The expensive phone call

Be wary when you're having any kind of medical procedure done and the office says to expect a call the day prior to tell you what you need to do and what to expect.  That happened to me recently when I had a lung cancer screening.  My doctor felt that due to my age, 51, and my history of smoking that I should have one. Thankfully, everything came out fine.  Whew!!

Anyway, they set up a time to call me the morning before the screening to tell me everything I needed to prepare for it.  The time was set up before work at 9 a.m.  The call took less than five minutes.  Great.  Easy. Nothing much to do other than show up 15 minutes early to the appointment.  I can do that.  And I did that.  I was in and out of the office in less than half an hour. Holding my arms over my head during the screening was the hardest part of it all.  And, yes, I am out of shape, and my arms were sore the next day LOL

A few weeks pass and I receive a bill from Cone Health for about $95.  The total charges were for $175 but my portion was only $95 after insurance. I promptly paid this bill and did not think anything more of it.  Oops. At the end of last week, I received another bill from imaging services for $390.  Honestly, I was like WTF?  I just paid this.  WRONG!!  I looked at the dates of service for both bills.  Lo and behold, the $390 bill was for the actual screening.  The $175 bill was for the five-minute phone call.  I'm like, seriously?!  You're charging me $175 to tell me to come 15 minutes early to my scheduled appointment?  

Now I know that these calls are not a courtesy.  They are not included with the procedure.  I feel like this was a major rip off by Cone Health.  So, the next time they tell me they are going to call before a procedure, I am simply going to refuse the call and google whatever it is I need to know.  I am happy that I have good doctors and that I have insurance, but that is beyond ridiculous to me.  I have never felt scammed by healthcare before.  That is not a good feeling.  And, honestly, if I am to be charged $175 for five-minutes of anything, there'd better be a damn happy ending!

Recipe of the Week - Picante Peach Pork

 We all love a good crock pot recipe, don't we? I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and really enjoyed it.  I tend to buy a lot of pork at the grocery store because it's normally on sale and I get good deals on it.  So I am always on the lookout for new pork recipes.  This one is definitely a keeper. I'm not sure why it is called peach picante pork when the recipe uses salsa.  I suppose you could substitute picante sauce for the salsa.  Whatever you have in your pantry will work! I hope you enjoy!

Peach Picante Pork with a side of potatoes and onions

Peach Picante Pork Chops

4 thick boneless pork chops

1 cup salsa

1/2 cup peach preserves

Taco seasoning

Layer pork on bottom of crock pot.  Pour taco seasoning over pork.  Spread peach preserves on pork then top with salsa.  Cook on low for 3 hours.  

April and May by Tom Wolfe

 Since it is getting close to Easter, I wanted to talk about one of my Easter pieces.  This is "April and May" by Tom Wolfe from the Cairn Studios.  As you know, I have been collecting gnomes since I was in the 4th grade.  Those were made by Tom Clark in his Cairn Studios.  Tom Wolfe was an artist that worked in the studio that often collaborated with Clark on pieces.  Wolfe's specialty was animals so whenever you see a Cairn piece that has both gnomes and animals, chances are it was a collaboration between the two artists.  This, however, is solely a Wolfe piece.

Mom gave me this sometime in the early 90's. Every year I got several Cairn Studio pieces, and I had never received any of the animals before.  I absolutely love it. I use it every year to decorate for Easter.  Sometimes it is my centerpiece.  Sometimes I use it around the house somewhere.  But they are always out to help me celebrate the holidays. I hope it get them out this weekend as I prepare for Easter.  I'm not sure where I will use them, but rest assured that they will be displayed!

Prayer for change

 

Today's Moment of Mindfulness

 

Set your intention to spend your day with your mind inclined to see the good everywhere. 

Quote of the Week

 

Using my exercise equipment in the garage

 One of the things that I need to work on is losing weight.  I've gained a good deal of weight over the past year and it's starting to affect my health.  My back is constantly hurting, and I know that a big part of that is because of my weight gain.  My back is not used to carrying all of this extra weight.  And, frankly, neither am I.  I don't like it and I need to fix this before it gets too out of control. It's time to start working out.  

I have some good exercise equipment in my garage and so I am working on getting the garage in order so that I can actually use the equipment in there.  I've got some free weights and there's an exercise bike in there.  Everything else is really boxing related.  I have a heavy bag, a speed bag and a double end bag.  I love using all three of them and need to use them.  It's great exercise, good cardio. And it's also a good way to release stress.  

Most people don't know that I have been a boxing fan for most of my life.  I never talked about it growing up because it did not fit into people's perceptions of who I was, so I just kept it to myself. Once I got into my 30s, I decided I wanted to explore it more.  I joined a boxing gym and trained there weekly. It was pretty awesome.  When I lost my catering job in 2017, I had to stop going because of finances.  So, I started doing things at home and using training vids on YouTube to enhance my workouts.

I just let things slide by the wayside for too long and it is time to reverse that.  I have all of this equipment that I enjoy, so get that garage cleaned and get my ass out there and shed a few pounds.  I can do it.  Will you be in my corner?