Did They Forget?

How to pay attention?

How to think?

How to read?

I am not sure which one it was, but lots of people need to start doing those things.

Kiddo has bronchitis.

Took her to the doctor today.

She can't have codeine or hydrocodone so she is limited with strong cough syrup.

Meaning all prescription kind contains either or.

I made sure the PA knew that she couldn't have either of those meds even though it should be in her chart.

The PA mentions an OTC and than mentions that the doctor has a cough syrup that he designed and it has no narcotics but we have to go to the one pharmacy that blends it.

Even though we don't go there since it is in a town out of the way, we decide for the good of Kiddo we will.

We take the script over and the lady takes down the info.

Including the fact she is allergic to codeine and hydrocodone.

She writes it right on the script for God sakes.

We wait while the pharmacist fills it.

We go to pay and she mentions the special cough syrup and I said we were getting it because Kiddo can't have codeine or hydrocodone.

She gives me a funny look and tells me "Oh, it has codeine in it."

So, we obviously can't buy it and she calls the doctor's office and has to leave a message

And

we wait.

They call back and tell them to give us the OTC we could have gotten at any pharmacy.

Uuuuuuugggggghhhhhhhh!

SO

The PA should have known what was in the cough syrup.

And

The pharmacist should have read the damn script that said at the top that she was allergic to one of the ingredients.

How difficult is any of this stuff to understand?

Allergy=bad

Do not give.

It's been a fun day.

Couldn't Help Myself

Those icicles have been known to kill people!

And So It Goes...

To start off with, Honeyman fixed the light in my microwave.
Sort of.

He opened it up and the light came back on.
So, he called it good and closed it back up.

Flash forward about 5 days.

I pull the door open and there is a big flash of light coming from the grill.
The light goes out and the cooling fan comes on.
The turn table inside also starts turning.

It just wouldn't stop.

It wasn't heating up anything but I put a jar of water in it just in case.

Then the cooling fan noise started to drive me nuts so I unplugged it.

That meant going and getting a footstool from the living room to reach the outlet.

Now I have NO light over the stove to cook with.
And I also had to thaw out meat for supper.

So, I had to keep plugging it back in.
And than I had to set the clock to use it.
Every time!

Even just to turn the light on for over the stove.

So, it was on all through supper making and just when Honeyman gets up the cooling fan and turn table just stop.

Right now it works fine again but no light.

Honeyman thinks there must be a short.
Really?
Ya think so, do ya?

Next up is my dryer problems.
It wasn't drying my towels.
My lint vent was full of lint.

You know how you can buy the vents with the little squares on the end to keep birds from flying inside?
Well, there is an unexpected side effect.
No lint can be free to fly out into the wild blue yonder.

It gets trapped by the little squares and plugs up.

And lucky for me this year all the lint froze in it and I couldn't get it out.
Another job for Honeyman.

This time he left the little square thing off until he sees evidence of a bird going in there.
Knowing my luck with birds getting into places they have no business being in, I will go to clean out my lint trap and out will pop a bird.

I have had them fly down my chimney and end up in the basement.
I really can't quite figure how they got out of the chimney.
Hmmmm...

Honeyman let them out only to have them fly down the chimney again.
Stupid Starlings.

I've also had them fly down the my other chimney and just end up stuck flying around it it.

The fun never ends around here.

Strange Occurrences

Every once in a while strange things happen in my house.
Odd noises that aren't just the settling of my almost 100 year old house.
Noises that sound kind of like people talking or a radio- it isn't quite clear.

Sometimes lights on electronics are changed from standby to on when we have all been asleep.
There have been times we have gone outside and go to come back in and find ourselves locked out.

We have a turn lock and we are not going to turn the lock when we are just outside.

Saturday night/Sunday morning there was another odd happening.

Not sure exactly when because I was asleep.

