You Seem To Be Getting Around Pretty Good

Lately I would like to put how I feel on my sleeve. Have you ever gone to Walmart or Target and see people walk to their cars “just fine” and get into a car marked with handicapped tags. Remarks fly, if not remarks, thoughts. Because people don’t look like they are handicapped does not mean that they are not.

Definition of handicapped: In a wheelchair NOT necessarily : loss of limbs NOT necessarily on the list goes. Those of handicaps are those that can be seen by the healthy people. I wonder if anyone has ever given a thought to heart problems hmm. I don’t think heart trouble shows does it? People with extraordinary lung problems? I don’t think that shows either unless it is so bad they are stooped. I am not sure, but I don’t think that cancer shows.

Yes, there are always going to be people that park in the handicapped areas when they are just fine, but please don’t judge a person by how they look. I have M.S. I don’t look sick at this point. But I am, Oh yes I am. Poor thinking, shaking hands, can’t find the right words, can only walk a few feet, the list goes on, but the list is much shorter than it used to be. M.S. is a very odd disease. You just never know. There are some days I don’t need a handicapped space and  I give it to someone that needs it worse than I do. Yes, some days people say, “Well you seem to be getting around pretty good!” There are times I am, and times I am not, even if it doesn’t show.

Is This False Advertisement?

Going to the grocery store used to be so easy. If you were smart you took a list, if not you saw something on the shelf that reminded you that you needed or wanted. A few weeks ago I thought I had better get some more dish soap because I was close to being out. Yesterday was the day that I was going to toss one and bring out the new! Well the new one had a big yellow sticker on it that said 20% more. I am sure that attracted me to that brand (even though I had used that brand for years.) Before I threw out the other bottle, I noticed that it had 24 ounces in it. Then I looked at the new bottle; It also had 24 ounces in it. I figured I had a really good lawsuit going here. I just now went out to the kitchen and read exactly what the sticker says; "20% MORE vs.competitors 20 oz. Size." Isn’t 24 oz. 20% more than 20 oz.? I really don’t have time for this kind of shopping. I have spent a large share of this afternoon writing and rewriting this post because of some marketing fool in the soapsuds world of advertisement had to make more money for his company. I think this kind of thing could and should be stopped by us, the shoppers of America! Go for it Ladies and Gentlemen no more tomfoolery!

You Have A Right To Good Medical Care

I went for a follow up doctor visit yesterday. It was the second visit for this one. I wrote previously he got in my personal space the first time I saw him. He may have read my post, I don’t know, but he did not do that yesterday.

I reviewed his notes that he had written the month before and corrected one.

He gave me the results of the e.e.g. that I had had the month before. He explained what it showed that I had continuous seizures. But not what I had been told my whole life as far as names of, and size of. When I had him explain some of his Doctor terminology he was very nice and did that with hand signals showing what the electrical signals in my brain were doing. My multiple sclerosis is of course, making things complicated.

We then discussed my medication. He told me to discard some, and increase some and why.

Then he rolled away from me on his “doctor stool” and rolled towards me and said in a very stern voice, “You have a right to good medical care! If for ANY reason you feel that you are not receiving that, speak up for yourself. If you need to go to a different doctor or tell the doctor what is going on with your body as far as reaction to medication and physical signs of disease.” Well, never in my whole life has a doctor EVER told me that or insinuated that. Wow, what a difference a change makes. Then……he said I want you back in a week to see what a blood test says about this and then we should be on the right track.

He also took his time and walked me to the nurse’s station and explained to them what he wanted for me and when he wanted my next appointment. Well, again. I might just like this guy!

