Disturbing news...

So, I got the "new" schedule of benefits. Seems that there WERE some changes from when we were under BCBS... We didn't actually get a new booklet showing the differences, we were simply told that we wouldn't see a significant change.

Well, from what I remember, prenatal including the birth and hospital care was supposed to be an initial co-pay, and everything else covered. However, this is not the case for Aetna. We now have to pay 80% of everything. Additionally there are a few items on the list that I have no understanding of at all... Like "Family Plan Payment Limit" - is that the limit of what _I_ pay? Or is it the limit of what THEY pay... Does that mean that after I reach that point I have to pay the rest? I have no clue.

Also, under prenatal services, it says only "Payable in accordance with the type of expense incurred and the place where service is provided"... Huh?

Have I mentioned that I absolutely HATE legal-eze and the health care system? Ugh. I'm currently facing over $4000 in bills for having Boo... I can't tell whether it's only 20% of the total cost or not, and the sheer physical number of bills and statements that come in are staggering regarding this... I can't really make heads or tails of it - and to make matters worse, Boo was born in February - Aetna still hasn't settled their portion of the bill yet... It's insane.

I'm asking this of anyone who can - if you can donate to help out the bills, please do so... Even fifty cents will help...

~M

Starting the week off right...

Conversation today with a social worker in psychiatry (I promised I wouldn’t give out her name – LOL):
SW: My pager is off – is it me that has to turn it on?
Me: Well, let’s take a look – No, your pager status is “in hospital, on page”.
SW: But the pager says “Pager off”… So, do I need to turn it on?
Me: Er, yes… You’d want to physically turn the pager on.
SW: How would I do that? I mean, I have no idea…
Me: Well, there should be a big button on the right front of the pager…
SW: Big… Button… Right… Side… You mean the one with the blue dash on it?
Me: Yep. Just hold that down and it should turn on.
SW: Wow… And they let me work here… Don’t tell anyone who this is, ok?

~M

Update...

I updated my wish list here - please feel free to peruse them and, if you're feeling generous, give a tip at the jar to help us toward things...

~M

And a huge loot pile to you, too!

This morning was the divesting of hours of wrapping time, days of worrying over what to buy, and evenings of anxiety worrying about whether the choice picked was the right one... All in all, I'd say that we all got a lot of what we wanted...

Fred's loot pile included a large bit from S, who got him watercolor pencils, a dremel, a foot spa treatment pack, Red Alert 3, and a DVD of Curious George, as well as a bar of Lindt dark chocolate with orange essence. I got him 3 new t-shirts with snarky sayings, and a new video game he's currently trying to beat - we're still waiting for the big gift, which is a 500 gb Seagate external hard drive/storage drive... It's been delayed due to the weather.

S's loot pile included a small carved dragon out of St Helen's ash, a russian birch box with some hair ties inside, 2 sets of watercolor paints with brushes, and a lavendar spa set from me (and the promise of a captain's coat soon), and a large knife and a small skinning blade, and a bellydance sword with placard to hang it on from Fred.

Boo's loot pile included a new skirt and sweater, a new dress, 3 Little People Pirate figurines, a bouncy ball, 2 books, a music maker toy, and a puppet monkey - oh, and a coconut and white chocolate Lindt bar.

My loot pile was the largest by far, I think... Fred ended up getting me a food saver vacuum sealer, 3 KitchenAid attachments, a 14" skillet, a puppet hedgie, 2 triangles for quilting, pins, and rotary blade replacements. S got me a 10 qt Black & Decker food processor, a beautiful black satin box with chinese lettering in red all over it, more pins, a seam ripper, some watercolors and brushes (yes, ironic, but still...), a very small stuffed moose, a "Tide-to-go" pen (because she understands me), and a dark chocolate with chili Lindt bar.

Us girls got a bellydance DVD from Fred as well, and the household got a nice gift of munchies and apple-cran Martinelli's from Jess.

All in all, an amazing day. Boo was so excited she was vibrating, and refused to go down for her second nap, afraid that she might miss yet another unwrapping of presents. LOL. We ended up having to put her down for bed early after a relaxing bath and a sing-song in her room.


Even the cat got a little something - a triple dose of catnip on his scratcher, and tons of lovin's.

Most of all, though, I got to spend Christmas warm, surrounded by those I love, and watching the snow melt away with warmer temperatures and rain. Yay me! I hope that you were able to have a similar experience, and I wish you all the Happiest of holidays.

~M

Happy whatever 2008

I'm about done with having a white christmas... Whomever ordered the weather should be beaten, tied, and left naked in the middle of the Alaskan tundra - or Siberia...

The constant on-again, off-again snow has impeded my travels to and from work, and the roads are crazy slick. Unfortunately, Oregon doesn't apparently believe in snow plows in the lower regions, so none of the roads are cleared at all. The busses are barely running on my road, and we have to head to the nearest stop that's flat - which means it's about 3 blocks away from my house, rather than the 1 block that's normally taken. Not a HUGE deal normally, but in the snow/ice/slush that has built up on our road has made the walk particularly hazardous - between dodging slick patches with feet, and random cars deciding to kareen down the road at high speeds with no chains or other traction devices, it was an exciting morning...

