The best things in life are free

We just canceled our gym membership. 124.99 a month, and we went once last month. Starting next month I am going to take that same 124.99 and set it aside so we can buy an elliptical or treadmill for the living room. I can exercise in my undies at 1AM and not have to worry about my hair being done, getting five people other than me out the door to go to the gym, etc… Maybe we’ll start walking in the evenings again.

I made about eight pounds worth of burgers yesterday. Yah, you read that right. I had about six pounds of ground beef, and had Michael pick up a couple of pounds of ground pork, and I made burgers. They are so delish. We’ll be eating them for a week. I also made five small eye steaks, and he picked up a couple of fillets for his birthday. Salad, strawberries and cream, corn on the cob (yellow, bi and white varieties) and fireworks after dinner and then birthday cake. Good stuff. Oh, and peas.

What's new in store?Tons of updates going on over at Punky Moms. Newsletter is a bit late because we’re waiting on some info. I’ve got two winners picked out and ready to mail their pacakges off from last months contest. There is no July contest but we’ve got a doozy for August. I’m excited :-)

Swing by, and see what’s in store for our future.

Malachai’s appointment today

Appointment went well. Nothing abnormal in the blood work either (it was pretty much 100% genetic testing) but he also didn’t rule out it being a genetic problem (which I understand but writing it down makes it sound silly)

He gave a diagnosis of autism, primarily so we get the help we need. With a PDD NOS dx, we don’t qualify for speech, OT or PT. He actually said he falls in the middle of the autism spectrum, and based *solely* on how he behaves in the neuro office, I 100% agree. Based on how he behaves everywhere else, I don’t. What I am saying is, I understand where the doc got the dx/”level” from, I just disagree with it being as severe as he thinks it is because Malachai isn’t always how he is when he is in the neuro office.

We go back in September (it’s actually a little after school starts, but it’s a “beginning of school year” appt). We can tell the school he was dx autism when we enroll him, and sign some releases so they can contact him for the papers they need.

It also means he potentially qualifies for Medicaid, which given our current insurance situation, is a great thing, so I am going to wait a little bit and see what happens with our current ins and possibly pursue Medicaid if we can’t get it fixed.

After the appointment we went to Festival and I got my jade spirals fixed (after almost two years!) and they guy says it just an epoxy *grumbles*  I’ve been looking for someone to fix them forever because I was told if they break we need to find a crystal repair shop.  So 10$ later my spirals are good as new and I got a new bag for them too. So of course they are in. I am betting that by this evening I can slide my 3/4″ plugs right on in.

Then we went to blockbuster to return some movies, the post office to mail some goodies and the mall for an oil change. After all that walking, I decided against the gym, but I also know we walked about as much as I would at the gym. So we got shit done and got a workout. Good stuff. (We were gonna go at 11.30 but daycare is closed from 11 – 1, which is when we went to get the oil changed, we walked for over an hour at the mall, which is why I figure that plus the walking at Festival was actually more than the 5K at the gym)

Yesterday I made ribs, wings, fruit salad, home made whipped cream, corn on the cob, and some other goodies. Lunch/dinner was delish, and I think I wont have to cook for a day or two. I’ll be making the BBQ sauce again, I already pulled out chicken to defrost to make it. I am pretty sure it’s breast, so I might cube it, pan cook it, then sauce it/broil it in the oven (we don’t have a grill anymore, and haven’t gotten a new one yet).

To post or not to post

Apparently not to post. I have started this post on Punky Moms three times in just the past day. Not even 24 hours.

I have been in a funk lately. I am pissed off, angry, sad, aggravated, tumultuous,  easily set off and otherwise not fun to be around. Normally this isn’t a problem, but it is rubbing off on everyone else. You know the saying “If moms not happy, no one is happy;” That is our house right now.

