An American Tragedy

     Every day at 5:30 am my favorite radio station plays our National Anthem; normally I look forward to this and if I have a hat on, I proudly toss it off and place my hand over my heart (even if I am driving) and belt it out!  And I am sure whenever the Pledge of Allegiance is said, my voice can be heard ringing out clearly above the rest; that was until yesterday, and ironically I had to lead both of them in one day.  Yesterday, I slowly took off my hat, and I sang, but more with a dutiful song in my heart; my daughter was with me, we must teach them respect.  And when I led the Pledge of Allegiance at my meeting in the afternoon, my voice was the same as the others; I just didn’t have it in me.

      This is a very difficult story to share because it is so very personal, but if it were to help another family or two from making the same mistakes, no decisions that we made then this is a well worth it piece.  Where do I start?  With the loss of 1/3 of our income?  Maybe I should start with a real bang and try and explain those pesky medical bills, you know the almost $30,000 worth (even though we are considered well insured)?!?  The loss of our home?  No, to be honest I want to start with my family, because that is what really matters to me…bottom line.

      Well, if you haven’t met me, my name is Judy Jeute.  Up until last week, I was probably the most proud American you could meet.  My husband Tom (who is a machinist by trade, biker by choice) makes parts that go up into space (!) and for all sorts of medical parts; all of which are proudly stamped with Made In USA.  Together we have so very proudly raised the most amazing family; we now have two sons in college, a sophomore in high school and a sixth grader!  And I truly don’t mean to brag, but everyone tells me that they are the most respectful kids you’ll ever meet.  :)

       I’m really not sure what came first, my back going bad or the loss of income, it really all seems somewhat of a blur now; but in 2008 I started feeling hip pain.  It took my organized health care company two years to find a severely ruptured and herniated thoracic disc.  In October of 2010 I had to have emergency surgery after I had to write a letter to said organized health care because my doctor was literally joking and betting my husband a "nickel“ about the size my disc would be in the MRI he incorrectly ordered.  I now have permanent and severe nerve pain, but I am blessed to be able to walk.

      The loss of income is the same old American story, I’m afraid.  The bottom fell out of the economy and then our President decided to not support our space program which directly affected any company sending parts into space (!).  But I had also been working on building our small businesses; building our dreams.  We have been living on our little ranch here on the mountain and sharing our passion for it with the rest of the world.  That is really hard to do with a broken back…but I am the type of gal to roll with the punches, so I kept our website up.  Hoping that someday I would get better, and not only that, but I am always changing my business plan to adjust to my life changes.

       The first time we almost lost our home it was because of the HAMP program.  We had a heck of a time getting on that darn program in the first place, but I did it; all the while fighting for my life practically with an organized health system that would not listen to me.  Anyway, we finally got accepted into the program, did all of our trial payments and then less than a week before our first permanent payment was due they told us that our payment would be raised more than $450.  I don’t know many families of six that have a spare $450 in a week’s notice and we started off on the bad foot, and it all went downhill from there.  We ended up paying over $10,000 to pull it out of foreclosure.

       Right away we started getting calls from our mortgage company (Wells Fargo) that they could help us with a lower payment and a new in-house modification.  Although I was suspicious, we proceeded, thinking what could it hurt?  I got really concerned in December when our Home Preservation Specialist told us not to make a payment as it would “skew” her numbers.  In January we were told we had a good deal going and were even given preliminary terms, although they were terrible; they would have us automatically upside down in our home, we had dreams so it didn’t really matter.  We were told we would hear back by the 27^th of January.

       On the 31^st I was on the phone with a really nice representative from our second mortgage, which also happens to be Wells Fargo because it was one of those fancy deals where they “roll part of our mortgage into a second” thing…  Anyway I decided to tell this nice lady my concerns; like how Tom and I had each been leaving multiple messages and not hearing back and that we had been told not to make payments and that now I was afraid we were in a position of foreclosure again.  This wonderful gal finally got through to someone who just coldly told me that indeed our home is lost.  We have been denied our modification and we are in foreclosure.

                The sad thing is how we were denied.  They used my own hard working drive against me; the fact that I kept my website up and intend to not take this back injury lying down and want to still be a contributing member of society.  When we told them Tom had lost his overtime due to the bad economy, they saw that he gets 2.5 hours each week opening up the shop (on each and every paycheck that we sent, probably 12-14+) because he is the foreman, they took that out of the equation because it is not “reliable income”.  But what really concerns me is the dates of everything; our house was being taken back much faster than this modification process was working.  If we are lucky it looks like we have four months left in a home that we brought our youngest home to.

