Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. Thanks for coming! One day I hope my little piece of internet real estate will be home to lots of family photos, pictures of my scrapbook and card art, with some random thoughts and memories posted on a somewhat regular basis. Mostly my world is very predictable, but occasionally some excitement will find me, so visit often. Who knows what useful (or useless) information you may find here.

cathyb

Sunday, January 31, 2010

It Ain't Over Til It's Over

And we're so ready for it to be over. The adenovirus has hit our family with a vengance this weekend, and we've all but put a quarantine sign in the front yard. Corey had an ear infection and bronchitis last week, and was put on antibiotics. By Thursday he was having diarrhea, which we attributed to the antibiotics. That afternnoon, after a very *explosive* day, we took him to Dr. Edwards, who said it was adenovirus... or the same virus that causes chunkyvitis. (Whitney's word for conjunctivitis, or pink eye, when she was a little girl.) Unfortunately, Whit and Corey had already been over to Jess & Corbin's for a play date that morning, so we were worried that Corbin would end up being sick too. And bless his heart, he has been sick from both ends all weekend. Leyland contracted the upper GI form of the virus, and was so terribly sick. Then yours truly, Greemaw, had the same form as Leyland. I was covering for a co-worker on vacation Saturday morning, but was so sick I could only work for a few minutes, then make tracks between the bathroom and my bed. Thankfully, the doctors didn't dictate much priority work. I gave up the ghost when another co-worker signed on to work. Stayed in the bed all day long until 7 p.m. when I moved to the sofa... where I stayed until bedtime again. Mine was short-lived, and I feel much better today. Whitney, on the other hand, was sick all day today... so bad that she turned pale as a ghost, and lost all the color in her lips. Leyland woke up this morning burning up with fever, with full-blown chunkyvitis in her right eye. Corey has cried and screamed all day long, up until about an hour ago, and has been inconsolable. Poor little munchkins. Such a bad weekend.

We're so ready for this to be over. Tomorrow starts a new month. Let's hope we can leave all the virus germs back in January.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Busy Month for a Laylee-Bug

Tomorrow will mark the completion of Leyland's third week of 3K at Hope Christian Academy. She absolutely loves it! The week before starting school was quite eventful for the little Laylee-Bug. She gave up her pappy, and she pooped in the potty. If you don't have children, or if it has been a very long time since you had toddlers, you might not know, or might have forgotten, what a milestone this is. We have pretty much kept the pacifier company in business for the last three years, and at any given time there might be 12-15 of them lying around, and then the next day not one to be found. Giving up the pappy was a huge thing. Once she relinquished them, it was cold turkey all the way. It helped, of course, that at the same time Corey gave up the pappy during the day, only taking it at night and naptime. Giving up the pappy and completing the potty training process in one week is pretty incredible!! And that amidst the excitement of starting school the following week!! She got the hang of #1 a couple of months ago, but had a terrible time correlating #2 with the potty... preferring rather to take care of business in the corner of the living room, or other unlikely places which shall remain undisclosed at this time. Nevertheless, the light bulb clicked, and not only does she poop in the potty, but she has decided she's too big for the potty chair and must use the grown up potty. Fine with us... one less thing to stumble over when we're rushing to the bathroom because "Mommy, I gotta go NOW!!!" Since then, there have been very few accidents, and we are so proud of her! But wouldn't you just know it.. one of the aforementioned accidents happened on her first day of school! Wow. Way to make a good impression, Laylee-Bug! However, it became evident that afternoon that she had a mild tummyache, and combined with the excitement of the day, she just didn't make it in time. Now, lest you think this entire post is devoted to the bowel habits of The Little Princen, allow me to reassure you. I'll move on to other subjects... albeit of the Princen variety.

