Beginning of the End?

No this is not about 2012 or Armageddon - though in 2 years it may be...

The End of the upstairs rotten shower --

We've gone back and forth on the shower debacle - the last visit to Home Despot left Rob ready to rip down all the walls and re-drywall and slap a pre-fab shower in... That left me completely freaked out and flashing me forward to some home improvement disaster show on HGTV - and Rob and I the guest stars...

Now I have *full* confidence in Rob's ability to do home improvement - he's shocked me w his prowess in doing electrical related 'stuff' - which esp scares ME. But we did buy a new shower door for him in August - which is still leaned up against his bathroom wall... so I do worry about what sometimes feels like the insurmountable wall (or shower door?) between 'what it takes to function every day - chores, job, pets, laundry, etc.' and ' that + the energy to also do a bunch of home improvement stuff.' I have this argument internally all the time - how do I fit in exercise? if it's this hard now, how do we fit in kids?'

It's also a lot easier to get used to status quo - even if that means sharing a shower - than to change... it's like that old chemistry lesson - entropy vs enthalpy... a body tends toward the least amount of energy/effort, etc.

SO where we landed - we did call the tile guy... after some rescheduled appts, he finally made it here Monday night. He's given us what I think is a super reasonable quote - to take out all the concrete down to subfloor, replace the pan (if needed), then re-concrete, tile, etc. Since all this is timed around bonus and tax refunds, the fix is much easier to absorb...

It'll take about 3 days - given the time to dry/cure, etc. And am hoping he starts soon - like by this weekend...

The End (I hope) of my current plateau --

Lap-band wise I'm a little discouraged -- both last week and this week (weighed this AM) I've stayed on the same whole lb# -- now's when I wish I were actually noting the decimals!

I'm surprised to hit a plateau this quickly time-wise - though I realize I've dropped more than 40lbs - so weight-wise a plateau doesn't surprise me. It is however DAMN discouraging when you're eating less than 1K cals a day though... the deprivation feels that much deeper - and sorta more pointless...

I however will NOT be discouraged - and in fact I had a check up Monday - and am going in for another fill next week. Luckily the fill is IN THE OFFICE - woohoo - so it will be a small one (they have a limit on how much they can fill in office) - but hopefully cheaper... the office visits so far haven't even cost a co-pay - I think they're being accounted for as part of the surgical 'followups' - woohoo! Cross your fingers for me!

That will mean next week is liquids Tues/Weds, mushies Thurs/Fri - and back to solids on Saturday... thank goodness it's just in time to be done for our Phish weekend - full of houseguests - and then a # of work lunch mtgs...

The End of paying $15 a mos for a crappy gym I don't use --

We have a gym at work. Now in McLean (NOVA) our office bldg is like 14 stories - w the gym in the lobby. So really no sweat sneaking down at lunch or right after work, etc. In Richmond, the gym is in a separate bldg - our conference center - so really you have to deliberately leave whatever bldg you work in to go to the gym.

Our Richmond office is basically like a college campus - except unlike college, there's no delayed start to your meetings to account for walking between the bldgs. Most of us who say work in bldg 1 and have to walk to bldg 6 (my daily 'commute') - end up running there if we're in back to back meetings - arriving flushed, out of breath, w shin splints - and well late - every time... OR like me, folks just drive bldg to bldg - which is a crapshoot - bc the parking lots are large open land lots for the most part - which means your walk in from the lot can be as long as walking through 2 bldgs - and it introduces more of the outside elements...

Anyway, our gym is effin inconvenient to 'drop in' to during the day w/o hours open to accomodate it.

Our gym is also dominated by networking men and crummy staff. In NOVA, there was a great staff who were friendly, knew you by name and I even would catch up pretty frequently w one of the girls there. They made themselves available for any questions and were really helpful but also didn't force them and their training, etc. on you. In RIC, they all appear to be 19 years old, disinterested in even saying a pleasant 'hi' when you come in and appear pretty stand-offish...

