Namaste!

Ever feel like a slug?

That's the way I feel this winter. Other than reading and some needlepoint I feel like I have accomplished very little. Whats with this? I think this health care fiasco that is going on it getting me a little down. I thought that most of it was't supposed to go into effect for a couple years. Well my insurance has sure made some major changes. Without being notified they canceled my preferred provider (or prob. my preferred provider hospital canceled) So my primary Dr. is part of the hospital. So after several calls to my ins co. they have made an exception on the record for me to have my local hosp be my preferred provider X 6 mo only and only for out pt services! That would cover my colonoscopy coming up and mammogram. Not my Dr. if I go to him for any apt. I pay half of his going rate. no co pay. They indicated that there would be a change in July to a different 3rd party payer so more changes.

Got a letter from my insurance co. (which is thru a state I don't live in) They outlined new changes for this next year to start in July. Big raise in deductible from 800 to 2,000$. No dental coverage except for cleaning. No eye coverage except for part of the exam. (just got that done and new glasses ordered) Plus other major changes that I won't bore anyone with. I look for them to figure out a way to cancel out folks that do not live within the state too.

So it is depressing and a worry. I only hope that my tests come back OK this winter then I can hold out and not need any care till Feb 2012 when I will be old enough for medicare. Lets hope they don't do huge changes there, but what are the odds.

OK I am done gripping.

Won't spring be a blessing.

Thought for the day: If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

What to cataracs and cavaties have in common?

ME! Just found out Mon. that I have very early stages of cataracts forming, then this morning had my teeth cleaned and found I had a piece of a filling missing so I have to have it repaired!! Feel like I am falling apart. LOL
Guess what I get for my birthday next week? A colonoscopy!

Guess what hubby gets for his Mar. birthday? A new knee!

Does that seem fair??

Oh, I do get new glasses as my old ones are falling apart so guess that is a good thing.


Thought for the day: I think Ive got alot of work to do, I'm far from being finished.

Big Brother is Watching

You know we are being watched all the time?  I just posted a blog and the word in it was carb, and as I clicked to publish a screen came up with advertisements that had the name carb in it. Thank you very much Google.  Scary huh?

Can carbs make you crazy?

After the last couple days I am beginning to think this may be true.  When I eat very low carb I feel so good, more energy, and better outlook on life.  When I "fall off the wagon" so to speak, I feel more like a slug.  And I am not talking about binging on carbs.  Just the "normal" amount that would be in regular meals. I think I am doomed to never eating bread or deserts ever, ever, ever!  See I even sound crazy! Had a cute picture to add to this but for some reason this new "update" the blogger site just did is not letting me add it in. Grrr.

Thought for the day:  I used to have a handle on life, but it broke

Pictures and memories

I had mentioned a week ago that I thought it would be fun to take a collage of pictures and briefly tell about each one. All these pictures were taken in the 70's, and maybe you will see yourself if some of them.
1. Brother was visiting us in Iowa and caught this nice big bass from the farm pond.  He looked so young with all that hair.
2. Dtr. dressed for Halloween with her bibs, kerchief, and straw hat.  As a prop she was holding one of our baby pigs.  Wonder if it was "Miss Piggy" that we bottle fed.
3. 5 little kids standing in front of our old yellow Rambler station wagon, taken in Portsmouth Va. Both my kids and 3 cousins. They were so cute.  I remember the wagon was the first car I drove. Didn't get my drivers license till about the time of this pic.
4. Mrs. Johnson putting my first nursing cap on at the LPN capping ceremony. I had no idea then where my nursing career would take me.
5. Mom out at the farm in Ia. dressed in the blue polyester jump suit that I made for her.
6.Son on his first motor cycle. I remember riding it once and tried to kill a snake in the road, but when I hit the brake the bike spun sideways and I wiped out.  Would have served me right to land on the snake!
7.Son and Dtr, sitting on the roof of the pump house at the Mo. farm.
8. Dtr. holding our little dog Goldie in her lap.  Taken in Ia. What a good little dog.
9. Dtr. in her cheerleaders outfit for Jr. High.
10. Brother and his family during happy times on a visit to the beach.  His youngest was just a baby.
11. The 3 sisters, us. Sitting on a sofa at middle sisters home. This was the first trip that I ever took by myself about age 33.  Didn't know till later that husband was glad to let me take a trip as he had hanky panky going on.

So that's my photo collage.

Thought for the day:  Don't buy cheap drain cleaner!

Here's your sign

If a cluttered desk is signs of a cluttered mind,

of what, then, is an empty desk?

Albert Einstein

Was life more interesting a few years ago?

I was just messing around and went back to my old blog posting in 2006 and reading. It seems like alot more was going on back then, it even seems interesting, but did I know it at the time? I guess its like looking back to the "good old days" and not realizing that we are living the good old days every day. When I look back in 6 years I will think that 2010 was an interesting year, I suppose.

