{Organized Chaos}

I didn't forget ya!

Hey everyone out there in BlogWorld!  I haven't forgotten about my blog but just haven't gotten back around here. 

My sweet hubby has been hurt and I've been spending alot of time trying to help him.  Monday morning he bent down to tie his shoes and he just happened to cough at the same time.  Well something popped in his back and he was in some pain.  He worked on Monday but didn't feel good.  He went to work on Tuesday and come home and went straight to bed.  Then Wednesday he got up, went to work, climbed the two flights of stairs to his office and almost fell on the floor when he got to his offce because his back hurt so bad.  So they sent him home from work and I took him to the doctor.  The doctor diagnosed it as severe back spasms and didn't seem surprised at all when he told her how he hurt his back.  She said it was pretty common for things like that to happen.

So he is on Flexeril and pretty much drugged out.  He has been in a drug fog all day yesterday and all day today.  I convinced him to get up and eat lunch today and then he went straight back to bed.  I'm pretty worried about him because he is not one to get into bed during the day.  Good thoughts & prayers for him would be greatly appreciated.

Miss Whitney is a licensed driver now.  She got her license on Monday.  So now she is trying to figure out what she is going to do for a car.  Her Grandma on her dad's side had told her that she had a car for her.  The car is a decent car but it has a manual transmission.  Whitney doesn't really know how to drive a standard.  She says she is getting the car but I'd bet money that she winds up trading that car or selling it and getting an automatic.

And lastly, I have a request for anyone that can participate.  I volunteer for an organization, Cancer Warriors, that sends cards, gifts, etc. to children that are cancer patients.  I am a card/penpal angel but the organization also has opportunities for people that can be gift angels too.  The REALLY need all kinds of angels right now.  If you think you can make the commitment, then please do so.  It is a great organization that is run entire with volunteers.

Cancer Warriors

Tomorrow is my b-day but I'm thinking any celebrating to be done will be postponed until another day when hubby is doing a little better.  I'm not thrilled to be getting older but it is better than the alternative.

I'll update again with hubby's condition and whether there is another car parked in our driveway!  Until then have a great weekend and happy 4th of July!

Banner any better?

No not really! LOL  I'm still learning.  I've seen some totally cool ones on different peoples blog but I'm not there yet.  I am working on it.  Photoshop doesn't really come naturally to me so I really have to experiment with stuff before it looks like I want.

Now don't tell anybody this next bit of news. . . . I'VE BEEN CLEANING IN MY SCRAP ROOM!  Like really cleaning.  I cleaned enough that I could actually vaccum the floor in here.  Gasp! LOL  I joined a couple of Yahoo groups that are for "scrapbooking yard sales."  I'm going to list stuff there as opposed to eBay (cuz those darn eBay fees have gotten so high) and whatever doesn't sell will be donated to United Northeast Neighbors Assn.  It is an organization in Philadelphia that teaches inner city kids to scrapbook.  Everything they do in the scrapbooking classes is done with strictly donations.  Supplies, time, everything!  The lady that runs the classes says that they have a continual waiting list for the scrapbooking classes.  And they send you a receipt for your taxes.  I looked around for a while before I found an organization that I wanted to contribute to.  I inquired at a few places and they had lists of things that they would take for donations.  They would only accept items on the list and they had to be brand new and still in the packaging.  I'm sorry but I don't mean to be rude but if you are asking for donations, then do you really have the right to be so particular?  Anyway, the United Northeast Neighbors Assn. will take anything that you would like to donate.  If anyone else does any cleaning and needs a place to donate, just e-mail me for the address.

Well that's it for now.  I'm back to cleaning and proofing and editing pictures.  Hoping to make an altered composition book for my stepdaughter sometime this weekend too.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Arggh! What have I done?

Yeah I know this banner is not going to cut it.  I can't figure it out.  It is 1:00 a.m. and I have to go to bed.  But I can't figure out this banner thing to save my life.  I was going for something funky but this was totally NOT what I had in mind.  I'm going to bed and hoping this banner crap will seem a little clearer in the morning.  Night everyone.

