House of Zathras

Obamacare isn’t official until 2014. But insurance companies, seeing how it’s going, are working now to make any profits they can while they can.

My new health insurance rates have just come out. From $357 a month to $568…while my employer’s contributions are dropping about $50.

And do you know whom I feel sorry for in this particular aspect of this mess??? All those dads who are court-ordered to provide insurance for their kids who are in the ex-wife’s primary custody…how will that affect their take-home pay…pay that needs to go to child support?

This whole Obamacare is going to be such a disaster for our country. How can people be so blind to this economic bomb?

Is there any hope at all that it could be repealed???

I rarely ‘not’ finish a book. It has to be pretty bad for me to put it down and walk away from it. I only threw away one book that I can recall.

I would like to throw away one I just (partially) read, except that it’s from the library. Then I’d have to pay for the frikken thing, and I’m not about to do that.

The storyline is about a pandemic bird-flu and a family’s efforts to survive. Basic enough apocalyptic stuff, right?

Except this author was a total ditz. I think she’s from the big city and has no clue about life in suburbia.

One of her characters is an art teacher. Who when the fire alarm goes off, takes the time to find out who the line leader is, lets them slowly line up, and gets outside leaving a child behind. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Then runs back in going all the way around to the front to get back in. And then she’s praised as a heroine for rescuing the child she left behind!!!!

This same teacher left in the middle of the school day to go to the post office. Yeah, right. I’d LOVE a teaching job where I had enough of a break to be able to do that…aside from the fact you usually can’t leave campus during class hours. But maybe this author lives in the big city where a post office can be very close by…although this story was set in suburbia, meaning a drive to most places. Then when this character gets back from the post office, the office is empty because everyone is in a meeting in the cafeteria. Again, total bullshit. Someone is ALWAYS in the office, or at the very least the front door and office door is locked.

At this assembly, it is announced to the whole school about the Health Department closing the school indefinitely (because of the bird flu). Again, this is not the way a serious matter is handled. Something that important isn’t announced blandly to elementary school kids. (We didn’t even tell our students about 9-11 the day it happened. When there are hurricanes heading our way, automated calls go to the parents and notes are sent home.)

And then what pissed me off enough to close the book was when the woman asked if she liked teaching, and she said to the affect of ‘it’s okay, but it wasn’t doing‘. Fuck you.

The book sat there a day after that. And then I picked it up again, deciding the author just simply didn’t research with actual teachers, and just assumed she knew more than she did. She did appear to have good research about the spread of the flu, so I would try again.

I read a few more chapters. The flu has spread, there are shortages of food and water. But somehow internet and electricity and water are all working just perfectly! What I couldn’t figure out was why the family was so intent on buying bottled water. When the outbreak started happening, the water supply was still fine…start storing up water at home. Nope, they couldn’t do that.

Then a serious winter storm hit with about two feet of snow and the power went out. So they started cooking their meat so it wouldn’t spoil. SERIOUSLY???? You have tons of snow outside, and you couldn’t keep packing the freezer with that? Or hell, even store it outside in the sub-freezing temperatures?

I was done with the book at that point. I hoped they all died in the epidemic so their genes of stupidity wouldn’t be passed on. But dammit, I peeked at the end and the stupid bitch was still alive.

Thank God I didn’t pay for this inanity. Total stupidity. I can’t wait to get this book out of my house and back to the library. That kind of stupidity can be catching, and I don’t want it spreading here at the HoZ. We have enough of our own without adding to it.

So…do you finish a book even if it’s stupid?

And it’s breaking my heart, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

Remember how I mentioned she wanted to audition for American Idol in New Orleans? After I told her I would take her, I started looking at my calendar and at the demands on my time with my obligations and the kids’ activities. Princess No has gotten involved in a community activity that would occupy a lot of time…I told her she would have to make a choice between that and AI. I couldn’t get her to the activity almost daily for several weeks and spend days away from home for AI. The school year is getting ready to start and I have workshops and preparations to perform that are time consuming, on top of everything else a family needs. PN wasn’t happy, but she accepted having to make a choice and stayed with her long-term activity.

