Normally I don't voice my opinion as to someone's personal parenting style because, well, lets face it, we all parent differently and every kid is different. What works for one family may not work at all for another, so unless there is some sort of obvious neglect or abuse happening I just let parents parent the way they see fit.
That said I really think some people should never have had kids.
I used to babysit for a neighbor. She was sweet enough and her husband was always quite but that baby of theirs was another story completely. She cried and screamed all the time, refused to eat solids when it came time, and gave me the hardest time when trying to get her to take a bottle (mom breast fed). Honestly the poor child spent more time alone because that seemed to be when she was happiest. So when it was nap time I'd put a few toys in the bed with her and when she woke up she would just sit and play. I always felt bad because it seemed like no matter how hard I tried I just could not make her happy. As it turned out (and I found out strictly by accident) the entire time she was suffering with massive ear infections. So bad they had to put tubes in her ears. Poor baby. Now I really do feel bad for her.
Then one day, out of the blue her mom says she is pulling "G" to put her in a real school environment. I was completely shocked as when we started that venture she had agreed that when it came time for her to pull G she would give me some advanced notice. But to show up on a Thursday and tell me Friday will be her last day - not advanced enough. At first I was disappointed. I loved G even if she was rarely happy. After a while I was thankful I no longer had to listen to her constant whaling, and was grateful to know peace was restored.
I haven't talked to G's mom or dad since they pulled her but I do on occasion check out mom's blog just to see how G is doing. That's how I found out about the ear infections and tubes. That's also why I say some people have no business be parents.
This week I checked in to see how G was doing and what I read on mom's blog was so offensive I was appalled for G. Mom, who is a complete fashion whore (and I mean that with the upmost respect) actually had the audacity to call her two year old daughter an "asshole." SERIOUSLY ?? An asshole?
Isn't that the child you tried so hard to have you nearly went bankrupt with medical procedure after procedure Isn't this the child you wanted so bad you cried because she wasn't here yet? Isn't she the daughter you wanted so you could dress her up and make her look like a mini-you? So what the hell would possess you to call her an asshole. Worse yet, why would you do it on a public blog, knowing good and well when G grows up she is going to read that for herself?
How could one person be so offensive? Especially to her own child. Then I thought about all the posts I see her blog about - fashion, me, me, me, G, fashion, me, me, me. This mommy is about the most selfish person I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. Ever. Every day its a post of pic after pic of herself in some new outfit (OMG....can you PLEASE pic a different pose for once). Only on Tuesdays is there any real reference to G and when you see pics of G she is always dressed like a baby.
Ok, I get it. Rompers are cute. ON INFANTS. If you are still dressing your 2+ year old daughter in rompers while obsessively posting pics of yourself in new outfits one has to wonder if you are feeling threatened that G may cuter than you are. And if your posts about G include such derogatory comments as calling her an asshole because she isn't cooperating with your selfish need to party all night long with you college buddies then we really have to question why in the hell did you have a kid in the first place? If all you are going to do is whine about how awful G is; how obnoxious G is; how rude G is then maybe you shouldn't have had a baby. Especially when you had to break the bank to get one.
All I can say is for all your whining; all your sad stories of desperation and hopelessness; all those tales of how unfulfilled you were without a child you sure as hell don't treat her like she is your everything.
I'm not the perfect mother. Nor will I ever proclaim to be, but clearly anyone can tell my girls are my life. I would give them anything I could if it meant they were happy and healthy. And yes, I do get upset at my daughters. I even yell on occasion; however, I would never call either one of them an asshole and I sure as hell wouldn't publish it in a public blog for the world to see.
I truly feel sorry for G. One day she will read all those nasty, selfish, and hateful things her mother wrote about her. One day she will realize that not only did her mother disrespect her and treat her like crap publicly but that she was disgraced by her own mother internationally.
Not even my mother was that cruel, but like I said; some people should never be parents. Especially when they are so self-absorbed and selfish that they feel their own child warrants such disrespect on a public forum.
That said, I am going to hug both my girls; tuck them in their own beds; kiss them; tell them how much I love them both; let them know they are my world. Because truth be told - they are my world.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
National American Miss Virginia State Finalist - Princess Jessica
Can you believe it? Only 5 weeks left til the wee ones are back in school? My baby will be in kindergarten. Where did all that time go? How is it possible that five years have passed by so quickly?
And Samantha? Second grade? Really? Wow. I miss my babies but I sure do love my girls.
Speaking of my girls........how's this for cute?
Aren't they adorable?
The NAM pageant this year was a lot less stressful than it was last year, but then again Jessica didn't participate in any of the optionals so we weren't running around like wild women trying to change outfits every 20 minutes.
Friday morning began with the group photo then the dance routine practice. The princesses danced to the Barbie Mermaid song and I gotta say, it was super cute. Only issue was Jessa couldn't seem to keep up with the rest of the girls so she was slower in her transitions from one move to the next. But, she was still surprisingly good, especially considering I truly thought she would shut down on me and refuse to learn anything or participate in anything. So kudos to my baby for sticking with it no matter what.
That afternoon we got her Red Carpet photo taken then off to the Escorted Formal Wear competition. Since daddy couldn't attend we requested a volunteer escort and she got a really sweet guy who kept her calm. She was fantastic !!! Did her walk exactly like we practiced, pretty toes, circle turn, and kept her head up - only glitch was she didn't have a beautiful smile but that's probably because she was somewhat afraid. Still she was awesomely beautiful and graceful.
After the formal wear came the Personal Introductions. Here is where I thought for sure we would lose her, but low and behold she surprised me yet again. Other than not being as loud as she needed to be and a slight hesitation to get started, she was incredibly confident. Man, does that girl shine on stage.
Saturday brought about the interview. Since I wasn't allowed to watch or listen this was the hardest part for me because I simply could not "coach" her on how to properly answer the judges questions. All I could do was prepare her for some of the questions they might have asked and hope she answered them with full responses and was able to keep the conversation flowing. I will never really know how well she did in this category but I have a sneaky suspicion it wasn't her best area.
So with everything behind up except the finale Saturday was fairly leisurely. We checked out of the room around noon, met up with hubs, Mama Lue, and Papa, and managed to grab some lunch before the excitement began. And when it was her turn to walk across that stage with her State Finalist trophy she did it with such poise and grace you would have thought she was a pro instead of a newby. She even smiled beautifully.
Although, as any mother will say, my daughter was a perfect pick for the top 10 the judges had other ideas. And even though she didn't get any additional trophies or ribbons we are still so extremely excited and proud of our little baby. Knowing how very shy and reserved she is and how hard it was just to get her to open up to her TaeKwonDo instructors and classmates, even after four months, watching Jessica perform on stage, in front of hundreds of complete strangers, was one of the most amazing experiences I could have ever had.
I will not lie - pageants can be expensive and this one was more than we wanted to spend, but given the opportunity to do it again I think we will probably encourage both girls to enter every year we can afford it. That is why this year, knowing both girls will get a return invite to compete next year, we are going to start looking for sponsors early. And we are going to pump up their resume's with lots of volunteer work this year.
I have already managed to land them both an opportunity to provide lunches for our local Habitat for Humanity once a month. Hopefully we can find other opportunities to get the girls involved with charities as well as doing some fund raising events. Add to that the deep-seated desire to get both of them started in Girl Scouts this year and as long as finances hold out we are going to be doing everything we can to really give the girls the best opportunities to take home a few awards, maybe a banner or a cash prize; but most importantly - the insight to learning how lucky they both are to have all they have.
Years ago I wanted to get involved with some charities but since Samantha was just a baby I couldn't find anything that would let me have her with me. Then Jessica came along and the age restrictions were still in place. When we moved from GA to VA I looked again but still couldn't find anything that would allow two small children to help out. Now they are slightly older I am hopeful there will be more opportunities to get involved. It is my hope that by getting them involved in community service that maybe they will better appreciate what they have, be more compassionate towards those who do not have, and become better positioned later in life for some returns on their "investments". In other words, start opening those doors now so its not so hard trying to pry them open later in life.
This school year is going to be hectic. I am hoping to have the girls in Girl Scouts; they will be continuing TaeKwonDo; participating in local charities; volunteering in community services; and hopefully they will be doing good/great in school so we can avoid any necessary tutors (especially in Samantha's case).
Well, that's it. Our beautiful girls are both NAM Princesses. Sure, they don't have the official crowns but they were both deserving of one.
And with that I'm off to mow the lawn, refill prescriptions, call my dentist (damn it, this appliance isn't fitting right), clean the house, and get caught up on laundry all before trying to figure out what needs to be done for delivering lunch to Habitat for Humanity on Thursday. And, Samantha has a birthday party to attend on Saturday. Oh so much to be done.
And Samantha? Second grade? Really? Wow. I miss my babies but I sure do love my girls.
Speaking of my girls........how's this for cute?
Jessica, age 5yrs, competed 2013
Samantha, age 6yrs, competed 2012
Aren't they adorable?
The NAM pageant this year was a lot less stressful than it was last year, but then again Jessica didn't participate in any of the optionals so we weren't running around like wild women trying to change outfits every 20 minutes.
Friday morning began with the group photo then the dance routine practice. The princesses danced to the Barbie Mermaid song and I gotta say, it was super cute. Only issue was Jessa couldn't seem to keep up with the rest of the girls so she was slower in her transitions from one move to the next. But, she was still surprisingly good, especially considering I truly thought she would shut down on me and refuse to learn anything or participate in anything. So kudos to my baby for sticking with it no matter what. 
That afternoon we got her Red Carpet photo taken then off to the Escorted Formal Wear competition. Since daddy couldn't attend we requested a volunteer escort and she got a really sweet guy who kept her calm. She was fantastic !!! Did her walk exactly like we practiced, pretty toes, circle turn, and kept her head up - only glitch was she didn't have a beautiful smile but that's probably because she was somewhat afraid. Still she was awesomely beautiful and graceful.
After the formal wear came the Personal Introductions. Here is where I thought for sure we would lose her, but low and behold she surprised me yet again. Other than not being as loud as she needed to be and a slight hesitation to get started, she was incredibly confident. Man, does that girl shine on stage.
So with everything behind up except the finale Saturday was fairly leisurely. We checked out of the room around noon, met up with hubs, Mama Lue, and Papa, and managed to grab some lunch before the excitement began. And when it was her turn to walk across that stage with her State Finalist trophy she did it with such poise and grace you would have thought she was a pro instead of a newby. She even smiled beautifully. Although, as any mother will say, my daughter was a perfect pick for the top 10 the judges had other ideas. And even though she didn't get any additional trophies or ribbons we are still so extremely excited and proud of our little baby. Knowing how very shy and reserved she is and how hard it was just to get her to open up to her TaeKwonDo instructors and classmates, even after four months, watching Jessica perform on stage, in front of hundreds of complete strangers, was one of the most amazing experiences I could have ever had.
I will not lie - pageants can be expensive and this one was more than we wanted to spend, but given the opportunity to do it again I think we will probably encourage both girls to enter every year we can afford it. That is why this year, knowing both girls will get a return invite to compete next year, we are going to start looking for sponsors early. And we are going to pump up their resume's with lots of volunteer work this year.
Crowns provided by Mama Lue and Papa. Heck, they both deserved something special !!
Years ago I wanted to get involved with some charities but since Samantha was just a baby I couldn't find anything that would let me have her with me. Then Jessica came along and the age restrictions were still in place. When we moved from GA to VA I looked again but still couldn't find anything that would allow two small children to help out. Now they are slightly older I am hopeful there will be more opportunities to get involved. It is my hope that by getting them involved in community service that maybe they will better appreciate what they have, be more compassionate towards those who do not have, and become better positioned later in life for some returns on their "investments". In other words, start opening those doors now so its not so hard trying to pry them open later in life.
This school year is going to be hectic. I am hoping to have the girls in Girl Scouts; they will be continuing TaeKwonDo; participating in local charities; volunteering in community services; and hopefully they will be doing good/great in school so we can avoid any necessary tutors (especially in Samantha's case).
Well, that's it. Our beautiful girls are both NAM Princesses. Sure, they don't have the official crowns but they were both deserving of one.
And with that I'm off to mow the lawn, refill prescriptions, call my dentist (damn it, this appliance isn't fitting right), clean the house, and get caught up on laundry all before trying to figure out what needs to be done for delivering lunch to Habitat for Humanity on Thursday. And, Samantha has a birthday party to attend on Saturday. Oh so much to be done.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Wow. That was quick.
We managed to get home much earlier than I had expected so I have a few minutes to post some pics of Jessa at NAM.
While we were waiting to get Jessica registered the girls posed in front of the NAM banner at the Hyatt Regency in Reston VA.
Jessica got to meet the current NAM Virginia State Princess - Sara. The two quickly became pals as everywhere Sara went Jessica was sure to follow. She even stuck by her side during the workshop.
Once we finally got registered we headed over to get the production outfit and we scored Jessica's State Finalist banner. Congrats baby. We are so proud of you. Just look at that smile.
With registration behind us we had a couple of hours to hang out. Dinner at Panera Bread then some time to play by the water fountain.
Even Samantha was having a good time.
The workshop was an eye opener as it showed me Jessica is still quite shy, but here's hoping she is warming up to getting up on stage and being in the spotlight. We had a good day. A long day. The ride home was a quick one and now the girls are pounding some zz's while I do some last minute packing for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the introduction and formal wear. Saturday she will do the personal interview before the finale. I don't expect much to come of this other than for Samantha to learn how to support her sister without always doing or getting at the same time, and for Jessica to learn to be strong and believe in herself. Hopefully she will gain some self confidence this weekend.
Best of luck baby girl. Trophy, crown, or nothing at all - you are now, and always will be mommy's and daddy's princess.
While we were waiting to get Jessica registered the girls posed in front of the NAM banner at the Hyatt Regency in Reston VA.
Jessica got to meet the current NAM Virginia State Princess - Sara. The two quickly became pals as everywhere Sara went Jessica was sure to follow. She even stuck by her side during the workshop.
Once we finally got registered we headed over to get the production outfit and we scored Jessica's State Finalist banner. Congrats baby. We are so proud of you. Just look at that smile.
With registration behind us we had a couple of hours to hang out. Dinner at Panera Bread then some time to play by the water fountain.
Even Samantha was having a good time.
The workshop was an eye opener as it showed me Jessica is still quite shy, but here's hoping she is warming up to getting up on stage and being in the spotlight. We had a good day. A long day. The ride home was a quick one and now the girls are pounding some zz's while I do some last minute packing for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the introduction and formal wear. Saturday she will do the personal interview before the finale. I don't expect much to come of this other than for Samantha to learn how to support her sister without always doing or getting at the same time, and for Jessica to learn to be strong and believe in herself. Hopefully she will gain some self confidence this weekend.
Best of luck baby girl. Trophy, crown, or nothing at all - you are now, and always will be mommy's and daddy's princess.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Quick Sew
Had to create a couple of outfits for Jessica to wear this week at casual times during the pageant. Started with the dress she and Samantha will wear tomorrow during registration. Remember I made Samantha's dress two weeks ago but I had enough material left over to do one for Jessa - just doesn't have the sleeves but with a nice flower to match it looks pretty cute.
Of course I was so inspired by that dress that I decided to make her a skirt using the reversible fabric we found a few weeks ago. SUPER CUTE.
Ok, so now that she has a new pencil skirt and a new casual dress I can get to cleaning. Something I started but never seem to be able to stay on task with.
Oh well. Sewing is much more fun.
Of course I was so inspired by that dress that I decided to make her a skirt using the reversible fabric we found a few weeks ago. SUPER CUTE.
Ok, so now that she has a new pencil skirt and a new casual dress I can get to cleaning. Something I started but never seem to be able to stay on task with.
Oh well. Sewing is much more fun.
Its the Final Countdown
Oh my !!! Can you believe we only have two days until Jessica's pageant begins? Well, actually more like a day and a half. Come Thursday morning she will be at registration.
I still have to make her a new belt. Have to clean the entire house and get all the laundry done. If I don't, god only knows what I'll come home to if hubs gets his hands on the laundry. Priority one - laundry.
So much to do and so little time to do it. Not honestly, but there are days when all I really feel like doing is surfing the net. Pathetic waste of time I know, but who hasn't had a day like that now and then? Unfortunately today is not one of those days. Gotta get going.
NAM !!! Hope you're ready for my little spitball of fire. She's pretty amazing. And darn adorable.
Tomorrow will be a little crazy; and quite a long day so probably won't have anything to post until way late in the evening. Friday and Saturday I will be cheering on my little angel so no updates until at least Sunday morning- maybe evening.
Wish her luck. And I'll be sure to post pics.
I still have to make her a new belt. Have to clean the entire house and get all the laundry done. If I don't, god only knows what I'll come home to if hubs gets his hands on the laundry. Priority one - laundry.
So much to do and so little time to do it. Not honestly, but there are days when all I really feel like doing is surfing the net. Pathetic waste of time I know, but who hasn't had a day like that now and then? Unfortunately today is not one of those days. Gotta get going.
NAM !!! Hope you're ready for my little spitball of fire. She's pretty amazing. And darn adorable.
Tomorrow will be a little crazy; and quite a long day so probably won't have anything to post until way late in the evening. Friday and Saturday I will be cheering on my little angel so no updates until at least Sunday morning- maybe evening.
Wish her luck. And I'll be sure to post pics.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Pain and pageants.
All I can say is I will be SOOOOOOO glad when things get settled down again and we can afford to have permanent implants put in my jaw. This shit sucks. Five days later and I'm still in pain. The last time I had to have a tooth yanked I hurt for the first couple of days then was fine. Took longer for the wound to heal than for me to stop hurting.
This time my entire jaw is in pain. Check that - my entire right side of the face is in pain. Even my eyes hurt. And I'm already tired of taking all these meds. I get the antibiotic - I really need the infection to go away and never come back. I get the Motrin helps with inflammation. But a week later and my face is still swollen and I still require the strong pain killers.
Have I said before how much I hate meds? Especially strong meds? I'm just not a med person so having to take this stuff is really annoying. I get why but I still don't like it. The good news is I should be done with the Motrin and the antibiotic today. I started taking half a pain killer instead of a whole one because I really hate how sleepy it makes me. Half a pill seems to last 4-5 hours before my jaw begins feeling like some little minion is pounding away at it with a jack-hammer. Yeah, that shit hurts.
At half a pill every 6 hours I should have enough to get me through the next two days but then what? I'm really worried the pain won't stop considering it took this long to subside any at all. My follow up appt isn't until the 31st and my regular dentist is out of town until the beginning of August. So now I'm worrying that I will still be hurting so bad that I need (not want, but really need) the meds and may run out. That's why I'm gonna try extending my pill times out to at least 6 hours. Hopefully I can make it to 8 hours but I'm somehow doubting that will happen today. Either way I really need to be at a level of pain that I can tolerate before I run out of meds.
Ok, enough of my whining. What is happening today?
Well for starters I am getting caught up on laundry - haven't been able to do anything last week so I need to catch up on housework this week. And lots of stuff needs to get done fast because Thursday is the first day of Jessica's pageant weekend. Holy smokes.
