Confessions of an Obsessive Compulsive

I'm pretty sure that I have a few OCD tendencies. Why else would I do the things that I do? For instance, up until last week, I had saved every. single. receipt. since Adam and I have been married. I had them tucked into envelopes, organized by month, hiding in my file cabinet. Literally 49 envelopes of receipts. I mean, that's sick! Who does that? Last week, I finally had enough of myself and started shredding 2006 and 2007's receipts. After all, who needs to keep receipts from three years ago? I'll keep two years worth, but anything over that, forget it! But I've got to tell you, shredding is such a pain, because the paper bin isn't big enough and constantly needs emptying. You have to stop shredding every three or four envelopes to dump the shreds. Ugh. What is wrong with me?!?

Our New Puppy

We had a new dog at our house today. He was very cute and didn't bark too much. He lapped at Molly's food dishes, went for a walk (which made Molly wildly jealous because I used her leash), and even did tricks! After he rolled over for me, I patted his head and gave him a goodie. Which he promptly took a bite out of. "Good dog!" I said and then I started to feel badly about letting my small boy eat food meant for dogs. So I gave him a granola bar instead, and Molly got the rest of the goodie.

It's All About The Eyes

I always thought eyes were a pretty important thing to take care of. Apparently, my Pediatricians office didn't feel the same way. Sunday, after church, I noticed Joshua's eyes were oozing with green discharge and very pussy. Every time I would wipe the puss out of his eyes, there would be more within minutes. After his nap, his eyes were so gross. I knew it was pinkeye, but I hadn't ever seen pinkeye that gross before. I determined that I would call the Dr. right away on Monday. Monday, when Josh woke up, his eye lids were beat red and swollen to a size near to that of golf balls. There wasn't near the amount of puss, but any Mother in her right mind would want to take her kid to the Doctor. That's what I thought anyway. When I called the Pediatricians office and told them I thought my son had pinkeye, I was told that they didn't typically see kids with pinkeye and was given a nurse to talk to.The nurse explained that pinkeye was a virus and that I just needed to use hot compresses on his eyes and wait it out. She didn't ask me why I thought it was pinkeye or what his eyes looked, she simply insisted that it was just a virus and I had to wait it out. I told her I worked at a daycare and my employer wouldn't want my son there and would send us home until he had been medicated for 24 hours. The nurse then made it sound like my employer was very unknowledgeable, because it's again "just a virus". Well, I got off the phone and I was quite ticked. I felt feisty and frustrated. I wanted someone to see my son and his doctor's office refused. They had blown off the concerned Mother without asking any questions about his condition. After talking with my own Mother, who echoed my concern about not only Josh's eyes, but also how the nurse neglected to ask any questions detailing his symptoms, I called our neighboring town's medical office. It turns out that they were accepting patients and Josh was able to be seen that afternoon. He was given a prescription for antibiotics and we were sent home feeling much reassured after having seen a professional and having some medicine.

Perhaps I acted too rashly, but I sincerely belive that if a Mother is very concerned about her child and wants him to be seen by his Doctor, that the Doctor should be at least willing to see the child. My sibling's current pediatrician has been quoted saying that a doctor is partly there to reassure the concerned parent. Well, I hadn't been very reassured Monday morning and felt unassured enough to transfer my child to a new doctor. It wasn't that I hadn't thought about it before, since I had. Joshua's original Pediatrician retired last year and was replaced with a young woman who was fresh out of medical school. I had originally wanted someone who was experienced and perhaps a parent themselves (being more likely to sympathize with another parent). Not that a younger doctor is unable to do a good job, but this incident pushed me enough to find someone more experienced and it just so happens that I had wanted Joshua's new doctor to be his Pediatrician when he was born, but she wasn't accepting patients then. So I guess, it all worked out... I still feel a bit badly.

Snow, snow, snow, Snow!

It snowed all day. It snowed all night. The snow came up to our windows and covered the cars. It was a snowy wonderland. We wondered at that snow. We wondered how long it would take to shovel. We wondered when it would stop. That snow was just wonderful.Josh bundled up nice and warm for his first Polar Expedition.

This was as far as we could open the front door (without a struggle) on Sunday morning.

Heaps and heaps and mounds and mounds.
Josh helped his Daddy shovel the driveway. He was a good little Eskimo.
Lots of snow fell on Uncle Joe's car. Poor Uncle Joe.

Dreaming...

I am finishing off last nights' left over cheesecake. I'm pretty sure I have eaten enough desserts in the past two weeks to last all year. And now I feel pretty gross. Actually, I feel disgusting. I eat more sugar than anything else this time of year. What I really need to do is bust into the spinach greens I bought today at Wegmans, sprinkle grape tomatoes over them, along with red onion and feta cheese and drizzle the whole thing with balsamic vinaigrette. Except I left my vinaigrette at Mom and Dad's house on Christmas... Can I have that back please? Ah... Healthy food. It is so much easier to eat healthy in the summer, when the garden is bursting with cucumbers, snow peas, beans and tomatoes. Josh and I would regularly wander out into the garden this summer, pick a ripe cucumber and eat it together, sitting on our back steps, the sun warming our arms and legs. At this moment, the picture painted in my mind is a far distant memory. On the other side of my bedroom window, the wind is whipping snow wildly about, gathering it into drifts and filling every nook and cranny. The garden is a forgotten dream, lying buried in the snow. I trekked though the drifts this evening to find our compost pile. The snow must be at least two feet in spots. The forecast only calls for more snow. I find the whole prospect of more snow to be rather exciting... Maybe because I don't have to shovel it or maybe because I have a nice warm house. You can guarantee that I won't be leaving the house wearing my flats tomorrow. I will have my furry boots pulled up to my knees and a hat over my ears. The drive to church will be a slow one. But, what else can we expect on a January day in New York?