EAT IT!

I’m a good person!

Now stop that chuckling.

I pay my bills the ones that I believe are mine and only mine and Hubby’s that is.

Get this, my emergency hospital visit that I had on February 6, 2015 at ten thirty at night, my patient responsibility is $2,751.76 since all of sudden the hospital that I have been going to for over twenty years that it is not in network!

Hubby sat with the billing woman who verified by my insurance card that it was, and my co-pay was around $450, at the hospital while I awaited treatment that amounted to a tetanus shot and gauze pads in a Zip-lock as well as a prescription for an anti-biotic.

No one touched me except for the shot that I argued I had had last in August of 2011 and did not actually need one now since they are supposed to last five years! That shot was $646.48 all by itself, and yet it is listed at Walgreen’s for just $35.00!

Gauze pads I suppose account for the remainder, since I am now waiting for an itemized bill.

Oh the actual bill was $3,672.76 -$921.00 paid by “my” insurance Florida makes me sooooooooooooo Blue unhealthy insurance company, leaving me with a balance to be paid of $2,751.76!

Why bother I ask to have any insurance if you claim that you cannot afford to pay a bill there are organizations and parts of the hospitals own monies that will pay, in forms of endowments and other private donations to take up the slack and that is without it going to TAXPAYERS!

I really thought that gouging was against the law!

Please someone tell me that I am right?

This was the last month of me finally paying off my MRI’s and Skipper’s ultrasound, all done, now this??????

I really had no choice at that hour, nothing was open and even if they were according to the claims guy Mr. Charles our local ones are NOT in network either!

I might as well come clean, it was a dog bite.

Yep, sweet little Gus, we think might be suffering from PTSD from his past.

Scenario, he was sleeping at the end of our bed, yep since we got him, December 27, 2014, as all before him. I kissed his sweet head on his white star and the next thing I know zap ouch pow I have an upper lip like road rash, but all I saw was blood even on my teeth. I ran to the bathroom that is where I saw the horror story closed the door and yelled to Hubby to get the crate out of the van and to put him into it in the house, since we, him and I, were going on a road trip to the hospital!

I had my own flashback going on from my last dog bite of about fifteen years ago with our other adoptee Andrew, but that WAS my fault I accidentally rolled over the collie Shepard’s tail with my computer chair and bent down when he yelped and forty stitches and plastic surgery later… so I was scared and even told Hubby I guess we would have to put Gus down, which we never did do to Andrew, although he did die a year later from cancer, but not from my mistake, but this time I felt it wasn’t, mine that is.

Fortunately, it was determined that this time little dog little bite and it was not as severe. Looked like road rash the PA described it and it did not even need any stitches, just that Augumentin antibiotic (from the pharmacy $10, mine) and a caught up tetanus shot and Neosporin (mine, free) and gauze (theirs, a small fortune), but I am more than sure I could have bought some cheaper at the grocery or anywhere for a few bucks!

Don’t worry once I calmed down and saw that I was OK, I realized that this nearly adult dog had had a past that we knew very little about, and like any soldier of war, in his case being on the street wars he needed a firm loving relationship from his adopted parents, and so I called the next morning to speak with a problem behavior trainer and so that is what we have been in the process of doing.

That costs money too!

So far in these little over two months of having this wild child/Cujo/ devil dog/ loving Gus baby boy it has been costly and another emotional roller coaster ride, and we have now not allowed him to sleep on our bed which goes without saying, oops I said it, and we now know  not to approach him while he sleeps, no matter how cute he looks.

Take two: it took me awhile to cozy up to him, as many will understand and I finally did, although while tickling his belly Saturday he bit my finger with a growl, we determined he had fallen asleep again on my lap while on his back, crazy!

Many would say forget it that he is not salvageable, but even this new vet and his tech feel he is as well as the trainer.

It is difficult, and so now you know why I have not been out and about like usual.

Albeit my lip has healed and Hubby even bought Mederma for me for scars… my self consciousness is over the top.

My finger bite I called the local walk in and they said as long as it doesn’t get infected which it hasn’t there is no need for anymore antibiotics.

