Zombie Eye: $486, or free. Whichever...

So many of you know I woke up one morning and had apparently had one thought too many, and my eye asploded. Sorta.

Basically I had blood vessels burst in one layer of my eye and it was OOGEY. I looked like something out of a horror movie:




Yeah. I could scare small children. Like mah own who kept asking, "Does it hurt? Can you see? Is everything red?"

I didn't feel anything, actually. I woke up on a typical weekday morning and Jase went, "Holy crap go look in the mirror!" To clarify, that is definitely different than his typical morning greeting. I was like, "EEEEWWWW!" and Jase agreed it was NOT really fun to look at. Gah!

I, of course, quickly Googled "gross bloody eye" (or something similar) and decided that since it wasn't painful, didn't affect my vision, and the blood wasn't coming out of my eye that it was a subjunctival hemorrhage, or a splorped blood vessel in me wee ickle eyeball.

All was fine and dandy (other than looking like a zombie) for a day or so.

There's a ginormous glare on it, but I woke up the following morning with part of my eye more swollen than the rest and I felt that little lump on my eyeball whenever I blinked (wicked gross!) so I had a freak out moment, threw up a time or two, and drove to the ER. "Look! It's swollen and gross! No it doesn't hurt, no I haven't had huge coughing fits, and I hadn't puked until I saw the big blurby thing this morning. What iiiiis iiiiiit?!?!?!"

Apparently, even with extra swelling, it's a subconjunctival hemorrhage and they saw no signs of scratches or anything on my eye, but I was given a $3.30 bottle of eye goo to squish into my eye in case of a scratch they couldn't see. Kinda like neosporin for your eyeball. Gloopy and unfun, but I applied it 3-4 times a day for a day or five (even though it was sposed to be for a week or two, but gah...)

Why didn't I keep applying the stuff?

As a TCT-esque kinda thing, I can tell you I am HORRIFIED of things near my eye. Like people poking around my eye or having to sploosh goo into my own eyeball. So imagine the joy of having a doctor not only poke and prod around my eye, but actually turn my eyelid inside out checking for things that might scratch my eyeball.

I wanted to die a lot.

"Wow, you've NEVER turned your eyelid inside out?"

"HELL NO, lady! That is unnatural and disgusting."

"Well, we're doing it today! Deep breath and here we go..."

I am proud to note that I did not pass out and there was nothing there that was scratching my eyeball and I put the gloopy crap in my eye all by myself.

I swear, I had too many thoughts and they just oozed out of my head and into my eyeball. That's the only explanation I can give you.

Amazingly, I found out that this five minute interaction with a very polite, exceptionally professional doctor (and a five hour wait in the ER) cost $486.85. The cost for my entire family to be covered on TriCare Prime (which is military insurance) was, I believe, $38 this month.

We have no co-pays, no deductible, no annual enrollment fee, nada, so the visit to the ER only cost me fuel and time. If we were using TriCare Standard or TriCare Extra, that would be a bit different, but for $38 a month, having TriCare Prime is BEYOND worth it to know I can go to any ER when I need to and be covered. No out of pocket expense other than $38/month for my entire family.

I cannot believe the number of people who fight with insurance companies for basic coverage in this country. I also can't imagine waking up with a gloob of tissue on my eyeball and freaking out about cost instead of thinking, "I am leaving for the ER RIGHT NOW!" Did I absolutely need to be there? Turns out the answer is no - but what if something had been truly wrong and I didn't go because I was scared of having to cough up $486.85 for what amounts to a doctor giving me a script for a $3 tube of antibacterial eye slime?

In the meantime, I've missed my opportunity to be a Zombie Star in a horror film, since my eye is no longer brilliant, bloody red.

But hey - at least everyone now knows I'll make a darn cute zombie someday!


As an added, somewhat related bonus for people who like homework:


If you wanna know more about military insurance cost info (including retirees still utilizing TriCare) check this link.

Part Three - Settled and SNOW!

Rather Image Heavy - dial up, spotty wireless, and 3G users, be warned!

Shortly after getting to our new house - which rocks, by the way - we ventured into grocery stores and had just as much fun laughing at American labels, veggies, and other assorted randomness as we did when shopping in Japan. We bought scads of things like toilet paper, trash bags, salad, fizzy lemonade, nectarines, and steak......

Which led us to buying pots and pans, plates and glasses, and some silverware, because our stuff was delayed in customs for two weeks.

*sigh*

Also, even though Jase's bike was in storage in a unit about three miles from our house, it took over six weeks to get it because of some communication issues and a small mountain of paperwork. The small mountain of paperwork apparently did not easily show that the bike was stored in Oak Harbor and we were living in Oak Harbor. Once that fact was made clear, the bike arrived within 48 hours.

Vroom?

Anyway - three months later, Jase is happily scooting around town and hanging around the local MC, made up of current and former military members and all of our stuff has a home in our home.

Is niiiiice! We have a fireplace and an actual *gasp* GARAGE and we have TWO BATHROOMS (first time since like, our first year of marriage) and a fenced backyard and one incredible view.

We also have a house which will be HORRIBLE in the Zombie Apocalypse because it has huge windows and there's a ton of natural light... But that's ok. It's a military town, so as long as zombies don't figure out how to shoot US, we should still win. ;o)

I did mention an incredible view?
*insert horrible parody of Russian accent here*
Sooo pretty!

Jase has finished his school, Small Thing is back in school and overall enjoying it. She seems to chit chat a bit less here, but still thinks the rules don't necessarily apply to her. Alas. But, she's doing well! She still loves to read (the little snirt burger brought home Eldest from the library, the second book in the Eragon series after I told her I didn't think she was ready to read it just to prove she could.) and is completely enjoying the science lessons the school is teaching right now. She's done reports on gray wolves and arctic foxes and decided that cats are like, WAY better than dogs.

Don't tell Jack she likes cats better than dogs...
or he may eat the nose off of her favorite stuffed animal.
Oh wait, he did that already........
This *might* have had something to do with her complete loyalty
to felines over canines.

She's also informed the librarian that she has read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and she shouldn't have to read books with large print if she doesn't want to.

Unless they're about kittens. Or space.

*breeeathes*

Overall things have been pretty rosy. Occasionally they've been really, really white. We woke up one morning to this:

Of course you realize, we have a husky, a small child, and really.... we're not so much parents as we are over grown kids ourselves. Snow Creature Making ensued!

Jack. Loves. Snow. I mean, one would say, "He's a HUSKY, of course he loves snow!" but he'd never really dealt with snow before, at least not more than a flurry or two. he would grab HUGE mouthfuls and chomp it a bit, then toss it in the air like it was a ball to play with. He fetches snowballs. He romps and plays and smiles like CRAZY. That dog adores winter.

We happen to adore googly eyed snow creatures and ... uhm ... other snow monsters?

Dunno what he is, but he's armed!

So yanno, snow, school, and otherwise? We're doing peachy keen here in Whidbey and so. freakin'. happy. to be. here.

People are NICE, the customer service is excellent overall, there are lots of smiles, there's a LIBRARY, and .... people ... there are espresso stands and coffee shops everywhere.

Every. Where.

I am SO glad to be home!

In the meantime, Jase has started brewing beer again, I've started working towards passing my skills test for derby (I can skate... but I can't SKATE... Yet.) and Small Thing has taken to skating as well and randomly bugging librarians about "good books. Like ones you can read in a DAY instead of an HOUR."

Watch out, world!

An ENTIRE Season Later... Part Two!

So yeah, that whole moving thing? Apparently it takes as long to blog about it as it takes to actually happen. WHO KNEW?!?

SO! When we last left our tired, bedraggled, confused travelers, they were in the capable hands of the Air Mobility Command in Yokota, Japan - we stayed at the Kanto Lodge, which was fantabulous and oddly less expensive than the Navy Lodge. The military is not created equal. Whee! Who knew? (sarcasm folks. Yummm.)