Which brings me back to my spectacular family; we actually only started out as five.  We officially grew to six when we adopted our oldest son’s best friend due to a tricky family situation.  His father wouldn’t fill out the paperwork to send him to college and we needed to get his cleft pallet fixed before adulthood or there is no fixing it at all.  We thank our lucky stars each and every day that he accepted us as his family; he is an amazing kid and will make us very proud parents when he graduates alongside our other son at college in 3 ½ years.

But our three boys are active; and alongside my multiple MRI’s, surgery, etc. for my back injury (that we never will find out exactly what injured it, I have severe Degenerative Disc Disease as well which may have caused it along with ranching and the good/hard life) we have had broken bones, head injuries and concussions.  All of which really add up when a family is called co-insured; with very high deductibles, co-pays, etc. but even higher premiums for both us and Tom’s employer.  It adds up to almost thirty grand of debt.

When I applied for Social Security Disability like my doctor encouraged me to do, to try and help out with some of these crazy bills they called me before they even had all of my documentation and literally laughed.  Laughed because I had been self-employed for all of those years before this happened, I was not entitled to any government income.  I went for help at our local resource center; if you have ONE child and an income under $75,000 you are considered in the high-risk category; but somehow with Tom’s income we simply didn’t match the criteria for one assistance program.  It was so very kind of that resource center to pay one of our heating bills with their own local money; a one-time deal.

I am not concerned about my family; we are a strong, well bonded unit that can withstand any storm that is tossed our way.  As I said, we have a plan and we have dreams; although as I write this I am totally shell shocked and in mourning for a home that is so full of memories and the markings of a family being raised; but the memories we will carry with us.  In a few days we will recover, strap on our boots and begin to pack up a lifetime.

My concern is for our country.  This, my proud family of six and the situation we are in, is a prime example of bank bailouts and organized health care.  But, we are one family in hundreds of thousands that this is happening to; and I for one think that is criminal.  As I said, this was a difficult story to share, but one worth getting out there if it will stop one more family from losing their home.  So where do we go from here?  Stay tuned.  I intend to talk more in the upcoming posts about the hows and whys of why I believe this was due to bank bailouts and why I believe that organized health care is a terrible idea.  I also will give some specific examples and tips as we go through the foreclosure process.  Again, if it can help another family, I am all for it.

Judy Jeute

Clearing out the house!

Good morning Rebels!  It feels like a Monday to me and you all are already half way through your week.  I have had sick family members home all week and have not been all that well myself, so today I will spend the day clearing out the house just as the title says... WHEW!!!

It actually started last Thursday with my epidural.  To be honest I really wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary; I have had this done once before and it wasn't extraordinarily painful when I got the injection, but it was pretty wicked that first week.  So I tried to plan accordingly and you know, have myself somewhat prepared to be down for a bit.  What I was not prepared for was the horrific pain of the epidural itself. 

I am telling myself, and truly believing that the reason that this one was so much more painful than the first is because we had a bit more information this time and were really able to "zone in on" the exact targeted areas.  So I am going to be up and running in no time flat!  But what I will say is that this injection, for just a few seconds was worse than any labor pain or any other type of pain I could imagine, so if you are to have this type of thing, be prepared for that and maybe give yourself more than the 15 minutes of rest that they offer you.  When I got in the truck I did sit for a few more minutes just to catch my breath for the long drive up the mountain.

So I rested over the weekend like I was told to do and then all hell broke loose with that darn wind storm I told you about...not only did it blow down all the old trees but it blew in some nasty bug, let me tell you.  Tom, myself and my daughter all got hit with some sort of a flu bug and each of us got hit where we were the weakest.  Tom in the stomach, Bella in the chest and stomach and me in the tummy; and I say it that way because luckily mine was a lot less intense because I was still dealing with recovering-GEEZ!!!!

On Monday we took our daughter to the doctor.  And when I say we, that is something major because I can't even tell you the last time my husband took time off of work!  But, anyway, the three of us, sick as dogs, load up in the truck and head for our friendly Evergreen Kaiser.  Where they proceed to assuage my panic attack that my girl is not having asthma she is simply suffering from "flu like symptoms".  I will not share with you all the words we had to say about that diagnosis.  Awesome, is the nicest, and the most sarcastic.

Yesterday afternoon we (again, note the importance that The Big Bad Biker is still home, WHOA this is one nasty illness) started feeling a bit better and Tom filled the water troughs while I finally got some housework done around the pig sty, er I mean the house.  Yes, just enough that today hopefully I can get a little down and dirty with some citrus and de-germ this place so that the last healthy Jeute that lives here doesn't end up with "flu like symptoms".  Wonderful.

