Hyacinth

I love hyacinth and decided last year I wanted to keep some on the patio. But I waited too late in the season and couldn’t find any. So I jumped at the chance last weekend when Home Depot was selling them. We immediately replanted them in a larger pot and were really digging how pretty they smelled.

Hyacinth

It didn’t last. Despite keeping them by the window to get sun and also keeping the soil moderately moist, they started to droop. I kept trying to prop them up and basically decapitated one in the process. On top of that, their smell began to change to something more sickly sweet which made my stomach turn. Today when I got home I was so disgusted by the smell that I put them outside, cold weather be damned. They’re dying inside anyway, so what’s the difference?

Look how pathetic they are now, less than a week later.

HyacinthDeath

That’s the last time I buy them so early in the season. Or maybe I should stick to cactus, although I’d probably kill those too.

Annoyed

Today has not gone at all as planned. I had trouble falling back to sleep after Joe’s alarm went off, but after taking a Xanax I was able to get almost two more hours of sleep. Once I got up I did a little decluttering and then called my old college buddy as we planned to catch up. Except she didn’t answer even though she asked me to call at that time. So I decided I’d do some deep cleaning in the kitchen in order to “earn” the ability to spend the rest of the day being lazy and streaming Hot Wives of Orlando (a funny Hulu original series) on Hulu Plus (turns out we get a free two-month subscription for buying the Google Chromecast).

But before that, I called the sleep clinic I’ve been working with to schedule an at-home sleep study to find out whether I have sleep apnea. Except they can’t schedule it until my doctor’s office sends them the information we’ve both been asking them to send since LAST Saturday.

Basically, my doctor initially gave me the order for a facility that kept putting me off and putting me off. I gave them all my info on December 2nd and scheduled an in-facility sleep study for December 18th. I explained to them I wanted to know what my out of pocket cost would be and they told me they’d know once I had my insurance info. So when I dropped it off I asked them again and was told they’d need to call the insurance and get back to me. But they didn’t. So I called the next week and they claimed, again, they’d get back to me. But they didn’t. So I called the Monday before my scheduled sleep study and was told the same thing once more. Finally I got pissed off and asked them exactly when they were planning to call me seeing as how my appointment was mere days away. They said the day before. Except when I called them that mourning they still couldn’t help me.

It wasn’t until 3 o’clock that afternoon they called me and guess what? They told me my insurance denied an in-facility study and I’d have to come down and pick up some equipment and do an at-home study.

At this point I was so annoyed that they took three weeks to figure this out that I decided to do the study through the facility tied to the hospital I see my physician through. I don’t even know why she tried sending me to the other place to begin with.

I spoke with the second facility on Friday December 19th and they told me what they needed from my doctor in ordrer to proceed. Since my doctor doesn’t have hours on Fridays, I sent them a fax explaining how I didn’t want to deal with the other place because they were less than helpful, and to please fax an at-home study order to the new facility along with the physical they were requesting. I called my doctor on Saturday to make sure they got my fax and they said yes.

On Monday I called the facility to see if they got everything, and they told me the doctor hadn’t faxed them anything. So I called my doctor and they claimed they did fax it but would do it again. In the meantime I received a call from the first facility because the idiot doctor sent them my fax where I basically said I didn’t like them; they wanted to know what was going on. So I just told them the other facility is easier to get to for me. I was so mad that my doctor would do something so stupid.

On Tuesday I called back the second facility and asked if they’ve gotten the info from my doctor yet, and they told me just the order, but not the physical. So they faxed my doctor asking for the physical.

As of this morning the doctor hasn’t sent it to them and I’m running out of time to get this done for only $50 as opposed to $300+ (thanks to Joe’s kids always going to the doctor the family deductible has been met this year and I’d only have to pay 15% of the cost whereas if I wait to have the study done next year I will have to pay for it out of pocket in full).

I’ve spent so much time on the phone going back and forth with this that I’m at the point I am going to be screaming at my doctor’s office tomorrow morning when they are back in. I don’t usually get like this but I’ve had it with the office manager (which happens to be my doctor’s husband). This isn’t the first time he has made things difficult for me. I guess I’m going to have to switch doctors after having the same one for over a decade because I’m ready to strangle this guy!

On top of that, I just had the worst experience with Petco. A friend alerted me to a deal they had online where for every $25 eGift card you buy, you get a bonus $5 eGift card. I figured I’d get $50 and a $10 bonus since I buy the rats’ litter from Petco, except when I placed my order I never got the bonus eGift card. When I called I was told that promotion expired at 3 am this morning even though it’s still appearing on their site. When I pointed this out, the guy said he could transfer me to customer service so they could do something to accommodate me, except the guy I spoke to was a total moron. He kept talking over me and not understanding anything I was trying to tell him. I will admit, I lost my patience at one point and yelled, “well maybe if you stopped interrupting me you’d get the confirmation #!” LOL But seriously, WTF? I spent a half hour on the phone with him and received no resolution. He claims someone has to call me back in 24-48 hours but I’m not holding my breath. If they weren’t so incompetent I’d just cancel the order, but I’m afraid they’d deactivate the gift card code but not refund my money. It has really left a sour taste in my mouth in regards to that place, though. Honestly, I’m a bigger fan of Petsmart, but the Petco brand paper paper litter has the best smell, texture, and price compared to Yesterday’s News so I always buy it.

Now I’m just so annoyed I can’t concentrate on the Hot Wives show so I guess I’ll go take a shower since I hadn’t gotten around to that yet today.

Reading

This is a very interesting article.

As much as I love(d) my Kindle, it was getting very annoying trying to find the books I’m interested in without having to resort to buying them on Amazon. Not to mention how many times I’d start reading a book only to quickly lose interest. Was it because I chose the wrong book, or something to do with the lack of involvement when reading a screen as opposed to holding a solid book in my hands?

And let’s face it, digital lending through the library is not as easy as you’d think – there’s a limited number of copies of the book you want to read and the best ones are always unavailable.

On top of that, trying to find an interesting book online is a bit difficult. They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but you have to admit that’s exactly what we do when trying to choose a book amongst many on the shelves, and this type of browsing is much easier (and fun) to do in person than online. You can feel the books, open them up to read a passage or two, and come away with something tangible.

So back to the library I went. I enjoy the trip because it’s like shopping without spending any money. Now I have a stack of books on my nightstand and have been blowing through books unlike before. Long live print!

P.S. My local library recently went through a renovation and the adult section is now set up more like a big computer lab with books and digital material surrounding it. The shelves are designed in a manner that makes browsing easy – everything is displayed more like you’re in a store which I enjoy. The one thing, however, that throws me off is the vending machines for coffee, soda, juice, and snacks. These items were always discouraged, if not outright banned, in libraries. It’s amazing how times change!

P.P.S. Apparently there aren’t any photos of the completed renovation online, at least that I can find. I might have to grab some next time I’m at the library.

Discover Card Change

I was recently notified by Discover Card that my card # was identified as possibly being compromised, so they sent Joe and me new cards. I’m a bit annoyed with the whole thing for two reasons:

1) They didn’t change the card #, just the security code on the back. Considering the fact that several years ago someone stole our card number and was able to successfully order a computer online even after entering in the wrong 3-digit code, I don’t think that was very wise. What’s the point of that code if the retailer will let the purchase go through without it? And why in the world would Discover Card not do something to stop it and/or change the card # entirely given this knowledge?

2) While they sent Joe a new card with the identical design as his old one, they sent me the generic silver card. I have been using a cool black card with a frog on it (I love frogs, hence the domain name). I logged onto the Discover site to request a replacement card and learned they no longer offer the frog design. Oh, but I could get a deer on my card, or an eagle! Or how about someone fly fishing? Really? Or I could choose from a dizzying array of dogs or cats, but no frogs. Son of a…!!!! It’s just annoying because the card was really cool and I got comments on it often when I’d be paying for something. It was unique. I also liked the color scheme. The closest thing to it was a butterfly design so I went for that. And I realize in the grand scheme of things it’s no big deal but I’m annoyed nonetheless because that’s how I roll.

Wake and Funeral

Work was cool about me taking a vacation day so I only worked Tuesday and Wednesday last week (getting to the point where only working two days would be awesome if I could pull it off). Wednesday night we drove down to my old hometown to attend the wake and then back again on Thursday morning for the mass and funeral.

Luckily my mom liked the flower arrangement I had chosen although she didn’t care for the “empty” spot without flowers in the arrangement. Hers was the only spay that was sent over so it was not only at the wake but also the funeral and graveside for the burial. My cousin insisted I take my arrangement home after the wake. This is what $63 buys you. I don’t care for the flowers with the pink/red spots on them (they weren’t in the photo of the arrangement I chose); they kind of ruin the look which should have been all white and blue. Also, the vase is different than what was pictured; it looks like a cheap one for $2 from Walmart.

UncleEdsFlowers

Thursday we stopped at the local Burger King for breakfast since we got down there much quicker than we anticipated. It’s the only fast food chain for miles and was actually built when I was in high school. In fact, I was the first round of workers to have a job there but had to train at a different location so that once it opened I was ready to work. I ended up working there for about 3-4 years until I got pissed off at one of the shift managers and quit on the spot. But I was really good at my job while I was there and worked all the stations including front cash and drive thru. You could say I was the Burger Queen. ;)

Mass was weird. I grew up attending Sunday School and attending church weekly but I don’t practice anymore. I actually moved out of my parents’ house in my early twenties when my mom gave me an ultimatum to either continue going to church or leave. I chose the latter. It’s one thing to raise your kids with the religion you identify with, it’s another to try and force it on someone once they’re an adult. Ironically enough, neither one of my brothers go to church and they are still allowed to live there. And she claims there’s no favoritism. Suuuure…

I’m not even sure if I believe in God to be truthful. I don’t really call myself an atheist as I’m not 100% sure there is no God, but I’m finding it increasingly difficult to believe that he’d allow such terrible things to happen to people. Plus some of the nastiest people I’ve ever met are avid church-goers. It just seems fucked up that those people would represent Christianity. Needless to say, it was uncomfortable to sit through a mass.

The graveside funeral was sad. It made me tear up to see my cousins and mom crying. Ugh.

The “nice” thing to come out of all this is that I got to know my mom’s cousin better as well as make plans to go to dinner with my cousins who lost their father. We never hang out, but death reminds you that we aren’t long on this earth, and if you’re like me doubting the existence of God then there’s likely not an afterlife to look forward to either.

In other words, you better have some fun now before it’s all over because “this is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time” – Fight Club