Then a family friend stepped forward who is taking her daughter to AI, and offered to act as guardian for PN. It seemed a workable solution…I wouldn’t have to spend extra days away from home, and PN would still get her chance. They would be staying at a friend’s condo in Mississippi, and hop over to NO for the auditions. There’s registration on Saturday, and the actual auditions on Monday.

All this is when Tropical Storm Bonnie will be hitting. Projected to hit the Mississippi/Louisiana area. That whole area is so full of bayous and rivers and creeks and swamps…flooding is a given. And these tropical storms are in many ways worse that a category 1 hurricane. Tropical storms are generally slower moving and dump way more rain…hurricanes at least move through more quickly.

I have a bad feeling. A feeling deep in my gut that I can’t alleviate. At this time, the family friend is still going to AI. But she is unfamiliar with the area and could face flooded streets and who knows what else. I can’t let my daughter go. I would have cancelled if I had still been planning on taking her myself.

I cried telling my daughter she couldn’t go. I know she’s disappointed and mad, but it’s a risk that is not worth taking. I love her, so therefore I can’t let her go to AI.

Maybe she’ll forgive me by the time she’s through college…

*****************************************
UPDATE
*****************************************

She went. When I first made the decision she couldn’t go, I had just gotten in from a three- and a-half hour drive from New Orleans. At 3:00 AM. And came in, tired as shit, and looked up the storm and really freaked out.

But she went with her friends. They left in the early hours of Saturday morning and got registered with no waiting at all. That gave them this weekend to rest up. Monday is the actual audition day…that could be a long day.

This is wearing me out, and I didn’t even go…

The confrontation of words builds daily. Underlying all of this is fear of slavery. Slavery to the ‘white man’, slavery to the ‘government’, slavery to societal mores (think Facebook)…everyone fears slavery and condemns it but why is it fought by trying to force others inTO slavery? Maybe not outright drudgery…but submission to welfare, submission to electronic control (try going without internet and cell phone for a week), submission to a ‘green’ earth, submission to healthcare for everyone…and through it all, the government takes on the side it deems will grant it more control. We are all becoming slaves. Some enslaved to political power, some to creature-comforts, some to the easy way…give me my internet and no one gets hurt…

Is there a cohesiveness of thought for REAL freedom that won’t crumble under quibbling individual demands? Is there a strength of passion for the republic the United States once was but is quickly disappearing? We have so many disparaging interests which only helps the power-hungry USE us to further their goals…which AREN’T the Constitutional freedoms that made us great.

I fear we are approaching the point where it is too late to do anything to save our country…we are all becoming enslaved to a variety of ’causes’ that just keep breaking us down and breaking us apart. Breaking the will of the American people.

Fly, thought, on wings of gold;
go settle upon the slopes and the hills,
where, soft and mild, the sweet airs
of our native land smell fragrant!

Mindful of the fate of Jerusalem,
either give forth an air of sad lamentation,
or else let the Lord imbue us
with fortitude to bear our sufferings!
-(Hebrew Slave Chorus from Verdi’s Nabucco)

…for pretty shoes and sandals to be made in wide widths? Well, IS IT?

I can’t tell you how many shoe stores I went to today at the outlet mall. I was even prepared to pay big bucks if necessary…but nobody is carrying wide shoes!

It’s very frustrating. I’m running out of shoes to wear…I might resort to fuzzy slippers with everything because I can’t find shoes that fit me. Well, I COULD wear athletic shoes with all my school and church dresses…NOT! My stocky German peasant ancestry is showing in my feet…maybe I ought to claim racism and bias or some-such and have the shoe companies give me reparations in dozens of pretty new shoes!

They don’t have to be fancy…even just a simple sandal…

And if that weren’t depressing enough, the bathroom at the outlet mall had a mirror on the opposite wall of the toilet. (Yes, it was the handicapped stall. I hate how teeny-tiny most regular stalls are…who wants to stand against the damn public toilet just to get the door opened…it’s gross!!! And who the hell’s idea was it to put the toilet paper dispenser so close to the floor…are they expecting midgets in these stalls or what???!!!) But while as I was sitting there taking care of business, I looked up and saw in the mirror…Jabba the Hut’s little sister. I don’t expect to look like a model at my age…but jeez…it was depressing.

