Sunday, March 31, 2013

I hope that everyone who had a celebration today...


... Kept their rebel rousing to a minimum! Oh wait, that was last night… when we were watching the movie, Lincoln. The one about two teams of many peoples fighting over who should get their best help yet! Oh wait, that was another movie called, The Help. Well, this is a fine mess I have gotten myself in, but weren’t those two movies about similar ideas? Injustices of how people treat other people? Sure they were, one is placed during the Civil War, back in the 1860’s, the one is between the north and the south on whether or not to abolish slavery and thank G-d it was settled. But wait than why was The Help about that too in the 1960’s? Oh wait, now I am confused. That was a decade were we had the wonderful idea to reignite the rights of all people of color, than why are so many other people in other shades today not being treated so well still? And why is it that people who love are still not accepted unless they love family and their children and friends and spouses but not of the same chromosomes? Sure we have come so far but are still wobbling in the past of not accepting that, “IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton” Thanks too: http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/ NOW EVERYONE MEMORIZE THAT! THERE WILL BE A TEST,SOMETIME LATER! With fifty states and now a few more other places that depend on us… we sure should be able to handle anything! Now to all those who celebrate Easter I hope that it was a pleasant day for you with all your family, extended ones too, as well as those friends you can count on all year long when family is not by your side… for enjoyment should not be withheld till a special occasion it should be daily. Words to live by… and so allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages with you know who and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?! PS my last paragraph explains that I do know what holiday it is, but isn’t it nice to know that we all now know why we all have the right to be able to celebrate it or not to and that all peoples should be able to too or not…

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Knowing that you live in an area of your country that...


…Was promoted primarily to bring people to cultivate its natural beauty and to enjoy its vast native offerings to the wealthy but then to the masses, gives one a moment to catch their breath and then sigh… It’s not like I was unknowledgeable about its inherent gift to the nation and the world, why one might ask? It may very well have been a family legacy to evolve into a resident here eventually, since my grandparents would winter here way before I was even born. Sadly, my Mom’s Mom, my grandmother was killed in a car accident enroute to Miami the year before I was born and we will leave that up in the air… just hanging there; let’s just say it was before 1950, but not before 1948. I am her namesake. With that said, my grandpa and my Mom’s Dad, still would come down here to good ole Florida for the winter with his new wife, Julie, and so in the winter of 1957-58 my Mom and I got to come down to Miami for the Hanukkah/Christmas vacation through New Years and a few months more that winter, Dad was still in business and so he stayed up and worked at the Eclipse with his partners his cousins, a bowling alley/cocktail lounge and restaurant combo. They all would only have one Sunday off a month so they all needed to be there. My Mom didn’t drive, never was clear on why that was, but even in those days that would be a terribly long drive for anybody but especially a woman alone with a young child, and so since my Mom also had a fear of planes, the other mode of transport gaining popularity even back in 1957, the last option was taking the train and so that is how we got from Newark NJ where Dad I think must have dropped us off to Miami! Any travel of that distance for a child with a parent was going to be an exciting adventure and it was… I think…being only seven, yep I was I did not really know too much about American history, but from what I saw on the TV, with shows like Westerns and Cowboy shows that all talked about the wild west, and to me anything away from Paramus NJ, I had nothing really to go on, but on either side of the tracks from what I could see out my window sure looked like what the TV showed us of the wild west. And so I asked my Mom about Indians? I do believe she knew about the Seminoles, but not a whole lot. It was hard to fall asleep because of the sheer excitement of the journey that took more than a day I believe. And until we actually arrived in Miami and got off the train I thought there were no other people in this whole foreign place, called Florida! That winter after the holidays I got to go to a real private school, where I was the only girl with two others there; who were boys. It was cold that winter in Miami I think they said the coldest in history, but that was way long ago, so I don’t remember that well…The boys were something called gentle men since they helped me on with my coat. I took a taxi to school from our hotel and I remember one day I walked back to the hotel and on my way I found a great big noisy rock with something sloshing around in it. My Mom told me it was a coconut. Oh yea, I recall now the reason we stayed longer that winter of 1957-58 was Grandpa had, had a heart attack and Mom was worried, yep sadly grandpa died that year of 1958. Mom was his eldest of five children, and that is why we were there. I don’t remember our trip home but I am sure it was just as exciting. I brought my coconut to my second grade classroom for show and tell or some such thing, Mrs. Lavin’s, and my Dad came to school to open it for my entire class… He was not a tool guy, but a great guy and it took him awhile to get that ugly rock open, but when he did, it had liquid like milk in it and that is what is was called, coconut milk and white tasty harder stuff that was oh so tasty I almost didn’t share, but I did! And everyone gave their own opinion of what they thought. On that note of my first encounter with where I have been now calling home for this our twenty-seventh year, allow me to wish all of you your memories of how you got to be where you just might be in this point in time or where you may be heading…kindly count those blessings and share those overages and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Churning, burning, tummy turning....


Yuck a duck what luck my body’s betraying with this…mukluk. I will be writing only another shorty for tonight, me thinks I goofed with what I do-thed by trying hard to tasted too much of Hubby’s proof or what he doth brought home from the grocer for our troth of our refrigerator/ freezer loft… Our cupboards were practically bare and so when we care to fill our share and now I am not doing well… and so I will say an early good night to all and to all be all right!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Just when you think all is well...


