Every day those of the general populous can see even more and more greed and stupidity running straight through the threads of the American Government from the local to the Federal! It is sometimes almost to much to phantom. We are a country of idiots and it seems that the worst of the idiots are the ones making policies and running the governments. That in itself should scare the pooh right out of all of us but “oh no” we just continue to look the other way and dangle our toes in the cool, cool water of lies and manipulations that they tell us we will be comfortable in!!!
I know a family:
Grandmother with chronic illness; two grandsons (one disabled and one without a father due to a death). Both grandsons get an income (one from SSI for disability) and one from a Death Benefit.
Ok percentages of these incomes should be used for monthly expenses such as housing, utilities, internet, phone, food, etc. BUT the rest of those checks provide both children with their clothing, haircuts, personal items, personal cleanliness items, shoes, transportation for school and after school interests, sodas on a hot day at school, movie tickets a couple times a month, visits to their mother a couple times a month, etc.
The Grandmother has an income too…..under $600 a month. The Grandmother also has a chronic illness called COPD. Of course there is no health insurance for her either.
Now comes the plight……….
The Grandmother gets very ill and is in the hospital for nearly 5 days with no insurance. The boys are taken care of at home through the volunteerism of other family members. They never miss a day of school and their daily routines are kept on schedule. The State never pays a cent for their care in that time.
The Grandmother, because she is unable to work outside the home again, filed for early Social Security (which can’t happen for at least 2 months); filed for Food Stamps for the two boys and herself and Medicaid for an Adult for herself (the boys are already on Kid’s Connection).
They were denied the food stamps because NEBRASKA policy says that ALL income can be rolled into one!!!! Really???? The State Department of Health and Human Services state that policy says those two grandsons don’t need clothing, haircuts, sodas, movies, transportation, etc…..if a bill needs to be paid then pay it. At whose expense???? The young child who now has to look like a thrift store reject???? Who can’t get a haircut and looks like a major punk rocker? Who can’t hand over the dollar for a soda on a field trip? Who has problems with bullying already because he “doesn’t fit in” and NOW the bullying really starts??????
So IF a mother in Omaha used $17,000 of her disabled son’s SSI money between August and December (and where the heck did she get 17,000 from in five months??????) was it because Nebraska Policy told her that it WAS her money and WAS available to pay the bills even if it DID use the whole check OR was it Federal Policy who said that she was to use a percentage for his care, etc and the rest on monthly allotments? Once again, I don’t understand how she even “found” $17,000 in 5 months!!!! Is this person on Medicaid…so isn’t the medical paid???? Why would someone even be getting that kind of money per month? You now have two policies on each end of the spectrum.
The Grandmother placed the X to ask for Medicaid for herself as an adult and over age 60 in the same application as the request for the Food Stamps. That X didn’t seem to be able to be seen by those wonderful Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and wasn’t even acted up.
So guess what??????? The Grandmother has to appeal!!! Why should she have to appeal???? The office didn’t even bother to deal with that request!!! Amazing…..the application was filled out correctly (as was confirmed by the first caseworker) and ignored by an office to busy with training meetings, policy changes, etc. to read their own applications!!! This is not the Department Employee mistakes….this is a GOVERNMENT mistake!!!!!!
Who ARE these people that make policies for our children and ourselves who have never ONCE in their lives been on public assistance. Who have allowed a Nebraska government office to get so totally far out of hand that they are having to completely redo the system AT THE EXPENSE of the children????????????
Idiots…..my GOD they are all idiots!!!!!!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Retirement of a Baby Boomer
I lost my job at the end of last year, so I went on unemployment. That was a new experience for me! In the 40+ years of working I had never filed for unemployment. Of course, some of those years were spent raising children so I didn't always work. Who knew....when you raise children and do all those "menial" jobs such as taxi driver, nurse, dentist, cook, housekeeper, etc., you aren't putting any money into your unemployment account NOR are you putting anything into your Social Security account! I knew that....just didn't pay attention. I guess it wasn't a priority thought on my priority thought list during those years of mud pies, broken limbs, stitched up hands, etc.
My unemployment runs out in July. I got $135 a week for 20 weeks (approx)...that was what I worked for at minimum wage (or less) for 40+ years. Wow...imagine that!!!!
I decided that since I can't make much money in the working world...I would just retire. So I filed for my Social Security payments to begin the month of June 2011. I actually will make a promotion....I will receive $19 more a month then..than I do now!!
I am appreciative of the fact that I have the option to continue to work, as long as it is under the income guidelines, no problem there. Of course, with gas prices skyrocketing and food prices increasing I will have to find a part time job somewhere very close. It wouldn't be profitable to get a part time job in Kearney as that is driving nearly 60 miles a day. I could get a full time job there but by the time I pay the gas and extra food money, I would be back to profiting part time wages.