ETA:  The wedding ring is off my finger and safely in the jewelry box. ;)

Just a small heart attack

I thought I might have one this morning.  I woke up about 5:45 and had to go to the bathroom.  My bathroom is under construction so I have to get up and go down the hall.  As I am walking down the hall going back to bed, I look down and my wedding ring is gone.  GONE!  The only time I take it off is when I'm doing something really big in the flower beds outside or if I'm swelling really bad.  No gardening or swelling lately so it hasn't been off my finger in forever.  I had no idea where it could be.

I could hear Bruce in the garage starting his motorcycle and leaving for work.  I ran out there (in my pajamas!) to try to catch him.  I'm not sure what I thought he might do for me.  I guess I just wanted him to comfort me.  But I was too late.  He was already riding down the street and didn't hear me calling for him.

So I go back in the house and start retracing my steps.  It is not on my computer desk.  It is not on the bathroom counter.  So I go to the bedroom and take all the covers off the bed.  No luck!  I pull the covers back up on the bed and go through them again.  Nothing!  Then I get the flashlight and get on my hands and knees and start looking under the bed.  I see lots of dust bunnies but no ring.  So I sit on the floor and I start to bawl.  I have no idea how I am going to tell Bruce.  This is the last thing I want to tell him.  He is so sweet that I know he won't be mad but he won't be happy either.

I look down to wipe my tears off my leg and on the floor right beside me is MY WEDDING RING!  I have no idea how it got off my finger.  It has never been loose enough to fall off my finger.  But I think now it is going to start coming off when I sleep.

Whew!  Another crisis diverted!  I hope the rest of the day turns out this well!

And still getting better

I had to have blood drawn today.  It is one of those regularly scheduled things until the doctor gets my thyroid levels regulated.  Well the best news of all is that the lab takes my new insurance! Yeah!!  So all is well there.

I've done nothing but proof and edit pictures from our family photo shoot over Memorial Day weekend.  I've been trying out different methods for converting the pics to B&W but haven't found any one method that I love and that makes those photos really pop.  They are not looking as "muddy" as before but still not fabulous like I want.  I'm planning to make my mom an little album for Xmas using those photos.  If time allows, I'll probably do very small album for my brother and SIL. 

The contractor started on the new bathroom cabinets and tile today.  It looks great.  I really like the look but I still wish we could've gotten that money back.  I think I would enjoy it more if I didn't have the money problems hanging over me.

Thanks to everyone for all the support and listening to me whine.  I hope the posts continue to be more positive each day for a long while.

One day at a time . . .

check off one thing on the list at a time.  That's all I can do.  I'm working on all the CRAP that I posted about last time.  Feeling better about all that is going on and getting a few things accomplished here and there.

Driver's license is taken care of.  Got a new one and took the receipt to show the court about the ticket.  No fine and so now I'm good in that area.

Car is sorta fixed.  Bruce replaced the tail light in my car again thinking that maybe it was just a bum bulb.  It worked for a day and then it looked like it was out.  So he went to get more bulbs and as he was driving away from the house I noticed that the tail light was working again.  He bought extra bulbs in case.  So far the tail light has been working now for about 3 days.  I'm good as long as it is working when a cop is behind me.

Prescriptions have been refilled.  Our pharmacist is just not cooperative is what we have determined.  We called the section of the insurance company that handles prescription coverage.  I exlained that we had just gotten this new coverage and we were not aware of the fact that maintenance drugs had to be ordered through their mail order service.  I told the ins. rep. that I had ZERO problems doing that in the future (in fact I would love not having to go to the pharmacy so often) but we need drugs right now and I need to know how to accomplish that.  The ins. rep. then tells me that they will fill one month's worth of prescriptions for maintenance drugs but then we have to go on the mail order plan.  She said they don't expect anyone to immediately go to the monthly program if you don't know about it.  So we could have gotten a month's worth of prescriptions if the pharmacist would have entered one additional code (and he knew to do that as soon as we went back to the pharmacy).  So we have our medications again.

