Oral Torture person…AKA The Dreaded Dentist

I have gone to the dentist several times in the last 3 weeks and today I have come to the realization that I need to go again. Over the last three years I have been working with my dentist to do the extensive repair that my mouth needs. We have worked on it slowly to maximize my available insurance and flex spending accounts. This year I decided to get the final portion done. It entailed drilling out two of my left bottom teeth and prepping them for crowns and a bridge. The cost of this work was $2700. I planned very carefully for this expense. My insurance maxes out at $750, so I planned $2000 for my flex spending account in which the plan year that started in May. This should have covered my total expense as planned. However, nothing ever works out according to plan. After the prep work on my teeth I started to experience a large amount of pain. When I called the dentist she was out for two weeks due to a death in the family, but the assistant told me that it sounded like I was having problems with my bite and she sent me to the covering dentist. I went for my appointment and she adjusted my bite and I had some reduced pain but I was still experiencing pain in my back tooth. I went back to my regular dentist when she returned and she determined that I needed a root canal in my back tooth so she sent me to the oral surgeon. The oral surgeon gave me a root canal last Monday. When I was there he looked at both teeth and he thought my major problem was with the back tooth but to keep watch of the front tooth and to not get my permanent crown if I was still experiencing pain. Well, I still have pain and I came out of denial this morning and decided to make another appointment with the oral surgeon. The cost of each root canal is $1089…so not I am going to have an additional out of pocket expense of $2178. I tried to plan so carefully…why can’t things go as planned. I think that I am more upset about the money for the dentist than I am about the procedure.

India Part V

Monday May 12th 2008

This will be my final entry of my trip to India and Dubai. We took an overnight plane to Dubai and arrived in the early morning, about 7am. We were picked up by the hotel van and taken to the hotel so we could check in. There was some confusion with the front desk and our rooms were not ready as requested so we went upstairs to the breakfast to wait. The hotel staff was not going to let us eat breakfast that morning but Steve convinced them that they should provide the food while we waited. We were supposed to go on a tour of the city after breakfast but again there was some confusion with the tour company and it was not ready. When we were finally allowed up to our rooms Gretchen and I passed out in our beds until 1 pm. We had to get up and get ready to go on a business visit to the Dubai International Finance Center. Since we stayed in bed all morning we had no time to procure lunch but our great friend N came to our rescue with a bag of French fires for us to eat while we were getting dressed. This part of the trip was the most disorganized of the entire adventure. However, traveling in such foreign countries I had to expect some problems.

We arrived in the business center and it was incredible.

There were tons of skyscrapers and so many buildings that were under construction. I had never seen anything like that before. I couldn’t imagine downtown Indianapolis having so much construction at once. We had a business meeting with two people, the first guy was a professor and he would be in a similar position as Ben Bernanke in the US. He gave us a slideshow of information on the UAE and several statics about their country. One interesting thing he said was that 90% of the Dubai population are immigrants. It made me think of the US 200-300 years ago and immigration was the foundation of our society and here is Dubai creating its own melting pot. They do have a long way to go in the area of social issues but it is a place to go if you need a job.

After our meeting we went on a city tour and it was customized to where we wanted to go and to the things we wanted to see. They took us to the Harley Davidson shop where a few people purchased gifts for their friends and family. We also stopped by The Hard Rock Café. They took us out on one of the Palm islands and which is still under construction. I had read so much about them prior to going on this trip it was one of the things that I defiantly wanted to see. There were several apartment buildings and hotels in the midst of construction as well as some finished buildings. The tree portion of the palm was the bridge to the island. We drove by all the rich people’s houses on the beach as well as the Sheiks family residence. As a side note there were billboards on the side of the road with pictures of the Sheik and of his sons. I just couldn’t imagine a billboard with a picture of Bush as I was driving on 69. The bus took us to a local beach were we could see the ocean and see the 7 star hotel shaped like a sail boat. The beach was beautiful and clean, I was disappointed that I was in my dress cloths because I would have liked to go farther into the water. Next, the bus stopped by a Muslim mosque and we could take photos. They had speakers outside playing Muslim music. That was different.

