Monday, August 17, 2009
OOPS!
It was pointed out to me that the link is not in the email you receive. You have to go to the actual blog to link with the referral. If you want to do it without a referral to me then you can just do a search for swagcodes and sign up for yourself without a referral. I will never know! Thanks Becky for pointing out my error!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Swagcodes
I wouldn't normally put any advertisement on my blog because I am not into making any money off of my friends (well maybe some family members, LOL!). But this is a great deal and I want to share with everyone. Until about a month ago I used Google exclusively for all my searches. I found out about Swagcodes and now use them almost all the time. Why? About every 2-10 searches I get a Swagbuck. This earns me credits towards something in the Swagstore. Now, there really isn't anything I really want in this store, except one thing. Amazon.com promotion codes for $5 off your total order. It took 45 Swagbucks to get the $5 off. I hadn't shared this with anyone yet because I wanted to make sure it was legit. And it is! I just placed an order for some gift books with Amazon and got $5 deducted from the total. So not bad. You can earn codes other ways too, but you have to go out of your way. Searching is something I do anyways and they use Google and Ask for the search results. I have compared both Swagbucks and Google and they seem to be nearly identical on a few searches I tried.
So how do you sign up? Click on the banner on the right and register. Now here is the part where I do feel a little bit guilty. For those of you that register and search, I will get a matching Swagbuck for each of yours up to 100. I got this off of another blog and she is getting a match of each of my searches (but not my referrals searches). In another two or three weeks I will have maxed out her referral matching and she will have to find someone else. But so far I have $5 off for free and I am about two weeks away from getting another $5.
So for those of you who are now annoyed with me I am very sorry. For the rest, thank you and happy shopping!
Note: It was pointed out to me that the link is not in the email you receive. You have to go to the actual blog to link with the referral. If you want to do it without a referral to me then you can just do a search for swagcodes and sign up for yourself without a referral. I will never know! I think I will post this note to a new post so it can get to everyone's inbox! Thanks Becky for pointing out my error!
So how do you sign up? Click on the banner on the right and register. Now here is the part where I do feel a little bit guilty. For those of you that register and search, I will get a matching Swagbuck for each of yours up to 100. I got this off of another blog and she is getting a match of each of my searches (but not my referrals searches). In another two or three weeks I will have maxed out her referral matching and she will have to find someone else. But so far I have $5 off for free and I am about two weeks away from getting another $5.
So for those of you who are now annoyed with me I am very sorry. For the rest, thank you and happy shopping!
Note: It was pointed out to me that the link is not in the email you receive. You have to go to the actual blog to link with the referral. If you want to do it without a referral to me then you can just do a search for swagcodes and sign up for yourself without a referral. I will never know! I think I will post this note to a new post so it can get to everyone's inbox! Thanks Becky for pointing out my error!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Health Insurance Is Killing Us All
I have heard both sides and I have worked in the health industry most of my working years. I can officially say that it is starting to get out of hand. I live in a conservative area and work in an extremely conservative area. Very few that I have talked to want anything to change. They are very afraid of changing to a government run health-care system. But I can tell you that if we dont do something then none of us are going to be able to afford any health insurance. There has to be a happy medium between the two extremes.
I am ranting because I just got my health insurance renewal. The premium has increased by 25% per month. That turns out to be 510.48 more for the year and that is just for me. Logan has his own policy and Charles gets his from work. If just mine increases 25% for the next five years then my monthly premium will be over $650 a month. And I can tell you that I have not had a pay increase since 2006. The agency I used to work for full time had nearly gone belly up multiple times in the past 3 year so no raises. Now I work for myself and I am working a contracted rate that will probably not go up anytime soon. The company I had worked for had insurance that was $130 a month for my part but you could only go to certain doctors/hospitals affiliated with the parent company of this agency. The area residents call this hospital a death hospital (you only go there to die. Very bad reputation for a rural hospital). Charles' work wanted over $600/month to add just me to his policy and over $1100/month to add both me and Logan. That was laughable! On top of all that our current policies have a $5000 deductible for me and Logan and $1500 for Charles!
