Happenings

Yesterday, I spent most of my day at the hospital having the series of tests needed to see if I am healthy enough to donate my kidney to my mom. They couldn't get a vein in my right arm, so they took everything from my left and now I have an arm that looks like it has been beaten, but oh well, compared to what my mom goes through every other day on dialysis. I was so tired when I got home later that day that I went to bed. Today, I'm meeting with the donor advocate and then in December/January I'll be meeting with the doctors to discuss my results and the actual surgery...and after all that then the transplant committee will meet to discuss if it is something I can proceed with or even if my mom can withstand another transplant.
When I was talking with the transplant social worker, I started crying - I think it was all the testing and he was asking why I want to do this and when I started talking about my mom, I just started crying...I felt silly.

On a lighter note....later on that night, my sweet pea asked for some milk and she was standing next to me as I was pulling the milk container out, which has a small chicken on the container (Target's Archer Farm Organic milk) and she says, "No! Mommy not that milk....that's chicken milk...yucky!" Hubby and I just started laughing hilariously because I didn't even notice the chicken and when I asked her what made her think it was chicken milk, she points to the roster, which I said...I'm not sure why that is on there, but I promise it isn't chicken milk. She looked at me cautiously and said, "You drink it," so I did and she followed....
The things kids say.....

And if I don't post it on time.....Happy Halloween....

Class Assignment

Okay, so I decided to post one of my class assignments on my blog, it is my Presentation Prowess assignment, which was to create a presentation using a combination of visuals and text, plus audio that is an instructional message...teaches somebody something. I had a terrible time trying to narrow down a topic, but I did and here it is....

Why do the trees fall off the leaves?

A question posed to me from my inquisitive little girl. I giggled when she asked me because the perspective from children is sometimes so different and they make things seem so simple. So both hubby and I explained to why trees fall off the leaves and she smiled and said, "oh, so does that mean snow will come next? I can't wait for the cold to make snow."

In the meantime I told her that if it was nice this weekend, that we can go for an adventure in the woods looking at all the different colored leaves. My little man yelled with excitment once he heard "adventure." I'm glad that they enjoy being outside, which reminded me that we took the kids camping for the first time two weekends ago. It was a last minute, spur of the moment decision on a Friday afternoon, so I think had we prepared a bit things would have gone better, but when we first got out there, I thought I was going to scream. The kids were so excited they were running everywhere while I was trying to set up our tent (which one of the poles broke as I was setting it up) and proceeded to take off into the woods running after daddy (although he didn't see them following). And the kids did not get the concept of "stay away from the fire" they kept wanting to throw the smores in the fire and my little man stuck a marshmallow on a stick that was just about two inches long and tries to roast it....yes, stressful and thankfully there were no hurts or booboos. It reminded me of something that should have been in one of Chevy Chase's National Lampoon Vacation movies.

And as I told hubby we were not trying this again for a while, my kids informed me of what a great time they had as we snuggled up for bed in our lopsided, broken tent and I realized that it really was a great time because that is our lives, crazy, stressful, and fun.

"Corn and grain, corn and grain, All that falls shall rise again."- Wiccan Harvest Chant

Waiting with growing frustration

Okay, if you read my blogs, you know that back in June, I blogged about the sewage that backed into our basement as well as into seven other homes on my street. Well we filed a claim with the city's insurance and we are still waiting for a decision as well as everyone else that has filed a claim to my knowledge. This happened the first weekend in June and we are now entering the first weekend of OCTOBER....4 months....what is the deal!
My hubby called and they said they were close to coming to a decision, this was three weeks ago. I know that they are in the interest of protecting the city, but this past week, I've been seeing survey crews and this morning I see a sewage pumping company on my street. We were told by a city employee that our street is the problem street b/c it goes from 16 inches to an 8 inch sewage drain, so it gets backed up on our street. He told my hubby that he informed the city of the problem when he first started 15 years ago and wanted to get an RFP to get it fixed, the city officials asked him how often would sewage backup occur and they decided it wasn't a big problem.
Yes, I posted that our basement was near completion, but there are still minor things that need to be done, that we are waiting for and not mention the personal belongings that we lost and waiting to replace since our insurance only covered structural damages. I can't tell you how upset I'm going to be if we have waited four months for them to turn around and tell us they are denying our claim, but my hubby said that we will proceed with a lawsuit if that happens. We are not even asking for everything we lost, we are only asking for what wasn't covered by our insurance and we didn't ask to be compensated for some things. We talked to our neighbors and they are asking for twice as much as what we are asking....the more I think about it, the more I think the city's insurance is just waiting us out, errrr!!!! It makes me so mad, especially when I see these crews on my street, looking at the sewers, which gives me the impression the city is surveying the sewers....yet there is no problem according to the city?!