Health"care" reform? I think not.

To say that I'm disturbed by the new healthcare bill that has passed would be an understatement.  First it should be made clear that this is NOT bill for healthCARE reform.  This is a bill for affordable healthcare.  To dumb it down even further, it is health INSURANCE reform. 

Sec. 1501 "Requirement to maintain minimum essential coverage"

The United States government is FORCING American citizens to buy something whether you want to or not.  Does that not raise a red flag???  Let's compare health insurance to car insurance, shall we?  I am required by law to have insurance on my car.  However, driving is a privilege.  That means that I don't HAVE to drive.  If I choose to drive, then I HAVE to have car insurance.  See the difference?  The federal government is telling me that I have to have health insurance whether I want to or not.  They are taking away my choice. 

Sec. 9002 "Inclusion of cost of employer-sponsored health coverage on W-2"

For those Americans that CHOOSE to get health insurance through their employers, you will now see an additional box on your W-2.  This will include the cost of your insurance to your employer and be added to your gross income liability.  By Jan. 1, 2014 when this bill goes fully in effect, I have no doubt that the cafeteria plan will be obsolete.  So not only will we not be able to reduce our taxable gross income, we will be paying taxes on monies that we are paying for health insurance.  This particular section is going to do nothing but hurt people like me that already CHOOSE to have health insurance and are lucky enough to get it through our employers. 

Sec. 9005 "Limitation on health flexible spending arrangements under cafeteria plans"

Yet another way that my taxable gross income will go up.  This section will limit the amount of money you can put in your FSA plan.  It cuts it by HALF.  Last year I put $2k in my FSA plan and the money was spent by June.  I should have put the full $5k you can put in, but I didn't think I needed that much.  This year, I've put $3k in.  I've already used $1k of it.

The tax cuts from 2000 are expiring.  Add in Sec. 9002 and Sec. 9005 and I'm going to be put in a higher tax bracket.  It's a snowball effect.  I will pay more taxes so I will have less disposable income.  Therefore I will spend less.  What I personally put in the economy is minute, but when you take millions of people like me, it will take a noticeable effect.  That's not even taking into account the fact that businesses will be forced to raise their prices to meet the requirements of this bill.

My opinions are based on facts.  The government should not have the right to tell American citizens what they must buy.  For the life of me, I can't imagine why an American would support this.  It truly boggles my mind.

Bullying controversy: Where are the parents?

This bullying story is really tragic.  Several people (minors and adults) have been charged with various crimes.  That's all well and good, but my question is where are the parents?

Not the parents of the bullies, but the parents of this girl that got bullied.  Whatever the media reports, there is no way that the bullying alone was what drove her to commit suicide.  It's a horrible thing that happened, but sometimes you need to take a step back and ask yourself why.  Why would bullying drive this teenage girl to end her own life?  What was going on in her own life when it happened?  Where in the hell were her parents?  There had to be mental issues prior to the bullying.

Which brings me to bullying in general.  I'm not sure that bullying has gotten worse in the last twenty years.  It's the reaction to the bullying that has changed.  Parents have taken the responsibility of protecting their children from themselves and put it on the school who in turn put it on law enforcement.  When I was a kid, short of getting physically abused, the school would not step in.  Why should they?  From 3rd grade all the way to high school there was a boy that bullied me constantly.  And he was MEAN.  Not physically, but verbally.  I would go home in tears and wonder what I ever did.  I've been prone to depression my entire life, but never did I think about committing suicide.  What I did was go home and talk to my mom.  Or rather I would go home and cry on her shoulder and she would do what a parent should do: she counseled me.  She talked to me and gave me tools to cope.  She gave me ideas on how to stay or get out of situations where this boy (who I hope is working the counter at McDonalds) would verbally attack me.

I'm now in a place where I'm the mom.  I've already had to give my nine year old advice on bullying.  Even if I don't give him the exact right advice, you better believe that I would know if he depressed way before he even (God forbid) contemplated suicide.  I want to know where Phoebe Prince's parents were during the whole thing.  You aren't bullied for months without your parents knowing.  If your parents know you're being bullied, they know how it's affecting you.  They would see changes in behavior.  Phoebe's suicide was avoidable.  If her parents had been more aware of their daughter or helped her cope and deal with the bullies, she might still be here today.  If the bullies' parents didn't have their heads up their asses, their kids wouldn't be such assholes. 

