TOP DRAWER INK NEWSLETTER

 

Here's the latest issue of Top Drawer Ink, the newsletter written by author HL Carpenter that's chock full of humor and common sense information.

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January 21, 2006
Volume 4, Number 2
ISSN 1554-6330

In this issue:

1. Carpenter Country Essay

2. Top Drawer Article

3. Top Drawer Tips

4. Top Drawer Book Review

5. Top Drawer Satire

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CARPENTER COUNTRY

What's Happening in Our Neck of the Human Experience

In Carpenter Country, the garnet and carnation month means birthday time is here again. While we enjoy celebrating, we’re not ready for another candle-on-the-cake day that rolls around faster each year.

When we were kids, getting from our seventh birthday to our twelfth took at least ten semesters. Now getting from one lifetime to the next seems to flash past quicker than a blink. Maybe time moves with more speed because we’ve lost our wild anticipation?

As we get older there are fewer fun things to get excited about. Let's face it, a cholesterol check or an hour in the dentist’s chair is hardly a jump up-and-down event, but they seem to occur in accelerated succession.

When we were young and could hardly wait to get out of school, learn how to drive, or date that special someone, the clock never moved.

And that brings us back to the anticipation-slows-time theory, which is backed by the adage, a watched pot (full of high hopes) never boils.

That’s sufficient proof for us. Instead of bemoaning upcoming birthdays, we’re going to look forward to them with eager, happy, impatient anticipation.

Surely that much fervor will slow time enough so future Januarys will take at least a decade to get here.

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TOP DRAWER ARTICLE

Medicaid and Spousal Impoverishment

by
HL Carpenter

Your spouse has a severe medical condition, but you’re coping well. Then a fall lands your spouse in the hospital and from there to a rehab facility – and it appears permanent nursing home care is the best option.

Up to this point your health insurance and Medicare have helped pay the bills. But nursing homes are expensive – perhaps as much as $3,000-$6,000 per month – and the cost is not covered by Medicare. You see your life savings disappearing. Added to the worry about your spouse is the fear of ending up penniless.

What can you do?

Read the entire article here

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TOP DRAWER TIPS
Topics and Tidbits

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TOP DRAWER BOOK REVIEW

by
HL Carpenter

Girl Sleuth
by Melanie Rehak
ISBN 0-15-101041-2
364 pages; hardcover; $25.00
Harcourt, Inc., New York, 2005

Girl Sleuth is the story of Nancy Drew, fictional heroine – how she was created, why she endured, and who actually wrote the stories so many girls adore. Along the way, Girl Sleuth is also the tale of authors, the business of writing, and the publishing industry, as well as a chronicle of changes in American society.

Read the entire review here

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TOP DRAWER SATIRE

Regulating Resolutions

by
HL Carpenter

Making – and breaking - New Year’s resolutions is a simple matter. That may soon change.

Read the rest here