The Sewing Mom

We will be gone all weekend, attending yet another softball tournament. It’s supposed to be beautiful weather, so I think it will be nice to be outside. I do have family arriving on either Sunday or Monday (or both) and so I’m a bit stressed about getting the house in order. In between working getting my daughter where she needs to be, I’ve been trying to clean house. Thankfully, I got off work a couple hours early today so I can finish cleaning and get the laundry knocked out. Then it’s off to the last home football game of the season and tomorrow, before the sun comes up, we will be headed out for softball.

I apologize for not posting more, but I will be gone with family next week, attending the International Quilt Festival in Houston!

This was my daughter the other day, isn’t she cute?!

Our high school band succeeded in getting a ranking of 1 in the Regional marching contest last Saturday, so today, we are off to watch them at the Area contest. My daughter is all ready at the practice field and where they have been rehearsing for over an hour. They’ll be boarding the 23 school buses that it takes to transport 650 students and heading out for the 40 minute drive to the site of the contest today. My husband and I won’t be too far behind them. This could turn out to be an extremely long day because there are scattered thunderstorms in the area. Anytime there is even a hint of lightning, the performances will be delayed. Right now they are scheduled to perform at 2:30 and will wait to hear results scheduled for 5:30. Top finalists will move on to the State competition in San Antonio, so this is very important. With a band this size though, while they are really good and amazing to watch, it is difficult to maneuver and get everything perfect. I am hoping they do really well, but it has been a very long time since they’ve moved on to the State contest.

Here are a few photos I took from last week’s contest.

Click the link above to help fund mammograms. Not only did I click today, but I also went and had my annual mammogram completed today. I can check that off my to do list for another year! What about you? Have you had your boobs squished this year?  What are you waiting for?

This post is for me to let off steam.  If you’ve dealt with health care than you know what I mean.  If not, feel free to skip this and look down to my previous post with a beautiful band photo!

I’ve really come to dread this time of year. Don’t get me wrong, I love the weather, the sights, the sounds, but I dread having to review our employer sponsored health insurance coverage every year! It used to be pretty simple, we rarely ever made changes. But now, I feel like I have to review every little detail to see if we have the right coverage. I’m cringing now because last year I made a mistake when I was choosing from the offered group health plans. Well, I don’t actually think it was my mistake as much as I think it was the employer omitting information.

You see, I have been diagnosed with high cholesterol, something I seem to have inherited. My doctor likes me to have my blood tested every 3 months, which I’ve done for the last couple of years. My doctor doesn’t perform this service in her office, I have to go to a lab with her Dr.’s order. The insurance has always paid for these tests in full. Well, that is until this year. Not until AFTER I had blood work done did I find out that now, lab work performed outside of the doctor’s office is subject to the annual deductible and after the deductible is met, the insurance covers 80%. I have yet to find anyplace in the documentation that the employer sent home that this important piece of information was noted. I am not a happy camper. I am also now sitting and looking at lab bills that I have to pay, including one for an x-ray when my daughter chipped a bone in her finger during softball. Plus, since discovering this, I haven’t been back to have any more blood work done. I’m sure my doctor isn’t happy with me, but I’m not happy with the insurance and will continue to forgo the blood work. My husband had a physical performed by a different doctor who happens to do some lab work in their office, so he didn’t get charged, the insurance covered his blood work. Seriously, I’m going to have to change doctors just to get all this covered! Really ticks me off.

I realize the economy is not good, and I know first hand that my husband’s employer has been suffering due to the economic downturn, but I think they could have kept its employees and families better informed when they were updating their business insurance policy last year. Now it is time for me to review our current plan and they have sent even less information this year than they did last year. It stresses me out to think that with the click of a button, I could potentially be enrolling us in a plan that in the end, will cost us more money and more aggravation. I feel fortunate that we are only having to pay for a few relatively inexpensive lab tests, but it’s maddening when these same lab tests were always covered in previous years.

I do hope that this time, when the employer received their business insurance quote that they better conveyed any changes to the plans to its employees. I guess only time will tell. I called the insurance company yesterday and they said they don’t yet have any information on the plan for 2011, so that was no help at all.

Okay, I’m done venting for now, back to studying the health care plans that are being offered.  I only have a few more days left to finalize my decisions.