7 Quick Takes

Giving 7 Quick Takes another try this week, even though last week I totally messed up and instead of linking myself up... I linked Stone Mountain Park... Yep. Me + technology = Best Friends Forever. 

1. It's another perfect fall day here. At least the view from my perch is quite nice. We've been on "natural a/c" all week - windows open and breezes blowing through. I have to put on socks in the morning when I come down because otherwise it's too cool. I'm still on a/c on the top floor because - well, heat rises - and also, we don't have screens on the windows up there so we can't open the windows. I have been able to just use a/c without supplementing with the box fan and was even able to dry my hair AND put hot rollers in this morning without having a heat stroke or needing a cooling break. Even when I made golf chicken for dinner last night and had the oven going for half an hour, it was only slightly warm. Right now I have the dryer going and am not sweating. In summary: fall is awesome. 

view from the front porch... 

2. After a week of the dogs being gone, the birds and squirrels have returned to the front porch. The only problem I have now is that Eddie and Trouble both want to sit in the same spot in the window. They just had a really heated slap fight over it. Stubby is content to sit at the top of the stairs on the top floor and listen for the sound of cat food hitting the dish to come down. He eats and then heads right back upstairs. Yes. I just wasted a quick take on the cats. Not a lot of material to work with, y'all. 

Less humidity... less frizz...

3. In the past week I've seen the season premieres of How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory and Grey's Anatomy. None of these really lived up to the hype. I did enjoy Lily's first encounter with the Mother on HIMYM but otherwise it wasn't really THAT good. The Big Bang Theory was more *yawn* than usual. I almost forgot I was watching a new episode and totally went into re-run mode by not even looking away from the computer screen to look at the tv. Penny hugging Sheldon was cute but otherwise it was... eh. And Grey's Anatomy would have been better if I had actually had time to watch the episodes from last season. I wasn't really invested in the story of the interns involved and they've jumped the shark so many times with the original characters that I was having a hard time believing the Chief would die. And he didn't. So there's that...

Little Kitty trying to sneak out the front door

4. Do you guys do Pinterest? It's sort of my default entertainment. If I'm bored with what's on tv, have caught up on blogs, have read all the stories on TMZ and The Daily Mail and don't want to play any more Farmville2, I go to Pinterest and mindlessly scroll through what my friends have pinned. Sometimes they really frighten me. There's this person that I follow just because of their participation in the autism community who pins lots and lots of pictures of women's legs. It's kinda creepy. My friend Linda pins a lot of Disney stuff but it's all cute and I enjoy it. There's a girl I know by two degrees of separation (she's a friend of a friend... I used to rent from her parents... she married one of my customers) who is a writer and she pins a lot of writing inspiration. Myself... I mostly just repin stuff that other people have pinned and stuff I want to buy but can't afford. My favorite topic is history. You can follow my boards if you're bored. *wink*

5. I was going to make my yummy chicken sausage with kale and orzo for dinner thinking that the parents were coming up tonight but they aren't... and Austin volunteered to make Hamburger Helper and Logan brought over some ground beef so I'm going to let the kids take over the kitchen. If they leave the kitchen a mess, so help me, I'm going to end up on the news and it's not going to be a feel good story. Also, if they think we're eating at midnight, they're going to end up going hungry or eating cheetos for dinner again. 

Here's what it looks like from the living room nest...

6. Pretty soon I'm going to start blogging about my experience with the "Affordable Health Care Act". Someone once told me that it was crazy for me to be a Republican as a poor single mom. I know. I'm full of all kinds of contradictions. Here's my perspective at the moment... I'm unemployed, fighting the government to acknowledge that I am no longer physically able to work, I have very little money and what little I have goes to pay my medical expenses. The way it stands now, I will have to come up with even more money as a penalty for not being able to afford health insurance OR find an insurer who will take me with my long, long list of health problems for an amount of money that I can afford. If you have no income, there's not much you can afford.  

I'm very interested in seeing what happens with these exchanges that are supposed to start October 1st. One day next week I'm going to the local DFCS office to see what kind of health care plan I qualify for... I'm not as informed about this as I want to be so I'm going to find out what needs to happen. I figure... if someone who is licensed to sell health insurance can't navigate the system, nobody can. Look for updates on the process... I'm going to be open minded and optimistic that this will lighten my burden of paying fully out of pocket for every medical expense I have... and I'm going to hope that I'll be able to have better care and follow up treatment that I haven't been able to afford on my own. I am doubtful but willing to go through the process and see what happens. 

So far all I've seen by using the website is that I could qualify for $5,900 in health insurance premium assistance. It seems like a lot of money... but it's also not unusual for a 45 year old woman who is table rated  (this is when they charge you more because you're more likely to have to file claims) to have monthly health insurance premiums exceeding $500 a month, and that's for a plan with high deductibles and upper limits of out of pocket expenses. I'm interested in knowing your health insurance situations. Have your costs increased? 

deliberately goofy... honest

7. I found an interesting article on thehairpin.com - How To Quit Shampoo Without Becoming Disgusting. I'm interested in this for several reasons. One - my hair is long and it takes a long time to style it. Once I style it, it stays styled for several days and if not for the fear of being socially acceptable, I could stretch a "do" out longer than I usually... well, do. Right now the absolute limit for me is four days. Also, as I become less mobile it would be helpful to not have to put so much effort into grooming. I want to be clean but ... let's face it, I'm not going to the prom. I want to find the sweet spot between low maintenance and "letting myself go". I don't want to part with my long hair quite yet. I also don't want to waste money. How long do you go between shampoos? 

So that's it. Gearing up for a quiet weekend. Possibly a trip to Lowe's to get paint so Austin can get his room back in order and then maybe... in the next few weeks... I can get back into my Whine Cellar sanctuary. Just wait until you see the colors he picked out. 

Otherwise, this weekend I'll be watching football and ... yeah, who knows what else. Stay tuned! Happy Weekend, y'all!