I spoke too soon

Apparently, I spoke too soon.  This lovely holiday weekend brought me a new sore throat, lots of coughing, and pretty much losing my voice.  I'm blaming this one on my boss since he's the only one that had this particular ailment.  I'm sure most of you can't imagine me not talking, but I don't have much choice with my squeaky voice.
Fortunately, I still have Twitter, Facebook, and blogging to keep me conversing.  I did have time this weekend to tat a few new things for our shop.  I'm happy with how the Southwest inspired tatted items turned out.  This week I'm looking forward to working on designing some wedding invitations for a friend and helping with represent the Women's Business Network at a business expo.  I sure hope my voice comes back soon!

February Adventures

What's the latest and greatest going on in our household?  I've been easing my way back onto my good pills, so the world is definitely a happier place.  Emerson and I finally got past being sick, but then Dwayne got it.  I think Dexter is now coming down with something.

Gambit is now one year old (as of Valentine's Day) and is mellowing out more.  He and Storm are getting along better and on warmer days we're able to put them outside for a bit.  We're happy with how Storm is doing, but we still miss our Scout.

Emerson's been enjoying his job and one of the teacher's he works with let him know about a local ice hockey team. We are now huge fans of the Utah County Blizzard hockey team - too bad their season is nearly over.  Emerson loves driving the Trooper (except on really windy days) and we're happy to see that it has much better gas mileage than the old truck did (especially since gas prices are skyrocketing).  I know he's going to be happier once the weather stays warm on a regular basis so he can get more stuff done outside.  He's definitely the "cabin fever" type.

Work is still keeping me pretty busy.  I've been tutoring two students regularly and trying to work around their treatment center schedule has been challenging.  For example, on Tuesday, one of the girls was in the Intensive Support Unit (ISU) so I couldn't tutor her.  I tried again on Wednesday, but she was still in ISU.  When I tried on Thursday, I waited until she was done with school, then group therapy, and then dinner.  Unfortunately, she then had recreation therapy and I was told to wait another hour.  I went back to my office and worked for an hour and tried again.  Now she was in the shower!  It was nearly 7 pm by the time I was able to tutor her and by the time we were done, her unit/dorm was already done with evening medications and I had to take her to medical services to get her meds. Very long night!  It's amazing how packed these kids' schedules are and it's a wonder they ever get any free time or even time to do homework.  On the brighter side, I have really enjoyed working with the Women's Business Network and it looks like we have some great plans for this year.  Planning is also underway for our annual golf tournament and I still have plenty to do with the Heritage play.  Still, I managed to get all creative and try tatting with some rope.  I thought it would be a bracelet, but it seems more like a ring for playing ring toss.

Do Over...Please!

I finally got over the worst of being sick and went back to work.  It was hard to be away for so long, especially since I feel bad when I'm not there to tutor the two girls I've been working with.  Besides the fact that I LOVE teaching, tutoring pays better than my regular job.  Right now, I am working with two girls for two hours per girl each week.  I was already able to get one girl off of academic probation.

You're probably wondering what all that has to do with the title for this post.  When I started writing, I realized how negative it was going to be and figured it would be better if I started with something positive.  Now for the other stuff...

Monday morning I returned to work and my first call of the morning was from Dexter, telling me that he had lost his job.  It would have bothered me a lot less if I had known how much worse the day was going to get.  In catching up on what I had missed while I was out sick last week, I found out that  a coworker's 21 year old son had died in a tragic way.  Since the coworker has worked there a long time, he and his family are close friends of Emerson's as well.  We went to the viewing and it was absolutely heartbreaking.  Late Monday afternoon, my friend who works as our safety officer at work and has been managing the play rehearsals called me for help.  She found out her son was in the hospital because of a car accident.  Even though he didn't have serious injuries from the car accident, they discovered other problems that led them to discover that he had leukemia.  Now we're all scrambling to cover the rehearsals so she can be with her son now that he will be in the hospital for a month.  My boss was out of town attending a family gathering for his mother-in-law's 90th birthday.  Just after we updated him on all the other things going on, his mother-in-law passed away.  At that point, we were getting scared to answer the phone anymore.

I know things will get better and time will heal the pain for those involved, but it sure made a tough beginning for my week.  Too bad we can't call a "Do Over" and start this week over again....

Obamacare is EVIL!

