Non-Beading Discussions

Thanksgiving Menu - This is Mine, What's on Yours?

LitaC — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:33:25 GMT

I've been sort of lazy this past year. I kept it very low key for Passover and Rosh Hashona, with the promise of pulling out the stops for Thanksgiving. It's not that I don't like to cook, but doing it up means taking off time from work, and when it's only my Dad and I, I have little desire to get fussy. While only one of my sisters will be joining us, old family friends and some personal friends will be with me for Thanksgiving, so I've got some incentive to show off. This is the general outline of my menu, but I'm still looking for inspiration, so maybe you'd be interested in sharing:

Appetizer:

Tomato and Apple salad, dressed with a raisin balasmic vinegrette

Soup:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Intermezzo

Strawberry and Champange Granita

Main

Turkey (of course) with Gravy made from pan drippings and the pureed cooked aromatics (carrots, onions and celery)

Stuffing Two Ways - Cooked in the bird (no, I don't want any lectures on the dangers of this) and en casserole (outside the bird)

Grilled Asparagus

Roasted Carrots, Leeks and Mushooms

Caramelized Sweet Potatos with Bacon (or crisped Procuitto) and Onions

Cranberry Relish with Walnuts, Apples, Shallots and Oranges

Roasted Sweet Corn and Bell Pepper Salad

The optionals:

(a) Mashed potatoes with parmesean

(b) Sauteed sugar snap peas

Dessert

Apple Pie

Bread Pudding with Chocolate Sauce

Fresh Fruit

Any suggestions? Too much, not enough?

Lita

A brand new knee

Pam — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:06:45 GMT

As some of you know I've been having a hard time with my knee lately since moving down here and unloading the truck of my stuff in late August. I've tried staying off it, taking diclofenac and last week a steroid injection which didn't help much at all. Billy took me to the orthopedic guy this morning and the plan is now to just give me a new knee on November 5th.

I'm both encouraged and discouraged...it will be over someday, the doctor said recovery takes about 2 months...and discouraged that I probably won't be much help to anybody until then. I've been in pain with this thing off and on and to some degree constantly since having a car accident in which I broke it (it's called a tibial plateau fracture) in November of 1998. It has it's benefits, it gives me tons of compassion, but I'm tired of it and want to be able to walk around without thinking about it, resting up for it and planning ahead for it all the time. So alright already, I'm compassionate now...now I'd like to ditch the old knee and all the hurting and start taking care of other people better and just plain do things. Mostly I can take the pain okay but it drives me nuts to not be able to do stuff.

Prayers would be appreciated, and thanks in advance....

Just to let you all know how good Billy is, he told me exactly what was causing the pain and me not being able to walk on it like this. He felt it and moved it a little and said it was a piece of cartilage stuck behind the kneecap inside the joint. When we saw the x-rays this morning it was right there plain as day, this piece of something stuck upwards in the middle of the joint.

Pam

I will not be on the forums very much

Sherri S. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:47:41 GMT

My dear friends,

Well, it's official. As of 4:30 p.m. this evening, my employer has placed all of their employees in the dark ages, without internet. The only sites we have access to are the on-line email server and the on-line time clock where we punch in.

This means that I will have to do everything at home using my 24K internet dial-up connection. Since I am trying to get prepared for the Steamboat show next month, I will be spending most of my evenings for the next month making jewelry, so I will probably not be on-line much.

If anyone needs or wants to reach me on a regular basis, contact me and I'll give you my work email address. I see no other way around it.

HUGS to you all! I'm going to miss spending work down-time on the BD!

