Losing pressure

MFH got the job he interviewed for last Wednesday in Big City. I forgot to mention that. He will be paid on flat rate billable hours. If a mechanical job books at 2.5 hours and he finishes the job in one hour, he gets paid his hourly wage times 2.5 for that job. His destiny is in his own hands. He can basically make as much as he wants to make as long as the work is there.

He also gets benefits like retirement and health insurance, which he doesn't get now. That is the main reason I have kept this job all these years.

My boss has asked me to outline which of my duties I deem feasible to perform from remote access. He would like me to keep the high end accounting duties, as I have extensive training on the two software packages we use here. He sees me training someone else for the rest of my duties over a six month period, probably traveling here once a week, and monitoring day to day business from my computer at home. That way we can keep our health and retirement benefits during the interim, and scale back my pay gradually.

The best news of the day?

My mother has loaned us enough money so we don't have to take a second, interest only mortgage on the new house. That leaves us with the mortgage on the amount we want to finance permanently, and the mortgage on our home here until it sells. We will pay her back once our house sells.

My mom rocks the house.

Literally.

We are leaving in the morning to go camping and relax for a few days. Have a great weekend.

Denial

That's where I'm residing right now.

In securing the financing for this new house, we have the following scenario: 1) The mortgage payment on the amount of money we will actually finance for the new house; 2) The interest only mortgage on the new house that we will pay off when the old house sells; and 3) The mortgage on the old house until it sells.

That's three mortgages, dear internet people.

I can't breathe.

Blinded

I don't clean. I feel my time is better spent playing with The Boy. For years I've had a cleaning service, even before The Boy, because cleaning is just not something I enjoy.

In the past year I lost the cleaning crew that had been with me for at least 10 years. They did a spectacular job. When the owner moved, she sold the business to one of her employees who decided using meth was a good way to work 24/7. Except she eventually crashed and ended up leaving town in the middle of the night. She didn't do such a great job and was unreliable so it was no great loss.

I cleaned the house myself for a few months until the new crew could fit me into their schedule. They are definitely surface cleaners.

So, with the house actively going on the market this weekend, we've been sprucing things up.

On Wednesday I was home with The Boy, who once again had a 24 hour bug. I swear. MFH thinks it's the preschool. I don't know if it's not quite up to par with cleanliness or if the kids are just germier this year, but whatever. I took the opportunity to do a few projects since he was sleeping most of the day. I decided to clean the window blinds.

O.M.G.

We've had all of them turned up for the winter to help keep the house warmer so I didn't know how nasty they were. Dust traps. Gross.

I told my mother I will not have blinds on the windows in my new house.

"Oh, they' re easy enough to clean," she says. "You just have to vacuum them every so often and then you'll only have to clean them a few times a year."

Therein lies the problem. It won't get done.

Insurance

Our insurance policy is basically a major medical policy. My boss believes that we should each be responsible for the small stuff and use insurance for the big stuff. Besides, we all know that insurance is expensive, and this is a way he has found as the employer to be able to offer health insurance, and for us as the employees to afford to insure our families.

One cool thing is that the policy carries a $750 first dollar benefit. It simply states that each insured person has $750 to use each year for routine checkups, urgent care visits, etc. You cannot use it for any service that would be deemed diagnostic or on a service that is addressed elsewhere in the policy, like mammography.

I recently received the explanation of benefits for my annual physical and for The Boy's wellness exam, and on it his immunizations are not covered but will be applied to the deductible. Same goes for my exam, which was covered, but not the accompanying lab work.

What part of the immunizations would not be considered wellness? I am diligent so I carefully read the manual only to find that both of these services should be covered. I called, they agreed and resubmitted the claim. I got notice yesterday that they are now paid.

The chest x-ray will not be paid but will apply to our deductible because it is considered diagnostic.

I am left wondering how many people get the explanation of benefits and pay for things that should have been covered under their policy.

As an aside, the total fees for the two of us was $584.00. Does that seem high to anybody besides me? Bear in mind that we're up here in small town Montana, not a big city, and we seek our care in a small clinic. I really would like to see health care addressed in this next election, and not with a bunch of empty campaign promises.

Then again, are there any other kind?

How do you spell relief?

"within normal limits"

That was the message left on my voice mail yesterday from our clinic regarding The Boy's chest x-ray.

I am supposed to schedule a follow up with the doctor where I assume she will write a script for the INH therapy.

I am not crazy about that. I am tempted to wait until we move to The City (which is not in another state, but simply 150 miles to the east of us) where it might be possible to talk with a doctor who is more experienced with international adoptees and get a second opinion.

Whew!

