Just how big is the Swine Flu Pandemic?

When I brought my daughter into the Emergency Room last weekend, I was told by the doctor that she definately had H1N1. When asked if there was a test to make sure, I was told that the test was oonly 50% accurate, and the CDC has urged healthcare providers to treat each case of flu as if it were H1N1 and treat/record accordingly. He backed it up with the statistic that the regular flu has not yet hit, so every flu was to be counted as H1N1.

Doesn’t this seem a bit excessive? I know for a fact that a quick 24 hour flu bug was going around my daughter’s school last week. High fever, vomiting, and over in 24 hours….NOT leading to congestion associated with swine flu.

So, if EVERY fever that comes into the ER is recorded as H1N!, wouldn’t that naturally lead to an abnormally high rate of false positives, further fueling the idea that this pandemic is larger than it is?

I asked if my daughter could be tested, so that I knew if she could skip the H1N1 vaccination when it comes around, and he again told me that I should just go ahead and immunize her when I get the chance….what a waste if she’s already had swine flu!!

In short, I think that it is obvious that the number of cases are indeed inflated, but that is not to diminish the seriousness of the spreading of H1N1…I just wish the government had better record keeping.

The Joys of Swine Flu

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s aero porcine! I mean, when pigs fly! I mean: SWINE FLU!!

Of course it has hit my youngest: my 9 year old immuno-challenged cardiac child. It had to be her. And it hit the very day she got a regular flu shot. (BTW, does anyone else find it odd that the h1n1 vaccine is only available at government free clinics, and not private practices?) I had an appt 2 weeks ago to get my little one vaccinated for h1n1, but it was canceled by my pediatrician when the vaccines didn’t arrive.

Meanwhile, the little one has had fevers as high as 105. She also has been wheezing and basically keeping me up all night. Ah, the joys of motherhood!

When Appliances Go Wrong…..

Last week both my refridgerator and my dishwasher went kaputz. It’s like they knew my hubby was about to get bonused or something.

My fridge is doing a great job of maintaining 60 degrees….perfect for strawberries and tomatoes from the farmer’s market!!

My dishwasher has become a drying rack. The only thing worse than appliances going out, is going out to replace said appliances!!

Vintage Refrigerator Ad

My youngest daughter is 8 years old with congenital brain damage. She is what is fondly referred to as “special needs”, although at first glance you might not notice. She has a condition known as Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum, which is a blog for another day. For today, just know that she doesn’t always process information the same as your average 9 year old.

Enter neighbor girl. She moved here about a year ago, and I’ve frankly never cared for her. She is always telling my daughter that she is fat and she needs to exercise.  She bosses my daughter around so much that after 15 minutes in our house, my daughter comes up to me and asks if she can send her home. She’s pushy, loud, insulting and rude…great qualities to have on a playground!!

We have, from time to time,  sent this child of God home on more than one occasion for various infractions, which usually keeps her at bay for a few weeks. She showed up again this weekend out of the blue, asking if my daughter could play. Hope springs eternal in me, so I decided to give this little darling yet another chance. Big mistake.

While Hubs and I were gardening out front, the two girls went inside to look at our new kittens. When they left to walk the girl home, my daughter was acting suspicious. When asked what she was hiding, my daughter only looked to her friend and shrugged.

“What?! She has Nothing!”

came the voice of the neighbor, followed by the all knowing smile which really should have tipped me off. But, I was engrossed in my gardening, so I let it go. I told my daughter that she could walk the girl partially home, as long as she did not cross the street, and then come right back.

A minute became ten, and then fifteen. I rushed to the girl’s home, only to find that my daughter had indeed crossed the street. I put on my best angry mom voice:

“I TOLD you not to cross the street! Now you are in BIG trouble! Get over here, NOW!”

At this point the little darling tried to back peddle, “I told her not to cross the street!”