My other fear for our little darling is him around others; I told Hubby that I worry and when he had been so incredible up until then. Scary and we have no idea what changed, he has been sick with stomach problems twice but we took care of them both times and they had different causes and he is off all meds now.

All in all, I have been getting screwed it appears every time we try to do the right thing, and yes Gus did growl at Hubby, but Hubby is faster.

Andrew was two months old when we got him and eight years old for his incident and of course being a collie Shepard mix much larger so more damage… (A refugee from Hurricane Andrew 1992)

Gosh, what would you do?

He, Gus, is fine when fully awake.

Although, that first vet had to muzzle him since he, Gus, went after him when he tried to take his temperature and that could have been the catalyst since my getting bitten and everything else happened after? Who knows...?

On that note of hope, hope, hope, what else have we got?

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 those overages with you know who and we will too!

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

Today was another boring uneventful day and yet...

… Most of us will admit that isn’t that what we all strive for on any given Sunday?

Okay, perhaps some of us would prefer more excitement daily, but let’s face it quiet is also fine, especially if ordinarily your life goes wild and woolly too often, hmm? Wild and woolly?

“Definition: Uncultured and without laws.”

As per: http://www.idiomsphrases.com/wild-and-woolly/

“Someone undomesticated; Cannot be controlled; Savage”

As per: http://idiomsdictionary.org/wild-and-woolly/

“adj.

unrestrained; lawless: a wild-and-woolly frontier town.”

As per: http://www.idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wild-and-woolly

How much redundancy can anyone take?

But we all must admit that was exciting?

No?

Fun?

A waste of precious time?

Yes!

So never mind.

Alright, I do subscribe to the personal theory, at times, that one must make “happy” where none lives, huh?

Sure we all have happiness in us and we all know that it is up to us and only us to find it and utilize it to the hilt!

Now that is rather violent since, “the hilt” refers to a sword’s neck region of where it is actually held, the non-sharp part and swords are warriors method used for killing… not now but way back when, perhaps six or more centuries ago? Whoa was I way, way off/wrong, here is the real dope or scope on the poop about the actual use of swords: “Bronze Age sword

First known ancient swords were made of bronze and appeared during the 17th century BC.  They were about 50 to 90 cm that, technically, they could be categorized as daggers.  Swords from the Bronze Age were short because bronze easily bends in longer lengths. Prior to this era, cutting weapons and tools were made from stone and animal bones.”

 

http://www.2-clicks-swords.com/article/brief-history-of-swords.html

Moving on…

Any-who, we all can agree that Sundays for many faiths is there day of rest although so are Saturdays for many other, even Friday night’s start the Sabbath for many others…

So pretty much all weekends should be relaxing and spent however you or your family, if religious or non-religious believe to spend that day together or alone, true?

Well, I do think that I have covered all the main reasons that people should enjoy non-eventful Sundays or not?

Talking to you every day has become a true joy of my life.

Although, some days I appear not to reach as many of you as I would really like to, don’t worry though, I get it… you’re busy and haven’t been able to fit this drivel into your daily menus as some of my diehard fans have, now that is a scary expression “diehard”, who would want or care to die or even do it hard and what does that have to do with being a "fan"?

I wonder where that came from, oh just those Bruce Willis movies. Or those batteries?

Oh well, I will leave that in your court to decide, and so on that rough note allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy warm night(snow country pals) and kindly 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!

YELL

Or not.

Have you ever wondered how to get the attention of people that you really want to hear from?

Cajoling, persuade, coax, wheedle, entice, sweet-talk, inveigle, convince, trick, influence, deceive, con, flatter, screaming, casually mentioning or perhaps outright yelling may or may not work.

And sometimes there is no answer to how it works in contacting people you care to hear from…a metaphoric brick wall does exist in many cases.

So what do we do?

Take a break for a while, give up, send them telepathic vibes, or say to ourselves that they will get back to us eventually?

Answers are not often easy to come by… but if we do nothing our guilt will typically ensue, so calm yourself and take a break.

Step back from that emotional trap of frustration and take several deep breaths and punt… and then relax when that last ditch effort also fails!

During the time of temporarily realizing that you have done all that you can so we must stop all administrative tries and desist for now.