We are struggling...and I do mean STRUGGLING...with our insurance choices now that President Obama's healthcare legislation is in effect.  Even though I grew up in a very liberal state, I don't like the idea of the government legislating everything.  There are a few things in Obamacare that I do believe in:

• Lifetime insurance limits should go away
• People should not be excluded for preexisting conditions
• Allowing your adult children to stay on your policy a little longer (although I think it should end when they get married)

I was appalled at the insurance choices we were given at work this year.  Both of them had a $1,500 per person/$3,000 per family deductible.  The one with higher copays didn't include prescriptions in the deductible.  The other one was slightly less expensive and resulted in lower copays, but prescriptions were included in the deductible.  That means that we have to pay 100% of the cost of all doctor's visits, medical expenses, and prescriptions until we reach the $1,500/$3,000 deductible.  After that, we "just" pay the copays. 

Obamacare also promised that preventative visits to the doctor would be covered 100% by insurance.  What the government doesn't tell you is that you may go in for a health screening for free, but if the doctor finds anything wrong, it becomes a diagnostic visit and you have to pay for it.  Enjoy your income during 2011 since you will be taxed on your income plus your insurance benefits.  The W-2s that employers issue for 2011 are required to include the value of the insurance benefits they paid for you.  Think you can just skip out on insurance and put money aside for when you need it?  Nope!  In 2014, people will begin being penalized a percentage of their income if they don't have a health insurance policy.

All of this has my blood boiling because Emerson and I are on some medications we can't live without but are expensive.  Emerson's diabetes requires several different medications.  Some of them come in generic form, but Januvia doesn't and costs us $199 per month until we meet the insurance deductible.  I take two medications for my bipolar disorder.  One is available as a generic, but the other isn't and costs just under $700 per month.  I tried to get myself off of that medication, but it didn't take long for it to interfere with my ability to do my job and I had to figure out another plan.  We've switched to the other insurance plan and will be paying more per month to have it, but we will only be paying copays on prescriptions.  Doctor's visits will still be full price.

If you're one of those people who thinks that the government should be involved in providing healthcare for the people, you obviously haven't experienced the "joy" of public healthcare.  I have experienced it on the Navajo reservation where only generic drugs can be prescribed and trying to get in to see the doctor when you're sick means sitting in a huge waiting room all day, hoping to be seen.  Try that with a sick baby some time and see how much you enjoy it.  Having been on Medicaid at one point, I can tell you that people treat you like crap and you don't get the best care available.  For example, Medicaid wouldn't pay for the dentist to fill a cavity in my tooth, but they would pay to pull the tooth.  I'm not trying to start a political debate, just needed to get all of this off my chest.  Stepping off my soapbox now...

Yuck!

Everyone around me has been getting sick and I thought I had dodged the worst of it....until it hit me hard this week.  I had fever, aches and pains last week, but now I have the horrible congestion, coughing, sneezing, and sore throat.  This is no run of the mill cold. I wake up barely able to swallow or breathe.  Staying home from work was okay at first, but I also ended up missing the documentary filmed about Heritage's performing arts program.  It's hard to miss something you've really been looking forward to.  The documentary debuted at the LDS Film Festival and was very well-received.  It helped people to see the miracle of the performing arts, the reality of treatment center kids, and what a little courage and faith will do.

Dexter has been battling computer issues at work.  The system hasn't allowed him to log in for weeks and I guess there are huge obstacles to starting a new account for him.  In the mean time, he shows up at work and gets sent home two hours later.  He went from working full time to working hardly at all and he's frustrated.

I managed to undecorate the Christmas tree, but the tree is still up and the box of ornaments is still in the living room.  Part of the obstacle is that the snow and ice has melted enough in the backyard to make it all muddy and mushy and I don't want to trudge through it to store everything.

New Ride

After a couple of weeks of trying to figure out how to manage everything with just one car, I'm so happy we have a second vehicle again.  Emerson's job is in Highland and mine is in Provo.  Our work hours don't match up and there's just no way to share the car.  Illness has hit so many of my friends and coworkers that catching rides with other people was becoming impossible.  I rode the bus a few times, but walking on the ice to the bus stop and then paying $2.00 for the "privilege" of taking a one hour bus ride to get home was ridiculous.  It only takes me 15 minutes to drive to work, but the bus goes all over Provo before it gets where I need to go.

The insurance finally gave us a settlement for our truck this week and the search for a new vehicle was on.  We still wanted a truck so we could haul things when needed, so that's what we focused our search on.  Emerson looked at a few trucks and SUVs and found that some of the ones we liked in the pictures needed work done immediately.  We were so excited when we found this 1999 Isuzu Trooper that turned out to be in really great shape.  The mileage was low and the owner had maintained it well. The price was a little higher than what we had hoped for, but there were several other people interested in it and no chance of talking the price down. Thanks to some help from our family, we were able to come up with enough to buy the Trooper.  After a couple of very depressing weeks, it was nice to see the smile on Emerson's face.  Now that he has a vehicle, his stitches are out, his cold/flu is gone, and he can focus on training the puppy, he's finding some happiness again.

