Back in the financial sector...

http://www.occ.gov/topics/consumer-protection/foreclosure-prevention/correcting-foreclosure-practices.html

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/08232013_mortgage_servicing_cfpb.asp

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/08212013_oig_gses_fhfa.asp

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/10261295/Goldman-Sachs-Signs-of-a-slow-recovery-in-the-eurozone.html

Buying a Feeling of Closeness or The Stuff We Leave Behind When We Die

So my cousin Tina posts this photo of a bunch of random jewelry...

... but there is this golden heart with the letter "J" inside of it, so I know it's from my Aunt Jane. And I bought it. Best $25 I ever spent?

Catching up on my Heath

In 1985, my appendix ruptured and I didn't realize it for a month because I thought having pain in my gut was normal. After being in and out of the hospital for three months from complications of appendicitis (abscess plus my intestine was perforated by a surgeon), I was diagnosed with Crohn's during a resection surgery - parts of the large, small and colon were removed. I had such a senses of well-being after the surgery, but once I started to educate myself about the disease, I understood there is no cure, only the control of the symptoms. I found the specific carbohydrate diet (www.scdiet.org) and it's helped me a lot, but I still struggle with my diet everyday. *No dairy* Second resection in 2000 was just for a part of the small intestine which also gave me 'surgery induced' pernicious anemia, so I have to have B12 shots every other month for the rest of my life. 

After going through menopause last summer, I complained to my doctor of a general ache in my bones, but especially my right arm which I use the most. My diet has restricted foods that cause flares, but specifically dairy and after 30 years, I'm worried about osteoporosis. I started to take 2 Beano tablets & Calcium+D recently. I never knew taking calcium could give you gas, so I've found taking Beano with it helps. I'm afraid my third surgery will leave me with a colostomy. This disease afflicts both sides of my family, but we don't really talk about it all that much so online communities like these help a bit, but my experience dealing with the disease seems vastly different because I only use medication when I'm acutely ill and not for maintenance.

Back again this year - eczema. In the past, I've had a patch behind my right knee and on my right hand that I've treated with emu oil and it went away. Now I have a small round patch on my inner calf I'm treating with cortizone 10 because it itches frequently. I attribute it's occurrence to stress, but I find it strange that it pops up so infrequently and in such random places on my body.

Sadness

The last time I blogged here, little did I know that my Aunt Jane's fight for life was over due to the ravages of diabetes. This is the message I received on Facebook from my cousin Cate...

               "Judi... hopefully this will reach you...Your Aunt Jane has died. She had a stroke a 

                   week and a-half ago and slipped into a coma on the 26th. She was brain dead last

                   Friday (May 3rd), and they removed her feeding tube at that  time. She died 2AM 

                   Wednesday(May 8th)."

This is very much how my father died. And it bothers me that such a little thing as elevated blood sugar can do so much damage to the body. It bothered me so much that I talked to my new doctor when I had my initial consultation after I changed over to Kaiser health insurance. You know what he said after I discussed my family's history diabetes?

                                          "Don't get fat, don't get fat, don't get fat!" 

If it's as simple as that for most American's, why aren't we more vigilant about what we eat and staying active after 40?

When I got back to work after hearing the news, I told my manager who then said that I've got to go back to New York for the funeral and out of my mouth came, "It's my family, I've got to." After all, Aunt Jane made the effort to come to my mom's memorial, so I had to attend hers.

I flew into Newark Airport (EWR) on Sunday. It took two hours driving in the dark to get to Poughkeepsie. On Monday, I drove up to Red Hook to visit my mom's/grandparent's grave site and pulled the vines off of the headstones. I thought about collecting more photos of headstones, but I really wasn't into it on that day, so I left my camera in the car and headed back to the hotel, but not before going to the grocery store for provisions.

Tuesday was the funeral. I stayed downtown, so the funeral home wasn't too far from the hotel.  It was very Catholic and with the splashing of the holy water onto the corpse, her priest said a few poignant things plus verses from the Bible and then read what my cousin Tina wrote. After that, whomever wanted to follow the casket in the procession line to the cemetery did so, minding the traffic signals, but still driving behind the hurst with our emergency blinkers on. Aunt Jane is buried with Uncle Frank who passed in 2002 in section 24 in the back rows of St. Peter's Cemetery in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Wayne and Tina arrange for a meal at a local private boating club on the banks of the Hudson River. We stayed and talked a bit, but really I was kind of in a daze from the jet lag and time change

Suddenly...

Jane Marie Fulford Metrando

July 7, 1929 - May 8, 2013

Suddenly, I found myself on the receiving end of a Facebook message from my cousin telling me my Aunt Jane had passed away. I don't know why, in all of my family discussions, everyone always referred to her as 'my' aunt, but she was. First born of four girls. The one in the family that lived her life on her terms in more ways than one. My mother's oldest sister.

Suddenly, I found myself saying those same words to my manager who then replied, "She's family- you have to go (to the funeral in New York)". There was no question in my mind I had to go because Aunt Jane gave at least that respect to my mother when her ashes were buried in New York in 2010, I just didn't see myself traveling back to the east coast so soon after vacationing in Virginia with my Aunt Tressa and Uncle Frank six short week ago.

Just as suddenly, thirty minutes online and a credit card placed my trip in motion. Plane tickets to Newark, a Hertz rental car, a room in Poughkeepsie.

I flew in on Sunday. Visited my mother's grave on Monday and pulled some vines off of my grandparents adjacent headstone. Went to the funeral on Tuesday. Flew back home on Wednesday.

Match.com 2013 Update

Today I've completed my fourth month on Match.com and just last weekend was my first date with a guy who's very much like me which is cool. We went to the Peterson Automotive Museum and then to lunch.

Last night, I logged in to see if I had any responses and check on my six month guaranty to find that I was 3 emails and one day away from missing the cut.

So talking about this at lunch today, my cheapskate lunch date made it a point to say in an indirect way that if I'm paying for this service (or otherwise don't waste your money), why not take advantage of it and made me promise to send three emails. I did it. I did it just so I can have the opportunity to get my money back.

Vacationing in Virginia

I wanted to save all of the websites I found with things to do in Virginia before I loose them.

Caverns/Caves:  http://www.virginia.org/caverns/

From North to South-

• Skyline Caverns, Address: 10344 Stonewall Jackson Hwy, Front Royal, VA 22630  - http://www.skylinecaverns.com/   Hours:

• Shenandoah Caverns, Take I-81 north to Exit 269 (Shenandoah Caverns Exit)Turn left onto VA-730 and follow signs, in Quicksburg, VA - http://www.shenandoahcaverns.com/      Hours:

• Luray Caverns, Address: 101 Cave Hill Rd, Luray, Page, Virginia 22835 - http://www.luraycaverns.com/  Hours: 

• Endless Caverns, Address: 1800 Endless Caverns Rd.,New Market ,VA - 22844 - Look at the bottom of the page                     Hours: 4/1-5/31 from 10A to 4P

• Grand Caverns, Address: 5 Grand Caverns Drive, Grottoes, VA 24441 -  http://www.grandcaverns.com/v.php?pg=15, Hours: 04/01-10-31 9A-5P

• Natural Bridge Caverns, Address: 15 Appledore Lane , Natural Bridge, Virginia 24578  - http://www.naturalbridgeva.com/location_directions.php

 Cherry Blossom Festival in DC:

1. Travel to and Park in Vienna, VA at the Vienna/Fairfax/GMU station located at 2900 Nutley Street, Fairfax, VA 22031. Parking on the weekends is free here: 9550 Saintsbury Drive 
Fairfax, VA 22031. This station is the end of the Orange line and the one that goes into Virginia the farthest west. On Saturday, the first train leaves the station at 7AM and the fare is $4.50 to the Federal Triangle.
2. The Dc Metro map link: http://www.wmata.com/rail/maps/map.cfm?



 Websites:

http://www.oldtownwinchesterva.com/
http://www.winchesterva.gov/visitors
http://www.shenandoahatwar.org/
http://www.winchesterhistory.org/society_museums.htm
http://www.nps.gov/shen/index.htm
http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/driving-skyline-drive.htm
http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/and.shtml
http://www.reserveamerica.com/camping/map_of_campgrounds/r/browseMaps.do?topTabIndex=CampgroundMap

My 2013 Vacation in Virginia

If you asked me ten years ago where I wanted to go on vacation, Virginia probably would not have been on my mind. My aunt and uncle live here though in the Shenandoah River Valley and they were always telling to me come and visit them so here I am. I flew in on Saturday and coming from California, that took the better part of the first day. I woke up at 4AM to get to the airport by 5AM to get a the plane by 6:30AM for a flight at 7AM. I didn't want to drive to the airport, so a friend from work took me to LAX. In the dark. On a Saturday morning when she could have been sleeping. That's what friends are for. The plane experienced turbulence over Illinois and near where I landed at Dulles. It made my stomach a little queasy. After almost six hours on the plane, the landing at Dulles was easy. The airport is modern and has a high speed shuttle to take you from the gates to the terminal. Once your bags are collected at the luggage carousel, all you have to remember is who you rented your car from and find where to stand on the curb to catch the shuttle bus to where the rental car terminal is. Rent your car, find it in their parking lot, and you're off!

Driving from the airport to Winchester took maybe 40 minutes? I had to stop and get something to drink because I was thirsty from the long flight.

So I got in on Saturday and they fed me. I got up on Easter Sunday and they fed me. And we had an early dinner of ham, three veggies and tea. I was so full... These seniors eat way too much way too often. They are so sweet and so retired. They are in their 80's and don't volunteer much anymore. Tressa makes things to sell at the craft fairs around town. She handed me the instructions sheet for Star Pot Mat. Guess what I know how to make now?

STAR POT MAT

Three skeins of yarn, 4 ply worsened weight.
variegated (4 rounds)
white (3 rounds)
Your choice of solid color (3 rounds)

Directions:
Using variegated colored yarn:
Chain 8, slst, chain 2
Round 1 - dc 15 times into ring, slst
Round 2 - *chain 21, skip one st on ring and join in next st of ring. Repeat from * 8 times. Slst.
Round 3 - 10 sc, then * 3 sc in next stitch, 20 sc, 3 sc in next stitch. Repeat from * 7 times, 10 sc.
Round 4 - Continue to sc and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 5 - Continue to sc and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 6 - Continue to sc, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st. End variegated colored yarn.
Round 7 - Yarn on white. Continue to sc and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 8 - Continue to sc, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 9 - Continue to sc, and when you reach a star point  3 sc in same st. End white yarn. Shape work to look like an 8 point star
Round 10 - Yarn on solid color, then  * 7 stitches from point of star then sc, and when you reach a star point  3 sc in same st. Sc in next 7 st, sc [repeat from * seven times]. Slst onto first solid color st.
Round 11 - sc in each st, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 12 - sc in each st, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st. End solid colored yarn.

I was feeling a little stir crazy on Easter Sunday night with the rainy and cold weather, and not knowing where I was going, I drove around until I found a grocery store that was open (Food Lion) and picked up some things. I also bought two VA scratchers at $5 a piece and won $10. Made my money back.

On 04/01, I went to the visitor's center: http://www.visitwinchesterva.com/visitor-info/visitor-center

I went to Stonewall Jackson's home and took the docent led tour with my uncle. Tressa stayed in the car knitting because she didn't feel like negotiating all those steps. I bought a $10 ticket and then later found out they were across the driveway from the visitor's center.

http://www.winchesterhistory.org/society_museums.htm

After that, we decided to take a drive out of town, but before doing so, because by then it was noon, we stopped for lunch and ate at Perkins. I found the food to be very much like Coco's. They offer a 2 or 3 item lunch special. I had the chicken noodle soup and lemon meringue pie, and tressa and frank split a 3 item special - frank had the tuna melt and tressa had the loaded potato soup and split her salad with frank. The bill for three people was less than $20.

Then I drove with them over to the arboretum. They had an herb garden I walked through that looked pretty shabby right after the end of winter. I picked a few leaves of sage and lavender and put them in my pocket. They also have a driving tour of the property which we took. Afterwards, my guts were so shaken, I had to stop the car again and parked across from the herb garden in order to walk to the office building to where the restrooms was. It was a good thing they were there. OK, then we tooled on down the road to Milltown, but the mill building there was closed for renovation. I quickly ran around the building and took some pictures and got back into the car because it was a cold, blustery day.

We drive through Milltown, which is actually older than Winchester and not much of a town at all, and then went back to the house. That was outing for the day. And then we ate again. And I made another star pot mat. I'm on my third one now.

The never end saga of the tomatoes in my back patio

I was a bad tomato farmer last year. I let the fruit fall and I didn't pick it up before it sprouted and made tomato babies in my flower bed. This is called self-seeding. I honestly though that the flower bed would never be any good for growing anything but weeds. For years I did just that. Two years ago I gave it my best shot and landscaped that thing, pulling up all the weeds and laying down black landscapers cloth and topping it with bark. Then I planted three topsy turvy planters with various varieties of tomato plants. They hang over the flower bed off of the roof beams from the right side of my neighbor's condo unit which buts up to my patio area creating the back wall of my patio.

In 2011, I first started with three:
Chika Japanese cherry tomato
Pink Lady
Beefsteak

In 2012, I got ambitious and planted four:
Chika Japanese cherry tomato I grew from seed (the star performer from last year)
Sweet 100 cherry tomato
Cluster tomato and
another cherry

So at the end of the season in March which is also the start of the next season and coincidentally is when the batteries decided to die on my rainbird automatic watering system, I salvaged two stalks from the two best performers, placed them in a vase full of water and threw the rest out. And on the day before I was scheduled to pack and leave for my trip, I bought all of the supplies to plant my tomatoes for this year and promptly left. It appears I'm still a bad tomato farmer. We'll see if I can salvage the drop when I return from vacation.

Dumping Sprint, kind of...

Have you looked at your cell phone bill recently or do you blindly pay-pay-pay through the nose for service because it's what you've grown accustomed to shelling out monthly?

I'm not a big talker and yet I pay $89 something for my Sprint plan. I've actually been a Sprint customer for years. Once I got the Android smartphone (I'm on my second one) and the iphone came on the market, everyone's bill at Sprint got jacked up by $10 a month for 'premium' service which allows your smartphone to stay online and this, Sprint says, it expensive.

And then there is Virgin Mobile.  This company is also on the same Sprint network and charges $55 a month max for the same unlimited 3G/4G service. Why pay more? I mean, what can you do with an extra $34 a month?