November 24, 2006
This is the first day I’ve had to myself for a while and I’ve just begun to realize the number of things I’ve let fall by the wayside. Much as I try to keep myself in check by blogging, the last few months have been really poor in the follow-through department. The more swamped I am at work, at home, in relationships, etc., the less I feel prepared to be an adult!!
Neglected:
~ Health: Haven’t been taking my RA meds like I should be. Passive-aggressive? Maybe. I was annoyed that my doc, for once, didn’t even listen to my question for the question that it was. I asked him “when is it appropriate to consider changing drugs? At what point do we *know* that a particular disease-modifying drug is no longer effective?” I wasn’t asking for a new med, I was asking for the signs I should look out for when monitoring the symptoms of the disease. Instead of answering THAT question, he wrote up a script and insisted that I just start the new one upon completion of my last prescription. Frustrated, I went and had the RX filled, but I really shouldn’t have. I should have just refused to fill it until my question was answered. Normally I like to think I’m more proactive, especially with the dire state of healthcare you hear about these days, but I think I got a little too comfortable with my doctor.
More Health: Between the doggy emergency and the shorter day thanks to picking up BoyDucky from an unfamilar airport on a holiday weekend, I completely neglected to change my health insurance to the PPO. [I was going to try it for a year and see if I’m happier with the new doctors.] But, I completely forgot to get on the computer that night to change it, so I’ve got my HMO for another year. Gah!
I guess I’ll just have to look at it as saving almost $400 for the year and continuing to inconvenience my family.
My Poor Family: The less things change at home, [aka, the more stagnant it becomes], the more grumpy and closed in I get. I should not take out my frustrations with the situation out on my parents!
Pets: I do NOT spend enough time with them. Walking, bathing, hanging out: all things I need to do with them and haven’t. The latest diagnosis just makes it more clear that I’ve been a BAD MOMMY.
BofA promotion follow-up: They completely screwed up my new account, treating it as an old account and saying they’d sent me a new ATM card for the old account which was stupid, but I never received a card!! I need to deal with this one ASAP, I don’t know what they’re doing but I just want to close that account permanently and not have to worry about it. I don’t need more sight-unseen bills like the ….
DSL bill: I still haven’t seen one. Yet I have two charges on my credit card already! What the hey?? Must call Verizon. Speaking of phone calls …..
Time Warner!: Still haven’t resolved the problem, must spend more time on the phone with the company. I spend more time talking to them and listening to their music than my …..
Friends!: Haven’t talked to or spent enough quality time with most anybody. What have I been doing?? Workin’. Nice, sounds like my college years all over again!!
There’s a close friend with whom I’ve had a very rocky relationship for years, since college, and she wants to make amends. But I’ve heard the same “I’m sorry, let’s be friends again” speech so many times over the years that I’m both apathetic and wary of starting that song’n’ dance again, and there’s a rather unresolvable issue of her scoundrelesque significant other. ’tis a Gordian Knot, and I haven’t reciprocated her recent attempts to mend the rift.
I have other friends I should organize gatherings with, but I’m all organized out. After grand marshalling all day at work, every day and some on weekends, after the 6 hour cooking marathon organizing the workflow of 5-8 people in a single kitchen for Thanksgiving, I’ve used up my party-plannerism for the week.
So .. what AM I doing right these days??
Well, I am sticking to my guns about getting some management classes under my belt so I can get a certification in Supervision, and another one in Management. I have to take about 6-8 classes, each are half or full days, for each certificate. I’m scheduled for two more classes next week: Behavioral Intervewing and Employment Practices [Part I of II]. This will make life at work more difficult for a while because I won’t be able to put in as many functional hours, but that’s the sacrifice I have to make.
Have my W-4 all filled out to correctly claim 5 exemptions for 2007, not just 1.
Got my FSA allocation paperwork handed in to the Benefits Office on time.
Been much better about spending more time talking to or hanging out with younger cousins.
Baby steps, right? Is this constant juggling what it’s like to be an adult?? I know, I ask that question all the time, even though in many cases I feel like I’ve BEEN an adult for years now. It concerns me that I don’t have every last thing together by now, haven’t I had enough practice? But, nope, I still haven’t figured out the perfect routine that handles every crisis, pays the bills, advances the career so that paying the bills is less stressful and less time-consuming, and leaves enough time to nurture relationships, while not getting progressively dumber.
Financially, Yodlee feels like it was a step in the right direction: consolidating and streamlining are very key.
November 22, 2006
The chihuahua saga [no, not the “Taco Bell” kind]: Part II
What was I thinking in letting this lapse? With two aging dogs, and years of experience in the veterinary field, I was obviously not thinking. Then again, I DO count their medical expenses as part of my personal medical expense allowance every month. Anyway…. I don’t have a picture on me, LeighAnn, but will definitely post some this weekend when I get home! He IS cute … and I’m not just biased 🙂
So the grumpy old fogey went to the doc and the abcess was mostly reduced already, thanks to my bumbling, but it’s minor in comparison to his Old Dog Syndrome. He’s on antibiotics now and some arterial dilators. His major problems are his teeth [I knew that] and his heart [I suspected that]. He’s extremely defensive about having his mouth touched, looked at or otherwise disturbed so brushing his teeth has never been an option.
