INSOMNIACS place to talk in the wee hours

Jazzygirl

Shepkitty- I like the visual of "old me" on the patio with blowing out birthday candles sounds like a hoot! Well, I do want to check out one more place, but you know, after seeing the "cadillac" of patio sets can just spoil a girl!

We really do have beautiful weather here most of the time. The spring here is a long unfolding, but things are really greening up right now. I did not spend any time in the gardens this weekend with all the rain, but did put some new things in my covered patio sitting area together today.

Loveroflife- I am with you on needing more than a day, but think I got a lot of the bigger things done this weekend and then will chip away during the week at the rest. I will go into the week feeling pretty organized after spending time at home today. My project is actually slowing down a bit around some review work that may take another month to complete, and may approach my client about working less hours for a bit until we can ramp up again.

The following picture is not mine, but one from a friend on FB who was hiking around the foothills today. The mountains have had this misty and snowy look for three days now, I saw it yesterday when I was over on the east side of town closer to them. Bit of winter has returned, and three good days of moisture!

Lookforward

I'm pooped, we painted our kitchen and family room. I got all the kitchen stuff back in the cupboards, and the pantry is also done. I planted some more garden and started vegetable and flower seeds and put them in my mini greenhouse. Some of my garden is coming up, which is very early for here. I also got some color from the sun, I'm not pasty white anymore. Jazzy we could use some rain here, it's very dry.

Shep I hope you have a better nights sleep and are not in pain. Sass don't stay up all night again.

Junie I've done the same thing, once I was a little tipsy so that's a good excuse and i did it a couple of weeks ago. A lot of washrooms in the malls don't have doors and I just walked in the men's and ran right out.

Loverly since I don't work everyday is a weekend. I volunteer at an extended hospital care facility in the gift shop, and it's very slow. I take my knitting , a book and my iPad to keep busy. I was debating on finding a part time job, we'll see

Lookforward

Anonymous

feelingfeline ~ your husband is a Southerner and won't watch Gone With The Wind? Fiddly Dee! He's probably just scared he'll tear up during the fall of Atlanta I live in coastal South Carolina not too far from the North Carolina border. How neat you married a Carolina boy! Love your term "stage oirish". Hollywood, ugh....

Lookie ~ How in the world did you accomplish so much? Wow! I still need to put things back in order from "projects" that were finished 5 years ago........My hip is quieter tonite. Maybe I'll get some sleep

Sas ~ Hope you have a peaceful night. Saw this and thought of you;

Sweet Dreams to All!

Loveroflife

ShepK, good questions. Unlike the English language, to express something that is plural there is a particular word you add in front of the noun if specific number is not used. To express tense, certain words are either added before or after the verb. It's very simple. No different verb forms to deal with. My simple mind can't seem to grasp the complexity of English. Haha! One of the things that can get tricky for westerners trying to learn the Vietnamese language is the usage of pronouns. The proper terms used to address a person depends on the differences in age and the social relationship between the speaker and the listener. So for example, I can't address my female friend who is older than me by simply using the pronoun "you". There is a different pronoun I need to use to show the age difference (also gender specific) out of respect for this older friend.

Jazzy, do I you think this patio set that you like will be outdated in a few years or does it have a classic look that will never go out of style?

Forward, good one. Haha.

JunieB, Mitzy does not display food aggression towards DH, me, or older daughter. We can move her bowl around or pet her while she is eating and she doesn't mind. She doesn't like it when my younger daughter does it though. DD2 can be noisy and obnoxious when playing with Mitzy and Mitzy doesn't care. It's only when Mitzy is eating, she can't handle the annoyance. DD2 knows no to leave Mitzy alone during feeding.

Loveroflife

Just saw your post above mine. Hope you get some zzzzz tonight, ShepK. You too, Ms. Sas.

