Quick Breakfast Ideas for The Kids

Well, for us, school has not started yet, but will in less than a week. I don't know about you, but I AM ALWAYS pressed for time in the mornings AND I don't even work outside of the home. I actually work from home and I'M STILL pressed for time getting the kiddos out the door in time for school. The make matters EVEN more difficult this year, Blakey will now be in school too. Whoa!!! Seriously, I live about 2 minutes away from the school and I barely make it to drop my kids off at school. We are soooooo pressed for time that I don't even have the little ones take the bus in the morning, 'cause we are not ready by the time the bus comes. I can't even say "well....get up earlier." I already get up at 3 o'clock in the morning to work, so that's out the window. So, now, I just accept the fact that it is just crazy around here in the mornings, but from looking around and doing some reading, I am coming to the conclusion that we are not the only ones who are pressed for time in the morning.

So, my oldest usually gets breakfast for all three of my kiddos, but I like to try to have easy, "healthy" options available as he is doing me a favor. I don't know about you, but there are times I just get stuck in a rut or just plain run out of ideas. Well........I was doing a little blog hopping this morning and went over to see what Money Saving Mom was up to and I found this GREAT post. She asked her readers what they prepare for "quick and easy" recipes and they have many ideas and most of them are "healthified" too! Go check it out when you get a moment. I think you may come across an idea or two.

Thanks Money Saving Mom!

Cheryl

FYI....

I am REALLY tired today. I have been fighting off "the sickness" and eating very BAD. So, I'm not sure how much I am going to get posted today. It does not seem that there is too much out there this morning, as far as deals go. So, my kiddos and I are all sick.

I didn't share with you earlier in the week that I had to make an unexpected and urgent trip to one of the local urgent care centers with my little Blakey. That poor boy is just not doing too hot this holiday season, with his broken collar bone and now a double ear infection. He got himself two ear infections and was in quite a bit of pain and SUDDENLY. For some reason, I NEVER know when my two little ones have an ear infection as they NEVER complain about pain. We usually find out for some other reason, but of course the only time EVER that I am without a vehicle (we loaned it out for the day) he tells me his ear hurts. Really?! The ONLY day ever we don't have a vehicle?! Well, with nobody home (mom, husband, other family) I called my hubby to see what he thought we should do and he came home early. So, he gets out of the van and we (Blakey and I) get in and head out. We go to the urgent care with over an hour wait to be seen. :(  We must, we must wait our turn. Well, he is crying because he is in soooooo much pain. Well, it's finally our turn and we go back only to discover that he has one "really bad" ear infection and the other one is infected too. Well, with some of my training I know that there is also an ear drop that they can give you to numb the pain in the ear. I'm sure some of you moms know that too. Anyway, if you aren't aware of it, it is called Auralgan.

So, the doc says that he is going to prescribe an antibiotic. Okay, so then I ask for Auralgan too. He says, "sure, I can get you that too." Okay, so now I go drop Blakey off at home because I know I will be a while at the store, since they always tell me that my faxed prescribed JUST got there whenever I go to pick it up, so I have to wait 20 minutes or so. I wanted him to be comfortable, so I took him home.

So, I go and pick up the prescription and the guy says, "okay, thank you. Have a good day." I say, "okay, thanks. Oh, are there TWO prescriptions in there?" He says, "ummmm, no. The only one in there is the antibiotic." What?! Are you (I'm sorry) FREAKIN' kidding me?! NO, I don't say that. This is just what I am thinking. He WASN'T EVEN going to tell me! I say, "well.....I was supposed to get two. I needed the antibiotic AND the Auralgan."  "Oh, the Auralgan has to be special ordered, because we don't carry it in the store. So, it will be in tomorrow." Oh, no no no no! I don't think so!" Okay, this is just me thinking to myself, again. I am not normally a persistent person unless it has to do with my kiddos or coupons. It is my alter ego. ;) Do you have one? Anyway, I say "well, does another one of your stores have it in town? I will drive to get it, if I have to." "Ummm, no, we all get it from the same place, so I'm sure nobody else has it. It will have wait until tomorrow." I say, "is there a substitution or something else I can give him? He is in pain now and needs something NOW. I can give him Tylenol, but that is not going to help now. He is in pain today." So, he tells me to "wait a minute." Okay, sure. He comes back and says "well, we are going to call the doctor and see what he has to say. You know, it might take awhile?" I say, "that's okay I'll wait. If I have to, I'll call the doctor myself, just give me the word." So, I go back and look around for a little while. After a while, I go back and see what they have come up with. Now, I'm dealing with someone else, but low and behold I am getting ear drops! Yes, they are the generic version, but I don't care, they are going to numb his aching little ear. Now, I am very happy we got something for his ear, but I am a bit irritated at the service I got. Really, they had the generic version and were not EVEN going to tell me. I know that there are rules and regulations as far as this goes, but really they were going to send me away without EVEN telling me that everything that I was expecting to get wasn't even in the bag and then just tell me that they will not have the prescription in until the next day.