My baby girl is doing a pageant. She is a state finalist. My sweet baby Jessica is a Miss Virginia National American Miss State Finalist. I am so very proud of her and am wishing her all the luck in the world. My only hope is that she doesn't freeze up and refuse to go on stage when the time comes. I really need her to learn how to have more self confidence. She needs to trust herself. She needs to know she can do anything she wants to. Most importantly; she needs to believe in herself.
Even so if she does nothing right and my biggest wish is that she just enjoy herself and learn to trust in who she is. I will still love and adore her no matter what.
We have her evening gown ready and her interview outfit ready (well, almost. I have to make a thicker belt for the dress to look right). I will need to get everything packed away on Wednesday. Thursday afternoon we take the drive up to Reston for Registration and back home that evening. Up super early Friday morning for hair and then hit the road to be there in time for Orientation. Friday will be her big day - evening gown and introductions. We'll stay at the hotel on Friday night to get a good start on Saturday morning. Then the big finale on Saturday evening.
We'll need to really practice her dance routine when we figure out what her moves will be (should find that out on Thursday). I've been wondering if I should enter her into a few photo shoot contests like we did Samantha last year. Would like to give her the opportunity to get at least one or two trophies.
Either way we will need to get the trophy shelves up in both girls rooms this week. Maybe I'll get started on that today after finishing laundry and cleaning bathrooms. Maybe. I'll have to see how I'm feeling considering I haven't been able to do much all of last week.
Oh, and I just have to say, I kind of missed working out last week. Maybe I'll run downstairs and get a mile or two in on the treadmill. Wonder if that will make me feel better or worse? Guess I'm about to find out.
This time my entire jaw is in pain. Check that - my entire right side of the face is in pain. Even my eyes hurt. And I'm already tired of taking all these meds. I get the antibiotic - I really need the infection to go away and never come back. I get the Motrin helps with inflammation. But a week later and my face is still swollen and I still require the strong pain killers.
Have I said before how much I hate meds? Especially strong meds? I'm just not a med person so having to take this stuff is really annoying. I get why but I still don't like it. The good news is I should be done with the Motrin and the antibiotic today. I started taking half a pain killer instead of a whole one because I really hate how sleepy it makes me. Half a pill seems to last 4-5 hours before my jaw begins feeling like some little minion is pounding away at it with a jack-hammer. Yeah, that shit hurts.
At half a pill every 6 hours I should have enough to get me through the next two days but then what? I'm really worried the pain won't stop considering it took this long to subside any at all. My follow up appt isn't until the 31st and my regular dentist is out of town until the beginning of August. So now I'm worrying that I will still be hurting so bad that I need (not want, but really need) the meds and may run out. That's why I'm gonna try extending my pill times out to at least 6 hours. Hopefully I can make it to 8 hours but I'm somehow doubting that will happen today. Either way I really need to be at a level of pain that I can tolerate before I run out of meds.
Ok, enough of my whining. What is happening today?
Well for starters I am getting caught up on laundry - haven't been able to do anything last week so I need to catch up on housework this week. And lots of stuff needs to get done fast because Thursday is the first day of Jessica's pageant weekend. Holy smokes.
My baby girl is doing a pageant. She is a state finalist. My sweet baby Jessica is a Miss Virginia National American Miss State Finalist. I am so very proud of her and am wishing her all the luck in the world. My only hope is that she doesn't freeze up and refuse to go on stage when the time comes. I really need her to learn how to have more self confidence. She needs to trust herself. She needs to know she can do anything she wants to. Most importantly; she needs to believe in herself.
Even so if she does nothing right and my biggest wish is that she just enjoy herself and learn to trust in who she is. I will still love and adore her no matter what.
We have her evening gown ready and her interview outfit ready (well, almost. I have to make a thicker belt for the dress to look right). I will need to get everything packed away on Wednesday. Thursday afternoon we take the drive up to Reston for Registration and back home that evening. Up super early Friday morning for hair and then hit the road to be there in time for Orientation. Friday will be her big day - evening gown and introductions. We'll stay at the hotel on Friday night to get a good start on Saturday morning. Then the big finale on Saturday evening.
We'll need to really practice her dance routine when we figure out what her moves will be (should find that out on Thursday). I've been wondering if I should enter her into a few photo shoot contests like we did Samantha last year. Would like to give her the opportunity to get at least one or two trophies.
Either way we will need to get the trophy shelves up in both girls rooms this week. Maybe I'll get started on that today after finishing laundry and cleaning bathrooms. Maybe. I'll have to see how I'm feeling considering I haven't been able to do much all of last week.
Oh, and I just have to say, I kind of missed working out last week. Maybe I'll run downstairs and get a mile or two in on the treadmill. Wonder if that will make me feel better or worse? Guess I'm about to find out.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Appliance delivered.
Wow does this hurt. That is, wow does this hurt when I haven't had any strong meds.
I made it in plenty of time for my appointment, 30 minutes early, and still ended up waiting for nearly an hour. What the hell? Do these Dr's realize what kind of anxiety a person goes through when the realization half their front teeth are going to be yanked out finally hits them? I managed to hold it together until I got into the chair and then it happened - water works.
Holy crap. No matter how hard I tried to prepare myself for this moment I was still unable to keep my emotional response to the thought of loosing my teeth under control. A few shots of numbing agent and a couple of seconds to myself and I was fine. Man, did that guy use some strong meds to numb my face. Here we are nearly 10 hours later and I still have a numb lower lip but when the meds wore off and I was sitting at Walgreens waiting on them to fill the perscriptions I really began to feel the pain I had been dreading all along. That excruciatingly painful throbbing that happens when the really good meds wear off. Ouch !!!
What took nearly an hour to prepare for only took a minute to yank out. Both teeth gone. As soon as he pulled the first one I swear I felt instant relief. As if someone had opened a valve and let all that infection run out. The tooth with the cap that kept falling off must have been harder to get out as it was cracked when I got to look at it. That's right. I looked at my now missing teeth. And boy oh boy am I so glad I got the infected one out of there.
When I went for a consult not too long ago to discuss what was going on with it I was told the ligaments had taken over some of the bone structure and that was causing the infections, but it wasn't until I actually saw the tooth for myself that I finally understood what all the concern was about. To describe it as best I can I would have to say it is like looking at the damage caused by a very dull drill bit. A crater in the middle of the tooth appears to have been "eaten" away by the ligament and the infections. If my tooth looked that bad after 20 years I can't imagine how bad my jaw bone must appear to be, but I certainly know there will be no avoiding having a bone graph done if we are looking at having permanent implants installed later.
From here I have to wait at least three months for the extractions to heal completely. Then depending on our financial situation at the time we will need to figure out when to do the bone graph and eventually have posts put in to support an implant. It will be a long, painful, and costly procedure but the end result will be the best solution. And at long last (crossing fingers here) I will no longer have to deal with constant infections, ear aches, and painful teeth/jaw issues because now there is no tooth left for the infection to destroy.
Worst thing about the appliance so far is getting used to the feeling of having something foreign in the front of my mouth. If the pain would subside enough I might actually try getting some sleep. Tried laying down but it hurt way too much. Think I'm going to try the chair with the heating pad or an ice pack - which ever feels better.
I made it in plenty of time for my appointment, 30 minutes early, and still ended up waiting for nearly an hour. What the hell? Do these Dr's realize what kind of anxiety a person goes through when the realization half their front teeth are going to be yanked out finally hits them? I managed to hold it together until I got into the chair and then it happened - water works.
Holy crap. No matter how hard I tried to prepare myself for this moment I was still unable to keep my emotional response to the thought of loosing my teeth under control. A few shots of numbing agent and a couple of seconds to myself and I was fine. Man, did that guy use some strong meds to numb my face. Here we are nearly 10 hours later and I still have a numb lower lip but when the meds wore off and I was sitting at Walgreens waiting on them to fill the perscriptions I really began to feel the pain I had been dreading all along. That excruciatingly painful throbbing that happens when the really good meds wear off. Ouch !!!
What took nearly an hour to prepare for only took a minute to yank out. Both teeth gone. As soon as he pulled the first one I swear I felt instant relief. As if someone had opened a valve and let all that infection run out. The tooth with the cap that kept falling off must have been harder to get out as it was cracked when I got to look at it. That's right. I looked at my now missing teeth. And boy oh boy am I so glad I got the infected one out of there.
When I went for a consult not too long ago to discuss what was going on with it I was told the ligaments had taken over some of the bone structure and that was causing the infections, but it wasn't until I actually saw the tooth for myself that I finally understood what all the concern was about. To describe it as best I can I would have to say it is like looking at the damage caused by a very dull drill bit. A crater in the middle of the tooth appears to have been "eaten" away by the ligament and the infections. If my tooth looked that bad after 20 years I can't imagine how bad my jaw bone must appear to be, but I certainly know there will be no avoiding having a bone graph done if we are looking at having permanent implants installed later.
From here I have to wait at least three months for the extractions to heal completely. Then depending on our financial situation at the time we will need to figure out when to do the bone graph and eventually have posts put in to support an implant. It will be a long, painful, and costly procedure but the end result will be the best solution. And at long last (crossing fingers here) I will no longer have to deal with constant infections, ear aches, and painful teeth/jaw issues because now there is no tooth left for the infection to destroy.
Worst thing about the appliance so far is getting used to the feeling of having something foreign in the front of my mouth. If the pain would subside enough I might actually try getting some sleep. Tried laying down but it hurt way too much. Think I'm going to try the chair with the heating pad or an ice pack - which ever feels better.
My first appliance
Most people would equate an appliance with something like a stove, oven, or even a toaster or blender but somewhere the lines got blurred and now the word appliance has a new association. Specifically with one's mouth.