Sherri

Kitten

LYILHA — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:25:24 GMT

YAY!!! So I got a kitten a couple days ago...a little lovey terror. lol. I have never had a cat so everything is kinda new to me. Thankfully my uncle has 5 and knows what to do. I do have a question though. I know alot of you guys have cats but my little booger (we think we are gonna name him Bones) has a few fleas and I know they can get bad left "untreated". What I am wondering is what is the best product out there? Is there a cheaper way to go? What gets all of them? He is gonna be a completely indoor cat 'cause there are alot of mean cats around our apts and because we live on a main busy street so I am thinking that if I can get rid of them now I won't really have to worry about them again. I would post a pic of him but I can't seem to get a good one. He has a GREAT personality so far...very loving. Tends to be a lap kitty - BUT...he gets directly underfoot ALL THE TIME. Chad, my brother, whom I live with, accidently punted the poor thing the other day. We have a "no punting the kitty" sign in our kitchen lol. He is always running directly infront of us or walking inbetween our feet...and inevitably he gets underfoot. We are really careful but SHEESH! Is that NORMAL?! lol Anyway, he is a little grey tabby cat but has some really unusual coloring. His face, tail and the ridge of his back are typical tabby but both of his sides have this strange giraffe-ish look. Large grey patches with thin lighter grey lines between them...kinda like giraffe spots. Then his tummy is white with little dark grey spots all over...looks kinda like a snow leopard. *laugh* My aunt found him in the middle of a busy intersection on Rock Springs so they temporarily named him Rocky. We didn't like that because everytime we called him that it reminded us of the boxer...not our style. We decided to name him Bones for alot of reasons...first...it sounds cool...lol. Second...we have alot of cow bones that a friend of mine got me to give to Chad and he was trying to sun bleach them and had them on our back porch. When we asked our landlord if we could get a kitten he said that he would make us a deal and if we would move the bones ("they look bad for our renters" ?!?!?hahaha) then we could get one. So we moved them. Third, he apparently keeps playing around in them...wierd but true. And lastly...well...we are unfortunate nerds and Bones was the name of the doc on the original Star Trek. Actually it was more of an afterthought that it was the name of the Doc...but we are cool with that. Anywho...just thought I would brag on my new kiddo. lol

Computer question - PDF to JPG?

Deb — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:58:27 GMT

Isn't there some program that will convert a PDF file to a JPG?I know there used to be one for BMP to JPG or vice versa, and I seem to remember a similar one for PDF.

My stupid POS/inventory program won't accept a PDF file so that I can change the logo to include the new address - ggrrr! People keep asking "why isn't the address and phone number on your invoice?" It is, but not at the top by the logo (sans address, etc.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've already tried saving it as a jpg, but that doesn't want to work.

THANKS ALL!

Deb

PRAYER REQUESTS - PLEASE ADD YOURS

Marie — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:31:43 GMT

Hi All,

I want to start a thread that is just for prayer requests in hopes that we can get them all in one spot to make them easier to find. I keep a prayer list and would be happy to add your requests to my prayer time and I know there a many others who pray also.

So that no one will be shy - I'll start it - I had a car accident in June and still have a serious problem with my left shoulder and arm that the docs are trying to deal with. I just had thyroid surgery 2 weeks agoand in the process they found that my blood sugar is high. So working on getting the thyroid med levels right and will see how the sugar levels look next week and dealing with the shoulder mess.

healing thoughts - if I may ask

CourtneyB — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:37:39 GMT

The tendonitis in my right elbow has not gone away and I had my third and final cortizone shot yesterday. If this doesn't work, my doc is talking about surgery and I really, really don't want to go down that road. It has me a bit down and I know that in the larger scheme of things, this is small, but I'm bummed. I would be looking at 4 weeks in a cast followed by 4 weeks in a brace and lots of p/t. (cast from sholder to wrist)

I am focusing on how it will turn out and trying to stay positive! I see this working, but a few others "seeing" would be great. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Courtney

Update on Surgery, etc.

Marie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:54:13 GMT

Good Morning All,

I told everyone I'd keep you posted on my "issues". Went back to the thyroid surgeon yesterday. The incision is healing nicely and the pathology came back clean. No cancer in the thyroid. PRAISE THE LORD. I get very horse when I talk much and doc said that it would be about a year before that went away because I've had two surgeries this year that banged my vocal cords around. Hmmm...so much for my singing career - ha, can't carry a tune in a bucket. I sing when I am home alone or in my car [:-]

I go back to the GP next week for blood workup to see how the thyroid meds are doing, but I can tell that my levels have improved because I feel much better. Also having my blood sugar checked by GP at the same time. He is concerned because it was high on the last go round. Praying that my low blood sugar has not flipped flopped now to diabetic, but since I have a family history of it, there is a good chance it has. Please keep me in your prayers for a bit longer

Going to a NEW orthopedic today for the issues with my shoulder from the wreck. I think the other one has just been enjoying my insurance and isn't helping me get well. So, please say prayers that this one will HELP.