After the tragedy in Arizona this past week, it has to make us realize that no one has been promised any certain number of days to our lives. We need to look around and smile more at what we see. We need to see the positive stuff and not focus on all the negative that surrounds us each day.

I live with the negative every day. Sad to say but hubby and his sister seem to relish the bad news and bad predictions. SIL sort of tickles me as she complains daily about all the junk mailings she gets. Most are political stuff and of course they all want money. If she gets an envelope with a nickle (sometimes a dollar) in it. She always mails it back. It just keeps her name active and I think she thinks someone personally opens it and is grateful to her. She means well and it gives her something to do. Well how did I get off on this track??

See I was trying to write a positive post and this negative stuff just snuck in there. Oh, and in Oct 2006 I was complaining about gas being 1.99$ a gal.

Thought for the day: We reap what we sow

trouble sleeping

Had trouble getting to sleep last nite, then woke up around 3AM and felt like I just dozed off and on the rest of the nite. I laid there and heard the forced heat coming on and it brought a memory to me that I think of once in awhile.

When I was about 11 or 12, I lived in Iowa and my oldest brother took me home for the weekend to Iowa City. He was building a house and I got to be his helper. I remember feeling pretty important. I got to fetch stuff for him and poke duct pipe under the house to him. That night I remember he and his wife and myself slept in what I think was going to be the utility room on pallets on the floor and I could hear the heat come on and feel the warm air. I think this was the first time I had slept in a house with anything but wood heat.

Now wood heat, there is another story, I remember waking up every morning and hearing my dad "shake" down the stove. For those that don't know, that is the process of using a crank to shake the grates so that excess ash falls below to a tray to be carried out and more wood or coal could be added to build up the fire. I remember sometimes that stove was so hot it glowed red.

Remember these good old days, big brother?

Thought for the day: When you are depressed it helps to lean your head on your arm and stare into space---if you are unusually depressed, you may have to change arms.

My challenge to you

Just for fun, I challenge you (whoever you are) to do something.

I am sure most folks have one of those collage picture frames of photos that you arranged to hang on the wall. I have a couple of them. One from around the 70's. I thought it would be fun to sit down with it and describe the picture, no names, and write briefly about what that picture meant to you or what was significant about it. It hangs on the wall where ever I go and has about 10 pictures in it.

See you next week

Thought for the day: I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

OK so its the scarf that won

Last night I picked up a scarf that I started to knit last winter, I think. So I figured I could knit thru the commercials on TV. Have you noticed how there is more time dedicated to commercials than programs? Heck before I knew it I had knitted 2 feet!

Thought for the day: Sometimes I wake up grumpy, and sometimes I let him sleep.

Time on my hands

Lazy long weekend. I actually watched 3 football games with hubby and neither one of us usually watch them much. Worked on my counted cross stitch project pretty steady and have it done. Now what will I do with these hands. Looking thru my projects stuff and have:

1. books on covering baskets, have 2 little sewing baskets that need redone.

2. decoupage something, I have stuff already cut out.

3. finish knitting the scarf thats been in the basket a year.

4. crochet some baskets to sell

5. weave more rugs, but can only do that at the store

6. start another cross stitch project.

7. Maybe I'll just start another book

Thought for the day: No one ever says "It's only a game." when their team is winning.

My book report

What has the book lady read this year? Well I have been keeping track of my reading in a little notebook and have read a grand total of 70 books this year. So here is what I read:

5 Dean Koontz books, they are usually just for a distraction for me from more serious reading, oh, and for the treadmill reading.
I read most of Janet Evonovich's Stephanie Plum books. I don't usually read much mystery but she is a hoot.
I say I don't read mystery but I see that I read several of Jeffery Deavers, Kathy Reichs, and Tess Garrison.
Some of my favorite reading for the year were: Ken Follett's A Dangerous Fortune, and World Without End and A Place Called Freedom. I enjoyed, Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski , Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, A walk to Remember, & The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks.

Just finished The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk, a Utopian novel and Not Between Brothers, a book about Texas and its rise to statehood, a very good book. I enjoyed Bridges of Madison County enough to watch the movie again.

Plans for the new year: I would like to re-read my favorite series by Diane Gabaldin. (7 big books) The Outlander Series. Historical romance of a woman who is transported back 100 years to live in Scotland. Awesome series. Plus I have at least 10 waiting for me. Just like old friends. I could easily live without TV, but don't take my books!

Thought for the day: If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all.

Is it just me?

Christmas is over so guess I can stop feeling grouchy and get my act together to start the new year with some zip and a new attitude.