Here, I'll start at the beginning:
Many, many, many years ago I was in the military. Active duty U.S. Army stationed in Darmstadt, Germany. What an incredible country in both beauty and culture and one day I seriously hope to return with my girls so they can experience the wonders of another world.
Anyhow, I was a soldier in the signal communications field and my duties were mainly carried out in the middle of some lost in the woods location where it would easily take a convoy three hours to make the trek back to the nearest location where several of us could acquire our supplies and take our once a week shower. Boy, oh boy did we treasure those trips and those showers even more. Nothing like sleeping in a small tent with three or four other people, all of us smelling like wet dog and gym socks. Ick. Ick. Ick.
It was January 1992 and we were super excited. Not because we were stuck in the woods for the last 30+ days. No, we were excited because we were packing up to go back to base. No more mud. No more mosquitoes. No more freezing SIN vans. No more port-a-potties.
The super excited came when we were informed if we packed quickly enough that we might just make it back in time to see the opening kick-off of the Super Bowl. Now for anyone whose ever spent a day with military personnel you know how we love our sports, and yes, even though I am female I too love my sports. Football to be precise. Grew up watching it with my father and still watch it to this day - only now I watch it with hubs. One of a few things we like to do together.
We did make it back to base in time and the game was on. Beers flowed. Cheers erupted. And as is to be expected, boys fought. The unfortunate details of one particular fight left me in the hall spitting up teeth and gushing blood.
Its kind of funny how the details of an event that happened 20+ years ago can still be recalled with such vivid accuracy while most things that happened last week I couldn't even tell you what happened or give you much more than a broad overview of the event. That said, I remember clearly most of the details of that day.
The room I was in was across the hall from my own. The guys who lived in that room had a nice big TV and there was a small crowd of us enjoying the game. The guys had taken their two man room and turned it into a small apartment with beds on either side of the door blocked by wall-lockers and curtains to ensure both had enough privacy to sleep, wake, dress, and even entertain a female. Only reason I know is because one of those guys was my at-the-time boyfriend. The guys had turned the entire back of the room into a living are so-to-speak, with two sofas facing the window wall and two more facing each other. Kind of like a box. Simple enough design. To get to the TV simply walk from the door, past both "rooms", past the flanking sofas and mini-fridge, and have a seat. The TV would have been easily viewed from the open door, which the guys often did when too many people wanted to join in the on the fun.
That particular evening I am sitting on the sofa to the right facing the window wall which was pushed up to the side of a wall locker and sat at a 90degree angle to the sofa sitting on the side of the wall. My back would have been to the door. The lights are out - the only lights we see are the TV and the hall lights (which never got turned off). I'm happily consuming my beer and watching the game. Now remember when I said how easy it was to remember the details of that night? Well, would you believe I still cannot tell you who was playing in the Super Bowl that year? Odd.
At any rate, the cheers were plenty until one guy, not sure who because the lights were off, decided to "pick a fight" with another guy and it turned physical. Someone thought it was a smart idea and tossed a Hefeweizen beer bottle at one of the other guys, and from what I am told it bounced off another guys shoulder and landed squarely in my face. I don't know that for sure as I was hunkered down in the corner, trapped, my escape route blocked by the two fighting. Unable to go anywhere I simply tried to disappear into the corner of the sofa and wall-locker. Apparently I need to work on my Ninja skills because it still got hit. And hard.
The only thing I remember after fists started flying was trying to figure out how I went from drinking beer to chewing this crunchy stuff and wondering why my mouth suddenly felt so warm. The answer came when the lights suddenly came on and one guy, one not involved in the fight, but caught on the sofa to my right just like me suddenly exclaims "Oh my god, she's been hit." And immediately everything got very real and very painful. Everyone stopped and looked directly at me in disbelief. Wasn't hard to figure out who "she" was since I was the only female in the room at the time. Like I said, I like football.
I remember one guy tried to see what happened and I shoved passed him and made a bee-line for the door. Of course I didn't make it far when my knees buckled and I dropped just shy of my escape into the hall. He helped me into the hall and sat me up. Out of nowhere came clothes, paper towels soaked in water, towels, and more guys than one girl should ever feel comfortable being surround by. But these guys were my buddies; my friends; my co-workers. I spent days; weeks at a time in the woods bunking in a small tent with them. These guys were my saviors. And save me they tried.
The one thing that stuck me as odd that night was one guys insistent apologies and expressions of absolute horror. It wasn't until later I would find out that this one guy, one of my best buds, was the one who threw the bottle. Bad boy. Bad boy indeed. But I could harbor no ill will towards him because it was strictly an accident. The bottle wasn't meant for me but for some reason it was seriously attracted to my teeth, which it kept embedded in the bottom. When I was shown the bottle later I was shocked to see just how tough our teeth are. Who would have thought that teeth could penetrate blown glass? But there they were; at least two fully dug in teeth and the remnants of the remaining others. Six teeth in all got damaged. Part of my jaw bone had to be removed when the Dr's discovered it was shattered. And the 20 year battle ensured.
One tooth I was told, I would lose within five years because there was no jaw bone to support it any longer. For the first year I could eat little more than soups, jello, and other liquid items. My duties were limited to indoor only and there were times I had to be excused from formations because I simply could not stand to be outside. Any air touching the damaged area felt like someone jack-knifing my face with scissors. To say it was painful was putting it mildly.
I was the only U.S. Army soldier who had dental appointments every day. Other soldiers wouldn't be able to get an appointment for months but I had one or two every day of every week I was stationed in Germany. The dental repairs and maintenance didn't stop once I left Germany either. Once I got stateside in GA I was right back in the chair. It was then that I finally started getting the caps I needed. Six of them to be exact. The bridge I was fitted for in Germany gave way to individual teeth once again. But the battle to save my mouth raged on.
Before the accident I had beautiful white, straight teeth. No cavities. A year later and I was missing six teeth and had way more cavities than one cares to admit. That happens when you aren't able to brush for nearly six months. It took me a year before I could bite a slice of soft white bread and now winch in agony. Two years would go by before I was able to eat things that required the front teeth to rip or tear apart. Much too much pain but through it all I was determined to keep what remaining teeth I did have.
Two decades have past since that night. I still remember the pain I felt then. I remember looking in the mirror the first time and seeing gaping holes where teeth used to reside. I remember each and every one of those damn silvery-gray cavity patches. Way too many dentist, and way too many procedures later and I finally find a dentist who doesn't preach to be about the importance of flossing. Easy to do when you have a mouth full of teeth that don't look like mine but when you've gone through all I did, just the imaginary feeling of what floss running across your gum line feels like is painful. Not to mention, getting the floss between my teeth, which were never really done right thanks to too many military dentist jamming their fists in my mouth for such a short period of time. That's one thing I really hated about the military. You were likely to never see the same Dr or Dentist more than twice. No consistency.
So now I have a wonderful dentist who I adore. In the past year of going to her not once has she or any member of her staff ever pushed the flossing issue. And when the brought it up, and I explained how flossing was not something I could do because of pain, instead of pushing the issue they found me an alternative. The water-pic. And let me tell you OMG I love this thing.
In the 20 years since the accident I have suffered an endless array of gum diseases and cavities. Cavities are fixable but gum disease is harder to manage and when you can't care for you mouth like normal then it gets harder to manage. Thankfully, my Dentist's staff recognized this and instead of pushing me to do something I hated they recommended something different. And it worked !!!! In less than a year I went from 5's and 6's in gum health to 1's and 2's, with one or two 4. You know what those numbers are don't' you? The numbers they spout out when they check the depth of the pockets between your gum line and your teeth. The higher the number the worse the gum health is. Anything above a 3 is a concern. When you get into 5's and above you have gum disease. Above 7 and you are looking at serious dental issues.
I was so excited to hear 1's and 2's coming out of my last cleaning that I really did shed a couple of tears. Remember, I have been in a 20 year battle here so finally making some real progress was an historical moment for me. But with all good things come the bad. And this time, its bad.
Already I had chosen to have a molar extracted last year. The past five years of ongoing pain was too much to bear and the idea that a root canal would only lead to another cap, which long term would lead to more dental work was just too much to take. So in exchange for spending another fortune on something that was probably not going to be saved I chose to have it removed. So far I can't say I regret that decision. My jaw no longer hurts. I don't have pain in my mouth or ear and I no longer need a heating pad to subdue the pain enough to get to sleep. The only downside is I find myself sucking my face into the empty pocket. A mouth guard will fix that - going to have one made after today's procedure is healed. I hope.
Now that you have the background to todays event's I can explain whats happening this morning. Remember the tooth I was supposed to lose after 5 years? Yep. I kept it for almost 22 years. Not bad. But time has run its course and the repeated infections that lie inside that pocket created when the jaw bone was removed has caused long term damage. When the original tooth got shattered off the ligement moved into the area where bone was supposed to re-grow. Years of this invasion has caused bone loss and repeated infections. The infection I have now is not longer treatable with antibiotics. The tooth I have always hated - one the military dentist put a cap on that makes it look three times thicker than it should - is coming out today along with all of the infection. That, and the one next to it - the one I was supposed to lose 15 years ago. Repeatedly the cap comes off and now there is so little tooth left that it would either need a new post and cap or a permanent implant. In preparing for the final permanent implant it just makes more sense to get it pulled now.
Today I get two of the six damaged teeth pulled. A sad day as it means I lost the battle to save them. But it was a battle well fought and I am slowly coming to terms with that loss. At 44 years old I will be wearing an appliance. Yeah, that's what they call a partial. Appliance. Now you know. For now its a long-term temporary solution until we are able to see what the future holds for us.
