Oh my head, this and that

I have the stirrings of a migraine, not good. I’ve been getting migraines more often lately which I’m pretty sure are stress related.

Been unsuccessfully trying to clean the house lately. Between the cold and not being able to breathe and now this lingering migraine, it’s not looking good. I’m hoping to get rid of it this afternoon because I’d like to go into town early to do some shopping before meeting the inlaws plane. I won’t brave the malls with kids that will be hovering on the edge of insanity due to excitement with a pounding head.

The in-laws made it safely to Edmonton yesterday and by now they are on a plane winging their way here! It was my FIL’s birthday and we called to wish him a happy one last night. I’ll be making his favorite chocolate cake tomorrow and have a big ham in the fridge defrosting to make this weekend. He’d prefer turkey, but I had a ham in the freezer and Turkeys are expensive. He’ll be happy that there will be lots of meaty leftovers, and my MIL can make her famous Ham & Bean soup for him.

I also splurged and bought them all their favorite foods to make life a little easier on them. Peanuts, ice cream, ice cream toppings, peanut butter made with sugar and oils and shit (he doesn’t like my peanut butter, which just contains mushed peanuts), bologna, extra milk because they drink a ton, lots of soup, kraft dinner and alphaghetti.  Anything I can do to make their life easier while they’re here is a good thing.

My FIL, ever the grandpa believes that all kids should have ice cream for desert. One time when they were here and Glen and I took off for some alone time, the FIL gave the girls ice cream every night after dinner. It took me a long time to break them of the habit of desert every day. So, I asked very nicely the next time to please not give the girls ice cream every day after supper. He most definitely listened to me. Instead he gave it to them after lunch.  That man has a wicked sense of humor. The next time (this last fall) I said that I wasn’t even going to buy ice cream! HA HA!!! Take that MR ICE CREAM MAN!!!

Yeah, I think they went shopping the moment we were out of view of the house.

THIS TIME?

I bought the damn ice cream for them. I’m not saying squat. Spoil at will grandparents…. I’ll deal with the fall out later.

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Onto a different topic, what is it about kids bathrooms that makes them smell like pee a day after I clean it? I know my kids aren’t the best for flushing, and I don’t think that they’re missing the large hole where their butts go, but I’m starting to wonder if the seal is leaking below the toilet? The thing is that the smell goes away when I clean the bathroom. I even throw the mats in the wash a few times a week, and yet, still stinky. Ideas?

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Six days and counting till I get to see Glen! YAY!

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I sent Glen an e-mail over some concerns that I had with the support that has been severely lacking at the local MFRC, he passed it along to his Major.  Apparently, the e-mail I sent went all the way up the food chain, and back down to the MFRC. I got a call directly from them. I poked the hornets nest. I have a few issues with this. To begin with, it should have remained anonymous. All of the phone calls I received were basically defending the MFRC, boiling it down to budget cuts, misunderstandings and even implying that I should have called them first before expressing concern to my own husband. Um. No. So, I frankly gave them my concerns again on the phone.

It’s not like there is ONE issue, it was multiple issues. Frankly I was concerned more so for other young women at home with kids feeling lost or abandoned by the system. I wasn’t getting warm line calls (to ensure everything was OK and to let me know of happenings), I wasn’t getting their newsletters, their respite care has been cut in half (due to high demand and staff issues), casual child care is also having employee issues, so all of this has impacted me one way or another.  If this has been happening to me, what is going on with young moms/wives with no experince as military furniture?

Apparently they canceled a special night out featuring manicures and chair massages (along with free childcare). I told the woman I would have been all over that in a heartbeat, and am ALWAYS looking for their events in the paper, cause REALLY who couldn’t use that??  The event was canceled due to lack of interest. I told her it sure as hell wasn’t because of lack of interest, but lack of communicating that event.

Another general irritation is that they offer these free movie passes, which are awesome. Except that they are only for Wednesday nights at 8pm showings. My kids go to bed at 7:30 and they only play kids movies on the weekends. When they called, they informed me that they did indeed have some respite dates on Wednesdays from 5-9pm, so I could use their free child care to go see a movie!

Um, does no one think these things through? So, I can enjoy the first 45 minutes of the actual movie before I have to go pick up my kids, who are now overtired and are all bouncy and won’t settle down to go to bed so they can go to school the next day?

THIS is the stupid shit I put up with.