I also do NOT enjoy working out w my coworkers - esp since the gym is about the sq ft of my house... I esp hate it that some coworkers seem to use it as their way of 'getting in good' w the sr folks at work - like I knew someone who would come in at a certain time to work out so he could chat it up w muckity mucks... whereas our former co-president of the entire company used to work out in NOVA - hat on, head down, super focussed - folks didn't try to grab a machine near him or anything just to suck up... that vibe sorta permeates our RIC gym and generally to me has completely turned me off to going there...

They also do things like forget to turn on the room music... and since they're so damn unapproachable I have no desire to go bitch about it...

SO long story short, I'm quitting it... gimme my $15/mos back!

The timing works out very well bc we have a new Golds coming into our area -- like a crazy awesome new gym - 40K+ sq ft, w a cardio cinema (watch a movie on the treadmill) , a pool (critical for me bc of my back issues), a women's only section designed like a curves for circuit training, saunas, hot tub, racquet ball, smoothie bar, kidsitting, 100s of machines, abs only area, 2 diff workout studios...

And they're running a special to 'pre-sell' memberships - so my $15 dues which to me were so cheap for a gym, I figured I'd never join another one - turns into $30/mos (cheaper than my discount at the Y) and I get a state of the art awesome gym to go to - w hopefully very few run-ins w co-workers and a TON of stuff to do. TVs in each cardio piece, etc. -- it opens 3/15.

We got a 'family' membership for $60/mos for the 2 of us, I got almost all the fees waived for joining. And we can use all 3 area Golds (they've also redone the older 2 to compete)... so I'm pretty damn happy w my negotiating - and the rate. It's 2 yrs and then mos to mos locked in 'forever'

Score one for Kate!

http://www.richmondgolds.com/

The End of pig as savory -- Mo's Bacon Bar --

Bacon + Chocolate?!

The last part I will actually leave to my friend Yhippa's blog - his post does this more justice than I could... I went on my quest to find the Bacon Chocolate Bar at Joe's Market and got the last one...

http://yhippa.blogspot.com/2009/02/bacon-chocolate.html

'Things are gonna change, I can feel it'

'Soy un perdedor... I'm a loser baby so why don't ya kill? Get crazy w the cheesewhiz'

oh wait crap that's not where i was going w it... although on a sidebar - WTH does 'getting crazy w cheezwhiz' connote?

So this past few weeks I've been working w the padre to get tax stuff in order. Nice refund from state and really nice from federal - which makes me more comfortable in the money dept. Doesn't mean we'll have a wedding anytime soon but I feel less dire than I did a few weeks ago -- part of that also is bc our bonuses were just approved - PHEW! Though horrendous timing as it came out the same day that an entire peer team of mine was 'shut down.'

Ok so some updates on the Smoketree front --

Upstairs bath - Rob's been working to chip the tile away - nightmare! And it's still stinky and super slow work... the next layer is concrete. We got a referral from our realtor for a tile guy -- though as I asked folks at work about the issue a few of them had had to deal w it and in fact recommended NOT to do tile bc of maintenance but instead just drop in a shower inset and caulk around it. It'll still mean a lot of work chipping up the concrete and rest of the tile but... should save some money in the long run...

ALSO on a more exciting front is a craigslist bonanza!

We do NOT like our brick fireplace facade - too dark in a room that's already darker bc of wood paneling - and built ins flanking it - ALSO dark stained... we've kicked around the idea that some day we'd like to stone over it and make it a mtn lodgy look/feel instead - at minimum it should lighten up the room but bonus is that it gives a unique character and it fits in well w the decorating scheme and lots of wood... SO long story short I've been corresponding w a dude on craigslist who's actually working out of PA -- they do have a lot of stone there... He's a stone mason - has had a few jobs recently fall through so he has a surplus of materials and is willing to travel down and do our fireplace for under $600! SO I think that will be our 'big' home improvement project that I was mentally hoping we'd have something for w the refund and bonus money...

