Momma's Little Basket

In honor of Earth Day, I have to share a secret. People don't know it, but housewives across America (or at least in my neighborhood) are doing their part to keep the world Green and our landfills chemical free.
Earlier this week, I was on my way home from the doctor with Paul and we stopped to pick up the girls from my friend who had been watching them. Another of my girlfriends happen to be there as well. They both wanted an update on my doctor's visit. After relaying the details, one of my girlfriends ask, "well did the doctor send you home with anything to temporarily settle your nerves (see previous post)." To which I responded no.

My other girlfriend said "Oh come over here." She heads to her pantry and pulls out a basket full of her prescriptions. "I have a great prescription you can take to get you through till tomorrow." Our other Mommy friend says, "Oh yeah I've been on that one, its really good."

Paul chimes in at this point shaking his head "Do all you stay at home moms, keep baskets full of your old prescriptions?!?" Which was followed by a fit of laughter. How do you think we make it through the day??

Now before you think I am living in the hood with a bunch of pill pushing druggies here's the real scoop. I (and this seems to be very common amongst moms) save prescriptions, when I haven't used the entire amount. I know, I know its clearly written on the bottle "Continue to take until Prescription is Complete." But let's face it, most prescriptions are written for ten days, by day six your feeling better, and start to forget to take your medicine. So there is medicine left over. Your not suppose to flush pills or toss them into the trash because they pollute our water supply. This is where the whole Earth Day Theme comes in. So I keep the world a better place, so do my other mommy friends, by tossing them in a basket on my closet shelf.
This method often come in handy. Let's face it, its expensive to go to the doctor and expensive to have prescriptions filled. There's been times on a Friday night at 11:30 PM when no place but the ER is open and my kids have woke up screaming of an ear ache and I have been able to pull drops from my basket to get them through the night. There's been other times I have made phone calls to friends in search of drops for Pink Eye, once your kid has had it once, you know what it looks like and how to treat it. There was also a time when Paul was in between jobs and even though we took COBRA our health insurance was cut off due to Bureaucratic BS. It happen to be when I needed my antidepressants refilled, and who has $250 bucks laying around to pay for them when your unemployed! Lucky for me I had a Mommy friend with her own Little Basket, who used to be on the same prescription, same dose and saved it when she got changed to another prescription. I was able to stay on my prescription during an incredibly difficult time, thanks to a friend Little Basket until our insurance got straighten out.
So laugh or shake your head as much as you want at Mommy's Little Basket, but it seems to be a common suburban practice that has baled a lot of people out of tough situations, plus its keeping the world a bit Greener.