Category Archives: Bitch Session

Medical Misfit

Nurse uniform in the 1900's.

Nurse uniform in the 1900’s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday a phone call from an endocrinologist’s office left me seething. An administrator — she didn’t offer a name or title — indicated in a polite but vaguely superior manner that I was not requesting services at the correct clinic.  There was an icy undertone, as if the fact that she had to contact me to explain all this was putting a huge strain on the clinic’s resources.  It took me a good ten minutes of  cajoling, conniving, convincing, and just plain bullshitting to get her to understand that it wouldn’t be a complete waste of the endocrinologist’s precious time for me to come in, but it wasn’t until I uttered the magic word ‘fibromyalgia’ that she granted me status as a legitimate patient.  What is this place, anyway?  Am I creating such an inconvenience that I cannot be seen by this doctor unless I successfully pass vetting by a bureaucratic toady with a list of secret code words?

I was not surprised that the doctor at this clinic was reluctant to take me on as a patient. My referral, sent weeks ago from my PA at Fort Riley, had been rejected on the grounds that  my “specific” needs did not “encompass” the doctor’s specialty.  It was a possibly a coding error made by the insurance company making the authorization for services. The nurse from my referring clinic spent several days making phone calls to the clinic as well as my insurance company on my behalf, smoothing over the misunderstanding and pleading my case. I don’t know if that is even part of her job, but she knows that I am sick. She has seen me too many times over the last few months to not want to help. And she must have deduced from the cryptic, noncommittal responses coming from the endocrinology clinic that I would need a champion.

It’s been difficult to get good medical care in Kansas.  My tiny local Veterans Affairs clinic seems to always be bogged down and overwhelmed; I can’t get in but once or twice a year, and that is just for routine blood tests or ‘Well Woman’ visits.  God forbid anything goes wrong in between!  When I lived in the Black Hills, I had the best VA care.  If a non-emergent matter arose, chances were I could get a same day walk-in appointment, and the staff listened to my needs.  Here the story is different. During a non emergency episode when I needed immediate advice (which happened in between my allotted visits), the local VA staff either misunderstood or misjudged my situation, leaving me to seek medical attention elsewhere.  After the incident I plan not to return to the clinic.  Luckily I can still turn to the clinic at Fort Riley, where I trust my physician and nurse.  The problems arise when they have to refer me to specialists.

I realize that it’s a Me Problem.  It’s not the world that’s strange, it’s me.  I’m the misfit.  I take supplements of turmeric and holy basil and treat hormonal breakouts on my face with a salve made from an old Native American recipe.  I use cabbage poultices and rub herbal oils on my forehead  to fight off migraines.  I am treating my current ailments using natural remedies instead of chemicals and drugs.  I abhor drugs.  I am probably a traditional doctor’s worst nightmare. So if/when I go to a specialist and invariably open my big fat mouth to spout things like “I am researching home remedies and the use of ethnobotany for possibly treating my migraines and hormonal imbalance” or “I really don’t want to take any more pills” I run the risk of being written off as a crazy jackass.  Even the mere mention that I take herbal supplements and seek chiropractic care results in odd looks, as if I am lapsing into an unknown language during the dialogue.

Yet my specialists don’t seem to take the time to actually read the medical records my referring clinic is required to fax to them.  Instead I am interrogated with rapid-fire questions, in a patronizing tone.  If they had read the records, they wouldn’t have to ask me the questions, and we would have time to discuss the most important part of a visit to any doctor: what type of treatment is truly best for the patient?  I am sure these specialists are brilliant, and with limited amounts of time in their work days they have to make quick decisions based on what information they gather from patients.  I probably don’t help with my rambling history of odd symptoms intermingled with home remedies and Native American medicines.  But damn it!  They are supposed to be highly educated professionals with vast stores of knowledge about various types of treatment.  Why are they so single-minded about ramming more pills down my throat?  And when did practicing medicine medicine come to include treating patients, and potential patients, like children, or worse yet, like criminals who have to prove their validity before receiving care?