By this time of the day I was exhausted and starving. Kathy had arranged a special dinner for us and made it a surprise. There was a river cruise that had a buffet dinner and live music. We got there and it looked cool. One person from the group got nauseous and motion sick from the boat rocking so she decided to get off and go back to the hotel. About five minutes after she left N told me that he was feeling sick and he wanted to go back to the hotel. I was completely exhausted myself so I guess I was feeling a bit selfish, but I told him that if I had to stay then he did too. He did stay and was miserable the entire evening. I guess misery loves company. I did feel a bit guilty the next day.

Tuesday May 13th 2008

This was our free day in Dubai so we could do what ever we wanted. I felt that I needed to pack in as much as I could, so we had the whole day planned out. We got up early and walked to an area bakery for some lovely dessert for breakfast. I had a piece of cake and some type of pastry with a Diet Coke. I tasted heavenly. We met up with the other members of our group and headed over to the market shopping area to buy some souvenirs. I had great fun bargaining and trying to get a good deal. I bought several things here including a hookah pipe. This is a traditional eastern pipe used to smoke tobacco. I thought it would be a fun decoration for my living room.

There were five of us in the group and we decided to take a cab to the mall to try out the indoor ski resort. They have a local law that you can only have a total of 5 people in a cab (including the drive) and we had 5 people in our group. We had to bargain and convince the driver to break the law to let us all ride together. We had one person in the back lay over the other people’s laps so she couldn’t be seen from the street. They also had a law that the front passenger must wear a seatbelt. We arrived at the mall in time to take a 12:30 ski board class. It cost $40 for a one hour lesson and the rental of the clothing and board. We each got a coat, ski pants, and boots to wear. My ski pants didn’t fit and I was so embarrassed. I went into the dressing room to try them without my regular pants but they were still too tight. While I was in the dressing room I saw several Muslim women in burka's putting on their ski attire under their long dresses. I could hardly ski in regular clothing, I couldn’t imagine skiing in a cumbersome burka. After we were all dressed we took our class and it was hilarious. You had to try to walk with one foot clamped to the board and drag it along behind you. I assure you it was very awkward. The next step to our training was to hobble up the tiny hill five feet and try to ski down. The instructor would hold you up and let you get prepared and then she would let you go and you would try to slide down the five feet. I not at all graceful and I had a very quick fall onto my side and but. Then I had an incredible fit of laughter which made it all the harder to get back up. We did this a few more times and I was only able to stay up once, but I was so proud of myself. Our next obstacle was to get to the top of the mini hill and then snow board down. There was this conveyor belt that you stepped onto that took you to the top. Since I am so clumsy I decided to take off my board and just hold it while I stood on the conveyor belt. When we got to the top of the small hill we were to sit down in the snow and then she wanted you to stand up and go down the hill doing this weird hopping motion. I thought that this looked crazy and I decided that I didn’t want to get hurt in Dubai and I didn’t partake in this part of the adventure. I went to the bottom of the hill and took photos of my friends.

We got done at 1:30pm and we went to the food court for lunch. We were in a hurry because we had to get back to the hotel and get ready for our second adventure of the day at 3pm. We were not able to convince another cab driver to break the law so we had to take two cabs back to the hotel. I took the second shower of my day and got ready for the most exciting part of my trip. We went on a dessert safari. We had these big Jeeps pick ups up and they had three rows of seats and there were roll bars on the ceiling. Two minutes after we left the air conditioning in the jeep stopped working and it was only 110 degrees out. It took about 45 minutes to drive out to the dessert and it worked intermediately through out the ride. The driver took us to the city mansion of the Sheik and in the side yard there were several peacocks with their wonderful feathers fully extended. We had a 30 minute stop at this place you could rent quad bikes and drive them around the sand dunes. I decided to rent one and it was great fun. There weren’t any rules except to stay in this large fenced area and you could drive as fast and crazy as you wanted. If you went up a large hill you could find yourself on the edge of a steep drop to the desert at the bottom of the hill. The steep hills scared me so I tried to stay away from them. We got to drive around for about 20 minutes and I had a great time. I think that there was three of who rented the bikes. I don’t have a photo of this so if anyone has a photo me on the bike I would love a copy ;)

The next adventure was even better. We got back into the Jeeps and our driver took us out for some crazy off road adventure. We would climb to the top of the hill in the jeep and the take a sharp turn off the side of the hill and slide down. It was like we were a child’s tanka truck. He would drive real fast and then make sharp turns and the sand would fly everywhere. It was the ultimate guy’s adventure. I loved it the entire time. The first time we went down a hill I had to close my eyes I was so scared. But then I got used it and came to anticipate the adelrine. This was certainly a very unique experience. I don’t think that you could ever do something like that in the US with all of the laws and lawsuits.

Check out me on the Camel.
After the fabulous jeep ride they took us to this dessert camp where they had a BBQ buffet dinner for us. They had free henna tattoos and a show after dinner. I got a temporary tattoo on my leg and within two minutes I had it covered in sand. But it was fun. The tables were low to the ground and you sat on pillows on the sand to eat. After dinner they had a belly dancing show that also included a man doing tricks with a large multicolored cape. The cape dance was a bit cheesy. After this was all done we went back to the hotel and I had my third shower of the day. A few of my friends decided to go to the beach for a midnight swim but I really needed to sleep since I never sleep on the plane.

The next morning we had to leave the hotel at 6am to come home. After we checked in at the airport we all pigged out on McDonalds and Dairy Queen Blizzards for a decadent breakfast. The plane ride home was extremely long and uncomfortable. The people who sat next to and behind me were in great need of a bath and deodorant. I am so glad that I had this wonderful opportunity to travel to Asia and see go to these business meetings that I would never have the opportunity to due on my own.

Weekly Adventure

1st Adventure

I am fairly technically savvy and most people at work on my floor come to me for miscellaneous word, excel and outlook questions, but I had a very dumb moment this week. I received an email from one on our corporate officers giving us instructions to change our email signature to become uniform throughout the company. One of the specific instructions was to change our font to become 8 point. I went in there three times and I would change the field and save it but when I would start a new email it would become 10 again. I just couldn’t understand what was wrong. A few hours later B comes over to my desk to have a conversation in regards to the new changes. We were laughing over the absurdity of the entire thing when I explained to him my problem. You must understand that B is an older gentleman and he does OK on his PC but one wouldn’t consider him an expert. He asked me to open it up and look at it while I was making the change to see if he could help me figure it out. I never imagined that he would come up with the answer but I humored him. After I did it once and it didn’t work he asked me to open it again and he said, “Did you highlight the text?”. I felt so stupid. How could I not remember to highlight the text in order to change it’s appearance. I do it all of the time. We had a very good laugh over the whole thing.

2nd Adventure

Last night I arrived home late in the evening bout 9:15pm and I hadn’t had dinner yet. I was talking on the phone so I did some chores while I was talking and I didn’t finish up until 10pm. I was starving at that point but I had some leftover home made mac and cheese that I made on Wednesday night. I heated it up and sat down to watch Project Runway and enjoy my dinner. I had ate about ¾ of my portion when I noticed something in my mouth that didn’t feel like food. I pulled it out and I was very shocked to find a 1 inch piece of glass. I couldn’t think of where it came from. I just sat there wondering what to do. I was still hungry and it was so late, so I rationalized putting the glass aside and finishing my meal…I just thought that I had already consumed so much finishing wouldn’t matter. What is wrong with me…Why would I do that? Why wouldn’t I just through it away and be done eating. I must have been crazy last night. I also cannot figure out where the glass came from. Nothing has broken in my kitchen in quite some time. I used a new package of macaroni, a new package of cheese and milk. But I used some flower from a container on my counter. So I think that it either came from the macaroni or the flower. Weird!

