Recovering From Heart Surgery

A good friend of mine underwent what he called a "mitral valve repair".  To me this sounded like something you would do to your car!  "Oh yes"... I said... "a valve replacement".  And will you be in the hospital for this "repair" I asked.  I know when my car needs a valve replacement, it takes a while and it's expensive.  Not much different when they do it on you.... huh?

Sure enough, his hospital stay was about as long as when my car goes into the shop... but that's where the similarities end.  Although your car will up and raring to go right when you pick it up, this is not the case with the patient recovering from their valve replacement surgery.

Recovery time for my friend was six to eight weeks and that length of time truly varies from one person to another.  He was also given instructions for wound care, diet guidelines, rehabilitation instructions, driving and activity level suggestions and guidelines.  The list was endless.  I think his recovery of six to eight weeks was so that he would have time to read all of the instructions sent home with him!

He was given plenty of medications to take while recovering and restrictions as far as going to the dentist which I thought was interesting.  All in all though, he was a very obedient patient, followed all of his doctor's instructions and I'm happy to say he is doing fantastic.  In fact, he's much better than my car... which is again back in the shop!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

What Happens After The Bankruptcy?

When we lived in California, we had a friend who was an Oakland bankruptcy attorney.  He frequently spoke of how his clients were so completely interested in all the "how to's" of filing for bankruptcy, and yet, not many were interested in what to do after the bankruptcy.  For the most part we all need to build credit, but this is especially true of someone who has filed for bankruptcy.

The first thing you need to do is gain some credit.  If you want to rebuild your credit, you need credit.  Look for and establish accounts that will report positive information on you.  If you pick up a credit card account, be very careful with it.  Use it sparingly.  Always pay the entire balance every month before the due date.

Paying on time is extremely important.  Credit cards will report late payments to credit reporting agencies.  Even your utilities, if paid late, will report negative information for your credit report.  Potential lenders will see you as a poor credit risk if they see that you continue to make payments late month after month.  In addition, most credit card companies have a substantial late fee when payments are not received by the due date.  Avoid these late fees and the negative hits to your credit report by paying your accounts in full before the due date.

Filing for bankruptcy doesn't end when it's filed with the court.  It is important to work on re-establishing your credit afterward.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Changing Your Financial Habits

Unfortunately, with the bad economy, comes bankruptcy for many Americans.  There are always questions about how to file for bankruptcy, or how to find a good attorney, but what about after the bankruptcy? Many people are unsure of how the bankruptcy will affect them and for how long.

First there is budgeting.  You may have had to file for bankruptcy due some bad judgement with your finances.  You will have to assess your spending and saving habits, and most important, make a plan to avoid falling into the same patterns that may have lead you to bankruptcy.  Create a budget and savings plan, and stick to it.

Lifestyle changes will probably be necessary to stick to your budget.  Eating at home more often instead of eating out can help keep you within your budget.  Planning a vacation closer to home may also help.  Just remember that although it may seem a painful compromise, these small changes will add up to big savings and get you on the right financial road.  Changing your financial habits and modifying your lifestyle can be done without feeling deprived.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog for an attorney in Louisiana and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Drivers Needed?

When we think of traveling, we think of Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, Australia.  Sadly, we rarely think of travel being something we can do in our own country.  I am 51 years old and I have seen New York City, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellow Stone, the beaches of California and Hawaii.  As I type it out, it seems like I have visited a lot of our country, but in reality this is merely a fraction of what our own US of A has to offer.

It's cheaper to travel within the United States rather than purchase airline tickets to foreign lands.  It's certainly safer to travel here.  For some reason, people just don't see it as that exciting to stay within America.  I admit to these feelings, until one day, I saw a sign that read:  Drivers Needed.  I started to dream of what it would be like to be a long haul truck driver.  Talk about seeing the country!

I would stop at the Redwoods in California and then head up the coast to Alaska.  There would be driving through the south to see Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and the Everglades in Florida.  I would head across the northern states to see Mount Rushmore and then on to Niagara Falls.  No more sitting in an office with a window to the same scenery for the past 10 years.  The windows of my semi truck would have a different beautiful landscape each and every day.  Driver needed?  Maybe I need to be a driver!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Hot Water

When you have seven children and five of them are girls... and only 2 bathrooms... there's going to be stress in your house.  And to have four teenage girls?  Well... you can only imagine.  You must know that there is never enough hot water.

