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Weird wrong number

I’m sitting at my desk at work and my cell rings …

Caller: “Yes, this is XXXXX from XXXXXX. I’m calling in regards to your request.”
Me: “Pardon?”
Caller: “You requested some information from us regarding Corpus Christi real estate. Is this a convenient time?”
Me: “I’m sorry, you must have the wrong number.”
Caller: “Um, … *awkward pause* … Oh, my apologies then! Would you like to hear the pitch?”
Me: “Thank you, but no. Sorry. I’m not interested.”
Caller: “It will only take a moment of your time. I–”

~click~

I can forgive wrong number callers, easy peasy. I do it too. No biggie, just hang up and try again — but don’t call me by mistake and then expect me to listen to your sales smack. ;P

Because I’m not her mother

I’ve touched on this subject several times, but never really took the time to go in-depth. It started when Jim and I first started dating and became serious — he introduced me to Jessie. I instantly fell in love with this child (who had just turned 5 at the time) and to this day love her as if she were my very own.

From the beginning Jessie’s mother was averse to the idea of another “mother figure” being in her life and strongly objected to Jessie viewing me as an authority figure. At one point, Jessie called me “Momma”, but her mother pitched fits and would berate Jessie until she stopped. Growing up in a tumultuous household, I understand and can relate — but it does not ease my pain.

I have always tried to remain civil or friendly to Jessie’s mother for Jessie’s sake, and try very hard not to say anything negative against her when she’s around. However, that woman has no idea of the contempt and resentment I hold for her for those actions. To this day, it still brings tears to my eyes and is a very sore subject with me. Her mother saw fit to encourage Jessie to question my authority and if I exerted any, Jessie would quickly counter with “You’re not my mother!”

I never blamed Jessie — she’s a child and had no idea how much that hurt. But her mother is a grown woman and knows better.

Granted, things are getting better with Jessie, as far as my role as an authority figure goes; however, I have found now that there are bigger more serious roadblocks than her mother. It seems to me like little insignificant things — the kind of things that you wouldn’t think would prove difficult for a stepparent (or at least I didn’t until now). For instance, Jessie is on my insurance. I handle all of the paperwork and finances for our family — yet, I cannot even sign a form to check her out of school, approve field trips, find out how many days she’s missed, or even to send medicine when she’s got a cold. (and not sick enough to be out of school)

For example, I had to check Jessie out of school for an orthodontist appointment a few weeks back. Usually I make the appointments for in the morning, but she had a test that day and I had it changed to afternoon so she could be at school most of the day. I went to the school office and told them who I was and why I was there. I was told that because I am not her biological parent or a legal guardian, that I would have to wait while they call my husband to get an OK for her to check out. Never mind that I am the first on the emergency contact list, and that every time she’s gotten sick at school, she has specifically requested they call ME. Never mind that *I* am the one who handles everything in the event of emergencies. I asked one of the office staff why wouldn’t I be able to do anything because I’m her stepmother and was told that it was Jefferson County rules. This turned out to be false, as Jim called the county office. However, it seems we’ll need to meet with the principal to discuss this, as it’s actually HER rule.

No biggie in the grand scheme of things, rules are rules, and the school principal is a very nice woman who has worked with us on various issues before.

But it’s not just the school thing that bothers me. I have been trying for months to get Jessie’s mother to cancel her old insurance because Jessie is now covered on mine. I nagged this woman for the last 6 months straight and she STILL won’t do it! Today I took it upon myself to call the state office — it’s state-sponsored insurance (or “free” insurance, as her mother calls it) — and was told that because I was not her biological parent, they could not speak to me.

I can understand that … I have worked in the health care industry for over 10 years and understand all too well about HIPAA rules and PHI. However, I offered to have my insurance company’s office fax over her current coverage as proof that she’s covered, and that the old coverage could be canceled — which as I understand it, would have to happen, as kids on this insurance cannot be covered by anyone else, or it nullifies the coverage. The CSR refused my offer and I was told flat out that Jessie’s mother would have to contact them — I know that THAT will not happen because the woman is lazy and irresponsible!

So here I am typing up a cancellation request for Jessie’s mother. I’ll leave it for her to sign and I’ll pick it up later this week and fax it in to the insurance office. I figure if I do most of the work FOR HER, then she might help me out a little … but I digress …

I know it differs from state to state, but I have been wondering for a while what my rights ARE as a stepparent. I ran across this article in Time magazine, and though it’s a couple years old, reading it did not give me any new information that I hadn’t come across on my own. Something tells me that I’ll probably have to consult a lawyer to find out exactly what rights I *DO* have (if any!?).

