First It Was Bad. Then It Was Good. Then It Was Frustrating.

And now it's Tuesday ...

Anyway, our weekend trip to Baltimore started out on a bad note, as Friday morning when we were supposed to have a "covering" of snow showers, it just kept snowing, and by Friday late afternoon when we left to get on the road, there was about an inch of snow and it was really slippery.  The weather reports said that the snow stopped as you went south, so we carried on.  Except the snow didn't stop, it actually snowed more!  A trip that is usually pretty quick and uneventful was instead very slow and stressful.  But we got there safely, which in the end is the only thing that matters.

As soon as we arrived, things got good.  Pat and Amanda had ordered in sushi for all of us, and they have a really good place near there house, so that was a treat.  They were thrilled to meet Hamlet, and he of course was incredibly excited to see them.  One of their neighbors came over for a few hours, and we had a great time talking about everything, and learning about the year he lived in South Korea.  All thoughts of the snowy trip completely disappeared.

Saturday we started with breakfast at one of our most fave bagel places.  Then we all settled for a while before deciding to go to the Baltimore Museum of Art.  We'd never been there at all, and Pat and Amanda hadn't been for a while.  Amanda called her sister Annie, and we met her, her boyfriend and her boyfriend's daughter there and walked around with them.  It was great.  I wish we could have spent more time, but we still would not have seen everything, so I guess we just will have to make a return visit sometime (such a sacrifice!).  All of us headed back to Pat and Amanda's for pizza, and we ended up watching a Netflix documentary about the Fyre Festival.  I had heard of it and what a disaster it turned out to be, but until seeing this documentary, I had no idea of the details.  Never let a narcissistic bro plan anything is the lesson I took away from it.  (Not that I would let that happen anyway, as I stay as far away from any types of bro as I can.)  Hamlet got a ton of love and attention, as well as many many ice cubes (which are his favorite treat).  I'm pretty sure that everyone wanted him to stay in Baltimore.  As if ... :-) 

Of course, we were so busy having fun, this is the only photo I thought to take, but it's a good one - Hamlet *loved* their wood-burning stove and just wanted to sit in front of it the whole time.

We headed back home on Saturday evening, since The Tim had to work on Sunday.  The kitties were very excited to see us, and Pip in particular had a very long story about the neglect and starvation they endured while we were gone.  Sunday I spent the day catching up on laundry, paying bills, and other things people with a glam lifestyle do on their weekends.

So that's the bad and then the good.  Now comes the frustrating.

I had taken the day off on Monday, because I had an appt and x-ray with the orthopedic surgeon, then a session of occupational therapy, and then a bit later in the day, I was going to have a crown finally put onto a tooth that has been needing it, now that I can use my dental insurance again.  I figured it was easier just to take the day off than to worry about time, etc.

I got up bright and early and headed over to my dr appt and x-ray.  But that was not to be.  Why?  Well, apparently all of a sudden I needed a referral from my primary care physician, and I didn't have one.  This was puzzling, since that was never the case before.  The receptionist said that since I had switched my health insurance, the new one required referrals.  Um ... I had not switched insurance, so I was puzzled.  In any case, after about 15 minutes, it was determined that I would need to get things straightened out and call to reschedule the appt.  Sigh.  I headed upstairs to go to my occupational therapy session, and guess what?  Same problem (even though for all of January I had been going without any questions), I needed a referral, etc.  The woman at the front desk was apologetic, but said they couldn't treat me unless I was willing to pay out of pocket.  Which of course I cannot afford, so I headed home to work on getting things figured out.

First I talked to the insurance company.  They informed me that my employer had sent them the information about the option I had chosen back in November during Open Enrollment.  I had a printout from when I completed that, showing that I had enrolled in the same insurance I always had.  So I called Human Resources, and after getting shuffled around for approximately 20 minutes, I finally got a person who would a) speak to me, and b) said she could try to resolve the issue.  She said she was relatively new, but would try her best to help.  According to their records, I had switched insurance.  I told her about the printout I had saying I had not.  We went back and forth for a bit, and it was deteremined that somehow it was my fault even though of course it was not.  Anyway, to sum things up, I had to send an e-mail to the head of HR requesting a Benefits Appeal to see if I can go back to what I have had for the past few years.  The young woman I talked to was actually very helpful, and after I sent the e-mail, she sent me a response saying that it had been received, and "expedited."  So now I have to wait and see if my appeal is granted before I can do anything else at all.  Just one of the 4 billion reasons I wish we had national health insurance though of course why would we because "the American healthcare system is the best in the world."  Grrrrrrr.

OK, that was at least underway and will hopefully be resolved sooner rather than later, so I moved along to getting ready for my dentist visit.  I have dental insurance, but thankfully it is a different thing altogether from my health insurance.  Then about 1/2 hour before I was going to leave for that appt, the office called to cancel.  It seems that due to the snow problems on Friday, FedEx was behind on deliveries, and my crown had not been received and was still "in transit."  The person at the dentist's office said she would call when it finally arrived to reschedule my appt.

In the end, the day off was not just frustrating but wasted.  Which would be annoying under the best of circumstances, but me making arrangements for a day off is such a hassle due to my co-workers that it's not even funny.  And now at some point, I'll have to do it all again, and who knows if I'll be able to get it all done in one day.  Ugh.

That good time over the weekend sure seems far away now ... on the other hand, surely it can only go up from here, right?  RIGHT????