Step up parents.  Take responsibility.

Ten Years of Wedded Bliss

Dear Bill,

We've been married for ten years. It's hard to wrap my mind around that. Ten years seems like such a long amount of time, yet it has flown by. I remember that one day at my parent's house in Rocklin. You know the day...I like to think of it as The Intervention. Our parents sat us down and talked to us about what a mistake we would be making by getting married. Even your dad chimed in about us being too young to get married. Here we are ten years later. In another ten, we'll probably be sitting down with Kelsey and Some Guy telling them DON'T GET MARRIED THIS YOUNG.

I have grown so much as a person, a wife, and a mom since we got married. In our first few bumbling years of marriage, you were endlessly patient with me when I would accuse you of going to play golf to get away from me. What can I say? I was eighteen years old. It was hard those first few years (thank God Will was such a good baby), but we both grew up (If we're honest with each other, it was me more than you). I learned how to balance being my own person with being a wife and mom. Kelsey was unexpected (which should have been a sign), but we made it through that too.

We moved from California to Idaho. If there's anything you know about me, it's that I HATE MOVING. I told you in 2006 that if we made the move successfully without killing each other or ending up in Divorce Court that we could weather anything. We've had our ups and downs like any couple, but we came out together on the other side. If we could handle an out-of-state move, we could handle the world. And we have.

Ten years, Bill. We made it.

Love,
Casee

30 Day Shred: Pass or Fail?

I made one New Years resolution this year.  Complete Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred dvd.  I started on January 4th.  I did really good for a week, then I got sick.  I skipped one day and was slowly plodding through it.  Then I got bored.  So I skipped two days.  Basically, I'm 22 days through it.  I wanted to get through it before we went to Hawaii on Feb 8th, but I don't know if that's going to happen.  I would love to say that I'll do it every day from now until then, but lets be honest here.  I won't.  I have every intention of doing it, but it probably won't happen. 

I'm finally up to Level 3 and let me tell you, that mother is hard.  It looks easy when you compare them to levels one and two, but pa-cha.  It's not.  The sumo squats?  Holy mother of God.  Those HURT.  Whenever I've read reviews where the people have said that they yell and scream at Jillian, I wondered who could be crazy enough to do that.  I AM.  It hurts so bad that I have to yell at her to distract myself so I don't quit.  It hurts right now just thinking about what I'm going to be doing tonight.

So have I lost weight?  I've lost about 7 pounds.  My clothes fit a little better.  Other than that, it hasn't been a huge amount of progress.  It's not like I was planning on being in a bikini on the beaches of Hawaii, but I did want to feel comfortable in the clothes that got a little tight over the holidays.  We went to Old Navy on Saturday to get Kelsey a bathing suit and some flip flops.  I grabbed a pair of bermuda shorts for myself--the same size as my other pair of ON bermuda shorts.  I got home and THEY WERE FREAKING TIGHT.  I know this sounds so lame, but I don't want to go up a size.  When I started losing my pregnancy weight after four freaking years and went down in pant size, I promised I would never get back up to that size.  So I really don't want to.  But I also don't want to waste $30 on shorts that I may or may not wear.  Ugh.

As far as the 30 Day Shred, I would have to say pass.  Why?  Because I can do a full (non-girly push-up).  Yeah that's right.  I rock the push-up.

Why Obama isn't good for America

It has nothing to do with the fact that he's black. Or the more politically correct term African American. Who effing cares that the guy is black? I agree that it is monumental that America elected a black man as President. Even though I didn't vote for him or want him to become President, part of me was proud that Americans voted on what they thought was best without bringing race into it. So no, it's not because he's black.

The reason is b/c he's ruining what the United States stands for. If you've forgotten, go read the Declaration of Independence. "All men are created equal". Yes, but this person is a minority and was born into a broken home. How is he equal to a white boy who is born into a wealthy family and won't have to work for his entire life? Bullshite. You can be anything you want to be. You may have a harder time than someone else, but you can do it. Everyone that is born in this world can do something great, no matter what country they're in.

The United States was already in the ground when Obama was elected. He's just pounding Uncle Sam further into the ground. I am so mother-f-ing sick of hearing "I inherited blah blah blah". Dude, has any president been happy with what his predecessor left? Come on. I liken it to "but it's not my fault" when my son tells me why he didn't turn in his homework. To Obama I would say get the eff over yourself. Do what you PROMISED to do in the election. Oh that's right, you lied.

