Insurance

I am one of those incredibly lucky people to have 100% employer-provided health insurance.  I have high co-pays (how I miss the $3 and $9 co-pays for prescriptions, sigh, military healthcare) but I appreciate that I don't have to pay a monthly premium.  What I don't appreciate is the stupid, ridiculous, complex, confusing categories, limits, out-of-network craziness.

I was so excited the stupid thing was coming out of my arm and I would have Thanksgiving break to give my wrist a bit of a wrist.  Then I got a call from the doctor's office about the cost of the surgery center.  I have a $4,000 out-of-network deductible.  That means I pay 100% of all kinds of things until I hit my deductible, which is also my out-of-network out-of-pocket max.  Once I hit that number, insurance takes over and I don't have to pay a dime.

Thanks to what shall now be known as The Bizarre Medical Events of 2011, I hit my in-network out-of-pocket max months ago.  I was so excited.  Giddy with glee, I made doctor appointments left and right.  Okay, not really, but that's only because once you've been examined every which way, there really aren't more appointments you can make.  I am, however, hoping I don't have to pay my co-pays for my medicine, in which case, I will be filling 3-months worth of my $60+/month prescriptions right around December 31st.  Muah ah ah ah ah ah.  Take that, evil insurance company. 

Imagine my surprise when the doctor's office informed me the surgery center is out-of-network so I can't go there.  Oh, really?  The surgery center wn't accept cash money?  Interesting.  I eventually got to the root of the issue after talking to three different people.  I thought I understood it all, but when I tried to explain it, I got confused again.  Long story short, I'm not going to the surgery center, but hospital is in-network, so I was going to go there on Dec. 5th until I got another call from the doctor's office rescheduling the surgery for Dec. 1st at a different, in-network surgery center.


Is your head spinning?  It should be.


Then I had to deal with the school.  I'm supposed to have an exam on Dec. 2nd.  Yeah, that's going to need to be moved.  Oh, and I'm going to need some extra time on my exams too.  Something tells me I won't be able to type quite as fast as normal since my right hand is going to be in a cast/splint. 


All this because of some stupid bump in my wrist. 


Good news:  I'm almost completely out of having to pack my own apartment and help with moving.  Almost too convenient, isn't it?  It's quite an elaborate scheme just to get out of the responsibilities of moving.  I'm sure no one suspects a thing.

Love Me Some Monday

I love me some...

FSU Seminoles.  I don't care if for the majority of the game on Saturday we had more yards in penalties than total offense.  It doesn't matter to me that my top contender for MVP was John Brantley, UF's quarterback (before he was taken off the field with what was probably a concussion), for his fabulous turnovers, two of which we turned into touchdowns.  I'll forgive our players that caused at least one, if not two, TDs to be returned because of penalties.  Heck, I'll even forgive Greg Reid for being a bonehead and somehow getting us a penalty when he wasn't even playing because he decided to run on the field with his helmet off and get in some guy's face after that guy tossed our player, who was out of bounds, like a ragdoll.  We beat UF.  For the first time since the '98/'99 seasons, we have defeated both of our biggest rivals - University of Florida and University of Miami (FL) - two years in a row.  We are the football champions of the State of Florida, which is arguably one of the best states for football.  It makes me so happy.

Adele.  She's so fabulous to listen to while I'm supposed to be studying for my Fed Tax exam but am blogging instead. 

Juicing.  My little sister loaned me her juicer since she has moved home for a few months and my parents already have a juicer.  This morning I had apple-carrot juice for breakfast.  Delicious.

Holiday Discount Shopping.  40% off my favorite protein shakes, face cream, and so much more?  Yes, please!

Hope you're loving yourself some things today too.  Happy Monday, everyone!.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was a great day and we had lots to be thankful for.  Of course, Ryan and I are thankful for our families that will soon be uniting.  In fact, exactly four months from today, we will be celebrating our first full day as husband and wife. 

