Mowens's Diary

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I pay more per month for my family's health insurance than I do for my house...and I have a pretty nice house on 7 wooded acres.
 
Hah, yeah. I heard they made a joke GoFundMe to get the cost covered. They said it had something to do with needing to bring someone in to stand next to the mom to make sure nothing happened. I know the 1 birth we had in the hospital, there were already 4 people in there. If I had to pay extra for a 5th, I'd have thrown a tantrum.
 
brawny77 said:
I have seen a few babies so ugly that they would have to pay me 39.95 to hold them....rimshot please lol
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(at no point in my life will I tire of this stupid gif)

I would need $40 to hold even a cute baby, but that's just me.

RE: Insurance, our plan is that the insurance pays a randomly-assigned percentage until the $5K deductible is met. Then they pay a randomly-assigned percentage. Great policy.
 
So I've had a rough last few days. The kids have been sick, up all night screaming and I haven't had the energy to do anything.

This past weekend we went to my nephew's 4th birthday party and stayed with them. I didn't do very well with the diet because at the party all they really had to eat was popcorn, cheese puffs and chips. The closest thing to "real" food were sausage balls and BBQ mini wieners. But as of this morning my weight is back down to where it was last week so at least I haven't gained since then.

We got to take the kids to a pumpkin patch while we were visiting family and they had a lot of fun there.

I feel like this is a more flattering shot of me as you can tell that my gut has shrunk some more. My 3 year old, Evie is picking out her pumpkin.

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Just a couple of shots of my wife and I with Ellie; our (as of next month) 1 year old.

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One huge positive thing I've had lately is my boss was selling his old Garmin VivoActive smart watch, which was like a $250 watch when it was new a couple of years ago. He bought the newest Apple watch and out of nowhere told me he was going to give it to me for free, so he did:

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I colloquially refer to them as "the saucy meats". Oh, how I love them. But eat too much and you get the meat sweats!

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Looking good, Mowens! Your family remains ultra-cute and your boss is obviously happy to have you. You must be doing something right to deserve all that :)
 
You & your family look great Mowens. I'm not sure that you realise how much better you are looking these days. Get out some old photos of yourself & check them out. You are doing really well! It seems to me that your boss has shown that he is impressed with what you are doing health-wise. Kudos to you & to him.
 
I suppose it's too much to hope that my brothers would act like normal human beings for once... really stressed out about a developing situation now and I feel like eating a carton of ice cream or something.
 
Mowens1984 said:
I suppose it's too much to hope that my brothers would act like normal human beings for once... really stressed out about a developing situation now and I feel like eating a carton of ice cream or something.
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Dude. Don't fall into that trap. Believe me if you think you have problems in the family, you haven't met mine. If you were to look up dysfunctional in the dictionary- my family's picture would be there. Not my immediate family but my Dad and Uncles, Grandparents etc. I figured out in my journey the reason why I was eating like a horse and looking like one is because I was trying to feel something other than hate and messed up so I ate because it made me feel good. I don't know what is going on but don't eat your way through it. Don't let things get to you. You have come a long way - don't let your brothers mess things up for you. Believe me - in my case it wasn't worth it. Don't let them get to you!
 
Nothing is worth ruining your health - but I guess we all have moments when that short-term fix is so tantalizing... Hope you managed to channel that energy into some running around without your kids instead.
 
(Warning: rant about my family, if you don't care to read about it, just move along to the next post)

I resisted. The scale didn't seem to appreciate it though.

I don't even know much about what happened. Something about an attempted stabbing. My brothers are 30 and 35 (I'm 32) and both are living at home with my dad. The younger one attacked the older one and now the older one is swearing off the family to which I'd say, good riddance to both of them.

My dad hopped in his truck and drove off without his phone so I dunno where he is or what's going on. They only live 5 minutes away from me but I have no way of tracking my dad down.

