BOOSTER'S BLATHERINGS

As I write, Jon is pouting because he dropped his video game and lost everything he worked for because he hadn't saved it.  Eddie is zonked out on the couch.  Ed is off to get Dave from the basketball game he went to, and Buddy is chasing (read: aggravating) Baxter.  Such is life in the Miller household.

Life rather got in the way of my sitting down to write an involved post.  That's both the beauty and disadvantage of FaceBook.  It's easier to write a one-sentence update, but it doesn't offer much insight or information.  At times over the past several days, it's been hard to even write a one-sentence update because I've been unwell.  It's mostly sinus/head cold, and it will pass.

While I type I'm watching the results of the New Hampshire Republican primary.  Mitt Romney has taken the win, followed very closely by Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman.  Most of you know I'm a conservative Republican...not too far right....I tend to lean toward the more moderate side of the conservative spectrum, but there are some things I feel very strongly about.  First and foremost, we need to ditch this failure of a Socialist scheme that Obama's been shoving down our throats.  Imagine...forcing us to take health care or PAY a fine?  Oh, really?!  Screw that!  I can't go to the White House, demand that they buy every guitar my husband makes, or else pay a large fine.  Taking from the rich in order to feed the poor....another crappy scheme.  Give the poor JOBS, so they can earn their OWN money.  I want to take care of myself instead of asking the bloated government who, for every dollar they give me, takes $20 for their own pet projects which are not as important as feeding my children.  Anyway, I've jumped on my soapbox, but those are my feelings about it.  What we currently have DOESN'T WORK.  How do I know?  My husband has been unemployed for years...no job in sight...and we're living on my part-time pay.  That leaves us very little to pay the mortgage, utilities, gas for the car, and food for my children's hungry stomachs.  We get a small amount of help with medical, but we have to fight like the devil with them to cover much of anything.  Excuse me for saying, but this is NOT progress.  You cannot tell me that anything has improved in the past three years.  Socialism has let America down.  If we go back to the principles that America started with, the ones my own family fought for, I think we stand a good chance of achieving the greatness we once had.  We need a president who agrees.  Obama....he ain't that man.  Anyway, those are the thoughts going through my head tonight.

That's really about all for me tonight.  My brain is tired, my sinuses draining, and my eyeballs about ready to cement themselves shut.  Buddy, the Wonder Dog, sends his greetings to everyone.  Here's a little puppy love for your edification.

Good night, All.





 

Gosh, it's been busy around here!

We just got back from visiting my folks for Thanksgiving.  It was a wonderful visit, and we got the chance to make many memories, especially in the kitchen cooking together.  My parents are doing well, as is Aunt Catbird, who's in her new apartment.  I got to see it.  It's a nice little place.  Now she has room to spread out and be her own person again.  We're all so happy for her.

Felt good to get back to work today.  Just three weeks and we'll be on a longer break for Christmas.  We're staying home for Christmas as we spent the last two Christmases with my folks.  It'll be nice to stay home and be able to take things at a slower pace.

Now to go make a grocery list.  We're due to get some accumulating snow tomorrow evening (first of the season), and the roads could get ugly.  Ed's going to go to the store before it hits to make sure we have meals if we get snowed in on Wednesday.

See you around!

It will be impossible to share everything that's been happening in Boosterville, but I will try to give an idea of what's going on.  It may end up being a "bits and pieces" kind of post.

Ed has begun Ortho-visc shots in his knees to help with arthritis pain.  This week he goes in for the third and final set of shots.  They are helping some, but getting up out of his chair is still painful.  Once he has completed the series of shots, they will get him into physical therapy to help build up the muscles, tendons, and joints in his hips.  I'm thinking it will also strengthen his knee joints by default, thus helping them not to feel like they're popping out when he walks.  They will have him doing the stationary bike, leg presses, and stuff like that so it sounds pretty rigorous.  I just hope it helps.  He is really miserable most days.

I've been out of work since Thursday for the flu and a migraine.  Today was the best I've felt for a while.  I'm looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.  Our new principal is fantastic!  He's been very proactive in helping us make the necessary changes the school's needed for a long time.  He's not just "talk", he's really jumping in and going to bat for us.  I am so thankful he came to Coldwater to help our staff and our school!

