Sunday, February 23, 2014

Sunday - Window of Opportunity

Our prompt for today is 'windows of opportunity'. This is mine.....

As you all know, we are getting ready to move to Belize. This is a huge window of opportunity for us. Whereas we do not want to leave our family and friends, we will have a much better quality of life there. We just cannot afford to stay in the US. In two years, if we are not happy there, we can come back because by then I will be 65 and will have an option of better healthcare than I can get now.

Here in the US (if you do not know) Social Security and Medicare are deducted from your wages. Social Security is a bit like a pension plan. Medicare is a state run medical program. Unless you make a lot of money over the years, you cannot live on Social Security because it is based solely on how much you earned. You receive a percentage of that when you retire. We both have small pensions from our employers that we also contributed to while we worked. This money does not move from employer to employer and not every employer offers pension plans. By law, they are not required to.

Even though we paid into the Medicare fund our entire working lives, when you retire they take $104 out of your Social Security as a monthly premium (this year anyway, it goes up every year). Medicare covers doctors and hospitals (you still have co-pays for these services). You sill have to have some kind of insurance plan to cover your prescription drugs. At least this part doesn't cost you a premium every month. You still have co-pays though. The only problem with this is you are only allowed so much a year to spend. If you have a lot of medicines, and some of them have a high co-pay (which hubby does), you meet that deadline very quickly. When that happens, you fall into what they call the 'doughnut hole'. Then you pay the entire amount for the medicine which can be hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars. Even with all of this, it is still better than the healthcare insurance I had to take out when hubby retired.

My 'Obamacare' insurance is costing me $285 a month. I have a $500 deductible for prescriptions and have to spend $3500 out of pocket before my co-pays kick in. I had to change my pharmacy that I have used for years because my new insurance dictates where you get your medicines. I had my first prescriptions filled last week. I have six prescriptions I have filled every month. I only picked up three because the others were way too expensive. They wanted $62 for one, $85 for one and $635 for my insulin. With my other insurance I paid $10 for the same insulin. The three I picked up cost $16. I have one medicine that I don't have to get filled every month so I have no idea how much it will cost.

So, to make this long, drawn out story shorter, we are jumping at this window of opportunity to move to a country that offers less expensive healthcare, medicines, and overall cost of living. We no longer can afford to live in the US at this juncture of our lives.

So, those of you that were going to google Belize, I hope you found it and see how beautiful it is there. You are all welcome to come visit once we get settled.

I don't know what it is like where you live, but the US (or many parts of it) is no longer such a good place to be. At the rate things are going, I do not know what our children and grandchildren will do when they get to be our age.

We are very excited and should be leaving on March 22 or there about. I will keep up with blogging as well as I can. Luckily, a lot of places have free Wi-Fi.

Take care and have a good week. xxxx

Belize
 
Thadd's Birthday Dinner Saturday
(Kobe Japanese Steak House)

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Thursday-Friday-Saturday Windows

I didn't have time to go out looking for windows the last few days (and we don't have any in our house that qualify) but rather than not posting at all, I went to the internet. Sorry, I know that is cheating but something is better than nothing, right? So hear are my traditional, ornate, and small window pictures.

 
 
 
 
Today is hubby's birthday. He is 65! Pictures later!

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Wednesday -Modern Windows

I wasn't able to take any pictures today so I went to the internet. The first picture is of a very modern building with very modern windows. The second is of some modern windows a company here sells that you can get for your house.



Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Tuesday - Shop View

Just a couple from the mall. Macy's and Williams Sonoma.



Week Eight - Windows

This is our challenge for week eight:
 
So, our prompt for this week... Windows.
 
I am trying to choose words which are easy if you are short on time and also things you probably have pictures of in reserve if the wintery conditions mean you don't want to get out much (apart from Joy of course who we all envy languishing in her Florida sun ;-)  )

I have tried to expand the prompt and give you some food for thought as well:
  • Monday ... my favourite view through a window
  • Tuesday ... Shop or large building window
  • Wednesday ... Modern windows
  • Thursday ... Traditional window
  • Friday ... Ornate window
  • Saturday ... Small window
  • Sunday... a Window of Opportunity (may be easier to write about than photograph!)
Hope that has given you a few ideas.. or maybe made the whole thing worse.. if so .. just 'show me some windows', a different type each day.
These two windows are in a small bar area off of our family room. They look like stained glass windows but actually they are decals of some sort. I think they are neat. We have the same windows in our master bathroom. It is not a great picture because I took it with my phone though I have to say it looks better on my phone than it does here.
 
 


Sunday, February 16, 2014

Sunday - Fluid

Not sure about this one so I am just using a picture if a mirror hanging on the living room wall. As you can see it is octagon shaped.



I don't have anything else that I know of to take a picture of. 

Several of you have asked me where we are moving. We will be moving to Belize in March. We are very excited but have lots to do!  Xxx

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Saturday - Diamonds

I just don't have anything diamond shaped in my house, so I decided to use a background with diamonds to show you a picture of a diamond ring that Thadd is going to have made me for me. It won't be this large of course, but it will be like the picture.


Then there is this! WooHoo!



I am sorry to read of the bad weather so many of you are having. Please know you and your families are in my thoughts and prayers. I hope everyone stays safe and the bad weather goes away and stays away soon.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Friday - Hearts

Here are my hearts...we had a dinner dance last night at one of our clubhouses here and these were the decorations on the table.



I saw this on FB and thought it was cute.


And then there is the card game hearts.


Hubby gave me this box of candy for Valentine's Day.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Thursday - Spheres

I thought this one would be interesting. It is my gazing ball in the front yard. It is a little dirty. Normally it shines. It is being held by frogs.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Wednesday - Triangles

I don't have much in the way of triangles, but this is what I came up with.

