Hilary and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Ellie woke up every 2.5 hours last night. Then conspired with her older sister to both wake up at 6:45AM. SIX FORTY FIVE! I love my girls more than life itself, but have no desire to see them at that hour. That's when I knew today was gonna be like every other day this last week. Ellie's on her second antibiotic, this one seeming to be causing even worse diaper rash than the first one. Not to mention the fact she's still in tremendous pain with her ear. And I think the medicine makes her feel sick or nauseous or something, 'cause she starts to cry about 5 minutes after taking it and doesn't stop for quite awhile. And Annie's given up naps 5 out of 7 days a week. And has started to climb up onto the toilet to get the roll of toilet paper we hide up high. Then she throws it into the toilet. Then she tells me it was "an accident." I can't talk Ellie into fishing it out of the toilet, so it gets to be me. And I've had a sinus infection that was horrendously painful, and a dentist appointment. And the mere thought of the dentist's office just about sends me spiraling into a panic attack. (It turned out not to be too bad though, having my mouth and face numb was just about the only I couldn't feel the pain from the sinus infection.) Oh, and our air conditioner broke and I had the nice repairmen from Neerings out here today charging me an arm and a leg.

And the medical costs are killing me. In just one week: Third trip to InstaCare. Three seperate prescriptions. And that's just for Ellie. (I had a two prescriptions and that dentist visit myself.) And we're already out of money in our healthcare flex spending account for the year. I don't know about you, but I don't budget over $150 a week for medical bills!

At least I play the 'prescription game.' Are you guys in on this? Rite-Aid, K-Mart, and a couple other places put out coupons ranging from $10-$35 for a new or transferred prescription. And most of the other pharmacies will honor the coupons. So, for a $15 prescription brought to Albertson's, I often walk out with a $30 gift card to use for grocery money. Sure, it can be a pain to transfer a prescription each month, and to remember where each prescription is, and where it's been, and when it can be transferred, but when I'm having $150 of unexpected medical costs come up, at least I can steal some of the money from my grocery budget and replace it with gift cards! Now if only their were competitors coupons for doctors visits!

Okay, I'm done ranting, and feel better. I'll watch for Annie to do or say something cute and turn the mood of my blog around soon!