I texted Mike today and told him that I wanted to take a nap. (It's such a dreary day, who doesn't, right??!) I also mentioned how the day was just dragging on, and all I wanted to do was come home. I never got a reply, so I guessed he was busy at work. I didn't talk to him on my way home like we usually do, so I still thought he was busy working.
I walked in the door when I got home (and after being ambushed by a hyper, barking, super-excited dog) Mike hugged me and took everything from my hands and took my jacket off for me and grabbed my hand and told me that I had to hurry. "Hurry for what!?" I asked. He stopped me outside the laundry room door and grabbed some of my clothes from the dryer. Now, let me step back some-- when I get home at night, I'm pretty much beat, so I throw on a t-shirt, a sweatshirt when it's cold, and some yoga-type pants. The last thing I think about when I get home is impressing someone with my clothing. All I want to be is comfortable! So, Mike put my favorite clothes in the dryer and turned it on to warm them! Ahhhhhhh! He still manages to surprise me! :) He also made supper, which always tastes better when someone else makes it. Oh-- I didn't mention that he also bought me flowers. That deserves another :)!
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Thursday, May 13, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
I want a pity party
There’s not a new boat in my future anymore- at least not when we planned.
Waiting for me in the mail tonight when I got home was about $1,100 in clinic/hospital bills. And, I'm sure that’s just the start. My heart sank, my jaw dropped, and I now feel totally defeated. What the heck is the point of insurance when they only pay a couple hundred dollars of these bills?
Let me start from the beginning, and I’m going to be very brief for the sake of time. I’ve had headaches a few times a week for the past eight months or so. I can’t concentrate, am usually tired, have trouble remembering things and just don’t feel like myself. I finally had to go to the clinic one day a couple of weeks ago because I was so dizzy and nauseated because of a headache that I didn’t want to move or do anything. I was at work and functioning, but my mind wasn’t focusing and no medications would work. I hated my drive and hating the movement. This lasted for two days before I finally gave in and went to urgent care. What a waste of time that ended up being!
I was questioned up and down, poked and prodded, and came out of there with nothing—not even general advice to take Advil. Nothing! I was soooo annoyed. The doctor I saw said it’s some kind of anomaly. Really?! You couldn’t have dug a little deeper to figure something out. I had blood tests done, but I had breakfast two hours before that, so I think the results are scewed. The doctor told me the results were all normal, and I waited three weeks to get the numbers and exactly what tests they took in the mail—but it never happened. I just called the other day to talk to a nurse and she gave me my results and the normal ranges for the tests. The only blood test that was out of the normal range was my glucose, which was "slightly elevated." What does that mean??? Am I supposed to come in for another test? What should I be doing/not doing? No one has told me anything. I also had a CT scan done on my head—good news, no brain tumor! Bad news—no answers.
So, now I’ve got at least $1,100 in medical bills to pay. OMG! Now I’m really going to have anxiety. We planned to buy a new truck and boat this summer, but now I first have to pay off a doctor visit that didn't give me any answers. Now I will be taking the advice of pretty much everyone I’ve talked with and finding a new doctor! And, maybe even have my insurance checked over.
Waiting for me in the mail tonight when I got home was about $1,100 in clinic/hospital bills. And, I'm sure that’s just the start. My heart sank, my jaw dropped, and I now feel totally defeated. What the heck is the point of insurance when they only pay a couple hundred dollars of these bills?
Let me start from the beginning, and I’m going to be very brief for the sake of time. I’ve had headaches a few times a week for the past eight months or so. I can’t concentrate, am usually tired, have trouble remembering things and just don’t feel like myself. I finally had to go to the clinic one day a couple of weeks ago because I was so dizzy and nauseated because of a headache that I didn’t want to move or do anything. I was at work and functioning, but my mind wasn’t focusing and no medications would work. I hated my drive and hating the movement. This lasted for two days before I finally gave in and went to urgent care. What a waste of time that ended up being!
I was questioned up and down, poked and prodded, and came out of there with nothing—not even general advice to take Advil. Nothing! I was soooo annoyed. The doctor I saw said it’s some kind of anomaly. Really?! You couldn’t have dug a little deeper to figure something out. I had blood tests done, but I had breakfast two hours before that, so I think the results are scewed. The doctor told me the results were all normal, and I waited three weeks to get the numbers and exactly what tests they took in the mail—but it never happened. I just called the other day to talk to a nurse and she gave me my results and the normal ranges for the tests. The only blood test that was out of the normal range was my glucose, which was "slightly elevated." What does that mean??? Am I supposed to come in for another test? What should I be doing/not doing? No one has told me anything. I also had a CT scan done on my head—good news, no brain tumor! Bad news—no answers.
So, now I’ve got at least $1,100 in medical bills to pay. OMG! Now I’m really going to have anxiety. We planned to buy a new truck and boat this summer, but now I first have to pay off a doctor visit that didn't give me any answers. Now I will be taking the advice of pretty much everyone I’ve talked with and finding a new doctor! And, maybe even have my insurance checked over.
Friday, May 7, 2010
I'm broadening my horizon
Tomorrow I'm taking a conceal and carry class-- yep, you ready right-- I'm taking a class to be certified to carry a handgun on my body in public. Except that I have no desire to do this, and would probably shoot my leg off if I ever tried. I'm taking the class with Mike and my brother-in-law to learn about proper handling and shooting of a handgun. I'll never take a handgun class by myself, so I'm hanging being the tag-along tomorrow. I'm supposed to be at a baby shower for Mike's cousin's wife, so I feel bad for not going to celebrate the upcoming birth of a sweet, innocent little girl because I'm learning how to use a weapon that will kill something. So, I'm hoping that I find the class beneficial and interesting, as well as worth my time since I'm giving up a valuable Saturday. :( No sleeping in for me. It's the only day out of the week that I can usually sleep in, which I try taking advantage of, but only end up sleeping 'till about 7:30. But hey-- that's an extra two hours for me!
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I spent Mother's Day weekend two years ago taking gun safety with my sister, but that only qualified me to hunt. We learned a lot about shotguns and rifles, but nothing about handguns. Kinda weird that it happened on Mother's Day weekend both times. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to review the class in a future post. Until then-- Happy Mother's Day to all of you!
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I spent Mother's Day weekend two years ago taking gun safety with my sister, but that only qualified me to hunt. We learned a lot about shotguns and rifles, but nothing about handguns. Kinda weird that it happened on Mother's Day weekend both times. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to review the class in a future post. Until then-- Happy Mother's Day to all of you!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
I've got too much time to ponder....
I can tell when I leave even one minute late for work in the morning. I don’t even have to look at the clock. It starts when I leave Braham. There’s a white Colorado of East Central Energy’s with headlights that are aimed slightly too high, so I can’t help but stare at them as I pass by him. It’s funny how headlights that are too bright just entrap a person. I meet him as I round the curve out of Braham on Hwy 107, and when I meet him there, I’m on time.
When I’m about a half mile north of the intersection of County Roads 1 and 6, I can see two girls waiting at the end of their driveway for the bus to come. If they are still there I’m on time. If I can see the bus stopping at the intersection to turn onto County Road 1, I’m late—and I’m even later when I get stuck behind the bus. That’s when I make a game-time decision to turn and go another way.
About half way to Princeton, I meet a black Ford Edge (my dream vehicle, by the way). The driver is a woman, always dressed in a suit jacket and always has her window open a crack because she’s smoking—ALWAYS. I picture this woman working somewhere stressful—maybe at the school district? I’d be stressed if I had to work with kids and numbers all day!
About a minute behind her is a black Saturn Aura (a vehicle I was going to get, but I bought a Grand Prix instead) driven by a man. He’s always in a button-down shirt and a tie. I picture him as some sort of administrator at Cambridge Medical Center.
I continue driving west through Princeton, and about 10 miles west of Princeton I meet a girl, at least I consider her a girl because I think we’re about the same age. She drives a Toyota Yaris, silver in color with black hubcaps—the ugliest hubcaps. I remember this car from the first day I started driving Hwy 95 to St. Cloud because of those hubcaps. This girl has brown curly hair and usually wears sweaters, from what I can tell anyway, but never wears sunglasses. I was later than usual one day and found out that she turns south onto Hwy 169. So, I picture her working at the hospital in Princeton because turning there would be faster than turning onto Rum River Drive from 95, and if she worked somewhere like Elk River, she’d take Hwy 10 south from St. Cloud. I know she comes from St. Cloud because some afternoons when I think she leaves late from work, I see her driving west on Hwy 23 into St. Cloud. Some mornings I wish I could wave to her and she’d realize that she sees me every morning without fail, and we’d become commuter friends, or something like that!
Shortly after I meet the girl in the Yaris, I meet an older man in a black Lincoln Town Car. He has white hair and a full white beard. I have no idea where he comes from, but I’m pretty sure he goes to Cambridge each day, if not further east than that. On my way home I meet him driving west between Princeton and Cambridge. I think he commutes from St. Cloud to Cambridge, though I have no idea why. He seems too old to be working, so I imagine him in sales or real estate. I think he’d make a good sales person, and I don’t know why.
Finally, I meet the TEAM Industries semi, usually when we’re both stopping for the four-way stop at the intersection of Hwys 25 and 95. Sometimes the truck is a little east of there and sometimes a little west of there. There’s two drivers of this truck, and they seem to alternate every other week or every two weeks. I laugh to myself when I pass one of the drivers because he always has his moth hanging open slightly, so it seems like he’s aimlessly starting ahead of him and completely unfocused. The winter of 2008-2009 the truck didn’t run every day. In fact, I don’t remember seeing it much at all that winter. Either their schedule changed, or they cut back to save money.
On my way home each day, I meet a white Buick Park Avenue about 15 miles west of Princeton, the exact same car that my father-in-law drives. I always have to look twice to make sure it’s not him, even though I know that he’d never be driving that direction at that time of day.
There is also a white Suburban that comes from Princeton, I think, and lives (the driver, not the truck!) at a yellow house between Princeton and St. Cloud. This truck doesn’t interest me at all; I remember where I usually meet it, and that’s about it!
Sometimes I wonder how I got home or to work because I sit and day dream while I drive. I don’t remember stopping at stop signs or slowing down for turning vehicles, but I know I do because I get home and to work safely each day. It’s weird…. but I guess that’s how I create characters for the people I meet on the road!
When I’m about a half mile north of the intersection of County Roads 1 and 6, I can see two girls waiting at the end of their driveway for the bus to come. If they are still there I’m on time. If I can see the bus stopping at the intersection to turn onto County Road 1, I’m late—and I’m even later when I get stuck behind the bus. That’s when I make a game-time decision to turn and go another way.
About half way to Princeton, I meet a black Ford Edge (my dream vehicle, by the way). The driver is a woman, always dressed in a suit jacket and always has her window open a crack because she’s smoking—ALWAYS. I picture this woman working somewhere stressful—maybe at the school district? I’d be stressed if I had to work with kids and numbers all day!
About a minute behind her is a black Saturn Aura (a vehicle I was going to get, but I bought a Grand Prix instead) driven by a man. He’s always in a button-down shirt and a tie. I picture him as some sort of administrator at Cambridge Medical Center.
I continue driving west through Princeton, and about 10 miles west of Princeton I meet a girl, at least I consider her a girl because I think we’re about the same age. She drives a Toyota Yaris, silver in color with black hubcaps—the ugliest hubcaps. I remember this car from the first day I started driving Hwy 95 to St. Cloud because of those hubcaps. This girl has brown curly hair and usually wears sweaters, from what I can tell anyway, but never wears sunglasses. I was later than usual one day and found out that she turns south onto Hwy 169. So, I picture her working at the hospital in Princeton because turning there would be faster than turning onto Rum River Drive from 95, and if she worked somewhere like Elk River, she’d take Hwy 10 south from St. Cloud. I know she comes from St. Cloud because some afternoons when I think she leaves late from work, I see her driving west on Hwy 23 into St. Cloud. Some mornings I wish I could wave to her and she’d realize that she sees me every morning without fail, and we’d become commuter friends, or something like that!
Shortly after I meet the girl in the Yaris, I meet an older man in a black Lincoln Town Car. He has white hair and a full white beard. I have no idea where he comes from, but I’m pretty sure he goes to Cambridge each day, if not further east than that. On my way home I meet him driving west between Princeton and Cambridge. I think he commutes from St. Cloud to Cambridge, though I have no idea why. He seems too old to be working, so I imagine him in sales or real estate. I think he’d make a good sales person, and I don’t know why.
Finally, I meet the TEAM Industries semi, usually when we’re both stopping for the four-way stop at the intersection of Hwys 25 and 95. Sometimes the truck is a little east of there and sometimes a little west of there. There’s two drivers of this truck, and they seem to alternate every other week or every two weeks. I laugh to myself when I pass one of the drivers because he always has his moth hanging open slightly, so it seems like he’s aimlessly starting ahead of him and completely unfocused. The winter of 2008-2009 the truck didn’t run every day. In fact, I don’t remember seeing it much at all that winter. Either their schedule changed, or they cut back to save money.
On my way home each day, I meet a white Buick Park Avenue about 15 miles west of Princeton, the exact same car that my father-in-law drives. I always have to look twice to make sure it’s not him, even though I know that he’d never be driving that direction at that time of day.
There is also a white Suburban that comes from Princeton, I think, and lives (the driver, not the truck!) at a yellow house between Princeton and St. Cloud. This truck doesn’t interest me at all; I remember where I usually meet it, and that’s about it!
Sometimes I wonder how I got home or to work because I sit and day dream while I drive. I don’t remember stopping at stop signs or slowing down for turning vehicles, but I know I do because I get home and to work safely each day. It’s weird…. but I guess that’s how I create characters for the people I meet on the road!
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