Still Here

We're managing to do okay.  Unfortunately, Emerson caught a cold or flu and had a miserable end to this week.  I think I'm coming down with it now, too.  Storm is getting used to us and she is turning out to be quick to train.  She and Gambit wrestle a lot and she usually wins.  Gambit's only 11 months old and doesn't have the maturity to walk away yet.  It makes us miss Scout even more since she was always so good and patient with the puppies.

Emerson's healing well and most of the claims processing is taken care of.  We hope to have a check next week and will need to start looking for a new vehicle.  The used car market isn't the greatest because of the economy, but we're hoping to get another truck if we can.  Work is still keeping me plenty busy.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to earn money with tutoring and Emerson even did some tutoring yesterday for the Provo School District.  Dwayne is busy working full time doing tech support and getting some extra hours cooking at Heritage. 

Worst Day Ever and How Much We Love Our Family

 On Wednesday morning, Emerson had an accident on his way to work.  I was already on my way to meet him since he had forgotten his ID badge for work and I got a phone call along the way telling me that he was being taken to the hospital.  He was turning left at an intersection and when the light turned yellow, he started easing forward after the last car went through.  What he didn't anticipate was that another car would accelerate and try to beat the red light.  As he saw the collision coming, he tried to turn even more left so it wouldn't be a head on or t-bone type crash.  The car hit Emerson's truck on the passenger side, with most of the impact going into the front wheel and breaking it.  Emerson got some cuts on his forehead and some bruises, but was otherwise okay.  As a precaution, they took him to the hospital. 
That's where I first saw him, a little nervous because he was covered with blood since head wounds just seem to bleed the worst. They stitched him up and sent him home and he's been dealing with been stiff and sore since.  Gene helped bring him home from the hospital and Dexter was nice enough to help me clear everything out of the truck. 
Because Emerson was the one turning left, he got the ticket. We found out from different people, including the police officer and the insurance company, that the person turning left will always get the blame, even if the other person was speeding (and this one was) or runs the red light.  It sucks, but that's how the law works.

Scout and Slash with Kathy

Having Emerson get hurt and the truck totaled was bad enough, but then things got worse.  While I was home taking care of Emerson, I let the dogs out in the backyard for a few minutes.  I got distracted with other things and forgot to bring them back in until 30 minutes later.  Gambit came in, but Scout was nowhere to be seen.  She had jumped the shorter fence in the backyard.  I wasn't too worried since she isn't comfortable with strangers and doesn't wander.  I headed out front to go look for her expecting her to have either found her way home or be sniffing through someone's yard.  As I got to the corner, my visiting teacher came out of her house and asked me about my dog.  She pointed to Scout's body lying on the snow covered grass.  Scout had been hit by a car.  The driver had stopped and talked to my visiting teacher to see whose dog she was and then left.  I can only assume Scout died instantly.  Needless to say, I freaked out.  She had been our loyal dog for nearly four years and had helped potty train all our other puppies. She was incredibly loyal and attached to Emerson and there was never a closer bond between dog and master.  For all of us, it was a cruel addition to an already horrible day.

Emerson had every right to feel down.  The last two years have been very difficult and it's easy to start feeling like the universe is picking on him.  Fortunately, Emerson's family showed just how much they care.  The phone calls came in all day Wednesday and by Thursday night his mom, brothers, sister, and their families were all here.  His closest cousin and her two kids visited yesterday and he got phone calls from his uncle and his grandma (who turned 100 years old on Wednesday). It was really nice to be surrounded by family.  Emerson's youngest brother, Emery, even bought him a new puppy to help ease the pain. 

Here is the newest member of our family - Storm.  She is an 8 week old beagle with an amazing personality.  She looks a lot like Scout did as a puppy and has already learned to sit.  Gambit is happy to have someone to play with again even though Storm is already bossing him around.  Losing Scout still hurts, but having Storm is helping ease the pain. 

 We really want to thank everyone for their well wishes and offers of help.  The friends and neighbors who brought over dinners helped us to worry about one less thing.  Emerson's mom really helped us out this weekend with all those little things around the house and playing games with the brothers, sisters, and kids took our minds off of things for a bit.  We don't know what the future will bring, but we're happy to have so much support.

