My mama has always said that if looks could kill that I would be in prison. Apparently my face shows the emotion I happen to be feeling . Well, if looks could kill I would be asking for bail money right now.
I had a mammogram today. My appointment time was 12 :30 but my orders said to be there 15 to 20 minutes early for registration.I was signed in and sitting in waiting by 12 :10. There were 5 divided pods where 5 different employees could check in 5 different people at the same time. Pods 1 through 3 had their lights on. Pods 1 and 2 had customers/patients already being checked in. Pod 3 had nobody. At 12 :20 pod 2 finished with her patient and took the guy ahead of me. About the same time I heard the lady in pod 3 start talking to someone on the phone. It was obvious that it was a personal call and had nothing to do with hospital business.At 12 :25 the lights come on in pod 4 but she starts up a conversation with the woman in pod 3 who for the last fifteen minutes hasn't done anything but make a personal phone call.
All this time I am sitting beside a woman who smells like she hasn't bathed in a week AND I have to pee. I am usually a very patient person but I was reaching a limit. At one point I look over to another woman who has been waiting as long as I have.She shrugs her shoulders and looks as frustrated as I am.For the next 10 minutes pod 3 and pod 4 talk about soup. At 12 :35, five minutes past my appointment time I change seats so I can see directly into pod3. I am now sitting right beside the other woman who looks like I feel. She whispers " my appointment is in 5 minutes." I reply , " My appointment was 5 minutes ago ." I did not whisper though . In fact I believe anyone in and around that waiting room heard me. It caught the attention of both pod 3 and pod 4. When pod 3 looked at me I shot her a look.
Needless to say, neither wasted no time in walking to the sign in sheet and calling me and the other lady to sign us in. I didn't make it back to imaging until 12 :45 and waited another 10 minutes there before being called back. I checked my watch as I was leaving. It was 1:01. My mammogram took exactly 6 minutes.
Usually I hate getting customer surveys whether it be by mail or email. I usually throw them away or hit delete. I really hope I get one from Northern Hospital though. I would definitely fill this one out and be excited about hitting send.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Simply me
Yesterday my son wanted me to deposit $45 of his money into my checking account so he could order a hoodie online. It is his money. He earned it , therefore within reason I allow him to spend it on whatever he chooses. He spends his money well. He usually buys clothes because he knows that if his clothes budget is determined by me he will not be wearing what he wants. He is all about the name brand. Hopefully I don't offend here but I could care less about name brand. I buy clothes to cover my body and keep me warm or cool depending upon season. If I have $35 to spend on clothes I will purchase 10 shirts at Goodwill versus 1 at Abercrombie. Anyway this one transaction made me reflect on "why" I don't give a rip about status statements.
I have NEVER owned a designer handbag. I have a pocketbook and that is what I call it too...a pocketbook. I use it til it falls apart and then I buy another. It's $30 including shipping and handling and I order it from luggageguru.com . It has two straps and I sling it on my back like a backpack. When my children were younger and I was going on a couple of field trips every month it allowed me to walk around with both of my hands free. I could hold hands with my child or be camera ready to take pictures of the memories I was making with them. They are older but I still carry it because it is still practical. It has three pockets on the outside. Pocket #1 hold my cell phone. Pocket #2, several writing pens and pocket #3 contains gum. There is a zip pocket on the back that holds lipstick/lipgloss, hand sanitizer, ibuprophen, and full sized store discount cards that I don't have on my already full key ring. The inside has three additional pockets. One for chapstick, listerne strips, and nail clippers. Another for eyeglass cleaning spray and wipes, and yet another for a comb and a nail file. The biggest section holds my wallet, calendar, checkbook, and keys. I NEVER have to dig for anything. On the rare occasion that I decide to spend a stupid amount of money to take the family to the movies , my pocketbook can smuggle three 16 oz drinks at $1.39 each into the theater because I just refuse to pay $12 for three cups full of ice and a little bit of soda. Once a year it holds enough snacks to get us through a day at the zoo so we don't spend $50 on hamburgers and fries for 4 people at lunch time.
I guess you can tell by now that I am cheap. You have no idea. 90% of the clothes in my drawers and closet came from Goodwill or consignment stores. I will buy shoes and underwear new but to be clear up until last year I only owned one bra that I washed two or three times a week and I wear underwear til I am forced to buy new ones because I wear them til they fall apart.The last new shoes I bought for myself were three pairs of flip flops last summer and they were buy one get one half off at Kmart. The big name brand? Joe Boxers.
I'm not into pedicures, manicures, or massages. I clip, file, shape, and paint my own nails for free. If I need a back rub , I'll get Eric to do it. If you ever need to find me, I can promise that I won't be in a salon. I do get haircuts from time to time but I will not pay $60 for the same work that I can pay $15 for. I guess when the gray takes over, I will show my age because I won't be coloring my hair and touching up my roots every 6 weeks.
As a family , we go out to eat once every pay check, which for us is twice a month. The rest of my food budget is spent at the grocery store.As you may have guessed I am pretty frugal there as well. The majority of everything I buy is store brand. I do make a few exceptions. Scott toilet tissue is pretty expensive but per roll it seems to last longer at our house so I pay the extra. Up until a few years ago I would only buy Tide laundry detergent but at a load everyday I couldn't justify it anymore so now I spend an hour every 3 months or so and make my own laundry detergent. It saves me about $200 a year and it works just as good as store bought.