My Mom Was Such A Wise Woman

When I was a little girl I didn’t question my mom. When I was a teenager I questioned her constantly. When I was a grownup I thought what a wise woman my mom was.While I was watching the Today Show this morning, one of the topics was that our children may be drinking too much coffee. My first thought was, “What? My mother would have had a fit."
The kids now days are drinking coffee with caramel, whipped cream, chocolate and all kinds of fattening yummy things on it and in it.
I can remember that I used to beg her for a cup of coffee. My argument was that if she could drink it why couldn’t I? She told me about the caffeine thing and that it was kind of habit forming if you drank too much of it.
One day she relented to my teasing and gave me a cup of warm milk with a tablespoon of hot coffee in it. Yuk, that was not a bit tasty. You see, it looked like my mom’s coffee because she put cream in her coffee, but it sure didn’t taste like I had imagined.
My mom did a lot of things like that. She tricked me into thinking I was getting my way when in fact, she was getting her way.
My mom was such a wise woman.

The Lights Went Out In Missouri

Last week-end I was driving home from the karaoke club. We were almost home and I dimmed my lights for an oncoming car. All of a sudden my lights went out; I played with the dimmer switch and then the signal lights came on, then the lights went out, then the lights went on bright.

I finally got the high beams to last long enough to stay on long enough for me to see a teeny tiny place for me to pull over. In the meantime, my loving husband’s voice had a shrill sound to it. “Do this, do that” etc. I love him to pieces but not when I have no headlights and he seems to have assumed that the light situation was my fault.
According to God’s plan there swiftly appeared bright red, white, and blue lights blinking in my rear view mirror. The gentleman was very kind. I told him I was scared to death because of the absence of light. He chuckled and said he had seen my lights blinking. This is a small town police office statement, “Well, I have nothing else to do right now, would you like me to follow you home? It was almost one o’clock in the morning, and he had about three miles to follow me. Leave it to me to tell him how to do it. “Quote from me: “Don’t follow me too close, I don’t like that!” That sweet man followed about a quarter of a mile back of me. How sweet is that?
I have this feeling that he probably told his wife when he got home that he helped this “little old lady that was scared half to death. Probably because she turned the light switch off.”
When we got home hubby dear looked, and sure enough I had turned the signal lever to parking lights. They just don’t put out much light at all.
Then I looked out the window about ten minutes later and the lights were still on. I had turned the switch OFF automatic. Oh brother and I DO NOT look like a little old lady when I look in the mirror either! Why can’t the dimmer switch still be on the floor? Times were so easy then.

Common Sense Or Redneck?

Last night my friend called as she usually does after supper. She was telling me that her man friend had stopped at a farm not too far from our house. They usually have eggs, tomatoes, cabbage, and apples in season.

Now they have plums. The big purple plums. She said, “Oh Lu, you have to hold your head over a plate with paper towels because they are so juicy. A whole box of them was only a dollar and fifty cents. That sounded reasonable and good. I had not had fresh plums for years.
This morning we stopped and they had a few only, of those big plums. We bought two boxes and that filled half a Walmart sack.
From there, we went to a little town where my doctor’s office is. My wonderful husband always sits outside and waits for me. I just was getting a blood draw. It took over an hour waiting time. In this amount of time, my dear man can get into all kinds of trouble.
He was hungry and thirsty. Yup! He decided to have a plum. The juice soaked his T-shirt. Of course, he didn’t want to get all sticky, so so so so……he rolled down the window, put his t-shirt on top of the window, then rolled up the window, soooooo his T-shirt could blow in the wind and dry out the juice.
You all can decide, was that common sense or Redneck? I will tell you one thing I would have just died if I would have walked out and saw his T-shirt flopping in the wind.

Fran's Handful Of Tomato

I bragged about our garden full of beans again today. Fran is showing you the one bean I thought meant a whole garden full. However, look at the size of our tomatoes, Keith. They are yummy.

Fran and I went to the garden upon my announcement that the garden was full of beans, but the tomatoes are ripening really fast now that we have had lots of sunshine and rain.

Love you!!

Dog Days Of Summer, Really Hot

In the old days….. How many times have you heard your parents, older people no matter who they are, say that. You sometimes just roll your eyes and mentally turn around and leave them. Well, sometimes the old days were really good. Think about not having to pay bills, always having good food to eat, a roof over your head, good friends, and family that loves and protects you.

That about says the good old days doesn’t it? Hmm about thirteen, fourteen. Your parents took you and your friends on vacation. Does anyone recognize the people in this picture and where it was taken? Leave me some comments please!