Being vague is an art form that I am finally priding myself on learning, a lost art form, not at all interested in being resurrected one by many, I am more than sure.

Directness is preferable in almost all situations.

And then…

They’re people who you rather NOT hear from such as:

ROBO call people, telemarketers, and non-profit requests for money with alien quests, political groups who remind you to vote when you already have, religious sects that ring your doorbell to convert you from you’re born into faith, and on and on and on…

Balance we all need balance, so I suppose for every person we systematically care to be in contact with it would appear that in the bigger picture of things, like the world itself they are people who we do not want any part of, mostly strangers, but sometimes… NO!

I won’t go there; but there are many planes that we do exist on, I suspect.

Who knows?

Moving on…

Any-who, today it is a very gloomy day with rain threatening in spite of the eighties temperatures with our high reaching 84!

No rain yet but very soon; its here, 6:16 P.M. EST!

My easy monitoring, all I have to do is look into our swimming pool, just outside of the windowed door to this sun-room that I am in writing in.

Today I was so very tired all day long, but I did that interrupted sleep thingy during last night when I physically get out of the bed for three hours and then get back in and awake three hours later.

I do not believe that is good for anyone, but thankfully it doesn’t happen that often anymore.

A headache awoke me again, coffee method did not work but extra strength Tylenol apparently did, may have worked too well since I was groggy all day.

That is why I only take it along with all my other medications very infrequently.

I even napped this afternoon for over an hour, too long by the pros estimations, too much sleep is as detrimental as too little so “they” say!

Again, who knows?

On that note of sure “they do”, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly 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!

Bob Evans

Now I don’t know about you but I never actually met a “Bob Evans”, but my old neighbor in Punta Gorda Florida’s Dad was actually a Bob Evans but not thee, Bob Evans, since she was an Evans and his name was Bob, oh I suppose he is/was her Bob Evans, make that Dad, but not the restaurateur chain guy, got that?

All this hokey pokey poppycock gibberish is because once again Hubby and I decided on someone else to make the dinner, and you got it… Bob Evans, the homey dinner place next door to most motels throughout the USA. They make a nice roasted turkey dinner with all the trimmings and Hubby and I chose that for tonight’s faire.

Individual portioning and no leftovers are sometimes better than eating too much. Tonight I actually gave Hubby some of mine that is the turkey with dressing/stuffing. They have a very tasty cranberry relish that comes with it, and their glazed carrots are very delish too.

They have a few roasted selections, I believe their other ones are pot roast and roast beef.

Here this is easier: http://www.bobevans.com/Menu/Carry-Out

Of course you can eat in too, but we live only a little over a mile from the place so it is no biggy to pick it up in ten or fifteen minutes voila!

I did get a hankering for good ole fashion homemade soup today and so I did make multi bean soup for lunch and then after I also thought about my iconic picture with Skipper our Bichon who passed away recently when a few years ago he was oh so sweet and happy smelling my peanut butter cookies and so I made another batch this afternoon, ah dessert!

I suppose my tummy will dictate what it will allow, like right now it is queasy again…medicine time, oops forgot to take it!

Well, I have been medicated, and so now I am going to say nighty night… really thought the choice of a meal was bland enough to not make me sore.

On that sincere apology note allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly 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!

RIP Mr. Spock (MR.LLAP, well done.)

Crazy sort of day

Tummy aches all around…again!

Sadly, Gus’s tummy proved to be very, very bad.

Blood was seen in his gushy excrement/feces, and so we had to make another trip to the vet!

This time we chose another recommended by a friend.

The last doctor was a bit too impatient with him and he therefore was not a happy camper, last thing one needs when ill.

Diagnosis was swift and fixable: hook worms, extremely deadly and dangerous for the very young of his species, but he is old enough to combat the little buggers with just a powdery medication given over a three day period, thankfully. Although, this doc feels that he is younger than a year since he has grown so much, when we got him he was 17 lbs and now in just two months he is over 20lbs, but still not fat since he has grown all over. This doc feels he could be as large as 25 lbs when full grown and think that his mix is Havanese and Lapso instead of Shih Tzu, due to the dramatic growth in size.

