I'm Depressed

And no it’s not from the pregnancy hormones. It’s from our government.

When I was a little kid I thought what a great country we live in, how lucky are we? For some reason I always thought living in other countries would be terrible because of the cost of living and what not. You wouldn’t think it but Australia is a very hard place to live in. But as the days keep going by and Obama is in the office I’m beginning to think living in another country wouldn’t be so bad.

Did you know that you can be exempt from the yearly fee of not having insurance, which in 2014 will be 95$ per adult and 47.50$ per child, if you can't find a plan that is lower than or equal to 8% of your monthly income?

Confused? Ok, T and I make roughly $2100 per month with us both working. 8% of that is 168$. So if I can't find a health insurance plan that costs 168$ or less, I wouldn't have to pay the yearly fee for not having insurance.

Right now, T and I are paying 20% of our monthly income for insurance. Now, tell me what you would do??

Basically, we have decided not to have insurance and save the 400$ we are paying right now in case of emergencies and we will be filling for exemption on our 2014 tax return. That is, unless we can find a health insurance plan for 168$ or less. Yeah right....

We will not be one of those low lying individuals who don’t have insurance and need medical help then not pay their bills. Who says I can’t put that 400$ in the bank every month and have it on hand for emergencies? It’s not like we visit the doctor that often anyways. I’m not saying something won’t happen but why not? Seriously?

Recently my brother broke his leg and had to have surgery and you think that insurance would cover it. Oh yes, but not until my parents had to pay the 7500$ deductible they have. They spend more money per month on insurance than I do! And that’s a lot! Oh and not to mention the $1800 co-pay they had because insurance only covers 70% of procedures. So in reality they ended up spending $9300 plus what his medications costs, because again, insurance only covers 70% of medical costs.

So is insurance really all that great? That’s the big mystery!

To me it’s becoming as ridiculous as vehicle insurance is, or dental and vision. Dental and vision insurance is a complete joke!

A while back my dad had to go in and have some cancerous skin removed from his neck and just out of curiosity he asked the doctor how much it cost to pay cash for it. All the doctor could tell him was that he had insurance so it didn’t matter. She couldn’t even tell him! They are so used to using insurance companies it’s sickening!

I also so on the news the other day of how self-pay clinics are becoming more and more popular. Hmm.. I wonder why?

I want to do right by my family and provide the best for them but it’s hard when the government is screwing things up and making it more and more harder too live in America, the Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave. Well folks, it’s not free anymore. Obama really really wants to call martial law, I just know it, and there isn’t anyone brave enough to stand up to him.

I would really enjoy ya’lls inputs if you feel like it, I’m curious as to what other folks have to say…

So comment away!

 

P.S. I had a dream the other day, not a total dream but one of those I’m halfway conscious kinda dreams that we started a pray group and went to the capital and prayed around the white house. What would it hurt? It’s what they need…

New Beginnings

Before I even begin this blog post, I must warn you that there may be some very revealing things and if you don't want to read it, then don't.

Well, I don't know how many of you know but T and I are expecting our second baby. I'm 7 weeks 4 days today so I have a long ways to go... a long ways folks.

I was using FAM methods of birth control for a while and when we decided to try for number two I used those same methods and babam...

Unlike the first time, I didn't quite know if I was pregnant or not but peeing on a stick a few times quickly solved that mystery. We are very thrilled and are excited that everyone else is happy with it. With K man, it took some time to sink in for both my folks and T, but in the long run they can't get enough of him.

Here was the picture I used to show my folks

And T's folks

Ok, that being said, I started doing all the things necessary to get organized and have my first doctor appointment. I'm talking insurance mostly. I called my current insurance provider and explained my situation and they said "we don't cover maternity."

Well great, that's just great. Do you know what they told me to do??? Apply for Medicare.

Excellent, just exactly what I wanted to do. Ask the government for help. Umm... NO!

I remember a friend of mine saying something about wanting to use a midwife so I was curious and looked up midwives in West Texas. That's when I found the West Texas Midwife. Ha!

I picked over her website with a fine toothed comb and decided it might not hurt to give her a call and tell her about my situation. So I did, and.... she accepts self pay and in the long run, it would much cheaper than having a baby with my previous doctor without insurance. She also sounded like a really nice person which is important to me. She told me that she would give me a free consultation to help me decide if I wanted to use her or not. I had that consulation today.

After much prayer and consideration, T and I decided to go with the midwife. Now folks, she is a traveling midwife and this would mean that my next baby will be born in my home! How exciting is that!!

