Jumping Through A Million Hoops

Friday evening, H. went to his work to pick up his check.  Getting out of the car, he lightly 'tweaked' his knee - nothing serious.  But he was favoring (limping) a bit when he went into the store.  Another worker said 'H. hurt his knee'.  Upon hearing that, the boss said 'you can't work again until you have a doctor's note stating you are fine to work.  I don't want any issues with liability'. 

I get it.  I was a risk manager for a school district for a long time so I understand the concept.  But really.  He's fine.  The very next day, he did 8 hours of community service pulling weeds at a park in San Mateo and was (and is) completely fine. 

But he's off the schedule entirely for this coming week - and we're doing everything we can to get a note for him. 

His insurance is Medicaid.  His former doctor's group doesn't accept Medicaid - and not only do they not accept his coverage, they won't let him pay cash for an office visit.  We tried. 

We think we've found an urgent care clinic that he can go to today - $129 for an office visit which is very reasonable - so fingers crossed.  He just needs a note confirming he is 'fit for duty' and can perform his job -

If he gets the note, we hope he can get a couple of days of hours this week.  If not, he'll work for us helping with packing, etc. - painters are arriving a week from tomorrow and we have a gazillion things to do to ready the homestead for their arrival.

On another note, B. talked to J. last night (I was already in bed) upon realizing that last night was the last night he will ever be in this house.  J. said there was a lot of reminiscing. 

I feel it too - it feels sad to think of leaving - every morning when the light is just so perfect in every room - my heart hurts a bit. 

We know our new house is going to be beautiful inside and out (like this house) and we can't wait for B. to see it and visit - hopefully Christmas but we never know.  B. commented 'Mom, getting here is very expensive - you don't seem to realize that it's a lot of money to visit.  I'm not made of money'.  I replied 'it is expensive - but luckily, you don't pay for your room or your meals so you should be good to go'.  I resisted the urge to say 'and Dad and I would be paying that amount times two plus rental car and hotel to visit you - so - just come visit us as often as you can'.  Nashville will be fun someday but not until we're in the house and settled and have managed a few months of the 'new' budget.  I told B. that we were writing a check monthly for healthcare that is just slightly less than our current mortgage and he was shocked that we didn't have coverage.  I explained that neither of our employer's offered retirement health care as a benefit so no, we don't have coverage unless we pay for it ourselves.  Which we will. 

Tomorrow morning bright and early, a 16 foot rental truck with a lift gate will be pulled into our driveway and we will load up as much as we can get into it for a trip to Carson City.  J. is primed to rent another unit if necessary because we plan to keep taking stuff up as much as we can.  That quote from the mover for $4700+ to make one trip up sort of created a very real moment of 'we need to do as much as we can ourselves'.  So we are. 

This morning, I went out back and was brutal about tossing stuff.  The recycle bin and trash bins are filled to the rims every week and that will keep happening.  Lots of patio planters that are empty ended up in the trash. 

OH - did I mention that we put down grass 'patch' and some new top soil in the back and WE HAVE NEW GRASS EVERYWHERE!  Way less expensive than doing new sod and while it doesn't look perfect, it looks way better than it did!!  Yay!

We're out of tape so I'll be trekking to Home Depot to get some - I wanted to get a few extra rolls when we were there last week but J. said 'wait'.  So I did.  And now we're out (I knew we would be) so packing is at a complete standstill because we have no tape to use to make and seal boxes.  Grrr.

One of us will be driving B. to the airport around noon and the other of us will be schlepping H. to the clinic to hopefully get a note.  In between all that, we'll continue to ready stuff to be loaded onto the truck tomorrow.  The entry closet and study closet are approaching more empty than not status!  And the kitchen has a lot more space in cupboards - though still miles to go but we're getting there. 

Painters the week of the 15th and then hopefully the house will be listed a week or two after that.  Fingers crossed it sells relatively quickly and things go smoothly.  Positive mojo and/or prayers towards those events greatly appreciated.  We'll feel better once we know we have a sold house.