Friday Fragments

Just in time … Friday Fragments! 

I got 5 more blocks pieced together yesterday.  I am not sure how many more to go.  I had some calculations done of how many blocks I could piece together out of my strips, but I cannot find that now.  I’m just going to piece blocks together until I run out of my strips.



Our end tables should be finished and ready for pick up today.  That means that I’ll be able to get back to hand quilting my blue and white Irish chain.  Perhaps I’ll piece log cabin blocks this afternoon and sit in the recliner and quilt while watching the Cardinals game tonight. 



My legs are really aching today.  We did a lot of walking while in Hilton Head … we spent at least an hour each day walking along the beach.  My legs were already feeling the effects of all that walking when I had to make multiple trips up and down the stairs to bring up DD’s stuff that Salvation Army is going to come pick up today.  I didn’t realize that I was that out of shape.



DH went to the dentist yesterday … found out he has an abscessed tooth.  He was surprised to hear that … he hadn’t been having any pain.  He’s on antibiotics … we’re praying that he won’t have to have it pulled and a bridge put in. 



The State of Illinois, in all its wisdom, has decided to get its financial affairs in order on the backs of its retirees.  I retired from the state university here, and because I had over 20 years of service, I was entitled to State-provided health insurance.  Knowing that I’d have health insurance was one of the reasons that I felt that we could afford for me to take early retirement 3 1/2 years ago.  Now the State has decided to renege on its promises to its retirees and to eliminate our health insurance.  Which means that for the next 4 years (until I’m eligible for Medicare), I’ll be paying for my health insurance.  And I’m one of the lucky ones.  Because state employees do not pay into Social Security, many haven’t paid into Social Security for the obligatory 40 quarters to be eligible for Social Security benefits and as a result won’t be eligible for Medicare (although paying into Social Security is a double-edged sword … it will make us eligible for Medicare, but any Social Security benefits will be cut significantly because we are receiving a pension from employment where Social Security was not withheld from our earnings).  I cannot deny that the State is in trouble financially and that it needs to do something to get things back on track.  And I cannot deny that the State pension system needs some overhauling (too many stories like the former teachers' union president who spent a few low-paid years teaching in the 1970s, before his union career and then ended up retiring on a $185,000 annual pension based on his much higher union salary or union officials who weren't teachers to begin with and were allowed to get into the teacher pension system with brief teaching stints … including two union lobbyists who got in on that system by merely substitute-teaching for one day and then were in line for large pensions based on their union salaries).  But not at the expense of those of us who put in decades of day-to-day service.  Ok, I’ll step down off my soap box now.



This Sunday is Mother’s Day.  To all you moms (whether by birth or by heart):