PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION....DON'T GET ME STARTED!

I am a registered independent because I have the personality that says NO ONE IS GOING TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO! However, I definitely lean towards the left. After all, I am left handed! I have not always been this way. When I first started out as an adult I was more conservative, I still am conservative in a lot of ways but definitely not in the political arena. I made the switch after I realized that the Republican definition of conservative was a lot different than my definition of conservative. I am very careful with my money. I stay away from debt, paying off my credit card every month. If I don't have the money I don't buy it. I tend to buy a basic car that is very reliable. I don't live my life in a wild reckless way. I am not a thrill seeker. I figured that people who thought like me would be good at running the country. I thought the Republicans were conservative. I was wrong. I started paying attention to actions instead of words. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I voted for Bush number two the first time around. One of the reasons I voted for him was that I felt that we did not need to send our soldiers to other countries as much. We have problems right here that our resources should be spent on. He promised that he would keep our troops home....then he decided to conquer another country. Weapons of mass destruction, blah, blah, blah! Don't you remember, that was the original reason for the war or has everyone now been convinced that the war is protecting us from another 9/11 attack? NOT! I was totally against the war from day one. I knew it was a war that would turn out to be a mess and one that we could not win, why didn't Bush know that? Because he is an idiot.

Besides the Iraq fiasco, whatever happened to our balanced budget? Those crazy Democrats that just like to spend and tax managed to balance the budget and the "conservative" republicans managed to get us into more debt than ever. The last time I heard of this much spending Reagan was in office. Bush would blame it on this stupid war, but I am sure that even without the war he would have spent, spent, spent. How can we expect the average person to be financially responsible when our leadership isn't? I blame this economic downturn on the poor example that the Republicans have given us. Unfortunately, we may need these hardships to show us our folly.

I am not naive, I realize that all politicians lie. Its just that I think the Republican lies are worse for our country than the Democrats. The Republicans lie thinking about how they can benefit themselves. The Democrats lie in a way that is exaggerating what they can give us. (I'm cynical, aren't I) Sometimes McCain sounds like he really does love his country and wants to do great things but I've believed Republicans in the past and was burned. Because of this, I feel that I will never be able to vote for a Republican again no matter how good they sound.

The worse part about this election are the falsehoods perpetuated by the Republicans. I find it very sad when my kids come home and tell me the untruths that the other kids believe (high schoolers). They believe that Obama is a Muslim even though he is a Christian. I can understand why at this time in our country people would not be accepting of a Muslim president but why does being a Christian make him better anyways? Don't we have a separation of church and state? Just to be clear, I do know that Obama is a Christian!! I had to write that just in case some idiot happens along this post and is not clear on that! They believe that Obama thinks that if a partial birth abortion is botched then the mother should be able to kill the baby! I am not joking, this is something one kid told my son! I live in a Republican area of a usually Democratic state. It makes me sad to think that chances are these kids are getting their ideas from their parents. I think that most of these people have gotten their information from attack ads. Its hard for me to believe that most of these people have watched any of the debates where Obama refuted all these charges. If you don't want to vote for Obama, fine, but please get your facts straight. I tell my husband, if it sounds crazy it probably is. Why would a terrorist Muslim even bother to run for president? Why would the Democrats have a Muslim terrorist for their candidate? THEY WOULDN'T, ITS ABSURD!!

SUPERSTITIONS

Generally, I'm not a superstitious person but I have one superstition that seems to have stuck in my brain. When I was a child I heard that if you kill a spider it will make it rain. Ever since then, I have been especially kind to arachnids. Being careful not to step on them. Scooping them up in paper towels to shuttle them outside if necessary. Sometimes even leaving spider webs in the corners so I wouldn't disturb them. All so I wouldn't be responsible for a rainstorm. Occasionally I have found it necessary to dispose of a spider in a not so humane way. If its extra big and I'm not close to a door I've been known to squish it rather than save it. On those days I tend to glance often at the sky awaiting the inevitable downpour.

I can't say for sure if killing a spider has any effect on the weather but I do know that today it sure seemed that way. This morning I opened the back door to let my cat out into the sunshine. A medium sized spider came rushing in as if the warmth of the house was where it wanted to spend its winter. I narrowed my two eyes and gave it a stare, it froze and looked up at me with it's eight eyes. I said to myself, "bah, I'm a silly superstitious fool!" I then quickly grabbed a paper towel and threw it down on the unsuspecting spider. No shuttling today, even with the door only a foot away. I crushed down on the helpless spider and only felt a slight resistance. I felt mean. I had an unsettled feeling that I had done something wrong, something really wrong. A couple hours later the clouds rolled in. Not long after that the raindrops came down. I hope it doesn't last into tomorrow when my son's cross country team has their final race.

