Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Random Thoughts and the Powerball

Photo Credit: Georgia.gov

I have been trying to get a post up but there always seems to be a problem of some sort. I have good intentions but it is just not happening so I am going to give up and start writing the posts during my break and lunch at work. What else am I going to do?

Thanksgiving was nice. I spent about $300 in groceries and was able to fill the refrigerator and pantry with food. I like when that happens! For Thanksgiving day I cooked turkey, sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole. Bailey and her grandfather were there too. Bill stayed busy Thanksgiving day decorating the house with Christmas lights and putting up the tree. Bailey was my assistant and she helped me cook while I was showing her what I was doing. The next day I deboned the turkey and made two large pans of stuffing long with turkey and dumplings. The turkey and dumplings came out SUPER good! YUM!!! The next day I made some pasties (I think I spelled that right…LOL). It is basically a pot pie that you can hold in your hand or maybe a savory turnover. It is pie crust that has been cut and sealed. The filling was ground beef, carrots, celery and potato. It is yummy! That night, with Bailey’s help, I made enchilada casserole. I left the black beans out (because I forgot :(  ) but it was still VERY yummy and Margaret stuffed her face. That girls LOVES Mexican food!
Photo Credit: Fanpop.com

At work an email went out for people to adopt a child for Christmas (Angel Tree). I could have signed us up but instead I picked out a child to adopt for Christmas. As poor as we are, lacking furniture, and a lot of other things I am thankful we have made it to Arizona and I have a job. The little girl is three and her wish was to have Hello Kitty – anything. At the moment Margaret is SO into Hello Kitty that this Christmas wish just stuck out to me. I had already seen a lot of things that were Hello Kitty at Target for a dollar. I had picked Margaret up a few of the things. So I went back before everything was gone and got some more for our Angel. I will also pick up a pillow or throw. 

I have to buy the children stuff for Christmas. It is so hard because there really is no furniture in the house but on the other hand the children’s birthday (Dec. 13th) AND Christmas are coming. John has only come out once to see the children so far. He asked me if I was going to bring them up to Vegas for December and I said I could not. Not only is my car not near as new as his, it is a gas guzzler and I am having brake issues (and who knows what other mechanical problems…sigh) that I cannot come. I told him the money it would cost would leave me nothing to spend for their birthday or Christmas. I had already told him I have Bailey and her grandfather live with me to economize money (plus I like the company…lol). I asked him if he had a roommate in his place since it is two bedrooms and the children are no longer there to use the room. He said no! This is after he complained to me about not having enough money. I just do not understand. He said he wanted to keep the room open when he gets the kids they will have a place to stay. Then we argued about him keeping the children on his insurance. I was saying it would be cheaper for him to let me cover them since he is fully covered for medical by his work. He wanted to keep the insurance so IF he had to take the children to the doctor while he had them then he would not have a co-pay. Really? This makes no sense either. Plus the kids would be triple insured. My insurance from would be primary, his insurance would be secondary (which really only works in the Vegas area) and AZ Medicaid would be last. Since his insurance will not want to cover anything then the Medicaid, most likely, would not pick up the rest.

John also complained to me about what I have said about him in the blog. I told him I try to be honest. In fairness I thought I had mentioned, but apparently never finished the post, about me moving. John did help move us out of the hotel and into the house. I appreciated the help. I really did. The problem is that it is a little help he gave when there is SO much he is doing to either not help or drive me nuts. He said he never talks bad about me in public. True, but he had plenty of bad things to say to me to our friends and family privately. I do bash him sometimes on here but I told him this is where I vent things when I am angry. He said I should talk to my friends. What friends? Krissi, my best friend in California, has different hours than I do. We used to talk at night but now that I get up at 4am I have to be asleep by 10pm (hopefully!). So we do not really get to talk much. My mother, who I like talking to and keeps me up on family gossip, is also often busy with my nephew. Jennifer, a good friend in Florida, is often busy too. That is basically all the friends I have to talk to. It is weird because I have Bailey and her grandfather living with me and I enjoy the company but on the other hand I do not want to tell them more than they read in the blog. I do not want to over burden ANYONE with all the crap I have going on in my life, the things I am unhappy about, and what I want to change/do in the future. It is hard to hold most everything in and not have anyone to tell my problems to (even if it just to listen).

