Just random

Ginny asked yesterday if I had had the allergy testing done yet and what I'm allergic to. I still haven't had it done yet. I'll be making the appointment today. With my luck, I'll pay the $200 only to have them tell me I'm not allergic to anything.


So on with the post. I went through my archives and randomly chose pictures. I'm hoping I'll be right on target with this kind of post.

I suppose you could end up thinking I'm nuts. I might even have to agree with you on that one.

 A blanket and your furry best friend will make everything better.

Really?

I hate insurance companies. Today I have a rant about my insurance.

First off when Wade's job was eliminated so was his health insurance that was paid for by his employer. In order for him to keep what he had it would cost us $1700 a month. I was able to get health insurance through where I work at a cost of $200 per week. Big savings to us but that is roughly half of my paycheck.

Now on to the ENT appointment and the issue of allergy testing.

4/16 I had my first appointment with the ENT
4/17 I called the insurance company to find out if the testing was covered. She said yes but certain criteria had to be met and she would mail out the information to me.
4/21 the letter arrived with a cover sheet, a non-discrimination statement and a sheet filled with various foreign languages.
4/23 I call the insurance company again. This one says she will email me the information. I will have it in 24-48 hours. Really? an email takes that long?
4/25 the ENT calls to ask if I still want the testing done. I explain that I'm waiting for the insurance company. She says she will hold on to it and call me again on Monday. In the meantime, she explains that I have a $500 deductible of which 0 has been met and the appointment will cost me $200
Later that day the email arrived and then on 4/27 the regular mail had the letter that was supposed to be sent out the first time. If you can read the date on the cover sheet it's April 17th.

I just really hate insurance companies. I pay all that money every week and still have to pay on top of that. There is just something wrong with the whole system.

Nothing much

It's supposed to rain today so I think I will just spend the day hanging out and doing nothing.

I'll make this short and sweet. I hope you have a ....

...kind of day.

Thinking of you

When I was thinking of what to post about today I was coming up blank. I thought that maybe instead I should be thinking of you. Off I went to find some very old digital "thinking of you" cards that I made in 2009.

Now I must go think of something for tomorrow.

For Grace

The other day I posted this picture.

Grace left me the following comment.
I would have liked to see those collage photos on their own, not clumped together. Thank you. 


So because Grace asked, here they are.

The circle of life

Why did I choose that title? Well, I think it was because everything is coming back to life again around here. As I walked the yard I saw the forsythia once again blooming.

Further on I found this moss. I love its color.

And finally, I came to the Lupines that are starting to return.  These originally came from my dads garden and along with my hydrangea bush, I feel like he's returning to visit me each year when they come back.

Unfortunately for the Lupines, there has been some kind of vine growing in their flower bed and each year it chokes out more of them. At least there are still a few for me to enjoy.

X marks the spot

Yesterday morning the sun was shining and it was 45 degrees. I know that's cold by some standards but when you've been dealing with 20's and 30's 45 feels pretty good. It put me in the mood for a walk.
As I was walking up the sidewalk an X marked the spot of a little treasure.

So it wasn't a treasure in terms of monetary value but these little pinecones gave me something different to take pictures of. I took their picture on the front porch.

Then I carried them around the yard and took their picture in the forsythia bush, on the rocks next to the deck and hanging from a planter that was sitting on the steps.

It was nice to play with the big camera for a while and then do some more playing getting the pictures ready.

Silly me

It's a good thing I check up on myself otherwise there would not be a post today. Yesterday I got some pictures ready to use for a blog post and for whatever reason I never wrote the post. I probably got up to get a drink and forgot to come back to it.

Anyway, my original title was going to be what a difference a few days can make. On Tuesday of last week, it looked like this.

5 days later as I'm walking around the yard this is what I see.

I probably shouldn't get too excited but it does at least appear that spring is finally here.

Looking for color

Because it still doesn't look very spring-like around here yet I went in search of color in the archives.

I found yellow

And purple

 And green

And pink

I hope you have a fun filled day full of color.

Calculating

0.7734

Is equal to hello

Class dismissed.

Stuck in the middle

OTC to the left of me RX to the right. Here I am. Stuck in the middle of 2 nasal sprays.

For the record, I do NOT like nasal sprays and they taste horrible. Oh and have I mentioned that lately when someone is heavily marinated in their perfume I can now taste it? Let me tell ya folks, it doesn't taste any better than it smells.

A lot of nothing.

I've got nothing for today. I was going to post about the fact that we had snow on Tuesday and it looked more like January than April. Unfortunately, my computer is being difficult and doesn't want to read my card to transfer the pictures.

That means it's back to the archives to see what I can find.

