Chatterbox Thread-Cmon in and Jabber! Everyone is Welcome!

[kelmac284]

Hi mel!! Good to see you. Hope your new grandbabies are well!

I am back from swim. Girls did well but they said it was tough. They really worked them hard but as I told Katy if she wants to improve that is what it is going to take. So we shall see if they want to keep up this pace LOL. They still have NIGHT practice tonight. Well I doubt they will be wanting to stay up late tonight!

Then I went and picked up my mail and I am having yet ANOTHER fiasco with one of my doc offices. I have been fighting with an old provider from over a year ago who was trying to bill me for something the ins was supposed to pay and I don't even HAVE that ins anymore but this doc has been REALLY unethical and I ended up filing a complaint against them with the ins company cuz they started charging me interest when it says in the contract that if ANY interest is to be charged it is supposed to be charged to the ins company NOT the patient. Plus this doc was VERY unprofessional. Expected 3 days notice if you had to cancel which is practically impossible if you are your kid gets sick and if you DON'T give at least three days they charge you the full amt! RIDICULOUS! But yet THEY cancelled at the last minute on me MANY times. I was literally IN their office and they cancelled on me because their kids were sick or other stupid reasons. These were not MD's either that needed to go to the hospital for critical patients or to deliver babies but rather mental health workers so they had NO excuse as far as I am concerned.

And NOW I am having to fight it out with my urologist. I switched from one ins to another (not by my choice but dh's union did this back in Oct). I GAVE the doc's office the new cards and they even charged me the proper co-pay and I have proof. Then last month when I got the bill I called and they admitted that they had my NEW ins on their records but they still BILLED the old one!!!! They said they would re-bill the new ins and yet today I get yet ANOTHER bill! So I called AGAIN and they claimed that they never got the info. SO po'd. It is THEIR fault and yet the lady on the phone was all pissy with ME. I was like this is NOT my problem! YOU people screwed up not me!!!!

UGH! I REALLY hate ins companies and doc offices sometimes. And I fear with all these changes it is only going to get worse! BLEH!

So she "claims" she took care of it but I took her name and made notes as I always do so we shall see!

Hopefully the rest of the day will be stress free!

 

[dizzyami]

 

[funnygarcia]

woohoooo, lots of hyenas posting feels like old times.

Kelly, I don't bother sending any payments for dh's medical stuff. In our case he has enough secondary insurance that SOMEONE will pay it eventually.
Medicare takes up to a year to pay sometimes. If I get bills, I call and tell them all the insurance numbers or send a note with copies of the cards. At one point the nephrologist's office was doubling billing, even the doc was aware of it and told us "don't pay it"

Hey Alison, is that just for tuition? Or is it room and board too???

Justin is doing the community college route with the transfer curriculum. His dad did that so it's good enough for him too. We're thinking next year, with our income drop, that he should get almost enough financial aid to cover all of his costs. Might have to pay for books. I might go part time... we shall see. I was thinking of going for birth to grade 3 licensure but maybe social worker instead as the thought of keeping up with preschoolers on my "bad days" makes me cringe and wonder if it's fair to the students if the teacher can't get down to their level and play.

Sara/funball.. hope your feeling better. Pshaw.. 30's?? try turning 40

We are off to walk to the thrift store to browse, had to wait around for our monthly delivery of supplies thankfully the delivery came early!
Finally have a day with sun, haven't had sun for about a week now. Time ot soak up that Vitamin D

 

[funnygarcia]

Hi!

and sadly bye

off to walk my 1.8 miles to the store.. and 1.8 back....

Nice to see you around!

 

[dizzyami]

Hi!

and sadly bye

off to walk my 1.8 miles to the store.. and 1.8 back....

Nice to see you around!

Have a nice walk!!! That sounds like a good idea - I should really drag the kids for a walk....but I probably won't ...maybe tomorrow???

 

[Funball]

Yes Kel Glow Fest was a blast, you’re girls are going to LOOOOVE it! It was good, clean family fun!! I think you are right, you won’t make it to GF and back for WOC in time, because you have to line up at a specific time for your area, soo better just to experience them on different days. I am on the other hand feeling much better today, still feeling the aftermath of glow fest, but it’s getting better!! All the area of Hollywood backlot becomes one giant dance floor so the girls will have fun getting down!