I fortunately paid my monthly premium yesterday for my health insurance, never knowing that today Hubby found out from an email that I signed up with ABC Action News in Tampa Florida, for breaking news reports, a few years ago, as I did with CNN, and that is when he found out that his insurance company is now defunked! OUCH for…he and I… but once we got over the initial shock, going to their site: Universal Health Care and found out officially it would be done on Monday, April 1, 2013. Anyone with questions or needs new coverages can go to their site and if you follow through the prompts you will find the sites to go to according to where you live for Medicare established insurances: http://univhc.com/ Scary at first, but now Hubby is re-insured with Humana Gold Medicare for no additional premiums and very similar everything else! He checked with Blue and Blue and AARP, but Humana was the best all round. In retrospect, most of us know that the healthcare in this country has had problems for years; but that said we are not alone in the world. That’s one of the best parts of the international awakening on Facebook, many expound on their situations not unlike here in the US with their healthcare systems, even those countries will socialized medicine that as Americans some feel could be the answer to our problems, but not from what I have heard through those who have it. We all seem to suffer from the grass is always greener syndrome, hmm? If only… We, as a nation, need to find a better way, and the only good that came from this experience was that Hubby found out his heart is working just fine! And I am more than thankful for that! All kidding aside, it would be wonderful if we had a simple answer. But it is in my head and mind that the gouging has got to stop, doctors over bill, accepting percentages, what’s with that and pharmaceuticals companies charge ungodly prices, but somehow have freebie programs for the ones of us that squeak the wheel the loudest? Medicaid fraud and Medicare fraud have been rampant, in my opinion that is where so much of the expense of healthcare has gone. We as consumers should question everything and not allow over charges and ask for itemized bills to go over with a fine tooth comb. It is our responsibility to be our own watchdogs! I will never forget when I was uninsured just a few months ago, but go back a couple of years from that when I used Walgreen’s Options for my in home IV steroids that were four hundred dollars for me being uninsured and the nurse was $90 a day to install my IV doing that dose for the day and to teach me how to change the medication out for the next two days, she was from a separate company than Walgreen’s. Yet, with Hubby being insured his insurance covered him having a nurse’s visit a couple times a year, and this was with Universal Health Care and the bill for that was $212 for her checking his vitals and she was from the same company as mine… I remember noting that from her card! And so Hubby called the insurance company, even though the visit was covered and he complained telling him about the discrepancy, and you know what they said? They are under contract with them and that there was nothing they could do about it! Well, there you go, being gouged, has its price. Being concerned and doing something can be two different things. Advocacy for anything we care about is more than signing a petition, for me, with the my MS it is an online direct access to our legislature and law makers by access through the National MS Society, all you do is put in your zip code and your representatives names pop up and there is either a form letter or a blank space for you to write your own letter with it going directly to your specific people in your district. Over the last few years it has given me a feeling of still doing something, although my abilities to physically respond volunteer wise has diminished, I feel very good about this… and get letters back from Senators and such and from the NMSA with info updates if our bills of concern have passed! Below is access to help if you too so desire…http://www.nationalmssociety.org/government-affairs-and-advocacy/index.aspx On that note of an up note, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Chatting away most all of the day...


And of course I spent some quality time with Hubby discussing obscure topics of interest and even paid a couple of bills online today too. Since it is Wednesday the 27th already and the two online I paid today were both due on or about the first. I really thought I had more time, I’m glad I checked while checking other charges in our account. Usually, it only takes a day or two… and that is why I thought I could wait. Apparently, due to the upcoming holiday, Monday is the earliest it will get there electronically, but that is the first anyway. Does anyone know if Good Friday is also a bank holiday, here in the USA? I didn’t think it was. Direct deposit monies should be coming in tomorrow or Friday then I suppose? Anyway, those two were well covered, and yes, one was my next month’s health insurance premium and yes, with me being not sure about any health issues and with all this fine medication in my system who knows what this stuff could do to me at any given moment, I could be a rolling time bomb! Sure hope NOT! But, after a lot of introspective consulting with my own medical needs I realized that I didn’t want to dump a more dangerous situation on our family. I am erring on the side of, “it is better to be safe than sorry.” Even though, I still feel we are being gouged, but from what I have been reading it could have been much worse, in other words I am keeping an open mind, for now. I suspect this will be a month to month decision on my part,ha. I did receive all my other medications for ninety days supplies for each, and they have been calling me with being very nice to me, hmm… makes one wonder. That letter I sent may have made them think twice about their pricing or perhaps a suggestion of where their clients/patients could get the medication at better prices like I did going directly to the pharmaceuticals? If anyone has seen Miracle on 34th Street, you know what I mean by that… For any who may be living under a rock and may have missed this cinematic treasure...Macy’s Santa, suggests other stores for the gifts they don’t have and their reputation goes through the roof in a really good way!A win, win for all! In reality, my letter was not vicious it was concise in how I felt, but not mean, just frustrated with their co-pays and premiums really causing my concern for healthcare after not having it for six whole years, to falter enormously! I had known the system had taken a hit like everything else and sure nobody expects them to give it away, but to me it just seems like we are paying for prime real-estate in Beverly Hills but living in the projects in South LA, ya know what I mean? That analogy is slightly skewed but you get the idea…432, odd up to here that is the exact amount my monthly premiums are, and how many words to ‘idea’ were, 432. The other payment was from a doctor’s office visit co-pay of only $25 plus a $1.05 left over from my venipuncture from the total that the insurance didn’t pay, odd little amount too, which came in via an email, done and done. With that note of some note, a little note, I do hope… allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages with you know who, and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Cold makes things shrink!


Now that’s a lot to chew on; get your minds out of the gutter! Hubby reported that as I tried to open the club soda bottle that he had opened from our air cooled garage earlier today, around lunch time and then stored it back in the frig. Thus I was told what had, had happened to me and that I needed a towel to wrap around it to budge the lid and it hissed with relief, real well, when I was able to finally get the refreshing beverage to open for its second time. I usually ask Hubby, but he was still eating dinner and I feel too helpless sometimes when I do and that was never ever me. Sadly, due to my clumsiness we have more plastic around, but the recyclable type in our home than we really shouldn't have as much as we do, but I drop things way too often. The last item was a large sized olive jar that was glass; Hubby was able to salvage olives from the container and washed all of them in a colander and carefully looked through them for any shards of glass, gotta love the guy! I know, I can nearly hear some of you cringing at the thought of that salvage job and you are asking yourselves why the heck he didn’t just throw them away. Thrifty and have you seen the price of olives these days? …Any-who, that was a while ago and so I am fine and I did eat all of them after all was placed in a plastic container that was sturdy and could not be damaged by my inelegance, but sadly all due to the MS. Those plastic items in our home have cut down on a lot of breakage, which makes me feel a whole lot better about touching things, anything. You see, the problem is that you grab something and you don’t feel it and boom, crash, waa, waa a bang, bang! And not a very pretty sight for the eyes or in my case eye. I used to try to clean it up, but now with Hubby retired for these last six plus years he tells me to hold Skipper away instead, although even Skipper, our Bichon has learned the meaning of danger, danger! Some things just don’t come in plastic and when brought into the home to transfer them into other containers is not always practical, due to the short time they will be used. The worst is that when we used to have company and this first started I would use those chintzy plastic barbecue plates and cups even for guests! I sometimes wonder about my old Corel that I sold years ago at a garage sale or even my Mom’s Melamine, both was dishwasher and microwave safe. And since then I am using my normal china/ironstone, but with care. I am sure this is common amongst my MS pals, but I have not brought it up, which is odd since we have discussed much more embarrassing things than that; the idea that I am too shy to discuss any of that tonight is just silly, which is so unlike me! Oh well, here I go, if you must know… We discussed bladder incontinence, which is all part of it, MS and yes, the commonality of that is quite prevalent, more than three quarters with it have this more than daily inconvenience. Another small glimpse into my daily life, uncensored. On that note of hopefully some informative notes, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear? PS Good luck to marriage equality, it should be equal for all loving couples, Gay or Straight! Second night of Pesach.

Monday, March 25, 2013

It appears that once again I have some pictures...