Her mother insisted on splitting legal custody with Jim, but refuses to take any responsibility (financial or otherwise) when it comes to Jessie’s welfare. The fact of the matter is, she lives with us the majority of the time. She’s on my insurance. We buy the majority of her clothing and other needs. We pay all of her school-related costs and fees. We paid for her glasses and will be paying for her braces (the insurance covers only a small percentage of these and even though her mother offered at one time to help out with these costs, she now refuses).

The thought that really scares me is: if something were to ever happen to Jessie, and if Jim and her mother could not be reached, I cannot authorize any medical assistance.

Seriously … how screwed up is that?

I understand why it is the way it is … but it still breaks my heart. Jessie has a mother who has all the parental rights, but refuses to take responsibility — and here I am trying desperately to take responsibility, and I have no parental rights.

The Power of PMS

Growing up, my father used to say that PMS was something that women “made up” or that it was all in our minds.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. :roll:

PMS makes us behave in very strange ways. The moody roller coaster from Hades. The bizarre cravings. Crying every time a certain commercial comes on the TV. God help me, I can recall from memory several really bad experiences I’ve had thanks to PMS.

It makes us do really stupid things …

… like me waking my husband up at 3:30 in the morning so I can let him know that I’m still mad at him. :shock:

Ummm, yeah. Sorry ’bout that, Jim. :oops:

Performancing slams WordPress over v2.5

Via BloggingPro, I was reading Raj Dash’s recent post explaining why he hates WordPress 2.5 with a pretty in-depth list of reasons. I have to admit, many of those he listed I can identify with and offer some sympathy … to a point. While there are still a handful of things that I’d change if I had my way, I feel Automattic worked in their users’ best interests, taking in many requests, most of which I’ve seen with my very own eyes on the forums, and now see reflected in these recent — however dramatic — changes!

Raj began to close his post with the following:

Automattic, you seriously dropped the ball on this. WordPress 2.5 is an enormous disappointment in the simplest of features. As an experienced (but retired) programmer, I can say with confidence that you don’t release significant interface changes in mid-version software. People that are expecting minor fixes might be shocked. V2.5 should have been renumbered to V3.0. If it had, more people might think twice before making a “big jump” from 2.x to 3.0. I’m so glad that I didn’t install WP 2.5 on a production site, but I do have to use it on several client sites – something I don’t relish.

You’ve now lost one of your most active WordPress evangelists…

He’s certainly entitled to his opinion. In the comments, he notes that power users ‘like him’ will hate the new WordPress. What’s more, new users seem to like WP 2.5 — wait, isn’t that a good thing? ??:

My two pennies on the matter

I certainly can’t speak for anyone else, but I like to consider myself a WordPress “power user” and while it took me a day or so to learn my way around and where everything is in the new layout, I’m finding that I rather like it and now prefer it! On top of that, the dashboard is everything I have wanted for SO LONG! Almost every single one of my most frequently visited options/configurations/things-needing-changing are right there and I don’t have to click 2 or 3 links deep to find what I want. (something that used to piss me off to NO end!)

Isn’t this what progress is supposed to be like?

So what I want to know now is…

What do you think? Is Raj right? Has WordPress screwed the pooch on this one? Or is he over-reacting?

Tell me they’re kidding

I first ran across this on Degree of Madness and thought to myself, “You have GOT to be fucking kidding me.”

:shock: WTF?!!? Were they high? Did they seriously think this was a good idea?

Unfuckingbelievable. You know, I love Absolut’s products but I guarandamntee you that I won’t be buying any more!

Billboard shot on SondraK’s site. More on Michelle Malkin’s site here, here, and here.

There’s treatments for all kinds of mental/physical ailments nowadays, from acne treatments to organ transplants. Why isn’t there a stupidity cream out yet!?? ;P

Weird deliveries come by email

I got all kinds of weird things via email. Hell, half of them are from Uncle Monster. ;P hehehe… But he’s not the only one … I have a friend in CA who owns a little San Diego carpet cleaning company. He sent me a whole slew of stuff today (bored are we, George? ), including two pieces in the animal kingdom that caught my eye: apparently it’s not the feathers that makes a bird, and scientists work on fishing for the lazy. The first one kind of surprised me … I always thought peacock feathers were the ultimate end-all-be-all of sexy costumes of the animal world.

Shows what I know. :lol:

Senate says ‘no’ to guns on campus

Several local ‘Bama blogs are already steaming over news the proposed campus gun bill has been blocked by the Senate. A shame really, because personally I thought that was a pretty good damned idea! Per Erwin, it was “designed to discourage gunmen by making them aware someone could shoot back quickly.”

Ya damned skippy.

Something a little lighter

Want a good laugh? Check out this SondraK post.

Very cute. :mrgreen:

Spice of Sci-Fi

And last but not least … because I have GOT to have something sci-fi every day, here’s a list of the six most brilliant “bite your head” dragons from science fiction.

Because dragons are cool, mmmkay?

Insurance swindlers

As I indicated in a previous post, it really burns my hide to see senior citizens get taken advantage of. A friend of mine who works in the insurance industry in Georgia sent me a link from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with an article about a shady insurance agent who swindled some folks out of their Medicare coverage and/or Medicare supplemental coverage:

The sales agent said he worked for Medicare. He really worked for a private insurer. And, after he came to Dorothy Consalvo’s Stockbridge home and signed her to a new insurance plan, one she thought would enhance her existing benefits, the 81-year-old said she was shocked to find she had inadvertently given up her longtime Medicare coverage.

Up the road in Norcross, another agent talked Violet and Carroll Cox into signing up for a private Medicare plan at the low cost of $7 a month. They say they were told it would give them the same coverage as their supplemental insurance. It didn’t. “This agent lied all the way,” Violet Cox contends.

It’s a crying shame! If you have loved ones who are “a little on in years,” I would suggest keeping a printout tucked away somewhere with their coverage plan details and any uncovered or out-of-pocket expenses (if any) listed. Most insurance companies have this information accessible via a website, or a quick call. Handy information to have, not just in times of (medical) need …

Obama’s blind spots and Vote for mom!

Lately I’ve been inundated with comments, articles, and general STUFF about Obama. I said it once, and I’ll say it again … the more I read about that man, the more he scares me. A couple people sent me this link, a post on ZardozZ detailing a very well put together article by the National Black Republican Association detailing some little known facts about the man.

Go. Click. Read … now!!!

Put down the bagel. Go read those web comics later. Stop surfing for auto insurance online or whatever it is you’re Googling … seriously. It never ceases to amaze me how many people who are planning to vote for that man, but no absolutely NOTHING about him, his views, or where he stands on which issues … but I digress.

Vote for Mom!

Anyways, after you go read that article, go vote for America’s Favorite Mom: Patti Bader, founder of Soldiers’ Angels!!! (also posted to SA of AL site!)

[ Note: voting requires registration ... might I suggest a disposable email address? ]

Calling for help for a beloved ‘birdie’

She’ll probably want to smack me for calling her that.

As someone who’s been victim to identity theft, my heart goes out to Raven and her family. She recently posted about her family’s findings about her grandfather (now deceased) who was being abused by his caretaker. That in itself is heinous, but to add insult to injury, his caretaker had also stolen his identity and depleted his savings, writing checks and using his credit cards. Reading her story infuriated me, not only bringing back my personal memories dealing with FuckHead, but also in thinking about how I would feel if my beloved Gramps had been treated that way by one of his caretakers.

An open call for help

Those who have been keeping up with this journal over the past week or so are already familiar with the situation I am in, for the most part. For anyone else, here is an overview. I did not put in a cut, as I really need everyone to see this.

My grandfather died at the age of 94 about 8 days ago. This followed an emergency trip to the hospital, where it was found that he had bled out through an intestinal tear. My parents decided to put him in hospice care rather than subject him to radical or invasive procedures, which was in accordance with his wishes. He died about 18 hours later.

At this point my parents started trying to put his affairs in order. As they filled out the death certificate, a nurse took my mother and her sister, my aunt, aside to tell them that she believed my grandfather had been severely abused by his caretaker, and if they had been able to save him, she would have personally intervened to keep him from being sent back to his caretaker to spare him a great deal of pain. He had bruises in several stages of healing all over his body, and possibly worse injuries as well.

The hospital records, over 100 pages corroborated this abuse pattern over the past few years. However, Texas, the state where he resides does not have a mandatory abuse reporting policy apparently, so no one bothered to report it to adult protective services. Then, as my mother tried to continue putting his affairs in order, she was stunned to realize that this same caretaker had used my grandfather’s credit cards to make purchases and drained his entire life savings to the point where he did not even have any money to live on. Even two days after his death, this woman was still writing checks in his name, obvious forgeries of his signature on each.

This explained to us several references in his letters about being tired of living and wishing God would take him away from his pain. None of us knew this was going on, and apparently even my grandfather’s financial advisors noticed the pattern but did not see fit to notify the rest of the family for whatever reason.