It’s been a rough day today. Kid issues, life issues, work issues…I met BR for lunch because I so desperately had to get away from things. I had a Japanese beer while he ate…usually alcohol hits me quickly, but I was so upset I didn’t feel any effect at all. So I went shopping instead. I did find two outfits, but no shoes, as mentioned above.

*sigh*

And on top of it all, Goob and Little Miss may be finding out how rushing into things and hoping love (and sex) makes everything better are finding out the realities of international law. It seems in her precipitate return to Korea, they forgot to check the realities of visas and international laws. She can stay 90 days before she has to leave the country (I think…that’s what I found just in a five-minute search of the internet). If she wanted to stay longer, it sounds like she should have applied for the appropriate visa BEFORE she re-entered Korea. Of course, they’re not telling us much of anything (although I can tell by sitemeter that they’re stopping by here…I guess looking for reasons to be mad at us. *sigh*) I hate that they’re having to go through all that stress, but they just *had* to be together. *shakes head*

So here I sit, sipping my diet drink, getting depressed about life, the universe and everything…

If only I had some pretty new sandals…I would feel better…

Oil still spewing in the Gulf. White House response? Moratorium on exploratory drilling, leading the way to further job loss.

Arizona passes law in an effort to curb illegal immigration. White House response? Sue Arizona.

National Parks being declared ‘no mans land’ due to Mexican usage…Mexican drug cartels using the hills to monitor any policing activity….White House response? Obama goes golfing.

We have an incursion by enemy combatants…and it is allowed to happen.

Obama is no American president…I don’t know what he is, but he is no American leader. He is a tool of liberal agendas, and doesn’t even try to pretend to care about America’s people. He’s intelligent…but that intelligence is distorted by his apparent narcissism that he allows to be lick-spittled into making the absolute wrong choices for this country’s future. A terrible waste of a mind. A miserable failure. A disgrace. And he doesn’t give a damn.

Father, we seek Your peace for our nation and our world.
In the midst of our questions and uncertainty,
we recognize that the unknown details of this day
are already in Your grasp.
We know You sent Your Son as the Prince of Peace
and even this day falls under His command.
Help us to find the strength and comfort we need as a nation
to continue to humble ourselves,
pray and seek Your face for a new day in America
and a new hope for our world.
Amen.

Magnolia Springs is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. BR and I have been kayaking on the Magnolia River that runs through this beautiful hamlet. The mail is even delivered by boat there. An absolutely gorgeous and peaceful place to live.

So when the oil spill threatened the beautiful but environmentally sensitive area, locals first tried to go through ‘official’ hoops to see about protecting this little corner of God’s paradise.

Yeah, we know now about waiting for the Feds or BP to help the ‘small’ people.

So the volunteer fire chief decided to risk jail than to risk doing nothing. Please take the time to read what Mr. Hinton did…it is the actions of people like him which will preserve what beauty can be preserved.

I also read about a Plaquemines Parish president in Louisiana who is using shop vacs to clean the marshes because the purchase of commercial vacs is being held up due to red tape. Again, an instance of not waiting for the powers that be to come and rescue you. Now, it’s not right that folks should have to do this when others are responsible…but they have no other choice.

Lately it seems like bailouts and stimulus money only reach those who don’t really need it. The rest of the ‘small’ people have to get out and do it themselves.

It’s the American way.

Flies. Flies are everywhere. Unusual numbers.

Probably due to the oil spill. Dead sea life and other muck along the seashore…perfect breeding ground for flies and other nasty insects.

An acquaintance of my husband’s went fishing on the Fowl River recently, about a mile up from the Gulf. He said that as he got close to the river he noticed an awful stench. The river was covered in thousands of dead minnows and other small fish.

It’s almost like the Biblical plagues…river of blood? Some of that floating oil looks like blood.

Or maybe it’s from Revelations, where a large burning mountain was cast in the sea and the water turned to blood and the creatures died.

