I ABSOLUTELY do this. Movies are a rip off. You pay $4 for candy that normally costs 50 cents. In this one instance, I could care less if I am being "dishonest" because they are trying to rip me off! LOL

This whole story breaks my heart for your grandma. I am glad she has found a place that will care for her if she does run out of funds. It is just so sad to see what she had to give up, let go, and sell only to make ends meet so your grandpa could have the kind of care that ALL elderly people deserve in their last years. :crying:

I stand behind what I said. I think that this country, as a whole, should be willing to care for our elderly and not try to take all they have at the end of their lives. My tax money will pay for whoever's mom or dad needs it, and yours should do the same. I just think it is a sad, sick shame that people who live their entire lives working hard for what they have should have it taken away in the end. Any you know, you all talk about the "kids getting the money or the land" like it is some selfish thing. For my dh, it was all about keeping the land in the family as his grandpa before him had wanted. It was his wish - and all along, he worked this land so that his kids and grandkids and greatgrandkids would have something to pass through the generations. He didn't even intend for it to be sold for his care. I think he would have committed suicide before he allowed his land to be sold off for nursing home care. Last night, I discussed this thread with my mom who works in a nursing home and sees, firsthand, what theese people go through. What about the Wives??? You are so worried about the kids being greedy - what about the women and men who have to carry on while their loved ones are in the facility? One woman has had her house taken - it now belongs to the home. She can live there until she dies, but what she paid for once has now been taken from her to pay for her husband's care. She is 87 years old. She doesn't have the option of "keeping him at home." They have no children. I don't understand your mentality at all. Don't you see what a disgrace this is? Can't you see how greedy these places are - taking every last penny and charging prices that are what you would pay monthly for a half million dollar HOME and these people are forced to pay it for 1/2 a ROOM. And medical care in these places is a JOKE. When there is a real issue, the person is sent out to a hospital. Nursing homes do exactly what Impish said - take you to the bathroom a few times a day, have someone feed you (BTW, the person who feeds you and takes you to the bathroom likely makes about $10 a hour too! Not a place to get rich - and the employees sure don't see that money!!!) 3 meals, and you have a semi-private bed to sleep in. I think I am finished discussing this with you. I sincerely hope that you never have to find out the reason for my sentiments by seeing someone you love taken to the cleaners in order to pay for half-assed piss pour "medical" care because no other option is available to you.

:iagree: And I would probably tell anyone who asked with a smile on my face...proud that I care about cleaning my home even when I am not physically able. :)

First off, My dh's dad is dead. As is his grandfather. And I am pretty certain I didn't ask for your advice on the care of my loved ones. No, I do not think I should pass on the care for my loved ones while I get all of their money. If you knew my family and what little my parents have, you would realize how stupid that comment was. What I believe is that people who work hard and pay taxes all their lives have the right to pass down their valuables and family heirlooms - be that land, personal property, etc. before anyone comes in and takes it all from them. The cost of a nursing home is outrageous - and to pay that kind of cost PLUS lose everything you have is just horrific. My mom has residents who are depressed and actually on suicide watch because their home and every penny they have was taken to pay the outrageous and unnecessary cost! The system is more than flawed - though the word I am thinking of also begins with F :blink:

This is a non-issue to me. I don't care if you are paying private or public, it doesn't change my opinion that selling your stuff or giving it to your kids is a good idea if you see yourself going there any time in the near future.

LOL - I find that amusing. Entitlement. Yep, we shouldn't give them a DIME. Darn old people. Can't they just fend for themselves??? I mean, God, they have MEDICAID - what more do they need? :glare: Let's take all they have, I mean, ALL of it - and then we can wipe their butts 6 times a day and give them meds while taking away their freedoms. And even though they paid taxes, worked hard, gave back to others - let's just leave them in the cold. That land and such that has been in the family for decades - lets auction that off and give it to the nursing home. That nursing home DESERVES it so much more than the loved ones of those hard working elderly people (who likely work hard too). Let's make the health care system RICH while watching the elderly die penniless and let's make sure that things they work for are not given to those they love or kept "in the family." Wasn't all that hard work so they could leave the land to be divided up beteween the highest bidders while they fight just to have a clean room and to keep theives from stealing their socks? I can only hope that one day, this is what happens to me.

:lol:

:iagree: Thank you to the voices of reason who are stating this much better than I am. This is just one subject that gets me going because I have seen it happen to so many of our elderly and my mother tells me stories from her career that just make my stomach turn. It is robbery - like Impish said. Robbery! And heck yes, sell, give away, do whatever you can if you ever see yourself headed for the nursing home. You paid taxes, you did your part - now let the government and the other taxpayers do theirs! I dont' have a problem caring for the elderly in this country. Not one bit. As a matter of fact, I would rather my tax money go to help those who came before me than for it to be spent on public schooling (er...because I homeschool and I am paying for other kids education with my tax dollars --- is that different than paying for "my parents" with "your tax money" while *I* get the land???). :tongue_smilie:

Your point made perfect sense to me (of course) and since you aren't as hot and bothered about this subject as I am (oops), yours came out MUCH better!

