March 2006

Daily Dose of Hate – Money

6 Comments / Day to Day, Health and Wellness, Money Talks, Pet Peeves /

Don’t ask me why I am reading I will teach you to be rich, I can’t answer that question anymore than I could have answered it when I was reading Hello Dollar.  Maybe I can answer it.  Now that I think about it.  I think I am reading it (and read Hello Dollar before it) because it’s almost normal to do so and I have hope that I won’t always hate thinking about money, talking about money, moving money around and spending money.  Being rich is not my thing, paying my bills is my thing and that’s pretty much where I draw the line.  If I’ve got more money around than that, then I give it away. 

Where was I?  Oh yea I was here and trying to come up with things I hate spending money on – like a normal person.  The answer everything is not normal, right?  So I read the post and the comments and then the follow up post and comments.  And I saved both as new and released them and went back and grabbed them and saved them as new and then released them again.  See, even reading blogs about money makes me more nuts than I already am!  What do I hate spending money on?  Here’s my list, and it’s making me nervous to even begin to type it.  Not as nervous as that 101 things list but close….

1) Healthcare.  After 41 years of not paying for healthcare, of never paying for a prescription and of buying over the counter medications only rarely, I still can’t get use to paying for healthcare.  Either the insurance payments or the copays.  Michelle and Chris’s copays I pretty much have gotten use to but my own and TW’s – those make no sense.  I am always surprised by something that either is or isn’t covered and in my head any RX copay should be $9, that’s the Tricare way and I’m finally use to that.  Avmed and Blue Cross should both follow along, it’s the only thing Tricare seems to do right.

2) "Well Car Check-ups".  These make absolutely no sense to me at all.  I hate them, hate spending money on them and have finally, after the last one, refused to ever participate in them again.  Ever.  For any reason.

3) Parking.  I hate paying for parking whether it is a parking meter or a parking garage or airport parking or a field across from a concert. 

4) Service charges when buying tickets or services online.  $3.95 service charge at Gatorfood.  $7.50 at Ticketmaster.  $2 at  Fandango.  Blah. 

And there you go.  My list.  Kind of boring.  I could have talked about how I hate spending money on food and stuff like that but that would scare you, some of you more than others but still probably not a good to scare you for no good reason, right?

What’s on your list?  Weird stuff like food or normal stuff like parking?

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New Authors – Through Thursday

Meme /

Booking Through Thursday

Today’s questions were suggested by Christine.

  1. How do you decide to read a book by an author you haven’t read before? An unknown author has little to do with my book selections.  Now if I’ve hated a book by a particular author, I probably won’t rush to read another by him/her.
  2. What sort of recommendations count most highly in making that decision? Recommendations that count highly?  Ummm any recommendation is good.  If I simply see a book mentioned in a blog, on a message board, in an article – whatever – I will reserve it at the library or drop it into my Amazon wishlist to reserve later.  I’m not picky.




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Jesus Land Trigger Trigger TRIGGER

4 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Religion /

Jesusland
I finished Jesus Land last night and put off blogging about it because I wasn’t sure what to say, exactly. I’m still not sure of what to say so let’s go with a list. (Good blogging rule, if in doubt just make a list!)

People who should not read Jesus Land

*If you have a history of abuse or neglect and are triggered by stories of such, do not read this book.
*If you are an ANTI ORGANIZED RELIGION FANATIC, do not read this book.


People who should read Jesus Land

*Anyone who is not easily triggered by descriptions of abuse or neglect.
*Anyone who is not an ANTI ORGANIZED RELIGION FANATIC or on the verge of becoming an ANTI ORGANIZED RELIGION FANATIC

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Daily Dose of Daytona – Museums

2 Comments / Travel Log /

Last weekend was another synchro weekend, this time in Daytona Beach.  Always a good time – Daytona Beach during spring break.  Woohooo.  Last year we didn’t arrive super early and just drove down to the beach and ate at Steve’s Famous Diner with the kids.  This year we arrived early and found ourselves without a plan.  We laughingly considered a shopping trip to Kohl’s but as we were pondering this TW spotted a museum sign.  I crossed a couple of lanes of traffic and we were on our way to the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts & Sciences.

I have to say it, the museum was a pleasant surprise.  It was bigger than I expected.  It covered a wide range of "topics".  The Coke display was obviously a hit for TW and I found it more interesting than most Coke displays.  The cars and trains were cool.  The teddy bears were frightening in a way that Egyptian mummies can never be.  And the mummies weren’t bad either, considering I have mummy issues stemming from my childhood.  (Remind me and I’ll tell you about that some day)  The museum also has a nice little nature trail, again a surprise, even though parts of the trail were closed while we were there.

If you’re in Daytona Beach and you don’t want to do the Nascar thing or the drunken beach  thing then give the museum a try, I think you’ll enjoy it.