…for all of you to goggle, huh that is a search program, oh no that means to stare or a leering look at somebody with eyes wide open, you can’t use the lower case of Google anymore for that type of stare, since it is copyrighted as an Internet search engine since 1998 only! But we used to. Any-who, my PICS are of my little crafts projects I did this morning while I was talking to everyone online on Facebook: The whole project cost less than ten bucks! We had also stopped by Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts too yesterday on the way home; we had gone in for just gold metallic paint, a little gilt for very little gelt, only $1.39 and so much was done with it from the letters… that cost $1.99 each on sale, a dollar off each one from their usual. Hubby says they are about six inches tall, but we forgot to measure them before he hung them, he having to move my Gecko over to the side since he can hang angled, but the word I preferred straight across over our pantry and they were bought already primed with white paint. Besides the vivid colors that I gave them I bedazzled them too with the gilt, without guilt, boy this is great; polka dots done with the opposite end of the paint brush, so easy and so fun with results that say WOW! I had the other colors in my arsenal of acrylics, but two, I mixed to achieve what I wanted to compliment the Gecko I have had for years… Sadly, the sign for me is to remind to NOT eat, but for Hubby to; thus our contrasting, but complimentary sizes; a big smile here and a ha. I sure remember not too long ago when I was his petite sidekick! The mirror if you recall was my dollar purchase earlier this month at the city wide garage sale, the gilding makes it come to life, don't you think? Makes me sad about the weight thingy, but it's time for me to move on and say that I hope these PICS made you all feel that glitz is an easy project for any of us with big rewards after, and with that note allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and remember to count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Pictures once again of a fun filled day!

Our day begun with a stop first up to north county to get gas at 3.66.9 a gallon at the Sam’s Club and Hubby also went inside for our bargain priced coffee and extra virgin olive oil both in large economy sizes! Mostly that’s what we get there as well as paper goods when need be, but right now we are well stocked. Oh that wasn’t the fun part really, since I waited in the car reading an outdated Waterline paper, from January while listening to the radio, see I can still multi-task, ha! Hubby should really clean out the car, but this time at least I had something to keep me busy while I waited the whole twenty minutes he took in there. Next stop was for lunch since it was a bit of drizzle and so we decided to eat inside instead of at the park where the Ponce Deleon Day was going on… oh the restaurant is actually at Laishley Park though too so we did not have to move the car, although we did not have a handicap space the car next to us was far enough a way for Hubby to get my black beauty chariot alongside my door for me to hop in. The place was busy except in this one room, which was the only one left with low tables and so we asked to sit there, it was quite private until we were ready to leave and a large group, from perhaps a church came in or a family of about thirty people all different ages. We were done anyway, and they were quite boisterous, but that was due to the extreme of the quiet we had, had before they arrived. The Next stop was Hubby wheeling me over to the park where the celebration was and as usual a picture is worth a thousand words so the next few shall speak for themselves… After we decided to go on another drive to another park that is actually called Ponce Deleon Park where the below wild life center is that helps injured and abandoned birds and animals and tries to rehabilitate them and if not they have an always home there.

The birds that took part in those candid shots were first a night heron, a great blue heron, pelicans and lastly a sandhill crane! It was difficult choosing the right pictures between Hubby and I we took twenty seven just for today’s outing! On that note of hopefully an interesting one, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Having a place to discuss how we feel about anything ...


…is it a good thing or not such a good thing? I wonder… Do we divulge too much on the Facebook interesting specific chat rooms? For me who does not have a problem with telling it all…does it make me think twice about what I said? Nah! My embarrassment factor, along with my writing/mouth filter have basically disappeared years ago. Sadly, I suspect too many or perhaps just a few, to their chagrin who have some sort of scruples, would think twice, which is nice, but actually I do too… I never mean to be mean, but somehow I might just be all that! The loving your neighbor as good, bad or indifferent was lost somewhere in translation for me, but we live in a very bad neighborhood, so maybe that’s why? Some people are just what you get when you talk to them or in my case listen to them, since by nature, I am an incessant talker; that is when my voice comes out, which is more often than not, thankfully! I love the concept of the training, like in choo, choo, one after another conversations online group discussions, better sounding than chat rooms. Although, in reality that is what they are, I think. If you Google online to get info on any topic, more often than not instead of specifically going to a reputable site, let’s say medical need as in mayoclinic.com or clevelandclinic.com, johnshopkins.com you might click on the site with what your question was and find yourself in an old discussion about what peeked your interest to look it up. And on occasion a medical professional may get involved. I have found some actual M.D. types do interject on occasion and that is when I read the whole answer they give. But we have no way to know if their background/credentials are what they claim… do we? Most times they tell the inquirer to check with the specific physician in their area, that is great CYA, cover your ass, oops did I say that? There goes my cringe factor again! Yes, I did say that! I guess I lied up top; no I didn’t, because I still don’t like to curse. During my youth I wasn’t very good at it either, saying filthy words that is, clean ones are more fun, and that is just another unrequested opinion, from yours truly! Besides is there any reason to not to be able to get your feelings out with all the other choice words they’re to choose from? Some of the best emotions can be expressed by flowery, overly ornate pompous expressions of disagreement, with heightened feelings of displeasure or agitation or finding those ten dollar words that make people scratch their heads? Thesauruses are there for the taking… In closing, have fun as I do on these sites, but remember most are just people like you and we all know that no one is better than anyone else and on that note, so… don’t believe everything you see and as me, we all will be just fine. But do keep an open mind, sometimes there is a lot of jewels of learning available, okay most often, at least the one I go to. See if you can check the credentials of the group, and friend as many as you continue to speak to, in that way it allows you access to their educational info and business background etc. I suppose it is my lack of blind trust having been in business all those years and married to a man who is retired law-enforcement. On that note of who knows what again… me thinking out loud I suspect, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!?

Friday, March 22, 2013

Extreme violence all over the news and then there is too much...


