New Cell Phones

Thursday Evening we went and bought new cell phones! Yeah! Mine was being pesty and would not hold the charge. We got really nice camera phones.

I was teasing Steve while we were waiting for Dude to figure out how to ring up our phones that it will not take long and soon there will be scars on my phone. (From dropping, scrapping ect.)

Well I proved myself right. Today on the afternoon walk with Pippen I threw mine onto the pavement of the sidewalk. It has battle scars.

AND IT ONLY TOOK 12 HOURS!!!

Cell Phones

Yesterday I went to the Sprint Store in Apple Valley to check out new phones. The ones we have are 2.5 years old and mine will not hold a charge.

I constantly have to charge it in order to use it.

So while there I noticed that they had 2 Samsung camera phones for 49.99. They were cool looking and were a great deal.

While pondering if I should just go ahead and get them, I decided to check with my better half. I pull out my phone to call him and low and behold it is Dead!

Well that's ironic! Steve thought it was funny! He also said that if I had called him at work to see if I could spend more money on junk I would have been in big trouble. So I guess my dead phone saved me.

Still no news on if I get a new phone though!!

Back Surgery

Ok, so I finally received my bills for the back surgery. Thinking that I would have a 250.00 inpatient copay I was surprised when I received bills for another outpatient back surgery I had the same day.

WHAT?? My surgeon decided to admit me to the hospital for 2 days turning my back surgery into an inpatient stay. Then that same surgeon decided to get a little more money out of me and bill that same surgery as outpatient.

Well needless to say I am mad. I have made 2 calls to the insurance carrier, and 1 to the surgeons office. Both have said to me, are you sure you were inpatient?

YES! I think I would remember these things. I really did not have that many pain killers while in house to distort the memory of the nurses or the horrible IV and bad bed. Yet I may be lying about being inpatient, or maybe I am just confused(my surgeons office said these things).

The final call to my insurance carrier was a little curt. I told them that they need to contact my surgeon's office and ask them why they are billing fraudulently. (That really got the insurance guy to listen) Because the second insurance specialist can physically see the 13,000.00 dollar inpatient hospital bill that spans a 2 day time period. He finally got it!!

Needless to say if I did not have a background in medical insurance I probably would have paid the incorrect bill!!

Hopefully this will get reconciled, because I refuse to pay the outpatient surgery bill!!!

Baby Shower

As promised here are some pictures of my friend Laura's Baby Shower!







A fun time was had by everyone! And the mom to be looks great!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Just a short post today as I am getting crazy busy!

I am hosting a Baby Shower for my friend Laura on Friday!

I love to give parties, just ask Steve! I think they are a fun way to hang out with friends and not have to go to the Bar! I have been busy making decorations, ordering the cake and corsage for the Mommy to be, ordering balloons and deciding on the menu.

We are having chips and dip, veggie tray and dip for appetizers. Lasagna, garlic cheese bread, salad bar for dinner.
And CAKE for dessert. I love cake! No shower is complete without it, although Steve has a hard time with the cake at every shower I have ever thrown idea.

Well ta ta for now and I may post some pic's of the party later this week!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Yesterday was Sarah's Birthday! We were able to celebrate with her and mom and dad as she made a surprise visit this weekend from New Hampshire!

It was great to get to catch up and just hang out.
Hopefully Sarah had a good time too!

Excel

I currently have a project that I am doing for my online class. It has me making visuals for a section of a report to be handed in to a theoretical employer.

First let me say that I hate Excel! This will get me moans and groans from my father-in-law and my husband. (They LOVE Excel.) I spent almost 2 whole hours just trying to figure out what type of graphs/charts to use for the visuals that I need to do.
I had a ton of stats and needed 2 visuals that would complement the information.

Let's just say that I have no comprehension of axes and how to get the formulas in and make things look nice. Thank god for Excel literate people (Steve).

But in the end I do have to say that my visuals were stunning for international industrial heating pump sales.

Vacation

Steve and I have finally figured out where we are going at the end of September! It looks like Boston!

I love Boston. I have been there once when I was a senior in high school and we went on a trip with the orchestra. We did tons of stuff and played with the Boston Pops. It was amazing!

We also hope to visit with Sarah and John who live in Hanover, NH. We have not been able to get out to them so I am excited about that prospect!

Steve is going to be attending a class in Reston, VA the week before our vacation and plans to fly from there to meet me in Boston.

So hopefully the class goes through and we can start planning!!

Pippen the Slug

Have you ever had a pet that spends most of the time laying around the house and sleeping? Well we have one and her name is Pippen the Slug.


Pippen is 2 years old and has mellowed out quite a bit. The first year and a half were pretty hectic. Pippen was full throttle for most of that time. She would get into anything and then try to taunt you into chasing her for it. She would usually walk really slow down the hall past the office to see if Steve would see her making her pass with something in her mouth. If that did not work she would do a second pass a breakneck speeds, tags jangling and then run down the stairs to get you to chase her. This usually worked.

