Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A Great Idea for Health Care Reform

Hello all,

I hope everyone is well. The crafting adventures continue.

- the cross-stitch rendition of "The Kiss" is about 75% complete. I'll post a picture when it is done

- the prayer shawl is about 60% complete. It's gotten so bulky that it is not portable any more, so I can only work on it when I am at home

- the Green Lantern costume: I have spandex, I have a serger, and I know how to use it. I haven't cut the fabric yet. However, I have carved the wax master of the ring. I have just bought my Knead-a-Mold and some resin. I will attempt to make the ring negative with the Knead-a-Mold in the next couple of weekends, when I have a large block of time. I'll keep you updated on that one. I haven't done resin casting before...


Health Care Reform

Anyone who knows me is aware that I did not vote for Obama, and I am still a bit wary of his policies and platforms. However, I did read something today that I did like, about what Mrs. Obama is supporting:

Michelle Obama Supports Healthy Lifestyles

This is probably the best idea I've ever heard about health care reform. One of the best additions we can make? Preventive care. Preventive care is almost always cheaper and is definitely better for people in the long run than reactive care. Isn't it better to prevent illness where you can, or at least reduce its likelihood, rather than treating it? At the very least, let us reduce the occurrence of problems and illnesses that crop up from an unhealthy lifestyle. We can't prevent everything, but we can stop contributing to our own problems and making them worse with our sedentary, empty-calorie-laden lifestyles, can't we?


Less spending would, hopefully, slow the increase of premiums as fewer claims are needed. On top of the savings, we would actually FEEL BETTER, which is more important than money.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year’s! Take a deep breath and get ready for the ride that will be 2009.

We had a great holiday week. We trekked up to see my family in the Smokies for Christmas. I had a wonderful time visiting with them and playing with my nieces. I got to spend some time with some old friends that I had not seen in a while. My sweet husband gave me a SERGER, among many other gifts, so now I’ll be just a sewing fool! I’m so excited! Now I can properly sew my costumes!!!! Who knows, maybe I’ll take a wild hair and sew some mundane clothes or some drapes while I’m at it, now that the Holidaze are over.

We held our annual New Year’s Eve bash, and it was bigger and better than ever. I think 13 people showed up this year, which is a record for us. It is also the standing room only capacity of our den. We put out buckets of the Colonel’s finest chicken, set up the Wii, and turned our guests loose. One friend brought Guitar Hero, and we all rocked out to some Ozzy and some Eagles and some Pat Benatar and had a grand old time, watched the ball drop on TV, poured some bubbly (carbonated apple cider, since I can’t drink) and toasted each other (my toast: “It’s 2009, and we’re still standin’.”), hoping that the new year would bring us good things.

2008 was a rough ride for a lot of people. Hopefully we’ll pull together and make things better for all of us this year. There’s something psychologically comforting about the rolling over of a year, even though really it is just time marching on as usual. There’s an underlying feeling of a clean slate, a chance to start over, even if only for a little while. It’s a good thing to take that feeling and run with it and really start again on those things that you want to change.

I would like to thank everyone for all their love and friendship in the past year and say that I am looking forward to even more this year. I wish all of you love, comfort, lots of hot cocoa with big fat marshmellows, and all the contentment you can stand.