Summer has truly come to our small town, sheriff… (name that film – it’s not quite a direct quote!) and the temperatures were in the 30s almost all week, meaning there was very little done in terms of, well, anything!
In my defence, I am pretty sure that both the baby and I are still recovering from our trip to a different time zone, so sleep is proving difficult for us both and the high, high temperatures aren’t helping, Plus – there was a storm!
Monday
Ever since getting back from Ireland, Atlas has been rubbing at his ears just a little bit more than usual. WE THINK. He tends to rub his ears when he’s tired anyway, so it could just be a soothing thing, but I’ve put in a request to have him see a doctor and get it checked out for this afternoon.
As it happens, my Mum forgot some of her prescription medication at home in Ireland so she also needs to see a doctor – Dad drops her over to me so that I can bring them both to the doctor, Atlas to his appointment and Mum to wait for a walk-in appointment (the earliest they could schedule her as a new patient was July – America is mad sometimes).
I have to get petrol on the way. ($40)
Atlas’ appointment incurs a co-pay of $25 – insurance covers the rest – but Mum’s bill will be sent to her later. As an “uninsured” person (she has insurance in Ireland that covers her internationally, but she’ll have to put in a claim using the bill from the US) you get a discount on your bill but it’ll most likely still be $100-plus, and her prescriptions cost about $140.
Afterwards, we head to Kroger to pick up ingredients for orange chicken Dad’s making for dinner. I pay, because Mum’s Irish card won’t go through, but she transfers me the money later on.
It’s almost 30 degrees and definitely too hot to be out and about in the car; when we get home, Atlas is in an absolute sweat and I feel really bad, especially as the doctor said there’s no sign of an ear infection! So I needn’t have brought him at all. Still, better safe than sorry.
I drop Mum back to Bea’s and head home to sit in the air conditioning for the rest of the evening. I’m charged for Auphonic, an audio processing programme I use for our podcast. ($11)
When Brandin gets home with the boys, we have dinner and then start battening down the hatches for the forecasted storm. Brandin, being a native, is convinced that the weather forecasts are always unnecessarily dramatic so isn’t quite as worried as he should be, until he hears a loud pop and our shutter flies off the façade of the house.
As you can imagine, we have a very fitful night’s sleep, between checking on the boys, the baby being wide awake and Vinny, the enormous eejit, being terrified of the lightning and having to sleep in our bedroom with us.
Daily total: $76
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