Skip to main content

pet peeve of the day

so i’m trying really hard to not live in a pig sty. i also live with 3 children, and anyone who has read more than 2 words of this blog knows that organizational stuff does not come easy to me.

today i did all the things on my to do list (which i try to keep daily, and not make too overloaded, so it’s actually realistic to get it done) and looked around realizing that my house was still very much a sty and certainly not anywhere near ‘drop-by-able’, which is my ever-elusive goal. (hello, run-on sentence! but it’s my blog, so deal with it!) so i tackled a couple of my worst clutter catchers. the table behind the couch and the kitchen peninsula. today was one of those days where i was wishing that all of the flat surfaces would just disappear.

so i threw away or recycled everything i could, and put all the rest of the stuff that i can’t into a bin. it’s the ‘don’t know what to do with it’ bin. i currently have several of those, in various places throughout the house. the biggest is the garage. (no, i didn’t say IN the garage. i mean the garage.) i hate this phenomenon. i seem to always have all this stuff that you have to keep, but don’t need, and you don’t really know what to do with it.

my worst offender is the stupid reports you get from your insurance company, every time someone goes to the doctor. this drives me insane. they send you this in the mail, it tells you who saw what doctor, if any tests were done, what outrageous figure was charged for these services, and that they’ve paid for it. why is it i need a piece of paper for this? i don’t care what they charged if the insurance company paid it already! it even says on it, ‘this is not a bill’. yet you’re supposed to keep this ‘for your records.’ so i either have a pile or a file of these papers. why? do i really need to keep these?

grrrr. thank you, insurance company, for sabotaging my best attempts at fighting clutter. i’m not just battling myself here, i’m under attack!

Comments

  1. RachelMay 19, 2009 at 11:04 PM

    OK...so I take my hat off to you for trying!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Dapelo FamilyMay 20, 2009 at 4:45 AM

    So, I used to think that those ridiculous reports from the insurance company were just garbage and then I heard that you are supposed to look over them to make sure that you weren't charged for anything that wasn't actually done. I heard that there is some sort of astronomical percentage of bills that are billed totally wrong. In part because sometimes they can't read writing etc. So I started checking and especially when Jake was admitted I found LOTS of mistakes. Tests billed that were never run etc. So, long story short...you should look them all over and make sure that they are correct. They are basically just like a receipt from a store. :) Didn't you want to hear all that???! :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

all comments are moderated. unkind comments will be deleted.

you may like...

dear to do list,

i hate you. actually, i loathe your existence to my very soul. and i refuse to have anything further to do with you. you can consider our relationship OVER. please do not try to contact me, as i will be unavailable. do not stalk me. do not try to make me feel guilty for abandoning you. YOU SUCK! sincerely, rachel
2 comments
read more »

christmas day at barb & paul’s

(otherwise known as “ana and elsa’s” to my kids.) after breakfast, quick showers, packing up clothes, jammies, and gifts, we loaded up in the car and drove south to my cousin, barb’s house. we got there around 3. my parents and aunt marilynne were already there, as well as my other cousins, lynne & jim. there was chatting, and munching, and drinking of spiked cider going on. soon, mike and marie showed up with baby liam, and everyone applauded! LOL. gotta love having a baby around! after that, caitlyn and her fiancé, danny arrived and that was everyone. we had traditional hedvall family (my mom’s mom’s family) swedish christmas dinner of halibut and sausages, along with other yummy fixings. then we sang carols (which was both beautiful AND hilarious), paul lit the candles on the tree, and finally opened presents. we got gift cards and the game, qwirkle (which I’ve wanted for the last 2 years!), layla and micah got some toys and accessories for their rooms, shane got an awesome r...
1 comment
read more »

STP!

this past weekend, dave and his friend, cole, participated in the STP bike ride. that’s seattle-to-portland. they rode their BICYCLES from seattle , all the way to portland – roughly 200 miles over 2 days. WOW!!! this is them on sunday afternoon, just after finishing. dave, crossing the finish line (blue helmet). shane was standing right in front of me and was, appropriately, cheering as I snapped the picture. that’s his hat and arm in the shot. cole crossed just in front of dave. dave’s parents were in town for the lion’s club convention so they joined us for the drive down (basically to meet them at the end). we spent the night in rochester (centralia area, which is the half-way point) on saturday, and then drove to portland the next day. I was VERY happy that we got there at just about the right time so we could see them finish. it was very exciting! about 10,000 riders participated. and I had to include this one (sorry, dave): this is how we found him when we arrived in roche...
Post a Comment
read more »

the zoo

yesterday, the last day of spring break (well, weekday, at least) and shane had had enough of not doing anything expensive interesting. so we packed a lunch and went to the zoo. it was a little cold and rainy when we left, but by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and it turned out to be relatively warmish.    layla was determined to see some fish. i guess we should have gone to the aquarium, but we did manage to find her a few fish. i think her favorite was the super huge reticulated python that actually moved while we were watching.  well, the top 3 feet or so of it moved. the remaining 5 or 6 feet of it stayed coiled up where it was.  we probably spent the bulk of our time in the “zoomazium” which is a fabulous indoor playground type area.  there’s a huge tree that layla and shane spent time doing laps through.  you climb up the inside (think mcdonalds playland climbing structure) and then slide down a big twisty slide.  there wa...
Post a Comment
read more »

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2!  i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical.  we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine) 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two) 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.) 1 tsp freshly ground pepper pork chops (4 or 5) whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice.  allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before gril...
Post a Comment
read more »