I woke up about 4:30 in the am and thought it seemed light outside and like it shouldn't be.
I roll over and look at the clock and yep, it's supposed to still be dark.
So, I lay there a few minutes trying to decide what is making it seem so light.

I get up and find my Christmas lights are on.
They were set to white so it didn't seem quite too stupid to anyone driving the countryside in the middle of the night.
But, still how did they get on?

The remote is inside on a shelf so plugging them in won't do anything.

Sitting next to the remote is the answering machine which is blinking 0.
It does that if power is lost or someone hits the button to set the clock on it.

We didn't lose power.

Honeyman thinks maybe it was some kind of frequency thing.
Like the door opener remote operating other things.
But, who is going to drive around on gravel roads hitting their garage door opener remote?

I am thinking aliens
OR
maybe it is all courtesy of our resident ghost.
Kiddo believes it's a girl.

I am leaning more towards the ghost theory.
Why would aliens come all this way to turn on my Christmas lights and mess with my answering machine?

Gotta Have My Fat

Don't get me wrong.
I am all for being healthy.

I just really don't like low fat or fat free products.
For the most part, I think they are so nasty.

I can count on one hand the number of low fat/fat free foods I will eat.
Hormel turkey pepperoni
Wishbone light Italian salad dressing
Ruffles baked potato chips
Chobani fat free greek yogurt

I'm trying to think of something for my thumb but I believe that is all I've got.

If it's normally low in fat like oatmeal, I like it.
If it is anything that had plenty of fat and now has a lower fat variety, chances are I am going to hate it.

I try.
I really do.

I just bought some mayo because it was made with olive oil
and I thought that would be healthier.
It said reduced fat and I thought that was due to the olive oil.

Big mistake!
I broke my label reading rule.
I didn't do it.
And I paid for that.

There is so much crap in it
and it tastes sweet from added sugar.
If I wanted sweet, I would have bought Miracle Whip or other salad dressing and not mayonnaise.

Whenever fat is reduced, they always add more sugar to compensate.
Uugghhhh!

It doesn't work.
Or not for me anyway.

I think from now on I will stick to my little list of approved low fat foods and avoid everything else.

It All Takes Time To Process

Why do companies did to take all the time in the world to process a check or refund, but I can't take all the time I want to process the bills and send them a check?

No, sorry. Can't do that.
I must pay in two or three weeks.

But they get to pay in two or three months and that is just OK.

One time I was supposed to get a refund for some medical thing and the hospital told me I would get it in about three months.
They wouldn't wait three months for me to pay them.
By that time, I'd be in collections.

Because they have to go through all the proper procedures.
Maybe I have proper procedures.
Do they ever think of that?

They have the moolah they just don't want to give it up.

If they are so big it takes that long to go through proper channels, maybe they are too big.

Do they care that I had to pay for something that I really hadn't budgeted for and therefore need the money?

No, not one little bit.

The Strong and the Brave?

Ya know, lately I have been seeing a lot on the news about how brave this person was or how strong they were and it just baffles me.

Apparently, those terms mean something different these days.

It used to mean you had to do something.
Now, you don't have to do anything but maybe live.

Which is what our bodies and souls want to keep doing.

This person was brave for surviving a sexual assault or cancer.

They are strong for not dying.

Not to say that these people should have died or anything.
But, they are no different than millions of people everywhere, every day.

It is just life and sometimes it really sucks at times.

People don't just lay down and die when bad things happen.
They fight for their life.
That is human instinct.

We all have it.

I just don't get why this person is strong or brave for doing something EVERYONE will do.

Just my little thought for the day.

The Day the Light Went Out on Me

The cooking light went out in my microwave/speedcook oven/ oven.

I have never had that happen.

In my regular oven, yes and also the light under the microwave went out.

But, this is the light that comes on when you open the door and when the microwave is running.

I don't know when it went out. Shows how much attention I pay to it.

One day I opened it to clean it and thought it seemed kind of dark in there.
But, didn't give it much thought.

