Not enough time in the day!

I work a full time job, raise a family, and go to school ¾ time. So I am pretty busy all the time. I always feel like my mind is running a million miles a minute and it is leaving me behind.

My day starts at 6:00 am when I get my kids up for school and myself up for work. Getting my kids up is a chore in itself. They either fall back to sleep or start playing instead of getting dressed. It is hard for me to stay on them when I am trying to get ready myself. I eventually get them dressed and ready to go and we are out the door by 7:00 or 7:15 most days. I take them to school and head to work after getting my morning coffee. I get to work by 7:30; get everything set up to start my day. I take calls from people all day either wanting to order something or just asking questions about products. No big deal. I work at 4:30 and head to the babysitters to pick up my kids. When we get home, I immediately start dinner. While that is cooking I check my email and school assignments. Maybe even fit in a response or a class video before dinner is done. After dinner I clean up and continue homework until I feel comfortable enough with what I have done to go to bed, and actually be able to sleep without worrying about said school work. I end up getting to bed somewhere between 10:30 and 11:30 and start all over the next day.

No big deal, right? Sounds like a typical day for any working parent. The problem is I always feel like I am running and not getting anywhere. I try to get my husband to help and sometimes he does but it is so hard for me to let go of some of the control sometimes. Some may say I am controlling and sometimes I think I am but honestly, I don’t know how to stop. I would love to not worry about all the stuff I do. I worry about the kids getting to school on time, how they are getting home, the requirements of my job, what we have for dinner, and the kids getting to bed on time. I feel like if I don’t do it, it won’t get done. That is usually the case.

I am just so exhausted. I do not know what to do to make it better. I am afraid I am going to cause myself to have health problems related to stress and worrying. High blood pressure and diabetes run in my family and with my life style I am at high risk for both. I am trying so hard to not feel so overwhelmed all the time but it seems like a never ending battle no matter what I do. My mind is always running even when I try to sleep. I sleep with post it’s by my bed so when I can’t sleep I can write down what is keeping me awake so I can deal with it later. This has helped a little bit with the sleep issue but when I am awake is another story.

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is known by many names, chalk, crank, croak, crypto, crystal, fire, glass, meth, and white cross just to name a few. (I will refer to it as meth.) Meth comes in many forms and can be used many ways. It also has MANY adverse effects on your health; such as; increased wakefulness, increased physical activity, decreased appetite and increased blood pressure are some of the immediate effects of using meth. Some effects of long term abuse are extreme negative weight loss, severe dental problems (also known as “meth mouth”), anxiety, confusion, insomnia, mood disturbances, and violent behavior. Chronic users experience paranoia, visual and auditory hallucination, and delusions. Intravenous users also have a higher risk of contracting HIV and hepatitis B and C.

The most effective treatments for meth addiction are comprehensive cognitive-behavioral interventions that combine behavioral therapy, family education, individual counseling, 12-step support, drug testing, and encouragement for non drug related activities.

In 2007, the number of individuals 12 years of age and older reporting past-year meth use declined from 1.9 million in 2006 to 1.3 million. Around 530,000 were a current user that is nearly .2% of the population. The average age of a first time user was 19 years in 2007, which is a lot sooner than the average age of 22 in 2006.

I chose to write about meth this week because within the last few months I found out that one of my family members was a “user.” It is the one of the worst feelings ever. It is even worse when you think this person will never lie to you and then they do. You want to believe them when they say they are done and don’t want to do it any longer but then they use again.

The family member that is/was using has a husband and kids. I believe she started using when she was with her children’s father. She left him about 3 months ago and told me she was leaving because he was on meth. I then found out a month or so after that she was using as well. She has been arrested and caught with drugs on her a couple times and I am terrified she is going to lose her family or worse her life. I miss her so much even though I see her at least once or twice a week. She isn’t the same when she is using. It hurts me knowing she is or could be using and I don’t know what to do. I have tried to talk to her but any time I bring it up she tells me she is done with it and don’t want to talk about it. But I do not know how I can believe she is done after all the lies she has told me. I have stopped giving her money. She used to call and ask to borrow money and I would loan to her. I yet to be paid back and I then find out she was using again. I can’t loan her money and not be able to trust that she is being something legal with. I am terrified and I have told her this but I am not sure it matters any more.