Ages ago I purchased a program called Dazzling Reflections. All it really did was make kaleidoscopes but there were lots of templates that you inserted your photos into to make them. I was a bit obsessed with it for a while. I remember at the time I was also into the digital scrapbooking and belonged to a group somewhere. People were rating each other's blogs and giving advice. One lady who gave her opinion on mine said that I needed to learn to stay on topic and only talk about digital scrapbooking. Also shorten my posts because people were there for the freebie, not to read my ramblings. Thirdly she told me to stop with the kaleidoscopes already. She was brutally honest but I really didn't mind because I had asked for honest opinions. These were some of the kaleidoscopes that had appeared on my blog.

On my way home

Monday, on my way home from my ENT appointment I had to stop at Walmart to pick up the nasal spray they recommended. First I decided on a quick jaunt through Hobby Lobby. I got there right at 9:00 when they were opening so the parking lot was pretty empty.

Believe it or not, I walked out without buying one single thing. However, I wasn't the only one who didn't make a purchase. I spotted this Canada goose walking away from the store and it didn't have any bags under its wing.

A quick little edit of above goose.

ENT

My appointment with the ENT yesterday was on the second floor of Shriners Hospital for children. I thought that was a sign that I was being a big baby about the whole thing and they were going to tell me to "suck it up buttercup".

I meant to take more pictures while I was there but ended up only taking this one while I was waiting in the exam room.

Before seeing the doctor they actually whisked me off for a hearing test as well. I was told that yes, I could definitely benefit from hearing aids. This is the same diagnosis I have gotten from just about anyone who has spent much time around me.  Unfortunately, hearing aids are not in the budget. The woman who did the test gave me some information about an online application I can fill out that could help. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, they determined that yes, they will do allergy testing. In the meantime, he gave me a prescription for a nasal spray as well as an over the counter one to use. They sent me off with papers and instructions and gave me a code for the insurance to find out if they cover allergy testing. If not, they charge $10 per injection. So I call the insurance, give them the code and she says "yes, but...". Apparently, the testing is covered if certain criteria are met. Sounds to me like another way for them to get out of paying for something that a doctor feels you need. Now I need to get my appointment scheduled and get the paper from the insurance company that explains what is necessary for the testing to be covered.

For the birds.

It still doesn't look very spring-like around here but I did spot quite a few birds through the window the other day. The weather is pretty gloomy so the lighting isn't great.

Love all the colors you can see in those feathers.

In other news, my doctor decided to send me for allergy testing. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that a couple weeks ago. Anyway, today is my appointment with the ear nose and throat doctor. They are going to evaluate me to determine if allergy testing is necessary. This is all getting quite annoying.

Was it a sign?

Yesterday morning, being my day off, I slept in and then took a very leisurely start to my day. I grabbed some coffee and parked myself in front of my computer. I read blogs, I checked email, I browsed Pinterest and then facebook.

It was about two and a half hours later that I came across the below image while reading Facebook posts.

Yes, I had a successful morning but I took it as a sign that I should probably get off my butt and get some things done.

Going digital

Digital art that is. For the record, I'm not saying this is good art, it's just a few things I did back in the day when I was learning all kinds of new tricks in Photoshop Elements

Make a funky background and add some song lyrics and call it a day.

 This one I have absolutely no explanation for whatsoever.

Hmmm, I'm thinking I was hoping for a bright sunshiny day.

.
This is another one that I really don't know what or why.

Friday the 13th

There's no way this could be an unlucky day when the temperatures are finally above 40. This was what it was when I left work  yesterday,

I won't get too excited though because come Monday the temperatures are supposed to be back down in the 30's and I saw snow in the forecast. I'll take what I can get.

Just a little funny random thought for the day.

Something big

For me, this is something really big and I wanted to share it with you. Today is post number 3000. Yes, that is three thousand. I started this blog back on October 9th, 2008. It's taken me almost 10  years to write that many posts but I did it. My blog has changed directions over the years. Below is the very first post I wrote. You'll see that my original intention was to do photography, photo editing and digital scrapbooking. I discovered through the process that I didn't care for the scrapbooking and I didn't really care to stick to just one subject. I don't care what anyone says, you don't have to have a niche for your blog.
So without further ado, here is my very first blog post

My first official blog post

10/9/2008

Like the title says this is the first official blog post. Pretty obvious but you have to start somewhere. I've been meaning to do this for some time but have been putting it off. Well, I finally figured out how to create my own background and so I was excited about actually using it. Yes, I made the background all by myself (pat on the back) So what do you think? I didn't think it was too bad for my first attempt.

Anyway, I plan on using this blog to show off my (hopefully improving) photography skills, my edits and my scrapbook pages. I'm also working on learning to make my own digiscrap kits and I'll be looking for a few good scrappers to try them out (free of course) and give me some feedback. I actually have one almost ready so check back in a day or two and I should have it posted for you to try out.

Well to start off on the right foot here, I have to share a couple of pictures with you. Let me introduce you to my family.

First my daughter Amanda

Then my son Brad

My husband Wade and three of his 4 kids

and last but not least, Duke (my Westie with an attitude) and Pringle (the poor cat who has to deal with the dog.

Be sure to come back and visit me often. Can't wait to hear from everyone. TTFN