I have many many issues with this, but unfortunately I seem to experience this awful customer service more and more these days.

I keep thinking to myself, "what if I was just a "normal" person and had NO medical training?" I'm thinking I would have said "oh, okay and just had Blakey be in pain all night." I dunno.

My whole point here is that doctors and pharmacy staff are people just like us. Yes, they have little more (okay, a lot more) training than the rest of us, but they are people too. I know that most of us tend to think that what the doctor/pharmacy people say is golden and MOST of the time it is, but my point here is that YOU are your own advocate. If you don't agree with something, YOU must speak your mind. If you question something, YOU must speak your mind. Are you too shy/embarrassed to ask questions or "question" them? DON'T BE. They deal with soooooo many "odd" questions, behaviors, personalities, etc. I guarantee you that they have dealt with and seen it all. You have no idea. ;)

Anyway, this post wasn't supposed to be a very long post, but apparently I wanted to share my story with you all. I really really really also want to express to you that REALLY you are your own advocate when it comes to you and/or your family's health care.

Just so you know, when I deal with customer service, like I have said before, I try really really hard to kill them with kindness. So, I wasn't rude. Being rude really isn't going to get you anywhere, but I did stick to it.

I hope this helps you in the future.

Have a great day and if you are in the Spokane area please be safe out there. I'm hearing it is pretty crazy driving weather.

Cheryl

New Addition To Our Family

I am very happy to announce that we are expecting a little one. Yes, we are expecting a girl. Her name is Sadie. I have been very very busy lately trying to get ready for her arrival, as I am not used to having such a little one around the house again. Oh, having to deal with "potty" AGAIN! We have been out of that stage for a while now. My husband and I have had a lot of heart-to-hearts about bringing another one into our family and we think that we (as the adults and parents in this family) and we as a family (our kids too) are ready to make the move. So, we were really excited because we have been waiting to bring Sadie home and TODAY was supposed to be the day, but now we can get her until tomorrow. So, because we are soooooo excited and I have wanted to share with you all all week and have not been able to, as our kids did not know yet either, I want to show you a picture. Now, it is not the greatest picture, but you will get my drift.

Yes, she is behind bars. We were not able to bring her home yet becaused she needs to be spayed before she comes home. She is getting spayed tomorrow. She is about 8 yrs old and she is a Yorkie. We are rescuing her from one of the local shelters. We actually had our eye on her on Saturday, but had to wait until today as she needed to be on hold for 72 hours in case her previous owners wanted to reclaim her, so it has been a really hard and long week for my husband and I. Having to keep this from our kids was REALLY hard. We just did not know if we were REALLY going to get her. Were her previous owners going to reclaim her? Were they going to say that she was not adoptable? Was she going to be good with kids? I tell you, I was soooooo nervous today when I was on my way there, I almost turned around and came home. I didn't want to have my heart broken. I have been so sad for her all week long, knowing that she was there in the shelter and there was absolutely NOTHING that we could do until the 72 hours were up. They said be there between 12-noon and 2 pm to claim her if you want here, let me tell you WE WERE THERE RIGHT AT NOON! Then, we found out that we could not take her home quite yet. So, we were a bit bummed, but we definitely understand. So, when she goes to the vet tomorrow she will actually get groomed too, which will be really nice, as my little Blakey says that she does not have any eyes. :) Yes, he was the only one that got to meet her today. So, we let him break the news to his brother and sister. All of the kids are SOOOOOOO excited and VERY VERY emotional about it. Emotional good, not emotional bad. We did some tears of joy out of those two. Very, very sweet.

Anyway, I just thought I would share with you all of what has been going on.

By the way, we were just at Walmart on Broadway tonight looking for some "doggie" stuff and found that those Ceasar treats (doggie treats) are priced at $2.98. There is a coupon in 10/3 RP for $2/1. We paid $0.98 for some (I guess) yummy and expensive treats!

Thanks!

Cheryl