Happy New Year!!!

Wow, 2011 is about to end... just a few hours left. What a year it has been. It's been good, but trying at times. But overall good. I am hoping that 2012 does not bring the end of the earth ;) If it does, oh well it's been a good ride :)

We finished off the year tying up loose ends. We had started to paint the house when we moved in in March of 2010... well here it is Dec 31st of 2011 and we FINALLY finished painting our home. If you have been here, you may have seen the untrimmed areas of the living room, kitchen, and laundry room. Well as of about 2 hours ago, it is DONE!!! and it feels SO GOOD! It is amazing how calming a room can be without the white line glaring at you... I have no photos to show, but to give an idea... Imagine that you used the roller to paint the ceiling and the walls... so all around the room you have a fine line of unpainted area. That is what we have been looking at for a year and a half, or even more. It feels nice to have it done. We also got the spare bedroom and laundry room painted. That only leaves the bathroom, and it looks fine. So no plans for that until we tear it apart and redo it all... someday! hopefully someday soon. or semi-soon. I have dreams of a beautifully tiled shower, and a nice looking sink without the gold colored faucet... oh, it needs updated. someday. someday... The more I watch DIY the more I want to get a sledge hammer and tear out that nasty shower and the 70's looking sink... oh someday, it will be done. But first, we will be getting a new car, we have been without a car payment for... gosh I guess it's been almost 5 years. Need to get used to that again... New car for Keith, this year!! He is still driving his 99 Dodge... time to update.

OK the wine is going to my head, and I feel like I am ramblaling... If you are reading this, I am wishing you the happiest and healthiest 2012. May this new year bring you everything you want, and more.

xoxoxo ((hugs))) Keep your family close...

Coupons

Well I think I have caught the money saving bug! I have always looked at and even dabbled at using coupons, but I have never really committed. Well I am there!!

It all started with the occasional Sunday paper, but $1.50 was too much to pay, so I found an offer for home delivery for one year of the Sunday and Wednesday paper for $52, I figured that was a good deal, $.50 off the Sunday paper and a free Wednesday paper. Of course on Sunday you get the coupon inserts and on Wednesday you get all the grocery store ads. When you mix the two you get lots of savings. We have gotten the paper for just over a year now and I just love going through the paper to see what's on sale. When it came time to re-subscribe, I said no, because of the full cost they wanted me to pay... well they called me and offered the same deal, so I am prepaid for another year of newspaper delivery for only $52!!

I have recently started following a few blogs and coupon sites that help me put coupons together with sales... here is the fun part... I keep getting free stuff!!! Last week I got free Nivia body wash for men and another for Women. I got free Nivea Body lotion. I got a really nice razor for Keith for only $.89 cents!!! It retails for $12.99!!! I got some razors for me for only $.49 (a four pack of Venus razors). On this list for this week is a free razor for me, and 2 free protein bars! It does take some time to coordinate the good deals, but if we keep going at this pace... I won't pay much, or anything for our health and beauty items! yay!

AND our food bill is less! Two weeks ago our total before coupons and store card savings was $122.89 but after coupons I payed only $42.84, I saved $80.07!!! that is a 66% savings!!! not bad! Free food items have been pasta (x3), pasta sauce, mustard, BBQ sauce, Franks red hot sauce, grill mates seasonings, Nestle cookie dough. It seems easy to stock up on free pantry items, as long as I don't go too crazy. I don't want to become a hoarder, but I love the idea of getting something for free!

With that said, I have my coupons clipped, e coupons loaded to my store card, and my list printed. I am ready to go shopping today! Since we have so much food left from our last trip, I am only planning on spending about $25 today, let's hope I stick to the plan :) Getting some produce, lunch meats, juice and stuff... Happy Sunday!

Cookies and Dr appointment

So the healing continues. I am feeling better everyday. I even left the house!!!! On Tuesday I had the doctors appointment, and Keith and I had planned to go out to lunch after that. But I was tired after the Dr's appt, so we came home and napped. After the nap, we did go out to lunch... then back home for a nap. Then I wanted to go out again, so we went and filled my Rx and did a bit of shopping, then to the grocery store, then home for another nap. I guess naps are needed. And I may have overdone it on Tuesday, but it was nice to be out. Even nicer to come home and nap :)

I went to my 2 week after surgery checkup. It went well, the Doctor liked how the incisions looked. I got the pathology reports, and everything came back benign Yay! My appendix did test positive for Endometriosis, which is what they expected, and was the reason they took it out. But tested negative for everything else Yay! all good news.

I knew my surgery was long. Six hours. But I guess I didn't really grasp that that was uncommon, until I had this appointment on Tuesday. I guess I did have a lot done all at once.

Last night, I made cookies, they turned out good. I have been a cookie cheater for a couple of years. I buy the nestle break and bake cookie batter, so the only thing I do is preheat the oven, and cook them. But last night I made cookies from scratch. it was fun! Thankfully Keith was there to help (it is still tough to bend down, my belly is tender) So Keith got to take the cookies out of the oven for me.