On Thursday night, Obama promised 30 billion MORE of our dollars to banks so they could give loans to small businesses. Essentially the government is telling the banks what they will do. Isn't that everything that we DON'T stand for? Like my husband has said, the banks have plenty of money. They just don't want to loan any out b/c they're scared. Scared of losing money. Which is what any business doesn't want. All businesses are in the business of making money. But now Obama is going to give more money and direct the banks where it needs to go.

I could go on and on. And I probably will. I'm done censoring myself so I don't offend anyone.

The bottom line is that by the time my kids are my age, the United States is going to be everything that the Founding Fathers fought against becoming.

So sick of being sick

I'm somewhat of a germ-a-phobe.  I don't share drinks with anyone.  I wash my hands religiously.  Yet I'm still the one that always gets sick.  WTF.  There is nothing I hate more than being sick.  Nothing.  Sure, it's a pain when one (or both) of the kids are sick, but I'm a much better caregiver than a care receiver.  I've had this cough since right after Christmas.  Nothing else, just a cough.  Then two weeks after my "just a cough", I got a cold to go along with it.  The cough seemed to have peaked with the cold.  Now the cold is going away and the "just a cough" is coming back. 

I hate it.  It's making me bloody miserable.  I fully admit that I'm a HORRIBLE sick person.  If I could, I would whine and cry non-stop until I got better.  But since I'm an adult and still the caregiver, I have to suck it up.  Which I HATE.  I want sympathy.  I want my mom.  I want peace and quiet.  These things just don't happen.

Not to mention that the lack of sleep that Bill is getting is making him turn into a mean Jack Bauer.  If I wake him up coughing at 3AM one more time, he might just put me (and himself) out of my misery.  So his lack of sleep affects everything else b/c he's a grump.  Bill doesn't do grumpy well.  All he does is remind me of my annoying younger brother and try to shove Vitamin C down my throat in hopes that it will clear up whatever is ailing me.

I've gone through about one liter of cough syrup.  And I'm talking the good stuff.  My current doctor isn't very liberal with her prescription pad like my previous doctor was.  Which isn't a good thing when I'm calling every four days asking "can I have a refill?" and being prepared to beg if necessary. 

Every time I get sick, I learn something new.  This time it's that Bill doesn't like when I cough in his face, even if I'm sleeping.  And if I do, he reserves the right to roll me out of bed.

The Almost Vegan Project

I've been a strict vegetarian for almost three years now.  By strict I mean that I eat no meat at all.  Not even fish.  I won't eat anything that has beef or chicken stock in it.  I buy what I call "happy eggs" which are eggs from free range, vegetarian fed chickens.  I (usually) only buy organic milk.  Maybe I have my head buried in the sand, but I imagine that the cows which organic milk come from are happy and free to roam.  Like the California Cheese commercials.  I buy it for health reasons as well, but mostly b/c in my mind organic milk=happy cows. 

The question I always get: "What do you eat then?"  My response?  "What do you eat?". 

I eat almost all the same things as meat eaters.  I just replace a burger with a boca burger.  I replace chicken with chi'kn.  I eat tofu.  I add TVP to stuff.  I get as much protein as the next person, maybe even more.  Vegetarians can be as healthy or unhealthy as they want.  I can eat chips, cookies, and cake.  I try not to, of course, but I am a slave to junk food. 

It is b/c of this that I'm embarking on the "Almost Vegan Project".  It is a project where I will eat only vegan for x amount of time.  Vegan means nothing with animal by product.  No milk, cheese, eggs, or even honey.  I want to try it for health reasons more than personal reasons.  I have a friend that is vegan and she doesn't use or eat anything that has animal by products.  Like she replaced all her makeup b/c of [insert animal thing here] that was in her makeup when she went vegan.  I'm not going that far. 

I've been wanting to do this for some time, but frankly I'm too lazy.  If vegetarian recipes have ingredients that aren't usually found in your cupboard, you have to hunt down certain ingredients for vegan recipes.  Since I wasn't really committed to becoming vegan (at all) I just decided it wasn't worth the effort. 

The hardest thing to cut out will be cheese.  I'm not much of a milk drinker and I don't eat eggs a lot.  But I love cheese. 

Casee=cheese lover.   

So if there's anyone out there that wants to join me (or try an almost vegetarian), feel free.  It's really not that hard.  No, really.