Here are the pics he sent of the stones that we liked. We're going for VA blue ridge mtn look - not so much granite quarry stone look...

Also lost 2 more lbs this week - grand total of 42. Having consistent trouble w solid breakfast - so I'm sticking now to yogurt or eggs... not uncommon and frankly not something that is particularly tragic to me :) yay!

I'll close w another song - mainly bc it's been stuck in my head the last few days - who KNOWS why - and surprisingly it is relevant...

'You take the good,

You take the bad,

You take them both and there you have the facts of life.

The facts of life.'

I think it might have been subconsciously linked to seeing this Robot Chicken ep.

Check out minute 8 http://www.videowebtown.com/piss0ff/8933/28290

When it rains... it pours...

Well that little 'soft spot' Rob found in his shower has now turned into the bane of our existence... (and for irony and levity I could have spelled that 'bain') - but we're past the point of levity...

So Rob devoted this last Sunday to 'fixing' the shower. Unfortunately he barely made a dent in Step 2 (that's w step 1 being 'Go to Home Depot and buy shit') -- when he pulled up the tile he found that ALL of the floor of the shower was covering what effectively had become liquified concrete... in fact I'm pretty sure it defies the laws of chemistry - what used to be concrete is now like really stinky wet beach... it's TERRIBLE... I will never be able to do this horror justice in virtual media - until they develop a USB powered smell machine...

SO we're starting to move out of paralysis. Rob's gotten a recommendation for a bathroom genie... does he come w a bottle and three wishes? We'll see...................

So for now - and for the first time since before we lived together, Rob and I are sharing a bathroom.

We've lucked out and had some awesome weather so at least we've been able to open windows and slightly dissipate the stench - which is in our master bathroom - which coincidentally of course is part of our master BR - the BR where we sleep every night :(

OH and yes you might be reacting like we did -

Why the hell wasn't this caught by the home inspection? And do we have any recourse? Unfortunately that's a 'who knows' and a 'no.' Home inspectors are smart w their 'if you take us to court and we're found liable, you'll only get the home inspection fee back' -- so really I don't think $300 is worth small claims court... my tune might change though when we get an estimate for fixing this disaster...

AND

What about home warranty coverage?! Ahh well - instead of being caused by something 'major' - ie fundamental issues w plumbing... since this was caused by something 'minor' - ie no maintenance/upkeep on 28yr old tile (would it kill them to do some grouting?!) it's not covered under home warranty...

Flippin brilliant! ugg

If it's not one thing... it's another...

The Not One Thing

In the quest for continual home improvement most of you know that I've recently made a new nemesis... WALLPAPER...

So how better to understand the enemy than to put some UP myself... by myself... (as I type this I think - WTH was I thinking?!)

So I took Friday off - I just needed a day. It's hard coming back from a long holiday and getting back into the swing of January - by far the crappiest month by my estimation. (No offense MLK Jr day) -- I'd add February into that if it weren't so short and included Valentine's Day -- formerly known as Singles Appreciation Day (sadly enough, 'S.A.D.') but now that I'm squarely in suburban almost-married life, I sorta like the chocolately celebration.

ANYWAY, so what better to do on a day off than procrastinate from putting away laundry?! How about putting up some wallpaper?!

It all started bc of a big sale at Target... BEFORE I opened the mail to the horror of gads of medical bills... I found and bought for $20 a pretty groovy roll of wallpaper... I thought I'd do the laundry room wall that has horrendous paper in it already over w this paper. However, when I walked into the laundry to plan it all I realized that in addition to the royal pain of having to move a fridge and dryer, that I'd have to work around the fuse box... water+electricity - never good...

I also didn't want to have to purchase any MORE than the 1 roll of paper bc of the recent bills...