I was coming back home after visiting someone near and dear to my heart and it suddenly dawned on me how we waste so much of our time moaning over little hurts and slights that maybe others didn't even know existed for us. Our own mind can make things so much bigger than they are. I think I find that often from trying to "read my husbands mind". I feel hurt when I don't really know what he is thinking or not thinking as the case may be.

And what a waste of time all this is. You don't know this stuff when you are young. You are ready to do battle to prove YOU are right come hell or high water. I like the saying: "Pick your battles." Now my mantra is "Let it go" Just take a deep breath and let it go.

Another mantra I like is "Its not about ME" And so often that is so true. Others carry burdens we don't know about and when we feel slighted we magnify it often and don't even try to put ourselves in that other person's shoes. We are all made up of our own life experiences and no one else really truly can know someone Else's reality. We are each very unique.

Life is short or at least as we know it in this time/space. We shouldn't waste it our time, the clock really is ticking.

Thought for the day: It's not about Me

Getting REAL

I meet the nicest people in my store. And if you listen they tell you all kinds of things. Guess we always look for someone to just listen to what we have to say. (maybe that's why so many people blog) A gal was in last week and found a book on the shelf and was so excited. It was The Velveteen Rabbit. She said it has so many lessons for life in it and when she got home she would e-mail back the quote from it. I really liked it so want to share it here:

"You 'BECOME' the horse said to the rabbit. 'It doesn't happen all at once. It takes a very long time. Generally by the time you are REAL most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But those things don't matter, because you are real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.' "

Thought for the day: Listen to your friends

web site to read the little book. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/rabbit.html

Car commercial

A couple comes running out of the house, hand in hand, very excited, then they see the car in the driveway with a huge red bow on top. They jump in and seem so thrilled to have a new car, like they can't believe their good luck. Then they look up and see a new Buick driving by and they look at each other and their smiles fade away and they seem so disappointed with "their" new car. Like someone just burst their bubble.

What the heck kind of commercial is that?? Are we so materialistic that we could buy into that kind of propaganda?

Thought for the day: Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift

Winter Blahs

I promised a new friend I would attempt to do a post about winter. So this is my personal opinion and no one elses.

As most people who know me very well know, I do not enjoy the Christmas holiday. It sort of goes way back for me to my "previous" life. I remember how we celebrated Christmas as a family and now that that "family" is no more, at least as it was back then, I always get the Christmas blues. I think others feel that way too. I know that is not the true meaning of Christmas so I try to just get beyond that and look forward to the new year. (maybe this should have been the Christmas Grinch post instead of Winter blahs) But I will forge ahead.

So winter has the cold, snow, sleet, slick roads, and cold feet. The landscape looks miserable, cold, no leaves, naked trees shivering in the cold. Even the air looks unhappy, gray and cold. So what is the good that I should be able to see and enjoy about winter??

Well lets see. It is a time to put on warm cozy socks and sweaters that I couldn't wear all summer. Time to enjoy the fireplace, (I am lucky enough to have one). Time to get together with family and friends. Time to maybe reflect on the year and make plans for the coming year.

So maybe winter should be seen as a time of slumber before the awakening of spring. A time for the landscape to rest and regenerate itself for burst of green and color to come.

Maybe we should look at our lives the same way and look forward to the new year and spring to come. Maybe ponder some of our past mistakes and look for ways to make life richer and show those we love what they mean to us.

Thought for the day: Experience is what you learn just after you need it.

Gonna be a Bear

In this life I'm a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.

When you're a girl bear, you birth you children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.

If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, gonna be a bear!

Thought for the day: Familys are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts!

Love your pet

http://silverandgoldandthee.net/V/J_S.html If you have time go to this site and listen to Jimmy Stewart read his poem about his dog named Bo. Just click on the site listed and it will take you there.

I mention this today as it was sent to me yesterday and just by chance we had an incident that made this very appropriate.

Hubby had to take his sister and her little dog to the vet yesterday late, it was the 3rd trip this past week. End result was that he had to be put to sleep. This is her second dog to lose this year. The sister dog died in July. And of course a year ago we had our dog put to sleep so we are a dogless home now. No more dogs for us. It is too hard to lose them.

So I hope you will watch this little video and if you have a pet, give them an extra ration of love and that "pat on the head" while they are still there.

Thought for the day: Sometimes we find answers when we didn't even know we were looking.

OK you lurkers!

How do you like my redo on my blog site? And I have a counter on it so I know how many times someone checks me out. I made it easier to leave comments or at least a check box to indicate you thought it was interesting.

Project for the next couple weeks: transfer 3 boxes of floppy disc photos to the computer then compile them in some order and transfer to disc. Will this be sort of like getting all the photos out of the shoe box and putting them in an album? I still have the big plastic box full of about 10 years worth of pictures before I went to digital.

So you lurkers out there and you know who you are, leave a little message if you have time.

Thought for the day: What is remembered lives