Absolutely! I would gladly spend what it took to have my relative cared for at home...knowing she was getting REAL care and that we were paying *fair* wages to those who are caring for her. My dh's grandma is 7 years into her alzheimers and the family pools together and pays for her to have in home care. So...STILL working hard to provide for themselves. Not taking a penny from the government. Of course, if she were to HAVE to go into the nursing home then she doesn't deserve a cent from the government. Right? :glare:

LOL...just depends on which side of the coin you fall on. My opinion is NO! I think it is the best thing you can do, unless you want to die penniless and have everything you worked for in your life taken away so the gov't can make 5K per person, per room just for sh*ts and giggles while "taxpayers" gripe about having to take care of the elderly people in this country. :D

Life without a nanny...man, I can't imagine life WITH a nanny. LOL But I am really glad your kids are reading again. :)

It has really nothing to do with "leaving something for the kids" - it has more to do with not dying penniless and having everything you ever owned taken so that the government can make 5K per person in a double room. This country SHOULD take care of their elderly. I definitely don't look at your 2cents worth of tax money as "taking care of my parents while I get their land." :glare: AND...the last sentence...Governmental assistance is intended to pay for those who have no resources to pay for their own needs, not for those who'd rather use their money for something else, or give it away. ...So your suggestion then, is, just don't save for retirement. Then, when you can't afford it (because you didn't plan well or didn't make much or just didn't care to save for the future) the tax payers will gladly step in. However, if you worked all your life doing the best you can and in the end, it comes down to owing millions you never "planned" to spend - and you'd like to keep the house or the land or the valuables in the family, tough crap. Right?

As I said in previous posts, this is a hot topic for me. I also pointed out that I didn't mean "you" specifically. If that constitutes "attitude" to you, then so be it. No one said that people "owed" anything to their children. Most people actually WANT to leave something for their kids. For us, it is the land we live on. It is very special to us and very important that we keep it in the family. I would hate to have the government step in and take all we have to pay for medical care that is abysmal and overpriced. We are pretty well screwed out of tax money our whole lives - and I find it incredibly sad that when someone has lived their life and needs care for their remaining 1-5 years or so, they must lose everything they have worked for to pay for some ludacris, overpriced, crap care. Meanwhile, all the working and saving and planning is for nothing because God forbid this country actually take care of its elderly!

Honestly??? And you don't think that the prices are way over the top? You really think taxpayers are paying for it? And that elderly people do not deserve better - to have SOMETHING when they leave this world...something they can pass on that was important to them? 5K a month is REASONABLE...right? WHATEVER! Medical care in general is overpriced. My grandparents were well off when I was a child. My grandfather got sick and spent 9 mos in the hospital and then died. After all the debt was paid, my grandmother died with $500 in QUARTERS. Her entire life savings - she was reduced to having literally NOTHING. I am so sorry you have to pay an extra 2 cents in your taxes a year so that people aren't wiped of everything they own. Poor YOU (not specifically You, MelissaD...just a blanket use of the word "you"). And, you know...my grandmother, my husband's dad...they all spent their entire lives paying TAXES too? Do you not think what goes around comes around? No one is paying higher taxes because of nursing home fees. How selfish can people get? "Just lookin' out for #1." What happens when you are that elderly person, wiped of your savings and everything you have?? What happens when your kids have nothing to remember you by because it was sold at auction to pay for your 5K a month room at the nursing home. Then might you feel differently? Might that bit of tax money bother you as much?

For me, it has nothing to do with inheritance. My mom is lucky to pay her bills month to month. She has no money for me to inherit. For me, it is knowing that the government didn't take every last dime she ever had. Just because the government can't seem to figure out how to handle money doesn't mean the rest of us shouldn't have the right to! And what about land??? My dh inherited land from his grandfather (who wasn never in a nursing home). This was land he worked all his life. He raised his kids here and they raised their kids here. If he had been in a nursing home prior to his death, should he have just given up his life long work to pay for the care? Leave nothing to his children? Just have the government take it all and sell it off piece by piece so he could be all perfect? Oh h^ll no. This subject gets me HOT. I really had better shut up now.

See...it is THIS kind of stuff that makes me so sad! :( You are right...doing the best he can to cover his own burial expenses is likely going to end up costing his widow and children MILLIONS in the end. Someone, tell me that is "fair". :( I am so sorry for your dad!

