Summer Remodeling Moving Along...

We've been doing a lot of remodeling at our house (getting it ready to put it up for sale). We finally finished the new bedroom so our two youngest girls aren't sharing a bedroom. Unless the stepkids come over (which is hardly ever...once every year or so), our kids have their own room now. I can hear my nine-year-old pulling out her electric guitar we got her from http://www.musiciansfriend.com and plucking at it every night in her own bedroom. She never did that before. I told her if she keeps at her guitar, I'll give her one of my guitar amps to use to actually plug the thing in and get loud with it.

As much as our two girls wanted their own bedrooms, they sure do spend a lot of time together in one of the bedrooms together though. It's funny. I think they miss each other (just a little bit).

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Another Kid in Therapy?

We just saw an insurance claim for my adult stepson come through for an appointment he had a couple months ago. We were never told about this. He saw my stepdaughter's psychiatrist (who gives her Prozac for anxiety attacks she never had here, only at mom's). Wonder if the ex is drugging up their son too instead of getting herself therapy. 

Lord. BOTH stepkids in therapy? OUR mutual kids haven't been sent into therapy due to our parenting. Yet she is mother of the year.

Give me a break. 

If she had gotten herself therapy years ago (like the kids' childhood therapists at that time had suggested - each therapist they saw and she fired after they blamed her for the kids' issues), her kids probably wouldn't be messed up adults. 

Gawd, the things angry ex's do to their kids...continued into adulthood. Crazy!! 

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Medical Insurance for Adult Stepkids. Yea or No?

Health insurance for adult kids - a conundrum.

My stepkids are both adults. They live with their mom and are on mom's insurance. Dad has always carried him on his insurance too. It's been a big hit for us to do so because we have a health fund (once it's used up, it becomes 100% out of pocket up to a certain amount and then 20% out of pocket thereafter and the ex takes the kids to the doctor's for anything and everything), however, they were minors and we took care of them, of course. They're not minors anymore. Well, the ex used up the entire 2014 health fund for the adult kids this past month on doctor visits (I say the ex used it up because even though they are adults, they're still attached to the umbilical cord).

• We have no choice on who these "kids" see for doctors using our insurance. 
• We have no choice on what these "kids" go to the doctors for using our insurance.
• We have no input onto the treatment for these "kids" using our insurance.
• 99% of the time, they could care less about dad or siblings unless it's time to give him their Christmas list. Seriously, not a phone call or text on Father's Day - again. I expect nothing and I'm not disappointed. Dad, on the other hand, gets disappointed regularly.

Yet our health fund is now at $0 and we're only halfway through the calendar year. We have four minor children with no money left in the health fund until January, 2015. So, now it will be 100% of medical care out of pocket for a chunk of change, then 20% after we hemorrhage all that money for awhile.

So, would you continue to cover adult kids who don't live with you, when they have other medical insurance, under these circumstances?

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Beware of Motorcycles on the Road

REMINDER:

It's that time of year again. Please watch for motorcycles. They are everywhere and can easily be in your blind spot or harder to see than a larger vehicle.

After my cousin died on his motorcycle when a car pulled out in front of him, it has made me extra cautious and I always try to remind people in the spring to remember motorcycles are now sharing our roads again.

My hubby wanted a motorcycle. I told him I couldn't, not until our kids were all grown. With my cousin dying and an old boyfriend having an accident when a car backed out in front of him, I don't want to leave our young kids without a parent or two. He doesn't know anything about motorcycles so all maintenance and repairs would have to be done by a shop too...don't need another expense right now.  I know you can get motorcycle parts online but really, he wouldn't know what to do with them anyway.

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Never Goes Away

So....

...hoping things will be all hunky dory after the kids turn 18...kinda a bust the last several years.

It's "better" but still some "growing" pains in there.

The ex contacted my husband recently about some medical issues their adult son was having. Why wouldn't the son do that instead of mom you might ask? Hell if I know since my husband's son chats with dad almost every day so it doesn't require mom to be contacting dad for a non-emergency.

Dad told his ex-girlfriend to have their son contact him for future medical stuff.  Duh. Kid is an adult. Ex-girlfriend no longer in the picture unless emergency, wedding, baptism, graduation. Rest of our time...no ex!

Anything else?

Yeah, a little. We have a health fund. We have a certain amount in that health fund every year that pays for 100% of our medical bills but it's a small fund. After the fund is used up, all medical bills come out of our pocket. Hubby's kids are all adults, one drinking age. Our four kids together are all minors. Again, SMALL fund. The ex still takes the adult kids to doctors, after hour clinics, emergency rooms for things we wouldn't rush to the doctor for. Any little thing HAS to be looked at NOW.   The ex has decided to support their adult stepchildren well beyond drinking age so they don't have their own jobs with their own insurance. Our health fund is getting all used up...for adult kids on things we wouldn't approve. When his adult kids take chunks out of our health fund based on doctor and hospital visits the ex determines to take them to, leaving all out-of-pocket costs for our minor four children hitting us in the bank account when our health fund is there for them...yeah, a little annoying.

So why not take his kids off our insurance?  Good question. Obama says they can stay on until they are 26. Yeah, well, OBAMA isn't paying our damn medical bills. It might be time to take them both off anyway. They would still be insured through their mom...or they can get Obamacare!

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