Spirited and Lively Older Women Thread
Comments
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thanks Marybe, I don't know what kind of insurance she has, but hopefully it will cover that. I will pass the info to here..
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If I had to pay $5,000 out of pocket for health care, I'd be dead!!! I just don't have that kind of cash. Mind you, you guys get to claim interest on your mortgage payments or something, don't you? When you do your taxes?? My sister has lived in the US for 30 years now and I hear all sorts of tales.
I've said it before: You don't quit a job, you quit a boss!!! I found out my idiot "new" boss got fired in November while I've been off on disability!!
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Well.believe it or not, $5000 is not that bad. One of my friends has to pay $7,000 and that is a family policy. Many of the hospitals let you make arrangements for payments, but sometimes if you will pay the balance off you can make a deal.....like say it is $4,000 you owe them, they will perhaps take 3,200 (not an accurate figure just one I picked) if you will pay the balance off then and not drag it out. I have never done that, but then again I have never owed a hospital $1000s after a procedure and I do drag it out.....If I owe say $480, I will call the billing office and say look, I can't pay this all at once and they ask me what I can pay and I will say how about $100 per month and they say fine and then I sent in a payment every month.
We still get to deduct mortgage interest, but if I am not mistaken that is going to change. We used to be able to decuct home improvments and repairs, but they took that away. Also, we do get to apply what we pay for medical expenses after ins and you can also add in the cost of your premiums.....if it equals a certain percentage of your income, they allow you a deduction for that. I have enough deductions and always have them take out extra from my paycheck so I have always gotten a refund and look forward to that. My father likes to tell me that is a misconception on my part....he says" It is your money and they are using that money until they send it to you....you think it is some sort of a present, this refund, but it is already your money that you overpaid".....Whatever, I like getting the refund.
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Many of oldsters have long ago paid off our mortgages so take just a standard deduction. Then we can't all the others as well.
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We alway itemize our deductions since I have enough medical expense to make it worth the effort. Our house is far from being paid off since my DH refinanced to get a lower interest rate and used the savings to do some landscape improvements and home repairs. At least we do not owe more than the house is worth in today's market like so many others here do.
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My DD's house is like that, Elisimo (and I can't get used to that either), and she owes more than the house is now worth. She's getting married in June and wants to sell her house, but with this market now it's looking more and more like they'll be living in it for a while. We're in the same boat as you too, since we took out a home equity loan several years ago to do repairs, etc. Now I just hope the mortgage will be paid off while DH and I are still around!
Kathy
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Ditto QCA and Elisimo, Still have a mortgage but house is still worth more than what we owe, couldn't rent for what we pay even though the house is far too big to maintain. Hope we can find someone to help with the garden as DH is 75 and three acres of hilly terrain is a bit much.
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The insurance issue is serious, people who need to retire because of health problems are just stuck with it since they cannot get new insurance elsewhere. Hubby for one, all because of me, him, no problems with health they have ever found in life ins tests. We are getting more dental coverage so that will offset the payments for all my treatments. And applied for AARP which does give some benefits for joining but I don't know what yet. Anyone? I forget.
We took double whammy on house market. Had cottage, where there was too much smoke from resort. So rented it when we purchased this, had it for sale. Lost $40K in value in a year. We were going to sell it and apply money to this place, refinance and live happily ever after. But this place also took a roll at $50K or so within 9 months after purchase. FHA appraised it too high, obviously. We would have bit bullet and still retired here, a house payment is a house payment, BUT the neighbor's outside wood boiler left no option but to figure out how to move asap, so we consulted attorneys, real estate agents and auctioneers, and finally realized we just had to walk away. So we are packing. We would have gone back to cottage but smoke is thick there too. Everything we had was in the property so Hubby could retire in 2013, and all gone and it is time for something different.
My hope is a new start. Perhaps saving enough money to pay cash for someone's place who is saving enough to pay cash for someone's place - seems here it is musical houses.
Scary and exciting, kind of like getting married all over again, not knowing what it really going to be.
Just don't want to end up in a tent next to someone's campfire smoke! -
Essa - I did have to live in a tent at one time, but I was young and no kids yet so I could try and think of it as an adventure, every week a new campsite in a new state while then DH looked for work. We had lived in a small trailer while he was in school and then when he graduated we felt like we had to move out in order for him to find work. That lasted almost a year and now my idea of camping is a Holiday Inn. Tents now days are a lot bigger and some even have several rooms to them - still would not want to do that again.
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wow...I didn't realize I was so many pages back. no way to comment on all I've read but know that I'm praying for those facing tests or hardships, and laughed at the amusing stories (Isabella, you're always one of them!)
on the most recent topics of this page, the whole insurance/health care thing is so complicated. I'm fortunate that my job has always covered the majority of my insurance and I have to say I love being able to call a specialist and get an appt within a week. I live in a metropolitan area which lots of top notch choices. on the down side, I will be working longer than some others perhaps so I can keep that benefit.
income tax returns - I have extra withholding so we're guaranteed a refund. I get the whole "they're using my money" argument, but hub and I suck at saving, so at least we know that every year, right before our big school tax bill comes in, we'll get a big check to help with that!
love and hugs to all
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We always loved the refund too. May never see another now we foreclosed on an FHA loan. eh.
