what are you doing right now?

[raeoflyte]

Oct 20, 2023 7:58:37 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

Pleased to share that I have a new DGD, born 6 weeks early.  We knew she'd be early, a planned C section was scheduled for next week but she decided not to wait around.  She's small but healthy so far. 

Also happy to share that last night I babysat for my DGS, who has disabilities arising from his very premature birth.  DS and DDIL have not been out together without him since he came home from the NICU 2+ years ago.  It was a great success, we had a wonderful time, and he was full of smiles.  I'm encouraging them to do this more often, just the two of them alone. 

Congrats! Snuggle those babies for me!

[raeoflyte]

Oct 20, 2023 8:44:52 GMT -5 azucena said:

Oct 19, 2023 19:57:03 GMT -5 MarionTh230 said:

DH thinks he wants to be a school janitor. We will work on getting him an application in the system. I imagine it will be a slow and drawn out process. Which means it is probably best to get started on it quite soon.

They can't find enough bus drivers in the StL area, so maybe consider that too.

Same in the Denver metro area. We have kids getting to school 1-2 hours late because they're sharing busses. I'm not sure how some families manage with that. Or what the school does when the bus is over an hour late to pick up after school.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I know I keep repeating it but the Medicaid lady is a freaking God Send.   

She is taking care of doling out my POA to everyone so I can get on the phone.  2024 Medicare premiums have already gone out and who knows where the hell they were sent.  I will likely have to call to get another copy sent out directly to me.

I have everything changed online so hopefully going forward it will all come to me until the end.

It's still a lot of work but having someone who actually is helping me shoulder the burden rather than patting me on the head or sending threatening emails is a HUGE stress reliever.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Wondering how much I have screwed up my prescriptions.

I take 2 meds every morning, for blood pressure and thyroid.  When I switched pharmacies, BOTH pills are a small (exact same size) pink round pill (last pharmacy, one pill was round, the other oblong but both pink too).  I take 2 for blood pressure, one for thyroid every morning.  I know at least yesterday - and I have no idea how many days before - I took 2 thyroid, 1 BP.  I can't count how many days I did this because I started using the bottles of meds at different times, so counting what is left isn't going to help.

[finnime]

The Walk of the Penguin Mich, can you use the fill date on the bottles to guesstimate how many should be left?

[daisylu]

DS was angling for a heated jacket because he works outside a lot. 1 Christmas gift done. And at the cost, that is all he is getting.

[giramomma]

Procrastinating.

I need to square up with DH on the credit card bill. I don't want to, because it's going to be fairly painful.

We have the money...I just don't want to spend it.

[weltz]

Oct 20, 2023 12:34:45 GMT -5 finnime said:

The Walk of the Penguin Mich , can you use the fill date on the bottles to guesstimate how many should be left?

^Yeah, that.^

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Oct 20, 2023 12:34:45 GMT -5 finnime said:

The Walk of the Penguin Mich , can you use the fill date on the bottles to guesstimate how many should be left?

No, because I order as soon as I can.  So I usually have a stash.  This is how I avoided jumping through hoops about getting a vacation override for the world cruise.  When I left, I had 9 months of meds and took 6 months with me.  I ordered this batch sometime in June when we got back, but didn’t start then until Sept.  

The other thing I discovered on the ship was that I had a 90 day supply of each (x2) but ran out of BP meds first.  Those I KNOW I took daily, which means that I think I got shortchanged on those since we were on the ship 178 days.  

[cooper88]

seriousthistime Congratulations!

[MarionTh230]

Oct 20, 2023 8:44:52 GMT -5 azucena said:

Oct 19, 2023 19:57:03 GMT -5 MarionTh230 said:

DH thinks he wants to be a school janitor. We will work on getting him an application in the system. I imagine it will be a slow and drawn out process. Which means it is probably best to get started on it quite soon.

They can't find enough bus drivers in the StL area, so maybe consider that too.

Yes, we have that same issue here too.  It was an option we talked about.  DH wasn't interested in being responsible for the safety of other people's children though.  I didn't disagree with him on that.  Custodian seemed to be lower risk - despite the lower wage.

[weltz]

Oct 20, 2023 13:36:17 GMT -5 MarionTh230 said:

Oct 20, 2023 8:44:52 GMT -5 azucena said:

They can't find enough bus drivers in the StL area, so maybe consider that too.

Yes, we have that same issue here too.  It was an option we talked about.  DH wasn't interested in being responsible for the safety of other people's children though.  I didn't disagree with him on that.  Custodian seemed to be lower risk - despite the lower wage.

Does it have to be a SCHOOL janitor?   Many apartment buildings need janitors, as well as office buildings.

