Chameleon Capsules

My medication has changed again. Not the type I take, but how it looks. There is no standard and I have heard people complain about this for years. It is especially serious with the elderly who get used to one look of a pill only to have it changed and confuse them. I wonder how many senior citizens have died from "medication confusion". I will give an example of what happened to me. Years ago I started taking a medication. It was a white pill with a red stripe around it. Years later, I got my prescription in the mail and it was half orange and half beige. After years of getting used to that look it changed to all white. It stayed all white for about a year and when I opened a new bottle this morning, lo and behold, it was white with a red stripe around it. A blast from the past. How confusing is that? Same medication, three versions. It is scary and unsafe. Why doesn't the FDA regulate this? I guess the government is too busy chasing rabbits to make sure it's citizens are being medicated properly.

Crafts

It is holiday season and this year I ran out of ideas for gifts for my co-workers. Out of nowhere, an idea popped into my mind. I would make a flower garden from terracotta flower pots and fill it with paper flowers and origami butterflies. Each one would have a poem on a mini placard. The poem said to "Weed your garden of anything that does not bring you pleasure". The garden is a metaphor for life. Your life should only be filled with positive, beautiful things. In some cases, the unpleasant things cannot be removed but have a purpose. In other cases, they are unnecessary and just clog up your garden with ugliness. Those are the things you need to weed out. Life is like a garden, ever growing, ever changing. Weeds have no place in it.

12/12/12

Today is my granddaughter's 7th birthday. The time has flown by so quickly. I remember every moment of her birth. I remember the call saying she was on her way and the call the next morning that she was born. I was sitting at this computer writing my blog when my son called to tell me that he had a daughter. He said she was the most beautiful baby he had ever seen. She is even more beautiful today. She has grown into a kind, caring, sweet and smart girl. When I am with her, every second is special. I will see her again next week and am looking so forward to it.

The Rules

Before you sign on to a promotion or join a club, know the rules. Even better than knowing them, understand them. For the past year, my boss has been telling me about her computer ink club that sends an ink every few weeks for $2.99. I told her that it doesn't make sense that Hewlett Packard sells ink for $2.99 when it usually sells for $20. She said that it was a special offer. I didn't say another word. Yesterday she asked me to call HP to see why they charged her credit card $40 for the ink. When I called, I was told that the promotion wasn't really for the ink. It was for the "printing service". For $2.99 a month, she can print 50 copies. That month she printed 392 copies. I asked how they knew this and they said that they link to her computer to see her usage. If they are linked to see how much she prints, can they see what she prints? It seems that she has been charged more than $2.99 many times and never noticed it. She didn't know the rules.

Perception Revisited

Years ago I wrote a blog on perception. It started off with the sentence, "Perception unchallenged becomes reality". For the past few months we are living in an unchallenged country. If one side is not allowed to give their opinion, is a situation a fact? If I was having a debate with a friend and I was told that black is white and I was not allowed to show that white is white, then black becomes the new white. A one sided debate can prove any point. I saw that when I visited Salem, Massachusetts. Is a girl a witch? Some people reading today's blog will disagree. So be it. That does not mean they are right. It means that is their perception.

Rainy Day

I woke up this morning to rain. It is also Monday. A rainy day and Monday. I know there is a song about that and today the song holds true. It is not that rainy days and Mondays get me down, it is that rainy days and Mondays make me want to stay at home cuddled up watching television. I was only away for the weekend, but it seemed like I was on vacation. It is hard to go back to work mode. I have no choice, so I am up and dressed and starting my day.

Going Home

The days have flown by. I am up and getting ready to leave for the ride home. I hugged the girls a million times last night and promised to return in two weeks. I miss them already.