Tidbits ~ 9/25/21

I’m the luckiest girl in the world 🌍. A bit overcome by joy 🥲. My Pony is in Philadelphia for a two day concert. I’m so happy for him and his best friend. I joked about stowing away this whole time. I even took the day off work in solidarity 😂. But alas they took off Thursday night without me.

Today I got three photos – one cheesing for the camera with masks 😷 on for my benefit I’m sure, one of real Philly cheesesteaks, and one confirming they won a pint 🍺 playing video games. Priceless … all of it.

All my people are in good places right now. A year ago, that wasn’t the case. Savoring the moments like this one for however long it lasts. ❤️

As always more to come.

Egads!!!!! ~ 9/16/21

Dang, this is going to be a dervish. I went to physical therapy (PT) today. I’ve had pain for a while and blogged about it ad nauseum. Ad nauseum is another word I am over using much like my lil gecko from Geico flat tire commercial, Ugh! Make it stop!!!

Okay. Stop!

I went back to PT after undergoing a second series or battery (like in battering ram) of tests all showing negative. Muscular skeletal she said. PT will help. And from expereince it sure did. Gabe, I need you Gabe! But that was then and this is now.

I was nervous about being in a people-ly place. But I was also relieved by the protocol per their website. I felt good about the masks required and curtains between patients. I did everything online too because they want everything as contactless as possible.

The first thing that gave me pause was the location … in a strip mall. Yep I am the queen comma drama. Diva! My other place was part of a group medical office buildings. Not a neighbor to freaking Jimmy Johns. The receptionist was very nice but informs me they are not in network and my co pay is $25. Not $95 since I met my deductible. Hmmm. Why am I here? In-Network would be free. Plus when given a choice, even if I have to drive across town, I always choose in network. Do I want to pay now? Why the hell not!!

I was seen 15 minutes after my appointment which isn’t bad except my other place was a well oiled machine. And the only reason I was taken back 15 minutes late was so the guy (not my Gabe) could enter the notes from the patient who left right before me. Do the damn notes on your own time!

The assessment was right out in the open, they don’t use no stinkin curtains. The rat bastard liars. My old place took me into a private room. And while the guy (not my Gabe) wore a mask and wore it the right way, he was sniffling and coughing like crazy. Uh yea, I’m positive he gave me the Rona.

At least my mind is preparing me for that. I’m not making light. It’s anxiety! I even told B if I get sick to sue the place which you can’t but damn. I kept telling myself, he only has allergies, it has to be allergies, surely he would not ignore their own directions about staying away if you feel sick?!? It’s allergies became like a hum in my brain … my mantra. Forgive those who trespass against us …

I got a little bit of manipulation and three at home exercises, then I was almost done. As I was laying and/or lying there at the end, with heat (when I told them I prefer ice dammit), the patient next to me, a sweet Army vet easily in his 70s was moaning. He told the guy I had to force myself to come here today. He went on it hurts by my incision. But do what you gotta do. I’m not shy about telling ya to stop. During the process, I heard Christ this hurts!! I can’t take it, hold on! Broke my heart.

Twice a week for three weeks was recommended. But I skipped scheduling any follow-ups. Took the business card and said I would call. I won’t. Getting into my car was excruciating. That little manipulation caused new pain in different places. Lulu says maybe it is supposed to be that way. Worse before it gets better?? Guess I’ll never find out.

Back on the highway, lead footing it home, I detoured to QT for a DP icee. Don’t cha know. If I’m gonna lose my taste soon, I wanted one last hurrah. LOL. Funny? Or not funny? Kinda, sorta, maybe? Those mo-fo’s.

As always, more to come.

Tidbits – We’ve Been Bamboozled ~ 9/3/21

My nameless cellphone provider is at it again! Ugh!!! This problem is by definition of the champagne variety but we’re not discounting by degrees of severity today. If we did others would have me beat. I’m grateful for all my favors first. Nevertheless, a minor irritation is still an irritation.

I’ve complained about this before but here’s the backstory. Around Christmastime 2020 were splurged on three new phones. We did this specifically due to a special the provider was running. Plus it was a nice present for the people who have everything. Yep, see above, we be blessed.

We traded-in phones to get the 1/2 off. Yep! Half off. To good to be true. With all kinds of hooks and hoops to jump through. The discount is given back monthly for 30 months. No early payoff allowed.

This worked in two out of three cases. For the Samsung, we’re not getting our trade in credit. Which means every month since January, I get the bill, it’s wrong, I call, I’m told my issue is resolved, we’re very sorry, it won’t happen again. Groundhog day!

Yesterday was round eight trying to reach a resolution. I spoke to six different people. The insane loop was this – business dept. (1), connects me to personal consumer (2), personal consumer escalates to the trade-in vendor not even within their company (3) who transfers me back to business (4), who transfers me to the QA manager for U-Verse (5) mind you we are talking about cell phones not Internet/TV or whatever the hell U-Verse is!! then he got me back to a manager in personal consumer (6). Does your head hurt? Mine sure does!!!

By the time I got to #6, I was defeated. I had been getting more upset having to repeat my story (which should be documented and in the notes). Plus their automated system sucks. Press ‘1’ for whatever reason was not taking. I pressed ‘1’ multiple times but the message kept repeating. Then they try to sham you into accepting a call back. Promising I wouldn’t lose my place in line. I’m not fucking falling for that again. I tried that time before last and each call back was some robo bullshit placing me back in queue or worse hanging up on me. You effing called me back and you have the nerve to disconnect me!!!

Anyway, deep breathing helps y’all it sure does. And laughter. Because B and Lulu would give me these looks as I waited on hold or started talking to whichever yahoo was going to transfer me around. They inspired me to be snarkier since there is nothing more amusing than me in a tizzy. I tell ya what!

I finally got someone who helped me. I think. I was defeated by the time I got to her so I talked real nice with my southern twang to match the cadence of her own speech patterns. She found the error right off and reopened my closed case. The prior bastards had closed me out as resolved!!! By her calculations we are owed 8 months of installments toward the $700 total. This matched my own calculations. Enough to pay the bill next month probably.

She gave me her name, employee number, and direct extension for next month because she was still relying on another area to process the case she reopened. I should also get a text back in about 3 business days. Here’s hoping.

As always, more to come.

Tidbits ~ 8/6/21

Howdy folks! This week has been a prequel to retirement. Much different than a vacation. I’ve tried to stay to somewhat of a routine because I don’t want to develop bad habits. When I was younger, I was sure I could burn the candle at both ends and power to the weekend where miraculously I’d catch up on sleep. But that’s not how things work really. Sleep deprived is sleep deprived. And since the Rona, I have slept well. The whole idea of not having to commute to work lifted a stress. I do still have very infrequent bouts of can’t stay asleep but mostly, 11 pm to 7 am is my jam. This week the only difference is I wake up naturally without the blasting alarm.

Surprisingly, I’ve kept busy instead of being a couch potato. I’ve always said I can’t retire until I know I have something to do since the couch would beckon me and get me in its’ grips to never move again. I did enjoy some downtime yesterday but as a treat for cleaning my oven. Overdue and time consuming but worth it in the end. I even soaked the racks in the tub full of dishwater. That’s a life hack I just found. Made for night and day difference with no chemical smell. All this because I made lemon meringue pie from scratch and some of the meringue spilled over the side. Once I got to spot cleaning, I decided to do the whole oven. Something I’d never do if it wasn’t for the freedom of no schedule. Which is silly really since I have the same amount of time in the day that I always do.

And with that, I am off to make the most of this final day of vacay. See ya on the flip side. 10/4 good buddy.

As always, more to come.

Tidbits ~ 8/5/21

Starting with a P.S. because I’m a rule breaker. Heartfelt goodness. The same vibe. Only thing missing was the hugs 🤗 oh and cake! 😂 🎉🎉🎉🎉

I’m sitting here in a parking lot waiting to dial into a Zoom meeting to honor 39 years of service. It’s what has become of retirement gatherings. Thank you Covid. For nada. I’m a little saddened by this because not long ago, there’d be a shindig. You know a real hoedown. A high-faluting send off. Lots of laughter and happy tears plus lots of hugs. Now it’ll be 45 minutes on Zoom of I don’t know what 🤷. This type of gathering might be the wave of the future. And if I knew no different, I wouldn’t miss anything. But I do know different and even this introvert always loved the retirement stuff. It was like a reunion of sorts. I hope they still give the speech. The best part. If I’m not shattered, or even if I am, I’ll post an addendum.

As always more to come.

Tidbits ~ 8/3/21

Yesterday, MoMo went with me to Barnes & Noble. She chattered the whole way there. That’s always nice because small talk is not my thing. She fills the empty spaces which is fine by me. Though some of what comes out of her mouth … well … unfiltered nonsense. I got this bright idea for a new category (fastest way to kill the category is to actually add one) so I’m just “thinking out loud”. I already have a title The Mother-in-Law Chronicles. Pretty sure it’d only be funny to us but then again, I’m writing for me.

Today, I baked a lemon meringue pie from scratch. My meringue never peaked but I used it anyway. Sure hope it tastes okay. The lemon curd part that I was worried about was surprisingly easy. Guess I watched enough cooking shows to learn how not to scramble the eggs.

My baking kick has been fun. Ever since I dusted off grandma’s old pie crust recipe, I’ve been experimenting. Lately I have seen few memes asking what would you be if you had the job you wanted at age 12? Me? I wanted to be a baker. Maybe I’m trying to capture some of that now. In addition to harvesting tomatoes from the garden, this baking kick is giving me stress relief. Of course my LDL is 109 and B’s A1C reads as prediabetic. Maybe we should cut back? Not cut out mind you since everything in moderation, including moderation.

Now I’m off to harvest. Later than usual since I’m on vacay. Peace out.

As always, more to come.

Tidbits ~ 8/1/21

With Styx too much time on my hands, I am organizing. What a way to spend a Vacay. You do you. And I do me. And organizing is Nirvana. Smells like Teen Spirit or rose and ivy scent bulbs. Plus after having watched an episode or two of hoarders this morning, there is nothing more I’d rather do than clean up. Part of me thinks that salacious TV should come with a warning. Oh wait, come to think of it, there was a warning. Rambling on …

On my first or second day of return to office, I found my health assessment card from February 20, 2020. Because of corona, health assessments were suspended for 2021 until now. Which means on July 16, 2021, I masked it up and went to Quest Diagnostics to have my screening done. I may have already shared with you that the phlebotomist after drawing my blood said “thank you Jesus that’s over. What a tough draw!” or something to that effect. My thought bubble was pretty much “if you think it was tough for you, what about me?” I’ve officially got old lady veins that roll. Ewww.

I got the electronic results by email almost immediately. Maybe in a day or two max. And the Healthy points towards reduction of my healthcare costs were uploaded this week giving me 400 out of 500 points. And with that, the goal of 3000 points achieved! Yay me! I get the hoodie. Two actually. One from Healthy points and one from our leadership team. They’re doing “just because you are all awesome” gifts. I picked a hoodie for that too thinking I might not reach 3000. Now I wish I’d picked the Yeti wine tumbler. Rambling on …

I’m still kind of borderline healthy though. Despite passing pieces of this. I can’t ever get the BMI points. Though at 25.2, I’m closer to the requisite 24.9 than I’ve ever been. Also, I noticed some inconsistency for LDL. Is the optimum range under 130 or under 100? And what’s difference between LDL and non-HDL? Time to put my Dr Google skillz to werk.

I’m only really worried about my blood pressure. It was 128/81. 120/80 is the preferred range. They give credit for 130/85 which means I got 100 points despite being borderline. What’s nice is that from the July 16 assessment, I got a book that is called a blue print to wellness with 18 pages of recommendations on how to be healthy. Much of it common sense. All of it appreciated.

Alrighty, lemme let you go. Back to my organizing. Happy Sunday folks.

As always, more to come.

Tidbits ~ 7/28/21

Where were we? Oh ya, the roof saga. Before 5/3/21, we were voluntarily replacing our 22 year old roof. Though a 35 year comp shingle, Tejas it hotter than hades and roofs never make it to the full life expectancy. We started noticing granules on the sidewalk after Snowmageddon or maybe even a little before. Got three bids and began to mull things over. Then 5/3/21, we got hail. Crazy odd shaped chunks flew from the sky. All three vehicles were dinged and the roof was deemed a total loss. I wrote a funny math edition here …

Thursday Thoughts ~ 6/24/21

The roof still isn’t replaced despite the preliminary inquires. After 5/3/21, roofers have more work than they can shake a stick at … not that anyone would shake a stick at work right? Your livelihood depends on money coming in? Feast or famine of the self-employed.

Here’s a move over from FB as I was in search of recommendations for a roofer.

Getting another bid for our roof since B claims the original price was a ploy to shoo us away. He says it happens all the time. 40k is steep considering we have one other bid for 25k. But you get what you pay for right?!?!?

He also wants to barter again. He’ll plaster in exchange for a reduction. Ugh. Shoot me now.

So, I’ve gone sidebar through Contractor Connection. What are the odds that the next roofer’s last name is Jasek? Maybe that’s a sign? Still waiting for the quote to make a final decision though.

Oh happy Wednesday

As always, more to come.

Off Cycle Thoughts/Here Is Why You Can’t Have Nice Things ~ 7/24/21

Sometimes I dip my toe into the deep end. Splash! Eventually I catch up with the techie techs of the world. On a lark, in prep for my RTO = return to office, I sprung for some wireless ear buds. Not the nice ones mind you. Lulu has her fancy dancy Apple Air pods and Pony has his Samsung equivalent but this other ‘f’ word stands for frugal gal isn’t going to spend that kind of cash.

I got Onn knock offs, compatible with iPhone. For the low, low price of $19.88 + tax. Easy enough set up for this luddite though I did have issues going between my phone and my iPad. The sound was great. The charge lasted all day. I took them to work and thank goodness I had them because my first day back, I forget my headset at home.

I swear dollars to donuts that I brought my ear buds home and even used them here at this very spot where I am sitting right now. But, nope. They are nowhere to be found here at the house. I had the collective family unit turn things upside down. Somewhere between the office and back home, poof gone. The last time for sure I remember using them was at the Tech Spot in the office as I waited for my new laptop, which is a story I may not have written about here in bloglandia but I almost blew up y’all. Seriously Meredith Grey.

“See that is why you can’t have nice things!” said me to the kids once upon at time. Or I am misremembering because that doesn’t sound like me at all. LOL. Now they can tell me the same thing. Glad I went with the cheapo because I am on the hunt for a replacement. And I definitely don’t want to lose them again.

I’m looking for something with a strap. Still not wired but wireless. I am in Amazon hell. Prime free one day and Amazon Choice offers. Too many to choose from. I have put in search criteria to slowly reduce my options but still have 294 to look through. Maybe I need to close my eyes, point to the screen, and pin the tail on the bud. Ugh! Shoot me now.

Humor me fine folks. Toss me a comment or two about your bud of choice. The ear variety. Wink wink. As if the teetotaler even remotely has any idea what she is talking about.

As always. more to come.

Tidbits ~ 7/16/21

That nest is pretty peaceful right?

Ohm Ohm Ohm

Channeling my inner Zen

I had a wellness check this morning for healthy points. I’ve written about that before. I’m at 2650 points on the road to 3000. The phlebotomist had trouble with me again. After she was done she exclaims “all I can say is thank you Jesus, that was a tough one”

Ugh! Tough for who? Actually she did a good job. It only hurt a little and she was fast about it. Now I’m waiting for my email to confirm I was there so I can upload whatever the heck it is to get my points. If I get all 500, I will have reached my goal. Yeah buddy.

Moving on. Does every email deserve a response when all you really want to write back is you are a clueless mofo? LOL. Asking for a friend.

Happy FriYay!!!

As always, more to come.