writing a while ago about Andrew's idea that we do something awesome for our tenth anniversary that is coming up in April. Well, we've finally made our decision. We are going to fly into D.C. and visit with our East Coast relatives, let them show us the sights, and then we are going to travel to New York, where we will each cross off an item from our Bucket Lists. I will get to be in New York - something that I've wanted to do since forever, and Andrew will get to see Phantom Of The Opera. I've seen it, and he's been jealous of me all these years. Well, no longer! We are both so excited to see family, be childless for just a while, and visit some amazing places! And because Grandma Kestner wasn't offended by my story about losing a turd in the backyard, I feel fairly confident that she won't be appalled by every word that passes my lips. Only some of them.

All of these plans require the funds of a giant tax return, so lets all hope that being poor pays off big-time in the coming year!

Finally!!

My baby brother is officially engaged!! Congratulations Joel and Briana!

Steaming Mad

Trent woke up with a fever of 101 yesterday morning. I gave him Tylenol and kept an eye on him all day. His fever never went away, but neither did he develop other symptoms. No coughing, no runny nose, nothing. Well, except that he's pretty clingy and isn't eating much. He's drinking plenty, so no worries about dehydration.

Then this morning he woke up just pink from head to toe. He was so hot that even his hands were sweaty and red. I took his temperature again and when it came in at 103 I called the doctor. My regular doctor was off today, so I made the appointment with the only other doctor in that office for 10:10.

Andrew stayed home from work to watch the other kids while I took Trent in, and I arrived at the clinic at 10:00. There was no one else there, so I checked in and sat in the empty waiting room.

For 40 minutes.

Four other families joined me in my wait during this time, and two of them were obviously very ill. And we waited. Not one of us was called back in that entire time, and in fact, I never even saw a nurse walk past the doorway.

So finally, I'd had enough, and I went back to the reception desk and asked how much longer it would be.

The receptionist said, and I quote:

"I'm sorry, we haven't heard from him yet."

WHAT?

"You mean he's not even here?" I asked her.

The doctor was not there, nor had he called in to tell anyone where the hell he was or when he would be coming in.

I sometimes get mad, but I rarely get to the point where I am LIVID. I told her to cancel my appointment and that I would find another doctor who would actually show up when he had appointments, then I turned around and told the other people in the waiting room that the doctor they had been waiting on for almost an hour was not even there. And I left.

I'm still so ticked, I'm shaking.

So five minutes ago I got a call from the clinic manager who wanted to make sure I had been able to reschedule my appointment. I asked her if the doctor had showed up yet, and she told me that the hospital was short handed and he was making rounds. I fail to see how that would prevent him from making a phone call to his office to tell people he was going to be late. Or, hey - he had his hands full, but surely his mouth was still functioning enough that he could have asked someone to make that simple call for him! Furthermore, why did the receptionist not bother to tell anyone that she had no idea if or when the doctor would be able to see us? She had no idea where he was and I am questioning at what point would she have let us all know that we were waiting with our sick children for NOBODY!?

Now my miserable Trent has to wait until 7:40 tonight to see a doctor who I am sure will actually be there. His fever is slightly down.

This is me. Really mad.

I never thought I'd hear the words.

I just went into Cameron's room and told him that it was time to come help me load the dishwasher. His response?

"Can I just read a little bit longer?"

Made my day.