My family contacted the Lubbock, Texas police and were told flatly that they refused to get involved at all and would not pursue the case or try and find the caretaker. They contacted adult protective services and found out that the police should have suggested an autopsy to prove abuse, but it was too late as my grandfather had been cremated. Apparently they can only intervene if there is a live person to question or an intact body. The attorney they found also basically told my mother that this was not a winnable case. After contacting the credit card companies about the theft of my grandfather’s identities, one company told my mother that they too refused to get involved at all.

At this point, we just want to see the caretaker prosecuted for her fraud, have the bills in my grandfather’s name cleared and make sure the woman does not do this to anyone else’s loved ones. The money, my grandfather’s savings that he had been building since just after the Depression, when he first started building his accounting firm is probably not retrievable, though it would be wonderful if it was.

This is an open request for help from me and my family. If you have any suggestions at all of how we can at least get someone to help us on this, we would be very grateful. Please re-post this to lists and pass it along, as any help at this point would be welcome. We are drowning in bills that were run up by this caretaker, and the police, lawyers, and credit company will not help us. The only people who have aided us are the hospital staff, who have come forward with statements. However, this does not really help since the police will not listen and my family does not know where else to turn.

I can’t pretend to know how Raven is feeling. I know it has got to be frustrating as hell when local authorities, credit companies, and legal venues are not helping in even pursuing possible prosecution of the caretaker! That woman took the old man for everything he had (and physically abused him on top of that!!) and left a mountain of bills in her financially destructive wake for the family to sort out.

Anyone with ideas or advice for Raven and her family, please take a moment to leave a comment on her post.

Not the brightest bulb

When I picked Jessie up at her mother’s yesterday, the house seemed a little dark and quiet. I didn’t think anything of it and once Jessie and I were in the car and on the way home, she mentioned that the power had been cut off to her mother’s house earlier in the day. (Biting my tongue very hard at this point!) She said it in such a nonchalant way, you’d think she thought it was something normal that happens to everybody. Last night I told Jim about it and my concerns about Jessie staying over at her mother’s house with no power. It’s cool enough weather now that it’s not a health risk, but I won’t allow her to stay over there in the summer if it happens again!

I swear, her mother is the poster child for irresponsibility. She has the mentality of a twelve year old and can’t keep track of her money worth shit. Her phone is constantly being turned off for non-payment, as are her utilities from time to time, her truck has been repossessed before (a family member helped her get it back), … yet she promises shit to Jessie all the time that she really can’t afford and SHOULDN’T be promising to her. For instance, she keeps telling Jessie they are going to get a dog … she has a cat already and can barely take care of it. She used to have 3 other cats beside it, and she had to get rid of them because she couldn’t care for them or afford the cost of their care (all three needed fixing, and two had health issues).

She’s now promising Jessie a cell phone for her birthday. Jim and I have been adamantly against this and I’ve voiced my concerns repeatedly (not to mention she is NOT supposed to have one at school!), and yet she thinks she can afford everything she has now AND pay for an additional cell. The woman can barely keep HERS on. Jim and I have agreed to get Jessie on our cell plan when old enough, but that’s a few years off.

I stress and rant and bitch about Jessie’s mother … I know anything that woman does shouldn’t surprise me, but I swear she keeps surprising me by constantly reaching new lows. :roll:

After all, this is the woman who was turned down by those “We Buy Ugly Houses” people. For the last couple months she has tried to feed us some cock and bull story about how some cash for settlement place that she talked to. Apparently she received a flyer in the mail from some guy saying he was a buyer of structured settlements and now she’s convinced that some inheritance she had lost years ago they can get for her. I asked her if she understood the concept, and read the flyer saying something about cash for annuities and promotional products. I don’t think she even knows what any of it means … I swear, this woman will fall for just about anything!

*Proceed to beat head into desk repeatedly*

A friend of mine listened to me rant on and on about her one day and laughed. She said, “Not the brightest bulb in the pack, eh?”

Understatement of the freakin’ year.

Anyways, other (more interesting) stuff going on: I ran across a nice WordPress plugin this morning called AWSOM Uninstaller. It’s basically an uninstaller plugin for all of the AWSOM plugins. While I don’t use any of their products, I love the concept and wish many other plugin makers would follow suit!

It would be nice if once in a while, you could uninstall (rather than ‘deactivate’) a plugin and have it remove its files, directory (if applicable), and any tables created in your WordPress database!

And last but not least, I’m feeling pretty special because I can do three of the things on That’s Fit’s “10 Things Most of Us Can’t Do” list. :mrgreen:

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