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Post by 3piggles on Feb 23, 2015 21:24:32 GMT
Busy day today. I actually did a whole lot of things on my TO DO list, as well as things that needed to be done. The dishwasher hasn't been cleaning the dishes, so I ran a bottle of cleaner through that and a second rinse, just to be sure the cleaner was all out of the dishwasher. Soaked and washed all the dishes that didn't come clean after 2 washes, and got those put away. Most of the laundry is done, and I made another batch of color catchers for the wash. Got those hung up to air dry in the snug. Finally darned a sweater that had a little hole. It's a beautiful, deep coral color, and I bought the thread for it ages ago, but never fixed it. Still have to clean the piggy condos, finish the laundry and make dinner. At least the day went quickly
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Post by bootygurl on Feb 24, 2015 4:00:38 GMT
Productive day for you 3piggles. Tomorrow is my "get stuff done" day. Laundry, cages, helping my "little sister" find a new apartment and job, did dishes tonight after my mess made from making cupcakes lastnight!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Feb 24, 2015 19:01:10 GMT
What busy girls you are huns, I wish i could try a cupcake LOL!! I am in a lot of pain today, everything aches. When I do lots of little things, I always feel quite satisfied once I have done them.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by 3piggles on Feb 24, 2015 21:32:02 GMT
Sounds like a busy schedule, Bootygirl I hope your sister finds a great apartment! Jo, I totally agree. I like to be able to look back and feel that sense of accomplishment. We had friends who hired everything done. They always said they couldn't see why we did all the reno work ourselves. We said it gave us a sense of accomplishment. When we finished redoing a house, it was 100 times better than when we moved in, and it was our doing They didn't understand, at all.
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Post by Bean on Feb 25, 2015 9:21:56 GMT
There's definitely a satisfaction from doing the work yourself, and also usually more money left in your wallet if you haven't had to pay someone to do it for you! (And quite frankly, I'd pay to avoid some of the workmen we've encountered over the last few years...).
We've done what we can here, but our handyman skills are not developed enough to do quite a lot of things so we do have to hire people if we want it to be legal or not be a fire hazard/ eyesore!
How are you feeling today Jo?
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Post by 3piggles on Feb 25, 2015 14:15:37 GMT
There's an American home remodeling show called This Old House, which we've watched since it started. It seems as if they cover what we needed to know, as soon as we've finished doing it the hard way It would be nice to have some of the trade tricks and specialized gear, but most of it is so expensive, if it's not going to pay for itself, it's not worth the cost. We found the worst thing contractors do is schedule smaller jobs around bigger jobs, so if you're a smaller job, you only get work done when someone is free from a bigger job. We had that happen when we had our last house interior painted. They did a great job, but could have done it in 3 days, not three weeks. When we get this house repainted, and the hardwood floors refinished, we will include that stipulation in the contract. No breaks for vacations, either. Assign someone who can get the job done.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Feb 25, 2015 19:12:27 GMT
Still feel pretty rotten Bean love, so much pan but I thank you for asking. When we have anything done now we get people in because cannot physically do much about the house anymore, when I could I used to do far more things. I agree about the sense of achievement, knowing you have made something look better yourself is a really nice feeling but I can also see the advantages of hiring someone else. We have a couple of these remodelling programmes here I think piggles love but I have never watched it. You are right about the contractors "fit you in when they can" I have had experience of that too.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by 3piggles on Feb 26, 2015 17:21:45 GMT
I wish you were feeling better. Pain is something you just can't get away from Hugs!! This Old House did a season in London, maybe 20 years ago. I'd have to look it up. They redid a 5th or 6th floor walk up with a roof deck. The main comments were that the value added tax really cut into the budget, and no elevator meant lugging everything including table saws and drill presses up all those stairs. The roof deck had an incredible view of London, though, so it as worth it. That flat was also more expensive than a house four times that size would be, here. I'll see if I can find anything on that season. We do some of the work ourselves, but I used to be a fabulous plasterer, and now my hands just won't do it anymore. I may try fixing some divots in our kitchen cabinets, but I'd rather have someone else do it. Grrr! Once again the medical insurance company hasn't covered enough of anything to make a difference. For what it costs us per month to have the coverage, they should cover 80% of it, not 20! Hubby had anesthesia for his colonoscopy, back in January 2014. We just got a bill for over $800 that the insurance company didn't cover. That just as the counselor hubby has been seeing went out on her own, and her fees aren't covered. He's had to change to going every other week, instead of every week, until we see what, if anything the insurance company will cover. We have Cigna, and it's one of the worst companies. It's all his company offers for people living in our state, so we don't have much choice. Just finished editing hubbys annual performance review for work. His dyslexia makes it hard for him to write well, so he writes a rough draft, and emailed it to me as a Microsoft Word document attachment. No problem, until I tried to save it and send it back. Why can't it ever be simple Somehow selecting the edit option had converted the Microsoft Word file into a Google document file. It didn't even have a SAVE option, so I couldn't close it. Oy! Ended up sharing it to his email. He'll have to cut and paste it back into the file he's using. Done for another year. Yay
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Post by jolovespiggies on Feb 26, 2015 19:40:03 GMT
Still in a lot of pain love, thanks for asking. Well done for sorting out hubby's annual performance review, that sounds like hard work hun.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by bootygurl on Feb 27, 2015 2:50:53 GMT
Healing vibes sent your way Jo and 3piggles! Hubs and I are going through out of pocket costs as well for a vasectomy reversal surgery. $4000 est. :s that or adoption and at this point the government funded adoption looks like a better option. By the time we get the reversal we won't be able to afford a baby. Trying to see if his work benefits will cover anything. Ontario health insurance covers vasectomy but not the reverse!
