I'm a "Property Virgin"

I love watching the programs on TLC and HGTV. You know the ones I’m talking about where people are looking to either buy or sell their house and they have professionals show you how to decorate or stage it. This week I’m doing my own mini version of “My First Home.” I owned a house before but I inherited it so it doesn’t really count. It was the house my parents bought when I was in 7th grade so I didn’t have much input into the purchase or decision. As a matter of fact, I didn’t have any input. I didn’t even get to decide which bedroom was mine because my brother who was 19 years older TOLD me which room I got stuck with.

So, this week Don and I started looking at houses. From watching those shows I knew enough to get pre-approved for the loan which was easier than I thought. With the banking industry in the shape it is right now we were a little scared. OK a lot scared but we were approved within an hour. After we received the Good Faith Letter we called the real estate agent. She asked a few questions about price, area and size and a couple of hours later she sent an email with listings of houses for us to look at. We went through the list for a couple of days and emailed the ones we wanted to see back to the agent. On Monday, 2 days ago, we started our search. I’m amazed at how many houses are unoccupied. We only had to have 1 appointment and the rest were show up whenever. It was so strange to see empty houses. They aren’t staged as they tell you they should be on “Secrets That Sell.”

Some of these houses were horrendous. I felt like I was on “Hidden Potential” searching for that diamond in the rough but we don’t want a fixer-upper. A can of paint would be OK but we didn’t want to have put in a lot of "Sweat Equity." Some of these houses had wallpaper falling down from the walls but then yesterday we saw it, the perfect house for us. It was the right size, all appliances are included. New carpet and tile throughout the house, freshly painted and new siding installed last year. It didn't have a "Desperate Landscape," due to it's "Curb Appeal." We put in an offer immediately. Today I felt like I was on “House Hunters” waiting for that call and it came this morning. The seller countered our offer but we were prepared and made a counter to her counter and it was accepted. Now we’re going to meet tomorrow and have the home inspection done and the septic system inspected. If all goes well we’re going to be buying our first home.

Maybe in a few years we might do “My House is Worth What?” but the one we won’t do is “Designed to Sell.” After 5 moves in 5 years I’m done and never want to move again.

What's Your Favorite Combination

When I was working in the hospital we got gifts from the physicians and sales reps for Respiratory Care Week, Christmas and sometimes just because they liked us. These gifts were always in the food category. Once in a while we’d get pizza or sub sandwiches. One of the physicians was Chinese and she’d send us a huge box of Almond Cookies but the gift we received most was popcorn. This wasn’t any popcorn. This was a huge tin of popcorn, usually 2-3 flavors from The Popcorn Factory. That was the gift everyone liked to get because it was something everybody ate and it lasted for a few days. The tins were decorative and we had therapists putting their names on them saying it was theirs when the popcorn was gone. After a battle one Christmas we decided the fair thing to do was raffle it off. Anybody who wanted a particular tin put their name on a piece of paper taped to the lid and we had a drawing. The best was at Christmas when we’d have three to four tins to raffle off.

Some people used them as garbage cans in their kid’s room. The one I won, yes I actually won something, was at Christmas and the design on it was Christmas lights and ornaments. I used it to store some of my Christmas decorations, especially the garland. It stuffed in that tin so well and the lid snapped on tight. My sister-in-law has one that looks like an old milk can and they have it by their front door to hold umbrellas. Of course they had to line it with plastic so it wouldn’t rust but it works. They also have Popcorn gift baskets available that make great birthday presents. They’re smaller with more than just popcorn. They have popcorn balls, pretzels, cookies, candy and of course bags of popcorn.

I’ve given both tins and baskets of popcorn as Thank You and Christmas gifts and they were always well received. My favorite flavors are cheese and caramel, especially when they’re mixed together. I’m not sure what it is about those flavors but they seem to compliment each other. Of course I always add a section of plain buttered for those who don’t like adventure.

The Future of Newspapers

Do you think newspapers are becoming obsolete? I do.

I worked for a company (I can say worked because I resigned today) that contracted with newspapers all over the country. My job was to call customers and see if their service started OK. Follow-up on any problems and at times remind them of renewals. Lately I was getting more and more people wanting to cancel their subscription. The reasons varied with cost coming in as the second most popular reason. The number one reason was that people just aren’t reading the paper anymore. They either don’t have time, or don’t like the content. A lot of these people are saying they get their news on the internet. The internet is the way I get my news. It’s more up to date and at my convenience without having to worry about cutting down trees. OK, the trees don’t bother me as much as the pile of papers that have to be tossed every week. Some people are upset with the slant the paper gives on the news. I heard one complaint the other day that the paper only skims the surface of the news and doesn’t go as deep as they use to. This gentleman went on to say he use to watch the news to get an overview, then read the paper for details and that's not the case anymore.

Some people will change their subscription to Sunday only to be able to get the TV guide but a lot of papers are doing away with that. Some only offer the TV guide to subscribers, not in the paper you pick up at the newsstand or convenience store. Others only offer it by request and some charge extra if the customer wants it included in their paper. I know this has to do with the multitude of cable and satellite companies out there and it’s no longer 1 TV guide fits all but some people like their TV guide and I got a lot of complaints when it was discontinued in their paper.

Right now there are still some people who don’t have computers, yeah I know that’s hard to believe, but a lot of elderly people don’t have them and don’t want them. I think once that generation is gone newspapers will go away with them.

What do you think? You can answer by way of the poll on the sidebar and/or leave your opinion as a comment; I’d love to hear it.

Calling All Techies

My husband is a techie. No not Trekie, a Techie as in technology especially computer technology. He’s always tweaking this and tuning that. It drives me nuts. I like to just plug it in and go. I’m happy with things as they are. Don’t get me wrong, he’s good at what he does and I’d trust him with my computer any day. As a matter of fact, I have trusted him with my computer and he comes swooping in to save the day.

With all that tweaking something’s bound to cause Windows to crash once in a while. Well, we are talking about Windows here, Crash is it’s middle name. When Windows crashes he usually ends up doing a re-install and this is where the tedious part comes in. He has to download and reinstall all his drivers.

I just saw this great website. They have drivers for all your software and hardware. They’ll check that you have the latest drivers available and you can be brand name specific in your search. Say you have an Epson printer. You click on printers, the letter E and you’ll find the link for epson printer drivers. That’s a lot easier to me than doing individual searches for everything you want to update. But I always was a KISS fan.

Somebody Loves Me

In my best Sally Field impersonation “You love me, you really love me.” OK maybe it didn’t sound much like Sally but you get the idea. I just received a Love Award, meaning someone loves or at least likes my blog from Kim at Ms Frugal McDougal. I think that’s so neat. Like all awards there are some obligations I have to fulfill.

Here are the rules for the awards:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the persons you’ve nominated.

The seven blogs I’ve chosen to pass this award on to are:

1. It’s OK to be Weird
2. Spiritually Grounded
3. Women of Faith
4. Big Shoes
5. Women Have Pet Peeves
6. Free Printable Fun
7. Penny Maxwell . . Confessions of a Pastor’s Wife

Lickety Split and Not Me, the Mighty Swashbucklers

Lickety has been a slow talker but he's finally starting to talk up a storm and I can actually understand him. If you’ve read any other stories about Lickety you’ll know he’s also fearless; he’ll do anything for the thrill of it and then wait for your reaction. His older brother Not Me is different, he wants to be like his younger brother but falls a little short and when he gets in trouble he’ll yell, Not Me, hence the name.

The other day Lickety comes over with his face all scratched up. When asked what happened to his face he nonchalantly walks away saying “Bubbie did it.” Bubbie is Lickety’s name for Not Me. It appears they decided they were going to swordfight with sticks and branches. The last time I looked out the back window Lickety was trying to pick up a stick that was about 12-15 feet long and 4 inches in diameter. I think botanists would call it a tree. When he heard the phrase walk softly and carry a big stick he only heard that last part. Not Me’s weapon was a branch about ½ inch in diameter, 3 feet long and very wispy. Lickety was going to make sure he had the bigger weapon.

Lesson Learned in How NOT To Treat a Patient

If you’re like me you’ve been through your share of medical exams and procedures. I’ve had x-rays, scans, blood work and surgeries. Sometimes while waiting for a procedure or during an exam you have to move from one location behind a closed door to another room. This can be embarrassing when the hospital or facility has gowns that are made for a size 2 midget and you’re an average sized or even a 5’2” woman with some meat on her. I prefer the term healthy looking. OK, I could stand to loose more than a few pounds. These gowns I’m talking about only tie at the neck. Well, they’re suppose to tie in other places like the waist or upper back but on most “normal” people this doesn’t happen. Then if you’re a tall person or man the gown just barely covers your hips and never your thighs.