India Part IV

Friday May 9th 2008

This was the never-ending day. We left our hotel at about 9:30 am and took our van to Agra which is where the Taj Mahal is located. This van ride took us out in the country and through several rural and farming areas. While we were driving, there was a camel with a cart attached to it on the side of the road and our driver stopped so we could take a closer look.
Being the adventurous sort, when I was invited to climb onto the cart and sit in it I did. It was very funny trying to get up there. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for this to be my major mode of transportation. It was very nice of the locals to allow us to see it up and close…I think that our tour guide had to tip the guy for letting us take photos and sit in the cart. I have to wonder what they thought of us climbing out of this air conditioned van in our American clothing and wanting to sit on their camel cart. If a foreign person stopped me and wanted to sit in my car I would think that they were crazy and I most likely wouldn’t let them because I would be worried that they would try to steal my car. Of course if this did happen I would never accept a tip…this is a very large cultural difference. After we had been traveling for three hours we stopped at a McDonalds for lunch. I ordered a fish sandwich combo meal and I got an ice cream cone for dessert. The ice cream cone cost me $.25 it was amazing how cheap it was. The didn’t offer any beef products, just chicken, fish and vegetarian dishes. They had a veggie surprise burger and a pizza pocket dish…they both looked very disgusting to me. As we were leaving Gretchen was talking to an employee behind the counter and he offered to give her a tour of the kitchen. She was not allowed to photograph anything but it was interesting. They told her that most of the meat and produce was imported from Australia and New Zealand. They have a special water filter system that takes their regular water through a cleaning process to make it healthy for anyone to drink. She said it was very similar to what you would find in the US kitchen and everything was very clean and organized.

We got back in our van for the remaining portion of our LONG trip and I began to get sick. I normally don’t get car sick or nauseated but this trip did not sit well with my body. One of my friends gave me some of this anti-nausea medicine that worked wonders…I was very happy to have this medicine. We drove through the country and seen several farms at one point we got off of the main road and I think that the driver got lost in this little community and we had to turn around several times. Our next destination was Fatehpur Sikri this is an old fort from the 1500’s that is about 26 miles from Agra. It was nice to get a sense of the Indian history and to see how some of their ancestors lived…and just because I LOVE to see old castles. We saw the Kings and Queens chambers as well as chambers for his concubines.


This was a local couple we saw.There was also a large chess board in the middle of the open square that was used with human players. I remember that it was extremely hot this day and the sweat was pouring off of me. After we were done here we drove to Agra and visited another heritage site, The Red Fort. The Red Fort is a grouping of Mughal buildings and was built in the 1500’s. I was fairly sick and very tired by this point of the day that I don’t remember much about this site except that you could see the Taj Mahal in the distance and get photos. After we were done visiting this fort we checked into our hotel in Agra. This was the most beautiful and comfortable hotel of our entire trip. The beds were very soft and the sheets and blankets were very luxurious. We rested for 30 minutes and then we went shopping at a local marble center. This is where you can purchase some of the inlaid marble pieces that are similar to the designs of the Taj Mahal. There wasn’t much to the shopping and I didn’t purchase anything…they certainly don’t have the consumerism that was evident in China.

As a side note I had not been sleeping very well on this trip and I was very exhausted at this point. My generous roommate gave me some very nice medicine and 15 minutes after lying down that night I was out until 5:15am the next day. I was so happy to have a full night sleep for a change. It certainly energized me for the next portion of my adventure.

