One Foot on a Banana Peel

Over the hump day and time to do some tossing out of the thoughts piling up in my head.

American Idol:  I watched last night.  It was the first night of competition with the final 12 contestants.  Diana Ross was the celebrity mentor.  She surprised me.  I’ve always thought she was a bit of a flake, but she came off as very normal and down to earth.  Paula Abdul, on the other hand, was having trouble putting a coherent sentence together.  But getting back to Ms. Ross, it would be interesting to know what she had to say in private last night after hearing the majority of the contestants massacre her songs.  Only a couple of the girls did them justice.  The rest were just…..eh.  The worst had to be Sonjaya, which was not a surprise, really.  I really question how on earth he made it to the final 12, when he is just not that good.  None of his performances up to now warranted him getting this far.  And as for being "a gently soul", "all about love", etc.  Gag me.  When he opens his mouth and starts talking….if I close my eyes and just listen, it’s Micheal Jackson.  Anyway, they didn’t come through last night, but my favorites are still Chris Sligh and Blake Lewis.

Health Care:  There is something wrong with the picture when in a country as rich as this one, not everyone can get the medical attention they need.  When we were in the hospital lounge this past weekend, a doctor came in to explain things to a lady who was waiting on a woman who’d had surgery on her leg/foot.  The patient was being discharged as soon as she came out of recovery.  The woman waiting was horrified and asked wasn’t it too soon and how would the patient manage when there were 28 steps leading up to her house?  The doctor agreed that she should be kept at the hospital, but the insurance wouldn’t cover it.  So, home she had to go.  Ridiculous!  When I had Megan, my roommate’s baby was quite ill and needed to spend much longer in the hospital than the 2 days the mother did.  The problem was, the mother lived a good distance away and wouldn’t be able to travel back and forth.  She was beside herself.  Her doctor, who shall remain nameless (and one of my heros), told the insurance company that she, too, was sick and therefore needed to stay.  He was able to convince them of this so that she could be with her baby.

March:  Is such a tease.  Yesterday it was 71 degrees and sunny.  Felt like summer.  Everyone acted like it was summer.  Today it is 67 degrees with rain.  Tomorrow is more rain.  And a little cooler.  By the weekend, we’re talking snow.

Walking the dogs:  The nice weather had us out walking the dogs.  Good for them.  Good for us.  Well, maybe not so good for them…or at least not for Elvis.  I knew he needed a new collar.  The Basset Hound in him showed up in the neck and chest.  He’s quite, um, large of girth.  Still, I thought he’d be okay till I made it to the big pet store in Greensburg.  I was wrong.  If he had walked nicely, it might have been okay, but he pulled.  A lot.  We didn’t even make it to the end of the street before I gave up because I was afraid he was literally going to strangle himself.  His eyes were bulging and the blood vessels were sticking out and red.  He was hacking and the drool!  I ran right to the local (and more expensive) pet store to get a bigger collar.  What I decided on was a harness and it’s the best thing ever.  Elvis walks like a perfect gentleman with it on.  No more pulling.