Diane's Diary-ah

...I wanted to head to bed by 10:00 tonight so I'm going to make this short since I know I haven't written in a while. My mood as of late?...bleh....I think partly because I am once again feeling the financial strain of waiting for income payments along with tuition bills that won't be covered by student loans that haven't disbursed yet...and add to that I haven't gotten my P since April and so i don't know when or if it is coming and I'm feeling fat and not liking that.  It has still been rainy and cloudy here for weeks although this week we may see a few sunny days in a row.  There...is that enough bitching?  Sorry..just can't always be chipper. 

I thought I had a good handle on the finances and needed to pull some of a little bit of savings I had to pay bills. That savings isn't savings anyway..who am I kidding? I need to start saving for income taxes again because as fast as I'm earning the amount of taxes I'm going to owe on it is also growing quickly.  I am going to send a small payment back to the MRI place with a letter explaining how I called twice to try to make payment arrangements and no one has gotten back to me.  I'm even going to tell them how much I've already shelled out in medical payments and can this fee please be negotiated.  I'm not going to tell them everything but I am going to say that I have a kid in college and I am the sole support of the family including hub, another kid and 5 dogs!! Maybe they'll show some mercy and cut a little off that astronomical bill!

Okay, 10:00PM  Later... 

Time sure seems to be flying for me this year. Seems I'm just getting used to writing 2007 at the end of things and yet it is on the downslide of the year already. 

There is a chance of rain today, no surprise there. We've actually had I think four days without rain and that has been rare lately. I'm hoping the roofers show up at Wood Stock and are able to get the job done before it possibly rains out there. Hub has had to cover things with tarps in the hopes of trying to keep everything dry. It has a metal roof that is leaking and we have no clue how old it is. He finally complained enough to the owner who is going to not just caulk leaks but replace it this time. So, he headed out early today and the dogs are bummed. Today was dog walk day.  We'll take them tomorrow instead.  They kind of know when it is exercise day for me, it is for them too!  They finally got the hint when he left early and I finished exercising and instead of reaching for a leash, poured my coffee.

Had a wonderful visit from one of my daughters and her boyfriend over the weekend. They brought their puppy Coda as well who is really growing.  She is part border collie and part Great Pyranese(sp?) and I'm afraid next time she comes, she may scare all the others because she'll probably be twice the biggest one's size.

Well I didn't keep good records but I think I'm approaching 3 months since my 'friend' (cycle..whatever you want to call it).  I stopped with the liner for just in case because I was wasting close to a box of them.  Maybe this time, I finally hit the big "M"...who knows.  I would be happy if it was finally over, but the chance that it can come back with a vengence at an inopportune time is what I'm concerned about.

Work is work and still have plenty of it to do which is a good thing, with all these medical bills from Steve's sudden temporary loss of vision in one eye back in March. THe MRI bill to the tune of $6000+ is the real killer. I called last week to tell them I had to make payment arrangements. They were to call me back, but no one has. Guess I'll have to call again. They don't expect that I have this money sitting around in a piggy bank, but I would like to get it at least squared away as to how much to pay.

There is a business I'm an affiliate of that is up for sale. It is a retro candy biz and it is consumable and has a bunch of reps already for it which are 2 good things. But I really don't have any time for it.  If my work was such that they were no longer needing OT work, I might have evenings and the help of my other daughter...but right now, working day and night, it is hard to keep up with the laundry and meals and straigtening up (thank goodness Gloria comes every 2 weeks to clean). It is up for sale on ebay and I have until the 21st to decide if I want to take the plunge. I know I already rep for half a dozen companies but this is a consumable product and like I said already has a lot of reps selling it, and I would OWN it..so that is a lot different than just being a rep for a company. Of course there is the running of the business though by owning too. The website maintenance, dowline commissions, getting the orders filled and out, and oh I already would NOT do anything with chocolate including making anything with molds. Probably would need a permit or something for that and besides I definitely wouldn't have time for that!  I'm really torn about it. Good potential to actually make SOME money but don't know about the time element. ...

Well it is 8:20 and I should be getting to my 'real' job. Wonder what fun lies ahead for me today (ha ha).

Later... 