From here who knows what happens. If hub loses his job sooner than we are hoping we may be in a world of hurt, but if his investment of nine years comes through (crossing fingers it happens this week or next) we may finally have achieved financial freedom. Freedom enough to afford two permanent implants and further correct the damage done 20 years ago.
On a side note: About the guy who threw the bottle:
Sometimes I catch myself wondering where my best buddy is. Where is the guy who threw that bottle and caused me 20 years of anguish? Not because I am mad at him, but just because we wonder sometimes. I wonder if he remembers me and the incident? Does he wonder how I'm doing today? I may never know and somehow that is sad. But I'm okay with that too as I will always remember the man, that Brawny manly man, who came to see me in the hospital and got down on his knees, begging for forgiveness, crying like a baby. That moment is the only reason I never pressed charges against Zotti. I knew in my heart he didn't mean it. I knew in my heart it was only an accident and we all know you cannot prevent all accidents.
No matter how many times my Commanders kept pushing for me to file charges, remembering Zotti in my hospital room was all I needed to get me through this. Twenty years later and I still harbor no regrets. I harbor no ill will towards him either. I can think back on my days with the 32nd Signal BN in Darmstadt Germany; my friend Christopher Zotti, and I can remember all that is good; all the enjoyable and rememberable things about such a fantastic time in my life. And as long as I can remember those times I can get through the painful dental issues that still await me.
In the end, I will be victorious. I will have a full set of teeth again and I will be pain free. And I will be a better person for it.
So wish me luck today.
Here, I'll start at the beginning:
Many, many, many years ago I was in the military. Active duty U.S. Army stationed in Darmstadt, Germany. What an incredible country in both beauty and culture and one day I seriously hope to return with my girls so they can experience the wonders of another world.
Anyhow, I was a soldier in the signal communications field and my duties were mainly carried out in the middle of some lost in the woods location where it would easily take a convoy three hours to make the trek back to the nearest location where several of us could acquire our supplies and take our once a week shower. Boy, oh boy did we treasure those trips and those showers even more. Nothing like sleeping in a small tent with three or four other people, all of us smelling like wet dog and gym socks. Ick. Ick. Ick.
It was January 1992 and we were super excited. Not because we were stuck in the woods for the last 30+ days. No, we were excited because we were packing up to go back to base. No more mud. No more mosquitoes. No more freezing SIN vans. No more port-a-potties.
The super excited came when we were informed if we packed quickly enough that we might just make it back in time to see the opening kick-off of the Super Bowl. Now for anyone whose ever spent a day with military personnel you know how we love our sports, and yes, even though I am female I too love my sports. Football to be precise. Grew up watching it with my father and still watch it to this day - only now I watch it with hubs. One of a few things we like to do together.
We did make it back to base in time and the game was on. Beers flowed. Cheers erupted. And as is to be expected, boys fought. The unfortunate details of one particular fight left me in the hall spitting up teeth and gushing blood.
Its kind of funny how the details of an event that happened 20+ years ago can still be recalled with such vivid accuracy while most things that happened last week I couldn't even tell you what happened or give you much more than a broad overview of the event. That said, I remember clearly most of the details of that day.
The room I was in was across the hall from my own. The guys who lived in that room had a nice big TV and there was a small crowd of us enjoying the game. The guys had taken their two man room and turned it into a small apartment with beds on either side of the door blocked by wall-lockers and curtains to ensure both had enough privacy to sleep, wake, dress, and even entertain a female. Only reason I know is because one of those guys was my at-the-time boyfriend. The guys had turned the entire back of the room into a living are so-to-speak, with two sofas facing the window wall and two more facing each other. Kind of like a box. Simple enough design. To get to the TV simply walk from the door, past both "rooms", past the flanking sofas and mini-fridge, and have a seat. The TV would have been easily viewed from the open door, which the guys often did when too many people wanted to join in the on the fun.
That particular evening I am sitting on the sofa to the right facing the window wall which was pushed up to the side of a wall locker and sat at a 90degree angle to the sofa sitting on the side of the wall. My back would have been to the door. The lights are out - the only lights we see are the TV and the hall lights (which never got turned off). I'm happily consuming my beer and watching the game. Now remember when I said how easy it was to remember the details of that night? Well, would you believe I still cannot tell you who was playing in the Super Bowl that year? Odd.
At any rate, the cheers were plenty until one guy, not sure who because the lights were off, decided to "pick a fight" with another guy and it turned physical. Someone thought it was a smart idea and tossed a Hefeweizen beer bottle at one of the other guys, and from what I am told it bounced off another guys shoulder and landed squarely in my face. I don't know that for sure as I was hunkered down in the corner, trapped, my escape route blocked by the two fighting. Unable to go anywhere I simply tried to disappear into the corner of the sofa and wall-locker. Apparently I need to work on my Ninja skills because it still got hit. And hard.
The only thing I remember after fists started flying was trying to figure out how I went from drinking beer to chewing this crunchy stuff and wondering why my mouth suddenly felt so warm. The answer came when the lights suddenly came on and one guy, one not involved in the fight, but caught on the sofa to my right just like me suddenly exclaims "Oh my god, she's been hit." And immediately everything got very real and very painful. Everyone stopped and looked directly at me in disbelief. Wasn't hard to figure out who "she" was since I was the only female in the room at the time. Like I said, I like football.
I remember one guy tried to see what happened and I shoved passed him and made a bee-line for the door. Of course I didn't make it far when my knees buckled and I dropped just shy of my escape into the hall. He helped me into the hall and sat me up. Out of nowhere came clothes, paper towels soaked in water, towels, and more guys than one girl should ever feel comfortable being surround by. But these guys were my buddies; my friends; my co-workers. I spent days; weeks at a time in the woods bunking in a small tent with them. These guys were my saviors. And save me they tried.
The one thing that stuck me as odd that night was one guys insistent apologies and expressions of absolute horror. It wasn't until later I would find out that this one guy, one of my best buds, was the one who threw the bottle. Bad boy. Bad boy indeed. But I could harbor no ill will towards him because it was strictly an accident. The bottle wasn't meant for me but for some reason it was seriously attracted to my teeth, which it kept embedded in the bottom. When I was shown the bottle later I was shocked to see just how tough our teeth are. Who would have thought that teeth could penetrate blown glass? But there they were; at least two fully dug in teeth and the remnants of the remaining others. Six teeth in all got damaged. Part of my jaw bone had to be removed when the Dr's discovered it was shattered. And the 20 year battle ensured.
One tooth I was told, I would lose within five years because there was no jaw bone to support it any longer. For the first year I could eat little more than soups, jello, and other liquid items. My duties were limited to indoor only and there were times I had to be excused from formations because I simply could not stand to be outside. Any air touching the damaged area felt like someone jack-knifing my face with scissors. To say it was painful was putting it mildly.
I was the only U.S. Army soldier who had dental appointments every day. Other soldiers wouldn't be able to get an appointment for months but I had one or two every day of every week I was stationed in Germany. The dental repairs and maintenance didn't stop once I left Germany either. Once I got stateside in GA I was right back in the chair. It was then that I finally started getting the caps I needed. Six of them to be exact. The bridge I was fitted for in Germany gave way to individual teeth once again. But the battle to save my mouth raged on.
Before the accident I had beautiful white, straight teeth. No cavities. A year later and I was missing six teeth and had way more cavities than one cares to admit. That happens when you aren't able to brush for nearly six months. It took me a year before I could bite a slice of soft white bread and now winch in agony. Two years would go by before I was able to eat things that required the front teeth to rip or tear apart. Much too much pain but through it all I was determined to keep what remaining teeth I did have.
Two decades have past since that night. I still remember the pain I felt then. I remember looking in the mirror the first time and seeing gaping holes where teeth used to reside. I remember each and every one of those damn silvery-gray cavity patches. Way too many dentist, and way too many procedures later and I finally find a dentist who doesn't preach to be about the importance of flossing. Easy to do when you have a mouth full of teeth that don't look like mine but when you've gone through all I did, just the imaginary feeling of what floss running across your gum line feels like is painful. Not to mention, getting the floss between my teeth, which were never really done right thanks to too many military dentist jamming their fists in my mouth for such a short period of time. That's one thing I really hated about the military. You were likely to never see the same Dr or Dentist more than twice. No consistency.
So now I have a wonderful dentist who I adore. In the past year of going to her not once has she or any member of her staff ever pushed the flossing issue. And when the brought it up, and I explained how flossing was not something I could do because of pain, instead of pushing the issue they found me an alternative. The water-pic. And let me tell you OMG I love this thing.
In the 20 years since the accident I have suffered an endless array of gum diseases and cavities. Cavities are fixable but gum disease is harder to manage and when you can't care for you mouth like normal then it gets harder to manage. Thankfully, my Dentist's staff recognized this and instead of pushing me to do something I hated they recommended something different. And it worked !!!! In less than a year I went from 5's and 6's in gum health to 1's and 2's, with one or two 4. You know what those numbers are don't' you? The numbers they spout out when they check the depth of the pockets between your gum line and your teeth. The higher the number the worse the gum health is. Anything above a 3 is a concern. When you get into 5's and above you have gum disease. Above 7 and you are looking at serious dental issues.
I was so excited to hear 1's and 2's coming out of my last cleaning that I really did shed a couple of tears. Remember, I have been in a 20 year battle here so finally making some real progress was an historical moment for me. But with all good things come the bad. And this time, its bad.
