Author: kathleen

Yahoo! News – House Backs Two Health Bills on ‘Uninsured Week’

FYI: I love my flexible spending account. I have been putting aside $100 in pre tax dollars a month for medical bills since January. They’ve already reimbursed me for $200 more than I’ve contributed!

It’s super. And they reimburse just about everything copays, contacts, etc. In fact, I dropped my vision insurance because the pre-tax dollars is a better deal.

Even better yet, we’ll be getting a health spending account in August, and that’s where the state contribution towards our insurance will go. We have to spend out of the flexible first, but then can get reimbursed from that. It will even have a debit card.

And I’d LOVE to have a debit card from the flexible spending account too. That would really make life easier.

I’ve been doing iShape for 12 weeks, according to the program. It’s been a good 12 weeks.

I’ve gotten back to getting up and working out in the mornings.

I’ve gone from doing around 1.5 mph to 2.1 mph on the treadmill. It’s actually better than that, because I did 35 minutes this morning, 2.1 for 10, 2.5 for 7 1/2, 2.4 for 7 1/2 and 2.1 for the last 10.

I’ve lost 15 pounds.
I’ve reduced my BMI by about 2 points.
I’m wearing a size smaller clothing.
I’ve gone from using around 80-100 units of insulin a day to 50-60 units.

So I am making some progress. Not a lot, but then I use insulin.

I didn’t wake up until around 2:30. And then didn’t wake up again until just before 5:00 which is when the alarm clock goes off. This is a good thing and much better than I’d been doing.

I also feel better, though was sleepy on the drive in, and still a bit cranky — but honestly these kids don’t READ and it makes me nuts.

We have only 8 more class days before finals. 1 of those days will involve PSAT/SAT testing of all 9 and 10 graders, and one day will involve ITBS testing of at least the 9th graders so I think I can make it. Then we have partial days of finals.

We’re out the Thursday before Memorial day.

But don’t think I play all summer. I play a LOT of the summer, but I have a mandatory one week AP Computer Science Workshop. I’ll do one day of training for Webmastering teachers — that is mandatory if I teach webmastering next year, plus I need the time to keep that certification current.

If I teach geometry — which I doubt, I have good CS counts, and my extra class will probably be webmastering — they need somewhere to put the kids that drive the other webmastering teacher nuts, I need to do two days of geometry training and one day of SIOP training — I have no idea what the initials mean but it’s focused towards LEP learners (Limited English Proficiency).

I am also working on a Master’s — about half way done and just got the grade back from the current class — got an “A”. It’s an education major and one the district is paying for.

I know that a lot of people think teachers are over paid and that we can make more money working in the summer. While a lot of teachers do, it’s pretty hard for a computer science teacher. I could code, but you need to have continuity to do it right, and I certainly wouldn’t have any continuity with the amount of training I have to do.

I’m not whining — I really like the life, and luckily my husband makes a very good salary and we don’t have children. Just dog children.

The biggest plus on this job, is the insurance. We have very good insurance and I picked the highest level. Since our district has gone with the state plan, we’re on a PPO, rather than an HMO, and so far, they have not balked at any of the expenses.

We have a Flexible Spending Account, and starting in August, we’ll have a Health Savings Account — the thing that Medrants is always praising. I’m not sure when the state contribution goes up — right now its at $48 dollars a month, but it will be at $100 soon again, and then the Health Savings Account will be super.