Insurance companies.  Groups of people that I will never understand.  They like to tell you one thing and then, they like to have their co-workers tell you a completely different version of the story.  It’s like their company plays Telephone everyday.

I have contact with two camp friends and one of them is trying for a new wheelchair.  She needs a specific type of wheelchair and certain parts to it.  The whole wheelchair was denied by the insurance company and they said that these certain parts will have to be paid out-of-pocket.  She had to be driven to the insurance company to tell them that her insurance should be paying for these wheelchair parts.  Not to mention how expensive a wheelchair is without all of her required parts.

Insurance companies.  You were put in place to help people, not make them miserable by denying them equipment that they need for medical needs.  Why can’t you get that through your head?  Are you that ignorant to a person’s needs?  Do you realize that people with limited mobility need expensive equipment that cost thousands and thousands of dollars that the average person cannot afford?  And you’re willing to deny them their equipment?

What a disgrace.  Shame on you.  Shame on you.

I am facing one of the most difficult stages in young adulthood…. Finding a place to live.  It is NOT easy.  I thought that I had limited options with one facility until I found out that I had multiple options with facilities and living arrangements.  I could choose from a group home or an apartment.  At first, I was going to pick group home because there would be more help.  But I visited some and I thought about it.  I really don’t do well in groups and I want to challenge myself.  So now I decided on the apartment option.

I will keep you updated on my progress.

Happy New Year everybody.  I’m sorry.  December was a hectic month between getting ready for Christmas and, well, let’s say, facility hunting.

Is this college grad working?  Not exactly.  I’m thinking about getting a job, but right now, I want to get a volunteer job in my town.  Setting up an actual paying job in the disability world is different than the average employee.  On top of that, the idea of making as much money as you want gets screwed over if you’re already on social security checks.  I’m putting the job hunt off for that reason.  And I need more work experience before really considering a job.

But, managing Self Direction is a job in that I have to manage comm hab hours every week, making sure the day’s activity is weather appropriate and knowing when your aide can or cannot work.  Where I live, winter can get frigid.  But it’s fun.

I hope you have a Happy New Year.

Here’s a resource for renting for seniors.  You should never rent to just anybody.  Always make sure you rent to reputable tenants.  This website addresses things to think about before leasing to anybody: https://www.bankrate.com/retirement/retiree-guide-to-hosting-airbnb/

I think that I have lost it with Bill Staines radio on Pandora.  I love it!  It is a station with country, folk and New Age music mixed into one station.  It is one of my personal favorite stations on Pandora because it’s calming, relaxing and it plays a lot of variety.  It could play folk, bluegrass, old time and a lot more.  I binge listen to it a lot.

It doesn’t play Christmas music, but I think that it has a lot of themes that can relate to the holidays.  It has a lot of songs centered around the love of nature and it just fits into the holidays because this music reminds people of how important it is to come together and love each other. A lot of the songs are about nature and this station could warm a person’s heart like the holidays do.  And a lot of songs about nature are peaceful.  They forget about the hustle and bustle of the city craze.

I developed the love for soft music in senior year.  I always have shied away from loud and wild music.  Even today, I can’t stand hip-hop or rap or rock-and-roll.  Some rock-and-roll I will listen to, but I have to be in the mood for it.  I don’t even keep up with the Joneses with music.  I just listen to what I like.

What kind of music do you enjoy?

Alright everybody.  Happy Thanksgiving.

So I did something yesterday.  I got my first manicure in years.  My aide took me and I wanted to do this as a surprise for my grandmother.  I always have a hard time doing my nails because of my movement disorder and it is really enjoyable.  I have not done a formal manicure in a nail salon in years so I wanted to go get one for Thanksgiving.  With the help of my aide, it was a success.  So today I am grateful for my first manicure =].

Today I am thankful for food, shelter and warmth.

 You know, growing up, one thing was always made very clear to me.  Not everybody is always as lucky as you are to have food.  I think of this religiously every day and night; every Thanksgiving and Christmas season.  I think of the food drives going on at the grocery stores.  I think of the food pantries at the churches.  I was always devastated by the Feed the Children commercials on television.  I helped the youth bereau in high school around Christmas time, donating food, clothes and toys to homeless people.  I have a soft spot for hungry people and I hope that more people donate to that cause.

It is the same thing with shelter and warmth.  Not everybody has it.  I was taught this too growing up.  Look at the people devastated by the recent wildlife.  They don’t have shelter or warmth.  They are all in shelters.  It is really a shame that not everybody has food, shelter and warmth and we need to be grateful for what we do have.

Today I am grateful for my Accent, love of God and my blog audience.

• Accent.  Without my Accent, I wouldn’t be able to talk to people.  Simply put.  I wouldn’t be able to text people, facilitate conversations or, like at the Thanksgiving dinner, say what I’m thankful for.  It’s a lot easier to program than the Dynavox.  I don’t have to go into every button to program it.  I can simply type a message, save it to a button and then select the button to modify the color.  I also have notebooks to type long messages in and save them.  It’s that easy.
• Love of God.  I declare my weblog a safe place to express my love of God without prejudice or bias.  The older I get, the less I try to embrace the modern desire for being rich, finding a husband right away and living luxurious.  Right now, God has assigned me to enjoy Self Direction and two weeks ago, I visited my first supportive living facilities.   No tours were taken, but that should be coming up.  He has allowed me to get information from places in New York State that I desire favorably.  So let’s see where this goes.
• My blog audience.  I know that I blog sporadically, but I do enjoy it.  I am grateful that my audience has been so patient with me.  I just get caught up with some stuff or I don’t know what to say.  Thank you guys.

I decided to do a four days of gratefulness challenge.  I should have done it all month, but I didn’t.  Today I am thankful for family, Self Direction and not being in school this Christmas season.

• Family.  My family is my rock, my protection and my life.  They are so supportive as I start to set up the next stage of my life, apartment hunting.  I am scared that I am apartment hunting as I don’t want it to fall through.  I am a little hesitant, but I know that it has to be done.  But, then, I’m excited.  So they have been really supportive of this.
• Self Direction.  I am not really working, but I am happy that I have Self Direction and this is something that I have been waiting for 4 years to set up.  I have the best aide, very caring and kind.  We have gone to Sleepy Hollow, Albany and all over.  We even visited Washington Irving’s house.
• Not being in school this Christmas season.  I am thankful that I don’t have to do homework and get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  That was a lot and I wouldn’t want to balance homework and Thanksgiving or Christmas prep again.

Tomorrow is Veterans’ Day; a day to thank all the veterans that have served our country in war.  It honors the men and women that keep us safe.  This is a month of gratitude and it is appropriate that we honor our veterans.  My grandfather, great-grandfather and two of my uncles were veterans and it would really be a shame if they weren’t thanked.

You know, I miss my grandfather.  I honor his service to the firehouse, ambulance corps and the military.  He was in the army.  My great-grandfather and my uncles were in the navy.  I feel that it would be a crying shame if they weren’t honored tomorrow.  World War II ended November 11 at 11 a.m..  That was my great-grandfather’s war and he served in D-Day, Battle of the Bulge and Normady.  I have other family members that are veterans and it would be a crying shame if they were not honored.  My grandfather’s cousin is a veteran.  He should be thanked.

All of the veterans should be thanked.  I ask you to please kindly do so.

Thank you