So I arrived at doing the smallest wall in the guest room... and I think it turned out pretty well... this is the image on Target - though the metallic is a copper/tan not the silver they show here and the background color is a matte aqua (luckily perfectly matching 2 shams I got for supercheap post Xmas at Macy's - so decorating scheme DONE) ... it's very simple/asian inspiration - looks like those chinese brushpaintings of cherry tree branches...

http://www.target.com/Graham-Brown-Solitude-Wallpaper/dp/B000JPZFOW/sr=1-15/qid=1233607390/ref=sr_1_15/175-1675998-6418937?ie=UTF8&pricerange=&index=target&field-browse=1038616&rank=price&rh=k%3Awallpaper%2Cp%5F36%3A%2425-%2449&page=5

And here it is in the room -- not too shabby... and coordinates perfectly w the neutral (boring) taupe paint and white trim that the former owners painted it right before selling (believe me - I found DARK BLUE on the lowest parts of the baseboards)

I had some snags - not enough paper to keep up the matching -- and old Mr Azmo walked in when I was on my last super long piece and stepped through the paper - leaving little VERY VISIBLE holes in one of the metallic flowers - so there's a big fat seam where I had to cut it out and match up w the paper a foot down... figgers!

Now onto the... Another

When I was doing the wallpaper on Friday, I was using my upstairs tub to soak the paper (self adhesive on back.) I noticed while doing this that there was a 'soft spot' in the tiled floor near the top of the tub. There wasn't any water underneath it - just what looked to be once saturated wood that splintered into oblivion and dried... damn... that means replacing the tiles... luckily it wasn't wet, there appear to be no leaks in the tub itself and I wonder if someone just didn't have a shower liner or something in place bc it's right by the nozzle where water can spray out if the curtain isn't drawn. Didn't feel too urgent - and at some point, we'll redo the entire bathroom... something to file to mention to Rob later...

So I did - and he came to the same conclusion I did.

Now keep in mind the story of our lives recently has been all about timing... like the Alanis 'Isn't it ironic?' lyrics...

Yesterday Rob comes downstairs to inform me that apparently HIS shower stall has a 'soft tile' patch - except under his is the equivalent of the sludge you see in a new housing development when it's rained for 2 weeks and there's just foundations dug...

So now we're scrambling to figure out if our home warranty comes into play here... and Rob's now using my shower... ugg

Here's the offending 'patch'
So if anyone knows a tile guy - or has some advice, we're seeking!!

Drama Queen dethroned and we need Al Borland!

As my wonderful friend Mark Martin said 'dust off your skirt and get back up.' He inspired me to get over it - along w a few solid days of feeling sorry for myself.

I did want to catch up on progress quickly - last Thurs I posted a 5lb loss (I think the drinking more water effect is kicking in.) and just today I was down 5 more lbs. - WOWZA! Yay! I'm still experiencing dread and trepidation when I step on the scale - pretty sure that's just human - but I also think there's a mental element here where you just feel like this can't possibly work - gotta be a fluke right?! So I keep assuming the worst and hoping for (and the last 2 weeks SEEING) the best!

So now we're grand total of 37lbs down. Woot!

Calling Al Borland...

Also did a few home 'improvements' - improvement is simply the turn of phrase - not always the truth behind it...

We actually did these back over holiday break - I just hadn't shared yet.

We now have a lovely stainless steel (working!) hood/exhaust over our stovetop where our decrepit, old, almost useless microwave was mounted. When Rob pulled that out - it was astounding how much more space there was to cook - we could actually USE the back burners - and it really opened it up visually. We also found TWO layers of wallpaper - umm YIKES...

We already had his outrageously GOOD stainless countertop microwave - which we had been longing for every day since we moved in and had to use the crappy over the range microwave. SO it's dusted off and micro-ing like the champ it's always been!

So improvement - CHECK!

Now onto the 'other.' For those who have seen the house, 99% agree that its wallpaper is hideous. There's some on the bottom half (below chair rail) in the kitchen - that's passable in that it doesn't assault your eyeballs - but it surely wouldn't be my choice... then there's the dining room... now that is truly frightening...

