Here we go again...

Did you see the Oscars last Sunday?

Argo was OK, but Best Pic?  I don't think so.  Bernie got robbed.  I mean Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine together in a movie?  That is brilliant, as was the movie.

That's not what I wanted to write about, I digress. 

What pissed me off was a comment made about Bradley Cooper's mom.  One of the Red Carpet presenters called her "cute."  Cute because she is so short.  Awwwww.  Look at her next to her son.  She's so cute.

This falls on the heels of a similar comment made on the Today Show by another TV person.  A couple standing outside with a sign about their anniversary and this perky TV person asks how long they have been married.  They say 30 something years.  As she walks away she says "they are so cute."

Again with the cute.  To describe us oldies.  It could be a term of endearment if it were so damn  patronizing. 

We aren't cute.  We are aged.  Believe you me, there's not that much cuteness associated with aging.  (Today UPS delivered some new product that is supposed to fill in my thinning hair - how not cute is that?).

We deserve to be treated with some dignity.  Even respect.  NOT to be called cute.  Here's what they  should have said:

Red Carpet: There's Bradley Cooper with his mother.  What an exciting night for them.  She must be very proud.  

Today Show: You have been married a long time.  Congratulations. 

Now I have to go see about covering up some thinning areas on my head.

Medical bills are making me sick

Time Magazine's cover story about medical bills is making me sick.  The writer calls it a seller's market.  A gold rush.  And we, the consumers, are on the losing side.  With no end in sight. 

ObamaCare will help a little by widening the access to insurance so a trip to the hospital shouldn't wipe out a family's savings and worse. But it doesn't really address The Medical Bill.  $18 charges for a blood sugar test that really costs 55 cents.  $2 for a Tylenol, which would cost more like 2 cents.  These are but 2 examples in a hospital bill that can run more than 300 pages long!!!

How about $21,000 to be told you have heartburn?  That's what one man got billed after his trip to the emergency room.

Where is the shame? 


http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/

Backyard is Sammie's playground

Sammie, here at 3 months, loves her backyard.  She has discovered digging and burying stuff.  We play soccer EVERY day.

One day she came flying into the house through the doggie door - completely soaked.  Apparently she discovered swimming in the pool that day!

I need more time!

Can you believe we're already in the second month of the new year?  10 more to go!

I'm sorry, but it seems time is passing way too fast.  Faster than usual.  I have a lot of plans for this year, travels and work goals and play goals and reading.  If I already am running out of time, how am I going to accomplish everything?

I have to find a way to stretch out time.  I have a plan.

First, I have deactivated my FB account (again), so I have eliminated the need to obsessively check for updates or follow silly links to cats doing battle (which is very funny, btw).  That has given me 30 minutes to an hour back - a day! 

Next, I am going to (hopefully) give up Bubbles game on my Kindle Fire.  Sigh.  It will be hard.  It's such mindless fun.  So, averaging throughout the week, I'm going to get back maybe 15 minutes a day, or an hour and a half a week. 

What else?

Television.  RH.  Yes, that stands for Real Housewives, the Bravo franchise of horribly wonderful reality entertainment.  I can't commit to that just yet. 

By my calculations, just giving up Facebook and Bubbles, I can regain about 300 hours in the year!

Wow.  I like it.