Thank you all.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Hopefully my jaw won't give me any issues this weekend.  I've never had a crown before. 

We're looking into putting me on FLMA for the assorted dentist appts coming up to deal with the crowns.  To keep me off the Sick Leave user/abuser list.  Since this is all going to be scheduled out, once I have the cleaning next week and we determine what all needs to be done. 

Insurance is going to pay 80% of the crowns.  I have no idea how much a crown costs to begin with so I'm clueless about how much my 20% share is. 

And it sounds like I'm going to be getting payroll deduction for pension contributions starting soon.  Act 10 was upheld but the legal stuff doesn't address the Global Pension Settlement (GPS) issues that the State AG refused to discuss, as far as I can understand it.  And the City's email to employees that went out earlier this week was confusing to say the least. 

[marvholly]

Sorry, wrong thread.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Dear DH,
#$%^ you. 
Beth

[taz157]

Sept 29, 2014 7:17:58 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Dear DH,
#$%^ you. 
Beth

Uh oh...

By the way, I could say the same for DH lately too...

[Wisconsin Beth]

Sorry Taz.  Mine needs to open his damn eyes and SEE. 

What's up with yours? 

[taz157]

Get a new sleep test, wear the mask and lose weight.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Hugs Taz.  I'm going to go passive and simply leave his stuff where he puts it.  Don't want me messing with it, fine.  I give the house about a week before it's a solid pit instead of the partial pit we're usually in though.   

[Wisconsin Beth]

That's just it.  I'm supposed to know where everything is and who left what where.  In this case, yes.  I moved the 2 booster seats for DH's car from the basement to the kitchen, very close to the back door so they could be grabbed on the way out since neither of us thought to re-install them in his car on Sunday afternoon. He didn't notice them.  Didn't see them.  One's a bright purpley color, the other is dark.  Apparently I should have left them in the basement, near the bar.  With dirty laundry covering them.  Who knew?  

[Wisconsin Beth]

Huh, DH just called to apologize for his morning.  He was stressed.  Whatever. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary!  Our gifts is the trip to Vegas without kids next month.  I have to go there for a conference anyway.  But it feels odd to not have a present for DH. 

Mom and Dad are going to watch the kids for a few hours tonight.  We've got parent teacher conferences and then we're going out for dinner.  I need to call Mom to find out if I'm bringing dinner over or what.  Also to ask if she'll run the kids home and put them to bed or if she wants us to pick them up at her house after we're done with dinner.  Not a big deal either way but certainly more relaxing for us if she does bedtime.   


But 10 years feels odd.  Important.  Different.  Something. 

[taz157]

Congratulations!!

Mine and DH's 10 year anniversary was this past May. We were going to go out to dinner and my mom was going to watch DD. However, my body thought it was the best time to have the worst sore throat instead. I was not amused. <miserable face>

[Wisconsin Beth]

Thanks! 

And sorry you got the wonderful gift of a sore throat for your 10 year anniversary.  That's got to be in the suckiest list of presents. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Today's babble = games.  Specifically games on Kindle. 

Eons ago, DD found the My Little Pony game for Kindle and downloaded it.  Then wanted to play it.  Needless to say, it was beyond her.  I think she was 4+ at the time.  Every so often, she'd find it on my Kindle and ask about it.  So about a year ago, I bit the bullet and started it with her.  She lost interest fairly quickly so we stopped.  Then in a fit of boredom a few months later, I started playing it.  I quickly got addicted to the damn game.  I also got it up to a point where DD could play.  So it was fairly common to find one or both kids pouring over the game on my Kindle and trying to buy ponies from the store.  AT this point, we'd finally turned on the parental controls so the "damage" was in spending gems, which took time and/or a purchase with real money to get.  Then the game started losing progress.  Then that Kindle died and I had to start the entire freaking thing over on a new Kindle.  The game is NOT transferable.  About 2 months ago, I lost a crapton of progress, which included $30 of gems I'd bought during a sale.  Which brings me to my happy (sort of) news.  The Kindle version of the game updated last night!  Woohoo!  Now I'm trying not to get sucked back into it.  And I need to contact the game people again because they said to wait until the next update which is here.  They better have a way to give me back my gems! 

