GWOB
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Posts posted by GWOB
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My son loves this site! We just downloaded it and let him go. He taught himself how to create games and animations. While I know absolutely nothing about programming, Scratch seems incredibly simple to learn and use. I know there are books on Amazon that will teach you how to create more advanced programs, but have yet to need them. Just be prepared. If your son is anything like my son, he will beg you constantly to play with Scratch. Constantly.
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How can 50 Shades be considered more explicit? The author never dares to use stronger descriptions for certain anatomy than "down there" or her "behind."
Not that I've read the books...just this utterly amazing review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/340987215
Riiiight. Sure you didn't read those books. :p
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Heh. Eschatological bed.
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That's great for your family. I'd be hopping with joy. Ours went from a few hundred to $4000 per person, $10,000 per family. It's a joke.
And some of us have been clobbered financially. It's early days yet, so we shall see how it all shakes out. But anything the government controls has had ridiculous levels of bureaucracy and has not been very efficient, I've noted over the years. Not optimistic. But then I try to go more alternative anyway...it's what works (except for the rare, unmistakeable incident requiring surgery, like an appendix bursting).
I am so sorry for what your family is experiencing. Really. I can only speak from personal experience. My experience with the AHA has been good, even though most of it has not been enacted. And that's the thing that many forget. Most parts of the AHA have not gone into effect. The rising insurance cost from which many are suffering are not actually due to the AHA. Those rising costs have everything to do with insurance companies and the refusal of major corporations to provide adequate healthcare to their employees. I'm not talking about small businesses with less than 200 workers. I'm talking about wealthy employers who refuse to give up their Lexus cars and vacations to Monaco to provide their workers, the ones who truly earn them those fancy cars and vacations, in order to perform a basic human decency. And I am in no way saying people who work hard do not deserve to reap the benefits of their hard work! But when you react, before a law even goes into effect, by premptively raising insurance rates? Well, I have a problem with that.
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For me, I could not imagine taking on that amount of debt with that income. The square footage is irrelevant. If you can comfortably afford 4,500sqft, by all means go for it. The cost, to me, means perhaps they are biting off a little more than they can chew.
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I can only think of one year - last year, due to unexpected surgery -that we ever met our deductible in 25 years (not that I'm complaining about good health). It is not "extremely likely" for most people, especially now that deductibles are $4000-10,000 per person or family on many insurance plans. You do realize this is right out of our pocket with only a discount for showing the insurance card, right?
We shall see. Insurance that you can't afford is no different than what we are doing now, shifting ever-rising costs onto the middle class insured folks.
http://www.urban.org...le-Care-Act.cfm
Not my experience here. Insurance is far more expensive for seniors, and Medicare covers little these days. The Medi-gap plans are a must now, and expensive.
There is NO ban on "increased costs". They simply spread the increased costs to everyone instead of those who are higher risk. So you will be paying higher premiums every year all year long for those who live riskier lifestyles than you, instead of in the class with people like you (agewise, general health and risk level, smokers/non, drinkers/non, etc).
See, our deductible is only $1,200 per person and/or $2,400 for our family. Our premiums have increased by a whopping $5/month in the 4 1/2 years we have been here. We do have a HSA with the company matching our contributions up to a certain amount. I am a little ticked that I can no longer use my HSA funds to purchase my necessary allergy meds, but oh well.
I am not 100% married to the AHA. I think it's a step in the right direction, but I really wanted a single-payer system. I think, like the situation here on the boards when the format changed, many people are scared and resistant to change. This will not fix all the healthcare problems in our country, but we are moving in the right direction. When all the changes go into effect and everyone calms down, I do think things will be better. Perhaps some would consider me naive for thinking that way. That's fine. I just want to put it out there that some, perhaps even many, people are not suffering due to the AHA. And that statement in no way diminishes the suffering of people at the mercy of large corporations who refuse to provide adequate healthcare to their workers or greedy insurance companies.
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There is no doubt that it is not universal health care, that isn't opinion, that is fact. But, will it move us toward a single payer system? Maybe.
One can hope.
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Despicable Me?
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I cannot believe I am wading into this discussion, but it is late, my husband is not home, and I have insomnia.
My crazy mother, bless her psychotic heart, almost died on the floor of a charity hospital (which is now being de-funded thanks to a certain political party's governor) because she had no healthcare. Both parents worked full-time, yet they were not provided with healthcare. Even though both worked full time, they never made over $40,000/year. We had a family of 5. I suffered so much because of the lack of healthcare. I often missed weeks of school because we could not afford a doctor visit.
Right now we would not qualify for government assistance in purchasing healthcare. Dh works for a public utility company. We have excellent healthcare. We pay about $160/month for a high deductible/ low premium plan for our entire family. Our premiums have not increased because of the AHA. Our deductibles have not increased due to AHA. We have Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
There has been so much misinformation spread about the AHA. The misinformation is entirely political. When I think about the AHA, I always remember the words of Thomas Jefferson. "We holds these truths to be self evident, tall men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." That means something to me. "Life", to me, means we all have a right to adequate healthcare, since we are all Created equal. That means that a 16yo girl should not have to watch her mom (psychotic though the mother is) bleed out on an ER floor because the mom cannot afford insurance. That means that even though, previously, the parents could afford healthcare, the parents of a 12yo girls should not have to file bankruptcy because they could not afford the premiums on their "Cadillac" insurance policy because the mother developed pre-eclampsia.