I still can’t bring myself to go down to the beach. But I feel like I should, to be a witness. To be honest, I’ve seen very little video of the disaster. I’ve only seen still photos of the initial volcanic-like eruption. I don’t watch the live-feeds. What for? I can’t personally do anything to change it, and to watch it would just freakin’ depress me.

I’m just glad those huge skimmers are on the way…only about two months late!

Maybe I’ll get up early tomorrow, right before sunrise, and drive down to the beach. To see what I can see.

THIS is what the oil spill really looks like…watch the ugliness as it roils and splashes ashore, just a few miles south of my home. This is people’s lives being destroyed. A way of life disappearing.

The guy who uploaded this video commented that he had to stop filming because a woman behind him started crying. I feel like crying, too.

We just got our property valuation yesterday…with the economic downturn, it dropped 30 grand. And it will drop even more next year after this oil mess has been here a year.

My husband works for a company that depends heavily on tourism dollars. I teach in Florida, which depends heavily on tourism dollars to help fund education.

We are facing some scary times. And Obama isn’t DOING shit about it. To him, it’s not about the people…it’s how to manipulate this tragedy into a means of increased taxation and regulation…if it had been about the people and the environment, he would have accepted the offer of the skimmers (from Holland, I believe) early, early on. No, he could care less, as he demands billions more in emergency funds for more ‘stimulus’ that didn’t work the first time! And where will that money come from? Our INCREASED taxes, of course. Way to help us in this economic downfall, asshole!

Damn you, Obama. Damn you, BP. And damn you environmentalists with your smug, gleeful, superiority over this happening. It’s partly your fault that a necessary resource had to be searched for in such deep waters…what glee can there be in the destruction of not just the environment, but people’s livelihoods? I don’t see Obama doing one fucking thing to FIX the problem. A REAL FUCKING LEADER would stop pointing his finger and FIX the problem, no matter WHO caused it! I don’t care if Bush was the worst president ever…you, Barry, are the president NOW! So get off your skinny ass and do something about it. Or your legacy won’t be as the first black president. Your legacy will be the first black president who didn’t do shit when disaster literally hit our shores. There are thousands, if not millions, of Gulf Coast residents who are wondering if they’ll have jobs in the upcoming months…and YOU are off golfing and having dinner parties! What kind of legacy of black achievement is that? You sure as hell are no champion of hope and change. From where I sit, so near the tragedy, you are acting just like you accused Bush of acting. Lackadaisical, inept, and an arrogant disappointment to the people who believed in you, believed that you were different, believed that you could bring change. From where I sit, you are using the Presidency as your throne of ideological narcissism. You only get off your ass long enough to have a photo op squatting in the wet sand. You’re making Bush’s ‘Katrina’ mess merely look like ice cream falling off of the cone.

As a President, you sir are a miserable, sad, and distinct failure of hope. How’s that for a legacy for the first ‘black’ President. Shame on you for disgracing your heritage and the office of President this way.

Except I don’t think it’s going to help much. Pensacola Pass is being closed because of the oil spill…booms are being laid out when the tide is incoming…and then removed when the tide is going out again.

Why did Obama turn down the skimmers at the very beginning of this mess? Damn him.

It’s the oil slick…we can smell it now. Dammit.

Slowly but surely you’re taking away the livelihoods of so many people here…the fishing industry…the tourist industry…which means a loss of thousands of related jobs, possibly even my husband’s.

I don’t begrudge a company making money. Even companies that make ungodly amounts of money do it while making many jobs available. But are you going to give jobs to all these newly unemployed people? Are you going to revive an ecosystem when it is destroyed?

All because you skipped around some safety features.

And the Obama administration…wtf do you mean by being ‘on top’ of this disaster? You’ve given nothing but lip service. You haven’t really done ANYTHING to ‘fix’ this problem. Take that finger you’ve been pointing at everyone else and shove it up your nose. It would be put to better use there, because I don’t see where it’s made anything else better.

I live in a beautiful part of the world. The coast has always been a part of my life…the timeless beckoning of the waves calls to me and refreshes my soul. The heat and humidity couldn’t chase me away. The hurricanes couldn’t chase me away. But now we face a serious economic downturn…property values could drop, which won’t mean shit when the unemployment rate rises anyway.

