Camp Queasy...er... Cuisine

Next week, all three of my kids are going to camp.  Not at some far away, exotic destination, or even one of those ‘park ‘em for a day, so momma can take a nap’ camps, but a rigorous Boot Camp a little closer to home. 

 

And by ‘closer to home’, I mean REALLY close to home.  Like, in my kitchen.  Or starting next week, THEIR kitchen.  Because I have just about decided, friends, that my cooking days are limited for these hot summer days (long on sunshine, but far too short in number). 

So starting next week, each child is responsible for one lunch, and one dinner during the week.  They choose the day, they select the menu, and tomorrow afternoon, they will actually be doing the shopping for their items.  I, of course, will still be the one whipping out the debit card to pay for said items.  Plus, HEB won’t let them buy wine, so I have to make an appearance anyway.

The kids are very excited to take the reins on this… at least for now.  Well, at least until I mentioned that they are responsible for kitchen clean-up, too. 

I didn’t give them many restrictions, other than that we needed to have at least one fruit or veggie with every meal, and that they needed to find at least one coupon to use for their meal planning.  (If you’ve never seen two siblings arguing over a 30 cent coupon for frozen Birds-eye veggies, it’s truly a sight to behold). 

Next week’s menu may not be the healthiest… we’ll work on that.  It may not be the most creative… hot dogs and chili mac, anyone?  But this ‘camp’ is designed to teach some necessary skills, and most importantly, save my summertime sanity.   And maybe, just maybe, my kids will be able to cook something beyond Ramen noodles and macaroni & cheese when they get their own apartments one day. 

 

Call it a lesson in independence.  Call it a lesson in maturity.   

Heck, let’s call it what it is…  the lesson that this momma is not your maid, or your short order cook.

   

And if that’s not a lesson for the future, I don’t know what is. ;)

THIS LETTER IS A CARBON COPY FOR YOUR RECORDS

With a new job comes all sorts of new, strange, and oftentimes, head-ache inducing things. 

One of those new things that came with going back to teaching was having different insurance.  For the first time in many moons, I have my own health insurance, instead of being covered under my husband’s.  When we were crunching the numbers, it just made sense financially for our household that I use one of the ‘perks’ of my new gig.

So with brand spankin’ new insurance comes crazy paperwork, keeping fingers crossed that my current doctors will be in-network, and hiring a weekly housekeeper with all that money we’re saving!!  (okay, I made that last part up.  Seems like we are quite adept at finding other places to spend that newfound cash.   Namely, the orthodontist.  And Spec’s. ;)

Fortunately my primary care physician was in-network, as well as my OB-GYN (with emphasis on the GYN, as I am ‘all-done’ with the OB part of her title.  Fo sho.)  So this is fabulous news, since I am kind of attached to those two.  Not only because I am very loyal, but also because, well, um… change?  Not so much.

But it was a fairly seamless switcheroo, as far as insurance goes.  Until today, that is. 

Today?  I got a letter in the mail to let me know that a claim is ‘on-hold’.  Evidently the services were provided for a PRE-EXISTING CONDITION, and my health care coverage includes a PRE-EXISTING CONDITION WAITING PERIOD.  (By the way, are all those capital letters really necessary??  I don't think I like being CapsLock-yelled at by my insurance company.)

Anyway...   It did not list what the PRE-EXISTING CONDITION was,  but oddly enough, the claim was submitted by my OB-GYN’s office, and the service date was for the day that I had my regular, yearly check-up for all that regular, yearly ‘stuff’ we ladies are required to do on a regular, yearly basis. 

So, what I am getting from this is that my ‘pre-existing’ condition... is the fact that I am a WOMAN?  Yes, I guess that is definitely a pre-existing condition.  It has existed, for… well, for a pretty long time now.  

The good news is that my doctor can re-submit the claim if they can provide the information about when they first began treating me for this ‘condition’.   And if that doesn’t do the trick, then I am invited to appeal the decision.   I plan to make a couple of phone calls tomorrow to try to get this all straightened out.   I hope that it is just a glitch or technicality that is easily remedied, and that I don’t have to appeal to anyone’s common sense in terms of said ‘condition’. 

But then again, we are talking about an insurance company…  I may have to come unhinged and yell at some poor customer service representative over the telephone.  In the end… proving that not only am I, in fact, a woman,  but that I have been a woman ( and a crazy one at that), for a good long time.

WELL PLAYED, BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD.