The Weighty Update is back...as am I

OK I want to apologize for being gone for almost a week...I'm getting back on track after many many many birthdays this month and lots of work at home...and some special time pretending to be a stay at home mom for a few days...I wish I wasn't pretending though, but we're working on that as well. ANYWAY here's the update:

Starting Weight: 264.4 lbs.
New Weight: 221.4 lbs.
Weight Lost this week: 1.8 lbs.
Total lost: 43 lbs

Not bad...hanging in there.

Thanks for keepin me honest!

The Weighty Update is back...as am I

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/weighty-update-is-backas-am-i.html

No Weighty Update this week

Long story short there wasn't a doctor's visit this week so the Weighty Update will be back next week.

No Weighty Update this week

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/no-weighty-update-this-week.html

Both Autism Bills in Florida Pass!

Both SB 2654 and HB 1291 passed in the State House and Senate Committee meetings. These bills will reform Florida state law to provide appropriate insurance coverage for children with autism for treatments and therapies.

This is HUGE! In our case, "Big Stuff" is an Aspie (He has Asperger's Syndrome), but because he was "normal" meaning he'd met all his milestones and he spoke and had/has a large vocabulary insurance wouldn't cover the testing (even after his diagnosis).

My son thinks in brilliant and different ways that have taught me and hubby and others sooo much, but he did require some OT (occupational therapy), at first (which by the way is not cheap), to help with his handwriting and other day to day things that most would take for granted like dressing yourself in something other than a T-shirt and pants/short with an elastic waistband...he knew how to button, zip, and tie things, but he didn't always have the physical strength to do so, and it frustrated him more than it did Hubby and I as "Big Stuff" understandably wanted privacy when doing things like dressing; however, insurance wouldn't cover the OT because "If your son has Autism how can he speak? We'll only cover therapy if he's not speaking or has never spoken." Needless to say, we paid it out of pocket. He can now do those things easily and is no longer undergoing OT. He wanted to do things like swimming, at which he excels, and gymnastics, which he loves, and piano lessons, which he is scarily good at for his age. His therapist agreed with us that these things would be better for him than traditional OT because {a} he can now do the day to day stuff and {b} HE LOVES DOING THEM! An add bonus for us was that all of these things together didn't hit our pocketbook as hard as the OT by itself did.

ANYWAY...that's just an example of how this could help a lot of families. Here are the summaries of the State House and State Senate Bills that passed.


HB 1291 - Autism Spectrum Disorder

GENERAL BILL
by Porth (CO-SPONSORS) Anderson; Brandenburg; Chestnut; Coley; Davis, D.; Fitzgerald; Flores; Garcia, L.; Gibbons; Heller; Jenne; Kiar; Kriseman; Llorente; Machek; Nehr; Planas; Robaina; Sachs; Schwartz; Vana; Williams; Zapata

Autism Spectrum Disorder: Includes autism spectrum disorder within training requirements for personnel of child care facilities; requires health insurance plans to provide coverage for screening, diagnosis, intervention, & treatment of autism spectrum disorder in children; requires treatment plan; prohibits insurers from denying or refusing coverage or refusing to renew or reissue or terminate coverage based on diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder; provides coverage limitations; provides treatment plan requirements; limits frequency of requests for updating treatment plan; provides maximum benefits limitation; requires public institutions of higher education to incorporate into educator certificate course curricula recommendations of Commissioner of Education relating to autism awareness & teaching students who have autism spectrum disorder; requires commissioner to develop recommendations for instruction & course curricula relating to autism spectrum disorder & requires commissioner to submit such recommendations to SBE & BOG; requires DOH, in conjunction with DOE, DCFS, AHCA, & APD to establish statewide system of early autism spectrum disorder intervention services for infants & toddlers; requires DOH to establish Internet website for disseminating information.

Effective Date: January 1, 2009, and applies to health insurance policies or plans issued, renewed, entered into, or delivered on or after that date.



CS/SB 2654 - Autism Spectrum Disorder [EPCC]

GENERAL BILL
by Banking and Insurance and Geller (CO-SPONSORS) Ring; Bennett; Deutch; Villalobos; Rich; Fasano; Garcia; Wise; Atwater; Margolis

Autism Spectrum Disorder [EPCC]: Cites this act as the "Window of Opportunity Act." Requires health insurance plans to provide coverage for screening, diagnosis, intervention, and treatment of autism spectrum disorder in certain children. Prohibits an insurer from denying or refusing coverage or refusing to renew or reissue or terminate coverage based on a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, etc.

Effective Date: 01/01/2009

You can read both Florida Bills in their entirety through the following links:

HB 1291

AND

CS/SB 2654

Both Autism Bills in Florida Pass!

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/both-autism-bills-in-florida-pass.html

The Weighty Update

Starting Weight: 264.4 lbs.
New Weight: 223.2 lbs.
Weight Lost this week: 1.8 lbs.
Total lost: 41.2 lbs

Not there yet, but it's going in the right direction again :-)

Thanks for keepin me honest!

The Weighty Update

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/weighty-update_18.html

I always knew there was something a little off about me...

...I'm apparently "...the most dangerous kind of evil" I found this quiz over at That Grrl:

You Are 28% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

I told you before...I'm tired!!! Ok and NOW I'm also a whiner

I always knew there was something a little off about me...

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/i-always-knew-there-was-something.html

Your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

This is just for fun since I can't sleep again!?!??! I discovered this over at Angelika's which led me to this site. It's a hoot and if you don't like you're first title you can just re-enter your information. I got mine and then I just kept changing it because they were all so funny (What do you want from me? I'm tired!!!) Anyway here's my title:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Noble Excellency Grace the Talkative of Puddleston St Droop Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/your-peculiar-aristocratic-title.html

"Get Blog Traffic and Backlinks" - Thanks Lady Rose

I learned about this over at Entrecard Favs (it's one of Lady Rose's Fabulous sites! And with the exception of the link this is what her site said:

"Qassia - it's free to sign up, and easy to fill out a form and submit your blog, so give it a try.

Excerpt from their website:

'Qassia is fantastic because you get credit for sharing your intelligence. The
more credit you earn, the better your websites will rank. And you get a backlink
to your website for every intel you add - only Qassia gives you unlimited
quality backlinks.

Last but not least, Qassia also has the best ad revenue sharing system on the Internet, so in effect you get paid for promoting your websites.' "

I linked back to Entrecard Favs, the blog that led me to Qassia. Stop by and visit Lady Rose and tell her who your Entrecare Favs are while you're there.

"Get Blog Traffic and Backlinks" - Thanks Lady Rose

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-blog-traffic-and-backlinks-thanks.html

I know it's not April but...April is Autism Awareness Month

In honor of Autism Awareness Month I will be doing the following:

POSTING MORE THAN I NORMALLY DO ABOUT AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS (aka ASDs)

I came across this blog, and one of it's purposes is to create a greater awareness of autism. Autism affects 1 in every 150 births and is the fastest-growing developmental disability. By creating awareness, parents and other people would have a better understanding of the disorder and the children they affect and hopefully, gain more commitment to support further studies, treatment and programs. Now with that information in mind she is



So I am participating in this and even though it is only March I thought that I would let everyone know that

On April 2 Autism Speaks will Celebrate World Autism Awareness with Day-Long Series of International Events
- New York Stock Exchange Bell-Ringing
- Shafallah Center Celebration
- and “Walk on the Web” Highlight Global Awareness Initiative

To learn more click here!

ALSO

Others, like myself, who have taken on this effort as well are listed below as well as on my side bar...please take some time to visit their blogs as well:

I know it's not April but...April is Autism Awareness Month

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/i-know-its-not-april-butapril-is-autism.html

The Weighty Update...It was a GAIN week

Starting Weight: 264.4 lbs.
New Weight: 225.0 lbs.
Weight gained this week: 2 lbs.
Total lost: 39.4 lbs

I know that my doctor told me that the BMI and Body Fat% went down, but sometimes even when you know you're doing what you should you still get frustrated by
that other number

Thanks for keepin me honest!

The Weighty Update...It was a GAIN week

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/weighty-updateit-was-gain-week.html

A new Award

I just got an award from Leigh



and I think I'll pass it on to:
Angelika
Lady Rose
Saphrym
The Aging Disco Diva
Sweet Mummy

I read each of their blogs regularly and they always seem to be entertaining and/or enlightening. Give them a visit when you get a chance.

A new Award

https://andthisismypart.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-award.html