A little Christmas Cash

I've been doing a little window shopping lately - getting ready to make my Christmas list. I am really excited this year cause I just know I am going to get a really nice present from Taylor and Dallin. You see they recently came into some money and as their most favorite person I am sure to reap some of the windfall.

They are definitely feeling rich, or at least like they will be pretty rich. They are both about to receive 2 payments of 40 dollars each. That is $80, a fortune for my kids. They earned it by being a guinea pig. They let our doctor inject them with a new form of flu shot. All they had to do is sit there while the dr talked to me for what seemed like an hour and then made me fill out what seemed like 1000 forms. I didn't actually count but I am pretty sure I signed and initialled less forms when I bought my house. Meanwhile the boys sat there fantasizing over what they were going to spend their money on and letting their arms get numb.

The study also wanted to know if they had any immunity to the flu before getting the shot. This required a blood draw, and for some reason the doctor thought this required the numbing of their arms. Now I have gotten my blood draw more times than I care to count and I have never been numbed for it. I was a bit irritated that my boys were. Like I have mentioned before I do not want my kids growing up to be wimps. A little blood draw does not, in my book, require numbing. Nevertheless they numbed them, took a tiny bit of their blood, which they did not feel at all and then a tiny little poke later they were 80 dollars richer and hopefully immuned from the flu.

Rick was in the waiting room with Ryan, Anna and Rachel while the boys were selling themselves. It took a good hour or so, so the kids were very happy to see us. Rachel went absolutely ballistic when the boys came out with lollipops in their mouths. She started hollering I'm sick, I'm so sick - over and over again. She's pretty smart - she knows you see the doctor when you are sick and the doctor gave Taylor and Dallin a lollipop. Therefore she was sick. She didn't quite her yelling until the doctor came out and gave her a handful of lollipops. I am sure they were happy to see us leave the waiting room. I am hoping to use that to my advantage.

While we did make a tidy sum of money on last weeks visit we didn't get what we came for - the H1N1 shot, so another doctor visit will be coming soon. I am hoping the nurses take one look at Rachel, remember her and meet us in the waiting rooms with our H1N1 shots when the next shipment comes in.

I called in this morning and ask if they had the vaccinations in. They said, we sure do just come in this evening between 5-6 and we will give it to you. Well from previous experience I knew that between 5-6 was their flu shot clinics and the waiting room would be packed so I thought we better be prepared for a long wait. Since we were meeting Rick we couldn't go much before 5:30 when he could leave work, so we shot for 5;15. We were late, like usual, and walked in the door at 5:30. Signed the forms and waited to get called back. About an hour later the doctor came out and called for attention. He said they only had a few shots left and would have to start giving them to the high risk patients first. So they went through and identified all those who qualified as high risk. We didn't make the cut. Next the nurse handed him a little yellow sticky note. "I have a list of the next 5 families on the list in the order they arrived." he said. The tension in the room was thick. "We will just go down the list and do as many as we can." he said. I was a bit nervous until he called Carter. We were first I was so relieved I jumped up like we had won a prize or something saying "that's us". Unfortunately so did the lady next to me. Two Carter families right in a row. Which Carter would it be - I honestly didn't remember if we had come in first or not. I may never know because the doctor took a look at my kids all lined up next to me and ask how many we had in the family. We need 5 shots I said. "We don't have that many," he said, "and I'd like to complete the whole family at once". The other Carters only had 2 kids so they go the shots. I felt like a loser. But the doctor came back with an offer for us that Taylor and Dallin just couldn't refuse. I sure my hope Christmas present makes it all worth it.