Maybe I am wasting their time with my herbal supplements and quackery treatments. But it’s my body.  I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want better quality than the living death sentence my very first neurologist prescribed, something to the effect of “take these pills every day  for the rest of your life and pray for early menopause to ease the pain of your migraines”.  The nerve!   Certainly that can’t be the best option, for anyone.  If the care I am receiving here is so laughable, there is at least one thing that I have taken from my experience, and I do consider it a blessing.  I, and only I, am completely and unequivocally responsible for my health.  Doctors don’t know everything.  Medical professionals can and will do their best (I hope) for me, but it is ultimately up to me to take care of myself.  I can make decisions about my body and my health, because sometimes there will be no one else willing to take the steps to ensure my health.  If it takes being a medical misfit, then so be it.

I am my own best doctor, nurse, and patient!

— G

My Mirena Tried to Kill Me!

English: Mirena IntraUterine System Deutsch: M...

English: Mirena IntraUterine System Deutsch: Mirena Hormonspirale (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Okay, apology disclaimer right off the bat for any reader — but especially to any males who may have stumbled across this post innocently.  Unless you really want to read about the horrors that I have endured because of an intrauterine contraceptive device that was eh, installed for medicinal purposes, then you may prefer to read something more benign from a happier time in my blogging days.

There is currently a class action lawsuit because the Mirena is a defective and extremely dangerous product.  The company that developed and marketed it allegedly did so knowing that the device would likely cause numerous side effects, many of which that would be detrimental, some that could be fatal.  If you  are using or have used a Mirena, then you very likely have experienced the same ‘illness’ that I am going through.

Now like most women, I trusted my healthcare professional, who probably had every good intentions.  My reason for getting the Mirena was not to prevent pregnancy but to “control my hormones” so that  my migraines would be kept in check for up to five years (since the IUD had to be taken out after five years’ time).  And like most women, for five years I really didn’t think about my IUD because it didn’t seem to be doing anything.  I wasn’t having very many periods, and when I did, they were lighter, less annoying, and more convenient.  Who wouldn’t want that?

20140317_155222

Me during one of my MANY visits to the doctor during my hellish Mirena Crash. It’s blurry, but that’s how I feel. Taken By Annie

I started to feel like something was wrong about six months ago, and although I wasn’t sure, I suspected that my hormones were to blame.  We women usually know, right?  I could feel that something was wrong and started to wonder if the Mirena was causing hormonal fluctuations.   Four months from my five-year removal date, I was climbing the walls with uncontrollable migraines and excruciating hormonal mood swings.  By that time I was certain that the Mirena had something to do with my very severe decline in health.  The VA clinic didn’t take me seriously when I called and requested an appointment to have the device removed, which destroyed my already shaky trust in the staff.  Luckily, my physician on the Army base saw me immediately and removed the device as an in-house procedure without giving me any grief.  You see why I left these details out of my previous posts about my migraines?  Too much information, and very traumatic!

I thought my problems were over and that I would start to feel much better in no time.  But I became more sick than I had ever felt in my entire life.   Oh yes, the Mirena Crash!  It is well documented and even has its own special name.  I started doing research online, and the more I discovered about the negative side effects of the device, the more betrayed and  I felt.  My Mirena had caused much more damage than initially realized!  The list of possible offenses to my body went on and on, everything from pseudo-hemorrhaging during periods, to anemia from blood loss, to early menopause, to depression, to liver failure, to various types of cancer.  The list went on, and if that wasn’t bad enough, apparently the Mirena had also leached silicone into my body, essentially poisoning me slowly over time.  SILICONE POISONING.  Are you fucking kidding me?