Now, he’s developed a heart murmur, and will progress to congestive heart failure as time passes. [A heart murmur is basically when the heart has become enlarged and isn’t working properly. It has to work harder to pump the normal amount of blood, and the enlargement causes the heart to push on his lungs, and that’s what causes the cough.] We lost my first dog to heart disease a few years ago, so I was immediately suspicious of his occasional cough/hack/cough, but it wasn’t frequent or even regular and it usually happened when I woke wake him up so I couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t just my paranoia waving the diagnosis wand. He’s my baby, of course I’m going to worry and fuss!!
*sigh* He’s just a chronic doggy: chronic ear infections, chronic skin problems, now chronic cardiac disease.
So the damages were:
Exam: $40
X-rays: $125 — so the doc could be “impressed” that his heart wasn’t nearly as big as he would expect from this ancient chihuahua.
Meds: $23, $10, $18
= $216
Whoo! I’m not sure if years of ringing up bills for folks who paid over a thousand dollars for their beloved pets has inured me to the cost of pet health but it can be MUCH worse. [Or am I getting TOO comfortable with spending??] Of course, I did work for a corporation by the time I left so, unfortunately, the costs seemed exponentially higher …. this will teach me get serious about saving for dogglish emergencies!! It’s only going to get worse as they get older.
November 21, 2006
That’s my dog. 17 years old, running on momentum and some last wheezes of grumpiness. And he’s keeping me up ’cause he’s swelled right up under his left eye and refused to eat dinner tonight. Now, this is a dog who expects dinner, on the floor, 6pm sharp, every night. He’s the doggy William H. Macy a la Pleasantville! “Where’s my dinner??” he sniffs, every night. “These humans,” he would think, “they’re just untrainable. It’s time for dinner!!”
This little guy would eat mid-earthquake if one tried to interrupt his dinnertime. He used to stress eat, hiding in the cupboard from fireworks. We used to joke that his tubby butt could use a break from eating after he’d had his dental cleanings, but his tubby butt is now 17 years old, and possibly, probably, fighting an infection of some sort. It’s not a dire rush-out-to-the-vet-right-now emergency, but momma’s having a sleepless night fussing about him. I hope he’s better in the morning, but I’m staying home from work to take him to the vet.
He wouldn’t eat tonight. And I can’t do anything until morning.
Edit: had to edit a couple of words that made it sound like I wasn’t taking him to the vet if he looked better. I think my fingers were just running on there. He doesn’t get off that easily!
I was afraid I’d spoken too soon when I said that I’d finally won the cable/internet wars. It turns out that even after calling them about 47 times and getting through only about 5 times this month, they STILL hadn’t cancelled our internet and the cable was still being charged at that outrageous pre-promotion rate! It’s the 21st, people!! You have it on your records that we cancelled on the 4th!! But they still thought they could get away with charging us for it. Of course. No explanation for why the internet was not cancelled when PaDucky called on the 3rd, no explanation on why it wasn’t cancelled when I had to follow up on the 4th. No wonder I never got my revised bill.
And as for the installation? That day, there was a death in the family and no one was home. I had the presence of mind to remind PaDucky of the missed installation a few days later, but he was told by the CSR that no installation was necessary the one time his call was actually answered, and my calls have been unanswered ever since. I’ve wasted over an hour waiting on hold at various times listening to their asinine messages. Not only that, since no one was home that day, they just up and cancelled our promotion — even though I couldn’t ever get through to reschedule!!
This is beyond frustrating. I’m being told that the promotional price confirmed on the 4th is no longer in the system and that the supervisor will have to call me back in 15 or 20 minutes. If this isn’t resolved today, I’m cancelling their service — this is lousy customer service and ridiculous to boot!
November 20, 2006
Warning: Don’t get suckered into losing your rollover money by unscrupulous brokers!
a la bookswapping.
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2006/11/bookswapping-and-frugal-gifts.html
So far, so good with the Yodlee aggregation … I like the Dashboard! I don’t like how it times me out every 15 minutes or less, but that’s probably healthier than staring at it umpteen times a day.
BUT it’s counting the stupid truck loan in my net worth which drops me down to, basically, a negative net worth. Ugh. FINE. If you want to get all technical and legal and stuff about it, FINE. Fine, I have a second auto loan in my name and FINE I’m technically responsible for it. Humph.
This would probably be why I don’t like trying to track my net worth. Until I disentangle and detach the last tentacles of familial obligations, it’s gonna bring me down. Hrmph. Oh, did you know that octopus arms DO sort of have minds of their own? That’s kind of creepy.