She loves school, loves her teacher and her classmates. Her teacher said in the beginning that she was fairly shy, and didn't much want to participate in any activities such as singing, clapping (sitting quietly in her chair, cleaning up after playtime...) On Monday of this week, "Miss Everik" (Miss Everett) sent home a note that pretty much said Leyland was wreaking havoc on her formerly well-behaved classroom, and that the other children were all mimicing her little devil-like behavior. Well, no, it didn't really say that... but to a mom and grandma who want so much for her to do well, it was a bit of a disappointment.. and a reality check. Yes, Leyland is a sweet, precious angel. Just ask anybody who spends time with her in Sunday School or Children's Church, or play dates with friends. They just go on about how sweet and wonderful she is. Well, 3K is a lot different from anything she has ever been exposed to, and it has been a little challenging for her . Which is exactly what she needs! Whitney wanted to get her into a situation where she would develop social skills with other children, and learn how to thrive in a structured environment. From what I can gather, the school is fairly regimented, and "structured environment" is definitely the order of the day. At any rate, after much talking, cajoling, encouraging, a tiny bit of forewarning, and promises of a treat when she got home, the next day "Miss Everik" sent home a note that her behavior was MUCH improved, and she was beginning to cooperate. she only had to stand in the corner with her nose against the wall one time (along with three other children, who, NO DOUBT were to blame for Leyland's having to put her nose against the wall.. just kidding... haha). We were ecstatic to see improvement. Yay Leyland!! And to our delight, the note today said she had a perfect day, that she sang along, recited what she was supposed to recite, and cooperated the entire time. Yay!!

Normally, she doesn't want to "talk about" what she learned at school, and won't recite or sing for us. Maybe she's feeling more comfortable with the whole thing, because today she has recited (along with Whitney and I) the Pledge of Allegiance, Pledge to The Bible, and Pledge to the Christian Flag (well, mostly she just faked it on that one.) She has recited the months of the year" "Chanuary, Febulary, March, April, May, Chin-Chuly, August, September, Optober, Novlember, Optober, Novlember, Optober, Novlember........" She sang "I will make you fishermen" (fishers of men), and "I've got the choy, choy, choy, choy down in my heart.. WHERE? Down in my heart....."

The little Laylee-Bug has had a busy month indeed, what with all that potty training, pappy-relinquishing, new-routine, peldge-learning, song-learning, months-of-the-year-learning going on.

And of course, Greemaw thinks she a genius. :-)

Here's a few shots of Leyland on her first day of school.
Hope Christian Academy

Backpack is almost as big as she is.

Yep, she'll fit right in.
Got the booger-pickin' thing
goin' on already.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

State Of The Union Address

Personally, I have no problem staying awake during these speeches. I rather enjoy watching them. There are some, however, who would rather pass a kidney stone than suffer through them. It is easy to get distracted, what with all the standing ovations, and the random heckling (or truth-telling, if ya ask me). For some, it becomes a project: Count how many SOs there are during the speech. Or to change it up a bit, count how many times the left side stands, how many times the right side stands, and the rare occasion when both sides stand. We need to watch, folks. We need to bear witness to the words spoken by our President. Agree with it if you must, or disagree. But you should watch it yourself, and not get your information from the morning radio show, or in the break room at work, or some out-of-context YouTube video. Go on ahead and suffer through it. Now, for those of you who fall into the "rather-pass-a-kidney-stone-than-watch" group, here's a little challenge for you. Print the BINGO card below, pay attention, and see how many blocks you can fill.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Rear-View Mirror

