Happy Anniversary and RIP

This past weekend, Sandy emailed me a picture of my beloved bucket grill. We had forgotten to celebrate the two year anniversary of me purchasing the beauty. Below, you will find a picture of the bucket on the day of said purchasing. It's beautiful and as you will see, matches my "outside" dishes.

It is truly a great grill for one person. I've even invited friends over and cooked for them. Bryan LOVES the ribs I made on this lovely creature!

Then it happened, I went outside to grill up some pork chops for Bryan and I. I poured the charcoal in the metal pan and POOF they fell through! The bottom of the pan had rusted through! Oh my!!!! Not the bucket! Not my precious, dear friend, bucket. What am I gonna do?! How am I gonna come home from work and grill up a quick "dot dog" (hot dog for those not up on my cutesy words for random stuff)? I'm so distressed about this. And then I had to find another way to cook the pork chops! I almost gave up and just went through a drive-thru. But I couldn't let Bry down. I had to be a trooper and overcome this dilemma. I found a recipe online that pan seared the chops in butter and garlic. They were tasty but dried out :( Oh, I need my grill!

Now, I need a new grill, but I don't know how I could ever replace the bucket. We had become such close friends. We had two wonderful years together. I do know one thing. The next grill I have, will definitely come with a lid! Wish me luck!

I hate technology!

Ugh! I am so over it! I checked my mail this morning (I was too lazy to go back outside yesterday) to find bills, bills, and more bills. I also had a denial letter for a medical procedure that had already been approved and I'VE ALREADY HAD DONE! In addition to that lovely letter, I had a bill from my previous dr. that I already paid! This is the "FINAL NOTICE OF DEMAND FOR FULL PAYMENT". I KNOW I paid this because I called last month to see just how much I owed them because I was getting bills everyday. I have been to the dr. alot this year so I know why I'm getting a lot of bills, but I needed to know the total amount to pay.

So, I was ill all the way to work and was not in a pleasant mood for a while. I did snap out of it.

Upon arriving at home, I had a few things to do.

1. Put rice on to cook while I do other stuff.

2. Find approved medical procedure letter.

3. Find posted check number and date for the dr. bill.

4. Call the prior approval company.

5. Call billing company for dr.

I completed 1 - 3 pretty quickly. I called #4, and they said there were actually 3 different procedures that were requested. 2 by my prior dr. and 1 by my current dr. The two from before were denied. 1 was denied very quickly and I got the letter less than a week after the request. The 2nd by my previous dr. took almost 2 months to be denied. In fact, it was denied after the third was approved and completed. So, thank God that was the case. The procedure I did have is still approved and I am covered. Each dr. asked for the same procedure but with different reasons for me needing it. My current dr. wrote it with better reasons, I guess. Anyway, I'm glad that's taken care of.

Now on to #5. I called the company and explained the situation. She said she did not have a payment recorded. I told her the check number, the date on the check, and when it was posted to my account. So, she did a little more searching and found that it had posted to a different account. It is still my account but one is for hospital services and one is for something else, maybe labs or something. I don't know. Like I said, I've been to the dr. a lot lately! I can't keep up with everything, but I KNOW I paid that bill and I was correct. She said she would fix the problem and I was paid in full. WooHoo!

So, I hate computer errors. I was in a foul mood for nothing today. Good thing I snapped out of it.

Have a great day!

Let's Play Catch Up

First, thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers for my test. I won't know the results until November. I think I did ok and I am thinking positively! I WILL pass in November!

Secondly, Saturday, I was in my cabinet trying to reorganize. I decided to move the stuff from one cabinet to another cabinet. But I had to raise the shelf up a couple of holes because my stoneware is too tall. So, I cleaned out the cabinet, sprayed Clorox cleaner, wiped down cabinet, and went to raise the shelf. It was screwed in. No problem, I have a screwdriver set. Now, did you know that they make a square screw head? I sure did not! But luckily, my set had one... that did NOT fit! So, I tried everything, every screwdriver, ratchet, pliers, even a Pampered Chef paring knife (I was inspired by Sandy's grandmother, click here. It's a long post, scroll down to toaster oven.) None of those worked. I was just about to give up and take a saw to the shelf (just kidding). I gave it one last shot, a tiny tiny little flat head, much like an eyeglass screwdriver, and it WORKED! The flat head fit right in the square diagonally!! WooHoo! I was able to rearrange those two cabinets.

I'm working this summer. I teach music at an enrichment camp. It's pretty fun. I am at a different site this year and it is very different! Last year, the classes were assigned and sometimes doubled, meaning that class sizes were close to 20 - 25 students. That is a good size class because there are enough kids to play instruments, dance, and sing at the same time. This year, the students get to choose where they go and when. That means I could have 1 kid at a time!!! I can't do anything with one kid. They won't sing, they can't play the instrument parts, and they definitely won't dance! It's a pain. This week, I have pretty good class sizes. The smallest is four, which is blah, but much better than the 2 I had last week. My largest is probably 18 (two combined classes of 4/5/6 year olds.) We should have fun this week!