Our House

This is the house we bought on Saturday. We offered, they countered, we accepted. Done. It's not the dream house for either of us, but it has enough of what we both wanted. It's on two acres, one which is landscaped, and one which will be the site of our shop, and with room for The Boy to ride motorcycles, etc.

Our home goes on the market Wednesday. I hope it gets "done" soon as well.

On Wednesday, MFH will travel to The City to solidify a new job.

We hope to relocate the first of July.

I just finished a meeting with my boss. I asked about the possibility of performing my major duties by remote access part-time. It is our hope that I can stay home, or at least only work the hours that The Boy is in school this fall, and keeping this job would be ideal in that scenario.

I don't do well with change, and am kind of nauseous.

We are still waiting for the results of the xray. The Boy seems out of sorts, not about the xray, though. I finally realized that it must be about moving. All we've really talked about is the possiblilty that he'll be home with me for the summer but we've failed to talk about any impact on him besides that. We tried to address some of it last night.

I'm sorry this looks like one long paragraph. I can't seem to get the format to work out when I post pictures.

Waiting

We went to the hospital this morning to have chest xrays taken.

The Boy thought it was very cool to see his insides. Again he was very brave, but there was a look of slight panic/nervousness on his face when I couldn't stand next to him during the actual taking of the xrays.

His spine is nice and straight which would only be of interest to me, a sufferer of scoliosis.

Try as I might, I couldn't really distinguish his exact lungs to see if they were cloudy or clear, but the general area looked the same as the rest of the picture - except for the bones, of course.

Darn my google medical degree.

The radiologist will read the xray in the next two to three business days and our doctor will call to give us the diagnosis.

On the way home The Boy said, "Mom, I thought you said I had to take medicine when I had the xrays done."

"I did say that, honey. Our doctor will call the store next week and we'll go get the medicine. You'll have to take it for a long time. You will be almost six years old by the time you finish."

"Six years old? Whoa, that's a long time!"

Yes it is, sweetie.

A different kind of doctor visit

The Boy's primary caregiver met me outside when I picked him up from daycare Tuesday afternoon. She wanted to inform me in private that she caught The Boy and a girl under the slide that afternoon "touching each other's pee-pees".

MFH brought it up to him that night as they were getting him ready for bed. I overheard the conversation.

According to The Boy, there were two other children involved, and the older girl started it. I have mentioned that The Boy has never lied to us. He doesn't always like to offer up the truth easily, but this conversation was so casual and low key that I had to believe it.

Besides, I have observed the older girl in the past touching herself or her little sister inappropriately. The older boy involved is new and I know nothing about him at all.

I brought up what he told his dad to the caregiver last night at pickup. She said that she hadn't seen the other two children. She also mentioned that The Boy told her the truth immediately but his counterpart had tried to lie about it. When she asked The Boy what they were doing, he said they were "playing doctor".

We have never used that term.

I am thrilled, though, to know that he is interested in the medical profession!

Proceed with caution

Our doctor called last night. We are taking The Boy in for a chest xray, which we expected.

What she said next, though, surprised me.

Given his age and the origin of his birth, there is no definite way to know if the positive PPD is a result of the BCG vaccine or exposure to tuberculosis. The pediatricians she consulted with, along with the M.ontana Dept. of Health, recommended that even if the xray is clear we proceed with nine months of INH therapy.

If the xray is not clear, that is another story.

When I objected to the medication, she replied that at some point in his life this will probably come up again. If he tests positive again, which is likely to happen, he's already been treated. If he's ever exposed to tuberculosis, it will not become active.

I love this doctor, and have been seeing her for more than ten years. I trust her. This is just not what I wanted to hear.

Nothing left hanging but the basket

Every year I get a hanging basket for Mother's Day. My son always picks a pink one because I am a girl. He has great logic.

This is the first Mother's Day in many years that I haven't had a four legged child in my house. Dad and The Boy went fishing to give me some alone time on my special day which seems a little contradictory to me, but it was nice and quiet. Too quiet.

Well, we finally heard from that motorcycle dealership. The owner and general manager wanted to hire MFH, but the HR chick thought his price tag was too high. The general manager regretfully told him that they hired a man for $25,000 a year.

Are you shocked?

I must admit, I am. This is a management position. Our beginning laborers make those kind of wages. That comes out to $12.00 an hour if you only work the average 40 hours per week. Managers would generally work more than that.

MFH stated, "Good for you. I hope he turns out to be all that you need in that position."

GM replied, "Yeah, so do I."

I came to class unprepared

I was going to post a picture from Mother's Day of me and The Boy with the hanging geranium that he got for me, but I forgot my camera.

