Family medical history for... zombies?

I got the Winter 2012 issue of Health Monitor in the mail a few days ago and last night I was reading through it when I noticed something... peculiar. One of their cover articles is "Update Your Family Medical History - Now". Paging through the booklet to the article we find the usual sorts of questions --

YOU
Date of Birth: ____________
Date of Death: ____________
Cause of Death: ____________
Illness: ____________

---- wait.... read that again. Date and cause of death for YOU!? Is this a family medical history for zombies?

I don't know about anyone else out there, but I am not exactly privy to the date and cause of my death, and I kind of don't want to be. I just hope it is a VERY long time from now and I'll have lived a full life when it happens. How the heck am I supposed to be filling out my own date and cause of death in a family medical history file?

Even with the peculiar information request on the questionnaire, they are right. It is important to create a family medical history.

Shark Week

Contribution by German Flowers

My husband loves watching Shark Week. He looks forward to watching it all summer. Shark Week is a whole week on Discovery Channel dedicated to shows about sharks. I do not know how they find that much information on sharks to take up a whole week with shark shows. My husband was worried that shark week was going to be when he was out of town for work and he might not be able to watch it. I told him to go to www.cannonsatellite.com to find the Discovery Channel schedule. He found out that shark week is the week before he has to go out of town and he will be able to watch most of the shark shows. I am not that interested in sharks and most of those shows make me scared to swim in the ocean. They do not even phase my husband though. He can watch all sorts of shark attacks and still have no problem swimming in the ocean. I am not really looking forward to hours of shark shows being recorded on our tv, but I guess it makes my husband happy.

Santa's gift basket

Gift baskets are a popular item to give for the holiday season. And they are an easy way to put together a last minute gift or a gift for an entire family.

Tuck small wrapped gifts into the basket, because everyone likes to have at least one little surprise that they can open for the holidays.

Keep dietary restrictions in mind. You don't want to give sugary things to a diabetic or salty things to someone watching their sodium intake.

If you are making a basket for a family, then be sure that you allow for enough of each item for the family that receives the basket that everyone gets at least one of each item type.

Another year drawing to a close

Here we are at the close of another year. Where I live the snow lays heavily on the ground and evenings are spent watching the glowing lights of the holiday tree in a darkened room.

I have the tree up, but did not have the emotional or mental strength to actually decorate it. Possibly tomorrow night, if I am not hurrying to get holiday presents made at the last minute or something. It is a bit of a blah year for me. My car is snowed in so I ain't gone anywhere since winter started, and that means that I have not had a chance to get any shopping done for anyone. Not that I am in a very festive mood, but I had at least had intentions to get out and go shopping for at least one item for each of the people in my family.

The holidays are just not much of a festive time when you live alone and there is no one other than the dogs to be decorating for. Or the cats, but the cats tend to climb into the tree and break the ornaments.

The Lemon Law and Attorneys

Buyers regret is one thing. Where you buy a new car and after you drive it off the lot you decide that you really wish you had gone for the little red convertible instead. In a case such as that you really should have taken more time to make your decision and picked the car that you truely do love before you made the purchase.


What if you love your new car, but as soon as you dive off the lot the car it starts to exhibit issues that were not known about before you purchased it? Not every car is what we expected to buy, but some can be genuine lemons that we really wish we had never seen.

That is why there is a law known as the Lemon Law. It assures that if you purchase a lemon you have certain rights. In California you can consult someone such as the California Lemon Law attorneys Shainfeld & Anvar to find out what your rights are when it comes to having purchased a lemon.

Shainfeld & Anvar are Lemon Law attorneys in California that assist car buyers in avoiding being ripped off by the purchase of a lemon, however, there are laws in every state to help protect you from purchasing a lemon instead of a car, so if you are not in California contact a local attorney that specializes in consumer rights. to find out what your rights as a buyer are.

Leaking roof vent

The last thing that anyone wants to find is damage to their home, trust me, I know. The men that built my parents' house were low bid contractors on a government contract after a fire did major damage to the area years ago and a disaster was declared. We were among the the lucky that got help rebuilding, but that came with some drawbacks.

Being a government assisted building project, it went to the lowest bidder. That left us with a house filled with construction flaws. The foundation had a large crack near the front door, the living room had a crack that went the entire length of the ceiling and turned to head for the front door where the living room went toward the hallway, the kitchen counters were pulled out from the wall behind them, and it was impossible to put up corner shelves because you could not find an actually squared corner in the house.

The worse I think, aside from the major structural cracks, was the improperly sealed fan in the kitchen that caused water to leak into the house during thaw or heavy rains. There are clear signs of leaking on the walls in both the kitchen and the bathroom where they share the wall with the faulty kitchen fan vent. The walls have been painted, but the damage is still there and even after the State sent someone that was supposed to have repaired the vent last year it still leaks.

If I save the house, I am going to need to get upstairs and see what the attic looks like where the water has made its way into the house all these years. I'm a bit scared to see what that is going to be like, even though the guy from the state assured me that there was no damage. He had also assured me he had fixed the leak.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - or caregiving, or....

I'm in a weird mood right now, and rather sleepy, so I present to you The Twelve Days of Christmas... or is that The Twelve Days of Caregiving?? I know from experience this can all be fit into about 12 hours of being a caregiver, so, for all of you that work so hard to make life a little easier for those who you love - this Filkd classic is for you!


On the first day of Christmas my caregiver gave to me...
An open heart with lots of love

On the second day of Christmas my caregiver gave to me...
An open heart with lots of love
two kisses on the cheek

On the second day of Christmas my caregiver gave to me...
An open heart with lots of love
two kisses on the cheek
Three home cooked meals


(and so on...)

Four healthy snacks
Five warm blankets
Six assistance's standing
Seven loving embraces
Eight cups of water
Nine medications
Ten errands a running
Eleven times came a running
Twelve I love yous

Happy Holidays

The holidays are here, looming just around the corner and moving closer with each day. In fact, today is the 13th of November, which means that there are now exactly 12 days to Christmas.

How do you plan to make this year special for a senior in your life? How have you made holidays past special for them?