Flippy - I Rant, You Read
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
late evening
Happy Thanksgiving!
Because everyone needs a good laugh, I give you this, my Thanksgiving card.
the wee hours
Herniated Disc - Surgery or Not?
You know what, I’ll give you a big reason to choose surgery! Because I was suffering for seven months and I was only getting worse. The pain was getting worse, the numbness was spreading (the pain was spreading from just my left leg to my right leg, also) and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I couldn’t go grocery shopping because ambling for five minutes was horrible. I’m very very very happy with the results of my surgery and if I had to do it all over again (please, no!), I’d still choose surgery.
About 250,000 Americans have disk surgery for sciatica each year, while another quarter-million instead choose physical therapy, painkillers or rest until they feel better. The surgery costs about $6,000, Weinstein said. $6000? In what universe? My surgery was about $26,000+ when the surgeon, physician’s assistant, and anesthesiologist’s bills were added to the hospital bill. Also, my injections to stave off surgery were approximately $35,000. So, did AP get magical numbers or did I get totally ripped off?
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
terribly early in the morning
NaBloCoMo LoGos
NaBloCoMo LoGos - color adjusted, many sizes for you to enjoy, plus the original Perry Como album cover from which the logo was stolen. Our apologies to Perry, but December requires commenting and he had an excellent album cover that needed tainting. Leigh-Ann and I were out one day last week (or the week before - we’ve lost track of time) and thought up NaBloCoMo because after a whole month of posting, we thought people should relax and get to know their fellow bloggers by actually reading what they wrote in November. Plus, making a few new friends would be good...and actually letting them know that you’re reading their blog would be nice and festive. The day we thought of NaBloCoMo, I came home to post about it and found out that Citizen of the Month had already had the idea, but called it something else. Something I can’t remember, but it was the same idea. So, if he wants to do it, he’s more than welcome to have the logos and start ‘er up.
Monday, November 20, 2006
late evening
I Love Nespresso…And Good Customer Service
Several years ago, Leigh-Ann and I bought a Nespresso C-190 espresso machine when we were at CoffeeFest - we got a great deal on it. We’ve always loved the machine, but didn’t use it super regularly until Nespresso came out with their Aeroccino, which does an incredible job of foaming milk...silently. The Nespresso pods are 49 cents each, so we’ve saved a fortune by not going to Starbucks much in the past several months. We’re happy with our cappuccinos at home. Sure, we wish Nespresso had more decaf blends (they only have three), and especially more Lungo (the larger size pods) decaf flavors, as they only have one. For the first time, Nespresso has come out with flavored pods, but of course, none are decaf. Luckily, they’re anise (coffee/licorice? ick), vanilla (okay, but we have vanilla flavoring at home), and apple/cinnamon (naw...). We recently placed another jumbo order (I joke, we use two pods a day - 98 cents worth), so I was surprised to see a box from Nespresso at our front door. With our original first order, they sent out samples, so I thought it might be a sampler of their new flavored coffees. But, no, it was better. Chocolate. Incredibly tasty chocolate from Switzerland - a box of dark chocolate and a box of milk chocolate. They’re something I always wanted to try, but I couldn’t see spending $20 just to try some new chocolate.
The dark chocolate.
The milk chocolate.
The note that came with it - the color is messed up because the flash was glaring, and I was too lazy to take another picture.
And this, this is why we love Nespresso so much. We’re just itty bitty customers, but they treat us like we’re a big company or something. Also, their products are consistently great and we couldn’t be happier with our espresso machine, unless of course, they wanted to send us a brand new machine to try...and write about. That would make us very very happy. But if not, we’re still pretty damned happy with free chocolates. One little complaint - we’d like the Aeroccino to be bigger, so it could hold more milk. Other than that, it’s perfection.
the wee hours
I Hit The Freezer, Bop Shoo Bop
I’d like to say that I hit it on purpose, but I’ve never been one of those “hits things when they’re angry” types of people. Nope, I was rounding the corner to go look at the Target ad from the Sunday paper, when I apparently swung my arm too wide. It’s funny because it’s not as though I had to even walk more than ten feet total to get to the paper. There was no need for wild arm swinging - it’s not as though I needed to pick up any speed. Anyway, I smashed my knuckle into the corner of the chest freezer that we have in the kitchen/dining area. At first, I thought I broke my knuckle. But then, I always think I’ve broken something when I kick the computer stand, hit the tip of my finger with a basketball or softball (I must’ve come close to breaking my finger in college though, because it turned all kinds of pretty colors and I couldn’t play for a couple of weeks), tripped over the cats, etc. I never do. Well, at least not yet. In fact, whenever I’ve thought I’ve injured myself it’s been a false alarm, but when I did absolutely nothing to injure myself...I get a herniated disc. Go figure. I now have a silly looking really red middle knuckle. And it hurts. That stupid achy kind of pain.
Enough about that, I want Hanukkah Harry to bring me this t-shirt. Consider this “Make Bagels, Not War” t-shirt on my wishlist, Dad. Unisex size large, please. I like comfy.
