Health Update, Saving, Misc

Got the Okay from the doctor for external rotation, resistance/strength building, and not having to wear the sling yesterday. Yay! Mind you, the shoulder itself had a few things to say about being in the car without the sling yesterday. But sleeping for the first time without the sling worked out just fine, and I'm less stiff in the morning than I was with it on. So, cautiously optimistic.

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Finally finished the monthly bank reconciliation. It probably would have been better for L to be entering things over the past month, but he was way too busy with doing everything else, so I kept going. Took forever to do the reconciliation because I'd missed making so many entries over the past month, and the online bank statement would time out... but, it's all done now, and I should be better able to keep up with things as I continue to gradually decrease the amount of pain meds. I even made a transfer from checking to savings. That's something we get to do every month now, quite the novelty for us. We'll need all we can save, for shopping for our future permanent home.

One of the results of moving here is that our total monthly expenses went down, between paying some things off with the sale of the house and that living here is just cheaper. And even though we haven't been as good about eating out as we should be (got into some bad habits during the renovation/moving phase), we have been cutting down on that some and using stored foods more, we've brought down our total monthly food/household supplies budget. We should be able to bring it down even further this year. And of course once the PT is done, our gas usage will also drop.

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Need to finish taking down the tree and the decorations today. We keep things up through Epiphany, so we have decorations for our anniversary :) Anyway, need the space for going through my supplies for making stuff for Birka. Next few weeks are serious crunch time.

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Some of the books I ordered have arrived. L has already gotten into reading two of them - The Contrary Farmer, by Gene Logsdon, and one on raising chickens. I hope to peruse the books at least briefly, sometime this week. May bring some to the study group on Sunday, just so people can get an idea of what some of the books are that we have.... need to find my bookplates and start using them, and maybe start up a sign-out book again, to help keep track of loaned books. Heaven knows I hold on to some loaners longer than I mean to, myself!

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Did some I Ching readings earlier this week. Oy. Going to be busy with more than just making things for Birka this month... and the next few months for that matter. Which I pretty much figured anyway, but sometimes it's nice to get a 'second opinion'.

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It was foggy first thing this morning, but it's all burned off. Nice and sunny out! Will definitely make time for a walk today, if only down to the sugarhouse and back a few times.

Are we losing some of our freedom of speech?

A frightening and thought-provoking video on H.R. 1955. A bill that has currently passed in the House, 404 to 6, and which at least one congressman has admitted to voting on without even knowing what he was voting for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wJsovPRTEM

I highly recommend watching the video. The argument, by this person from Brasscheck.com and others, centers around the definitions used for the word "force", as opposed to the word "violence". Yes, in this bill they are two separate things.

More info here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1955

The companion bill (the one to be discussed in the Senate, is 1959)


Watch the video, draw your own conclusions. Contact your reps and senators now. Oh, and at the moment, Obama is _undecided_ on the bill.


The bill sounds on the surface like it's a good idea, to do something about terrorism at home. But it is including making it illegal to discuss or write about _ideas_. It opens the way to interpretation of what kinds of thoughts and ideas are considered "all right" or "terroristic". This whole thing reminds of how some people have taken to using the words "patriotic" and "unpatriotic" to promote personal agendas or shut down other people's arguments and discussions.

Oh, and for the people who think only the Republicans could come up with something like this, it was sponsored and introduced to the House of Reps by a Democrat, Re. Jane Harmon, D-CA. Co-sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats. Senate introduction is by a Republican.

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A perhaps more easily readable page on H.R. 1955:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_House_Resolution_1955

It lists and discusses the points of criticism of the bill. It also lists the rebuttals to the criticisms.
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One of my own thoughts on Harman's rebuttal that the meaning of the wording in the bill is made clear in the hearing discussions, is that the hearing discussions are not a part of the bill. They're discussions. I'm not an expert in legal matters by any means, but it seems to me that if the wording is not explicitly clear in its interpretation, then there's a problem.