You Lost Your Insurance

April Fools’ Day

Actually I did lose my health insurance — at midnight last night my COBRA policy ran out. Which officially marks the 18th month anniversary of our retirement! Good and bad aspects to one single event. Good because I’m still alive and kicking (not that there was concern on that front). And, as it turned out my new medical insurance card arrived at the Kids’ House on Saturday to be picked up by us when we arrived for a family Easter dinner. So, all is well in the Pazucha household. I contacted our agent just in time to get the paperwork right on time. Hooray — it’s good to actually BE at the point I’ve worried about on some subliminal level for 30 yrs — what happens when Peg’s insurance no longer covers me and I’m not yet Medicare eligible.

Don’t get me wrong — it’s not like it’s been an actual “worry.” It’s just that conscious awareness that our age difference meant that unless one of us died young this would happen. Nevertheless, as the actual date approached I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t stressed out a little — seeing as I have been the only one to actually NEED medical insurance. But, that’s done. As long as I make my payments for the next 10 months I’m golden!

Sweet Easter

Glazing the Ham with a Propane Torch!

Yesterday was… how shall I say it…

Yesterday was a quiet blast. Which is to say we had a great time but we were really, really tired and it was wonderful to enjoy the sweetness of being together without being the ones making the meal, and without pressure to be talking every single moment. For myself, I stood around in the kitchen for a while while watching others cook, then I plopped on the living room sofa and just reveled in the sounds of family doing their things. I loved it! A few years ago I would have thought I was doing nothing — but I was in fact actively enjoying them.

Poor Michael. Being the last day of the month it was also the deadline for him to get the remaining tools and “stuff” out of his old shop and into the building where his new shop will be. So, he moved in the morning. Then he came home to cook and eat. He relaxed a while, and then he headed back to the shop where a friend of his was to help with the final trip(s) of Business Moving Day. I got tired just looking at how tired he looked. But major turning points are sweet in their own right. And Michael and Jason – his partner in the old business – have been lifelong friends. This was a big day for him — the finality of it all. They part as friends, but Michael’s also ready for the separation.

Plans, plans, and more plans

I haven’t mentioned much about this but Michael and Kathryn are thinking and planning to convert part of the new business property into a residence. I know this sounds crazy but it is totally Pazucha!

Lest you fail to appreciate the balls currently up in the air let me rehash:

• We are selling our school so we can go mobile in Journey
• The Kids need us to get the school sold so that they can finish the renovations necessary to get the new business building ready for full use. (Michael’s a hustler — a legal one — and he’s doing a variety of things to keep the home fires burning during the sale delay but once we agreed to a private mortgage we were all pretty well locked into this path.
• Three or four remodeling projects need to actually be finished to get the shop open and usable.
• The Kids want to turn part of that space into residence — so compound the amount of remodeling — adding several major wall, more electrical, more plumbing just to get a basic “loft-industrial” space that could be inhabited
• Sell the Kids home.
• Go back to life as semi-normal because they would likely be remodeling, and changing things around for the next several years……

So… we’ll see how life treats us all in the next few months…

Latest and Greatest in Shipping Miracles

Never in my life would I have expected to see a package arrive in the U.S. mail that was shipped in a BAGGIE!  But, behold, it has happened. 

We have an old breadmaker that we use more in the recent 2 years than since we bought it 15 yrs ago.  I found a replacement dough paddle on eBay so I bought it.  And this is how the shipper shipped it.

It arrived safe and sound but I’m flabbergasted.  It pays to think outside the box!

Off On An Adventure

And, on that note I think I’ll leave you.  Peg is packing our bags for a short trip.  We’re headed to Elkhart IN for two days.  We’ll do some investigating sources for “someday remodeling” of Journey.  There are outlets there for replacement sofas and other niceties and we have no plans to RV East of a line from Chicago to Charleston SC for the foreseeable future.

Our UNOFFICIAL Go-No Go map

Don’t misunderstand — we have nothing against the N.E. — we just aren’t in a hurry to go that way.  And so, if we are considering at some point in the future the possibility of some RV remodeling — perhaps replacing the carpeting with flooring, or a new sofa, or … well, who knows what we might consider … it would be good to visit the MECCA for all things RV:  Elkhart Indiana.

We’ll be gone a couple days, checking out outlets and perhaps even a remodel source.  We have absolutely no plans to DO anything — but we’re going to go look and open the windows of possibilities.

Cheers,

Talk to you tomorrow I think.

Insurance: the Bottomless Pit

It would be nice if you would take the poll before reading the article.

SilverSneakers On the Prowl

Well, Peg’s off to get healthy(er).  Her Medicare option gives her access to the YMCA, and today she’s off to take her first SilverSneakers class.

As for me, I have another 14 months to go before I am Medicare eligible.  Depending on what the crazy politicians do I’d like to sign up for the same program but we’ll see what’s available when the time comes.

So, while she’s off getting healthy-fied I’ve got more than enough to keep me busy.  Still working on images and keywording — it’s amazing how many images I’ve created in the last 10 years since going digital.  I keep finding more and more and more.

I used this in a calendar some time ago and coming upon it over the weekend I decided to share it with you.

The sign Mike was getting made to advertise the house may arrive today.  They don’t work over the weekend so when it wasn’t finished on Friday we knew it wouldn’t be coming till today or tomorrow.  Mike says he got the first inquiry from the Craigslist add, but it was someone who wanted to trade properties.  Alas, no sale.

On other notes,  AT&T once again manages to confuse me.  We set up our Uverse TV to autopay through a credit card.  We are about to enter the second billing cycle and I see I have a past due balance equal to the  amount of last month’s bill.  I called them, and with apologies all over the place it’s nothing I did wrong,  they’ll just take two months billing out at once and not charge a late fee.  I swear — sometimes programming does bizarre things.  On a better note, we got our $100.00 bonus debit card from them for starting our new service when we returned to Cudahy.  Party time!  (not – that’s not our style)

On a similar note I got a notice from our COBRA administrator saying that the October bills for doctor and labs was denied because “coverage expired.”  To which I politely said, well, if that’s so, give me my payments back. (Just joking)  Turns out when I handed my Ins. card to the lady at the desk she must have visually checked the current number against the number on record and saw 2 zeros on my card and three zeros on the one on file and mistakenly thought they were the same.  Twenty some minutes on two separate phone calls and I think I got the problem licked.  Everyone on the phone was nice but it’s sure hard getting anything done lately.