What's not to like about Friday?

Im have a nice easy day at home looking at the list of things I'm supposed to be doing-Like cleaning, home fix-it to get the house ready to sell, several articles to write, a report to write, lessons to plan, etc. Instead I am doing my usual looking around for something else to do. DH is gone for the week to Boston at a conference and it is just us girls (two dd's and me) and i'm tired of being a single mom!

I found a message from the doctors office one my phone. I returned the call and found out that she is busy today but will try and get back to me on Monday. Please everyone who reads (probably only you Bunny) fingers crossed that this is the call i've been waiting for!

of course even if it is Im sure i will have to wait until after the end of March to go in as we will be in Spain for 11 days yay hooray. My daughter is excited that we will be coming (my 20 year old is there studying abroad). I've never been to Spain so can not wait to see it.

7 months since I was told the waiting time was 4 months

Well it has been 2.5 months since I finished my psych. evaluation and 1.5 months since is was submitted to the doctors office and told it was at the bottom of a pile on the records person's desk I finally have been told that it made it to the doctors office! The person in charge of records said that for some reason all of my city is seeking weight loss surgery this year and that despite what my psychologist said no one in her office has ever said that it was a good idea to wait until the first of the year to submit paperwork (hmm who do i believe???? I frankly don't trust either one). All of my records are now sitting in a pile waiting for the nurse practitioner to read them and see if I am allowed to move forward for insurance approval. Which will then take another month. So if I calculate that things will go at the same rate they have been I will finally get this surgery in April. Probably when I am at my busiest at work or in Alaska with my oldest daughter helping out with my new grandchild.

On a more positive note-the trip to Hawaii was grand and warm! we got to see hump backed wales cavort in the ocean, sit by the pool and get a sun tan! pedicure! shopping! yippeeeee.

Holding Pattern With Vacation on the Side

Still on a holding pattern. I called the doctors office four times over the last few weeks and every time I have been told that either my psych evaluation isn't in yet or the fax was broken, it is with the nurse practic., or it is in one of two big piles on the scheduler's desk. She has not gotten to it, she has been sick....so on and so on. I was dreaming when i thought i would get this band in 6 months (the surgeon said 4). I will be lucky if i get it before spring term starts.

So if i had only 4-6 months to eat every food that might be my last good meal I think i would have been ok but with so much longer looming I am going to need to watch it and dare i say it.....Diet!! i have gained weight. The other day when my newly washed jeans i found they were very uncomfortable i got on the scale for the first time in a long time. It was not pretty-I put on 18 pounds and was quickly approaching that big 300 number that i never ever want to see on a scale again! Needless to say i have been on the straight and arrow since then. It must have been quite a bit of water weight because Ive already taken off 10 of those pounds. I am going to try and continue to behave myself (except for the occasional bit of drinking fun while on my upcoming trips-more later). Hopefully i can get back down to 282 (what i weighed at my first visit to the doctors office).

Vacations: My husband is in snowy finland this week and I am leaving on Wednesday to Tulsa, OK for a work conference. My parents are coming to babysit my 6 and 18 year old. No your right the 18 year old doesnt need a babysitter-but the 6 year old does in a big way! I wish I were going to Finland-sounds much more interesting. The conference is good though-lots of good presentations evening "meetings in the bar". Hopefully i can even do a bit of networking for a job next year.

DH is back on Saturday and so am I. we get to throw our laundry in the machines and repack to go to HAWAII!!!! yay hoorayyyy
DH has been gone way too much over the last couple of months and we are all suffering from the winter blahs. My 18 year old daughter and I are planning on staying pool side and on the beach as much as possible. I will try and catch up on some work but really focus on R and R if I can!

the bathroom remodel: we finally grouted and put the fixtures back up in the bathroom. I am waiting for a mirror and towel shelf over the toilet. I promise i will upload pics when it is done.

arrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh and not of the pirate variety

So I finally get a message from the psychologist who was supposed to write my evaluation for weight loss surgery. It has been about a month since I went to the second of two visits to her office. She acted like she was going to get on the evaluative report right away but I was WRONG with capital letters. Apparently since the hospital is not scheduling any more surgeries until February (according to her message) she finds it unnecessary to write my report until the new year. Now call me CRAZY but the way i look at it. If they under high demand and cannot fit anyone in until February that means that my psych report should get in there as early as possible so that I can get into the queue as quickly as possible. I want to be ready the first part of Feb not F***ing March!!!!