Oh, and by the way, I am no longer cross posting between here and The Double J Ranch (I reserve the right to do so if something is interesting to both blogs, or something I want to keep in my "journal" lol).  As I mentioned in my first post over thar' at the new blog, I really want that to just be a Journal for me and my family.  So, if you Rebels want to keep up on both you have to "Follow" both.  There are multiple ways to sign up on both blogs; you can sign up for me to just pop-in to your e-mail box each time I post (upper left corner of each blog) or you can click on any of the follow buttons too.  Either way your privacy is always protected with me, of course!

Have a great day!
JJ~

Back surgery sucks...

(thanks clipart, beautiful!)

Helloooo!  I'm back!  Well, I can't guarantee that I am back on a daily basis because my computer is too damn heavy, actually everything is too damn heavy, but at least I am here to check in-hooray!  I was really wishing that I had done an update before Sunday, because I was really great.  Sunday and yesterday, not so much, downright crappy I would even venture to say, but that is to be expected because the steroids and meds they give you during surgery wear off anywhere from day 3-5 and that is when it hit me.

As for a weight limit of five pounds, well, that is downright laughable.  I don't think there is anything on this ranch that weighs five pounds.  I do have one cat that is under that weight, but as soon as I sit down with a blanket I am covered with cats anyway, so I'm covered on that point.  Did you know that a gallon of milk weighs 8 lbs?  And yes, even my laptop weighs quite a bit more than 5 lbs., as a matter of fact it will even be heavier than the ten pound limit I will hopefully get to jump up to at my four week mark.  Do I hear a woot woot?!?

So, I have to share a couple of funny stories with you all.  This surgery really had Tom and I in a dither, I mean we were both scared to death about this one.  Tom was worried that I was going to come out paralyzed and I was afraid of dying.  We both know that over the years my vibes are something that we really should listen to, so it was hard for us to figure out if I was having just fear or some kind of vibe about doing this surgery.  So anyway, we both had pretty much gotten past our fears and surgery day was finally here, no more dreading it!

As you know the patient is not allowed to have anything of value, no purse or jewelry, nothing.  So Tom is in charge of everything, which he somewhat has been anyway since I have been so spacey.  Well, anyway, we have to check in at Security with both our ID's, no problem.  Then Tom checks me in at the computer and heads to the restroom...meanwhile they call my name and I head over to Admissions and tell them that my husband has all my cards; which he immediately starts digging for when he gets back from the restroom.  After accusing me, who had no pockets or anything, of having them, a nice lady behind the counter brings them to us!  He had left my drivers license and my Kaiser card at the main computer of the hospital!  I teased him that next time he should just leave them the debit card too!

Off we head to surgery, and there they take my beloved husband away.  And I don't mean for just a couple of minutes.  I mean for the entire pre-op time; oh and the post-op time too.  It really sucked, I must say.  I know it is an older hospital, and very crowded, and they are trying to keep germs down, and blah blah.  But I wanted my damn husband!  He got to come in for just a few minutes to say goodbye and then he had to wait to see me until I got to my room, boo hoo!

So have I mentioned that we are not city folk, let alone hospital folk?  Needless to say, I got zilcho sleep, mostly due to the noise, and thanks to my very low blood pressure (which I explained again and again is perfectly normal for me, but they still insisted on flushing me with those fluids so I could make those painful trips to the RR) they had long since taken me off the good drugs and I was back to plain old oral pain meds.  Which of course I was due for at just the time everyone got all ready for me to go..."sweet mother there must be a God in Heaven to get me into that truck and over those bumpy city streets while that stupid oral pain medication takes affect!!!!!" was all I could think, honestly.

Well, there must have been, because I made it home in one piece.  As for Tom, I'm not so sure.  He told me that as he was carrying all that "shit" (his words, not mine, because it was partially a spectacular bouquet of flowers from my family that is now my center piece), he was in the very middle of the intersection when the checkbook fell out of his back pocket.  It of course was full of all of the cards that all of the therapists had just given him that morning and they all flew everywhere!  So, my totally together, never loses anything biker husband had to set down his beautiful flowers and my briefcase and bag of clothes to retrieve his stuff while traffic piled up, oh I wish I had been there!

It was wonderful having Tom off last week, but the time flew by way too quickly.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it back from the bus stop yesterday morning, and saw my very first Bald Eagle in this area.  It was so cool, it stayed in the valley and just swooped from one tree to another doing a little fishing in between, the whole time I shuffled my way home...it made the trip much easier, I was home before I even realized it!

Speaking of wonderful...the messages and notes and meals we have gotten are fantastic!  We have the most wonderful family, friends and neighbors a family could ask for, that is for sure.  We are eating like Kings and Queens!