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Leopard Hat

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

Well, I loved parts of The Leopard Hat and didn’t love other parts. Some chapters felt like they droned on and on and on while others felt too short and just a little empty. It’s interesting to read “memoirs” to see which stories people give the most detai, the most heart,l to. Or maybe it’s just that Steiker had difficulty writing about the years after her mother’s death? It’s the stories about the later years that I didn’t really enjoy.

If you want to read a nice mother/daughter book, read the first 150 pages of The Leopard Hat and then put it down, you won’t be missing anything by skipping the end.

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In Honor of Eric and Amanda

3 Comments / Daily Dose /

Amanda has made a difference at Blogher and she’s left her mark on the rest of the Blogosphere as well.  She made the biggest difference of all in the life of her husband Eric.  And now she’s hurting. 

I don’t know if we can make a difference in Amanda’s life right now but I know we can all make a difference in her honor and in Eric’s.  Take a minute and light a candle, say a prayer, send energy and love.   Consider how you might make a difference, how you might be able to help, what you might do today or tomorrow or next year and then do it.

In honor of Eric you may send donations to ClearWater Conservancy and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (which provides free care to children with chronic illnesses) – thanks to mipmup for creating the Firstgiving accounts for donations.

Make a Difference

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Daily Dose of Stuff – Monday

3 Comments / Monday Meme /

Mondayuse_2

We don’t drink.  Well we do obviously drink coffee and Voss water and TW has a weird thing for Coke that I just don’t understand.  An occasional green tea or a pepsi but that’s it.  No alcohol.  On the Ferrick-less Cruise last January, we both had one drink.  I can’t remember having another alcohol drink since then and I think the last one I’d had before that was at my 40th birthday party brunch where I was forced to taste some champagne punch thing.  I’m anti-alcohol and I really don’t like drunk people.  Like Prince J has been known to say – alcohol just makes you dumber than you already are.  Words of wisdom from his highness that everyone should take to heart, if you ask me.

So, why is this in our house?  It’s in our house because every Christmas TW’s sister sends us a bottle of flavored vodka.  I don’t know why.  This year we asked why and were told she sent it because it is coffee flavored.  Ummm ok, well the bottles before that weren’t coffee flavored, they were raspberry and stuff like that.  Last year the bottle was simply poured down the drain.  The year before that I assume the same thing happened to it since nobody here drank it.  This year it’s up on the top shelf in our closet and I can’t decide if I want to give it away considering how I feel about drunk people and that whole alcohol just makes you dumber thing.  I’ll probably just pour it down the drain one day while on a closet cleaning rampage. 

What weirdness is in your house?  LJ’s = still waiting for the creator of the meme, Lee, to post her entry… why don’t you post yours while we wait?

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Daily Dose of Diet – Meatout Monday

4 Comments / Diet and Exercise /

Yea! It’s Meatout Monday!  That means spring has arrived!  It also means FREE veggie burgers at Johnny Rockets if you’re lucky enough to have a Johnny Rockets where you live.  I’m not one of those lucky people but maybe you are?  (Thanks to my partner in health, mipmup for alerting us to the freebie burgers!)

Since I don’t have a Johnny Rockets nearby I thought I’d take a minute to give you a product review courtesy of Prince J and TW who went to the grocery store unattended the weekend before last.  It’s a rare thing for them to be allowed out sans adult supervision but I was busy painting so off they went – to Home Depot and to Publix.  (If they went somewhere else, they’re both keeping mum on that but I wouldn’t put it past them, ya know?)

P_deli_cranberry
I’m not sure whose idea it was to buy Tofurky Deli Slices in the turkey, stuffing, cranberry variety but I know Prince J was sure I wouldn’t touch these with a ten foot pole and was sure I was going to make TW try them first.  Prince J, alas, was wrong.  Try them I did and they brought back the oddest of food memories. 

Did you buy lunch at school in the 70’s?  If you did then you probably had numerous plates of turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing etc… at school.  Did your mom occasionally serve frozen tv dinners in the weird metal trays?  If she did, you probably had numerous trays of the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes variety, right?

Well that’s what these deli slices reminded me off.  That processed obviously fake turkey and dressing I ate as a child at school and occasionally at home on those metal trays.  Weird and oddly pleasant in their weirdness.  In fact I enjoyed the sandwich so much that I had another one a couple of days later and today when I run out to the grocery store I plan on buying another package.  Food memories are good things and in this case, a sandwich or two made with tofurky is also a good thing.

Thanks Prince J and TW for an off the list purchase.  Normally that’s against Denise rules so don’t do it again, but in this case, it was ok.

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Sarah Waters

5 Comments / Favorites, Fiction, GLBT /

Click into this interview with Sarah Waters (Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith).

If she had any aim regarding the "lesbian-ness" of her writing,
it was the more properly historical one of writing lesbians back
into history, of telling stories that were once left untold. In
this sense, the label historical novelist, rather than lesbian
novelist, makes more sense to her, though she is happy with
both.

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