I hate medical insurance companies also! I had health net, and then I switched to atena. They seem to be better, the coverage is better and all around easier to work with. When I had my anxiety thing and was in the ER for 6 hours, Atena filed it as a claim; well the only thing I had to pay was $100 dollars for the urgent care center, and $100 for the ambulance ride to the hospital. Soo I am thank full that the insurance took care of it—it was like 9 grand!! LOL, omg today seems to be going well—it’s pay day!! YAY!!!! Anyhow that’s how my Tuesday is going.

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Hey your walk is more than my run today. I have 3.5 miles to do today. Keep up your walking and next year come do the Disneyland Half Marathon with me.

 

[Funball]

i will sit at the pool and cheer you guys on as you do your marathon.. with a cocktail in hand! hey at least i be showing my support!!

 

[kelmac284]

Yeah I am not supposed to be paying any part of those bills either. Both of those things were supposed to be taken care of by ins but it seems more and more lately they keep screwing up. Whether it be the actual ins company or the docs offices themselves. It is just frustrating when I have to spend hours and hours explaining to these people what they should ALREADY know! That one bill is over a year old. I shouldn't even bring it up but knock on wood I haven't heard anything in a month or so so I am HOPING that I finally have some resolution. I got a letter from Pacificare saying it was resolved but then received ANOTHER bill from the doc. So I went round and round AGAIN but then after them requesting my medical records and going through another huge hassle I am hoing they FINALLY figured it out!!! Like I said I shouldn't even bring it up though cuz tomorrow I will get a bill LOL.

And as far as this latest fiasco it is just frustrating because it was TOTALLY the docs office that screwed it up because they HAD my new ins cards but THEY billed the wrong ins and then they were really snarky with ME when I tried to explain to them what THEY did wrong. So hopefully THIS time they figured it out but like I said I have learned to get names, ID numbers you name it!

I don't even know what you guys do that have big long term things like you Bernice or even Allison that had major surgery and cancer treatment. I can only imagine how they could screw THAT up LOL.

And Sara I am SO excited for Glowfest. I think the girls are going to have a blast. They are 9 and 10 and are REALLY into like high school musical and just music in general. They are at the age now where their ipods are more important to them than their other "toys" so I think they will REALLY get a kick out of it. We arrive on Monday and are going to DL cuz we have ressies at the BBQ place but then I think on Tues we will do early entry at DL and then hop over to DCA later in the day. We have dinner ressies at CC but I think we will just go over there to eat and then come back and do Glow fest on Tues since we are doing WOC on Wed. Can't do it Thur because it is grad night and everything closes early and we have ressies at Steakhouse 55 anyway. And Friday we leave. SOOO that pretty much only leaves Tues

I think next week is going to FLY by! We are trying to decide on something to do in the fall and I am thinking more and more now that I want to go back for halloween again. We went last year and had a BLAST. Although the price for the tickets are outragous but dh isn't going with us this trip and somehow with everything going on I don't think we are going to have enough time to do everything we want for some reason!

Mom had some time on her timeshare and we debated about trying to go back to DW and then we thought about doing a cruise but we wanted to go over the kids Thanksgiving break and it is just SO expensive that time of year and nothing seems to be panning out. And now it is already almost July and since we have NO plans yet I am really thinking if we do ANYTHING it is going to have to be here on the west coast cuz I know from experience when we went to DW in 08 over Thanksgiving you have to plan that WAY in advance. SOOOO we shall see but at this point I think we may either be doing nothing or just going to dl for a few days. Who knows.

Anywho the girls and I are just kicking back and we watched Toy Story 1 and 2 getting ready for Friday! We are so excited and can't wait to go see it Friday night!!!

Anyone else going???

