Daily Ponderings

Saturday I opened a letter in the mail from my dentist. I thought maybe I had a bill of some sort from the unexpected visit I made in January to figure out what was going on with my mouth. Instead, it was a letter stating that I was no longer allowed to go there because of the rise in Medicaid costs. My dentist will not be taking Medicaid patients anymore. THIS SUCKS. I stayed away from the dentist for several years a long time ago because I had such issues with going. I was told about this dentist and his office probably at least 8 years ago, maybe even a little longer. Even then, it took a very long time to trust anyone with doing my teeth. In fact, it wasn't really the dentist himself I had to get used to, it was the hygeniest. I had a couple of them who were incredibly rough on me and made my gums bleed terribly. Now, I admit that when I started going there, I wasn't that great with flossing. And it took me years to even get myself into the habit. But really, my gums were t...

Last night, I watched a Netflix movie on my laptop. It was a documentary about a woman who adopted 11 special needs children, and a year of their life. The name of it was "My Flesh and Blood." Now when I read the description of what the movie was about, I had no idea the challenges these children faced. I at least thought perhaps there would be a child with Downs, which there was one. But other children included a girl who was severely burned in her crib as a baby; two children diagnosed with epidermolysis bullosa, or EP, an autoimmune type of disease where the skin doesn't have collagen that makes it stay on the body (the best way I can try to describe it), one of who had passed before the filming of the documentary; a child with cystic fibrosis, or CF, who also had severe behavioral issues; 2 Russian girls who were born without legs; and several others. The mother, though, had to be the most loving person I've seen to want to adopt these children by herself. She had...

The past couple days I have felt really yucky, and mostly crampy, which makes it very hard to be able to accomplish anything. Tylenol and heating pads helped a little, but I pretty much didn't do anything for those days (except for a doctor's appt on Monday). So today, I was rather relieved when I woke up and felt much better! I had wanted to go to Walmart, but the sun was shining, and it was so nice out, that I decided to stay home and get a couple things done here instead. After doing the dishes, I ventured out into the backyard to do a little gardening. WHAT??? Gardening??? ME??? Ok, it's no secret how much I really do not like anything dealing with dirt, but the past few years, I don't know. Something changed! I don't LOVE gardening, but I don't hate it either. I've been planting flowers or trying to grow tomatoes. I've been somewhat successful at it! The thing is, the ground here stinks, and I can't dig it up anyway. So I've been trying to g...

My Netflix account is no longer on hold, since all the shows I love to watch during the regular tv season have all had their finales. So today I got my first movie, Blue Valentine. It had such rave reviews before the Oscars, and was even nominated for a few, but although I liked it, I didn't see what the big deal was. I guess I'm just not movie critic material, I can't see what the reviewers loved so immensely about the film. lol The next movie in my queue is Valentine's Day. I hope that is good! I watched about 25 films, give or take, last summer through Netflix. I'm hoping I can watch that many again this summer before I put my account back on hold for the fall tv season! Saturday, a few of my friends and I went to see Bridesmaids. I heard so many funny things about the movie, and I did think it was pretty hysterical! The entire theater was in stitches for most of the film. So, I thought it was worth going to see! I know my friends are going to want to see The Han...

This morning I woke up a little late, and as I was trying to get Mittens his breakfast, I heard my upstairs neighbor call me from the basement. So I went to the door, and she told me the basement was flooded. CRAP. I went down my 4 steps to the top of the basement stairs, and she said the water was everywhere. UGH. I went back into my apartment to call my mom and then get dressed, and I headed down there to see how bad it was. Well, it really was a lot worse than the last time it had flooded, which was about 3-4 years ago. The rains we've had in the last few days was part of the problem, but the tree roots in the sewer lines was the biggest reason it backed up. And unfortunately, it'll happen again in another several years. The water was almost 2 inches deep in some areas, and there were a few spots where the water didn't reach (thankfully, my Christmas tree was one of those areas!). I'm glad that all of my Christmas decorations were on a big table in boxes, so none of ...

