Showing posts with label Soap-Box. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soap-Box. Show all posts
Friday, August 7, 2020
Friday, November 2, 2018
Middle-aged Grumblings
When I turned 50 I made the declaration that “now that I am over 50 years old, I never have to be wrong again." In the years moving towards 50, I heard so many people that seemed to believe people younger than them couldn't possibly be doing something right because it was different then they do it. I looked forward two having that superiority.
Okay, that proclamation really was a tongue-in-cheek joke on my part. I personally think people that are that close minded and refuse to continue to grow are both people that should be avoided and pitied. My mom always told me that's the day you stop growing is the day you start dying. But the fun part of the joke is it's a joke that never ends. But sometimes I really have to wonder if complaining about what seems to be change for the sake of change is really a joke.
My first complaint today, as a 52-year-old woman, is one that I'm a little suspicious might be something that's the fault of someone, or a gang, my age or older. When did it become the custom for hospitals to call patients a couple of days before a surgical procedure and press them for money? This happened with a different hospital and a different procedure a couple weeks ago too. It's something that never happened to me before. In the past, I schedule a procedure, the hospital and my doctors have all of my ID and insurance information, the procedure is done and a few weeks later I received the bill for the portion I owe. Now twice two different hospitals have called me just a couple days before the procedure disguising the call as if it's a courtesy call to be sure you're ready for the upcoming procedure and if you have any questions. Then they tell you that you have a patient responsibility of “X” amount of dollars and can you pay that right now? Wow. It's not enough if I have insurance? Both times I said I'd like to be billed and they said okay and that was really the end of the phone call, leading me to believe that that was the only purpose of the phone call. I haven't been into the emergency room in a while. Do they still treat people in an emergency even without insurance?
I have to be honest, I was both insulted and unsettled by the phone call, especially the one I got today. I'm having a surgical procedure done on Monday and, believe it or not, I’ve made it 52 years having never been under anesthesia. I'm nearing the end of the week where I haven't been able to take vitamins, half of my prescriptions or even drink herbal tea. I'm nervous and frankly, scared. The last thing in the world that I want is for the hospital to be calling me about money days before my surgery. Are they suspicious of something I fear? If I die on the operating table how will they ever get paid?
I don't truly believe that my impending death is the motivation for the phone call. Personally, I’d hate to be the person given a list of phone numbers and money that's not owed yet because services haven't been rendered, and be told that I needed to make phone calls to shake the patients up for their lunch money.
Yeah, it's business, right? It's no different than your favorite baseball player on the home team will probably not finish his career with your team and will probably be playing for someone else's team when he becomes a free agent. If I'm not so important to athletes or teams as a paying fan why should I expect hospitals to give a damn about me as a patient? Surely there are more hospital patients than fans of any particular team which makes us even more expendable.
My other current social complaint truly is about the whippersnapper generation. I don’t, for the life of me, understand how Dr. Seuss and PG ever end up in the same advertisement. But there's a Grinch movie out this month that's computer-animated and rated PG.
I haven't seen the movie, nor do I have any intention of seeing it. That is actuallyone of the cool things about being 52. I am completely fine with the animated version of the Grinch on TV that's been out every year during the holidays since I was a child. I also don't actually have to see it to criticize it.
Oh, but work with me here. Those of you that cyber-know me and especially that know me in person or on the phone, know that I'm not going to criticize something I haven't seen. But what I'm criticizing, what I'm questioning, is what part of a movie that is made to attract young children makes it a PG rather than a G movie?
How is making a Dr. Seuss based movie with a PG rating incredibly different than marketing cigarettes in a way that’s attractive to children? Candy and bubble gum cigarettes don't exist anymore unless you find them in an "Old Timey" Candy store. I used to love the bubble gum cigarettes especially because if you blew on them they puffed smoke like a real cigarette. I think the fact that adults in my world smoked and I wanted to emulate them had a lot more to do with what ultimately made me try cigarette smoking than the fact that I occasionally indulged in the sugary puff. That's especially true since when I was a kid I was more likely to spend 15 cents on a pack of baseball cards or big pickle in a plastic bag with lots of pickle juice.
What did they do to a children's story to earn the PG rating? Does the Grinch say something like"Christmas sucks. I don't care if I'm an ass?" Or does the new version have him deciding to steal Christmas as a result of a drug trip? I just want to know what do you have to do to make a children's story a PG movie? And couldn't that have ended up on the cutting room floor so it's still a family movie that you can take young children to see?
I may be disabled and not working now, but as part of the greater entertainment media field, I'm truly disappointed that my former industry would create this.
Okay, that proclamation really was a tongue-in-cheek joke on my part. I personally think people that are that close minded and refuse to continue to grow are both people that should be avoided and pitied. My mom always told me that's the day you stop growing is the day you start dying. But the fun part of the joke is it's a joke that never ends. But sometimes I really have to wonder if complaining about what seems to be change for the sake of change is really a joke.
************************
My first complaint today, as a 52-year-old woman, is one that I'm a little suspicious might be something that's the fault of someone, or a gang, my age or older. When did it become the custom for hospitals to call patients a couple of days before a surgical procedure and press them for money? This happened with a different hospital and a different procedure a couple weeks ago too. It's something that never happened to me before. In the past, I schedule a procedure, the hospital and my doctors have all of my ID and insurance information, the procedure is done and a few weeks later I received the bill for the portion I owe. Now twice two different hospitals have called me just a couple days before the procedure disguising the call as if it's a courtesy call to be sure you're ready for the upcoming procedure and if you have any questions. Then they tell you that you have a patient responsibility of “X” amount of dollars and can you pay that right now? Wow. It's not enough if I have insurance? Both times I said I'd like to be billed and they said okay and that was really the end of the phone call, leading me to believe that that was the only purpose of the phone call. I haven't been into the emergency room in a while. Do they still treat people in an emergency even without insurance?
I have to be honest, I was both insulted and unsettled by the phone call, especially the one I got today. I'm having a surgical procedure done on Monday and, believe it or not, I’ve made it 52 years having never been under anesthesia. I'm nearing the end of the week where I haven't been able to take vitamins, half of my prescriptions or even drink herbal tea. I'm nervous and frankly, scared. The last thing in the world that I want is for the hospital to be calling me about money days before my surgery. Are they suspicious of something I fear? If I die on the operating table how will they ever get paid?
I don't truly believe that my impending death is the motivation for the phone call. Personally, I’d hate to be the person given a list of phone numbers and money that's not owed yet because services haven't been rendered, and be told that I needed to make phone calls to shake the patients up for their lunch money.
Yeah, it's business, right? It's no different than your favorite baseball player on the home team will probably not finish his career with your team and will probably be playing for someone else's team when he becomes a free agent. If I'm not so important to athletes or teams as a paying fan why should I expect hospitals to give a damn about me as a patient? Surely there are more hospital patients than fans of any particular team which makes us even more expendable.
************************
My other current social complaint truly is about the whippersnapper generation. I don’t, for the life of me, understand how Dr. Seuss and PG ever end up in the same advertisement. But there's a Grinch movie out this month that's computer-animated and rated PG.
I haven't seen the movie, nor do I have any intention of seeing it. That is actuallyone of the cool things about being 52. I am completely fine with the animated version of the Grinch on TV that's been out every year during the holidays since I was a child. I also don't actually have to see it to criticize it.
A bad guy with a network TV rating
Oh, but work with me here. Those of you that cyber-know me and especially that know me in person or on the phone, know that I'm not going to criticize something I haven't seen. But what I'm criticizing, what I'm questioning, is what part of a movie that is made to attract young children makes it a PG rather than a G movie?
How is making a Dr. Seuss based movie with a PG rating incredibly different than marketing cigarettes in a way that’s attractive to children? Candy and bubble gum cigarettes don't exist anymore unless you find them in an "Old Timey" Candy store. I used to love the bubble gum cigarettes especially because if you blew on them they puffed smoke like a real cigarette. I think the fact that adults in my world smoked and I wanted to emulate them had a lot more to do with what ultimately made me try cigarette smoking than the fact that I occasionally indulged in the sugary puff. That's especially true since when I was a kid I was more likely to spend 15 cents on a pack of baseball cards or big pickle in a plastic bag with lots of pickle juice.
What did they do to a children's story to earn the PG rating? Does the Grinch say something like"Christmas sucks. I don't care if I'm an ass?" Or does the new version have him deciding to steal Christmas as a result of a drug trip? I just want to know what do you have to do to make a children's story a PG movie? And couldn't that have ended up on the cutting room floor so it's still a family movie that you can take young children to see?
I may be disabled and not working now, but as part of the greater entertainment media field, I'm truly disappointed that my former industry would create this.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Astros Not Winning As Corporate Citizens
Early this season I predicted the Houston Astros to win the World Series this year. Now I'm not sure I even want them to play in October.
I still have some issues with the Astros home games right now. When such a huge number of families in the Houston area are homeless right now after the flooding from Harvey’s rain, the baseball stadium is open for business. According to one article I read free tickets to the reopened games were offered to "some displaced families" with thousands of tickets offered for free at nearby shelters. That's the best millionaire and billionaire players/ownership can do? The first place Astros weren't even selling out before the hurricane and record flooding and devastation. People might be more encouraged to support a team that does more to support them in times of trauma and need.
There are so many who lost everything. People in nearby shelters may be wearing donated clothes because they didn't have the ability to grab much before a flash flood swallowed their home. Shelters are filled with people who have no food and last I checked, shelters for flood victims don't have huge parking lots for all those cars. Most of those were under water. Houston's METRO system was greatly affected by flooding too with the entire system shut down for two days and parts slowly opening as flood waters recede and it's no longer too dangerous. Many small and even larger businesses are flood victims too. Why is the large stadium worth billions just throwing some free tickets to nearby shelters?
