Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Are they all this way?

I finally convinced DH to see a chiropractor. We were at our local fair and they had a chiropractor booth set up, so he walked in and set up an appointment. The first appointment they kinda talked to him, the second appt they did a "full assessment" of his situation and did an adjustment. The third appt they wanted me there too and did a FULL SCALE SALES PITCH!

I likened it to the sales pitch you get when a water softener sales guy comes to your house. They first tell you how bad your water is, then tell you how your water will kill you, then tell you how their water softener will solve all your problems, then tell you the price of the most expensive model. Oh that's too high?, well we have this one too which isn't as good but it will work, oh that's too high? well there's this one too which isn't nearly as good as the other two but... you get the picture.

The chiropractor's sales pitch started out with the owner telling us how the whole medical community is terrible and only treating symptoms and how that doesn't really get you well (DUH!) Then he tells you how this dr found out that if your nerves in your spine are pinched they can cause heart disease & cancer. Then he tells you how humans are doomed from birth because we are designed to birth squatting, but most US births are laying on the back and mess up the baby's spine. Then he tells how wonderful he is and how his practice will fix everything that ails you, but it will take time and committment. If you aren't committed, he won't even take you. Then he tells you how much it's gonna cost.
Then a different dr goes over DH's x-rays and admitts that DH isn't really all that bad. He could probably do with just the regular program for 4 months and then switch to the wellness plan or the maintence plan. Dh says he can't do 3 days a week. So dr says well could he do once a week or once every other week...DH says maybe, but after seeing the price decides no.

Then tonight (the sales pitch was last night) they call us back. I was cooking dinner, so I looked at the caller ID and decided to not answer it. After about 9 rings DH hollers for me to get the phone and I tell him who it is...does HE want to answer it? And he says "No I don't want to talk to them." The phone continued to ring, it might have been 12 or so rings in all. Pretty determined to reach us, huh? note: the underlined portion above... I thought they weren't going to take us if we weren't committed? Then why are they calling us back?

So my question to you and all who have tried chriopractors is are they all like this? It's not that we don't want to treat DH's back, there is a problem that needs to be addressed. It's just we didn't like this particular set up.

Friday, June 24, 2005

What a great idea!

Turning to goats to stop wildfires
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Move over Smokey the Bear. In California, thousands of goats are helping prevent wildfires.
From hilly San Francisco to more rural settings, California landowners, business and officials have hired the voracious animals to devour the grass and brush that fuels wildfires.
Last year, more than 5,500 fires blackened over 168,000 acres in the most populous U.S. state.
"Goats are just another tool in the toolbox for California and we try to use as many tools as possible," California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Michael Jarvis said in an interview last week.
Goats are munching on vegetation that is thriving throughout the state after an exceptionally wet winter.
Some herds are doing double duty: preventing fires and protecting homeland security.
Bob Blanchard, a rancher in Cayucos, California, near the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, said his herds of Spanish meat goats devour brush around the plant and on the rugged hillsides under high-voltage power lines.
"Fire safety is one part and plant security is the other part. The security people there want to be able to see over the whole area," Blanchard said.
His herds, ranging in size from 300 to 700 goats, are working under a 10-year contract with Diablo Canyon owner PG&E Corp.
Diablo Canyon spokesman Jeff Lewis said, "The goats give us a good firebreak under the transmission lines and we don't have to rely on any insecticides or controlled burns."
Three shepherd dogs are assigned to each herd to foil attacks by coyotes or cougars looking for a meal.
Goatherds have been deployed in urban settings as well.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission hired herds from Goats R Us, of Orinda, California, to keep the land around the city's 13 reservoirs tidy and to chow down on dried flammable brush, PUC spokeswoman Maureen Barry said.
"Did you know that goats once grazed on Russian Hill before it was built up?" Barry asked. "Well, now they're back and the city is getting excellent results."

Oh Yeah! I wanna read this one...NOT!

Novel Written by Saddam to Be Published does this man need anymore money???

I wanted to get this up fast before they figure out their mistake!

Doctors Shouldn't Use Defibrillator Models
By ASHLEY M. HEHER, Associated Press Writer 17 minutes ago
WASHINGTON -
President Bush' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> President Bush met Friday with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to discuss political and military strategy at a time when U.S. public support for the war is waning, lawmakers are pressing for a timeline for U.S. withdrawal and televisions are flashing with unsettling pictures of deadly violence.