Went in kitchen to feed dog and when walked back through library and office there were fumes from the neighbor's outside wood boiler in here. Been sitting in here working all afternoon and evening and did not realize it. Do not know how the fumes are still getting in with everything caulked and plugged off, vents covered but Hello pseudo-estrogen! With ER+ and PR+ it is the last thing I need. Might as well just go out and shoot myself. Not really. LOL More DIM please.
The tent thing IS overrated. We are considering renting out of the way cabins and cottages here and there, nomad like until his retirement and we have money saved. Of course will be difficult to save when paying premium rent, but will be lovely in the country and woods. If we find places not too popular, it will be less cost. And during off season, we can settle into one place for several months for a lot less. Finding it is the issue. Places that allow huge hairy dogs and skunks, I think we will be challenged. -
When we visited a national park two years ago, the park service had temporary
jobs around the country..not rangers but people to care for the housing in the park..
The smell thing eventually gets better..I smelled more gas leaks than the gas and electric
knew..and when they came out it was always a leak and I was the only person who smelled it
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=TTfm6l3j1Pk
I live by this, give it 38 seconds.
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Too bad you have to put up with that....no regulations about it??
One good thing about living in San Diego..not much cause for wood heaters..
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I'm coming there, or we may need to move to LaPorte where they are banned, or Goshen or Nappanee. There are ordinances but the state adopted the most lax terms of all states, simply took the easy way out. We do not live where there is a board to help us, no town, really, but are in a residential area on 8 acres in a brick home, and cannot breathe.
What we have not been through and tried to get some control over our lives here. He doesn't caare I have cancer, told me to keep windows and doors closed and to drink green tea. The health department can only do so much since IDEM is in charge. IDEM does very little but the 14-INCH stack was raised to 22-feet and they promised that THIS YEAR they would be certain he stopped burning at deadline, May 1 at midnight. Other than all that, it is his right to burn and we breathe the toxic smoke all day and night, sick today very very sick. Weather makes it very inconsistent. Am witching about it and angry tonight, trying to survive anad breathing this ticks me off.
Perhaps I will throw something through the drywall. Perhaps the computer?
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That is just so crazy.so sorry you have to deal with that in addition to eveything else!
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Maybe a group of you could get together and get a petition going and tell the news what is going on....have someone come and expose the story like the I-Team does on the news here at night (I am usually alseep by then, but have seen the report....they show government workers sitting around when they are supposed to be working, or places marking prices up before a sale, people taking their trash to business dumpsters.....things like that) and get some public outrage going. I would think this would be an environmental issue for more than just your area since the fumes obviously travel with the wind....contact the EPA pehaps? I just think it is awful that you have to put up with that and can't even open a window if you feel like it. The fact that you have cancer on top of all this should make a really good human interest story and maybe, just maybe would get some results.
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In Canada, we have a very short income tax return option:
How much money did you make last year?
How much do you have left?
Send it in.
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Essa, surely to GOD the 22 foot pipe made a difference????
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The pipe did make a difference, we went from the BLACK SMOKE MONSTOR surging over the barn roof to the white low opacity smoke all day and night, but the fumes are still the same. We will be sueing for whatever we can someone somewhere for this, but for now, we do not have money to spare, it is all about surviival.
Today, stupid me, opened the sunporch doors and left dog out there as no smoke or fumes, and there wasn't a breeze. Brought him in, left inside door open for 'fresh' air, and went into living room to smell the fumes all through that side of house. Me and my memory got to keep improving. There IS a reason you don't open windows, Virginia, really.
The EPA is industrial, the Department of Environmental Management and the county health department are supposed to be protecting us, our air quality. But according to IDEM, this is not breaking the law, he is now in compliance. But he was not.
HEC, Hoosier Environmental Council said they were bringing a cameraman in January but dropped that ball. Reminded me, so will write them now and ask where they are, thanks.
Barbe - the tax return is funny but not if it is real : ( them saying to send it in, whatever is left..... Do they really do that?
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Essa - that was a joke on Barbe's part about Canadian taxes. I fill it all out on a computer tax program and send to the government online. Because numbers and I don't get along too well, it is always a bit of a surprise to me whether the government gives me money back or asks for more from me.
Your information about the smoke is very interesting. I hadn't heard of it before and wondered if regulations are different here but wasn't able to find out. When people ask for less government interference, they clearly weren't having to breathe the smoke you have to breathe. It really does sound like a very difficult situation. If there were rules about what sort of wood or material is burned at what times of day or year, would that make enough of a difference? or is it that the outdoor wood boiler causes that level of pollution no matter what?
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There are newer OWBs, with filters, more efficient. This is old but he can use it. He also was (probably still is) using it as an incinerator for his household garbage and cat litter boxes, he has cardboard ones outside and just throws the whole thing in. Yesterday looked out and 5 of his 35 or so unspayed unneutered cats were under my birdfeeder, dog and I went out, scattered them, big dog, huge HUGE dog. Calling Health department Monday so they can weed them out again. Really he is in the woods and we thought his place was the barn for the place on the other side of him, the horse trailer was right by the back door, but it wasn't, it was his home, and OWB was hidden in woods.