I'd be happier as a baseball fan, as a former small business owner, as a human being, to see them offering free tickets with concession vouchers and shuttles from those nearby shelters to the stadium. Displaced people really do need a break, some semblance of normal, even a few hours of special, in the midst of what has been lost. Free tickets and a walk with no spending money for food isn't quite enough. If being a good corporate citizen isn't enough and it's necessary to make it good marketing, maybe filling those empty seats with flood victims who are guests of the team may actually fill those seats with paying customers in 2018.
* I'd love this to change or to be proven wrong. Let me know if you discover something new to me!
Friday, May 13, 2016
Coffee Crankiness
I’m finally starting to hear some good news! Yesterday when I called in to see what the status is of my new power chair I was told it's done and in shipping. That means it maybe at Reflection Medical today or the beginning of next week! When I told Rick, my rep there, that I really wanted the chair in time to go to my niece's graduation next weekend, he told me if there was anything left to be assembled when it got there, he'd make sure it was done so I have it in time. SQUEE!!!
I’m really ready to have the new chair to move around the house and get out of the house. I'm starting to get cabin fever and I do notice that is really starting to tax my personality. I mean that I'm crabby. Things seem to bug me and set me off much quicker than they have in the past. For instance…
I scrap project life a little differently than everybody else. I journal a few lines about the day every day and when I scrap it I add photos if I take them or other random things that add to the character of the days. For the past two years I done my pages in quadrants with each day getting a quarter page. This year I’ve changed up a little bit and I'm doing a 2-page spread for each week, putting the journaling bits on one page and assorted supporting visuals in block form on the other page. Here's an example of what the 2-pager looks like:
I don't post my project 365/52 layouts in the forums or anything so I don't keep track of exactly what elements from what kits I'm using. BTW, I also use images from the Internet, which is completely legal under fair use since I'm not profiting from the use of publicly distributed material. But that explains why I don't have credits listed under my week 11 layout. If you scrap and you see anything about that layout that you just HAVE to know where they came from, drop me an email and I'll see if I can get that info for you.
I showed week at 11 as an example but I am caught up all the way to the present. That is, I’m working on scrapping week 19 today. Part of weak 19 was Mothers Day, My comments for Sunday included that the kids asked me to text daddy at work and ask him to bring me home a fat free latte from Starbucks for Cat-Moms Day. It was a wonderful latte that the kids gave me but I didn't take picture of it. So to include an image representation of that wonderful latte on the page for week 19, I did an image search for Starbucks latte. I found myself irritated by, in my crabby brain," idiots who are irritated for the sake of being irritated." No, I don't miss the irony of that statement. But this is my blog and therefore I'm irritated buy things that are REAL.
Starbucks is very good coffee to those who consider it very good coffee. If you don't consider it very good coffee don't buy it and shut up and let people who consider it good coffee enjoy it as good coffee. It is not necessary to create or forward, because you don't have the mind or talent required to form and promote your own opinion, cute little anonymous memes to place yourself in some place of authority to belittle people who have a different opinion than yours. Free trade agreements and corporate decisions to obtain materials and labor from outside of the US make pretty much everything some percentage of not an American product. Nobody is a bad person for choosing a product that they like because the cup is manufactured with materials from outside the country. You are not a good person because you choose to invest your money in other products with portions made in another country.
Also anyone who is so terrified that there might be something in their coffee or anything else that they get at a restaurant has no business ordering anything already made. In America restaurants are required to supply nutritional information and ingredients for food that they serve. You have a choice of asking for it, not giving your business to establishments that don't produce it without asking or not caring about the content of items that you consume. If you choose to consume products with high sodium or lots of sugar, fat or artificial flavoring that is your choice and you are NOT a bad person for making that choice. The only person that you potentially harm with that choice is yourself and that is only a potential harm because every person is different and every body reacts to different things is differently. In moderation or even in excess, you may very well be harming no one at all. If you personally have made the choice to not consume all product you are NOT a better person for attempting to insist that anyone else should be just like you.
Finally, Starbucks is a product sold for profit. If it was overpriced, it would fail. From the consistent lines I've seen when I've been in a Starbucks, it’s not failing. There are many people who like Starbucks coffee who consider it to be very good coffee and not overpriced. Many can afford to drink Starbucks coffee every day and they do. There are people, like me, who consider Starbucks coffee to be very good coffee and something I choose to have as a treat, even a couple of times a week. There is NOTHING wrong with that. If the coffee you prefer is less expensive there's nothing wrong with your taste either. But to criticize Starbucks and belittle their customers for their choice is wrong. It makes you sound either jealous because you'd like to be drinking Starbucks coffee or just a judgmental idiot.
Again I do realize the irony of judgmentally calling out judgmental idiots.
See what I mean about grumpy? I think maybe next weekend on Saturday I should see if I can get Tori and Rina for an hour, carjack the van from David and the three of us can go to Starbucks. hehehe
I know this has a lot to do with being stuck in the house. As we head into all of the major political crap it brings out the absolute ugliest of people. I try to stay away from Facebook, which is rich and political poison, and I try to avoid TV news. I like reading the paper because then I can ignore the political stuff. We're not a country that's politically polarized. We've become a country of selfish individuals, at least the loudest people are selfish individuals. But that includes everybody that forwards “Information” without verification or context. That's also known as gossip and that's been dangerous since the playground. Personally my opinions and my political opinions are not necessarily the same. Oftentimes they are, but when I think of casting a vote or encouraging someone else to I can't think about just me. I'm voting on issues or candidates to represent an entire constituency that I'm part of. What might be perfect for me may have devastating consequences in general if it becomes a law. The political process might be smoother and less violent if people could step out of their own egos long enough to realize that they aren't alone. None of us are.
I’d better stop now before my cyber coffee shop becomes as empty as the Folgers crowd wishes Starbucks was. Have a great day and be kind to everyone - you never know how long they’ve been cooped up!
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Why is it so hard to say “Happy Holidays?”
We had a very nice group meeting last night with our MS Self Help Group. Everyone was invited to bring holiday cookies to share and we enjoyed cookies, a game and our usual conversation. At the end of the evening even I said “Merry Christmas” because it had become evident over the course of the evening that everyone present in our modestly-sized group celebrates Christmas. That makes it okay. If anyone had not been forthcoming about Christmas traditions at home or had mentioned honoring a holiday that wasn’t Christmas at this time of year I would have said “Happy Holidays.” This is not a new practice for me and I don’t understand how it can be offensive.
I’ve mentioned before that when I was 6 I made the decision to become a nun when I grew up. I think I also mentioned that by age 9 I decided Catholicism wasn’t for me. I consider myself a Universal Unitarian now and those years of “studying” to become a nun pretty much made me a Unitarian. It’s the concept of “studying” religion in elementary school. It never occurred to my very young self that if I wanted to learn how to be a good nun, “ask a nun.” I was in Catholic school; it’s not like finding a nun was difficult. But I listened and learned in class when we had our religion lessons and I watched my first-grade teacher and aware that there would be tougher things to learn when I was older but the most important thing I had to start doing was learn how to love everyone. An important part of that was understanding.
I went to different vacation bible schools, my parents were quite pleased that I wanted to go to bible school in the summer, and more than one week of it! I went to Bible School and youth events in various Christian churches and found them to be pretty much the same. It didn’t matter what you called your religion; if you love God and love people, God is pleased. Also the “golden rule” at home from the time we were kids agreed with that thought. It was was simple to our child-minds and it grew more immense and a little more challenging as we got older but it never changed. Mom’s rule was “Stay straight with God and stay straight with man.” How wonderfully simple. It was basically if you have self-respect and respect for other people, you’re okay. I still find that simple rule, although as an adult it's more difficult, to be a good golden rule.
When I was 7 or 8 my world got a little bigger. I wasn’t in Catholic School or Baptist and Methodist bible school and field trips. I was bowling now. Our bowling league wasn’t a religious event, it was just fun. Don’t ever think for a moment that kids don’t have serious discussions just like adults do. At bowling was the first time I asked someone else, “You mean you don’t celebrate Christmas?” Imagine a Catholic kid having a theological discussion with a Jewish kid at a bowling alley. That happened with no adults, no one insisting the other was wrong, respect and genuine interest in hearing about each others holidays. My fiends' idea of what Jesus did, a great rabbi and teacher, was different, but the stories and morals were the same. Over the course of a few months 2 things happened to me. First I formed the opinion that if God was able to make all things possible, why wouldn’t he have different ways to reach everyone? I mean if he made us all different wouldn’t he be what would make us comfortable with him adjusted for how he made us? Yes, as a child I REALLY deviated from the becoming a nun plan with that opinion. Your religious practices don’t matter if you’re a good person. I also never said “Merry Christmas” to people I didn’t know again. “Happy Holidays” included Hanukkah and that was nicer to my friends who were Jewish than to wish them to enjoy a holiday they don’t even celebrate. I still said “Merry Christmas” to family, friends I knew had Christmas, people in church, but never to someone I didn’t know. I thought of that as bringing my Christmas happiness to everyone not as anyone taking my holiday away from me.
I still say “Happy Holidays” to people I don’t know unless they’re wearing a Santa hat or a t-shirt that says something about Christmas. That’s still respect; sharing my holiday spirit rather than pushing my practices on someone I don’t even know. I don’t really know when erring on the side of respect became offensive to anyone. If anything in the holiday season, that becomes more anti-people every year, has or is still steering me away from the beliefs and traditions of my young childhood it’s not the people who aren’t me that want to respect and be respected, it’s the people who celebrate the same as I do that refuse to respect others.
