Terra Sears - Addicted to Research

For all you people driving me nuts; here is Nina’s birthday list. Oh and YES her birthday is on the 19th. We will wait until Friday (the 20th) to have some cake though… Guess which kind? Van/Van like every year LOL!

The Practical

1. strawberry toothpaste (yes she asked for toothpaste)
2. pajamas
3. slippers (not the fuzzy hot kind)
4. comforter (not the quilt kind – they feel yucky) On a side note if I ever ask for a comforter I prefer the quilt kind.
5. bed frame – having her bed on the floor evidently “creeps me out”
6. flash light – guess sometimes she tries to trip on her way to the stairs in the middle of the night
7. fan – she gets hot in her room sometimes

The Crafty

1. Needles
2. Thread
3. Buttons
4. Book about sewing/art (as  in sewing art, not as in art  or sewing, don’t ask me I just wrote the list)
5. Cloth

The Fun

1. Dog bed
2. Dog collar (small because it would be for choco)
3. MP3 Player
4. telescope – I might have to get her one this Christmas if I can’t for her bday… She has asked for one for a long time.
5. Science kits (use your imagination
6. balloons (water – twisty – regular, she likes them all)
7. stencils
8. Pogo Stick – she loves these things used to play with one in gym all the time
9. Kid dart board – soft tip and doesn’t make noise
10. bean bag chair

The best part about this kid? You can’t buy her something that she won’t like. Well OK if you buy her a Barbie she will totally know you don’t know her at all, but she will love it anyway… Because she knows you don’t have to give her anything, and she likes the thought anyway…

Just got out of classes (yes it is 10:00 PM), and I was doing my nightly stuff. I haven’t mentioned it on here yet, but I quit smoking again… I am now doing my nightly stuff. So here is what I do before I go to bed.

I go to MyPyramid and log what I ate today (menu planner). It lets me know what I need to eat more of and less of. Now, let me tell you I have been doing doing really good and loosing weight (more than with any diet that I have done), until this quit smoking thing. Guess I need to buy carrots or something.  The good part? Dust quit too! He has gained ten pounds! (He is underweight to that is GOOD.)

Then I run over and make sure that Nina has been doing her spelling games. (Last year with everything we tried she still didn’t do well. Using these games she has been getting at least a 80%) WEIRD

Then I go to Heaven’s schooland log her hours and make sure that there isn’t anything I need to print for “tomorrow” as well as to check my kmail to be sure that none of the teachers need anything from me.

Then I go to my school and check my email, and depending on how tired I am, I check what is going on in my classes. (More often I do it in the morning.) Then I check my NORMAL email. (I reply sometimes, and sometimes I don’t… Depends on how tired I am

Depending on if anyone had anything to do with a doctor, dentist or whatever I then go enter that information in my family’s health manager. I then decide if I am gonna go play my silly games or not.

Last I decide what I am gonna read before I go to sleep. (Tonight? Forensics Under Fire by Fisher.)

What did I do today? Laundry, dishes, bathed all 6 dogs, bathed both cats (they made friends with a skunk the other night), watched my lectures, read some of my work for classes, helped Katrina with her math homework, ran to town, and on on on…

Good Night

I watched my senator (Barrasso) today on a little “town hall” type thing, and the other guy that does this “against the public option” thing today. They were doing this thing with doctors, and essentially the doctors were complaining about the reduced amount of money they get from medicare. (BTW, can’t remember the guy that does this stuff with my senator, but he made a lot of valid points even though he is against what I want. Barrasso didn’t have anything to say that I thought was good.) However, because of the other guys inability to understand life, I still don’t like him.

So it makes me wonder, what is that cost (reimbursement)? I did a tiny research to find something, and plan on doing more later. I was not able to find the answers yet. However, it just so happens that I got an “explanation of benefits” for Katrina’s kidcare today. I am thinking the difference is most likely there, but perhaps medicare is a bit more? *Unsure… So you tell me what do you think?