I think I should have put back even $5 a check in an account..left it there and forgot I had it. Then with the interest rates I could have at least added another $175 a month to my well earned and established Social Security check.
Of course I am to young for Medicare and make to much for Medicaid. So me and my COPD continue to find options for medications and can affored two trips a year to a Doctor at $67 to $85 an office call and that is without any tests!!!
Oh the fun of retirement! What made me think this would be the "Golden" years?
My unemployment runs out in July. I got $135 a week for 20 weeks (approx)...that was what I worked for at minimum wage (or less) for 40+ years. Wow...imagine that!!!!
I decided that since I can't make much money in the working world...I would just retire. So I filed for my Social Security payments to begin the month of June 2011. I actually will make a promotion....I will receive $19 more a month then..than I do now!!
I am appreciative of the fact that I have the option to continue to work, as long as it is under the income guidelines, no problem there. Of course, with gas prices skyrocketing and food prices increasing I will have to find a part time job somewhere very close. It wouldn't be profitable to get a part time job in Kearney as that is driving nearly 60 miles a day. I could get a full time job there but by the time I pay the gas and extra food money, I would be back to profiting part time wages.
I think I should have put back even $5 a check in an account..left it there and forgot I had it. Then with the interest rates I could have at least added another $175 a month to my well earned and established Social Security check.
Of course I am to young for Medicare and make to much for Medicaid. So me and my COPD continue to find options for medications and can affored two trips a year to a Doctor at $67 to $85 an office call and that is without any tests!!!
Oh the fun of retirement! What made me think this would be the "Golden" years?
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Reflection
I remember the days of my childhood. Like everyone else in the world I remember MY perception of the world and my life, but that is really WHO I am. That is what made me ....ME!!! There were times when other's opinions shaped my actions and my decisions, but in the end, it was my own perceptions that formed who I am inside.
As I grew up in a small, rural Nebraska town, I remember playing outside with all the neighborhood children on a warm summer night. We played "cowboys and indians"; "hide and seek"; "tag"; "annie over"; riding bicycles and alot of screaming and laughing!! While the children were busy the mother's sat in one yard on their lawn chairs or the steps to the house and talked about cooking; cleaning; their husbands; and their children. Everyone knew everyone in the town and we were all more like one big family than separate families. Everyone waved as they went by and some pulled over to the curb to ask a question, comment on the weather, or talk about the latest crisis within the "family".
The father's played cards on a card table hastily constructed in the driveway or often played games of horseshoe at the curb. (The space between the curb and the highway was dirt.)
As the sun set and the street lights started to come on..the father's put up their horseshoe games and grabbed their card table and the mother's lawn chair and headed home. The mother's said good bye to their friends and yelled at their children. The children reluctantly left their games and headed to their homes, knowing that the bathtub was waiting!!
It was a quiet time.....a time of friendship and family. A slow time when people rested after a day of work and enjoyed each other (not the tv set). Everyone sat at the supper table and reviewed the day. In our family their was no negative comments....but positive events and support were relayed to all family members.
I have, through out my life, tried to recreate those days and those feelings with no success. It seems that the energies of those days have disappeared and the energies of "today" are here to stay. That saddens me...because I have no way to express to my grandchildren what a "better" life was. They have never been without the tv, the internet, cell phones, ipods, ipads, mp3 players, video games, and using your imaginations.
Makes me wonder what perceptions they will remember? What will form WHO they are?
As I grew up in a small, rural Nebraska town, I remember playing outside with all the neighborhood children on a warm summer night. We played "cowboys and indians"; "hide and seek"; "tag"; "annie over"; riding bicycles and alot of screaming and laughing!! While the children were busy the mother's sat in one yard on their lawn chairs or the steps to the house and talked about cooking; cleaning; their husbands; and their children. Everyone knew everyone in the town and we were all more like one big family than separate families. Everyone waved as they went by and some pulled over to the curb to ask a question, comment on the weather, or talk about the latest crisis within the "family".
The father's played cards on a card table hastily constructed in the driveway or often played games of horseshoe at the curb. (The space between the curb and the highway was dirt.)
As the sun set and the street lights started to come on..the father's put up their horseshoe games and grabbed their card table and the mother's lawn chair and headed home. The mother's said good bye to their friends and yelled at their children. The children reluctantly left their games and headed to their homes, knowing that the bathtub was waiting!!
It was a quiet time.....a time of friendship and family. A slow time when people rested after a day of work and enjoyed each other (not the tv set). Everyone sat at the supper table and reviewed the day. In our family their was no negative comments....but positive events and support were relayed to all family members.
I have, through out my life, tried to recreate those days and those feelings with no success. It seems that the energies of those days have disappeared and the energies of "today" are here to stay. That saddens me...because I have no way to express to my grandchildren what a "better" life was. They have never been without the tv, the internet, cell phones, ipods, ipads, mp3 players, video games, and using your imaginations.
