My friend was 59. Earlier this year she complained that she had broken several toes on her one foot. She was able to work from home (CFO) of a start up. I did some shopping for her & made bank deposits for her firm. In March she was found unconscious on her bedroom floor, I was there and saw that her one leg was completely black. Needless to say, she lost that leg. She was found to be diabetic and had cardiac issues. She had been unconscious for at least 24 hours.

Over the past 9 months she has been in and out of hospitals and nursing homes. She had lost a lot of her memory and died this past Saturday in a Nursing Home.

She did not believe in Doctors and would not see one for the broken toe issues. I think she knew she was diabetic as she asked me a lot of questions on how I controlled mine.

Her family has been stressed for the past year and this Christmas will be hard.

Prayers and thoughts needed to help strengthen them.

Thank you.

I'm getting banged up over there

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5828085

#1. It's not health care, it's insurance
#2. It's expensive
#3. Last year I qualified under Federal guidelines for Medicaid, but my State didn't expand so I couldn't receive it and went uninsured
#4. I probably will go uninsured for 2015, last week I viewed plans and the cheapest would cost me $3600 for the premium plus another $3000 deductible, so $6600 I give the insurance company before it pays for anything, that's about 25% of my gross income and about 40% of my net income.
#5. The ACA website pages aren't loading.

I don't want insurance, I want health care. I want what my 84 year old mom has, Medicare. I want a one payer system for everyone under 65. You shouldn't have to qualify for health care based on income, age, sex and pre-existing conditions. I have seen a few plans out there asking the question(s) about health issues.

He is 23 a year and a half out of college, 6'7" tall, former college football player, a gentle kid, but tough and very liberal and progressive. I am watching as he is becoming involved in his community.

After college he entered AmeriCorps and has been working to rehab housing for the underserved and senior communities. His contract is up in December. He interviewed for a position with a non profit in our city. He got the job and he inspects housing of seniors in our community.

He also is Asst. Varsity Basketball Coach for the grade school he attended. I think he's sticking around.

About an hour ago my doorbell rang. I answered it and found it was a woman who lives 2 floors above me. She's in her 50's and has some mental health issues. I don't go out of my way to talk to her (have found her afraid of conversation), but when she's on the elevator, I usually say something to the effect of "take care". She walks everywhere and will not take a ride if asked to get in the car.

Well anyway, this morning she hands me an envelope & she says "I've been wanting to give this to you." I opened it and found $500 in cash and a note stating to keep up the good work and her prayers are with me.

I will not offend her & attempt to give her the money back, but I will drop her a note of great thanks.

The question of whether or not she can afford this, will come up in this post. I believe she can, her brothers own the unit she lives in, if she's paying utilities it will be for electric and cable. Gas, water and sewage are in the monthly maintenance fees. I also understand that her parents left a trust for her. I know this information from the time I served on the Condo Board.

What would you do?

I stopped in the local Rite-Aid tonight to get some cough syrup. My allergies are so bad, I've developed an evil cough. I bought a small bottle of Rite-Aid's brand of Adult tussin cough and chest congestion DM, non-drowsy and alcohol free. I also purchased a bottle of shampoo and a muffin for breakfast.

The cashier scans the items and then asks me for my ID, I said for what & he points to the cough syrup. I said "absolutely not, if you want a birth date make one up". I further stated "If it's on the shelf available for ready purchase (not having to go to the pharmacy to get it) then there's absolutely no reason for my ID".

The cashier put in some imaginary birth date and I took the cough syrup home. FYI, I'm 2 years short of 60.

Sunday LOLcats (dial-up warning)

I really want it. I can't wait until later. I really need it now.

well actually this morning, about 1:30 a.m. I drive for 2 ride sharing companies. I had just dropped 3 young women off at their college. As I was going down the hill, a University Police Office who was standing outside his car, waved me down. My passenger window was down, he stuck his head in the window and said "how do you like this van, I'm thinking about getting one." For the next 10-15 minutes we talked about the pros of my van (really no cons) it's a VW Routan. I did let him to know that 2013 was the last year VW made them & he should start looking now, if he wanted to grab one with little mileage.

We also talked about the ride sharing business, and how much he appreciated the business for bringing back "his" students from the bars. He didn't have to worry about the driving drunk, or walking back from the bars drunk.

Now this was a nice way to end my night.

I canned 4 quarts of zucchini in tomato sauce.
I also canned 4 quarts of zucchini dill spears. (think zucchini pickles).
I also checked the sauerkraut I started fermenting the other day, and it's delicious. I'll separate it into smaller jars tomorrow & give my brothers and a couple of neighbors a jar.

Between the food bank & a program called Produce to People, I had five 4-5 lb. zucchinis and 4 heads of cabbage. I'm not going to waste it. I have made 2 loaves of zucchini bread. I have 2 zucchinis left. I'm going to put it through the food processor, freeze it and make bread later this year.

I cross posted this in DIY-Home Improvements.

This evening in the bathroom the hot water faucet flew off its base & of course water went everywhere including to the condo unit downstairs.

I was not home, my 84 year old mother was. She was asleep in her bedroom when she heard an explosion and then water gushing everywhere. She called a neighbor who called maintenance, who got it cleaned up.

My question is, what would cause this to explode off its base. I think either too much water pressure, or possibly something else building up pressure.

I am looking for possible answers, because my maintenance fees pay for water and the maintenance of common elements which are the pipes. I want to at least sound knowledgeable when I meet with maintenance on Monday. I don't want to have my insurance company pay for something I'm not responsible for.