If a stranger says “Happy Holidays” to you don’t say “You mean Merry Christmas” to them which essentially says their greeting isn’t good enough for you. Just smile and say “have a great holiday” back to them sharing whatever holiday spirit you hold in your heart. If respect is offensive to you maybe you’re the one “ruining Christmas.”
My Christmas wish is that everyone has a safe and joyful holiday season!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Soap Box: Political Observations and Decision
There is a lot on my mind thanks to the wonderful upcoming elections. Don’t get me wrong; I truly do appreciate that I get to vote and have some small part in the process that governs me and my fellow Americans, but the polarization between the two halves with the power is just mind-boggling and scary. I have never and will never allow political ads to make my decisions. I read, research and spin for myself. I don’t expect everyone to agree with my choices nor do I expect anyone to accept my opinion as “ultimate truth,” but if you’re accepting any ads that way, by all means, take my thoughts that way; my opinions are at least thought out and not just looking to win at all cost.
When I make political decisions I try to make those decisions as an American and not just as me. Sure, I remember that I’m an American too, but there are some choices that are just more American than my selfish ideas are and the better choice for my country does nothing to harm my ability to carry on with what’s right for me. Take raising the millage for the schools. I learned this from my parents first, like most people do, then reaffirmed that it was the right thing to do as an adult. I don’t have any kids so why do I care about funding for public schools? Just don’t raise MY property taxes. Well, first through fourth grades I went to private school, so that same thought process could have worked for my parents; but it didn’t. They supported the public school taxes and my mother even attended school board meetings and did some volunteer work for the public schools at that time. The need for better, just better, in the public school system in Southgate was why my young parents scraped and saved to pay the private school tuition. Supporting the public schools was supporting more safety in our neighborhood because kids stayed in school and had after school programs, it supported rising property values and just a better neighborhood. Better for the schools was better for everyone, even if you didn't have kids in school. That made sense then and it makes even more sense now as our schools are threatened with cuts and voucher systems that take more away when they need to have more so our kids can compete on a global level.
On the national front, there is money funneled into political campaigns that tell us why the other guy is bad and not why their guy is good that could be so much better used. I am totally against allowing corporations to buy elections; national elections should be for “we the people,” not “we the money.” Those corporations could donate that money to better causes; schools, medical research, how many bellies could they fill putting that buy-an-election money in a soup kitchen? But there are much more important things than people. Corporations are not people, they are businesses that do whatever they need to make a profit; that's the purpose of a business. But sometimes whatever they need to do includes squashing small businesses and ignoring what’s good for people; they just have concern for what’s good for their own bottom line. And let’s face it; that’s more important to them than what’s good for the country. As long as they’re still standing tall when it happens, our country can collapse; they have offices in other countries anyway.
There is so much drivel about religious issues that don’t belong in politics too. We’re still arguing about women’s rights and marriage equality? In 2012? Really?
Personally, I’m pro-life. I believe that conception is a potential for life and had I conceived, even in my teens or 20s when there was no way I could afford to raise a child, I would have done whatever I needed to bring the child safely to term so I could find it a good home and a good life. That goes with the rest of my personal religious-rooted belief. If I was going to make it the United States Under Nani, the first thing I’d do is shut down all the fertility clinics. Even counseling someone about making an unnatural baby would be illegal because it’s against my personal beliefs. If you cannot conceive it’s because the baby to whom you are meant to give a life is being entrusted to someone who didn’t plan on and doesn’t want the responsibility of raising a child to give birth. Someone else has the better hereditary factors and you have the better parenting ability. If you can’t conceive get over the ego and listen to God. To me that makes sense in God’s plan and to change it on either end is “playing God.”
There are some exceptions to my abortion stance, but not to my fertility view. I think if I’d been raped as a teen, there is no way I could relive that brutal attack for 9 months carrying what I’m sure would seem like Satan’s spawn; then never knowing if there was some genetic defect that made my assailant violent and I took part in releasing a monster into the world. A victim of rape should not be expected to remain victim for the rest of her life. Contrary to opinions I’ve recently read it is NOT the same as conceiving as a result of consensual sex; born out of love or fun is way different than planted by intimidation and violence.
See? I have some compassion on my pulpit. Still, aren’t ya glad my religion isn’t running the country?
I still support choice as an American because everyone is not me. There are so many conflicting opinions in different religions about when life starts, when it’s okay or not to terminate a pregnancy. There are so many religions and so many people who don’t practice any religion at all and they are all Americans. The first Amendment guarantees us that the government will not recognize one religion over any other as the law of the land and as an American I accept that. Allowing for women’s reproductive freedom does not affect me personally. I can still maintain that if I’d have been pregnant during my child bearing years, I’d have carried the baby to term, I can still counsel other younger women to choose life, but I don’t have the right to force others to follow the beliefs of my religious choice.
In the same vein, I’ve talked about marriage equality before and that those against its legality are basing that stance on religious choice. As Americans, it’s wrong, plain and simple. It’s ignoring the First Amendment to base voting opinions on religious thoughts. There has to be a non-religious foundation other than “I just don’t like it” to vote against equality. It does nothing to affect you. If two heterosexual people you don’t like get married, do you buy them a wedding gift? Visit their home? Tell others how great it is that they are married? Maybe you parade around in front of their house with signs saying how much it sucks that people you don’t like are married and how it should be illegal. Maybe you burn down the church where they got married. No? So you just ignore them or don’t even know they got married and live your life. Maybe as Americans we should just do that.
Lastly in my great political decision making world, healthcare and Medicare are hot topics. Much as I still maintain that insurance for everyone is not enough, it is better. I take two medications specifically for Multiple Sclerosis. One is 2 pills a day at $22.88 a pill and the other, the one that does more tangible good for my symptoms is one a day at $165.61 a pill. That comes to $77,150.05 a year just for the medication. With insurance and private copay assistance I pay $50 a month. That means we haven’t had to sell the house and file for bankruptcy and I’m not on government assistance. HIPPA protects me if we change insurance but if the policies lapse for even a day the Affordable Care Act means I won’t find myself uninsured because for a pre-existing condition. Like I said, I don’t think it’s enough, but it sure is covering my butt in a huge way now. I don’t want that act to go away.
As far as Medicare goes, my Dad wouldn’t be able to afford insurance with a voucher without giving something up. Americans who have worked and contributed should not have to give up things for which they’ve worked all their lives. But his vote, I mean healthcare, wouldn't be affected by the voucher idea anyway. I’m imaging myself still dealing with the MS and having to add shopping for insurance with my coupon to the mix. If the brain fog symptom that caused me to need to retake one of my classes while being diagnosed before treatment comes back as I’m older, I’ll really be screwed. Vouchers for Medicare makes the Affordable Care Act sound better and better thought out.
So, yes, I’m going to cast my vote to re-elect President Obama. Is it a “lesser of two evils” vote? Maybe in some areas, but the Romney evil is powerful and scary. But in more areas, the ones the enabling corporations are conveniently disregarding, there has been some forward movement. The up and down cycle of the economy is normal and honestly the government doesn't control it; big and small business and consumers do. Tax cuts never trickle down to small businesses because they never get them and the businesses that do build up their companies and often destroy many small businesses. Still there have been efforts in the last four years that have had a positive effect. Ultimately I’m voting for both the good the President has done and the bad he won’t do if we elect him again instead of his corporate-funded competition.
Your opinions may vary and I respect that, but they won't change mine.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Soap Box Again - Grrrr
A group calling themselves “Preserve Marriage Washington” blocked the law which would make marriage an equal and valid institution rather than a segregated entitlement with signatures from 200,000 insecure and confused people the day before the law creating marriage equality went into effect. The block will send Referendum 74 to a public vote.
You might say, “That’s democracy, it’s good.” But cults have voted to do great harm before and we say it’s bad. It leaves me a little confused. What is good and American about select entitlement, about prejudice and hate? I know our history is peppered with those things, but why are we still fighting those social wars? In 2012, we are still social cliques at war with each other to be recognized as the “superior clique.” Yes, if you read into that as me calling many of the fundamental religious groups “cults” and “cliques,” that’s exactly what I meant. My Bible says “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” I’m seeing a lot of judging of things that have no effect whatsoever on the people doing the judging. I see telling God he made a mistake in bringing two people together to be a far greater sin than loving someone.
The thing that I really don’t understand is the whole “sanctity of marriage” thing when it comes to wanting to keep marriage an entitlement for heterosexual couple only. First off, if we are not going to allow same-sex couples to marry to save the “sanctity of marriage,” we need to outlaw divorce too. That’s a way bigger destroyer of that sanctity. I do realize that if divorce was illegal David would still be married to his ex and her husband and I would still be single. Four happy people would be miserable or lonely, but that “Preserve Marriage” group would be happy and isn’t that all that’s really important?
I’ve had a participant on the occasional debate that sprouts when I post on Facebook that insists that allowing same-sex marriage is a “slippery slope” that next is “marrying your dog.” Aside from the fact that “marrying your dog” is quoted propaganda and not original thought and “slippery slope” is just a desperate catch phrase used when one really has nothing left to present, that argument is the silliest thing I’ve heard. Last I checked dogs can’t give consent and they can’t contract. I don’t think there will ever be a time that a doctor will call your dog when you’re on your death bed but they will call your spouse.
As far as a “slippery slope,” that slope slides both ways. Marriage equality is a plateau. If we can’t reach that plateau, if states keep putting the hate and entitlement language in their constitutions and the hate groups block the states that move towards equality, how soon before the country slides down the way it came? How soon before laws are put in place to define marriage as “between a man and woman of the same color, same religion and same financial level?” Sanctity of marriage; keep the gold-diggers from destroying the sacred institution! That side of the “slippery slope” makes as much sense as marrying a dog does.