Katrina had a mole removed from her head. The doctor did a good job. It took about 20 minutes to talk to us, remove it, and send us out the door. They gave her a bit of whatever they use so that you don’t feel it, and used this little thing with a hole cut in it, and it looked like they “razor” cut it off. In addition they sent it in to be sure it wasn’t cancerous. (It wasn’t.)

Here is the cost:

Office Lab - Charges, 195.00; Discount, 4.00; Blue Cross Blue Shield 191.00
Office Visit – Charges, 73.00; Discount, 17.00; /BCBS 51.00
Office Medical Care – Charges, 209.00; Discount, 35.00; BCBS 174.00

TOTAL – Charges, 477.00; Discount, 56.00; BCBS, 416.00; Copay, 5.00

I have to say if that is even close to what medicare pays for services (although, many of the copays are higher) the doctors aren’t being reasonable, in my opinion. Of course I don’t know what they pay, as I can’t seem to find that information…

One of the things that I will give credit for from the dude that does the little talk show with Barrasso: The standard of care for some things are to high (example used: bump on the head almost always equals an MRI, when it isn’t really something that should always be done). He really does make some excellent points. However, I would use the same points FOR the public option rather than against them…

Anyway, I can’t wait for whatever is going to happen to finally happen. The soaps that call themselves politics are hurting my head. I have taken several classes, and read so many books about politics (and interest groups) that I am starting to fall into the idea that we need major reform in these areas. People and VOTES are what our system is supposed to be about, not CORPORATIONS and MONEY… I hope I live to see the day when that reform is made. No I don’t want mob rule, but I certainly want our politicians doing that which they are elected to do, or at least put every effort into it…

Comments received and my response to those comments.

Your clueless comments …

I appreciate the show of the fact that I can’t spell. I am perfectly aware that I can’t spell, and I have decided on my blog that it is OK. I admitted full well that I didn’t understand the issue, and that I was most likely the idiot in this situation, as well as that I needed to research this issue more. As with most people I have things that I have studied in detail and those that I haven’t. I admitted that I have not researched this subject, and I was overzealous because of news that came out of Texas about the subject of secession. My blog is where I express my ideas as I learn new subjects. I know most people post when they are done (or think they are) researching a subject. My blog expresses my growth in a lot of areas. While that might lead to some posts that I follow up with something about me being wrong, my normal readers understand and appreciate that. I have no interest in gun regulations, thus I am not likely to research this subject. I am however, still quite willing to admit I don’t know anything about this subject.

In regards to using the “F” word, I am afraid that I don’t agree at all. First, I am not writing this blog as any correspondence to anyone,specifically. I don’t know how you happened upon my blog, but it is normally only frequented by people I actually know. If you have earned the right to use the word via the military, I have the right to use the word as well… A few things about me:

1. I am a 32 year old woman in school for criminal justice (probation/parole)
2. I have given birth 4 times; I lost a son, I gave a daughter up for adoption and I have 2 beautiful girls.
3.  I was sexually abused as a teenager, by a teenager.
4. I have screwed up in my life many many times, and I can admit it each and every time.

I think I have “earned” the right to say whatever I want to. (Although I would note that I might say WTF? but I would never say the full blown words.)

As for the event being what it was, I will simply say that it wasn’t “sold” to me as a fundraiser. In addition, Independent doesn’t mean I can’t make up my mind; it means that both sides being combined make more sensible resolutions to problems. I am not for “big government” nor am I for whatever label you would put on the republican agenda; I am for people. Real people in real situations. I attended this event to express views on insurance. I messed that up, I didn’t say anything about it. I am shy, and don’t do well in the public arena.

