next time try holding a hot compress on it for a while before going to bed. usually ready to pop the next morning (ew). Or just treat it with witch hazel and tea tree oil, much better.

Yeah I know, $3750 deductible...what the fuck? I'm on my parent's plan and its $200/mo. I looked at plans today, a decent one is $244/mo...$50 extra than the quote because they're going to charge me extra for actually using the damn insurance I buy. Not to mention the $30 non-refundable application fee...what the fuck? Then they can still deny me based on pre-existing conditions or deny me coverage on that condition. Fuck private for profit insurance.

If this actually happens, get it to happen two more times, and then you can present your three denial papers and get onto the new federal program (just kicked in as of July 1st.) I know several families who have done this and they say they are pleased with the cost vs. coverage, though I haven't heard specific numbers from them.

Upstairs toilet line blocked...

1st plumber says broken line underground, but he doesn't know exactly where.
$342 for that tidbit of information

2nd plumber with in-line camera says it's 3 ft down, 2 ft out from house and under the buried TV cable.
He says it will be 2 men @ $95/hr + $75 for truck+camera... OR,

"Just dig down following pipe from the "clean out" and you'll find where the soil lines comes together... then call us"
$238 for that tidbit.

I'm now 4+ hrs into digging, 2 cups of coffee, and a Motrin.
No bodies or treasure yet... will attack the beast again tomorrow.

Judging from the looks of it, you'll want to replace that entire line from where it leaves the house to the septic or sewer. Get a backhoe, replace it once for the rest of your life. Those fees seemed high for just a visit, would they be offset if you hired them to do the job? Are you in the hinterlands, or do you reek of money?

The town reeks of money... not us, for sure !

I will give that a try next time. Thank you. :)

Or you can use a soldering iron.

Just found out my Auntie Stella has cancer. Kidneys, bowels, stomach, liver.

as a kid I used to jokingly call Stell my 'Other Mother'. When Mum and Dad divorced, me and Mum lived with Stell for several months.

One of my earliest and fondest memories is of the eve of my 5th Birthday, when Stell visited and had a big roll of Polo mints (at the time the only sweet I was allowed to eat). She let me eat all the polos.

I haven't seen much of her the last few years. She married a guy about 5 years ago who seemed to change her. She stopped being so close with her kids, her sisters and us nieces and nephews. Just the last 12 months she has started to come back out of herself and get involved in family stuff.

Mum and i were only talking the other day about how Stell seems like herself again. And how they'd arranged to have more regular visits with each other and their older sister Jaqui.

This is going to hit Mum so hard.

Fuck cancer.

So sorry Dana, :'(

:(

Fuck cancer. Dammit.

Sorry Dana.

Dammit. Sorry Dana.

Oh, that sucks. I'm sorry Dana. :(

Thanks guys.

It's the effect on Ma that worries me most. Obviously, the thought of Stell goiing through this is horrible, but it's how it will impact on Ma that I'm most concerned about. She and Stell are only 18 months apart in age; the youngest two of a big family, they were almost like twins as kids.

Then there's the fact that their older sister Jaqui has been diagnosed with cOPD (the thing that killed my Dad). 'The Three Sisters' they've always been known as. There's a painting of three mountain peaks by that name, and all three of them take it as a kind of emblem.

*sighs*

God I hate this. This age when the 'grown-ups' start falling away and us 'kids' have to accept their, and our, mortality :P