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Medicare part A is automatic, working or not. When you quit working and are ready for the government to start taking part of your SS for part B, check with AARP. Medicare requires you have a prescription plan. The cheapest my wife could find was almost $500/year. AARP has an insurance plan with prescription plan that (I think) replaces part B and the money you lose for it goes to AARP's insurance instead. She signed up. I'm 67, but still working.

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Ah. Jeff filled out all the papers so I didn't know that. We've been getting AARP stuff for years and have been avoiding it. Maybe he will consider it sometime.

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Same here. I read years ago that AARP supported anti-gun policies, so I've always avoided them. But my wife didn't have to join AARP to get this insurance. So at this point, I'm thinking about dropping my insurance at work & going on Medicare & the AARP policy like she did. May cost me a few bucks more each month, but the first time I need to go to the doctor, I won't have to pay the $600 up-front yearly charge that I currently am faced with.

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I am not anti-gun as such. I can absolutely see they have uses. I am anti stupid/careless people and they can be found with and without guns. :(

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Strange noise was not goat. We know what Aries is in noise sounds like. This noise was feline related.

Here you get Medicare once you have been on disability for a year. Hubby gets it, I don't.

My nephew, Seth, will have to have surgery in June. His brain tonsil thing is suppose to hang down 5-6 m.m. and his hangs down 16 m.m. It is compressing on his spine and will start having major complication if not take care of. The Dr. said that it a painful recovery. Poor little guy. Hopefully this will take care of the problems.

Emmi has a lot of the white spots that can only be seen under black light, meaning she probably does have TSC (what Robin has). She will be having a sleep deprived EEG and an MRI. The Dr. have not ruled out Seth having that as well. They want to take the other thing first.

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Good luck with it all, Allen & Cilla.

I need a plumber to come to the house because it looks like the shower in my room is leaking. I knew there would be home repairs but I would love to be able to breathe between repairs.

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This morning, when the temperature was 11F, I came up with a paraphrase of the old Spring rhyme:

Spring is sprung.

The grass ain't Riz.

I'm tired of this winter Biz!


Hope you can get your plumbing fixed quickly, Moonlady.

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Priscilla, did you know the whole rhyme?

The Spring is sprung,
The grass is gris.
I wonder where the birdies is.
The little birds is on the wing;
But that's absurd
The little wings is on the bird.

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That's very cool, P'ter! I didn't know there was more to it. That is also not how I learned what I thought was the "original". This is what I learned:

Spring has sprung

The grass is ris

I wonder where the flowers is?

Altogether, rather a bunch of nonsense! :lol:

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But spring has not sprung. I don't think it will ever be spring

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Where, oh where is Spring?

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It's often attributed to either e e cummings or Ogden Nash, sometimes to Spike Milligan, but it's mostly given as 'anonymous'. It is known as "Spring in the Bronx" with bird spelt 'boid'.

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I have given up on spring, summer or fall. It will always be winter.

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Have we all moved to Westeros?

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Thank goodness for google! I had no idea where or what Westeros was, not having read any of the books or seen any of the series.

I had a phishing phone call on my cell at 3 am. Recorded message: "this message is from Master Card. Your credit card has been locked. Please press one for further information". First of all, I was pretty sure the credit card company only has our house phone number, not my cell. Second, they would not call at 3 am. Third, when I checked the number called from it was an (813) number out of Tampa, FL. Credit card and other companies are most likely to use (800) numbers. Sorry scammers, no money from me! :irk: :lol:

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When my debit card was hacked recently, I got a text from my bank asking if I had made an online transaction for $1. When I replied no, the fun began. Over 20 charges were fraudulent. Oh, and that first text came at about 9 or 10 pm on a Saturday night.

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This morning I purchased some cat food and a new scraper for the grill at the local Agway with my card with no problem. I guess we were right. WHAT a relief! :roll:

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It took forever to get things straighten out when my grandmother's purse was stolen by hospital's security person. They got her check book, credit cards, I.Ds and keys, everything. The hospital paid to get new locks on car and house.

Wal-Mart never took her credit card unless she was there again. It made shopping for her harder.

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Do I dare to put away my winter boots? I hope we are not in for an extremely hot, humid summer to go along with the long cold winter! :crazy:

In better news I have broken in one pair of shoes to take on our trip to Disney and I have started on a second. Since I quit work last year I have lost 26 pounds and I am really looking forward to lots of walking down there. I hope it will be lovely and warm with plenty of beautiful flowers in bloom. Jeff says he is quitting work next year. I think we should celebrate by going back again! :bouncy:

I've ordered two bracelets from Allen and I can't wait for them to arrive. Both are Byzantine style weave. I plan to take them and wear them on our trip.

We "traded" sofas with Jenn & Mike. Ours is a large sectional and they wanted something bigger in their room over the garage. Theirs is a normal size sofa but the two "end" sections are also recliners. One side is broken and will no longer recline. Because of all the metal in it for the recliner mechanism these sofas are really heavy. Jeff and I plan to replace it. The first step was just getting it back down their stairs. Thank goodness one of Mike's brothers used to work for a moving company!