Already I had chosen to have a molar extracted last year. The past five years of ongoing pain was too much to bear and the idea that a root canal would only lead to another cap, which long term would lead to more dental work was just too much to take. So in exchange for spending another fortune on something that was probably not going to be saved I chose to have it removed. So far I can't say I regret that decision. My jaw no longer hurts. I don't have pain in my mouth or ear and I no longer need a heating pad to subdue the pain enough to get to sleep. The only downside is I find myself sucking my face into the empty pocket. A mouth guard will fix that - going to have one made after today's procedure is healed. I hope.
Now that you have the background to todays event's I can explain whats happening this morning. Remember the tooth I was supposed to lose after 5 years? Yep. I kept it for almost 22 years. Not bad. But time has run its course and the repeated infections that lie inside that pocket created when the jaw bone was removed has caused long term damage. When the original tooth got shattered off the ligement moved into the area where bone was supposed to re-grow. Years of this invasion has caused bone loss and repeated infections. The infection I have now is not longer treatable with antibiotics. The tooth I have always hated - one the military dentist put a cap on that makes it look three times thicker than it should - is coming out today along with all of the infection. That, and the one next to it - the one I was supposed to lose 15 years ago. Repeatedly the cap comes off and now there is so little tooth left that it would either need a new post and cap or a permanent implant. In preparing for the final permanent implant it just makes more sense to get it pulled now.
Today I get two of the six damaged teeth pulled. A sad day as it means I lost the battle to save them. But it was a battle well fought and I am slowly coming to terms with that loss. At 44 years old I will be wearing an appliance. Yeah, that's what they call a partial. Appliance. Now you know. For now its a long-term temporary solution until we are able to see what the future holds for us.
From here who knows what happens. If hub loses his job sooner than we are hoping we may be in a world of hurt, but if his investment of nine years comes through (crossing fingers it happens this week or next) we may finally have achieved financial freedom. Freedom enough to afford two permanent implants and further correct the damage done 20 years ago.
On a side note: About the guy who threw the bottle:
Sometimes I catch myself wondering where my best buddy is. Where is the guy who threw that bottle and caused me 20 years of anguish? Not because I am mad at him, but just because we wonder sometimes. I wonder if he remembers me and the incident? Does he wonder how I'm doing today? I may never know and somehow that is sad. But I'm okay with that too as I will always remember the man, that Brawny manly man, who came to see me in the hospital and got down on his knees, begging for forgiveness, crying like a baby. That moment is the only reason I never pressed charges against Zotti. I knew in my heart he didn't mean it. I knew in my heart it was only an accident and we all know you cannot prevent all accidents.
No matter how many times my Commanders kept pushing for me to file charges, remembering Zotti in my hospital room was all I needed to get me through this. Twenty years later and I still harbor no regrets. I harbor no ill will towards him either. I can think back on my days with the 32nd Signal BN in Darmstadt Germany; my friend Christopher Zotti, and I can remember all that is good; all the enjoyable and rememberable things about such a fantastic time in my life. And as long as I can remember those times I can get through the painful dental issues that still await me.
In the end, I will be victorious. I will have a full set of teeth again and I will be pain free. And I will be a better person for it.
So wish me luck today.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Chalk Art
Too dang hot to be outside today. The girls managed to get in a couple of hours in the pool while I did some budgeting on the laptop. Then off to the dentist to pick up my appliance; Lowes to grab something to fix the inflatable and put up shelves in the girls rooms; BJ's to grab milk and eggs; and home to relax. Well, not for long.
The girls are antsy and wanting to do, do, do, or go, go, go. But with this heat its hard to want to go outside at all. So to appease their desire to ride bikes in 97 degree heat I bribed them into chalk art for 15 minutes then bike rides tonight when it is cooler.
Now they are happily cutting paper into tiny pieces and I need to get some laundry started and the kitchen cleaned. Sausage gravy and biscuits for dinner with scrambled eggs and tater tots. Breakfast for dinner - you can never go wrong with that. And considering tomorrow I'm not going to want to eat anything for a long time afterwards dinner tonight sounds delish.
What's happening tomorrow you say? A long, long battle is coming to an end and I am getting two of my teeth pulled and replaced with a long-term temporary partial. Details on that tomorrow.
For now, enjoy the artwork of the Lee girls.
DONE
#70 Cover the driveway with chalk art
Monday, July 15, 2013
Finally - someone else gets it.
"A lot of people think demographics alone will bring about change and it won't," said Gail Christopher, who heads the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's America Healing project on racial equity. "If attitudes and behaviors don't change, demographics will just mean we'll have a majority population that is low-income, improperly educated, disproportionately incarcerated with greater health disparities."
SUZANNE GAMBOA
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Today we are.......
.......cleaning house. YIPPEE. NOT.
Yep, the house is a disaster. Again. Two young, full of energy, ready to go girls can make short work of making a mess. Gotta love em though. At least they don't puke all over the carpet like the cat; or take a dump on the bathroom floor like the dog. Bonus for that I suppose.
But thanks to whatever is going on with Oscar we are now faced with taking him to the vet because this, being day three of piles of poop on my floors, included blood. Not good. Three days of super soft stools and now blood. What the heck?
At least I think we FINALLY figured out how to keep the cat from up-chucking all over the place. Seems she likes to devour her food without chewing so when it sits on her stomach she can't handle it. I started putting soft food in her morning meal and she is now forced to slow down and chew it. That and I read somewhere that if you give a cat cold food it shocks their system. So now I wait a couple of minutes before giving her the bowl. Day five and so far so good. The only incident we had was when John fed her solid food w/o the soft stuff. She devoured it then left him, or me since I'm usually the one cleaning it up, a nice big pile of regurgitated cat food.
Okay. I'm officially sick to my stomach now.
Anyhow; with all this mess going on here lately the house is really starting to smell musty and gross. So after the girls wake and we've had some breakfast its time to pull out the heavy duty cleaning supplies and scrub the bathrooms, floors, and clean every inch of this place. The only thing I'd like to do more than clean the stick from the house is clean the clutter from the house.
SO MUCH STUFF. I hate clutter and it really does make things a lot messier. Often times I imagine how much easier it would be if we were a minimalist kind of family. Well, today I may get a headstart on that with the girls playroom. Since joining these local FB online yard sales I've discovered there's money to be made from our old stuff. And the girls have lots of old stuff. I'm hopeful I can make it through the piles of toys and play things in their playroom and go through everything in there to decide if we should keep or sell. Then pics galore and mounds of money here we come.
Speaking of money - here's hoping Iraq finally comes through for us. I've never been one to slather well wishes on such a horrific third world country, but considering our financial troubles could disappear as soon as Monday, I'm throwing all my well wishing power their way. We REALLY need them to come through for us. Especially now that John is looking at being let go from work.
Keep your fingers crossed and if it happens I'll be sure to update you all on why this event is such an important thing to happen. For now, lets just say hubs is way smarter than anyone ever gives him credit for.
Yep, the house is a disaster. Again. Two young, full of energy, ready to go girls can make short work of making a mess. Gotta love em though. At least they don't puke all over the carpet like the cat; or take a dump on the bathroom floor like the dog. Bonus for that I suppose.
But thanks to whatever is going on with Oscar we are now faced with taking him to the vet because this, being day three of piles of poop on my floors, included blood. Not good. Three days of super soft stools and now blood. What the heck?
At least I think we FINALLY figured out how to keep the cat from up-chucking all over the place. Seems she likes to devour her food without chewing so when it sits on her stomach she can't handle it. I started putting soft food in her morning meal and she is now forced to slow down and chew it. That and I read somewhere that if you give a cat cold food it shocks their system. So now I wait a couple of minutes before giving her the bowl. Day five and so far so good. The only incident we had was when John fed her solid food w/o the soft stuff. She devoured it then left him, or me since I'm usually the one cleaning it up, a nice big pile of regurgitated cat food.
Okay. I'm officially sick to my stomach now.
Anyhow; with all this mess going on here lately the house is really starting to smell musty and gross. So after the girls wake and we've had some breakfast its time to pull out the heavy duty cleaning supplies and scrub the bathrooms, floors, and clean every inch of this place. The only thing I'd like to do more than clean the stick from the house is clean the clutter from the house.
SO MUCH STUFF. I hate clutter and it really does make things a lot messier. Often times I imagine how much easier it would be if we were a minimalist kind of family. Well, today I may get a headstart on that with the girls playroom. Since joining these local FB online yard sales I've discovered there's money to be made from our old stuff. And the girls have lots of old stuff. I'm hopeful I can make it through the piles of toys and play things in their playroom and go through everything in there to decide if we should keep or sell. Then pics galore and mounds of money here we come.
Speaking of money - here's hoping Iraq finally comes through for us. I've never been one to slather well wishes on such a horrific third world country, but considering our financial troubles could disappear as soon as Monday, I'm throwing all my well wishing power their way. We REALLY need them to come through for us. Especially now that John is looking at being let go from work.
Keep your fingers crossed and if it happens I'll be sure to update you all on why this event is such an important thing to happen. For now, lets just say hubs is way smarter than anyone ever gives him credit for.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Catching Up Part 2
Wow. Its hard to believe its already been one week since we got spoiled at Bush Gardens. Back to the grind stone it is then.
I figured this week I would try spending more time doing things I used to do - clean the house every day; laundry always done; kitchen always clean. Yeah. One can dream. Aside from the kitchen being clean more often I haven't made much progress in anything else so I thought "Self, you need some motivation." And my self answered "Why, yes you do." So I loaded the girls in the car and headed over to Wal-Mart (I absolutely hate that place but when it comes to cheap fabric WallyWorld is it around here).
We dug through the back to school bins and located some cheap buys in there. Stocked up on glue, paper, notebooks, etc. Is it that time already? Guess so.
