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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Better day

Today was a much better day until the very end of school. It started out by JD fasting (while he slept last night) and onto the clinic for his complete panel of blood work. It went amazingly well. JD even looked at the butterfly needle being inserted into his arm. The female technician missed the first time so the male technician tried and got in after a bit of searching. They filled five tubes with blood. The whole time JD was very inquisitive about this or that. The female technician praise JD for being so very brave. Then, we moved to the pharmacy to get his Concerta (ADHD meds.) I had JD take one ASAP because he was very talkative and distracting me. We moved to the water fountain for his Zertec pill when I placed the Concerta on the water fountain to dig out the allergy meds. We left there and went to the bank. JD checked on his “spendable” balance. When we walked out of the bank JD said, “Give me my money.” There’s a commercial here for a lawyer named J.G. Wentworth, who works to get clients their lump sum from structured settlements. It was kind of funny that he said that and would come into play later in the morning.

We left the bank and had a hardy breakfast at Burger King. We were slowly sipping on our coffee when JD noticed the word “Caution contents hot!“ This was definitely a teachable moment. We continued sipping our coffee (mine was caffeinated and his was decaf) while talking about frivolous law suits. I told him of the lady (who I called Mrs. Smith) burned herself by spilling her McDonald’s coffee. She sued McDonald’s because the cup did not say the “contents were hot.” She won a structured compensation settlement for (I guessed) $1,000,000. I asked JD if this was fair. This opened up a can of worms for a verbal math lesson. I said, “If she is (hypothetically) 65 years old when she gets the deal from McDonalds that they will pay her $5,000 per month for the rest of her life and she lived for 10 more years how much would she get (before taxes)?” Then, I added this, “She decides that’s not enough for her claim and calls J.G. Wentworth for a lump sum settlement. J.G. promises Mrs. Smith she’ll get her $1,000,000 up front instead of payments; and if they win the case JG will get 10% of her $1,000,000. Notice I said $1,000,000, not the after taxes amount. Then I asked “How much will J.G. get before taxes? How much will be taken from the $1,000,000 because of taxes if tax rate is 37%? In the end who really pays for the $1,000,000 lawsuit? (The customers) And how do they pay for it?” (McDonald’s raises the price of a cup of coffee.

We got home at around 12:00 pm when I noticed I didn’t have JD’s medication. (Bummer!) That means we had to turn around and go back and get the lost “Controlled Substance.” I was so embarrassed. I found it at the pharmacy. Someone found it on top of the water fountain and turned it in. (Thank goodness.)

We finally started school at around 12:30 pm. JD did a short math quiz consisting of ten question related to comparing whole numbers. Then, we worked through a worksheet I typed up about Mrs. Smith’s law suit and compensation package. We did not do a social studies lesson today. We moved right on through to science. It was a short lesson about our solar system. (Did you know the planets rotate counter-clockwise around the sun?)

The last thing JD did for the day was read for 30 minutes. He did not read for 30 minutes because he finished his 188 page book of The Adventures of Robin Hood. When I finished mowing the backyard I came in and asked JD to turn off the TV so we could do a verbal book report. This is when the day got hairy. He was mad that I stopped him from watching TV to do the book report. (Technically he did not read for the full 30 minute time period, but then again, technically I said, “The last activity of the day would be to read for 30 minutes and then he would be done for the day.”) So who is correct? Who knows. When I asked him questions about the plot and character I got nothing but attitude! I stopped him and told him to watch his tone. I reminded him I was not one of his friends that he could mistreat like that. I was the parent and deserved respect. After that short talk things went a little more smoothly.

Football practice tonight was not good either. JD seems to get hurt every practice. I have no doubts he may have gotten hurt before or during the practices and he’s suffering from a legitimate pain, but more over he’s masking the fact that he’s scared of hitting and getting hit. He’s not alone according to Jeff. I told Jeff that I’m running out of pep talks for JD to “shake it off and get back in the game.” Hopefully JD will learn to hit and be hit and successfully make it through this season, and look back and say “That wasn’t so bad and I want to play again next year. (Fingers crossed.)

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