I've learned my lesson and I'll probably go back to my peace loving ways. This admission should count for something. Will the spider loving gods let the sun come out?

WHAT ELSE WOULD A LEAF BLOWER BE FOR?

We've never owned a leaf blower before. Thomas loves it. Not only did he blow the leaves into a big pile but he had some fun using it to shoot a foam ball up in the air. He got some left over pvc drain pipe, lined it up with the end of the leaf blower, inserted the ball and away it flew. He was shooting it straight up into the air and I decided I was going to try to catch it when it came back down. My dog Beau decided he needed to run right in front of me just when I was looking up and running to get the ball. Down I went and if Beau wasn't such a big dog he would have went splat! I knocked him over and landed quite hard on his chest. Hard enough to make him bark/squawk! He got up and before we knew it he was following me around and getting in my way once again! Eventually, I did catch that ball! Oh yeah, I wasn't hurt in the fall either!

Note Thomas's ear protection. He will grow up with perfect hearing because he uses those ear muffs for everything!

ARE WE HEADED FOR A DEPRESSION?

I know most people do not give a hoot about the stock market but with the market dropping so drastically it makes me sit back and wonder. How much further will it drop? Are we headed for another depression? I see the news that tells me that people are losing their jobs, people are losing their houses and bankruptcies abound. How will all this affect me? If more and more people lose their jobs, will my husband lose his usually secure government job?

My husband and I have always lived in a financially conservative way. Our decisions were always based on many "what ifs". What if one or both of us lost our jobs? What if the economy goes bad? What if one of us got sick?

Before we had kids, we bought our house using only my husband's salary making sure the payment was only based on what he earned. We bought a simple house with 5 acres. Then I worked for the next six years and we pretty much put my salary towards paying extra on our house. When we were done paying for it, we didn't start living high on the hog. We knew that when we had kids I wanted to stay home so we didn't want to depend on my income.

When it came to deciding where to put our 401K money we decided to put it in the most conservative funds, government securities. We figured this was our retirement and we didn't want to risk it in the stock market even though that would mean that we would get less interest.

We've learned to keep our decisions mostly to ourselves because over the years plenty of people have tried to tell us what to do. Much of this advice was started with the words "you must". We were told that paying off your house early was a bad idea because then you wouldn't have any mortgage interest to itemize on your taxes. We were told that we should spread out our 401K money in a bunch of different funds. We were told that we could afford to spend much more on our house. Many times we were called cheap....well, because we are cheap! AND proud of it!

Right now as I wonder whether we are going to have another depression, I feel pretty good about my decisions. My youngest daughter asked "are you worried mom?" I could honestly say "no"." The only thing I have to do is pay the taxes on my house and I will have a place to stay. I've never succumb to the temptation to be materialistic. I am a person who can use the same old things until they are truly worn out. No, I am not really worried. However, I do wonder what will happen with other people.

Recently my husband was talking to a colleague at work about retirement. My husband told this man his plan and told him of his philosophy of being careful to only invest in government securities and not the stock market. My husband was not trying to convince this man to change his ways but apparently his ideas must have sounded pretty good. Without telling my husband the man went and changed his 401K to have it invested in government securities. Right after he did this, the stock market began to drop. He came to my husband and said "you've already saved me $10,000!" This man is getting closer to retirement and it makes me feel good that he won't have his savings demolished.

I think that maybe our country is due for a readjustment. We've become spoiled. It would be painful but maybe people need to learn to go without. I just hope that means that people would go without a computer and cable TV. I would not want to see people go without food. I would not want to see people be homeless. It would make me very sad to see people hurting in this way. Even though we've all gotten soft, I think that the people of this country are strong enough to weather this storm.

ART AND MUSIC

The following is a letter that I wrote and plan to send to the editor of the local newspaper. I took out names because this is the big, bad, scarey internet. Anyhoo, I have been meaning to write a letter such as this for many years. I have a fear that our school district will start cutting programs that they consider "optional". We really do have amazing teachers who put in amazing amounts of efforts. They are almost too good to be true! In our house, learning a musical instrument is required. That may sound mean but I truly believe that music, as well as art, are subjects that are just as necessary as math, science and english. Some day all my kids will thank me for making them learn to play an instrument. Sarah plays the viola in the school orchestra, Erin plays violin in the orchestra and Thomas self taught himself to play the organ and keyboard at home. The art and music programs in school are so valuable because not all parents are as mean as me and school may be the only place that they experience these things.


