A Little More Magic

Was Spring Break 4 months ago? Yes. Am I just now getting around to blogging about it? Obviously. Life, ya know? We took our Spring Break to Disney World. Yes, again. There are two kinds of people in the world - those who feel the magic at Disney World, and those who don't. We feel the magic! This is who we are. Our first day was at Animal Kingdom. Cora splurged for Christmas this year and bought us villain Loungefly backpacks. We LOVE them.

We ate all the food, fell in love with Pandora again, saw characters in unexpected places, looked for animals, some of us became Wilderness Explorers, and we discovered that a mid-day break IS in fact a good idea.

Our second day was at Magic Kindgom.

We ate all the food, enjoyed the beauty, tried our hand at the sword in the stone, compared ourselves to different characters, quoted Disney lines, and napped in the park.

On the third day we took a break from the parks, and just swam and slept at the hotel. But we did go to Disney Springs for a bit.

We got some putine (which was okay), and we DID try Gideon's Bakehouse. Took us 4 1/2 hours in a virtual line (yay for virtual lines!) and we were able to sample the "World's best cookies". Were they they best? I don't know, but they were pretty dang good, and it was fun just to go in the store.

The fourth day was Hollywood Studios. The last time (and first time) we came here, Hollywood Studios was all of our least favorite of the parks. This time it was our favorite, and for me personally this was a PERFECT day at a park. Perfect. Not everyone made it through the whole day, but Cora and I were there until closing.

We ate all the food, shrunk in size, discovered new details, felt the force, sang to Frozen, and enjoyed the Skyliner (Madelyn was very brave).

On the fifth day, which was our final day at the parks, we went to Epcot. This was another near-perfect day for me. The only thing that threw it off was that we waited too long for the Frozen ride, during the hottest part of the day. Other than that - perfect. We ate all the food, enjoyed the Flower and Garden Festival, fell in love with Figment, finally found Mickey, and used an umbrella for the sun.

Joe, Madelyn, and Joseph had done all they wanted to at the Frozen point, so they went back to the hotel for the rest of the day. After a little break, Cora, Alex, and I stayed until almost closing, because we were determined to visit every country pavilion to play Kidcot, and eat more food. It was fantastic!

After that it was back home, but I do have to mention one thing on the way there and one thing on the way back - honorable mentions, if you will. It seems like our spring break always coincides with major bird migrations that go through the midwest. They are pretty cool to watch, and we saw some on our way there.

On the way back we stopped at what I believe is the only Buc-ee's in Georgia. Buc-ee's is a chain of Travel Centers based out of Texas, but they've been expanding into other states. They are HUGE. If you know, you know.

This was a great Disney trip. We didn't mind wearing masks, we used gallons of hand sanitizer, we had mostly perfect weather, the lines were fairly short for the most part, and not even leaving my purse at a restaurant and having to backtrack and hour to get it could ruin our trip. I love my family, and I love spending time with them and making good memories.

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.