One corner of the kitchen in our 1950s ranch is all windows. Ceiling to hip height three-foot wide windows that let in the incredibly strong California sun. When we first moved here a little over two years ago, I had no idea how strong that sun was, and I made simple short cafe curtain ruffles just to decorate the tops of the windows. I didn’t want to block the view of the back yard.

That summer I found out just how relentless the sun can be. The kitchen gets sunlight most of the day and can get unbearably hot with nothing filtering it. With my Multiple Sclerois, I couldn’t be in the kitchen more than a few minutes on warm days, as getting overheated can awaken new MS symptoms. Plus, we wanted to use the table in that corner to put bread and produce on, and the sun made that impossible. Condensation built up inside bread wrappers and mildewed the bread, and the produce literally cooked within a day in the sun.
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I think I’ve come up with a great way to save money on medical bills. Let’s face it, they can be ridiculously high, and not everything is covered by insurance. Even though I have good medical insurance from UC Berkeley, we still get billed $50 for emergency room visits, $35 higher than the copay at the doctors office.

I can only assume the higher copay for the emergency room is to discourage you from going there. Because, you know, it’s such a blast. If Lawrence’s pediatrician had been willing to meet us at his office on Saturday a month ago when he dislocated his toe, do you think I would have said, “Naw, we’d prefer to wait in the emergency room for a few hours instead, trying to keep a bored and hurting child amused. Thanks anyway, Doc.” Actually, believe it or not, our insurance company wanted us to to get permission from the doctor before going to the emergency room. As you might guess, I said, “Screw that,” and called the doctor while we already on our way there. I mean, for crying out loud, part of my son’s toe was sticking out at a right angle.

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