Friday, January 19th

[Colliemom]

Good Morning. Been up for awhile but browsing on FB and checking out a few things. Will get moving here after I finish this post. There’s about an inch or so of fresh fluffy snow out there from tbe otber day, so will go out later and clear it off the walks and drive. Don’t like to keep walking or driving over it because it packs down and later when things thaw, takes longer to get to bare pavement and makes too much ice. Plus tine to get out and get some fresh air. Wasn’t a bad day yesterday, around 17, but hardly a breeze.. Took the dogs for a short walk and they were so happy to be out exploring.

Tina, what I was referring to was printing off my list of payments I make monthly for Medicare Supplemental Insurance and my Part D coverage. I have to pay for my own medical insurance. It’s only two sheets of paper. I can and do deduct them on my taxes as well as my dental bills, co pays for my prescription and any other medical related stuff I might have from year to year. My taxes are filed using long form, not the standard deduction.

Judy, sounds like your son is making progress. Barbie, I and otbers have said you should see a chiropractor. They can help. Find one that does the Activator method. They can that rib back in place in a second, And get your spinal cord straightened where it belongs. That will help the sciatic. Way better than having to have surgery. Way better than being miserable.

Off he get washed up, brush teeth and get into something. Have a nice dsy all.

[BirdbyBird]

Sue I understood exactly what and why you were adding up medical expenses….. I just wondered if they added up to over the magic percentage of your total earnings such that the IRS allows them to be used as a deduction????? Unless they do they are not deductible…. And filing the long form for deductions doesn’t help….

[OregonLuvr]

Good morning. No rain yet today and a balmy 42/55 today. Put in a small grocery order so I must go pick that up pretty soon. Breakfast and shower are done, now will throw a load of laundry in so I can change my bed linen tomorrow.
I have sort of a fun thing to do tomorrow. The local 4H clubs do this every year. They have people with purebred dogs come to the fairgrounds and the kids go around to see each breed of dog. I havent been before but took Emma to the groomer yesterday and she said I should take Emma as they have a lot of fun and most will have never seen a Tibetan Spaniel. She has an odd breed also and she is going I dont remember what breed she said but it started with an L I think. I will find out tomorrow. Starts at 9am so will need to get my act together early.
Making a pot of vegetable beef soup today. I made it a couple weeks ago and it was so tasty that I think I will do it again
Need to go get my garbage container in as they came earlier than usual this week and last so maybe this will be the new normal, around 9-9:30 instead of 10-11 I always put it out in the morning early anyway so no big deal.
Hope all of you in the frozen tundra are starting to thaw out. we have had pretty good weather, no freezing anything and fairly mild with rain.......I will take it.

[BarbaraRose]

good morning gals!

Slept good last night. Luckily, I don't cough at night, so it gives my throat and ribs a break. My leg muscles feel much better this morning. That usually only lasts 2 days after being abused. Haven't coughed yet so don't know how the ribs will feel. I had a bad coughing fit last night so I am sure that didn't help any.

No word back from the guy who looked at the house...maybe back to square one.

Sue, I don't think my insurance covers chiropractors. I will look into it tho. The rib thing is just strained muscles from coughing.

Nothing else new... Have a nice day!

[SoCalGalcas]

Yea Friday! Although retired I still enjoy Fridays. Tina, be sure and let us know how you and Emma enjoyed yourselfs Saturday.
There is a large hotel near me. The drive way is in the back. Much less traffic and pedestrians. Beside the driveway are twosm[si[/size]? Small plots of dirt. Someone has planted Camilla bushes there. They are now blooming. As I go by on my scooter I clip three blooms and take them home. I enjoy the slight of them floating in a bowl of water on my counter!!!
Rain is in the forecast. I will believe it when I see it!
Lyn

[Colliemom]

Tina, Medical insurance Premiuns are tax deductible if you obtain the Insurance yourself, which I have, and the costs are out of pocket, which mine are. . I claim them along with any other medical related out of pocket costs every year, including last year’s taxes. I’ve been over the threshold so far.

[Acadianmom]

It was 58 and sunny today. I should have walked Luna but we had two ball sessions. She brings me her ball and goes to the door so it's hard to say no. The temperature is falling and it's suppose to get to the 20's again tonight. The trash truck never did pass but my trash bin stayed up. It's almost full so probably heavy. My neighbor had to pick his can up several times. I decided to wash my sheets and blanket. When I was making the bed Luna decide to help me. She is a busy body and wants to be in the middle of everything. She doesn't sleep with me and seldom has gotten on the bed. My clothes hamper was full so washed a load of towels too.

I had a container of Crawfish and Corn Soup from the specialty meat market in the freezer. I noticed a lot of potatoes in it so read the label. They put corn and crawfish in potato soup. It was good and I still have half left. I don't know if I'll eat the rest tonight or make a hamburger.

