Today...

[moonlight]

Today I met with my US Senator at our local community college. I talked with her about keeping doctors in mind when looking at reimbursement decreases. Doctors are people too. I looked right at her and said "I assure you we didn't go into this for the money, we just want to pay our student loans and make a living." I was the only person there affiliated with the local training hospital. Talk about pressure in being the lone voice in the room.

[niener]

Today I met with my US Senator at our local community college. I talked with about keeping doctors in mind when looking at reimbursement decreases. Doctors are people too. I looked right at her and said "I assure you we didn't go into this for the money, we just want to pay our student loans and make a living." I was the only person there affiliated with the local training hospital. Talk about pressure in being the lone voice in the room.

Wow, go you! That sounds intimidating.

[Liisi]

Today I met with my US Senator at our local community college. I talked with her about keeping doctors in mind when looking at reimbursement decreases. Doctors are people too. I looked right at her and said "I assure you we didn't go into this for the money, we just want to pay our student loans and make a living." I was the only person there affiliated with the local training hospital. Talk about pressure in being the lone voice in the room.

I'm sorry you were alone like that, but wow, that's great that you went and spoke!!

[moonlight]

I'm sorry you were alone like that, but wow, that's great that you went and spoke!!

I wished my husband could have gone with me but I didn't know until last minute. He went to a policy conference in DC a while back and I shared some of the items of interest with her. After DH got home he filled me in on more that I could have talked with her about. She visits her often. I hope we get another chance to see her.

[poky]

Today, I have to go outside to clean up the trash that is, I'm embarrassed to say, strewn about the yard. Yesterday, I cleaned out the fridge to make room for new groceries, which involved throwing out a lot of rotten, moldy food. Then the trash smelled so bad I quickly tied up the bag and put it just outside the door, next to the steps, intending to put it in the trash can in the garage after I had finished putting the groceries away. I forgot. Darkness fell. A skunk arrived. My SO and I watched the skunk from the kitchen window - s/he very happily clawed a hole in our trash bag, nuzzled her whole head in, and went to town. Our Beagle spent the next hour and a half frantically whining, pacing, clawing at the windows, so desperate to go out there and hunt that animal. I cringed because we knew the skunk would spread our trash all over the yard, but could think of no sane way to attempt to stop it, of course fearing that the skunk would spray. So we shut all the windows, turned off the lights, shut the Beagle in the kitchen, and went upstairs to sleep. We slept with our door closed and the fan oscillating, to try and block out the sound of the Beagle's whines.

Now it's morning, and here I am procrastinating online, when I should be out there cleaning up the widely dispersed greasy paper towels, egg shells, milk cartons, and plastic wrap before the neighbors see. Sigh.

HA! Just half an hour ago or so, I was sitting in our family room, and heard bottles clinking. I went to look out at the garbage and recycling we put out a few hours ago...and there was a SKUNK digging through it; two big holes in the bag the recycling was in. When I opened the sliding glass door, it backed off a bit. I shut the door, wondering just how I was going to deal with this. I went and found a big plastic tote and got another bag (to put the torn up bag of recycling into), and went back to the door. When I opened it, it backed off a little again, so I closed and opened it a few times...and then our neighbor happened to drive into their driveway, and the skunk waddled off away from that. *whew*! I dashed out and put the scattered stuff in the new bag and the bag in the tote as quickly as I possibly could and breathed a deep sigh of relief when I was back inside with the recycling safe and no skunk spray in evidence. I *really* didn't want to have to gather a bunch of trash up in the morning! Sorry you had to; that really is a tricky situation!

[v-girl]

Today a family friend went to meet Jesus. Her husband passed when I was a kid. The devoted mother of 11 children, a lot of grandchildren, several great grandchildren...and she died in a nursing home. My heart is sad that her life came to this. I wish I could go to my mom's now to hug her and tell her in person I'm sorry her friend died, but she already told me to go to bed. 11 kids and not one could give her a home in her last years.

[Curegirl]

Veronica, that's heartbreaking, I'm so sorry...

[diggitydot]

I'm so sorry, V. Big hugs to you and your mom.

[Liisi]

I'm so sorry, Veronica.

[v-girl]

Thank you. I'm sad for my mom. It's kind of like she lost her friend twice (first to Alzheimers and then to death).

[scrub-jay]

((hugs))

[MarissaNicole]

Today (since we didn't have rubbing alcohol) I used vodka to get a set in ink stain out of my baby's pajamas. Who knew?

[spotty_dog]

... is my birthday!

Good day for a birthday! Did you know Aaron Paul turned 33 on August 27? Trufax.

Today I used the Martha Stewart Homekeeping book that I got as a birthday gift on Monday to inspire me to scrub my kitchen and a bathroom.

Today I organized my craft supplies.

Today my most recent brokerage trades went through and we are pretty much squared away with an appropriate asset allocation!

[niener]

I'm so sorry for your and your mother's loss, V

[Liisi]

Sandy, I'm glad you were able to avoid both the skunk spray AND having a big pile of trash to clean up! Whew! Saved by the neighbor!

That morning when I had to go clean up all the trash strewn about the steps/walkway, and then later that afternoon our dog threw up, I didn't make the connection... but then I realized, he must have eaten some rotten, disgusting trash that I missed from the yard!!! EWWW. I sure learned my lesson about never putting a trash bag down outside and thinking "I'll get to this later."