Prescription Saga

So....I've been taking medication for high blood pressure for about 30 years. Luckily for me, it's the cheapest medication in the world....about $12 for a 90 day supply. I'd been without insurance for quite a while, so the cheap price was a blessing. This January I went on my husband's health insurance and the first time I had the prescription filled I was surprised to find out that the insurance company would only pay for a 30 day supply and they charge you a $10 co-payment. Now let's do the math here....that makes it $30 for a 90 day supply. So I asked the pharmacy, which at the time was Brooks, to let me pay out of pocket and they were fine with that. Yesterday I went to have it filled again and I carefully reminded them not to put it through the insurance and when I went to pick it up the price was $25! I checked that they'd followed my instructions and they had. When I asked why the price was double the usual price, they said I should call 1-800-rite-aid. Uh Huh....Rite Aid bought out Brooks. I was not a happy camper so when I got home I called the Rite Aid number and the nice lady told me she'd forward my message on to a district manager. With very little faith that I'd get called back I called around and found out Walmart Pharmacy would fill it for the $12. Fine...Walmart would be getting my business the next time I needed the prescription filled. Then low and behold, 2 days later, I did get a call from Rite-Aid's district manager who was very sympathetic. When I told him I could get the same prescription at Walmart for $12, he said that he would credit my account at Rite-Aid for the $13 I was charged extra, and he would instruct the pharmacy to charge me $12 for my prescription from now on. Customer Service!! I thought it was a dying art in this country! Of course, it's going to be 90 days or so before I got back to refill the prescription and find out if this guy was for real. I'll keep you updated!

I've Been Tagged

I was tagged by http:// joanOH.blogspot.com THE RULES:--Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.-- Post THE RULES on your blog.-- Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.-- Tag 7 people and link to them.-- Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged. Seven weird or random facts about me: 1. I am a voracious reader. I read probably 3-4 novels per week. Of course it depends on what I'm doing....if I'm subbing for teachers I spend most of the day reading. If I'm subbing for secretaries I don't even bring a book. Once I get going on a book I am engrossed in, I cannot stop. I take the book everywhere (including the bathroom) and have been known to let dinner burn while I'm trying to finish a chapter. As a result of my love of books: 2. I am writing a novel. Unbelievably, I'm almost done! Well, done with the first draft anyway! I know I'll have to go back, re-read it, and fix all the inconsistencies. But I actually have 34 chapters and almost 500 pages! I have no idea what to do with it when I get done....one thing at a time. 3. I want to be crafty, but I really have no talent. My husband is very artistic and I try to keep up with him, but I can't draw or paint and I have no musical talent. The few things I do well are sew (clothing...but I'm having a hard time with quilts) and cross-stitch. I've made some very detailed and complicated cross-stitches for my brother for his wedding, for my sister, for my baby grand-daughter and for myself. Strangely enough: 4. I am the Arts and Crafts Director at a summer camp. I know a lot about kids, which seems to trump knowing anything about arts and crafts. For the things I am dismal at...such as gimp...I know which other staff members or even older kids are good at it, so I just send the kids to them. The rest of the time I just wing it and I keep a record of what works and what doesn't. This is my fourth year coming up, so I'm getting pretty good at it. It's the best job I ever had....outside all day, lots of fun with the kids, very versatile and I get to swim, go boating, play field games, and do all kinds of fun and messy activities. The interesting thing is: 5. The summer camp I work at is a Jewish camp.....and I am not Jewish! It's very cool to be in a different environment than I'm used to. I've learned a lot about the Jewish culture (the camp teaches Jewish culture, not so much religion.). The people are a lot of fun and the kids are very well-behaved. I'm still the shiksa of the group.....but that's okay, they love me anyway! 6. I believe it's important for kids to stay home with their mothers, yet I was a daycare provider for 25 years. I got into daycare in an effort to stay home with my own kids, then just moved naturally into taking child care courses and becoming a daycare provider. My philosophy was...if they can't be home with their mother, they can at least be with me. I treated the kids like they were my own, gave them lots of love, lots of discipline, and prided myself in giving them an environment they could thrive in. 7. I am totally in love with my husband. He's the best thing that ever happened to me. In my vows at our wedding I actually said, "I promise to spoil you rotten." And I believe I'm living up to that promise. I take great pleasure in being a good wife - taking care of our house and him and all the little details that make our lives run smoothly. And in return, he treats me like a queen. I'm pretty sure that's how marriage is supposed to work! This is the place where I'm supposed to put links to other blogs and "tag" them....but since I don't know anyone else who writes a blog, feel free to forward this to some blogs that you like to read.