Loveroflife

Oh boy, it's almost 1:00 am. Should not have drunk the green tea too close to bedtime.

sas-schatzi

GOOD MONDAY MORNING OWLETTES>>>YAY?. screwed up sleep , but I will survive. I posted this on W&F's yesterday. Below it is a watercolor we bought from a local artist. Below that is another watercolor that she painted. She disliked the watercolor of the flowers. But we didn't know that at the time. We only found that out when we went to try and get something similar for my SIL. This artist loved the southwest colors

Loveroflife

Forward, wish my every day is a weekend. Need to work for our health insurance. Too expensive to pay monthly premium on our own. Thank God we don't have a mortgage on the house we live in. 65 seems so far away.

sas-schatzi

Jazzy, tough to decide on something when you see something that makes you happy. Ask them if they will do 90 days or 6 months same as cash i.e no interest. I, generally, can make myself believe I got a deal this way. It's not, but it sounds good. Pretty, pretty is always such a day brightener. Go girl, Hakuna Matata. I think you will enjoy this kid. AND enjoy the patio set

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EukoDjPWF0o

or maybe this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPEWapiPNs4&ebc=ANyPxKqupRDTnA8hek9N3oxWWRvXlOld8fgL5UG73x0A-_1fW0Ts88akuUg5o1rEyntYhz0d3WB7haCVddIgkYZHIGsAjeRmzA

sas-schatzi

Another Social Work Avenue. I found this thread years ago http://www.needymeds.org/ It was started by a Social Worker out west and a doc in New England. They both wanted to help folks. It became a 501c3 charitable foundation. It's not an easy web site to use. I used to call folks and we would log in at the same time. We would click our way through the different pages to show them the ropes. I just did it with Phyliss last week. It's like an old farm house that rooms kept being added. I suggest that you attempt to wander through the pages over several settings. You have to be patient, patient. This search isn't going to be done in minutes.

Look at the tool bar in black. Hold cursor over "Patient Savings". A slew of categories will come up. It's a good place to start.

The key one you want to go through now is the "diagnosis specific">>>Diagnosis information. After studying that section Go to "diagnosis-based assistance.

Some of the info overlaps from page to page. Some doesn't. That's why it takes so long to work this web site. Just when you think you've been through every room of the old farmhouse. You find a new room with lot's of stuff in it.

When you click on breast cancer on the ' diagnosis- based assistance, it will bring up alphabetized organizations that help BC patients. The far right will tell you in which states the help is offered. The middle describes what type of help. Some offerings are with co-pay assistance, some with housecleaning like Shep suggested. Each organization is different, the help covers a wide range of things.

After you go through breast cancer. Back up to the "diagnosis -base assistance" page and click on cancer. After you are done with the national cancer page, back up and go to national bone cancer page, then the national MBC pages. If they're any more diseases that apply to you, go for it .

Under "Patient Savings"(black tool bar) there is another section re: perscription assistance. All pharmaceutical companies have Patient Assistance Programs(PAP). You click on the drug you are seeking assistance with. It will bring up the Pharmaceutical manufacture. You can read what their criteria for assistance is and apply. Go through all your drugs.

The beauty here is there is a link to a page that has the form for copay assistance. You fill it out once. You can use the same form for each drug company. You click on it and it's sent to the Pharm company. Easy peasy. If you don't like doing it on line here, then at least you have the phone number to call. But what will happen then is each PAP of the pharma manufacture will come in the mail or by email. Filling them out individually can be a pain if you are applying for assistance on multiple drugs.

Plan on a couple of settings or more to get through this web site. Have a pen and paper ready to write down what applies to you.

When I talked about the wealth of information that can be gathered from a Social Worker, this is the grandmother of social worker lists.

sas-schatzi

Another Social Work avenue. Contact the Social Worker or finance person in your Cancer treatment center. Ask for review of your medications to see what you can get assistance with. It would seem that this is done automatically. We (DH & I ) didn't find out about this one till we got behind 2000$ on Neulasta. Chit a few questions later, and a bit of paper work and we had a grant covering all the Neulasta shots. PLUS, some retroactive coverage with reimbursement back to us.

Then I asked for all our drugs to be reviewed. Some were approved for grants that were already being covered by insurance. So, that grant money didn't get used. BUT say we lost our insurance, we knew there was an avenue for assistance on that drug.

I was a bit pissed. Why this wasn't done for each patient at admission to the cancer center for care, by automatically reviewing what insurance covered and then automatically looking for grant money for other drugs, no one could explain. It's not just in the patients best interest. It's in the cancer centers best interest b/c they know they are going to get paid.

sas-schatzi

Another Social work avenue. Each social worker provides a service in the setting they are in. Not all have the same information. I learned the best question to ask was. 1. may I speak to the social worker & finance person 2. To the SW, "can you identify any organization that can help with defraying cancer costs". "Can you identify anyone that can help with the other problems related to cancer i.e transportation, grocery, utilities, taxes, gas" 3. who can work on the drug assistance coverage.

