updates, the good and teh suck
Jul. 6th, 2005 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanThe weekend overall was really nice. We got to see the only game against Toronto that the Sox actually won: Saturday night, when the weather was lovely and we were WAY high up in the bleachers (literally the last row). Then on Sunday morning there was much confusion and disorganization trying to get ready to leave for the cottage -- luckily we mostly found it humorous rather than frustrating.
Finally we got to the cottage, and several days of pleasant relaxation ensued. The weather was lovely pretty much the whole time, and although Isaac was quite cranky off and on, overall we had a good time. Isaac took a serious shine to his aunt![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sandykidd, who now has a standing invitation to move up here and become his nanny. I think she is his new favorite person (with the possible exception of me and gramma, LOL).
And then we packed up and came home and it rained and rained. Ah well.
Isaac was a bit reticent about returning to daycare today, understandably so, but I'm sure he'll be fine.
And now the bad news. There's a lot of baaaad financial crap going on.
1. Got home last night to a message on the machine from the orthopedics office that Isaac saw a couple of weeks ago (annoyed ranty description of that appointment here). They claimed not to have received the referral from Isaac's ped, despite the facts that a) I called the ped several days before the appointment and they said they'd take care of it and b) when we arrived at the ortho appt on the day, they said they didn't have the referral but then called the ped's office and told me it was all straightened out. ARGH.
Resolution: Called the ped this morning and the guy there said he did do the referral, would call ortho and try to shove a clue up their asses. Uh, but he put it more delicately than that.
2. I posted last week that I had gotten a "surprise" condo insurance bill for about $900. I also had another one with a date just a few days off, with a due-amount of $450. I ended up calling and was relieved to hear that the $900 one was a mistake.
Resolution: I paid the $450 and am still waiting on Brian to pay me back his half.
3. I may have mentioned that I got billed $110 by my dentist for stuff they did at my first visit that wasn't covered by my insurance. I was upset about that, but figured I would live with it. But then I got another notice from my insurance saying that the dentist billed them for another $175 of stuff that wasn't covered from my second visit. I had foolishly given the dentist my credit-card number and signed something giving them permission to charge it for whatever the insurance didn't cover at any subsequent visit (dumb of me, I guess, but I never figured it would be so much!!). Included in that $175 is a large fee for "diagnostic cast" (i.e., a mold of my teeth) and a smaller fee for fluoride treatment which, according to the insurance people, is only covered for kids under 14.
So. In part I am angry at myself for not having looked more carefully into what was and wasn't covered; for letting my dentist simply say "now we're going to do this and this" and me sitting there going "okay" rather than "is that covered? why do I need it?" Normally I'm not the type to be that passive, but frankly I'm pretty phobic about the dentist, and I got all nervous and decided to just assume (I know, I know, stupid) that they would tell me if it wasn't going to be covered. Thus I'm also in part angry with the dentist for not being more forthcoming, especially since she supposedly specializes in people who are dentist-phobic and thus you'd think she would be more thorough about explaining everything. I mean, I just thought, "sure, of course she wants to make a mold of my teeth," and it seemed to make sense, but now I'm like, wtf?
Anyway, this morning after speaking to the dental insurance people and verifying that it wasn't an error, that in fact they just plain don't cover molds/casts, or fluoride for adults, I called the dentist office. I told the receptionist in plain terms that I didn't expect it to cost so much, would not have let them do it if I'd known it wasn't covered, and cannot afford to pay it. Of course, it's already charged on my credit card so if I don't pay it, from the dentist's POV that's between me and the credit-card company (unless I decide to dispute it), but I also threw in that I'm going to cancel the follow-up appt that I made for December because I can't afford any more of this crap. I was pretty forceful, even though I know the likelihood of them saying "okay, never mind, we'll eat this one" is very slim. (And I normally wouldn't unload all that crap on the person answering the phones, but I happen to know that this dentist's office is a three-woman shop: the dentist, the dental assistant, and the receptionist/billing-person/administrator.)
Resolution: The receptionist said she'd have the dentist call me back and discuss. That oughta be fun. I just hope I don't cry.
4. I got a city property-tax bill for $600. I am confused as to whether I'm supposed to be paying this or having my mortgage company pay it out of escrow. I left a message for my cust-service rep at the mortgage company, asking her to call me back and straighten it out.
Resolution: none yet.
5. I still haven't received a check from the insurance people for my replacement carseat. It has been almost two weeks now since their guy picked up the old carseat and the receipt for the new one. Luckily the new carseat didn't make it onto this month's credit-card bill, so I have a whole month before I have to pay for it, but still. Left a message for the adjustor chick asking her to call me back and let me know when I can expect the check.
Resolution: none yet. Update: She called back and said she is mailing the check. Yay.
I cannot even begin to tell you how stressed I am about all this money stuff. Right now, I have enough in my bank account to pay the mortgage (due last Friday but I have a few days' grace) and this Friday's daycare bill, with $3.71 remaining. That's right, three dollars, to get me through until my next paycheck on the 15th. Not to mention the gas, electric, phone, cable-TV, and internet bills, all of which are at least one month overdue; or the credit-card bill that I paid online just now. And tomorrow I have a plumber coming to look at the leaks in my kitchen sink. I'm sure she will want to be paid as well.
All isn't lost, of course. I can, and obviously will have to, tap into my savings. It has taken me over a year (since I bought the house and wiped out everything I had) to build up about $1300 worth of savings. And it looks like I'm going to have to just about wipe that out in order to catch back up from this month. If Brian ever coughs up the check he owes me, that'll help too, and then I think we may have to have a talk about rethinking our financial arrangements, because this thing where I pay all the huge bills and he pays all the little bills and takes two months to pay me back my half is just not working out.