Now to the heart of the issue: Single Payer Insurance and Politics

Perhaps I am stupid, perhaps the thoughts I brought up were stupid. However, I will tell you this because I said something that was stupid our representatives (in Wyoming) know my personal story. They understand that I have a teenager with an autoimmune disease, they understand that without some sort of program, her life will be bound to fail. They know WHY I advocate for single payer insurance. I am not now nor will I ever be in politics, but there is one fact that I might not be proud of but that is true. If you want people to hear your story you have to be sure that people READ what you say. Would you have thought twice about my blog if you came here and saw my personal story without my “lack of fact” post on the representative?  (Think hard on that.) Not proud of it, but for my daughter I am willing to look like a total idiot if that is what it takes to get people to look at this subject. You have to get the attention first, then you tell the story. Do I wish it was different? Yes, I do. Do I wish that my emails to the senators was taken more seriously? Yes, I do. However, it isn’t…

You yourself haven’t even looked at the single payer option; your comment shows this. The VA as an example would show a true socialist approach. I am talking more like medicare and medicaid (which by the way I have experienced medicaid, I was a teen mother.) We are talking private doctors, with private practice and a group insurance plan that PAYS it. We aren’t talking about a government run health system. Were there some things that I wasn’t able to do because of it? Sure, instead of taking a specific medication, sometimes a different one had to be substituted, and some treatments weren’t OK to use. However, it is still better than no insurance or getting no care because you can’t afford it.

I do apologize to Colin Simpson, the reason that it took so long after the dinner to make the post is because I needed to decide if it was worth it. Was I really willing to stoop so low to get the point out there? Ultimately, if Simpson decides to run for governor I don’t know a single person that won’t vote for him (me included), no one was going to take what was said seriously, and I am a mother (my first priority is to my children), so the answer was yes. The only possible harm was to my reputation, which I don’t care about enough anyway.

The problem with our system is that we look to our “own kind” in getting what we need to know when we research subjects. Most of us don’t look at the other side, and if we do normally we mock what we think we know (which is the angle you see here), but we really don’t know. It is a system that doesn’t work to educate, only to back up whatever views you already have. I implore you, and everyone to really look at the single payer system. Protect my children, and all the other children…

I was planning on making this post next week… However, I will make it now… Thank you for your time… Terra

In the spirit of not feeling well I cleaned the kitchen and the porch. Porch means the front “add on” room. It is where the dogs stay when it is nasty out, where I am sitting right now. The dryer is in here (and the washer is in the kitchen, and if that isn’t stupid I don’t know what is.) The little dogs get all cramped up when the weather is this nasty, so half of them end up “going” in the house. I had a litter box for them when it got this cold, I am not sure what happened to that thing but I can’t find it. I am actually grateful that the floor in here needs replaced, as I don’t feel near as bad about them making their messes (although the mopping is getting a bit old.) Note: People who live in really cold places if you want miniature pinschers you might want to move to a warm place. Thank goodness the GSD and the pit bull mix can go outside their messes are so big I don’t know if I could handle cleaning up their messes. Plus OMG the GSD stinks when he goes (I know that as he was an outside dog for the first 8 years of  his life so he wasn’t potty trained at all until we taught him.)

Then I started to get caught up on the laundry (I didn’t do any laundry during finals week, my girls go through TONS of clothes in a week.) So while I did laundry I played some xbox, and find this game FABLE to be totally addicting. I used to love RPGs, not so much anymore. Most of them are more for people like Dust (my sweetheart) with more buttons than I can remember (we have a 360 btw). So normally I just play card games and stuff on smaller systems or sometimes on the pc if I am going to play a game. So this one is like a combo of a role playing game and the sims. I have two families on there; a child in each home. (I ran out of condoms and had unprotected sex as my husbands were upset with me as I left them for to long on the various quests (oh yes not a kids game.) My first family is with a Santa looking town crier with a great attitude. I married him on purpose, not great looking but nice oh and I named him Sam. We had a daughter together. My second family was an accident, I was trying to give this temple a donation/gift and gave it to a monk there. Well it turns out if someone is in love with you and you give them a ring, you become engaged. (Yes my second husband is a monk.) I didn’t change his name so he is Charlie, and he is well… weird. Then after dinner (tacos) I read a little more of my book.  Anyway, that is what I did yesterday.