1. It would seem that this was self evident that all cancer patients have the similar money problems. 2. it would seem a reasonable thing that all SW's have the same lists--they don't. It all depends on what the SW's experience has been and what they added to their handout file. 3. you have to advocate for yourself.

After being involved from Jan 2009 for me(BC) and April 2009 for DH(Lymphoma, I asked my insurance company to send a SW to the house in Jan 2010. She came with a list. Circled some that may apply. The SW provides the list, it's up to the patient to make the calls. Neither DH or I were well enough to make calls. Anywhoos, I finally got around to contacting folks. Can you imagine learning he could be eligible for a grant up to 5000.00$ from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Boy did I hustle getting the paper work together and submitted. DH did get the 5000.00$ grant. It could be used retroactively till their fiscal year beginning July 1st 2009. I did have presence of mind to prepare the next grant application to be submitted for the next fiscal year. What we missed out on was grant coverage for the first 6 months of 2009.

It was this same SW that identified a local fund that awarded grants to residents of two counties. It was a 501c3, but not listed in Charity Navigator. A well kept secret. We each received a 2000$ grant from this foundation. That was a total of 9000$. 5000$-LLS & 4000$ Local foundation. Every single penny was used.

The problem with this was, we went through hospital SW's with frequent admissions & Cancer center SW's for a year, and no one brought this up about assistance from the LLS, local foundation, or even the cancer centers finance/SW folks. It all had to be learned as time went on.

Locating needymeds.org didn't happen till long after our worst times, and I was trying to help someone else.

.

JunieB

Holy Moley Sas! You truely are a a wealth of information. Thank you so much! I will do as you suggested. I was aware of needymeds.org when I didn't have prescription insurance, but now I do have it and only have to go the cash route once in a while, then I go to Costco. They have a program for Costco members who don't have insurance or their insurance doesn't cover a particular medication. Costco's discount is close to needymeds, with in a few cents usually. My Ibrance is $10,000.00 a month and my co-pay would be $3,200.00, so I get it through Pfizer's PAP. Thank goodness, because otherwise I'd be outta luck.

Also, I love watercolors. There is a framing shop here in town that displays the work of local watercolor artists. The beauty & detail in those paintings is just awe inspiring.

Loverly - Where in the world do you find those Minion sayings like the soap opera one? To cute. O.k., I read your explanation about the Vietnamese langauge usage, very fascinating. Would you give an example of how you would address a friend who is older than you or your Mother in Law, etc.

I am glad that Mitzi is o.k. with people being around when she eats. Back when I had 2 males, my Cairn "Joey" & a mixed breed rescue "Puppers," They were both food aggressive, not with me, but each other, so I had to feed them at opposite ends of the kitchen.

Once I scooted out of the men's room I went right into the woman's room next door, then back out into the store to do my shopping. I really doubt any of the men even noticed me, because they were all busy with their stuff. I just made sure not to draw attention to myself. I did joke with an employee about how unfair it is that they flip flopped the location of the bathrooms from each store. Plus, in hindsight it happens to a lot of us, so I choose to look at it as just another funny story to share.

Lookie - How in the world did you get so much done in one day? I do laundry one day, shopping another, or when I volunteer one afternoon, I'm exhausted and done.

Anonymous

Lookie is a powerhouse!

Loveroflife

JunieB, I like the soap opera too, but that was Forward to posted it. Ok Vietnamese 101: If the person is around the age of your parents, then you can use something similar to Auntie for female ( Gi younger than mom and Bat if older) and Uncle for male ( Chu if or younger than parent and Bat if older). If the person is much older (grandparent's age), then Ba (female) and Ong (male). The pronoun used to address a person usually indicates a degree of family relationship. From childhood, a person is taught to respect his/her elders. If you notice, I have been using Ms. to address MSs Chevy, Sas, Smarty, Ginger, and Wren as they are either older than my mom or a around the same age or 1-2 years younger than my Mom. As for you or Jazzy, if I were to speak to you in Vietnamese, then I need to address you both as Chi (Big Sister)

queenmomcat

Proud owner of new laptop--lighter than my old one, and hopefully a longer battery life, otherwise much the same. But no sneeze marks or cat hair.