Allowing same-sex marriage is allowing all couples of consenting adults to legally contract their partnership. That’s all legal marriage is. It has nothing to do with any church; it’s just a contract. I didn’t get married in a church at all and my marriage is still valid and legal and called a marriage. A church that scorns same-sex couples doesn’t have to perform a marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple. Churches don’t have to change based on new laws, so why do they want laws to be governed by their rules?
The creation of the United States was greatly based on those fleeing religious tyranny in England. Freedom from the government establishing a single religion is in the Bill of rights. It’s the very first amendment to the constitution. We have the free exercise of any religion so no one religion should be allowed to demand laws reflecting its beliefs be made. One country, one religion, one FAIL. If religious interests take over our government and it becomes necessary to flee from the tyranny again, where will we go?
Get the special interest religious groups out of our government and let them tend to their churches; maybe they can do something about that divorce rate.
I’m not really looking to debate, just to get some anger off my chest. Feel free to disagree with me, but please don’t leave a dissertation to me of “why you’re wrong” in comments. It won’t be published. I will publish any “I disagree and here is the link to my blog” comments if you’d like to post a differing opinion. Thank you!
You might say, “That’s democracy, it’s good.” But cults have voted to do great harm before and we say it’s bad. It leaves me a little confused. What is good and American about select entitlement, about prejudice and hate? I know our history is peppered with those things, but why are we still fighting those social wars? In 2012, we are still social cliques at war with each other to be recognized as the “superior clique.” Yes, if you read into that as me calling many of the fundamental religious groups “cults” and “cliques,” that’s exactly what I meant. My Bible says “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” I’m seeing a lot of judging of things that have no effect whatsoever on the people doing the judging. I see telling God he made a mistake in bringing two people together to be a far greater sin than loving someone.
The thing that I really don’t understand is the whole “sanctity of marriage” thing when it comes to wanting to keep marriage an entitlement for heterosexual couple only. First off, if we are not going to allow same-sex couples to marry to save the “sanctity of marriage,” we need to outlaw divorce too. That’s a way bigger destroyer of that sanctity. I do realize that if divorce was illegal David would still be married to his ex and her husband and I would still be single. Four happy people would be miserable or lonely, but that “Preserve Marriage” group would be happy and isn’t that all that’s really important?
I’ve had a participant on the occasional debate that sprouts when I post on Facebook that insists that allowing same-sex marriage is a “slippery slope” that next is “marrying your dog.” Aside from the fact that “marrying your dog” is quoted propaganda and not original thought and “slippery slope” is just a desperate catch phrase used when one really has nothing left to present, that argument is the silliest thing I’ve heard. Last I checked dogs can’t give consent and they can’t contract. I don’t think there will ever be a time that a doctor will call your dog when you’re on your death bed but they will call your spouse.
As far as a “slippery slope,” that slope slides both ways. Marriage equality is a plateau. If we can’t reach that plateau, if states keep putting the hate and entitlement language in their constitutions and the hate groups block the states that move towards equality, how soon before the country slides down the way it came? How soon before laws are put in place to define marriage as “between a man and woman of the same color, same religion and same financial level?” Sanctity of marriage; keep the gold-diggers from destroying the sacred institution! That side of the “slippery slope” makes as much sense as marrying a dog does.
Allowing same-sex marriage is allowing all couples of consenting adults to legally contract their partnership. That’s all legal marriage is. It has nothing to do with any church; it’s just a contract. I didn’t get married in a church at all and my marriage is still valid and legal and called a marriage. A church that scorns same-sex couples doesn’t have to perform a marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple. Churches don’t have to change based on new laws, so why do they want laws to be governed by their rules?
The creation of the United States was greatly based on those fleeing religious tyranny in England. Freedom from the government establishing a single religion is in the Bill of rights. It’s the very first amendment to the constitution. We have the free exercise of any religion so no one religion should be allowed to demand laws reflecting its beliefs be made. One country, one religion, one FAIL. If religious interests take over our government and it becomes necessary to flee from the tyranny again, where will we go?
Get the special interest religious groups out of our government and let them tend to their churches; maybe they can do something about that divorce rate.
--------------------------------------
Items in red are sarcasm. It pains me to have to note that.
I’m not really looking to debate, just to get some anger off my chest. Feel free to disagree with me, but please don’t leave a dissertation to me of “why you’re wrong” in comments. It won’t be published. I will publish any “I disagree and here is the link to my blog” comments if you’d like to post a differing opinion. Thank you!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
It’s Pumpkin Time
As a lover of all things pumpkin, and a bit of a strange fascination, or maybe a challenge, to my non-pumpkin crazed husband, I often get the opportunity to try new pumpkin tastes because David brings them home. Now, when he finds and brings me Pumpkin Spice Coffeemate, that’s saying “honey, I love you.” When he brought me a jar of pumpkin butter, it told me he thinks of me, even when he’s picking up a steak for himself. But the last something pumpkin, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. He brought me home a 6-pack of Pumpkin Ale from his last trip without me there. Was this a challenge to my pumpkin love?I’m not a huge beer drinker. I enjoy a beer once in a while with pizza or barbecue. Those are just dishes I think beer goes well with. Sorta like drinking red wine with spaghetti and meat sauce. But because I don’t imbibe often, I am super picky about the taste of my beer, wine and liquors. I’m not consuming empty calories or killing innocent brain cells for something that won’t make my taste buds smile! Well, there is a FIVE pack of Pumpkin ale in the fridge now. I tried one a couple nights ago. It was good! The initial taste was very reminiscent of Honey Brown beer, which is a domestic beer I really like. Then, the finish is a nice mellow spicy pumpkin flavor. I don’t see it replacing Honey Brown for me, or my Canadian beers, but I can definitely see it as my one six-pack a fall beer!
The pumpkin beer and talk of things pumpkin segues into some scrap talk. Eva, Eveziur, Designer at Digital Scrapbooking Studio, hosts the Me, Myself and I Challenge. If you’ll recall from Journal Camp, I am very big on the importance of including yourself in your scrapbooks. You should never let your own vanity rob your children’s children of the opportunity to know you.I don’t want to inject mortality here, but it’s reality. My nieces lost their Mom when they were 5 years old. They know her through pictures and stories shared with them from the people who loved her too. She lives in their memory books.
So you don’t like the way you look in photos? Few really do unless they are professional photos or that one every couple years that makes you say, “That’s ME???” The people reading your scrapbooks look and say with a smile, “that’s HER!” They say that to every photo, every sweet memory, just like you do of the people you scrap. Step back IN your scrapbooks and IN the documented lives of the people you love.
Okay, there’s my preachy bit. Back to Me, Myself and I.
As I said, Eva sponsors this, truly important, challenge every month at The Studio. If you only do one layout a month about yourself, that’s 12 pages a year that you add to tell the future about you today. Getting to know you is understanding WHY the people you care enough about to scrap are important. You really should go check out this fabulous challenge!
This month, it was scrapping your favorite dish, favorite food. I interpreted it as my favorite flavor!
Credits:Pieces from Fall Splendor (blog train) by Digitalegacies Designsand Delicate Harvest by Twin Mom Scraps,
Pumpkin Latte Cup by Beckie Wallace, Pumpkin Alpha by Kimberkatt Scraps
My layout includes a photo of Sheri and me in Frankenmuth, a day I enjoyed FOUR different pumpkin treats. I’m in my rented scooter, victory over vanity – It’s the second photo I’ve published of me using a mobility aid. There was a baseball pic with the wheelchair just after vacation. If I own my limitations, they aren’t limitations to who I am.
You still have time to join in the challenge this month and take a look at the yummy layouts in the gallery. If you participate in the Me, Myself and I challenge ten months, Eva will give you a $10 coupon to her store too! Talk about incentive!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Sunday Ponderings
Just a few things that have been on my mind today, a little long, a little controversial too.
“Grow Up and Eat Your Vegetables!”
I love this time of year, veggies a plenty! Whether it’s a roadside stand, a farmers market or that friendly sign at Kroger or Giant Eagle telling me how they are supporting local farmers by carrying Ohio-grown produce whenever possible, the fruits and veggies are naturally ripe and fresh! Last weekend when Pop barbecued for my birthday, he also gave me my birthday present. My birthday presents from Pop are always awesome! I got a bag of cherries, a half dozen white peaches and a big bag of zucchini. Pop always picks up my favorites, down to choosing the white over yellow peaches. With him working in the produce department, he picked my goodies up after work Saturday morning. I couldn’t get fresher if I got them myself. But, I also get the “pick of the litter.” Pop knows what looks the best coming off the truck in the morning! I still have a couple of zucchini left, but the peaches were finished by mid-week and well, the cherries lasted through Sunday!
In the world of trying to make less of me, I tried Nutrisystem. It’s a good program if you can afford it and if you have a modest amount to lose. For me it was a good jump start. I dropped 40 pounds after a slow start. Their counselors on the phone are great. I switched a few things around and changed my dairy or protein add-ins to mostly protein instead of dairy and then I started losing better. Well, the start of the year I quit losing, even gained a little. Mostly due to stress as I was going along on the journey to the ultimate MS diagnosis.
Unfortunately, while the switching out most of the dairy worked for getting the weight loss going, lowered Vitamin D goes with MS and my blood work said my Vitamin D levels were DRASTICALLY low. That’s not Nutrisystem’s fault or the fault of the counselors. I didn’t even know I had MS when that “fix” was made in my diet. A year later the only “good riddance” feelings I have is to the prepackaged food. The diet plan is sound but the food as a whole isn’t so great.