I started playing Minion Rush a while back too.  The kids loved running and getting the "Bapples" during the running.  If they didn't, I'd go in and do it at night for the rewards.  Then DH got totally and completely addicted to this one.  He'd put it on his Kindle for the kids to play.  Ha.  When he got his FirePhone in July, he promptly loaded it on there too and was playing hard on both devices.  Then they upgraded the game.  No more "Bapples"    And the kids lost interest because they liked finding the Apples.  They still like the game but their purpose for running is gone. 

Since I wasn't motivated to play the stupid Pony game or the Minion game, I went searching for another game.  I wanted something similar to the Pony game (building up a community type thing) and stable.  Also cheap to play.  Eventually I found Township, which I think is just a variation on Farmville.  You grow crops and then use that produce to feed animals, fill orders or send on a train to trade for other goods.  The kids LOVE this one.  It just updated and miraculously, the update may have actually made the game BETTER.  I told DH to load it onto his Kindle for DD.  She was playing it somewhat and I told him to hit it once or twice a day to deal with crops so she can advance some.  He's addicted to this now too.  And has kinda taken over DD's game.    Which means she's coming back to my Kindle.    It's very hard to advance on a game when your kids don't get strategy and just do what's fun.  But I'm trying. 

The kids also discovered Lola's Train, which for like $2.99 each does an alphabet and math train game.  Which, I recently discovered, can be changed to the German language, so they now have a game they can play in German that's not some storytelling dressup kinds of game.   

ON a different note, DH really thinks we should get both kids Kindle Jrs. for Christmas, so we can reclaim ours.  I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not, even though I'm the one that told him about the Kindle Jrs. He knows I have mixed feelings about it. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

It's the little things that count.  In this particular instance - it was the joy of being able to shoot a poster.    Moon made me a soldier for this round of the Zombie game and I shot a poster that I"m holding one of my rare grudges on.  So Yay me!  Of course, I didn't TELL Moon why I wanted to be a soldier, just that I wanted to be one.    Now, if I can lurk enough today, maybe I can be a solder long enough to shoot him again when/if he respawns.  I did mention that I'm holding a grudge right?  But even if I don't last much longer, I succeeded. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Vegas was fun.  The conference had it's good points and bad points.  It's good to be home.  Although I'm missing the 75 degrees temperatures and sunny skies. 

I ended up down $20 and DH ended up about $10 from gambling.  We were surprised at how expensive food was.  Also how hard it was at times to find a place DH could eat at.  And the number of chains (store and restaurant) that we have here that were also in Vegas on the Strip. 

Hotel was nice.  I never did find the pools though. 

It was really nice to have a king size bed to myself after DH left Monday morning though.  He didn't believe me when I told him how booze would flow freely at the conference.  He did after Sunday night's dinner and drinking.     I think there were more bar stations set up than food stations.  Monday night was House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.  The cover band moved up to one of the lounges after our thing ended.  I headed back to the hotel just around 930 but I guess a bunch of the conference people and the vendor people followed the band and the vendor people opened up a tab at the lounge.  One of the guys I had breakfast with on Tuesday morning said he got back to the hotel around 130am.  And made it to 730 breakfast. 

Tuesday night was dinner and drinking/dancing at some night club.  I was back in the room by 930.  I am so NOT a night club person.  I walked back to the hotel with another woman who'd been attending the conference.  Her plan was to go eat at restaurant in the hotel with some good tequila.    I'd have joined her but a. she didn't ask me and b. I love tequila but tequila does not love me.  So I went and took a bath.  Slept in the nude.  Sprawled all over the bed, well, not really but it was really nice to be by myself in a big bed. 

At one point I was down 5 lbs from all the walking we did. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Holy hell did this weekend suck.  Work issues, car issues, sick kid issues.  And the work and car issues are continuing this week.  Joy.  Lots of joy.   

Oh and I may have pissed off my MIL but too bad, so sad. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

I'm trudging along at work and digging my way out of the whole I'm in workwise.

Homewise.  Holy hell I am not going there right now.  We're healthy.  I don't know about sane.  Or clean...  We're definitely NOT tidy.