On a good note we got really cheap tickets to visit Madrid for spring break. One of my older daughters will be studying there for a semester. I think it will be fun! I was hoping to go a bit slimmer but at this rate Ill be on liquids if im lucky-and likely have to go to Spain for one last fling before I get to have the surgery. arghghghghghghghghg

Tina

I have a bruise on my butt the width of the edge of the bathtub

Its Sunday-there is one more wall to tile; all the walls to grout and the floor needs grouting too. The toilet is still in the bathtub, the bathroom cabinets are in my entryway and the sink and counter top are in my office. To top it all off I have people coming over on Tuesday for a Christmas get together. Hmm am I going to finish the bathroom in time? Cross your fingers--if I manage it I will take a picture and post it. I got the bruise from sitting on the edge of the the bathtub reaching in to apply the tile adhesive and put the tiles onto the wall. Ouch...it hurts!

Tick Tock......

The Weight loss saga

Ok well another week has come and gone. I called the doctors office and They said I was missing the Psych evaluation and a blood test. I did the blood test in their office! So she ruffled through some papers, making excuses as to how busy they were yada yada yada....She then found the blood test results. and then she actually opened my record I'm not sure how she was telling me the other information without opening my file but who knows the system right?? She confirmed that I was missing my psych evaluation.

So I called the Psychologist who was supposed to write a letter and short report to the doctors office. She acted like it was going to be quick when I was sitting in her office but..despite my message of instructions, she had not written the report. She called and left a message asking for the contact person and further instructions (instructions and a name I had given her a week before). I called her back and retold her the contact information. (You never actually talk to each other just phone tag!) ARghghghgh. Maybe next week I will have all of my tests done??

Glasses

My husband went back to the eye doctor with me to see if there were any less expensive options. It turns out the lenses were the big ticket item on the bill (read below if this is vague). So we talked about my options or according to the sharks lack of choices. I felt like I as trying to buy a used car!!! Some of the statements from them were...."this is the same lense you bought last time"... "Those other places are like Pay less shoes not a quality product"..."We cant sell you a less anything that is that much cheaper"..."You aren't going to find this product cheaper anywhere else"..." They even passes me off to another salesperson!!! We left the shop and drove over to Costco. Within 20 minutes I had a perfectly nice pair of glasses for $179 and that is without my insurance paying a dime!!!! I sure hope this is a business specific problem and does not represent all of the glasses industry!

Bathroom Remodel

We gutted the main bathroom a few weeks ago and I have been working like a dog to get it finished. Last night I put up white subway tile on the walls. Today I am hoping to finish the rest of the room (shower stall to the ceiling and wall behind a toilet and cabinet). The toilet has been sitting in the bathtub while we put the floor tile in...I cant wait to get it online again so I can get the kids out of my bathroom!!!

No word yet and what is with the glasses industry these days?

well its been more than a week since I completed my final test. I haven't heard from the doctors office yet. I will call on Monday and see what is going on. I'm sure there is some sort of Murphy's law curse on my head and they will have lost all the records or spilled barium on them or something.

Off topic but highly interesting in a What the F*** kind of way. I went to the eye doctor today because it is time and because my eyes are killing me at the end of the day. Anyway she changed my prescription and I went out to the opticians part of the office to pick out some glasses etc Well I did. They were kind of expensive but I asked the optician (AKA shark) how much my insurance covered and she said something like 250. The frames were 300 so ok not so bad right? Ill pay the difference. When it was all done she billed me 600 dollars for a freaking pair of glasses and that was after applying the insurance coverage. I have never had to pay more than hmm 125 over the insurance and that was for a pretty nice designer set of frames. I am not going to spend as much as it costs to buy a new couch on a stinking pair of glasses! Who pays that kind of money? I called my parents who have no eye insurance and also wear bifocals (yes I am old and need granny glasses) and asked them how much they paid at Costco for theirs. Their bill was 240 and they had scratch coats, included the exam, high index plastic and progressive bifocals. Well sheesh-why the heck are we paying for eye insurance if we can spend 1/3 the money without the stupid insurance.

I am not a happy camper and I am hoping that somehow the woman screwed up big time-1100 dollars before the insurance was applies 600 after. arghghghg there is no way im paying that.