T was very skeptical at first but the idea is growing on him. I think it will be a much easier experience on the both of us.

She went over everything with me today of how things would work. Come to find out, she has so many clients in Alpine that I won't have to travel to Odessa except for the sonogram at 20 weeks. She will do everything in my home, blood pressure, weight gain, blood work, all that good jazz.

Now for the exciting part, I explained to her that with K and his big head, I tore something fierce down there and she told me a water birth would fix that. She told me that its more relaxing and not as painful so I'm thinking I will be going that route.

She gave me plenty of books to read and a list of nutrious things to be eating, if I can eat them at all... I'm pretty sure this one is a girl because so far it's been the total opposite of K man, and I've had morning sickness ALL DAY LONG every day.... But I haven't lost any weight.

We are very excited about all this and I'm really praying that everything goes well and that it will be the ultimate family bonding experience. I will be keeping ya'll updated as well!!!

I'm going to bed for now, before I pass out on the couch..... Night!

Wisdom Teeth

First of all, that is an understatement if I have ever heard one. I don't feel anymore wise than I did before my wisdom teeth grew in!

Second of all, I don't feel any dumber know that they are out....

I thought I would share my experience with my wisdom teeth, mainly because I'm sitting here on the couch and have nothing better to do.

It all started yesterday morning when my alarm clock went off. I knew immediately that this day would be very long and I was not looking forward to it AT ALL! But sometimes you have to take the bull by the horns and get stuff done.

The drive was excruciating, its a 3 1/2 hour drive to El Paso and when we got there, we were backed up in traffic. It was El Paso's first day of school so the interstate was packed.

Anyways, we get there and I had to sign a bajillion things and go over post op care and what not. Then they led me back to the little room, by myself nonetheless and hooked me up to blood pressure and heart monitor machines. No big deal right? right... I don't know why I started shacking, I guess I was just nervous and no matter how many times the little nurse gal said it was going to be alright, I still couldn't stop shaking. They even had to hold my arm down to get the IV in, which I didn't feel at all! They had numbed it before hand so that made it nice.

Well then the Dr. came in and asked if I was ready to get started. Umm, no.... I thought to myself. He gave me the light anesthesia and not 2 seconds later I felt amazing! My shaking at stopped completely and I thought to myself, I can handle this now! My plan was to put my headphones and go to sleep! That sure didn't happen....After I got my music going, and made sure it wasn't too loud to drown out the Dr. and the nurse, I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep! I tried people!!

They then proceeded to numb the inside of my mouth which I didn't feel and when I was good and numb, the Dr. asked me I was ready, again. I couldn't answer this time so a thumbs up had to do. This became they way I communicated with them since they had tools and fingers inside my mouth.

My music going, my eyes covered, and hands squeezing the arms rest of the chair, the Dr. pulled the first tooth. It was mostly out so it popped right out, no big deal! The Dr. asked if I was ok, thumbs up, and he stitched the hole together.

The second tooth wasn't so easy. This was the infected tooth and it was causing a little more trouble which caused the saw to come out. That's when I lost it, and there was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was cry, and people, I tried not to but it just happened. Bad experiences in the past where brought up when they used the saw to cut my tooth in half, then with a loud crack, it popped loose.

I guess they noticed I was tearing up because they asked me about it, and later I found out they thought it was from the anesthesia. It was not of course.

They stitched up the second hole and started on the third tooth, which also came right out and was sewn up in no time.

"Doing ok?" I was asked. Thumbs up. Then I heard the Dr. say "Lets wait to do the last one and see how she feels." If I could have something, it would of gone like this, "Heck no! Ya'll are getting ALL of these teeth out! No questions asked."

The nurse even went out and asked T about it and he simply told them that if they left that tooth, there was no way anyone was getting me back into the office to have it out later, and he was right.

By now the tears had stopped and I was just praying this would all be over and I could home. But, it took them longer to get the last tooth out than they had anticipated. It was the tooth turned sideways and that meant the saw came back out. I turned my music up..

Several pieces later, it was finally out and I was done, all sewed up and ready to get home
Thinking back on it, it was not the best experience but I have been through worse. I would have

preferred not to be awake, but it is what it is. I'm home now and the bleeding has stopped for the most part, and only one side of my face is swollen. The numbness didn't fully wear off until about 3 o'clock this morning either.

I'm just so glad I don't have to go through something like that EVER again.......

 

For some reason the picture flipped on me. The two whole teeth on the bottom are actually my top teeth and they ones in pieces are from the bottom.  