Next we headed over to the electronics to acquire a Basic Talk item. Hubs and I agree - if it wasn't for the security system on the house having to be linked to a land line we simply wouldn't have a home phone. Alas we must have one so why not make it a cheap one?
On our way to cash out I passed by my Achilles heel - bargain fabric. Roll upon roll of nice looking fabric for a fraction of the cost and most were not more than $2 a yard. You'd have to be a fool not to at least look. And we did. And we picked out several fabrics. And we bought way too many. Well, maybe not.
Samantha hasn't had much in the way of new clothes this past school year. Most of what she did get was hand-me-downs and presents. Occasionally I would find a sale worth hitting up and I managed to score some pretty sweet deals but those sales were few and far between. And poor Jessica; what clothes she got was nearly all hand-me-downs. Its a rare event that my littlest angel gets something new to wear but when she does she is all smiles, so when I scored a major bargain on all that fabric I just couldn't resist making something new for both girls.
First - Tinkerbell shoes for Halloween. These aren't quite done (they need a ribbon to tie the backs up so the girls don't trip in them) but they are cute.
Second - Jessica needs an interview outfit for her pageant at the end of the month. I'd been toying with some ideas in my head as to what to make her, and I have to say when hubs insisted on an all white dress I was not very enthusiastic; however, this little beauty is a show stopper. The dress or the girl you ask? BOTH. Of course little miss is all to happy to pose for pictures.
Third, and probably last for tonight - Samantha got a new dress. I started with an older tank top she had in her drawer. Something plain white and a tad large on her now but perfect for what I was wanting to do. With a couple of hours and less than a yard of material she traded in an over-sized tank for a perfect fitting dress.
Its a start and hopefully by the end of next week I'll have even more items to post. In the meantime I'm off to clean the kitchen so the cat doesn't get into anything since she's gotten accustomed to roaming counters at night. Ugh, how I hate that. Can't stand the thought of cats on my counters and tables. Makes me want to gag. What I really want to do is put her in a cage so she can't roam at night but of course hubs won't have any of that. Maybe he'll let me get her a shock collar and I can randomly press the button at night just to keep her on her toes. Bet she wouldn't jump on my table and try stealing the girls lunch then. Well, at least I can dream. LOL.
And until my dreams come true I have two little monkeys who have learned how to climb walls. Literally.
Love those little monkeys.
I figured this week I would try spending more time doing things I used to do - clean the house every day; laundry always done; kitchen always clean. Yeah. One can dream. Aside from the kitchen being clean more often I haven't made much progress in anything else so I thought "Self, you need some motivation." And my self answered "Why, yes you do." So I loaded the girls in the car and headed over to Wal-Mart (I absolutely hate that place but when it comes to cheap fabric WallyWorld is it around here).
We dug through the back to school bins and located some cheap buys in there. Stocked up on glue, paper, notebooks, etc. Is it that time already? Guess so.
Next we headed over to the electronics to acquire a Basic Talk item. Hubs and I agree - if it wasn't for the security system on the house having to be linked to a land line we simply wouldn't have a home phone. Alas we must have one so why not make it a cheap one?
On our way to cash out I passed by my Achilles heel - bargain fabric. Roll upon roll of nice looking fabric for a fraction of the cost and most were not more than $2 a yard. You'd have to be a fool not to at least look. And we did. And we picked out several fabrics. And we bought way too many. Well, maybe not.
Samantha hasn't had much in the way of new clothes this past school year. Most of what she did get was hand-me-downs and presents. Occasionally I would find a sale worth hitting up and I managed to score some pretty sweet deals but those sales were few and far between. And poor Jessica; what clothes she got was nearly all hand-me-downs. Its a rare event that my littlest angel gets something new to wear but when she does she is all smiles, so when I scored a major bargain on all that fabric I just couldn't resist making something new for both girls.
First - Tinkerbell shoes for Halloween. These aren't quite done (they need a ribbon to tie the backs up so the girls don't trip in them) but they are cute.
Second - Jessica needs an interview outfit for her pageant at the end of the month. I'd been toying with some ideas in my head as to what to make her, and I have to say when hubs insisted on an all white dress I was not very enthusiastic; however, this little beauty is a show stopper. The dress or the girl you ask? BOTH. Of course little miss is all to happy to pose for pictures.
Third, and probably last for tonight - Samantha got a new dress. I started with an older tank top she had in her drawer. Something plain white and a tad large on her now but perfect for what I was wanting to do. With a couple of hours and less than a yard of material she traded in an over-sized tank for a perfect fitting dress.
Its a start and hopefully by the end of next week I'll have even more items to post. In the meantime I'm off to clean the kitchen so the cat doesn't get into anything since she's gotten accustomed to roaming counters at night. Ugh, how I hate that. Can't stand the thought of cats on my counters and tables. Makes me want to gag. What I really want to do is put her in a cage so she can't roam at night but of course hubs won't have any of that. Maybe he'll let me get her a shock collar and I can randomly press the button at night just to keep her on her toes. Bet she wouldn't jump on my table and try stealing the girls lunch then. Well, at least I can dream. LOL.
And until my dreams come true I have two little monkeys who have learned how to climb walls. Literally.
Love those little monkeys.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Catching Up Part 1
Wow. It seems like forever since I've had time to sit and update this blog but at last - here goes.
Of course the 4th of July ended up being a late night with the girls. Who can sleep with so many fireworks going off at the same time accompanied by a background of patriotic music? Not my girls. And if they don't sleep; mama doesn't sleep. Oh well. The fireworks were beautiful (and free to watch) so thanks goes to our neighbors who put on one hell of a show for us.
The next morning wasn't as bad as anticipated - considering I couldn't rouse the rest of the family to get a move on, but when we finally did hit the road it was much later than expected. We arrived at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg around lunch and was pleasantly surprised to find we were allowed an early check-in. Sweet. The room was more like a small apartment - one bedroom, one bathroom, full kitchen, dining room and living area with a pull out sofa bed for the girls. Worked out very nicely. Of course since we weren't paying for the room hubs ensured we enjoyed freezing weather while we were there. And he slept like a baby both nights.
After getting unpacked we chose to head over to Bush Gardens for a late afternoon of fun. First, and most impressive ride if only because Jessica, still 4 yrs old at the time, rode it several times, was Escape from Pompei.
Seriously, she impressed the hell out of me being so very brave. Of course she wasn't super excited about it like Samantha was but still.....
We managed to make it through about 1/2 of the park on Friday hitting up rides like The Elephant Run, Da Vinci's Cradle, Battering Ram, Flying Machine, and Curse of Darkastle. Jessa was a huge fan of the Elephant Run but was completely terrorized by DaVinci's Cradle and Battering Ram, and not such a huge fan of Darkastle even though she did them all. So very proud of how brave she was. Although I'm pretty sure she won't be on them again for a number of years I also know she got a huge boost in self-confidence (a plus for her upcoming pageant).
Samantha on the other hand fell in love with the thrill of bigger, faster, and scarier. She cried buckets on day two when we didn't get to do Darkastle again but was thrilled getting to ride the roller-coasters with her daddy. Day two Samantha and daddy tackled Verbolten and Loch Ness, and don't think she wouldn't have gotten on Griffon if she was tall enough. That girls is an adrenaline junkie. Just like her daddy.
Since we opted for two days at Bush Gardens we had to at least spend one day at Water Country USA. Jessa and I rode two rides together while Samantha and daddy enjoyed a few of the bigger rides. A little mis-communication to begin with but when we finally met up again with each other our final hour or so was spent in the kids pool watching the girls swim and cross the water logs.
Here's where the differences in the girls was really apparent. While Jessa would allow me to help her learn how to swim and float on her back Samantha would have nothing of it. Its like her brain was in panic mode the entire time and I just could not get her to relax enough to even listen to what I was telling her. I have a feeling a few years from now Jessa will be an avid swimmer while Samantha is still struggling to learn. Thinking swimming lessons for both would be a good thing, but we have to wait until John's job issues settle down again and we are assured of a financial future without struggling.
So with a fun-filled weekend done we figured it would be a good idea to head home a tad early to ensure daddy got some rest before Monday morning. Mistake - never travel on a Sunday of a holiday weekend - especially on I95 North. What should have taken us three hours tops to complete turned into a parking and rubber-necking fest for nearly 8 hours. At one point we departed ways with the interstate and chose to go by the side roads. While normally that would have taken us longer to make it home we actually ended up shaving nearly two hours off our travel time. Yeah, 95 was that bad.
I guess now would be a good time to take a break and update our 101 list.
DONE
#3 go swimming
#23 visit a candy factory
#33 ride a carousal
#39 go to a swim park (wasn't Signal Hill but one just like it at Water Country USA)
#65 ride a roller coaster
#66 visit an amusement park
One last note: we'll have to revise our list to exchange some costly adventures with some that are free or cheap just until we figure out what's going to happen with John's job situation, so watch for an updated version in a few days.
I'll try to post part 2 later tonight or tomorrow.
Of course the 4th of July ended up being a late night with the girls. Who can sleep with so many fireworks going off at the same time accompanied by a background of patriotic music? Not my girls. And if they don't sleep; mama doesn't sleep. Oh well. The fireworks were beautiful (and free to watch) so thanks goes to our neighbors who put on one hell of a show for us.
The next morning wasn't as bad as anticipated - considering I couldn't rouse the rest of the family to get a move on, but when we finally did hit the road it was much later than expected. We arrived at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg around lunch and was pleasantly surprised to find we were allowed an early check-in. Sweet. The room was more like a small apartment - one bedroom, one bathroom, full kitchen, dining room and living area with a pull out sofa bed for the girls. Worked out very nicely. Of course since we weren't paying for the room hubs ensured we enjoyed freezing weather while we were there. And he slept like a baby both nights.
