Published on November 30, 2008
in My Peeps.
Last night I went to a little pre-Christmas get-together over at the home of my friends Vincent and Larry. The deal was: help them decorate trees and they would provide dinner.
Not as many people showed up as they expected, which is a shame for those people because we had a great time! Vincent is way into Christmas; they had six (yes, six) trees they wanted to decorate. One tree is a normal 6 footer that has all their meaningful ornaments on it. It probably had well over 100 ornaments - we were running out of places to hang them. Another is their snowman tree. One is upside down (it hangs from the ceiling). Another is M&M’s. Yet another is the Vincent’s Grandma tree, with ornaments he received from his grandmother’s collection of interesting styles and shapes from the 50’s. The focal point tree is at least 15 feet tall, with white lights and white crocheted snowflakes (144 of them) and white ceramic doves held on by silky red cords. Vincent made ALL the ornaments. The finishing touches include drapes of red and gold curling cloth ribbon and a giant bow on the top.
Larry did not get the decorating gene, but he definitely got the entertaining gene! He cooked a wonderful dinner - tossed salad, bacon-wrapped filet mignon, shrimp scampi and honey-glazed carrots. Dessert was a chocolate peanut butter silk pie; very rich but not too sweet.
I really had a wonderful time. I did as I was told (Vincent not only got the decorating gene; he also got the organizing gene) and we visited and laughed and joked and I sang along with the Christmas songs and they didn’t even tell me to stop. It was a fabulous kickoff to the Christmas season.
Air Travel
Cell phones
Medicare
Regrets…
Good cell phone service doesn’t seem to extend into Big Bend National Park.
I still need to pack clothes, makeup, deodorant, toothbrush and computer.
Mark needs to pack the things he needs for the trip, including his recorder and instruction book, toothbrush and Bionicles. Mustn’t forget the Bionicles!
These things can wait until morning.
I need to run the dishwasher, wipe off the kitchen counters and take out the trash. I need to do this yet tonight.
Our flight leaves at 11:15ish. We need to be out of here around 8:45. It’s an hour to the airport, plus we need to park. I’ve already checked in, printed the boarding passes, and paid for the checked bags.
Mom and Dad are cooking a turkey for us and have a pumpkin pie (probably from Kroger). Plus we’ll have time to get barbecue at the Memphis airport.
Insert standard Holiday warnings here about neighbors with weapons.
The NaBloPoMo coordinator has developed a new badge that says “I Blew It.” I don’t really like the style, though, so perhaps over the long weekend I will put my dubious grafix skilz to use designing my own.
However, she is offering a prize for the best excuse. THAT I will have to give some thought.
Published on November 23, 2008
in The Fam.
Last week my husband and I started a new thing. Each Saturday, I think of something fun for the family to do together. Each Sunday, he thinks of something fun for the family to do together. Yesterday, we went to a movie. Today we are baking pies. One pumpkin, and one pecan. Just because we won’t be home together for Thanksgiving doesn’t mean we have to forgo two of Thanksgiving’s best treats. The fillings are made and the pie dough is chilling in the fridge. We should have pies ready to eat by about bedtime.
I love weekends. I am particularly fond of Saturday, because it tends to be obligation free.
I installed Windows XP SP3 on one of our computers. I avoided the wireless internet meltdown that had happened the first time through careful planning and proper rebooting.
We took The Kid to see “Madagascar 2.” It was kind of weird but pretty funny.
I had planned to have some friends over for dinner tonight, but my mid-week meltdown prompted me to cancel. Instead, some of us went OUT for dinner, which was more expensive for everybody but way less work for me.
I just Skyped with my friend Caroline for an hour. And now I’m going to bed.
And the weekend still has another day!
I was tense and anxious this morning, and felt like I couldn’t concentrate. I think I came through OK, though, and I got some things done.
I have an Rx for the extended release version of generic Wellbutrin I was taking up until last Saturday. Hopefully getting back on a once/day dose will help.
I think I am better today, but not yet back to normal. Even though I slept for almost eight hours last night, I woke up at 8:15 a.m. absolutely exhausted. I got up to go read the internet a bit before breakfast, but I kept closing my eyes and leaning my head back on my chair. I wasn’t any better after breakfast. I decided it would be unfair to my employer to clock in and then fall asleep in my chair, so I called in late and went back to bed. I slept until almost noon, got up and showered, and then went to work.
I got some things done today, mostly customer stuff. It wasn’t one of my most productive days, but I’ve had worse.
I spoke to my daughter the nurse a bit this afternoon, and she was pretty emphatic that I needed to get my meds switched back. So I called the MD and I think they will call in an RX for me. I’m also going to follow up with a list of real shrinks that are covered by my insurance to see if they will recommend one.
I only had a couple of “waves” today, which is much better than yesterday. Maybe tomorrow things will continue to improve.
In February of 2007 or so, I switched from generic Wellbutrin SR (2 x 150mg/day) to generic Wellbutrin XL (1 x 300mg/day) My then-insurer (Anthem BC/BS) paid the same regardless of format, because both were generic. I had a lot better results with the XL than I did the SR, mostly because I would sometimes forget the 2nd pill (weekly?) and the correct dosage was REALLY important.
In February of 2008, my company switched insurers. My current insurer (United Health Care) treated the Budeprion XL generic for Wellbutrin XL as a brand name drug. Instead of paying $25 for a 90 day supply, the price was $150. $600/year vs. $100. Yikes.
My MD is only prescribing six months at a time, because he wants to see me every six months. So when my six months were up, I decided to bite the bullet and just work extra hard on taking two pills a day of the cheaper SR formula. So far, not so good. I just started Sunday and I had a pretty serious depressive episode today - the first in several months. I felt better for a while this morning after dose #1 but by the time it was time for dose #2 I was a mess. Couldn’t stop crying. I’m doing better now but I don’t know how much time I’m going to be able to give this to work out. My payor has approved me for the XL for one year, so if things don’t level out by the weekend, I’m going to go ahead and get the better drug. Because really, if the generic doesn’t work, it isn’t saving money.
On another more frivolous matter, I missed posting yesterday. But I am hoping to be diligent for the rest of the month.
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