Ballad of Unfortunate Mammals

Love is sharper than stones or sticks;

Lone as the sea, and deeper blue;

Loud in the night as a clock that ticks;

Longer-lived than the Wandering Jew.

Show me a love was done and through,

Telll me a kiss escaped its debt!

Son, to your death you'll pay your due--

Women and elephants never forget.

Ever a man, alas, would mix,

Ever a man, heigh-ho, must woo;

So he's left in the world-old fix,

This is furthered the sale of rue,

Son, your chances are thin and few--

Won't you ponder, before you're set?

Shoot if you must, but hold in view

Women and elephants never forget.

Down from Caesar past Joynson-Hicks

Echoes the warning, ever new:

Though they're trained to amusing tricks,

Gentler, they, than the pigeon's coo,

Careful, son, of the cursed two--

Either one is a dangerous pet;

Natural history proves it true--

Women and elephants never forget.

Dorothy Parker

Why I hate health insurance companies

You may remember that I have some sort of condition in my legs. It's called LCV, or leukocytoclastic vasculitis, which in short terms is the inflammation of the blood vessels in my legs that causes the capillaries underneath the skin to burst causing purpura (red "spots" that look like small and large freckles). Sometimes these can be painful, like if the spots swell as they have been doing lately. The swelling usually goes down overnight but the spots take awhile to fade away. Think red bruises.

So about a year ago I went to the dermatologist under the advice of my PCP and they did a biopsy, ran some tests, everything came back negative and they were stumped. We had some idea of what caused it initially (birth control) but they couldn't figure out why it was coming back. It went away for awhile and I stopped worrying about it. Now it's back, in full force. Breakouts virtually every night and the pain can be so bad that walking can be difficult.

Now before you ask, I have a number to a new doctor that I am going to call TOMORROW to get an appointment and get this figured out. But here's what worries me. After I went to see the dermatologist, I recieved a bill at a later date saying that the insurance company indicated that what I have is a pre-existing condition. I signed up for this insurance before this ever started so I thought surely they just had dates mixed up or something and I was ready to go in fighting for the coverage we pay SO MUCH for every month.

Then today I look at the Blue Cross website and it indicates that anything I went to the doctor for in the first year that I paid SO MUCH for insurance was considered a pre-existing condition. Are they kidding me? I shell out close to $5000 a year for medical coverage and they can't help me out with these bills? I call BS.

I'm at a loss. I am so mad that I just want to scream. I have never really had a bad word to say about insurance until now. Why is this ok? Why? And I think about other people who may get coverage and in the first year find out that they have cancer. What does that mean for them? That they pay $$ for coverage thinking they will just use it in case of an emergency and they end up finding out that it's really all for nothing.

Just fabulous. Thank you health insurance for making me feel falsley secure about my coverage and taking a good chunk of my money to do it.

I'm not retro, I just grew up that way.

Remember this?

































Well. They are back. And not so better than ever although I must say that the 21 year old girl I saw wearing them last night was at least wearing some that were completely fitted, kind of like tights missing toes. But she was wearing them in this ridiculous way:
























Unfortunately she was wear high heeled sandals so the stirrup part was very obvious. I really wanted to shake her and say "They were hideous the first time around and I know you are too young to know this but please don't make this mistake! Unless, of course, you are going to wear hot pink lipstick and tease your bangs," (or fringe, as Keith likes to call it), "4 feet off the top of your forehead. Then it's okay because I will have even more reason to make fun of you."


I just can't believe that certain trends are coming back. Does this mean that I need to start wearing two layers of different colored socks and "scrunch" them on top of each other?

Seriously?

So it's been a month since I posted anything and I hate that it has to be like this, but here we go.

Remember this? My car? Well, here's the update.

I never got to talk to the dealership that sold us the car because I realized I didn't have a legal leg to stand on. They sold the car to us as is, no warranty. So that's that.

We sent the car to another mechanic who looked at it and said "I can't do anything for you" and didn't even charge us for the towing. He advised that we send the car to the local Subaru dealership. We first had the car towed back to us until our tax money came in so we could pay for it. Our tax money came in and the car went to the dealer. The mechanics there said that fixing the car would cost us between $2000 and $4000, money we didn't have, and they very generously told us that we should send the car somewhere else and didn't charge us for the diagnostics that they ran (which was going to be about $250).

So the car went to Welltek, where a lovely man named Mike helped me. In the meantime, Jared's car - a Subaru Impreza Outback - died spectacularly. He had the car towed to the shop our car was at in the hopes that he could donate the computer that we needed and the wiring harness. Car was towed, neither worked. Of course. Mike told us that there was a guy who would sell us the computer and wiring harness from his car for a mere $450.

Today, Tara and Jared and I were out driving and I thought I should go to the shop and check on my car. I pull up and they tell me they have just finished it! The car was running. It was beautiful. Keith and I went back, paid for the car and almost $1400 later we drove away with the car that I haven't had for close to 10 months.

Well guess what? The only key that I have for that stupid car no longer works. It worked at the shop, it worked on the way home. We get home and Keith plans to take the car out around the block and the FREAKING key won't turn. I can't find the other key we had either. So now our car works and we can't drive it because the key won't turn in the ignition.

I cried in the face of irony.

Baking and cooking, and the reverse.

For those who don't know, I love to bake. I don't do it often because I don't need all of the sweets in the house that I would bake. So as it stands, I wait until we have people coming over before I go into bake-mode.

Today, the venture is cheesecake brownies (which I have never made). The recipe is super simple and by my standards calls for some cheating since I try to bake from scratch as much as possible.

I don't remember where I got the recipe from because I copied it into my book and haven't found the exact one online again but here you go:

Brownie layer:
family size box of fudge brownie mix (or made from scratch) plus the ingredients you need to bake the brownies

Cheesecake layer:
8oz package of cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
16 oz (about 2 cups) powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°
line a 13x9" pan with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray

Prepare brownies as directed and pour into the pan. For the cheesecake layer, beat the cream cheese until smooth ad creamy, the beat in the eggs, powdered sugar and vanilla until mixture is smooth. Spoon and spread over brownie mixture (what I didn't do that I should have was use a knife to cut the two layers into each other to give it a bit of a swirl, just drag the knife through the mixture). Bake for about 45 minutes. I had to bake it for almost an hour, I just waited until the top was golden and shiny.

Remove from the oven and cool. When cool, grasp the foil and remove from the pan. Cut into bars and enjoy! Store leftovers in the fridge.

I will post pictures when done.

Aside from that, I have made dinner tonight and am just waiting for the peeps to show. I found a recipe for potato-corn-cheddar chowder that I have prepared and I also baked some rosemary bread which requires no kneading which makes for the easiest bread I have ever baked. I'll post the bread recipe sometime.

Blech

Do you ever have one of those days where you just want to pull out your hair, scream and cry? I'm having one today. I thought that Sophia's nap would be a welcome break but she didn't sleep today. She has cried, screamed and thrown fits over the most minute things.

I am so tired and just want a nap.

Haunting

Do you ever listen to a song that haunts you afterward? A few years ago I was watching The West Wing with hubs and we came to the end of season 3 (we were renting them). If you have seen that episode I am sure you will remember crying (as I did) or just being very moved by the turn of events and the song that played as the show started to end. Since then when I listen to the song I become very sober, sometimes it makes me cry and sometimes I just have to sit quietly and listen.

The song is Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley.