Week of June 12th 2022
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kim @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
News at Home
Sunday
Sunday was about getting ready for the week ahead. Kiko was on call and – as always when it’s super hot out – had tons of calls to fix ACs (80% of the time they aren’t broken, but just can’t get people’s place to 60 degrees in a few minutes lol). So I actually ended up taking Dante with me for grocery pickup. Thankfully Kiko was back when I got home with the groceries and took Dante upstairs while I got the grocery up. I put them away and started on meal prep – and miraculously he didn’t get any calls so I finished meal prep in just a little over an hour. As I was finishing meal prep it was time for our Readalong Chat, which was a blast as always. After the chat, Kiko headed out to be with his family for the last day of their prayers for his nephew that passed away 3 weeks ago now. He said it was good but emotional this last day, as his brother and sister-in-law are facing the reality that tomorrow starts real life without everyone there. The one small comfort is that he didn’t live with them – 35 years old with his own family – so they won’t FEEL his absence in everything they do.
With Kiko gone, Dante and I went for a brief walk (it’s hot so just 30 minutes) and then it was dinner, put away laundry, clean up the massive toy mess Dante made this weekend, bath time, vacuuming, bed time! After he went to bed I took a shower, did my nails for work tomorrow (confidence thing, right?), and watched a little MAFS. Then I got my BUJO ready for the week ahead and went to bed. Got to bed around 11/asleep about 11:30.
Monday
First day at the new job! I was in office to just meet everyone, get all the official stuff (badge, parking, etc) taken care of, and to get settled in. It was pretty great. The office was a really modern, open spacious coworking space. It’s a remodeled cracker factory, with exposed brick and pipes and big open windows, so tons of natural light. And the breakroom has free sodas, teas, and ice cream. Probably need to avoid that fridge/freezer lol. But I won’t be there that often so maybe it doesn’t matter. Everyone I met so far is really nice. I will be on Team 2 and we’re responsible for the scan and go part of the Sam’s Club app with some neat new features we’re working on rolling out. So that’s exciting. I think I’m going to be really happy here. I did get hit with one big uh-oh though. I’ll be following up on it Tuesday, but it appears that my recruiter fucked up and told me the wrong benefits plan. If that’s the case, what I have available is much more similar to what I had at UTSW. Which isn’t bad – the out of pocket max is still better $6850 vs $8550, for example. It looks like Dante’s ABA would be covered at a 25% coinsurance instead of a copay – that hurts because we will basically pay the $6850 all in 1 month (and they don’t seem to offer an FSA!) but at the end of the year we’re still paying less than we would with the old insurance. BUT what I was told was a plan with an out of pocket max of $1500. So yeah that’s a HUGE difference from what I thought I was getting. I do have all the conversations with me asking and triple confirming, so I will be following up today to see if they are able to honor that fuck up; I’m worried that it’s an available market situation and they won’t be able to, regardless of what I was promised. IDK everyone says Walmart is an amazing company, I guess I’ll see if they try to make it up to me in some way.
The evening went well; dinner, a little TV, playing with Dante. Kiko had to deal with a burst pipe so it was just me and Dante for bedtime again. Then I spent a lot of time researching the insurance because I was really scared I would not be covered for ABA services on the new plan. Not because I’d read anything that said that, but just this recruiter seems to have royal screwed me and that would be the ultimate FUCK situation. But I’m like 80% sure I found that I will still get ABA coverage. Why do they make it SO HARD to navigate insurance?! I keep finding more and more reasons living in the US sucks. However, with Dante’s autism diagnosis it would probably be hard to get accepted somewhere that pays for medical, so we’re even more stuck than we were before. Guess I just need the US to step up! Got to bed around 11/asleep about 11:30 again. Hoping to start moving that time up about an hour!
Tuesday
I spent a lot of today working on the benefits issue. Looks like my suspicion was probably correct that the insurance I was told I would have is not available in my market area. I emailed the recruiter who gave me the wrong information and he replied immediately that he was looking into it and apologized for any delay. So I don’t know what will come of it, but I’m hoping something. I made lots of phone calls and the end of it was, no one could give me good information without us being enrolled in a plan. The one thing I did find out is that instead of Aetna – which I thought we’d be switching to – we’ll be staying on Blue Cross Blue Shield. That actually is a good thing as my therapist only takes Blue Cross Blue Shield, as does Dante’s Developmental Pediatrician. I was okay with paying out-of-network because the plan was SO GOOD. So at least with the swtich to a more average plan our providers should be coming back into network. They also told me that since I’m in my enrollment period for the next 30 days I could actually sign up for one plan, call and get info and then (if I wasn’t happy) switch to the other plan and then call and get info. So I went ahead and enrolled us in the co-pay based plan. One person I spoke to THOUGHT that his ABA would actually fall under a behavioral health service which would be a $35 copay. That would be ideal. Fingers crossed.
I also went to Sam’s Club today for a tour for new hires. The guy who gave us the tour has been with Sam’s Club for 26 years and I have to say he shared a lot of information that made me impressed with the way Walmart/Sam’s does business. They really make a lot of really responsible decisions in regards to the environment (doesn’t hurt the overhead cost either lol) and they donate all the food they can’t sell 1 day prior to when they couldn’t sell it so that it is still usable for food pantries, shelters, etc. And they do it without taking a tax exemption — apparently they tried to at one point and found that it wasn’t worth the work. So they just make the donations (which also helps the bottom line & environment because they aren’t tashing it, which means they don’t pay for that trash to be hauled away). So basically yes, they’re a for profit business but they do so in a pretty responsible way.
As far as WORK goes – I had my daily standup this morning and I definitely feel like I’m in over my head. So much was being said that I really didn’t understand. But I’ll give it some time. I’m still working through training modules for being a new employee, so I haven’t really had time to focus on learning the other stuff yet and they haven’t given me much to look at yet, either.
Had a nice evening, after dinner and a little tv (we’re watching Godfather of Harlem) Dante and I went for a walk with him on his tricycle. Then it was cleaning up and bed time for Dante. After he went to bed I sent a few emails to follow up on his school enrollment process for the fall – want to make sure that’s not slipping through the cracks and the schedule will work with everything else I’m setting up. I look forward to having everything in place and not having so much setting up work to do. Got to bed around 10 and to sleep about 10:30! Yay!
Wednesday
I’ve been spending every morning before work getting caught up on my backlog of book reviews and I’m making progress! This morning Goodreads wouldn’t let me do any updates – I finally figured out I just had to clear my cookies – and it set me back a bit. But I do think I’ll be ready to really return to the blog next week. And even better news, I spent some time thinking about what I need my new routine to be with this job (no commute most days) and no bootcamp and y’all I think I have time for THINGS!! I’m thinking waking up at 6:30am for my morning routine (including workout), followed by some blog visiting (Yes! Time for blog visiting!), then getting Dante to school, home to shower and dress and then my work day! I asked my boss this morning about taking time for things like doctor’s appointments, etc and he said “just go.” So I don’t have to ask or anything. What the what?! Nice right?
Work was good today, I had 3 meetings that really started to fill me in on things and I’m excited. I do have lots to learn but I’m starting to know the questions I want to ask. On the health insurance saga – I have a benefits id number but no policy or group number yet which means I got closer to the information I need but not quite yet. They told me that officially it should be available in 7-10 business days but unofficially I should probably be able to get it in 48 hours. So I’m calling back on Friday. I’d really like to have all the information I need by the end of the week.
Evening was also good. We had a nice dinner – Dante has been eating well all week! No fits about what he’s served which is a definite positive switch! And another positive development — he has started following a point. Like when you point to something he turns his head and looks at it. That is a skill most kids acquire easily but Dante (and AU kids in general) struggle with. I’ve been working on it hard with him and looks like it’s paying off! Now to retain the skill. Headed to bed around 10 — this new schedule rocks!
Thursday
You know how I talked about all that extra time? Well for some reason I’m MORE tired than I was previously! I think it’s just the adjustment to a new schedule, new job, etc. I hope. Because every day around 3pm I’m ready to CRASH. Exhausted, eyes closing, tired. And I’m getting more sleep than I used to! I think it also might be that my work day was 7 – 3:30 previously. Not that I then took a nap (I wish!) but at least I could shut down a bit. Also, I am in that new job training videos hell which is just tedious. This morning I logged in for my scrum meeting and it wasn’t happening, and I suddenly got links to our sprint demo — they had forgotten to send me the links. I have a feeling that will be happening for a while. I kind of panicked because I was technically late, but for good reason and only by like 2 minutes. Besides that work was really truly just a bunch of traning videos.
On the insurance saga, new positive developments today. I was able to get logged into the site and confirm that all of our doctors, including Dante’s ABA BCBA are In-Network on our plan. So yay!! Also thanks to being able to log in I was able to confirm 100% that ABA is covered on our plan (which makes sense since his BCBA is In-Network). But I still don’t have my group or policy numbers so I can’t get the ball rolling with the ABA clinic and I still don’t know if it’s copay or coinsurance. GRRR. Hopefully tomorrow.
This morning I resumed my routine of working out in the morning, for the first time in like 2 weeks. Felt good to be back at it. My setup is different since my new desk setup is taking up a lot of the space I used to use to workout, but honestly it’s better. I didn’t get to blog visiting yet, as I’m still just trying to get caught up with all things blog related. But I’m hoping by this weekend? This evening we had another good dinner, some more TV, Dante and I did our walk with him on the tricycle, and then bedtime. I’m hoping to wrap up and get to bed by 10 (which I am 100% on track to do)!
Friday – Saturday
Friday was a really good day. I woke up and got in my workout. Dante woke up a little earlier than I had hoped he would, but he played in his room until I was ready to get him, so that worked out. I did a little blogging catch up – still not caught up but getting closer! Then I took Dante to school, took a shower, and got signed in for work. We had our 9am scrum meeting and then I had a virtual Walmart Museum tour that was actually really interesting. Then I got back on the phone to try and figure out my insurance and guess what?! It worked. I got my policy and group number. Spoke to the vendor that does behavioral health and they found our policy, confirmed that Dante’s ABA will be covered at a copay of $35 per session until we hit our out-of-pocket maximum. If we were to do in-home services it would cost us the deductible and then coinsurance. Ultimately either way we pay the same amount, but copay is MUCH easier since it won’t be all $6800 in a few weeks. I sent over the documentation to his ABA provider and they are already working on getting his preauthorization. So hopefully it won’t be too long before we can get him started.
My work day went by pretty quickly. I spent most the day on Training/Compliance videos. I also spent some time researching the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program, since I will need to use my phone for my work. Well apparently my current phone is stuck on Android 9 (but should be on Android 12, I think). And for my work programs to work, it has to be at least Android 10. I think I did something when I bought it unlocked that maybe messed up the automatic updates. And I can’t seem to figure out how to update it. I have an appointment with Samsung on Wednesday to see if they can push the update. If they can’t, I’m going to have switch phones with my husband. He has an iPhone SE, which is meets the minimum requirements. He hates his phone – says it never works and honestly he’s right. He suddenly can’t call Mexico and YouTube/Facebook etc sucks. I know that sounds like a service provider problem, but me, phil and Zach who are all on the exact same plan as Kiko can do all the those things from our phones while standing right next to him without issue. So it really seems to be something going on with the phone. We will follow up with Verizon as well, of course. But he’s hoping I can’t fix my phone because he wants it. And I’m dreading having to have both a MacBook for work and an iPhone. What is happening?! I told my friend I was going to have to use an iPhone and she said “damn. Pigs going to fly today” LOL! Never say I didn’t sacrifice for my family 😉
In the evening, Phil and Zach came over to babysit Dante and Kiko took me out to see Top Gun as a belated birthday treat. We had a nice time and the movie was really quite good. Nostalgic for sure. When we came home Dante was running around in just his diaper and his uncles looked worse for the wear. He pooped and they struggled with the diaper change. So much so that Dante was hosed down in the shower and I had sheets to change LMAO. But they laughed good naturedly about it and said they can’t wait for dante to be potty trained. They stayed until almost midnight chatting (Dante went to bed around 11!!!) and we had a really nice time. Didn’t get to bed until almost 1 am, though.
Thankfully Dante slept until about 8:30 this morning. We did breakfast and played a bit. Then Kiko was up by 10, made him some pancakes. His truck has been giving him some trouble and OF COURSE the check engine light came on this week when his new registration is due next month. OF COURSE. So he had work to do on the truck. I took Dante for a walk to the park – hoping to beat the heat. Well first, we left a little later than I had planned (11am). Then the path was blocked by city vehicles while we we walking. So we just walked and then got back in the car and drove to the park. By then it was noon and ridiculously hot. We tried the swings and after like 3 minutes I was like, “nope. This is TOO hot. I’m not even sure it’s safe.” I remembered when I was exploring trying to find a park without swings about 2 months ago that I had found a park that had a splash pad about 5 minutes away. So I spontaneously decided to take us there, fingers crossed the splash pad was open. Not only was it open, but it wasn’t busy! Dante had a blast – next time I’ll take him with actual swim clothes and a change of clothes lol – but we were there for nearly an hour. He gradually got more and more brave with which splash areas he’d go through and it was so fun to watch him. When we were done I just stripped him down to his diaper at the car and he went home in just his diaper. I had a snack with me, which he ate on the way home. And when we got home I put him in fresh clothes and he went down for a 2 hour nap!
I ran to the store to pick up the last piece of Kiko’s father’s day gift and then when I got home he went to his brother’s — he hasn’t been since Sunday and he wants to make sure their doing okay. I did some laundry, then Dante was up and we played. Doing some dinner now and I have plans for a quiet evening finishing laundry, and a some catching up on reviews while playing with Dante before his bedtime. I’m sure tomorrow will be another busy day!
Blog News
Fingers crossed I get back to the blog this week. I’m getting closer to caught up every day!
Last week on Because Reading
Challenge update
Hopefully I can update this next week!
FitReaders (hosted by Jen @ That’s What I’m Talking About & Felicia The Geeky Blogger)
My big goal for 2022 is to lose weight every month. I’m not setting a specific number goal; I just need to make sure I’m going the right direction (down) every month. I will weigh in on the last (or first) day of each month only (so I don’t get too attached to the scale).
My goals for this week were:
I’m just trying to ease myself back in this week. My goals were simple and I still didn’t meet them…
- Drink 80oz of water each day… didn’t make it even 1 time
- Get in 3 workouts – got in 2
- no soda – drank soda on Friday and Saturday
Weight gain/loss for the year so far:
- +3.9 pounds Feb 1.
- -3.0 pounds March 1 (for the year, so total loss for Feb was 6.9 lbs!)
- -3.0 pounds April 1 (for the year, so no new loss in March, but no gain)
- -7.0 pounds May 1(for the year, down 4 pounds in April)
- -9.0 pounds June 1 (for the year, down 2 pounds in May)
Added to My Shelf
Part of my backlog is going through the books in my emails. Maybe this will be a huge section next week :/
Hope you enjoy your new job!!
So happy to hear about everything! The insurance thing is a huge problem because they won’t tell you anything before the appointment even sometimes. I’m glad to hear it’s a good start and interesting work. Baby steps on adding more to your schedule! I find learning new material not tedious but exhausting. I would read a chapter, short nap, read a chapter, short nap. I’m not a napper at all but it was only 10 minutes usually. It somehow helped me absorb the material. I hope this week is even better with more things already settled.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post