My son's favorite video game has him battling bad guys in a hydroponics lab, and coordinating with other players across the globe using a headset. My daughter's favorite game has her brawling with cartoonish characters using sophisticated moves that require multiple and simultaneous hand movements WHILE thinking on the spot. WHAT?!

I cannot even follow the maps in the video games my kid's play, much less accomplish the required task should I accidentally find myself at the right location. The controllers are too complicated. What happened to Tetris? Pac Man? Super Breakout?!

I was recently thinking (after failing my daughter's Super Mario Bros. tutorial) that it would be super cool if Xbox came out with a Tetris game for Kinect. I would be hooked for sure. Then the laundry could pile up and I would be able to say things like, "in a minute, kids, just let me finish this level" when they are hungry or need a ride to a friend's house. Yeah. *drifting off to la-la land* I like it.  

I used to be an insurance biller and I loved it! My favorite part of the job was fighting on the phone trying to get payment. The more complicated the claim got with multiple insurances, Medicaid, Medicare supplement plans, etc., the harder it was to get paid. They love to deny insurance claims and count of patients eventually giving up and paying the doctor's office themselves.  But I never gave up when I knew the patient was entitled to payment. I really enjoyed the challenge. But now, as a claimant, I don't enjoy it as much and am frustrated.

My kids have Medicaid because they're adopted. But they also have Blue Cross through my husband's employment. It is ALWAYS jacked up. My son's claims go through by my daughters are always denied. And guess what! No one is fighting on my behalf! The providers just send me a denial and a bill and tell me to make it right. I don't know if these are lazy billers or if the doctors or office managers have taken this anti customer service stance, but it stinks.

We're lucky to have insurance so I am not complaining about having to make some phone calls, really. Just noticing one more step away from personal care from some of our health providers.  

I can't believe how many young smokers there still are. It just seems to me that each generation should have seen significantly fewer and fewer smokers in existence - and maybe that is the case - but when I learn that there are still new young people picking up the habit, it just seems like something is going wrong somewhere.

My Son, just now in 9th grade has been telling me about "the smokers" at school for years. He has been offered cigarettes and, to the best of my knowledge, has declined. I am inclined to believe him because I have a super sonic bionic nose when it comes to cigarette smoke. I'm highly allergic and my eyes swell up when I am around it. I suppose that is from being around it second hand so much, growing up.

My kids have had it quite different that I did, in that regard. Instead of getting second hand smoke they've been bombarded with info - cancer info, info on cigarettes, cigars info, carcinogens info - and we talk about it like it is the most disgusting thing known to man, turning our noses up and choking when we are around smoke. We have worked very hard to over shadow any interest or pressure that might come their way in the future. 

Now I'm not saying all smoking should be banished. If someone came along and tried to banish mojitos I would be pretty upset. But I am saying that like alcohol, cigarettes are meant for adults and it is disturbing to me that so many young people are still attracted to smoking and are finding ways to get their hands on cigarettes. I can't be the only one who is bothered by this? Am I?

Before I was a Realtor I was in agreement with my husband that a newer built home was the best choice for us. The modern design of the exterior was really appealing to both of us. We looked at some houses, found one that we liked and bought it. I hate it. If only knew then what I know now.

We didn't look at any older houses. Even if we had, though, I am not sure I would have noticed the important things. Maybe you can't REALLY know what  you want until you get into a house and start noticing what would work better FOR YOU, you know?

Anyway, my bitch with newer houses is how they are not practical or functional. They built them all wide open so that they LOOK spacious, and you don't notice how small it ACTUALLY is. (Also cheap, but that's a whole different matter!)

Older houses, I'll say pre-1990, are built to perform. They make sense. There is a place for everything and everything has it's place.  There is a big kitchen and separate dining room. And you actually have a laundry ROOM. Not just a washer and dryer behind a closet door. There were "built ins" and cubbies plenty of storage. My next house will definitely be from a different time period and not based on a facade. 

Since I don't think I'll be able to move any time in the near future though, thank you upside down housing market, I'm being challenged to find "solutions" to make our house less frustrating and more functional. I have one of those electric fireplaces that sits in the corner and takes up valuable space. I'd like one of those flat ones that hang on the wall. We need to get our TVs off of the bulky TV stands and entertainment centers and get those hung on the wall too. In fact, anything that I can get off the floor and hang up, I'm thrilled with. I just bought some hooks to hang in the kids rooms and bathroom so that they can keep their towels and certain clothing items off the floor. These tiny things are making big differences.