A light comes on during the speedcook and the microwave heated the food so I just thought
nah, it's fine.
A few days later I am heating up some water and notice it is all dark but it appears to be running.
The water is hot so yay! it works.

Couldn't find anything in the manual so Honeyman looked on the internet.
He found something but has to take it apart to get to the bulb just to find out what size it takes.

That was a few days ago and I am wondering when he is going to do this.

If I have to wait the same amount of time that it took for him to fix a handle on my pan I may be in for a LONG ASS wait.
Seriously, it has been years and there it still sits.

I may need to gently remind him.
Oh so gently.
Cause that's how I do things.

I am lucky that he can work on appliances.
I am not too mechanical.

Yes, I have put together a vacuum and I also have changed the oil on a car.
But, he is an HVAC guy so he is qualified for this.

Movie Night With a Side of Silly

Well it is movie night for me and Kiddo.

Since Honeyman works nights and weekend nights at that, we have a lot of girl time after he goes to work.

Sometimes we do nails, but tonight it is just movie and snacks.

We have an avocado and Kiddo loves her guacamole so that is the snack for the night.

The perfect movie to watch while eating guacamole is "Austin Powers: Goldmember"
Why?
Because the one guy has a giant mole and Austin keeps fixating on it and says guacamole.



So, we are watching that in a couple hours.

Sometimes my sweetie girl is so silly.
But, I wouldn't have her any other way.

I Will Follow You..........

To follow
Or not to follow.

That is the question.

And if I do follow, is it mean to unfollow?

Followers seem to mean a lot to people.
I am really undecided on the whole thing.

I mean, I do like getting followers.
I have creeped up into the double digits.
13, baby.
Unlucky?
Who says so?! or is it supposed to be !? I don't know.

It says that the follower likes your blog enough to put it in their reader list.
Or it could mean they are just returning the favor if you became a follower of theirs.

I do appreciate every one of my followers or anyone that sees fit to come visit my little space and see what crap I could come up with today.

I also know that just because someone follows doesn't mean they read it.
And just because someone reads doesn't mean they follow.

As far as unfollowing, I am not good at that.
Even if a blog is not what I thought it would be.
I just feel bad, like I am rejecting the other person.
Is that weird?
I mean, it isn't like that person knows me and chances are they don't even have a clue who left except they have a smaller number of people on the list.
Even the people that never ever update their blogs.

I did unfollow once. I felt bad.
Not sure why because I think he mentioned he only did it for money.
Not like adsense, but like basing each post around a product and he'd get paid.
But, still I felt odd.

I like all the blogs I follow right now.
But, there are those blogs that don't have a new post and haven't had in over a year.
I just can't bring myself to hit that quit following button.

Sometimes things like this make me feel like a gigantic wuss.
I need to start wearing my big girl panties sometime, maybe.

But, without further ado...
I would like to give some shout-outs to some of my followers.

AbsolutelyPrimed writes a couple of different blogs. Over Developed and Under Exposed and I Think I Just Ate my Willpower. Different but both enjoyable and worth checking out.

jdracer is the author of It's Always FUNNY in Colum-bubble. I just started checking out her blog and you should too.

AmbyLand writes the aptly named AmbyLand. It is basically a journal of what's going on in her life. Not always light hearted but always honest.

Last but not least I give you My Blonde Moments- Sharon who writes It's Random, But Relevant- To Me. She has had a lot going on but she is pretty upbeat about it all.

It's a Hodge Podge

I think I have finally started to kick my cold.
I feel better than I have in days.

My head still hurts a little, but no spacey "what's going on" feeling.

Which is good, because I have to make some magic in the middle cookies with Kiddo today.
Her class sponsors some kind of thing in Haiti and they do a bake sale during school.