The rear-view mirror is an essential tool when driving. It enables us to keep an eye on vehicles or objects behind us, as well as give us a mini-view of where we've been When planning a fun trip, part of the package is the excitement and anticipation in planning and waiting for the big day to arrive. Unfortunately, the fun trip usually whizzes by much faster than the days leading up to it. Once we're back home again, and after the icky post-vacation chores are complete, it's time to check out the rear-view mirror, and take a look at what's behind us. Hopefully, the view will include lots of fun memories, such as is the case of our scrapbook retreat week before last. I must say, though, the atmosphere of this year's trip was quite different from previous years. There are six of us gals who are scrappers, and in years past, we've had different tag-along friends who would join us. I don't think we've ever had one make a second trip with us though, because we stay so focused on our craft that a non-scrapper gets bored rather quickly. This year there were no takers, though, and it was just us scrap-nuts. Now you must understand, that in order to be away from home for several days, and create hundreds of magnificent pages of memories, it is necessary to take numerous tote bags, rolling bags, shoulder bags, boxes, plastic crates, folding tables, crafting lights, and hundreds of pounds of card stock and pretty printed paper. The aforementioned items must be loaded into our vehicles, driven up long, curvy mountain roads, then unloaded from our vehicles and carted into the house. Then this precious cargo must be hauled down a flight of stairs into our work area. When the trip is over, the process repeats itself in reverse. Just wanted to be sure you understand the physical labor that is involved in carrying the tools of our craft. And it is totally worth it!! However, this particular trip was not as productive, layout wise if you will, as our trips in the past. For some reason or another, we had a bad case of the lazies, and all we wanted to do was nap. Then we'd snack a bit, then we'd rest a bit. At first I felt a little guilty about not staying at my table 20 hours of the day, however, I was soon able to chill out a bit and just enjoy the down time. Yes, it was a fabulous trip, and though I only completed half the amount of work I normally do, I truly enjoyed being indulgent with the lazies.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Counting Down

The long-awaited week has arrived! It's time for our annual girls-only scrapbook marathon/retreat in Highlands!!! The crop-til-you-drop, eat til you pop, nap or read to your heart's content weekend away from home!! This is our third trip to the most wonderfully huge home, high on the side of a mountain. It's the perfect scrapbook getaway, with the large basement for us to spread out our stuff, and scrap the night away. Wonder if we'll get snow this year? We'll be leaving Wednesday morning, and I will be returning Sunday morning, in order to work my shift on Sunday evening. I'm nowhere near ready... I still have to venture into the attic to retrieve my scrapbook bags, pack my paper and my "cootriments", all my tools, photos, adhesives, printer, laptop, etc. Oh yeah, it's like moving day. Then there are those pesky little details that must be attended to, like packing my clothes (sweats and jammies!), making the salsa and chili, packing all the other food items I'm taking.... so much yet to do... so little time!!! Work has been a little slow, so I decided to take Tuesday off as well. I have a mile-long list of things to do, and I'm so happy I was able to take off. The anticipation is almost as much fun as the actual trip. Almost.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Merry Maids