After getting unpacked we chose to head over to Bush Gardens for a late afternoon of fun. First, and most impressive ride if only because Jessica, still 4 yrs old at the time, rode it several times, was Escape from Pompei.
We managed to make it through about 1/2 of the park on Friday hitting up rides like The Elephant Run, Da Vinci's Cradle, Battering Ram, Flying Machine, and Curse of Darkastle. Jessa was a huge fan of the Elephant Run but was completely terrorized by DaVinci's Cradle and Battering Ram, and not such a huge fan of Darkastle even though she did them all. So very proud of how brave she was. Although I'm pretty sure she won't be on them again for a number of years I also know she got a huge boost in self-confidence (a plus for her upcoming pageant).
Samantha on the other hand fell in love with the thrill of bigger, faster, and scarier. She cried buckets on day two when we didn't get to do Darkastle again but was thrilled getting to ride the roller-coasters with her daddy. Day two Samantha and daddy tackled Verbolten and Loch Ness, and don't think she wouldn't have gotten on Griffon if she was tall enough. That girls is an adrenaline junkie. Just like her daddy.
Since we opted for two days at Bush Gardens we had to at least spend one day at Water Country USA. Jessa and I rode two rides together while Samantha and daddy enjoyed a few of the bigger rides. A little mis-communication to begin with but when we finally met up again with each other our final hour or so was spent in the kids pool watching the girls swim and cross the water logs.
Here's where the differences in the girls was really apparent. While Jessa would allow me to help her learn how to swim and float on her back Samantha would have nothing of it. Its like her brain was in panic mode the entire time and I just could not get her to relax enough to even listen to what I was telling her. I have a feeling a few years from now Jessa will be an avid swimmer while Samantha is still struggling to learn. Thinking swimming lessons for both would be a good thing, but we have to wait until John's job issues settle down again and we are assured of a financial future without struggling.
So with a fun-filled weekend done we figured it would be a good idea to head home a tad early to ensure daddy got some rest before Monday morning. Mistake - never travel on a Sunday of a holiday weekend - especially on I95 North. What should have taken us three hours tops to complete turned into a parking and rubber-necking fest for nearly 8 hours. At one point we departed ways with the interstate and chose to go by the side roads. While normally that would have taken us longer to make it home we actually ended up shaving nearly two hours off our travel time. Yeah, 95 was that bad.
I guess now would be a good time to take a break and update our 101 list.
DONE
#3 go swimming
#23 visit a candy factory
#33 ride a carousal
#39 go to a swim park (wasn't Signal Hill but one just like it at Water Country USA)
#65 ride a roller coaster
#66 visit an amusement park
One last note: we'll have to revise our list to exchange some costly adventures with some that are free or cheap just until we figure out what's going to happen with John's job situation, so watch for an updated version in a few days.
I'll try to post part 2 later tonight or tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
No.....
....I haven't disappeared. Just been super busy.
I'll have lots to post, hopefully tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
I'll have lots to post, hopefully tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Independence for everyone
DONE
#57 Watch fireworks.
Every year our neighbors put on a show of fireworks, and every year it gets more and more elaborate. In four years they have graduated from 100 or so small rockets to a full one hour fireworks display worthy of professional presentations accompanied by an ensemble of patriotic music. So even though I really NEED the girls to be in bed asleep so I can do my cleaning and packing taking them outside to watch the show, chat with neighbors, and make new friends was well worth it.
Happy birthday America.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Its a super secret awesome place.
Months ago hubs company decided to put together a summer event - they do it every year but most years, actually every year we don't attend. Honestly, I have no desire to sit around and hob-snob it with a bunch of petty women with whom I probably have extremely little in common. And with hubs back surgeries we really couldn't attend even if we wanted to. So when this summer's event list comes around for some strange reason hubs decides to sign us up. Why? Still not sure but I'm chalking it up to a free hotel and entrance fees for 3 days to ..........wait for it.............
After more than four years I finally have to put on a happy face, learn how to hold my tongue, and smile even when what I'd rather do is be home watching the DVR, or reading a book, or doing something with the girls, but alas, this year I have to suck it up and learn to play nice. And for hubs sake I can do that. For a short while anyway.
The girls still don't know where we're going although I have managed to bribe an entire day of house cleaning out of them in exchange for going to said super secret awesome place. Today they helped me by putting away all their toys - well, almost. The toys that got moved from the main level did make it upstairs to the playroom, however, they didn't make it much past the door to the playroom. Oh well. Tomorrow I'll be bribing them to help clean that up. What fun.
So Bush Gardens and Water Country USA it is. We almost decided not to go considering recent events but that would not have been very fair to the girls, so even though John has a pending job loss hanging over our heads, and I am faced with more major dental work, we are going to BG for a few reasons - 1) Hubs compmany is paying for the entrance fees to both parks for three days, 2) they are also paying for a room at the KingsMill Resort for two nights, 3) because if the pending income loss, this may well be the only really outstanding thing the girls get to do this summer.
That said, we do get to mark a few more things off our list
DONE
#21 Dance in the rain
#74 Do a leaf rubbing
#97 Make snow cones
Tomorrow its making cookies, doing laundry, packing, cleaning the upstairs, and doing some more homeschool lessons. Oh, all that and we're headed out to MamaLue and Papa's for a cookout.
Hope everyone else enjoys their 4th as much as we will.
After more than four years I finally have to put on a happy face, learn how to hold my tongue, and smile even when what I'd rather do is be home watching the DVR, or reading a book, or doing something with the girls, but alas, this year I have to suck it up and learn to play nice. And for hubs sake I can do that. For a short while anyway.
The girls still don't know where we're going although I have managed to bribe an entire day of house cleaning out of them in exchange for going to said super secret awesome place. Today they helped me by putting away all their toys - well, almost. The toys that got moved from the main level did make it upstairs to the playroom, however, they didn't make it much past the door to the playroom. Oh well. Tomorrow I'll be bribing them to help clean that up. What fun.
So Bush Gardens and Water Country USA it is. We almost decided not to go considering recent events but that would not have been very fair to the girls, so even though John has a pending job loss hanging over our heads, and I am faced with more major dental work, we are going to BG for a few reasons - 1) Hubs compmany is paying for the entrance fees to both parks for three days, 2) they are also paying for a room at the KingsMill Resort for two nights, 3) because if the pending income loss, this may well be the only really outstanding thing the girls get to do this summer.
That said, we do get to mark a few more things off our list
DONE
#21 Dance in the rain
#74 Do a leaf rubbing
#97 Make snow cones
Tomorrow its making cookies, doing laundry, packing, cleaning the upstairs, and doing some more homeschool lessons. Oh, all that and we're headed out to MamaLue and Papa's for a cookout.
Hope everyone else enjoys their 4th as much as we will.
Monday, July 1, 2013
The Grocery Game
Well, after years of trying to figure out how to save bookoos money on groceries on my own I've finally caved in and got a membership with thegrocerygame.com. And considering I just spent less than 1 hour finding deals I would have missed out on other wise I'd have to say I think the 4wk free trial will be worth every penny saved. As a matter of fact, today I stand to save $99.84 buying on those things we really need, using coupons I already have. How's that for smart?
Of course I have coupons on hand that I'll use on top of the deals I found online, so that'll change how much I actually save but it should be interesting to see what kind of total savings I walk away with.
I'll update later after I get back and unload the car. Happy shopping everyone.
OH YEAH...before I forget....want to earn $5? Click on this link http://www.TheGroceryGame.com/ref/28-vbkw/ and sign up for the 4wk trial.
Trust me. It's worth it. If you decide to keep it then when you sign up for membership you and I will both earn $5. And if you don't want to keep it just cancel before the 28th day of the trial. How's that for saving and making money?
Enjoy.
UPDATE:
Some things are really nice about thegrocerygame.com. Some are not so nice. For instance, she is missing one major grocery chain - Safeway, Walmart, and Target for my area. Why? Not sure. And when I took her list to the local Giant I found two of the items listed at other stores on sale were still more expensive than the ones at Giant at regular price. Also, one of the meat sales wasn't even in the Giant store - that particular brand, the manager told me, was located in their New England locations - not here in VA. So what gives?
I'll be doing some calculations tomorrow to see if the program is worth the monthly fee. After all, I'm looking to cut corners on everything possible and while it may be a hassle to do the leg work to find the best deals, it may boil down to a $5 savings or breaking even. Will let you know tomorrow.
Of course I have coupons on hand that I'll use on top of the deals I found online, so that'll change how much I actually save but it should be interesting to see what kind of total savings I walk away with.
I'll update later after I get back and unload the car. Happy shopping everyone.
OH YEAH...before I forget....want to earn $5? Click on this link http://www.TheGroceryGame.com/ref/28-vbkw/ and sign up for the 4wk trial.
Trust me. It's worth it. If you decide to keep it then when you sign up for membership you and I will both earn $5. And if you don't want to keep it just cancel before the 28th day of the trial. How's that for saving and making money?
Enjoy.
UPDATE:
Some things are really nice about thegrocerygame.com. Some are not so nice. For instance, she is missing one major grocery chain - Safeway, Walmart, and Target for my area. Why? Not sure. And when I took her list to the local Giant I found two of the items listed at other stores on sale were still more expensive than the ones at Giant at regular price. Also, one of the meat sales wasn't even in the Giant store - that particular brand, the manager told me, was located in their New England locations - not here in VA. So what gives?
I'll be doing some calculations tomorrow to see if the program is worth the monthly fee. After all, I'm looking to cut corners on everything possible and while it may be a hassle to do the leg work to find the best deals, it may boil down to a $5 savings or breaking even. Will let you know tomorrow.
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