Angry doesn’t begin to describe my feelings.  At the time I made this unsettling discovery,  I didn’t have anyone to talk to because my healthcare providers either weren’t educated or just plain weren’t sympathetic to what was happening.  My husband has been out of town for several weeks — the worst part of this living hell — and in retrospect that may have been a blessing in disguise — for his safety.  With out of control hormones, I was definitely in a vulnerable state, just hanging on from day-to-day.  I would cry myself to sleep, begging God to make the headaches stop, just for one day, so that I could have some relief.  Then in the morning I would wake up with a worse headache, and cry again while making tea.  I could feel my body shutting down more each day, and it was terrifying.

I still don’t know if this story has a happy ending.  Luckily, through what I can only call Divine Providence combined with my Web surfing abilities (Divine Surfidence?), I found out that there is a nutritionist specializing in treating survivors of the Mirena Crash (the official name given to the specific yet numerous symptoms associated with use of the device) in Great Bend, Kansas, which is really just a two-hour drive from where I live.  I almost couldn’t believe it — maybe this is the real reason we have lived in Kansas all along!  I had been begging God to stop the pain for weeks now, so I took this as an omen that I MUST get in touch with the doctor, who is by happenstance a nutritionist and chiropractor.

Okay, so to wrap up this story, I will skip over our long phone conversation because it turns out I didn’t have to even drive the Great Bend.  He does phone consultations with women from all over the country who are suffering from the side effects of their Mirena IUDs, and are not getting adequate support from healthcare providers.  Hmmm.  Long story short, he recommended a whole foods based detox diet selected  by him, and tweaked over the years to heal the body as much as possible.  The detox is designed to flush five years of toxins out of my body and liver, and hopefully get the liver functioning at full capacity again.  The silicone may or may not flush out.  I am also going to be using a bio identical progesterone oil to ‘reactivate’ my natural progesterone since the Mirena stopped production of my natural hormone.  This should halt the pre-menopausal symptoms I am experiencing (hello, hot flashes!) and hopefully turn back the aging process (I already have a lot of gray hairs!).

It could take months or even years to undo the damage caused by the Mirena.  Right now I am looking at my entire summer as a recovery time, and I may not be able to go back to work at the school.  I am immensely saddened by this turn of events.  Summer was supposed to be fun time with my family, everyone happy while traveling and having adventures.  I am no longer the wife or mother I was six months ago, and it isn’t fair to my family.  I am very angry that a tiny device could make me so sick, and that in five years, NO ONE in my medical community raised a red flag about it.  It goes to show that you and only you must be diligent about your health, because doctors don’t know everything, and pharmaceutical companies don’t want to make you feel better.

On the bright side, today I started my detox.  I took my pills (all food based, no chemicals or toxins) and made my smoothie with the special food powder blend.  It tasted disgusting!  I like my homemade smoothies better, but it is important to follow the plan.  I have to do something, be proactive.  This is the way to get it done.  I feel optimistic knowing that I am using food to heal my body.   And maybe soon I will be who I  used to be.

— G

 

 

Another blogger whose life was affected substantially by Mirena, and who refers to the same nutritionist from Great Bend in her posts:

http://mylifeaftermirena.blogspot.com/

 

Another survivor of the Mirena:

http://mirenaandra.blogspot.com/2013/03/mirena-iud-is-poisonous-hashimoto.html

 

 

 

 

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My Apologies

So last night I wrote a post about my battle with migraines during the month of March.  I don’t know what is going on, but my photos are either MIA or they simply look terrible — and not just because they are dorky selfies and awkward candid photos of my dog!

I noticed that WordPress changed the image editing application in my Media Widget.  Well, change it back!  It is now completely user un-friendly and un-functional.  For example, instead of being able to manipulate photos the way I used to in the Advanced Settings while blogging, I now have these options:

1-20140217_134723

Thumbnail

Seriously? What is this size good for?

Medium

Medium

Not much better, but somewhat practical.