To the Editor,

I would like to show my support for art and music in our schools because it is my belief that having good programs in school is mandatory, not just a luxury. My children's experience in the DD schools has been nothing but superb. It starts with Mr. B and Ms. E in the primary school. Mr. B is not just teaching these kids to sing nursery rhymes. If you ever attend one of his concerts you’ll be surprised at how great the kids sound. It’s not unusual for the kids to hear names like Chopin or Bach. Ms. E teaches about great artists like Van Gogh or Monet. These kids are not just fooling around with arts and crafts they are really producing art. She treats their work with respect and admiration.

In the elementary school Mrs. A taps their creative side and is constantly having an "art gallery showing" of beautiful pieces just outside the door of the art room. I’ve always loved to go into the building just to see what’s new. Art club is held after school for the artists in the school. Also in the elementary school Mr. K is not just getting the kids to sing, he’s teaching them about rhythm, melody and so much more. He’s teaching them to have the confidence to sing solo in front of the whole class. He has the opportunity of chorus and choir open to kids who want to sing more. I’ve heard both of these groups sing and I’m always amazed!

My girls started in the orchestra in third grade with Mrs. S. If you’ve ever listened to a third grade orchestra student you’d be impressed with the patience she must have. They start out plucking "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in third grade and by the time they are through middle school they’ve learned to tune their own instrument by ear and mastered the talent of vibrato. So far this year I am impressed with Mr. S, conductor of the high school orchestra. The music he chooses is quite difficult, challenging the students and keeping them interested. I can’t wait for the first concert.

Also in the middle school, Mrs. S and Mrs. Y have some students that show so much talent that the school is decorated with framed pieces done by students over the years. Mrs. Y has an after school art club and Mrs. Sakoutis spends her after school time helping the students build the sets for the two plays that are performed.

These are the teachers that my children have had the privilege of having.I would like to personally thank them all.

All these teachers have many responsiblities that I haven’t even mentioned. I’m sure that there are many other art and music teachers in the DV school district that are just as outstanding. I would like to thank the school board for adopting a budget that allows for such great programs. I would encourage them to continue to make art and music a priority in our schools. To the taxpayers that do not have children in the school, I want to assure you that you are getting your money’s worth. I’ve seen first hand how much extra time and effort is required to deliver excellence!

PEOPLE TREAT YOU THE WAY YOU LET THEM

I have a vacation home at the New Jersey shore. It is in a community that is run by a community association. Its actually called a club. The club is run by a group of five trustees that we homeowners elect.

I've been having trouble with the road maintenance on the road in front of our house. To make a long story short, its a dirt road and in order to fix the huge pothole in front of my house they've continuously added dirt to fill it in. This along with natural erosion from up the street, has increased the level of the road in front of my house to the point that now my house is below the level of the road. As you can imagine, when it rains, the water rushes down the street looking for the lowest spot. My property along with other properties on the street are now the lowest point. Many of us are getting flooding into our homes. We've complained to the Board of Trustees only to be met with denial. We've been told that they've never added dirt to the street (should have taken a video). We've also been told really ridiculous things such as our houses are actually sinking.

Recently there was a club meeting at which we voted to elect a new board. Since so many people are having various problems with the current board, all but one of them were voted out. A portion of the meeting was open to comments from the community members. I stood in front of the two hundred plus people and made a statement regarding the road issues. I made it clear that I was speaking to the new board members since the old ones would never listen. After I made my statement a man came up to me and asked if I would step aside so he could speak to me. He seemed polite enough so I agreed. He then proceeded to try and convince me that my house was sinking. My first tactic was to tell him I knew that was not true. He continued. I then told him that I was an engineer and that I KNEW my house was not sinking. I told him that my husband is also an engineer and we BOTH KNOW our house is not sinking. Amazingly, he continued. My next tactic was to stop responding. I was thinking, when will this man give up? He continued, blah, blah, blah...

My old self would have just let him go on and on. My old self would have felt it was rude to cut him off. My old self would have gotten more and more irritated and would have felt bad later that I hadn't stopped him. My old self has given way to my new self. My new self then said to him "I can't talk to you anymore, its too annoying." He was pulled up short and finally he stopped. I had suddenly realized that I did not have to listen to him. I could tell him to go away. I was not rude, he was. He left and I patted myself on the back. I really like this new self!