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Post by Bean on Feb 27, 2015 9:37:14 GMT
That is a lot of money to find. What are the success rates of the surgery over there? I think it's not much over 50% over here but your doctors might be better at it! Adoption sounds like a good option too, but it's definitely a complicated decision to make whether you want to take that route or have a chance to conceive on your own. Would using a donor be an option you'd consider? Don't feel you have to answer that, it's rather personal haha! Hope you work out a way to go for whichever path you feel will suit you best anyway.
Sorry you're still feeling rough, Jo - really hope the weekend brings some relief for you.
3piggles, I'm very jealous of you being good at plastering - it's a hard thing to get right and we've certainly never managed it! Sorry you're having problems with hub's medical insurance - it sounds so complicated working out what's covered when there are complex issues to deal with. Long live the NHS! (We really need to get rid of the Tories!)
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Post by 3piggles on Feb 27, 2015 15:10:54 GMT
We have a lot of good medical insurance companies in the US, but the one we have isn't one of them. They don't even always pay the same amount of the same charges. Makes no sense. It seems completely random. I have a friend who has fought with the company endlessly. They have all these requirements to use people in their networks, and we'll have to check out who is in the networks, before we get any more medical treatments. We really shouldn't have to do that, but that seems to be the game the company is playing. Hugs on your situation, Bootygirl! That's a hard decision to make, and it shouldn't be financially driven. I hope you are not only happy with the decision you make, but feel you can afford it Bean, we'll never get anything like NHS here in the US. Too little profit in it. We have insurance company lobbyists making sure all the federal elected officials vote against restricting insurance company profits in any way. Most insurance companies are also listed on the stock market, so they not only have to show profits or lose investors, but if they are nationalized, the investors take a huge hit. No one wants to be the bearer or that bad news.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Feb 27, 2015 19:49:06 GMT
Oh sweetie thanks for the vibes. That is expensive, I hope you get the little one you one one way or another. One of our main medical insurance companies here is Bupa but to get any decent cover, the premiums are very expensive.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Feb 28, 2015 20:19:46 GMT
I thought all citizens were automatically covered under NHS? I thought it was funded by tax money, as the cut backs reported were based on the extreme cost to the taxpayers. I didn't know you had to buy insurance, too?
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Post by Bean on Mar 1, 2015 15:37:37 GMT
We're all entitled to care under the NHS, the private sector is purely an opt in system - if you have loads of cash and want private healthcare, the option is there. They often have shorter waiting times, you get private rooms rather than wards if you have to stay in and care decisions are less affected by cost than in the NHS.
If the NHS get massive waiting lists for certain operations, they often buy a job lot from private care providers to get them down. I know quite a few people who have had their ops done at the local private hospital - apparently they're better staffed and the food is much nicer!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Mar 1, 2015 18:56:59 GMT
My mother, with her arthritis was periodically in hospital and it was a private one called St Anthony's. It was run by nuns and took care of a lot of Arabic people but the menu was always very spicy which my mum did not like, I would have loved it.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 1, 2015 20:34:03 GMT
Four people I know in the UK have been in the hospital this past year, all covered by NHS, and the treatment was terrible. However, it's just as bad with private insurance in the US, so bad care and treatment seems to be the norm. Hubby works for a company that creates medical care tracking software, and he said it's hard to even get the customers to provide all the same information the same items they are required to track. The government has started requiring some reporting from hospitals, but no specific forms they have to fill out. As he said, job security for someone, as each customer has to be processed differently, no templates.
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Post by bootygurl on Mar 2, 2015 3:45:32 GMT
We have OHIP but it doesn't cover elective surgery like a reverse vasectomy. In vitro or a donor is bottom of our options. Working in childcare I have seen the genetic problems that can come from that. Also when you invovle a donor I don't have someone I would trust not to have emotional issues with it. I'd rather adopt a child in need. I also feel a child with special needs would be a positive addition as I have lots of experience. We'll see what happens. Either way I'll just be happy to become a mother to a human! Haha I have lots of fur babies.
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Post by Bean on Mar 2, 2015 10:20:38 GMT
What sort of genetic problems can occur/ be increased if babies are conceived with IVF?
I've seen the health problems suffered increasingly in some communities because of the practise of cousins marrying. And have seen oodles of lifelong health problems in kids who were born very prematurely. But not sure I know of the IVF risks.
I think adoption is a great option if the surgery route doesn't work out. We're all so aware of animals in need, but there are so many babies being given up and kids in care. We'd like to look into fostering when our two are a bit older. They might have to have moved out at this rate as we don't have the necessary spare room right now!
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 2, 2015 15:48:14 GMT
There are so few good foster families, and the US system isn't good for getting kids into long term foster placement. Foster kids tend to bounce around from home to home, until they won't make friends or try to fit in, because they won't be there long enough. We had friends who became foster parents. They raised 3 great kids of their own, in a big farmhouse on a lot of land. When the social services people came to check out the house, they said it wasn't updated enough. It had old bathrooms, but big, full service ones with claw foot tubs and showers. They had a huge, eat-in farmhouse kitchen with a big table where the kids had done years of homework and school projects, and thousands of meals had been enjoyed. Our friends complained to their state representative, who was a friend, and it was handled. Most of us don't live in Trump Towers, or have the money to have fabulous renovations of our homes. Unless there is lead paint, or other dangerous items, a home is about the love and family you have there. If you do take in foster kids later, I hope you don't get put through the same ringer our friends were. It discourages good people from entering the system, which is sad.
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