[raeoflyte]

Our pet sitter is MIA. I hope she's OK, but if she is I'm pissed. We've cobbled together a back up plan for the critters at home. There will be lots of thank you's and iou's in our future.

[MarionTh230]

Updated the budget to account for DH's loss of income.  Now to make sure we adhere to the budget.  Technically, we've always had a budget and I update it annually to reflect our raises and increases in benefit premiums and changes in expenses (electricity and groceries are the two that change the most from year to year).  But, it's been a long time since we've had to actually be mindful about following the budget strictly.

There's always been enough money going into the checking account to pay our expenses.  Everything else from our paychecks is/was siphoned off before that.  If I felt like we had too much money in the checking account after paying expenses, I'd just move it over to savings.  If I felt like we didn't have enough, we'd cut back on spending.  It worked fine since we had enough income.  We didn't have to be meticulous about every line item.  

With a loss of income that is not the case anymore.  We need to pay more attention to each expenditure.  Which is going to take a little while to catch on.  I wasn't aggressive with the budget cuts either.  I pared a few things down, but really, it comes down to us putting less in savings each month.  That will be fine for a little while.  At some point it will bother me though.  If we get to that point, I'll cut the budget much more aggressively then.

In the meantime, DH has been sleeping better and feeling better.  Things had gotten very stressful and toxic at his work.  Kiddo is ecstatic that he is home with us now.  She told him she doesn't want him to ever go back to work.  That's not an option - but it does reinforce the idea that we really need to find something with a normal schedule so DH can be home with us.

[NastyWoman]

Oct 20, 2023 13:29:02 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Oct 20, 2023 12:34:45 GMT -5 finnime said:

The Walk of the Penguin Mich , can you use the fill date on the bottles to guesstimate how many should be left?

No, because I order as soon as I can.  So I usually have a stash.  This is how I avoided jumping through hoops about getting a vacation override for the world cruise.  When I left, I had 9 months of meds and took 6 months with me.  I ordered this batch sometime in June when we got back, but didn’t start then until Sept.  

The other thing I discovered on the ship was that I had a 90 day supply of each (x2) but ran out of BP meds first.  Those I KNOW I took daily, which means that I think I got shortchanged on those since we were on the ship 178 days.  

I use those daily pill boxes just to make sure I don't get into the "did I take this one yet or not" situation. To get my BP under control and minimize side effects I have to take three different BP pills. It was the side effects on my liver that caused this as my BP was under control fairly quickly. Since then I always taken the pills from this box so I know that I either have take them all or I forget them all, there is no in between. Yet by now I am several weeks out of sync with these pills - proof that they are not counted - and that the "filling by weight" machines are clearly not very accurate.

[MarionTh230]

Oct 20, 2023 13:40:43 GMT -5 weltz said:

Oct 20, 2023 13:36:17 GMT -5 MarionTh230 said:

Yes, we have that same issue here too.  It was an option we talked about.  DH wasn't interested in being responsible for the safety of other people's children though.  I didn't disagree with him on that.  Custodian seemed to be lower risk - despite the lower wage.

Does it have to be a SCHOOL janitor?   Many apartment buildings need janitors, as well as office buildings.

No, it doesn't.  But there are 15 - 20 openings for school janitors in our school system.  Only requirements are a high school diploma and pass all the background checks.  Since it would be at a school, he would work only during school hours and be home nights, weekends, and most school breaks.  

The other thing is, the benefits for the school system run through the state.  Which matters a lot because of the health insurance.  It is much better than what my company offers.

If he did office buildings, it'd be more likely to be nights.  If he did apartments, there'd probably be weekends involved.  If he has to work night and weekends, he will just go back to working in a grocery store like he was.  It would pay more than janitorial work.  For the moment, we are ok without his paycheck, so he and I are both more interested in something with a schedule that allows him to be home with us more.  School janitor would fit in with that nicely.

[weltz]

Oct 20, 2023 13:48:59 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Oct 20, 2023 13:29:02 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

No, because I order as soon as I can.  So I usually have a stash.  This is how I avoided jumping through hoops about getting a vacation override for the world cruise.  When I left, I had 9 months of meds and took 6 months with me.  I ordered this batch sometime in June when we got back, but didn’t start then until Sept.  

The other thing I discovered on the ship was that I had a 90 day supply of each (x2) but ran out of BP meds first.  Those I KNOW I took daily, which means that I think I got shortchanged on those since we were on the ship 178 days.  

I use those daily pill boxes just to make sure I don't get into the "did I take this one yet or not" situation. To get my BP under control and minimize side effects I have to take three different BP pills. It was the side effects on my liver that caused this as my BP was under control fairly quickly. Since then I always taken the pills from this box so I know that I either have take them all or I forget them all, there is no in between. Yet by now I am several weeks out of sync with these pills - proof that they are not counted - and that the "filling by weight" machines are clearly not very accurate.