INTERESTING

I find it so funny that after reviewing my last few posts it seems to be a roller coaster of ups and downs. I would write a post saying I was not feeling well then I would write a post that I was feeling better! Peppered in between was problems my kids were having! I hope my latest post saying that I have renewed hope and think I am feeling better is not just one of my ups only to be followed by a down!!! Wish me luck!!

An interesting point: in the past I've found people who go on and on about their medical problems a bit annoying. I'VE TURNED INTO THAT PERSON!!! EEEEK!!

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED

So much has happened since the last time I have posted. The people who read my blog before were a very small group and I'm sure now those few have even stopped coming - including my husband. He was my number one fan but I doubt that he stops by anymore. He knows I have been feeling so lousy that I don't have the energy to post.

Well, so much has happened since I posted in April. I went to a new endocrinologist at the beginning of June. He discovered that I had low iron and put me on Slow Fe. It has taken a long time, however, slowly but surely it has seemed to help at least with some of my symptoms. I no longer huff and puff from just normal everyday activity. I would still say that I have some symptoms of low iron although I am sure that my lab numbers will show that I am well within range. I've decided that for me, I am going to not go by my lab numbers but just by how I am feeling. I am not worried about having too much iron because I am no where near the upper end of normal.

At the end of August I came down with Shingles! Talk about kicking someone when they are down! The worst of it was over in 4 weeks but I still have some slight itching and some numbness on my back where the rash was. For me the pain was not agonizing but really maddening. I had the pain first and then it was replaced by itching. For about a week or so I had both pain and itching and could not even slightly scratch it because it hurt so much even to rub my fingers over it. The doctor that diagnosed it recommended that I get a complete physical because shingles is usually seen in the elderly or people with compromised immune systems. I felt she was insinuating that I could have cancer when she recommended a mammogram. I figured it would be a good idea to get a physical and went to see an internist (not the same doctor). He listened to my long drawn out story of fatigue, migraines, under active thyroid, shingles, etc and seemed to be undecided whether I was crazy or I actually had something wrong with me. In the end he ran a bunch of tests just to be sure. I am still waiting for those results. If everything comes back negative he can jump onto the bandwagon that says I'm crazy.

During all of this I was still getting many migraines so I decided to keep my appointment that I had at the Jefferson Headache Center in Philadelphia. My visit there on September 30th went well. I had to take a personality test (370 questions) as well as speak to a psychologist to actually see if I am crazy! In reality, they are just seeing how stress may play a role in your headaches. They made sure I realized that they weren't saying that stress is causing my headaches but they were trying to see if the headaches may be exacerbated by stress. In the end the psychologist was actually impressed that I was so emotionally sound considering my not so lovely childhood. She gave me a card in case I want to try acupuncture and a book mark that says "Falun Dafa" on it. Its an ancient spiritual practice. I guess just using this book mark is supposed to relieve any stress I may experience. Hmmm.

My time with the nurse and neurologist was much more fruitful. I came away with a couple of new medications to take. He gave me something to replace the Imitrex I take when I actually get a migraine. Its Imitrex plus Aleve. More importantly, he gave me a prescription for an anti seizure medication that will hopefully prevent my migraines. Its called Lamictal and works to balance the neurotransmitters in the brain. Migraines have to do with the neurotransmitters firing out of control in the brain so it makes sense to try this medicine. He says that this particular medicine seems to be especially effective in migraines with aura. Since I always get the aura and sometimes I only get the aura without the headache, it should work well. Hopefully. If not there is always the book mark!

I try this medication for two and a half months and go back to see him. If it seems to be working, I will then stay on it for eight months. If it controls the headaches for that long I will then be weaned off from it. I can not take a full dose right away but will take a month to build up to the full dose. He said something about how this will help to avoid some sort of lethal rash you can get as a dangerous side effect...hee hee. Seriously, the rash thing is real but I really doubt I will have that problem. After all, I'm an optimist! So far I have been on the lowest dose for one week. My initial reaction is that it may already be helping a little bit. One week is too early to tell how much it may help me but I am hopeful for the first time in months.

I realize that this blog may not really explain all I've been through in the past two years regarding my health. I'm sure it doesn't portray how much I have lost of myself. I have become the sick person and I don't like that. I wish I was my old self but at this point I still feel far away from the old Elise. I know that in the past few months I have learned to ignore many of my problems and continue living my life. Because of this I'm not sure if the medicines are helping or if its just a case of mind over matter.

One of my hopes is that I can start to post a bit more here without always talking about my poor health. The best way to do that would be to start feeling more healthy! Well, if that is not possible then I would still like to find something more positive to write about. Regardless of audience size, I like to write about my everyday happenings.