Believe it or Not

I was excited when I first heard heard about the Implanon birth control implant.  It seemed like a perfect fit for me.  I got the implant, and I was very happy with it.  Earlier this year, it was time to get a new implant put in.  That's when the trouble started...

They could not find the implant! Four people searched for it.  I was asked if I had been messing with it.  I hadn't.  The only thing I was guilty of was taking the damn thing for granted.  I used to check for it every day when I first got it, but after a while, I became complacent and forgot about it.

I was told that they could not put a new one in without pulling the old one out.  Then I was told that there was no way to find this thing using an xray because the first generation of the implant has no radiographic capability.  I was told that Implanon representatives recommended using an ultrasound to find it, but that the machine would have to function at a minimum of 15 gigahertz to pick it up.

So here I find myself in the waiting room of Scott & White Hospital here in lovely Temple, Texas.  Metroplex and Fort Hood don't have the imaging capabilities needed.  I'm wearing a hospital gown and jeans.  At least my toenails look nice!

Surrounded by pregnant women who are staring at me in puzzlement, I'm called to the exam room.  Long story short, the tech couldn't find my implant either...back to the drawing board!

Bullying

My oldest son was talking about his seventh grade freind today, and he told me he feels very badly for the kid because he is always getting bullied. He says his friend told him that bullies even broke his legs. I asked if his friend had told the teachers and his parents about the bullying. My son says the teachers haven't really done much in the way of a response. This frightens me, especially with so many tragic stories in the media of kids committing suicide because they could no longer cope with being tormented. I try to have conversations with my kids about bullying frequently, and I always tell them that sometimes people will not like you no matter what you do, and that meaans that the problem is them and not you. I also encourage them to talk to their teachers, and to me if they have any problems. I feel bad that as a parent, that seems to be all we can do as a society. our kids deserve better.

Whew!

I am so happy the weekend is over.  Have you ever had a weekend go so awfully wrong that you wonder what was the point of getting out of bed in the morning? For me, it happened this weekend. 

By now, everyone has heard of the crazy ants that are invading Texas.  My house has been overrun.  I'm not sure if this is the species that has invaded, but wanting to take no chances, I called an exterminator.  This is after spraying myself and not finding their point of entry.

I discovered one of my bathroom cleaner killed them on contact.  Extermination and housecleaning in one fell swoop...multitasking rocks!
Regrettably, my cat's food bowl did not survive the onslaught, so it was given a distinguished funeral; its final resting place, a ninety-six gallon trash can. 

I decided to dedicate Friday night to my latest Dragon Age 2 runthrough.  Unfortunately, gaming nirvana was unattainable to me, given that the monster crack that appeared in the bathroom linoleum had expanded to rival the San Andreas fault line. 

Damn! I pulled out my phone book and searched for a handyman.  I looked for licensed and bonded and in my area in the phone book.

Josh from Phoenix Renovations came to my rescue; we agreed on a price and he started work the next day.  He was incredibly efficient and he and his assistant cleaned up all the mess from their work.  They are grouting the floor today.

My next major issue was that the stove has been malfunctioning for a while.  Usually, resetting the circuit breaker and jiggling the cord works.  Not on Friday.  When I went to jiggle the cord, it shocked me.  I stopped shaking and went to the fuse box and cut the power to the range. 

Armed again with my phonebook, I called Mr. Electric.  The receptionist said having someone come out on an emergency call would be prohibitively expensive.  Enter Mike Harris, who called me and gave me his price and said he'd be at my house in an hour.  The guy is my hero.  Ten minutes after he got here, he found the problem: a loose wire connected to a stripped screw on the control panel of the stove. 

Later Friday night, T calls to inform me he had been pulled over for having a broken brake light.  My heart sank, as I wondered how much this repair was going to cost.  T said he checked the fuses and bulbs and couldn't figure out why the light was not working.

He told me his only options for repair are Pep Boys and Midas, both companies we have had bad experiences with in the past.  By this time, the potential cost has me panicked.

He said Pep Boys would charge us fifty dollars to start looking for the problem, but that they said that if it was electrical in nature, that charge could increase exponentially.

This is why I am so happy this weekend is behind me!