It was fitting that Thanksgiving was the first time Ryan and I saw his cousin JD.  JD was in a horrible accident a couple of months ago.  A car turned into an intersection and JD, who had the right-of-way, ran smack into the car.  There was nothing he could have done and it was in no way his fault, but his motorcycle wound up totaling the car.  Can you imagine?  He and his motorcycle totaled a car.  I'll spare you most of the details, but one leg was broken, the other dislocated, he had to have some reconstructive work done on his face, and he had several surgeries to repair the damage to his jaw, legs, wrist, and broken back.  That JD survived is a miracle.  The fact he was up, walking, and has suffered no brain damage (other than some memory loss from the accident and the few days following), is unbelievable.  JD's favorite part was that even though he can't open his mouth all the way, it's no longer wired completely shut.  Perfect timing so he could enjoy the Thanksgiving feast and start working on regaining the 50 pounds he has lost. 

I may not be thankful that I'll be spending the rest of the weekend studying, but I'm thankful I have the opportunity to further my education, and seeing what JD survived certainly puts it all in perspective.

Most Studious Puppy

Saturday Ryan had his four-hour mock trial for his Trial Advocacy class.   Each student is responsible for obtaining and prepping a witness based on the packet of information they are given. 

Guess who Ryan asked to be his witness. I'll give you a hint:  me.

I had six pages of questions and answers Ryan wanted me to memorize as well as I could, in addition to knowing all of the facts provided in the packet in the form of my "previous testimony."  Ryan sent me a draft of what he wanted me to say on Thursday night and I was sent the final draft after 11 am on Friday night.  Trial was at 9 am Saturday morning. Thank goodness Isabella helped me learn my part. It was hard to let her down gently and explain she wasn't going to be the witness.  Look how studious she was!

 

Poor thing, she worked so hard to learn Detective Snow's part and then she wasn't invited to the party.  It's even more sad because she has a party dress for just such occasions.

 

So cute I can hardly stand it.

I would go on about the trial, but I'm sure you don't want to hear me gush about what an amazing job Ryan did, so I'll keep it to myself.

Hope you had a happy Monday and a fabulous weekend!

Sure, Why Not?

Wanna hear something fabulous?  I'm scheduled for surgery the day before Thanksgiving.  Sounds fun, right?  What could possibly be more fun than that?  Perhaps surgery three days before Christmas?  Oh, right, I have one scheduled then too.

Super-fun, right?

I went to see a new specialist about my stupid wrist this afternoon and the first date suggested for surgery was the Wednesday between my first and second finals (which are on Tuesday and Friday).  That's not going to work.  When he offered to squeeze me in right before Thanksgiving, I knew we had a winner.

I'm going to be in a cast for two weeks after surgery.  Engagement party is Dec. 17th.  We certainly couldn't have me in a cast at my engagement party.  I might have bought myself something sparkly for the occasion.  It's possible I have the dress in the first picture hanging in my closet right now.  Fun as it might be, I don't think I need to dress up my cast like this:

This is from my joint birthday party with my former roommate.  

She had surgery on her finger.  We had a table reserved at a bar and a limo.

You can't have an informal cast in a limo. It's just not right.

If it's possible to have too much sparkle, the sequin cast cover with the sequin dress might be too much.  But it's not possible to have too much sparkle, so we're good.

So, I'm having surgery immediately before Thanksgiving and again right before Christmas.  Why not?  What about that sounds like a bad idea?  The fact that I'll be trying to type my exams with a cast on my hand?  Nah.

Need I Say More

Classes for the semester are OVER.  D-O-N-E, done.  Stick a fork in them.  Tie a bow on the semester because that's a wrap.  Oh, wait, I still have exams.  Not going to let that minor detail stop the celebration.  Woo Hoo!  There's a light at the end of this tunnel.

Not Pippa!

Remember how I was going on and on about how leggings aren't pants?  Yesterday afternoon, the same friend that sent me the Are You Wearing Pants Decision Tree sent a link to this article.  The epidemic has spread.  If the Duchess of Cambridge starts wearing them, you'll be able to knock me over with a feather.  Quick, quarantine her before it spreads!

What's worse is I had just finished reading an article about how clothing June Cleaver would approve of has come back into fashion (I'm not a huge fan of the cat-eye glasses, but I love Grace Kelly and the look of that era).  I thought things were looking up.  Now I'm afraid they'll only get worse.  Before you know it, we'll have people wearing yoga pants to church and pajamas to the office. 

I am absolutley not the most together person 100% of the time.  Sometimes I don't finsh putting on my makeup or doing my hair.  I love wearing flats because my feet don't always love heels.  My wardrobe desperately needs an update.  But I'm working on it. I've even started wearing heels while doing housework (more on that another day).  Yes, I may wear sweat shorts all weekend while I'm at home cleaning and doing housework, but I put on pants when I actually get dressed.

This is a sad, sad day.  I think it calls for a moment of silence.

I'm Thinking About Asking You to Marry Me But

"I'm thinking about asking you to marry me but..." these are words that were actually used to start a conversation.  One of my professor's told us that her ex-boyfriend called her one time, and after he started with that, the conversation ended with two words she said she would not repeat in class.  My answer involved four words, "thanks but no thanks."

Acceptable ways to finish that sentence include:
1.  I really don't know what type of ring you want.
2.  (I'm still trying to come up with another appropriate ending but I'm sure there are a few out there)

There are more unacceptable ways to finish that sentence than I want to begin to get into.  Can you imagine someone calling you up and daring to utter those words?  I can't. 

What about you, what's the most shocking thing anyone has ever said to you? 

I was about to get up on my soap box and go on about Kim Kardashian's 72-day marriage, pre-nup, and the whopping year she knew her husband before filing for divorce, and similar "what's wrong with society today" stories , but I refrained.  You're welcome.

Love Me Some Monday

Let's just get one thing straight - I do not love Mondays.  In fact, of all thedays in the week, Monday is my least favorite.  There are, however, lots of things I love.  Perhaps if I spend Mondays focusing on all the things I love, I won't hate Mondays themselves so much.

Love me some:

1.  Ryan, obviously.  He's warm, funny, smart, and about a million other things.  I can't wait to be his wife so he's stuck with me forever.

2.  Family time.  Ryan and I went over to my parents' house Friday night before heading to my boss's house to celebrate my mom's birthday.  So nice not to have things that needed to be discussed but just be able to enjoy everyone's company.

3.  Friends.  I have amazing friends.  What more can I say?

4.  Thanksgiving.  I can't wait to stuff myself full of side dishes.  Seriously, it's going to be great.

5.  Rue La La.  Three Christmas presents already down thanks to Rue La La.  One of them may have originally been purchased more with myself in mind, but I justified it by saying I would probably use it for a gift.  Luckily most of the time I'm able to resist the urge to shop, shop, and shop some more.

What do you love yourself some of? 

Happy Birthday to Mommers

Today is my Mommy's birthday.  She is also known as Mommers, Anettey-Woo-Woo, Crazy Lady, and Mommy-kins.  Annette was blessed with five crazy kids, and while I don't know how all the nicknames started, they have certainly stuck.  If you saw us all together, you'd never think we grew up in a strict Roman Catholic military household.  I call my dad "Dude" so much that Ryan will ask me "how's Dude doing?" after I talk to my parents.  We also routinely tease our parents just because we can and sometimes my mom likes to go to bed at 8:30.  Sorry, but she deserves to be called an old lady if she's going to go to bed that early.

Anywho, this morning I put on my Pandora station for the wedding music and a Tina Turner song came on (the only request my mom has made for the reception is that we play some Tina Turner).  Suddenly, it was like I was in our house in Virginia.  I remember Mommy putting on music while we were cleaning.  I made chores fun by pretending I was Cinderella and Mom made them fun by dancing around the house as she cleaned.  Yet again I was reminded I'm turning into my mother.