She would have to pick cookies that take more time to do.
They are super yummy though.
Chocolate on the outside, peanut butter in the middle.
Last week into yesterday was a bad week.
I was just really out of it.
I was reading a few blogs and even commented on a few.
When one is sick, I am not sure that is totally advisable.
At least for me.
I write dumb things.
Average Girl is having a Battle of the Blogs, which I read about.
Hell, I may have commented on that post.
I don't remember.
But, later I read a second post about it and I thought in the back of my head I ought to know what that is.
It just wasn't coming out where I should know that from.
So, I made a comment about it sounding interesting. And when it started, I remembered where I had known it from.
So, I felt really stupid.
But, the comments out there so what can ya do?
Not a damn thing, that's for sure.
Well you can delete, but by then people have already seen it so what is the point?

But, I am feeling better so I believe I can safely make comments and write a post or two.

Honeyman is taking his HVAC licensing tests, which are total nightmares. The tests are a bunch of plumbing code questions. How retarded is that?
IA is refusing to recognize his HVAC-R degree that he earned going to college in this state.
Lovely, when the state is now requiring licensing.
I may be seeing a move in our future.

It is really cold outside.
How cold is it you ask?
It is so cold if a child walked outside with a runny nose, his boogers would freeze to his face instantaneously.

Actually, now the temp is up to 1 degree Fahrenheit.
Still cold enough to freeze boogers.
About 6 in the am it was -10 with a wind chill of -25.

I don't want to go out and check the mail.
NOOOOOO!

It's Been Interesting

This week has been a very interesting week.

Kiddo got a cold and, bless her heart, she passed it along to me.

I got some Mucinex D. It usually works great.
I just made the mistake of buying maximum strength instead of regular.

It's got just a bit too much D in it for me.

I had the worst cottonmouth I have ever had in my life
and I've had things give me cottonmouth before.
I know what I am talking about.

Plus, I couldn't sleep.

I had to be off it two days before the dry mouth went away and I could sleep.

My cold isn't gone, but I couldn't handle the OTC meds.
OK, OTCs that you have to go to the pharmacy counter to get.
So, it's OTC but it's really BTC.
I hate stupid laws.

But, I digress.

I am hoping the last of this cold will have its ass kicked by tomorrow.
I have a Superbowl party to attend.

Go Packers!
Go Steelers!

Honeyman has a favorite NFC team and a favorite AFC team and this year both are in the big game.
I am just a tad more partial to the Steelers, but household loyalty says all of us love both teams.
So, either way we will be happy with who wins.

A Winter Wonderland and My Bat-proof Mailbox

I was thinking that I'd take a few pictures of the lovely weather we are having here in Iowa. This top picture is of the pretty snow effects on my kitchen window.

I thought I would take several, but than I got a picture of my mailbox and thought I'd show you how to make your very own baseball bat proof mailbox.

We have lived here for 11 years and are on our third mailbox. Fallen victim to the shameless shenanigans of teenagers armed with stupidity and a baseball bat.

This last time they hit it so hard, they whacked it into the ditch weeds(not ditch weed, actual weeds in the ditch) and we just thought they must have taken it.
A souvenir of sorts.

When the farmer mowed the ditch months later, he found it.
I don't think he was too happy about that.
He ran over it with the mower attachment.

And the post office just seems to expect you to rush right out and get a new one.
That very minute.
They get mad if you don't have a mailbox.

But, Honeyman decided he needed to do something to protect our newest mailbox.
So, he came up with this set up.

It can't be bashed in from either side.

You'd have to hit it straight on and driving down the road it isn't doable.

So, if they want to destroy it, they are going to have to blow it up.
Which could happen.
They like to light firecrackers and stick them in people's mailboxes too.

It makes it a little tricky for the road grader.
Whatever.

But, Honeyman says that they could destroy the box but they are going to have to earn it.

He's big on making it so people have to "earn it".
The idea for that is to make something really hard to destroy or break into and if they can they have "earned it".

Is that cute or what?
I vote for Or what.