Procrastination Station

Here at Hausfrau House, I spent the weekend getting bored and frustrated with my responsibilities and being a referee for the girls as they fought over who had dibs on the cheerios on the floor. I had two goals this weekend: Figure out which Medicare Prescription Plan is best for my mother and figure out how I will be voting on Tuesday. I achieved neither goal and will now be spending today catching up.

I had an easier time reading Beowulf in Old English than I did trying to translate Medicare & You 2006. I think they intentionally wrote it to be so confusing that the elderly will put it down in frustration and sign up with the first telemarketer who calls them and sounds like they are speaking basic English. I still don't understand it, and I have all of my faculties (I think). Someone like my mother doesn't have a chance when it comes to being able to formulate an effective plan for her prescription care. Shame on Medicare! There are 16 private insurance companies who can offer plans to Medicare participants in the state of Indiana. I still can't find the link on the medicare site that offers to compare their prices and benefits. I got excited when I read that my mom could qualify for extra payment assistance until I read the fine print that her "resources" can't be above $7K. Well, she just sold her house, so she has money in the bank. However, it is all the money she has to live on until she dies and half of it will be taken from her due to the hospital suing her for unpaid bills. Ironically, if she still owned her house, it wouldn't count towards the "resources." There are days when I really want to move my mother to Canada with SNM.

And then there are the elections on Tuesday. On the local ballot is Issue 30. Issue 30 is a 7.73-mill combined operating levy and bond issue that would raise about $13.3 million annually for daily operations and $84.3 million for school construction. If approved, it would cost the owner of a $200,000 home $342 annually. According to legend, the district had a surplus of funds a few years ago. Instead of spending it on the schools, they built the Taj Mahal of administrative buildings and then asked for more money in the form of this levy issue. This is not the first time this issue has been on the ballots. It has been on the ballots twice before, I believe and it failed--the last time by 5 votes! The last time it failed, the Superintendent and school board decided to play hardball and pulled bus service for a large percentage of the school district, including the high schools. Even better, it was a prepaid 2 year contract with a year left. How they didn't get put in jail, I will never know.

It seems that the superintendent is out, but we will also be voting on school board members. This has been a very emotional issue in my neighborhood. Most of the parents are passionate about NOT wanting to wait an hour to pick their kid up from the elementary school down the road. One of the first questions I was asked when we first moved here was our position on the issue (and where do I go to church). I chose not to talk about it. It's not their business. I have decided to go ahead and vote for the levy but not vote for any incumbent school board members. I could care less about the bus service. I care about the trailers and broom closets that are serving as classrooms for kids in our district. Not very becoming for the 8th Best School District in the State of Ohio! I am also going to vote for Issue 6 for the elderly. The rest of the issues, I have no idea. Guess I'd better read up instead of fantasizing about shoe shopping alone.