I often find myself singing at the top of my lungs or lip-syncing, even when I'm alone, to my favorite songs and dancing around the house while I cook, clean, or just hear a song that makes me wanna move.  Sure, I look like a lunatic, and Ryan thinks I'm crazy, but I can't help myself.  I am my mother's daughter and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Not Normal

This morning, I typed my notes for class for as long as I could with my brace on.  Then, my computer decided it didn't wan to recognize that it was plugged in and died.  Out came the handy-dandy notebook, and off went the evil, awful, horrible brace.  As I was writing my notes, pain was radiating down my arm.  Granted, my wrist has been hurting more than usual for the past few days, but I took Advil this morning and it should not be hurting.  Then I looked down and noticed the vein that runs from the side of your thumb, over the side of your wrist, and down your arm was bulging and was bright blue.  It was not kind of blue.  It was freakishly blue and more intense than the color of your veins on your arm where your elbow bends.  Oh, and in case you wonder what I mean by "bulging," think about guys who spend a lot of time at the gym and have huge veins all over their arms - that's what it looked like, but bright blue. 

Fanfreakingtastic.  Stupid cyst is even more painful than when it first appeared, I need to type and write for work and school, and now my whole arm is all kinds of freakish.  Surely, this is not normal, and I need to go back to the stupid doctor so he can tell me to continue to wait it out and eventually it will get better. 

But I'm not complaining.  My computer decided to start charging again so at least there's that.  Here's to focusing on the positive instead of making myself crazy and miserable with less than a month to go before I'm finished with my exams.

So Very Wise

I recently learned one of my friends has circled back to an ex.  The guy is nice enough but their last break-up wasn't pretty and I'm fairly certain they broke up a time or two that I wasn't told about.  Watching her get back with a guy I know is not good for her is difficult at best.  It's not that he's a bad guy, it's just that he's not right for her and he has messed up.  Big time messed up.  I'm torn between telling her exactly what I think, keeping my mouth shut, and being supportive but playing devil's advocate to let her reach her own conclusion about what's best for her. 

This is an interesting position for me to be in.  Not so long ago, I was my friend.  Getting back together with a guy I had broken up with, and who had broken up with me, numerous times.  My friends didn't like him.  My family didn't care for him.  Eventually, I realized why, and broke it off for good (though not necessarily in that order).  Six years later, I'm so glad I finally ended it and cut him out of my life completely.  I can't regret the choices I made with regard to that relationship because those choices led me to where I am today and I'm happy with where I am and the person I have become.  However, that doesn't mean I want my friend to go through what I went through to get where I am.  I want her to be able to take a shortcut and avoid the bad things but still end up with the good.  Now I know how my parents felt when I was dealing with a similar situation. 

A little bit older, and so very much wiser, I find myself in the same position my parents were in.  How do you make someone realize he or she is making a mistake?  Of course, you can't.  Absent circumstances where intervention is absolutely necessary, you have to take a step back and be there when the relationship ends so your friend has a shoulder to cry on. 

It's funny how history repeats itself.  I just hope it doesn't repeat itself with my children and they are smarter than their mother was.

Are You Wearing Pants?

With increasing frequency, people are routinely leaving the house without pants on.  Did you just gasp?  You should have.  I'm sure many of you have seen this strange trend and are just as horrified as I am.  Obviously, I am not concerned about people wearing dresses, shorts, skirts, or actual pants.  The people I am afraid for are those that seem to think tights, leggings, and yoga pants are actual pants and therefore perfectly reasonable everyday-wardrobe options. 

Enter my Pinterest love affair.  Perhaps more accurately, enter my friend Erin's Pinterest find. 

Am I Wearing Pants?

It would be handy if this was handed out to young ladies women.  Perhaps the education system has gotten so bad the pantless people don't even know what pants are.  Um, yeah, that's it.  

