I'm in for it this winter.

It's November 9th, and I'm looking out of my window at work, and it's snowing. It's november! It can't snow in november! Well, it obviously can, but how am I going to make it through a winter that's starting so early? Last year, we were wearing t-shirts on an open top bus in New York City in the middle of december.

Oh, and I won $100 last night! *happy dance*. C is now much less skeptical about time spent on the computer, and hasn't teased me at all about playing instant win games and entering contests. More because I told him that I wouldn't share anything I won with him if he didn't stop, but hey, whatever works.

Other than that, I'm stressed, which is why I haven't really been blogging lately. Don't feel like whining and the only other thing that happens when I'm stressed is ranting. You don't need that, either.

It's about time.

Yes, I've been lax again. I've actually been working hard this time though - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Absofreakinglutely nothing happening in my life at all, but I'm just checking in to let everyone (who actually read this anyway?) know I'm alive.

Halloween today, which means giving out tons of candy tonight and our anniversary tomorrow! I'm excited, even if it's only because I know it. Chris and I met eleven years ago tomorrow, in a slight motel drunkfest that shall go unrecorded here (or anywhere else for that matter). Still, it makes me smile, and reminds him that I've not always been the nerd he calls his wife. Seriously, he's called me a nerd about 4 times in the last week. Next time he does it, I'm going to throw something at him. Ahhh, yes, a happy anniversary indeed.

It's been awhile

Yes, I'm back. Back from the land of having absolutely nothing to say about my life.

The kitten is insane. It's also driving me that way. C doesn't want it in our bedroom, so every night we have to think of a new way to outwit the cat and keep it from running in the moment we open the door. It's become a competition. So far, the cat's winning. C tried a new technique last night, which involved letting it run in and then diving to grab it before it ran under the bed. Needless to say, C ended up with sore knees and a hurt elbow while the cat looked at him from under the bed and made noises suspiciously like laughing. I can't tell if the cat was actually laughing because I was too hysterical myself.

What have I been doing these last few days?

Trying to win things. It's my new obsession. Nothing too heavy, just something to do in my downtime at work. It's like gambling (which I enjoy altogether too much) but without spending any money.

Want to know what I've won so far? (Don't laugh). I've won $10, and a microfiber car cleaning cloth. C thinks this is hilarious. I tell him that if I ever win a holiday, he's not going to be allowed to come, just becasue he teases me so much. I think he has the better end of the deal, to tell the truth....

A new month.

So I should probably post something.

So here it is.

Yup, blogger's block.

*strains* Well, I've managed to live through the last week, and do it without killing anyone - that's news, right?

Oh, and I've managed (with the help of my boss, because I'm really shy about asking people for money) to raise some money for Iz's school fundraiser. Actually, I came in and quietly hung the sponsor form on my cubicle wall where it got ignored for a week, and then he decided to take it around the office and actually ask people, which produced loads of cash in the space of 20 minutes. I could never be in sales....

The kitten, whose name is Cringer, after He-Man's tiger (and C calls me a geek) is quite pointy. I shall have to investigate nail trimmers and the application of them to cats this week.

A bit calmer now.

With more of a "screw 'em" attitude.

Other than that, not much to report. The cat is insane, but that was to be expected. I have to take him to the vet next week for his first round of shots. Iz is insase, but I think that's a school thing. Hopefully her behaviour improves over the next few weeks - it's not that she's being out and out bad, it's that she's just not behaving like she usually does, and it seems to be getting worse.

This week is dragging. Slooooooow. Somebody rescue me!

Warning - this is a vent. You don't have to read it.

But it might make me feel a bit better.

So Iz was sick Friday night. Fever, she had been losing her voice all week, and generally was not herself - crying over everything, and compaining that her throat hurt.

So I decide that we have to head to the doctor's on Saturday morning. The doctor that I used to work for, who despite working for a crappy company (the reason I left), is one of the most wonderful doctors in existence.

I call the late night appointment line. I get through - miracle! I talk to the girl on the phone, who gives me an appointment time - wonderful! She puts me on hold for a minute - whatever, I can deal with being put on hold a minute. She comes back, and tells me that since I have a balance on my account (woah! this is news) that I can't have an appointment, so sorry, click. I'm hung up on.

So by this point I'm fuming. I've been denied an appointment for my sick daughter because of a balance I didn't know I had. I call the admin office for the doctors, and leave a rather shouty message concerning my feelings at being denied care and then hung up on. I spend the rest of the weekend feeling sort of sheepish at leaving the shouty message while not actually being sorry, because I did mean everything I said. I just didn't really want it to come out so shouty.

We get Iz to a patient first surgery, and get her treated (don't think I've ditched my daughter in all this saga). Turns out all is well, she doesn't have strep (which I was worried about, since it's already going around school).

So this morning, I get a phone call back from the Admin office - suprising, but disheartening. Apprently I'm an evil woman for not paying bills I didn't receive. Obviously I recieved them, they're all sent via an automated system. I point out that the only bill I had ever received (for myself, not even for Iz) was hand-written. Uncomfortable pause. Explanation of how they do hand write some bills.

I also point out, since I'm talking to someone in the billing department, I point out something my insurance company told me when I called. They had mentioned that one of the charges they turned down was for a urinalysis. Pretty interesting, since my daughter, who has been seeing these people since her birth, has never once peed in a cup for them. It seems they've been billing my insurance company for things that they haven't done. She promises to send me a copy of outstanding bills. I don't trust them one bit now so I'm going to have to go through them item by item. Chances are I'll still not catch everything, as they're pretty vague when it comes to explanations of codes.

Isn't charging insurance for something they didn't do illegal? If it's not illegal, I know it's immoral. It's certainly stealing. I can't help feeling that it's quite a big issue, even if the woman on the phone waved it away like it was nothing.

So there you have it. If you ever find yourself in the Baltimore area, don't ever, ever visit Potomac Physicians for anything. Incompetent isn't even the word for it.

What makes me really mad is that if they'd have told me I had a balance and still let me bring her in, I'd have happily bought a check in the morning of her appointment. I wouldn't have even asked these questions, and they'd certainly be better off.

Does anyone know how to create as much collections trouble for a company as possible, while still keeping it legal (not stooping to their level) and not messing up my credit history? My boss suggested sending them $1 a week - can you do that?

Another week, another party.

Iz has the last of her very drawn out birthday celebrations this weekend. Her Gymnastics party, to which noone has RSVP'd and I need a head count to the gymnastics place by yesterday. I also need to sort out plates, cups, party bags and something for the kiddos to eat. Behind? Moi?

Had an excellent time fishing out on the Chesapeake Bay on Saturday. The company I wokr for chartered ten fishing boats and put on a buffet breakfast. It was awesome, except for the funny looking sunburn I managed to get - burned my whole face except where my singlasses are, so I look like a raccoon in a negative. Stupid fair skin, and stupid me. I swear I've learned my lesson this time - or at least I have for the next few months.

In other news, we now have a cat. It's not a particularly bright cat, but it is quite amusing. Except when I had to fish it out from behind the dryer twice yesterday - that was less amusing. Pictures to follow (but then I always say that, don't I?)