We went through periods where we structured the day and time of each person's shower time.  This simply does not work with a house full of children.  Some, just throughout the course of their day will require a shower whether it is their turn or not.  And heaven forbid if one of them has a date, their shower time is, without question, on the same day as the date.  How can you possibly do your hair unless it is freshly washed?  Schedules were not working and we were still out of hot water.

Next we tried giving everyone a length of time they were allowed to shower.  Everyone was allowed 10 minutes to shower.  This was a joke.  I upped the time to 15 minutes for the girls which all too quickly became my next joke.  What if it was the day we had to shave our legs?  What if we needed to deep condition our hair... which apparently means you have to leave the conditioner on your head for five minutes... and no you can't turn the water off during this time because it gets too cold.   Still no hot water.

I thought maybe we had an obsolete water heater.  I asked the repairman to come out and take a look and his assessment of the situation actually made me consider that a $45 trip charge may not be that bad.  He looked right at me and said "You don't need a water heater replacement. You need an extra water heater."

We never ran out of hot water again.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

A Beautiful Thing

Heredity can be both a good thing and a bad thing.  For example, my son inherited his Dad's beautiful olive complexion, however, he also inherited his terrible teeth.  And when I say terrible, please understand, I'm talking horribly awful.  His Dad's family typically gets dentures in their 30's.  My son's molars showed cavities as they broke through the gum.  And this was with a careful regime of fluoride drops, brushing, and fluoride rinse.  At the age of five, the poor thing already had to have three root canals with crowns.

To say I was stressed about his having to undergo the procedure was an understatement.  I asked the dentist if there was something we could give my son, in advance, that would possibly keep him relaxed.  With my son being so young, he really had no idea and was not even worried.  Maybe I should have asked for a relaxant for myself?  My dentist then explained that it would be no problem. My son would be fine.  And then he went further to describe the beauty of sedative dentistry.

The day arrived and the nurse very sweetly showed us the way to the back area.  I followed much more apprehensively than my son.  Well... he never felt a thing!  I almost started laughing when I looked at my cute little boy.  He was lying on his back with both arms hanging over the side of the chair like dead weight.  He was even smiling!  He had a great time!  He smiled all the way home!  Who would have thought?  Sedative dentistry?  It is a beautiful thing.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

sedative dentistry

Optimization? What does that mean really?

If you live in the modern day world, I can pretty much guarantee that you have Google searched something.  At our house there is no question that it is much easier to search via the computer than try and search for the phone book.  The computer is always on the computer desk.  The phone book could be virtually anywhere from holding up the end of the couch with the broken leg, to pressing flowers in my daughter's room.  Google is much easier.

The ease to which we can access information is astounding.  And the way that businesses can use the internet to get consumers to access their particular business over anyone else is also astounding.

When I look up ice cream in Davis County, Utah, seven ice cream places show up.  The strange thing is that the number one on the list is Magnum Ice Cream which is not even in Davis County.  With Google Maps Optimization, Magnum has utilized keywords and phrases on their website to make them more visible to all of us ice cream lovers searching the internet.

And to be honest, it worked for me.  I explored their website and their ice cream looks incredible.  I even went so far as to find that I can purchase their ice cream bar less than three miles from my own home.  Amazing.  I'm on my way!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Finding Meat Variety Online

Gone are the old days where you knew your butcher for years.  He was the same guy who helped you with great pork chops for a holiday dinner, or that excellent roast for special guests, or cut your meat for that perfect stew.  My Grandpa was a butcher, so I grew up with a vast knowledge of the right cuts of meat.  My Grandpa would at times become frustrated with trying to explain to these part time job "kids" how he wanted his meat cut.  Even though I can remember the "good ole days", I would have never dreamed there would be a time where people would purchase their meat online.

Purchasing meat online is definitely more convenient.  And this convenience is not just that it will show up on your door step, but that you also have the sky's the limit as far as choices of where you would like to purchase your meat.  Butchers from all over the country are right at your finger tips!

And I thought I would worry about price, when really, you can search the web for coupon codes, specials, and all kinds of discounts which really brings your cost to right what you pay locally.

