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Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

shopping with Dad

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

My friend’s daughter received a Target gift card for her birthday last week.  She had wanted to go to the new Target store ever so badly since it opened in her small town last December.  She had been begging her Dad to take her almost every weekend, until she had about driven him crazy.  You see, they live in a relatively small town, where shopping options are very limited and the new Target store had opened up a whole new shopping experience for them.  She and her parents knew that you can save money when shopping at Target, especially since all of the stores prior to this had been small, locally owned shops, where the prices were a bit high as compared to the larger discount stores in the larger towns.

He is not big on shopping, as most men are not, and he is a very busy contractor and really did not have the time to take her. There was a Target located about 40 miles away, and he didn’t want to drive that far to go shopping, gas prices being what they are, and now he had no excuses not to go, so he agreed he would take her.  It happened to be raining this particular weekend, and his crew was unable to work in the rain, so this freed up his weekend to take his daughter shopping.

So she finally got to go to the new Target store.    The gift card she had received was for one hundred dollars, which is a lot of money to a 10 year old.  She made a list of all the things she wanted to purchase and off to the new Target they went.

She was only able to get about half of the things on her list, one hundred dollars does not go as far as a 10 year old imagines that it does, even when you are shopping at a great discount store like Target.  She was able to get some new clothes, so that she could wear what all the kids were wearing these days, you know how kids are.  And she was even able to get some new jewelry and a new purse; she had to have the latest and the greatest.   Then there was the MP4 player and a few CD’s she wanted too.  She certainly got a whole lot for her money that day.  I was impressed.

Honesty

Friday, February 17th, 2012

When I was a child, about 12 years old, if I remember correctly, I found a $20 bill in the driveway of the local general store.  I lived in a small town in the country,  in a lower middle class community and $20 was a lot of money.

So, being raised as an honest person by my wonderful grandmother, I did the right thing and turned the money over to the store’s owner.  He said that he would hold on to it and if it was not claimed, I would get it back.  Fair enough, as it was more than I expected.

So, we waited for four weeks and no one came back in looking for that $20 bill.  I received it back, along with an additional $10 from the store owner, in appreciation of my honesty.  It made me feel good about myself that I did the right thing, and it also paid off in the end!!!  I was able to buy quite a few things with that $30 – money went a lot further in those days.

BONUS!!!

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

Well, my better half got his semi-yearly safety bonus today.  He got over $1,000.00!!!  And I won the $1,000.00 jackpot at bingo last week for the first time since I started playing Bingo 30 years ago.  What to do with the money, we asked ourselves.

We could pay bills, but that would be dull, don’t you think?  We have been wanting to remodel the bathroom for awhile now and never had the extra money to do it.  I picture a beautiful vessel sink, they are available in glass, stone or porcelain, and are absolutely beautiful!!  Then, we need a vessel sink faucet to complement the sink.  The vessel sink faucets are very unique in style from the standard faucet that we are all used to.  We can get an oil rubbed bronze or brushed nickel finish.  They really do look great and I can’t wait until we get the bathroom finished.  We may even get a custom made copper bathtub to complete the look.  I am so excited.

Open wide and say AHHH….

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

What is it with doctors these days?  I started seeing a doctor in a well-known facility in 2005.  Now, I am the type of person who only goes to the doctor when there is something wrong.  So, I went to the doctor because I was ill.  They ran blood tests, asked me when the last time I had my cholesterol checked, etc., etc.   Now remember, I just went in because I was not feeling well, not to have my cholesterol, blood glucose, A1C and all that other stuff checked out.  Well, the bloods tests came back fine.  So then they put me on the merry-go-round of coming back every 6 months for a check up and blood work (this is how they get you hooked).

So, a few years down the road they start checking my A1C and put me on a low dose of a blood pressure medication and need to do blood work every 3 months.  So now, I have to return every 90 days to get the blood work done.  I went on like that for a couple of years and just last summer the doctor said that my A1C was elevated and that she wanted me to start taking Metformin, a drug for diabetics that will aid in weight loss.  But, she said, that since Metformin causes gastric upset (I supposedly have IBS too), she would like me to start a daily injection of another drug that would have the same effect, but would not cause the gastric upset.  She also tried to place me on a cholesterol medication for an LDL of 89!!!

I had had enough!  I went to another family physician for a second opinion and I am glad that I did.  He checked my lab results that I had brought from the other doctor’s office and took me off the cholesterol medication, and said I did not need the diabetes drug.  Do all doctor’s do this with medications and tests?  Are they allowed to run rampant and order any test that they want and put you on drugs you clearly do not need?  I think that the AMA should monitor these so-called “doctors” a little more closely.

Loss of friends

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

Well, another of my friends, Mary, is moving out of the country.  She is moving to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  As you recall, recently my friend, Linda, moved to Calgary.  Mary’s husband just got a new job for a company up there.  So, they will be looking for a place to live.  They don’t want to buy a home yet, not knowing the area and all.

Mary stopped by the other day and said that she accessed the Internet and visited http://www.rentedmonton.com to see out a home.  She said that the website was very helpful and there were several places that she and her husband were interested in looking at.

They are going to take a trip up there next week to look at homes and hopefully they will find one that suits them.  I am sure going to miss her.