Saturday May 10th 2008

We all met at 5:45 for the short van ride to see the Taj Mahal as the sun was coming up. We had to go through this crazy security center. You couldn’t bring a purse, camera bag or anything in with you. I had to leave everything on the bus and just carry my camera. I guess with such an international monument it is important to have such tight security so there are no terrorist attacks. It was a very beautiful white marble building that is covered with inlaid designs made up of precious and semi-precious stones. It was build between 1631 and 1648 by the Moghal emperor Shah Jahan for his favorite wife. I have to say I am very happy the get the opportunity go see it but it was a little anti-climatic. After all it is just a wonderfully amazing building. After breakfast we all piled back into the van for our second six hour ride that included motion sickness. We were going back to Delhi to have two business meetings.

Our first meeting was with Make My Trip.com. This is the organization that arranged our tour while we were in India and they also run a rather large international travel call center. The area that these call centers were located was a very new section of the city. It wasn’t actually in Delhi but in a suburb. It had a large Americanized mall and many modern tall buildings as well as tall multi-story apartment buildings. The had ordered in Pizza Hut pizza for us for lunch and we were all ravenous by the time that we arrived. The pizza was tasty and very similar to what we have in the US. They also had the iced pulpy orange beverage for us to drink…it was similar to a pulpy OJ. I didn’t especially care for this item. We ate in the employee cafeteria and they had lots of motivational items on the walls…this is a photo of an especially funny one. We then had an hour meeting with their Chief Technical Officer. He talked to us about how business worked in India and some of the challenges facing their organization. He was a native of India but he was educated in the US and he received his MBA in California. So I found his demeanor to be very americanized, the way he held our attention and had the command of authority around him.

This is what their office work area looked like.



After this meeting we went to a second business meeting down the street at IBM outsourcing call center. We were greeted at the door by several people and they had very high security at this company so we were not allowed to bring in any cameras, phones or note pads. There was a women at the door with a basket of flowers who pressed them to our forehead as we entered the building. They also had two fragrant and colorful flower arrangements on the floor as we entered these rooms. I almost stepped into them twice. He gave us a tour of the building it looked like a typical office with cubes; there were not many people there because it was Saturday. The gentlemen gave us a brief overview of their operations and he explained how they have to comply with American business practices while they are in India. An interesting rule that they follow is the practice of hiring people with disabilities. He said that they were specifically looking for a few disabled people to meet their American “quota”.

We arrived back to the hotel late about 7 or 8pm. We were going to meet in 30 minutes to go out to dinner but I felt the need to skip that meal and to pass out in my bed for the evening. I think that I had enough Indian food and being awake.

Sunday May 11th 2008

Even thought we had been in Delhi three times we had never really got any time to see it. This morning we were taken on a City tour and visited Humayun’s Tomb which is a massive 16th century monument to the second Mogul emperor. I don’t remember much about the tomb except that it was a big brick building. When we went up to the tomb portion there who native Indian women who snowed me. They asked me if I wanted to take their photo so I did and then they wanted paid. I don’t think that I was the only one scammed but I should have known better. Gretchen and I did some silly photos there and basically acted Crazy…I don’t have any to show because she hasn’t sent me the copies yet! As we were leaving there were two people who were “mowing” the lawn of the gardens. I say the term mow loosely because the guy was acting crazy. He was not going in straight lines and the item he was using to mow with looked like it was built 200 years ago. The tour leader took us to a small outdoor market next. This is some photos. I didn’t buy much here as it didn’t appeal to me. But, just before we left Steve was talking to this local man who was trying to get us to come to his small shop across the road. I wouldn’t have gone by myself but I felt comfortable going as a group. This man has lots of small tourist type items and he was very unwilling to negotiate. I finally got him to come down on a wooden statue of a camel. I still think that I paid to much but it was still fun. Next, we went to a local area restaurant for lunch and they had some very tasty chicken kabobs. Then we were off to a second shopping area…this time it was a handmade carpet shop. They gave us a 10 minute talk on how the whole community workers on these rugs and sends them to Delhi to sell. They were beautiful but VERY expensive. The cheapest one was about $400 and the one that I liked was about $800, consequently I didn’t purchase anything.