As far as the doctor goes, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  I don't have to go to a certain doctor with this new insurance.  This insurance has a HUGE HUGE deductible so even if I go to the doctor and the insurance does cover it, the whole amount will go towards my deductible anyway.  They did start taking money out of Bruce's check for the Cafeteria Plan so we can get reimbursed for all out-of-pocket medical expenses.  I don't go to the endocrinologist very often so I might just go and pay for it out of my pocket and then get reimbursed from my cafeteria plan.  And just let the expense go towards my deductible.  I can get on the waiting list for another doctor in the meantime and then if I decide not to switch doctors, I can always cancel the appointment.  And the office manager at Dr. L's office said she would talk to him about taking our insurance.  She's a sweetie and was very helpful to me during my crisis.

The 401k loans have been partially taken care of.  We had a bunch of money saved up to make some repairs and improvements on our house.  The house totally needs it because when I was a single parent there just wasn't enough money to do lots of house stuff.  But anyway, we had already put down deposits on lots of stuff and paid contractors to do lots of repairs/installations, etc.  So we called around to everyone and explained that we had had a financial emergency and would not be able to do the work as planned on our house.  Most of them were so nice and helpful.  We got deposits back as most of them had not placed orders for us yet.  We couldn't get the money back on the bathroom cabinets, bathroom countertop, and the tile in the bathroom.  So we will go ahead and get those things done -- it is just a very small fraction of the money that we had planned on spending.  We are also going to get the faucet fixed in the bathroom because it is leaking REALLY bad and I know that the leak isn't good for our water bill.

So the money that we got back from the contractors will pay off the bigger of the 401k loans.  The smaller loan will be paid off with a loan from the bank.  Not a bad interest rate and monthly payments that we can handle.  I think we might even be able to pay extra.

Can't do anything about the credit card at the moment.  We are just going to suck it up and try to trim a little more off the budget.  My husband called the credit card company and is trying to negotiate some lower payments since we have always paid more than the minimum.  They haven't called back but he said they sounded hopeful.

So it is working out.  I don't feel as stressed out about everything.  If everything goes according to plan, we'll be fine for now.

The WORST Day!!!!!!

I'm having the worst day today and it just keeps getting worse. Everything is money related and I have started crying and I can't stop now.

I go to use my cell phone and it won't even turn on. It is broken and probably can't be fixed so now I'll have to get a new one. We really don't have the money to spend on a new phone.

Every Friday my DD cashes her check at my bank. She has to show my driver's license. I needed my driver's license for something today and it is gone. My DD has lost it and has no idea where it is. I called to see what I need to do to replace it. That will be $20-$25 that we certainly could spend on something else.

Someone told me the other day that I had a brake light out. DH tried to replace it and was never able to get it to work. He said there was a short and we would have to to take it to the mechanic to get it fixed. We were waiting until he got paid because we don't have the money for that. Well I get pulled over today for that brake light. I got a warning for that but got a ticket for not having a driver's license (that is what I needed my license for) and the only way I can get it dismissed is to show up at the courthouse in 7 days with a current driver's license. So there is probably more money for a fine.

I have 3 prescriptions that I need refilled right now. I called them in and found out that our new insurance will not pay for monthly refills on maintenance drugs (drugs you take every day). They will only do the mail in prescription thing and fill 3 months worth at a time on maintenance drugs. I can have them filled but the cost will be about 4x's what I normally pay for them. I call the doctor to see if I can get a 3 month prescription. He won't do a three month prescription without seeing me again. Okay then I try to make an appointment -- the doctor doesn't take our new insurance. So he gives me the names of some other endocrinologists because obviously I'm going to have to change doctors. The SOONEST I can get an appointment is 9.5 months from now. I call my doctor back and ask if he can just see me and I'll pay out of pocket this one time. Yep, he can see me to the tune of $350.00.

Then we get a notice in the mail today about some 401k loans that my DH had taken out before we were married. He took the loans out to bail his ex-wife out of credit card hell. Well since he has changed jobs, we can't pay monthly on those loans any more. They have to have the full amount paid right now. We certainly don't have that -- it is several thousands of dollars. We can't transfer his 401k funds to the new employer's plan until the loans are paid off. So we can't get a loan from the new plan because we don't have any money in it yet.