That commercial makes me want to scream. I have never known a woman to be that happy while mopping or vacuuming, have you? Merry Maids indeed!!! I'll betcha they wouldn't be so happy had they been at my house today. Last night, Whitney and I scheduled a date for 10:00 a.m. this morning to try and reclaim some order in the kitchen. But you know sometimes, in order to do one task, something else must be done first, and before you can do that, another chore needs to be taken care of.. and on.. and on.. Whitney has recently signed on as a consultant with Pampered Chef, and has lots of new kitchen gadgets and goodies that need a place to live, a place that allows for quick and easy access when she needs to pack for shows, but yet allows us to be able to enjoy using them as well. The cabinet she wanted to use was home to some rarely-used dishes, several small kitchen appliances, and leftover party plates, napkins from who-knows-when. The plan was to move the appliances to the cabinets in the laundry room. However, my poor laundry room has become the catch-all (*as well as quick hideaway for when someone is coming over... just stash it in there and close the door*), and those cabinets were bulging over. Literally. Open one of those doors, and no telling what might fall out. It's a very nice, spacious cabinet, with either six or seven doors, and a wonderful, long countertop for folding laundry. Well, it would be wonderful for folding laundry if I could keep it neat and clean long enough. (see ** above.) In order to move the appliances into the laundry room, the cabinets first had to be emptied and purged of items that either didn't belong in there in the first place, were old/broken/unusable, or that we no longer needed or wanted. I seem to be acquiring a rather disturbing quality in my older age. I'm turning into a packrat. I love bags and boxes, storage containers, baskets... all manner of items with which to organize and keep things tidy... only my space becomes untidy and unorganized because I have so much of this stuff. Well, enough is enough. Today I cleaned and purged the pantry shelves, the shoe bins, and the laundry room cabinets! While I worked on the pantry that holds our canned goods, Whitney cleaned out the spot where we store our boxed items like cereal, PopTarts, rice, batter mixes, yummy quickie dinners, etc. By the time this chore was complete we had filled almost an entire lawn and leaf bag. Next, I parked myself in the laundry room with a little stepstool to sit on, and opened up each cabinet door and just let it all fall out. There were a couple of times that I was concerned about a quick escape in case of an emergency... I had completely barricaded myself between my clothes dryer, the cabinets and the doorway. I found all sorts of things that had been stashed away, and discovered that, not only am I not out of light bulbs, I probably won't need to buy any for at least five years. Later in the afternoon, we decided to make a run to the dumpster. There were a lot of items that we didn't really want to keep, too good to throw away, and with little motivation to have a yard sale, we decided to donate them to a little shop here in town that sells previously-owned items. Whitney took care of that chore and cleared out a little space. By this time, both kids were cranky, even though Corey had a nice nap, and were body slamming each other in the den, fighting over some cute little pretend kitchen appliances she brought back from the little store. That's just what we need. Trying to get rid of stuff... but here she comes bringing more stuff home. It is pretty cool stuff though... little pink appliances with batteries that "really work". They're from the Pottery Barn, so I imagine they would cost a pretty penny if new. Anyhow, the kids loved them, and besides they were *free*, (traded for the junk we donated) so that's fine. They loved them so much, in fact, that the fighting continued until the point that there were bloodcurdling shrieks coming from the den. Whitney was sitting in the floor in the kitchen, I on my stepstool in the laundry room, and we just started screaming too. It was quite the moment. Then, of course, Whitney and I were laughing... but the kids found little humor in it, and continued with their screeching. When we had filled enough garbage bags that it was time to go to the dumpster, Whit suggested we load up the kids and go have pizza at CiCi's. I graciously declined the suggestion, not finding much pleasure in the thought of dining with two grumpy children. My neice calls this type of behavior "natural birth control" for anyone who might witness it. Ha! So we had the bright idea of seeing if GiGi and Pop might like a visit with the munchkins so we could deliver the trash and grab a quiet bite to eat. (Lest you think us cruel, the kids are usually quite angelic over there, so we weren't subjecting GiGi & Pop to any form of torture!) Perhaps I forgot to mention that we are currently in a deep, deep freeze here in the south. So this meant extra bundling to be sure the munchkins stayed warm for the approximately 1/3 mile trip to GiGi & Pop's house. Not time enough for the car to get warm, you see. They look so cute all bundled up with their little puffy coats, scarves and hats. So sweet. Whit and I took care of the trash, ran a couple of errands, and had a quick bite at CiCi's. (Cheap and quick!!!) I won't say it was quiet... it most definitely was not... but it was nice to have all the racket being made by other folks instead of coming from our table. :-) I nearly fell asleep driving home, I was so tired. After picking up the kids and returning to The 409, we walked into our unfinished mess. You know, sometimes in order to clean it up, you gotta make a bigger mess and then work your way back. That's what we walked in on. The bigger mess that we had left behind. How sad and defeated we felt. We had worked our butts off all day... and it looked worse (in the kitchen) than before we started. Well, maybe not WORSE... but still pretty bad. I finished up in the laundry room, swept the floor, tidied everything up and was delighted to walk out and turn off the light. It's the first time in many years that you can see the floor, and the countertop, and even a little bit of empty space left over in the cabinet!! All at the same time!! Now, that's work that nobody will see or notice, but I can tell you that I'm pretty happy about it. But I'm not gonna dance with my mop or anything like those stupid Merry Maids do. I have absolutely not one ounce of energy left. I did sweep up the kitchen floor. I'm pretty stressed because my work week starts tomorrow, but I'm hoping by bedtime tomorrow night we'll have it all spic n span, with a place for everything and everything in its place. For a day or two anyhow, and then the chaos will start creeping back in to once again take over. Now I will muster up enough energy to go get myself a nice hot bath, and hopefully get myself to sleep before much longer. I will have to watch some tv or listen to some music, though, because now I have that horrible Merry Maids commercial stuck in my head. I just want to slug that lady and tell her to wipe that stinkin smile off her face.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Blinded By The Light

