Leeches on Society

Recently Big Monkey and I were having a conversation about my trip to the grocery store. I was stacking up my items on the conveyor belt and told the bagger that I had brought my own bags. The cashier did not start ringing my order but just watched me add more items to the belt. She asks, “This isn’t on WIC is it? Because I have to have the check at the beginning to make sure everything is on there and if you give it to me at the end I’ll have to start all over again.” I told her that no it was not on WIC and she started ringing the items up. The only reasons I can think of that she thought it might have been WIC was that I was buying two boxes of Cheerios (a WIC approved item) and they were stacked at the front of my groceries or that she had some other WIC checks that day, which would be odd because I do believe those go out at the beginning of the month (and this is of course not the beginning of the month).

 After telling Big Monkey of this story, he tells me a story of a conversation he had recently had with one of the guys at work. This guy is a little younger than us and lives with his girlfriend/fiance’/whatever you want to call her today (He often uses the term wife but she is not his wife.) and their daughter. Said guy tells Big Monkey something about how they are on WIC, mind you their combined income is more than Big Monkey makes, but you see, they are not married and therefore the government views her as a single mom. Apparently you don’t have to explain your living conditions or the fact that both parents contribute equally to paying all bills when you apply for WIC. Big Monkey asked how they could be on WIC when we don’t qualify (not that we should because we do make enough to pay for food and such) and said guy tells of the single mom status. Said guy also says to Big Monkey, you know if you qualified for you, you would get it too. Big Monkey replied with no he would not because we do not need the help. (Now if we were in such a situation that we did require such assistance that would be different but that is the reason the program exists, not for people who just choose to not get married.) Big Monkey also pointed out to said guy that he was a man and he married his wife. This was not the nicest thing to say but it is true. There is no reason why these people should not be married. And one of their reasons for not getting married is because they would lose the WIC program assistance and have to pay more in taxes (because the mom is no longer a single mom). What a load of crap!!!! Hello!!! You make MORE money than Big Monkey does and yet he manages to do just fine, provide for our family, our needs and even many of our wants. I am very frustrated with this situation and I’m sure it happens more than I know.

I want to reiterate that I am okay with people using the WIC program, providing that they are using it because they do not have the means to provide for their family. This is what the program was designed for, to help single moms provide their children and themselves with some decent food each month. It is not designed to give your family food because you can rip off the government for some extra cereal, milk and cheese each month just because. It is also not designed to give you food because you cannot provide food for your family since you are spending your money on beer, cigarettes and whatever else you might want. Note that WANT….not NEED. Now I’m sure this blog does not make everyone happy and that each person has different morals and may think that just because you qualify means that you should take the assistance even if you don’t need it. And that’s fine…that’s you opinion but I think using this program in such a manner is being a leech on our society.

I have put this in the category of friends…but I am using this in a loose term…more like acquaintance…..coworker…..etc. I just don’t want to create another category for the sake of what hopefully will only be this one post on said topic.

Little Monkey’s Dad

So after writing all this time, I have decided that to make writing a little bit easier, Little Monkey’s Dad probably should have his own name. While I know this is not very creative, we will now call Little Monkey’s Dad—–Big Monkey.  This is no way meant in a negative way, as Big Monkey is not big and is only sometimes monkey-like. Simply he is the larger version of Little Monkey. I will also make an effort to actually capitalize Little Monkey and Big Monkey because, after all, they are proper nouns. Alright…now to write some worthwhile posts.

What color…what size?

So almost since we first moved into this house, we have been wanting to pull the carpet and linoleum up and replace it with tile. We had been saying that we would use our tax return, pending that we got one big enough to use, to buy and install the tile. I just finished our taxes tonight and they have been filed. Now to await the deposit of the money and then we’ll be good to go. It said that we should get it within ten days. Now we need to pick out some tile and find someone who can install it for a decent price.

So any ideas? We think we want 16inch tile over 12inch tile. We also think we want a creamish colored tile but we don’t know. Little monkey’s dad is going to stop by the local tile place and see what they’ve got and what kind of deal they can give us. So if you’ve got any ideas…let me know! We are planning on putting tile in the living/dining/kitchen rooms and up to all the bedrooms and the guest bathroom. We also plan to tile the master bath but likely with a different tile than the rest of the house.

Tang…old school orange

Little monkey has to drink formula everyday to get all the nutrients that he doesn’t get from food. He had gone through a phase of not wanting to drink it before and we ended up trying three other kinds of formula. He decided that he liked two of them so we had both of those ordered from the state pharmacy. After a couple weeks, he decided that he did not like the unflavored version anymore and only wanted the orange. We wanted to use up the unflavored and tried sneaking it in with the orange. This worked just fine. Last week I called his dietitian to let her know we were running out of the orange and could she order some more for us. The only problem was that I thought we did have more but come to find out we finished off the last can of orange on Friday. Little Monkey refused to drink the unflavored kind and ended up only having some water and a bunch of ice cubes over the weekend.

