Somday I Might be Able to Stand Alone

Sometimes I wonder what I'll blog about when my kids stop being funny or when they are all old enough that I shouldn't put what they say on the blog (I'm looking at you Madison).

But then I realize that in the last few weeks I was

--Approached by a stranger at the deli who wanted to discuss turkey sandwiches and the radiation in Japan.  She also thought my name was Ravelry because I had my knitting bag with me. 

--I got a check from my insurance company for 76 cents.  Right now you're thinking I probably fought a good fight for that 76 cents.  Nope.  For what ever reason they forgot to pay one of my doctors the whole bill and instead of just sending my doctor the 76 cents they sent it to me so now I owe my doctor 76 cents.  Ridiculous?  Yes.  Worth fighting about? Not really, especially because that doctor currently owes me 35 dollars.  Well, 34 dollars and 24 cents.  Of course, now is the time Michael is going to remind me that I once called the hospital because they were charging me a penny more than my EOB said I owed.  But I would like to point out that I was just curious about the discrepancy.  Really!! It was just the discrepancy!!  Why the discrepancy???

--And last but certainly not least, I got trapped in the underground parking lot at the library.  I almost had to use a emergency phone. Fortunately, in a brief moment of clarity between moments terror, I was able to call someone who happened to be above ground at the library and she was able to alert security with out getting the police involved. But now I know that when parking underground one should always leave the library before 9 p.m. because by 9:05 the gates are down and those sensors don't always work as well as they should.

Lessons in Frugality

This year I started freezing left over fruit before it spoils and goes to waist.  I've been very pleased with myself and how I've filled the freezer full of trays of cut up strawberries and bananas that otherwise would have gone in the garbage.  Now we have frozen fruit Madison can use to make smoothies all year long.  She's really into smoothies right now.  It made me feel very frugal.  Frozen fruit can be expensive and we throw out a lot a fruit the kids decide not to eat.  However, my savings were slightly offset this weekend when two of my strawberries got stuck together and I decided to pry them apart with a butter knife.  I'm pretty sure the trip to instiCare to glue and steri-strip my finger closed cost more than a couple bags of frozen fruit.

My Five Dollars

Last August the boy went in for an endoscopy.  Around November we started receiving the associated claims statements and bills.  I checked them and Mike paid them.  Its a good system for us.  

In December I got the first call from University Health Care.  They wanted to know when I planned on paying the 55 dollars I owed them and asked if they could help me set up a payment plan.  Fairly certain we'd payed the bill I told them I'd look into it and call them back.  Mike looked it up and sure enough we'd payed (using bill pay) and they had cashed the check.

I called and told them they had made a mistake and explained that they had cashed our check.  Over the next three months we were given two reasons for why they had no idea where our money was

1.  We sent it to the right place but the account number we gave them was wrong.  Even though they know the number we gave them they still can't find the money.

2.  We gave them the right account number but we sent it to the wrong division of University Health Care, and even though they know what division we sent it to they can't find the money.

At one point one of the women I talked to said, "Why don't you just pay us again?  When the account that has your money figures out it isn't theirs, they'll send you a refund."  Seeing as how they lost the first 55 dollars, I told her once I had received the refund I'd happily pay again.  She said "fine" and told me she'd find it and call me back.

However, instead of calling me back she sent me a notice in the mail saying that if I didn't pay them 55 dollars in the next two weeks they would send me to collections.

I called them again.  This time I was told they knew I had paid and they even knew the account where the money was deposited,  but it was the wrong account and they can't find the exact check so they can't credit me for the money.  I was told that the only way to prevent my account from going to collections was if I faxed them a copy of the cashed check.  It was the ONLY way they could find the money.  I said that was fine, but they would have to pay me the 5 dollars it was going to cost to get a copy of the check.  

Her:  "uh, we don't really do that."    

Me:  "but it isn't my fault you lost the money.  Why should I pay 5 dollars so you can figure out your mistake?"

Her:  "well, get the check and fax it to me and I'll see what I can do."

So I did.  I paid 5 dollars for a copy of the check and I faxed it to them.  They called me two weeks later.