…Of those celebrity breakups of long lasting relationships for months, some as long as two years! I can’t take all this abuse! And misuse of the media of the real news. Sure it is vulgar, gory, and hard to understand why, but…I do know that reality TV can handle those, so-called ‘celebrity’ misguided ‘relationships’ that are too short to call with them actually just hanging out and in together, what????? Many make babies and move on. What is wrong with the olde fashioned idea of getting married then making babies after that? I know, I know too old fashioned. Or the idea of getting divorced is too expensive or child support is too? But they all know that you still have to pay either way! I hate when I hear separate this and separate that when they marry to me that is as if they're planning for a divorce in the near future. I used to not understand the hyphenated last name thingy either, but with me I finally got it. It isn’t for the future of the termination of the marriage to go back to just one last name; many want to keep their own identity! Excuse me, I am still me although forty-two years ago I took my husband’s last name folks, any one who knows me for all these years can tell you that is definitely a given! Although, I did feel when my father died and he had had no male children that I would use my maiden name for a middle name and it appears on many legal documents to this day. My half brother via my mom’s ex-husband maintained his father’s name even though when my father wanted to adopt him at the age of nine and tried to get his real father to sign the papers for that, but he wouldn’t… Sounds very noble and loving, hmm? But the rest of that story is he had nothing to do with his son at all after that or really before. He was a philandering musician and that is why my mom divorced him, he married five times after that and that was the rest of that story! To this day I have no idea if any or all of that is true since I never questioned any of it and all parties involved in it are long gone. My dad was one of the good guys, everyone loved him, and so I tend to believe it all. And that ex of my mom's contacted my dad when my mom passed away at age seventy to see if my mom had left him anything? People, have their reasons. My dad to me was a sad case, a widower at age thirty-one, who had a wife that loved to swim and had died doing it; she drowned in a competitive race. He married my mom three years later, a divorcee of twenty-nine, with a son of nine that was 3-9-1941. They stayed married until the day my mom died 2-15-1982, you do the math. And three years later he married his neighbor for just one year and then he died. What happened to love is forever? We are going on our forty-third year, live and be well… I know that like my mom who married at eighteen and had a son at twenty she never thought that was going to be her lot in life, to divorce…a cheating man. Sure there are cheating women and abusive ones in both sexes, drugs and alcohol plays a big part in ending many loving matches, but they all can’t know that when they marry? I think that they should ask? Take a test. It’s just like bad parents, no test, there should be. We have tests for just about everything else but those two most important jobs on the planet, being a spouse and a parent! Sure we think we know if we had parents who came before us who we felt had both jobs all together but most don’t have that perfection as we all know. We should start a campaign to fix this and then perhaps all the rest would not be needed to be discussed, what do you say folks? And lest us never forget to try as hard as we can to stay together when none of my above reasons for splitting are involved, none of this growing apart baloney, try harder to grow together… interview him/her before you commit with rings and things like adorable accoutrements called offspring’s! (Except Angie and Brad, they seem to have it all alright, no wait, them too!)  On that note of a really sharp great note, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!?

Thursday, March 21, 2013

No sleep... but...


For someone like me who fears the word ‘nap’ due to it’s causing my sons, as toddlers and me as an infirm adult to not sleep through the night… I caught three and half hours of winks today to my mixed emotions of what this night may bring to me rest-wise… Crazy that last night was an insomnia of the type I cannot recall, since I never ever really got to sleep due to lack of the ability to get comfortable without pain in any position that I tried…and so by 2:11 A.M. I was up and out of bed for the day! (And my Gabapentin had been working so well at this higher dose allowing me for nearly a normal night's sleep... hope this does not indicate that it isn't any longer working with what I just went through to acquire it that would be just awful!) I was able to get my cup of java and come in here to this techno marvel and I went through emails, news stories, etc., and Facebook hits and tried to see if anyone else was up in there, and about…It took a while, but I found another insomniac on the MS voices training site and so we chatted; oddly enough more about weather than not being able to sleep. We both noted, although I could surmise that we were from different generations that we both felt that our unique ideas on temperatures in our two different locales were found to be interesting with her in Missouri and me in Florida. We had observed that people appear to assume that Florida is hot, hot, hot in the summer, but oddly enough many states up north of us have proven to have had more often triple digits in the summer when we here in Florida could be fifteen to twenty degrees Fahrenheit cooler than them. We also wondered about the anomaly of the raining on one side of the street and not the other. And so I contacted our local NBC affiliate in Ft. Myers, Meteorologist, Haley Webb, also a Facebook friend of mine and she did respond even while still at work on her wee hour’s morning stint, in between her reports…: “Meteorologist Haley Webb Hi T. - this is just a matter of where the updrafts and downdrafts are to build the storms, which way the winds take them, and if you just happen to be in the right place at the right time to see it. The rain has to start and end somewhere; it’s just neat to see it happen right outside your window!”, so considerate and sweet of this young woman who has time for her viewers and responds regularly… And so I passed it on to this other young woman in Missouri, the show-me state, but of course. Hubby, when he awoke encouraged me to try and get a few zzz’s so by ten A.M. I was lying down, back in bed and was asleep until 1:30 P.M., whew, what a nap. Very long and in my mind too long for me who had in the back of her mind that too long naps can cause all sorts of ramifications, from disrupting a ‘normal’ sleep pattern to having something to do with strokes; wide variations there. So I was not happy about that, although Hubby did try to wake me at twelve and then I finally got up at a last call of the 1:30 P.M. He knew what my mindset was/is on the napping theory. You too can Google it, but it was on the news a few years back. Any-who, I have still been a bit foggy this rest of this day and dear Hubby once again took it upon himself to make dinner without even an assist from me this evening, Tilapia with mashed potatoes and peas…mmm, mmm, good! On that note of my lost night of rest and how that went, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Drizzle, grizzle, boil and sizzle, allow to twizzle, and then let fizzle...repeat.


Gloomy, doom-y, talk to me…roomy? Wait, don’t, fun-ny? Welcome to our spring and yours too I suspect… Shades and blinds up all over the place and yet it gets no brighter…grey is the shade of the day. One might feel that this is the color that makes you cry, but oh dear, not for I…even so, the sun does try and does make a valiant effort to reappear and oh my, it is here and then no it is not, but I fear not, for this is the SUNSHINE STATE and so it is committed as many of its inhabitants should be…That is to bathe in the warmth for all our worth (GOTCHA! And Ha!), is why we left our homeland’s perch of northeastern and center and other colder, gloomier areas of this fair land that we all love… to become the worshiper’s of this glorious golden sphere… and that is the reason why we are all here! Yep, a slight glitch in the week, a spot of rain, but we all know that we need the stuff to grow the beautiful flowers, fruits and veggies and it sure does this drizzle tizzle and then usually always fizzles… and you know something, it does, eventually! Today, it has not gotten up to eighty, temp wise, but a not too bad at a blustery seventy-six, Fahrenheit, rain cooled that is. Only 90% for the high humidity, while raining, cannot figure that one out…but the low humidity was a nice even 50%; even with the sun barely visiting us at all. Great day to contemplate your navel or talk to friends via this techno marvel, hmm? Rainy days and something makes me something… "Ain't No Sunshine" Jose Feliciano “Come Rain or Come Shine" Eric Clapton & B. B. King "I Love a Rainy Night" Eddie Rabbit "My Favorite Things" Julie Andrews. I used sing this one on stage. “Not Just Any Other Day" John Elefante "Rain" The Beatles “Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" B.J. Thomas (From Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) "Rainy Days and Mondays" The Carpenters. Thus my something’s… "Rainy Night in Georgia" Conway Twitty and Sam Moore “Somewhere Over the Rainbow" Judy Garland. "Stormy Weather" Lena Horne. "Who'll Stop the Rain?" CCR - Creedence Clearwater Revival All titles thanks to this site: http://voices.yahoo.com/top-12-favorite-songs-rainy-day-plus-60-more-3783486.html This is only a dozen of the all time favorites but there are more than sixty…and so the next time the rain is getting you down, just hum, or sing or dance in your own dwelling in warmth and safety to any of these uplifting little ditties, although some are more soulful, mournful than slap happy, but still bring in the joy! Revision: I sang most all of these; either alone or with the radio or LP or any other mode that the music would enter my being...in those good ole days of my youth. On that interesting way to turn that frown upside down when the weather gets you down, corny, but isn’t it usually with memorable sentimental tunes that we all love? Sure it is. Now allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Everytime I have a baddy I seem to forget...


