Better take a bathroom break and grab a drink. This looks to be one of those really LONG blog entries.
We had a pretty great weekend. Started it off Saturday by just doing some goofing off. CC and I pretty much took things easy Saturday morning though we did have one minor problem. Poor Jack ate something he shouldn't have and made a big mess of the carpets. We spent quite a bit of time cleaning up the results, so much so that we actually had to go out later and pick up some MORE cleaning supplies.
As I was kneeling down there, cleaning up dog vomit, my mind got to thinking about all sorts of things. One of them was how much CC really has made my recovery from surgery SO much easier. I'm serious, that woman is made of gold and I STILL have no idea what I did to deserve someone that fantastic. But I digress. Anyway, I was thinking it would be nice to get her something, just to say thank you for all the hard work she put in taking care of me AND working at the office.
After she finished up some office work she was doing at home, I told her we're going out. Where? Well that was going to be her choice really because our quest was to get her a new sweater. One thing she'd said a few times was that she'd like to replace some of her older sweaters where the elastic is getting weak and also some of her jeans that are starting to wear out. Jeans can wait. She doesn't wear them as often, but it's getting to be sweater season.
Off to the store we went, first stopping at Target. They had some nice sweaters available and CC settled on a very pretty red one. That'll be perfect for Christmas parties that we'll go to in a few weeks. We also went over to the Christmas decorations department and had a look there to get some ideas for our first tree. She wants to go with a red and gold theme so we were looking at ornaments, ribbons, that sort of thing. We picked up 4 stockings for us because I KNOW we'll never find them later. Mine has an S, her's has a C, then we also got a K and a J for the dogs. They're quite nice and they'll look great hanging from the fireplace.
After that we had coffee at Starbucks (well, chai latte for me) and just relaxed a bit.
Sunday was even more fun! CC's boss was having a "sip and see" for her new baby. Basically folks went over to have drinks and look at the baby and chat. CC had a champagne cocktail, I had a little wine, we both had some GREAT snacks and a good time. Her boss was asking me about the surgery, which was very nice of her. In fact, quite a few people asked about it.
The funniest part came when Andre, the baby's father, was holding him. The baby started getting a little fussy so what does Andre do? Hands him off to someone else. He jokes, "see that? That's my parenting skills kicking in there. When the baby needs something I hand him off." He was kidding of course . . . I think. He's just one of those guys who knows full well that with newborns, they always respond better to a woman's touch.
After that we went to the movies and saw The Legend of Zorro. Forget what you heard about the movie in the reviews. Zorro was pretty damn entertaining. No, it wasn't high art or anything like that but then, who goes to see an Antonio Bandaras action-comedy expecting Oscar material? Apparently film critics, that's who.
It's a pretty simples story. Bad guys in secret organization trying to take over the world. New super weapon. Zorro saves the day. Lots of people are trying to read political messages in the whole thing but to be honest, if that was their goal the failed pretty bad. Yes, you could read things into it if you wanted to but really it was just like any other Saturday afternoon adventure movie, like from the old days. It was fun. There were some good jokes, lots of sword fighting and such, and the plot wasn't totally improbable.
One thing I was sort of expecting to see what the appearance of someone from The Wild, Wild West; either version, movie or TV. The movie had all the right elements. Evil bad guys, fancy hideouts, super weapons. Would have been funny to have West pop in there and maybe untie Zorro or shoot one of the bad guys like he was secretly following all the action from the background. Ah well, it was still fun.
After the movie, Japanese food. Right across the parking lot from the theater is a Japanese place. I hadn't been there yet but CC had sushi there earlier in the week. I must say, they had some great food. I had kamekazi rolls, which is ell, crab and salmon sushi, plus chicken katsu which came with miso soup. Good stuff there. We'll be going back there for sure, probably after seeing Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm sure it'll put us in the mood for Japanese food.
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The battery in the truck has been groaning lately. It hasn't stranded anyone yet but I think that's mostly because it's over-sized for my truck. See, when I first got the truck 10 years ago, for whatever reason, the battery that was in it was bad. I think the dealer said it had some bad cells in it that weren't recharging. Since this happened within the first month I had the truck, they replaced it for free. To sort of make up for any inconvenience it caused, they put in the biggest damn battery that would fit in the battery bracket. I checked later, it's the same size batery they put in full size SUV-type trucks. I mean, the thing was HUGE.
Because it was so huge, the battery, even without being able to retain a full charge, STILL had enough to crank the engine. The only problem was that we kept losing our clock and radio settings. Yes, I know, it's also a sign that the thing is going to run out completely eventually and needed replaced.
Took it over to Sears and had them do the full check on it. Always like to make sure the other parts are working, even though I was pretty sure they were. Lots of corrosion on the battery cables and the posts so they tried that first but that wasn't enough. The battery wasn't holding enough charge and had to be replaced. So out comes the old Motorcraft battery and in goes a new Diehard! What can I say, I like the Diehard batteries. Never had one let me down.
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Well you know, if I'm at Sears that means I'm at the mall and if I'm at the mall that means I'm getting exercise doing some walking . . . and shopping :-) I didn't shop TOO much though. We're on a budget you know so I'm trying very hard to curb my spending and when I DO spend, I try to get bargains. Today I picked up a very nice jacket, half-off. Sears had all their coats on sale.
I checked the other stores of course to look for deals but I quickly learned that there are only a few places that actually sell coats in my size and Sears was the only one who had them on sale.
I also tried to find a flower pot. This turned out to be a bigger adventure than I thought. See, most places, when Christmas season starts, pack up their garden supplies and that's where they put Christmas stuff. Ok, fair enough, I can understand that. But DAMN did they have to pack up even indoor flower pots and soil? I have these really great plants that CC's office sent me but they're in pots that are too small. I wanted to get bigger ones but I guess that's going to have to wait until after Christmas. They should be fine but it was still pretty frustrating.
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Got the bill today. Which bill? Why the hospital bill of course :-) Actually this isn't the one we pay. I suppose we COULD pay it but we aren't because it's been filed with insurance so I have no idea how many of these items are going to be paid and at what percentages. Right now we let the hospital and Blue Cross figure out who's paying what then we'll pay the rest.
Want to know what the grand total was? This is without insurance of course, just straight numbers.
$11,286.70
Yes, you read that right. 11k just to have them hack out my gall bladder. No wait, actually hacking out the bladder only cost 4200. The rest goes to lab tests, drugs, room stay, recovery room, stuff like that. I should point out, this doesn't actually include the DOCTOR fee. He bills separately.
Crazy what they charge these days. Makes you wonder how folks without insurance manage these things. I'm looking over the list and I can tell you, the prices are WAY too damn high. I have no doubt that these are the going rate of course, but still, how did it ever get to the point where lab work alone costs damn near 1000 dollars?
No, I'm not going to advocate any sort of government plan to control costs. Every time those morons up in DC mess with something the price DOUBLES. Still, there has to be some sort of middle ground. Not likely that I'LL figure it out, but maybe someone will one day.
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Lastly, just a friendly reminder that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Yes, that's right, Thanksgiving is next Thursday the 24th so everybody start making room in that tummy for all that food. And make room in the refridgerator for all those leftovers :-)
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