SO what *better* time than when you're absolutely stir CRAZY and trapped at home to remove wallpaper? Rob ventured into the world to secure me the supplies - and then I began to 'pirannha' away w this lovely medieval looking tool and coated the first few panels of paper in gel Dif wallpaper remover. Soak in, pull off... wait - it's supposed to come OFF right?!

Well - the Mattoxes - who lived here before us - Debbie (wife) had told us at the walk thru - when I *specifically* asked about that same occular violating wallpaper - that 'it should come down, no problem... they sized it when they put it up.'

Well she was either lying or truly had lived there SO long and had taken one too many bong hits (the Mattoxes were def hippies) she hadn't remembered that the monstrosity was there when she moved in...

there was no sizing...

there was no primer...

there was no sealant...

there was... NOTHING...

So after a panel or 2, we determined that something was WRONG...

That's right folks -- we have the perfect storm creating the MOST difficult wallpaper removal situation you can have. We have drywall so we can't use too much liquid... we have wallpaper that's old as shit and covered in glue and it's been APPLIED DIRECTLY TO THE SHEETROCK.

So there was cursing and giving up... I busied myself poking at the kitchen wallpaper afterward - at least THAT was primed and came off...

There was a few days of 'I'm not dealing w this shit' --

Then there was copious googling done by yours truly to figure out exactly WTF to do... in parallel w Rob polling the experts at Lowe's and Home Depot.

A few themes emerged --

1. You're screwed if you do remove it - then you're either replacing the drywall completely or you're spending days repairing and re-drywall 'mudding' the whole room.

--- PHEW, glad we stopped 2 panels in ---

2. You can seal it and prime it and then apply 'wall liner' - aka - plain wallpaper that's paintable - over it and pretend like you're starting from scratch.

--OR--

3. You can mud/spackle to repair what you've done, sand everything - including existing wallpaper - and then seal and then prime and then you can 'start from scratch.'

I think we've settled on what's behind door #3.

We would have to buy sealer, primer and spackle anyway - between wall repair and general painting needs... this way we save the extra expense of buying a room of wallpaper. (Well half - it's luckily only above the chair rail in the dining room.)

So I'm sure there will be upcoming developments on this front that's worthy of blogging...

Rob's Mom and Dad were supposed to come up in Feb but his Mom's shoulder surgery was more serious than initially thought so she's out of work for longer - and clearly needs a longer healing time... that buys us a little more time in getting the dining room up to code for their visit.

Stay tuned...

Dividedwefail FAIL

Insurance fail. Or maybe it's Kate fail.

I about had a cow yesterday when sorting through the week's mail, I found bills for my surgery in early Dec - totally $4200?! What could this be?! I already paid $1100 at the surgeon's office beforehand. That's a fuckload of money right there. I mean this procedure is COVERED by insurance? $1100 sounds reasonable... pricey but doable -- and for my avid readers you already saw my rant about that bill...

Oh how I wish it were *just* $1100. (This of course on top of the $300 or so I'd paid already toward deductible.) Who would think my earlier blog rant about that only covered a small amount of the 'holy shit I'm going to become a dividedwefail commercial.'

"I had a job. In fact I HAD insurance coverage -- but the medical bills kept coming in."

Well FUCK. And eff my company for year by year making our plan shittier and shittier - but not really cheaper... and ironically they were touting how 'great' it would be for 09 since 'benefits weren't changing.'

So shock, disbelief, tears characterized Sunday. Seething anger began Monday morning.

Kate -- "But I have a max out of pocket each yr of $3500 -- I already satisfied my $1000 deductible and my co-insurance is only 30%!! And I already paid $1500 to healthcare in 08 - WTF?! "

Radiologist - "Call Aetna."

Surgeon's office "Before you call anesthesiologist ($800 bill opened Sunday) or St Mary's ($3400 bill opened Sunday) -- CALL AETNA"

Kate -- "Ok." so I call Aetna...

Astoundingly this poor woman was able to make me understand WTH was going on. Oh and by the way - 1 night in St Mary's (NOT counting surgeon's bill) -- $33K - HOLY SHIT. And w Terrible Teri to boot?!