We got the official "shove off" phone call from the insurance agency regarding the van.  They will not help us, and they will not hold VIP accountable for the negligence that led to our van breaking down.  I mean, for heaven's sake, putting all water in an aluminum engine instead of a water/antifreeze mix?  It's not something I would know, but they SHOULD have!  They even admitted to us they put straight water in the engine!  We are still working on a solution to the van problem.  My parents are trying to see if they can help us purchase a new motor, and our friend, Chris, is willing to put it in.  Meanwhile, I want to dump our insurance agency.  This is just the poop frosting on the TP cake.  They wanted to charge us an outlandish amount of money to have the car towed back to my parents' house.  Now they are refusing to hold the auto body shop responsible for acknowledged negligence?  I'm so over them.  This was also a kind of second chance for the auto body shop, as we'd had a problem with them before but decided to give them a second chance.  This time it cost us big.  We will never do business with them again.  Ever. 

The boys are doing fine.  Jon is doing well in fourth grade, Dave is enjoying his freshman year in high school, and Eddie is well into his junior year of high school.  We are still working with Eddie on organization, which often prevents him from doing as well in school as he should.  I'm still convinced he has Asperger's.  I keep praying that U of M will accept his insurance soon so we can take him there for testing.  Since taking him to Henry Ford in Detroit, I've learned that another family, who has a son with similar issues, was told the same thing by Henry Ford that we were.  Seems to me they (HF) are very reluctant to diagnose Aspergers at all.  This family then took their kid to Battle Creek, who told them it was the mother's bad parenting.  Autism Spectrum Disorders are NEVER the result of bad parenting!  How incredibly unprofessional!  If someone had told me that, I would have raised holy Hell, and I'm not kidding!  I would not have held back my anger.

My Aunt Catbird will be getting an apartment of her own possibly next month.  It was uncertain for a while if she would be allowed to take her dog, Leah, with her.  The apartment manager was fine with it, as long as Aunt C had a doctor's note saying it was necessary.  Well, surprisingly, her doctor refused.  There was no clear reason in her mind to allow it because Aunt C is not terribly disabled, sick, or depressed.  The doctor's comments made it clear to all of us that she was more concerned about medical liability ("if they ever checked my records") than she was about Aunt C's needs.  She kept going on about the legal stuff, while Mom tried to explain to her that if Aunt C had to give Leah up, she WOULD become depressed.  The doctor still refused to budge.  I was so angry with her for putting malpractice concerns ahead of my aunt's needs.  The nerve!  So Aunt C made an appointment with a doctor Mom knows who is very compassionate and kind, and he gave her the needed note.  We are all very relieved and praising God for this good man.  Now they can look ahead to setting Aunt C up in her nice little apartment with joy instead of grief and frustration.

I think that's all for now.  I need to check some e-mails, and make sure the boys have tidied up the house before bedtime.  Sorry I have not been here as much.  The "writing well" has been rather dry lately.  Rest assured we're all doing well, and I will continue to pop in here and there.  I may not always comment, but I am reading!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
#44
TO MY WONDERFUL PARENTS,
MAX AND KEN!
 
I love you!

I am always uplifted by the music of Keith Green, a famous Christian singer/songwriter back the late 70's, early 80's. 

The lyrics to his songs are tremendous.  Coupled with the easy melodies, his songs never fail to lift my heart and my mood.

I choose not to view this as sharing my birthday with a sad day.  I'm rejecting that because that would be giving the terrorists another foothold.

Instead, I'm choosing to view it as sharing my birthday with hundreds of heroes.  As I told a friend of mine, this incident just reaffirms to me that Americans are amazing people.  We are strong.  We are unbendable.  We are resilient.  We are unstoppable.

No mad man or group of mad men will ever succeed in intimadating us. 

God bless America, land that I love.

My friend, Andrea, who lives in Austin, Texas, is sending out a plea for help to combat the big fire near Bastrop, TX.  The message is:

****ATTENTION TEXAS AND SURROUNDING AREAS.. WE NEED FIREMEN!!!! Begging for retired and any fireman to call number to help. We were short 25 fireman last night. Cannot contain town of Bastrop, 35 miles away...fire is 16 miles long, 6 miles wide, jumped Colorado river, evacuated entire town and also neighborhood called Steiner ranch of 5500* PLEASE EVERYONE REPOST EVEN IF NOT IN TEXAS.. SOME OF YOUR FRIENDS MAY BE. HELP!! Call 512-978-1187 Please, Please REPOST!!

If you're a firefighter, active or retired, and can go to Texas to help combat the fire, please call the number.  They need the help desperately.  Please pass the word on.  Maybe through word of mouth we can get enough people down there to quell it before it swallows all of Bastrop and Steiner Ranch.

Thank you very, very much.