Another therapist I work with said he went to a patient's home and there was a lady sitting on the couch who was fine the other day and who obviously had a stroke in recent hours. She couldn't walk or talk well and had been like that over a day. She did not seek help because she doesn't have insurance. Now this person is not likely to ever work and will be a drain on the system for years and years. Now how dumb is that!
For all the naysayers out there I just have to say that there has got to be a better way. I think we are too big a country to have a completely government run health system. It would be too complicated and is not very practical. But there has to be some kind of regulation on the healthcare industry. They should not be able to raise premiums so high. I go to the doctor a few times a year for the usual checkups and sinus stuff. Since historically hospitals can charge $30 for an aspirin you have to think that someone somewhere is getting all this money. They need to investigate where all this money is going! They say that medical expenses are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy. I think in the near future that medical insurance premiums are going to be added to that list.
Okay, I am done ranting and I guess I will now go and pay the bills.
I am ranting because I just got my health insurance renewal. The premium has increased by 25% per month. That turns out to be 510.48 more for the year and that is just for me. Logan has his own policy and Charles gets his from work. If just mine increases 25% for the next five years then my monthly premium will be over $650 a month. And I can tell you that I have not had a pay increase since 2006. The agency I used to work for full time had nearly gone belly up multiple times in the past 3 year so no raises. Now I work for myself and I am working a contracted rate that will probably not go up anytime soon. The company I had worked for had insurance that was $130 a month for my part but you could only go to certain doctors/hospitals affiliated with the parent company of this agency. The area residents call this hospital a death hospital (you only go there to die. Very bad reputation for a rural hospital). Charles' work wanted over $600/month to add just me to his policy and over $1100/month to add both me and Logan. That was laughable! On top of all that our current policies have a $5000 deductible for me and Logan and $1500 for Charles!
Another therapist I work with said he went to a patient's home and there was a lady sitting on the couch who was fine the other day and who obviously had a stroke in recent hours. She couldn't walk or talk well and had been like that over a day. She did not seek help because she doesn't have insurance. Now this person is not likely to ever work and will be a drain on the system for years and years. Now how dumb is that!
For all the naysayers out there I just have to say that there has got to be a better way. I think we are too big a country to have a completely government run health system. It would be too complicated and is not very practical. But there has to be some kind of regulation on the healthcare industry. They should not be able to raise premiums so high. I go to the doctor a few times a year for the usual checkups and sinus stuff. Since historically hospitals can charge $30 for an aspirin you have to think that someone somewhere is getting all this money. They need to investigate where all this money is going! They say that medical expenses are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy. I think in the near future that medical insurance premiums are going to be added to that list.
Okay, I am done ranting and I guess I will now go and pay the bills.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Vacation in Vermont
We went to the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT. My Dad has a timeshare there (that he is selling in case anyone is interested!). We have never been and it was beautiful. It was such a different scene from Texas and the weather was perfect. We went from very humid mid to upper 90's to 60's and 70's. It was pretty hard to come home from that. Charles just kept saying, "I want to stay!" We did lots of activities, outdoor and in. Lots of hiking, walking in the cute little town, car rides in the mountains, working out, yoga, hanging out, tennis, movies, eating, and on and on! Here are a few pictures...
Dad (Walt) and his wife, Nan
The Boys, Charles and Logan
Grandpa and Logan
Cute picture except that Dad won and Logan had a minor meltdown right there in the shop.
Logan
Me and Charles
I didn't realize that I didn't put on any makeup that day!
This is also the home of Ben and Jerry's famous (and delicious) ice cream.
Just hanging out in a very cold stream.
The view from our condo.
Climbing wall. Logan loves these!
A fun time was had by all and we are looking forward to our next getaway!
(No, nothing planned, just dreaming)
Dad (Walt) and his wife, Nan
The Boys, Charles and Logan
Grandpa and LoganCute picture except that Dad won and Logan had a minor meltdown right there in the shop.
Logan
Me and CharlesI didn't realize that I didn't put on any makeup that day!
This is also the home of Ben and Jerry's famous (and delicious) ice cream.
Just hanging out in a very cold stream.
The view from our condo.
Climbing wall. Logan loves these!A fun time was had by all and we are looking forward to our next getaway!
(No, nothing planned, just dreaming)
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