 

Full Size

Full Size

This is okay, but couldn’t there be something in between Medium and Full Size? I realize that we are Americans here, and we don’t really recognize the concept, but still…

Now this is based on the original size of your images, which you CAN manipulate in the Media Library, but you CANNOT once you are attempting to insert into the post.  So I will admit that WordPress is clear on how and when to properly edit photos.  My problem is that my image editor is at this time mostly non-functioning unless I am simply inserting already prepared, unaltered photos, such as the apple above, into a blog.  Not very user friendly!

 

Sunflower2-001

A Medium based off my original photo dimensions. Still a bit large, but it will work for now.

I liked the older version because I could determine how a photo would best fit into the post while writing — a better system for me.  It was even worse yesterday when I was trying to make my silly selfies fit, because there were two other sizes available: Small and Large.  All the sizes were so unreasonable yesterday, and judging by the slightly more realistic sizes offered today, I am guessing WordPress received a multitude of complaints from irate bloggers like myself.

 

This does NOT solve my problem!  I need to manipulate my photos while writing, so all I can do at this time is apologize for how terrible my last post looks.  I may take it down and attempt to repair it because at least two photos are already “gone” due to errors caused by the image editor.  Sorry folks, but I hold my posts to a high standard (at least when it comes to appearance) and if my posts look shitty, it isn’t for lack of my effort.

Please visit again soon; hopefully my technical hiccups will have been cured!  Thanks,

— G

P.S.  On my food blog I discovered that (depending on the original size of my photos) I may have the Large option available in my image editor.  Then again, I may only have the choice between Thumbnail and Full Size, again depending on the original size.  Obviously this feature will now require intensive amounts of time in order to produce images that are satisfactory for blog posts.

 

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Ceasefire Over: I Have a Bone to Pick With Congressman Ryan

Book given to U.S. veterans in 1919 to help th...

Book given to U.S. veterans in 1919 to help them readjust to civilian life (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before Christmas I decided to write to Congressman Paul Ryan.  It was important that I express my feelings about Washington’s broken promise to veterans who have shouldered a very heavy burden for a very long time.   I debated vehemently with myself for weeks over whether or not to publish my opinion,  reluctant to push that button and add more  anger to the online atmosphere.  After careful consideration, I’ve decided it’s time to show my unwavering support for my extended family, the U.S. Military.  I spent the Holidays in quiet reverence and reflection, but now the ceasefire is over and I will no longer remain silent.

During Christmas Break, my husband and I watched a documentary about the surge in Iraq.   His Brigade Combat Team was instrumental in this operation and suffered massive losses.  Grateful for surviving, my husband has never looked at the world the same since this deployment.  While watching the documentary, I kept asking myself over and over: we upheld our promises to serve this country; why has our government broken its promise to us?  Very telling statements by Congressman Ryan — that veteran pension earnings are “benefits”, implying an opinion that we haven’t actually earned them — reveal genuine disrespect for service  members and the inability to understand how to care for veterans adequately.  The fact that so many colleagues backed Mr. Ryan’s bill indicates  this same attitude is running rampant in Washington.

I actually sent Mr. Ryan a handwritten letter because our printer is broken.  Printers are expensive; has anyone else noticed that they seem to be more expensive than in past years?   Contrary to certain opinions, money does not grow on the trees in military families’ back yards.  But when it comes down to it, the money is not the thing.  The fundamental difference between veterans and politicians is that politicians may worry about who deserves handouts while veterans concern themselves with upholding promises made.  It is the principles, the ethics, intrinsic to breaking promises, ruining trust, and devaluing America’s veterans, that reveals the characters.  Ugly characters.  That is the thing that must be addressed.

A serious problem lies in the very ethics behind the budget bill.  This idea has been presented and accepted, that we take wealth from one entity and distribute it to benefit another entity.  Sure, it has been gift wrapped in a glittering concept that by  doing this we are “saving” America from another government shutdown and possibly larger catastrophes in 2014.  Is anyone really benefiting after this is all said and done?  The idea is now acceptable that our government can and should skim from the earnings of veterans who have given everything to protect our country and the American way of life!  Where will it end?  Who else will be arbitrarily targeted in the coming years?  Agree with me or don’t, but until we lose the right to speak against abusive governance, I will be one opinionated American.  Below are excerpts from my letter to Congressman Ryan, with further thoughts on the matter.