Carwise - I punctured the tire.  Mechanics found the hole and are patching it for me.  It's going back on the van tonight and I'll be making an appt. for DH's car at the same time.  Once we know what's up with DH's car, we'll schedule new tires for mine. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Car update - my flat tire was fixed at no charge.  Yay!  Admittedly it's a temporary fix and J and C both know that.  They're recommending 2 new tires and an alignment.  They don't do alignments so I'll have to arrange that with L but it's not a huge deal, he's just a couple blocks from J and C's place.  I'm taking DH's car in to them on Monday.  DH is not happy with the brakes and I'm not sure why.  So J and C thought Monday would be good since they'll have to figure out what the issue actually IS before they can fix it.  They're wondering if it's got performance tires, which handle differently in winter.  We've only had the car since April so it's our first winter. 

Work update - today should see me sort of caught up.  I'll need to research an update and check the work someone else did while I was out.  And submit my reimbursement paperwork.  But it's progress.  I can see the end of the tunnel. 

Home - well, it's a mess.  I'm going to start a timer and do 15 minutes of cleaning in the living room tonight.  We'll see how that goes.  I did pick up some of the flotsam last night so most of what's in there is paper.  Kid paperwork, junk mail and real mail. 

[seriousthistime]

Beth, I recently got back from Vegas too.  Where did you stay?  What good restaurants did you try?  

I go a few times a year, so would love to hear your recommendations.

[Wisconsin Beth]

WE stayed at the Aria because that's where my conference was.  We ate at several of the Aria's restaurants.  The Cafe was horrible.  Lemongrass was good.  Sage was excellent.  The buffet there was good too. 

We did the buffet at The Wynn because DH heard good things about it.  A chef walked DH though the entire spread - to point out the issues for Gluten and Dairy.  That was good too. 

And we stopped at a sort of Mexican bar in Planet Hollywood.  That was good too.  Bartender was really nice and helpful.  She kept my Pepsi refilled (I was in withdrawal) until I was ready for margaritas. 

The conference included meals for me so breakfast and lunch were in the Aria too.  Monday night the vendor took my group to House of Blues.  The food was decent, the bar was open and the band (Vegas Limit) was really good.  Tuesday night was dinner at some night club Kahhash?  Something in that realm anyway.  Food was decent there too but at that point I was so tired of lining up to get food.  The cake pop things at the desert table were yummy though. 

We'd never been to Vegas before and pretty much stayed on the Strip.  I don't think Vegas is our thing.  Next time I get out that way, I'd like to get off the Strip and see Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, etc.  We didn't have anything planned for the 48 hours DH and I had there. 

[seriousthistime]

Beth, I go to Vegas pretty frequently so am always happy to find new restaurants and see what people think of the rooms.  My favorite places to stay are Paris and Caesar's Palace. I have stayed at Planet Hollywood (not my favorite but the price was right) and Flamingo (ditto).  I imagine the rooms at the Aria were really nice. 

I spent a few hours at the Aria a few weeks ago.  I saw Zarkana and we had time to kill beforehand so we ate at a place near the casino that seemed to be a bakery with sandwiches and so forth.  I wasn't hungry so it was okay.  There's a place in Caesar's called Payard that was wonderful!  We got a cafe-type lunch one time, and a sit-down breakfast another, and it was great!  I love the buffet at Bellagio.  We used to go toward the closing time of their lunch hours, which was around 3:30.  We'd pay lunch prices but they were starting to put out their dinner items so we just took our time and ate basically lunch/dinner. We'd munch through the day on pastries and snacks until our lunch/dinner, and then we were set for the day.  Cosmopolitan has a fantastic buffet too. There's a place in the Venetian, I think called Bouchon, that's wonderful.  Gordon Ramsey's Burgr in Planet Hollywood is good, and I used to like his Pub & Grill in Caesar's until they started adding lobster to the mac & cheese.  There's also a place called KGB in Harrah's that has the world's best burgers!  The Yardhouse is in the Linq, and it is also really good.  Hash House a Go Go is at the Quad, and the food servings are so huge that you and your husband could split a dish and still not finish it all. I've been to the Mexican bar at Planet Hollywood and liked it too.  My kids took me to a pizza place that's sort of hidden in the Cosmopolitan.  You can get slices, and they are delicious.  But, no place to sit in the restaurant.  Fortunately, just outside the restaurant there's some seating but it's not really conducive to eating a slice of pizza. 