The good news is now I have a post for tomorrow.

If I remember my camera, that is.

The Boy's PPD injection site is not getting any better. In fact, it is more pronounced than it was on Friday. The doctor has not called with a decision on whether or not to xray his chest. But in answer to Alleen's question, with much thanks to the wonderful DD who knew the answer, if The Boy's chest xray comes out clear, there will be no medication therapy.

We still have not heard any news on the job opportunity for MFH at the motorcycle dealership, even though the owner said he would call with a decision on Saturday. The Saturday that was two days ago.

The house we are interested in is still for sale. The owner said she would call us if she got an offer.

On top of all this, our hockey player from last year is coming today, with a friend. Now, I am very fond of him. But, with all that's going on, I don't appreciate "Hi, I'm coming to visit and I'm bringing a friend and we're staying at your house. See ya then." He was just here at Spring Break with his girlfriend.

I know I'm being a bitch, but what are we, a bed and breakfast?

With that said, we are entering our season that is "three months of really bad skiing", which is the opposite of our season that is "nine months of winter".

Come on over. We'd love to have you for dinner.

Not literally.

When should I start to worry?

This is The Boy's ppd skin test to check for tuberculosis. To me it looks just like a mosquito bite. There is a slight bump but nothing resembling a nodule like in the pictures I googled online.

I took him to the clinic last night. The older nurse who looked at it immediately declared it positive and went to get a doctor. Not our doctor who wasn't in, which annoyed me. Why did they schedule the appointment when she wouldn't be there? She is the only doctor at the clinic with any experience with the BCG vaccination and third world countries.

The doctor examined it for a few minutes and declared it negative. He said the same thing I did - there is a bump but there is no distinct nodule. The redness means nothing at all - it's the size of the bump that matters.

The conclusion was to bring him back this morning to let our doctor examine it.

I could tell from her expression that it wasn't what I wanted to hear. A different nurse got calipers and measured the slight bump to be 10mm and the entire mark to be 20mm. In a child, 10mm or bigger is when you pursue a chest xray.

"I am going to confer with the other doctors and I'll give you a call. We will probably order a chest xray, but he is a healthy, strong little guy. I don't want you to worry."

Really? Can you tell me exactly how to not worry?

I finally asked him

This morning The Boy had his sketch pad in the living room. When I went to get him so he could take his bath, I noticed he had drawn two pictures on the page.

"Those pictures look like dogs! Did you draw Puppy Coal?"

"That little one is when Puppy Coal was a baby," he replied. "I will cut it out and you can take it to your work."

A bit later, he brought it to me. "I miss Puppy Coal," he sighed.

"Can mommy ask you why you didn't cry when we had to send Puppy Coal to Heaven?"

"Because I didn't want him to know he was going away."

A Great Warrior

The Boy and I had our wellness physicals yesterday. The doctor decided to wait until the very end of both appointments to give The Boy his vaccinations.

Because The Boy received the BCG vaccination when he was an infant in Guatemala, I decided to have the PPD tuberculosis skin test done on him. The BCG vaccination is given in a lot of countries other than the USA. They actually inject the tuberculosis serum into the baby, and in Guatemala it's as automatic as any other vaccination. But having had that he could very well throw off a false positive on the skin test. What they'll look for is a hard bump, and then the measurement of that hard bump. If it's 10mm or more, we'll have a chest xray. If there is any chance that he was exposed, he'll take meds for a 9 month period just to be safe.

I don't have any reason to think he is a carrier. So far there is no bump. We have it read tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.

He sat so still on my lap with his forearm on a table and watched as they put the needle in and injected him with serum, resulting in a mosquito bite-like bump. I couldn't believe it. I refuse to watch when they stick a needle in my arm. I'm not afraid of needles, but I definitely prefer not to watch. Not only did he watch, he didn't cry or even flinch.

Then he laid on the exam table for his other vaccinations. The nurse tried to find someone to help so they could stick him at the same time, but everyone was busy. He was fine with the first poke, then teared up with the second poke which was MMR that burned. We had a few tears which subsided with the mention of stickers and suckers.

After that we went to get lunch at B.urger K.ing and took it to the park for a picnic. Next was the promised reward to the candy store where he picked, of all things, peanut m&ms. And a giant pixy stick, which he later told his dad was a lot of sugar. Smart kid.

I'm glad we talked about the shots and what he should expect. I'm also glad he didn't listen to his friend at school that was already poked. His mother told me she had to restrain him for the nurse. Not so for my great warrior.

His conversation with my mom was priceless.

"Grandma, have you ever had shots?"

"Oh, honey, I've had so many shots I feel like a pin cushion!"