Makes me wonder what perceptions they will remember? What will form WHO they are?
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tito
Today is a sad day!! We are having to put our wonderful dog, Tito, down this afternoon. He was a birthday present to my daughter nearly 14 years ago. When we learned that she had a chronic illness called ITP, diagnosed when she was nearly 10 years old, he knew something was different. When her platelets would start to drop we knew it before any of her symptoms occured because he would not leave her side. He was within 6 inches of her no matter where she went and if she sat down or went to bed....he was on her lap or snuggled as close to her as he could get. It never failed....not long after that behavior would begin her symptoms would begin and we would end up at the hospital in Rapid City, SD again.
He was her bestest friend as she grew up. She could tell him anything and he kept it secret. She would be sad and cry and he would sit beside her comforting her as best he could. When she was happy....he celebrated with her. He had his own birthday party and presents every year. On the morning of his birthday....he knew something was up and that this would be the day he would be treated even more special that usual!!!! His eyes sparkled a little more and his tail was straight up in the air and he didn't just walk....he pranced!!! He even had his own "cake".
Now his eyes have dimmed with cataracts. He is unable to process the nourishment in his food so is very thin and increasingly weak. It is hard for him to stand very long but he still insists on trying to find Shallon or I so he can sit beside us. He will be so much better in heaven with my son, Brent. We know that they will both be waiting for us someday but we will miss him so very very much. He has been a friend and part of our family.
Tito was not just a "dog" or even an "animal"........he was a soul who came to give us unconditional love and comfort.
Hug your dog a little tighter!!!!!!
He was her bestest friend as she grew up. She could tell him anything and he kept it secret. She would be sad and cry and he would sit beside her comforting her as best he could. When she was happy....he celebrated with her. He had his own birthday party and presents every year. On the morning of his birthday....he knew something was up and that this would be the day he would be treated even more special that usual!!!! His eyes sparkled a little more and his tail was straight up in the air and he didn't just walk....he pranced!!! He even had his own "cake".
Now his eyes have dimmed with cataracts. He is unable to process the nourishment in his food so is very thin and increasingly weak. It is hard for him to stand very long but he still insists on trying to find Shallon or I so he can sit beside us. He will be so much better in heaven with my son, Brent. We know that they will both be waiting for us someday but we will miss him so very very much. He has been a friend and part of our family.
Tito was not just a "dog" or even an "animal"........he was a soul who came to give us unconditional love and comfort.
Hug your dog a little tighter!!!!!!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
What Does Sarah Palin have that I don't?
I saw the advertisement for the "Sarah Palin" show the other day and some celebrity was tromping around through the Alaskan Bush falling over logs and falling into holes and Sarah Palin stood there with her trusty gun and the beauty of Alaska behind her. I asked myself "What does Sarah Palin have that I don't have, besides tv cameras following her all over which constitutes her own tv show?" Whew that was a long sentence!!
Ok let us analyze this:
#1: I have a gun. Which I think is ok because we have the right to bear
arms. I never use it though as I don't hunt. Looks good over the fireplace though!!
#2: I have kids.....five of them living. I lost a son, 36 years old,
a few years ago. I always thought I knew what pain was until then. I had no clue how bad a heart could hurt and how bad a soul could feel with a hole in it!!! Sarah Palin hasn't felt that and I pray she never will.
#3: I have grandchildren. 16 grandsons and 3 granddaughters (#20 on the way in May!!) I have Sarah out numbered on that one!
#4: I have a dysfuctional family! Don't we all in some ways?
#5: I say what I think about politics but no one hands me a microphone!
#6: I don't have a nanny....never needed one....raised 6 children on my
own and mostly without child support.
#7: I am not rich and more than that I don't pretend to be! I'm just me.
Don't own a big house or go to the salon on a near daily basis (last time I was at one of those was over 4 months ago and it does show!)
#8: I don't have the perfect life but I would much much prefer my life to a life like hers. I'll pray for her.
Ok let us analyze this:
#1: I have a gun. Which I think is ok because we have the right to bear
arms. I never use it though as I don't hunt. Looks good over the fireplace though!!
#2: I have kids.....five of them living. I lost a son, 36 years old,
a few years ago. I always thought I knew what pain was until then. I had no clue how bad a heart could hurt and how bad a soul could feel with a hole in it!!! Sarah Palin hasn't felt that and I pray she never will.
#3: I have grandchildren. 16 grandsons and 3 granddaughters (#20 on the way in May!!) I have Sarah out numbered on that one!
#4: I have a dysfuctional family! Don't we all in some ways?
#5: I say what I think about politics but no one hands me a microphone!
#6: I don't have a nanny....never needed one....raised 6 children on my
own and mostly without child support.
#7: I am not rich and more than that I don't pretend to be! I'm just me.
Don't own a big house or go to the salon on a near daily basis (last time I was at one of those was over 4 months ago and it does show!)
#8: I don't have the perfect life but I would much much prefer my life to a life like hers. I'll pray for her.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Snow
Not everyone in the world loves snow like I do!! I LOVE snow.....it signals a quiet time during the year. When
everything (including humans) should walk a little slower, take time to ponder the world and themselves, to arise a bit
later and go to bed a bit earlier so they can dream the dreams of answers. I find answers to all kinds of questions in my dreams.....I try to remember them but sometimes they are just the remanents of a bad day!! If I remember the dreams with a vivid picture then I know there is a meaning in them and I need to find out what it is and how it pertains to me or any of my life situations. Answers come from some very strange places, sometimes.
I have learned in my life on this planet that it is much easier to be a victim than it is to be intelligent. To try to find answers to problems instead of hiding thy head under the covers; to try to accomplish something even if someone tells you it has been tried twenty times already to no avail; to ask questions even though the answers may not be what you want to hear; to accept those answers that you didn't want to hear and change yourself instead of all those people you think are causing YOUR problems.
I have not found all my answers and I won't until it is time to take my last breath on this earth. I have alot of searching to do yet. I search every day. My grandmother once told me "Life IS as it is SUPPOSED to be. You just have to find how and why you are living it in that way." She also left me with a wonderful "suggestion"....."If you face your world tumbling down around you and the total end result is not your death...then it isn't so bad. You can survive it and overcome it. Find a way around it, through it, over or under it but DO NOT let it beat you!!!"
My Grandmother, Nora Phillips Hopkins, was the most wonderful woman I knew and my mother, Lucille Ammon Hopkins, came in at a tie!!!!!
everything (including humans) should walk a little slower, take time to ponder the world and themselves, to arise a bit
later and go to bed a bit earlier so they can dream the dreams of answers. I find answers to all kinds of questions in my dreams.....I try to remember them but sometimes they are just the remanents of a bad day!! If I remember the dreams with a vivid picture then I know there is a meaning in them and I need to find out what it is and how it pertains to me or any of my life situations. Answers come from some very strange places, sometimes.
I have learned in my life on this planet that it is much easier to be a victim than it is to be intelligent. To try to find answers to problems instead of hiding thy head under the covers; to try to accomplish something even if someone tells you it has been tried twenty times already to no avail; to ask questions even though the answers may not be what you want to hear; to accept those answers that you didn't want to hear and change yourself instead of all those people you think are causing YOUR problems.
I have not found all my answers and I won't until it is time to take my last breath on this earth. I have alot of searching to do yet. I search every day. My grandmother once told me "Life IS as it is SUPPOSED to be. You just have to find how and why you are living it in that way." She also left me with a wonderful "suggestion"....."If you face your world tumbling down around you and the total end result is not your death...then it isn't so bad. You can survive it and overcome it. Find a way around it, through it, over or under it but DO NOT let it beat you!!!"
My Grandmother, Nora Phillips Hopkins, was the most wonderful woman I knew and my mother, Lucille Ammon Hopkins, came in at a tie!!!!!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Age
When I was 15...I wanted to be 21! When I was 21 I wanted to be 25! When I was 25 I wanted to stay 25!!
When I was 35 I did NOT want to be 40!! When I was 55 I didn't want to be alive at all....I lost my son!! When I
was 58 I wanted to be 62 so I could retire. When I was 61 I didn't WANT to be 62....this is getting far to close to
70 and getting there far to fast!! I don't want to be where I am....I am eternally blessed with 6 children, 19 (almost 20) grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren (so far) but I don't WANT to be "almost" 62!!!!
I am not thinking I will ever get younger so might as well look at life on a more positive aspect. I read a story about an
80+ year old lady who lived in the Applachian Mountains by herself.....ok so maybe I can stop feeling sorry for myself and
continue to find the importance in age.
For those of you who think that 60 is a very far off age to be......beware!! It will not take as long as you think!!!
When I was 35 I did NOT want to be 40!! When I was 55 I didn't want to be alive at all....I lost my son!! When I
was 58 I wanted to be 62 so I could retire. When I was 61 I didn't WANT to be 62....this is getting far to close to
70 and getting there far to fast!! I don't want to be where I am....I am eternally blessed with 6 children, 19 (almost 20) grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren (so far) but I don't WANT to be "almost" 62!!!!
I am not thinking I will ever get younger so might as well look at life on a more positive aspect. I read a story about an
80+ year old lady who lived in the Applachian Mountains by herself.....ok so maybe I can stop feeling sorry for myself and
continue to find the importance in age.
For those of you who think that 60 is a very far off age to be......beware!! It will not take as long as you think!!!
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