Thanks for all your prayers,

Big Hugs,

Marie

Recently unemployed single mother needs to vent... just a little.

apachegirl — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:14 GMT

Okay, so I usually don't do this kind of thing, because I don't want to seem like I'm whining, and I know there are probably many others out there who are much worse off than me. Right now, it doesn't feel like it.

On September 29th -- a day and a half before the start of the new fiscal year -- my supervisor at the non-profit I worked for came and told me that they lost the EPA funding for my position. Thing is, they knew about it for some time, and didn't bother to tell me until a few days before Oct. 1st. It was only a part-time position, and I knew I needed to get another job, because I wasn't making enough to raise a kiddo on. I took the position intending for it to be only for a while, but I got complacent. I think the universe was sort of pushing me off the cliff, so to speak, when I lost my job, because I just wasn't making ends meet. The other thing is, I was growing to hate it there, because I worked in a "good-ol'-boy" network, with double standards out the wazoo. Plus, I wasn't making even one-half of what I was worth. My whole career has been in upper management/administrative positions making a MINIMUM of well over 2X what they were paying me.

But now, the money has run out -- and I mean COMPLETELY. I didn't have any savings anyway, because the job paid so little, we were living check to check. I've scattered resumes and cover letters all over this town, and the internet, but I know it will take some time. Mean time, I have a little one to feed, and I'm getting nervous now. I've been making some beaded items, but the economy right now is such that folks really can't afford the extras like beaded keychains and beaded halters and headstalls. Plus, I'd have to make tons to make enough to get me through, and I can't justify taking that much time away from my job-hunting. Right now, my full-time occupation is finding a job. I have my Bachelor's and about 11 years of upper-mgmt experience, but there's just not a whole lot out there. I don't want my little one to worry, and I've told her to let MAMA worry about it, but kids are pretty smart. I try to hide my anxiety in front of her, but it's not always easy, especially with creditors calling all the time.

I guess I'm just a bit overwhelmed and scared, and I wish something would happen soon. I've put a few of my treasured items up for sale on another website: the you-know-who's list.com, like my authentic Louis Vuitton bag that I bought myself when I got my dream job with the tribe some years ago, and an absolutely STUNNING silver and blue lapiz bracelet made by one of the most world-renowned Native silversmiths EVER (who was a family member -- he passed on so now his stuff should be worth more... but the economy... well, you know the rest). I feel bad having to sell the bracelet, but I could potentially get about $1K for it to someone who is knowledgeable about the artist and his stature and reputation. I need to sell the stuff quickly, and it's just the darned economy right now...

So, this vent turned out to be more than just a little... sorry. I see from other posts I'm not the only one. I guess it just FEELS that way. Thanks for "listening" y'all!

Prayers Please?

Cat — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:31:34 GMT

This has been a tough morning..........

My step sister was admitted to the hospital Saturday and has been in critical condition all week. She had Septus? some kind of blood infection and she had fluid around her lungs.

I don't know what was wrong prior to her going to the hospital so I really don't know what she was experiencing.

She was tested for Flu and H1N1 and those both were negative. Apparently H1N1 has several tests it goes through, the first 4 last I heard were negative never heard about the 5th test.

Anyway I received a call this morning from my sister who works at the hospital she was in, she passed right after 5 this morning. She was only 36, with all those children. Way too young to die.

She has 7 children, 4 of whom are still very young and were living with her. The oldest has been living with another sister, and the two middle children were living with their father.

The 4 that were with her range in age from 4 months to 5 years. I'm sure they will go on to live with their father but I can't help but think,especially for the youngest they will never really know their mother. My heart is just breaking for them.

I've kept it together for the most part of today but I'm starting to crumble myself. My oldest two, that was their favorite Aunt, and they have been a mess all day. This is the first real death experience for them. Syd is only 8 and still doesn't understand death so she's been ok but the twins are a mess.

