Just a friendly reminder, nothing to do with the post 😁

Afternoon my Lovelies, I hope life is treating you kindly.

I thought I’d share a few updates on the ridiculous stuff going on in my life that I have written about and a few other things of note.

First up – the dreaded medical bills (dun, dun, duh!): I finally gave up the ghost and paid off the main medical bill because I got tired of their threats to “send it to collections” even though I was making monthly payments. The kicker? They wanted me to sign up for a payment plan of $300 a month which would have taken me close to two years to pay off! So me making large payments without a payment plan wasn’t good enough but making smaller payments for a longer period of time was? Make it make sense 🤯! However just when you thought the saga was over, I received separate bills from the anesthesiologists office from the same company?!? Apparently that wasn’t figured into the estimated amount that I would owe 🙄. And to make matters worse, they hadn’t figured out how to apply the insurance allowance on one so they charged me $1640 🤬🤬. Well they tried to. But as of today, that particular bill was sorted out so One last payment to make puts my surgery is behind me 🍾🥂. So freaking annoying!!!

As for the flooding (update number two), everything is back to normal. It was interesting to see what was left over once the pond receded. Aside from the debris, I found that my neighbor’s fish gutting table was caught up in a spot on my part of the pond and he has to wait until the water receded a little more before he could fetch it 😆😆😆. When I finally saw him a few weeks later, I jokingly told him I found his table.  We had a good chuckle over that. As for the rest of it, I spent about an hour with my little battery powered sawzall sawing a huge branch that broke off from my big oak into burnable pieces which my neighbor will no doubt use this winter for his firepit. He’s really great about that. I still have two rather large pieces to deal with, but I’ll get to those eventually.

The last update is about my possessed car 😡. Apparently, changing the weather seal around the sunroof has not completely fixed the problem! The same damn corner kept popping up and then the whistling sound came back making me have homicidal feelings again.  But two trips to the dealership later (the first one determined the replacement seal was defective and had to be ordered hence the second visit) and my car is now back to its normal levels of noise. Will it last? Enquiring minds want to know! 

Now on to some good things. Over the summer I found a writing group that I have joined – yay me! It’s really helping to push me creatively, especially on the fly (we write for ten minutes during the group session on a topic prompt). It is getting me out of the house and engaging with others which is something I need. I may share a few of my favorite pieces one day. I will say that it has taught me that I have a talent for writing short, short stories (less than a 1000 word short) and I have impressed myself 😁.

And finally, the last bit of good things – I got to see a new favorite author again! My little town’s library recently held the first Southern Gothic Festival with featured authors, both local and national. We also had a panel on the Alex Murdaugh trial with prosecutors from said trial. That story couldn’t be more southern gothic if it tried. There were other events but for me the highlight was Grady Hendrix. I had previously met him last year at a literary festival and he actually remembered me when I approached him! He also offered to sign my books (and others) before his session so that I wouldn’t have to wait in line. He is a truly nice person and a great writer. And if you get an opportunity to see him speak – I highly recommend it. He put together a presentation that was so interesting and so well researched I was blown away. On top of that he has a great presence when he speaks. So, again, please check him out if you have an opportunity to – and read his books! If you’re not sure you’ll like him, then check him out from the library. I will say his books The Final Girls Support Group and How to Sell a Haunted House are two of my favorites 💜.

So that’s what’ happening in my neck of the woods (thank you Al Roker). One last thing – after a year’s hiatus I Love a Mama’s Boy is back on TLC and Matt is the only returning cast member. I thought about doing my not a recap for it but there is only so many ways you can say that these people have dysfunctional and emotional incestuous relationships. And many are bat crap crazy to boot. I find it both equal parts humorous and rage inducing 😆😆. But give it a whirl if you think there isn’t anyone crazier than your family. I’ll bet this show changes your mind.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

Greetings My Lovelies from beautiful SC. We were fortunate during hurricane Helene to have a minimal, yet annoying, impact. My entire city lost power the day after the storm passed through. I myself was out for only 14 hours, while one friend lost hers for close to 24 😬. It didn’t help that we were having warm weather during this time, or that those in the county and surrounding cities had electricity 🙄. Also by Friday, the pond behind me flooded due to Wateree River flooding the neighborhood behind me. The pond extended into the lower half of my property and my neighbor’s deck, which usually sits well above the water line, disappeared 😳. It took a week but it’ finally lower. Our side of the pond remained relatively unscathed, can’t say as much for the neighborhood behind me as the road to their houses was completely flooded. I was feeling bad for them until they decided to park all their vehicles on the shoulder of the road instead of the fields not a 100 yards away, causing issues when turning on and off our road. One guy thought that parking his car at the stop sign on my road was a great option 😒. After a few days, they were finally able to get their cars off the road and back to their homes, well except for one truck that didn’t seem to want to start. Not surprising based on how it looked 🤷‍♀️.