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Priscilla, if you don't already have some, get some New Balance walking shoes. I finally broke down & got a pair of NB sneakers and now I own 2 pair, the second being a pair of walking shoes intended for "country". I found a New Balance store through Bizrate that's having a sale, and they have boots I can use on duty! Gotta have!

Oh, and I'm going to get those cards in the mail. Today. I'm addressing the envelope.

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Ah ha! Great minds thinking alike! I've been wearing New Balance for years and that's what I'm currently breaking in. They're great, aren't they? They come in "wide" styles which I really need for my feet. My feet get really angry if I try to squeeze them into regular width sneakers.

Oh, yes. Cards to hand out to all the bracelet admirers I'm anticipating! :D

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On putting your winter boots away------NO DON'T DO IT, winter is not done. If you do then you will get a ton more snow. Leave them out & there won't be.

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Good thought. Also why we haven't removed the poles along the driveway that guide the snow plow as to where the edge is.

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Here's hoping Spring arrive in the Midwest and back East soon.

Have fun on your trip, Cilla and I think that it is a good idea to celebrate your husband's decision by a return trip. :D

My aides and I are counting down till Spring Break -- 2 more weeks -- and celebrating we survived March with no holidays. :roll: :evil:

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Only a few more months and you be out for the summer.

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I just received two bracelets in the mail from Allen. They are gorgeous and beautifully made.

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Seth had a bad day yesterday. The whole day he was crying saying his head and legs hurt. He kept peeing in his pants. We thought the peeing was caused by seizures. His sugar has been going up then down. He was taken to local hospital, who sent him to UVA.

He has a UTI which is probably what caused his peeing. They said that the headache was caused by the Chiari Malformation blocking the fluid in his head and spinal cord causing fluid build up in his brain. I think we will all be happy when he has his surgery in June. It has an 80% successes rate. I just hope it works.

So far this year has not been a good one.

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I had a celebration at work today since on this day it was 25 years ago since I started working for the Humanitas Foundation.

A huge bouquet, a sealed envelope, a BIG cake, many congrats, a bottle of whiskey and the golden Humanitas pin wre among the gifts I received today.

I honestly never thought I would ever work for the same employer for 25 years! But I guess I will keep on going with this foundation until my retirement in 2025 :)

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Good for you, Hans! Jeff has passed his 40th year with Sikorsky so you have a ways to go yet. He is planning to quit (I don't like the term "retire") next year, if not before.

Those sound like lovely gifts. Very few people stay in the same job any more.

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Well done! I will never forget how strange a feeling it was when I left my previous job after seven and a half years (which made me the second longest serving member of the team). Was quite emotional, and I do miss it - even if I had been deeply uncomfortable ever since we had moved into the new building a couple of years back.

Don't know if I'll ever be fully certain it was the right decision, but it certainly made sense from a logical perspective at the time.

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Wow, congrats Hans! That is quite a milestone, and it sounds like it was celebrated in proper style!


Here in MD we're still waiting to see if winter is truly gone or just slumbering. As recently as three days ago it tried snowing, but that was after three days of rain so it all melted on contact with the ground.

My son's headaches continue, usually only at a moderate level. We are treating it as a chronic problem now that he will have to learn to cope with on a daily basis while getting on with life. He's started back to school for partial days, which seems to be going okay, and he's also just started biofeedback training.

My youngest just turned four and is still a spitfire. And my elder daughter has been writing hilarious stories set on a planet full of clones of herself (with nearby planets full of clones of her siblings).

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I hope the surgery is successful, Mawra.

Congrats Hans on 25 years and Jeff on 40 years! That says a lot. Hans, I think your company has an awesome way of celebrating.

Cheryl, my thoughts are with your son. I know his pain and he's in thoughts.
I would love to read your daughters stories and your Facebook antidotes are a bright spot in my life.

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:group: Zen Hugs. and xfinger Maw

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Kibby's new hair do. The part that looks reddish is really VERY pink

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...irjennifer.jpg

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Contracts have now been exchanged for the house...still look on target for getting the keys on Tues. Fingers crossed!

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Fingers crossed for you Zelandeth.

Cute Kibby but I'd go for purple. :D

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I'd go purple as well.

I am just glad she did not go for chartreuse, hot pink and neon orange all at the same time. It is her fav. color combination. I can find her in a crowd.

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Purple hair does nothing for me. I bet Kibby looks cute in pink!

Last night the school where Mike works (middle school, ages about 9 to 12) had a variety show to raise money for an end-of-school field trip to an amusement park. Most of the singers were girls (I gather at that age boys are mostly too shy). They also had a couple dancing acts, several violin solos, a pair of boys doing a very funny "rap" style song and one 6th grade boy who did a really funny improv. comedy routine. The songs were all what is popular to them so I had not heard any of it. There was a very good audience, I think they must have made quite a bit. They also had a bake sale at intermission. Jenn & I went partly to support Mike and also to video tape it for him.

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When you said that it remind me of Alex clothing from the Ship Who Searched