Now I have all these cookies.... yum! and they do taste better than the ready to bake cookie batter. They went perfect with my coffee this morning. Yup, I had cookies and coffee for breakfast :) I know not the 'healthy diet' I am supposed to be on... oh well, life is too short not to enjoy cookies now and again :) I am even thinking of making some peanut butter cookies next... mmm.

Beautiful day

I went for a walk this morning, and I have to share... it is beautiful outside! and my flowers look and smell great! Here is a photo of one of my flower pots in the front of the house. These are the same flowers I thought I had lost a few months back when we had those few cold nights. I had to cover the flowers with a towel at night, to protect them from the frost... I thought I had lost them ,but look... wow, they look better than before! God does good work!

The birds have been singing all morning, it is the perfect day to spend outside! I have been enjoying the sights and sounds from the nicely shaded patio. It is a bit too hot to sit in the sun... I am grateful for the shade! I hope you are all enjoying your day! Happy Monday!

Reality

The reality is I am bloated... swollen.. bruised... sore... and I hurt... but I feel good! Crazy huh!

On Tuesday, the 15th, I underwent surgery, it was pretty cool. They did a robotic assisted lapraroscopic myomectomy. In easy terms that means they used a robotic machine to remove the non cancerous fibroid tumors I had growing in and around my uterus. I had 5 good size growths that were removed, 3 were fibroids, and the other two were endometrial cysts. Surgery lasted 6 hours. As one of my surgeons told me afterwards, I gave them all a workout :) That made me giggle. They were able to keep the incisions down to just the 5 small holes for the robotic arms. That should help my healing time, no big cut to heal :) yay! (the cup is half full... I have to see the good in all this). Just knowing that the growths are gone is such an emotional relief! I feel good, even though physically I am having a hard time getting around, but that will get better with time.

They successfully removed the growths, cleaned up all my endometriosis spots and they removed my appendix. It's a lot to have done, but the hope is I will no longer be in pain... for a while. The truth is these can all decide to grow back, but the hope is they don't... for a while. I am hoping for a long while, but we can just wait and see. I am most upset with myself for not addressing my issues sooner. I kept thinking the pain was normal. Doesn't everyone have really heavy periods? apparently not. It is not normal to have to plan life around your period... it is not normal to miss out on things in life just because it is 'that time of the month'. I wish I had listened to my body sooner, the truth is the past year has been a rough one... filled with lots of pain. I don't know about you, but I don't like pain. Physical pain leads to emotional pain... and it just seems to spiral from there. My hope is that I know better next time. It is ok to ask for help, it is ok to ask questions that might seem stupid... they aren't. There really are not any stupid questions. my advice to you... ask. just ask.

I am lucky to have so many folks in my life. Thank you! thank you all for the thoughts, the prayers, the cards, flowers, and fruit! I am so blessed!! thank you all.

Keith has again been my rock in all this. getting up and down is tough, he has been my muscle, literally, when I can't use any of my abdominal muscles. It is really hard to sit up in bed or even get in and out of bed without using your abdominal muscles. and he is there to lift me when I need to be lifted. I am grateful for all those pull ups and such he has been doing, he has strong arms! :) I am truly blessed!

Medical bills... ugh!

Last year was such a learning experience for me. I have been so blessed to be a healthy person, for so long... but all good things must come to an end :(

I was shocked to see the hospital bill for last September, why can they charge so much, when only a third of it is 'allowed'. They charge $20,000 and the insurance says they can only charge $6000. Lucky me! But what happens to the person without insurance?! Do they get stuck with the $20,000 bill? No wonder medical bills are the number one reason folks loss their homes and file for bankruptcy (I heard that statistic on the radio, I don't know if it is really true, but after seeing these bills... I might believe it is). This entire system seems broken! I don't have any answers, but it seems wrong that the amount charged and the amount allowed is SO drastically different.

I just got an E.O.B. for an M.R.I. that I had, and again, they charged over 3 times the 'allowed' amount. Do they just charge as much as they want, and hope it gets paid? I can't wait to see the next bill, I will be going in for Surgery again, and this time an overnight stay in the hospital is a sure thing... if out patient surgery brought a $20,000 bill (and that was just from the hospital, the surgeon and the anesthesiologist all bill separate). I can't wait to see what an overnight stay will cost. I might think twice when asked if I want ice chips... I wonder how much I paid for those last time?!

I guess that is why we have insurance... to help us through these times. Getting old sucks! That about sums it all up. I am SO IN NEED OF A VACATION! Luckily we are headed to Puerto Vallarta for a 7 day trip, then I return home to prep for surgery, but I can't think of that now, vacation is all I want to think of... I can not wait, in 10 short days I will be sitting on the beach... sand between my toes... ahhh... I can feel my blood pressure going down just thinking about it :)

Good night all, I wish you happy healthy thoughts! Here is hoping you don't have to stress about medical bills.

Smile

Time to put a smile on and go to work. If I smile I will be happy, right? :) Happy Friday everyone!