I noticed the goof when I tried to roll over the headline and it came up with the Bush stuff. I wonder how long it will be before the figure it out and fix the link???

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Parking meter fun....

I bet these folks are wishing these folks were in the same town!

Luckily the first group didn't have to pay.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Bunnies bunnies everywhere!

Oh! I'm in heaven. This is my favorite time of year... when all the bunnies are out! =:3

Yesterday, DD & I watched the bunnies frolicking near her Gym. There had to be at least 10 of them running around all looking so cute. There were 4 babies.

Today I was going to the mailbox and noticed that one was "splatted out" (that's what we call it when a rabbit is laying down with his back legs straight out...it means they're very comfy) under a tree. As I passed him, he kept his eyes and ears on me, but wasn't bothered enough to pull in his back legs. After I passed, I looked back and saw that he had gotten up and was scratching in the dirt (to soften it up) and then (gosh, how to describe this to non-bunny watchers?) he flopped head first and twisted into the dirt...however the dirt was on a sloap and he flipped right over. Picture a dog rolling over. But that of course was not what he wanted, so he dug again and flopped again. It was so cute! =:3

And I'm not sure, but I think that I found a bunny hole in my rose garden. I hope the owner doesn't get too upset with me for filling it in. "Sorry bunny...even though I love that you're here, you can't have a hole in my rose garden. There's a really nice spot near the roses but not in the garden that you can have though."

Okay, I'm a sucker!

I got pulled into the RunAway Bride interview tonight. Did you see that?

"Now undergoing psychiatric treatment Jennifer Wilbanks is confronting the issues she says turned her into the "Runaway Bride". An avid marathon runner, she now admits she's been running from her problems most of her life."

At one point toward the end of the interview that we saw, Jennifer said that she had a choice of a bottle of pills or the bus ticket. She says that she chose to "not play God" that day.
I'm thinking that if she had taken the bottle of pills - there wouldn't have been a NATION WIDE MAN HUNT costing so much money. And her poor fiance wouldn't have been a suspect in her dissapearance. What a selfish........ (you can fill in that blank!)

Even Katie Couric felt that she wasn't getting the whole story and doesn't know if we ever will. Not that I really care about why she did it. I just hope that she uses all the $$ she's making off this to pay for all those people who were out there looking for her sorry ....

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Tom & Katie revisited...

While surfing on BlogExplosion I came across this blog and had to LOL

Gay Man Seeks Young Girl For Fake Relationship
Tom & Katie’s registry.
‹ snort ›
The more preposterous an event, the lower it registers on my radar.
Tom Cruise’s purchase of relationship with Katie “Most Irritating Smile Ever” Holmes is barely pinging the bottom of the scale, but this was too priceless to pass up.
· David Sedaris - Santaland Diaries

My many appologies to the author of this blog & post as I'm too computer illiterate to link to your blog.

I must be lame

No one's been posting comments here. I should get a counter so I can see if anyone is actually looking... gotta get some help for that though.

So it's just me typing into cyberspace... la la la la lah!

Today I was the cleaning feend (can't find the word in my dictionary to spell it right!) I pulled out the vacuume and did the whole house. I also cleaned the upstairs bathrooms. Although I feel so hopeless with the bathrooms. I was scrubbing in my shower for what seems like hours and I still can't get all the dirt out. I was using all kinds of chemicals too...so while there is still dirt, it's clean dirt! :D

I think I messed up the powerhead on my vacuume too. It was sounding & smelling funny by the time I got to the last room. I should take it to the vac doc. I think I got a lemon powerhead to begin with.

Ya know, except to get the mail I haven't been outside to enjoy our beautiful weather. I should go do that!

Right now I'm reading a really good book. The Queen's Bastard... it's a historical fiction that is assuming that Queen Elizabeth (the virgin queen) had a baby and all that goes along with that. I'm only about 6 chapters into it and it's one of those "can't put it down" books. I like this kind of stuff anyway...the historical fiction that is. I usually do a bunch of research afterward to find the real story.
The local library will be proud of me when I finish the reading program. We sign up for them all the time because we're always reading and if they want to give us free stuff for doing it...why not?

Well I hope that you're having a good day...even if you're not looking at my blog!

Friday, June 17, 2005

I can see clearly now the pink is gone!

