A-Z Reflection

The a-z blogging challenge was fun and exciting for both of us. We really didn't think it was possible to have a rant for every letter of the alphabet but it turns out we have a lot to say. Who knew! We don't have a favorite rant because everything we write is from the heart, frustrations that were passionate about. The hardest letter to find a topic for was J- ? We found that Having to find a a topic for each letter was in some ways helpful to make it a point to blog that day. We have been slackers since so the challenge was a way to keep us regimented and focused. For us we'd love if there was some sort of challenge each month.

Z - "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah"

"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah"
" Hakuna Matata "
" Oo-de-lally "
"supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
"Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo"

These are fun phrases we love to say. They stick with you and just make you happy. Sometimes you may even find your self singing them over and over again throughout the day.  Gotta love Disney! Would love if they came up with a word for "You gotta fricking be kidding me!"

There it is the end of our rants on the  A-Z Challenge! This has been great fun, and were sad to see 'Z'
so "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" was a fitting choice for today.

Y- Yin and Yang

There is no better way to describe us. We complement each other, where Michelle's super enthusiastic and excited Christine is grounded and focused.  Where Michelle can have a thought spring to mind fully formed Christie can execute with ease.  The world needs yin and yang, opposites attract.

See you all tomorrow for our last day, Z came so fast!

X - Xanax a funny story.

Now you may have noticed we have a matter with the FDA & Big Pharma.  Our frustration mainly stems from chemically made drugs not antibiotics.  The conspiracy between pharmaceutical and doctors to write one drug over one that would be better less addicting less side effects over another.  That's another rant for another day.

Today were gonna rant & rave for xanax!  if you haven't taken this wonderful make the world better feel good drug, you should try it.  Did we just advocate taking drugs? NO you should not try it as unless under the supervision of your doctor, as it may be habit forming and harmful (there is our disclaimer).

That said if you find yourself under a great deal of stress full of anxiety panic and irritability and cannot access any marijuana, tell your doctor and they may script you xanax.  Neither of us have ever attempted ANY street drugs and xanax has only entered into our world when Michelle's husbands illness started to get progressively worse. 

Michelle's Funny Story:
I remember my first dose of xanax, ( you should not take drugs prescribed for anyone else and we don't recommend this but here's what happened).  My husband had just been admitted again. We had been on this ridiculous roller coster and I had a headache brewing that ran out of control.  Tylenol & Excedrin had not made a dent in the migraine that was taking me over.  After sleeping in a recliner beside my guy all night I woke up and had to vomit in the hospital bathroom.  My hubby the prince he is, then got himself outta his hospital bed and sat in the recliner while he was being transfused so that I could lay down and get the proper rest to rid myself of my incapacitation. 

As I lay in his bed as if I were the patient dying ( and that's exactly how i felt) and he sit in the chair like the doting caregiver support person, chipper, awake and watching TV like all would be just fine, in walks his mother, aunt and grandmother.  As this unfolds I think in my head, 'Jesus Christ'! really just who I need and just who I want to see me in bed while he's sick with cancer, this couldn't get worse. 

Of course the comments did fly, they can't help themselves.  "I thought he was the patient?" " I thought he was the sick one?"  Go f**k yourselves was the answer I wanted to fling back but didn't have it in me.  I never do when it comes to them I need to grow a set, but lets not get away from the story. 

After seeing me completely useless to their son, nephew, grandson, the attitude did change a bit to concern.  His aunt mentioned xanax that I should take one it'll get rid of my headache and get me back functioning.  His mother happened to have one on her.  They insisted I take it and I did and they left so we could rest.  After the pill was already down my throat and they were out the door my guy then turns to me and says "i really hope that was a xanax my mother gave you and she didn't give you something to kill ya!" 

Awe sweet! yeah I know - too bad he didn't think of that before i swallowed it!

None the less it took about a half hour and I felt tremendously better! Wondrous little drugs those xanax are!  Now I have a script but good for me I'm not an addict and only need one maybe once every two weeks when a panic about life in general sets in, or and extreme sadness comes over me. 

There you go our rant about xanax - hope you had a laugh.  We laughed and cried a bit while writing it! :-)

W - Withdrawing from the banking system

How many of us have been victims of the ridiculously high unreasonable fees of our banks? I know we have!  ATM, over draft, and annual fees, what a racket. Really we completely understand the banks necessity to require fees, but it appears to us that these fees seem to only pray on average working families who are just getting by. 





We say this because really the amount of money banks make on overdraft fees alone totaled $31.6 billion last year, and the average over draft is $20. You know who paid those fees? You got it, regular average Americans.  Where's the sense in that?