Congressman Ryan,

I am deeply disappointed with your attitude toward the military members who will be affected by your budget plan.  In statements regarding the plan, you have insinuated that military members, who do not pay into their pensions, are perhaps creating an unfair burden to the “hard-working taxpayers” and that it is only “right and fair” that we make further sacrifices on top of our selfless service to this country.  You assume that we will continue working after retirement from military service and cite that we receive ample benefits and pensions considerably more generous than those of many civilian counterparts.  The truth is that we are not protected from politicians like you and we can lose our benefits and hard earned pay on a whim, as you have so masterfully demonstrated.

It is no secret that civilian counterparts doing the same or similar jobs tend to earn higher wages than service members.  Military spouses, regardless of their education and work experience, are often resigned to taking jobs paying substantially lower wages than their civilian counterparts because they are  not ‘geographically stable’.  Service members are also not guaranteed lucrative careers after retirement; while there are programs in place to help them transition into the civilian workforce, as a group veterans are in no better position than anyone else.  Service members and military families are not given unfair advantages over civilian counterparts, and any allusions to this are purely myth.

…If you are wondering about the ridiculous pink paper and handwritten message, my printer is broken.  Printers are expensive, funds are pretty thin, and being a military family – despite what you believe – we simply can’t afford a new one right now. We tighten the belt every year to put away savings, and our family will be directly affected by  your budget plan.

I really wanted him to understand the reason behind the silly pink paper.  Being a military family means making sacrifices and often doing without the creature comforts that make life so convenient.  Military families live paycheck to paycheck like most every other family in the United States, and we struggle to make ends meet like everyone else.  I have no qualms writing a letter to a member of Congress on ugly pink paper if that is all I have.  Reality is — and isn’t — funny, don’t you think?

…My husband and I are OIF and OEF veterans.  Between us, we have worked with and personally know thousands of service members… We are all hard-working, tax paying citizens who have served our country with loyalty, pride and honor.  The family members of these heroes sacrifice more than they are given credit for; spouses often forego lucrative careers because of numerous moves, and watch their children grow up without the service members…due to multiple deployments, long training sessions, and late work days.  To insinuate that we are in some way creating a burden to the rest of the country, or that we have an unfair advantage, or that we are not as hard-working because we have not traditionally been required to contribute to our retirement pensions — and that the “right and fair” thing to do is to take away from us — is ignorant and disrespectful.

The term “right and fair” is so off-putting that it is difficult for me to imagine that Congressman Ryan did not actually intend for this statement to be condescending.  If we veterans are being fed a guilt trip instead of being given basic respect, it isn’t terribly far-fetched to imagine how much worse things could become for everyone.

…It is also selfish and exploitative to assume that the military is a reusable and disposable force that can be worked over and over…This is your assumption, correct? That we will just keep working and earning money that we may or may not be allowed to possess?

The military has already been labeled a burden.  Apparently military families who have been making constant sacrifices throughout the War on Terror Era still present an inconvenience because of our very existence .  Yet possibly most unsettling is the concept of the ‘disposable workforce’, which has surfaced on more than one occasion since I wrote this letter a few weeks before Christmas.   It was scary when, in September/October of 2013 we military families faced the possibility of going without any pay during the government shutdown.  We were spared but I can imagine how detrimental this was for the DoD civilians!  Until then I never imagined that the government could just take away our pay, indefinitely, on a whim, due to its own dysfunction, and let its best and most loyal face the ugly consequences.  A government that plays with the idea of allowing its military families to face poverty and hunger does consider these individuals to be disposable and I dare it to prove me wrong.

