Thursday, January 19, 2006
Actually, I'm NOT paranoid.....
My long-term disability insurance company may, in fact, be out to get me. Here is an article I came across last night while perusing "The Hummingbird's Guide" website (see the post below this one). It has five pages to it, so be sure to click the link at the bottom of each page:
Debra Potter Story
Am about two-thirds of the way done with all the phone calls I need to make. I lucked out with the second opinion rheumatologist....he had a cancellation, and I got an appointment for February 3rd. Also re-sheduled the gastroenterologist appointment.....the neuropsyche exam for the LTD company was set up for the same day, and I'm not allowed to change that one. So I will see the gastro doc in March. I think I"m finally done messing with refills for my meds....the pharmacy finally got more Lyrica, and they got the sleep specialist's ok to refill the Klonopin, as much as I loathe the stuff. One really embarrassing thing happened with my mail order drug refill....I charged $160 worth of refills to my flexible spending account card right after the new year started, not knowing that the company had issued new cards with new numbers and had cancelled the ones from last year even though the expiration date on the card was 2009. I got the new card yesterday, and a call today from the mail-order place saying the card number I gave them was no longer valid. Luckily, they let me just give them the new card number and didn't make a big deal about it.
Got my hair cut today. I decided on a new style since all of my cuts except one in the past year and a half turned out really crappy. I told the lady to just cut it so that I would have bangs and sides that would lie flat against my face since that seems to be what my hair wants to do anyway. I just can't seem to achieve that flipped-ends look even with mousse and wax, and I'm tired of trying. I hope to soon resolve the crappy shampoo phase I'm going through. I used to use Pantene until they changed the formula, and it made my hair fall out even more than usual, so I've been looking for a replacement. Basically, I just tried whatever I had a coupon for. Dove, Suave, Herbal Essence and Vive were all ok, but I was hoping for something that would make my hair soft and shiny. Then I made a big mistake: I bought Garnier Fructis. It weighed down my hair and made it look dirty. And then I made things worse. Dan had inadvertantly bought Head and Shoulders with aloe in it (normally he gets the regular Head and Shoulders). He used it, and it clogged his pores and made his scalp break out. He had bought two bottles and was going to throw them out. I, being the cheapskate that I am, said I'd use them up. Holy cow. That stuff was like pouring glue on my head. And it doesn't wash out easily. I had my hair washed at the salon today, and my hair is STILL practically glued to my head! How do you get a bad shampoo out of your hair?? Anyway, I'm gonna use up the last of the crappy shampoos and obviously never buy them again. The salon was having a 75 percent off sale on hair products, so I bought a small three pack of Paul Mitchell containing shampoo and two styling products since I'm all out of hair spray/wax/whatever you call it. I figure it can't be any worse than the cheap shampoos I'd been buying, and maybe I'll actually achieve the soft and shiny I was after in the first place. Sheesh.
In other news, I got some stuff from my lawyer in the mail today: copies of my appeal letter to Social Security, the letter to my LTD company asking for a copy of my entire file, and letters to my primary care doc and my ENT asking them to review the CE report and sign a statement that they were in agreement with it. I left a message on his voice mail today asking him to call me back. I need to tell him about the appointment with the second opinion rheumatologist and the FCE and neuropsyche exams I've been assigned to.
I did finally get to Target last weekend to spend some gift cards. I did the usual once a year undie purchase. I tried on jeans and as usual, the only ones that fit covered just half my ass (don't care for the "air conditioning" in winter whenever I sit down, heh heh). So I bought three pair of sweats instead. I also bought thermal underwear, two tops and two bottoms; since it was packaged, I couldn't try it on first. I went by the "size guide" on the packages, which was pretty far off. The bottoms are baggy, but I don't mind as they might shrink a little when washed. The top I put on tonight, though, is so tight it feels as though it has shrunk already. It was obviously designed for a woman with no chest. I don't think I can take it back, but I will return the one I haven't opened yet and see if I can exchange it for the next size up. The effort of trying on jeans and sweats wore me out horribly, to the point I felt like I was gonna pass out before I left the store that evening, so I didn't spend all my gift cards yet. I plan to use the remaining balance on music CDs. What a shock, eh?