Not really much going on other than work... I should be cleaning, but I didn't get motivated today. I did clean this weekend though. I've got to play catch-up with cleaning since I'm done studying now...

It's Official...

I have officially quit studying for my National Board Assessment.  The test is tomorrow at 8 a.m.  If I don't know it by now, I won't know it...  So, I've decided to take some advice and take a break for tonight.  (I can't promise I won't look over it tomorrow morning... Last minute cramming)  

There are six parts of the assessment:

1. Diagnostic Skills (identifying and correcting choral issues)

2.  Historical Repertoire (identifying historical time periods, discussing music from that time period, discussing music in relation to history/culture)  EEEEKKKK!!!!! I'm most scared of this one.

3.  Applied Theory/Composition (Vocal)  (write a song - so easy since I wrote 1/2 of my holiday program this past year)

4.  Instructional Strategies (Teach one concept six different ways, using aural, visual, kinesthetic)

5.  Music from a World Sample  (identify style or genre of selections of world music)  EEEKKK!  Again, I'm scared.

6.  Curricular Applications  (Given a song, describe how to teach the nine national standards - they choose four)

So I'm nervous about two sections and feel ok about the other four.  I'm so ready to be done with this test.  The bad part is I won't know the results until NOVEMBER!!  UGH!

Have a great weekend!

Memorial Day

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I would like to thank our veterans and the men and women currently serving in the Armed Forces. Everyone say a prayer for our troops today, whether or not you agree with the war. They are doing their jobs. They deserve our support.

Have a safe Memorial Day!

The Japanese Quest

As my love for Japanese grows stronger and stronger on a daily basis, I am on a quest to find the best grill in town. I have tried several. I prefer Sumo, but Bryan likes Stix. So, we are joining efforts to find a hibachi grill on which we can agree.

Sandy and I tried one over Spring Break near her house. We were not impressed by the disco ball birthday bash, nor the Carpenters played by pan flute, nor the fact that Sandy was not special enough to get a fork (I only got one because I chose salad over soup). Those were the least of the problems; the food was just not good at all.

A few weeks ago, Bryan and I went to a hibachi near his apt. I had heard great things about this establishment. Apparently the people recommending the restaurant had no taste buds and preferred their food overcooked. So once again, we were on the search for the perfect Japanese place.

Mr. Chuck, Ms. Annette, and I went to another steak house a couple of weeks ago while they were in town for a wedding. I liked it. Bryan liked my leftovers, but had been to that particular steak house before and thought it was dirty. I do remember mentioning that I was crunching something on the floor when I walked and the carpet was ripped under my chair by the grill. So, maybe he was right. The food was tasty though... (I think the waiter was flirting with me)

My school system sells coupon books to raise money. In this year's book, there was a coupon for another hibachi. Buy one meal, get one free (up to $13.50). As we looked at the menu, we realized that the only dish that was under that price, was the chicken. I always get steak and he always gets some sort of combo, usually shrimp and steak. So, I figured they would just take the $13.50 off and we would pay the difference, which is what they did. The soup was very flavorful, and had at least THREE mushrooms!! Wow! The salad was tasty and very fresh, but the dressing was a little too runny for me. The noodles were good too. Bryan even liked them (that's why he doesn't like Sumo - they serve noodles and he doesn't like them). I chose steak, as usual, but Bryan chose shrimp and calamari. I tried a piece of the calamari, but it was way tooooo fishy for me. He liked it. I only ate about three pieces of steak because I was so full. But those three pieces were delicious! I am so excited! Bryan and I have finally agreed on a Japanese steak house that we both enjoy!! (BTW, for those friends in my area, it was Yuki by Walmart).

As a side note, I am meeting some friends at Sumo... TONIGHT! Japanese twice in one weekend! WooHoo!!!! Then off to a bachelorette party!

Carrie!!

Carrie and I decided that TODAY would be our treat day for the Fact or Crap game!  We went to a local Mexican restaurant where I told her that part of her treat would be CHEESE DIP!  Then for dessert, a SOPAPILLA!!!!  WooHoo!!  We had a great time

On the way to eat, I picked up my prescriptions from the pharmacy.  I had two inhalers and 5 pills of an antibiotic.  It was $90!!!!!!!  What?!  I better get well soon.  I can't afford to be sick.  I'll make sure to get a record my medical expenses this year.  I may meet the amount required to claim it on my taxes.  

I went to the allergist/ENT yesterday.  I have an appointment for an allergy test (the one where they prick me with a gazillion needles) and a CT scan of my sinuses.  I had an Xray of my sinuses yesterday and he said my septum is perfectly straight, so no surgery for a deviated septum.  WooHoo!  My sinus cavities are mostly clear.  He has a little concern over the cloudiness in the cavity above my nose, thus the CT scan.  

Basically, no one knows why I've been sick for so long.  But I have three more appointments already scheduled to find out why.  We'll see.  

Have a great weekend!