 

This was the infected tooth, the whole inside of it was rotted and nasty. And look at the hook on that thing! No wonder I wasn't feeling good...

 

All About K Man

 

Look at that little guy! He is getting so big! :( Makes his momma sad...

 

Love jumping on the trampoline with GG (Great-grandma)

 

Cool dude!

Already driving, and so serious about it too

 

Smile!

 

Goofy kid, I couldn't get him to take those off! He wore them for an hour!

 

4th of July parade!

 

Stole Pops chair

 

:)

 

Look what the rain has done to Alpine! It's incredible!

 

It hasn't been this green in a looonnngggggg time!! Yay!!

 

 

Have a blessed weekend!

Some Changes

This past week has been trying for me, both physically and mentally. I have been having anxiety attacks, or small panic attacks really. I will get hot all over and my limbs will feel tingly, my chest starts to hurt and my throat seems to get tighter. I can't explain it and I don't know why it has to happen!

I got so freaked out Sunday at church I had to hide out in the bathroom for most the service, that's not embarrassing or anything. It will last for about an hour and then I'm extremely exhausted afterward. Monday morning I got up early and went to the doctor's office to see if they could shed some light on what was going on. My blood pressure was normal, and she drew some blood to check my liver/kidney function and my thyroid just to make sure. She did prescribe some low dose anxiety medicine that I take as needed, as I insisted I didn't want to take something everyday. There is no need to get hooked on something like that.

Well she called me today and said my blood tests came back normal and that I am perfectly healthy. That didn't help me much because now I"m wondering to myself, "Is it all in my head? Am I going crazy?" I sure felt like I was, and even today at one point I felt the urge to just break down! I don't know why and I can't explain it!

So here is my diagnose, if I can do that.... I have a wisdom tooth that is bothering me that really needs to come out but I haven't had to time to get it done, (and no, that is not just an excuse.) It may or may not be putting pressure on certain nerves in my jaw making my neck and jaw ache. (I have a bad habit of wondering what's wrong with me every time I have a twinge or little pain.)  That's one possibility and I know the only way to fix it is to have the silly tooth removed (My worse nightmare)

Another possibility is that my.. (Please, I'm being very open here, if you don't want to read it then don't) My birth control pills are messing me up. I've been on them for a little over a year now and thinking back I have felt some of the side effects of it but I never put two and two together until earlier today.

So my solutions for my anxiety attacks? Here it goes; I don't really know if I want to change birth control pills, and the other options of contraceptives I don't necessarily agree with. I have been considering natural means of birth control, mainly because it would be healthier for me. And besides, if practicing natural b/c fails, its not that big of a deal ;)

 I don't think I'm very healthy, (I'm going to tattle on myself) I try and only have one soda a day and I don't drink enough water. I"m going to start having three sodas a week, then eventually down to one a week. (I don't believe in quitting cold turkey because I've tried that and it makes the craving worse, and I like to reward myself sometimes) I do exercise but apparently two days of crossfit a week isn't enough, so I guess I'll start up walking/running again. That always seemed to make me feel better. I have also started doing some at home yoga exercises until I can find a yoga class to go too. I've also considered acupuncture, since that always helped me when I was younger.

So there it is, the changes I've made in the last couple of days. This has been hard on me guys, more than it probably should have but that's just how I'm wired I guess. Thanks to lots of support and the Good Lord by my side, I've been able to overcome it most of the way.

Ya'll have a good night, and sorry for the TMI!

A Little History

So I know I haven't blogged in quite a while, and I apologize for that but hey, what can one say?

I've been working on a little project for grandfather and I thought I would share some of it with ya'll. It's pretty cool really! So here goes...

Direct Line of descendancy as copied from a file of Mary Jane Wood Easley:

General Solomon Wood,

•  a soldier of the Revolution and a Captain under George Washington.
• Born in Virginia, April 16th 1750:
• Died in Georgia August 17, 1815.
• Married Elizabeth Eason in 1780

Gen. Solomon Wood was the father of:

(In order)

Eason Wood - November 2, 1778
Nancy Wood - April, 1781
William Wood - August 7th, 1782
Mary Wood (Called Polly) - November 27th, 1785
Elizabeth Wood - January 16th, 1788
Green Wood - January 31st, 1792
Mark Red Wood - December 1st, 1794
White Wood - December 15th, 1796

Green Wood:

• married Nancy Hall in 181, who died in 1813
• married Evelina Alexander Barnes in 1822