Believe it or not, I have other gift cards I have not spent yet. How I would love to take a Saturday and just go on a spree, but I don't have that sort of energy, so I have to ration out my trips. I have one of those new kinds of cards where you can basically spend it anywhere that accepts Visa. Way cool! I will continue my quest to find a pair of jeans that both fit AND come within shouting distance of my waist. I'll try J.C. Penney first. And I still have a card for a scrapbooking place. Oh, and just yesterday, I got ANOTHER iTunes gift card! Yayyyyyyyy! I've got just one more download left on the one Dan gave me in December. When I get done downloading current tunes, I may return to my unfinished projects: perusing the Billboard charts by decade to make my own pop playlists. I finished the one for the '90's, and am very nearly done with the '80's. So I might get to start on one for the '70's. Don't worry, I won't make anyone else listen to it. I may be a bit loony at times, but I'm not evil.
Dan and I got to eat at P.F. Chang's again last weekend because Dan has a gift card, and we still have a balance left over, so we can go again sometime and get about half that meal for free. I've been trying a different gluten-free menu item each time we go. This time, it was shrimp with lobster sauce. Next time, I'm thinking about trying spicy mango chicken. Dan also has a card good for a few different chain restaurants: the ones I recognized on the list were Chili's and the Macaroni Grill. I have no idea if I can find anything I can eat at either place. I need to do some research.
Oh, and I did get out to see the "Narnia" movie. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I know a lot of people are comparing it to "Lord of the Rings" since Tolkien was a contemporary. They are not supposed to be similar. Lewis was writing a children's tale about real kids evacuated from a real war stumbling upon some magic and some inspiration. Tolkien, however, had created a completely self-contained fictional world, and while "The Hobbit" was for kids, "The Lord of the Rings" was not. Anyway, while it was funny to see beavers wearing armor in the "Narnia" movie, I was dazzled enough by the rest of it to not mind terribly. I would not have imagined Liam Neeson as Jesus, but I will admit he does make an impressive lion's voice. I still want to see "King Kong" while it is in the theatres, but I don't know if it will happen or not.
I still owe an article for But You Don't Look Sick this month. I have been too distracted with all this disability stuff to dedicate myself to reading anything appropriate for review and for awhile, I didn't have the funds to buy any books. I did just finish "Servant of the Bones" by Ann Rice, which had been sitting on a shelf for years. Since I am running out of time and don't have a new book ready to start yet, I think I will go back through "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" and write something on that. I am thinking of acquiring a copy of the new translation of "Night" by Elie Weisel. Yeah, I know it's the Oprah Book of the Month, but there's a special reason for me wanting to review it. I first read it in high school, and I met the author, and it changed my life.
Have been keeping up on "Lost", but too many other things have been going on for me comment extensively on it. I'll just say that the show about Mr. Eko was the finest of the second season, right up there with the best of season one. Completely fresh back story, awesome acting by the man who plays Eko (I'm sorry I can't remember his name), and finally Claire gets some clarity on Charlie, heh heh. And now we know that it takes a man of faith to stare down the monster. Last night's episode wasn't as good, but it did move the story line along nicely. Sun and Jin are probably going to have a marriage as equals, Hurley's all set to hit on Libby (yayyyyyy for Hurley!), Jack thinks he's gonna start an army even though he is probably outnumbered by the "others", and Michael will be AWOL at least one episode longer. So who's gonna take care of Vincent now? Ana Lucifer? Oops, I mean Ana Lucia. I hope there is a confrontation between Locke and Jack, because Jack's God complex has gone on long enough. Next week, Charlie is confronted about the heroin, and someone maybe tries to steal the baby again??