Her:  "Um, We were wondering when you were going to be able to pay us the 55 dollars you owe us."

Me:  "You have GOT to be kidding me!  I don't have time to argue with you about this right now.  I faxed you a copy of the check proving that I paid and proving that you cashed it.  In fact you owe ME 5 dollars, now go look it up and call me back."

She never called back.  Instead I got a letter in the mail from the collections agency saying I'd been sent to collections and I had 30 days to refute their claim.  I called immediately, and faxed the collections agency everything I had sent to University Health Care.  I sent them a copy of the bill, a copy bill pay receipt, and a copy of the cashed check.  The lady at collections actually said, "I can't believe they are doing this to you!" She said she'd show her boss but was pretty confident they wouldn't continue the claim.

I called University Health Care again.  At this point I was mad.  I told the woman on the phone that if they didn't send me a check for 5$ I'd take them to small claims court, and if they didn't clear my account and my credit was affected I'd hire a lawyer and sue them.  

Her: "Let me look into this.  I'll call you back."  

Me: "Really?  Because everyone I've talked to in the last 3 months has said, 'let me look into this.  I'll call you back' and 'don't worry, I'll fix this, and then I'll call you back' but they NEVER do."

Her: "I will I promise."

Ten minutes later she called me back.

Her: "I've talked to my superiors and they said to go ahead and clear your account so you don't owe us anything, and I've cancelled the collections order too."

Me:  "Right, because I don't owe you any money.  And what about my 5 dollars?"

Her:  "Yeah, they said they'd have it to you in 3 weeks."

Me:  "Okay, but if it isn't here in 3 weeks, I'm filing."

Her: "I don't doubt that. And I'm sorry."

Me:  "Yeah, but I'm still really mad."

Her:  "I know."

The check arrived and my mom said, "Too bad, small claims court would have been fun."  Instead of enjoying small claims court, my mom and I going to use my five dollars to subsidize lunch.

Brilliant!

Did you know that the Costco sized box of corn dogs are now individually wrapped?

Now when I want make a couple corn dogs for the two little boy's lunch I don't have to worry about the others getting freezer burn.

These are the little things that make life sunnier.

You see this is what happens when you have children. You blog about corn dogs and how kids can only manage to flush the toilet when someone is in the shower.

I Knew It!

Study finds swearing helps pain

Here is a glimpse--

Scientists at England's Keele University say people swear when they hurt themselves because it actually reduces the pain.

But this is my favorite part--

The lead researcher got the idea after listening to his wife swear uncontrollably while delivering their child.

Thanks, But I'm Not Really Interested

Our air conditioning is broken again and has been for over a week. I haven't really done anything besides sit in a pool of my own sweat--which isn't something I generally blog about.

Today I got out of the very hot house and went to Target. They have air conditioning at Target. As the checker handed me the pen to sign the receipt she accidentally jabbed my hand with it and began to apologize profusely. "You're fine." I said. She freaked out, "WHAT did you say!?" Her reaction took me a little off guard. I took a step back and told her that I'd said it was fine. I wasn't upset that she had jabbed me with the pen. "Oh!" she said, "I totally took the 'you're fine' comment a different way."

This is why I don't go out much.

Happy Pi Day

Backlogged

This is what the similac box that came in the mail yesterday had written on it.  It's like they took the words right out of my mouth.  When people ask me what motherhood is like, I can't help but respond with , "Motherhood Rocks!  And so do you!"  Okay so I've never really said that, but I will from now on.

When I found out I was pregnant with Davis I went online and ordered free samples from both similac and enfamil.  Free formula people!  As you may have guessed I got my two cans of free formula from similac yesterday.  When I opened the box the first thing I saw was this.

Baby . . . toddler . . . whats the difference really?  They both whine and demand attention.  They both keep you up at night, and they both look really cute in overalls.

If you need a couple cans of formula give me a call.  I can drop them by your house sometime between now and the next two years.  

For My Friends Who Just Had Babies

Sticky Notes

This video makes me happy.

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.