Refinancing

I finally decided to get on the bandwagon and refinance my condo. I should have done it a month ago, because interest rates have gone back up. But it's still going to be worth my while to do it. I started out by going online and doing a rate comparison and one of the online companies had the best rates, so I filled out the form online to have someone call me. He did, and we talked....his offer was 6.3%, no points but he didn't tell me on the phone that closing costs were 3K. We discussed a 30 year vs. 15 year mortgage and he said there was no difference in rates for how many years you take the mortgage out. When he emailed me the application form, I wasn't thrilled about the closing costs, so decided to shop around. (which is what you should do, but I never seem to do then I get screwed.) Yesterday I went across the street to Mortgage Specialists. He told me just about the same thing, closing costs were lower but the rate was about the same. Then he said, in the interest of being 'fair' to me, that I'd be better off going to a local bank because they do better on small (under 100k) mortgages. So I left that office and went to my local bank. Sure enough, they were great.....and I got the feel of being treated like a person, since I've done my banking there for 20 years and they know me. They offered me 5.8%, no points on a 15 year mortgage. Their rate was lower for a 15 year than a 30 year. So.....because I'm switching from a 30 year to a 15 year, my payments per month will be about the same, but we will finish the mortgage right about the time we retire and overall, we will save about 65K in interest over the years. I feel good.....feel like we are doing the right thing, and happy that I have the modicum of financial savvy to even think of doing this. The best thing is...I bought the condo almost six years ago, right after I got divorced. When I got remarried almost two years ago, we didn't change the title. My new hubby has never owned anything...he always rented....so when we do this refinance, he'll be putting his name on the mortgage and be an official owner with me of our condo. Up until now, it's still seemed like "mine" more than "ours". Now it will belong to both of us.

Walking in the Woods

Last Saturday, Tag and I went to the Salem Town Forest because the weather was so nice. We'd just had snow the night before, so it was clean and white and pristine. The Town Forest is a little bit of land set aside in North Salem for conservation. The Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts have gone in and marked trails, built a bridge and created a map board. It's a nice quiet place. There's a tiny brook called "HittyTitty Brook"....honest! We walked for about an hour and a half, and during that time only saw one cross-country skiier and a family with a huge (165 lbs.!) dog! It was so nice and quiet....a beautiful way to relax after a hard week of work.

Across The Universe

My brother John and I are very close....I was the best "man" at his wedding! For the past four or five years, we've gotten together during football season to root for our beloved Patriots. Now that football season is over, John wanted to keep getting together, so he and his wife, Ruth, invited us over for a "movie night". Last night was our first one, and we had a great time. Since all gatherings for our family involve food, we ordered out pizza and talked and visited for a bit, then settled in to watch our movie. I had given Tag "Across the Universe" for Valentine's Day and we hadn't had time to watch it, so we brought it over. Since John and Ruth are huge Beatles fans as well, they were happy with our choice. The movie turned out to be fantastic. Within two or three songs, John and I decided we wanted the sound track. Ruth hopped right online and checked it out....sure enough it's available on DeepDiscount.com. We also decided it would make a fantastic stage play.....so if anyone out there ever hears of it coming to the stage....let us know! We sang along with some of the songs....the people in the movie who sang the Beatles covers did a great job. I'm not always a fan of people singing covers....sometimes they change them so much the song is unrecognizable. But in this case, they did a phenomenal job. It was a good night, and we plan to do more. There's nothing I love more than getting together with family!

St. Pat's Day Help

I have a friend by the name of McCarthy who is as Irish as they come. Sounds like the beginning of an Irish joke, right? Well, that leads me to my dilemna. Years ago, I started a tradition of sending my friend an Irish joke every day in the days leading up to St. Paddy's Day. Being a long-standing Irishman, he had already heard all the jokes. It's become an obsession now to find a joke he hasn't heard. So.....if anyone has a very ORIGINAL Irish joke, please send it to me. I need help!

Friends

I have a group of friends I met when we were all doing Girl Scouts.

In photo at left it's Sylvie, Sue T., Carol, Gail, Sue F., and me. Debbie wasn't there when the picture was taken. The seven of us all have daughters who were involved in Girl Scouts, but who now have graduated from high school, some have graduated from college, and they no longer need us to be their leaders. Because our friendship was so centered around Girl Scouts, we were afraid to lose touch and decided we should get together once a month and go out to eat, just to have a night to chat and catch up on each others' lives. That started something like 5 years ago, and we still go out faithfully every month. Some months all of us are there, some months there might be as few as three, but we go with whoever can make it. Last night, we all met at Ruby Tuesday's. Only Carol was missing since she is a "snow bird" and is in Florida until the end of the month. It's always a nice conversation centered around the mainstay of our lives...family. We don't talk about Politics, or religion....not because we're afraid to, but because that's not what really interests us. Last night, we talked about:

Weddings.....Debbie, Sylvie and Carol all have daughters getting married this year and we discussed wedding plans, bridesmaids dresses, showers, wedding dresses....etc.

Our Kids.....who is doing what in college, who got a new girlfriend/boyfriend, who is looking for a new job....and grandkids, cause a couple of us already have grandchildren!

Our Jobs....I'm always looking for something new, Sylvie just started a new job, will Debbie retire this year? The stupid people at our jobs, the interesting situations, the craziness....

Our Parents....Sylvie's mother-in-law had a heart attack, her mother and father are still going strong, my parents are just emerging from a nightmare year of illness, Sue's mother-in-law lives next door.....

We touched upon the Super Bowl, the Red Sox chances this year, the snow, our summer plans......

At the end of the night we all whip out our little pocket calendars and pick a date and location for next time. We all look forward to it....most of the time, our interaction between the dinners is via email, with an occasional shopping trip thrown in. It's great to have friends to discuss the minutae of life.