So, I'm sitting in my office, working diligently at my desk, when I notice a very bright light in my peripheral vision. Today is the day that we are expecting a snowstorm, but at the moment I noticed the light, the sun was still shining brightly outside my window. And to my blog-reading friends who do not live in Georgia, first, let me define "snowstorm".

sno'-sto-werm: noun. any and all manner of frozen precipitation which may fall from the sky. Not limited to size of snowflake, or sleet pellet. Not limited to the number of said flakes or sleet pellets. If it is visual to the naked eye, no matter how small, no matter how few, it constitutes a snowstorm.
sno'-sto-werm fallout:
1. The emptying of milk and bread shelves in every grocery store, Wal-Mart and convenience store within 100 miles of predicted snowstorm.
2. The closing of schools and businesses within the same 100 mile perimeter.
3. The snarling of traffic that makes 5:00 rush hour on I-85 in Atlanta on any given day look like a ride on the Audobon.
4. The constant interruption of television programs by the local weather station to give the latest stats on "Storm Watch 2010", "Blizzard Watch 1993", "Winter Storm Tracker 1999" etc. Each storm gets it's own byline for days.

So, my northern friends... you silly yankees... please refrain from making fun of us as we hurry out to buy our milk and bread today. Okay? We can't help it. It's part of our DNA. Part of our Southern Charm, if you will.

So, back to the light-blinding thing. The bright light of the sun has given way to the grey pre-storm clouds, and it's starting to look a little dreary outside. And it's prettt-tty darn cold outside. Cold enough that you don't want to be sticking your tongue to any flagpole today, no matter how many double-dog dares you get!!
Oh yeah, the light-blinding thing. Before the sun gave way to the grey pre-storm clouds, it was shining in between the slats of the blinds in my room. From the corner of my eye, a blinding light appeared, and as I checked out from whence it came, I was reminded that I still have post-Christmas chores yet undone. My friend Craig, with whom I have reconnected on Facebook, is a pastor and author of a great blog called "The Pastor's Pages". One of his after-Christmas posts addressed the issue of undecorating after Christmas... and how it is the habit of some to have all their decorations neatly put away before bedtime on 12-25, and how some folks take a more leisurely approach to the process. I'm taking great liberty with my paraphrasing here, but he spoke of how anxious some were/are to approach the manger before, and then it seems some are anxious to hurry away from manger once the celebration is over, and put it all behind us for another year. (Read his awesome post here) I my own personal self tend to take the more leisurely approach in my undecorating chores. So leisurely, in fact, that one year I was the only one in the neightborhood with a Valentine's garland on my front porch. Hey. Red bows, red lights? Sounds like a Valentine's garland to me! I usually try to undress the tree and put away the trappings of the season by New Year's Day. But usually I'm not very successful, and it is more likely to be mid-January before everything is back to its normal state of chaos. Fortunately, it doesn't stress me. I love my skinny little Christmas tree, and it bothers me not one bit that it still sits beside my desk today, completely adorned with all the beautiful ornaments that bring me such lovely memories.

So what was the mysterious flash of light that blinded me? Not only is my lovely tree still standing proudly, but the small tree that I got for the children sits in my office as well, on the other side of the room. And because children love bling and things that sparkle, I had put some tinsel garland on the tree. Tinsel garland that is very reflective of sunlight. It was the sun peeping through the slats in my blinds, reflecting off the tinsel garland bling that was shooting beams of magnified light into my line of vision.