The triangular piece of wood that hangs from the center of my wind chimes...


And, one of the shelves on my plant stand on the patio. They are all triangles though it is a little hard to tell that.


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Monday, February 10, 2014

Week Seven - Shapes

This week's challenge is on shapes. Here are our prompts for the week:

  • Monday .. Squares or Rectangles
  • Tuesday .. Circles
  • Wednesday .. Triangles
  • Thursday .. Sphere or Oval
  • Friday.. Hearts.. well it is 14th Feb
  • Saturday .. Diamonds
  • Sunday.. Random fluid shapes
Here are my pictures for today, Monday..........

Sky Light in one of the bathrooms


Thadd's big TV


The For Sale sign with "Pending" in our yard


Sunday, February 9, 2014

Sunday - Digital or Print

I love both forms but do not have enough storage space for all the photos I have now. So, I don't print anymore unless it is a special occasion or a gift. I shop online and really like that I can go to multiple web pages and not have to mess with ads or catalogs. I do still read the printed newspaper everyday though because I am not real keen on Internet news. The other thing I still like are the grocery sale ads in our Wednesday paper. We have two stores we shop and I like to compare their prices and BOGO offers.

 So, some exciting news. We have received an offer on our house! They are having an inspection done and if all goes well, it's a done deal! We will then be traveling to Belize to look for a place to live. I'm not putting anything on FB since Thadd hasn't told his family yet that we have a buyer, so if we are FB friends, keep it mum please. We are very excited!!!





xxxx

Saturday - My Blog Story

I started blogging just to get some of my thoughts out of my head. It seemed like I just had so much rattling around in there and no one to tell them to. I would spend many hours sitting with my mom just talking about everything under the sun. After she passed away, I just didn't seem to feel like talking that much anymore. I kept things bottled up, so I decided was going to start a journal but I didn't like writing by hand anymore (it was hard to read my scribble anyway). So I thought, ah I would start a blog.

I didn't really do it for anyone else to read necessarily, I just wanted it all out of my head! Then I found out that Lynne had a blog so I began to follow hers. It was also a way to stay in touch. Then I was invited to join in on one of them and here I am today! I have met so many interesting, nice people from all over since I joined. I enjoy it immensely. Thank you everyone for being my friends and reading my posts! It has meant so much to me!


Friday, February 7, 2014

Friday - The Power of Adverstising

For the most part I hate ads. I pretty much record all of the TV shows I watch just so I can fast forward through the ads. I find most of them an insult to my intelligence. If I have an advertisement stuffed down my throat over and over again, I become as stubborn as a mule and would not buy the product even if it made my life ten times easier. Some of the worst ads here on TV are the car dealership ones. They seem to think if you add a child or a dog, it will sell more cars. If I can't skip them, I mute them! LOL

This ad for Acorn TV popped up on my Facebook page. I just might have to check it out because then maybe, just maybe, I could watch more of the British shows I like. They offer a month for free. The only thing is, you can only watch online on your computer.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Thursday - TV Favorites

Wow, since television is our main source of entertainment (besides reading), I watch a lot of shows (or should I say I record them so I can fast forward through the commercials). I can't say I just have one or two favorites. I like them all! So, I am going to put some pictures of just some of the TV shows I watch on a regular basis. There are others that only play in the summer and some that only do a season once a year, like Downton Abbey. I watch quite a few true crime type shows as well (which I probably shouldn't because sometimes they scare me) and more cooking shows than I have shown here. So, now you all know my secrets. LOL! I love most British detective shows and I think I have watched just about all of them that I can get on my TV or You Tube.





And one of my all time favorites.........

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Wednesday - Memorable Sculpture or Art

Sorry for not doing Tuesday but at this point I don't really have a craft heaven so I had nothing to post. So, on to today's prompt. If any of you have ever been to Washington, DC you know that there are many works of art or sculptures along with a dozen museums.

I am a product of the 60's which was during the time of the Vietnam War. I lost many male friends in that war. Organizations sold POW/MIA bracelets to help us keep prisoners and missing soldiers in our hearts and prayers. Many years after the war ended I found out the man whose name was on my bracelet was killed in action. I still have that bracelet and hold it dear to my heart even though I never met the young man. So, having said all this, my most memorable sculpture or art is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.

The Wall That Heals

Honoring the men and women who served in the controversial Vietnam War, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial chronologically lists the names of more than 58,000 Americans who gave their lives in service to their country.
 
 




 
If you ever get the chance, go visit it. xxx

Monday, February 3, 2014

Week 6 - Media

This is our challenge for week six from Kathijo....

Even if we spend a lot of time indoors we can share our thoughts and memories on these:

  • Monday.... a picture I love
  • Tuesday... my Craft heaven
  • Wednesday... memorable sculpture or art
  • Thursday ... TV favourites
  • Friday .... the power of Advertising
  • Saturday  ... my Blog story
  • Sunday ... Digital or Print?
 I am not sure if by 'picture' you mean a photograph picture or an artist's paining as a picture. So, what I picture do I love? Wow, this is hard for me because I love so many. I think I will go with several. You have probably seen them before, but they are my favorites.


 


I hope everyone had a good weekend! xxxx

              Sunday, February 2, 2014

              Sunday View - Your Feet with What You Wear in the Winter

              I usually am barefoot in the house but wear these shoes if I go out anywhere or have to do any walking. These shoes are very comfortable. I have cowboy boots but seldom wear them because they are very hot. Most of the time it just isn't cold enough to wear closed in shoes. Here in Florida, flipflops and sandals are worn year round.

              Saturday's View - Somewhere I Go Frequently

              About the only place I go on a regular basis is the grocery store. Here is a picture of my favorite shopping place.



              They are nice stores with a good selection of products.