Well apparently due to some strange LIFO type insurance payment scheme - or perhaps just really delayed billing from the surgeon's office, their claim was paid out last. Which means I should be getting a full refund of the $1100. Unfortunately that's bc I'll be LEGITIMATELY having to pay $4200 which satisfies my deductible and co-insurance max out of pocket for 08.

AWESOME.

The only concession is that St Mary's allows you to take 10% off if you pay within 30 days - so you BET I'm gonna be racking up the rewards points w Chase as I pay that off to the tune of saving me over $300. Hoping all still goes well, my bonus in March will go COMPLETELY to medical bills and some 'we just bought a fucking house 6 mos ago' expenditures.

To add insult to injury, my fill -- that took all of about 15minutes (w 2hrs wait time) -- guess how much that cost?!

I'll give you a minute...




A 'negotiated' price of $3307. Negotiated apparenlty meaning that some pay MORE.

Which means I'm now smack dab into 09 with another bill coming soon from St Mary's for $1700 -- satisfying my 09 deductible at $1000 and already going another $600 into my max out of pocket of $3500 in 09.

So the moral of the story is 'multi-fold'

1. Insurance STINKS. PERIOD. Even if their bookkeeping was totally accurate - about which I am floored. The cost of healthcare is outrageous.
2. Put whatever you can in FSA. Worst case you end up with hundreds of dollars to blow at Walgreens EOY.
3. When in doubt, call and make them itemize upcoming expenses -- I figured my bandfills couldn't be that much since they *used* to do them in their office for a $50 co-pay. How WRONG was I?! Wish I'd done this and coulda padded FSA way more.
4. We'll never afford to get married. Great... fucking great... we haven't even ever taken a vacation together. And it's not due to spendorama - first it was moving to RIC and building up some $, then my 2nd back procedure, then buying a house - and now medical bills. DAMMIT - how at 29 do I feel like I'm telling the story of a 50yr old?

And as if that's not bad enough - of course BEFORE all this shit of the last week... I got my tax forms for all my accts. That includes my 401K - of which I lost $30K. Which was 30% of my total acct -- the acct that I started 8 years ago. How bout them apples? Thank GOD I'm not retiring anytime soon.

Oh yah and last Thursday we announced a loss - first time ever.

At least I still have a job (SO FAR) and a house to live in.

And if we elope, I can get on Rob's (also Aetna - eeks!) health insurance... it's the Aetna plan I had years ago - when I never even GOT a bill for my 1st back surgery.

This damn movie...

I saw a movie on HBO the other night and haven't been able to shake it. I tivo'ed it bc it has one of my favorite actors in it - Nathan (Hottypants) Fillion - who was in Buffy, Firefly and some other bit parts in cult following type phenomenal dramas and also has some decent parts in movies to his credit. I think mainstream-wise he has recently been in that show 'Drive' that lasted like 4 episodes last year and in the show Brothers&Sisters which i have yet to catch. Anyway, he's really good - and frickin HOT.

I couldn't be happier having taped it based solely on getting to watch Nathan Hottypants for 2 hours. But much to my surprise (it also stars flippin Felicity... oh and Andy Griffith!) I hit the jackpot! I thought this movie was PHENOMENAL.

It's called 'Waitress' -- it absolutely qualifies as a chick flick but w/o the ultra happy and sappy bits that epitomize chick flicks. It deeply resonates with all things 'woman and love' but not in any feminist way nor perfect love story nor fairytale way - just in what is frighteningly real.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473308/

Anyway, I went to find out more about it - including what other movies the writer had done and found a tragedy belied it.

The writer/director Adrienne Shelley - many accolades - including for this movie - was an indie director - actually died while making the movie... actually -- was murdered.

There are a few other films she's written - though I've never heard of them.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0791248/bio

Anyway, it's worth a netflix or trip to blockbuster. It so hit me that I *must* own it - for fear someday I might forget how wonderful it was, and then that it even existed...