Matt on his Mum

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My son, Matt, the sensitive, idealistic filmmaker – created this – here are his responses about me.

1. Reply with your name and I'll respond with something random about you.

you ride motorcycles.

2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.

The rose- that one in napolean dynamite where he is dancing to it int he classroom making sign language. its your fav song I think. Ill have it played at your funeral.

3. I'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.

I forfiet.

4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me. (This possibly will not apply to all).

Bed time for skuggalywaggers!

5. I'll tell you my first memory of you.

Probably being fed breastmilk before I could even walk. Yeah I remember that….

6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.

hmmm,,,nothing comes to mind.

7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.

Did you ever do any real drugs (not weed)

My response to this is – No, I didn't. Some friends of mine did, but I never did.

Death due to our medical "system"

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The top three causes of Unnecessary Deaths in the United States are related to our health care system…

The number one cause of unnecessary death in the United States, called Iatrogenic deaths (783,986) is shown in the table below, re-printed by permission of the auth

Hospital Adverse Drug Reaction – 106,000 deaths; at a cost of $12 billion
Medical error – 98,000 deaths; at a cost of $2 billion
Bedsores – 115,000 deaths; at a cost of $55 billion
Infection – 88,000 deaths; at a cost of $5 billion
Malnutrition – 108,800 deaths
Outpatient Adverse Drug Reaction – 199,000 deaths; at a cost of $77 billion
Unnecessary Procedures – 37,136 deaths; at a cost of $122 billion
Surgery-Related – 32,000 deaths; at a cost of $9 billion

TOTAL deaths that are unnecessary and caused by our health care system – 783,936; at a cost of $282 billion

The number two cause of unnecessary death in the United States is Heart Disease. Statistics show “The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697.”

The number three cause of unnecessary death in the United States is Cancer. Statistics show “the annual cancer death rate, 553,251.”

The total number of known unnecessary deaths, per year, directly due to the American Medical System is 2,036,884.

For the woman with years of experience – like me!

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In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah on her 70+ birthday. Oprah
asked her what she thought of growing older. And, there on television, she
said it was “exciting.”

Regarding body changes, she said there were many, occurring every
day…like her breasts. They seem to be in a race to see which will reach
her waist, first. The audience laughed so hard they cried. She is such a
simple and honest woman, with so much wisdom in her words!

Maya Angelou said this: “I've learned that no matter what happens, or how
bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.” “I've
learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles
these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree
lights.”

“I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents,
you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.” “I've learned that
making a “living” is not the same thing as “making a life.” “I've learned
that life sometimes gives you a second chance.”

“I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on
both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back.” “I've learned
that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the
right decision.”

“I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.” “I've
learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love
a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.”

“I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.” “I've learned that people
will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will
never forget how you made them feel.”

Life

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Life has a way of throwing curve balls – when you least expect it. Here are mine:

1. Just when I've spent all of my spare $ on a motorcycle – my furnace dies. And we're talking dead, gone, never-to-heat again.
2. In addition – the hot water heater is leaking so it needs to be replaced.
3. My oldest son wants to keep a puppy from the recent litter, and I have to keep the runt – who is blind in one eye, but the cutest darn thing in the world – so now I have 4 pugs in my family!
4. Momma Pug (“Xena”) has an infection in her uterus so she's scheduled to be spayed next Monday.
5. My car insurance is being renewed BUT because Ryan now is an official driver – the rates went up pretty substantially ($2,864 per 6 months IF we pay in full by 9/30)
6. My homeowner's insurance company (AIG Direct) sent me a notice that they are selling that line of business to another carrier who is increasing my homeowner's insurance from $400/year to $582. Now from what I can tell, I'm underinsured anyway and the quotes I'm getting for homeowners insurance are running about double that. AND it doesn't appear that the coverage would even be good should my oldest son's camera or other movie-making equipment be involved in any kind of loss.

I won't bore anyone with more of this crap but the bottom line is I have LOTS on my plate right now. The good news is that I'm VERY good at functioning in chaos – thanks to my wonderfully dysfunctional family of origin so all of the above are being addressed as follows:

1 & 2. Found a very good used furnace for $300, and an installer who will do it for $500 on craigslist. That's getting done this Saturday. He's also going to install (for free) the water heater I found at Lowes that was a little dented so they gave me 10% off.
3. I love animals so this will be OK – just takes a little adjusting to feeding schedules, locations, etc.
4. We don't want any more puppies anyway so this is indeed a good thing.
5. Mark – my ex – has always been very helpful in this area and he's going to pay for Ryan's coverage – THANK YOU, MARK!
6. Found an insurance broker who's helping me find coverage that makes more sense for us. I'll also address making sure that Matt's film-making equipment is insured somehow.