I have a cell phone but the fanciest part about it is a full keyboard to make texting easier. I do not have an internet plan on it so you will never see a Facebook status posted via mobile. My children do not have phones of their own and when they do get one it will most certainly not be the latest iphone. At this point in their lives if they want to communicate with their friends they have ipods they can text on or can use the landline phones in our house. If they are away from me , they are either at school or with responsible adults that can reach me if and when an emergency arises. I made it just fine til adulthood without a cell phone. I am certain that they will survive until they are driving on their own without one.
Don't feel sorry for me or my children. We have every thing that we need . We are fed, we are clothed and we have shelter. We even have things that we don't need like Direct tv and high speed internet.I even splurge every once in a while. Of course my idea of splurging is driving downtown to buy an espresso based coffee drink instead of brewing at home or buying a big bag of M&M's and having a handful each day for a couple of weeks. Truth is,we don't have the extra money to spend on designer handbags, name brand clothing, trips to the salon or high tech phones that do everything but wipe your butt.Truth is , even if we did, I wouldn't spend it on those things. We would spend it on trips together , put it in savings, or give it away. If all of my bills were paid, we had no NEEDS, and I had upwards of $300 to spend on a designer handbag, I most likely would either give it to my church so they could meet needs within my congregation or just flat out give it to the many people I know that are struggling just to survive in this crap economy.
Disclaimer : I am not judging how other people spend their money. They earn it and should spend it however they wish. This isn't about them. This is about me, who I am and what MY priorities are.This is about how I live my life and as it turns out, it's pretty simple.
I have NEVER owned a designer handbag. I have a pocketbook and that is what I call it too...a pocketbook. I use it til it falls apart and then I buy another. It's $30 including shipping and handling and I order it from luggageguru.com . It has two straps and I sling it on my back like a backpack. When my children were younger and I was going on a couple of field trips every month it allowed me to walk around with both of my hands free. I could hold hands with my child or be camera ready to take pictures of the memories I was making with them. They are older but I still carry it because it is still practical. It has three pockets on the outside. Pocket #1 hold my cell phone. Pocket #2, several writing pens and pocket #3 contains gum. There is a zip pocket on the back that holds lipstick/lipgloss, hand sanitizer, ibuprophen, and full sized store discount cards that I don't have on my already full key ring. The inside has three additional pockets. One for chapstick, listerne strips, and nail clippers. Another for eyeglass cleaning spray and wipes, and yet another for a comb and a nail file. The biggest section holds my wallet, calendar, checkbook, and keys. I NEVER have to dig for anything. On the rare occasion that I decide to spend a stupid amount of money to take the family to the movies , my pocketbook can smuggle three 16 oz drinks at $1.39 each into the theater because I just refuse to pay $12 for three cups full of ice and a little bit of soda. Once a year it holds enough snacks to get us through a day at the zoo so we don't spend $50 on hamburgers and fries for 4 people at lunch time.
I guess you can tell by now that I am cheap. You have no idea. 90% of the clothes in my drawers and closet came from Goodwill or consignment stores. I will buy shoes and underwear new but to be clear up until last year I only owned one bra that I washed two or three times a week and I wear underwear til I am forced to buy new ones because I wear them til they fall apart.The last new shoes I bought for myself were three pairs of flip flops last summer and they were buy one get one half off at Kmart. The big name brand? Joe Boxers.
I'm not into pedicures, manicures, or massages. I clip, file, shape, and paint my own nails for free. If I need a back rub , I'll get Eric to do it. If you ever need to find me, I can promise that I won't be in a salon. I do get haircuts from time to time but I will not pay $60 for the same work that I can pay $15 for. I guess when the gray takes over, I will show my age because I won't be coloring my hair and touching up my roots every 6 weeks.
As a family , we go out to eat once every pay check, which for us is twice a month. The rest of my food budget is spent at the grocery store.As you may have guessed I am pretty frugal there as well. The majority of everything I buy is store brand. I do make a few exceptions. Scott toilet tissue is pretty expensive but per roll it seems to last longer at our house so I pay the extra. Up until a few years ago I would only buy Tide laundry detergent but at a load everyday I couldn't justify it anymore so now I spend an hour every 3 months or so and make my own laundry detergent. It saves me about $200 a year and it works just as good as store bought.
I have a cell phone but the fanciest part about it is a full keyboard to make texting easier. I do not have an internet plan on it so you will never see a Facebook status posted via mobile. My children do not have phones of their own and when they do get one it will most certainly not be the latest iphone. At this point in their lives if they want to communicate with their friends they have ipods they can text on or can use the landline phones in our house. If they are away from me , they are either at school or with responsible adults that can reach me if and when an emergency arises. I made it just fine til adulthood without a cell phone. I am certain that they will survive until they are driving on their own without one.
Don't feel sorry for me or my children. We have every thing that we need . We are fed, we are clothed and we have shelter. We even have things that we don't need like Direct tv and high speed internet.I even splurge every once in a while. Of course my idea of splurging is driving downtown to buy an espresso based coffee drink instead of brewing at home or buying a big bag of M&M's and having a handful each day for a couple of weeks. Truth is,we don't have the extra money to spend on designer handbags, name brand clothing, trips to the salon or high tech phones that do everything but wipe your butt.Truth is , even if we did, I wouldn't spend it on those things. We would spend it on trips together , put it in savings, or give it away. If all of my bills were paid, we had no NEEDS, and I had upwards of $300 to spend on a designer handbag, I most likely would either give it to my church so they could meet needs within my congregation or just flat out give it to the many people I know that are struggling just to survive in this crap economy.
Disclaimer : I am not judging how other people spend their money. They earn it and should spend it however they wish. This isn't about them. This is about me, who I am and what MY priorities are.This is about how I live my life and as it turns out, it's pretty simple.
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