So, I did some doctoring with the food, adding spices to save the flavor. Some of it was beyond help. Those things were mostly the dinner entrées, which are usually just swimming in not-so-good to gross gravies. I do still have a few breakfasts left that I will miss when they are gone.
Visiting the community message boards there was a shock! I was hoping that someone had already called counseling and gotten an “Okay” to dump most of those gravies or at least had some good ideas for fixing the flavor. What I found was a lot of very unsupportive people insisting you had to “do it MY way” because they were “experts.” It only takes losing some successfully and posting a lot to be an “expert.” Oh jeez, I can’t stand uncredentialed experts. The board bullies were brutal to people and probably lose Nutrisystem as many customers as they help.
The one thing the board bullies had in common was that they HATED vegetables. Oh, GROW UP! I’m thinking that’s maybe why they ended up there in the first place! For me it was mostly the nuts. I discovered my greatest nemesis in the weight gain world was the portion sizes of nuts, pumpkin seeds and the like. Maybe that explains the cholesterol issues for me? I got my fat servings under control and not only did I drop some weight, but I got my cholesterol levels down too. Of course, I didn’t get the adults who don’t eat vegetables. I mean, they hate ALL vegetables? What are teaching their kids?
I’ve always eaten a lot of vegetables, often raw and when they are cooked I only seldom add any more than a little spice or a touch of butter. The bully experts told me I had to eat all the gravy because it was important for "the stats." They all seemed to agree that the answer to the gravy issue was to steam large amount of vegetables and pour the gravy over them because it made it easier to eat the vegetables. What? After already saying that I ate lots of veggies raw or naked and liked them they tell me to put the gravy I don’t like on my veggies? My answer was that I quit ordering the stuff with gravy. That made the selection very limited.
So, I switched to Weight Watchers when I found out how bad my Vitamin D level was. Like I said, not at all blaming Nutrisystem for it, but I’m eating lots of dairy now and losing again. I’m also not bored at all and no gravy baths for anything because I cook it and my veggies-a-plenty are raw or un-gravied too! I’m diet-wise in a better place.
Stem Cells
I’ve always thought that stem cell research was a good idea. The results there have been in tests are near miraculous, but I’ve never climbed on the soap box and supported it because it didn’t promise a benefit to ME, so I hadn't researched a lot. My bad on that one. You never know when something that’s a good idea for “other people” may end up being an idea you want more done about for YOU! That’s kind of where I am now. There is a lot of research being done on the results of stem cell treatments for MS patients. So now I’m stepping up on my soap box in support of it. It was a great idea before, but when it became personal, my eyes opened wide enough to see my empty soap box.
The political world is quite threatening. I am not a registered anything but a registered voter. As far as party goes, I’m American. But I’m a disabled American now and I’m starting to see myself leaning left enough that I could totally walk away from the Republican party members because they have become quite anti-people. If that party has its way, the healthcare reform that was passed will be revoked. In addition to healthcare for people who can’t afford it, it also means that if my husband were to change jobs, I’d be uninsured with a life-long debilitating disease. That reform includes the end of “pre-existing conditions” as a reason for an insurance provider to refuse to cover someone. In the end, money is SO much more important than care, right?
Also, greatly influenced by the religious anti-choice nuts, the Republican party is really paying at least lip service to cutting funding and halting stem-cell research, because I guess research to save lives encourages abortions.
Don’t misunderstand me on this one. Anti-choice is a carefully chosen term. As an American I am pro choice. I don’t understand how anyone can not be. Personally, I would never have an abortion or encourage anyone close to me to have one. I also personally don’t condone use of fertility clinics. My personal thought is that there is a reason for unplanned pregnancies and a reason some who want babies can’t have them. It’s my spiritual beliefs that say if you are pregnant, didn’t plan to be and don’t want a baby, DO NOT KILL IT. Have the baby and give it up so the parents who want a child can adopt it.
Of course, I realize my belief that it’s killing a baby is religious. In a country where we have the freedom to choose, or not choose at all, a religion that’s right for each individual, we cannot make laws that prefer one religion to any other. If there are religions that do not hold that a fetus is a human life until birth, how can we as Americans govern when the fetus is a life?
The mini-abortion rant does go back to stem cells, really. There are two things the Republicans that are sleeping with the church ladies need to consider. The first is that not all stem cell research is embryonic stem cells. There is a hospital I was reading about, not in the US, because the treatment isn’t approved here, that uses your own stem cells, drawn from fat cells that are processed and reinjected. There have been good reviews from MS patients who have the courage and money to try it out. Last I checked the most obese country in the world has plenty of fat to donate to that cause.
The second thing, while they are kissing butt for the anti-choice religions, is MY religious beliefs. Who do I have to cozy up with for my religious convictions to be a political star? I don’t know if someone is going to Hell for having an abortion. As a ‘lil old human, I’m, not qualified to say “God says….” Best I can do is say “I feel like what I am doing will or won’t please God.” But let me ask this of those church ladies. If it’s a baby before it’s born and it’s killed. Does it go to Hell too? My belief here, it would be un-American to choose a religious influence to create a law, my spiritual beliefs find some solace in that the stem cells from aborted fetuses can be instruments to save people that are already living with diseases. The anti-choice church ladies may be seeking to strip those lives of their purpose.
Ah but, these are the same people who throw their own children in front of cars to keep people from going in to a family planning clinic. People or a soul’s purpose have little meaning to them compared to their own agenda and being right at any cost.
If you have an opportunity to talk to a candidate or your legislators, ask them where they stand on stem cell research and if they’re against it, WHY?
Feline World
David and I are thinking of expanding out family again. It’ll be a while yet. We didn’t want to run out and adopt another cat right away, part because we wanted to honor Baggle’s memory and let Kaline and Carla get used to each other without him. Yeah, they are a little different together than they were. Kaline and Baggle were that way after we lost Chester too. But the other part was that we do a lot of weekenders in the summer and have vacation plans coming up too. It wouldn’t be fair to introduce a new cat and then leave. All three of them needed us there as they got used to Carla being in the family. There are definitely things we could have done better with introducing Carla and I’d like to make sure we do them better with the next new cat. So, we’re probably looking at mid to late fall, like we did with Carla.
We do have a name picked out, Joe or Jo Morgan, Joe for a boy and Jo for a girl. I think we’ll probably use the middle name, but as David says, “it depends on the cat.” I guess I gotta agree with that. The reason for the choice was that we have a Red Sox cat and a Tigers cat. We give bonus cat treats when all three of our teams, Tigers, Red Sox and Reds win. I thought we ought to have a cat named for a Reds Hall of Famer. But David thought it was a little unfair to have two cats named for my teams and only one for his. Joe Morgan is the name of the Hall of Fame member of the Big Red Machine, 1972-79, and also the name of the Boston Red Sox manager, 1988-1991. No, not the same guy. Their playing careers overlapped just briefly at the end of the Red Sox manager’s career and the beginning of the Big Red Machine member’s. It’s a puurrfect name for our third baseball kitty!
“Grow Up and Eat Your Vegetables!”
I love this time of year, veggies a plenty! Whether it’s a roadside stand, a farmers market or that friendly sign at Kroger or Giant Eagle telling me how they are supporting local farmers by carrying Ohio-grown produce whenever possible, the fruits and veggies are naturally ripe and fresh! Last weekend when Pop barbecued for my birthday, he also gave me my birthday present. My birthday presents from Pop are always awesome! I got a bag of cherries, a half dozen white peaches and a big bag of zucchini. Pop always picks up my favorites, down to choosing the white over yellow peaches. With him working in the produce department, he picked my goodies up after work Saturday morning. I couldn’t get fresher if I got them myself. But, I also get the “pick of the litter.” Pop knows what looks the best coming off the truck in the morning! I still have a couple of zucchini left, but the peaches were finished by mid-week and well, the cherries lasted through Sunday!
In the world of trying to make less of me, I tried Nutrisystem. It’s a good program if you can afford it and if you have a modest amount to lose. For me it was a good jump start. I dropped 40 pounds after a slow start. Their counselors on the phone are great. I switched a few things around and changed my dairy or protein add-ins to mostly protein instead of dairy and then I started losing better. Well, the start of the year I quit losing, even gained a little. Mostly due to stress as I was going along on the journey to the ultimate MS diagnosis.
Unfortunately, while the switching out most of the dairy worked for getting the weight loss going, lowered Vitamin D goes with MS and my blood work said my Vitamin D levels were DRASTICALLY low. That’s not Nutrisystem’s fault or the fault of the counselors. I didn’t even know I had MS when that “fix” was made in my diet. A year later the only “good riddance” feelings I have is to the prepackaged food. The diet plan is sound but the food as a whole isn’t so great.
So, I did some doctoring with the food, adding spices to save the flavor. Some of it was beyond help. Those things were mostly the dinner entrées, which are usually just swimming in not-so-good to gross gravies. I do still have a few breakfasts left that I will miss when they are gone.
Visiting the community message boards there was a shock! I was hoping that someone had already called counseling and gotten an “Okay” to dump most of those gravies or at least had some good ideas for fixing the flavor. What I found was a lot of very unsupportive people insisting you had to “do it MY way” because they were “experts.” It only takes losing some successfully and posting a lot to be an “expert.” Oh jeez, I can’t stand uncredentialed experts. The board bullies were brutal to people and probably lose Nutrisystem as many customers as they help.