Just a gentle reminder, I suppose, that the time has come to put away the lovely items that I used to decorate my home in celebration of the season. Yes, I know it is time. And perhaps this weekend I shall undress the trees, and pack away the few things I set out this year, and get back to normal. Perhaps. Or I suppose I could just wear my sunglasses.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I Really DO Want Healthcare Reform

But how about we focus on REFORM and not REDEFINE. If you know even a little bit about me, there are two things that you probably know for sure: 1) I have a reputation as a failure in the kitchen. Just because I've had a disaster or two... or forty, (some of them hazmat-suit-worthy) doesn't mean I'm not a good cook. But, then again it might mean that I'm not a good cook. Oh well.. we'll go on to number 2) I hate anything that requires use of any kind of mathematical formula. Unless, of course, I can figure it out on my handy desktop Windows calculator. Whitney tells me that I use algebraic formulas all the time... I just don't realize it. Well, I hate algebra, so please don't tell me when I'm using it, or I'll never perform that activity again. I loved working the concession stand at the high school football games... for the camaraderie with the other band parents... but I hated working the window and taking money. I couldn't sleep at night worrying that I had shortchanged some high school kid's allowance money when he/she paid for his hotdog and Coke. So I usually performed the retrieval of said hotdog and Coke, and let another parent take the money and make the change.

But I digress here. (Just enjoying a moment of band-mom nostalgia..)


If you've read my previous posts on healthcare reform issues, you should have a pretty good idea of how I feel about it. If you haven't read my previous posts, here's how I feel about it: I oppose it. On so many levels. It stinks. It won't work. It's a basket full of promises and lies, behind-closed-doors-deal-making, bartering-for-votes, suicide of democratic congress. Feel free to go back and read previous posts that delve a little further into why I feel so strongly about it, if you'd like.


I am amazed at the brilliant minds in our world today. Look at technology. Look at medical discoveries. Shoot... look at what you can do with an $89.00 digital camera and Photoshop! You can put Oprah's head on the body of a supermodel! Which just goes to prove that things aren't always what they seem, and don't believe everything you see/hear.


President Obama, in one of his speeches, acknowledges that Medicare fraud is in excess of 60 billion dollars. A year. Some estimate as much as 90 billion. I wonder, with all the brilliant minds, why someone hasn't thought of something as simple as this: Before you go and re-invent healthcare, pillage and plunder all that is GOOD about the present system, why not try this. According to Wikipedia, in the United States there are 3009 counties, 64 parishes, 16 boroughs, and 41 independent municipalities/cities. My desktop calculator says that totals 3,130 little shapes on our map. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to call them all counties. Okay, so we have 3,130 counties. What if.... our government actually recovered that 60 billion dollar annual Medicare fraud every year like he promised they would, and... funded public health in all 3,130 counties. Because I'm so inadequate with numbers, and because 60 billion is a lot of zeros, I enlisted Google to help me find the answer to "'what is 60 billion divided by 3,130". The answer, which incidentally agrees with my desktop calculator figures, is a whopping $19,169,329.00. That's 19 million, one hundred sixty nine thousand, three hundred twenty nine dollars. Can you imagine what the counties could do with that kind of money? Oh sure, there would have to be some per capita formulations involved, so that a large rural county with 10,000 folks doesn't receive as much as a heavily-populated county with hundreds of thousands of folks. But.. do you follow what I'm saying here? With 60 billion being on the conservative side, just think if another 20-30 billion was added to that number. Where I live, most all of the counties in my surrounding area have at least one hospital, and one or more public health departments. On any given evening, especially weekends, you can visit the emergency room of your choice and find the waiting room filled with uninsured people who have the flu, or a stomach bug, or headaches, or any number of complaints. Why is this so? Because the uninsured usually cannot afford to walk into a physician's office and pay for primary care. So how do they afford an ER? Well, truth is, they can't afford that either. But most ERs don't turn away patients, and they know they will get the care they need, if they are but willing to wait for hours on end. So how come they don't go to the county health clinic? Well, some of the larger counties do see patients for primary care. Many of the smaller ones only do immunizations, birth control, WIC, and things of that nature that are usually performed by a nursing staff. Most of these do not have physicians on staff who can diagnose and treat an acute illness. This is where I'm talking about spending some of those billions of dollars.