…You do not deserve to serve this country or to run for office if it means riding on the backs of the military members who have worked, fought, and given their lives to insure your freedom and security… Military members should be given an immediate and public apology for your insensitivity.  You were quick to pat yourself and colleagues on the back in public; I find this cowardly considering whose money you are using to clean up your mess.  I also find it cowardly to put your bill and yourself on a pedestal while devaluing veterans publicly.

I want you to remember, as you go to your posh holiday parties…there are military families with barely enough money right now to buy one nice Christmas dinner, and they, NOT YOU, have been holding up this country through sacrifice, love and service…You have no comprehension of what the military has done for you.  Stop being so proud and think about the ethics and consequences of your actions.  Where does it end, once the idea becomes acceptable to take away the wealth of the ones who fight to protect your land and your livelihood?  Your victory in Washington is a loss of trust between veterans and a government we swore to serve faithfully.  

Regards,

—G

When I joined the National Guard in 1998, I joined under the impression that my government would always back me up, because I promised to serve my country loyally when I took my oath of enlistment.  When I became an Army spouse in 2004 I was still under the impression that our government was supporting the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Guardsmen of America.  I will find it very difficult to ever trust politicians again, but I will always be loyal and reliable to my military families.

If you are interested in this topic, any and all of the related articles are incredible.  I particularly like The Right Thing and Why Should Our Military Suck It Up.  

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You’re Welcome, America

Okay, I knew that my paranoia after the shutdown in October was not in vain.  I knew that the government was gunning for military families in some way or another, because we are all so entitled and so rich!  I saw it coming; we service members just weren’t miserable enough.  A “fair” solution was found, to coin the term used by a certain Congressman.  Because it wouldn’t be “fair” to the rest of the country if the New Greatest Generation wasn’t struggling a bit harder.  We just have it too good.

Please excuse the biting sarcasm.  I don’t aim it at my readers, civilians in general, or the citizens of America.  I love this country and the people, mostly.  In all honesty, I am not sure how I feel about the military retirement pension reduction that was so easily and triumphantly created to “prevent” future sequestrations and shutdowns.  Maybe the cuts to the military pensions will help.  It would be great, right?  I aim my frustration at politicians who don’t seem to understand that service members do struggle just as much as everyone else.  Reading various statements justifying the decision, it almost seems like we’ve been identified as not having contributed enough to America’s survival, targeted because we’ve been too well taken care of, so certainly we can spare some of our wealth.  A Paul Ryan quote, from the Huffington Post really rubbed me the wrong way:

“We think it’s only right and fair that they pay something more to their pensions, just like the hard-working taxpayers that pay for those pensions in the first place,” Ryan said.

Yeah, because military members don’t pay any taxes, we all live in  mini mansions, we each drive an Infiniti gassed by the farts of fairies, and we all sport purple crew cuts and glitter covered jackboots.  You want “right and fair”?  Let’s do some Military Math.  What is the value of a Warrant Officer father missing his first daughter’s birth?  A First Sergeant mother not being home for Christmas?  How about a child going an entire school year without both parents because  they are dual military and both deployed?  Is that worth 1% of the service member’s retirement pension?  What about scraping brain and skull fragments out of a Humvee?  Or watching your best friend get killed?  Or are all those things simply not adding enough “right and fair” value to everyone’s American Experience?

I will concede that Mr. Ryan perhaps did not mean to be snide and condescending, but insinuating that military members are creating dead weight, with those hard-working taxpayers bearing the brunt of the burden,  is disrespectful.  Service members do pay taxes as well as bills and other out of pocket costs  just like civilians, so justifying a 1% pension reduction through the excuse that we have somehow been unfair towards the hard-working taxpayers is just plain rude.  Times are hard everywhere, including the Army post where I live, and military families are stretched thinner every year.  No one here is going to ride into a magical golden sunset at retirement.