 

[Funball]

Kel, ok after I just read your post above I went to search out the info on glow fest . cause as soon as you started to mention dates an times and days of the week it occurred to me that maybe glow fest was not run during the week—BUT HAVE NO FEAR!!! Because it’s a summer thing, it’s part of the summertime entertainment lineup at DLR. So this is what it says on the disneyblog website “During Summer Nightastic! the daily experience takes center stage in Sun Plaza from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and continues in the Hollywood Backlot until Park closing, so it’s the perfect thing to check out with your family, or if you’re just looking for a fun way to cap your night.”

So I don’t know but to me that sounds like on that Tuesday the girls will be able to experience it. and what happens in sun plaza is a pre-show type thing. It’s just a bunch of dancing from the dancers..

 

[kelmac284]

Cool thanks for the info sara! Can't wait!!

 

[kelmac284]

Morning and happy wednesday!! Shelby has had a cough for the last few days and you guessed it guess who woke up with a sore throat/cough today! Yup Me! I figured that would happen. I don't know if I actually got it from her or from our fan. We have a whole house fan and in trying to save energy we only run our ac during the very hottest part of the day and then turn it off when we go to bed and run the fan all night long and suck in the air from outside. Luckily it cools off here and the air can actually get quite chilly. And it blows in right on top of us. BUT it is better than having the cold AC blowing down on you AND better than paying the BILL! But I think that might have been what gave shelby her cough and now I am not sure if it was that or shelby that gave it to me. SOOO I will be taking some airborne today and hoping to avoid being sick next week!!!

This morning we are off to the vet to get my cat her annual shots and she is NOT happy. She usually goes out for thing and she is running around tearing the place up wanting out and somehow I think they "know" LOL that it is vet time and that is making her even MORE anxious LOL. So it will be interesting trying to get her in the carrier LOL.

Otherwise not much else on for today except swim tonight. Then we have morning swim again tomorrow and night practice again tomorrow night and then I go back in to work on Friday and I have never heard back from the CPA. He was supposed to come in on Monday and e-mailed me but never got back to me. SOOOO not sure if he will be there Friday or not. Then Friday night we are going to skip practice in lieu of Toy story which I can't wait!!! And Saturday we have a meet and not sure about Sunday. We were going to take Shane somewhere but he said going out Friday was good enough so we shall see. In a way I could go for a kick back day on Sunday so I could get the last minute stuff packed since we leave at the crack of dawn on Monday. Guess we will have to wait and see.

Anyway that's bout it for me.

Hope everyone has a GREAT day today! Take care and talk soon.

 

[sameyeyam]

Hola ladies!!

Can't keep up, but I did want to wish a nice hello!

Mel-Mel....Howdy!

Hi mel!! Good to see you. Hope your new grandbabies are well!

I am back from swim. Girls did well but they said it was tough. They really worked them hard but as I told Katy if she wants to improve that is what it is going to take. So we shall see if they want to keep up this pace LOL. They still have NIGHT practice tonight. Well I doubt they will be wanting to stay up late tonight!

Then I went and picked up my mail and I am having yet ANOTHER fiasco with one of my doc offices. I have been fighting with an old provider from over a year ago who was trying to bill me for something the ins was supposed to pay and I don't even HAVE that ins anymore but this doc has been REALLY unethical and I ended up filing a complaint against them with the ins company cuz they started charging me interest when it says in the contract that if ANY interest is to be charged it is supposed to be charged to the ins company NOT the patient. Plus this doc was VERY unprofessional. Expected 3 days notice if you had to cancel which is practically impossible if you are your kid gets sick and if you DON'T give at least three days they charge you the full amt! RIDICULOUS! But yet THEY cancelled at the last minute on me MANY times. I was literally IN their office and they cancelled on me because their kids were sick or other stupid reasons. These were not MD's either that needed to go to the hospital for critical patients or to deliver babies but rather mental health workers so they had NO excuse as far as I am concerned.

And NOW I am having to fight it out with my urologist. I switched from one ins to another (not by my choice but dh's union did this back in Oct). I GAVE the doc's office the new cards and they even charged me the proper co-pay and I have proof. Then last month when I got the bill I called and they admitted that they had my NEW ins on their records but they still BILLED the old one!!!! They said they would re-bill the new ins and yet today I get yet ANOTHER bill! So I called AGAIN and they claimed that they never got the info. SO po'd. It is THEIR fault and yet the lady on the phone was all pissy with ME. I was like this is NOT my problem! YOU people screwed up not me!!!!