The one thing the board bullies had in common was that they HATED vegetables. Oh, GROW UP! I’m thinking that’s maybe why they ended up there in the first place! For me it was mostly the nuts. I discovered my greatest nemesis in the weight gain world was the portion sizes of nuts, pumpkin seeds and the like. Maybe that explains the cholesterol issues for me? I got my fat servings under control and not only did I drop some weight, but I got my cholesterol levels down too. Of course, I didn’t get the adults who don’t eat vegetables. I mean, they hate ALL vegetables? What are teaching their kids?
I’ve always eaten a lot of vegetables, often raw and when they are cooked I only seldom add any more than a little spice or a touch of butter. The bully experts told me I had to eat all the gravy because it was important for "the stats." They all seemed to agree that the answer to the gravy issue was to steam large amount of vegetables and pour the gravy over them because it made it easier to eat the vegetables. What? After already saying that I ate lots of veggies raw or naked and liked them they tell me to put the gravy I don’t like on my veggies? My answer was that I quit ordering the stuff with gravy. That made the selection very limited.
So, I switched to Weight Watchers when I found out how bad my Vitamin D level was. Like I said, not at all blaming Nutrisystem for it, but I’m eating lots of dairy now and losing again. I’m also not bored at all and no gravy baths for anything because I cook it and my veggies-a-plenty are raw or un-gravied too! I’m diet-wise in a better place.
Stem Cells
I’ve always thought that stem cell research was a good idea. The results there have been in tests are near miraculous, but I’ve never climbed on the soap box and supported it because it didn’t promise a benefit to ME, so I hadn't researched a lot. My bad on that one. You never know when something that’s a good idea for “other people” may end up being an idea you want more done about for YOU! That’s kind of where I am now. There is a lot of research being done on the results of stem cell treatments for MS patients. So now I’m stepping up on my soap box in support of it. It was a great idea before, but when it became personal, my eyes opened wide enough to see my empty soap box.
The political world is quite threatening. I am not a registered anything but a registered voter. As far as party goes, I’m American. But I’m a disabled American now and I’m starting to see myself leaning left enough that I could totally walk away from the Republican party members because they have become quite anti-people. If that party has its way, the healthcare reform that was passed will be revoked. In addition to healthcare for people who can’t afford it, it also means that if my husband were to change jobs, I’d be uninsured with a life-long debilitating disease. That reform includes the end of “pre-existing conditions” as a reason for an insurance provider to refuse to cover someone. In the end, money is SO much more important than care, right?
Also, greatly influenced by the religious anti-choice nuts, the Republican party is really paying at least lip service to cutting funding and halting stem-cell research, because I guess research to save lives encourages abortions.
Don’t misunderstand me on this one. Anti-choice is a carefully chosen term. As an American I am pro choice. I don’t understand how anyone can not be. Personally, I would never have an abortion or encourage anyone close to me to have one. I also personally don’t condone use of fertility clinics. My personal thought is that there is a reason for unplanned pregnancies and a reason some who want babies can’t have them. It’s my spiritual beliefs that say if you are pregnant, didn’t plan to be and don’t want a baby, DO NOT KILL IT. Have the baby and give it up so the parents who want a child can adopt it.
Of course, I realize my belief that it’s killing a baby is religious. In a country where we have the freedom to choose, or not choose at all, a religion that’s right for each individual, we cannot make laws that prefer one religion to any other. If there are religions that do not hold that a fetus is a human life until birth, how can we as Americans govern when the fetus is a life?
The mini-abortion rant does go back to stem cells, really. There are two things the Republicans that are sleeping with the church ladies need to consider. The first is that not all stem cell research is embryonic stem cells. There is a hospital I was reading about, not in the US, because the treatment isn’t approved here, that uses your own stem cells, drawn from fat cells that are processed and reinjected. There have been good reviews from MS patients who have the courage and money to try it out. Last I checked the most obese country in the world has plenty of fat to donate to that cause.
The second thing, while they are kissing butt for the anti-choice religions, is MY religious beliefs. Who do I have to cozy up with for my religious convictions to be a political star? I don’t know if someone is going to Hell for having an abortion. As a ‘lil old human, I’m, not qualified to say “God says….” Best I can do is say “I feel like what I am doing will or won’t please God.” But let me ask this of those church ladies. If it’s a baby before it’s born and it’s killed. Does it go to Hell too? My belief here, it would be un-American to choose a religious influence to create a law, my spiritual beliefs find some solace in that the stem cells from aborted fetuses can be instruments to save people that are already living with diseases. The anti-choice church ladies may be seeking to strip those lives of their purpose.
Ah but, these are the same people who throw their own children in front of cars to keep people from going in to a family planning clinic. People or a soul’s purpose have little meaning to them compared to their own agenda and being right at any cost.
If you have an opportunity to talk to a candidate or your legislators, ask them where they stand on stem cell research and if they’re against it, WHY?
Feline World
David and I are thinking of expanding out family again. It’ll be a while yet. We didn’t want to run out and adopt another cat right away, part because we wanted to honor Baggle’s memory and let Kaline and Carla get used to each other without him. Yeah, they are a little different together than they were. Kaline and Baggle were that way after we lost Chester too. But the other part was that we do a lot of weekenders in the summer and have vacation plans coming up too. It wouldn’t be fair to introduce a new cat and then leave. All three of them needed us there as they got used to Carla being in the family. There are definitely things we could have done better with introducing Carla and I’d like to make sure we do them better with the next new cat. So, we’re probably looking at mid to late fall, like we did with Carla.
We do have a name picked out, Joe or Jo Morgan, Joe for a boy and Jo for a girl. I think we’ll probably use the middle name, but as David says, “it depends on the cat.” I guess I gotta agree with that. The reason for the choice was that we have a Red Sox cat and a Tigers cat. We give bonus cat treats when all three of our teams, Tigers, Red Sox and Reds win. I thought we ought to have a cat named for a Reds Hall of Famer. But David thought it was a little unfair to have two cats named for my teams and only one for his. Joe Morgan is the name of the Hall of Fame member of the Big Red Machine, 1972-79, and also the name of the Boston Red Sox manager, 1988-1991. No, not the same guy. Their playing careers overlapped just briefly at the end of the Red Sox manager’s career and the beginning of the Big Red Machine member’s. It’s a puurrfect name for our third baseball kitty!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
In The News Editorials
There have been a few notable things in the news lately and of course, I have opinions. I read national news daily through my Google home page and the local news through the Toledo Blade’s website.
Fatal Fall in Texas
Yesterday in the second inning of the game between the Oakland As and Texas Rangers at Texas. Josh Hamilton threw a foul ball up to a father and his young son in the front row. The father reached over the get the ball and lost his balance, falling over the rail, 20 feet down behind a scoreboard.
The 39-year-old man died while paramedics did everything they could to save him. His 6-year old son was in the front seat of the ambulance.
I watched the footage, a few times. So sad. So shocking.
There is talk of changes needing to be made. But what kind of changes?
Players won’t be allowed to throw balls in the stands anymore? I’m sure an understandably distraught Josh Hamilton, who didn’t throw balls into the stands often, won’t be doing it again anytime soon. I suppose hitters will be fined if they hit a home run too.
Raising the already waist-high railings would change the game, put balls back in play that would have been home runs or fouled out of play. That could actually make it dangerous for players, having more opportunity for those leaping catches.
The Rangers have started a fund for the family. My thought would be first to make sure there is counseling available for the son, who witnessed his father’s deadly fall. The first empathetic pain I felt was for “Dad’s catching me a ball…” He’s going to need someone to talk to who can help him understand, and not feel responsible.
After seeing the video, it was an accident, a horrible accident. My skin will crawl if there’s a lawsuit, especially when the Rangers are already taking steps to help the family.
Today, for a while, please keep that little boy, Josh Hamilton, the Rangers organization and soul of that loving dad, in your thoughts and prayers.
Jobs Figures
The job figures are dropping again. That’s bad news, especially personally as I’m hoping to be back in the market in the next year!
Washington Politicos, this isn’t a Republic back scratchers and Democrat back scratchers thing. It’s an US thing. It makes me dizzy how many times a way to get jobs back runs around in my head as I try to articulate one more time to the customer service rep in India what’s wrong with my Japanese made electronics or my Mexican built car. If the item is assembled in another country and the customer service is in another country, then part of the product is foreign and subject to the percentage of it that is in import tax. If the jobs don’t come back, companies that deny the American workforce a livelihood will at least be paying for the extended unemployment or welfare necessary to keep Americans alive.
Henry Ford had the right idea when he planned to pay and price his people and products so that his employees, all of them, could afford to drive a Ford. Now it’s all some CEO’s third wife wants a fourth house. So you raise the prices and cut the staff, but expect the same output. That’s not America. That’s a two-class society with a lower class sweat shop.
Caylee’s Law
I am among the many people who was shocked to find that there are not laws that require a parent or guardian to report a missing or dead child in a set minimum time. A child doesn’t have to be missing long at all to report it to police, but it never occurred to me that there wasn’t a maximum. That Caylee Anthony was missing for a MONTH before it was reported and the defense could even think of using a weak story of, “Oh, it wasn’t like that at all, she died in a pool a month ago,” was just appauling.
Just like it takes a deadly accident to get a traffic light at a dangerous intersection, it takes a suspiciously dead toddler to wake up lawmakers to needed legislation.
From the parts of the trial I watched, what angered me most was the right not to testify as a defendant. Testifying doesn’t incriminate you. It may confirm that your deeds incriminated you, but the deeds are already done. If I’d been on that jury, I’d likely have voted the same way they did. There just wasn’t enough hard evidence for the stronger charges. I suspect, Casey Anthony testifying would have supplied either total reasonable doubt or unquestionably reasonable undoubt.