Ow, ow, ow, hand cramps. Must stop here.
Debra Potter Story
Am about two-thirds of the way done with all the phone calls I need to make. I lucked out with the second opinion rheumatologist....he had a cancellation, and I got an appointment for February 3rd. Also re-sheduled the gastroenterologist appointment.....the neuropsyche exam for the LTD company was set up for the same day, and I'm not allowed to change that one. So I will see the gastro doc in March. I think I"m finally done messing with refills for my meds....the pharmacy finally got more Lyrica, and they got the sleep specialist's ok to refill the Klonopin, as much as I loathe the stuff. One really embarrassing thing happened with my mail order drug refill....I charged $160 worth of refills to my flexible spending account card right after the new year started, not knowing that the company had issued new cards with new numbers and had cancelled the ones from last year even though the expiration date on the card was 2009. I got the new card yesterday, and a call today from the mail-order place saying the card number I gave them was no longer valid. Luckily, they let me just give them the new card number and didn't make a big deal about it.
Got my hair cut today. I decided on a new style since all of my cuts except one in the past year and a half turned out really crappy. I told the lady to just cut it so that I would have bangs and sides that would lie flat against my face since that seems to be what my hair wants to do anyway. I just can't seem to achieve that flipped-ends look even with mousse and wax, and I'm tired of trying. I hope to soon resolve the crappy shampoo phase I'm going through. I used to use Pantene until they changed the formula, and it made my hair fall out even more than usual, so I've been looking for a replacement. Basically, I just tried whatever I had a coupon for. Dove, Suave, Herbal Essence and Vive were all ok, but I was hoping for something that would make my hair soft and shiny. Then I made a big mistake: I bought Garnier Fructis. It weighed down my hair and made it look dirty. And then I made things worse. Dan had inadvertantly bought Head and Shoulders with aloe in it (normally he gets the regular Head and Shoulders). He used it, and it clogged his pores and made his scalp break out. He had bought two bottles and was going to throw them out. I, being the cheapskate that I am, said I'd use them up. Holy cow. That stuff was like pouring glue on my head. And it doesn't wash out easily. I had my hair washed at the salon today, and my hair is STILL practically glued to my head! How do you get a bad shampoo out of your hair?? Anyway, I'm gonna use up the last of the crappy shampoos and obviously never buy them again. The salon was having a 75 percent off sale on hair products, so I bought a small three pack of Paul Mitchell containing shampoo and two styling products since I'm all out of hair spray/wax/whatever you call it. I figure it can't be any worse than the cheap shampoos I'd been buying, and maybe I'll actually achieve the soft and shiny I was after in the first place. Sheesh.
In other news, I got some stuff from my lawyer in the mail today: copies of my appeal letter to Social Security, the letter to my LTD company asking for a copy of my entire file, and letters to my primary care doc and my ENT asking them to review the CE report and sign a statement that they were in agreement with it. I left a message on his voice mail today asking him to call me back. I need to tell him about the appointment with the second opinion rheumatologist and the FCE and neuropsyche exams I've been assigned to.
I did finally get to Target last weekend to spend some gift cards. I did the usual once a year undie purchase. I tried on jeans and as usual, the only ones that fit covered just half my ass (don't care for the "air conditioning" in winter whenever I sit down, heh heh). So I bought three pair of sweats instead. I also bought thermal underwear, two tops and two bottoms; since it was packaged, I couldn't try it on first. I went by the "size guide" on the packages, which was pretty far off. The bottoms are baggy, but I don't mind as they might shrink a little when washed. The top I put on tonight, though, is so tight it feels as though it has shrunk already. It was obviously designed for a woman with no chest. I don't think I can take it back, but I will return the one I haven't opened yet and see if I can exchange it for the next size up. The effort of trying on jeans and sweats wore me out horribly, to the point I felt like I was gonna pass out before I left the store that evening, so I didn't spend all my gift cards yet. I plan to use the remaining balance on music CDs. What a shock, eh?