Monday morning I put in another call to the clinic to see if they have any of the orange flavored formula that we could go and pick up. They call me back in the late afternoon and say they have one can. In the mean time, I was talking to my best friend online who suggested Tang. Of course he had no idea if Little Monkey could even have Tang, but it was an idea. I went and looked it up in the book and wouldn’t you know it, Tang was FREE!!!! Hooray!! Maybe it would work. We jumped in the car to go to Target and pick some up. Amazingly it worked!!! Little Monkey has been drinking his milk rather well since then. I talked to his dietitian today who was happy with this and put in an order for nine more cases of orange flavored formula from the state pharmacy. Why we couldn’t come up with the Tang idea on Friday, I don’t know. And funny how it took a person who has no kids to think of such a great solution! Thanks again Joe O.

The Letter Z

I’m stuck on the letter Z but decided that I just need to get it out of the way! So here goes:

Zoo: I like the zoo and we got to take little monkey to the zoo a few months back. It was to the Tampa Zoo. Little monkey’s Dad and I actually didn’t end up seeing much of the zoo, but little monkey got to check it out with his Pops, Grammy, Grandpa and Mimi. From this pictures I saw, it appeared that he had a great time. He was also asleep in the car within about five minutes of leaving the zoo! Little monkey’s Dad and I went to a meeting for families and people living with PKU. It was very informative and helpful to us to attend. I hope one day to take little monkey back to the zoo, so we can experience it with him.

Zayre’s: Do you remember this store? I have a vague remembrance of it. It used to be very close to the home we grew up in but now the land is an on ramp to a toll road. When I was younger, Zayre’s went out of business and everything was being sold really cheap just to get rid of it. My mom took us to the store and we walked around looking to see if there was anything we wanted to buy. I found some Pound Puppies (which of course were cool then…and apparently are becoming cool again). I ended up buying one Pound Puppy (I believe he was a larger grey one…possibly the one we found while cleaning out the storage unit at my parents house.).

Instead of getting out, they’ll just break their legs

So on Saturday little monkey had a birthday party to attend. On Friday we were at playgroup and the birthday boy’s mom was trying to give us some directions to there house. She says you’ll take such-and-such road and then you’ll turn onto our street. You’ll go over a cattle gap and then drive a little more and then go over a second cattle gap. After the second cattle gap, it will be the 2nd house on your right. I, being a person who hasn’t lived in the middle of nowhere, raised my hand to ask what the heck a “cattle gap” was. The birthday boy’s mom and the playgroup host both laughed at me and couldn’t believe that I didn’t know what a cattle gap was; so much so that they even discussed it the next morning. They explained to me that a cattle gap is like a fence to keep the cows in the pasture but still allow cars to drive in or out. It is part of the road but it is bumpy and has gaps (hence the name cattle gap) and apparently if a cow tries to step on it, instead of getting out, they’ll just break their legs.

Here is a photo to give you an idea:

So now you’ll know what a cattle gap is in case someone ever tries to use them as directions for you. And now you won’t get laughed at like I did…by many people!

The birthday party was lots of fun and little monkey enjoyed himself. He spent time riding in a wagon, pulling the wagon, chasing the two dogs and checking in on the cows. He went over to the cows, who of course were behind a fence, and said to me, “they come out?” He says this same thing about our dog whenever he is behind the gate and locked in a room. I told him no the cows could not come out and play and he stood and watched them for a very long time. Brian, the designated photographer at any event, captured some pictures of little monkey watching the cows, but I haven’t seen them yet (He’s got enough on his plate with his newborn son!). I hope he got some good ones because it was really cute.

A little too quiet-

You know how sometimes you are working on things in the house and your child is playing nearby and comes and goes with other toys and such? Okay maybe you don’t know…but I do. Here’s what has happened in the last two days at our house:

I’m cleaning up the kitchen and little monkey is playing in the living room. An then he goes in and out of my bedroom playing with his large toy bucket and filling it and emptying it. Well he went into my bedroom and didn’t come right out. And he was quiet. Not generally a good sign. I call him but he does not answer and does not appear. So off to my bedroom I go and what do I find…little monkey sitting on the floor next to my bed on top of a roll of Christmas wrapping paper that has been entirely pulled off the roll. We store our wrapping paper under our bed…needless to say there are many rolls under there. I’m just glad he decided to play with one of the Christmas rolls because we have MANY rolls of Christmas paper and not too many “regular event” rolls.

This morning little monkey was hanging out with me and playing in the living room. He was drinking his milk and I was finishing up my cereal. He had not had breakfast yet because he did not want to eat what I had given him. As is his norm, he would run into another room to find something and come dancing back out to me. And spent some time chasing the dog around. Well once again he disappeared. I had sat down to check my email and called at him to come out and see me. He of course decided not to. I got up to see what he was doing. Little monkey was sitting in the kitchen on the floor at the cabinet where his scale sits. (He will go here if he’s hungry and usually cries until he gets something he wants to eat. He is very aware that his food always comes from above that cabinet.) This time he was not crying, instead he had taken the box of Lucky Charms (my breakfast) off the counter (I’m not sure how he managed this.) and was holding it in his lap eating the cereal one handful at a time. This kid has NEVER even had Lucky Charms, but apparently decided he wanted to try them! I quickly made him a waffle for his breakfast. I guesstimated how many grams of Lucky Charms he may have had and looked it up in his book. Wouldn’t you know it would be found in the ready to eat higher phe count cereal section. Of course he couldn’t have picked something low to eat. They actually aren’t too bad and seeing that he likely didn’t eat too much, we’re probably okay.

