The Root of All Evil...is indeed money!

Back in August while in Florida, I bit into something that wound up being my back, bottom molar. I waited to fly home to NY and made appointment with my dentist. It winds up I need a root canal - my first! Not as exciting as when Logan lost his first tooth...in fact, at that time I was contemplating pulling it for only $175 or getting it fixed for close to $1,800. And that was WITH a 20% no-insurance discount!

With the guidance of my all-knowing-mom (hi mommy!), I joined a dental plan for $136 called Delta Dental. I had to wait until September 1, to see a dentist. My kind dentist reviewed the list of participating dentists & knew one or two of them. I went with a local one. After meeting him, actually not him but another dentist from his practice, I was told I'd need two (2!!!) root canals. They calculate it to be about $700 a tooth. Not!

I discussed with the sometimes-all-knowing-dad (heh! heh! heh! he doesn't read the blog) and decide to switch to his doctor. Get this...I have to wait until October 1 to see him. So yesterday (September 30th), I go to see him. Wait - yesterday was not October 1. The receptionist was so eager to help me that she had made an appointemnt for ASAP. Neither one of us honed in on the date. While there I'm told I can see him for $120 or wait a day. I waited a day. I did not see dad's dentist but his daughter-in-law. After hearing the root canal, post, and crown would be $400ish...we had a winner.

So I sit here now running a numb tongue over a mini-tooth waiting for the pain to hit me. I've already paid the $192 for today's portion - I was numb at that time. That pain ($$$) is already hitting me.

When all is said and done...the ROOT (canal) of all evil truly is money! I'm living proof.

New Form of Commuting: Walking

I can now walk to work if I want to. After all, I've been walking 1.5 miles a day for the past 29 days. That is a total of 43.5 miles. I do recall about 2 or 3 days when I had to cut it short, so let's say I did 42 miles. Looking at Mapquest, it seems that my office is 40 miles away. Now if I can only find 29 places to sleep over 29 days...no problem.

Okay, let's go back to this blog and update you on my walking progress...

I am now in the habit -- love to say that -- of walking 30 minutes a day. Mom's great suggestion to "just get up and do it," has proven very, very successful for me. I set the alarm to get up and plan my mornings around it. Considering that I have to get up between 5:50am and 7:30am on some days, I'm very relieved to have this as part of my routine.

Just yesterday, as Kerry & I were driving to meet Kelly at our favorite restaurant Cafe Symposium (remember from an earlier post), Kerry pointed out 1.5 miles daily turns into 10.5 miles a week. That impressed me.

Now interestingly enough...I do not see the scale moving. This is motivating me to increase my exercise with yoga. I have a 20-minute work out for a.m. and p.m. Let's see if that can help move that scale. Between that push and turning to a food journal tracking my every BLT -- bite, lick, taste, let's see if we can find a culprit there. I really can't imagine that since I believe I have less than 800 calories a day. But we'll see. I'll tally it up for the week and see what I average.

Feeling good. Feeling proud. Signing off.

The Week Wall Street Went Wacky

Merrill Lynch has been in my life for the past 15 years in the roles of employee, travel staff, and consultant. So last Thursday, 9/11, the ML walls started to come tumbling down. Actually, this began over a year ago when the mortgage crisis began and we replaced our CEO Stan O'Neil with NYSE President John Thain.

In his reigning year as our boss, he was unable to turn it all around. he did sell off billions of dollars but that was not enough to save us. It first came to my attention when my boss called to see where the stock was at. I pulled the market info up on my computer & emailed her back that it was $20.01. From then until Sunday afternoon, I kept my eye on the stock - for ML & Lehman Brothers. By Sunday afternoon, I had seen that Bank of America had backed out of a deal to save Lehman Brothers. The next post a few minutes later was that ML was negotiating a merger between the two companies. Furious emails & text messages & voice messages were shared by a few of us from our department - this hadn't hit the TV or news yet. Before I went to bed, it was finally on TV and was official: ML was taken over by BoA and Lehman Brothers was going bankrupt.

It's only a week later now that I see how lucky we were to be bought over. The very next morning, Monday - 9/15, I woke up for my a.m. walk and saw that the news was still showing the Lehman employees entering their building and leaving with cardboard boxes containing their personal items. My heart broke & made me anxious to see what was going on at ML.