If OWB was NOT in woods, the smoke would travel further than here and settle, but still not much help. And he is supposed to only burn seasoned wood, dry, good wood, he does not, he splits aas he loads the OWB to hilt then burns on low smoulder to conserve his wood. But IDEM does nothing, so to speak. Last summer he was legally supposed to have it turned off by May 1 since it is within 300 ft of our occupied buildings, (it is 148-feet from our house) but he didn't and I, being new to the ordinances and not knowing what I was smelling nad fighting did not get IDEM involved until July after I found the mass. They told him to turn it off and he put it on lowest smoulder eveer and smoked out the neighborhood for 8 days and they did not care just let him, I pleaded with them, called police, EPA, DNR, got no help. Hubby talked to him, everyone, and finally put up a stock to comply with his permission, but then neighbor knockedit down right before he could burn again and started the OWB, we called health dept and IDEM and they made him turn it off and same thing, AGAIN it smouldered during high humidity, ozone warning, we literally were dying here, I got emphysema stage 2, swollen glands, pneumonia, and of course the cancer.
Living by this thing is like having diesel trucks idling at my front door. It's as if I were smoking 10 packs of cigs a day because of toxicity and fumes and secondhand smoke.
This is not an ordinary wood stove, it is a wood boiler, designed to low smoulder for even heat and conservation.
While I am complaining, or am I, just explaining, to interested people I suppose, the energy bill he saves on by not having heat from NIPSCO, we overpay for electric for air conditioning from the first nice day when one could open a window and every single night that cools off enough to open windows in summer, we also run a commercial air purifier 24/7/365. We aaare up the kazoo for alternative trreatments and supplements to keep our health, we have no recourse except give up our home and move and no money to do so as yet, but he saved $200 a month on heat for 6 months and $35 a month on water heat for the other 6 months. Of course, he spent $8000 for the OWB several years ago, he says, and he buys wood that is hauled in and he slaves over splitting it, he is 72, can barely walk, but by GOD he will not pay NIPSCO or be controlled by the __________ (opposite of his political party, I quote him) in the use of his OWB which he is very proud of.
Yes, Lassie, the OWBs and wood smoke are quite an issue all across North America. See
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For some time I've been trying to think of some way to check on cyber sisters who just disappear from these forums. Sometimes it is just that they have been busy elsewhere, but no one knew how to reach them. I'm active on over a dozen topics and I've noticed that several of my sisters frequent some of the same topics. I figure that it would take only 3 or 4 of those women willing to keep my phone number and call to see if I'm OK should I disappear for an extended time and I would be happy to do the same for them. If we start a movement to do that we would have few if any instances like the current one in The Fuzzy Room, where we are left wondering and worrying about someone we care for with no way of finding out. This way personal information would not need to be published but someone could always check.
Just send a private message to someone to talk to frequently, maybe feel a connection with and talk to them about the idea, see if they want to exchange information. Chabba
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Wow, Essa. I see the problem you have. It is outrageous that one selfish man can make so much damage in your area, especially since he is burning such garbage so often. I had the pleasant smell of a campfire in mind and clearly it is nothing like that at all. It is quite something that there are so little supports to provide you with clean breathable air. We learn all sorts of things on these threads.
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In the northwest we have burn bans whenever the smoke would build up. They're in stages, but even in the highest stage someone with no other heat can burn wood. The way it seems to work, there's a burn ban any time a fire would be nice, so we haven't used our fireplace for 3 years. I think the penalties for ignoring a burn ban are pretty steep.
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Something needs to be done about that man!! As I suggested before this needs to get into the local news so everyone is aware of what he is doing.
Chabba, I posted this on the pet thread when you asked.....I really think there is a registry that is designed for this purpose and Tam Tam is or at least was the contact. Maybe ask the moderators?
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oh I do love the smell of a campfire. So different. We drive all day long looking at houses, etc, escaping the fumes here and when we pass a wood stove or leaf fire we know the difference. The OWB is fumes, sweet, sickening, gags me, today after fumes all day I am so sick again. We aare going to do more too close off the fireplace AGAIN tomorrow, alrready stuffed and cover on it, but thee fumesare in here.
We have burn bans but no one takes it serious bcz Indiana does not take it serious, since we are in the country and all.
Of all the OWBs on the list I sent to IDEM, only one weent into compliance and then the stack fell off and now all are not in compliance in our area, except his seems to be, but they do nothing. Am on them again. There were 3 by cottage, in resort area, one by a restaurant and library, but they did nothing.
Off to bed, good to be heard, thank you ladies.
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Marybe, how does one ask the Mods a question? I have never found a link for that purpose.
Thanks Ginger
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Ginger just PM them. Find where they have posted and add them to your favourites list and then you always have them there when you want or need to PM them.
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Gingerbrew: Go to Forum Index. The first post is from the Mods for new members.
Or here is the Mod profile link to send a PM: http://community.breastcancer.org/member/56097/profile
FYI - it took me forever to figure it out when I was a new member.
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