Our thoughts went again to his appetite of eating everything he finds in our backyard including dare I say feral cat feces since they use our used to be raised bed veggie gardens for litter boxes.

The detective in me asked the vet tech if my theory was possible and she said yes it was especially if they had hook worms themselves, the feral cats that is.

Hubby made a call to animal control when he got home from his last stop Publix to see if they would pick them up, but animal control was closed for the day @five, it was five thirty.

Don’t get me wrong I love cats and all animals but these guys could be sick too and in need of treatment. We even have a live catcher trap to help animal control out if need be when Hubby gets a hold of them. Actually, it would be best if they could be relocated, ya know?

It’s been at least two years since we have had our lovely veggie garden.

Oh my tummy has been bad again for weeks my medication that I have been on for years for reflux and gastritis seems to have stop working. I find with my bad shoulders and the pain right there in the middle of my chest lying down has proven to be the most beneficial. I actually did not have any lunch today because I wasn’t hungry, but I did have dinner, a seafood salad on a salad from Subway, that Hubby picked up with his meatball sub.

Now my generic of Nexium doubled recommended dosage, as per gastroenterologist, and Pepcid 2X a day will be working overtime.

But most bland non-roughage foods are fattening, breads and dairy, true?

Moving on…

Number One Son closes, just like a house, a closing, on his Pearson 365 ketch tomorrow, and boy is he happy!

Oh dear…any-who I am going to say good night early since I am pooped and I missed another nap, allow me then to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly 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!

PS Just a shout out to my Hubby of thanks for working until he got it right yesterday on my broken again recliner chair, all fixed now and works great!

Anger is considered a useless emotion by many

But I disagree, by venting that anger in a positive way is helpful to digest how you feel that you have been mistreated, denied something you so much desired, left out of a group or friendship, or when some one has hurt your feelings by saying something mean to you directly and on and on and on we go…

“They” say that bottling up negative emotion has proven to cause high blood pressure, heart disease and can even possibly cause a stroke, so many say.

Most recently cursing has been approved of for allowing a beneficial outcry, literally, for a concept portending anger to let you let it go…with panache! Wash your hands of it after.

The written word for the whole world to see has proven beneficial here for moi. Sure there is an occasional backlash, but who really reads this drivel, except only the smartest and bravest.
Besides much of what I publish is said with tongue in cheek demeanor anyway… although, when people who are paid to get it right get it wrong that is rather disturbing, ya know and I bet you agree; especially when it comes to one’s well being…on the line.

I do agree to a point that ANGER is a very wasteful emotion and that as human beings, by now, there has got to be a better way to manage it than using guns or physical behaviors of any of those severe ways to handling things that perturb us.

Violence comes out of too many sports that promote that behavior of hitting and downing one’s opponent and video games do that too to young minds making it look either like fun or the only way to combat others BAD behavior…NOT GOOD OR RIGHT!

Some outlets for anger are to do positive things; by changing things for the better or using non-violent ways to express those negative feelings through dance might sound pretty sissy-ish to some but can work for many others and is more civilized without a doubt.

Considering I was a chatty child from a very young age I still was one of those, dare I say I would bite other children, out of frustration or who knows why, maybe anger, a horrid youngster and my reputation was as nasty as ptomaine poisoning. The only excuse, no real excuse, that I can come up with was the fact that I was very young and small and had been picked on and talked down to, and in my mini brain at the time all I would do in retaliation was to bite that other child back, yep anger is a powerful feeling, even when you’re a child, especially when you are a child. No logical reasoning can approve of that totally bizarre and BAD behavior, but thankfully I outgrew that way of handling my anger and now subscribe to the ancient concept “that the pen truly is mightier than the sword!” Interesting debate over where this quote actually came from: http://www.notbyshakespeare.com/2010/08/18/the-pen-is-mightier-than-the-sword/

I am still thinking that it is from Shakespeare, but what do I really know? (Not very much.)
And it sure has proven that for centuries, longer than I was a non-card carrying member of this premise for all journalistic treatments that it appears to be true!

My feelings somehow always come through when unhappy, but for balance I would like to think they also do for when I am happy!