I'm still in shock I guess, I couldn't cry this morning when I got the call but I've worn thin now. I'm sure most of you know the thought process. how, why, what could have been different. I keep thinking if she was at another hospital she would have made it. (I don't think the hospital she went to is a very good one)

I had planned on going to the hospital today to visit her, it's been difficult without a car and my husband not being home to keep the kids so I could go earlier this week. I guess I'm glad I didn't go in a way, she didn't look like herself from what I've been told and I want to remember her the way she was. Her face was blown up like a balloon from all the fluid.

IF you can just say a prayer for her children please it would be appreciated.

Transitioning from PC to Mac ~ Need Tips 11-10-09

MelindaB — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:57:40 GMT

Hi Everyone ~

I am hoping that some of the Mac Users can help me with making the transition from PC to Mac as painless as possible, I do realize there is a learning curve My home PC died on Sunday & today I picked out my IMAC. The store where I’m getting it from is setting it up for me with a Windows 7 Partition so that I don’t lose all my PC programs & information, they are also going to copy my PC hard drive files onto my IMAC & then making my PC hard drive into a portable one ~ YAY no files lost

I share my computer with my husband & kids with the emphasis on kids which is why I’m switching. The school district here uses Mac’s so I figured it would be good to use what they will be using plus the cost was about the same to get a PC to be able to do all that I need. We will however be without a computer til the new one is ready at the end of the week.

I will be getting my new IMAC on Thursday or Friday so any tips would be greatly appreciated. I've heard great things about Mac's & I’m looking forward to learning something new

Thank you in advance

PS ~ Happy Veteran's Day!

My son...My Oblivious! LOL!

Sheila H — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:43:50 GMT

Okay...my son moved to Nashville TN for college this past summer. He is into the punk music, not country. So Nashville TN is the Country Music Capital of the World...guess what was last night? ( Does anyone see where this is going? )

The Country Music Awards in downtown Nashville TN.

Guess who did not know? And went downtown to go to a show? My son! LOL!

He said that he & girlfriend were going to a club for a show so they headed downtown. He said " There were limos everywhere, stretch Hummers, limos, people EVERYWHERE, and cops. Cops at every intersection. Cars were bummer to bummer. So many people. Just masses of people. It was awful". My son is not a patient driver so I bet he was fumming! He said finally they saw a sign and realized what was going on.

Luckily when he saw the traffic, he was able to hit some side streets and detour around but he said it was still awful and too forever!

Anyway...that is my son. Mr Oblivious! I told him next year when I saw the advertisements for the Country Music Awards show, I would mark my calendar to remind him not to go downtown. LOL!

Hubby & I were laughing hysterically at his description. I called my mom & told her, she was laughing as well. Usually our phone calls last 3-5 minutes but this one was like 20 with all of his descriptions etc.

By the way, the show they went to was a burlesque show. He said it was good and they enjoyed it. Last weekend they went to an art gallery/museum. We think Nashville will be good to broaden his view on music, arts, etc. Seems to be working!

Sorry, I just had to share!

Need lots of good laughs?

JSmaz — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:32:10 GMT

DH showed me this site yesterday: 90 pages of pics & funny captions of people at Walmart. A few things may be offensive to some people-I seriously can't believe people leave the house dressed the way they are!

www.peopleofwalmart.com

For those who don't know, Walmart is a huge chain store in the US that is half grocery store and half department store, and they claim to have the lowest prices anywhere (they used to be in Germany and are Asda in the UK). Problem is they a) drive a lot of smaller companies out of business, b) treat their employees horribly and c) tend to attract some-how shall I say-odd individuals. Sorry to anyone who has a better opinion of them than I do...stepping off soapbox to make room for the belly laughs.

Update on the papers ...

Inca — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:01:15 GMT

Ok - I know most of you have heard about my fiancée and his papers ...
He got a new number to call on wednesday, and a sugestion that the person he was seeking had an office day on friday.
So he called today ... and guess what ... HE GOT AN ANSWER!!!

He has been promised his papers next week. (not that I believe in promises at this time - they seem to be in the category "and pigs fly") I am still the born pessimist ... and waiting since april ... I'm going NUTS.

So please - can you ask your little angels and fairies and all the other powers out there to work their magics ... that he actually will get his papers next week ...

Im not coping with this waiting ... and I am sorry if I am action weird or saying something that upsets anyone ...
Sorry.

Need to vent.