Lately this has happened less and less. Usually you have to make her play with you.

Today I ran an errand and came home at about 9:15 am. I had left Pippen to roam the house as I was not going to be gone long. When you come home she is usually waiting at the garage door to accost you as you try to get into the house. This is usually filled with frantic jumping on you and dancing like a little circus bear in front of you.

NOT TODAY! I came in the house, slammed my purse down and waited. NOTHING!
So I start to panic and think, Oh My Gosh, Is she Dead? N, she is laying on the couch on a pillow, looking mussed and sweaty. She looks a little chagrined to as she did not even hear me come in.

Hence the name Pippen the Slug.

Movie Night

Last night I watched the new Phantom of the Opera. Steve went to the movies with friends and I stayed home as I cannot sit long enough to go to the theater.

Overall I liked the new rendition, the music was great and some of the actors were good.

Glad I did not go to the theater when it first came out though because it was just "OK."

Hair Update

Thank goodness that this salon was great! My stylist listened to what I wanted and everything went fine. Plus they were a little less expensive than the other salon. All in all a good choice.

I know I said I would try to post a picture and here it is.


This picture had to be taken the next day as I stopped at Walmart on my way home and had a very different experience. There was severe weather approaching and I decided that I might be able to beat it.

unfortunately no. Walmart called a code black and locked everyone in the store for 30 minutes due to the sever weather. I was horrified to be stuck there. All I had wanted to get was some candy to serve at a Baby Shower that I am having for my friend Laura. The weather was torrential rain, severe 50 mile an hour wind and there was no way that you could see anything at all to drive.

I waited it out, and then as soon as they cancelled the code black I hurried to leave. Big, fat mistake. It was still poring outside and the rain was going sideways. I decided to leave anyways and sprint for the car. Ha! I cannot run fast due to may back and by the time I reached the car I was soaked and my sneakers were drenched! As I was driving home County Road 42 in Apple Valley was under like 2 feet of water! The cars were having a hard time driving.

Needless to say my new do was ruined and I looked like a wet dog. So no picture right away!

Hair Horror

I'll start this post out with a little background info. My mom is a hairdresser so I had been spoiled for 22 years. This is where all the whining about going to the salon comes from.

When I moved to the cities to be with Steve I had to find salon here. It was to hard to drive home to Duluth when I needed a cut or a color. (I had tried this for the first year I lived in the cities.) Not to mention unfair to my mom as she usually had to stay longer hours to try to fit me in.

I chose a salon in Eagan close to work, I went to the same hairdresser for 3 years. She did a great job, and seemed reasonable. Well that all changed when she became a manager in the salon. Her prices increased and she seemed to try to schedule haircuts in between my foil and the rinse out. (You have to leave the color on for around 25 to 35 minutes to get it to take in your hair.) At first this was ok, but then I started to compute how much my every 10 week adventure was costing me, $140 smackers. Oh course Steve thought this was a little high. (So did I.)

Then the horror happened. The last time I went in, 3.5 months ago, (a long time due the back surgery) I asked for the same thing I have been getting for 1.5 years. A bob cut with highlights (whitish blond,) lowlights (a darker blond) and red. Seemed safe, I had been doing this for a while and only going to this hairdresser. When I left the salon and looked at the finished product in the natural light in my rearview mirror I noticed that I looked a little orange vs. highlights and red. That freaked me out. I came home though and made Steve look at it, he seemed to agree that there was a little orange in it!

So you may ask, what could you possibly do now? Well you call the salon and complain and moan about your hair. Then make another appt. to see the stylist and get it fixed. Only she says that it really does not look that orange. I disagree and she sets out to "fix" the prob. When done I leave again to check it out in the rearview mirror and natural light (you can't see anything in the salon light) and low and behold it seems to be a little better but still orange. Oh well. She just lost a client.

So anyways today I am getting my hair done at a new salon by my house. I have decided to just get high and low lights and not try the red until I see what my new, cheaper, closer stylist can do.

If it turns out decent I may post some pictures, but we will have to see as I hate having my pic taken.

Wish me luck!

Boredom Sets In

Have you ever wished that you did not work? Had all the free time in the world to do whatever you wanted? Well I have.

I am currently recovering from back surgery and have taken only 1 online class this quarter. I was supposed to take 2 others but they were at the campus and I was not going to be physically able to do this after the surgery.
I never realized just how long a day is when you only have 1 class and nothing else that you can do (due to the recovery).

My husband Steve said that I could get Netflix while I was recovery. Very generous. It passes the time, but you can only watch so many movies a day.

Then there is the walking to help with recovery. Again only so much walking you can do in a day, especially when it has been so hot!

So that leaves talking to our Silky Terrier Pippen.
Well as you can imagine that poses some problems. First, am I crazy? No. Just bored. But I think that the neighbors think that I am! Secondly, she really does not talk back. So I voice her response. (Seriously though, still not crazy!) Lastly, this does not make up for human interaction.
Okay enough whining. It is kinda nice to have the summer off!