laughin' with your pretty mouth

could it have been any more beautiful outside today, austin?! i made dill bread and it rose in the sun..

ripley and i hung out all day with the doors and windows open. the front windows still don't have screens, so kitty was able to come and go as he pleased which was kind of nice.

i figured out how to use the swiffer to comb up ripley fur off the rug that the vacuum left behind. what a domestic day.

at one point during the day, i knew it was a little too quiet. then i realized ripley was missing. i looked on the back porch.. nothin. living room? nope. majjy's room? no. but the door to my room was cracked.. ! lo and behold. two scoundrels.

if i wake up with fleas, we'll know why.

word of the week in this household: crooksy. maj accidentally made it up the other day and jeff and i are running with it. it can be used in many ways.

"did you see the girl's outfit? it was so crooksy."

"don't be such a crook."

p.s. here are the facts about what the health care bill means for us over the next several years. there are plenty of things that will happen before 2014.

a number of things will begin within the next year:

*Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted.

*Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

*Young adults will be able to stay on their parents' health plans until the age of 26.

*Uninsured adults with a pre-existing conditions will be able to obtain health coverage through a new program that will expire once new insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014.

*Medicare drug beneficiaries who fall into the "doughnut hole" coverage gap will get a $250 rebate. The bill eventually closes that gap which currently begins after $2,700 is spent on drugs. Coverage starts again after $6,154 is spent.

*A tax credit becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers.