They're Married!

October 23, 2008... I get a phone call from my son at 8:40 a.m., he's at the court house and wants me to be there in an hour!

Happy Kaos

Okay, recently, I've started many new posts and just haven't had the time to complete any of them. What's going on, you wonder?

For a couple of months now, I've been looking into having my carpet and linoleum ripped out and replaced with hardwood floors. Last week, it was a done deal. The new flooring arrived on Wednesday. The work men arrived on Friday.

By Sunday, I have brand new floors throughout! Well, we left the bedrooms in carpet. But it's almost like I have a new home at the same address. Not only did I have the floors replaced, I have painted - still painting - all the same rooms... kitchen, dining, living rooms and both hallways. I'll have to get some updated photos to post!

In the midst of all this construction, ripping out carpet and linoleum, my Lucy went into labor and delivered two pups! One was delivered here at home, the second, at the vets as Lucy's labor had stopped for hours. Both pups seem to be doing well until tonight. I noticed the littler of the two is not gaining any weight. They go in to see the doc tomorrow, and I started bottle feeding the tiny one. I hope he does okay and gets past this. Again, I need to get some pics.

I have planned time off work all week. After the past few weeks there, I'm due for a quiet week away from all the STUFF! Painting the interior of the house was not on the agenda, but I'm glad I'm doing it. It really looks like I've moved into a new house. I told my guy, it looks like a Manhattan apartment in here! All this hardwood and rugs. I know, I need to get pics!

And, the biggest news... my son is getting married! He and his gal are going to the court house tomorrow morning. I'm not exactly sure how that works, if they are just getting their license to wed, or if they will be wed. He said he'd call me to let me know.

This is my happy kaos. New floors, new puppies, new daughter! I know, I know... Pictures!!! I will see what I can do between being mother of the groom, bottle feeding a new pup, and painting the walls.

Stressed

Stress... Does it ever let up? Seems my life is always full of kaos. Suzy Orman would say, you've got to organize! Without organization, life is kaotic. I don't know, I'm cluttered but not disorganized.

Today, I had a surprise review by my Corp office, a telephone conference review. I think I've just said it, Corp office, the root of my stress. We are a hospital in a company that specializes in skilled nursing facilities (SNF's.) Actually, we are the only acute care facility in all of the company. There's over 200 SNF's, throughout the nation, and our little hospital in Boise, Idaho.

The mentality of the Corp folks appears to be hard to educate on how we do things slightly different from the rest. For example, we bill daily for our outpatient clinic and upon discharge for our inpatients. I believe SNF's still bill at month end.

SNF's patients may stay at their facilities for years, so billing is done monthly. Our inpatients have an average length of stay of 14 days, and billing is done after discharge. Medicare is the primary payer for 90% of my accounts, the rest of the accounts are Medicare HMO's, with a very small percentage of claims being regular insurance or private pay.

So, at the end of the month, when there's a glitch at Medicare, totally out of my control, and our money is not going to make to the bank to cover the claims we've billed before the middle of the month, my boss is asking why other facilities are not have the same problem.

Well, other facilities (in our company) are SNF's and they probably billed right after they do their month end close, so they normally would receive their Medicare money by the middle of the month. And we are billing every time we have a discharge, and try to bill all claims that have discharged by the middle of the month so we would still receive payment by the end of the same month. (Medicare pays in 14 days if a claim is submitted without errors.)

Anyway, I'm probably boring you with all this but I'm really burnt! I am expected to collect at least 103% of last month's revenue. Last month, I collected 108% and this is the thanks I get. It is so hard to collect some of this money, and I work as hard as I can to get as much collected as possible.

I have been in health care billing since 1984. Every time I try to get into something else, I always seem to fall back into this. Boy, the stress is really getting to me though, and I feel it, feel it deep inside, it's time to move on. I really feel the stress is getting the best of me.

It never fails, just when I feel like things are clicking together just right, I get slammed up side the head, figuratively speaking. I am sure most of this is just a communication mishap and once I am able to explain, things will be better. But then again, I was in a bad marriage for nearly 20 years before I finally saw the light.

Then, late tonight, my guy calls. He's had a huge disagreement with his boss and tells them he quits! OMGosh! This is kaos!!! No stability! Both of us cannot be having horrific days at the same time!

If you made it all the way through this post, thanks for listening. I'm just in a bad place at the moment and a good night's sleep will do wonders.

AKC Boise Dog Show

AKC was in town this weekend and we made a visit bright and early this morning to catch the Yorkshire Terrier judging. We were surprised to find only three Yorkies there for the final day of showing.

It's been a very cold weekend, rain and snow, and down right cold. The sun shined through some this afternoon, but it's been cold. I think maybe some of the folks may have left the AKC show early due to the temps. Either way, we enjoyed our visit to the fairgrounds where the show is held every year.

I had forgotten my camera in the car but had my cell phone camera, here's a picture of one of the Yorkies...

My guy and I decided a couple of our dogs could have done well at this show. Of course, they would have had to have been entered first, but if they had been entered, they probably would have done well..... Bentley and Molly.

Here's a recent picture of Molly with her babies last May...

I don't know, maybe I'm just a little biased, but I think my Molly is just as pretty as the one in the show today!

SNOW!??

Last I checked, it was only October 10th. We had our first snow showers today. It didn't stick, but if any more storms come through tonight, it just might. OMGosh, I don't remember having snow this early since I've lived here! Normally, the last week in November we start getting snow. To all my friends to the east, here comes winter! My cousin lives in Beverly, Mass, and she gets our weather about three or four days after we do. It's kind of interesting to follow the storms across America.

New Profile Picture

I always have such a hard time with self portraits. Normally, I'm the one behind the camera so there's not many photos of me. Tonight, I had my hair french braided, looking for a curly look for tomorrow. We'll see how this turns out, lol. I haven't braided hair since my daughter was a young girl.

3 Years Cancer Free

My mom received a PINK medal, like the Olympic medals, from her doctor the other day for being breast cancer free for three years now. There were days of chemo and radiation therapies, hair loss and wigs, so sick she wasn't sure if the treatments were worth it. I'm glad you're here, Mom!

Changes & Updates Abound

Wow! AOL really did it now. I started out with an AOL Journal and was one of the many who moved from J-land when the unwanted banner ads appeared. I have grown to really like the Blogger platform and hope to continue to grow here.

With the current exodus from AOL's J-land and everyone moving to somewhere new, I thought I'd give my own blog a facelift too. I really do like the ease of changing things, personalizing my blog, and hope that everyone who lands here finds it as user friendly as I have.

Also, I realized I haven't posted in a long, long time and I have some catch-up posting to do! My summer was filled with medical issues, and a wonderful week away from home with my family. My son came home from Basic Training and AIT, I met a new family member we never knew existed, and I've lost 30 pounds!