workingwifey

So Cootie was up to 5 units of insulin 2x per day, and we took him into the vet for a check up and the vet said his blood glucose level was 40…which is WAY too low. Under 80 is in hypoglycemic range, so they told us to reduce the dose. This kept happening until they told us to reduce to 1 unit 2x per day. At that point, I pretty much just stopped shooting Cootie with the insulin.  Cootie knew he was done. When I first started shooting him with the insulin, he didn’t mind at all. It’s almost as if he could tell that he was sick, and that I was helping him. So when he started to go into remission, he could tell, and would not really let me shoot him. I had to enlist Rory’s help many times, but when the vet told us that his blood sugar was that low, I figured out that he was in remission. He has gained weight back, and is doing just fine now. It is possible for cats to go into remission if you catch the Diabetes early enough, chang the diet, and start administering the insulin, within just a few weeks of being diagnosed…thank God for Cootie! I am so happy I don’t have to shoot him anymore. So far so good, I am keeping a close eye on him but he seems to be doing very well.

My birthday is coming up on 10/9. When my mom was alive, every year on my birthday, she would tell me the story of how I was born. That is one thing that when she used to do it, it was just like I was letting her do it for her sake, because her baby was another year old. But now that she is gone and I don’t have her to tell me that story every year, I really miss it. It makes me sad, and makes me remember my last birthday that I got to hear the story from my mom - my 20th birthday. I remember I was living in California and she was in Colorado, and she called me in the morning and I was really uspet because my boyfriend at the time was supposed to spend the night before hanging out with me, but he ended up going to a party with his friends instead. I remember she actually cheered me up by telling me the story of when I was born. I have heard the story so many times, I feel like it’s a movie that I am watching in my head. I can see her sitting at home eating Moon Pies while my dad was out drinking, because they had just gotten into a big fight. Then I can see her eating so much that she was throwing up, not knowing she was in labor. I can then see my dad walk in the door, and her telling him they had to go to the hospital. Then he drove her very slowly to the hospital, and no matter how slow my dad was driving, my mom kept telling him to slow down. Once they got to the hospital, my mom’s lower back was hurting her so bad, she made my dad rub it while she was trying to walk around to ease her pain - for hours. Then I popped out, and one hour later my mom and dad took me home. I was 6lb 6oz and 19″ long, born at 5:20am.

Today my husband’s dad went to the Emergency Room at the Scripps hospital in Encinitas because he was feeling clammy, cold, and was shaking. They admitted him, found something weird on the EKG, but rulled out heart attack. After a few hours in the hospital, he started to develop a fever, so the doctors gave him some antibiotics and sent him home. No diagnosis. WTF? How do doctors do that — or how do people LET them get away with doing that? How do they admit someone to stay in the hospital, and because they couldn’t find what was wrong with him, they just pumped him full of antibiotics and then sent him on his way? If I was Rory’s mom, I would have not left until they gave me an answer as to what had happened. His white blood cell count was up, which can mean anything - but it does mean that his body is fighting something. It’s a miracle these doctors are even allowed to practice. I understand it is near flu season and everyone is busy but come on, a 60+ year old guy comes in to the E.R. for something that does not look like a heart attack, but that does look like SOMETHING, and you send him home without an answer? I would never, ever stand for that. I wouldn’t be able to. How about you? Am I overreacting?

Yesterday I read an article regarding Mexicans in Arizona. Arizona has begun providing stricter consequences to employers of illegal Mexicans, I believe the first state to really do anything major like this. With that comes the fact that less employers in America are hiring illegal’s, for fear of getting caught. That has made Mexican’s have to go back to their country of Mexico, for good. Mexico has begun to complain to Arizona about the fact that their country can not handle that many people. So that is the U.S.’s fault? It is our fault that your country is poor and corrupt, so people want to come to the U.S. to make money and have a better life, except they do not want to do it the legal way, so now we are trying to make them follow the law? You know darn well if an American (especially a White American) went down to Mexico and did not follow their “laws” (I say that with quotes because they appear to be so corrupt that they can arrest you for anything they want, and you have the ability to negotiate your way out of jail. This is normal practice, there is no sense of justice), they would lock you up in 2 seconds flat, and do whatever they wanted to you. So if they can have that attitude toward American’s, why can we not try to uphold our own laws? I don’t see why everyone has such a problem with following the rules. The rules are that if you want to live in this country and get all of the benefits like medical insurance, work, driving privelages, you must become a citizen and in order to be a citizen, you must be able to take the test which is in English (thank God for that, it’s about the last thing left that is actually in English!), and if not, then go back to your country! Do not try to change mine! Anyways, back to my original point - I just do not see how Mexico can be angry at the U.S. for enforcing our laws, and sending the people that are still citizens of Mexico back to their country. It’s almost like they are forgetting that American’s do not owe them anything. They are forgetting that the people we are forcing to go back are actually from there, and most of their families still live there, and they are residents of that country! They are forgetting that without the billions of dollars that Mexican workers make in the U.S. and then bring back to Mexico each year, their country would have way less money that it does right now! It makes absolutely zero sense. Can anyone explain it to me?

