Back To Work - end of August edition

I thought I was ready.... I've only technically been back to work for two days. AND being it's the end of August, I'll admit I'm "easing back" into work. Yet still, I found myself missing those carefree days of vacation. It must have been today's AWESOME weather. WOW, when do you get 80 degree weather in the late afternoon in August in DC with low humidity? = I can't ever remember it!

Although I took this picture a week or so ago when still ON vacation, it was the same  kind of beautiful day today. When I got home from a bit of a crazy office day, I needed coffee to find the energy to go to the gym. So dressed in my gym clothes (so I wouldn't change my mind) I fixed a K-cup of coffee, and sat out on the deck in the shade to drink it. I almost didn't go to the gym just because it was so captivating to sit back and stare up at the clouds.

When was the last time you looked at clouds and tried to describe them in terms of objects? Today I 'saw' one of those ancient Greek statues of nudes lying on a couch with their back to the audience. "She" almost turned as the cloud moved past. ahh well. I did get a workout in after the coffee rejuvenated me.

Now I'm reviewing my assignments for the UCC history/policy class I'm taking at Wesley this fall and thinking about how to pack in the visits I want to make. AND continuing my planning for our monthly Big Sunday and discerning how to weave in my ideas for changes in worship and grouping and... you get the picture. Life will be full again and those days of blissful summer will be memories only. So I guess the answer is to build in golf and play as much as possible while the weather holds and try to keep perspective.

I learned a lot about the value of sabbath over the month I was off and I need to keep BALANCE in my life. Perhaps BALANCE is a state of mind. I often figured it was a matter of traveling fast enough to keep the bike going. (Bicycle 101) but just maybe there is another way to ride. . .

(Image: Fun at last night's Nat's game. a WIN!)

Vacation and Health Care

Vacation has been wonderful. I am on my last week of a month away from congregational responsibilities. It has been needed and I have rested! Many books, weekly golf, time at the Florida beaches have all been part of this 'sabbath rest'.

This week I'm trying to make the most of these last few days while beginning to pick up at least some family responsibilities. Before we left for conference and the Florida vacation, I faxed the needed information to my doctor's office to have a lab bill recoded. Every six months I have blood work done to keep my cholesterol in check. BUT so often it gets coded as preventative care. My insurance (I know, it seems a very dated policy) does NOT cover ANY preventative care! It does cover illness quite well, but no regular visits allowed. I cannot get my doctor's office to code my work correctly and this happens again and again. This time, because we were away for so long, and because the on-line insurance portal said my claim was "in-process", we have been put in collection! Now we have the doctor's office, and insurance company working to get this resolved. Here's my question. Do I change doctors?


It is so tiresome and painful to go through these calls and denials and resubmissions almost EVERY TIME I GO TO THE DOCTOR, which is every six months. Should I switch? Should I interview practices and ask about their lab people, their billing office, before even deciding if I like the doctor? hmmmm Hard choices, but since my husband does not have this problem with his doctor, perhaps I should consider a change.

I'm also taking a course at Wesley this fall and had forgotten what "FUN" it is dealing with admission details. Vacation has been blissful, but the real world of details, paperwork, and frustrations, awaits!