Then we get our credit card statement in the mail. Remember that article about the credit card payments going up. Well we pay over the minimum but now the minimum is about $200 more than what we've been paying on that card.

And finally DH calls and wants to go to the movie. Just where he thinks the money is going to come from for that is just BEYOND me. Now he's pissed at me because I'd rather not go to the movie. he says he was trying to do something nice for me and I just shot him down. I wasn't trying to shoot him down but he tells me I'm in charge of the money. So when I say there is no money for movies I guess I'm shooting him down.

I'm sure we will get through all this.  I kept thinking that maybe I should send the scrapping stuff I got back to 2P's.  But I bought everything with a gift certificate so it is not like I'd get any cash back anyway.  We spent our tax return on paying off the cars and making a couple of extra house payments.  That money would come in so handy right about now.  I THOUGHT we were doing responsible stuff with our money when we were paying down debt.  Oh well it is too late to worry about "what ifs" . . . everything that is done is done. 

I'm going to bed now so I can see if I can wake up in a better frame of mind.  I've got to write everything down in a list and work through it all.  I know we will get through it all but with everything coming all at once it just seems so daunting.

Maybe tomorrow I will have better news for everyone.

Such a busy couple of days!

We took tons of pictures over Memorial Day weekend.  First there was Whitney's graduation, then the graduation party, then Alex's b-day celebration and finally we had an impromptu photo shoot.  So I have LOTS of pictures to proof and edit.  I'm so slow at the editing process.  But I got some great shots and will have lots of scrapbooking material for a long time to come.

I also got a box of some great stuff from 2P's.  I'm ready to scrap too.  I don't feel like I'm in a funk or anything.  As soon as I get my pictures uploaded to Mpix, I'm going to start planning layouts.  This is the first time in such a long time that I really feel motivated to scrap.  And having new supplies doesn't hurt anything. 

I'll be getting my new kit from My Favorite Memories soon too. I think this will be the last month that I'll get the monthly kit from them.  I've decided that I probably won't subscribe again for now.  I loved getting the kit and there were always things in the kit that I would have never bought on my own.  I used alot of that stuff too.  But let's face it -- I really don't need more supplies.  I've got plenty of stuff.  And now that I've given up hope on being published or getting on a design team, it is not like I need the latest and greatest stuff any more anyway.  So I'm just going to give the monthly kit thing a breat for a while.

Well time to hit the hay.  I've got to get my rest so I can finish proofing and editing all the pics.  I still have about 130 more pics to go.  Get ready to see some new layouts from me in the very near future! :)

I need a better banner.

I'm not sure how to do it.  I've seen lots of cool ones but I'm clueless how people get them up there.  If you can tell me how to do it, could you e-mail me or leave me a note in the comment section?  If you have any suggestions of what to put up there that would be great too! 

I'm going back to bed now.  I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and have been very ill since then.  Bruce is going to have to cook his own dinner tonight.  Poor guy!

Go Danica Go!!

Our friends, Brian and Shirley called and said they had an extra pair of tickets for the Indy car race on Saturday evening at Texas Motor Speedway.  Well, we couldn't say no.  We have always wanted to go to a race at the Texas Motor Speedway.  We were sitting on the 8th row.  I didn't know but at races you don't want to sit as close as you can.  I found out it is better to sit a little further up in the stands so you can se more of the track.  But it was still very fun.  They drive the drivers around the track in pickup trucks before the race and Danica is beautiful in person.  She didn't end up winning the race but she ran a steady race.  She stayed from 10-13 most of the race.  The news media dogged her for being 4th on her last race and now 13th  in this race.  But really they should cut her some slack.  She is a rookie.  I don't think they would dog a male racer like that in his rookie season.

I was really surprised at how fast the cars seem to go in person.  I've watched plenty of races on TV and I know the cars go FAST.   But in person they just go crazy fast!  I could barely see the numbers on the cars as they raced past.

I'm hoping we get to go to some more races.  My aunt and uncle get seats for the NASCAR race that is here in April every year and they said they will try to get us some tickets this next year.  I hope they do!