Thanks for reminding me I need to take my boatload of pills.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Oct 20, 2023 13:48:59 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Oct 20, 2023 13:29:02 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

No, because I order as soon as I can.  So I usually have a stash.  This is how I avoided jumping through hoops about getting a vacation override for the world cruise.  When I left, I had 9 months of meds and took 6 months with me.  I ordered this batch sometime in June when we got back, but didn’t start then until Sept.  

The other thing I discovered on the ship was that I had a 90 day supply of each (x2) but ran out of BP meds first.  Those I KNOW I took daily, which means that I think I got shortchanged on those since we were on the ship 178 days.  

I use those daily pill boxes just to make sure I don't get into the "did I take this one yet or not" situation. To get my BP under control and minimize side effects I have to take three different BP pills. It was the side effects on my liver that caused this as my BP was under control fairly quickly. Since then I always taken the pills from this box so I know that I either have take them all or I forget them all, there is no in between. Yet by now I am several weeks out of sync with these pills - proof that they are not counted - and that the "filling by weight" machines are clearly not very accurate.

I think you are right that the filling by weight is not accurate.  I guess I need to start counting future shipments.

[giramomma]

It's done. It was ugly, And now it's done. If we can have a quiet November, I think we will be OK.

We're still better off this year the short term than last year.

Once DS moves out, we could have some decent breathing room.

[bean29]

Oct 20, 2023 13:29:02 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Oct 20, 2023 12:34:45 GMT -5 finnime said:

The Walk of the Penguin Mich , can you use the fill date on the bottles to guesstimate how many should be left?

No, because I order as soon as I can.  So I usually have a stash.  This is how I avoided jumping through hoops about getting a vacation override for the world cruise.  When I left, I had 9 months of meds and took 6 months with me.  I ordered this batch sometime in June when we got back, but didn’t start then until Sept.  

The other thing I discovered on the ship was that I had a 90 day supply of each (x2) but ran out of BP meds first.  Those I KNOW I took daily, which means that I think I got shortchanged on those since we were on the ship 178 days.  

Do you see an Endocrinologist? Maybe you could call and explain that you suspect you either your prescriptions were filled incorrectly, or you unknowingly took the wrong medication.  It might be good for the Endocrinologist to be involved in getting your meds back to the correct level in your system.  

I take Synthroid, and I am off the record admitting to taking different doses of my pills based on how I feel, not necessarily how it was prescribed.  So I am supposed to take 88 mcg 5 days a week and 100 mcg 2 days a week.  I have been taking the 100 mcg maybe 3 days a week now, and I am almost out, but I have a lot of the 88mcg meds left.  My Endocrinologist wants me to take it exactly as prescribed so she can calculate out what I should be taking.  I am forgetful, so some days I don't take my meds and then the next day I take a bit extra.  I also intentionally take less or none if my IBS-d is acting up b/c I think (and Dr.'s have admitted it is true) the Synthroid can make diarrhea worse.  I had a large stash of Meds from the Pandemic too b/c they wanted everyone to have an extra large supply of meds.  I do have a 90 day supply of 75 mcg Synthroid from before she adjusted my meds the last time.  I guess I will take my own advice and message her and ask her to fill an extra prescription of my 100 mcg meds.

[giramomma]

And DD1 is frustrating the shit out of me right now.

[TheOtherMe]

Oct 20, 2023 7:58:37 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

Pleased to share that I have a new DGD, born 6 weeks early.  We knew she'd be early, a planned C section was scheduled for next week but she decided not to wait around.  She's small but healthy so far. 

Also happy to share that last night I babysat for my DGS, who has disabilities arising from his very premature birth.  DS and DDIL have not been out together without him since he came home from the NICU 2+ years ago.  It was a great success, we had a wonderful time, and he was full of smiles.  I'm encouraging them to do this more often, just the two of them alone. 

Congrats grandma on the new granddaughter.  

Yeah for babysitting for your grandson.  They definitely need time alone.  

[TheOtherMe]

Oct 20, 2023 10:11:32 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

I know I keep repeating it but the Medicaid lady is a freaking God Send.   

She is taking care of doling out my POA to everyone so I can get on the phone.  2024 Medicare premiums have already gone out and who knows where the hell they were sent.  I will likely have to call to get another copy sent out directly to me.

I have everything changed online so hopefully going forward it will all come to me until the end.

It's still a lot of work but having someone who actually is helping me shoulder the burden rather than patting me on the head or sending threatening emails is a HUGE stress reliever.

