This has been a week of mild aggravations. I've been trying to be mindful of where I'm spending my money and making sure that the places I shop at don't support causes I'm at odds with. I haven't shopped at Amazon since October 2023. I put effort into finding alternate sources for the items I'm looking for. And I've been pretty successful at that until now. One of my alternate sources is eBay. The last 2 orders I placed were delivered by Amazon. I don't know if the sellers were dropshippers or what but I am so mad that I was tricked into patronizing Amazon in any way, shape or form! I'm going to have to start specifically asking eBay sellers about this.

Another aggravation has been my cross-stitch project. No, not the endless fabulous kitty I've been working on forever that I need to go out and buy more thread for. I'm still debating whether I want to run up to Michaels to buy it or put in an order online and maybe pick up some more thread and fabric because I just found a few more projects I would love to do in the near future.

I have a simple pattern for a giant squid and I have all the supplies for it so I thought I'd work on him while I mull over what to do. He's simple, he's quick, and it's nice to finish something in the middle of a bigger project just for that feeling of accomplishment. I got the right half of him stitched up and everything was going so well! Then I started the left half. It mirrors the right side but I can't for the life of me get his damn tentacle to match up with the other side. I know I must be making a mistake somewhere - the tentacle curves so there are a lot of stair-step stitches and I know I'm just miscounting something, somewhere. But I've stitched and unpicked it twice now and I'm getting highly annoyed with the whole process.

My last aggravation has to do with the insurance that's supposed to be covering my pay while I'm on leave. Short-term disability insurance (STD) is meant for absences of up to 6 months and, in my company, covers 60% of your pay. Remember, I'm American so my insurance is tied to my employment. While I have the STD insurance active, my benefits are still paid for by my company. The insurance company sent me a letter at the end of March stating they needed new forms filled out by my doctor to be turned in by May 11. What they didn't mention in that letter was that my last payment from them was the one they made earlier in the month and I wasn't approved for more until their clinical review team got this form which they didn't seem to want in a hurry.

I made an appointment with my doctor, which took about a week and a half to get, sent in the paperwork and a week later the claims specialist e-mailed to say the clinical team wanted more information to evaluate the claim, specifically imaging reports and notes from the orthopedist who originally saw me and basically said come back when you've lost weight. Oh, and that orthopedist has left the practice and his replacement won't be joining the practice until July.

So now I'm waiting for medical records but, in the meantime, so much time has passed since I've been paid that my company has put me in an unpaid status which means I have to pay the full cost of my insurance (this is called COBRA and is fucking expensive - haven't gotten the bill yet but wouldn't be surprised if it was in the $1,000 or more range) or, I can waive my insurance until I come back to work. Which I can't really do until I get the hip surgery. Which I need insurance to pay for. GAH! If you're American, I know you're feeling my pain. If you're not, then you probably have some form of socialized healthcare - thank your lucky stars!

It will all work out somehow. It's just super annoying to deal with in the moment.

Listening

Some podcasts I listened to this week:

I love the You're Dead to Me comedy history podcast because there have been so many times I've found myself unexpectedly interested in something I didn't think was going to be interesting at all! Alexis Soyer was a 19th century French celebrity chef and he has quite the story.

Reading

My reading slump was real last month. I only finished one book! And DNF'd one - that medieval mystery I was trying out just wasn't clicking for me. Not sure what it was - something about the phrasing or the scene-setting or something else was not letting me immerse myself in the time period. This is the second medieval mystery I've tried that's bombed and I know it's a me thing because both of these series have multiple books, which wouldn't happen if they were bad. They just weren't for me. Which makes me kind of sad because I really do enjoy the genre!

I picked another book off of my Libby list - The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan. I've already finished it. This was a sweet cosy book with multiple plot lines involving the women of an English village during WW2. The main story was about the village sewing circle. Due to rationing of fabric, people were encouraged to "Make Do and Mend" as much as they could. Wedding dresses were hard to come by since silk was reserved for the military. Not only did the group remake old wedding dresses and start a wedding dress exchange, a few of the members ended up making use of the wedding dresses, too!

I'm currently reading Murder Past Due by Miranda James, which is the first book in the A Cat in the Stacks mystery series. One of the people I follow on Bluesky read it and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd give it a try. Cats, books - what's not to enjoy?

Watching

I watched a really cool episode of Nature on PBS, Expedition Killer Whale. It followed a group of scientists studying killer whale pods in Antarctica. The focus was on the hunting methods used, namely creating waves to wash delicious seals off ice floes. I never had any doubt about the intelligence of orcas but to see the coordination and planning was simply amazing. I was surprised at the fact that an orca's food requirements are one seal per day. That just doesn't seem like enough to keep an orca going!

The Snowy Owls of Logan Airport is a short 9-minute documentary about a man who has been relocating snowy owls from Boston's Logan Airport for 30 years. Before relocating the owls, he records measurements and fits them with a leg band.

There's Something Weird Going on with the Northern Lights. This was a neat one! There are people who claim they can "hear" the aurora, but that should be impossible because of how high up in the atmosphere the aurora occurs. But, maybe it's not!

That's it for this week!