Category: Health

Health Insurance Refunds

Posted on

Joe and I both received interesting letters from Blue Cross Blue Shield this weekend.

photo-oct-03-3-47-15-pm

Enclosed was a check as well. Joe got $202.60 and I got $146.14. Since we haven’t paid for any medical other than premiums since switching to the Market Place insurance this must be related to one of our older Blue Cross accounts. For the life of us we have no idea what services these cover, although if I had to guess I suppose it could be towards our colonoscopies… although we paid more than what was refunded so I’m not sure how they came to the totals they did. In addition, I definitely had more medical visits than Joe did yet he received a larger refund. There’s no way to really find out what these cover since the medical cards referenced in the letter have long since been destroyed.

I guess I should just be happy that we got an unexpected $348.74 windfall.

Flu Shot & Festivals

Posted on

Saturday morning we stopped at Chick-fil-A for breakfast (we each got a sandwich for free via their app) and then headed to the doctor so I could get my annual flu shot. With the new insurance I had to be careful not to discuss any health concerns with her otherwise I’d have to pay for an office visit whereas the shot is completely free. It was the quickest (5 minutes) doctor visit ever!

Afterward we had some time to kill so we headed over to Willowbrook Wildlife Center to look at the animals. I swear every time we go there they have a new pair of rats. What I’d love to know is what happens to the previous ones. Are they adopted out? Do they die? I’m half tempted to call them and ask. In any case, this girl (well, she wasn’t super young but not old either so I’d say somewhere between 28 and 38) was telling me about her pet rats. I mentioned I had some too but instead of engaging in actual dialog she just kept talking at me so I quickly made an exit. It’s astounding how self-involved people can be. Here I thought I was about to meet someone cool and like-minded but just like pretty much everyone else they were more concerned with talking than having an actual conversation. That was a bummer. What wasn’t was that we saw both flying squirrels which is unusual since they are nocturnal and hide in their nesting box during the day. I could have stood there for an hour just watching them jump around and eat but we had an event to check out.

The College of DuPage is across the street from the nature center and Joe had learned they were hosting a food truck festival. They even had discount vouchers ($15 for $10) but I waited too long to go online and try to purchase one so they were sold out. Despite that snafu, I was impressed with the number of trucks there.

What I wasn’t impressed with was the lack of signage directing people to the festival. It was back in a hidden area of the campus and the only thing that even remotely caught one’s eye was an arch of balloons over the pathway leading to the event. There weren’t any signs about the festival until you were well on the path towards it. WTF? Why wouldn’t they put that in the parking lot or one of the main streets that go past the campus? Did they not want too large of a crowd? It just boggles my mind.

Regardless, we found it, and our first stop was Happy Lobster where we each got a junior happy lobster roll ($20 total). It was pretty decent, although I think the roll itself was what saved it from being flavorless. The lobster roll we enjoyed in Boston in 2012 still reigns supreme. After that we shared a beef empanada ($2.50) from Grumpy Gaucho’s food truck which was just meh. By that point we wanted something sweet but much to my disappointment the Beavers Coffee & Donuts truck wasn’t open yet even though it was already 12:30 and the festival started at noon. You’d think they’d be a little more punctual for an event particularly if they want to sell coffee. Luckily our patience paid off and I was the first one in line when they did open. I got a small box of 9 mini donuts ($4) and asked them to put their free sugar toppings on them so that we had three powdered, three cinnamon, and three chocolate. They have all sorts of crazy toppings you can purchase for $1 each but I must say the free ones were plenty good on their own and the donuts just melted in your mouth since they were still warm. Definitely the highlight of the event.

Sunday after a large breakfast we headed to the CS Barks Festival in Carol Stream where we watched the frisbee and agility dogs. Lots of people brought their own dogs so that was fun. I didn’t bring my camera because I wasn’t in the mood to try and get photos and I’m glad I didn’t since the frisbee dogs weren’t so hot this year.

Sunday evening we enjoyed a second viewing of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. That movie is hilarious! We rented it from Redbox on Tuesday evening when it was released but wanted to see it again. This time we got it from the library and were able to access all the bonus content too including deleted and bonus scenes, a gag reel, and some of The Lonely Island’s music videos. I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying a copy of the movie at some point because it’s just that funny. I love Andy Samberg! I wish he’d do more movies.

