Woe Is Me

Who even reads my blog anymore? For a while my stats were telling me that I was getting traffic from Russia, which I can only assume was Putin himself. After seeing that I am in a committed relationship, though, I'm guessing he decided to move on. Good choice, Putin. You're definitely not my type. None of that matters, because I just like to write anyway. And that's not even what this post is about. This post is about my woes. I have a couple. And where better to word vomit about my woes than my blog that was formerly read by Putin?

First woe, let's talk about insurance. When Joe was full-time military we all went on base for our doctors. Really straight forward, especially when referrals were needed. When Joe retired, things changed. We still have the same insurance, Tricare (although there are some differences), but they don't have room on base to see retirees or family members, so we all had to get civilian doctors off base. That was fine with us. We were told that we could choose any of the doctors from the clinic at the hospital right by our house. So convenient! Yay! So we found Doctor K. We liked him. We went online and Joe made him our new PCP (primary care physician)....or so we thought. After we'd been going to Dr. K for a few months, one of the kids needed a referral for something. For some reason the referral wasn't going through. Joe looked online, was fiddling around, and saw that our assigned PCP was NOT Dr. K, but some other doctor that is 1/2 hr. away. Grrrr. How did that even happen? So we call Tricare. We want Dr. K as our PCP. They can't find Dr. K in their system. They say Dr. K has to do this and this and this. We call Dr. K's office. Apparently they have been trying to jump through hoops for a year to get things worked out with Tricare. They're still trying. In the meantime, we're going to have to get our PCP changed to someone else. So we call Tricare back. What other doctors do they have in their system from the clinic by our house? They tell us Dr W. Okay, we switch all of our PCP's to Dr W. We call the clinic to schedule an appointment with Dr W. Ummmm, Dr. W hasn't worked there for a year. Seriously? I call Tricare back eventually, because I need an appointment for myself. I get myself a new PCP (a women's doctor) and leave it at that. But then Alex goes and breaks his arm a few weeks ago at school. We go to the E.R., but he needs to be seen by Pediatric Orthopaedics. We've stayed so long at the E.R., though, that the PO office is closed. I wait until the next morning, and then call and make an appointment for that afternoon. Then I think, I'd better call Tricare to make sure I'm crossing all my T's and dotting all my I's. Tricare says I have to get a referral from his PCP to see a PO. I tell them his PCP doesn't exist. They don't care. So now I've got to find him a new PCP. They start listing off names at the clini I want. I decide to look up the clini website at the same time, and I'm not seeing ANY of doctors listed that they're naming. Grrrrr. I hang up with Tricare and call the clinic. Give me the names of ALL the doctors at your clinic AND your affiliate clinics that deal with Tricare. I call Tricare back with my list. They don't find the first one. Did I mention how stupid and convoluted, and screwed up their system is? They don't find the second name, or the third one, or the fourth one. These are all doctors that deal with Tricare, but Tricare can't find them for some reason. Finally we get a hit on the fifth name. Dr. M. He is in family SPORTS MEDICINE, but he's authorized to be a PCP by Tricare, so I say I'll take him for Alex. Now I call his office and explain what is going on and what I need. The nurse is baffled by what Tricare is making us do. We can't get a referral over the phone. We HAVE to come in to see Dr M. She's not sure they can get us in right away, but she goes back and talks to Dr M. He happens to be ex-Air Force himself. He says he can squeeze us in that afternoon. I still have to cancel our appointment with the PO though. It's too late for that. I'll have to reschedule for the next day, hopefully. We get into see Dr M. It's not like he's even got to examine Alex. We know he has a broken arm - we have x-rays. We're literally just there to get a referral. Such a waste of everyone's time. He tells us the two places we can go. We choose the closer one with Dr E. He says he'll put in the referral. As soon as I leave the office I call the PO and make another appointment. But wait, Dr E. has retired, and the appointment is going to be with Dr F. Does the referral have to be specific to the doctor? I call Dr M's clinic to ask about the referral. Dr M and his assistant have already left for the day. Of course they have. So first thing in the morning I call Tricare. Do they have a referral? No. I call Dr M's assistant and she says she put in the referral yesterday for Dr E., but has to change it now since he is retired. She will do it right away she assures me. I look online to see if I can see the referral - It's there! BUT it's pending. So I wait. I keep refreshing. It's still pending after a couple of hours. At this point I've got 1 hours until I have to go pick up Alex for the appointment. I call Tricare to see if they see more updated info than I do. They say it's still pending. I ask if there's any way they can expedite it, because if we don't get to the PO today, he's going to have to wait clear until Monday. No they can't do that, and it could take 2-3 business days. But then she says something about an appointment, and when I ask her to clarify she says that if we have an appointment they can expedite it. I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT! Oh, okay, then they can expedite it (hand to forhead). She transfers me. I explain, he says okay, let's do this. Put's in a bunch of info, hits enter....hmmmmm, it's still saying pending. Now he's got to send an email (an EMAIL! not a phone call) to the base, because apparently they have to approve this referral for us, even though they won't see us on base. He says it could take an hour. I'm already in the car on the way to the appointment with Alex at this point. The appointment is in 1/2 hr. I ask what I do if I get to the appointment and it still hasn't cleared? 1) I can go to the appointment anyway, and take the chance that it doesn't clear that day, in which case I will have to pay out of pocket), or 2) I can re-schedule the PO apointment, again. I keep checking. It's pending. I call Joe. We decide to chance it. We're not gamblers, but we're not going to let our son suffer over the weekend with a broken arm. We go to the appointment, they put a cast on, and we go home. I check online and the referral has been approved. We are saved. For now. Oh. My. Heck.

