The Good Times Keep On Rollin'....

Things have been mildly frustrating lately, that's the best I can describe life lately...mildly frustrating.....

My last post started with me applying for the nursing program...so let's start there, shall we? Long story short, I didn't get in. There were 276 applicants for 40 spots. Everyone was getting notified about program acceptance except for me, it seemed. I didn't hear anything for 10 days after the initial offers were sent out. 10 very long, hellish days. Everyone kept telling me that 'no news was good news' because it meant I was still in the running. Well, I was still in the running, but just not strong enough to finish. I finally got someone on the other end of the phone that I had been incessantly calling for the last week on a Wednesday morning, and by noon of the same day, I had a nice little lump of coal email waiting for me in my inbox..."Sorry, but you aren't the applicant we were looking for..." niiiiiiiiiiice. I sobbed in a most heart broken manner for about 4 hours. I really, really wanted this! Why couldn't this one thing just go my way for once? Huh? So, I allowed myself to mope and whine for the rest of the day. Self pity is good in small doses once in awhile. My sweet husband came home in the middle of my melodrama and gave me a good, long hug and said, "Sorry...I know how bad you wanted this..but what have you wanted longer? To get into nursing school, or for me to get a teaching job?" I answered to the latter...more on that development later...
So, I didn't get in, I moped for a few hours, and moved on. Then I got a call from the IHC nursing program, making sure I had been 'contacted'. Yeah...I got the contact..thanks a billion! But the sadist in me couldn't stop there, oh no, if you could, pretty pretty please, tell me why I didn't get in? She did...it was brutal. I was in the very final group and in the end, my employee evaluation scores were just not quite high enough. They offered to 40 students and 4 alternates...that's 44...and me....I was number 45. Sigh So, it's not meant to be right now, and I will just have to wait until Spring of 2015 until I start nursing school, because that is where I fall on SLCC's wait list. SLCC has changed their admission requirements as well, and I am one of the last on their wait list, as they are doing away with it. So I could possibly get in sooner under the new requirements, but if I get rejected there, I will still have that spot. So it will eventually happen, just not on the time frame I had hoped for.

So, Rob got a teaching job! So freaking awesome! He is a History and Social Studies teacher for a very small private school here in the Salt Lake Valley, and it all seemed very exciting until he got into it. He has been there for a month and they have already had to move locations. It wasn't the school's fault they had to move...the church basement they were in didn't meet fire code for schooling purposes, and the church congregation decided at the last minute that they didn't want a free remodel of their basement...weirdos...so the school had to find new digs. They have successfully done so, and are at a much nicer and closer location. Hopefully they can stay there for the long term. The kids are a rough bunch, and that is putting it nicely. Most have been kicked out of the traditional public school system, and some have served time. They are very learning challenged and the parental support is minimal at best. Rob's biggest frustration is the fact that these kids don't want to do any work, at all. The pay isn't all that stellar either, but it is pay and we are grateful for it! Well, there are issues with that too, but we have at least gotten ONE paycheck....

I finally took my kids to the dentist last month...I figured that since I was paying for benefits, that I should probably use them before the end of the year! Jaron and Quentin had clean oral bills of health, Brenna and Cade weren't so lucky. Brenna ended up with a cavity that was so severe, that one of her molars had been steadily falling out in chunks. I had known about this for months, but had been waiting for a little extra money, so I could take them in...because I knew that Brenna's situation was going to cost. It probably wouldn't have cost so much if I had just gotten her in sooner. As it turns out, when I took her back to take care of the bad tooth, they had to drill so deep, that some of her nerve was exposed. I suspect that when they did that, they also pushed some of the infection up into the nerve space and it turned into an abscess. Two weeks after this neato keen appointment, Brenna started complaining of horrible mouth pain and headache. I called the office back and they told me that it sounded like she needed a root canal....WHAT? Oh, and they didn't do those there and I would have to find a general dentist to do it. After much calling back and forth, they finally referred me to one..right down the hall from them. I took her in, sure enough, there was a large abscess and they had to open the tooth, drain the abscess, and pack the nerve root with antibiotics. This was only the start of the root canal. The soonest appointment they had to be able to finish the job, was February 1st. Yeah, they are kind of busy there. Then they will finish the job and then she will need a crown. This will all be to the tune of around $700. At least my insurance will cover 50% of it...but still! Yike! One other blessing is that the new dentist will allow us to make payments on the amount until it is paid off...so we can make that work. Rob has voiced concern that the original dentist had some responsibility in creating this very expensive mess and should be held responsible in some part. I really like this pediatric dental practice, but I really don't know how to broach this issue. 'Hey, uh, you kind of caused a huge mess in my daughter's mouth, and I shouldn't have to pay you for it..?' I don't think they will take too kindly to that. But if I never ask, I'll never know...so I need to figure it out. Any diplomatic suggestions?

I switched health plans this year during Open Enrollment from my $200 a month premium plan, that I couldn't afford to pay the co-pays on, to a no premium, high deductible plan with a Health Savings account attached to it. With my first payroll deduction of the amount of my choosing, Intermountain will deposit $750 right off the bat into said account. Bonus! So when I took Jaron in for his yearly visit with the pediatrician in May and he told me that Jaron had scoliosis and needed a back x-ray to confirm how severe it was, I didn't know how I was going to be able to work that one. Now I have a way, I will just have to wait until January to do it. It will all work out eventually, right?