silver linings abound

Emotions have run the gamut this week-eveything from joy and happiness of being a parent, to frustration and anger over having to deal with adult issues. Today is one of those days where I can really say everything is in balance, or at least, I'm keeping everything in perspective.

I've avoided talking about the household stuff that we were hit with earlier this week, only because it was hard to accept. I can now say I've accepted it, and can speak about it. On Tuesday morning while out in the tool room, I discovered the water heater stand had something on it-some sort of stain, debris, I couldn't figure out what it was. Then it hit me-it was freaking (think of another word) mold. I called the mold remediator we used to get our house cleared last fall, and luckily, someone was able to come out that afternoon to inspect the area. Sure enough, there was mold. its apparent that either the water heater has a leak, or the plumbing in the wall has a leak, but something is leaking, and something is growing. This isn't something we can avoid, we need to take care of. Thankfully its in an unhabital living space, so all of us are okay to stay in our home. In fact, cleanup of the mess would be cheaper if we didn't have young children in the home, but because we do, we have to do the extended clean up. Thankfully, we have the money set aside for the bathroom remodel to use towards this problem, but its still going to be costly. The initial cost forlab work, clean up plan, and clearance report is $1400. We will have to come up with the money to pay the contractor once we decide how to fix the space, but since its just used for storage, we're planning on the bare minimum.
I did make the calls to our home warrenty, and they will cover the replacement of the water heater unit, minus our $50 deductible. I talked to our broker that we use for our home owner's insurance and came to the conclusion that we cannot file a homeowner's claim, since we have been with our carrier for less than a year, and if we do,we run the risk of being dropped (not renewed) once our year is up. While that's incredibly frustrating (since its going to be our expense), the fact remains that our homeowner's insurance doesn't cover mold anyways, so it would hurt us to report something that wasn't covered by it. We'll just bite the bullet, and figure it out as we go along.
In other news, I got the ambulance bill for the ER visit last weekend. Grand total: $1058.00. That includes the $880 fee for the ambulance, $150 for the 6 miles to the hospital, and $28 for the EKG monitor. What we have to pay.....



NOTHING!
Our insurance will cover the entire cost since we went to the ER, and we'll have to pay the $50 copay for that visit.

And now something else-after getting something in the mail from our insurance on something unrelated, I look up our benefits and learn we have two different co-pays for dr visits-$15 for reg. dr. appts (when we request to be seen) and $0 for preventative visits-well baby visits (immunizations), physicals from 3-19 years old, and may other things. Yet, I've been paying for all the boys, every time, $10-$15 for those visits. There's a miscommunication somewhere, and its obvious we're entitled to a refund of some sort, just not sure how much at this point. Knowing that I was just at the pediatrician's office and paid $30 for services that should have been $0-well, that just irks me. I know it goes much deeper, since over the past 4 years we've had 3 kids and many, many well dr. visits. Goes to show that I should have followed up w/ our benefits more closely-now I know. This shall be continued.....