great organizations tend to go downhill when politics and giant egos are involved

So I belong to an organization that helps out military personnel. Current and veterans. I'm not calling them out by name because knowing my luck I'd be sued for badmouthing them. Don't get me wrong, I still feel that it's a great organization, but the politics behind it, like everything else, SUCK. So if this comes off as a post that badmouths them, forgive me. I'm down with the idea behind the organization but over the years…well, it's gone downhill in my opinion and I know why people don't volunteer as much as they used to.

This organization used to be fantastic. You literally signed up, decided what you wanted to commit to sending or doing and you did it. Then the organization started falling short on money, so they say. First, they began charging members, VOLUNTEERS, $1 a month that's considered a donation which is supposed to verify that you're still a member. Basically, if you fail to do anything with the organization but you see $1 charge on your card, it lures you back to the site, to either get all weepy eyed and begin doing shit, or you tell them you no longer want to be a member. Nine times out of ten, people get weepy eyes and start doing shit again.

Then, they created a database where you're supposed to input how many letters, packages, estimated amounts, etc. that you've either done or paid for, while supporting the troops or veterans. No biggie. This works for everyone since charity donations are considered tax-deductible and this is all charity work. EXCEPT, when you receive your donation letter in the mail, you only get credit for the $12 (the $1 a month donation, amount depends on how many months of that year you were "donating"). The donation list reads something like

Month/Item	Estimated Value
January - letters/packages
February - letters/packages

and so forth for whatever months you did something. There is literally no amount present anywhere and you're supposed to write in what you think the value was for that month. Better keep all those receipts. However, unless you keep buy supplies solely for this organization once a year or keep track of every stamp, envelope, piece of paper and ink from a pen (and any embellishments you add), you're screwed. I personally do not buy stamps just for this organization and I won't lie and say I used all of my stamps on this organization when plenty of them went on bills. BLAH!

Then there are rules. If you're a member of a team that's only supposed to write letters, you're not allowed to send anything else. This team is a one-time letter deal. If the soldier wants to write back and correspond, so be it. However, if they ask you for items, or you just want to be nice and send them some warm socks, this is a no-no. Literally. You will be yelled at by those in charge if they see that your extra letter cost you $10 instead of $1.50 and demand to know what you sent and why. Um, if this was a one-time letter thing and my soldier CHOSE to write back and maintain a friendship, I think I'm entitled to send my friend whatever the hell I want to.

Another rule. No religion talk of any sort. We're told there's a special team for that. I'm not religious by any means. I honestly have no idea what I believe in, but it's more science than anything. However, if a soldier writes me back and tells me that me and God kept him from going over the edge after watching half his platoon be blown to bits, you can bet your ass I'll discuss his God with him. I understand we're not supposed to start religious talk because we could unintentionally preach atheism to a die-hard Christian, however, I feel STRONGLY that if they bring it up and want to talk about it, it's my duty to respond. After all, we're supposed to be supporting these individuals. I'll discuss anything they want. Well, damn near anything. Asking me for sex talk or nudes is completely out of the question. Correspondence ends there. Luckily I've never had that happen, so no bullets to dodge. Wow, that was a REALLY bad pun. SORRY!

This organization used to be about supporting our troops, their families, and veterans. Now it's all about who's allowed to demand what from whom and when. We're volunteers. We choose to take our time and spend it writing letters, mailing packages, showering military newbie moms with gifts and caregivers of soldiers with praise and pampering for all they do for their wounded soldier. It's not a "who's Johnson is bigger" contest. Get off your high horses and let us support them. I'm sure they won't be hurt by a pair of socks, or a friendly chat about Jesus, Buddha, or King Kong if that's who they worship. 

what the hell was I thinking???

So it took me four days to get straight to where I could actually type, make sense, sound like a real person again! All I can say, or question, is what the hell I was thinking???

Now I'm not doctor, but I can put two and two together and come out with five. Wait, no, it's four. It's four. Setting that aside, I know when something's wrong with me even if I don't know WHY it's wrong with me.

So for a year now I've been having stomach troubles. Alternating between diarrhea and constipation. Waking up in the middle of the night literally having to run to the bathroom. Gross right? Imagine living that life! It really sucks ass (no pun intended) to have to plan your meals around how long it'll take to upset your stomach. I missed a lot with friends and family because of bowel movements. So not the life I envisioned at the age of 31. I've also been suffering from severe indigestion for years but my regular doctor never referred me to a specialist. I've been on a medication for that for like two years that you're only supposed to be on for like two weeks at a time. No specialists, no second opinion (my fault), nothing. I've been on blood pressure meds for a year now.

Recently my doctor left town for another office elsewhere. I decided not to follow for various reasons. Ok, ok, I'm too broke and too busy/lazy to drive 50 miles one way to see a doctor unless it's a specialist since you don't have to see them often. Upon referral I started with a new physician closer to home. Just so everyone knows, I live in the boonies. The sticks. If my house were further off the road, people would swear we ate raw animals and produced moonshine for income. We don't. Anyhoo, on the first visit she decided to send me to a specialist to see if it's lactose intolerance, IBS, or something else. I haven't been yet as my appointment is a week from today.

Wellllllll, I was sitting here going through records while I was filling out paperwork for the GI specialist and it turns out that I've been on my BP meds as long as the stomach troubles have been occurring. Well duh! That has to be it. All my symptoms are after all, symptoms of these meds. I decided to stop taking them for a while. When I was first diagnosed with high BP, I never knew it until the doctor said "hey, your BP is awful high!" I've always had headaches and the occasional migraine but nothing that ever alerted me to any other problems. Apparently it was my BP. Anyway, point being, I stopped taking the meds.

For two weeks life was great! My BP was great every day. I had energy and no tummy troubles. It was great being able to eat again without worrying about missing a basketball game or a date night (not that we have many of those anyway) for fear of having to run to the bathroom or soil myself. I am ashamed to admit this happened more than once over the year. Thankfully never in public.

But what the hell was I thinking??? Coming off my meds without speaking to my doctor first was a huge mistake. Four days ago I got a migraine that left me for dead. Seriously. I laid in my bed, bawling like a baby which made things worse, sick to my stomach and even my tiny nightlight made my head pound. Yes, I have a nightlight. No. I'm not scared of the dark but we moved into our newly renovated master bedroom not too long ago and I got sick of stubbing my toe on the foot of the bed and tripping over the new rug. Falling face first into your own dresser gets tiring and damaging after a while.

After day two I gave up and took a BP pill. Nothing. I was expecting (more like hoping) it would work instantly. No such luck. I went one more day with a crippling migraine before I agreed to go to the ER if it wasn't better after a nights rest. Luckily, I woke up yesterday morning migraine free! No ER visit!!! Needless to say I'm back on my BP meds until I can visit my doctor and discuss a change in medication. I can't go through all that again.

Plus side is, my boyfriend felt sorry for me and got off his butt and cooked and cleaned and did all the laundry while I was down for the count. I told him I'd be sick for the next six months!!!

am I the only one who doesn't give a damn about Super Bowl Sunday???

Ah, Super Bowl 50 is upon us. Yay? At the moment, I really only care about college football. I don't know why. I was raised on it I guess. My father worked for the state highway department for years and every year they had conferences at Clemson University and he would bring us stuff back with Clemson all over them. I just kind of fell in love with that famous orange paw print. It became a love, almost an obsession. I'm not completely obsessed as my house isn't painted orange and purple and while we have plenty of Clemson clothing, there aren't a lot of Clemson items around our home. I follow the season every year. I'll get into arguments over my boys and I'm damn proud of how far they've come this past season. I'm hoping my son will aspire to go to Clemson one day but if he doesn't, I'm ok with that too.

If he chooses to play professional football, I'm screwed because I really know nothing about it. I get the logistics. I understand the game. While I might change my tune if he does play professional football, what I don't understand is the money! Don't get me wrong, these men work hard. They work hard as hell. I know they train a lot, and I mean, a lot. They get beat up, pushed around and hurt. I however don't understand why they get SO much. The average NFL player salary per year is $1.75 MILLION. That's the AVERAGE! That's factoring in little to no name players. That's not even giving an idea of what a big shots salary is. Aaron Rogers' 2016 Average is $22 million. He has the highest 2016 average salary. The lowest is Nick Boyle at $611,564. Seriously? Minimum wage in this country is forcing people to seek government assistance and there are people starving, homeless, jobless, etc. Then you have football players making enough money to support entire states. I just feel that it's unacceptable. Now again, there might be a change in my tune if the boy wonder plays professional ball and takes care of his dear loving wonderful amazing mother one day!

damn you groundhog!

I know what you're thinking. If you don't give a shit about the damn groundhog, why are you writing a post about him?

Well, because I want to. That's really all there is to it.

Seriously though, why is an animal telling us whether we'll have winter for six more weeks or not? And why do people actually believe an animal can predict the weather when skilled meteorologists tend to be wrong, A LOT!

This "holiday" isn't even on any of my calendar's that came with holiday's pre-printed, including my go-to Google calendar. That's saying a lot right there.

He's a caged animal so to speak. I mean, he lives in an area that he's not really allowed to leave and only allowed to emerge from ONE hole to predict the weather.

He only has a 39% accuracy. Don't believe me? Check it out! Seriously, go do some research.

People actually travel from all over to Pennsylvania to see a groundhog come out the ground. Seriously people, you can walk outside in the country and see this, free of charge. I should know as we live in the middle of nowhere. They LOVE our yard. Thank you for the huge holes you fuzzy rodent freaks.