Unidentified Frozen Objects. My mom had them in her freezer, I haz them in the bottom of my chest freezer. So for dinner tonight I pulled out these five containers and set them on the counter to thaw. I have NO IDEA what is in them, but hey, I enjoy a challenge. Plus, I don’t have access to a car to go food shopping today.
I will report back when I know what they were, whether they survived the great thaw and whether we gave up and ordered take-out.
Yeah, okay so I swim. I enjoy it but I do not like carrying the schtink of chlorine around on me for an entire day. I smell like a bottle of Clorox, especially on the days after they have “done a little cleaning” to the pool. Bleech.
I once had some really awesome walnut scrub stuff that got rid of the stench, but alas it ran out. Some brands had little flecks of walnut shells…what I needed was a kind of liquid sandpaper to get this stuff of my skin. I tried to re-order and found out that the company had stopped making it. Poo.
So thanks to a generous gift of a bag of walnut powder from Ryan I tried to make my own.
Teh internets had all sorts of ideas as to how to do this…honey, yogurt, flour, tea tree oils, herbal la de dahs. It looked like you could be as simple or as complex with this as you wanted…so I opted for simple. Here’s what I did.
I warmed up about 1/2 cup of honey (do not heat it too much because it can turn everything into rock candy/ Turkish Taffy really fast…warm is good)
I added about 1/8 cup run of the mill olive oil
I added enough of the walnut stuff to make it dense/ muddy but not brick like.
I added about 1/8 cup Dr Bronner’s Peppermint Soap full strength, not diluted (This makes it smell really good, and makes a good lather)
Behold the (blurry) result.
Used in small doses, and not every day, it gets rid of the chlorine smell and (because of the oil) softens my skin (i.e. not dried out like whoa from said chlorine).
And as an added bonus, it simultaneously cleans the enamel in our tub/shower better than commercial cleaners!
Enjoy.
This is what breakfast looks like for the eating machine that is also know as my younger son. Most mornings it is just waffles ( made from scratch because it is just as easy and way cheaper) and bacon. Some days I go crazy (as I appear to have gone on this particular day) and make a side of eggs. Wash this down with a quart of orange juice. Done.
This could explain why the local food market gets very excited when I come in. In fact one cashier told me that I am the person they like to train their new people on because “of the huge amount of food you buy every time you come in.”
This, in small town Ohio, is as close to celebrity status as I may ever get 
There is one benefit to be in charge of Mom and Dad’s bills: I have a very healthy dose of skepticism when I review medical invoices. I have become horrified at what doctors/HMOs get away with charging when they know “insurance pays”. (Don’t even get me started about the doctors who take care of the elderly and are pillaging the Medicare system)
I have put that anger and outrage to good use and made a discovery: If you get care from the Cleveland Clinic system read on: you may be being charged for things you do not owe.
Background:
Yesterday, in the mail I got a letter from a collection agency. Swell. They were telling me I had not paid a series of bills related to doctors visits made by my husband and at the local Cleveland Clinic campus. I have receipts (from the Clinic) proving that I had indeed paid these fees, and did so 6 months ago, so clearly this was an error.
Except for the fact that the Clinic has no record of my payment, nor do they have a record of the charges that the collection agency says I owe. Which is kind of amazing since, well, the collection agency says it is acting on behalf of the Clinic….but I digress.
One hand does not know what the other is doing. Which is fine… it gives me time to get our files together and be ready to hit them with all of my receipts when they can’t find theirs.
But in the meantime, I took a closer look at the things I had paid, and found this:
What are hospital services, you ask? Well when I read the fine print on the invoice, this is what I found:
Yep. A facility charge. So the way this works is if your doctor has an office inside one of the Cleveland Clinic “campuses,” s/he is charged rent by the Main Campus…and that rent is passed on to the patients in the form of “Hospital Services.”
Amazingly, insurance pays…and at a greater percentage than what they do for the actual office visit.
So I went back and looked at my invoices. See the “Hospital Service” on 1/1/11 for $816? Well, funny thing: neither the Clinic nor I can find any actual service that corresponds to that date and charge. And yet they billed my insurance, and insurance paid, and then I paid the remainder, and now the collection wants me to pay again.
Wait, what?
I asked a colleague at work if she knew anything about this “hospital services” charge. She didn’t. And then she pulled out her own bill and lo! there, on her statement, on a date that does not correspond to any doctor’s visit…is a charge for over $900 for “hospital services.” And her insurance paid it. All of it.
So while I wait for the Clinic’s billing office to get back to me, I would like to encourage each of you who use the Cleveland Clinic system to check your statements. Make sure the dates of the “hospital services” actually correspond to a visit to the doctor.
And if they don’t…call and make a stink.
Flickr photo thanks to Radical Wacko
My siblings and I have divided the tasks that Mom and Dad need to have done, and I took on the paying of the bills. I hate paying my own bills, so somehow there is a cruel irony in the fact that I am now in charge of paying their bills as well.
And let it be known, even though AARP and Medicare send your parents invoices to you, don’t think for a minute that this means you can ask questions about their accounts. Even when you have a Power of Attorney. Pffft. Oh but no worries, there is a multi-pageform for that and it usually involves Mom or Dad or both signing off on it. (Added degree of difficulty here: they are in Maine, and I am not) Bleeech.
Nothing would make me happier than having someone (other than me) manage our family’s bills and expenses. So there are times I find it amazing that my parents are having such a hard time with this. On the one hand I understand how hard it must be to trust your life’s finances in the hands of your youngest daughter after years of doing it yourself, but on the other hand … well, I start looking at my youngest son and thinking “hmmm, 16? is that too young for me to hand over the checkbook?”