My second woe, let's talk about car titles. In 2006 we bought a 2005 Toyota Sienna in Utah. It was a salvage title, and Joe and his uncle fixed the van themselves. A few months later we paid off our loan for it and got the Utah salvage title from our financial institution. That van has been with us in Texas, Korea, California, Germany, and now Nebraska. We've never had a problem registering it. Ever. Until now. When we first registered the van here in Nebraska, they didn't require seeing the title because Joe was active duty military. But when we went to re-register the car this year, they told us they couldn't do it without the title, since he retired. Okay. Kind of annoying, but no big deal. Or so we thought. We went to get the title, and it wasn't where we thought it was. Commence a frantic search of our entire house. Then another one. Then another one. And maybe another one. It has magically disappeared. Okay. Super annoying, but we can get a copy of the title, right? Wrong! We call Utah, and they have NO record of a utah title. Excuse me?! Guess where they show a title? Illinois. Never lived there. Call Illinois. They have no record of a title in Illinois. They say they are seeing a title in Arizona that pre-dates when we bought it. Call Arizona. Oh hey, they have a title, but we're not named on it. In order to get a copy of that title, we've got to write a letter to the person named on the title, requesting that they relinquish the title to us. Okay, who's the name on the title? Oh, they can't tell us that. How are we supposed to write them a letter then? Get an inspection by Nebraska, and have them write an official statement that says we are in posession of the vehicle, and the VIN number, and can we request the name of the person on the title. More paper work. Then we MIGHT be able to get the name. I call Nebraska and explain all this to them. Well that's weird, because they show a title in Texas. Are you kidding me? So I call Texas. Their system is down because of the bad weather they've been having. At this point I want to interject that this is really an abridged version of what actually happened. There were a LOT more phone calls made, by both me and Joe. Hours spent on hold. Numerous answers were given, depending on who you talked to in each office. It was infuriating, like I was dealing with a government office. Oh right, I was. Let me just skip ahead and make a LONG story short (too late?) by saying that there were SO many hoops that needed to be jumped through in order to get a copy of a title for a vehicle that we've owned for 15 years, that it wasn't even worth it to us to keep the van (which really is on its last leg anyway). But you can't even get a junk yard to take a vehicle without a title! I mentioned this in the last conversation I had with someone at the Nebraska DMV, and guess what she told me? Apparently we are not the only ones who have had this problem, and she said since our names are not on any title they can find, we are not legally responsible for the vehicle. If we want to get rid of it, she says take off the plates, park it somewhere, and walk away, or call the city and report it ourselves. Huh! Well okay then. So that's just what we did. Only we didn't call it in. It's parked somewhere (I won't say where), and has been there for a week and a half now. We drive by sometimes to check, and I'm dying to know how long it's going to sit there before it gets towed. And don't worry, it's not anywhere that would be a nuisance to anyone. Just watch, we'll find our title in a few months from now. You know it's true.

That's it. I'm done with my woes. I mean, I have other woes (who doesn't), but we don't need to go into ALL my woes. Where's the fun in that? Besides, I've got to keep things upbeat and positive in case Putin starts reading my blog again.

Next Chapter

It happened. Cora moved away from home. It's sad and exciting. Mostly exciting. I drove out to Utah with her in her car, and then I flew back home. It was nice to spend those last few days alone with her. We decided Joe wouldn't come so we wouldn't have to use up vacation days or more money for another plane ticket. He was more emotional than me, but not more emotional than Cora. Even though she knew it was the right decision, and she was excited about it, it was still hard. It was a big decision. She was especially sad to leave her job as a special education para. She got really close to some of the kids and teachers. That school just isn't going to be the same without her. We made our way through Colorado, our favorite way to drive. Once you hit Denver you start getting the mountains, and it just changes everything. We drove through one town and saw the craziest thing. We had to stop and get some pictures and video.

Looked like fun (who wouldn't want to drive crazy on a frozen lake?), but we didn't do it ourselves. When we got to Utah, we set up Cora's room at her grandma and grandpa's house, and drove around Snow campus.

We had dinner with my family too.

Before I knew it, I was saying goodbye and leaving my "baby" behind.

Since then she has been busy getting a new job as a substitute teacher, working on her online class at Snow,and living it up with cousins.

Life is good.

Starting the Year Right

Joe and I celebrated 21 years of marriage on January 8th. When you turn 21 years old, you are the legal age to drink, so Joe and I decided to get drunk for our anniversary. JUST KIDDING! We decided to escape.

We almost didn't make it, because a blizzard came in just as we were supposed to be leaving.

I've never seen them de-ice the plane before take-off, but I'm glad they did.

And where did we go? To get a little Disney magic, sans kids! We only went to the parks for 2 days, but it was enough. We decided to splurge and stay on property at Pop Century. We were in the 70's area, and also walked through the 60's a lot, since that's where the main building is. Super fun.

The first day we went to Hollywood Studios. We rode the new rides like Rise of the Resistance (we managed to snag reservations!), Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad, and Slinky Dog Dash. Most of the rides in the morning were walk-ons. We rode our favorite ride (Tower of Terror) twice, sang along with Frozen, ate a HUGE carrot cake cookie, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather, while taking it easy like the old people that we are.

The second day we went to Epcot. They were having the Festival of the Arts, and we enjoyed a little of the food booths (best chili relleno ever!), seeing all the art, walking around the world showcase, enjoying the great weather, and feeling our old age in our backs and feet.

They had a huge paint-by-number mural that you could help paint a little of (5 squares). I wish I could have seen the finished product, but they gave us a bookmark that had a rendition. Lovely.

We also had dinner at the Biergarten in the Germany pavillion. Great food, entertainment, and atmosphere. I highly recommend.

It was all over before we knew it, and we had to come back to the not so great weather. I'm pretty sure we spent the rest of January shoveling snow.

How I'm Different

These are ways that I changed in 2020. I started using Zoom, Instagram, and Marco Polo. I started posting memes to express how I feel, like the rest of the world. I get anxious now when strangers are too close to me, and annoyed when people don't adhere to the distance markers on the ground. I try not to judge people who wear their masks under their nose or not at all, and people who still support Trump. I sometimes attend church over Zoom, but I don't like it, but sometimes I fall back on it just because it's convenient. I'm educating myself more about racism, and trying to root out my own biases. I stopped using paper plates/bowls and plastic silverware. I became much more reclusive, and realized how important it is to NOT be. I became more patient - not perfect, but better. I got creative with my calling. I let go of some things that are maybe not that important, and held tightly to the things that are. I learned that sometimes things really ARE greener on the other side. I'm re-learning to count my many blessings. It was an interesting year, to say the least. Good riddance? Definitely in some ways. Well, in a lot of ways. But it wasn't all bad. Some of it was pretty darn good. Here's to changing some more in 2021.

Let's Get This Party Started

I've never put Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving before, but 2020 was different. We needed that holiday spirit as soon as possible, so we put up Christmas a week before Thanksgiving. I regret nothing. We even bought a SECOND Christmas tree, so we could have one in the living room and one in the family room, and somehow I didn't get a picture of either one. Cora was determined to deliver a lot of Christmas goodies this year, so we got started early. For the first time, I made old fashioned Chex mix, just like my mom used to do - I even baked it in my huge stainless steel mixing bowl, just like my mom used to do. The smell of chex mix in the oven is the smell of my childhood Christmases. We also made some homemade chocolate dipped mints, caramel popcorn, and toffee. We bought some cute tins from Dollar Tree, and had just started to get them all ready to deliver, when disaster struck. Joe test positive for COVID! One by one, we fell like dominoes. Joe had body aches, dizziness, sore throat, loss of taste and smell, fatigue, and a cough that lasted for weeks. I had body aches, headaches, extreme fatigue, hot and cold sweats, and sore throat. Cora had loss of taste and smell, sore throat, fatigue, and fever. Joseph had headaches, sore throat, and loss of taste and smell. Madleyn and Alex both had a sore throat and headaches. You can't deliver holiday treats when you're in quarantine for covid, so we were forced to eat all the treats that we had made. Forced, I tell you. The kids ended up missing the last couple of weeks of school, but managed to get their school work done online. Even Joseph, who still managed to graduate in December. Crazy. Joe was lucky that he was able to work from home on the days that he didn't feel like total crap. My friend Ilese asked if she could arrange some meals for us, and that was greatly appreciated, because there were a few days there that both Joe and I were in bed ALL day, and we were useless to worry about making dinners, or any other meals. Of course, it's nice that all of our kids are old enough to fend for themselves - I don't know how we would have survived if we still had littles. When our quarentine was up, Cora decided we needed to make MORE Christmas goodies - we still had a couple days until Christmas, and she was DETERMINED to deliver goodies to friends and neighbors. Sometimes I just let her run with her crazy ideas. So we got started. Again. More Chex Mix and caramel popcorn, and we made gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, and chocolate kiss peanut butter cookies this time. It was a lot of work, and on Christmas Eve we spent a couple of hours delivering them all. We may have saved some for ourselves too, because clearly we had not already eaten enough treats during quarentine. We also went out driving to look at lights when we were feeling better. Papillion is so great about lighting up the downtown area - it's really beautiful. And it's fun to go through the different neighborhoods and see what people have put up, especially the displays that are set to music. We got a good laugh at this special nativity.

For Christmas I got Joe and I matching Christmas pajamas.

With his beard, he's already half-way to being Santa. And he got me a Keurig Coffee maker so I can make hot chocolate in the morning. I've used it EVERY SINGLE MORNING. It's the best. Christmas was pretty low key this year, since we decided to make it a service Christmas. We let each of the kids choose their own charity they wanted to donate too, instead of just me picking it like I have in years past. It was a good Christmas.