Why is it that whenever I feel like I may be getting ahead with the financial situation, its as if 'they know' and I'm gonna get nailed again!  I was somewhat elated this month thinking that by the end of the month I'll have all the credit card debt paid off that we could not fit into the consolidation loan that we took out in March.  I was okay with that not being paid off because it eventually will be. It is a closed end loan and I can know that in less than 5 years it will be paid off.  I just pretend it is a car loan...

But the medical bills have started rolling in for the uncovered portion of Steve's temporary blindness fiasco.  We might as well have not even had insurance at all because only about $350 of it was covered. The not covered portion? Well if I'm reading the insurance statements correctly...over $10,000 !  Yup!  For some MRI's and a 45 minute or so trip to the ER, that is how much we'll still owe.  No operation was done, no meds dispensed...simply for showing up and having those tests done...incredible!!

I can see why so many credit reports I review in my daily work have medical collection accounts, and some of them high dollar amounts! I am just going to have to make payment arrangements for the bigger ones, like the MRIs - that one alone I think will be close to $ 10 K !

It is pretty disheartening when I think ...okay I'm working my ass off...and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel... but as a friend of my recently put it...if that light is another train coming straight at me...BOOM!!

I try not to dwell on money too much but it is hard when I keep getting reminded about it when the bills arrive in the mail. Some people don't let their debt or bills worry them at all.  Some don't care about their credit being horrific, especially if they don't ever plan to buy a house.  What  do they care if they have collections or charge offs on their credit as long as they have a roof over their heads (pay the landlord, or live with relatives).  As long as they will never have to rely on credit for anything, they can sleep at night.

I do sleep at night but not before thinking about my day and the next day's plans to see how much work I can get done for the OT money. I just hope I STAY healthy so that I can work through this financial train wreck until I see the true light at the end of the tunnel.

P.S. Oh, I did want to mention that in anticipation of this insurance sucking we switched to a blue cross/blue shield plan that was about a third of the cost and appears will be better coverage. I'm hoping we dont' ever have to find out though. 

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Posted by: DianeStJames    in: My entries

Modified on July 7, 2007 at 5:06 AM

I never thought I'd hear myself complain about the weather here but here it goes.  I am so sick of rain it is pathetic! At least I'm not in Marble Falls where they are probably still investing in snorkel gear...but sheesh...the bluest skies in Texas have moved to Mexico I think!

No wonder my mood has been on more the down side, as I am the first to admit that my moods are affected by the weather.  It has been cloudy or rainy so much lately, that when the sun comes out it makes me want to run and get a camera to capture the moment!

Just to even my complaining out a little, I will admit that we haven't had to turn the sprinklers on for the last 2 or 3 months and that eyesore of a tree that was out back apparently got loosened up with all the rain and tilted over and died (fell) about 3 weeks ago.  Luckily it didn't take any of the phone or cable lines with it or I'd have been screwed and out of work for a few days.  Can't have that!  The tree guys came and took it away last week and also worked on a few stumps we had (more eyesores), by bringing them down more ground level.  It looks much better there now.  I also got a few more outdoor ornaments like a birdbath decorated with racoons around it, 2 frogs sitting on a bench, and a cute small statue with a variety of things stacked up like a turtle, frog, squirrel.  These were from the World of Products company I am a rep for.  I also ordered some artificial plants from petals.com for the planters back there. The deer just eat most of any kind of flowers we get and this way the arrangements should last and look nice for at least a few years.  

As my life story goes...I have been busy working my ass off still but really getting a good handle on the debt and taxes. I was able to send in money to Uncle Sam for the first half of the year's taxes since I am a 1099 earner. That is a blessing since I didn't know where that was going to come from.  But it has been coming from a mass of extra work, partly due to volume and partly due to changing a system to an extremely time consuming, cumbersome one.

Stacey is doing well in a driving course offered by the high school.  It isn't free, but if it saves me some gray hair, it is worth it.  At the end of it she can take a test and if passes can get a certificate that she can use in lieu of having to take an additional driving test when she goes to get her license in a few months. 

The furkids are doing well and Tika is getting bigger.  She is as tall as Kaci is already!  She'll probably be about the size of Shelby when she's full grown so she'll be about medium size.

Well I really have to get to work now.  I'll try to be better about writing more frequently.

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Posted by: DianeStJames    in: My entries

Modified on July 7, 2007 at 4:48 AM