Why should we continue to keep our hard earned dollars in the bank, to get charged $30 to $37 in overdraft charges?  Why should we? Where is the incentive anymore to keep our money in the bank? Oh wait maybe it's the .06 cents you'll make each month on interest.  We really still don't see the incentive.  The only good thing about keeping our money in the bank is convenience.  Direct deposit, debit MasterCard / Visa cards, checks.  But that's about it. You can get that now with a prepaid debit card. 

Granted if you have the fortunate circumstances to have investments, money available to you in multiple accounts,  make a larger then average salary and live more then comfortably then yes absolutely your money should be in a bank.  but as for those making practically just enough to pay bills, hit the store and put gas in the car, it might make more sense to withdraw from the banking system. 

V - Valuable

We put so much 'value' into and on things but really lets think for a moment. What makes something valuable?

Is the monetary amount of something what makes it valuable? Is it the sentimental value of an item that makes it valuable? Does something even have to be a physical, actual, anything to have value?

We have always valued the simple things, things that most overlook.  Having a dishwasher, a washer & dryer in the house, a warm and comfy place too sleep, food in the closets, air conditioning, books! We can't even say that we have anything that is an actual something worth much of any monetary value! The sentimental value of objects that are worth NO amount of money and the value of things we can't touch to us, mean way much more! 

Michelle
When my husband got sick everything of 'value' went out the window the only thing valuable that mattered to us was US! The kids, family, love, faith, hope, friends! Its so cliche to say but, when you really get down to the nitty gritty, having those things make you more rich and more special than ANY one physical valuable item. Now that hes in Heaven, each and every item that belonged to him to us is now valuable! Can't part with them no matter the worth.  Even the junk with no worth, baseballs that were in his car that his team played with every week can't be parted with.  They mean so much!

Christine
For me I hold very little valuable(things), it could be because I grew up with the thought and belief that physical things don't last forever. This belief can be attributed to the loss of a parent at a young age. I value my family, friendships, books (this is unexplainable) and the small daily pleasure that some don't think of ;-). I value my time, I think more than any one thing, I can never have enough time with my girls, to play, read, or just sit and be quiet.



If your house was on fire and everyone was safe and you had to save anything, what would it be?

Michelle
I would of course grab his urn ( which i would actually make sure is out with the kids and the dog anyway) but I would grab our pictures. Irreplaceable memories.  HIS necklace charms,  items that have more value in my hand or with my kids then they would anywhere else.

Christine
I would run in and get my books, bad I know, I just love them.

The purpose behind our rant on Valuable, is just to get even one person to rethink whats important.

U - United?

United? How can this country call it's self the United States of America when we're so divided?!

Rich, poor.  Working class, privileged. Our country was founded on the thought that we all, with hard work and determination can achieve greater things and have more opportunities available to us than what was available to our founding fathers and ancestors at the time in their 'home' countries.  Which is why to this day many people choose to come here. 

That said with the election approaching, our primary is today.  If you have followed our previous posts you may have got the idea that we are prideful middle class Americans.  Who have both Republican and Democratic views.  If you are following our election you would see that according to polls the country is at an even split.  We as a country are very divided on the issues.  "United we stand and divided we fall" how many times have we heard this quote?  We cant help be see that as long as Americans remain divided so extremely on issues we will fall again.  We need to not be selfish as to not just think about what is good for one we must consider what is good for ALL.

One issue that jumps out at us among many is the incredibly high cost of food now and qualifications for food stamps. 

We are not talking about the people who abuse the system and thus take advantage of every hard working American we want to address the concern for the same hard working Americans that pay taxes and CAN'T qualify for benefits.  There are many people who desperately need assistance now not because they don't want to work and provide but because circumstance has been put on them that restricts their ability to properly provide for their families.  Are these cases and families not exactly whom welfare assistance is meant to help. 

We saw this article, Food Stamp Challenge that states there are government officials who are currently attempting to buy and live on $35 a week for a food allowance.  We applaud them, we can't appreciate that they (people we put in office) have a genuine understanding for the needs the voters have unless they have experienced our daily struggles for themselves. We hope that this will prove that there is no way possibly to eat, let alone eat healthy on $35 a week.

This country is in crisis - the government needs to put a freeze on food costs and give breaks to farmers on gas & shipping costs , feed etc...; in order to give the the American middle class a chance to catch up. maybe then so many families that have been hit by the financial breakdown wont NEED food stamps. Perhaps another solution is to guide the American public with incentives to but direct from their local farmers. Better still local governments should support and influence their communities to create their own gardens to help with supply and demand.  Trust us a salad made fresh from your own garden tastes much better and is much better for you.  Salad should not come in a bag.

As long as our government insist on throwing crap on top of us well never dig out! Hope this experiment yields the results expected!