Vanbeads — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:11:00 GMT

So, yesterday, I was on my way to take my son to my friend's son's first birthday party, when I got pulled over for doing ten miles over the speed limit. When the trooper came back to the car with my driver's license, she told me that my driver's license had been suspended since 2007!!!! At first, I thought it was a bad joke - I can't imagine why my license would have been suspended. I haven't had a speeding ticket in at least four years, and I have always paid my tickets.

So we had to go in front of the judge in the town where I got pulled over, thank goodness someone was there on a Sunday afternoon because I had my 22-month old with me, and they didn't impound the car, just let me wait there with my son until my husband and his father could come pick me up.

I was just beside myself. Doesn't the DMV or someone usually notify you that your driver's license has been suspended? I never received anything!

So now my husband and I are worried sick about how we are going to pay for all of this - the court costs are going to be at least $200, and then there's the 10mph speeding ticket I'll need to pay, and once I figure out who suspended my license and why, there's that cost that needs to be paid. My income for this month is already gone, thanks to a $1,000 tax bill we got from the IRS because there was a mistake on our taxes in 2008, and we don't really know anyone we can borrow the money from to cover these expenses.

So that's what I have on my plate for today - making phone calls to figure out who suspended my driver's license and why and figuring out how to get around without a car until my court date on the 19th when I can get this all cleared up! Maybe that's the reason I have this incredible headache this morning? Argh...

-Jen

Lakota Sioux American Indian Dance Theatre

MelindaB — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:26:48 GMT

Yesterday we had a wonderful treat of seeing the Lakota Sioux American Dance Theatre perform for local students in a special performance. The regalia, music, singing & dancign were all amazing & the kids loved it. Josie Bird is an amazing dancer & this is her in the picture below.

http://juneauempire.com/stories/111009/loc_514824308.shtml

They are performing this evening and will continue on their tour but I wanted to share this picture from yesterday's show.

Here's a link for their website: http://www.lakotadancetheatre.org/index.php

To Cat

Inca — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:31:28 GMT

(if Im not wrong ... )
I think we should say Happy birthday Cat today...

(sorry for outing you Cat - but I figured we needed something good to cheer for too)

Need prayers in AZ, please? UPDATE!

Deb — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:58:32 GMT

Joshy is almost over his bout of flu, thank goodness. HIs fever went down almost immediately and he was feeling much better within 24 hours and "bouncing off the walls" <LOL> within a few days. My daughter and the baby have coughs, but the doc says that it's more likely a cold than anything serious - he did put them on a strong antibiotic as a precaution.

It took a while, but the regional manager finally did call us back. Mike told the regional manager that he was still upset about it. He explained that we had driven over 90 minutes to get there and then drove up and down the main street for another half hour trying to find the pharmacy because the name the employee gave when answering the phone was **NOT** WALGREEN'S. We only passed the only Walgreen's in town twice, looking for Mulberry Pharmacy! (Is it me or does Mulberry sound like Walgreen's?)

It is NOT their policy to make people drive down to physically pay for prescriptions and he agreed that ESPECIALLY because it was Tamiflu for a small child in the "vulnerable" group, there should not have been a problem. He and Mike both agreed that being for Tamiflu is different than if it had been for a couple of six-packs of soda and 3 bags of chips - very few people would use a fake credit card for medication like Tamiflu!

The pharmacy manager that gave Mike such a hard time will be "counselled". Every employee will be re-trained to answer the phone clearly so that every caller will know they called WALGREEN'S!

We found out from the regional manager that in a situation like this, the pharmacy person SHOULD have suggested that we could make the payment at a nearby Walgreen's. The pharmacy manager will also have this stressed in her "counselling".

The nicest part was the regional manager asked how Joshy is doing and if the Tamiflu helped. He was glad to hear that it worked so quickly - he completely understood a grumpy Grandpa who adores his grandson being so upset. He told Mike that in the future, if we pay with a credit card here, our contact information, etc. will be linked with Joshy's account if it's ever needed in the future.

SO - thanks for the support! You can all take off your boycott hats and war bonnets now. Walgreen's DID make good for us - clarified their policy to us and will re-train all parties involved in that particular store.

Thanks again, everyone!