Ironing and Home Teachers

Yes, I'm still alive.  You know this if you watch me on Facebook.  Heritage's Christmas play and the rush of some Christmas orders plus making some Christmas presents had me pretty well exhausted.

One of my Christmas presents this year was a new iron.  Nothing spectacular about it other than replacing the iron I got in the first year or two of marriage.  It got a great workout tonight as I ironed Emerson's 12 dress shirts.  His current job as a part time teacher's assistant requires him to dress up more and the dress shirts, pants, and shoes are getting out of the closet finally.  The dress shoes have now fallen apart and we had to search for new ones.  The shirts are now nicely ironed and he should be good for the next couple of weeks.

Our home teacher is one of the coolest guys in our ward.  He is Emerson's age or a few years older, but he acts like a teenage boy sometimes.  Our boys have stories they're still afraid to tell us about some of his daredevil stunts.  We are happy to have him as a home teacher because he actually cares about us rather than seeing it as an assignment.  He brings his son, Adam, who is about to turn 13.  In October, they forgot to schedule an appointment with us and decided to drop by on the last Sunday of the month.  It happened to be Halloween.  For those who haven't lived in Utah, I have to explain that most holidays landing on Sundays end up being celebrated on the day before or the day after in Utah.  Christmas is an exception.  Since Halloween landed on a Sunday, trick-or-treating happened the day before.  Knowing that there might be some kids trick-or-treating on Sunday (especially with our large Hispanic community), I made sure we still had candy just in case.  We didn't have anyone show up in costume, but when the Sorensens showed up to visit us, they said "trick or treat" when I opened the door.  I gave them candy, of course, and it made me laugh.  When they dropped by in December, they also said "trick or treat" just for fun.  I love it!

Halloween 2010

This is my first Halloween with both of my children all grown up.  I found myself thinking back on all those years when I was scrambling to put together costumes and the changes from when I was a little girl to how Halloween is done now. Back then, we waited until it got dark and then collected candy door to door until we just couldn't walk anymore.  Homemade treats were very common until I was a teenager and the razor blade in the apples stories scared everyone.

With my own children, there were more limits with Halloween.  Most schools restricted dressing up to a costume parade held during or after lunch, so I had to make sure my boys could put their own costumes on since I was at work and couldn't help them.  Masks weren't allowed at school or at the party for our church, so we rarely used those.  We never went more than a few blocks when taking our kids trick or treating.  It was more fun going to the houses of people we knew and they still got plenty of candy.

The most complicated costumes I made were the year my boys wanted Lord of the Rings costumes.  One wanted to be Gandalf the White and I studied tons of photos so I could create the right kinds of layers of runics, robes, and capes for him to wear.  The other son wanted to be an elf (not Legolas since no blonde hair) and I made a shirt, tunic, pants, belt, cape, and a bow.  I also braided his long hair (both my sons had waist length hair like their dad) the same way the elves had theirs in the movie.  A local costume shop had the pin to wear with an elven cape and we were set.  It was awesome!  Alas, never again!
Because my youngest has a flair for the dramatic, he put together a wonderful Phantom of the Opera costume a few years later.  He wore his choir tuxedo and a great cape he had someone make for him.  He purchased the phantom mask and had his drama teacher apply appropriately gruesome facial scars.  It looked amazing. One of his friends commissioned a Christine costume and the two of them went door to door serenading people.

Where we live (Utah), a lot of people bring their children by before it gets dark. That was hard for me to get used to when I first moved here.  When Halloween falls on a Sunday, trick or treating happens on Saturday.  I'm pretty sure that happens in places outside of Utah as well, but we didn't do it that way when I was a kid.  My Halloween costume for this year is one I made last year, but didn't get to wear (long story - involves a car accident and a broken foot).  I'm an IKEA bag lady.  The corset and skirt are made from Ikea shopping bags. At 50 cents per bag, it was a cheap costume (even though it took a "few" bags to fit me).  I put in some hair extensions to look different, too.  The noise of walking in the plastic bag skirt eventually drove me crazy, but I was excited that I finally got to wear it.

The highlight for me this Halloween was my dear friend (who is the Chaplain at the treatment center we both work for) dressing up as a "Gangsta."  The baggy clothes, sideways hat, fake gauges in her ears, long socks....so great!  The hubcap hanging from the chain around her neck was everyone's favorite.  Our Halloween tradition at work is to dress up in costume and have chili for lunch.  Employees bring two cans of chili earlier in the week.  One can is for the lunch and the other can is donated to the local food bank.