4 Luck!

4 Luck! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The background on this ATC has more layers than I usually paint. I wanted texture amongst the shades of green and I think I achieved that! The clover is aluminum painted green and punched out. The "4" is my favorite-rubber-stamp-of-moment number set! Can't remember where I purchased it; online somewhere.

Finally, something good happened! After numerous phone calls and jumping through hoops I was able to get my prescription yesterday without a hefty price tag attached to it! I feel like I won the lottery!

We so seldom see snow on the Monterey Peninsula that the dusting of it on the hills is enough to almost make living where it snows desirable. "Almost" being the operative word because the cold temps that we're having lately is probably the culprit of the awful pain and fibro flare-up that I can't seem to get out from under! Though, I've been in a creative frenzy that came to a halt Sunday night when I cleaned up the projects and readied ATC's and journals for mailing. Yesterday was a day full of errands, so many of them that by the time I got home I was in tears! After dinner I was too exhausted to read or sleep and of course TV had the usual unbelievably awful offerings! Nothing on HBO either! I'm not much better today so it's a good thing that the only thing on the calender is waiting for a Sears repair person to arrive. The ice-maker is on the fritz which has happened before after I've changed the water filter. There seems to always be something that requires attending.

Shucks! The hospital caught up with Stacy's billing for the meals I had during a few of her hospitalizations last year. $63 worth of them. Guess a $9 dinner isn't too bad seeing how the statement was for $48,000 and that isn't even for all of the months. Her bills run around $150,000 a year! Thank God for Ins.!!!! End Stage Renal Failure is one of the more expensive health issues . . .

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From Susan Cantrell's site upon receiving a rejection: "Then I took my introspection, or Mental Pause ™ if you will, a little further: I am a very private person. If I gave you my phone number it was probably for one time use, after which I want you to shred it. I revile intrusions into my inner sanctum. So imagine a celebrity and how they might feel. Also, they are entitled to bad hair days."

I pretty much feel the same way and find that most days I have a hard time with intrusions. But today when a former neighbor dropped by for a few minutes I was absolutely thrilled! She now lives in WA and lost her husband in August. She had her new friend with her and was showing him her old stomping ground. I did have a bit of prior notice that she'd be in the area and I "hinted" that Tuesday would be good day. I had the house fairly well picked up and even put on makeup! She practically always walks in with gifts and today was no exception. Stacy now has an adorable stuffed bunny for her collection and I have a turtle with a brush on his back that scraps mud off the bottom of shoes! Very cool!

Missing You!

1953 - Carmel Beach. Happy 88th Dad! Were we ever that young?

March is always a difficult month, or at least it has been for the last 6 years! Dad passed on the 22nd in 2000, Stacy nearly died a few years ago in March, I nearly waited too long for gallbladder surgery and 2 years ago my daughter lost a baby in her 8th month. Other things have happened in March but at least my daughter gave birth to a healthy boy a month ago! Mom is facing housing displacement this year following a recent discovery about structure damage due to inferior building materials! And so it goes . . .

Upsets

My fingers were hovering over the keyboard while I was struggling with a title for this entry and then one word came to mind, "upsets." Turning to my trusty dictionary I discovered that "upsets" is the perfect word to use. Meaning: to disturb mentally or emotionally, distress: a nervous, irritable state of mind.

The last seven days have been packed full of upsetting things so much so that I'm more irritable than usual! I should be wearing a beware sign, "back off!" which is what I seem to be telling everyone who has too many suggestions about how to solve things that aren't as easy to fix as the lame suggestions I've been receiving prove. (very awkward sentence, but the thought is there.)

Two more patients at the dialysis clinic have died in the last few days! One of them, a very sweet woman, was taken out of the clinic last Monday in an ambulance and mom said that she was sobbing hysterically. She died that night! And a man we didn't know very well died two days later. And then the man who has the treatment chair before Stacy does has been in the ICU for over a week now . . . It's a tragic upsetting place to go to three times a week!

A cat adopted us a few months ago, much to my dismay, and now seems to be dying and I couldn't get the animal control to come out to pick him up on Friday! It seems that the poor things needs to die before they'll come out due to cut-backs and other things I couldn't figure out what the police dispatcher was trying to tell me! I was sobbing! The cat had belonged to a former neighbor who left him behind when she moved to Texas. I never had much regard for her and I was right, she's a very uncaring kind of person! He was very vital and healthy looking at first but then he lost so much weight that I took pity on him, bad idea, and started feeding him. Then the gal who helps us around the house, couty paid, found him a carrier/cage at the SPCA Thrift shop and pleaded with them to donate it and they did! The price tag said $20; very nice gesture. So at least the poor thing can get out of the rain, but I've been afraid that he'll freeze to death. We've had some nights of frost in the last month. I can't allow him indoors because I have no idea what his health problems are and I couldn't find a vet who would check him out for free! Our two cats rarely go to the vet . . .

And then there is the Medicare Ins. prescription program that sucks! Happily Stacy's meds are still covered because she takes so many of them we'd never be able to afford them; I do however now pay a small fee
for a few of them and I'm wondering when they'll decide that she doesn't need them!! That is what happened to one of mine, "there is a similar over the counter one so we won't cover that one," I was told. Similar as in how? "Same kind of dosage." As I've tried the over the counter ones without success I became instantly livid with rage, but then decided to do an experiment. I put away about 2 weeks worth of the prescription and started taking the over the counter kind. I'm shocked that it only took me less than 3 weeks to lose what it took me
over 3 years to gain! How can I possibly feel this bad and not be able to get out of bed or leave the house without nearly fainting in such a short time? Plus my brain cells are on vacation and even though that occasionally happens, I haven't been this confused in a very long time. Upset?! You betcha! I started taking the reserved medicine again Thursday night and so far I'm not much better, but as least I know that I cannot be without the prescription not that that will help me win with the Ins. company! Because of the FMS I've had my entire life I have an absorption problem that was explained to the Ins. company, but the response was, "Sorry, but the dosage is comparable and that's what how we determine the need." The prescription isn't affordable on my lowly disability income . . .

It feels like Spring!

Plum tree - first blooms. The plum tree in the front yard never lets me down! It blooms beutifully every year and this year is no exception! The pink blossoms remind me that Spring is just around the corner.


A photographer once told me that he liked to always have something cut off a corner at either the right or left side. It was his way of saying phooey to the "composition police." So in honor of him I left the bottom branch alone rather than digitally removing it. I think it adds character anyway!

Brothers

Matthew 8 days old. Big brother Jack is 4.