I can hear it now….well if you always knew where he was/what he was doing you wouldn’t have this problem. Well you see, I did know WHERE he was…just not what he was doing. This would be next to impossible if I planned on getting anything done during the day. Overall, he is a good kid though. We are reaching the two year milestone and I’m pretty sure he knows it. Hopefully it won’t be a “terrible two’s” year.

Next time, I’ll break your neck…

Not the words I want to hear coming from little monkey’s bedroom today (or any day for that matter). I was babysitting the two kids that I watch during the week and little monkey and the little boy (we’ll call him frog) were playing in his room. I go to see what on Earth could be going on. Little monkey was sitting in a chair at his table and frog was waving a blanket around in the air and says AGAIN to little monkey….and next time I’ll break your neck. I went into the room and explained how that is not a nice thing to say and I did not want to hear it again. I can see it now…little monkey goes to church and tells a kid…and next time, I’ll break your neck…. Yeah…that’s not going to go over well! Little Monkey’s Dad says, “Well you know where that comes from….” But seriously…even jokingly…why would you say that to your kids? Oh the joys of watching other people’s children…who definitely have a different home life than around here.

The Letter U

As previously noted, this blog was ready to go last week, but events that I thought were going to happen, had not. They have now occurred and therefore I am going to go ahead and release The Letter U.

USAA: Our bank…at first when little monkey’s dad said he wanted to keep them as his bank, I was a little concerned. Where we live there is not a local branch and the closest one is hours away. All of our deposits are mailed in to the bank in Texas. The down side, no depositing cash and there are restrictions to join. The upside…there are many. They have amazing customer service, great online banking, you can use any ATM and as long as it is within their limits they will pay you back the fees that any other bank ATM. They also have great insurance prices. They also have staff available for free to help you with things like travel arrangements and deals. We used them to book our upcoming cruise. All of this to say, while I was worried about not having a bank I could walk into and talk to someone, I am thrilled with using their bank and all available services.

Union: This is a new one for me. Little monkey’s dad and his fellow firefighters just went union. There were many reasons to do so and hopefully going union will pay off in the end. As I am typing this, I am under the understanding that the Chief and the city have yet to find out that this has occurred. The guys should have their completed paperwork from the state tomorrow and will be presenting it to them on during the day. (At least that is the current plan.) So anyhow…we’ll see what good becomes of the union once it is in place. We are hoping for better benefits.

Universal: Not quite as cool as Disney…but they do have some pretty cool roller coasters. I think Disney is more for the younger crowd (kids) and the older crowd (who grew up with Disney long ago), while Universal is for the teens-thirties crowd. I’m sure Universal will not like my target group because they want to appeal to all people, but oh well. Most little kids either can’t or won’t go on the roller coasters because they are too small or too scared. But teens think they are invincible and are willing to do just about anything. Anyhow…we’re getting off topic I’m sure. I do like Universal but I would likely prefer to spend my day at Disney instead.

The Letter Y

Yogurt: Lately we have been on a yogurt kick at our house. Little monkey’s dad with eat the fruity kinds, while I’ll only eat vanilla or the Whips kinds. Usually I’m buying the yogurt in 6-10 container increments. It doesn’t seem to take too long to get through those either. Thankfully (not that they are THAT expensive) they go on sale quite regularly between the acceptable grocery stores.

Yahoo: Did you just sing it??  Yaaa  hooo!  Crazy commercial…but I’m sure everyone remembered the item they were advertising by it. I use Yahoo for my email and I also am a part of a few Yahoo groups. Sometimes, when I’m trying to stay awake and I am bored waiting for the kids’ mom to get here, I will play some Yahoo games. These days it is usually just the crossword puzzles, which I’m not that great at, but I used to play some of the other games too.

Yellow: Probably the least flattering color for ANYONE. I say this even though I do have a yellow shirt or two in my closet as we speak. But really yellow just isn’t that flattering. It’s good for daisies but not really for people.

Yankee Candle: While most often I do think Yankee Candle is over priced, I don’t mind getting it as a gift or with a great coupon. A year ago, maybe more, little monkey’s dad got me a tart warmer. I do not use it as often as I should but I do enjoy it when I do. If I could just remember to plug it in and replace the tarts every once in a while I’d be doing good! Some of my favorite scents: Buttercream, Christmas Cookie, Clean Cotton, Cranberry Chutney, Sparkling Vanilla, Sweet Strawberry and Vanilla Cupcake. Anyone see a trend here?? Most of my favorites are food related and even more sweets related!