Go Publix!!!

I have been having a small issue with my neighborhood Publix grocery store. I arrive at the store at around 9:30 - 10am with my kids, and have a hard time finding a grocery cart in the parking lot to get both kids into the store. JC is not able to walk next to me holding hands yet, and Lola is still in her carrier car seat. The staff is SO good at getting all of the carts...for me, they are doing their job too well.

I suggested to the management staff that they leave one or two carts in the cart corrals out in the parking lot, for mothers like me who may have two or more babies. It is really hard to carr my two children all the way to the store front. I don't even mind parking farther out, it means the safety of my children and saving my back!. There have to be other mothers/fathers in my situation! A week later, here I am, trolling the parking lot in my minivan hovering for the first cart that comes out of the store. I had enough.

I got on www.publix.com and wrote a very friendly and informative/persuasive letter regarding this situation. It was a pretty clever letter, and I even had a brilliant ending that combined my needs with their own slogan..."Where Shopping is a Pleasure!"

A few days later, I received a phone call from the manager of the store I frequent. He let me know that they agreed with my situation (duh) and have informed their morning crew to leave a few carts in the corral for moms and dads like me!

Thank you Publix for the quick response to my letter! I'm very impressed that they listened to me, and found value in my suggestion.

So yay Publix!!!

The Lawnmen/women

Why do they always seem to come mow/edge/blow just when the kids go to sleep?

Insurance

Whether it be auto, medical or life.....double check your statements!!!

Seems that every time I renew or change an auto policy, something pops up to nickle and dime me that I didn't ask for. Like "Road Side Assistance." How many times do I have to tell them to take it off, I have AAA. Or the rental assisatance...NO. I have to constantly check my policy for these little things they sneak back on.

Medical insurance.....We had an incident that we are still dealing with where Kerry was getting EOB's (Explanation of Benefits) for a chiropractic doctor for all kinds of dates. Kerry doesn't go to a chiropractic doctor, so I called up the insurance company telling them that this isn't ours. We were getting PAGES of EOB's sent to us. This person was going like every other day! The insurance brushed me off and told me to talk to the doctor. HUH!?!? This is possible insurance fraud and you want ME to talk to the doctors and solve this? no. So Kerry called back again, trying to talk to the claims department. They finally figured out there were 2 K.L. Martins in their system. They picked the wrong one to charge these visits to. So we had the insurance change K.L. to Kerry L. and now that poor K.L. person's doctor owes like thousands back to our insurance co. for the insurance co. improperly billing and sending out checks!! LOL

Another example...I have several medical bills piling up due to Lola's birth, so I pick over all of them with a fine tooth comb, because I'm not paying a dollar over what I'm supposed to. I match all EOB's to their proper bills and call claims whenever I have ANY questions. So I get a bill from the anesthesiologist...(a second bill) for $110.00. I check the EOB...I'm not responsible for it, so I call the insurance, just to be sure...nope, not my bill to pay....so then I call the bill issuer...."oh yeah, uh, no ....you don't need to pay that". CHECK EVERYTHING!!! My butt could have been out $110.00 if I had not paid attention to what I was doing!!!

I have another call to make this morning over $50.00. I received some kind of "extra" bill on the side to Lola's birth....some blood work that was done. The insurance sent a whole gobbly gook letter to the physician telling him off in so many words. Now the doctor wants me to pay what the insurance company told him to screw off for. hahahhaha, let you know later how that one turns out.

Moral of the story....don't pay without double checking others work. We all make mistakes! (especially the medical billing industry!)

What a weekend!

Kerry and I attended a company dinner and stay over at a beautiful resort on the beach....instead of showing up in our family car, we decided on a whim to go get a rental car. Being that it was Saturday afternoon, we headed to the airport. Once there, we managed to rent a 2007 Convertible Corvette!!

Oh dear this is a beautiful car. It's luxury and fast sports car all in one! The handling was superb and from a stop, this car just squats and goes. There is no tires slipping. It feels like a race horse breaking through the gates. Kerry and I took turns driving it around, taking care not to get a speeding ticket and having a blast at the same time. We both agree that this is definitely the way to test drive a car...to take it out for 24 hours and really use it in a real world application.

I think the next car we'll rent is a Dodge Viper...yummy :)

Kids Shows

What exactly catches the eyes and the attention of children when it comes to tv shows? My son stops everything he's doing when a certain show of "The Backyardigans" comes on (Castaways) and cracks up over "Charlie and Lola" throwing apples in an orchard. While "The Backyardigans" is bright on colorful, full of music and cheezy acting, "Charlie and Lola" is a low pastels colored, brother and sister relationship that shows their adventures together as children.

Who knows what's going on in those big brains of theirs. My son loves it when I can sing along with the songs, and dance like monkeys in the living room. Maybe it's the interaction with me that he remembers?

A new show came out, called "Yo, Gabba Gabba". It's definitely bright colored, musical and repetitive. The stiff puppet like, yet lovable monsters go over simple daily things like eating and dancing...who couldn't love a show about those things?!?! The young black man wearing bright orange clothing, too include a very fuzzy orange puff thing on his head, and glow in the dark white teeth can be disconcerting to a parent like me, raised on Howdy Doody and Captain Kangaroo. Would kids these days be enthralled by Mr. Greenjeans?

At least my favorite lil mouse is still in the picture...."Mickey Mouse Club House".....is NOT the club house you remember from the days of Annette and themed days of the week, such as Wednesdays are surprise days...no, we have a rough and basic computer generated 2o minute show that teaches simple concepts as shapes, colors and counting. My favorite part as a parent, is to look out for the hidden mickeys in the animation. :) JC's favorite part is when they sing.."hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog, we''ve got ears, it's time for cheers."

Gone are the days of black and white and simple cartooning. Obviously we were deprived of such awesome programming as children and we're building a super empire of colorful children who can sing a song about any problem and yell "cheers!" when they solve a problem. More power to them!

Cleaning House

Kerry and I went over to the rental house on Wednesday night to finish cleaning up the place. We have been putting it off, and probably for a reason we just weren't able to put a finger on.

As I started cleaning by the front door, I saw JC's little hand prints on the window from when he used to peek out when daddy came home from work, or the garbage truck would go by. It hit me then.....we had memories. We brought both JC and Lola home to this house, which in the past was just a simple roof over my head. I always said, I don't care where I live, or what kind of house....but I take that back. I took a sentimental journey of JC's first year, all of the people who visited, JC learning to crawl, his first steps, his first words.....there wasn't one room in the house that didn't have a cheerio in it! ( I even found a few in our closet!!!)

I looked around, I took it all in...then scrubbed away his little hand prints. They will forever be in my mind.