Diaries I Read:
I think my doctor and my prescription service provider are conspiring to get me pregnant.
Every single time I need a refill on my birth control pills it�s a fiasco. The insurance company won�t pay for them because I picked them up at the pharmacy instead of ordering them through the mail. The prescription company won�t fill the prescription because they need a �diagnosis� from the doctor explaining why I need the medication (Hello?). The doctor won�t call in the prescription to the mail-order service because they can�t OK a three-month supply over the phone.
This time around, I asked my doctor to call in a prescription to the mail order service about two weeks ago. They agreed. It generally takes seven to 10 days to get the medication (which is a pain in the butt because it means you really have to stay on the ball and order well in advance), so I was expecting to get it this week. Today I called to find out the status of my prescription, and after 15 minutes on hold I was told that they have no record of a refill being ordered. AGH!
So then I have to call the doctor back (and they say they DID place the order, but that doesn�t matter now because it�s too late, I need the pills on Monday) and have them call in a prescription to the regular pharmacy. And when I go there, I�m gonna have to pay full price because my insurance won�t cover it if I don�t ORDER IT THROUGH THE MAIL-ORDER SYSTEM!!!
I know this is probably boring to you but, as you can tell, I�m very frustrated and I just needed to vent.
I really do think someone�s trying to sabotage my reproductive plans. I really do. Of course, any attempts of sabotage won�t be very successful with B traveling all the time the way he has been. If you know what I mean, wink wink.
And then I think, well, if I�m planning on going off the pill anyway, why not just stop now, when I don�t have the pills to take? Believe me, I�ve considered that (and I�m still considering it). But I just thought the smartest thing to do would be to wait until after I�ve seen my doctor and discussed it with her and seen my allergist again in a couple of weeks to make sure the asthma situation is squared away and everything. So I guess I�ll just bite the bullet and go pay at the pharmacy. HMMPH!
Yesterday I mentioned my neighbor telling me that Dixie has been barking all day long. Or, as she put it, �barking hysterically for hours at a time.� It wasn�t fun to hear, but I was glad that she told me because who knows how many other neighbors are annoyed, and how am I supposed to know what she�s doing when WE�RE NOT HOME?
B blew off the comment, saying that he thought the neighbor was exaggerating. I think she probably is too, a little bit, but she�s not just making it up out of the blud. I believe that Dixie probably does bark when we�re gone all day. She�s not used to being alone for so long.
So I went to the pet store and examined my options: electronic shock bark collar (NO WAY am I putting that on my dog), citronella bark collar (sprays a mist of citronella at their snout when they bark), and a sonic system (emits a high-pitched noise when they bark that only dogs can hear). As I said, the shock collar was out of the question. I would have tried the citronella thing, but it was over $100. So I went with the sonic thing, which was $30 and sounded like a pretty cool idea.
It�s just this little box that takes a battery, and when the dog barks within a certain range it emits this noise that apparently they don�t like. I tried it by pushing the button. I could barely hear a thing, but it definitely got Dixie�s attention. I put it in the backyard and she barked once, then started kind of darting around like she was trying to find out where the noise had come from. She didn�t bark again.
My neighbor Liz (Lacy�s mom) said she took Lacy for a walk on the sidewalk that�s clearly visible from our backyard below. Usually Dixie goes crazy when anyone walks by on that sidewalk, but when it�s her best friend Lacy she really goes nuts. According to Liz, yesterday Dixie didn�t make a peep when they walked by.
I actually feel a little bit bad about it. I don�t know how irritating the sound is to Dixie. But I guess that�s the only way it will work. And if it worked with this very simple solution, then that�s wonderful. My family lived next to a dog that barked constantly, all the time, day and night, so I know what it�s like. And I won�t be *that neighbor.*
OK, tell me if you think this sounds like it�s on the up and up.
It�s September, that time of year when every school-aged kid is selling candy bars, wrapping paper, and frozen cookie dough, and every parent of said school-aged kid is hauling the order forms to work and hitting up their colleagues for orders.
You get called into HR and you�re told that the company president�s kids are selling whatever crap for their schools. And would you like to place an order please?
What do you do when the head of HR shoves an order form in your face and says the president asked her to have employees order stuff to benefit his kids� schools? Of course, you choose whatever crap appears least crappy and fill out your order form. You write out a check and you�re told that that�s good for a nice bonus.
What the�?
Now, this didn�t happen to me. I�m just saying. Ethical? Legal? Hmmm.
The fantastic news of the day is that I lost nearly five pounds this week! Four point eight, to be exact. Well, I deserve it, if I do say so myself. I ran 8 miles on Saturday, 6.5 on Sunday, 5.3 on Tuesday, 6.5 on Wednesday, and 6.5 on Thursday, and I didn�t go over my 20 WW points and I didn�t even give myself the activity points I�d earned through all my running. So gosh darnit I�d better lose weight!!! Don�t be too alarmed that I dropped nearly five pounds in a week. WW Online was alarmed � after I entered my weight, a little screen popped up telling me that they were concerned I was losing weight too rapidly and I must try to keep it to two pounds a week. Whatever. I don�t really consider it five pounds, because last week I managed to gain a whopping three pounds. (Remember my experiment to see if eating everything under the sun would affect me? Guess what, it did.) So if you don�t count those three pounds, which never should have been there in the first place, I only lost two pounds, which WW recommends. So ha!
I think that loneliness might be the worst of human conditions. Man, I had some really, really lonely times. Those were the times I got depressed. But it�s been a long time since I�ve felt lonely. Three and a half years, to be exact. I haven�t felt lonely since I met B.
(Thank you, God.)
But yesterday I felt lonely. B has been gone nearly all week. My parents are in Florida. And I was driving home and couldn�t get ahold of B on the phone and it was too late to call my parents and this feeling just washed over me. It took a moment for me to recognize it, but there it was, that old familiar feeling of loneliness.
Of course, I think my emotions are heightened this week because it�s *that time.* I always seem to feel my feelings even more around this special time of the month. I even got a little weepy night before last when saying goodnight to B over the phone.
Anyway, loneliness. It sucks. It really does.
I�ve got a busy weekend ahead of me. Brides to be showered, miles to be run, cupcakes to be baked, baseball games to be attended, business plans to be written, husbands to be � umm � kissed. Should be fun. Have a fantastic weekend!
Working at home - Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004
Toronto - Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004
On the way to Toronto... - Tuesday, Nov. 09, 2004
A Good Day - Monday, Nov. 08, 2004
Another letter - Thursday, Nov. 04, 2004