Today, Heaven has her first female checkup today. I took her in for it last year, but the doctor didn’t want to do it and said we should wait until this year. I am also going to finish up the laundry and other than that I caught up on blog posts (which of course I recommend everyone over there in my daily reads) and some good ones was the black eye of the press reporter, and the most racist site.

I caught some nasty bug, so I  have been sleeping a lot and going to bed really early. I got up this morning as Dust was in a “mood” because his work truck wouldn’t start. I so feel for him having to go anywhere today, it has warmed up a little… The truck started and he went to work. School is having a late start (starting at 10 instead of 8), so I let Nina sleep in… Heaven is out of school until the 5th of January…

12-15-08

Yes really that is warmed up… I hate it when we have weather like this, cold is normal this kind of cold, not so much. So anyway that is why I haven’t been on here to much. I took some meds this morning and I am feeling half way human so I am going to try to get a little cleaning done. I am reading some interpretation on the bible and plan on making a post about that book soon…

Edit: Dust gets to come home because of the cold. Evidently -20 is OK, but -40 (as it is out in the field) is to cold for them to work… Thank goodness

Lets see first, I wrote a letter to the typealyzer people and the site is now up and running again. (For your blog writing style.)

The bad thing; I went to retrieve all my pictures (5 years worth) and music from my old computer. I should have done it a long time ago, I gave the computer to the girls to play games on and stuff… The bad news? It was on a separate drive (so that they couldn’t accidentally get erased, or get a virus) and the drive is gone. One of the girls deleted the drive. I am sure it was in attempt to make it run faster, but I am so bummed.

My classes are all done!!! My unofficial grades are; A A B B… So no more classes for about 3 weeks! I am looking forward to the break…

Now I am going to go take a nap, I am feeling grumpy and don’t want to take it out on the kids… *sigh

I was playing on Webkins, I know I am such a child, and they are down for matience. (Katrina will be so happy though I have totally won her tons of cash.) Today was no fun at all, took Heaven to the doctor as she has been running fevers. She has her first sinus infection, and huge meds to go with it. Took my second to last final, and ran some errands, yup great day…

I had to change by background, but thought some cuteness was in order. So here we are, I don’t know how long the cute little snowman will last but I am in that mood right now. So off to bed I go after a great day with lots of visits. A huge thank you to Dustin’s grandmother for a great meal (even if she did try to tell Heaven I let her eat to much junk food and always had). Thank you aunt Nicky for a great dinner. I also want to thank Dustin’s uncle Joe for some interesting talks, and my uncle Terry for some interesting talks. I enjoy good conversation, and appreciate them.

If you can’t tell other than the grandmother making Heaven mad today was a great day. I wasn’t in the same room when the talk happened, but find it interesting that the woman that feeds my youngest daughter junk food everyday in the summer accused me of letting her eat to much junk food. (Snacks my kids are allowed are carrots, celery with peanut butter, cereal, sandwich, oatmeal, apples, and so forth.) I wonder if me being upset at such a thing makes me a little less thankful than I should? Is it petty of me to feel she is unfair? Our biggest argument about food (she has never talked to me about this junk food thing) is that I don’t feed my family enough protein (well Dustin doesn’t get enough.) You know because we only eat meat with dinner and lunch… Maybe I am just upset because she assumes that but has only been to my house a couple of times, or maybe it is that she had this conversation with my kid instead of me?

Am I wrong, was this a tacky thing to do or am I totally blowing something that is silly out of the water? (I might be I have prejudges against the woman. For things like totally being all over me when Katrina was little because I wouldn’t let her put honey on the pacifier, telling me that I was wasting money by going on a diet, that I need to quit school since Heaven is ill, trying to teach Katrina about Christianity behind my back, telling me that Heaven is a totally out of control, sex maniac, with a drug problem?) Maybe it is just all of that stuff combined. I guess I just feel like if I turn right she thinks I should have turned left, and if I turned left I should have turned right. Either way I feel like I can’t win, and either way it all hurts my feelings…