My little corner of the world is being sullied. And I hold BP and the Obama administration equally responsible for fixing it. Blame Bush in one hand and crap in the other and see which gets results first.

The slick is edging ever closer. It’s not like a hurricane, after which we can rebuild. It’s killing the ecosystem. An acquaintance of mine recently pulled up 40 pounds of tarballs after going out in the Gulf in his kayak. That’s seeping in ahead of the body of the slick.

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood….

And a third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life died; and a third part of ships were destroyed…..” Revelations Chapter 8 verses 8 and 9:

I don’t always give credence to Revelations…after all, it can be twisted to apply to any situations, just as Nostradamus’s quatrains can. Relevant prophecy or not, it’s a man-made disaster. And certain men need to do something about it.

Just fix it, BP and Obama. That’s your jobs. That’s your responsibility. You owe it to people and the environment. Get serious and get it done. You can’t wash your hands of this mess. Even if Bush is to blame, he’s not ‘in power’ anymore. YOU ARE. So act like it.

O.M.G. Woke up at 2:00AM and had to run to the bathroom. And I’ve been vomiting ever since…AND the other end decided it didn’t want to be left out of the fun. I swear, Torquemada couldn’t have devised a more heinous torture.

BR has never seen me this sick. I’ve only seen me this sick when I was pregnant…and then it was only coming out of the top end. Pure misery. The fetal position was the only way I could lay and not set off another wave of cramps that would, in turn, set off another run to the bathroom.

It doesn’t appear food-related. Everyone who ate what I did hasn’t gotten sick (and please, dear God, let it stay that way!).

Okay, enough grossness…but it’s been pure misery today. Especially since it was Report Card day…and the report cards were here with me, 25 miles from the school. As were my lesson plans, since I had brought them home on Friday to prepare. And I was too miserable to call a sub…but fortunately, my grade level team is the BEST in the world. I know I could depend on them, especially Mrs. T. Thank you sweetie! You’re an angel.

Now…now it’s time to plod back to the bathroom and throw curses at Torquemada.

As I stepped down from my truck the wind whipped my hair around my face. It also brought the sounds of the American flag fluttering heavily in the stiff breeze and the poignant sound of a mourning dove.

The sorrow ripped at me before I even walked around my vehicle. A young family stood around a heavily-decorated grave…windchimes, windmills, small solar-powered glass globes… They glanced back at me, and I looked down, not wanting to project my sorrow upon theirs. Three young children wandered around their parents. I stayed by my truck, pressed back by the tears that were building.

At last they leave, glancing in my direction. I barely noticed, as I walked towards my painful goal…only two sites away from theirs. I heard the family’s truck start and leave, but by that point I was on my knees at the edge of the weathered marker, staring at the birthdate…today’s date, minus 29 years . The tears are flowing freely, and the weight of choked-back sobs is burrowing deep in my chest. I picture his body down below me…and I can’t stand it. I know it’s just a shell, but it’s my brother and I love him so much…I know it’s not ‘him’, but dammit…he was buried wearing his favorite clothes, and I know it’s all down there, under the weight of the ground.

He was only four and a-half. It was 25 years ago. 25 frikken years, and the sorrow can still rip at my heart and take the breath from my lungs. God, how I miss my little brother.

Robby had the sweetness and character of an angel. His heart condition gave him an almost ethereal essence…the only thought that brought any kind of comfort was that he wouldn’t suffer any of the crap of growing up. Always innocent, always precious, always beautiful.

I finally was able to stand and take a picture of the marker. Then I heard the sound of a bird overhead, close to the small magnolia tree that casts a late-afternoon shadow on Robby’s grave. I see a mourning dove soar to the top of the nearby flagpole. I watch it for a moment, and then it soars off, making a complete circle high in the air, with me at the center. It lands back on the top of the flagpole and bobs it head in my direction.

I had to smile. Maybe it was a message from Robby. I need to look up…he’s not down there. He’s free. I’m the one bound by earthly chains of sorrow. I need to look up and away from that burden.

I still miss him. God, how I miss him. I kneel once more, place my finger to my lips and then place it on his name on the headstone. I love you, Robby.