Since then there have been numerous town halls, conference calls, and meetings. It looks like ML made out the best from all the other brokerage houses. We have to get through the next six months before we really know who is safe and who is not. Keeping fingers crossed that our division stays intact and especially our department. In the meantime, some interesting things are brewing but will be posted at a later date.

So my plan right now is to continue walking and increase exercising while continuing to eat healthy and wise (Psst! Forever works for me!) and get myself a part-time job at the Garden City Hotel. I'd like to earn extra money on weekends when Logan's not here and see if the hotel industry is a back-up career for me.

This roller coaster that I've dubbed Wall Street's Wacky Ride is still chugging upward...I'll keep you posted as the twists and turns are conquered.

Walking Away the Pounds...NOT!

Quick update on my walking process...it's going great. Today was my 18th day in a row walking 30 minutes as soon as I wake up. I do about 1.5 miles a day and love it. I listen to either my music or one of my favorite TV shows "Ugly Betty" and just walk, walk, walk.

I'm now part of an elite group of walkers. We are the Early Risers. We walk, jog, run past each other and in that shared moment we either nod, exchange "Good Mornings", or if we're real talkative we comment on the weather.

Now the most interesting thing is that the weight is not falling off me at all. As of a day or two ago, I was the same old weight. I feel different. Even I think I can see it in my face, but the scale doesn't mirror that.

Ironically, I jumped on the scale this morning and nearly wet myself. The scale said I dropped 100 lbs. Of course I realized immediately the scale was broke but let me tell you, I loved it! The scale is way off (weigh off - another unintended pun!) and goes up and down. At the moment, I cannot replace it but am interested in buying a new scale. Maybe by that time, I will see the loss on the scale.

Throughout all this lack of weight loss, I have kept up a positive attitude. More and more I look back at the many times that I tried to lose weight and was discouraged by the scale needle not moving. Now that I understand it's not the defining factor for weight loss or healthy living, I am at a comforting level of peace and patience. My new mantra - all in due time, all in due time!

What Black Cloud?!?

The last six months (almost to the day) have been rather trying from me. Not wanting to believe in luck or believing in black clouds…I'll stick with "the tides are turning."

Since March I have had some -- ahem -- trying moments. I've listed the ones that really stand out for me:

Oil tank needing to be emptied, dismantled, removed, and replaced. Instead we emptied & disconnected one of the two tanks. Not too bad as I was told it would cost over $5,000 for this job. We capped off at about $330.

Drip in the walls over Easter weekend. After five months - a new kitchen was installed and repairs were made.

Dog slipped on wooden floors getting down from couch. After several months and a thousand dollars, we are unable to give him his orthopedic surgery costing $4,000 to repair torn crucial ligament. Keeping fingers crossed that other leg doesn't go. Shadow is often called Limpy now, especially when instincts kick in and he chases something!

Car window stuck in down position. Got off easy - $110.

Lap band surgery. After four months no pains and much contentment. Ready for this $41,000 hospital bill (not even surgeon's fee!) costing me $500 deductible and about $500 in copays. Pssst - I'm sending copy of hospital Bill to Congressman King, Obama, and McCain! Ridiculous cost for a one-hour surgery and one-night stay.

Landscaper M.I.A. After chasing down Jose' with no luck and numerous other landscapers…finally found one and was able to clear meadow from front & back yards. A little late in the season and too late for planting. Costs minimum since grass dead, dead, dead.

Pool a.k.a. "Me Fool" Opened pool - hooray. Found out motor shot - boo. Got inexpensive as-new-refurbished motor - hooray. Filter soon dead - boo. Pool covered - hooray. Hope to unload on Craig's List - HOORAY!

Pay Lien - Five years to the day…monkey off my back (see earlier post.)

Kitchen done - but basement toilet now giving me "valve" trouble.

Weekly doctor visits with dad for allergy shots. We're now down to once a month. A big Wahoo!!!

Lost monthly LIRR ticket mid-August. New month = new zippered compartment in handbag.

And now…life seems to be taking the upturn it needed.