What I always forget and now this is something we all should write down, is ‘what a difference a day makes!’ I knew that answer would come to me and it sure did! Pharmaceutical companies love to help people who cannot pay the high co-pays, even with insurance, and incomes for some can be as high as 65K a year to meet their criteria’s, which ours isn’t and so… When my prescription company called to tell me that they had combined Express Scripts with Medco, I said I already knew, since everyone at Medco had told me. Any-way, the woman there was very nice, Patricia and not unlike Naomi this morning that got all my other prescriptions taken care of this morning that was from Franklin Lakes NJ, not far from where I grew up… Patricia listened to my tales of woe and in the end she looked up who was the manufacturer of Nexium, Astra Zeneca. Actually, I could have except for one little problem we had no electricity for a few hours today due to the power company replacing a pole and this phone call was on our old fashioned plug in line, since cordless do not work when the power goes out! That is why I was happy that during our hurricane that we had one of these oldies since all the cell towers went down too! And according to the little pre-test for me meeting the criteria on the phone with Astra Zeneca and we meet their criteria for free Nexium! You only had to have income less than fifty thousand a year. They had the application online, which I had printed out and is filled out already with all the necessary documentations for proof, taxes, medications, printout of my card and my new prescription, with a ninety day supply, plus three refills that the nice gastro doctor had ready lickety split! And my new Gabapentin 600mg. 3X a day was filled for $4 at the local pharmacy with eleven refills! Ta DA! All other medications co-pays are doable for less than forty bucks for all! Sorry, for my bad behavior yesterday, stress is so exhausting, but you all know that. On that note of not much note, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too and next time please be here or be square, ya hear!? From Shabby to CHIC!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Days are good and days are not so good and some...


…are just plain rotten! Today was one of those days. I wrote a letter about what I felt was an exorbitant cost of a particular medication, Nexium, and mailed it less than a week ago, and today I got the results of their, my insurance company’s wrath! United HealthCare Options PPO the federally funded but also funded by us by charging a $432 a month premium and $500 deductible on my medications! Screwing up my called in prescriptions saying that there was a billing problem, yep too much money being paid to those idiots! I do believe I have gotten most all of it straightened out and I will be receiving my Copaxone on Wednesday that is being co-paid by The Assistance Fund, so that was NO billing issue since they are paying otherwise the co-pay would be over $100! They will only order one month, since they are afraid I am canceling my policy I suspect! Who knows, not even me now… But they lied to their personnel saying it was a billing problem… and as far as my Gabapentin went they would not accept my doctor’s nurse trying time after time to order a prescription that if out of it I could definitely have a horrid negative reaction! It is for preventing seizures, but for MS for me, who knows what the negative affects would be! How dare them! They have been paid and than some, more than seven hundred dollars on most all of these prescriptions, since January! Considering that I was told my co-pay on the Gabapentin for a three months supply was only $10 and one month only $4! What type of people runs these companies; I think that they are heartless, horrid people, in my opinion. My heart cannot take another day like this; I don’t know what I should do. Perhaps, they made my choice for me and I should cut my losses and choose the old road of how I was… still fighting for myself but with less $$$$$$ letting me feel as if I am being financially raped. The other way was aggravating too though, and yes I do remember. People thought you were some kind of terrible for not having insurance and treated you that way! What happened to kindness and understanding? I am so exhausted, please forgive this rant… I was still talking to Accredo a specialty portion of Medco that was taking care of my Copaxone, I hope! The fellow there said I will be receiving my delivery Wednesday. Yep, I am the one who did this with that letter… but now what? Too tired and I just want to cry and perhaps die, it would make things that much easier for everyone. No one would have to deal with me…seriously; all I ever wanted is to get my medical needs met. It’s making me crazy! Good night.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Kiss Me! I am of Eastern European Ancestry!


Where did the expression come from to Kiss Me I’m Irish and all other interesting bits of Irish blarney? Hold onto you seats I am about to waylay any wonderment's that may be unresolved and for sure with me it might very well be a bumpy ride.

The shamrock: “According to St. Patrick's Day lore, Patrick used the three leaves of a shamrock to explain the Christian holy trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Today, St. Patrick's Day revelers wear a shamrock. Trifolium dubium, the wild-growing, three-leaf clover that some botanists consider the official shamrock, is an annual plant that germinates in the spring. Other three-leaf clovers, such as the perennials Trifolium repens and Medicago lupulina, are "bogus shamrocks," according to the Irish Times. John Parnell, a botanist at Trinity College Dublin, said that Trifolium dubium is the most commonly used shamrock today, which lends credence to the claims of authenticity.” http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120316-saint-patricks-day-2012-march-17-facts-ireland-irish-nation/ “Who Are The Leprechauns of Ireland?

As part of Irish mythology and folklore the Leprechauns are part of our faerie folk, called by some as the “wee folk”. As a cousin of the clurichaun they are known to inhabited Ireland well before the arrival of the Celts. Small enough for one to sit comfortable on your shoulder they are very smartly dressed in small suites with waist coats, hats and buckled shoes. As mischievous and intelligent folk they are general harmless to the general population in Ireland, although they are known to play the odd trick on farmers and local population of villages and towns. It is said that every Leprechaun has a pot of gold, hidden deep in the Irish countryside. To protect the leprechaun’s pot of gold the Irish fairies gave them magical powers to use if ever captured by a human or an animal. Such magic an Irish leprechaun would perform to escape capture would be to grant three wishes or to vanish into thin air!” http://www.yourirish.com/folklore/the-leprechauns/ Best Answer - Chosen by Asker "You are looking at a couple of different ideas and beings and time frames here that have been all mixed up together and cobbled to make up this folk tale. Technically the whole idea of this is to describe something that cannot happen. You can never find the end of a rainbow. In Ireland, where this saying started, rainbows would often appear to end at the burrow mounds or megalithic tombs, which were said to be entrances into the World of the Fae or the Tuatha de Dannan, who were known to have gold. In the 1700's the English turned this underground race of beings from majestic, to-be-feared creatures to small, strange looking caricatures of their true selves and dubbed them 'leprechauns'. These leprechauns where then said to guard the pots of gold but that you could make them give you the gold if you captured one... And the whole folktale was born.