(His grave is just to the lower right of center, two away from the magnolia tree. Behind the magnolia tree is the site the family was visiting…notice all the paraphernalia around the plaque…their son was only two…)


(The messenger dove, reminding me to always look up….)

You can fuck off too, Danny Glover, along with Pat Robertson. You sit with your millions in a 6000 square foot home (last I heard, anyway) which I’m sure must have one heck of a carbon footprint, and you DARE to say Haiti’s disaster is because of man-made global impact and a lack of success in Copenhagen?

I don’t care if you worship Gaia or God…the earth can shrug off mankind like a bad case of dandruff without any help from mankind. And as soon as these folks get off their ego trip of thinking puny man can destroy a whole effin planet, maybe they can make a REAL contribution to HELPING people, instead of just being insufferable bastards. Go blow it out your ass and sniff it. THAT’s the only real impact assholes like Glover and Robertson have on the earth.

Fuck you, Pat Robertson. I don’t know who your God is, but mine doesn’t harbor supposed revenge over time to punish innocents.

Mine would be telling me, ‘Do what you can to help my children who are suffering.’

As my spiritual leader said, “I appeal to everyone’s generosity, so that these brothers and sisters of ours who are living through a time of need and pain receive our concrete solidarity and the effective help of the international community,”

And Mr. Pat…I don’t think you’ll be getting any pearls in your crown over this.

Static electricity.

Static electricity is something we rarely have to worry about down here. But these continuous low temps and driving winds have sapped most of our normal high humidity. The kids at school are, for the first time in their memories, experiencing shocks after they get out of their plastic chairs and touch the metal sides of their desks. (It’s kind of funny to watch, actually! Yeah, I get my thrills where I can.) But, we turned to our science books and looked up information about static electricity. Usually, you can’t even do the experiment with rubbing a balloon against your hair and sticking it to the wall…it’s too humid.

I washed some sheets today, and as I made the bed I heard the crackle of static electricity. And I used fabric softener! My fleece blanket is in the wash right now, and it definitely will get a dryer sheet.

Princess No managed to get a shock when she turned off her light last night, and managed to see a blue spark in her darkened room.

I don’t care about all this scientific study, however. I want my normal winter of highs in the high 50s and low 60s, and lows in the 40s.

I’m a winter wimp, and I admit it.

Although one day I would like to take a horse-drawn sleigh ride. And make a snowman. A life-sized snowman, not a foot-and a-half sized snowman we are occasionally able to make. And it takes every bit of snow that falls in the yard to make one even that size.

And I would really, really, like to be able to do something like this.

Well, tonight was a first EVER for me.

We went to a Japanese restaurant for Eraserhead’s last night here. I had some leftovers, so I brought it home to take to lunch tomorrow.

It’s so cold here that I’m leaving the food in the car. Leaving it the car overnight in hurricane country. Humid, hot, mosquito country.

It just ain’t right. Normally if you leave any food in the car here overnight, you risk ptomaine poisoning the next day.

But tomorrow, I’ll be lucky if my food is thawed by lunchtime.

Oh, vey.

Okay…I know I’ve been very vague about what’s happening with Goob. But until we knew where things were going, we had to be careful.

Basically, for about a week, BR and I were grandparents. And then we weren’t. And now we are again. At least, according to the psycho skank ho that Goob was stupidly screwing dating before he left for the Army back in March.

(more…)

…are worse than trolls. You don’t really have to feed them…but they keep coming at you.

Working on some kick-ass repellent.

*************************************
UPDATE: Repellent is working rather well.

When I went to bed last night, it was raining hard. Steady, heavy downpour. Wonderful to go to sleep by. (Yes, I know better than to end a sentence with a preposition.** I’m still too tired to think straight.)

Just woke up a few minutes ago (6:45 AM). Nothing. No rain. Or wind.

Not that bad at all. I’m sure there’s some localized flooding, and maybe some erosion down at the beach. A few roads are temporarily closed. But overall, Ida was a wuss.