Also following the Vietnamese 101 with interest.

Lookforward

Junie Google minion sayings and they will pop up.

Queenie congrats on new laptop, don't sit on it.

Now for some disappointing news, my husband put my mini greenhouse on the deck this morning and it blew over . Most of my seedlings are gone and the seeds l planted yesterday are gone as well. 😢😫😱 I will have to rebuy the seeds, hope they are still in stock.

Smaarty

I don't want to make anyone envious but we hit the 90s today. A little early for us. I'm sure the rain is gone for now.

We had the bridal shower yesterday. It went well and she was very happy. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Glad it's over. Now I have a baby shower to do but not until August. Not the same person! 😱

The bride and me. The apron was loaded with kitchen gadgets for a game.

My mom and bride. Everyone enjoyed getting a pic with the bride and frame. It's my nephew that's getting married next month. My sisters' oldest.

JunieB

Loverly - Thank you very much for the Vietnamese 101. When I was reading the earlier post I from Shep, it made me think about just how crazy the English language must seem to anyone coming from other non-English speaking countries. Words like sewer & sewer, hose & hoes, where & were & wear, there & their & they're, etc.

Lookie - So sorry all your work went flying away. How disappointing and frustrating.

Queenie - Congrats on your new laptop. Hope it serves you well.

Shep - I want what Lookie's having too. Although, a friend of mine told me that a lady she worked with who has been dealing with multiple myeloma for 7 years was always exhausted and her doctor never told her about vitamin B-12. But once she started taking it, she said it was like night and day, energy wise. So I decided to try it and while I can't say I have an excess amount energy, I think it has helped some. I use Dr. Mercola's B-12 spray every morning. 6 sprays equals 1,000 mcg. Just a thought.

Lookie & Susan - There is an organization that you may have heard of, it is called "clickforbabies.org" This organization gives out little purple knitted caps to babies to bring awareness of "Shaken Baby Syndrome" Individuals knit the caps and donate them to their local hospital, I believe. Maybe you might be interested. I want to learn how to knit in the round, so I can knit some caps.

Anonymous

Loverly ~ What a beautiful language! Vietnamese is so much more personal than English. I love the special meanings of the pronouns. Please teach us more! How are your verbs and plurals expressed?

Here in The South we also use terms of respect. A polite child should alway address an adult as Miss or Mr. before saying the adult's first name. (Miss Betty, Mr. Bob) Adults address each other the same way to show respect or fondness. An older lady is addressed as Ms. instead of Miss, unless the relationship is less formal. All ages use "yes/no sir" "yes/no m'am". Woe to the child who answers with "ya"! To ask a person to repeat something you didn't understand or properly hear, it is nicer to ask "m'am?" or "sir?" than the redneck "do what?"....which is still better than that bark of "ehhh?" the Yankees from up North say!

To make English even more confusing, there are the "Southernisms". We "mash" buttons, lights are "cut on" and then "cut off", at the store we push a buggy to put our groceries in, if someone needs a ride you "carry" them where they need to go.... and there's the word "like". "The mall was so busy, I liked to not find a parking space" "That car turned the corner so fast it like to hit me".... Other parts of the country have their own word uses too. It's a wonder we can understand each other

Anyone else have some good "regionalisms"?

Anonymous

Smaarty ~ Great pictures! Love the use of the frame, very clever. A game with an apron and kitchen gadgets? I would have to hide from that scary stuff!

Queenie ~ Yay new laptop! I'm jealous....don't think there's anything in my house that doesn't have sneeze marks. Dog boogers, ewwww.

Sas ~ Sooo much info to look into, wow. You really know so much! Still sorting out doctor stuff and then I'll post on the 2D6 thread. Stupid hip pain is slowing me up. The video you posted of Ethan Lane singing was really good. The two songs blended together sounded like that was the way they were meant to be. Tried searching but I could only find one other song of his. Wonder whatever became of him? Sorry you're still not sleeping

Lookie ~ so sorry about your greenhouse. Poor little seedlings.....