He refuses to kick my younger brother out because he had a friend that got stabbed to death over owing someone $20 worth of weed and died and my dad thinks the same will happen to my brother if he kicks him out on the street. He refuses to get a job, he has 2 kids he doesn't support or help raise. He already smokes weed and does pills and considering he has no job but has things like a new computer and a PS4, I'd say he's already selling because his girlfriend isn't giving him that kind of money.

My older brother also has 2 kids in a custody battle with his ex-wife and just sold off everything he owned and moved in with his 3-month long relationship with a new girl and they just broke up which is why he moved back in with my dad. He at least has a job but he's got really bad A.D.D. and is a pathological liar. He's the one who called me last night and broke this news, so there's no telling what is actually happening as I automatically assume 75% of what he tells me are lies.

We're also only 12 days out from my mom having passed away a year ago and my dad is still struggling with the changes from that. He doesn't need to be dealing with my trash family and I feel bad for him, but he keeps himself in this situation. And yes, we've talked this all over on our last camping trip so he knows how I feel.

My mom was kind of the foundation of the family. She wasn't afraid to call us out for acting stupid and she had a temper that kept things under control. We've kind of all unraveled after her passing. My dad is so passive and while he can get angry, he never takes action and is always more likely to walk away (hence the driving off part).

I was always been labeled the "normal one" growing up in our family because people always ask me, "How did you turn out so right?" when they hear about my brothers. The reality is I understood how rough my parents had it raising us and I didn't want to contribute to that. I was largely ignored growing up and was the black sheep of the family. You know, squeaky wheel gets the grease. Is that a saying in other countries? :p

Anywho, I'm not out for pity. I just really needed to vent this and about the only person I CAN vent to who isn't also a part of this problem is my wife and she's heard it all 1,000 times before.
 
Vent away, buddy. Your story sure makes food sound like a harmless thing to turn to... I'm sorry you're having to deal with this crap and doubly sorry you have to do it in the US. Over here I would call the police if my sisters pulled stunts like that because I'd know they'd get actual help that way. All I can say is: take care of yourself and your own lovely family. Especially for a layman there's no helping adults who won't or can't admit they're up to their chin in shit.
 
Police have been called in the past but unless they can actively catch you threatening or committing violence or unless there's blood everywhere, they tell you not to bother them. I dunno how true that is for other countries, but unless they're arresting someone or taking someone to the hospital, you're just bothering them in their eyes.

If by help you meant therapy or psychiatric help, you can't get someone to do anything in the US with them unless they voluntarily decided to go and they definitely would not do something like that on their own.
 
I am sorry you have to deal with all this. Family stuff can suck sometimes. Unfortunately you are right - you can't help them unless they want help. I guess it is something like losing weight- you can tell people how to do it, show them exactly what to do but some people just don't WANT to do it or they want it to be easy. Doesn't work that way unfortunately. Good job on the resisting.

I had so many family issues I had to shut the problem ones out of my life. I didn't want my kids to even be around them. It was toxic. So I chose my kids and wife over my family and I haven't regretted it once. Not telling you what to do but I did what I had to do. Sometimes you can only do so much and then you have to move on. They say you can't pick your family but I figured I could unpick them.
 
Oh, trust me, I could and would shut my brothers out of my life in a heartbeat, but it's my dad I care about and unfortunately, with them living there off and on again, it's a package deal. That's part of what's frustrating. It's like trying to move on in a new relationship and the ex keeps creating problems. I try to life my non-chaotic life that involves my dad but my brothers bring enough chaos to share.
 
Mowens1984 said:
Oh, trust me, I could and would shut my brothers out of my life in a heartbeat, but it's my dad I care about and unfortunately, with them living there off and on again, it's a package deal. That's part of what's frustrating. It's like trying to move on in a new relationship and the ex keeps creating problems. I try to life my non-chaotic life that involves my dad but my brothers bring enough chaos to share.
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Yeah I hear you. Family matters are not simple they are always complicated. All I would suggest is to do what you can to support your Dad. Unfortunately there are no simple answers either. I would say just do what you can.
 
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