Tonight I was watching something I believe on this History channel about rites of passage in different cultures. They explained a ritual in South Africa where a boy around 20 years of age gets sent away to the middle of no where to get circumcized, and must have it performed by a “traditional surgeon” who does not have any formal training. Then the boy must live in a hut and can not eat or drink until he is fully healed. By himself. People in the U.S. probably can not imagine that type of tradition. Then the program went on to explain how in the United States, it is common for families to send their old parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents to “assisted living”, “retirement”, or “nursing” homes to be taken care of. In many other countries, the community will take care of the old people as they age, and they hold them in high regard for their experience and wisdom. The program stated that in the Apache Native American tribe, for a girl to become a woman, the ceremony is not written down anywhere. The elder of the community will state the tradition orally. Without the elderly to communicate this to the rest of the tribe, the tradition would cease to exist. So how come in the U.S. does not normally take care of their elderly as a community? The program said that it costs around $5000 per month for an old person to live in an assisted living facility. Most people that are my age (20’s or 30’s) can not even afford to pay that much per month to live TOTAL, so how in the heck are we expected to pay that when we can not even work for a living? At least children without a home are able to go to orphanages and not have to pay for it (probably because of child labor laws), so why can’t we have some type of program for the elderly like this as well? Maybe we do and I just don’t know about it? I mean I know there is social security and medicare but social security alone is not enough for most people to live on. Hopefully by the time I am old enough for this to have an affect on me, things will be different and I won’t have to worry so much.

Recently my cat, Cootie, lost 5 pounds rather quickly. He’s 8 years old and has always been around 20 pounds, so when he went from 21lbs to 16lbs, I got anxious. I have taken him to the vet before to get checked for Diabetes but since he didn’t have it last time, I didn’t think much of how he was acting this time (lots of water drinking & peeing). So I took him in last Wednesday and they called me Friday to tell me yes, he does have diabetes We took him to the vet on Saturday and they taught us how to “tent” the skin and prepare the syringe and administer the insulin. Right now I have to give him 2 units of Insulin, twice a day (I do it at 6am and 6pm). The first couple times I did it, it was really hard for me to “tent” the skin correctly. I still have trouble with it but think I am getting the hang of it. At the vet, the assitant grabbed a ton of skin when she showed us where to tent the skin, but here at home the two time I’ve tented only a little bit of skin, I can feel the needle actually going into his skin and he doesn’t flinch at all. The other times, he flinches but doesn’t run away. The very first time I shot him, he flinched and yelled at me and turned to look at me with the madest/most painful/sadest look ever…it made me SO sad. He seems to be doing well today though, today is day 5. We take him back to the Vet on Saturday so that they can take another blood test and see if we are giving him too much insulin or not enough. I never thought I would have to be giving my baby Insulin shots! I would think about it every once in a while because I know that male cats over 7 years of age are more likely to get diabetes and 1 in 400 cats gets it, but could never picture myself poking him with a needle!! I’m glad we took him in and he’s getting help. The insulin is really expensive though, as well as the blood curve test thing (glucose curve?). More to come….

The Devil just called me, but I didn’t pick up the phone. No seriously, I just got a phone call from a phone number in Vista, CA that started with the numbers 666. And no, that’s not the area code. 760-666-xxxx (I will spare whoever’s number that REALLY was). Heck no, couldn’t pay me to answer it. It called my HOME phone, no less, to find me.

Everyone knows I have a thing about 666. I am afraid of the numbers 666 and also of Friday the 13th. I have examples of why but my 2009 examples: Rory got laid off on Friday the 13th of February and is STILL laid off, nearly 6 months later. And about a week after that, he went and got something to eat and the total came to $6.66!!! WTF!!!????!!!?!?!

Rory also has a friend that BOUGHT a condo, the address being 666. If you bought it for me and fully furnished it and everything, AND paid me, I would never live at a place where the address was 666. You are just asking for trouble if you do that!

Check this out, the fear of the number 666 is called Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. Say that three times fast! It’s like the number follows me and haunts me. I don’t think that normal people have to come into contact or have the need to avoid this number as often as I do. Why me??

I can’t remember if I’ve posted a blog about it before, but Rhythm Ring is my dad and his friend Brian’s company. Check out www.rhythmring.com. Saturday, my dad and I got matching Rhythm Ring tattoos of the logo. They sold over 2000 rings over the weekend so we thought we would celebrate! It’s a pretty cool little musical instrument. Uke players are really digging it, as well as people in other countries like China and Germany. My dad is currently developing a double one that is vertical (i think? Opposite of what it is now lol) for playing guitar, so that when you strum, the sound actually goes with the strumming. It’s sweet. The current standard Rhythm Ring is mostly for percussion or uke players.
Anyways, the tattoos is on the inside of my right calf. My dad got his on his right bicep. Now we have two matching tattoos Not only was it a time for business celebration, but it was a time of father/daughter bonding! I couldn’t figure out how to put a picture in the body of this blog so look at the comment I left with a picture of the tattoo.

