During all this, I asked my employer about the possibility of going part-time. I did not want to play the FMLA/disability game, even though for several weeks, I could not type or write for any length of time. I was told that no, it was a full-time job. I then had to decide if I wanted to stick with a job that I really did not enjoy, or try to get my own business off the ground. I have been doing web design part-time on the side, but it was apparent that I could not moonlight forever. I chose to get my own business off the ground. The only problem with that is that getting insurance is proving to be more difficult than I thought. If you have any kind of pre-existing condition it is hard to get individual insurance which is medically underwritten. It is no wonder that people stay at jobs they hate forever. We are slaves to a regular paycheck and the skyrocketing costs of medical care. Not to mention that the govt. taxes the hell out of small businesses.
Which brings me to another comment. I get so tired of hearing about how our soldiers in Iraq are "fighting for our freedom." The next person that says that to me may just get a good swift kick in the ass. Iraq does not threaten my freedom and never has. Make no mistake about it folks, the REAL threats to our freedom are insurance companies, large corporations, oil companies, the tax man, and our power-grabbing administration who asserts its right to spy on innocent citizens. That does not mean I don't support our troops, and I do understand that we have to stabilize Iraq before we get out. I just wish we hadn't gone into Iraq in the first place. I shudder to think what will happen when (not if, when,) we engage Iran. By that time, Jeffrey will be almost old enough for a draft, which another war will almost certainly require. Incidentally, Jeffrey just read this and welcomed me to the "Tin Hat Brigade" ("the govt. is out to get us, man!!"). Oh well. Dissenters need not waste their breath here. Get your own blog, it's free... but the govt. is reading them, too.
OK, off my soapbox. Towards the end of May I started to feel better and on Memorial Day weekend Jason headed up to Kripalu for a seminar with Dan Millman, author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior and other books. Dan has been a big influence in Jason's spiritual philosophy and Kripalu is also a top-notch school of Yoga.
While Jason was gone, I was feeling better and decided that I would tackle mowing our lawn. We fell seriously behind in maintenance chores like mowing the lawn and housecleaning while I was ill. Jason was spending most of his time trying to build the chicken coop in order to get the stinky chickens out of the garage. I borrowed the lawn mower from the garage my father-in-law's (one of the benefits of Jason being a landscaper), and before long, I was toodling along in the yard. Things were going well until I mowed through some tall grass and heard a terrible "kerchunk." My first concern was the lawnmower because I didn't want to have to hear about it for the next 20 years from my father-in-law. I turned off the motor and looked at the blade. It seemed to be fine, but then I realized that what I hit was the top of the septic drainpipe. $#%%@%^!!!! I could just imagine Jason returning from a nice relaxing weekend of spirituality and Yoga, to a yard spewed with sewage. Not to mention what my father-in-law would have to say. It took two trips to the hardware store, a scary date with a reciprocating saw and much cursing, but I did fix it. One of the three pipes is now a little shorter than the others. So short, in fact, that you could probably drive a lawnmower over it and not chop it off. Maybe I should hack up the other two.
Our latest project has been painting the chicken coop, which I will write more about later. I also have some pictures of the chickens to post, which I will do later today. Until then, take care.
Erika
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
~ George Bernard Shaw
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