We are only human and none are infallible to my knowledge and so on that logic alone allow anger to be in your array of emotions but with the caveat of tempered self control at the forefront please, and non-physical or use of weaponry please too.
If I did not make myself clear do not use those last two mentioned items.

On a higher note again this topic was given indirectly to me by one of my FB friends who has become my latest poker on there. And so I found out years ago when poked that most want you to notice what they have posted on their own wall, so I took a look and sure enough he gave his shorter version of my exaggerated long-winded demonstration here of my overly opinionated commentary,  I do believe that he did not get me with my attitude of last night with that infamous insurance company and all the grief I have sustained from them…or he could have been referring to people in general and then in that case, I could be wrong, I have been wrong before and often, then… never mind; allow me anyway 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 share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

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

Dinner and other mundane tasks.

Commonalities in this world of our civilized democracies make daily chores more typical for all.

Then it goes with saying it is understandable that when in comes to eating at home we all have to decide what that will be on any given day, true?

Notice I said “with saying”, since I will be saying a lot about this also mundane topic.

Many of us who are average folks do our own shopping, but some have “people” who might do it for them but those folks probably also have them making their meals as well… they are not to whom I am speaking; it us regular peeps, my contemporaries.

I know that I once said at this point in our lives it is almost more cost effective to eat out more than at home, and I have many reasons to believe that.

No need for appliances to be used to prepare or cook/make that meal therefore having less higher utility bills or having concern for leftovers and possibly eating food that goes bad and makes you sick and you ending up going to the hospital. (Worse case scenario; so I have a bit of Debbie Downer in me, okay a lot LOL!)

So back to that nearly horrid sometimes overwhelming question, “what’s for dinner, lunch, breakfast”, you get the idea?

One way to lessen the issue is to share the responsibility, and so we do, as long as I am not bed ridden, which sadly has happened too many times to mention, but I digress… yes Hubby and I share that major decision making as all else I would like to think as in all good partnerships, I think.

There is less stress when one has to come up with the idea and then make the concept happen; at least it has been working.

Although, the fear is not having any ideas, but alas one can always surf the freezer which we both do regularly, thank heaven for knowing all defrosting tricks, really!

The old fashion one that has been said don’t do it, leave the item on the counter, but due to bacteria, though if you use it immediately no problem, another is the warm water bath, next the unholy microwave which has also gone out of favor these last few years due to some issues that I am still not clear on, or chose cold food choices, take it out the night before and defrost in the frig or cook frozen food as is, certain things do, do well on the barbecue, or choose all fresh food or last but not least go out to the grocery store and pick it up just before you need to make it, Ta Da! Meals all done.

Moving on…

Today I was supposed to get the delivery of my Copaxone 40 Mg. injectable medication from CVS Specialty, actually last week.

First problem last week was that they hadn’t gotten a diagnosis from my neuro even though they had seven more refills that he had approved; yep it was Florida makes me oh so Blue unhealthy insurance company dropping the ball once more, even though I foolishly have been with them fourteen months now, two to go since I have already received my Medicare card, and they have been paid for March, that is effective June 1^st YAY! Yes, a month before my birthday.

Any-who, by the time they got the new DX it was this past Friday and me with one injection left for tomorrow, and they (CVS Specialty) called telling me that all was well and that I was all set to go for a delivery today, and guess what at around three o’clock I was wondering where UPS was they have delivered it one time to my neighbor even though they are suppose to have you sign for it and he wasn’t even home then but he did bring it over hours later in its cooler. 

So I called to get the tracking number thinking perhaps it happened again, oh because when all it is right it is usually a morning delivery… but horrors the woman who called me Friday was out yesterday due to being ill and did not tell anyone to send it and so we were waiting for NOTHING all day long!

I was good though and just explained the necessity for this medication, and that FL BLUE only ships me a month's supply when all others shipped three months worth, and they call me, I do not call them; it's my only medication  that I have that is like this, ridiculous!

Anyway, it is now due to be here tomorrow and I have a tracking number and everything too!

On that note and if I hadn’t called, let it go, let it go let it go... allow me now to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good and ask you all to kindly 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!