I didn’t want to do the cliche thing that everyone else is doing and post a blog about Michael Jackson….but I can’t help it!

I was listening to his music a lot since he died (of course, as everyone is) and the song Corner of the Sky came on by the Jackson 5. It’s one of my favorite Jackson 5 songs. The lyrics of the song really stood out to me. I feel like if Michael were alive, he would probably say that the words to that song are totally the way he feels. It’s so sad that he died, and that he had to live in his own personal hell inside his brain, and that he never got help.

Here are the lryics to Corner of the Sky…and all I can say is that I hope that now, Michael has finally found his corner.

Everything has its season
Everything has its time
Show me a reason and I’ll soon show you a rhyme
Cats fit on the windowsill
Children fit in the snow
Why do I feel I don’t fit in anywhere I go?

Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free
Got to find my corner of the sky

Every man has his daydreams
Every man has his goal
People like the way dreams have
Of sticking to the soul
Thunderclouds have their lightning
Nightingales have their song
And don’t you see I want my life to be
Something more than long….

Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free
Got to find my corner of the sky

So many men seem destined
To settle for something small
But I won’t rest until I know I’ll have it all
So don’t ask where I’m going
Just listen when I’m gone
And far away you’ll hear me singing
Softly to the dawn:

Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free
Got to find my corner of the sky

So my husband and I have been having problems with Bally’s for months. He had a membership and wanted to cancel, and boy they make it as hard as possible to cancel! Finally I got sick of it and wrote them this letter yesterday and I wanted to share it with everyone Letter below (some of the personal info has been crossed out).
I also reported them to the BBB, AND filed a claim with my bank for their fradulent charges. Jerks.

Dear Ballys,
I called Bally’s and canceled my husband’s membership in January, 2009. I was charged for the last time, per my phone conversation, on 1/28/09 for $22.58. Before calling Bally’s in January, we tried to go to our nearest location but they had closed due to the Bally’s bankruptcy. We then went to the nearest Bally’s which is two towns over, and they gave us the number to the corporate office. That office then gave us a different phone number to call, which of course is not open during California business hours which makes it very hard to get a hold of someone. Once you are able to call during business hours, you are on hold for at least 30 minutes to an hour. No wonder Bally’s went bankrupt. HORRIBLE customer service.
The person I spoke with in January said that I would be sent a letter telling me if we were be refunded or charged for canceling, and they would not do any further charges until we were contacted. No letter was received of course. Because no letter was received confirming the cancelation and there was no charge to my bank account in February, I figured Bally’s had everything cleared up so that was the end. Being a full time Collections Specialist/student/wife, it took me a little while to notice that in March, Bally’s continued to charge my bank account, this time at $19 per month.
On May 28th I was charged for a 3rd time (March 30th, April 28th, May 28th) for $19 for a membership that neither I, nor my husband had with Bally’s. Just after June 1st, 2009, my husband, Rory ********* who is the account holder then called Bally’s and spoke with Ronald to ask why they are still charging us for a membership that we no longer have. Ronald told him that when I called back in January, I did not cancel the membership but I had actually agreed to a THREE year membership. Upon hearing this, Rory knew this was not true and obviously ridiculous since there isn’t even a Bally’s near us anymore since they went BANKRUPT. Rory was then told that the audio tape of my January phone call would be reviewed and we would receive a call back with the outcome. He was also told that from that point on, there would be no more charges to our bank account.
It is now June 8th , and we have had no call back from Bally’s, no letter received from Bally’s letting us know the outcome of us trying to cancel our account multiple times. Today I received a letter from Bally’s dated 6/3 stating that they are unable to process our monthly dues for June and for us to please remit our updated credit card number. I am obviously not giving anymore payment information to Bally’s, considering we do not even have an account with Bally’s anymore, and haven’t since January.
We requested that all three $19 charges be reversed since we canceled our member ship in January. Because of Bally’s blatant ignorance and horrible customer service, I have disputed the charges and filed a claim with ***** bank letting them know that these charges were fraudulent, and that we have attempted multiple times to get this issue cleared up with Bally’s, with absolutely no luck. Please review the audio tape of my phone conversation from January stating that the account needs to be canceled, and that I did NOT agree to renewing the membership for three more years.
Please destroy any payment information and if it has not been done already, cancel any and all accounts associated with Rory ********* and the member number listed above. If you would like to contact ** ****** ***** bank regarding the claim that has been filed again Bally’s, the claim number is ****************.
Please confirm with me via email that this letter has been received and that you will refund all three fraudulent charges of $19 each into my bank account or via check, and that Rory’s Bally’s membership is 100% canceled and closed.

Thanks,
Dayna