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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

White carnations

Plaidman will wear a white flower in his lapel next Mother's Day.  His mom, our own dear Betty, passed away the Sunday before last.  Plaidman & I embarked on a brutal 9.5 hour drive up to her home -- we had to drive straight thru, instead of our usual stop halfway, as we didn't have the means to let a motel room.  We packed a cooler, and ate from it for the day.  There was major construction almost every 20 miles all along the way.  The next day was the funeral & interment.  We visited with relatives we hadn't seen since Plaidman's dad passed, 10 years ago.  There was a pretty good turnout, more than his baby sister had thought would show up.  Of course, neither of us remembered to bring the camera.  I've got cell phone pictures, which are surprisingly decent photos.  A lot of the family went to the Golden Corral(!My first time in one!) for a luncheon after, and we had to spend a little of our puny bank balance -- but how often do we get to spend time with these folks?  Then it was back to Mom's the sisters' house for a while, then we went over to the Brother of Plaid's home & spent the night, before leaving for another 9.5 hour drive home (with the repacked cooler, no overnight stop).  Whew!  I was about wiped out Friday.  But I did a good bit of work on the EWW during the drive, finishing the last repeat of the cable pattern.  Slowly but surely I will make this wrap!  Only now I'm distracted by, of all things, cotton washcloths.  And I'm about to start Wendy's Summer Solstice KAL -- I have the Cascade Heritage Sock yarn in my stash, and spent $2 for the pattern.  Not sure if I'll like the finished shawl, but hey -- it could be a gift-knit.

I've commented on Fleegle's blog re: the student spindle.  Maybe she'll come into town again on 6/18/12 for Ann Shayne's book launch party!  Oh, it's not a knitting book -- Ann's written a novel!  Go on Amazon & you can take a peek.  I would like to go -- I wonder if I can get there from work, without too much hassle?  Nashville traffic being what it is, which is generally insane: half the folks on the road appear to have found their licenses in Cracker Jack boxes.

Round and round

When my employer (hereafter referred to as "Box 'O Docs" or BoD) changed their payroll processor several pay periods ago, they stopped taking the insurance correctly.  Plaidman's coverage was dropped, but not by me!  It's taken weeks of wrangling with the insurance & payroll liasons, but they've finally admitted it was their error.  He's been covered again, but only until the next time we have to sign up for insurance -- seems his change in status (the retirement) isn't a valid reason to put him on our plan, if he wasn't already on it.  And I still don't know if or how the difference in premiums for those weeks when his coverage wasn't being paid, will be deducted from my check.  So, last night, I let the Plaidman know in no uncertain terms that he was really stupid to retire without checking into such things as our financial status & plans, and possible effects on his health insurance coverage.  I really laid into him.  But who takes such a big step without looking first?  Oh yeah, I forgot the family motto, "Any fool can do it the easy way."  I sure hope he likes catfood.
I'm rather glad May is ending, this has been an expensive month what with Plaidman's travel, Mother's Day, and Disco's birthday.  Next up: the Plaidman's birthday followed (very quickly!) by Father's Day.  After that, we have our 35th wedding anniversary, which I expect will be a total dud -- we won't have enough cashola for much celebrating, and the "free (as in "best things in life") type of celebration is just not happening -- not on my watch anyway.
ETA: This post kinda got lost in the shuffle--but I'll put it out there today, 6/13/12