Believe it or not, I have other gift cards I have not spent yet. How I would love to take a Saturday and just go on a spree, but I don't have that sort of energy, so I have to ration out my trips. I have one of those new kinds of cards where you can basically spend it anywhere that accepts Visa. Way cool! I will continue my quest to find a pair of jeans that both fit AND come within shouting distance of my waist. I'll try J.C. Penney first. And I still have a card for a scrapbooking place. Oh, and just yesterday, I got ANOTHER iTunes gift card! Yayyyyyyyy! I've got just one more download left on the one Dan gave me in December. When I get done downloading current tunes, I may return to my unfinished projects: perusing the Billboard charts by decade to make my own pop playlists. I finished the one for the '90's, and am very nearly done with the '80's. So I might get to start on one for the '70's. Don't worry, I won't make anyone else listen to it. I may be a bit loony at times, but I'm not evil.
Dan and I got to eat at P.F. Chang's again last weekend because Dan has a gift card, and we still have a balance left over, so we can go again sometime and get about half that meal for free. I've been trying a different gluten-free menu item each time we go. This time, it was shrimp with lobster sauce. Next time, I'm thinking about trying spicy mango chicken. Dan also has a card good for a few different chain restaurants: the ones I recognized on the list were Chili's and the Macaroni Grill. I have no idea if I can find anything I can eat at either place. I need to do some research.
Oh, and I did get out to see the "Narnia" movie. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I know a lot of people are comparing it to "Lord of the Rings" since Tolkien was a contemporary. They are not supposed to be similar. Lewis was writing a children's tale about real kids evacuated from a real war stumbling upon some magic and some inspiration. Tolkien, however, had created a completely self-contained fictional world, and while "The Hobbit" was for kids, "The Lord of the Rings" was not. Anyway, while it was funny to see beavers wearing armor in the "Narnia" movie, I was dazzled enough by the rest of it to not mind terribly. I would not have imagined Liam Neeson as Jesus, but I will admit he does make an impressive lion's voice. I still want to see "King Kong" while it is in the theatres, but I don't know if it will happen or not.
I still owe an article for But You Don't Look Sick this month. I have been too distracted with all this disability stuff to dedicate myself to reading anything appropriate for review and for awhile, I didn't have the funds to buy any books. I did just finish "Servant of the Bones" by Ann Rice, which had been sitting on a shelf for years. Since I am running out of time and don't have a new book ready to start yet, I think I will go back through "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" and write something on that. I am thinking of acquiring a copy of the new translation of "Night" by Elie Weisel. Yeah, I know it's the Oprah Book of the Month, but there's a special reason for me wanting to review it. I first read it in high school, and I met the author, and it changed my life.
Have been keeping up on "Lost", but too many other things have been going on for me comment extensively on it. I'll just say that the show about Mr. Eko was the finest of the second season, right up there with the best of season one. Completely fresh back story, awesome acting by the man who plays Eko (I'm sorry I can't remember his name), and finally Claire gets some clarity on Charlie, heh heh. And now we know that it takes a man of faith to stare down the monster. Last night's episode wasn't as good, but it did move the story line along nicely. Sun and Jin are probably going to have a marriage as equals, Hurley's all set to hit on Libby (yayyyyyy for Hurley!), Jack thinks he's gonna start an army even though he is probably outnumbered by the "others", and Michael will be AWOL at least one episode longer. So who's gonna take care of Vincent now? Ana Lucifer? Oops, I mean Ana Lucia. I hope there is a confrontation between Locke and Jack, because Jack's God complex has gone on long enough. Next week, Charlie is confronted about the heroin, and someone maybe tries to steal the baby again??
Ow, ow, ow, hand cramps. Must stop here.
Comments:
Post a Comment