Now I'm hungry. Vegas is my kind of place.  I like seeing the Cirque shows (most of them, anyway).  If you want to get off the Strip, Red Rock Canyon is very nice and close by.  Mt. Charleston is a close drive too.  Not at all what you'd expect so close to Vegas.

[Wisconsin Beth]

God, I'm in a foul mood today. 

[wvugurl26]

I was there yesterday. Today just went to hell. We are having a dessert party so maybe chocolate will break me out of this mood.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I want to go home and sleep.  For like a week.  This month has been hell at work.  Then add in Christmas and the home front and it just gets worse. 

[Artemis Windsong]

Find a quiet place and sound meditate on Om.  The vibrating sound will calm you in a short time.

If you can't find a quiet place, do it anyhow.

Sometimes when I'm blue, I think of my GrGrS2 and me dancing in a meadow.  I have 5 GrGrs but he's the one I dance with.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I'm just so frustrated right now.  Every time I think I'm getting someplace positive, something drags me back in a morass. 

[wvugurl26]

I get it. I was better today until something happened and then I was pissed and mad at the world again. And you are right, all the Christmas season stuff doesn't help.

[Wisconsin Beth]

In my desperate search for sleep for me, I've been spending time in the Kid Medicine aisles at stores, looking for something safe to give the kids to help them sleep. At Walgreen's last night, I picked up Benedryl for the kids - I didn't think it would work because I'm fairly sure they reformulated to ease up on whatever they had in there that made kids sleepy but hey, desperate mommy here. 

But at Target 15 minutes later, I checked the Kid Medicine aisle anyway. I found out that Zarabee Naturals (I can't spell it) makes a melatonin kid sleep aid. DH likes the brand for their kid cough and cold stuff. I like products that work. But in all honesty, I'd have bought ANYTHING that I thought would make my kids sleep so I could get more than 3-4 hours of broken sleep.

Needless to say, I bought it. I think I got the last box on the shelf too. No idea on price. It's small pills and the dosage is in years, not pounds (however, if under 31 lbs it's not recommended.) Which creates difficulties with Caleb because at 5, he's in the 99.8+ percentile for height and weight. His doctor and the pharmacists we use encourage us to use dosages for him on weight, not age. I gave him 2 of the pills last night around 615 (directions say 30-60 minutes before bedtime) and the poor kid was asleep on the couch before 7pm. He's been snuggling on DH and wanted a blanket. He still staggered out around 1230.  I managed to get him off me and over to the other end of the couch - and my back was not happy about that.  There was no way I was going to get his dead weight back to his bed.  Keira came out around.  I took her back to her bed and fell asleep there for a while.  She didn't stir when I left her room. 

Cabe was stirring when I got out of the shower around 540.  But still pretty out of it.  He'd perked up by 610 when I was leaving though.  I talked to DH - I think the 2 pills is too high of a dose for Caleb.  We're going to try 1.5 tonight and see what happens.  I don't want him zoinked out of his skull, I just want him to sleep, preferably in his own bed all night.  For what it's worth, DH did agree with me on the dosages for both kids. 

So while I'm feeling slightly guilty for probably overdosing Cabe, I got 8+ hours of sleep last night.  The smallest chunk was about 2 hours.  I feel so much better this morning which is mostly outweighing the guilt about Cabe's dose. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Hell.  Hell.  Hell.  Hell. Hell.  With a fuckity fuck fuck added in for good measure.

My childhood friend (we met when we were 2), the one I joined Facebook to avoid the indignity of physically stalking her house to talk to her?  She's got cancer.  2nd round of chemo is this week sometime.  It's in her lungs, which are pretty damn sucky to begin with due to an autoimmune system disease she contracted in her teens.  Not sure what kind of prognosis she got from her doctors.  She didn't mention it and it seemed kinda tacky to ask.  Plus, I was in shock. 

I feel awkward around her - between being told she has cancer and the lack of contact (mostly my fault but not entirely) for the last few years, I don't know what to tell her or who she currently is.  Or what she needs/wants.  She's got tons of other friends offering support too so while I'm not planning on disappearing, I don't know what to do right now.  I can't visit her right now.  I'm once again congested w/ some coughing and sneezing.  And that's not recommended for an oncology ward.  We did talk about that yesterday. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Cold.  Cold.  Cold.  Brrrrrrrrrrr.