Anyway………….. that's all for now! You all have a wonderful weekend and always remember………. ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!

Bush Q & A

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Q – What's Bush's position on Roe vs. Wade?

A – He really doesn't care how people get out of New Orleans.

A good friend sent this to me and I had to share!

Surrender

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From the “Tao Te Ching” – Chapter Thirteen

Accept disgrace willingly.
Accept misfortune as the human condition.

What do you mean by “Accept disgrace willingly”?
Accept being unimportant.
Do not be concerned with loss or gain.
This is called “accepting disgrace willingly.”

What do you mean by “Accept misfortune as the human condition”?
Misfortune comes from having a body.
Without a body, how could there be misfortune?

Surrender yourself humbly, then you can be trusted to care for all things.
Love the world as your own self, then you can truly care for all things.

Picked up my Road King – only layed it down twice!

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Ok – before you visualize anything, let me describe what happened.

My Road King came to the warehouse today but the company wasn't sure when they could get it to the HD dealer in Tukwila sooooo…. I asked them if I could pick it up from their warehouse and they said 'sure'.

Now I had to muster the courage to get on it and ride it home. When Ryan and I were driving down there – I told him that he had to follow me home – but not too close such that he would run me over if I did lay it down. He asked me what to do if for some reason I did fall and I told him to put on the flashers and if I'm not hurt – get out and help me lift the bike – if I'm hurt – call 911. Anyway….. must have been a self-fulfilling prophecy because sure enough, as we were stopped at a very slight downhill slope after filling her up with gas – I lost balance while standing still and tipped to the left and couldn't recover. A nice man who saw it helped me get it upright. We rode home safely from there and I LOVE RIDING IT!!!

After being home for a bit, I decided to take her out for a spin and sure enough, while stopping at a slight uphill slope, I lost balance and tipped it over to the left – again. Both times the handle bars were turned left and it just went down. No damage to the bike at all – just my ego.

The second time a car full of guys came up behind me as my bike is on it's side and I'm standing in the middle of the street like an idiot. They helped me get the bike upright and I headed home. I'm fine riding it when it's going – it's stopping that I have to practice.

I'll be working on that quite a bit this coming 3 day weekend. Bottom line is it took every ounce of courage I could muster to get on the huge bike and ride it home – but I did it. Now I have to practice NOT laying her down when I come to a stop.

Stay tuned……. my transformation to “biker chick” has only begun! I got my HOG (Harley Owner's Group) package yesterday with pins and patches and everything!

12 Qualities of Happiness

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The Delightful Dozen: The 12 Qualities Of Happiness

In “What Happy People Know”, author Dan Baker outlines what he calls “The 12 Qualities of Happiness.” Not all have to be present, he writes,” and they don't all have to be there in equal amounts.”

Still, most must be abundant for someone “to experience the kind of lasting, rock-solid happiness that endures even when life gets tough to take-as it always does.”

Love. Even better than being loved is loving somebody, he writes.

Optimism. Realizing “the more painful the event, the more profound the lesson.”

Courage. This quality “allows us to thrive,” he writes.

A sense of freedom. “Everyone has the power to make choices, but unhappy people don't know they have it.”

Proactivity. Happy people “don't wait for the events or other people to make them happy.”

Security. Happy people know nothing lasts over time. They're neither slaves to popularity, nor longevity, nor financial status.

Health. It's hard being happy if you don't feel healthy; “it's hard to be healthy if you're not happy,” he writes.

Spirituality. Happy people “aren't afraid to go beyond the boundaries of their own lives…they're not concerned about dying-they're concerned about not living.

Altruism. Happy people know how being altruistic helps you see outside yourself.

Perspective. Happy people see shades of gray instead of just black and white.

Humor. This “shift of perception” gives people the wherewithal to go on, even when life looks its worst.

Purpose. If happy people were to die today, “they would be satisfied with their lives.”

The phone isn't ringing!!! Yippee!!!

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After learning that someone named “Beverly Martin” had her phone forwarded to my home number – and getting non-stop calls beginning around 8 AM and not ending until 10 PM for the last 3 months – I decided I had had enough. I called AT&T and explained the situation and they said that because she was apparently with MCI before she changed the number – there wasn't anything they could do. They did offer to change my number for free – so I did that as of today.

And I've been home all evening after my ride and the phone hasn't rang once!!!! YIPPEE!!!!

If I haven't given you my new home number, and you had my old number – drop me a note.