OK, I'm calmer now. DH got out of his a.m. meeting, saw my email, and called to tell me to stop worrying because this is yet another area where Annabel is just like him. He wants me to sit down with his mom sometime and talk to her about all the things she went through with him in the first 5-6 years of his life when he was evaluated for a dizzying variety of possible issues, including epilepsy, though other than needing some speech therapy in elementary school and eventually being diagnosed with ADHD, nothing ever came of any of it. He's going to be the one who takes her to the doctor next Friday so he can tell her in detail about his history.

So, I'm feeling better now. It's possible the nurse didn't realize I'm the type who would've brought in Annabel just as readily if she'd calmly said, "It's probably not that, but let's bring her in just to be on the safe side," and so she went the "scare the parent/patient into compliance" route. Which I hate. And which is one of the reason I've stuck with the same nurse practitioner for my own care for so long, following her to three different practices, because she doesn't do that crap to me.

Dear incompetent contractor:

As my e-mail to the person who hired you last summer should indicate, I would not recommend hiring you for much of anything. The work you did was inaccurate and, as I told them, it would have been easier and probably faster for me to have done everything myself from scratch.

Also, using my e-mail to the person who might have been a little more competent than you are (and is no longer employed here for that, among other, reasons) to reply to me, thus including my complaints about the "work" you did, merely confirms my estimate of your lack of intelligence.

In other word, phrased to suit your understanding, NO.

no love,

me

Yay MM for the job offer!

Curse you people and the guacamole talk. I have a very yummy healthy lunch packed for today, which I am now compelled to augment with guacamole and chips from the Mexican food stand in the cafeteria. I BLAME ALL OF YOU.

Did I neglect to congratulate MM on the job? Well, I do! perhaps it was thinking of him that inspired my little rant above. yes, the stupid, it burns!

Susan, this may fall into the dumb question category, but would it be doable to take Annabel to the same nurse practitioner? Or is pediatrics such a specialized specialization that it wouldn't accomplish anything?

Also, thanks to all for the thoughts on our vacation dilemma. There's a little more background that I think gives us cause to be upset with the bosses (though not Hubs's co-worker). He had been in another division with a pretty busy (and rather attractive) travel schedule coming up (including a very nice foreign trip next week). We'd penciled in a late vacation for various reasons. I'd also scheduled some time off next week to just vegetate by myself. Then last week, his bosses told him that he was being transferred to a brand new, just-being-formed branch, effective immediately -- just him, pregnant co-worker, and their boss. Causing that planned travel (including next week's trip) to go away. He then decided to take off the same days I'm taking. Only then did his boss tell him that he and pregnant co-worker shouldn't be out at the same time. So there are other things going on.

I think what we'll do is discuss tonight what we want to do, then see what bargains we might be able to get.

I totally did the spacing out thing, unfocused eyes and all. When I began to grow out of it, I'd actively try to go unfocused like that but could no longer.

It's a skill I wish I still had now that I recognize meditation as an impossibility for my fevered mind.

Congrats MM!

Susan, this may fall into the dumb question category, but would it be doable to take Annabel to the same nurse practitioner? Or is pediatrics such a specialized specialization that it wouldn't accomplish anything?

You know, I could ask. I need to call my NP anyway (because it's looking probable that I have fibroids, sigh, and I need to find out if it's true and how they might impact my being able to have another child sometime before I'm 40), and I can ask her if she does pedes. I know the MD in her practice does, but I don't like her quite as much.

"Dear" Cow-irker:

So glad you enjoyed your vacation. And I do understand the temptation to extend it. HOWEVER. The idea behind scheduling a vacation is that the rest of us will know when you'll be in so we can plan our own work accordingly. Since you extended your time out of the office for two days, this has meant some problems for me and, I assume, other people in the office.

And, yes, I understand that you have a lot of work piled up; things that were supposed to be done on the first two days you were scheduled to be back are probably somewhat more than you can handle in one day. And I can understand that you're still in vacation mode. HOWEVER. Since you came in late and I do have some pressing projects, do you think you could cut your usual two-hour lunch break a little short and handle the request that I needed yesterday?

no love,

me

While it's not the fries or guacamole I was dreaming of earlier, my lunch of extra sharp cheddar on everything crackers and veggies dipped in peanut butter is teh YUM!