Freedom?

 Saturday, April 24 at 9:00 a.m. we hit the two week mark after our second vaccine.  I spent the day trying to convince my husband to go out to a restaurant for breakfast on Sunday, but he had so many horror stories that I ended up having a dining out nightmare on Saturday night. 

I thought I would slowly introduce him back into the world on Sunday with a drive thru Chicken BBQ at a local fire station. The line was four blocks long and when we got closer we could see three sets of two people, one taking the money, the other putting a post-it note on your windshield with numbers of dinners. Pretty slick except for the fact NOT ONE of them was wearing a mask. 

We pulled around the building where we could see about ten people in one of the bays boxing chicken dinners and putting them in bags. NOT ONE of the people preparing the dinners was wearing a mask, but they did all have gloves on. 

The two people running dinners to car windows were not wearing masks. 

Our county has a 28% vaccination rate. Our health department is hosting all day shot clinics and no one is attending. Those who do come for the vaccine were coming from other counties who had wait lists, but now those counties can take care of their own. 

I am not a happy camper. It is hard to make that giant step of trying to get back to normal when no one is willing to follow the rules.  My best friend lost her 40 year old nephew this week to Covid. He tested positive on a Tuesday, was admitted to the hospital a few days later, was put on a bi-pap, then transferred to a bigger hospital and put on a ventilator. He died 8 days after the test. He chose not to be vaccinated. 

Meanwhile, I watched our church service on Facebook on Saturday night. My daughter in law called me this morning to remind me my grandson was doing something special at mass at their church this morning so I went to their Facebook page and watched their mass. It took me until the end of the service to realize I was watching the Saturday night service so then I had to go to the Sunday service and watch that so that I could see my grandson.  Yes, that is right. I attended THREE complete church services this weekend. 

Our wacky weather is continuing after four inches of snow last Tuesday, a moderate week and now a forecast in the 80's by this Tuesday.  Mother Nature has lost her marbles! 

April 12th

Well, somehow it is April 12th and I am still working on my word for the month. I keep waiting for inspiration, but I have nothing.  

We have had nicer weather than normal. Not too hot, not too cold. Warmer than usual. 

I make breakfast, put two grandchildren on a school bus, play with my "baby" who will somehow be 2 in July and his sister who will leave me for kindergarten in the fall.  My co-grandparent family is dealing with illness but has been up to watching the other three grandchildren the past two weeks. We meet the mother pf the two we have at 4 p.m., come home and have dinner and usually fall asleep in our recliners. 

I have been accumulating more books in my "to read" pile. 

We had a few family members over for Easter. And got tired of leftovers since I can only cook for a very large crowd. 

I have not figured out where or how to start my photo sorting project. I have purchased a boatload of photo cases to put the sorted photographs into so I need to get busy. 

Today I started my Medicare journey. I am six months away and already wish I had started sooner.  I called my pension plan who told me that my insurance did not offer a Medicare supplemental plan. I called my insurance and found out that they do offer a supplemental plan and will send me a booklet with plans and costs. I talked to my neighbor who turned 65 last year and got advice from her. Then I called my best friend who turned 65 last week and actually had appointments with two different Medicare advisors and made spreadsheets and is crossing her fingers she has chosen wisely.  

I found there is a Part A, a Part B, a Part C which everyone tells me is a mistake that will cost me too much for not what i think it will be, a Part D which will increase my prescription costs no matter which plan of the 18 available plans in my county I chose. There used to be a Part F, now there is a Part G and, I just found out a Plan N. However, my insurance company offers a Plan F which will be explained in the booklet they are sending me.  

So far I have come to the conclusion that whatever I chose will be wrong and cost me lots of money. I am ripe for spending too much since I purchased a supplemental to the plan that expires on my 65th birthday (I have no memory of signing up for it or purchasing it) that paid an additional $10,000 of the deductibles, co-pays and remaining percentages when I broke my arm.  

I haven't started my own spreadsheet yet, but I should have enough notes by the weekend to start one. 

Oh, and we got our second vaccine. I did not feel the shot. I did not have any side effects until that evening when every joint in my body ached. We did have a temperature drop of 25 degrees the same evening so I am not sure if it was a side effect. We were also very tired but had been babysitting preschoolers and toddlers for six consecutive days so I am not sure i can blame that on the vaccine either.