I need to see if the cats will come in. Inky and Frosty didn't come in last night.

Martha

[BarbaraRose]

I went around the neighborhood to see if my neighbors have opened the doors under their houses in the past few weeks in case the cats ran under there when they weren't looking. Most hadn't. One house is being remodeled with lots of workers coming and going, doing a lot of work on it. I asked two guys there today if they had opened the doors underneath. They said only once, but one of them opened it up, crawled under the house with a flashlight just to check for cats. I thought that was nice. No cats. I talked to another lady down the street who also feeds the stray cats and she is also missing a cat who spent most of it's time at her place. It has also been missing for about 2 weeks. We are wondering if someone is poisoning the cats here. That one cat, Bootsy, who used to hang out here and I had caught and neutered, about a month ago was fine one day and then was very sick the next day and died that afternoon, I thought maybe he had died from kidney failure but now we are thinking we was poisoned.

On a good note...I called my health insurance company because I got a bill from that clinic that was supposed to evaluate me for ADHD but pretty much just blew me off. My insurance will pay for that. The clinic never reported the appointment with the insurance company. While I was on the phone with them, I asked if they knew of any other clinics in the valley who I could go to for an evaluation/diagnosis/treatment and they told me of another one that sounds a little more legit. I asked for an "in-person" appointment and got one for 2 1/2 weeks from now and it isn't too far away. Hope that one works better, at least that they take me seriously.

A neighbor of mine told me that she saw the man who looked at my place the other day, looking at other places here with one of the agents here, yesterday. So I guess he is checking out his options.

Otherwise, I have just been watching golf all day. Am feeling better but my ribs are still sore when I cough but not as painful as yesterday. Am coughing less today too. Needed to do laundry but figured lifting the heavy clothes baskets would not help my ribs any. I can wait until Sunday when hopefully, they will be healed up more.

I work tomorrow from 9-2.

Have a good night!

[JudyJB]

Moved campgrounds today to a state park with a laundromat so ended up doing almost four weeks of laundry! Good thing I have lots of clothes and manage to wash some shorts from time to time. Actually two of the loads were towels and sheets, plus bath mats. I had just finished three loads and was about to put in a fourth load into one of the two vacant machines, and discovered that the water had been shut off. Sat around a while until it was fixed, but last load was after dark and my campsite is a long way away from laundry, so too much walking in the dark. Did have a flashlight, but worn out after four loads of clothing and a ton of folding!! I still have three good-sized rugs and two smaller ones, so am going to try to find a commercial laundry tomorrow to do just those. Also need to make a Walmart trip tomorrow since I have not been grocery shopping for 11 days.b

Son got rest of tubes out this morning and was released from the hospital. They actually let him eat real food this morning, and he apparently kept it down. With only half a pancreas, eating is going to be tough for a while. He still has a lot of pain and is very weak, but they will send a nurse to his house for a few hours each day, plus PT and OC a couple of times or more each week.

On to one of the COE campgrounds tomorrow, after I run my errands.

[snowball]

I am sitting here trying to think of something to say... guess that says something about my day
Lyn I bet that those flowers make your house smell so good..
Karen was reading tonight about other part of Oregon that didn't fair so well weather wise... the article was telling about a car that must have hit something cause of sliding anyway the end results was the expectant mom the boyfriend the brother (who went to help) ended up being electrocuted a teenager was able to save the infant that for some reason when his dad was killed he wasn't how awful the parents of the family who lost two children and a grandchild not to mention the father of the baby and now they have a grandson to raise... things can change so quickly
glad you are feeling better Barbie and hopefully you can find the lost kitties or at least come to know what happened... It is awful of people to put out poisoned food for animals to ingest... I really hope that isn't what is happening
beef vegetable soup sounds good ... been thinking of it for a bit... tomorrow going to make chicken noodle soup have noodles left over...
I ran across a video with Jaq... Pepin not sure how to spell his first name giving a recipe for a shrimp pasta dish made that tonight ... in the recipe he chopped up the shrimp I didn't I think if I make it again I will chop up at least some of the shrimp it was a good dish ... shrimp pasta zucchini onion green onion garlic and corn I also put to much pasta water in it... think there is enough for us to have it again although not as much pasta left might have to cook up a small amount of that
you all have a great day
sheila

[BirdbyBird]

Sue...I understand..... my income from my pension is probably more than I would pull in with SS only. The part that made me wonder was the wording......"You can only take PART of your medical and dental expenses that are MORE than 7.5 % of your adjusted gross income." I looked at what that left over amount was and looked at the new higher standard deduction I would be allowed this year without itemizing and it didn't add up to making the itemizing worth it..... and yes I pay through the nose for United Healthcare Supplemental insurance......and Prescription coverage.....among other medical expenses.... The only time I was able to itemize medical costs was one year when my son's out of pocket medical costs did run high enough, so it is somethings that I am aware of.....