This was a huge trail that left a lot of people feeling “dirty” about our judicial system. We do have the ability to make right some wrongs in our laws. I’m sure no one ever imagined that it was necessary, I sure didn’t, but there are sick people in this world who would not bother reporting their child missing. It should be a law that if broken, makes your children wards of the court and gives them a better future than a parent or parents that care that little.
It’s not a law to be made because this injustice happened. The injustice happened because the law wasn’t made.
Commercial Break…
Okay, commercial commentary break. Not that I’m a huge fan of Miller anyway, but what’s with the un-delivery guy, the one who steals bad beer from events that are to classy for bad beer, insulting our troops? Iraq is NOT pronounced /EYE-rack/ I would think, I’d hope, that our defenders fighting in a war there have at least heard the name of the country they’re in enough to have heard it pronounced /EE-rock/. Anyway, EE-rock is the closest American English pronunciation to the proper Arabic. EYE-rack is the closest to American Redneck, and not the “LOL Redneck” ala Jeff Foxworthy.
I’m just saying, for the probable paycheck a regular commercial image makes, it’s no wonder the rest of the world thinks were rich, stupid and arrogant.
Toledo Weather:
Boy it was hot today!
In Sports…
Red Sox and Tigers both won their games in the daily “bonus cat treats” qualifier games. With the Reds up 2 by going into the bottom of the ninth, Carla came up on the table and cried her plaintive meow in concern when she realized that Francisco Cordero was on the mound. I tell the TV over and over that anything less than a 4-run lead is not safe to have Cordero pitching.
After walking the leadoff batter, he got usual Reds-killer, Ricky Weeks out. There was hope. Then a wild pitch puts the runner in scoring position, followed by a triple. The second out came on an incredible play by Ryan Hannigan, blocking the plate and taking a hit as the runner from third tried to go through him.
Then there was another walk, then a soft hit. Bases loaded. Mark Kotsay at the plate. All it took was a single with two runners in scoring position to render Hannigan’s heroics non-existent and two of the sweetest baseball kitties running off their frustrated energy on the stairs…and in the kitchen. I need to see what they knocked over.
Cordero is a cat-hater.
Fatal Fall in Texas
Yesterday in the second inning of the game between the Oakland As and Texas Rangers at Texas. Josh Hamilton threw a foul ball up to a father and his young son in the front row. The father reached over the get the ball and lost his balance, falling over the rail, 20 feet down behind a scoreboard.
The 39-year-old man died while paramedics did everything they could to save him. His 6-year old son was in the front seat of the ambulance.
I watched the footage, a few times. So sad. So shocking.
There is talk of changes needing to be made. But what kind of changes?
Players won’t be allowed to throw balls in the stands anymore? I’m sure an understandably distraught Josh Hamilton, who didn’t throw balls into the stands often, won’t be doing it again anytime soon. I suppose hitters will be fined if they hit a home run too.
Raising the already waist-high railings would change the game, put balls back in play that would have been home runs or fouled out of play. That could actually make it dangerous for players, having more opportunity for those leaping catches.
The Rangers have started a fund for the family. My thought would be first to make sure there is counseling available for the son, who witnessed his father’s deadly fall. The first empathetic pain I felt was for “Dad’s catching me a ball…” He’s going to need someone to talk to who can help him understand, and not feel responsible.
After seeing the video, it was an accident, a horrible accident. My skin will crawl if there’s a lawsuit, especially when the Rangers are already taking steps to help the family.
Today, for a while, please keep that little boy, Josh Hamilton, the Rangers organization and soul of that loving dad, in your thoughts and prayers.
Jobs Figures
The job figures are dropping again. That’s bad news, especially personally as I’m hoping to be back in the market in the next year!
Washington Politicos, this isn’t a Republic back scratchers and Democrat back scratchers thing. It’s an US thing. It makes me dizzy how many times a way to get jobs back runs around in my head as I try to articulate one more time to the customer service rep in India what’s wrong with my Japanese made electronics or my Mexican built car. If the item is assembled in another country and the customer service is in another country, then part of the product is foreign and subject to the percentage of it that is in import tax. If the jobs don’t come back, companies that deny the American workforce a livelihood will at least be paying for the extended unemployment or welfare necessary to keep Americans alive.
Henry Ford had the right idea when he planned to pay and price his people and products so that his employees, all of them, could afford to drive a Ford. Now it’s all some CEO’s third wife wants a fourth house. So you raise the prices and cut the staff, but expect the same output. That’s not America. That’s a two-class society with a lower class sweat shop.
Caylee’s Law
I am among the many people who was shocked to find that there are not laws that require a parent or guardian to report a missing or dead child in a set minimum time. A child doesn’t have to be missing long at all to report it to police, but it never occurred to me that there wasn’t a maximum. That Caylee Anthony was missing for a MONTH before it was reported and the defense could even think of using a weak story of, “Oh, it wasn’t like that at all, she died in a pool a month ago,” was just appauling.
Just like it takes a deadly accident to get a traffic light at a dangerous intersection, it takes a suspiciously dead toddler to wake up lawmakers to needed legislation.
From the parts of the trial I watched, what angered me most was the right not to testify as a defendant. Testifying doesn’t incriminate you. It may confirm that your deeds incriminated you, but the deeds are already done. If I’d been on that jury, I’d likely have voted the same way they did. There just wasn’t enough hard evidence for the stronger charges. I suspect, Casey Anthony testifying would have supplied either total reasonable doubt or unquestionably reasonable undoubt.
This was a huge trail that left a lot of people feeling “dirty” about our judicial system. We do have the ability to make right some wrongs in our laws. I’m sure no one ever imagined that it was necessary, I sure didn’t, but there are sick people in this world who would not bother reporting their child missing. It should be a law that if broken, makes your children wards of the court and gives them a better future than a parent or parents that care that little.
It’s not a law to be made because this injustice happened. The injustice happened because the law wasn’t made.
Commercial Break…
Okay, commercial commentary break. Not that I’m a huge fan of Miller anyway, but what’s with the un-delivery guy, the one who steals bad beer from events that are to classy for bad beer, insulting our troops? Iraq is NOT pronounced /EYE-rack/ I would think, I’d hope, that our defenders fighting in a war there have at least heard the name of the country they’re in enough to have heard it pronounced /EE-rock/. Anyway, EE-rock is the closest American English pronunciation to the proper Arabic. EYE-rack is the closest to American Redneck, and not the “LOL Redneck” ala Jeff Foxworthy.
I’m just saying, for the probable paycheck a regular commercial image makes, it’s no wonder the rest of the world thinks were rich, stupid and arrogant.
Toledo Weather:
Boy it was hot today!
In Sports…
Red Sox and Tigers both won their games in the daily “bonus cat treats” qualifier games. With the Reds up 2 by going into the bottom of the ninth, Carla came up on the table and cried her plaintive meow in concern when she realized that Francisco Cordero was on the mound. I tell the TV over and over that anything less than a 4-run lead is not safe to have Cordero pitching.
After walking the leadoff batter, he got usual Reds-killer, Ricky Weeks out. There was hope. Then a wild pitch puts the runner in scoring position, followed by a triple. The second out came on an incredible play by Ryan Hannigan, blocking the plate and taking a hit as the runner from third tried to go through him.
Then there was another walk, then a soft hit. Bases loaded. Mark Kotsay at the plate. All it took was a single with two runners in scoring position to render Hannigan’s heroics non-existent and two of the sweetest baseball kitties running off their frustrated energy on the stairs…and in the kitchen. I need to see what they knocked over.
Cordero is a cat-hater.
That’s the news. Good night and have a better tomorrow!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
"I’m Back!" Hmmm…
It was after midnight last night when we finally announced “cat treats for everyone!” The Reds blew an 8-0 lead to take 8-7 into the top of the 9th in St. Louis. I don’t hide the fact that I think the closer position is overrated and that I’m not particularly fond of our closer, Francisco Cordero. I will interject that in interviews, he seems like a good guy and he is a good pitcher, just not the great pitcher a closer is supposed to be, few closers are. Well, although I pleaded to the TV, “Dusty, the lead is too close to put Cordero in now!” Dusty Baker put Cordero in and the first hitter he faced went yard to tie the game. It was the top of 13 before the Reds got back on top and closed the Cardinals out in the bottom for the victory. The Tigers’ afternoon win and the Red Sox win before Wednesday ended meant the girls cold finally have their bonus cat treats!
Now I want to talk about Albert Pujols. I’m having some difficulties with Albert right now. Last night was his return from the Disabled List. He spent 17 days on the DL after breaking a bone in his wrist. He was supposed to be on the DL 6 weeks. Boy, in baseball, that’s just rumors as ready to spread as Nutella on hot toast.
When they were talking about Pujols returning to the lineup it bothered me. It didn’t bother me that he was returning during the series against the currently struggling Reds. I still have faith that their struggles are temporary and you want to beat your opponents at their best with their best players in the game. No sandbagging like hockey. In baseball, if you can beat them in the regular season, you can face them in the playoffs. Only having 8 teams that make it to post season, you have to truly earn the right to be there in October to begin with. As a fan, I want the star players to be there on the “other side” doing their very best. It makes a loss sting a little less and victory that much sweeter. What bothered me was the 17 days part.
I like Albert Pujols, I really do. He is an amazing player. Now part of my “adopting” rookies, is that I am faithful. When I adopt a rookie, I’ll vote for him in the All Star game every year until the end of his career. That means that Albert no longer has a chance at getting a vote from me, except maybe as a write-in for DH for which they don’t allow NL fans to vote, because Joey Votto will get the first base vote over Albert as long as they’re in the same league now, but Pujols got some votes from me prior to 2008. So this concern is not coming from someone who is anti-Albert or even anti-Cardinals. I just have some feelings I don’t like.
