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Apr. 21st, 2014 02:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stitchwhichMy goodness, I'm so far behind on reading LiveJournal that I am currently reading posts from a week ago. I feel a bit silly making comments but I'm going to anyway.
We've had a week of 'house woe'. We had planned on attempting to finish the main bathroom last weekend but budgetary pinching couldn't overcome current bills so the project has been put off. Darn it. That same problem has made it clear that we won't be buying a new tent for Pennsic and will have to use the same three-for-us arrangement as we did in the past. I view this with a jaundiced eye since neither one of us are going to be physically fit enough to set up or tear down without becoming overly hot and winded (exhausted). I fear the teardown the most. And, we now have two 'so-so' tents, since friends helping us tear down at War of the Wings ignored our instructions and managed to rip the canvas of my wall tent right along the ridgepole area. I've mended it - hopefully it won't leak. Arni's 10x14 is so old that we fear ripping each time it goes up. I've been telling myself 'this is the last year' for two years now. So I approach the idea of camping with a touch of dread.
Then inspiration struck. We have friends who are not in the SCA any longer and they want to sell their oval tent. (I think it is an 18' oval, but Bossman believes it is longer.) I contacted them to ask if we could borrow their tent for Pennsic and sell it for them there - the selling of used tents is a looked-for occurrence and most folks understand that the tent will be available at the end of the event. That would work perfectly. They said they love the idea, so we're set. One tent. Yay!
But then house-woes hit again. In small scale, thank goodness. Our garbage disposal developed a leak. Actually, the discharge line came completely off of the unit so that is more than a mere 'leak'. Currently I have our camping dish pan in the sink to use for dishwashing and to stave off any accidental spillage. After a lot of cussing (during attempted repairs) and disagreement (post attempted repair), Bossman has concurred that a replacement unit must be purchased. He begrudges the cost, you see, since medical bills are eating our funds. We have fabulous health and co-pay insurances, but they require that the billing facility (the hospitals and doctor's offices) actually follow the rules and submit correctly. Often they do not and send the bills late to us - usually as unexplained charges with vague dates. For example, I just received a bill for services rendered in October of 2013... just the bill and that date. There is no way for me to reconcile that with our insurance so we're stuck paying it. The downside to our fabulous plan is that it is administered online, for the most part. There is a local 'office' but we cannot call them or make an appointment to see them. I'm not really sure what they are there for, to tell you the truth. Being a government program (for dependants and retirees of the military), we just have to deal with however they choose to set things up. ARG.
I should get back to my housework. Oh! One last thing to write about - last week we found a card in our mailbox that had obviously been placed there by hand (no street addresses on it). It was addressed just to us by first names and the message inside had been carefully typewritten and taped to the card. It said that we had enough to worry about with the health challenges we were facing without having to deal with bills too, and there was a $100 bill folded inside. I have no idea who gave it to us but it was a gift that stunned me. And yeah, I cried a bit. Right now the card is hanging on our refrigerator so we can see it everyday. But I think the cash may be buying a new garbage disposal.
We've had a week of 'house woe'. We had planned on attempting to finish the main bathroom last weekend but budgetary pinching couldn't overcome current bills so the project has been put off. Darn it. That same problem has made it clear that we won't be buying a new tent for Pennsic and will have to use the same three-for-us arrangement as we did in the past. I view this with a jaundiced eye since neither one of us are going to be physically fit enough to set up or tear down without becoming overly hot and winded (exhausted). I fear the teardown the most. And, we now have two 'so-so' tents, since friends helping us tear down at War of the Wings ignored our instructions and managed to rip the canvas of my wall tent right along the ridgepole area. I've mended it - hopefully it won't leak. Arni's 10x14 is so old that we fear ripping each time it goes up. I've been telling myself 'this is the last year' for two years now. So I approach the idea of camping with a touch of dread.
Then inspiration struck. We have friends who are not in the SCA any longer and they want to sell their oval tent. (I think it is an 18' oval, but Bossman believes it is longer.) I contacted them to ask if we could borrow their tent for Pennsic and sell it for them there - the selling of used tents is a looked-for occurrence and most folks understand that the tent will be available at the end of the event. That would work perfectly. They said they love the idea, so we're set. One tent. Yay!
But then house-woes hit again. In small scale, thank goodness. Our garbage disposal developed a leak. Actually, the discharge line came completely off of the unit so that is more than a mere 'leak'. Currently I have our camping dish pan in the sink to use for dishwashing and to stave off any accidental spillage. After a lot of cussing (during attempted repairs) and disagreement (post attempted repair), Bossman has concurred that a replacement unit must be purchased. He begrudges the cost, you see, since medical bills are eating our funds. We have fabulous health and co-pay insurances, but they require that the billing facility (the hospitals and doctor's offices) actually follow the rules and submit correctly. Often they do not and send the bills late to us - usually as unexplained charges with vague dates. For example, I just received a bill for services rendered in October of 2013... just the bill and that date. There is no way for me to reconcile that with our insurance so we're stuck paying it. The downside to our fabulous plan is that it is administered online, for the most part. There is a local 'office' but we cannot call them or make an appointment to see them. I'm not really sure what they are there for, to tell you the truth. Being a government program (for dependants and retirees of the military), we just have to deal with however they choose to set things up. ARG.
I should get back to my housework. Oh! One last thing to write about - last week we found a card in our mailbox that had obviously been placed there by hand (no street addresses on it). It was addressed just to us by first names and the message inside had been carefully typewritten and taped to the card. It said that we had enough to worry about with the health challenges we were facing without having to deal with bills too, and there was a $100 bill folded inside. I have no idea who gave it to us but it was a gift that stunned me. And yeah, I cried a bit. Right now the card is hanging on our refrigerator so we can see it everyday. But I think the cash may be buying a new garbage disposal.