On hold

On April 12 I sent an email with an attached resume to apply for a position with a motorcycle dealership in the city we are hoping to move to. It was a position for which I am highly qualified.

On a whim, I also sent the documents for MFH to apply with the same dealership for the position of service manager.

I want him to get out of wrenching. It is ruining his body, and making him an old man before his time. His rotator cuff is shot on his right arm, and his back is constantly giving him fits. This is a position of management with no physical labor involved.

He heard back almost immediately. That was a good thing, I thought, because it's important to know where he stands on the job front first so that I know where I need to be as far as income is concerned.

Since then MFH has been there 3 different times for interviews. We still don't know. It sounds as though they want to hire him, but we have yet to see an offer.

In the meantime, I have heard nothing of the position I applied for. I figured his position was harder to fill, and if they hired him they really didn't want family members working together. Although, during one of his interviews the owner did ask him which one of us was better suited to work there.

I won't put our house on the market until we have a solid offer. We can't put an offer on a house in good faith until we know if we can afford the house and when we will need to move. The house we are really interested in does not want an offer contingent on us selling our house.

It's a vicious cycle.

No pun intended.

The last hard thing

We had Coal cremated.

The vet called last Friday and left a message that he was back and we could pick him up at our convenience.

Well, we were busy with the party and didn't go get him. It wasn't really that I didn't want to, it was just that I wasn't ready - even though I wanted him home.

On Tuesday MFH brought him home. At Home On The Range is the name of the cemetary and cremation place here. Isn't that kind of a cool name? They had placed his remains in a lovely tin box with his name on it, and then inside a maroon velvet bag with "Until we meet again at the Rainbow Bridge" embroidered on the front.

The tin box is remarkably small considering this black lab weighed in at 120 pounds in the prime of his life. When we lost him he was maybe 75 pounds.

Sometime this summer we are going to spread some of Brandy and Coal's ashes in their favorite places - our backyard, the swimming hole, and our property where they flushed out sage hens. Then we are going to place the remaining ashes in the mahogany box we bought when we lost Brandy. They were together in life, and now they'll be together for eternity.

I've gotten some lovely cards. The vet's office sent one with each staff member having written something nice about Coal. Now that's great customer service. We took his remaining Rimadyl, which is about one dollar per pill and almost a month's supply, and asked them to give it to someone with a pet in pain who can't really afford the medication. They were so grateful. We are very thankful for the awesome care they have shown both of our dogs in the past 16 years.

When MFH handed me the bag and Coal's collar, I lost it. And he said, "Seeing this is the last hard thing. Now you can start to heal."

I hope so.

Drink and be merry

I got the margarita bucket mentioned in the post about The Boy's birthday bash at W.almart in the same aisle as the beer and wine. I only saw the margarita variety, but DD pointed out that there are other kinds as well.

Basically, the bucket has a bladder inside that has the liquid mix. You pour the contents in the bucket, stir in a 750ml bottle of tequila, and either freeze it or chill it. The bucket has a spigot on the bottom for easy pouring if you don't freeze it. As I mentioned, we did freeze it, so MFH put a plastic cup in the bucket for easy scooping of the semi-frozen concoction.

I think the premixed bladder is the same margarita mix that you can buy in the bottle at many stores. It was just handy to have the bucket to mix it in.

Try one!

A celebration of life

On Saturday we celebrated The Boy's birthday with our 5th annual fish/turkey/wing fry. We extend the invitation every year to our friends and family, and this year we had a great turn out with about 20 children and 40 to 50 adults in attendance.

It's traditional in Guatemala to break a pinata on your birthday, so we try to incorporate The Boy's heritage into his birthday by doing just that each year. The kids love it! This is The Boy taking the first swing with what else? A hockey stick! We don't use a blindfold for two reasons - the kids are young, and The Boy can't stand to have his eyes covered.

If you have never tried one of those Margarita buckets, give it a whirl. I put it in the freezer on Friday night. It was almost frozen when we took it out for the party at 3:00, and it was good to the last drop. Definitely a hit!

We fried 10 pounds of wings, two 12 pound turkeys, and 30 to 40 pounds of fish. MFH and my FIL were busy with three deep fryers in the alley. That's the worst part of having this type of party - they don't get to socialize much until it's time to eat.

The weather cooperated - we had a few drops of rain but not until it was dark. Until then it was pleasantly sunny and warm. Not bad for springtime in Montana. I've been lucky with the weather each year, and I'm thankful for that. We do have a 30X40 shop in our backyard for a standby, but there isn't much for the kids to do in there!

Good friends, good food, good drink, good times!