After waiting for 25 minutes on the side of the road for the bus, and narrowly missing being hit by 2 cars sliding down and across the road (one doing a 45 degree spin and then straightening out and heading off again at yet faster pacing than before), the bus finally got to me and I got on. The rest of the ride was uneventful, but filled with me praying to the Gods that we make it safely into town.

We did so, and I managed to make it to work within a half hour of my clock-in time - which is great, considering I woke up this morning and it was snowing... again...

So far, work has been same-old, same-old... The calls were pretty hectic at the beginning, but calmed down mostly by around 10am. I'm staying an extra hour to help out, since we are having such limited coverage on the phones, and things are just going to get worse since tomorrow is Christmas. I'm hoping that no one calls out tomorrow - I could possibly be guilted into working a few hours if only because I didn't make it in Monday or Tuesday due to the weather... Then again, if it freezes over, I'm not going to risk my life to make it in. On the up-shot, management is buying us lunch, apparently. I'm getting a turkey club with extra mustard. Yum.

Currently, S is home with Fred doing the dishes, and Boo is watching avidly. Apparently dishes are fascinating. LOL. S apparently bought out several stores getting presents for everyone - Fred and I both feel guilty with the lack of presents, but she looked at both of us and laughed - her statement was "I like to shop! The problem is getting me to STOP shopping... LOL." That's ok, though... Fred and I are hatching a plan for Valentine's Day. Mwa ha ha!

Speaking of presents, Fred's present has not arrived yet. It was just shipped from the Chehalis office on the 23rd at 2:30am, which means that it might make it here by Saturday - if I'm lucky... I'm debating on printing out a color photo and wrapping it... Bwa ha ha.

Fred's been off work due to the winter weather this week, though they're wanting to have him try and come in Friday. This will work out since, while Jess, our fabu babysitter has unfortunately been stuck at her house due to (yet again) the weather (we did mention that the weather was bad, right?), S has Friday off. So, Fred and I will head to work, and S will stay with Boo for the day. Yay us! I'm totally hoping that everything melts down to a reasonable level by Sunday, so that Jess is able to make it to our house, and Fred and I are able to head out to work. It's amazing how much we are all reliant upon one another to make it through a day sometimes... LOL. I'm thankful that I have such wonderful people around me.

I have grave on call Saturday night - this could prove to be interesting... I'm hoping that everyone makes it in, because I'd rather not go in at all... *sigh* But, if I do, at least I'll have extra time on my paycheck.

Amusing comment made by Lil today: "I'm pretty certain I know how skiing was invented - two drunk Norse guys on top of a mountain in the cold north decide it would be a great idea to goad one another: "Hey, Ole! I bet you can't make it down this mountain here!" "Just you wait 'til I get these planks strapped to my feet, and then we'll see!"" I can so totally imagine this one...

In any case, I am just about ready to head out - only 45 minutes until I'm off work tonight, and then I don't have to be back in until Friday morning.

So, I hope that you all have the best of holidays, and that the New Year brings you such joy that you can only imagine. Most of all, may you and yours be safe, loved, warm, and happy.

Blessed be!

~M

I am amused...

December 15, 2008, South Waterfront neighborhood, Portland, Oregon.

This was posted by a gentleman apparently living down by the new OHSU building on the south waterfront... "Looking from our condo we can see cars attempting, and most failing, to climb up a hill to get out of the neighborhood. I decided to put together a montage of sliding cars. Portland had a recent snowfall and we are expecting more tomorrow."

I especially like the soundtrack - really puts it into perspective.

~M

Snow day...

The party last night was a success. We had friends and family over and had lots of food and fun. Ended up NOT going to the zoo for zoo lights, as Ms Cranky-pants decided not to sleep for most of the day, and only got a 2 hr nap out of all of it... So, she was shuffled off to bed around 7 or so, and that was the end of the discussion.

This morning, I woke up at 7, couldn't see outside (it was still VERY dark), and went back to sleep. Woke up around 9, and the first words out of my mouth were:

"Hmmm It's snowing..."

And it was. Snowed for the rest of the day, until around 4:30 or so this afternoon. The bad news, it cancelled our photo shoot with Steve. The good news, it gave us time to do all our laundry, as no one wanted to walk 150 ft to the laundry room to do anything. LOL. The following is what happens when you show Boo snow for the first time... Enjoy!

Getting ready for the Holiday Party Saturday...

To do before Saturday Afternoon:

 Put away all necessary paperwork into office area
 Put away all D&D stuff
 Put away all extraneous toys and books to Boo’s room
 Put away all sewing items, fabric and machines into sewing area
 Put away all blankets and pillows
 Put away all clothes from front room, bathroom and hallway
 Fold and put away all towels
 Do dishes and clean kitchen
 Pull table out, and re-position baby gate
 Block the underside of the table against baby invasion
 Clean up dining room area
 Vacuum everywhere
 Put up tree
 Decorate
Things to do ON Saturday:
 Take out trash in all rooms, including Boo’s room and bathroom
 Take apart baby corral and put toy basket in Boo’s room
 Place baby corral against the entertainment center/bookshelf area, and brace
 Vacuum one more time

Whee!