Wonder what would happen if, say, the government recovered that fraudulent Medicare money, funded the local county health departments... and then... dare I suggest that they subsidize some medical school expenses, or pay a stipend, to medical interns to staff these clinics? If government wants to get involved in healthcare, let them get more involved where they already live. In government-funded public health clinics. So now you would have the money to operate it, and you would have providers to staff the clinical aspect. Hey, they gotta do an internship/residency SOMEWHERE (dont you watch Grey's Anatomy?) No more ER waiting rooms overflowing with uninsured patients who simply need primary care. Just think how much of a burden would be lifted from the halls of hospitals nationwide if they didn't have to provide free primary care to thousands of patients every year. And just think of how healthier the uninsured could be if they had access to primary care. Some of the more costly health issues could perhaps be avoided by ongoing care of chronic disease.


In Athens, we also have what is called The Mercy Clinic. I don't know exactly how it works, but I have friends who are nurses who volunteer their time. I know several of the doctors on staff at my hospital also volunteer their time. There are NPs and PAs who volunteer as well. I don't even know what kind of care they provide. I'm just impressed that these people donate their time and their skills to help the less fortunate.


With 60 to 90 billion dollars floating around every year, it is inconceivable that this money can't be used to REFORM health care, beginning at the most basic of levels: providing primary care for uninsured or indigent patients. It is also inconceivable to me some people in America are willing to trust their health care, as well as their tax dollars into the hands of a government entity that ADMITS to 60+ billion dollars in fraud. Huh? No, you can't manage Medicare, but here ya go... go ahead and handle a 3 trillion dollar industry? And even worse than mismanagement of the money, will be the fact that Uncle Sam has more of a choice in my health care than I will. It makes my heart feel faint just thinking about it. And by the way. The healthcare mess that faces us now is not an Obama issue. (See, I really don't blame him for every bad thing!) It is a Big Government issue that has been simmering for years and years. It is a problem that has been ignored for far too long by far too many people. However, the healthcare mess in which we're going to find ourselves if this plan is voted in IS an Obama issue, and is one that distresses me greatly.


I guess I just don't understand why they don't try true reform before ditching it all and going for something new. If using the fraud money to fund local public health clinics is a big flop, and it doesn't change anything... well, what's the difference? We'll be no worse off than we are now. At least we would know how those dollars were spent. Now all we can do is speculate on where that 60 to 90 billion dollars ended up.


Yeah, I know it's a huge mess, with so many facets to consider. Nobody said it would be an easy fix. My limited desktop-calculator mind, even with all it's healthcare experience, cannot fathom what all is involved in fixing the problem. But I do think they should try to fix it before throwing it in the trash.


So there's my first healthcare tirade of the blogger new year. Stay tuned. There's more where that came from. :-)

Health Care for Seniors - The Solution

So, you're a senior citizen, and the government says no health care for you. What do you do? Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and four bullets. You are allowed to shoot two senators, and two representatives. Of course, this means you will be sent to prison. There you will get three meals a day, a roof over your head, and all the health care you need. New teeth? No problem. New glasses? Great. New hip, knees, kidneys, heart? All covered. And who will be paying for all this? The same government that just told you that you are too old for health care. Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay income taxes any more. And you've done us all a favor by disposing of four worthless politicians. --copied

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Here It Is

My new winter template. For the time being. Maybe I'll keep it, maybe not. Despite what the header says, I do not love winter, nor do I even like winter. I am fond of snowmen, though, so I'm willing to tolerate a few days of cold if there's a snowman in the picture. Leyland told me yesterday that it would snow today, and she would build a snowman, and catch snowflakes with her tongue. I don't think she'll make a very good weatherman.