Happy New Year

I'm sooo excited I've had my first hot flash of the New Year.  WooooHoooo!

New Year's Task

New Years Eve....my big plans consist of a few glasses of wine, some leftovers and a little crochet while watching a movie.  That is how I hope 2011 will be; nice and relaxed, and easy.  I have no resolutions per se.  Just like most people they are usually never fulfilled.

I have proposed a New Year Task.  My task is to de-clutter my house and my life.  Each month will be designated to a different room in the house.  I will have the entire month to declutter-/organize/redecorate.  I figure if I spread it out over the year, the task won't seem so daunting.  If I get an area done before the end of the month, I might move on to the next or take a break.

My first room(s) will be the dining room and formal living room/library.  This may be my most complicated area.  I need to paint and buff out the wood floor.  It's the only room I haven't repainted since Joe and I got married.  Not to mention moving (4) 7' bookcases full of books.  I'm already exhausted and I haven't even started.  I just have to keep repeating: one day at a time.

Only a few more hours until the task begins.  I'll let you know how I do next New Year's Eve.

Please Make It Stop

There is a show called "Teen Mom".  Apparently showcasing teen Mom's and their trial and tribulations.  If the series successfully showed how hard it is to be a Mother let alone a teenage Mother there may be some redeeming value to it.  As it is, all it does is launch these girls to celebrity status, sending the message; if you get pregnant as a teen you too can be on TV.  I have to admit I have never seen the show and never will.  I have however seen excerpts from it.  In addition, one of the more infamous Moms is from Indiana.  What a great claim to fame for our state.  I heard on the news tonight the Mom from Indiana is paid $280,000.00 a year to be on this show. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!!!! What is wrong with people.  There are hard working people trudging to dead end jobs everyday so they can pay their bills, yet a socially unfit immature dumb ass teenager makes hundreds of thousands of dollars for being a socially unfit immature dumb ass teenager.  All I can do is shake my head and cry.

Some Times It Works Out

I am very excited my home phone broke.  It is still usable but the caller ID button/phone book and scroll button doesn't work on one of the handsets.  The best part???? I purchased the extended warranty and the phone is still covered.  I bought the phone at Radio Shack.  I spent $80.00 on the phone and $20.00 on the extended warranty.  The warranty also included new batteries every six months for the two years.  The batteries alone cost more than $20.00.  I am one month away from the warranty expiring.  I called Radio Shack, they took my info and told me to send the phone back.  Once I take the phone to Fed Ex and they scan it in, Radio Shack is notified I dropped it off and I get a refund gift card via email within 24 hours for the price of the phone plus tax.  SCORE!!!!!  This is one time I am glad I purchased the extended warranty.

It's A Belated Christmas Miracle

OM frickin G!  (I heard that on Cake Boss and I thought it was hilarious) Anyway, I have been struggling with Medicaid and Medicare ever since my Mother and Mother-In-Law have been in a Nursing Home.  If you have ever tried to get information or get anything resolved with either agency, you know what I mean.  It's a nightmare.  After my most recent circle jerk with Medicaid I was so frustrated, I filed a complaint with the Attorney General under Insurance Fraud.  I knew that wasn't really the right place to complain to, but I didn't know where else to start.  I figured at the very least it would get their attention.  I didn't hear anything for over a month; then I received a letter.  It stated their agency was not the correct agency to handle my claim but it had been forwarded to the agency that would be able to take care of it.

When my husband saw the letter with the return address of Attorney General he thought for sure we were both going to jail (for what, I don't know).

About a week after I received the letter I received a phone call and an email from someone in the office overseeing Medicaid Administration.  I was shocked!!!!! I have never had a more pleasant and productive conversation with someone in a government office in my life.  She was not only going to take care of my Mother-In-Laws issues (for which the complaint was filed) but my Mother's as well.  She has also reassured me she would be keeping in contact with me on a weekly basis until the issues are resolved.  Maybe I'm being gullible, but I believed her.  A little bit of faith has been restored in my otherwise negative opinion of the government.  While it's far from perfect it is nice to know there are avenues of resolution that do work.

Hopefully I am not getting too excited too soon.  I will hold off on the fireworks until everything is resolved, but at least there is a spark waiting to ignite!!!!

Please At Least Say Hello

Isn't the point of a Walmart greeter to greet you when you walk in the door?? Otherwise they would call them Walmart person standing at the doorway not wanting to make eye contact or not having the social skills to interact with people.

Honestly I could care less if a person is at the door to greet me when I walk in to shop.  However, if Walmart is going to pay someone to stand at the door to "greet" people, then they should at least train them to say hello.

I have been to Walmarts where there have been cute little 'ol men so happy to see me and make sure I have a shopping cart.  That's fun, it makes me smile. 

Today I was greeted by a sad little woman, not looking at me or even responding when I said hello.  Maybe it was just a fluke and I caught her on a bad day. 

I had to go out of the store and then return because I forgot something only to find a new greeter at the door.  I was full of anticipation hoping this new greeter would give me a smile and a hardy HELLO!  No such luck, she was as sullen as the last person.

You know times are tough when Walmart can't even hire a greeter that actually fulfills their job description.

A Time To Cull

Culling: The process of removing animals from a group based on specific criteria.....  I'd never heard of that word until I started raising chickens, and in the 4 years  I have had chickens it has never been an issue until now. 

My first flock consisted of 10 hens.  5 were killed by predators, 2 died for unknown reasons, 2 are still healthy but not laying eggs, and 1 is on it's way out as we speak.  My second flock of 27 which are less than a year old are all healthy, happy and laying eggs.

So here's the problem...I never had to worry about weeding out the inferior hens because it was pretty much taken care of  nature's way.  Now that I have 30 chickens it's not productive to have hens that don't lay.  If I was a true farmer, I would have no problem culling the 2 old hens and the 1 sick hen.  (Culling is just a softer way to say kill.)  I can't bring myself to do it.  I also have 2 roosters that are of no use except they are pretty and fun to watch.  Most roosters are killed soon after they are hatched because they have no production value.

At first, my excuse for not getting rid of them was I couldn't find someone to do it for me.  There are no commercial butchering companies locally that would butcher and dress the chickens.  Now however; I have at least 2 people willing to do it for me but I can't bring myself to turn them over to them.  My issue with this is seeing them as pets, not livestock.  I wouldn't kill my dog just because he stopped fetching, so how can I kill my chickens for not laying eggs. 

I can see it now.....3 years down the road I will have 100 chickens of which only 30 lay eggs; which means I have 70 pet chickens.  I'm so pathetic.  I'm really hoping nature will continue taking care of things for me.  Like maybe lightening striking only the non laying chickens.  That would be perfect.