To sum up: Money sucks. I am super super stressed. Should have stayed on vacation.
Finally we got to the cottage, and several days of pleasant relaxation ensued. The weather was lovely pretty much the whole time, and although Isaac was quite cranky off and on, overall we had a good time. Isaac took a serious shine to his aunt
sandykidd, who now has a standing invitation to move up here and become his nanny. I think she is his new favorite person (with the possible exception of me and gramma, LOL).And then we packed up and came home and it rained and rained. Ah well.
Isaac was a bit reticent about returning to daycare today, understandably so, but I'm sure he'll be fine.
And now the bad news. There's a lot of baaaad financial crap going on.
1. Got home last night to a message on the machine from the orthopedics office that Isaac saw a couple of weeks ago (annoyed ranty description of that appointment here). They claimed not to have received the referral from Isaac's ped, despite the facts that a) I called the ped several days before the appointment and they said they'd take care of it and b) when we arrived at the ortho appt on the day, they said they didn't have the referral but then called the ped's office and told me it was all straightened out. ARGH.
Resolution: Called the ped this morning and the guy there said he did do the referral, would call ortho and try to shove a clue up their asses. Uh, but he put it more delicately than that.
2. I posted last week that I had gotten a "surprise" condo insurance bill for about $900. I also had another one with a date just a few days off, with a due-amount of $450. I ended up calling and was relieved to hear that the $900 one was a mistake.
Resolution: I paid the $450 and am still waiting on Brian to pay me back his half.
3. I may have mentioned that I got billed $110 by my dentist for stuff they did at my first visit that wasn't covered by my insurance. I was upset about that, but figured I would live with it. But then I got another notice from my insurance saying that the dentist billed them for another $175 of stuff that wasn't covered from my second visit. I had foolishly given the dentist my credit-card number and signed something giving them permission to charge it for whatever the insurance didn't cover at any subsequent visit (dumb of me, I guess, but I never figured it would be so much!!). Included in that $175 is a large fee for "diagnostic cast" (i.e., a mold of my teeth) and a smaller fee for fluoride treatment which, according to the insurance people, is only covered for kids under 14.
So. In part I am angry at myself for not having looked more carefully into what was and wasn't covered; for letting my dentist simply say "now we're going to do this and this" and me sitting there going "okay" rather than "is that covered? why do I need it?" Normally I'm not the type to be that passive, but frankly I'm pretty phobic about the dentist, and I got all nervous and decided to just assume (I know, I know, stupid) that they would tell me if it wasn't going to be covered. Thus I'm also in part angry with the dentist for not being more forthcoming, especially since she supposedly specializes in people who are dentist-phobic and thus you'd think she would be more thorough about explaining everything. I mean, I just thought, "sure, of course she wants to make a mold of my teeth," and it seemed to make sense, but now I'm like, wtf?
Anyway, this morning after speaking to the dental insurance people and verifying that it wasn't an error, that in fact they just plain don't cover molds/casts, or fluoride for adults, I called the dentist office. I told the receptionist in plain terms that I didn't expect it to cost so much, would not have let them do it if I'd known it wasn't covered, and cannot afford to pay it. Of course, it's already charged on my credit card so if I don't pay it, from the dentist's POV that's between me and the credit-card company (unless I decide to dispute it), but I also threw in that I'm going to cancel the follow-up appt that I made for December because I can't afford any more of this crap. I was pretty forceful, even though I know the likelihood of them saying "okay, never mind, we'll eat this one" is very slim. (And I normally wouldn't unload all that crap on the person answering the phones, but I happen to know that this dentist's office is a three-woman shop: the dentist, the dental assistant, and the receptionist/billing-person/administrator.)
Resolution: The receptionist said she'd have the dentist call me back and discuss. That oughta be fun. I just hope I don't cry.
4. I got a city property-tax bill for $600. I am confused as to whether I'm supposed to be paying this or having my mortgage company pay it out of escrow. I left a message for my cust-service rep at the mortgage company, asking her to call me back and straighten it out.
Resolution: none yet.
5. I still haven't received a check from the insurance people for my replacement carseat. It has been almost two weeks now since their guy picked up the old carseat and the receipt for the new one. Luckily the new carseat didn't make it onto this month's credit-card bill, so I have a whole month before I have to pay for it, but still. Left a message for the adjustor chick asking her to call me back and let me know when I can expect the check.
Resolution: none yet. Update: She called back and said she is mailing the check. Yay.
I cannot even begin to tell you how stressed I am about all this money stuff. Right now, I have enough in my bank account to pay the mortgage (due last Friday but I have a few days' grace) and this Friday's daycare bill, with $3.71 remaining. That's right, three dollars, to get me through until my next paycheck on the 15th. Not to mention the gas, electric, phone, cable-TV, and internet bills, all of which are at least one month overdue; or the credit-card bill that I paid online just now. And tomorrow I have a plumber coming to look at the leaks in my kitchen sink. I'm sure she will want to be paid as well.
All isn't lost, of course. I can, and obviously will have to, tap into my savings. It has taken me over a year (since I bought the house and wiped out everything I had) to build up about $1300 worth of savings. And it looks like I'm going to have to just about wipe that out in order to catch back up from this month. If Brian ever coughs up the check he owes me, that'll help too, and then I think we may have to have a talk about rethinking our financial arrangements, because this thing where I pay all the huge bills and he pays all the little bills and takes two months to pay me back my half is just not working out.
To sum up: Money sucks. I am super super stressed. Should have stayed on vacation.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-06 05:03 pm (UTC)*hugs!*
Big bills, little bills
Date: 2005-07-06 07:27 pm (UTC)On the other hand, good news that you owe half of $450 for insurance, not half of $900.
*hugs*
money stuff
Date: 2005-07-07 01:44 am (UTC)