 

At the end of the day, I think it's really simple.  If you have to ask yourself if you're wearing pants, chances are really good you aren't. 

When Neighbors Attack

Saturday is in the running for the laziest day ever.  I managed to make it to the living room around 9:30 but hardly moved again until noon.  Lazy moments happen, and relaxed days are allowed, but doing nothing isn't really option for me.  Also completely out of the norm is me not showing up for something I've been planning on attending for about two months.  Specifically, I was supposed to participate in the Heart Walk for the American Heart Association.

Who or what is responsible for turning me into a zombie-like, lazy bum well into the afternoon?  The neighbors and their stupid parties.  The neighbors' antics as they went to and and from their apartments, seemingly unaware the concrete tunnels that serve as hallways magnify and carry sound.  The neighbors' guests yelling on the sidewalk just below my bedroom windows.  Yes, that's right, I blame the neighbors.

My apartment is over the gym and the common room.  Anytime someone wants to have a gathering too large for their apartment, I hear it.  Whenever someone wants to workout in the wee hours of the morning, I hear that too.  Most of the time, it's not a huge problem, but last night was out of control.  I'm fairly certain every international student at University of Tampa was gathered in the common room, with a few Americans mixed in for good measure.  This group loved it some dance music.  LMFAO and Britney are great for the gym, but I do not really need to hear them, or techno Adele, when I'm trying to sleep.

Finally, the party downstairs broke up and the party next door began.  Lucky me, my bedroom is right next to my neighbor's living room, and my bed is on the same wall as her couch (sarcasm font).  After at least thirty minutes, I couldn't take it anymore.  Over the next two hours, I banged on the wall, yelled for them to be quiet, stuck my head out the door and gave the people congregating in the hallway my best dirty look, and went outside at least two more times, begging and pleading for them to at least take the volume down a little.  Side note - wearing a wrist splint with a large piece of metal in it is excellent when you need to bang on your wall in an attempt to shush your neighbors.  Finally, at 4:12 am, I sent my friend Erin, who I was supposed to meet for the heart walk, an email warning her that I may not make it since I was supposed to meet her about four hours later.  I wanted to be there, but I knew if I did not fall asleep immediately after hitting send I would likely not actually wake up when I silenced my alarms and if I didn't fall asleep, I would not be in any condition to drive.

The last time I looked at the clock, it was around 4:45, and I could still hear the people next door, despite the feather pillows I was clinging to my ears.  Once I'm out, I'm out, but falling asleep with that much noise is almost impossible, even for me.  When the noise started up again Saturday night, I hightailed it out of my apartment and headed straight to Ryan's.  I couldn't take another night without sleep.  The neighbors are safe for now, but I make no promises things won't turn violent if there's a repeat of Friday night/Saturday morning.  On second thought, I think a bullhorn with a siren button or an air horn might be a smarter move--I don't think I want to wind up with prisoners for neighbors.

Pinterest Veggies

I, like most people that have been fortunate enough to discover it, am completely in love with Pinterest.  It's perfect for putting together wedding ideas, a wall of inspiration, keeping track of adorable outfits for the future little ones, and finding ideas for new, tasty treats to try.  I mostly do a lot of pinning and don't necessarily do anything with all of the things I pin, but all that changed when I tried two fantastic veggie treats.

Mine didn't turn out quite this pretty, but there was vegetable tian

and roasted sweet potatoes

You can find the recipes here and here.  I used less cheese on the vegetable tian since I'm still kind of detoxing and I cut back on the butter and brown sugar on the sweet potatoes, but they were delicious.  So fast, easy, and healthy, they'll make great lunches and snacks this week.  Food likes this makes me completely forget I used to really love meat.

Next up?  Maybe some

pumpkin cinnamon rolls

 

or maybe french toast souffle

 and I might even try these Dr. Pepper cupcakes

Pinterest might be a problem, but it's a good kind of problem to have.  Unless, of course, you're actually trying to get things done around the house or do schoolwork.