So if you're shopping for a house, pay attention not just to aesthetics but function. And if you're stuck for a while like I am, don't get defeated. There are lots of tools to help you save space and organize. Good luck! 

 

 

 

 

Can you really get an online nursing degree? I am reviewing my back to school options and keep seeing programs for the medical field. Don't get me wrong - I am not the least bit interested in an online nursing degree for myself, I don't have the stomach for it. 

In 5th grade I fainted during day 1 of the sex ed program and had to be excused from the rest of the program.

In 7th grade I got queasy while dissecting a sheep's eye in class. I fainted in the hall on the way to the office.

10th grade- Finger poking for blood sample time - I approached the teacher's desk to tell him of my history of fainting. "Quit being a baby, Schenk," he said, as he poked my finger before I realized what was going on. That's the last thing I remember before waking up in the hall with an ice pack on my head. 

30 years old while holding my friend's hand for support  during LASIK surgery - I toppled. You get the picture.  

Nope. No medical classes for me. 

 

So Christmas is over. YeeHaw! This had to be the most stressful one yet. Even worse than the year I was in a wheel chair and so hopped up on vicadin that U couldn't even pass out presents to my kids. Well, mainly that one wasn't as bad as it should have been BECAUSE I was so hopped up on vicadin and didn't really feel the stress I was experiencing. Point is, this year was tough. Am I alone in this thinking?

First of all, the 4 deals I had earmarked in SEPTEMBER as Christmas money had issues. I may have mentioned (bitched) about this (ad nauseum) in the recent past. No Christmas shopping for me until December 23rd! Yikes! And only one of the deals closed in time so IN that short time I had to be very creative with the reduced shopping money I had. Adding to the shopping difficulty was my kid's wishlists. Doesn't anybody want Etch a Sketch and art supplies anymore?

No. They want A DSXL and XBOX with Kinect. And an American Doll with accessories and a snowboard with accessories. Right. Cus I am the world's only stay at home freelance writer mom who is a millionaire. No problem.

Leading up to Christmas I was excited because nobody had electronics on their lists. But Sis broke her DS and desperately need it repaired, which costs almost as much as replacing and  upgrading. And my son presented a pretty good case for the Xbox and I bought it. Literally and figuratively.  WE had been talking about upgrading from PS2 to PS3 lately, but as he explained, an Xbox with Kinect, set up in the living room instead of his bedroom, would make for some fun family game nights. As well as some kick ass Halo Live games. But I'm sure that was a secondary thought. 

Damn electronics. I already can see that next year my daughter will need an Ipod and Kindle, while my son will need a netbook for school.  

My New Year's aspiration this year was to do less real estate and more writing for dollars. I do enjoy writing most of all, and HOPEFULLY the more consistent predictable pay days will allow me to do a Christmas club or something. Check back with me in December and we'll see how that worked out.  

 

Does anybody else have a hard time keeping up with keys? 

Most of my life I have carried around the big girly keychain. Lots of keys, pictures, vacation momentos, and fuzzy, shiny, dangly things. It drove my dad nuts and he finally convinced me that it was bad for my car. So I gave up my elaborate key king and went to the bare minimum.

Currently I have a key fob for my car and an office key. That's it. I actually lost my house keys somewhere along the way. It's okay for me. I have my ways of getting in. But every once in a while I want to give a key to someone to keep an eye on things.  And now my son is going to be driving soon - both kids actually should have a way to get into the house without relying on the side door being unlocked or Mama's credit card trick. 

Over the summer while staying at a friend's house I found the solution. Keyless handlesets! Have you seen them? I have, but not really on residences I don't think. It just has a handle and a keypad so you can punch in your code and go. Also, you can change your code temporarily to give access to realtors, service people, friends & family etc., then change it back. And you never have to worry about duplicate keys being made.  

 Such a simple solution - why didn't I think of that? 

I joined a home and life organization community today and got the most refreshing piece of advice. Shine the kitchen sinks. It's actually the first step you're supposed to do before participating in anything else.  Isn't that unexpected? The idea is to give you a small task to do to make you feel a sense of accomplishment as you look forward to the sometimes overwhelming task of de-cluttering and getting your household in order. First we're told to fill the sink with hot water and a cup of bleach to soak for an hour. Then rinse and scrub it the usual way with kitchen cleaner, paying attention to all the crevices and hard to reach areas. This is a one time deep clean. Afterwards we're supposed to keep a towel close by and wipe it clean and dry after every use so that we have this one clean "go to" area that makes us smile and provide motivation to tackle each following day's task. I think it's a great idea and my sink is filling up with hot water right now. Are you going to give it a try?