The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, as I said, is a powerful image of an unattainable goal, but one worth (perhaps) pursuing.” http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111104070233AANX8Pr Kiss Me I’m Irish! “It is a reference to the Blarney Stone. Kissing the Blarney stone brings you good luck so if you can't kiss the stone the next best chance of getting good luck is "kissing an Irish person." (Side Note: The Blarney Stone is the 'Stone of Eloquence' in Blarney Castle, kissing it gives you the ability to never be lost for words, becoming a smooth talker so-to-speak)” Unsigned. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_does_%27Kiss_me_I%27m_Irish%27_come_from

Now I hope that is enough info to make your blooming greenery day! On that responsible recycler personage of a merry let’s be green day, it’s not that easy being green day, you bet my sweet shillelagh! Which, by the way, is just a nice name for a fancy walking stick or not so fancy one… now allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Saturday, March 16, 2013

"People who say they don't care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don't care what people think." George Carlin


“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” “The reason I talk to myself is that I'm the only one whose answers I accept.” “Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.” Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_carlin.html#SgMEGSBlTqSf2UMt.99 Gotta love a guy like George Carlin who still makes an impression even after he’s been dead and gone for nearly five years! This all started with reading an article earlier this afternoon about the healthy affects of coffee and green tea, it was in the peoples comments below the item that I found what is euphemistically being called one of these “Ponderisms”, see others also make up words not just me! Any-who, this one made me really chuckle, I suppose I have been living under a rock or some such thing, because I do not recall ever hearing it before, “I used to eat natural foods until I realized that most people die of natural causes...” the author is actually unknown, I found out after some research, but the person who commented used it, GummiB, and so I thought it was his original one. Okay, I suppose you had to be there? To me it was hysterical and I told the guy this and that I loved it! Good for him, who probably is scratching his head while smiling broadly. I confessed that this is my idea of humor to another Facebook buddy. The supposition by many would be that I am just plain weird, or just weird. Personally, I prefer the latter, since I rather not be plain anything, anywhere, anyway or any-who! You get my point. Moving on… tonight is actually a Hodge podge of our day and we did go out… yep and then in. The last first; when we were kids and we had gotten marshmallows stuck together or double yolks in our eggs or other non explanations of why something things become odd or malformed… we would as kids think that it was due to radiation, yep being kids of the 1950’s everyone knew that it had to be why animals had two heads or additional appendages or other anomalies were how they were, it was that radiation molecularly destroyed them and even today we seem to know that toxicity or even some forms of radiation can do that, but this? Can you hone your eye sockets in on this? Those tasty pickles are attached like conjoined twins, scary? Well, don’t be afraid, I ate them both! (Disclaimer, I do know that medically speaking that having two children born with body parts being shared are not a very nice example to use for this oddity of nature, but this is me, and I am not that smart, please forgive folks… I am working with not that much in the brain matter department, okay, sorry!) We did go over to Fisherman’s Village today, before the above happened and they were having a Green Building Day just before the big Green Day of St. Paddy’s Day tomorrow, anyway, the displays were a few, not really that many like windows, you know the drill… but we found this more interesting: Travel ’N Riverboat Show, husband and wife team, John and Karen Anderson. John plays his guitar as you can see and sings quite beautifully, he was sweetly singing out Danny Boy when we pulled up to him, his train and wife … They travel all over with their two person show to all types of venues and they are available for you too just by calling 1-877-685-9217 or going to their website: www.aeamusic.com or emailing them john@aeamusic.com or karen@aeamusic.com Last was a tall drink of water, well folks that is a very olde fashioned expression, but fits this bill! Yes, a stilt woman, I know a rarity, most stilt persons are of the male persuasion, who would have thunk it? On that something to chew on note, well not really, figuratively though, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Friday, March 15, 2013

I am sure happy that I am flying by the seat of my pants still...


Not knowing what the heck I am doing with this newest of my DX ills of these last several years, called Multiple Sclerosis. Ya know I basically gave my body over to the medicos to tamper with or save or do with what they may. And Gosh almighty I have trusted them in most cases and in the end I have been right. Sure I am not cured, and am no ham to be cured, ha, but I am stable. According to my MRI for the last couple of years I haven’t gotten any worse, and even my blood work proves that too. That aberration with my glucose being a smidge higher I thought back and February is our anniversary month and we had bought a bag of chocolate kisses and I made that yummy cake and so… that could be all it was, the doctor asked me about sweets eaten and well, at the time I had forgotten! Too much sugar can do that. Many of the MS community online keep looking for cures. Or magic recipes in the realm of the natural way to make it all better or all gone? But what I have been reading none is any better, in fact some seem worse. CCSVI, best explanation of the procedure I could find: http://www.synergyhealthconcepts.com/ccsvi-3/ has had mixed results and is now going under the scrutiny of the FDA, best information on whether the procedure was approved: http://google2.fda.gov/search?q=CCSVI&client=FDAgov&site=FDAgov&lr=&proxystylesheet=FDAgov&output=xml_no_dtd&getfields=* but as of what I have been able to ascertain to date is that it has not been approved nor is it covered by insurance. People are very defensive when asked if they are doing any better; most say wonderful, better than ever, although, without mentioning any names, I do believe a few may be misguided on all that it is supposed to do. I know one guy, who is unable to do what he used to do before he had the procedure and is not at all better. As we all know that the mere diagnosis of any form of Multiple Sclerosis makes one ask is it progressive, and yes it is for most all of us that is except for the benign rarest form. Relapsing Remitting is what I was first diagnosed with, but of course that would mean you get worse than better but with me I have not gotten any better. Some days are bad and some days are not so bad, but not better, but to be fair I have been like this since 2006! My last true exacerbation where I needed additional medication was June of 2011 and of course nasty July of 2010 when I got my Optic Neuritis and lost righty, my eyesight that is. Sure I have to use a wheelchair but that is due to my right hand having Basilar Joint Arthritis and Ulnar Nerve Impingement, neither related to MS and I had it before I was diagnosed it had gotten worse by having to use the walker and the button on my scooter. My point is that sure I am on a boatload of medications but they are doing their individual jobs and so far I am none the worse for wear, and I seem to be doing a bit better than the others who don’t seem to believe in drugs…Well, all I can say to them is that I am sooo glad I waited until my golden years, (instead of my teens and twenties when any self respected 1960's kid did do them; too goodie two shoes here, moi)to become a druggy and a wino, since it all seems to be keeping me STABLE! PS I was speaking physically, not mentally folks! Kidding, or not… who knows… On that note on much ado about something, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all kindly to count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

A step by step tutorial-pictorial on how to make tomato sauce...