I remember one time I was leaving work after working the midnight shift. It was in January and it had gotten pretty cold during the night. The parking lot was covered in black ice; as I was walking to my car I don’t know what happened but I found myself face down on the pavement. I tried to get up but kept slipping. I finally got up and made my way into the car. Now I had the decision to make, do I go to the ER or go home and come back later. I knew once I got home I wouldn’t come back to the hospital as a patient and my knee was starting to go numb so the ER won. Even though I’d clocked out of work and was on my way home I was still on hospital property and the hospital insisted it was a workman’s comp case.

After being examined and having x-rays I was referred to the occupational health physician for follow-up. This was in an offsite doc-in-a-box facility the hospital owned. My first visit was OK except the nurse came in to give me my discharge instructions with a prescription for antibiotics. Since I didn’t have any broken skin I questioned this and it was soon realized she had the wrong chart and was trying to give me someone else’s meds. OK, I was a little upset but not half as upset as I was the following visit. Now, remember this is the middle of a Chicago winter so I was wearing long pants and had my winter coat with me. The doc comes in and wants to look at my knee. I tried to tell him my pants wouldn’t go up above my knee and he keeps telling me to raise my pant leg. Finally he understood me, held my coat up in front of me and told me to drop my pants. I saw RED. I was furious. Did he treat all his patients like this or was I special because I was an employee of the hospital. He finally, at my insistence, gave me a hospital gown and stepped out. This gown was so tight around my arms and covered me from underarm to underarm across the front. Now if they had hospital attire from Healing Threads maker of the relaxed hospital gown it would have been no problem. When you go to the site check out the BreakAway Pants. You just open up the side and your entire leg is exposed but the sensitive parts are still covered for your modesty, privacy and self esteem.

I walked out of there with my hospital ID in my pocket because I was so embarrassed I didn’t want anybody to know I worked for the hospital. Needless to say I called the hospital administrator the next day and not only reported the doctor for his treatment of a patient but also the nurse from my previous visit. A few days later I received calls from the manager of the occupational health facility and the Medical Director over the facility with apologies. My next visit to the facility and the doctor involved apologized to me for his poor bedside manner.

Looking for a Safe Place to Live

I was born and raised in the Midwest, the heart of tornado country. We had a large amount of tornado watches and warnings but there was usually 1 funnel sighted in one of the suburbs and I didn’t know anybody who was witness to one. I moved to southeast Alabama 5 years ago and I’ve been closer to more tornados in that time than my entire 40+ years in the Midwest. I’ve seen the clouds spinning. I’ve been driving in the hail as a tornado was going past our town and I was on my way to see a patient when a tornado hit the town she was in and knocked down the water tower and demolished the fire department.

We don’t have a tornado watch or warning with 1 funnel cloud spotted. We have them where we’re surrounded by sightings and touchdowns all around us. It’s very unnerving not to mention it scares my puppy, Ellie to death. She tries to climb in my lap and shakes the entire time. I don’t need a tornado siren or the emergency broadcasts on the radio or TV. Just watch Ellie and I know when bad weather with tornados is approaching.

So, let’s see, I lived in the Midwest and that’s tornado alley, blizzards and ice storms, live in the south and we have hurricanes and tornados. If I move east there’d still be the threat of hurricanes and tropical storms not to mention the cold, ice and snow. Move west and there’s earthquakes and fires. Move north and there’s more snow, ice and cold than there is in the Midwest. Not to mention every part of the country has flooding. I guess the only safe place to be is the next space shuttle. No, then I have to worry about meteors and comets.

Infrared Sauna for Negative Calorie Cookies and Milk

I’m getting older, no I won’t say how much but if you read my previous post I calculated my age to be 38. Anyone who’s around that age is probably feeling some of the effects of aging such as sore, achy joints and stiffness. Along with this is decreased energy. I’ve heard that exercise is supposed to be good for a body. The only problem with that is I HATE EXERCISE. It’s a double 4 letter word in my vocabulary. Another great way to give your heart a work out that’s non exertional is a sauna. I can’t do typical saunas due to asthma. The humidity is a killer, hot showers sometimes cause problems but I still do a quick version of one.

I just saw a website for a sauna that uses Infrared Technology. It’s an Infrared Sauna. In looking at the website they say they are safe and actually beneficial for asthmatics. It is also good for joint pain, rheumatoid arthritis and an added benefit is you can burn up to 900 cal. in a 30 min. session. I think that means I can have those cookies and milk when I’m done and they won’t count towards my daily calorie intake. I like that, negative calories.

If you’re in the market for a sauna and want to check out the benefits of an infrared sauna go to far infrared sauna.

I just saw another benefit my husband will love. They claim to help with Menopausal Symptoms. I guess that means no more excuses for being crabby.