Prematurely raising insurance rates? Greed. Reducing hours worked by employees so you can afford private jets? Greed. The AHA does not require companies to raise premiums. Greed requires that. Evil human nature requires that, not "Obamacare".
As I stated before, the law will not affect my professional, Nuclear Engineering Degree husband. Perhaps, by working for a public utility, we are isolated from the greed of major corporations. However, I have no problems paying a little extra in taxes (though we do not make enough to have our tax rate increased) so some other 16yo kid does not have to watch her "pre-existing condition" mom almost bleed out on an ER floor.
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Imp, I am right there with you!!! My oldest is only 12. She is a genuinely spectacular kid-kind, caring, and helpful. These mood swings? God help me! Just tonight I had a talk with her about choosing her reactions to certain situations. She likes to blame her siblings for her irrational actions. The 5yo kicking her warrants a punch in the face in her mind. :/. I know it's hormonal. I know she is dealing the best way she can. Still, I wonder how I will get through her teen years without massive quantities of Prozac/Valium (for either one of us). And this is my easy child!!! How will I deal with a sensitive, hormonal boy? How on earth will I deal when my divalicious 5yo gets all hormonal? I know people survive puberty in their children, but right now I'm thinking all those stories of people surviving teens are just myths.
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No! This is so not fair! I have followed your daughter's story here. That is horrible enough. Your dh just cannot have anything wrong with him.
Many, many, many prayers are being sent your way. And hugs. At least 1,000,000 hugs.
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Agreeing with everyone else. Hope overcomes fear.
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OK - now she's out of her room and out of her snitty mope. She's now hugging me and giggling and generally being cutely annoying. Those mercurial tweens!
Oh the joys of hormonal girls! Did she stomp? My dd12 loves to stomp. It's a nice little touch to the huffy moping.
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I often use my landline to call my cell when I cannot remember where I put the stupid thing.
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10
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Wondering if everything is working.
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I kinda like it as well. ;)
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I really enjoy this new feature. Thank you so very much for adding a like button! However, I intensely dislike the like quota. I am lazy. I prefer to click a like button rather than moving to my PC ( since I have no emoticons on my iPad) to quote and place an I agree smilie. Admin, help out a lazy girl!
BTW, the voodoo magic workers, aka programmers, totally rock! I complimented you. Will you removed the like quota now?
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I have issues with large corporations avoiding taxes, yet denying their workers a living wage and healthcare coverage. This isn't an issue in the UK ( the healthcare thing), but my mother (psychotic though she is) almost died on the floor of a charity hospital ER because her 50+ hours a week at a large corporation did not warrant decent healthcare coverage. And that's all I can say about that without getting political.
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No, you are not crazy at all. My oldest dd started ps in upstate NY. Parents were encouraged to attend any and all events. We were invited to volunteer in the class as much as possible. They practically begged parents to come in and be partners in their children's education. I could volunteer AND bring along younger siblings. This was not a small school system! They routinely graduated 300+ kids every year. If we had not moved, all my kids would be in that school district.
Small town Nebraska? Parents are discouraged from volunteering. They don't want you there. Just give money for the crappy football team and you are golden. And do not even consider bringing a younger sibling into the classroom when you are finally given access! To a holiday party! Not even an infant strapped to your back! We could discuss the fact that I have more books in my house that the high school has in its library. Or we could discuss the fact that my Class 5A school, the largest high school in Louisiana, did not have as nice of a football stadium as the 1A school that graduates maybe 60 kids has.
Oh gosh I am venting my issues on your venting thread. So very sorry! I just want you to know that there are other people who are going through the very same thing. You are not crazy. Do not doubt yourself. You are a good person and a great parent. Really. Let the haters hate. Ignore them. Come here to vent. We will listen.
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Anne, you are spot on. I never considered other people's opinion when I made parenting choices. I never thought it mattered. However, the hostile natives are genuinely offended by our parenting choices. That just baffles me. We are by no means paragons of parental awesomeness. I don't make choices based on what others think. When you live in such a small town, everyone thinks they are connected to everyone else. That would be awesome if everyone was helpful, but that just isn't the case here. Why do other people care so much about what we do?
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I, at the ripe old age of 32, happily admit that I am a tech idiot. I still think all tech stuff is basically voodoo magic.
That being said, I cannot recommend the iPad more vehemently. My kids love all the educational apps available. The iPad is just so darn easy to figure out. I had an Android phone and I could never find as many cool kid apps as I can in the Apple store. I have briefly considered purchasing an iPad mini so my kids will not beg for the iPad while I am reading on my Kindle app.
Wireless? My dh set up some wireless router thing in our house (voodoo magic). Our iPad just has wifi and we are completely satisfied. So, I would recommend the iPad.
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I wish I could give you a big ole hug right now.
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This Thanksgiving was almost perfect. My dear sweet friend showed up Tuesday night with a freshly-baked pecan pie. She knows I cannot bake a pie to save my life. The only people here were my kids, my 19yo college student sister, my husband (briefly), and myself. Everyone loved and appreciated the food I made. We all ate dinner in our pajamas. It was so low-key and stress-free.
I could tell you my other Thanksgiving horror stories (they are somewhat similar to Shannon's), but you would think I was making up those stories. I will just focus on the awesomeness of today.
Scratch Programming
in Accelerated Learner Board
Posted
Was the book really useful? I'm sure there is so much more my son could be getting out of Scratch, but I just haven't purchased anything else. Maybe a book would be a good Christmas present.