First step: Get Hubby, children, friends or elderly relatives to go pick the tomatoes from your veggie garden! Step two: Have them thoroughly rinse/wash those red gems in cold water, especially if you have been an organic gardener. How shall I put this, animals that do not know where their bathroom might be, might not realize that although you try your darndest to keep it all natural that does not mean that you want them to supply you with fertilizer, not to mention birds and other defecating smaller beneficial critters, all of nature’s little loves. I hope that is perfectly clear? Step three: boil water in a large enough pot to hold your bounty, and place your harvest in with your basket so as not to splash the boiling water, this is purely to make the skin lift luxuriously off from the ruby fruits and you don’t want yours to too! I know if you’re boiling them why wash off them before hand, hmm? Would you like any of what I said in step two in your stainless pot? Enough said. Step four: Once you see the skin begin to lift away you should submerge your garnet jewels, using the proper tool, a basket, into an ice bath; this action creates a more immediate reaction and you find it is as easy as one two three to peel away the skin as if it is you broiling in the Florida sun on a hot, hot, hot August day! As soon as all the tomatas are naked you are gonna wanta rinse the boiling pot, for now it is a twofer and becomes your sauce pot. Step five: Place those mature veggies right into that high topped vessel with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and commence to smashing them with the appropriate device, see in the picture provided. Step six: Chop fresh ingredients, such as basil, oregano, garlic, and add into the pot, splash a bit of lemon in too as well as some sugar, but in my case Stevia and salt to taste. Bring to a slow simmer for as long as a couple of hours. Uncover to allow the moisture to leave, giving you a thicker sauce. Step seven: Choose any type of pasta to have for dinner, we chose ravioli for tonight. Step eight: Sit and enjoy with family or friends. The end is near! TA DA! On that note that I hope will be in all of your notes, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and to ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Why is it when someone with more notoriety says the same thing...people perk up to listen?


Over and over I have said that when nothing works you start over after throwing the bad things out! Same way with Congress, they all should have been ousted with our last election votes and allowed for the newer mindsets to strut their stuff and maybe, just maybe we would have gotten something accomplished by this term! Stalemates and butting heads, over and over again, just seems to make us all scratch our head and say Geez, I wonder why? Elections folks, remember? That is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their country, huh? Truly does mean that, ‘ELECTION’! Where did I hear that before, yep; “The author of the quote was Charles E Weller in 1867, and it was nothing more than a typing exercise. ChaCha!” This site: http://www.chacha.com/question/who-said-%22now-is-the-time-for-all-good-men-to-come-to-the-aid-of-their-country%3F%22 And the actual quote was, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country?" To think that that obscure but meaning something in the larger scheme of things statement stuck in my brain from when I took one typing class as a twelve year old, thinking I would eventually use it for something, how odd that I now have found a use for both! Typing and that quote, oh you knew that, ha! But if we analyze the quote it does sound historic in nature, just look at the year it was written, and for that we must know that it should have some relevance. To me, it being over fifty years old, oops, did I say that out loud? Kidding, it does appear that what is happening now may have happened before, dejevu, with all those stubborn men in Washington, hmm? Sure it has. But somehow, we, as Americans, always find a way to make things come out better, historically speaking. Sure we do have the knack of ‘the spin’, but I am talking reality. And if nothing else, we all know that those people in Washington ARE working for us and that we have the power of the vote, even in local elections to get some changes in the works, before the next biggy one. In the meantime we do have the ability to talk to our representatives via their availability! http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ As we all know it is a while until the next election and in the interim we can all be advocates for what we truly believe in and want for our country to move in the right direction. Many good things have been happening, but many bad things are looming large too. Scary threats, of things being taken away that we all hold near and dear and so those above sites should be helpful for not just giving lip service with complaining, me at times too, ha, but actually to give all of you the feeling of doing something! I have been doing this for years for the non-profits with advocacy, concerning bills under scrutiny to be passed, helping many organizations that I care about. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to do something, even from the confines of mine, being behind this ancient techno marvel that I hold near and dear to me… and at least the organizations give you updates, as well as final decisions and the senators and representatives send you little email notes too, a win, win. My soapbox is getting a bit slippery now and so I would like to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square ya hear?! PS Congratulations to the new Pope Francis the 1 of Argentina!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Just call me, Donna Quixote!(No such thing)


“an enthusiastic but impractical and idealistic person,” Is the definition of ‘Quixote’ as per: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quixote?s=t. Moi? Nah, but still trying my darnedest to right what I think is wrongs done to myself and most likely others. One of my many medications is Nexium and according to my RX plan I must meet a five hundred dollar deductible and that is what they did with my Nexium. They charged me, in a breakdown of monies, into three months charges of $174.30, totaling $522.90 and more than meeting my deductible. But now they are saying that this medication will have a co-pay of $100 for a three month supply! Damn this program! On TV all day and all night long, Nexium is advertised as costing the consumer no more than $18 a month and so I went to their site to confirm and sure enough that is the case if you are NOT insured! But if insured it goes to a discounted price which is still less than what my insurance has been charging/gouging me! I suggested, no I said it, that their supplier of medications is overcharging them and therefore us consumers/clients. So today I got the proper information to find out how to contact them for my grievance, i.e. my insurance company and consequently I have been composing a letter to send out with the information that I ascertained from the Nexium site: http://www.purplepill.com/purple-plus-savings-card.aspx Since I have been on this pre-existing federal insurance program I have spent around four thousand dollars out of pocket, which is only since November. I think that if I banked it I would have been better off, as it is, it has proven that I still have been handling it all anyway, but with paying others for not doing a thing! I still cannot afford a surgery that I need and that is not going to change. My medications were only one hundred a month before, now that appears to be a much bigger savings than this craziness with insurance definitely is… hmm? Doctor visits that are every few months would be anywhere from $30 to $150 and very affordable without insurance, but especially now with my SSI income and other than emergencies, which I can negotiate as I did for six years, no interest can be charged on medical payments and you can pay the minimum… I cannot think of any reason to go on with this money train to nowhere, can you? To pay $432 a month, all for a $25 co-pay, does that sound equitable to you? Plus less than two and half years from now I will be on Medicare, if it is still there; I sure hope so! I was re-informed that this federally funded program that I am on now, huh, we are funding a BIG part of it, well, it is set to end this December 31st. I wonder why? It has nothing to do with the Medicaid program that I understand that will go into effect January first, unless they raised the income criteria of that one from poverty to middle class, we will not qualify? Or we might? Who knows, should I jump ship now or go down with it, I’m no Captain, I have only been a first mate, in more ways than one…ha! Oh well, we will see whatever we will see…hmm? On that note of indecisiveness, gosh I am acting just like a guy, (I have always been told that it’s because he wants me to choose first, how sweet) not the gal that I am…not so funny, sorry, allow me to be the very first to wish you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Monday, March 11, 2013

"You do not pay the price of success, you enjoy the price of success..."