Bailey is starting to go nuts concerning the children. I think she is too harsh with them (James in particular) but she thinks I am too lax. Then when I come home kids go nuts because I am there and the rules change. I agree with her but we need to find some sort of medium. With the hiring of Alexa, a high school student, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (from 3pm to 6pm) I am hoping it will give Bailey a break and she might be able to show Bailey and I some other ways to try and get the children to comply with what we are wanting out of them. I am willing to try. It is hard to leave the children. It hurt me the other day when, after the long Thanksgiving weekend, Bailey tells me that tomorrow will be hell. I asked her why and she said because you will be gone. I understand her point of view but shouldn't you wake up every day with a positive attitude? You could make that a self-fulfilling prophecy by thinking that way. It hurt going to work on Monday knowing that was how she felt about James and the day in general. It is hard to leave my children. I am still trying to adjust. I am already having to take the day off from work on December 4th to meet with the DDD to see if the children qualify for services in Arizona. I am hoping they will be helpful and qualify all the children for services. If they do I might be able to get Bailey a break.

Christmas and the children’s birthday is coming. I am posting the Christmas/Birthday wishes online. Maybe the children will get something from Santa Claus…lol

James:

The boy LOVES books. He needs books on the second and third grade level. He also could use some math help of some sort. Math is hard for him to understand unless I have beads or something for him to count. A chalkboard would be awesome. Dry erase would be good too. Mom would like the chalk to keep from making a mess.

Joseph:

Joseph would do well with anything that can help him with Braille skills. He is not fully blind but I want him to learn Braille so if something happened he would already know it. He loves anything music (Bailey might hate me for this one). Drums of some sort would be nice (keep in mind ALL the children would want to play them so they would have to be durable). Joseph loves music and lights. Any pre-school learning materials would be nice too.

Margaret:

She is in DIRE need of clothes. She has out grown everything. She is a 3T to 4T in pants and a 4T shirt. She could also use some more shoes. She wears a size 10. Margaret LOVES Hello Kitty right now so ANYTHING Hello Kitty would be great. I also want to get her a twin matters. Just a mattress would be ok and I could sit it in the floor.

Mom:

I need another ROKU for the children. It allows me to stream TV without the commercials. The regular TV is teaching the children a lot of bad habits and Margaret is starting to sounds like an infomercial. I would LOVE to have a gift card to Old Navy or Romans. I NEED work clothes and Old Navy and Romans have clothes that fit and would look nice for work. Mom also BADLY needs an elliptical to work out at home.  Maybe I can work off some of my stress!  Anyone have a used one taking up space?  :)

So that us our Christmas wish list. Wednesday is the PowerBall lottery. I went in with the office pool. The jackpot is estimated to be $500 million dollars. I would LOVE it if I could win…lol. I HIGHLY doubt it but I can dream…

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you had a nice Thanksgiving, however, I have to say it's hard reading your words when you say you have no money when I know for a fact that a fellow triplet mom (who also has special needs children) posted a link to your blog and your paypal account and had many of her friends donate to you before the holidays. She even wrote, " With Thanksgiving upon us I realized how blessed I am to have husband and partner in life and how difficult it must be for all those single parents who are struggling to make ends meet. My friend has Triplets that are actually a set of surviving quads. Her husband walked out on her and the kids and after she lost the house, she moved from Nevada to Arizona. She is in the process of moving out of a hotel and into an apartment. Her kids have been very sick and they all have special needs. She blogs and has a link to make donations via pay pal to her family. I am just asking my friends that if you feel as blessed as I do and if you feel lead to extend the blessings beyond your own life, to please click on the link and donate even $5.00 to her and her children. It could really help them out this holiday season. Thanks!And yes I blocked her from reading this post so mutual friends of ours...please don't copy and paste to her. Let it be a nice surprise to her if donations just start pouring in!" So rather than post about how much money you don't have, please take the time to thank those that did give to you and be thankful for what you don't have.

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    Replies
    1. Let me try thing again...

      Hello Anonymous,

      Please let me clarify when I say I have no money that is what I mean. When I left Vegas I left SO many things behind. I am still sitting in a house with all most no furniture. I need clothes for work, Margaret needs clothes to wear and I have to make sure all the child care people in my life get paid. I am constantly low on money at the moment because our need is great in order to get re-established in Arizona.

      I did get three donations in and normally I am VERY good about writing people back and thanking them but I have been VERY exhausted of late and I let it slip. You are right to call me out on it. I received three donations that totaled $70. Seeing at how many things I left behind that belonged to the children and that John will not be coming to see them for their birthday or Christmas I wanted to save the money for them. It means a lot to me to make their birthday and Christmas as special as I can.

      As for being thankful...I think I mentioned that in the post. I said we had adopted an child from an Angel Tree. I went on to mention that I was thankful we (the children and I) made it to Arizona and that I have a job. I am thankful for what I do have though it does not make my life any less stressful and hectic at the moment.

      So to the three family's that made donations to our fund thank you! I really do appreciate the help and please know that the money you sent will be applied to their birthday and Christmas gifts. The children will appreciate it and it will allow me to free up some of my money to use in purchasing clothes for Margaret.

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