Hey! I can see what color things are... for a few minutes anyway. But now I know which color that I like. I gotta get me a new screen!

And they wonder why....

Denver's pit bull ban roils owners The owners of pit bulls are upset that the city has decided to ban their dogs. They claim that their dogs are being judged unfairly.

2 pit bulls injure man and his dog But how can the city NOT ban these dogs when things like this happen all the time. It wasn't too long ago that a Woman in Elizabeth was killed and two other people attacked by two pit bulls that had gotten out again and were looking for something to attack.

I'll be the first to admit that not every dog of a breed is the same, but it appears that some of these owners are oblivious to the danger of their dogs. Some dogs have even attacked family members and the owners still cry the dogs are safe. I just don't get it.

While it may not be fair to judge all of a breed by the few that make the news, there are plenty of other dogs that need good homes.

I think that it is possible that Man has messed around too much with dog breeding. There is a pet shop near me that proudly advertises it's mixed breed dogs as if they are purebreds with price tags to match. I'm not a purebred fanatic (my own dog is an unknown mix from the pound) but don't go passing off a Snoodle for the same price as a Poodle!

Okay I jumped onto a different soapbox there...sorry.

why are the british blogs so big?

any idea why the british blogs are so wide? I have to scroll to the right to see them all. just wondering.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Really cool music for VBS

This year our Church is doing the Serengeti Trek VBS program. We got our CD last night and have been "jamming out" to it all day. Here's the link http://www.groupvbs.com/2005/Serengeti/default.asp And I see that you can also hear the music clips.

Very cool stuff including kid versions of Steven Curtis Chapman & Chris Tomlin! Very cool. I said that.

Venting like crazy!

okay, I've been avoiding venting about this here because it's possible for the folks that I'm venting about might see a link to this page and take a peek. But ya know, my blog isn't visited by too many people...that I know of... I should get a counter to be sure... so I'm figuring what the heck.

Here it goes:

Along with everything else I do (see the crazy busy life post) I am also the Financial Coordinator for LLL in our area. My official title is Area Financial Coordinator. I say that my real job is Area Financial NAG! My job includes being the treasurer, which is the easy part...I just write checks which isn't too bad with someone else's money. But the NAG part is that every year around April (before if I can get to it) I send out invoices for Leader dues and the notice that Financial Reports are due. Every year I explain in detail what the dues are for and why the Leaders are paying dues to the area and to international and group dues as well. Yeah that's a lot of dues, but the money is supposed to be paid from the group accounts...not the leader's personal money.

No matter how detailed the letter is, I still get a bunch of Leaders asking "didn't I just pay that?" "Why am I supposed to pay that?" "I thought that was due (a month later)?" Enough questions that make me sure that NO ONE ever reads the letters that I send out. I've now been the treasurer for a year and two months and there are still Leaders who are sending money to our old treasurer who moved away!!!!!!!!!!

Since becoming the AFC I have written numerous letters/ articles explaining what is supposed to be happening to these women...all of which have been ignored apparently because they are still doing what ever the heck they like. I have also been so kind as to write a spread sheet for them to use to keep track of all their financial stuff on that fills out the report for them...they just enter their income & expenses like a checkbook and note what the money was for. I even taught a class at our Leader workshop on all the paperwork and showed them how easy it is to do.

Did it help? NOT ONE BIT!

The last straw this year was one leader who called me up after I sent her a past due notice to say that "I thought that it was due June 30th and my family is going on vacation so you'll have to wait until June 30th to get it." Hello? It was DUE APRIL 1st!!!! The deadline for getting it to me was JUNE 1st! She pulled the same crap last year, throwing in that her Family was more important than LLL stuff. I hear from other Leaders that she's really a great leader, just lousy at paperwork and paying bills too. I would hate to see her personal finances...I would also hate to see the personal finances of most of these ladies.

So I had a thought that if all these Leaders think the deadline is when they are suppose to sit down and do the work, maybe I should move the deadline away from the end of the school year as that seems to be part of the problem. So my revelation is to move the due date up and to not give them 3 and a half months to get it in next year. It seems too easy to forget if it's not due now. I'll probably be back next year venting even harder that my plan didn't work, but keep your fingers crossed that it does. I'm also going to try to charge them for being late as well.

