Random ramblings

So, Tim and I both went in and got our tetanus shots. Turns out, it had been 8 1/2 years since Tim's last one.
The limit is 10 years but I figured that between having a stem cell transplant and the fact that he cuts himself all the time at work, it was time. Plus, I think I was over 10 years so we toddled off and did it. I also
took care of another doctor appt. for myself. I have been putting it off for years, the dermatologist. I've had a couple of spots on my skin I needed checked and after a friend just went through a melanoma operation(thank goodness her lymph nodes were clear), I knew I had to buckle down and go. I really hate going to doctors. I've had so many scary things happen with them. Things went well. He didn't seem to see anything concerning but sliced 2 little things off me just to be sure because they had shown some changes. I can't take lidocaine with epinephrine so he said he had it without and I said, "just do it without the shot." Afterward, I said, "you really give lidocaine shots just for THAT." He said they always do. Gosh it was nothing. Splinters are worse.
Tim has another cold. He went 13 months without anything and now got 2 colds in a month's time. This one is a doozy. Nurse Denise put him right on a Z-pack. Any help it provides is worth it. Things are rolling along pretty much as usual around here. I am again shamelessly avoiding doing my taxes and exercising. Nothing new there. I do have to get on the ball with both. This menopause thing is for the birds. While I am welcoming the end of the monthly nuisance(it can't come fast enough), I've gained over 20 pounds and am just miserable about it. When you are a caregiver type, you just don't get the same satisfaction out of taking care of yourself. You're not used to it. So what else. Things on the out-law front haven't changed. I have not
seen or spoken to them in over 4 months. My therapist said, "do you miss them?" I said, "NOPE." People like that don't change. I know what we're dealing with there. I'm dog-tired of being hurt by people. I do hope that Tim and Olivia can have relationships with them someday but Tim has apparently seen the benefit of not having to deal with their behavior these last months and is still really ticked off. We've had a VERY mild winter in Jersey this year, which was more than appreciated after having SO much snow last year. I love watching snow fall, but the clean-up with those big dumpings is a drag. Our school had a man from VT come to talk the other day. His son committed suicide at 13 y-o in 2003 because of bullying. I saw this man last spring at another school.
He spoke to the kids in  our 6-10th grades during the day, and had a different talk with the parents at night.
So heartwrenching. Kids are so cruel and even with all these new laws to try to stop bullies, it is still rampant. It's so hard to understand the lack of empathy people have. I know several moms who are petrified that their own kids might resort to suicide because of bullying and they are haunted every moment of the day. It's a hard time to be raising kids. The same things happen that always did but the internet and all these techie things have blown the lid off it all. I got to talking to a woman in the waiting room at the dermatologists'. She is a Jerseyite but moved to Texas for awhile for her husband's job. She came right out and said that the people were so much nicer. We talked about all this and it really is true. Jersey is a tough place to live if you're looking for all that warm, fuzzy stuff. Oh we have some stellar people here and we have all you need: the beach, the mountains, suburbs, farms, access to NYC and other cultural hotspots, shopping, healthcare.
But we also have a lot of money hungry, type A, entitled, mean dopes here too. Get this. Last week, a boy my neighbor's son graduated highschool with last year, was driving just around the corner from my house and got into an argument with a man jogging. Something about one not seeing the other and I guess a near miss or something. The kid, who lives somewhere near here, goes off on this guy. They exchange words and then the guy continues to jog. The boy drives away and picks up HIS FATHER and then goes back to find the jogger. The father gets out and procedes to give the jogger some guff, gets back in his son's car, and the son drives up the sidewalk and RUNS THE JOGGER OVER. He came up onto the hood of the car and then fell off, breaking his collar bone and suffering other injuries. The kid  and his father took off. I mean, CAN YOU GRASP THIS, PEOPLE?!!!! I tell ya, if NJ had right to carry firearm laws, with the attitudes around here, there would be gunned down bodies strewn everywhere. So how to end this post on a more positive note.
Hmm. Here's one. My 4 y-o nephew walked into the bathroom  the other day as my sis was dressing after a shower. He asked her why she wears such big underwear. She said, "oh I just do." He said, "don't you want to wear underwear like mine?" She said, "no this underwear is fine." He said, "but don't you want it to cover your butt?" She asked, ""this doesn't cover my butt?" He emphatically shook his head NO. Honesty ain't always what it's cracked up to be. That's him(Steven) with his sister, Sierra, and Liv down in Disney with Mary Poppins.