Teen pregnancy

I decided to do my persuasive blog this week on teen pregnancy. The main reason is I had my two children at the age of 15 and 16. This issue really hits home for me and a few other people I know around this age.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has several preventive measures that can be taken to help prevent teen pregnancy. Such as changing the way the public views the problem by working with policymakers, the news media, state and local leaders, as well as other influential sectors to tackle the teen and unplanned pregnancy problem. This in turn can help improve overall child and family well-being. Another way is to develop, produce, and disseminate a wide range of materials such as cutting edge research to posters, postcard, and public service announcements. You could also encourage careful, consistent use of family planning practices by ALL who are sexually active and NOT seeking pregnancy. Encouraging responsible, healthy relationships among young adults to help them achieve their future family and career goals before becoming sexually active without contraceptives. Another good way would be to help parents realize their critical role they have in helping their children’s decisions about sex. One way I really like is working directly with young people. There are more than 7,000 young people that participate in the Youth Online Network, and close to 3 million have participated in the online National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy that work with policymakers, the press, and others that serve as powerful advocates in their own communities. I wish there was a pill or something that men could take as well as women so it doesn’t always fall on the woman to be protected. Yeah there are condoms but they are not 100% effective and neither is the pill or any other contraceptive but it helps lessen the chances.

I really wish there was more education when I was younger; not only about teen pregnancy but about drugs and alcohol. I was 14 when I got pregnant with my son and 15 when I got pregnant with my daughter. I dropped out of high school twice and finally got my GED. As much as I love my kids and would not trade them for the world I really wished I would have waited and had more active parents in my life. I would have been able to finish school, go to college earlier and make a better life for them. But I didn’t so I live everyday to the best of my ability. I know a few kids that pregnant either before me or right around the same time that ended up with their parents raising their kids so they could continue partying and doing drugs. However, I knew that it was my responsibility. I was the one that got myself into the situation and I was the one that would step up to the plate. One way that I think would be helpful, maybe not perfect, but I think any teen that is sexually active should have to have one of those dolls that are like real babies. That way they get the idea of what is like to have a kid and still go to school or to work. I baby-sat growing up and I loved it. But it in no way prepared me for taking care of a child full-time. I really like that show 16 and Pregnant on MTV. It’s kind of a wake up call to most and I personally can relate to them. I know most people don’t agree with me but I have seriously thought about putting my daughter on some sort of birth control when she is old enough. I pray to God that she won’t follow in my foot steps and I truly hope that she feels comfortable enough talking with me about this sort of stuff but just in case.

My new truck and my first experience with a mechanic shop.

I recently decided to buy a new truck. I traded in my Jeep Grand Cherokee on a Dodge Durango. It has third row seating; which is nice when I have my nieces and nephews; it has leather seats, rear air, etc. It is a nice truck and I REALLY like it. I got it on the 20th of January.

Well, this past Sunday, my husband and I were driving back from his work and the check gauges light came on. Great! My husband looked down at the instrument panel and the heat gauge was creeping up. I immediately start stressing because I have had vehicles overheat and crack a head or blow a head gasket-which isn’t good. We get home and park the truck and didn’t think anything more about it. We go out the next morning and start to let it warm up to take the kids to school. It didn’t get hot at all while it was idling. The minute we start driving, however, the temperature gauge starts creeping up there again. We bring it home and park it again. My husband, who works for a tow truck company, towed to a local shop. The shop looks at it and runs some tests and tells me that it is a cracked head or blown head gasket and it would cost anywhere in the range of $900 to $1100 to fix. HOLY COW!! However, since I have had experience with this type of issue it didn’t seem right. All the experiences I have had are if it is a head or head gasket then it gets hot even while idling. The guy at the shop had a good explanation of why it was getting hot while idling but I wanted a second opinion. My husband towed my truck to the actual dealership shop to get the second opinion. They had it for a couple hours and called and told me that they put more coolant in it and a new radiator cap. He also said that they drove it like 15 miles and it didn’t get hot. Which is a good thing because we couldn’t even drive it three blocks before it would get hot. So that is the good news. The bad news he had was I was losing coolant. GREAT!! He said that where it was leaking meant either a freeze plug or a cracked block. EVEN GREATER!! A cracked block is SO much worse than a cracked head or a blown head gasket. He said to find out which it is they would have to pull my transmission. OK fine. That would cost $650. That’s a good chunk of change but still less than the head issue. He assured me that it wasn’t anything to do with the heads at all. The reason the test (vapor test) the first shop did failed was because the “vapors” were escaping out either the cracked block or the freeze plug, whichever the problem was. I felt pretty confident at this time that I had made the right decision to get a second opinion. They pulled the transmission and found out it was just a freeze plug, $10 as opposed to probably a couple thousand! YAY!! Things are looking up. So now I am sitting here waiting for the call so I can go get my truck. I am so excited.

I decided to write about this experience I have been going through all week because I just knew when the first shop told me their answer that that wasn’t right. Not saying that they are incompetent in their job but I just knew in my gut that wasn’t right. It wasn’t that it would be expensive but somehow I just knew that wasn’t what was wrong. My dad was always working on cars, so I know a little bit. This was just another example of gut instinct and I am glad that I listened to mine. Unless, of course, this doesn’t fix it and I end up back at the shop.

We are not in high school any more

I work in a call center in my town. I am customer service representative/sales professional. We are contracted with a local electronics retailer. So, basically, I answer the phone answer the phone and answer any questions the customer has and the company would like for us to make sales. Sometimes that is possible but not all the time. They would like for us to have a 15% close rate. That would 15 sales out of 100 calls. Which thankfully we do not normally get 100 calls a day. It is more around less than 50, especially now that the Christmas season is over. We sign into a phone system and when we go on broke we have what is called an AUX code we go into for breaks, lunches and meetings. The phone is also set up in a way that when you get off of a call your phone goes into ACW-after call work- to give you time to finish up notes from the last call.

I bet you’re wondering “How is this like High School?” Well let me tell you. The idea of the job is you take the calls, help the customer, notate the account about what you did and then “auto in” to take the next call. Which the more calls you take the more chance you have to make more sales. More sales, higher close rater. Higher close rate, the more of a chance you have to make a bonus for that month. Well, I have several people around me that will sit in ACW and gossip with people around them or surf the internet (which is not allowed, unless it is work related). Or they will go into a meeting AUX and walk around. What irritates me is I am sitting there taking back to back for an hour and everyone around me is goofing off. Granted I have a higher chance of making more sales and getting bonus but it is hard to stay on track when everyone around is being loud. I have, on several, occasions taken it upon myself to tell people to do their job, auto in and take calls. But then I have to deal with the ridiculing because I am “gripping”. I have also gone to my supervisor with this problem and I still haven’t seen any change. I am to the point now where I am like I will do my job to the best of my ability and TRY to block them out. I would love to see these “adults” in any other work environment where they don’t have the AUX codes to go into to blow off their responsibility. Some of them wouldn’t make it. They would either be fired or quit because they wouldn’t be able to take a break every 30 minutes, they would actually have to work.

The management team doesn’t help a lot either. Like I said I have told my supervisor and her supervisor and nothing is changing. I cannot afford to quit my job and there really isn’t a whole lot of options out there…hence the reason I am going back to school.

To pray or seek medical attention?

There is an organization called Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty or CHILD Inc. It is a non-profit national membership organization established in 1983 to protect children from abusive religious and cultural practices, especially religion-based medical neglect. CHILD is also a member of the National Child Abuse Coalition.

I read several stories of children being sick or fatally hurt and the parents or guardian chose to not seek medical help. They chose to pray and trust their child to Christian Science practitioner; which believes that as long as you pray everything will be OK. In one instance a child needed a blood transplant and his guardian would not allow him to get it because of the belief he would be impure if he did. She also believed that god was using her child as a learning tool for the hospital to learn to treat the disease he had by prayer. In another instance a two year old boy died from being stung over 430 times by wasps. Instead of taking him to the hospital or call 911 they chose to ask children and fellow church members to pray for him. After 7 hours after the attack they decided to call EMT’s. After they arrived his parents admitted that the boy had been unresponsive for 30-45 minutes. A pediatrician in Orlando told the press that the toddler may have been able to survive if he would have received medical treatment.

Now I am not saying people shouldn't pray. I pray every night. However, when my kids need medical attention I take them to the hospital. My nephew almost drowned 1 ½ years ago and believe me I prayed my heart out. But we also called 911 and he was rushed to the hospital. The hospital was able to stabilize him and then he was taken by helicopter to St. John’s in Springfield, MO. He was there for 10 days in ICU and finally made a full recovery. He is a healthy three almost four year old now. But I believe if we wouldn’t have called 911 when we did he would not have survived. The doctors did all they could and no matter what doctors do or don’t do it is always Gods decision rather what they do helps or not. A doctor can do everything in the world but if it is time for that child or even adult to go then God will take them home. But I believe the child or person should have the option to seek medical attention and have the option to live.

I am sure that there are a lot of people out there that would disagree with me but I feel if God intended us to rely solely on prayer then he would not have given us the knowledge of medicine.