Election Day Decision Made Easy

This is just typical. The middle and lower class are suffering, worrying if they’ll be able to put food on their tables next week, gas in their cars or continue to have a roof over their heads and the rich are getting big bonuses and luxury spa retreats.

Yesterday I’d read that the government is investigating Lehman Brothers because the execs gave themselves huge bonuses just before they filed bankruptcy. Since it was before the bankruptcy I’m sure they won’t even get a slap on the wrist. Today I’m reading that AIG execs are on a $400,000 spa retreat after the government gave them an $85 Billion bail out or should we say hand out.

The employees, those that work every day and probably lost jobs or didn’t get paid for time worked before the government hand out got nothing. That $400,000 could have gone to help those employees but instead the execs are getting $23,000 worth of spa treatments at the St. Regis Resort south of Los Angeles.

I had a very difficult time deciding who I’m going to vote for in the Presidential Election or should I say who I’m NOT going to vote for but the decision on who to vote for as my state representatives in Washington was easy. I stopped listening to what they said, it’s all lies and what they think we want to hear anyway. Instead I looked at their actions over the past month. Anyone who’s already in office who’s running for another term will not be getting my vote on November 4th. The only way to get a message to our congressmen and senators and let them know we don’t like the way their running this country is to vote them all out. We have the power to get this done and to try to make sure those that are supposed to represent us know how we feel. Big money only goes so far in government. A big mouth and pushing the right button on Election Day says a lot more.

My New Cards for Entrecard

I joined Entrecard a a month or so ago. For those who aren’t familiar with Entrecard it’s is a community of bloggers. You can search for blogs by category, name or randomness. When you join you put a widget or as they call it a card on your sidebar and it has a bar at the bottom that says DROP. When someone clicks on this you get points with Entrecard and you can use these points to advertise your blog on other blogs. When you do this and the other person accepts you as an advertiser your card replaces theirs for 24 hours. Now when someone clicks on that card it takes them to your blog. OK, back to my story. You can use one of their generic cards or use one of your own.

I tried to design my own card but it never came out right or should I say it was a real disaster. I couldn’t get the lettering right. The graphic was always too big and I’m just not an artistic person. I’m crafty, I can do needlepoint, sew, crochet and photography. I can use a hammer, saw and screwdriver and make something but I need instructions, an idea or a plan given to me. I can’t come up with the original idea on my own. When I set out to create my own card for EC I just knew I could do it. I always thought I was a mechanically, technologically adept person and I know the basics of what I needed to do but to actually apply it was a different story. I was really getting frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how to make this little 125X125 card and make it look good.

Today I was surprised with an email from an Entrecard member. This person has a blog called It's OK to be WEIRD and she did something for other Christian Entrecarders and she thought I’d like one too. She had a gift for me. She created cards for not 1 but 2 of my blogs. They are perfect and nothing like what I had pictured in my head. They are actually better than what I could come up with.


Here’s a picture of the card she created for this site and for my other blog My First Steps With Jesus.




I have no other way to thank her except to thank God for putting it upon her heart to do this for me and to add her to my blogroll on the side bar.

Tell It To Me Straight, I Can Take It

I’m going to talk about a touchy subject, mental illness. I do believe mental illness exists but in my opinion it’s become the catch-all for anybody who doesn’t or won't fit into what society considers to be normal to be labeled with a mental disorder. Society has made it an easy out for rude, crude and unacceptable behavior. Television ads put the idea in your head that if you feel or think this or that way you’re mentally ill and need a pill. I had an 8 year old relative tell me she had Social Anxiety Disorder. In her mind she had all the symptoms in the Paxil commercial. A couple of weeks later she told me she had a hormonal disorder, again from a television commercial. To tell you the truth, she’s a well adjusted adult and has always been a well adjusted mentally sound child, a little stubborn but that doesn’t mean she has a mental disorder.

I’ve been accused of being a bitch at times and at other times I’m a sarcastic bitch and I agree with that assessment. Does that make me mentally ill? I’m sure if I went to a therapist and told him how I acted and talked about my childhood or how things affect me he could come up with some psychobabble to describe me. Maybe he’d say I was controlling or had an anger problem. Does that mean the next time I tell someone they’re acting like a jackass I can stand behind the defense that I have a mental disorder and can’t help myself? I don’t think so. I think that the fact that I now realize I have a certain behavior that’s not acceptable by most of society I should be held accountable for the way I act and the things I say.

I may not be able to control how I feel or what I think but I can control how I deal with those thoughts and feelings and hold my tongue when needed.

I’d really like opinions on this subject even if you disagree with me. I’m a big girl, I can handle it.