Deb

Still Around

Cathy — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:21:10 GMT

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know I'm still around. It's been a busy, crazy few weeks. I'm IT now but I was clerical and HR backup. When I became IT, someone else became HR backup. She was messing up the payroll so badly when she did it, I got it back. Don't you love how that works - when others can't or won't do their jobs, the work comes to me who already does 105% at work.... The HR person left 2 weeks ago so I'm now HR. At least most of my IT duties have been given to my back-up but she still needs some help here and there. Supposedly I have only 1 more week - the new person should start next Mon. I'll probably have to do a little training, but it'll be so nice to have my own duties back. I know payroll more/better than HR.

Thursday a week ago, we found that my grandfather is having mini-strokes so he decided to give his car to us - it's 9 years old with 42,000 miles on it. He has Alzheimer's and my mom has POA and all she asked is that we pay for 1/2 the cost to fix it up (he'd let some things go since the Alzheimer's diagnosis). She wanted the repairs to be made before we got it because they live 2 hours from us and she didn't want anything to happen to us in that car on the way home. My grandfather giving us this car turned out to be such a good thing (more on that later).

Last weekend was the church and school fair. We were there, walking around and watching the boys ride the rides for 2 1/2 hours each day then I worked 6 1/2 hours Sat and 4 1/2 hours Sunday. I'm still tired.... But, the church grossed only $2,500 less than last year and last year was the best year ever - not bad in this economy (the "bad stuff" is just hitting here).

My van is 13 years old and is starting to give us some trouble (we've had it for 7 years). DH can use his work truck for personal business and we have (had) a pick up truck my grandfather sold to us. It was 10 years old with only 20,000 miles on it and in the last 6 years, we put less than 14,000 miles on it. We've kept it for when my van is acting up or if someone else in the family needs to borrow it. My van was in the shop last weekend and when I got home from working the fair last Satuday night, we went to go pick it up in the personal truck. I drove straight home in the van. DH went to put gas in the truck and a drunk driver turned right in front of him - totaled the truck. Thank God DH was only banged up, not hurt badly. We got more from the insurance than we thought - almost double!!! We were very happy and surprised about that (I guess the low mileage helped). We don't know if the other guy had insurance. Our insurance is treating it like uninsured motorist. If he does have insurance, we will get our deductible back, too. This is where it was a good thing my grandfather gave us his car. We won't need the truck as much now that we will have a more reliable car. But DH is quite upset about losing his truck. I'll miss my van but, again, it'll be nice to have something more reliable.

We spent all of yesterday going to my mom, ste-father's and grandfather's to get the car then coming back home. I'm going to try to catch up on the postings. But tomorrow starts another work week.....

Just wanted to let you all know I'm still here and have missed you!

Cathy

Release A Balloon

Kia — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:18:47 GMT

If anyone is able and willing would you please release a balloon tomorrow (28 Oct).
It'll be 5 years (blimey time goes so fast) since we lost our baby Oliver.

Many Thanks
Kia

Travel is booked - I'm Going to Tucson in February!

LitaC — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:46:51 GMT

A dear friend has talked me into going to the gem and bead shows in Tucson this February. I'll be filing for bankruptcy when I get back.

If anyone has gone to Tucson for the shows, can you recommend a nice place to stay?

Lita

Could things possibly get any worse UGH!

Cat — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:27:34 GMT

I have so much going on right now I can't think straight anymore!

Most of you already know business has been terribly slow for us, which affects us financially. We've barely been getting by so my husband has been pushing for me to do sales. This is something I do NOT want to do to begin with but I understand the need for it so all I can do is try. Before I will even attempt I told him we had to have a website, something we should have had long ago. So I've been working on a website for what seems like forever now. I can't just concentrate on it as I have other daily duties in the office.

Extension for taxes is up October 15th which means I was supposed to have all our info for 2008 to the accountant by September 15th. Well that has come and gone and I still have statements to go through, checking records against what's in the computer, the list goes on..... This is still not done.

