misdirected prayer

So we're driving home from church and I ask Miles about the lion puppets he made in Sunday School. It turns out they're learning about Daniel and the lions, and (after some prodding) he tells me Daniel had to go in there because he disobeyed God.

I try to clarify: no, Daniel obeyed God and disobeyed the king, who made a rule that you could only pray to the king, not to God. I go on to say that the Bible tells us we should always only pray to God.

"Why?" asks my practical son. "We could just pray to both; that would be OK!"

Well, no, I explain. Praying to someone else would hurt God's feelings (I left it at that).

Silent until now, Eleanor pipes up. "How about we pray to chickens?!"

Um....

in search of free kindle books

From the back-of-book blurb: "Romanced by the light of the triple moons, entranced by Mathin’s fiery kisses, will Andrea give up her home on Earth in exchange for something wild?'"

And the author's name is - wait for it...Autumn Dawn!

Um, I'm almost tempted to download it just to see if it could possibly be as bad as these indicators would suggest. Or maybe not.

Dentist battle won!

This is a very boring post, but I needed to vent!

A couple months ago, I was at my dentist checking out, and the chipper administrative girl tells me that if I sign up for their in-office savings plan, it will allow me to pay less than my dental insurance plan will. Hmm. I look at the numbers she's showing me, and they don't seem to make sense. I am pretty good at math, and it seems like my overall liability OUGHT to be less than the $95 she's quoting me (and I'm not complaining; $95 for a same-day visit to fill in a chipped tooth is not a bad deal). But I can't seem to make the girl understand the math as I see it, so I just pay the $95 and leave.

Last week, I get an EOB from our dental plan, which says I SHOULD have owed only $79.60. I call the office, and they say, no, because they're not in-network, so I would be liable for the full amount, not the "contracted" amount. But they told me they were in network! And so did my dental plan! The woman is getting rather snippy and fed up with me now.

I call my dental plan, who says, yes, they ARE in network, and the amount on my EOB is the total I should pay. She offers to call Miss Snippy for me. I accept gratefully.

A few minutes later, I hear from Miss Snippy, who is now Miss Polite and Apologetic. She says, well, whaddya know, they are in network for my super-special plan, apparently. She still thinks I owe them an extra $50 for my deductible. I go over the math with her again to show her that it's already included in my total. She is confused, and calls my dental plan back.

A few minutes later, she calls back, confirms that I was right from the beginning, and will issue me a check to refund my $15.40.

Was it worth it for $15? Probably not, particularly as I get all adrenaline-full and miserable and stomach-upset when I'm in conflict with anyone, even a dental billing office. But I knew I was right. And I have to hope that maybe I'm striking a blow for the other confused customers who are maybe not as good at math, not as assertive, or don't have the time to put up a fight for a few bucks. I wonder how much extra a doctor or dentist can take in "accidentally" simply because of people who don't have the time or knowledge to get errors corrected?

Besides, it was a nice break from cleaning my oven.

A first lost tooth...

...and I DO mean lost. It's probably being slowly digested along with tonight's chicken pot pie.



Miles is very proud (and also slightly worried, I think).

Now I'm wishing I hadn't spent the money to take him to the dentist yesterday (yesterday!) I was worried because his gums had been bleeding a lot and looked like they were receding. (The dentist said he was fine and offered to pull the tooth out; Miles politely declined.) Now I just feel like a type-A overprotective mommy.

Our even-more-gap-toothed son is now out with Daddy getting some ice cream, the treat I had promised. I hadn't yet decided whether to do the tooth fairy routine or not, and since this tooth has conveniently disappeared, maybe I won't need to decide for a while yet.

A few Memorial Day photos

It was a long road trip to Baltimore. Yes, I'm grateful for the minivan and the newly-repaired DVD player (which we hardly used, actually). But I was less grateful for the pouring rain we experienced along almost the entire drive, turning our trip into a grueling 14.5 hours - we arrived at about 5 am, and the last three hours were by far the hardest.

It's great to be here with Uncle David, Aunt Gina, and cousin Isaac, though. Miles and Eleanor took to baby Isaac (aka "MY cousin" as per Eleanor) right away.



Charlie the cat took a little longer to warm up, and Elmer the mostly-labrador is still the terror of Nora's young life, causing shrieks of panic whenever he enters the room. Seriously, I don't remember ever being scared of dogs; how did fear develop?

Uncle David made Miles' day by finding him a helicopter to visit, at the Fort Mead museum.



We also climbed around on the tanks...





---until we noticed this sign. Oops!



Yesterday morning we went strawberry picking. The kids helped mostly by eating, but the adults managed to collect enough for a strawberry custard, strawberry pie, strawberry syrup, and who knows what else.






We also splashed around in David's tiny backyard pool. Here's my photogenic husband with the dripping kids:



David also took some family photos, which were unusual in that I looked pretty decent (as if I have a chin) in most of them, while the kids were both grouchy and glaring in most.

Mother's Day...

...and I finally received the traditional pasta necklace! You know you're a real mom when your kids make you a necklace out of dyed penne, right?

And yes, I am being the good mom and WEARING the pasta necklaces. Today, at least.

backhanded compliment

As I was leaving tonight for an audition, Eleanor says,

"Wow, you look really pretty, Mommy!"

Miles chimes in, "Yeah. Much better than before."

Thanks, kid.