I bet you guessed what that was, if not… sure you did… but if you really don’t know, I suppose I can err on the side of, perhaps not? Yep, a Chinese fortune cookie from China City, they deliver, ya know? Any-who, today was another day of not too busy for me but Hubby has been wound up lately, he finished cleaning the rest of the tile flooring in the house the living-room, foyer and laundry room and then went out and washed the car! I, on the other hand, had a quiet day on here and, that is until I started wondering why I hadn’t been called about the delivery of my Copaxone as of yet. Thinking that I only had a couple of weeks supply left they, the other company used to call to tell us, since it is refrigerated and has to be signed for, and I had not heard from them and so I called my doctor’s office and left a message for the RN to get back to me. Now having the Assistance Fund pick up the enormous co-pay of $850 per three month supply I had gotten approval and they are carrying the whole thing, not unlike when I was un-insured and I qualified for another program. Anna the nurse called back in a very short time and she admittedly said she faxed the prescription over to Accredo the new one for my specialty medication, but in actuality they are part of Express Scripts now Med-co. I asked her for their number since I thought by now that they would have called, since it had been a week. A very nice person, Janell, with Accredo, who seemed to know her stuff checked and said that the fax had come through but was not that legible. All they knew was my name was on it and nothing more. I said well that is not good. And proceeded to give her the doctor’s fax number and name and all the other info that The Assistance Fund gave to me that Anna felt that she did not need like account id, group number and the bin… I knew that she did, but she seemed so sure. I should have argued, but it was one of the few times that I hadn’t, and so I screwed myself over with another delay! Does that mean that I am stupidly getting soft, I sure hope not! Any-way, I hope that now with all the proper information put into the proper hands it will get the job done. You know that I hate second guessing people and that’s because I want to truly believe that everyone in their specific position knows what they are supposed to be doing, but we all know that is NOT always the case, and who should do it, follow-up, if not us for our own needs, hmm? Once it was finally settled, at least I hope so for today. It was too close to call for dinner prep and thus, the Chinese food and the fortune cookies, three, but again we only ordered small dinners and a one large soup. Guess they believe in spares… The first one read is the one in my title, it is simple and concise. The next, you decide; “ You cannot become rich except by enriching others.” I liked that one and it was mine. The last one is perhaps prophetic for us all, “The smart thing is to prepare for the unexpected.” On that note of the ancients' note or the younger couple's note who owns China City,… allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Good food and nice new useful artsy decoration...


Its times like these that makes one wonder when we will ever have this much calm in one day; although, Hubby was in a vast cleaning mode on our tile floors and I on removing the dust from wherever I could reach and doing the laundry. Other than that I looked at Hubby’s spraying white of the mirror from the garage sale, my $1 bargain and I thought it lacked pizzazz and so I thought I would brighten its persona with either a neuvo green shade that appears to be the ‘it’ color for this year or another one that has seemed to flow over from last’s years favs, red-orange? Since we do not have much in reds in our subtle shading of mostly blues and yellows and greens the location for my ‘pop’ of a new member of our color chart would be on its own in our short but ample hallway, and so I went for it! I took out my acrylics and blended an apple red with a creamy pale yellow (sorry I could not find the name anywhere on the bottle) and it in turn made mine my own unique shade of red that is not as loud as some others might be. And here it is: Perhaps, you might chime in with your feelings, or not. I see in the photograph it does appear louder than I thought or more tomato-ish, beef steak not plum,I suppose RED TOBI, but in reality the tint of the paler yellow made it look almost pink in some lights, and so I guess not unlike me the color is left to your own interpretation, hmm, ha? In the energized mode that Hubby and I seemed to be in, we chose to make Chicken Piccata with capers, mmm, mmm good! I have made chicken and veal scallopini before, but this is just as delicious and oh so simple. Using boneless skinless chicken breasts which we did not have, but Hubby deboned the ones we did have. Then you put them on your cutting board and cover them over with plastic wrap and commence to using your meat tenderizing mallet and take out all your aggressions on your chicks. Pound them until nice and thin, about a half inch or less is just fine. Then you dredge them in salted and peppered flour and dip the cutlets in eggs scrambled. Your extra large frying pan should have been sprayed with cooking oil and then dosed with an appropriate amount of extra virgin oil and heated until the sampling of egg dripped in sizzles, then place your cutlets in. Browning on both sides, add in the capers according to your own personal taste; start to slowly deglaze the pan with a good white wine and the remainder of the flour and butter too, add about a half cup of chicken broth, parsley and garlic too, lower the heat and watch it all come together, the whole meal should take less than twenty minutes to finish! Sit, enjoy with the rest of that white wine, ours was a Riesling from Napa, although considered a German wine. I could not drink more than half a glass and I am drinking club soda straight up now, not even with my lemon twist. I had forgotten I need to take medicine after dinner. We eat very early, like an early-bird in some areas, at five and I am sure that once I clear it from my system I will take my after dinner pills, it’s been nearly an hour and I poured myself a large glass of club soda, which is only half gone, since I need my hands to do this, ha! Especially, due to my Gabapentin I am a bit fearful of it with too close to wine time. Usually, two hours is how even my doctors say… spread it out! But the little bit I had I think I should be okay after I finish this entry tonight… And so I guess it is a good time to do that, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Another pictorial of our day!

All for $3.75; three vintage glass cups @.75 and one multi-colored necklace @$2, and one wall mirror @ $1 for our hallway! The glasses were to replace the broken ones from my Mom’s tea and sandwich set of six, the cups are slightly smaller and not as fluted but blend well, I think, on today what would have been my parents seventy-second anniversary, having been married 3-09-1941, what luck! The necklace was just something I liked and not extravagant and the mirror will be given a white wash or perhaps colorized, since it is plastic not wood and will fit in much better with our cottage décor. Here’s a sample of the glass set with one of each cup
Sorry a bit blurry, battery in the camera was going dead. Here’s where I got the mirror and necklace at the Punta Gorda Chamber’s City-Wide Garage Sale… The remainders of the pictures are from the Cultural Center of Port Charlotte; today was their 11th Annual Spring Bazaar! This has become our reasonable lunch place. Usually lunch for two under ten bucks, and good tasty food too, today we had seafood casserole with our own waters, for $9.52 for two! In the back is a separate Tea Room. An antique store with fine antiques, what a concept. This is for clothing but in the back there is also a Trash or Treasure for all sorts of collectables and kitchen items etc, and that is where I found my glass cups. The foyer from the front entrance…These vendors, more than eighty, so I was told, are all in one of the many rooms just for the actual Spring Bazaar. All in all our day was filled with interesting and colorful things to look at, and not half bad… and on that higher than last night’s note allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?!

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go?

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go? :   My eyesight is going again... in case you missed it... Netanyahu snaps back against growing...