Since April we have been fighting a Worker's Comp claim for someone that did CONTRACT work for us. How this person even got past filing for it is beyond me. We've been to see a hearing officer three times for appeal. Well apparently even after evidence presented shows all the facts of him working as a contractor they still are allowing the claim. Ok, I got over it initially, just a few doctor bills that will come out of our BWC account that we pay into. Well this person seems to be dying from a simple accident. Just received notice this person is asking for additional allowances on the claim. Basically looking for more medical treatment which of course is going to add more to his already ridiculous claim. We are talking about a soft tissue injury that heals on it's own in six weeks, longest 8 weeks. Something my two year old daughter could suffer from falling off her bike! Last I spoke with the lady at BWC she doesn't even know how it got this far and told me basically there's no rhyme or reasoning to their judgements. So basically this Fruit Loop can just continually make claims and keep going to the doctor for an injury my 2 year old could have handled better.

My oldest daughter has been home sick all week. She was sent home Monday with a fever and a bad cough. They can't go back to school until they are fever free for 24 hours so that automatically meant she couldn't go to school Tuesday. Wednesday she still had a fever. Called the doctor and they couldn't get her in until today. At first they thought she had pneumonia but it turns out her lungs were clear. They diagnosed the flu. We lost our insurance in June of this year and I had been getting qoutes for it. Everything we were quoted was incredibly high considering we are all healthy, no illness, no routine meds so needless to say I still haven't found insurance for us which means the visit today is self pay. The doctor did change the Level visit so it didn't cost me as much, not that I had it to begin with but my daughter's sick. They wouldn't test for H1N1- they said she really isn't sick enough to bother testing, which is good, but because I am self pay and the test is $800 they wouldn't do it. They have a no test policy unless your sick enough to be hospitalized. At least that's a bit of relief. If she is still running a fever come Monday she has to go back.

Just when I didn't think things could get worse....

My husband called me as he was getting loaded to tell me we are getting AUDITED for 2007 by the IRS. We have receipts and I keep everything well organized so really it shouldn't be a really big deal but it's the time it will take and finding stuff packed in boxes from 2 years ago. Beyond that I handle EVERYTHING in the office, it is only me and they won't deal with me of course because they are his taxes.

I feel like I need to curl in a ball, hide under the covers and come back out in a year! This isn't everything that goes on day to day obviously but it seems everything has hit at once. I wonder if the Good Lord above is testing our marriage for our 1st anniversary! I have not been sleeping at night very well because I start to think of all this. I keep asking what in the world did we ever do to deserve all this!

Ok I didn't mean for this to be so long but I guess I needed to vent!

fall

CourtneyB — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:34:25 GMT

I ran in the Law Enforcement Memorial 5K yesterday (can't walk today) and it was beautiful. Here are some pics of the trees downtown (DC).

Truly beautiful - kept me going.

A wedding invitation for you all ...

Inca — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:18:19 GMT

As some of you know - I plan on getting married as soon as I get my fiancée to Norway. (for those you that pray - please try my plea with the paperwork department - that he will get his papers soon - he been waiting since March)

I am planing on making a multi strand necklace and bracelet similar to this http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/6614/626qz2.jpg
but I want a side to side whole heart in the middle (for the bracelet a slightly smaller heart) (if I can find a Lampwork artist that can help me with this) http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/6982/needhearts.jpg (yes I suck at drawing)
I want it all in white and clear, matt or sparlky. Just all kind of diffrent beads pearls and so on...

So since I know none of you can come in person - this is an invite if you want to have a "bead" join the party on my jewelry for the day. So if you have a bead or more - feel free to join the party =)

Let me know if you want in on the party - and need my address.
(ofc the beads will be included in my work - so they will not be returned after the wedding)

(this is not a trade - nor a begging or demand - just a fun idea for the BD family to join the party)

Swine Flu Preventative Measures - simple things to keep you healthy

LYILHA — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:51:57 GMT

My mom forwarded this to me. I thought that we all could use the information!

This info comes from a nurse - Preventing Swine Flu

This information was sent from our nurse with the suggestion that
it be sent to all our list of contacts... you would be wise to read!!!

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global
epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to avoid coming into
contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not
so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1
infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms
and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not
fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced
(instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official
communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any
part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't
trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/
nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple
gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has
the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected
one.
Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative
method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with
warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti
(very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose
hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in
warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*

5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C
(Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin
C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can.
*Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the
reverse direction.
They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach
where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

I suggest you pass this on to your entire e-list. You never know 20 who
might pay attention to it - and STAY ALIVE because of it.