JunieB ~ I've tried B-12 and have even gotten injections from my PCP but haven't had any results. My system is weird..... a lot of things work opposite on me. I need to watch my caffeine intake because of the meds I'm on.....not a big deal though 'cuz caffeine makes me sleepy. I love tea but have to drink decaf so I don't fall asleep at the breakfast table!

Goodnight and restful sleep to all

JunieB

Shep - When I was doing Home Health Care (a home health aide) in Las Vegas, NV, I had clients from New York, Louisiana, Taiwan, etc. The first time my client from New York asked me to get her some chopped meat, I had no idea what that was (ground beef), then the client from Louisiana told me that the Johnny Mop was in the bathroom. Again, What? The toilet brush. I forget some of the others right now, but I really enjoyed the education I received from some of my clients.

Since I was born in Germany, my mother tried to get me to learn German, but we didn't use it at home, so I couldn't understand the purpose. There has only been one time in my life I wished I could speak German, and that was during a time when I had a job as a cashier on the Las Vegas Strip and tourists from Germany were trying to get directions, but didn't speak much English. Other than that I have never had a call for it.

Loveroflife

Ms.Sas, l like the videos. Good reminder for me, especially having crazy last few days. Why is it that things go wrong when DH is on a mission trip? A lady left a note with her name and phone numbers( bless her heart for being honest) on our car last Friday stating that the strong wind caused her car door to swing open and knock a chunk of metal off the side mirror of our car. Yesterday, while driving to church, the suspension of our SUV had a mind of its own. Every time I went over a tiny bump or pot hole, the car started to bounce up and down for at least several seconds. It was scary and funny at the same time. The only thing missing was blasting loud rap/hip hop music from my car. Ha! And then today while I was at work trying to close the place, two different tenants of DH's clients called within 5 minutes of each other. One told me that the microwave was down and the other, the AC I am NOT a Jack of all trades!

🎶 Don't worry, be happy🎶

I will ask DH for a raise from $0.

ShepK, darlin'.....I posted the answer to your question in the previous post. It's right after the post with the pic of Sassyland. Let me know if it doesn't make sense. Sorry hip is slowing you up. My DH has similar effect to coffee. This is the guy who loves NyQuil. He will start taking it if he has a hangnail. Haha. I used to live in Louisiana and still remember the southern polite manners. When I first moved to California, I often used the yes/no sir or ma'am. Stopped using the phrase after several weird stares from people.

Forward, bummer about the seeds. I think we got the same wind last Friday.

Ms. Smarty, lovely future bride and Mom looks marvelous.

I really don't like this marathon of not being able to sleep early. I think I have deflated enough. Nite nite

Loveroflife

JunieB, you are a first generation immigrant too? Gosh, I heard German language is even more difficult than English.

Queenie, ooh new laptop... maybe I should fall on my IPhone so DH would get me a new one.

Nite nite for real.

Jazzygirl

Hi ladies- into a busy week but wanted to say hi!

Loverly- I think the patio set will be nice for a long time. I never worry about things being outdated, I live in place where people still have 80s hair and that works too!

Sassy- that is a great idea about the financing.

After thinking about it for a few days, I am still on the fence and going to keep looking to see if I can find something else in my price point. A custom set will always be available for me to choose if I want it?

We had more rain and even some snow yesterday! Got cold yesterday, and the mountains here are snow capped again. Waking up to upper 20s today. We should be past the chance of winter soon, but not done yet. Friends in Denver tell me 51 inches in the foothills. Is Chevy still on this thread?

susan3

June bug, thanks...t will def check into those baby knitted hats. On you tube you can learn to knit. They have some great people posting in there.

sas-schatzi

Morning, Haven't caught up........Off on a quest to find energy efficient HVAC system. Studied it before, but now down to making a decision.

Lookforward

Junie the knitted baby hats are a great idea, but I'm still at at basic knitting. I need to take more lessons. I'm off today to volunteer at a fund raising bridge luncheon, we raise money for extras for the residents of a long term care facility. Sometimes I feel it's not extras but resources needed that goverment funding does not cover. Last year we bought two lifts to install in residents rooms. This year we are redoing a sunroom with new furniture and a room makeover.

Jazzygirl