One of the Department coordinator Leaders that I mentioned this plan to was already whining about it and I know that she uses the spreadsheet. So I'm sure I'll hear lots of complaining, but I'll take it.

BTW: Of the 30 plus leaders that I sent a late notice to, I've only heard from 6...

crazy busy life!

I haven't had the time to post anything lately because I've been busy beyond belief. Last night I went to a meeting for VBS and showed the director my calendar (she wanted to know why I wasn't getting more involved, but hadn't really asked me that.)

This week we had Build a terarium, Molly Brown house, Park Day, Bug investigation, Girl Scouts and Gymnastics class twice. Then I had the VBS meeting and I'm supposed to do some work with my Homeschooling group. Then there's all the regular taking care of business at home...which isn't really getting done. LOL

Next week I have a LLL meeting, Gym, Park Day, Water Fun co-op, First Aid class, Dinosaur thing at the Library and sometime in there I should try to help get our Church ready for VBS.

The following week I've agreed to be a crew leader for VBS. Luckily my crew is all girls with pretty good tempermants, but I'll be the Group leader as well... I didn't bother to see who was in all the other crews...that could be fun!

So if you don't see anything fun to read here for a while, don't worry. We haven't fallen off the face of the earth...just to busy.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Ahhh this explains it a little...

I found this article which explains why I used to think Tom was okay and now I don't anymore...

He's fired his publicist who used to keep all his skeletons in the closet. It all makes sense now!

The Church of the Scientology strikes again

But who can blame her, really. I mean if you had a chance to date Tom Cruise wouldn't you do anything for it? Including changing your religion?

Okay, I wouldn't but then when am I going to get to date Tom Cruise? Actually it's getting to the point that I don't even like Tom Cruise anymore. He just keeps doing more and more things to tick me off.

What is hollywood coming to these days when a nice looking young man can't just stay nice so we normal gals can fantasize about him? Bummer...

Friday, June 10, 2005

Look out Mommy!

Here they come again! Mom's place is pretty much in land, but she had a lot of tree limbs fall... her new house had lots of nice big oak trees. Last year her neighbor had a tree fall through the house. I don't know if they ever "rebuilt" (it was a trailor).

The funny thing was that my Brother & his family choose to visit FL, in Clearwater during the hurricane. They were miserable. But my SIL learned what a huricane is really like! It's funny what people who haven't been through one think happens. The reason that the "old timers" don't evacuate is because for the most part you don't really have to. Even if you're directly in the path the chances of it hitting you are very slim. But of course if you're coastal you should move.

Happy Huricane season! I'll pray for your safety.

Bad Bad Bad Kitties!

Here! I find it highly unusual that kitties would use the fax instead of their litter pan unless they were not trained OR the pan was very dirty. Cuz we all know that kitties don't like going to a dirty potty anymore than we do!

Thursday, June 09, 2005

5 down and only 1 more to go!

Dh has been out of town since Sunday. DD & I are ready to do harm to each other I think. And I had to miss TNO too. That sucks!
Maybe I can talk my TNO buddies into a make up on another night?

Why am I marching?

well actually I'm not anymore. I was marching for about 15 min maybe this morning when I read this post on my friend's blog. So I decided to give it a try with marching in place... I don't have a treadmill... and I can't carry the computer upstairs to my eliptical trainer...or the trainer down to the computer. And I couldn't see how to get a computer on it anyway.

So I tried the marching in place at my computer. It wasn't so bad, I suppose. It will take a lot of work though because I had to sit my keyboard on top of my printer/scanner. And it's wobbly. Any any "fancy" key work takes too much concentration to do and keep marching.

But all this typing reminds me that I should probably give it a try again... at least for reading on the computer. I mean I have figured out how to read while on the eliptical.

Boy I can sure babble about nothing...huh? ;o)

wow!

All I can say is Wow! Check this out!

BTW: I had to stop marching to get that done.

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Okay this creaped me out today

Just in case that didn't work out (still learnin how all this works) here's the link again... Link Poor guy...

hello world...

Well, first I should say that since my monitor is dying on me and my screen is permanently pink (well permanent until it dies) I have no idea what color this text is. Please let me know if it's revolting... k?

Second, my good friend Jen talked me into this... so I can blame most of this on her... right? ;o)

I don't know when I'll actually have the time to do anything here, but keep checking who knows... anything is possible. right?