Drama, the rates have been announced but nothing has been sent to me via email or snail mail.  

I know the rate for my federal employee health insurance and open season hasn't started.  I know I am not changing.

[weltz]

I had to throw out SO MUCH SOUP.  I made a huge pot of turkey soup, thinking I'll give some to Simon and Melody, and Bill, the chemo patient next door. The soup was excellent, and I cooked it long enough to turn to gelatin in the fridge. Very rich in collagen.
Well, I haven't seen Simon or Melody in the last ten days and Bill is in the hospital.
I had to flush it down the toilet, as it's no longer safe to eat.
I haven't got enough room in my freezer for a credit card, never mind jars of soup.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I can no longer tell if grandma was just stubbornly obtuse or did it all on purpose to screw my dad over.

The funeral policy is not irrevocable so that has to be changed otherwise the money counts as an asset.

Then to take another step into the 8th circle of hell she did not pay for it upfront like she told my dad.

She took out a life insurance policy. That is more than she can have.

We may not be able to file in time.

The Medicaid lady is handling it all. She told the funeral home no.I will not be driving all over they will deal with her to ensure this is done right.

Same message went to the home about grandma's income.

My only job next week is to get the premiums and hopefully the new 2024 ones show up in the next couple days.

Other than that don't touch anything wait till she gets back to me.

Pretty sure I heard my dad's head explode from my work desk when I told him.

[giramomma]

Oct 20, 2023 15:47:43 GMT -5 weltz said:

I had to throw out SO MUCH SOUP.  I made a huge pot of turkey soup, thinking I'll give some to Simon and Melody, and Bill, the chemo patient next door. The soup was excellent, and I cooked it long enough to turn to gelatin in the fridge. Very rich in collagen.
Well, I haven't seen Simon or Melody in the last ten days and Bill is in the hospital.
I had to flush it down the toilet, as it's no longer safe to eat.
I haven't got enough room in my freezer for a credit card, never mind jars of soup.

I'm sorry weltz. I know you worked hard on that soup. 

[giramomma]

I'm calling it today. I just can't anymore.

I'll have to do some work this weekend.

I also will be down a husband and two girls.

I'm trying to find some things for the missy and I do to on the cheap. I forgot I will still have a few bills coming in next month. (Thank you, MRI).

Thankfully she is at the age that a trip to the library is quite entertaining. 

[chiver78]

Oct 20, 2023 15:59:56 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

I can no longer tell if grandma was just stubbornly obtuse or did it all on purpose to screw my dad over.

The funeral policy is not irrevocable so that has to be changed otherwise the money counts as an asset.

Then to take another step into the 8th circle of hell she did not pay for it upfront like she told my dad.

She took out a life insurance policy. That is more than she can have.

We may not be able to file in time.

The Medicaid lady is handling it all. She told the funeral home no.I will not be driving all over they will deal with her to ensure this is done right.

Same message went to the home about grandma's income.

My only job next week is to get the premiums and hopefully the new 2024 ones show up in the next couple days.

Other than that don't touch anything wait till she gets back to me.

Pretty sure I heard my dad's head explode from my work desk when I told him.

oh, fuck. I'm glad you have the Medicaid lady to run interference, b/c that sounds like a hot fucking mess. I'm sorry. 

[soupandstew]

Got up at 5:30 to load up on a county bus for a 2 hour drive to see some of the painted churches around Schulenberg, a Czech and German community in Texas settled back in the 1800's.  The churches are pretty cool as each small town tried to outdo the other with windows, chandeliers, imported altars, and statues.  And then lunch outside on a beautiful day at a wonderful cafe where we started with charred Brussels sprouts, I moved to on to a lamb burger with goat cheese, and finished with cheesecake.  I slept most of the 2 hours back home as did most of the 30 participants.  Supper is not in our future.  

And my old man author FINALLY surfaced so I can take him the last of the autobiography Monday morning.  He has written a short story he wants me to type-he thinks it's one of his best pieces ever.  

[soupandstew]

Oct 20, 2023 7:58:37 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

Pleased to share that I have a new DGD, born 6 weeks early.  We knew she'd be early, a planned C section was scheduled for next week but she decided not to wait around.  She's small but healthy so far. 

Also happy to share that last night I babysat for my DGS, who has disabilities arising from his very premature birth.  DS and DDIL have not been out together without him since he came home from the NICU 2+ years ago.  It was a great success, we had a wonderful time, and he was full of smiles.  I'm encouraging them to do this more often, just the two of them alone. 

Congratulations on the new addition, and thank you for taking care of your grandson so his parents get a much-needed break.   You are an awesome grandmother!