So my little community is safe and sound once again. Posting flood pictures below with a side-by-side comparison of how it looks a week later. Enjoy!

Peace ✌️

Neighbors deck just beginning to peak above the water line and one week later

Across the pond…

… my back yard (note, that is the same tree in both shots, just zoomed in on the first).

Yes muderery – that’s my word and I’m sticking to it. Besides, it sounds less deranged than homicidal 🤪.

Hello again My Lovelies, it’s been a hot minute but I’m sure you would not be surprised that learn that my emotions effect my writing. And I’ve been stressed a lot lately! Some factors causing my stress are easily identifiable. (i.e. my medical bills and is story for another day 😬). However, I seem to be holding on to other sources of stress that are not so readily discernable (hoping the end of election season will help 🤞🤞).

At least this week, I found relief from a major source of irritation that was literally causing me to consider murdering someone. You see for the past year or so, when driving my car over 45 mph, it would sound like a window was open on the passenger side despite the fact that I would double and triple check the front and back ones using the interior controls to make sure they were closed tight. I even pushed the buttons my sun/moon roof, which I never open, cause, you know, whistling noises. This sound was driving me mad! It’s like nails on a chalk board to my nerves and would cause me to feel “murderery”. And for the longest time, I could not figure it out.

Then about two or three months ago, I had an epiphany 💡💡. As I cannot see the top of my car, I opened the passenger door, stood on the frame and looked at closely at the sun/moon roof, that I never open, and low and behold the weather stripping around the sun/moon roof had pulled up in the front corner passenger side (dun dun duh!!!!). And, yes, that was what was causing the sound. Dear sweet jesus, I nearly cried knowing that I wasn’t losing my ever-loving mind (for some reason, my friend that rides with me frequently, could not hear what I was talking about 😒 which, given the fact that sound was causing homicidal feelings, did not bode well for him 😆😆). So I finally got most of the medical financials sorted (I think 😬) and got the dang weather stripping replaced and it has been sweet relief since, hence why I feel “slightlyless murderery”, at the moment

And that is a good thing , right?  😁

Peace ✌️

I really consider going full alliteration but couldn’t quite make it work, this time (mwa hahahah).

So last we spoke, I was discussing the state of our healthcare system and how I was going to treat my outstanding balance from my surgery. I was all set to be send checks for the next 5 months or so when I received a notice (probably the second if I’m honest – who reads all the stuff they send?!?) about how they will be going paperless and will not be sending out bills anymore, only emails. And I was annoyed thinking that I would be forced to pay online. But low and behold after clicking the correct series of links on their website, I found that I can print a bill and mail it that way. I just have to decide if it’s worth the extra work to stall the draft from my account for few days. How do I know it’s only a few days? Well when I sent the last check out it was a Monday. When I checked on Friday the money was already released. I miss the good old days when it would take at least five business days after a deposit for it to clear my account -SSSIIIGGGGHHHH.

However, I love that they sent me what they thought of as an intimidating email about my overdue balance. Probably because they would rather me sign up for their repayment plan. Fortunately, I know that as long as I make a monthly payment I am good. If they start to threaten bill collections then I’ll just pay it off. Until then they will get monthly installments until the debt is clear.

Of other note, I know have to find a new primary care provider not connected to the other medical conglomerate in my state as they have decided to suspend ALL gender affirming care, no matter the age of the patient. Now I can appreciate being cautious with children in regard to this but to not provide it to consenting adults is just hideous. Of course they are citing a new state law that services cannot be paid directly or indirectly with public funds. So instead of finding a way to create a non-public funds bucket or to treat those who have insurance or can afford to pay for it, they opt to suspend it altogether. This thing with law makers making medical decisions for the public is at large is getting tiresome to say the least.

Well enough bitching about healthcare, I’ll just leave you with an amusing little anecdote about my ability to have brain dead moments lately. A few weeks ago, I woke up after a bad night of sleep, partly due to a power outage (I sleep with a fan for white noise so that’s how I noticed the overnight outage). As I walked past my stove on the way to make coffee, I noted that I needed to reset the clock. Not ten seconds later, I was wondering what time it was and looked at the exact same clock 🤦‍♀️. And I stared at it for about twenty seconds before my brain reminded me that I had just noted to reset it. It’s a wonder I’m still alive somedays 🤪🤪.

With that little nugget, I am off to work on some other writing projects.

Peace ✌️