We had the rest of the afternoon and evening off at the hotel. I spent a few hours sitting at the pool reading my book and relaxing. We had to vacate our rooms at midnight to goto the airport for our 4am flight to Dubai.

The next post will be about my adventures in Dubai and it will wrap up my story.

Definition of Failure

I was listening to Glenn Becks radio show today (on my IPOD…so technically it was yesterdays show) and he was talking about what he thought was the definition of failure. He said…Never trying to begin with and being afraid to fail. This thought stuck with me today. I feel that I am successful at most things that I try but I am constantly failing at loosing weight. This seems to be my nemesis. I always try and something happens and I will choose to eat yummy greasy food and derail myself. After this happens I just can’t understand why I am never able to achieve this goal and why do I always fail. So after listening to Glenn’s radio show today it gave me a bit of insight on myself..I am only a failure if I never try. I found this to be a very powerful thought and wrote it down on a sticky next to me. Glenn talked about how Thomas Edison tried over 1000 times to invent the light bulb and like on the 1009 he finally found the one that worked and America all got light. I guess I am going to have to look at the endeavor of loosing weight and getting healthy in this manner. I guess I will find the right way for me on the 1009 time that I try or maybe 1010.

Random Acts of Kindness

I have a friend whose son received the most generous gift yesterday. VM is in his mid 20’s and is married to a woman from Poland. His wife is going back to Poland next month for the wedding of her best friend and to visit her family. He only receives one week of vacation a year so he didn’t ask for the two weeks necessary to go with his wife as well as they couldn’t financially afford for both of them to get tickets to Poland. So VM boss called his wife and asked her the details about the trip and decided to buy a ticket for him to go for one week with his wife. He presented this $1500 gift to him yesterday and he was just stunned at the extreme generosity and thoughtfulness of this gift. VM works for a small business owner with only three employees. This story makes me feel so good that there are still random acts of kindness and employers can still care about you as a person and not as a work drone.

Burns

I have discovered tonight that I use my right hand for everything that I do. I was at my brothers house for dinner tonight and he made steak fajitas and he had taken a heavy skillet outside to cook the sliced onions on the grill. When we were ready to start eating he brought everything in and set it on the counter and he set the very hot pan on the edge of the sink. While he was slicing the meat he must of shifted the weight of the onion pan and it started to slide into the sink. As a person who LOVES free dinners I didn't want to loose this tasty portion of our meal, so I grabbed the skillet handle with my right hand. I completely wrapped my hand around it and all of my fingers touched the handle. I wasn't until I touched it that I realized that it was steaming hot. I let out a very loud scream, later Lou's wife said I was so loud that she thought that he had stabbed me or something. I am not one to be overly emotional and dramatic about things but this REALLY hurt. I immediately put my hand under cold running water and burst into tears. I rarely cry and I have a fairly high tolerance for pain but this situation warranted the tears. As I was standing there my 5 year old niece came over to me and asked me if I was crying, I said yes because it hurt so much, she gave me a hug and went to her seat. I think she was confused. Since I love food I decided that I could still eat, so I sat at the table and with the remnants of tears on my face I tried to eat with my left hand. I assure you it is not an easy task. This little disaster gave me quite an appreciation for my hands and all the things in a day that I do with them.

IPOD Meltdown

Last night I was cleaning my house after my VERY busy weekend and I had my IPOD hooked up to my mini speaker set to enjoy some tunes while I cleaned. I went over and changed the album that I was listening to and all of a sudden it locked up. I don’t know what happened and I began to panic. The white background light was still on and as many buttons as I pushed I would get no reaction from the stupid machine. I tried to sync it with my computer but it still wouldn’t do anything. I LOVE my IPOD…so I went to bed in the depths of despair. When I awoke the light was off so I thought it was a good sign…I hit the buttons but nothing happened. I was worried about it all the way to work today and I had decided that as soon as I got to work I needed to call Apple support…I know I wasn’t able to get any work done if I was worried. However and Apple miracle transpired. When I pressed the buttons at work I noticed that the low battery message appeared and I know that I just heard the birds singing. I hooked it up to my PC and within two minutes it was working. My question is: where is the reboot button on my IPOD? It should have one.