And the greatest feature is that you have such a variety, such selection.  When looking for organic meat at our local grocery stores, to say my choices are limited would be an understatement.  There usually is "a" choice and nothing more.  Online, you can search for a supplier who is organic, grass fed, bulk and many many other options.

I don't think my Grandpa would ever get used to not seeing his meat before he bought it, but today, it works.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

The Search for Semi Trucks

Some of my favorite childhood memories involve road trips with my family.  I have driven to the Grand Canyon, Mardi Gras, Yosemite, and various other tourist locations.  Those were all relatively short trips from where we were living at the time.  The big road trips were when we drove from Annapolis, Maryland to San Diego, California and when we drove from San Diego back to the east to Rhode Island.  Regardless of the length, my brother and my goal remained the same:  Get a semi truck driver to honk.

We would set our sights out first thing when we got on the road, searching for the ever present semi truck.  I remember one time we saw a huge pack of them on the side of the road.  We were amazed!  Then we saw the sign:  Semi Trucks For Sale.  No drivers.  No honks.

When we finally saw one, with a driver, we would pester and pester our Dad until he would pull up alongside of it so we could see the driver.  Then we wold perform the magical move of  bending the arm at the elbow, with your hand up, making a fist, and then you would pump it up and down.  This was the gesture that actually would mimic the driver's movement when he pulled and honked the incredibly loud semi truck horn.

Sometimes the driver would honk immediately, knowing full well what we were up to.  Then we would all smile and wave our thank you's.  There were times, however, where the driver really made us work for it.  We would pump and pump, mouth out the word "please" in a begging sort of way.  Our poor Dad meanwhile is trying to stay with the driver, slowing down or speeding up as we directed him with our screams.  When the driver would finally honk it was totally worth all the work.

I was out the other day and came up alongside a semi truck and wondered?  Yep.  He honked.  51 years old and I still got it!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Results

When it comes to weight loss, what are we looking for?  Results.  And it seems we really don't care how we get there.  There are crazy diets out there!  There is a cookie diet, which on the surface sounds great, but do I get to drink as much milk as I want?  And then the Atkin's Diet where all you eat is protein.  Well, I've never been a vegan, but no carbs?  Aren't carbs where we get our energy?  And then there is the tapeworm diet where you actually ingest a tapeworm.  No comment.

I must admit that I have been blessed with a fairly decent metabolism.  If I eat within reason, I won't gain any weight.  If I have a day where I consume 3 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies, then yes, I will gain a pound or two.  But it only takes a couple days to lose it.  Usually, lots of water, which fills me up, and if I don't eat after say 6:00PM.  This always seem to take care of those extra pounds.  But again, I've never had the reality of having to lose a lot of weight.

For those unfortunate enough to have added an extra 100 to 200 pounds to their frame, the idea of diet and exercise can be daunting.  And while I am an avid believer in just consuming less calories than you burn as the sure way to lose weight, I have seen amazing results with lap band surgery.  I really believe that this only applies to those who truly have a metabolism issue where diet and exercise just doesn't do enough.

I don't think there is a person out there who hasn't been on some kind of a diet and again... we all are looking for results.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

How To Find A Good Bankruptcy Attorney

When you find yourself in serious debt... debt that you can not pull yourself out of... bankruptcy is usually the next step.  Bankruptcy is a serious decision and a complicated one.  Many articles have been written on the importance of having an attorney... but how do you find the right attorney?

Ask how much of the attorney's time is actually spent on bankruptcy cases.  A lawyer may be in practice for 40 years, but if he has only filed 2 bankruptcies a year, he's really not all that experienced.  When we lived in California, we had a friend who was only a year out of law school.  He was an Oakland bankruptcy attorney and for the full year he was out of law school, all he did was bankruptcies.  He definitely had more experience than most lawyers.

How will bankruptcy benefit me?  Is bankruptcy a good option for me?  Both of these are excellent questions to ask.  A good bankruptcy attorney should be willing to discuss your options and he should make it very clear as to what the benefits and the negatives are to actually filing.

And finally, how do you get in touch with your attorney?  Some prefer phone calls, some prefer you call their office and leave a message, and still others prefer email.  You should know right now the preferred method of communication and if it will work for you.

Filing for bankruptcy is never an easy decision, but having the right bankruptcy attorney, a good and experienced bankruptcy attorney will help to ease your mind.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.