Kitchen done & came to a final agreement on additional costs. Basement coming along as well!

Walking daily and feeling great (16 days in row and counting!) Appetite diminished greatly.

Logan enjoyed his first week of Middle School (see next post.)

Plumber coming to do some much needed maintenance. Hoping to be avoid future basement/kitchen fiasco. Hiring Plumber-for-the-Day at an agreeable fee.

Cleaning Lady returning for at least once-a-month visits. Hooray Mrs. Clean!

Work continues to be good for me just hope that the current market situation gets better. Enjoying opportunities to get out of the red.

And lastly - I'm most happy to have order back in my life with work, school, and after-school activities working well together.

"The New Adventures of Old Logan" (new ABC TV Series)

It happened. Logan grew up. He's no longer the little boy holding my hand with glassy eyes waiting for the big-mean-yellow-bus to pick him up and tear him out of my arms. Instead, he is the 11-year-OLD-MAN who lets me brush a quick kiss on his cheek as he backpacks it up the block by himself and maybe meet up with Jillian on the corner. Sniff! Okay, okay - it's not that bad. In fact, it's quite good.

Logan began 6th Grade last Wednesday and boy - was I nervous. He was so calm, cool, and collected when he woke up that morning. I'd say it was only when he put on his sneakers before grabbing his bag that he got a bit silent and apprehensive. The good thing about him when he's like that is that he becomes quite loving and gentle with me. He did grab my hand and did give me some big, big hugs. Otherwise not much to say. He met up with Jillian in her front yard and they walked uneventfully up the street to the corner bus stop.

It did become a little exciting when Jillian's mom Lisa and I saw them get on the bus on the "other school district's" side of the street. We joked that wouldn't it be funny if they got on the wrong bus. I left Lisa for my now daily walk and was shocked to see as I went to the same corner all the other bus stops on our side filled with kids. I called Lisa from the corner and told her the bus was only coming now. At that point with Bus #2 appearing at the corner, Lisa swore that she saw the name of the other school district on the side, but I was not reassured with this. After all, she was four houses away and I was only 10 feet from the bus. I mean, come on - how could I miss that! She left a message on her daughter's phone -- Logan's was off as planned for school policy -- and I jumped on cell to call new school's attendance office. In the meantime, I told the bus driver that stopped hat he was missing two kids. As I waited on the phone with our district's transportation office, I was happy to have Lisa yell down to me that Jillian called and they WERE on the right bus. Oh, well…I was a bit sheepish as I hung up with my call and continued my walk.

After school that day, Logan came home to our tradition of home-baked cookies & milk. In our home, we use the Pillsbury spoon edition for home-cooking. He loves them and I am quite good at timing it just right for his return. He did not hate school - that was a start. In fact, I actually got to enjoy some cookies and info on all his classes as I learned to shut up and let him tell it. One local boy -- a very nice one I remembered from Cub Scouts -- who is on his bus is also in all of his classes. This is quite a coincidence as only the four core classes (actually five since English is now a reading class AND a writing class) share the same students with different teachers. For his special classes (music, language - French, study skills, & lunch), he's with all different students and teachers for each.

That evening, Logan, Zach, & I drove up to the school to set up their lockers. Since then it has been uneventful and for me quite exciting to see how smoothly he transitioned into this new and different routine. He is really quite amazing at being able to adapt so effortlessly.

And that is where we leave off on this new TV show…that exists in only my head…so far that is.

Cruising on to Another Adventure

Logan is on his way back to the states. From the graphic on the left, you can see where Logan's Carnival Cruise ship The Inspiration is headed at 2:25pm EST. [Right click on the diagram and then hit your internet's back button to return to blog.] I was happy to see that Gustav stayed out of his path. I'll be happier tomorrow a.m. when he calls to say "I'm back!"

But the fun does not end there.

I understand that Bill and Logan will spend the day and night in Tampa and enjoy themselves at Busch Gardens. Me - I'm thrilled to have one more day to put the finishing touches on his room as he will be beginning school two days after returning. We'll be reunited on Sunday late afternoon/early evening and then on to two enjoyable days together as I took off next week to be there for him when he starts middle school. Now that's the adventure I'm talking about - Middle School!