Green Wood was the father of twelve children, the first born, Solomon Wood, died at 13. The next 5 children died in infancy.
Ella Wood
Elizabeth Green Wood
Willis B. Wood
Green Mark Wood
Campbell Wood - the author


Green Mark Wood:

• Born 1813.
• Died 1897 in Navasota Texas.
• Married Mary Jane LeGrande in 1846

Green Mark Wood is the father of:
R. B. Wood
S. W. Wood (Solomon William)
R. C. Wood
Fannie Wood
Milton Le Grande Wood
George Scovell Wood
Clark Campbell Wood
Green Alexander Wood
Willie Le Grande Wood
two unnamed boys

Solomon William Wood:

• Born January 26, 1849
• Died October 5th, 1922
• Married Martha C. Reed on June 18th, 1873

S. W. Wood was the father of:
Mary Jane Wood
(I think she was an only child)

Mary Jane Wood (Easley)

• Born July 6th, 1874
• Died October 24th, 1960
• Married Charles Brigance Easley on December 29th, 1898

She was the mother of:
Robbie Mae Easley - October 6th, 1899
Edward Charles Easley - August 30th, 1901
Mattie Easley - January 15th, 1905
James Easley - January 13th, 1908
Anne Margradel Easley - April 17th, 1910
Mary Louise Easley - January 7th, 1913
Robert Chester Easley - March 28th, 1915

Mary Louise Easley:

• Married Jack Stovell on May 28th, 1939.
• Jack died of a heart attack in 1965
• She passed in 2011
• (She was my great grandmother)

Her children included:
John Robert (Bob) Stovell - March 4th, 1941
Carol Nan Stovell - October 16th, 1944
William Charles (Bill) Stovell - April 7th, 1946

Bob Stovell:

• Married Kay Evans in Alpine on June 26th, 1959
• They have 3 children:
• John Robert II (John) - May 2nd, 1960
• Joe Donald (Joe) - September 23rd, 1962
• Stephanie Jan - July 31st, 1969

Joe Stovell:

• Married Julie Ann Unrein on June 23rd, 1990
• They have 2 children:
• Jaelyn Rose  - December 7th, 1992
• Joe Don II - September 5th, 1995

So what did ya'll think of that? It's kinda cool to think that my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather worked for George Washington! Technically the lineage is supposed to continue with my brother, but I might have to add my married name to the list :)


Ya'll have a great night and blessed weekend!!

A Weekend at Home

This past weekend we got to stay home and do... nothing.

That's right, we laid around the house all day and watched TV and played video games. It was terrible. No I mean like terrible that we did it, it was actually very enjoyable.

Well, I didn't lay around the house all day.. We tried to go garage saleing, but when Alpine only has five garage sales it's hard to find any good deals. I did find a cute little table and chairs for K when he gets old enough to do crafts and stuff! It was only 5 bucks! I'm going to clean it up and I'll take a few pictures.

Other than that, we didn't find anything else. We did go to a place that was basically a dump and a lady was selling the junk that people had to dig out of piles of trash. I guess it was her house but it was in pretty bad shape. Like, really bad shape. Anyways, my mom had a pile of stuff! An old wooden chair, and can of oil that was from like the 50's that hadn't been opened yet! and some silver pales and other little knick knacks. Well, the lady wouldn't sell her the pales, said she needed them for her rocks...? Whatever lady. Talk about crazy!!

After our sad attempt of garage saleing, my folks wanted to keep K, so we left him and went home and started our day of nothing. It was so grand that I decided to should fold a basket of cloths and before I knew it was using a pile of t-shirts as a pillow and taking a nap on the floor. Haha!!

Ok, I'll quite bragging about our wonderful day of nothing!

I have been stuck on my other blog. I have about eight drafts started but I can't figure out how to end them. On this blog I can just speak my mind and not have to worry about who I may offend or say something wrong. I have been putting a lot of thought into because if I want to make it a book I feel like it should be correct in every aspect.

That has always been my problem though. I can't finish stories. I have all these wonderful ideas of what to write about but when it comes time to end it, I get stuck. Oh well, I'll figure something out. Maybe on my next day of nothing that's what I'll do, if I ever get another day like that.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to share, I umm... yeah... can't find my camera... I have an idea of where it's at though. K has been taking and hiding things. He has a little stash of stuff in the kitchen. I guess I need to go look there..

I guess that's all I have for now. T and I are watching Pocahontas, without our little monster..

Talk to ya'll later!!