UGH! I REALLY hate ins companies and doc offices sometimes. And I fear with all these changes it is only going to get worse! BLEH!

So she "claims" she took care of it but I took her name and made notes as I always do so we shall see!

Hopefully the rest of the day will be stress free!

I have learned over the years, anytime you have an insurance change, the ladies at the front desk will most likely mess it up. So, always call the "billing office" before or right after your appointment. Sometimes the correct information just never makes it to them. Then you can give the billing office the correct information to start with. For some reason this seems to work better.

Take off those glasses girl, so we can see who's behind them!

woohoooo, lots of hyenas posting feels like old times.

Kelly, I don't bother sending any payments for dh's medical stuff. In our case he has enough secondary insurance that SOMEONE will pay it eventually.
Medicare takes up to a year to pay sometimes. If I get bills, I call and tell them all the insurance numbers or send a note with copies of the cards. At one point the nephrologist's office was doubling billing, even the doc was aware of it and told us "don't pay it"

Hey Alison, is that just for tuition? Or is it room and board too???

Justin is doing the community college route with the transfer curriculum. His dad did that so it's good enough for him too. We're thinking next year, with our income drop, that he should get almost enough financial aid to cover all of his costs. Might have to pay for books. I might go part time... we shall see. I was thinking of going for birth to grade 3 licensure but maybe social worker instead as the thought of keeping up with preschoolers on my "bad days" makes me cringe and wonder if it's fair to the students if the teacher can't get down to their level and play.

Sara/funball.. hope your feeling better. Pshaw.. 30's?? try turning 40

We are off to walk to the thrift store to browse, had to wait around for our monthly delivery of supplies thankfully the delivery came early!
Finally have a day with sun, haven't had sun for about a week now. Time ot soak up that Vitamin D

Amazingly the $22,000 is the cost for tuition only. If she was staying there the cost is approximately $32,000 per year. She has 15 college courses at the community college that the State paid for while she was in high school. So she already has about 1-1/2 years of college done, so no way we could send her back to community college, except for maybe a couple more classes.

Now remember this is a private college, so tuition is a little higher. However, almost everyone that goes there gets a "scholarship" from the Lutheran Church system. It is based on your prior GPA. She automatically gets $7,000 off of the $22,000, which instantly brings it down to $15,000 per year. If she agrees to enroll in their Honors program she can get it reduced to $11,000 per year. That involves doing extra research in ethics & morality, as well as maintaining a B average and doing a certain amount of volunteer community work. She WILL be enrolling!

The average cost at Washington State University (public 4 year university) was around $12,000 per year, not including room & board. So we are very much in the ballpark of what the public universities are charging. Yet she will be getting a much better education. Concordia has a very good reputation, they are very personalized and her average class size will be 15 students.

So how you ask are we paying for all of this? First she has around $3,000 in savings bonds that her grandparents got for her while she was young. I'm hoping when we turn them in to get around $1500-$2000 for them (they were 30 year bonds). I have also saved up around $4,000 in her savings account that I've been saving at $20 per month since she was very little. I can also raid her brother's college savings account if need be, it also have around $4,000. I did save up $15,000 for both of the kids college education, but I put that into an IRA and I really don't want to touch that unless absolutely necessary. This summer I will be putting aside about $2,000 during July & August, so we will have the $8,000 to pay for first semester.

Then for 2nd semester I have another plan! I am saving up $1,000 per month, so that will give us ab out $5,000, the school will let us make payments, so 2nd semester we will make 3 more $1,000 per month payments to them. That will get us thru the year.

Now remember, she went to community school during high school...and all 15 classes transferred! So that is about 1-1/2 years already done, at the end of her first year at Concordia, she will have completed 2-1/2 years of college....then only 1-1/2 years to go.