How does one heal from, a broken bone so fast? If it turned out that it really wasn’t a break, just a bad sprain or bone-bruise, it would completely answer any questions or suspicions people might have. But no one has said that. So there is speculation, some of it definitely tainted with the nightmares of the steroid era and the many records that were cheated into by players who faked the range of their talents. Human Growth Hormone would make an injury miraculously heal, especially in an athlete who has an intense strengthening regimen. Then there’s also the idea that in a year where no new contract was ready to go at the beginning, he has to get back on the field to show his worth to the team, or any other team that might be looking. He could be back out there but not completely healed. I don’t want to think of Pujols as either a cheat or stupid. Of course, HGH is both, given the testing that MLB does now.
One other thought. When we’re talking millions of dollars, how easy is it to find a doctor who will say that there is a break, even produce an "x-ray," when there really isn’t? A fake injury and a miracle early come-back might help boost the value on the market too. That might be the worst possible explanation of all. To take a two-week vacation from you team and fans for money? It’s especially bad for him because if that were the case it backfired. He makes his miracle return to a team that was holding the top of the division without him.
In all of this, we have the assurance of what a hard worker he is and that his true love for the game drives his work to recover from his hitting coach, Mark McGwire. McGwire’s love for the game and hard work drove him to lie about his own steroid use. Not so much what I’d call a reliable source to defend him.
In this day in baseball, no matter who you are, no matter what your level of “love for the game” or how miraculous your NATURAL ability to heal truly is, if the doctors have announced that you’ll be out for 6 weeks, sit your butt out for the 6 weeks. It draws suspicious attention to your whole team when you return in a third of the time it was supposed to take you to heal. Under your current contract, you still get paid and for the “love of the game” why would you want to sow a garden that is fertile to reap speculation that hurts the game? If it’s just about the money next year, is what you potentially do to your name and your teammates really worth a few more million dollars when you already have more millions than you can count?
I’m not the only one who is suspicious about Pujols’ return. Check these out:
http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/7/5/2259878/albert-pujols-injury-st-louis-cardinals-news#comments Make sure you read the comments too!
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AnJDJq3gjtjIsBOO7ooobgIRvLYF?slug=jp-passan_pujols_comeback_mcgwire_rumors_070511 Mark McGwire’s comments and a quote from Pujols. Even if you truly believe it, playing the “God card” looks like a cover-up. IMO
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple-110706_pujols_terminator&sportCat=mlb A little bit of fun for Terminator fans…
Sunday, May 8, 2011
A Little Bit of This – Spring 2011
Mom with Dave and me, Easter 1970Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Moms out there and to all of the Mom helpers. That photo is the one I have as my ID on Facebook right now. I saw a few people using their Mom’s photo as their profile photo for Mother's Day and I thought it was a neat idea for the holiday, so I used that one. It turns out that my photo was such a good idea that my brother snagged it for his profile photo. Now we look like twins, but as I posted on his page, we kinda look like twins in that photo! (But trust me, we really are 14 months apart!) It’s my Mom with my brother and me on Easter Sunday in 1970. I was almost 5 and Dave was 3-1/2. That’s a photo my Dad carried in his wallet for a long time. There is one that goes with it, Dad’s other wallet photo, of us with him on the same day. We were almost adults and we were still under 5 in Dad’s wallet. The staples in Mom’s wallet were a little more up-to-date. She always had the current school picture, then we got to be seniors forever, but the First Communion photos were always there too.
Today is the 8th Mother’s Day that I won’t be at a ball game with my Mom. “Take Mommy Out To The Ball Game” was our Mothers Day tradition. She loved carnations and that was one of the Mothers Day perks. Many ballparks give a carnation to every woman who comes to the game on Mother’s Day. Sometimes it was a Tigers game, sometimes a Minor League game. In 1996, the ball game was the day before when Heather and Tracy were with us in Philadelphia. We saw the Braves and Phillies after a rain delay the night before and the three of us treated Mom to lunch at Old Bookbinder’s before we left for the airport. When I wrote the tribute that was on her memorial website, I mentioned that she’d see Roberto Clemente, one of her heroes as a kid, play again at Heaven’s ballpark. For this year’s Mothers Day game, she’ll get to see Sparky Anderson manage one of the teams.
Speaking of Baseball…
A little tirade of questioning Dusty Baker - why, oh why, would he put Francisco Cordero in to pitch when they were only ONE run ahead in the ninth inning, I don’t care if they call him “closer," which by the way is the most OVERRATED position in baseball, Cordero is more accomplished at throwing a lead away when it really counts than he is at saving games. I listen to the commentators on Fox Sports talk about how closers seem to perform better with men on base. PLEASE! Any other reliever, we’d call that “not able to get the job done,” “Poor performance.” But for a closer, the ulcers for managers and fans are part of their, I don’t know, legend? YEESH! The first batter Cordero faced went yard and tied the game. Correct me if I’m wrong, but a tie does NOT close a game! Oh yeah, but he did close it in the ninth. The Cubs got another run in to beat, Cordero. It just sucks that the Reds and their fans have to take the hit for his inability to do his job. Yes, he has a bunch of saves, but when the game has been tough or the score has see-sawed or just if it’s not easy, Cordero is NOT the man you want on the mound in the ninth. I don’t care how much of a Reds ticket goes to pay his overpriced salary, I’d rather pay him to sit on the bench and record a win.
Okay, that rant ends. If you read it all, thank you for indulging me. It’s just that Cordero really irks me. Congratulations Cubbies on the victory, but we took it easy one you and gave you Cordero and his beach ball pitches in the ninth. You can thank us by not hitting today!
So after watching the sad ending to the Reds game, I tuned in to the Tigers game in the fourth inning. What better way to wipe my emotions clean of that nasty Cordero inning than Justin Verlander! He was phenomenal yesterday, the second no-hitter of his career and just inches shy of a perfect game! In the bottom of the eighth in Toronto, after facing and retiring 22 straight batters, he went to a full count and walked batter 23, then ended the eighth with a double play. So, he did only face 27 hitters, an almost perfect game!
Justin Verlander - 2nd career no-hitter yesterday!It was very cool to watch the game. As David said when he got home yesterday, we usually only see the last batter or at most the last inning when a network games breaks into it as the no-hitter is completed. I loved watching the game and seeing the pitcher for one of my teams pitch the gem. Verlander is only the second Tiger in history to throw two no-nos and at 28 years old, he has time to do it again in his career. Can he do it? Could he throw five more and match Nolan Ryan’s record seven in his career? Yeah, no one can answer those questions yet, but it’s going to be exciting as a Tiger fan to find out!
School’s Out For Summer
Well, this semester was tough for me. Planning on the medical issues being much simpler, I took two classes. Even in the easier one, Web Imaging, which is basically Photoshop 5, I only got a B+. I say “only got a B” because it’s my first grade since returning to beef up my resume that wasn’t an A! I had some of straight-A semesters through high school, trade school and college, but I was never a 4.0 student when all was said and done. I am proud that my cumulative average has always been in the “A” range, but really, I’ve never been asked what my GPA in school was in a job interview, so in the greater scheme of things, a B, even if it was a C, doesn’t hurt anything but my ego, and even my ego is only slightly bruised.
But the ego bruising fades with some very glowing remarks and the full 250 points for my final project in Photoshop! For the final project, we were to create two original pieces using the tools and methods we’d learned in class. I created the first one to be an in-store promotional poster for home and garden departments in the fall for spring perennial bulbs planting. I used photos of my own flowers and the labels from the bulbs with one of Darlene Haughin’s papers from the Everyday Life collab.
For the second one, I used a paper from Darlene’s portion of On My Knees, we had to secure permission to use anything we didn’t create or photograph ourselves, and photos of my own cane and walker. Remember that I got the walker when I was in aquatic therapy because it took me a little to get my land legs back after getting out of the pool. I positioned this as a motivational poster and one that could be used in a co-op ad or public service ad for a nonprofit like Paralyzed Veterans of America or Special Olympics.
As I mentioned already, I currently have an Incomplete in my XML class, with three chapters and the final to catch up by the beginning of August, I want to redo some of the chapters before that so I have the language down moving forward. As I said before, my instructor is awesome, very compassionate and understanding. I want to excel on the portion of the class that’s left, not just for me, but as a way of saying thanks to him too!
Flowers!
The entire length of the house next to our drive is in bloom!I’m having so much fun watching the flowers Kelly and I planted in October come up! That photo was taken May 4. The tulips are up now and the colors along the side of our house are just beautiful! But, after the tulips are done, that’s it! I planted spring flowers. I’m still new to this flowers thing! I’ve been doing some looking for summer blooming perennials and next I’ll look for fall blooming ones. I’d love to be able to have continuous blooming plants through to fall on the side.
Here are three I found that are right for the growing zone we’re in and I just think would be beautiful in the summer.
Gladiolas
We’ve had glads in the side bed all along, but they were dug up when our basement waterproofing was done and we didn’t get them back in the ground soon enough. I want to get some to plant now because I know they’ll grow there and David picked a Glad branch for me a couple times, when rain or wind knocked them down, and I had a glad branch on my desk at work. So, they have sentimental value too.
gaillardias
clematisThese two are one I found that I just think are so pretty! I want to get some each of the gaillardias and clematis. I love the colors and the sunburst of the gaillardias is just SO summer! Kelly did the planting while I was at school in October, but I know how she did it and I figure I can set out the bulbs in the driveway and just move a chair down to each section to do the planting. David said he’d help too. I’ll see about choosing fall flowers and maybe planting them all at the same time.
Okay, I’ll be back with more later!
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