I can’t pinpoint it. I can’t fix it because I can’t pinpoint it (or avoid it, or whatever). Michael has offered to find my a puppy, if it will put me in a better mood. The only puppy I want is the fresh baby Yorkie and I hate spending that kind of money on a puppy, especially one from a puppy mill. I want a tiny dog, one that will stay tiny. It limits my choices, even more so because you just don’t find those dogs at the pet rescue.

We went to the mall yesterday, to pick up our taxes (there was an error and we have to mail them in, not send electronically, no big) and I bought Eshiva & Malachai some new clothes (they were on sale). We walked around a bit, and stopped in Old Navy to see if I could find some new clothes. I did. The XXL might have fit me. I put it back and walked out. Michael didn’t understand. Well, he probably did really. I cannot buy an XXL. I am not an XXL. My tits might be, but *I* am not. It would fit across my chest and hang like a tent everywhere else. I saw some great shirts and dresses, but I would have looked pregnant, because of how it would hang on me below the bust. I had a choice. Be angry nothing fits, or buy to fit my bust and cry because it doesn’t *really* fit.

I can’t afford custom tailored clothing. I can’t afford to shop where the bitches with the huge implants shop. Mine are real, I didn’t buy them. They grew. So while the rest of me slowly shrinks (I am losing weight, or at least shuffling it around from fat to lean muscle) my boobs are the same size as ever. I always heard women lost from the chest first.

So it’s just one more thing to make me want to cry. Which is just funny, because it’s just so stupid.

Last Monday we had a brief meeting with the BP (behavioral psychologist) and yesterday DH & I met with her for a parental interview. I asked her before we left if it sounded like something or like nothing. She said some of his behaviors lean towards autism, but on the whole she is leaning more towards behavioral and not pervasive (so psychological behaviors/developmental delays and not medically caused behaviors) but until she scored our input on him and get his testing done, she really wont know.

She just could have said “I don’t know.”

Basically, his parallel plays, how he interacts (or doesn’t interact) with other people has her leaning towards autism-type diagnosis, but everything else has her leaning towards developmental delays. Which I guess could be a problem all on their own. Some stuff she was surprised he was doing (like bathing himself, getting his own snacks) and I was surprised she was surprised. I have always fostered independence in my kids (which is why I am so taken back he wont or can’t dress and undress himself and some other things I expect him to be able to do).

Next Monday we start the first part of a 6 hour test to determine his approximate developmental, physical, etc.. levels.

I am not thrilled so far, but I am willing to wait until this testing is done and see what the outcome is. I think I was hoping for a quicker opinion and a more accurate one that “it could be this, or it could be this.” I already knew that. I also want to add, I do not get a bad vibe from her.

I am stuck between hoping it is something “easily” diagnosed and worked with and hoping it’s that he is a spoiled brat (which I am not banking on). I feel like (like all parents feel, I am aware of this) that I did everything “right” for him to be spot on and healthy, and I can see he is not spot on, so I am wondering if it’s something we did, fostered, or what. I don’t think it is, but it’s in there, you know?

Sorry for this written vomit coming from my mind. I need to get it out. I talk to Michael about it, I think I expect more feedback from people than people really are able to give. I want someone to say it’s all ok, and it’ll sort itself out. Of course it will, but that familiar comfort is missing.

We dropped off the enrollment form at the school today. I have a few things to tweak on the tuition application, and I need to print out our loan, credit and banking statements. I gave them a credit card to pay the enrollment fee. M said she could not in good conscience take the money, but said she would speak to the Rabbi and see what he had to say. We told her we don’t have it, but I could not in good conscience not offer it. We get so much from the school, for all my bitching about them, they have gone above and beyond for us in many areas. So she took the card number, and said she would speak with the Rabbi and let me know if they are going to charge it or not.

I had my eyebrows done last Friday. Had a nice chat with Chrissy. I love going there. It’s only 16$ every three weeks, but it is so worth it in how I feel about me in the interim.

We paid the gym this morning, adjusted the phone number on file.  I wish we could get everyone healthy again so we could go. Shivie has been snotty and I was snotty a few days ago… I can’t drop her in daycare if she is sick and I can’t walk if I can’t breathe.