So how will I fund the last 1-1/2 years? I am having an extra $600 worth of federal taxes withheld from my paycheck each month. That will give us about $7,200 worth of a tax refund, plus we will get around $2,000 from the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. Making a total refund of $9,200 that will fund the first semester of her 2nd year at Concordia. The remaining $7,000 we can fund by saving $1,000 per month.

And that folks is how I plan on putting DD thru college...while not spending the $15,000 I have put aside for college and not saddling her with mountains of student loans! Sallie Mae will not be joining our household!!! My gift to my kids will hopefully be a college education and no student loan debt.

 

[tinkermell]

i will sit at the pool and cheer you guys on as you do your marathon.. with a cocktail in hand! hey at least i be showing my support!!

That would be me too!!!

Hi everyone!!

I am busy getting ready for a big party here on Sunday. We are celebrating my 2 new grandbabies baptism.

I think we will be having over 70 people here for BBQ and the works. Dave is making his award winning brisket. Yum! Becky and I made 5 ice cream desserts yesterday, safely tucked into the freezer.

Today, I'm cleaning out the garage. I hate that job!! Almost done, but came in to take a break.

Take care!

 

[Funball]

Ok me an tinkermell will hang poolside with a cocktail in our hands and cheer the rest of you guys on!! lol

 

[kelmac284]

Morning and happy Thursday!!

Mel sounds like it will be fun at your party/baptism!! We got the girls baptised last summer and Shane was baptised as well. He had never been so it was nice! Sounds like a lot of work but sounds like it will be a good time and I KNOW the food will be good because everything you make always sounds yummy!

Allison OUCH what a bill! Sounds like you have it all planned out though and I REALLY hope your kids appreciate what a VERY generous gift you are giving them because in this day and age very few people can pay for their kids education any more! That is SO wonderful!

Luckily Shane is a disable vet (not lucky that he is a disable vet BUT lucky that we have the benefit) BECAUSE he gets tuition paid for the girls at any college in our state. Not books or housing but tuition which is huge. There are a lot of rules though so it pretty much means they have to go to our local college because they can't be supported by us OR make over about 10,000 a year which means for them to go "away" to school would be pretty much impossible. I just wish we lived near one of the really good schools like UCLA or something BUT ANY school that is paid for is good at this point and if they could even get in to Davis it would be a bonus although Katy really wants to go to culinary school and who KNOWS what shelby is going to end up wanting to do. As long as they do SOMETHING. My oldest dropped out of high school so I am hoping that these two don't follow in her footsteps!

Yesterday we went to the vet and the have the cutest cat that lives there. He is SO sweet. You walk in and he is always sitting on the counter and while I was checking in he walked up and plopped himself down on my arms. He is the greatest cat. I only wish our cat was as friendly! Piper did ok with her shots but the 200 bill about killed me. I knew it was going to be that much as it always is because I needed to get another 6 month supply of their flea meds and heart worm stuff but still OUCH! Then we just hung out at home till swim. My neighbor came over last night and we visited while Shane and the girls were at swim.

Now this morning I am back to swim again with the girls and then not much else going on. I finally heard from the CPA and he can't come in tomorrow which in a way I am glad because I just want to get in there and get everything wrapped up before the trip. And then tomorrow night as soon as Shane gets home we are going to see Toy Story! I am really excited to see it!!!

So that is my lovely schedule the next few days. I am just anxious to get through the next few days so we can GO!!!!! I am actually glad we have a lot going on so the days will pass quickly!

Hope everyone has a good day today and talk soon!

 

[eatmypixiedust]

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick post and then I'm off to the doctor's. I haven't been feeling well and I think I may have caught a cold My nose is running like a faucet and I cough sometimes and it ends up almost like choking and my throat feels itchy. I thought it was allergies but then it wasn't going away and got a bit worse. Hopefully it is just a small cold. I hope it goes away. I even tried Jamba Juice's Coldbuster but I don't think that did anything. I was desperate to try that!

I went to DL and DCA last weekend with my little sister and my cousin's DD8. It was so cool to see the park through her eyes and she really cheered me up. I was able to reclaim my love for the park for myself again. I don't know why I just felt so down when I went to the park the previous few times. I just kept thinking of my X and just ended up allowing him to ruin my time there. No more! I just told myself that this is what I love and this is MINE for myself to enjoy.