The politicians are definitely Utilitarians, offering as a sacrifice to appease the rhythm of happy commerce the retirement savings of this rag tag group of service members who have spent the better part of their adult lives earning those pensions in the throes of never ending war. After all, it is better to take wealth from one small group that has so much to give and disburse it for the greater good, right?  Nevermind what it looks like (Communism).   I had a feeling that this was coming, because I saw that gleam in their eyes while I watched them fuss over their budget notes on the news these past months.  They were looking for a pig to bleed.  Oink, oink.

So the question remains: does this matter, and how much?  It depends on who you ask but yes, it does matter.  The soldiers who have gone to the Middle East for the last decade have been called the New Greatest Generation, but are we being treated as though we really did anything special?  I see the politicians patting themselves on the back victoriously over this budget deal, but where is the heartfelt apology and gesture of gratitude to the service members who will now be sacrificing money that they “supposedly” earned through years of dedicated service and loyalty to the nation?  This remains to be seen.

I know that my family will be fine.  We will never be rich.  We figure out ways to survive.  We go from one year being the King of the Hill to being the Underdog the next.  We get knocked around by life, the Army, and the government, constantly losing and gaining monetary wealth depending on the mood of entities larger than us.  Our cupboards get thin, but never completely bare.  We never are and never will be rolling in money, so excuse me for saying this but it doesn’t feel “fair”, and I don’t like the word “fair” used so casually to describe disbursement of military pension money, especially when military personnel had no say in the decision process.  I take offense at the word “fair” being used to undermine the character of military members.  Don’t tell me that it is “fair” to take money away from soldiers.  Ever.  Who better than a service member would know that life isn’t fair?

If Congress is willing to play with the idea of not paying the military for an indefinite period of time (and no, they didn’t go through with it in October, but it still scared me), they clearly have no qualms about taking our paychecks hostage and using our pensions as emergency funds.  But instead of apologizing for their poor decision making and subsequent hijacking of the military pensions, the catch phrase of this “solution” is that we military members ought to “pay something more…like the hard-working taxpayers”.  A guilt trip for those who have served with loyalty and dignity…Well, you’re welcome.  It comes down to the fact that regardless of how I feel (angry?  bummed? livid?cheated? anxious? depressed? defeated?) we may or may not see that 1% returned to us.  The money doesn’t matter anyway; it’s the principle.

You know what I really want?  It would be a genuine apology to my husband and every other member of the U.S. military, from every single member of Congress.  NOW.  I want them to personally apologize for treating our military like pawns in a game and using us as their backup plan when they can’t get their tangle of piss poor planning unsnarled.  And I want a personal and heartfelt show of appreciation from those overpaid, snake oiled used car salesmen.  We are the New Greatest Generation, and we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect!  It starts with a simple gesture.  It should never be lauded as a victory when you arbitrarily take wealth from your hardest working and most courageous citizens to clean up your mistakes because you lack the courage to do so yourself.  This is called cowardice.

— G

I Lost My Chuck Norris Calendar in the Wal-Mart Parking Lot!!!

Ornament

Yesterday the unthinkable happened!  I went to Wal-Mart and scored THE LAST Chuck Norris 2014 calendar.  I already had a couple of possible recipients in mind by the time I checked out, but somehow the calendar did not make it home from the Wal-Mart parking lot.  Oh no!  I left it in the shopping cart!  This morning I went back and asked the very helpful Customer Service representatives for assistance.  They have saved my ass before; I left my wallet on the bag turnstile once and didn’t notice for an entire day.  Anyway, no one turned in a “lost” Chuck Norris calendar from the parking lot, so suffice it to say, somebody snagged it out of my cart.  Bastards.  To add insult to my debacle, it was as I mentioned before, THE LAST Chuck Norris calendar at that Wal-Mart!  NOOOOOO!  The upside of the story is that FINALLY, after two months of wracking my brain to figure out what to get my father-in-law for Christmas, I am going to go online and order a Chuck Norris calendar for him, maybe a poster too.

— G

Check out Chuck’s Christmas video from this blogger below:

http://thirdnews.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/chuck-does-christmas/