Boob Smash Day

Posted on

Friday I had an appointment for a routine mammogram which our insurance will cover 100%. I’ve had two previously but always at the hospital, however with the new insurance I had to go to a radiology place instead. I actually preferred this new place because you just partially undressed in the exam room and then they did the scans and you could leave. At the hospital you had to undress, put your belongs in a locker, sit in a room full of other women with gowns on, and then wait your turn. It ended up being a two hour process whereas at this place it was a half hour.

We also discovered a locally famous bakery (called Jarosch Bakery) was next door to this place so after my scan we went to take a look and ended up buying a cupcake, a loaf of cinnamon bread, and a Bears sugar cookie. The prices are rather high and I wasn’t terribly impressed with anything. I prefer Pepperidge Farm’s cinnamon bread, actually. I remember hearing they have really delicious cakes, though, and that’s when I remembered that people would bring them in at my old job for special events. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where our bridal cake came from.

After the bakery we went to our favorite Thai place, Happy Elephant, where we shared an order of potstickers and happy wraps.

OBGYN Visit & Flea Market

Posted on

Friday morning the construction company came by to look at the leak over our front door. Turns out it’s the window above the door which we are responsible for maintaining so that sucks. The company did put some sealant around it so I’m hoping that keeps water out for now.

I had an appointment with my OB/GYN for my annual exam so Joe took care of the construction company. What’s nice about the new insurance is there’s no co-pay for the visit, or the resulting mammogram I have to schedule. Everything is covered 100%. He also gave me a prescription for Elmiron which I probably won’t fill since I expect it to be expensive. Although I’m not sure yet since they supposedly called it into the local Walgreens and I’ve yet to hear anything. (I ended up having to call them to find out what was going on).

After my appointment I spent some time at the library browsing the movies, CDs, and books. I love just looking around. I borrowed a book about Disneyland since we’re planning a trip to Phoenix later this year and were contemplating driving the five and a half hours to Anaheim to visit the park. After reading half the book we decided against it due to time/cost. We’d rather visit when we have more than a couple of days to explore so that won’t be happening after all. I joked that Joe lost his bargaining chip to get me on a plane (I am so dreading it).

When I got home Joe was out doing a taste test survey so I made a chicken salad sandwich and watched some TV. Later that evening we were both craving burgers so we went to Culvers for dinner.

Saturday we didn’t leave the house. We just surfed online and watched some of the movies I had borrowed for the library. It’s too bad not every town’s library has the selection ours does. For instance, the library where my brother lives is horrible. They have nothing and it’s a real bummer because it saves you so much money on entertainment (not to mention you’re paying for it anyway via taxes).

Sunday we decided to check out the flea market in Rosemont. Joe purposely drove past the airport so I could watch the planes. I get just as anxious watching them takeoff and quickly bank as when I’m actually in a plane and the same thing happens. Anyway, it’s only $2 a person to get into the flea market so it’s not bad, although the clouds had cleared and it was sunny and humid by the time we arrived. We did see a lot of stuff, but only purchased two things – a gravestone decoration for Halloween ($0.50) and a bag of hot fries ($0.25). Once we couldn’t take the heat anymore we went across the street to Target to kill some time because Joe had the idea of having lunch at Hamburger Heaven in Elmhurst. I went to their website to check what time they opened and wouldn’t you know it, they are closed on Sundays. So we decided to stop at Mariano’s for a mini gelato (I had fudge banana which I enjoyed and Joe had cappuccino) and then went to Luong Loi for lunch. I had the always delicious Kung Pao chicken and Joe got the chicken and broccoli lunch special.

Monday we took our rollerblades to Armstrong Park. We only bladed a little bit because we are both rusty. I hate blading down hills because it feels so fast and I worry I’m going to wipe out. We have wrist guards but we should have brought our bike helmets too. Next time. After we got tired we walked a loop around the park before heading home. It is just so humid lately and I can’t stand it. Even when the temperature is nice the humidity makes it feel ten degrees warmer.

I took a shower when we got home and then we did some grocery shopping at Meijer and Aldi. Since then I’ve just been straightening up, updating our finances, doing some laundry, and cleaning up my computer desktop. I like starting the work week with things organized.

