LOST Obsessed

Do crazy people know they are crazy? If the answer is yes, then I might be crazy. Maybe "obsessed" is more the word. I look for lost stuff more than anybody. I'm not even counting the stuff the kids lose every 18 minutes, like "cowboy" (Woody's hat). I'm actually pretty good at finding that as well as other stuff, that no matter how hard my children and my husband look, can't see 12 inches in front of their face.

I usually am looking for stuff, I've put somewhere. This is why I hate cleaning. I can tell you where most stuff is in a total mess, if I start cleaning then I can't find anything. Weird and really annoying. I lose my keys a lot, and yes I have a designated place for them; however, with 4 small kids they don't always make it to the key basket when you are carrying 3 book bags, 3 lunch bags, some coats, shoes & socks, purchases, the mail, my purse, my phone (which I also lose), and kids in the door all at once. When something is lost I can't stop looking for it. I mean, I really can't stop. Even if it's not that important, it drives me crazy. Sometimes I think maybe I'm on a TV show (like the Truman Show) and don't know it and things have been misplaced on purpose to see how long I will look for it. I'm sure if that's happening I'm close to getting a world record for it. No one really helps me because no one here puts much of anything away that way they can be innocent if something is lost.

Currently, I have lost a big thing, Ethan's hearing aide. It's a huge thing to lose. First he needs it for school and he's been without for about a week and half. Second it has a pretty price tag, $900. I'd like to blame it on him because he does tend to throw it down on the floor when he's tired of wearing it, usually at home or in the van. However, remembering back to the Tuesday before Thanksgiving he had a check up at the audiologist so we had it that day. I'm pretty sure I had it the next day, as we had eye doctor appointments and a day from Hell. I'm pretty sure I threw it in my purse that morning as we headed out the door, a little late. It was a hectic day of Ethan hating the eye doctor and taking 3 people to hold him down for an exam ... having our insurance coverage being turned down at at the doctor's office for eye glasses ... driving around for 45 minutes looking for a place that would take our coverage only to find out I could only pick out glasses out of a box she kept under the counter for both Addison and Ethan that didn't come with warranties and didn't fit Ethan correctly at all ... having to take a break at the eye glass place because he wouldn't let the lady measure his eyes ... rushing back to pick Caden up from Preschool. I'm pretty sure it may have been lost in that huge mess of a day. I never gave it much thought because it was Thanksgiving and Reese's birthday and he doesn't really wear it much at home. I thought about it but figured it was in my purse or in the van. Then I started to look for it. The obsession began, I looked everywhere at least 3 times. I called several places that we were in those 2 days, just in case. Let me tell you don't call McDonalds if you lose something there, they told me they didn't have a hearing aide in their lost and found before I got the question out.

I keep looking in odd places it would never be, just in case. I think I've searched my scrap desk a dozen times because everything in the free world seems to be there. But I haven't worked at my scrap desk since October. I think it's gone.

Good news is we get help with some of Ethan's equipment like eye glasses and hearing aides from DSCC (Division of Specialized Care for Children) due to his prematurity and birth health problems. But I don't know how keen they are on helping us buy a new hearing aide when the mom lost it. He was going to need a new one next year anyway because it's almost 5 years old. He also needs new glasses right now too -- so double whammy. His old ones are being held together with scrapbooking tape. I'm having trouble getting those paid for because we have Aaron's insurance, All Kids, and DSCC. Looks to me with all that, the glasses would get paid for but because we have too much coverage no one wants to pay so they pass the buck (or the bill) in a never ending circle that means we have to pay for them. So tomorrow I get to call our DSCC case worker and see if Ethan can get glasses and a hearing aide. I'm going to be on the phone for a long time and probably not understand anything they tell me.

Well, maybe I can just admit the hearing aide is truly lost and stop crawling around on the floor with a flash light looking under every piece of furniture we own and if I stop looking it will turn up along with Reese's other shoe .... how do you lose just ONE shoe?????? Tune in tomorrow for the next episode of "How Long will She Look" to see if I win the world record.