Children and Holidays

Children make holidays that much richer. Even when the kids are grown. The girls, Thing One and Thing Two have their friends over this evening. Wizard of Oz is on the television. Thing Two came home from work this evening with a dozen eggs and an egg decorating kit. "Mom, can we decorate eggs tonight?" Well, yeah.

Here we are eight young adult friends and my two daughters working away in the kitchen taking this whole egg decorating thing very seriously. The Artist in each of them has been brought to the surface. They are singing with the Cowardly Lion in the movie. And generally regressing to elementary school years. Childhood is good to relive.

Hoppy Holidays! Happy Spring!

Give Us This Day

My morning view from the Light Rail...

Our daily bread.

Good Morning!

Infinite Possibilities

Under the city of Seattle is the tunnel built for public transportation. It is dry here when it is raining up above. That is how I found the tunnel, looking for a dry place to wait for the bus. This week the tunnel became a little of a metaphor. Or at least it added to an idea that has taken the forefront of my brain space lately.

"There are infinite paths to happiness. Don't sweat it."

Me ~ 2011

There are six different buses all going downtown at ten minute intervals each - every weekday morning. Of those, I chose one, the one that is right in front of me. There is no need to wait for the next bus, even on principle, it is the same as this bus. I have umpteen connections I can make once I reach downtown. I can take a bus, or the light rail. I can walk a block or two to make a quicker connection, or to not make a quicker connection (sometimes its cool to just hang around). In the end, there are three different bus routes that swing past my workplace. After all the options, and routes, timetables and cityscapes, it is one of three buses that will deliver me to the door of where I work. Most weeks I cannot catch the same driver twice. Traffic changes everyday. Timetables are guidelines only. It is an infinite mix of possibilities.

And so it is with life.

Two weeks

Just keeping count, or tabs, or whatever...until I don't have to anymore.

I do appreciate the hypnosis recordings. I would recommend that option or helping hand to anyone. Drug free and feels good. It's staying in my arsenal.

It snowed last night. That was fun to watch...a little late in the season for my tastes. I hope the skiers are having a good time this year.

It may be stupid

But I still crave it.

grrrr.....

Hypnosis for real life

I've found some free apps for my iPad that seems to be pretty cool. One is an hypnosis app that has four segments, weight-loss, study, confidence and stop smoking. I started laughing during the no smoking hypnosis segment. The voice is very calm and measured. The voice repeats itself...breath in, breathe out etc, etc...relax, relax. On and on. So when the voice gets to the meat of the matter and says with a seriously forceful tenor, "Next time you think you want a cigarette you will realize how stupid this is. You will feel it is one of the dumbest things you can do." I love this. I mean, hell yes, tell it like it is. "You will let this thought leave you completely and quickly, effortlessly. There is no way you can be that stupid."

Hypnosis...amazing that voice knew exactly what I needed to hear.

I'm not sure what insurance pays for...

After living a couple years without "health insurance", and now having "benefits" for the last couple weeks, well I'm here to tell you it is a false sense of security that comes with employer subsidized insurance coverage. And that going to a doctors seems like a part time job.

One of those things happened so I went to a health care provider. I am going back again this week to hopefully get the care I requested during the first visit. Two visits and three finagling phone calls later it is costing me $364. I had to be very active as a patient advocate. That surprised me. I did get the cost way down from the initial offer. Dickering for health care.

I have another appointment on Monday for a planned visit - separate issue, different docs- and that one no one is giving over monetary information. That visit is the big secret...I will have to be advocating for my pocketbook while I'm there - but of course, these providers are removed from the billing department - in theory, they should be able to give the most appropriate care. I know what procedure I want there too so... I'll let you know how that goes.

I know that admin staff do not appreciate having to run the numbers prior to an appointment. Payment seemed so damn important to her I made sure she got all her dollars in a row - we have an agreement now - I'll come in, but she can't charge any more than she said she would. In some ways at least all the arm wrestling is done first. With the Big Secret appointment all the arm-wrestling will be after the appointment when I get the bill.

It always made me a little frustrated when I would go in sick to a doctor and after all the blood pressure, temperature and breathing in and out the doctor would tell me I'm sick, that I should have come in earlier, but even then it's a virus and had to run it's course; go home, go to bed. I guess it's not a bad gig if you can handle the start up costs.

When all this is done I will have to be truly miserable to allow myself to be put through this again.

OH! OH! I got a collections letter for several hundred dollars worth of charges at the hospital in the town in Wisconsin I lived at two years ago. Rather than call the collections company I called the hospital billing department and respectfully asked what the charges are for. The gentleman asked me when was the date of service. I said i didn't know as I've not lived in Wisconsin for two years now and this truly adds to my confusion of what these charges would be for. "So you don't have a date of service?" "If I had a date of service I would probably have a good idea what the charges are for." He mentioned my wasband and I mentioned we do not share bills as he is my wasband and not my husband. The gentleman took my number and said he'd call me back. He did. He called me back and let me know that the charges referred to in the collections request had been written off in 2009 as a billing error and he did not know how or why they had made it to the collections people. Neither my wasband nor I are responsible for those charges. I'm arm-wrestling phantom charges these days. Ain't life a miracle?