Party Weekend

Posted on

Ugh, I feel hungover today. It’s mostly lack of sleep related and not alcohol induced since I didn’t really drink much last night at my friend’s annual party. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

Early Saturday morning (around 1 am) I woke up with the worst panic attack ever. It doesn’t matter how many times they happen, I’m always certain I’m going to die. It’s so damn scary! I immediately took a Xanax, stripped off most of my clothing, and ran a rag under the water and put it on the back of my neck since I was overheated. Then I turned on Netflix as a distraction to wait for the medication to kick in. Joe was sleeping during all this, but I woke him up when I started shaking uncontrollably. That was a new thing that hasn’t happened before, but apparently is common during panic attacks. At some point I passed out because Joe said at 3 am he woke up and had to turn off the TV and remove my glasses.

Needless to say, Saturday morning I was feeling crappy even though I slept in. We had plans to visit my second cousin for a pool/game day around 3 pm. I started baking brownies (two batches – one for my cousin and one for the party we were attending on Sunday) when suddenly the power went out. There weren’t any storms or anything, but everyone on the block lost power. I immediately reported it to ComEd and gave my cousin a head’s up since I hadn’t even showered yet! That threw a kink in everything so we decided to postpone for another day. I felt simultaneously relieved and bummed because it would be nice to get to know her better (we recently connected on Facebook after seeing her at a funeral, the only place it ever seems like the majority of our family sees one another) but I was feeling really out of it thanks to the panic attack so it was for the best.

Once the power came back on I just finished baking the brownies. That evening Joe ordered pizza and we watched Wild Card which is the worst Jason Statham movie we’ve ever seen. What a total crapfast! I rated it half a star on Flixster because it’s pure garbage. In contrast, we watched Pixels on Friday night which was actually better than I was expecting. I gave it 3 stars out of 5 because it wasn’t anything spectacular but at least it held my interest and I liked the CGI video game characters.

Sunday we met up with our friends at Bulldog Ale House at 3 pm for lunch before the party. I was planning on ordering tator tots with my boneless wings since every year I drool over my friend’s tots, but they no longer offer them. WTF? How hard is it to have tator tots on the menu? Joe and I shared an order of waffle fries but they weren’t worth the $4 we were charged. They also started charging for dipping sauce for the wings. I’m pretty sure that’s a new thing too. Overall I was a little irked but it was still fun catching up with our friends who we hadn’t seen in awhile.

We arrived at the party sometime after 4 pm and it was hot, humid, and sunny. Some clouds rolled in shortly after, however, which made things much more comfortable. As I vowed last year, we brought chips. Three bags, in fact, in addition to the two batches of brownies I brought (which received more than a few glowing reviews) and the vodka infused cherries Joe made. We brought our bathing suits fulling intending to jump in the pool or hot tub but never got around to it. The pool was occupied by kids splashing around most of the time and it was too humid to make going into the hot tub any fun. That’s ok, though. We walked down a few blocks to the fest to watch the fireworks and due to the wind got pelted with debris from them which was rather annoying. Afterwards we hung out for a little while before taking off when it started to rain. My friend had to be up early for work anyway since unlike previous years she couldn’t take the day off as she had just gone back to work after being out for three months for medical reasons.

I was rather awake when we got home so I put Netflix on for awhile. Joe fell asleep and I was surfing on my phone when I realized The Cure was playing a show in Hawaii which is five hours behind us. I hadn’t planned on watching it, but since I was up I figured what the hell. Someone was Periscoping the whole thing and it sounded so good! They played a great set, including a Seventeen Seconds encore (At Night, M, Play for Today, and A Forest) which was awesome. By the time that was over it was 4 am!

I managed to drag my butt out of bed around 11 am because the landscapers were making a racket outside. Even though I only had 3 vodka cherries and a little bit of an amaretto sour, I feel hungover. I’m eating pizza and potato chips as I write this. I’m going to be so screwed up trying to get to bed at a decent hour tonight for work tomorrow! My boss is on vacation all this week so it should be pretty quiet at least. As if that even matters – my boss never micromanages me so it’s not going to be much different than any other week.