Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Counting Down

One week until we leave for Europe! (And, for those of you that know my real name and where I live, we are not leaving our house unoccupied, so don't bother coming by to steal our stuff :-) )

DH returns from Portland tonight, I've FINALLY finished our massive filing/shredding/organizing project, and I still have a million things left to do.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Outdoor Performing

Current mental soundtrack: "The Coolin" by Samuel Barber

S&P sang last night at the Temescal Street Cinema. It was an interesting concert. After a week or more of warm, sunny weather, we ended up performing on a foggy, windy day. I dressed appropriately for the weather: long underwear (top and bottom), T-shirt, blazer, dressy scarf, fleece jacket, hair in a ponytail to keep it out of my mouth. I felt really silly putting on my long underwear in June, but was very glad I had done it. The only part of me that was cold was my hands, and everyone in the choir had the same complaint. By the end of the performance, we were all having trouble turning pages with our frozen extremities, and my fingers didn't stop tingling for an hour afterward.

Outdoor performances are always entertaining. We had sirens, a helicoptor, wind blowing the conductor's music, and kids riding bikes in front of the "stage." We made an unusual number of mistakes (probably because we were half frozen): at one point, we lost the entire always-reliable alto section for four measures of the "Geographical Fugue." Every performer has those occasional lapses, but nothing gets the adrenaline going like the realization that the other four singers in your section had the same brain lapse, and there is no one left on your part! Overall, the performance was okay. The audience seemed to enjoy it, and there only a few REALLY "interesting" moments. :-)

Friday, June 18, 2010

Please Reform MY Insurance!

Gotta love those insurance companies. (Although my doctor's office shares some of the blame for this story.) DH and I work for the same employer, and I've been covered under his plan for a number of years. With the astronomical increase in premiums for 2010, I figured out last fall that it would be much cheaper to cover me separately, since I'm in a lower salary band than DH. Same insurance company, same plan, just a change of policyholder name--shouldn't be a problem, right?

The trouble started in February when I tried to refill my allergy prescription. The drugstore told me that the insurance company refused to pay for it without a "prior authorization," so I called my doctor's office and was told it would take several weeks to process. I called again the following month, to find that they had no record of ever having spoken with me. This time I went in in person, handed them the form, and the office staff was very apologetic, and assured me it would be fastracked. I waited another month, called them back, and was informed that the insurance company hadn't responded yet. I called back again yesterday, and they had no record whatsoever of anything being submitted! This time, I got someone who passed it up to my doctor right away, instead of to her assistant.

The fun doesn't end there. I got a new prescription the same day for another brand of allergy meds. Got a call from the drugstore saying that my insurance wouldn't cover that one, either. Back to the doctor, who went with a generic from the approved formulary this time. Drugstore called again tonight: yes, the insurance company will pay for this brand. Unfortunately, there's a shortage of it (maybe since the insurance company is forcing everyone to use it), and they haven't had any in stock for the last three weeks!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Unexpected Sights

Two days in a row of unexpected sights while driving the middle-school carpool. Yesterday, as I was leaving the school, two log sections rolled down the hill into the street about twenty feet in front of me. Must have gotten away from the tree trimmers. Today, we turned onto G. Blvd., and saw a blizzard of white office paper lining the road, and a garbage truck with its blinkers on. M walked around the corner after I parked the car, and reported that the papers seemed to be packing slips and things. I later heard from L's mom that they were papers from some local businesses headed off to the shredder. The garbage company sent out a crew pretty quickly (one truck parked right in front of our house, but I didn't think to ask them what was going on), and cleaned them all up.

School's out, DH is in Beijing, and next week will be a flurry of Orinda Idol stuff: music rehearsals, choreography sessions, and, most importantly, dress shopping.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Homework for the Parents, Two Years Later

It's state buffet time again. B did her report on Minnesota, and didn't have any idea what we should cook. I posted a request to my Facebook friends, and most people agreed that we should make some sort of "hotdish," preferably with either wild rice or tater tots. Also suggested were rhubarb pie, bundt cake, jello with marshmellows, lutefisk, and anything with wild rice. (I had no idea that Minnesota was known for wild rice.)

In the oven right now is "Mom's Wild Rice & Chicken Casserole", which had all of the ingredients my Minnesota friends felt were necessary: wild rice, chicken or ground beef, cream of mushroom soup. I hope it turns out well!

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 Photo (11:20 am):

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Take This Kid Instead

And now for a completely different shopping trip. Yesterday we dragged M out to the mall. He is heading to Disneyland this weekend for a choir trip, and has been complaining that his black dress shoes pinch his feet. So, off to buy shoes. We went to the mall. We went into one department store. Over his protests, we forced him to try on TWO pairs of black tennis shoes (the horror!), because he didn't like the soles on the first pair. We bought the second pair (on sale!), and left for home.