Thankful Thursday: Spring!

I am so thankful that someone before me planted flowers at our house... they are the only thing that comes up consistently each year.  Nothing I've planted has returned!

I'm thankful that the weather is getting nicer and the boys can play outside now.  Lots of room to run around and burn off energy!

I'm thankful for different perspectives.  I tend to get stuck in a rut sometimes (just ask my husband) and even though I had to lie on the sidewalk to get the second picture it's almost hard to believe it's the exact same group of flowers.

Thankful

So, I didn't intend for that last post to post...  I spent a good hour the other night writing out all the crazy things that have happened (there was a part 2) and then realized that I was just annoyed all over again.  Instead I intended to write all the reasons I was thankful for those problems.  Only thing is I forgot to un-schedule that post!

So if you will let me start over... and add the ones from the second post...

I'm thankful that we are (mostly) able to afford insurance for me.  I know many people are not.  I'm thankful that we are in good enough health that that insurance almost doesn't seem necessary.  I will be thankful for it when it is necessary.

I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to buy cleaner(chemical wise) things for my children to eat out of.  I'm thankful that I have money to spend on some little extra toys because I know they will love them.

I'm thankful that I will now have the opportunity to make ice cream for us with better ingredients.  My waistline probably won't thank me!

I'm thankful I have a camera to document life around me.  I love it (obviously) and I'm thankful I can sometimes even use it to make some money.

I'm thankful for friends who will loan me cameras when mine is being repaired!  And customer service people who do care when you call them with a problem.

I'm thankful for finding a good Christmas present for my brother, even if it did finally arrive after Christmas!

I'm thankful for our house.  That we have our own yard.  That we have more room.  That it's ours (we won't talk about the mortgage company!).

And finally, I'm thankful that we live in a place where if I don't like one store's policies I can go down the street to another store.  And I can support my local businesses!

There:  Now I feel a whole lot better!  Here's to working on the optimism side that I seem to be lacking... at least according to my husband!

Thankful Thursday - Thanksgiving Edition

Today I am thankful for:

My son, Cory, and his daddy, Brian.

Living with state assistance

Twas Brillig and Butrfly are hosting a “Behind the Stirrups” post day where you can share your lovely OB/GYN stories. I don’t really have a horrid story, but it got me thinking, especially after my experience this morning, about how I was/am treated being a mom at various clinics. See we were both subbing and it was summer when I got pregnant with Cory. So we qualified for the state health insurance for me which was quite literally a God-send because they paid for everything. I think the only thing we had to pay for was a couple of prescriptions because they were for topical pain medicines/creams that apparently the insurance wouldn’t cover. But hey, after they also covered my gallbladder surgery I am NOT complaining!

However, I will complain about the way I was made to feel simply because I had a little coupon that said the state was covering all my medical bills. The first appointment I had was the preliminary get all my history and give me 10 million pounds of literature to read type. But I don’t know why they even bothered to give me all the pamphlets since by the way they treated me they obviously thought I couldn’t even read let alone have 2 college degrees! Seriously they acted like I knew nothing. The nurse was EXTREMELY pushy when I said I wanted certain things and didn’t want certain other things. I had my own ideas thank you very much and I didn’t want her telling me how it was going to be. This was my body and my child not hers!

Thankfully I opted not to have her come visit me when Cory was 3 days old. I would come to her well baby check (which wasn’t quite so bad because by then I think she had figured out that I wasn’t a complete moron when it came to babies) but I did not want her coming to my house just so she could look around and try to find all the bad things.

Then there were the other general nurses and receptionists. It just seemed like every time I turned around they were looking down their noses at me. Yes, this is a low income clinic, but if you’re going to work there that doesn’t give you the right to treat every patient like the scum of the earth. You don’t know what circumstances might have brought them there.

Which actually brings me to the second reason that happened today. I went to my WIC appointment to get my monthly checks for milk/cheese/juice etc since I’m still nursing Cory. This time I actually managed to make it on time. But the receptionist looked at me and said, “well, I’ll have to see if they can still take you since you were supposed to be here 5 – 10 minutes early to get recertified.” I said “what? No one told me that when I made the appointment?” and she was just totally rude and huffy like I should have known and it was a major inconvenience. Well, excuse me! They weren’t busy at all and in the time it took her to walk down the hall and find out if they would still see me she could have already had me sign the one paper and put in my new coupon number and just told them I was ready! It took less than a minute. Did she not see that I had a 6 month old baby on my hip? Did she think that I might have had to stop and feed him? It’s not like they don’t actually push breastfeeding all the time! And that requires not driving, or getting ready, or anything. Sometimes it makes you late for things! Have a little common sense please lady!

So I guess there’s a lesson for all of us in this: Don’t judge people by their looks or circumstances. Treat them like you would any other normal human being because guess what? You never know when the roles might be reversed and you might be the one needing help! It can be pretty humbling and it’s not any easier when you’re treated like trash on top of your circumstances!

And since it is also Thursday let me add that I am extremely thankful that there are programs out there to help people with low incomes. I honestly don’t know how we would have paid all our medical bills this past year without the state insurance. For all my complaining about how we’re right on the border so we’re not going to be covered as soon as Cory’s a year old we have already been very blessed. And even though I think we’ll then have to figure something out I know that God will take care of us. He’s probably laughing at my worrying right now going, if only you knew what was coming!

Thankful Thursday

I finally managed to find the actual original blog that came up with this idea. It's here. And I resolve to be more thankful. It really helps with your attitude... especially when you didn't get enough sleep!

But that's half the reason I'm thankful today. Last night we stayed up way too late because when we went to bed everything was silly and we laid in bed laughing until we were all worked up and couldn't go to sleep. So then we got up and Brian did the dishes and I don't remember what I did, but finally we went back to bed/sleep about midnight. And we were still kind of giggly!
Which reminds me of a silly thing that I thought of while going to bed. See, I'm not one who thinks making the bed is really that important. I know, I drove my mother crazy when I was growing up, but when all you have is a sheet and a comforter and you don't mess them up while you're sleeping why bother making the bed? All you have to do is pull up the sheet/comforter and it's ready to climb in again.
Now, Brian on the other hand can not even get into the bed without pulling out all the corners with his feet (I've given up tucking anything in) and generally making things all bunched up. Which means that by morning the bed is one jumbled mess of sheets and quilts. And I like my sheets to be pulled tight and smooth top and bottom thankyouverymuch! Which means that every night 2 minutes before I go to bed I'm making the bed. And of course this brings no end of hilarity to my husband because I'm so exacting about it! I'll even make him get out of bed just so I can make the bed because of course he's gotten in when it's all jumbled because he just doesn't care! This is also the same man who can fall asleep with 3 seconds notice (you think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not!) so he doesn't really care where he sleeps!

The other thing I'm thankful for today is modern medicine. Even though it hurts me to watch Cory get shots at least I know that he won't come down with that handful of deadly and debilitating diseases. Sometimes I think it would be nice to go back a hundred years because "they didn't have all our modern problems". How silly! They just had other problems like more obvious racism and deadly diseases rather than terrorism and wars - well, they had some of those too... in general I am very glad to be living when I am!

And so today I am again tired, but Cory slept until 6 this morning so I at least got 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep, which is a beautiful thing!

Thankful Thursday

Okay, I will admit I have been spending probably way too much time reading other people's blogs lately. But it's so interesting! And the ones I have found - by clicking links on friends I know's blogs - are just fun and encouraging!
But here's one I couldn't pass up posted by a lady named Jenn. She got the idea from someone else, but I don't think she'll mind if I steal it!
How many things can I think of to be thankful for on Thursday...

In no particular order:
1. A husband, Brian, who is willing (no, wants) to provide for his family and makes it possible for me to stay home with Cory. And watching him come home and play with Cory is just too precious for words!

2. A roof over my head (air conditioning!) and PLENTY of resources to survive on. ~ This should be a given, but it's made reality after spending an hour or so talking to my new neighbor who's recently moved here from Tanzania (with the accent on the Zan) and can now afford to pay his own rent, go to college, and still have money left over to send home to his sister so she can go to high school, wow!

3. Friends: lots of them all over the world, I can't even begin to say why I'm thankful for all of them because there are as many reasons as there are friends!

4. Cory, who's healthy and happy (when he's fed!) and my beautiful baby!

5. Family: Christian legacies for my children to follow. They will have no idea how blessed they are to have all Christian grandparents!

I'm sure I could go on all night... but I really should get some sleep - oh, and Thank God for routines and Cory sleeping through the night!!!
Good night all and God Bless!