Sadly, there will some people here who’ve never been through a bad storm before who’ll think they can handle a ‘real’ storm. People who won’t leave when the next Ivan or Katrina hits. We could have been in school yesterday and today without any real threat. But you can’t judge that in advance. You have to err on the side of caution. You can’t f*** with Mother Nature because she will find that amusing and swipe you off the planet. That’s what happened in New Orleans during Katrina. Complacency of the dangers on the part of officials and residents killed so many people. Idiots blame President Bush, but he couldn’t do anything until the aftermath. Mayor Nagin and then-governor Blanco failed those people…killed those people. And many of those people could have left. They lived in a bowl below sea-level. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist.

Okay, okay, I’m getting wound up. The point is that ultimately, YOU are responsible for YOUR safety in the face of a hurricane. If you live in an area that is at risk from flooding or storm surge…GET OUT! The water kills far more people than the winds.

Thus ends my PSA for the day.
_________________________________

**That made me think of this joke:

A Southern woman gets on a plane and winds up sitting next to a Northen woman. Being friendly, the Southern woman turns to the Northern woman and says, “So, where y’all from?”

The Northern woman stares down her nose and haughtily replies, “Where I’m from, we know better than to end a sentence with a preposition.”

The Southern woman is silent for a moment. Then she turns again to the Northern woman with a smile on her face and says, “So, where y’all from, bitch?”

(more…)

…aren’t too bad actually. I just wanted to thank all the folks who commented on my lament about having to give up caffeine via coffee, tea, colas, and chocolate.

I had a stress test, also, and it came out fine. Yeah, I got my heart-rate up to the requisite amount without passing out on or being flung off of the treadmill. I told the nurse that I just imagined that zombies were chasing me. Yeah, I got a weird look.

Anyway, I took all y’all’s advice under consideration. First, I didn’t ignore my doctor’s advice. He is in his 50s and is very fit. It’s not like he’s a doctor who ignores his own advice. Doc also seems to share my political views. In discussing ways to exercise around my very busy schedule, (I live in one town, but work in the town across the state line where my daughter goes to school), I mentioned my mother does have an exercise bike. He said that would be a solution while I wait on my daughter and her activities. I said there was a problem, however, because the exercise bike is in front of her tv and we having opposing political views…and she watches a lot of tv. Doc asked who was the conservative and who was the liberal. When I told him my mom was more liberal, he just sighed and shook his head, saying he couldn’t understand how anyone could be a liberal. So yes, I like my doc.

But moderation is the key, right? I have given up caffeine in all its forms for the most part. And in less than a week, I lost four pounds. Yay!

But (and it’s still a big butt right now, lol), Sundays are my caffeine days. I don’t go hog-wild and drink a six-pack of cokes (and by cokes I mean sodas, being Southern, of course). But I did get my diet Dr. Pepper (I bought just one small bottle) and will have chocolate cake later on today (just a slice, not the whole thing of course!).

I’m drinking lots of water, too. I bought a small refrigerator for my classroom and am keeping it stocked with water bottles. That way I’m not tempted to hit the Coke machine for the wrong things. I love ice-cold drinks…and the water-bottles are right there in my room, ready for me.

I know I’ve needed to do this for awhile. But now I *really* see the need to keep myself healthy. I’m not old, but I’m half-way there.

Thank y’all again for all the advice…17 comments on that other post! Medical crap and bugs really brings y’all out.

Heh.

Yeah, I’ve known it for a long time. But it became official today.

I went to the doctor to address some minor health issues that are probably stress related. And I’m going to have a stress test next week just to eliminate the possibility that one of the symptoms could indicate something serious.

But Doc told me to give up caffeine, because it could be affecting the stress symptoms, including possible acid reflux/esophageal spasms.

Doc: “No caffeine.”

Me: *sigh* Okay. I blame my husband anyway. I never had much of a caffeine intake before I married my coke-addicted husband. So I know I can live without it. It means I have to give up my Diet Dr. Pepper, which I love…but I can learn to do it.

Doc: That means no coffee.

Me: Don’t drink the stuff anyway.

Doc: No tea or colas.

Me: *sigh* Those lunchroom ladies make awesome tea…but I’ll give it up.

Doc: And the colas, too!

Me: *sigh* No colas. Check.

Doc: And no chocolate.