5K

No, not 5000, but 3.1 miles. I actually did a little over 3.1, but I set the treadmill up for a 5K this morning and walked it and a little extra in 63 minutes. My average incline was 4.2, and my average speed was 3.2. Go me!

I was chatting with some ladies in the locker room while I was doing my hair.  One of them mentioned teens coming to the gym and making out, not working out. Well, I piped up and said my 15 y/o sister comes to the gym and works out, so it can’t be all of them (another lady was asking why they allow teen memberships). So we got to talking, and I mentioned my own kids, and the one lady suddenly asked how old I was. So I told her and she said I looked like I wasn’t over 18. Well, thank you, random locker room lady! We also got to chatting about my hair color and how I get it to look so natural (it’s a bit faded and not so bright red lol) so I told her and yadda yadda yadda. It was nice.

We went to Circuit City. We’re totally their crappy customer story of the day. We picked out and bought a new box and on impulse I picked up a monitor for my dad (his was breaking). Well, it turns out the in-store purchase did not have the mail in rebates an online purchase had, so we went over to customer service, returned the box & monitor and bought a different package deal (almost the same price, but it had 50$ more in mail in rebates).

I’ve hooked up my dads new flat panel (it’s a nice one too) and Michael tried to move all the stuff over we wanted to move over. Well, the drive didn’t slave properly, and I need to figure out how to get the metal piece out so we can move one of the disk drives over. I tried to set it up, but it booted off of the old HD, not the new one. I am a bit antsy about it too, I really wanted to test drive Vista today. I guess it’ll wait till tomorrow. I am not switching back to PC (I still have to refrain from calling it an IBM lol) from my Mac but I hear good things about Vista.

I am super excited because this year is the upgrade year for my laptop. More RAM definitely. I am going to monitor my hard drive usage over the next half year or so. I might just get one of the small external HD’s. I am thinking about getting a monitor for it too, and using the laptop as the box. I don’t know. I’m pretty excited just to expand my RAM finally.

Ho Hum

So, drama on the board turned out to not be so “drama-full” as it could have. We lost a member… lost. No, she was given the option to come clean, provide proof or leave. She chose to leave. Goes to show you don’t know shit about who is on the other end of your computer!

Our bags are selling like hotcakes. We’ll need to order more soon, I think. Shirts too, and some other goodies in the works.

I bailed on the gym today. I wasn’t up to walking, lifting or anything at all. So Michael went, and came home and we went to the post and the food store.

New GlassesI got new glasses yesterday! Clicky clicky the thumb for a better image.

I was a bit of a label whore. They are D&G frames but they actually cost less than the unbranded pair I was looking at. Plus with a AAA discount, they were almost free. My lenses, on the other hand, were just shy of 300$ Michael got new glasses as well, and thank goodness he got approved for their credit, b/c we certainly didn’t have what it cost in full to spend yesterday. On the good side of things, my script hasn’t changed much in the past two years. I am practically blind to distance without glasses, but I am 20/20 up close. (My distance was like 70/80 or something… I could barely read the third line down on the chart).

Another of our koi died. We need to test the water and clean the tank. Our pleco isn’t really doing it’s job and we have some nasty algae all over everything.

We had cake for Eshiva on Monday night. We didn’t really do birthday anything this year. I didn’t really want to. I hope that doesn’t set the tone for the whole year. We had cake for the twins birthday as well, but it wasn’t festive. I feel bad. I took lots of photos of her eating her cake, and of the kids and my dad and everyone.

My wrist and elbow are killing me. I need to find a decent support for them. I’ve been working a lot and it’s taking it’s toll.

Someone called asking for mom. Out of habit (assuming it was a telemarketer) I just said she isn’t here and may I take a message. I hope it wasn’t a friend who just didn’t know. How shitty would that have been? Those telemarketers are thinking they are slick lately though, asking for people by their first names in a real friendly tone.