So that is about all for now, maybe tomorrow I'll get into the nuts and bolt of what they found in my back...quite interesting for sure.  Oh and I'm going to have the family take a picture of my battle wound so I hope no one is offended by that kind of thing, because I'm pretty proud of it!  Tom calls me Frankenstein when he sees it, how loving of him-ha!

Royal Ranch Royalty

Good Morning!  I had started a post for yesterday, when my daughter caught me.  "Mom, you're not allowed to work on your birthday, put your computer away!"  So, who could resist an offer like that, Isabella and I headed off to watch TV laying in my bed, what a luxury it was!  I've got to tell  you, I had one of the nicest birthdays I've had in a long time!  Not that I've had any bad birthdays, but this one seemed even a little better, and I think it started off with my birthday gift from my husband...which leads me to today's Royal Ranch Royalty...Mr. Tom Jeute, come on down!
I talk about Tom every now and then, but I'm not sure I have been able to demonstrate how much this man means to me.  Tom and I met when I was 18 years old, and were married by the time I was 20.  I fell in love with him because of his sense of humor (I tell him it was his cool Harley, so this will be news to him-ha!) and his strong "American freedom" attitude.  He is like me, and looks at "normalcy" in a whole different way, and doesn't get caught up in how things are "supposed" to be done.  We get it done, any way we know how, and we do it together. 
I know that many people thought I was too young to be getting married, especially to someone seven years my senior, but our love is stronger than anything I can imagine, so it made perfect sense to us.  Thankfully my parents could see how much we meant to one another and were very happy to host our wedding at their home, the home I grew up in.  Even back then I was very connected with the earthy side of myself, and had always wanted to get married in the spectacular mountains that I love so much.  A big thank you to all of you who were a part of our special day, and so supportive of our great marriage.
I have to tell you a quick story about my wedding day.  My parents live on North Turkey Creek Road, which is a very curvy canyon.  Tom and all of his groomsmen, plus about twenty other bikers, arrived at our wedding in roaring style.  They had all met at our house a few miles away and had ridden their beautiful and loud Harleys up that canyon that I had learned how to drive in.  We could hear them coming for miles before they were there.  To see all of those big bad bikers ride up in their white tuxes on their noisy bikes, made my heart swell with pride.  Those are the sort of friends you have for your entire life, and I felt blessed to be marrying the "leader of the pack"!
My beloved husband has also given me the life that I couldn't have even dreamed of.  Due to our strong sense of old fashioned parenting, he has made it so that I have been able to stay home with our children all of these years.  Although I have a very difficult job, sometimes I think Tom's is even harder (shhh, don't tell him I said that!), to have to be the sole provider for a family of five is not an easy thing to accomplish.  He is still very involved with parenting as well, which I am so very proud of!  My kids really look forward to their adventures with their Dad.
Speaking of adventures, Tom has been more than supportive when it comes to the crazy business ideas I have come up with, and supports me with everything he has.  But, his adventurous side is a little more daring than mine.  One of his favorite things is being naked (as a matter of fact, Tom is actually Naked Johnny, our logo for Naked~Nure!), yes you read that right.  Not that he is a nudist, just a rebellious guy who likes to shock people every now and then.  Like the time I bought him a helmet for his bike.  Tom really enjoys the freedom his harley brings him, so the helmet was just a concession on his part so I would not worry about him quite so much.  To continue that feeling of freedom, the first time Tom rode his bike with that helmet on he had it and a pair of boots on, that's it!   I'll never forget the look on the neighbors faces as my tall, skinny, and very white husband did a couple rounds around the neighborhood, naked as a jaybird, laughing all the while.  Now that is confidence in who you are!
The picture is of my birthday gift from him.  He made it with love, I know, because he normally does not like to work with wood.  But, knowing that I am such a "green girl" and love everything about the forest, he couldn't have gotten me a better present!  He says my poems are rubbing off on him, so this is what my card had to say:

Just a little something on your special day,

Not expensive or lavish,

There's just no way.

Times are tough and money is tight,

But this gift says;

We'll be alright!

Yes, that's a man that really gets his wife!

Make a miracle today!

Today is a Two For One!

A snapshot from that day!

Hi Again! I just wanted to let you know that I put a video up on YouTube finally! It is of the bikers from last weekends ride in support of our kids that went through that terrible tragedy three years ago now. It was so great, because Tom has always been on the ride, and this time decided to see it from our perspective, and as you can hear in his voice, it is rather touching! Keep an eye up the highway, towards the top of your screen, the bikes go on and on for miles, even this video does not do it justice, it literally takes them hours to get from Columbine High School To Platte Canyon High School, usually a 50 minute drive! This video is worth checking out and passing on! Thanks devoted readers and friends~Judy.