Me:

Me:

Me:   No chocolate???? (I’m speaking in a tiny voice because it’s all I can muster due to the severe shock and fear I’m feeling.)

Doc: No caffeine, no tea, no coffee, no colas, no chocolate.

Me:

Me:

Me:

Doc: (shouting) NURSE! Bring the oxygen! We have another one!
******

So…I’ve reached the age where my body cannot easily slough off the not-so-good stuff I’ve given it. I’m officially old…or at least, middle-aged.

And as I drove home, sadly pondering a world without chocolate, one small but gleaming light shone in the recesses of the great darkness that had descended upon my world.

Doc didn’t say anything about beer. Or wine. Or liquor. Hope my liver’s in pretty good shape, ’cause it’s about to get an increase in its work load to offset my chocolate withdrawals.

Take that, Doc.

*Mrs. Who dejectedly wanders away, muttering repeatedly, ‘No chocolate, no chocolate’ to the accompaniment of hiccuped sobs.*

Lice AND Swine Flu.

Thatisall.

Nope…I don’t sweat. Southern ladies don’t sweat. Nope. We may ‘mist’ or ‘glisten’…but we wouldn’t be so vulgar as to ‘sweat’.

Yeah, right.

I just got off the treadmill. Sweating like nobody’s business. My 40-something body’s metabolism has put on the brakes or something. So…I’ve had to do something about it. Thus, the treadmill. I’m trying to be realistic. I know I won’t get back the body I had at 20. But I would like to firm up, lose some weight, and put my body in a healthier state.

I can put a book on the rack and read while I walk. I can handle that. Keep my mind occupied while my body works.

And I realized something else today. Exercise is good at sucking out anger and frustration. Today was the first day back at school. O.M.G.!!!! I’m still too bothered to talk about it rationally, but just let me say this. What they’re expecting of teachers is going to take away from the students. I’ll give you one example. We have a reading coach coming two days a week. Yay! Somebody to help the kids, right? No, wait! The reading coach has to meet with the teachers of three grade levels on one day, and teachers of the other three grade levels on the other day. Because either the state or county is mandating that someone come in and tell us stupid teachers what the hell we’re screwing up on instead of teaching.

Don’t get me wrong…I don’t mind being help accountable for what I’m doing. But I do get pissed off when we’re being told how to do it, when to do it, where to do it, don’t deviate from the acceptable path, and THEN being held accountable when we do it the way we’re told and the school doesn’t reach the goals it expects!!!!!

GAHH!!!!!

Bad first day back to school. Our first meeting lasted from 8:00 AM to 12:45 PM. We have meetings all day tomorrow, part of Wednesday, part of Thursday (with Meet and Greet on two separate hours. Oh, we can come in to work an hour late to make up for that, at 8:15. But that would mean leaving an hour later, at 3:45, right???? OH, wait, Meet and Greet is from 11:00 – 12:00 AND 5:00 – 6:00. Somehow, that means we still spend, oh, more than two extra hours at school????) And we have another meeting on Friday. When do we have time to get the class ready and get lesson plans ready PLUS implement the practices we learned at the week-long unpaid workshop we went to this summer that we were told we HAD to go to?

Shit. I need to get back on the treadmill and glisten some more.

We’re likely to be affected by this:

(courtesy wunderground.com…by very good friend in this hurricane season)

Starting off the school year by having to go to work in a Tropical Storm…not a good sign, eh?

And then there’s also Ana and Bill to worry about, too. And I refused to have my ass kicked by a ‘Bill’. A special blogger friend should understand that (who shall remain anonymous because we’ve done enough incrimination in that realm, lol).

Another email today. Another kid from the encampment has tested positive for swine flu.

My previous post involved a bit of arachnophobia. In general, I really do not mind spiders, because they keep down the bug population. As long as they’re out of the way where I can’t walk into them or ride through them…I leave them alone and they leave me alone.

Case in point: The picture below is from the corner of our carport. One of those banana spiders (better known as Golden Orb Spiders). See those little spiders in the upper right? Those are the males. They like their ladies big, apparently.

But that big lady can stay, hussy though she may be, because she has kept away the carpenter bees that have tried to eat our carport.