I really think nursing home care is RIDICULOUSLY priced. My mom works in one and the cost for a semi-private room is over 5K a month! And this is for folks who don't need constant medical care as well as the people who need around the clock monitoring. It just doesn't seem fair. I don't pay 5K a month for my HOUSE. They wait until people are older and on fixed incomes and then take every dime they have. It is a sad, sick shame. Does anyone here really think that 5K a month is a "fair" cost???? I mean, there are people at my mom's nursing home who are capable of feeding themselves, wheeling their chairs around, and who are in relatively good health. They are there because they can't live alone, or family lives far away, or the "don't want to be a burden." Instead of pricing on an individual basis, they have the blanket cost of 3 times what my house costs (and I live in 3100 sq ft, new construction house). It is horrible. And you also have to realize that there are a whole lot of "state" run homes and do you really think they couldn't absorb some of the cost. My mom works for a veterans home! Can you imagine a private home??? Sad is really the only word for it.

This has happened more than once to us! I always try to catch the error and correct it. Normally, though, I am told "just consider it a freebie" or what have you. We went to McDonalds a few weeks ago and my kids wanted a toy. I decided to splurge and buy them each one. The kids already had a few of the toys and the lady brought over 4 different ones, dumped them in the kids hands, and said, "they can have those." ????? I am pretty sure the woman who did that was NOT the owner of McD's nor did she pay the bills or buy the toys. I always feel a little strange when someone who doesn't own the place tries to give my kids stuff. However, when my kids were LITTLE, I left a bottle of shampoo in the cart under the little protable car seat thingie and didn't put it on the conveyer belt thingie to be rang up. I found it when I got to the car...but there was NO WAY I was going back in the store after being in there with 2 little screaming kids for 2 hours and having already buckled most everyone in. I paid for it on my next trip. The cashier thought I was NUTSO.

I wish! My little one backwashes and my older refuses to drink after him (so do I!), so I can't really justify making them share. DH and I would do it! A refill is a refill. I am also the kind of person who will get a sweet tea from McDonalds and then drink it all and just before I leave, fill it back up again to take with me. Free refills - I am not sure what is wrong with me filling my drink again. Also, if dh and I share the drink and I get a refill, what is wrong with that exactly? I would likely have refilled it anyway... Let's think this way too...If I buy a tea for $1.59 and drink one glass, was that really worth $1.59? Do you think the restaurant pays $1.59 for that one glass of tea? Absolutely not! Restaurants make their money on drinks...even places like McDonalds. You pay 20 cents for a cup of water or $1.59 for a cup of soda that is mostly ice. Sorry...I just don't see refills or sharing as stealing at all.

Oh yuck! When I lived in GA, we had a black widow spider on my son's STROLLER that had been stored in the trunk of my car! I freaked out and made my husband drive to where I was (an hour away) and trade cars with me...even after he killed the spider. Then, we had a guy come and spray for spiders and a black widow the size of a quarter (pregnant???? or just HUGE) came waddling out from the front porch as she died. YUCK YUCK YUCK! Copperheads, now that isn't even amusing. I can handle spiders...even black widows, but DO NOT put me within 100 yards of a copperhead. Your wife is definitely braver than I am! 2 1/2 feet long! OH MY GOD! Medically, if my kids were bitten by a black widow, I would treat it as an emergency and go to the doc or er...just because kids are smaller and more sensitive to the venom. A poison snake warrants and ambulance ride IMO!!! And prayer. OMG lots of prayer!

Tea Tree Oil is a good preventative...I am not sure about the effects it has on getting rid of lice once the child has them. I have heard about the flat iron...and also using a hair dryer on high heat. There is actually a treatment method pending in public schools that is much like sitting under the hair dryer at a beauty shop. The high heat kills the eggs. And yes, things like rid-x are supposed to kill the knits. Lice lives eggs are translucent. Dead lice eggs are white. *yuck yuck yuck...now my head itches!* LOL

My son is 9, almost 10 and has ADHD. He has been walking on his tippy toes for the last year now (only when barefoot) and the doctor discovered that he has tight tendons in his heels. He does exercises to help with this...and as far as I know it has nothing to do with ADHD and he is not autistic.

Yep...I often have this kind of moment when I ask my son to count to 50. He gets to 45 46 47 and I say, "okay, what comes before 47." Him: "Ummm...32." Me: "No honey...count again from 45. Him: "45 46 47," Me: okay...which number comes in the middle. Him: "14." *mom pulls out hair and throws it into piles on the floor.* My son is only 5 though...and I really think that he just puts too much thought into it. He thinks I wants this big fancy answer when really I am not asking for anything more than what he just said. He can do it when he relaxes. :)