Makin' a list...

I sat down today and wrote out all the names that I HAVE to buy presents for at Christmas. Normally I would never worry about it this early, but I am not going to have a lot of work over the next few months and will be off for a whole 6 weeks over the holidays for my Carpal Tunnel surgery, so I am trying to plan ahead! The list keeps getting longer and longer, thus more and more expensive! Everyone needs to either stop having kids, or the older folks may need to call it good and die. Ha! Just kidding. In this economy I really think we need to cut back this season, but even when I trimmed the budget it was still close to 1,000 dollars! Yikes! I have a small family. I have no idea how people with big families do it! How do you all handle it?

Lil' Handyman...

Daddy and William worked hard today repairing one of his favorite toys. William seems so into tools these days! It is very cute to see him wanting to "help" on the projects Jason does around the house. Best of all they were able to fix it!

My Coverage Rocks And So Should Yours...

I didn't have health coverage until I got married. I had a serious health issue when I lived in St Louis and thankfully the good people at Barnes Jewish forgave my 5,000 dollar medical bill. I didn't have it when we lived in Madison for the first year, and I stood outside the free community clinic at 6:30 am to see if I could be one of the lucky 40 to be seen that day. I have had to beg for samples because my Asthma medications cost 3 dollars a day, for ONE pill. And I am a NURSE. My Mother has been without coverage as a nurse, when working agency or private duty and her coverage now is sub-par. My sister Julie is without coverage, 2 of my brother-in laws are without coverage. Molly is covered only because she is in England with the National Health Service, but once she comes HOME to her HOME COUNTRY, she will be without any safety net again! Crazy. When we moved here to Maryland I didn't have any insurance, and I worked at such a small clinic that they had no group plan. I applied for coverage but was denied due to pre-existing conditions. Thankfully Maryland has a plan for "High Risk" patients such as my self. I paid $325 a month for coverage through the state and still had high co-pays, and thank God I got covered because that next month I got pregnant! I don't care what kind of coverage they come up with here in our nations capital, I just want it to be affordable, easy, and open to everyone and anyone who needs it! I am flabbergasted by all these people who are so angry at the idea of having some type of system to cover the uninsured! Small businesses have been saying for years they can't afford to offer coverage, well this will fix that! Do you honestly begrudge your neighbor the right to affordable health care? Now that I have the luxury of Federal Health Insurance, I am more than willing to pay a higher premium or taxes to ensure that the rest of MY family has the option to buy good insurance at a fair price. I pay less now for all of us than I did to insure myself through the state! I am not asking for universal coverage, that is my dream, but I think the system here in America isn't set up for that, but maybe this could be our jumping off point. This isn't socialism, it's giving all Americans the opportunity to protect the little bit of the dream they have carved out for themselves. Medical bills are the NUMBER ONE reason for bankruptcy in America. If I every needed to declare bankruptcy I hope it would be for a much more exciting reason than that!

Name that body part- please excuse the abrupt ending!

So Hot!!

Jason has a conference that just happens to be in DC this year so Will and I decided to tag along today. Big Mistake! I should just stay out of DC from June to September. It is so hot, muggy, and the air quality is terrible, which is terrible for my asthma. I wanted to see the National Geographic Museum which my guidebooks all recommended, it supposedly has the worlds largest globe! William and I made it there, and it was mostly closed for renovations for an upcoming exhibit. So depressing! The worst part was that there was very little to see, and nothing around the same area and Jason wasn't supposed to meet us for an hour and a half! Let's just say we know that place really well now. We had lunch at a cafe and then followed Jason to the convention center for a talk, Will was asleep so he and I hunkered down in the lobby while Jason attended the presentation. Thankfully it was only about an hour, and I was in air conditioning and a comfy chair so quite honestly, I didn't care if it took all day! After Jason returned we went over to the American History Museum and walked around mostly in the train area for William. We also went in to see the original Star Spangled Banner Flag. It was in it's new home and it is really not worth the wait people normally have to see it. After that Will and I called it quits and got on the metro home. Jason followed us a few hours later. Will was very happy to go to bed tonight!

Tasty!

Catch Up!

Sitting in his big boy seat, showing you his pancake!
Picking Flowers at the square...

At Solon and Andrea's Playground...

Painting in the tub again! He looks blue in more ways than one!

The past few days have flown by. I worked this weekend and we went over to Solon and Andrea's on Saturday night. We had a good time, but Will had quite a few injuries by the time the night was over. Jason has a conference this week, so Will and I won't see that much of him and he will be missed terribly! Will is on food jags these days. He is all about grapes these days, and is refusing pretty much all other fruit. I am refusing to specially prepare any meals though, I cook, and if he eats, he eats, if he doesn't, he doesn't! I am not falling into the trap! I am going to put up some movies of Will. Hope you enjoy them!