Dinner like a Child

I met my brother his wife and 4 of their children for dinner last night at Logan’s and I did a very un-adult thing. I was feeling tired so I decided to indulge myself for dinner and I ordered…get this…a side salad and three mini desserts in peanut buckets to eat. No one really paid attention to me when I ordered and when my salad arrived everything was fine. But you should have seen the reaction that I received from the children when they saw what my main dish consisted of. They all yelled at me at the same time, “Can I have some!”. I said NO this is my dinner and they were all looking at me like I was so mean for not sharing. Lou got them all calmed down…but I did feel a bit guilty for my indulgence.

This is the description of the dessert.

Nutter Butter® Fudgeslide
Chilled chocolate mousse, fudge & Nutter Butter® Topping with whipped cream and a crunchy peanut cookie.

Strawberry Cheesecake
Cheesecake with graham cracker crumbs & strawberry sauce, topped with whipped cream and a crunchy peanut cookie.

Chocolate Brownie
Pieces of fudge brownie, chocolate sauce, a mini scoop of vanilla ice cream and a crunchy peanut cookie.

Assistant Parent not Fun Aunt Candy

My 17 year old niece Heather came to visit me on Sunday night and she will be here through next weekend. Her mom and brothers will arrive on Wednesday evening for their yearly visit. I left her at my house on Monday while I was at work so she could sleep late and relax. I had a dentist appointment so I arrived home early about 3:30pm. When I opened my garage I noticed a strange bike inside and I wondered to myself, “Where did this come from?” I thought, did Heather find this bike somewhere and bring it home? As I got out of the car I was shocked speechless. Here comes Heather and some boy out of my house! I didn’t know him because I make it a point to keep to myself at home and I have no children that socialize with anyone. I asked “Who is this?” He said: “Hi, My name is Adam and I live down the street.” I just stood there and didn’t know what to say. I am not a parent of a teenager; I didn’t know how to handle this situation. They said that they were going to ride their bikes back to the pool for a while. So I went inside and got my book so I could sit in my hammock in the backyard and forget about the horrible dentist appointment. About fifteen minutes after I was outside I hear the TV, and I see Heather and the boy in the living room playing his XBOX that he brought over. I stayed outside for about and hour and then came in to cook dinner. The children were still in the living room playing their games so I decided to listen to some music and sing along….just to slightly embarrass Heather. When I was about done cooking I had noticed that the living room had become very quiet and I could no longer see the children on the floor, they were out of my sight range. I decided to turn up the music and sing a bit louder, just to remind them that I was still there. I told them it was time for the boy to go home because dinner was almost ready and Lou and his family were on their way over. Even though I said that….the still were talking and not moving very fast. He was still there when Lou arrived and everyone had to be greeted. Once we finally scooted him out of the house…Lou immediately told Heather that it was not appropriate to have boys over with no adult at home. Now…why couldn’t I do that? I am not used to doing any type of parenting. I just like to do fun things with the children. After dinner and after Lou and his family left Adam came back. They were playing Pokémon on some handheld video game system for several hours. I decided that I needed to do quiet activities so I could hear them. So I spent several hours on-line and then reading. About 9pm I had decided that Heather had enough visit time and I told them it was time for him to go home. I went to my room to watch TV for 30 minutes and Heather still didn’t come inside…so I had to do a second visit outside to request his departure. He even left his Xbox for her to play so she wouldn’t get bored.

I decided to arrange activities for Heather during the day on Tuesday to fill her time…but today she is home alone. Who knows what will happen.