We had to make a bazillion phone calls due to coming in on January 1 instead of Dec 31 - with offices being closed and such it meant a lot of things weren't available that normally would be. After a minor whine session via email on my part, the base housing folks (who originally told us "They can't just open the office for everybody who travels in from overseas...") were STELLAR and wonderful and two lovely ladies came in on their days off to ensure we could, with animals, jet lagged child, and a bazillion suitcases, crash in our "own home" so to speak. For those with EXCELLENT memories, you'll know that most of the pet kennels and such were full due to the holiday weekend in Japan. It was similar with Whidbey, though the Navy Lodge did have pet spaces available, we were hoping to just move into our own place and fuggetabout the whole hotel thing for awhile.

Jack Morgan approves of his current location!

Thank goodness for Forest City (the base housing people). The management and our agent really stepped up to make sure we came home and were SETTLED. It was awesome - People can grump and gripe about the military all day long, I know that when push comes to shove, the US Military takes care of it's own - sure sometimes you hafta go a step or six up the chain of command, but when you ask the right person the right question, you get all the help you need and then some.

Being able to ask for help? Now that's another story...

A foggy entrance to NASWI's Sea Plane Base
Welcome to Northwest Washington!

Anyway!!!!

Of course, you guys know the story can't be that simple - GETTING to Whidbey was a bit of an adventure - we picked up a rental car so we could drive to the nearest Ford dealership where our 2011 shiny new Escape was waiting. We had to inspect it for damage because our shiny, new, fresh off the line 2011 Ford Escape had been damaged in a hail storm during delivery.

Yay.

Don't YOU want to buy a brand new repaired vehicle? Yeah, we did too. *sigh Ok, not so much. Luckily, they did a fantabulous job fixing the paint and minor dents caused by severe weather and we didn't wanna battle buying a new car after airplane delays, housing fiascos, and hellacious jet lag.

So we signed, insured, and obtained the keys to a brand new, somewhat snow covered but shiny SUV and transferred our animals, jet lagged child, and fifty bazillion suitcases from the rental to the Escape and off we went to return the rental to the airport...... I followed Jase outta the dealership parking lot because I was a bit confused on how to get back to the interstate, but I told him I didn't know how to get to the airport because I'm an idiot. That sentence is important to the story, stick with me.

Maddy, aka The Mad Catter has come to visit- and digs Whidbey Coffee as much as I do! (see the ginormous green cup of happiness?) OK, that bit about coffee is a lie and Maddy is "special" but he's cute and fluffy and can keep visiting for awhile.

SO! I was following him, meandering our way back to the airport, after me essentially not driving for three years. Driving in Japan = horrifying. Driving in the States = Freakin FUN! The roads are GINORMOUS and you can go more than like, three miles an hour in town! Not sure if that's really a GOOD thing, but at least I didn't have the urge to get out and push like I sometimes did in Japan.

As we're driving through town, I realize we're coming up on the Interstate and Jase misses the on ramp and takes a highway. In my own little brain I thought, "No biggie, I'll just meet him at SeaTac."

In Jase's brain, I had said I had no clue how to get to the airport. We're in two separate cars.

He immediately goes into "Holy shit we're separated and she's nervous and hasn't driven in forever and she's TIRED, AHHHH!" mode.

Meanwhile, I'm happily driving along I-5, listening to alternative rock and thinking, "Damn, they're playing the same songs on this station they were playing before we left..."

In attempting to catch up with me, Jase gets pulled over for speeding and reckless driving. (but it was wreckless, so it should be ok, right? No? Damn.)

The cop says, "So you were separated from your wife? Why didn't you call her cell phone???"

We've been in the country for about two hours, and most of that we were sitting in customs. We hadn't had time to pick up cell phones yet! Also, uhm, we've been living in a country where it's illegal to talk on the phone and drive. And hey! Isn't it illegal to make phone calls while driving in Washington? Yessss, you can talk using a hands free device (though stats show that people using cell phones are as impaired as someone with a .08 blood-alcohol level) but you can't make calls or otherwise use your cell while driving.

Of course, you shouldn't be speeding to catch up to your wife - who you think is lost, but she isn't.......

SO! After getting a ticket, returning the rental car, and activating our much loved iPhones, we FINALLY make our way to Whidbey and see this:


Damn, it's good to be home!