flu shots and blood tests and exams, oh my!

This is the time of year that the cycle of medical appointments begin. I am a procrastinator of the first order so when I tell you that I took care of the flu shot and the blood work in one fell swoop, I mean to say that I have rung the bell, grabbed the brass ring --- fill in what you will, you know what I'm saying here.

Now all I have to do is keep each and every appointment that is spread out between now and the end of the year. That will be a lifetime achievement award in the making. I always find reasons upon reasons to reschedule and what should be over in December stretches into March, April, sometimes even June.

I thought that I had learned the error of my ways when I was a young'en. I had cut a coupon out of a magazine that promised me a quick and easy way to earn money. I only had to sell seeds, yes, seeds, vegetable and flower type seeds. I sent the coupon in and shortly thereafter I received a box of seed packages along with a request for payment. Well, trust me, a 10 year old back then could no more come up with the $10.00 required than you could come up with a million dollars today. I figured that I could sell all the seeds in no time and get the $10 keep the rest and voila....pocket money galore.

Oddly enough - nobody wanted to buy my seeds. Letters kept coming demanding payment and I got good and scared whenever the mailman arrived.....I look back and wonder at my mother's reluctance to persue why I was suddenly the recipient of such a volume of mail.....I mean, from none (except at birthday time and then only one from my Grandmother) to at least one a week. These were official scary type legal threat letters.....they were stashed in my room - I guess along with my diary. Finally, the damn burst and I threw myself on the mercy of mom. Somehow she and my father were able to douse the flames of legal hell I was dancing in. I sent the seeds back and that was that....except that every other day or so my mother would check in to see if I had any other hidden anythings. Wouldn't you think that I would have learned from that experience not to sit on a problem? Yeah. Me too.