Sick sick sicky sick sick sickiest sick

Where am I? Sick!

Good grief! What a month! Is March over yet?

So my kids get their little sniffly cold at the beginning of March. Because they are young and their immune systems are fresh and free, they recover and bounce back in a day or two.

My husband? He gets the full hacking, lung spewing, nasty cold. Nice huh?

I am next. About a week and a half ago, the tickle in my throat began. Here is my problem. Since I turned 30 (last week....shhhh!) I have had the hardest time keeping a cold from turning into a sinus infection. If I don't keep all forms of Mucinex and Sudafed, all versions, constantly in my blood stream, a simple cold can easily turn into a full blown sinus infection.

I have awful stories of these bouts as well. There was a Christmas when the kids were small. When we got home from the festivities, I went to an emergency care place. The doctor told me I was within hours of being admitted to the hospital. Merry Christmas!

Then there is my favorite. The month before we adopted our youngest. Here is the problem, I am doing my gamut of meds, and from hour to hour, I feel good. Then suddenly I feel bad. Then I have a few good hours, then I feel horrible. Days go by before my common sense kicks in and says "Self, you're not getting better. Get help you dork!" Anyway, one month before adopting said child, I was doing that better/worse ride. One night as I was trying to sleep, it suddenly felt like an ice pick was being driven into my ear. The internal brain burning was nothing like I have ever experienced, and it scared me. Yes, doctor visit the next day. I let that one go so long I ruptured an ear drum and couldn't hear out of my right ear for 6 weeks.

I have grown a brain since then. When I can't get the sinus junk out of my brain, I pay the co-pay and just get the antibiotic. I don't wait. And of course, last week, Wednesday and Thursday, not getting better. Off I go. I have my meds and I can stand up without throwing off my equilibrium and making my nose drip disgusting things.

So the kids, the husband and me. That's all right? Oh no. Remember, we have critters. Our poor dog! She has a cool new health plan (Obama should have taken a look at this before boosting our entire health care system.....but I digress) where she gets some nice maintenance kind of care, not just shots, for a few dollars a month. It's time to get her teeth cleaned. That requires her to be put under anesthetic. However, in our last visit, it was noticed she had a few benign growths. One behind her ear and another on her chest. They don't mean much, but those sorts of growths turn to cancer in older dogs. So why not? She's going under anesthetic, let's have those removed.

So she has her meds now too. She has an anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and a pain pill. I have an antibiotic. The husband isn't on anything, but I also can't find any more Mucinex right now.

We're just a bundle of energized health right now. I feel better, but sound like Demi Moore on steroids. The dog is doing well although she has to wear a tshirt so she leaves her stitches alone. The husband still hacks up things.

It's Just a Bill.....Right??

What We Give We Can Expect? Nope!

I got one of those forwarded emails today that I want to share. I normally don't but every now and then, you gotta admit, you get a gem. Here you go:


Dear Mr. President:

I'm planning to move my family and extended family into Mexico for my health, and I would like to ask you to assist me.

We're planning to simply walk across the border from the U.S. into Mexico, and we'll need your help to make a few arrangements.

We plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration quotas and laws.

I'm sure they handle those things the same way you do here. So, would you mind telling your buddy, President Calderon, that I'm on my way over?

Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:

1. Free medical care for my entire family.

2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need, whether I use them or not.

3. Please print all Mexican government forms in English.

4. I want my grandkids to be taught Spanish by English-speaking (bi-lingual) teachers.

5. Tell their schools they need to include classes on American culture and history.

6. I want my grandkids to see the American flag on one of the flag poles at their school.

7. Please plan to feed my grandkids at school for both breakfast and lunch.

8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I can get easy access to government services.

9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico, but, I don't plan to purchase car insurance, and I probably won’t make any special effort to learn local traffic laws.

10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo from their president to leave me alone, please be sure that every patrol car has at least one English-speaking officer.

11. I plan to fly the U.S. flag from my house top, put U S. flag decals on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want any complaints or negative comments from the locals.

12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes, or have any labor or tax laws enforced on any business I may start.

13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican people to be extremely nice and never say critical things about me or my family, or about the strain we might place on their economy.

14. I want to receive free food stamps.

15. Naturally, I'll expect free rent subsidies.

16. I'll need Income tax credits so although I don't pay Mexican Taxes, I'll receive money from the government.

17. Please arrange it so that the Mexican government pays $4,500 to help me buy a new car.

18. Oh yes, I almost forgot, please enroll me free into the Mexican Social Security program so that I'll get a monthly income in retirement.

I know this is an easy request because you already do all these things for all his people who walk over to the U.S. from Mexico. I am sure that President Calderon won't mind returning the favor if you ask him nicely.

Thank you so much for your kind help. You da man!!!

More Jabs......tee hee!ll

Okay, you know my ongoing saga of watching our mayor just do one thing after another.

Summation so far. Our illustrious mayor, Sam Adams, is openly gay. No, he is not the patriot. Different Sam. Our Sam was engaged in a sex scandal before he was elected and hid it until he was elected. Many Portlanders feel they were duped. Subsequent investigation found nothing conclusive because the participants in the affair were not cooperative. It's hard to find evidence if people hide their laptops from investigators for months. There has also been a subsequent personal finance debacle and a fender bender. It just doesn't stop, but makes for great blogging fodder though.

What now you may ask? Oh this is just politically stinky, and welcome to Portland where politics are just plain stinky these days.

There was a volunteer recall campaign effort started last summer to oust this louse. That fell short. Now there is some business backing and there is a more financed recall effort going on, and yes, they have my signed petition as I type this.

Because this is a financed effort, they have rented retail space in an office space downtown. The office space was subleased from someone else for six weeks. The campaign only needs it for six more weeks during the signature gathering time. Click here for a local news outlets summation. I am not finding much in local outlets either. Interesting.

Now here is the crux. The building is owned by the city. It is run by some entity called the Portland Development Commission. I have never heard of that commission until now. But guess who is on that commission? You got it--Sammy Adams.

And guess who is being evicted from their office space now? You got it, Sammy's recall effort, who by the way says the signature effort this time is a "slam dunk".

I listened last night on a local radio hosts interview with Teresa McGuire, leader of this effort. Couple of things you should know about this office space. It is in a building that already has empty space. She also says that in checking with other tenants, they have signed month to month contracts, not long term contracts.

These two points are in direct contrast to several statements from this commission. First, they want long term tenants. Well, then why aren't their other tenants under long term contracts? Second, if they want more tenants, why is the other available space not being offered?

Bottom line. The city of Portland would rather conduct themselves with sour grapes. For six weeks, our city is willing to give up income on a property, and evict someone who disagrees with them. If they wanted to act with class, they would just hush up for six weeks, and leave well enough alone.

Great interview with Teresa last night. Her thoughts? Sam Adams doesn't want to know once and for all if he won that election fair and square. He would rather know that he won that election on his cover up of a scandal. If he wanted to know the truth, he would just be quiet until the recall effort is over, and then see how the cards fall.

Politically he also has other headlines right now. His pet project is this huge money bleeding bike path project in Portland to the tune of bazillions of dollars. Where is he getting that money from? Our water bills. I thought my water bill was supposed to pay for water and all the maintenance that entails. Apparently not. I am now paying for bike paths that people in Portland only use about half the year because of the weather. I am also to expect my water bill to double in the next few years. Do you know what that means? Well right now I pay about $200 a quarter. The water bill is another story! Misusing public funds sure won't get him re-elected.

And the saga goes on.....