It’s the 8 p.m. calls that smart the most. It’s three hours after their cocktail time and about 15 minutes before the nurses come to put dad to bed, and they have been talking about things. Between the fatigue, and the alcohol, and their age…well, what started as a mild concern escalates into a full-blown panic. Followed by fairly direct slam dunks like “So, your dad is wondering if you know what you are doing…”
Sigh.
I am damned if I do and they would be damned if I didn’t.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben78pics/3692282376/
I go to Pilates classes 2-3 times a week. I love my teacher ( she is ten years older than me and can easily whup me and everyone else in the room…damn) but her choice of music during class is dreadful. Think of trying to do The Teaser or One Hundreds during a medley of the Three Tenors, The Moody Blues and random wind chime/ pan pipe audio files. Yeah, no.
So I decided to make some CDs for her and the class, based on certain themes, as a way to stay focused (and to mask the sound of people gasping for air…)
For example, here is the playlist of songs (and the artists) I created with the title of “Breathing“:
“Breathe” (2 a.m.) Anna Nalick
“Just Breathe” Telepomusik
“Every Car You Chase” Party Ben
“Breathe Again (Studio Version)” Sara Bareilles
“I Dare You to Move” Switchfoot
“Just Breathe” Rachel Fuller
“Barely Breathing” Duncan Sheik
“Breathe Me” Sia
“Blue Lips” Regina Spektor
“Breathe In” Frou Frou
“Harder to Breathe” Maroon 5
“Lose My Breath” Destiny’s Child
And this one, appropriately entitled “Songs of Hurt & Pain”
“Misery” Glee cast (yeah, talk about miserable)
“King of Pain” The Police
“Long Line of Pain” Amos Lee
“It’s Only Pain” Kathy Melua
“Hurts So Good” John Mellencamp
“Haven’t Got Time for the Pain” Carly Simon
“Get Off On the Pain” Gary Allan
“Hurt” Johnny Cash
“Love Hurts” Incubus
“Everybody Hurts” REM
“Something for the Pain” Bon Jovi
“What Hurts the Most” Rascall Flatts
“Used to the Pain” Keith Urban
The teacher now plays them all the time, but now I am getting bored (again). So I am working on a new theme “Crying,” because after the winter break hiatus, that is indeed what I will be doing once I am back in class.
I am looking for song suggestions… anyone?
Precisely one year ago today, Ryan and I thought it would be fun to participate in Inkygirl’s “250 words a day” . I blogged about it here. 250 words seemed do-able, low stakes and possible. I was filled with hope, enthusiasm…even pluck.
And then life got in the way.
Although I did do my share of writing last year (here on this blog and over here and even over here and here…), well, it wasn’t a consistent 250 words every day. As I deleted the “250 words” badge from the sidebar of this blog I wondered whether anyone else might have had the same difficulties. Traa-laa, there was.
Enter “ The Distracted Writers Club 50 Words Per Day Challenge” from the blog A Splintered Mind. This part of the post rang particularly true for me:
Maybe you can relate. You’re a writer with good intentions and high enthusiasm who writes around the edges of your busy life. You’ve started projects like NaNoWriMo and found that although you were emotionally committed to the daily effort, your time schedule was not. Soon you found work, family, responsibilities, life, etc. interfering with your goals.
and this too
Writing 1667 words per day for NaNoWriMo is a fantastic goal, but it’s one thing to make a goal and another to achieve it. If your life isn’t structured to make room for the goal, you’ll likely never achieve it. I found failing NaNoWriMo despite my enthusiasm very disheartening and stressful. 50,000 words in one month was too big a mouthful to swallow for me.
Hence, the 50 Words a Day Challenge.
The “rules” for the challenge can be found in the post (and yes there is even a 25 words a day challenge too).
So here are my first 50 words (and then some) for 2012.
I am now off to figure out how to get the badge (above) over to the sidebar over there—>
Mom and Dad are now in Assisted Living. Together. Hooray.
The past few months have been a whirlwind of sorting, storing, clearing, tossing, and donating about 65 years of accumulated stuff belonging to my parents.
Getting their current house ready to be sold.
Getting mail forwarded to Ohio so bills can be paid.
Sending out countless copies of the powers of attorney forms so all things official can be re-routed, paid, filed.
I told my husband that all I want for a present this year is a dumpster. I want to start hurling things now so that when our time comes… our kids won’t have to go through this as well.
The important thing is this: they are safe, they are very well cared for…and they are together. I hope we are equally fortunate when it is our turn.
This was the sign outside the AmVets Hall where we donated my dad’s electric wheelchair and scooter. In addition to spaghetti dinners and steak fries, they seem to have a good sense of humor and an awesome philosophy on life…and the stuff that happens along the way.
Dad’s stuff will be in good hands.
My son, who just finished his first year in college, is living at home this summer. It feels weird and uncomfortable and horribly limiting. He knows he is almost 19, but every now and again he feels as if he is only 13. Even though he can come and go as he pleases, it is still home with us vs the dorm with his buds and that sucks.
Meanwhile, here I am living in my parents’ house, and having similar feelings. My brain every now and again wonders what year this is and how old I am.
Add to this the fact that, like my son, where my parents live is also the same place where I went to school. When I catch a break and go to swim at the pool at the place where I also went to college (and have music on my headset that sometimes is from the [ancient] timeperiod I went to school)….this results in a total mind scramble. I have actually bashed into the wall of the pool out of confusion.
When the roles are reversed and you are caring or your parents, it is hard. It is even harder when the interactions and patterns you have developed over the years, as well as the surroundings,end up muddling your brain. I am sure it is equally confusing for my parents as well.
I am lost in a weird time/space continuum while staying here. Kinda like this movie. But in living color. And real life.
Anyone else know the feeling?
(Thanks to Ryan for the morphing gif magic)
