observations from the nest

I've had a lot of time to think lately... I mean... I was sick with the bronchitis and stuck in the house... then the holidays with their long weekends... the snow that kept us stuck at home... and this recent round of misery... I've been here... just me, the cats, the laptop, the cellphone, the electric blanket, the remote and... my thoughts.



I'm learning a lot here in my nest... I thought I'd share a little bit of that wisdom with you...



1. Lawyers don't like insurance companies. They talk real ugly about us all day long. I try not to take it personally... but... geez... if we REALLY didn't pay claims, how long do you think we'd stay in business?



2. My child is severely lacking in compassion. I'm hunkered over the toilet... dry heaving... and he sticks his head in the door... not to offer me a cold compress... not to hold my hair back... not to ask if I need anything. Nope. He wants to complain that we're out of ground beef and he can't grill a burger. When... he wants to know... will I be going to the store?



3. Anonymous comments have no place in the blogosphere. Anonymous people, even if they give themselves a "name"... are able to act without conscience. This blog is a blog with a conscience, therefore everyone who leaves their impression must have a conscience. There's no room in my life for meanness. (read previous post)



4. Dr. Oz is a big old geek. Adorable but geeky. Twice this week I've seen him dance... or attempt to... but it's sweet and charming that he attempts knowing he can't do it. Or. Maybe he doesn't know he can't?



5. I have a hard time asking for help. I've had several offers of "do you need anything" from people who I KNOW sincerely want to help and instead... I tried to catch myself in between the pain/nausea cycle and make a quick run to the market. I was miserable. I was literally praying my way through, afraid that I was going to require a "clean up on aisle 3"... oy.



6. My doctors office provides horrible customer service. I called yesterday morning at 8am and said, "gee, i'm really not doing well... " and explained to the nurse what my current reality is. She said, "I'll give the doctor a task and have her call". Instead... the nurse called back four hours later and said, "we're going to change your pain medicine". Nice. Sure. Whatever. I waited THREE hours and then went to the pharmacy and they still hadn't called in my new prescription... which means... I have to get BACK OUT whenever they do bother to get it filled. If I waited 7 hours to give my clients what they need... I wouldn't be in business very long. I'm just sayin'. I called the doctor at 4:30pm and they said, "we've been really slammed today so we haven't had time to call in your prescription". Really time for me to find a new doctor. And... is there anyone who wants to run by the Rite Aid in Cleveland and pick up a script for me?



7. I love Francine Rivers. I finished another book of hers today and I just love the romance, history, relevance and spirituality she weaves through her novels. I've always loved romance but in these books... the main character does something that I've never managed to do... fall in love with man while still keeping her relationship with God a priority. I'm working on it. The problem I have is that "Godly" men look down on me because of my more "liberal" views (compassion for gays, not reading only the KJV). And men who aren't Godly don't understand my relationship with God. He's out there somewhere, I hope...



8. There are a lot of people on facebook during the day. Do y'all not work? Or do you get on facebook at work? Mercy.



9. Oprah yells too much. Her voice gets deep and she BELLOWS... plus... she has too many commercials. I don't dislike her... but if I was a female impersonator... I'd want to impersonate her.

10. My kid is getting wonderful supervision at school. I haven't always been able to have the kind of confidence in a school system that I have now. Yesterday they were working on his schedule for the upcoming semester and I received 3 phone calls... from Austin, from his "file holder" (the person responsible for his IEP) and from the counselor. Oddly... and completely out of character... he has asked to drop study skills and take chemistry and the Catalyst Christian Learning Center class. Chemistry is quite ambitious for him... and while no one wanted to DIScourage him from taking it... they are afraid he won't keep up with it. However, he wants to go into a veterinary science and so he needs more science... so they think that it might be good to expose him to it now so he can determine whether or not he can do it... and then maybe adjust his career aspirations if needed. His IEP requires a co-teaching set up and there isn't a chemistry class with a co-teacher so they are planning to assign a parapro to the class to act as his aide and keep him on track. (I'm telling you, these people are great). But they want us to take the weekend to discuss it before he starts. Austin has in his head to do it... so there's really no discussion and - worst case scenario - if they find he's not keeping up, they'll switch him out. I'm really excited that he wants to take the class at the Christian Learning Center (here's a link to an old article about it, if you're interested: http://www.christianindex.org/4111.article ) Basically... they bus the kids off campus for Bible based learning. What I love more than anything is that my friend Natalie runs the center and I know that it's a great program... (by the way, there's a picture of my brother in the link). I think this will be a challenging semester for Austin but I'm glad that he's willing to challenge himself.

11. I hate the plentyoffish.com commercials. I have suffered more grief and disappointment because of that website than... any other I can think of. POF is of the devil, I'm convinced.

12. It simply amazes me that my weight is not dropping. This is proof positive of how much antibiotics interfere with my weight loss process... and reinforcement for me to NOT eat food with hormones or antibiotics in it. I have thrown up more than I've ingested in the past four days and my weight is up. I have only had one week out of the past two months that I have eaten beyond my weight watchers points limit and I am the same weight I was two months ago. Something IS NOT RIGHT. I have weigh in this morning but I'm not sure I feel up to driving, walking, standing in line, etc. I'm too shakey. I've got two hours... we'll see...

It seems like every day I get a note or comment from someone who is reading my blog and actually enjoys it. I consider that high praise and it keeps me coming back every day to share whatever there is to share... and I understand that lately it's not really exciting... my health and the weather... woohooo... how exciting (not). Thank you for coming... thank you for liking it... and thank you for letting me know you like it. The past week could have been really lonely for me and it wasn't... thank you for being out there.

Have a great weekend y'all! love and hugs!