My daughter cannot lie to save herself…her brain doesn’t work fast enough to think of a lie (lucky me!) So, when asked what she was doing across the street with before mentioned child of God, she replied “Well, she told me to steal a jar of sprinkle from the house, and we ate them and tossed the empty jar in the bushes…” She was so nonchalant about it: it was amazing.

Today it’s sprinkles, tomorrow it’s alcohol. I’m officially done with this little neighbor girl.

How much is Mom worth?

TOP TEN THANKLESS MOMMY JOBS

10) Family Reunion Organizer

9) Fundraiser for Little League (cheerfully referred to as the “Candy Mom”)

The one person who scrubs your toilet

7) Classroom organizer (like a community organizer, but in the classroom)

6) Nose wiper/blower

5) The pooper scooper of the household

4) Youth team coach/director

3)Christmas wish-filler

2)Homework runner-to-school (wish I had a dollar fore every time I do this)

1)The all around “mommy magic” maker.

Now don’t get me wrong. I cherish all of the jobs I do, and this is really  more about realizing how much the stay at home mom does. The thousand natural things that moms are heir to.

So, how much is your mom worth? Or, if YOU are a mom, how much are you worth? Calculate it out with this handy tool.

Happy Mothers Day to all!!

What happened to neighborly?

As some of my Facebook friends are aware, I recently had an unpleasant run in with my nieghbor when we took down some trees that were leaning towards my neighbor’s kitchen. Seems they would rather it fall on their kitchen and have their insurance company pay for a remodel than have us do the responsible thing and take it down. here is the video for those who missed it:

Anyhoo, now we are having problems with the grade school boys across the street organizing air rifle raids on the block. There are sometimes as many as 8 kids with these air rifles firing willy nilly all over the neighborhood. It’s crazy.

Now, I’m not rocking on the porch lamenting about the good old days, but why can’t people just be decent to each other? I live in a very nice neighborhood with many professionals and stay at home moms, but I have to cover my kids eyes to protect them from pellets and epithets.

I just want to bake a bunch of neighborly cookies and deliver them…hoping they get the hint.

Have I got a deal for YOU….

Granite countertops and upgrades galore

Last weekend, hubby and I got a long deserved night away on the coast. While there, we ran across what seemed to be an incredible opportunity to have access to a beautiful condo community.

They offer a unique take on the time share….calling the opportunity “fractional ownership”. The view from Pacific City intrigued me enough that we went on a tour.

There is something to be said for arriving in a timeshare, with every possible amenity and fully stocked kitchen. With Travertine floors and granite countertops, this place was a gorgeous place I could really see myslef relaxing in. The price? $80,000 for one set week, and two floater weeks per year. The set week was in the summer, and the rest could be negotiated.  We would share a specific unit with 16 others, and the property could be deeded or sold by us at any time. I walked away thinking about how nice it would be to have Thanksgiving dinners on the beach in our 3 bedroom condo with the fabuloso view.

I now know why they usually want you to sign on the dotted line immediately….so you don’t have time to think. On the way home, I did the math:

$80,000 initial investment +$4000 annually ownership feesX 10 years of ownership = $120,000

Now, divide $120,000 by 210 (10 years X 3 weeksX7 days) and you get: $571.43 per night….. I could stay a weekend at a NICE resort for that price!!

So…so much for the beach cottage!!

Today is Star Wars Day!!

May the fourth be with you….this punny phrase is the key behind today beling declared Star Wars Day. In honor of this holiday, which is recognized by Wikipedia (so it MUST be real) I decided to post this most interesting video: Kurt Russel’s screen test as Hans Solo:

My Life….

My life is alot like the Lichtenstein portrait above….a mix of music/art/pop and the inner workings of a wanna be blonde bombshell.

This blog is going to be dedicated to the day-to-day activities of a busy stay at home mom of 3 kids. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll kiss 10 minutes goodbye!

Thanks for all the support in getting this other blog started. My first blog attempt is here.