he needs a kick in the face!

so i took the teen for the dreaded physical on monday. yikes. and yes, i was just as nervous as she was about it, but i tried my hardest not to let it show. i knew that before we left the building, she'd have had a needle poked into her at least four, maybe five times. and as rough & tough & stuff as the teen can be, she really is still my little girl on the inside.

the first part was pretty typical and painless - just height, weight, blood pressure. we'd both been given questionnaires to answer prior to seeing the doctor, which made us laugh. we compared them and found all sorts of questions that really aren't funny, but because she's so far from depressed/angry/suffering from an eating disorder/introverted/etc., we giggled through them. although i must say, i wanted to hurl when i saw one of her questions:

have you participated in sexual activity (oral, anal, vaginal intercourse)?

[dry heaving]

the nurse looked at her chart and remarked "oooh, somebody's getting some shots today! hahahaha!" and then handed her a gown to put on and left. the teen totally maddogged him as he left and told me "mom, i want to kick him in the face." i couldn't blame her - he was an asshole.

so although i have all the same parts (and she was only getting down to her underwear, so it was like having a bathing suit on), i was sternly instructed to "turn around, mom, i'm getting naked!" oy.

the physical itself was pretty standard, with the doctor asking her questions about her diet, level of activity, etc. - stuff she would have learned had she actually looked at that damn questionnaire - and told the teen that she needed to eat healthier and get more exercise. she already knew this based on those standard check-ups they do in p.e. at the beginning of the year, so this only reinforced what she'd already learned.

and when that jerkface nurse returned, he was carrying a tray loaded down with four separate syringes full of vaccinations. i could damn near feel the teen's anxiety as she sat there, and when he started swabbing her arm down with an alcohol-soaked pad, she looked frantically at me. i got up and held her other hand, turned her head towards me, and tried to talk to her to get her focus away from what was happening.

and she took it like a champ - even though i could see what she was going through in her eyes, i couldn't tell when the needle pricked her skin (except for the tetanus shot, during which she uttered an angry growl). she ended up with two shots in each arm, and then it was over.

we stopped at the grocery store to stock up on fresh produce, and picked up all of her favorite things - apples to spread with peanut butter, strawberries, grapes with cheese, and the makings for a nice spinach salad for dinner.

it turned out so delicious - fresh baby spinach leaves, crumbled bleu cheese, candied pecans, and tossed with bacon bits (i actually cooked the bacon rather than go my usual route of buying precooked bacon - yes, i am that lazy) and a recipe for homemade dressing i found on the fabulous internet. i wish i'd taken a picture of it when it was ready, because it was purrrty.

last night, i made wedge salads, although i forgot to buy tomatoes to dice for the top. oh, well. and again, i cooked chopped bacon for it. mmm! i served it with these yummy crescent rounds that look like boobs.

and while the teen and the hub are eating healthier, i've been having this for breakfast (and one lunch):

oh, well. hee!

lastly, the teen left for school today wearing this to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11:

i can't believe it's been seven years since that day. do you remember where you were when you heard the news?