~M

Lack of holiday spirit?

Yes, indeed, Virginia, there is a lack of holiday spirit of late. Why? Well, with budget cuts and layoffs at my work (not to mention my management team telling us repeatedly that we aren't doing enough in our job, and we don't deserve kudos or anything else unless we can account for every second of our time and justify it), not to mention a lack of funds and general exhaustion, I'm hoarding my holiday spirit for my family only, thank-you-very-much.

I have determined that, while I used to like my job and took pride in it, I can no longer even pretend. I am here to simply pick up the paycheck anymore... I can't even feel the urge to take an overall stance of personal pride in my work because I know that no matter how much I do, and how much I give to my job, my management team will continually tell me that it's not enough, that I need to do more, and that they're not impressed with how little we all do.

The latest in the list of things that management has decided to take from us under the guise of yet more budget cuts. Inclemate weather is looming, and our call center, being "vital", had given us the option to have them pay for a cab, should we be unable to get to work any other way (i.e., busses not running and too dangerous to drive due to snow/ice). Last year we didn't use this option at all. We had no real inclemate weather to speak of, and while the weather people love to threaten us with snow, we normally have about a 7% chance of snow for the whole winter. I think, in the last 10 years that I've lived in the area, we've only had 2 years where we were "snowed in", and that was only for about 4 days tops.

So, with that said, the management team decided yesterday to announce that that unless it's pre-approved by our department manager, we simply won't have the option of having our cab paid for to get us in. This is something that she's been trying to have cut for a while - it's just handy that she has an excuse now. This is the same woman who has repeatedly told us over the past 6 months that we, quite simply, suck. We don't do enough work in the call center; we should be accounting for every minute of every day when we're at work, and we shouldn't be allowed to do anything else while we're at work because it's not good for her bottom line. We don't answer the calls fast enough, we don't send the pages quickly enough, we don't get the confirmations done well enough, and we don't handle the calls with enough diplomacy... She likened us to a car repair shop... If we were at a car repair shop, we'd want to know why we were paying for an hour's work, when we saw the worker on the phone for a good half hour, and not working on the vehicle...

*sigh* I'm sorry, but I don't think she's done our job ever - and if she has, it was over 10 years ago, which means that she's forgotton what it's like to be here on the front lines. We deal with everyone - from cranky doctors to pissed off patients - we get them all. And we don't scream back, and we don't give them lip. We thank them for their call, we offer them what we can, and we get the request processed to the best of our abilities. And instead of concentrating on an equal part of what good we've done, we get a nonstop diet of 100% "you're bad and therefore must be treated like a 3-year-old" from her.

I've just pretty much had it with management's attitude. They don't know what it's like being on the front lines day in and day out. Some of them claim to have worked at this call center - and if they did, it's been so long, and they've been so far away from us for so long, that it's no longer real to them. They've forgotten what it's like and, even if they did remember, they apparently no longer care. I've been at different call centers throughout my 11 years as a call center rep... At least the prior ones didn't tell us on one hand that we were "vital" and then tell us that we were doing a crappy job regardless of what we actually WERE doing...

Weekend of turmoil...

This last weekend was full of turmoil, but not from my family, oddly enough. No, instead, it was the baby that was surly and full of hate - at least, when it came to sleeping.

She didn't like the drive up, didn't like sleeping in the same room with mommy and daddy, didn't like sleeping in a different place altogether, and absolutely HATED the dogs. Poor thing kept getting licked by them (the 3 labs LOVE babies, and will nuzzle them whenever possible) and she'd shriek and howl in indignation at the audacity of being touched by them.

Saturday was the family portrait, which wouldn't have been so bad but for the extra hour wait and the crappy photographer. Apparently, JCPennys now does all their booking through their corporate office, and corporate sets it up for every half hour. The photography area can't get most of the photos done in that short of time, but won't tell corporate. And the photographer was so hot that she was throwing up every hour or so...

When my sister went back to view the photos, there were none of the holiday background that ended up working, and only about 6 out of the 20 or so that were taken that were any good at all... I'm going to see about having Steve do photos for us. He's been wanting to get us in again and work with Boo some more, anyway, so it should be a lot more fruitful than the ones that were done prior.

Sunday found us up and ready to head back down by 11am, and we got home by 2:30 or so, where I collapsed with a migraine after putting the baby in for a "real" nap, as she hadn't really gotten any sleep at all over the weekend.

On the plus side, I got a body massage from S and Fred, and puddled for a while, then went out and picked up diapers for Boo (she's now in a size 4!).

As of today, I'm officially FUBAR'd as far as cash goes. We are $250 short for rent, so I'll have to write the check, the bank will cover it, and then I'll have to fork over the extra bounced check fee along with the missing cash when I get paid on the 12th. I'm so over doing this. From now on, all the extra cash is going to the BofA account, and I'm not going to do this ever again. Dammit. I'm so done with my stupidity.

~M