This time last Sunday, my parents and I were almost in the Cleveland, OH area for my scheduled appointments the next day. I have been meaning to write about it since we got home last Monday, but every time I finally think about it, I've turned off the laptop for the day! So, here we go! My echo appt was first, and since I was the only one waiting to have it done in that particular area of the hospital, I was called almost right away. The tech did a good job, and I was done in about half an hour. I had so much time left before my next appt, that I went up to the 7th floor to visit a phriend who'd been in the hospital for almost a month. Merle had had heart surgery, and the recovery process was taking a lot longer than she had thought. I brought her a card, and 4 sheets of paper with messages from phriends on Facebook! She wasn't able to read it right then, but later she texted to say how much it meant to her. I was happy to at least give her a little smile. The next appt was...

I need to get to bed, but I thought I'd update briefly on what's been going on around here! Thursday: Went to rehab, met another cute guy working there. He is a body builder. He showed me pics. Oh dear, help me. After rehab, I went to Rite Aid to pick up some meds. Walking out of the store and back to my car (which was just several steps away), I watched an old woman hit the back of my car as she was trying to park in the spot next to mine. If I had not seen it, if she didn't see me standing right there watching, I would bet you anything she would've just went into the store and not said anything. As it was, I had to tell her there was damage, and that I wanted her insurance info. She never even apologized. My car has almost $380 (estimated by my insurance guy) in damage, just a bumper replacement since it was paint that was scratched off. I'm making her insurance pay for it. Only because she didn't even give a crap that she hit the car. Makes me wonder if she...

In the last few days, I haven't wanted to do much of anything. I figured Sunday was a given since I'd had a long and emotional weekend, so I let myself do nothing. But Monday and today felt just as uninspiring. The only good thing I did was finally get the dishes washed on Monday while on the phone with Mandy. I blame the weather mostly for the lack of energy. It's been colder than normal, and I think the sun went on strike. The rain has made things so damp that I've reluctantly put the heat back on. Tomorrow is another day of wetness, but I've been mentally preparing myself to tackle the laundry list of things I need to do (including the laundry!). I'm crossing my fingers that I can do it!

As I sat and watched Brothers & Sisters tonight, I got highly irritated that breaking news interrupted the last 10 minutes of the show. Until I found out why. Osama Bin Laden had been killed, and his body recovered from the special operation unit that carried out the attack. Oh. My.God. I gasped at the news, and then I spent the next almost hour awaiting the President's address to the nation. The operation that finally led to Bin Laden's demise started eight months ago in August 2010, and today, after months of observations and plannings, President Obama gave permission to attack the complex Bin Laden was hiding in. The brief operation led to his death, and none of our soldiers were harmed. I am just in awe of the brave soldiers who led this mission, and the successful outcome that occurred. While this is wonderful news for our country and the world, and especially to the families and friends who lost loved ones on 9/11, this by no means will end terrorism. This will not pu...

This weekend was mostly spent helping my friend say goodbye to her brother. The wake was 4 hours on Friday evening, and the funeral was Saturday morning. My other best friend and I went together to both. It was hard mostly seeing Eve's father looking so lost. He is 75, and told me that should be him gone, and not his son. The funeral was nice, and Eve's eulogy to her her brother was just beautiful. There was a nice luncheon in the reception hall afterward, too. I was glad to be there for her and her family, and I'll continue to pray for comfort and strength for them all in the days and months ahead.

Does it look to you like Mittens is starving to death? No? Yeah, well, he sure acts like I never feed him! He's been on my nerves lately with how much he wolfs down all his food for the day and then wants even more. I've been good refusing his requests until I go to bed, and then I give him maybe a small handful more. I keep having to tell myself that he certainly won't starve to death overnight! And of course, he greets me with meows the next morning that I know have more to do with feeding him breakfast than saying hello. lol