I have some pics that I will try to upload soon and share with you guys. We weren't able to watch WOC because the fastpasses for Grrr were only for the 11:15pm show and that was too late for us Oh well, I will try to catch it sometime

Hope you guys are having a good day

BERNICE!!!

I hope you have an awesome day

 

[sameyeyam]

That would be me too!!!

Hi everyone!!

I am busy getting ready for a big party here on Sunday. We are celebrating my 2 new grandbabies baptism.

I think we will be having over 70 people here for BBQ and the works. Dave is making his award winning brisket. Yum! Becky and I made 5 ice cream desserts yesterday, safely tucked into the freezer.

Today, I'm cleaning out the garage. I hate that job!! Almost done, but came in to take a break.

Take care!

I feel for you. We had about 60 people or so at DD's graduation bbq. It was CRAZY!!!! Although we have a new name now for our rope swing up on the hill...one of the kids named it the Swing of Death! Funny what impresses the city kids.

Morning and happy Thursday!!

Mel sounds like it will be fun at your party/baptism!! We got the girls baptised last summer and Shane was baptised as well. He had never been so it was nice! Sounds like a lot of work but sounds like it will be a good time and I KNOW the food will be good because everything you make always sounds yummy!

Allison OUCH what a bill! Sounds like you have it all planned out though and I REALLY hope your kids appreciate what a VERY generous gift you are giving them because in this day and age very few people can pay for their kids education any more! That is SO wonderful!

Luckily Shane is a disable vet (not lucky that he is a disable vet BUT lucky that we have the benefit) BECAUSE he gets tuition paid for the girls at any college in our state. Not books or housing but tuition which is huge. There are a lot of rules though so it pretty much means they have to go to our local college because they can't be supported by us OR make over about 10,000 a year which means for them to go "away" to school would be pretty much impossible. I just wish we lived near one of the really good schools like UCLA or something BUT ANY school that is paid for is good at this point and if they could even get in to Davis it would be a bonus although Katy really wants to go to culinary school and who KNOWS what shelby is going to end up wanting to do. As long as they do SOMETHING. My oldest dropped out of high school so I am hoping that these two don't follow in her footsteps!

Yesterday we went to the vet and the have the cutest cat that lives there. He is SO sweet. You walk in and he is always sitting on the counter and while I was checking in he walked up and plopped himself down on my arms. He is the greatest cat. I only wish our cat was as friendly! Piper did ok with her shots but the 200 bill about killed me. I knew it was going to be that much as it always is because I needed to get another 6 month supply of their flea meds and heart worm stuff but still OUCH! Then we just hung out at home till swim. My neighbor came over last night and we visited while Shane and the girls were at swim.

Now this morning I am back to swim again with the girls and then not much else going on. I finally heard from the CPA and he can't come in tomorrow which in a way I am glad because I just want to get in there and get everything wrapped up before the trip. And then tomorrow night as soon as Shane gets home we are going to see Toy Story! I am really excited to see it!!!

So that is my lovely schedule the next few days. I am just anxious to get through the next few days so we can GO!!!!! I am actually glad we have a lot going on so the days will pass quickly!

Hope everyone has a good day today and talk soon!

Have you tried giving the animals shots yourself? You can usually buy them at local feed stores, online pet supplies or even sometimes at pharmacies. You can give them everything but the rabies one yourself. It's really not as difficult as it sounds and WAY cheaper! We used to stick our cat headfirst into a boot with it's rear sticking out...voila, no scratching and easy to do.

 

[kelmac284]

Yeah I used to do the shots myself but actually it is not the shots that are so bad it is the flea and heart worm meds. The shots were only like 16 bucks each. But the 6 month supply of the advantage is what is a killer but they really need it SOOOO one must do it.

 

[Funball]

KEL-have you tried using 1-800 pet meds? Kodiak uses all that same stuff and then some and we get our through 1800 pet meds, the cost really is better and they sometimes do free shipping.. You might want to check out—a hint coming from one pet owner to another!

www.1800petmeds.com