Floral Memories....

 When my Mom died, my girls discussed getting matching tattoos in her memory. This is still on the table. Designs have been tossed about on various occasions, but all apparently agree that the tattoos should be floral, to reflect Mom's love of gardening. But what flower?

The Princess and Babygirl were discussing this last while she was home. The problem for Babygirl is that her memories of her Grandma are narrower than all of her sisters'. She's the youngest. She recalls Dementia Grandma in detail, Gardening Grandma, not so much.     

But my Mom was always a gardener. In the home I grew up in there were numerous flower gardens - a side bed, a large front bed full of poppies and irises, the bed by the front door; and, in some years, a vegetable garden.  I remember a patch of hens-and-chicks, thickly surrounded by forget-me-nots (a most incongruous pairing!). Tucked by the shaded back door there were lily-of-the-valley.  Large clumps of peonies had pride of place near the front door, to be picked each year and donated for the church altar and high school graduation. Wild violets graced lawn, I was taught early the difference between a daffodil and an jonquil. 

In the home she had when the Princess was a child, she had a large shady garden, so the peonies had to move to the back yard. The deer there ate any and all bulb flowers, but bleeding hearts grew in abundance at the front door, with impatiens and giant begonias.

At her last home, things got a little wild. She had clematis growing up the side of the porch, and later, wisteria. There was sweet pea in the back, and the bleeding hearts made it into the woods. But the poppies reined in front, and peonies marched down the entire side of the property.

She was a lover of wildflowers as well. Babygirl and I took a hike today, and I got some snapshots of a large variety of flowers, not all of which I could ID, but I know my Mom could have.  

When we needed to set up email for her, I asked her to make up an email address.  She couldn't come up with anything on the fly, so I named her CooCooLady.  She went with it for a while, but later asked for an upgrade. She started with flower suggestions, but single flowers, peony among them, were all taken.  She finally got "PoppyAster" to stick.

Poppies are out of season. Here's an aster for you.

Babygirl and I are on a girl's weekend together, camping.  I miss my mom.  She was never the type to take the 4 mile hike through the woods (to be fair, we weren't intending to go that far.  It was a lovely ramble but we were lost for a minute), but she taught me to SEE the little flowers, learn their names, appreciate the beauty around me, as well as how to keep your sense of humor while you wait for the camp coffee to be done. 

So, Mom? Thanks for being that Mom who did the Girl Scout camp outs, the cross-country trips, and the repetitive weekend camping at the lake.  Memories. 

DeeDee

Being the Landlady.....

 Our house is a duplex. A couple of months ago our tenants mentioned that their oven wasn't working correctly. Judging by how often their smoke detector went off we just assumed they were terrible cooks, but when I went ot look at it, it was clear that the stove that we moved into the house in, gee, maybe 2002 (?!) had some issues in terms of how well the oven was holding together, so I promised them a new stove. 

And then I sort of....forgot about it.  Hey, it's summer. Use the grill, right? Oddly, they forgot about it too.

Yesterday Babygirl and i went to Best Buy to check out computers, as hers had died of some sort of fluid overload, apparently.  While she was checking with the Geek Squad about whether the old computer could be saved (it could't), I wandered the floor and spotted a pair of stoves for sale. They were floor models, "as is, and vastly reduced in price. The better deal didn't match the other kitchen appliances in the apartment, so I walked away.

Today, among our many other missions, Babygirl and I went shopping to replace OUR leaking fridge.  While we were out and about, we noted exactly how pricey even the cheap stoves were. I had walked past an incredible bargain. So once we had finished our business, we hustled back to Best Buy, and the stove was still there. We snapped a photo, cleared the color with the tenants, and decided to purchase it.

"I'll take another $50 off it you can put it on a truck now and take it home."

Well.  It just so happens we have a truck. Babygirl and I had just returned a truckfull of bottles and cans, or we would have been in the car as usual.  Four young people hoiked the bubble-wrapped stove into the truck, and we came home to do the easiest self-install ever. 

Yes, that's a griddle in the middle. 

Blessings to the neighbor who willing added that one extra set of muscles to the job - the truck tailgate is broken and will NOT go down.  Thanks, Nate!

DeeDee

Shot Shenannigans.....

 No vacation is complete without some medical drama. The Botox saga has been quietly running throughout the background of all the fun times. Although I am DEAD certain as to what type of insurance Babygirl has, Ms Snark at the Neurology office remains fully convinced that I suffer from a craniorectal impaction coupled with the basic lack of her vast understanding of How This All Works. To that end, she has spent the past few weeks enjoying the following passtimes:

She called to let me know that the prior authorization (given by the insurance that she no longer actually has) for Babygirl's Botox resides with Pediatric Neurology at Nemours, and someone at Nemours MUST call that insurance company and release the authorization so they the new doctor can get it.  We went through this last year, when it was actually more-or-less true, and it isn't that complicated. New Doctor can simply ask the insurance to change the authorization to his name without the middleman interferance, but The Snarkster doesn't believe this.  She also doesn't believe me when I tell her that the new insurance has ALREADY authorized the Botox, because "It's not Babygirl's PRIMARY insurance. We have to do this FIRST!"

Well, no point wasting your day arguing with a donkey. It upsets the donkey, and you lose the argument either way, right? 

"Absolutely not a problem. I know exactly who to talk to at Nemours. I'll call them now."

I called and spoke to the same woman who helped us through this all LAST year.  She said, "You know that THAT insurance didn't pay for the last 2 sets of shots, right?" I did know. We had a private laugh about the donkey situation.  She explained that this isn't her job anymore, but the poor guy who just started will likely blank out completely if she tries to explain the madness to him, so she she'll just take care of it.  God bless the people who are willing to do something utterly pointless that isn't their job for someone who isn't their patient anymore. THAT's how it should be, if it must be.

Two days later I got word from Babygirl's old insurance that they won't pay for her Botox because she isn't their patient anymore.  Jeepers! Who'd've seen THAT coming? They cc'd Ms Snark. She called me to let me know the new insurance would be in touch about delivery. That felt nice. 

(There is a reason I sometimes feel I need to work of some time I'm accumulating on that bench in purgatory...)

Moving on.

I got a call from Babygirl's Actual Insurance, confirming the name of the new doctor, his current address (they had 3 listed!) and setting up a shipment date.  Okey dokey.

The next day I got another call from the SAME company for the same purpose.  That felt a little confusing, so I pointed out to the nice lady when we were done that I had already done this. She checked the compurter, and said, "Odd. It doesn't show." Hmm... I don't care, I guess, as long as the stuff gets there. It's scheduled to arrive 9/1 for injections on 9/4, so, all good. 

Yesterday (which WAS 9/1!) I was in the car and the phone rang, 800 number, so I answered.  Blessings on those of you with the luxury to ignore such things.  

It was a recorded message from the pharmacy for Babygirl to let her know there was a shipping delay for her medication. They spit out a number to call if I had questions, but I was DRIVING. The number they quoted was different than the one the call origiated from, but I hit redial and hoped for the best.

I explained the situation to the very lovely person who answered. She looked up the presription, and said, "But I have a UPS delivery routing number here that says its "out for delivery" today!" W....T...

So on my to-do list today is to call the doctor's office and confirm whether or not they got the Botox.

I think I can call my cardiologist and let him know I don't need my annual stress test this year.

DeeDee