A Mixed Bag Life Update XVI
It’s been seven months since the last update, partially because we have been busy and partially because I have not felt inclined to write blogs. Today, I feel like writing an update on the last seven months.
The biggest thing that has happened in the past half year is we have bought a home, and we had to make some compromises. I always said that anything with an HOA is immediately out of consideration and that we were looking for a single-family (or detached) home. We bought a duplex (or semi-detached) home, and it does have a HOA. We broke our rules because it became clear that our budget would not give us something we could just move in and live in without needing immediate changes. We required minimal maintenance and had to have a living room, kitchen, primary bedroom, and bathroom on the main level, and this home fulfilled these requirements. The HOA dues are $150 monthly, but this does cover lawn care and water utilities, so we get much of that $150 back in savings, and it means I do not have to mow the lawn, which is becoming more challenging for me to do with my deteriorating health issues.
We had a significant additional expense within days of moving into our new home. The air conditioning stopped working, and in Kansas, not having air conditioning is not fun when the outside temperature is often in the high 90s °F and above for months on end. We had an HVAC company come out and assess the issue and ‘fix’ it, not once, but twice, for it to fail within days each time. We were told that our system was outdated and poorly maintained, and we were recommended to install a new HVAC system. This is what we did; we didn’t want to constantly call out the HVAC company for temporary fixes, and the total cost was $8,100, which we financed over 10 years, as we did not have $8k in cash in our back pocket.
We feel cheated on the mortgage, as two loans were taken out, one FHA for the mortgage and a second conventional loan for the deposit. We were under the impression that the payment would be $1,559.47, but the reality is that because of the second loan, which we found out about days before closing, another $73.65 was required. But, wait, there’s more, the $73.65 was basically an interest-only payment on the conventional loan, and when the loan matured after 10 years, we’d have to stump almost the entire original loan amount, so to avoid this, we are paying a further $40 monthly on top for a total of $1673.12. On top of this, we want to pay an extra $70 on the mortgage principle, saving us $53,000 in interest and have the mortgage paid off five years earlier, assuming we can afford to do so in the long term.
Outside of home-related stuff, we found out my daughter, Alya, was entitled to draw almost $800 monthly off my wife Erin’s disability. I don’t understand how any of this works, but an extra $800 per month will make our lives significantly easier; having kids is expensive, and this payment helps get our daughter what she needs. We learned about this decision from Social Security when $12,400 appeared in our bank account. And because of other experiences with social security, the first thing we did before spending a cent of this money was confirm that this is actually our money. And it is, indeed, our money; apparently, this is back pay going back about 18 months, which was a nice little bonus. Shame it did not come about a month earlier to pay towards a deposit on our home, reducing our mortgage cost further.
In related news, in April 2024, we finally received acknowledgment of our appeal, disputing Social Security’s claim that we owe them $8,700, stating that Erin would receive her regular payment instead of the reduced payment to pay back what Social Security claim we owed. We started the appeal in November 2023 and requested a repayment plan to withhold a lesser amount than taking 100% of her benefit for six months. Social Security can implement a payment plan that withholds $244 monthly in less than a month, but it took six months to even acknowledge our appeal; what the actual !@#$?
This happened because Social Security claimed that her eligibility date was wrong. They contended that Erin received benefits six months earlier than she was entitled and that her first benefit payment should have been 12 months after she was first determined to be disabled, not six months. Now, we get a letter dated July 2, 2024, which confirms that, in fact, the waiting period is six months after being determined disabled, but they have moved her determined disability date to September 1, 2022; the original date is February 11. 2022, which was stated in a notice of award on July 25, 2022. This would indicate that we still owe $7,786; however, the letter, dated July 2, 2024, states that from January 2024 forward, Erin would receive $1,592 monthly, which should mean the SSA owes her back pay as January 2024 through April 2024, she had $248 deducted from her benefit amount. Am I misunderstanding? Is this notice of award the result of the appeal, or are they still determining the outcome? All this makes my head hurt!
Erin is still struggling with Fibromyalgia and severe rheumatoid arthritis, meaning regular visits to the Emergency Room. This is because her pain medication is no longer working, in my opinion, leaving me frustrated. I have been to the ER probably fifty times with Erin over the years and have said that it’s time to change up her medication on many occasions, despite going from 2 ½ Hydrocodone tablets to 5 daily and her pain management doctor prescribing Hydromorphone, as needed for breakthrough pain, our visits to the ER have not decreased. Finally, Erin has taken note of my words and asked her pain management doctor to look into changing up her medication to manage her pain better, but an available appointment is not available until late August, so another 2 to 3 ER visits is on the agenda in that time.
My own health is also deteriorating; being a diabetic, I also suffer from diabetic neuropathy, which causes a lot of pain in my feet and legs, which, although minimally, limits my mobility. Also, in the past six months, sores have started to come up on my lower legs, which can be extremely painful and can take many weeks to heal, often leaving my legs scarred, majorly impacting my mobility, walking slower, as the pain can be excruciating at times. My doctor referred me to an ‘open wound’ specialist, and I have not heard from the specialist yet. And when I called the specialist’s office, they had never heard of me. Of course, I need a referral because insurance companies control the medical industry, not the doctors.
My vision deterioration is continuing, and I fear that I will become legally blind within the next decade. I brought up the issue of my eyes seemingly not dilating with sunlight being too bright and nighttime driving being challenging as my eyes do not adjust to the darkness with my specialist eye doctor. She confirmed that my eyes were not fully dilating, and she talked to another doctor specializing in the subject. The news was not good because both eyes reacted the same; there was little they could do. My visual acuity is not good either, I can read an eye chart at 20/35, but beyond the distance from the chair to the eye chart, there is a distinct drop off in vision sharpness, and my specialist doctor does not believe that laser eye treatment will help. This leaves me at a loss of what I can do to mitigate this, as my diabetes is well controlled; my last A1C came back as 5.7, and no higher than 6.3 in the past two years.
We had to switch car insurance and downgrade coverage, as because Conner had gotten his driver’s license through driver education, our premium from Progressive doubled as they were going to add Conner to our policy because he, technically, has access to our cars. It seems that all insurance companies force you to add any licensed driver in your home if they do not have their own policy or car; what is the actual !@#$? As a result, we now have Conner insured, but our policy was downgraded from full coverage to comprehensive (without collision), and it’s still more expensive. From my understanding, this means liability + fire + theft; if you have an accident and it’s your fault, you’re on the hook for repairs to your car.
My daughter Alya went to Paris, France, a couple of months back with eight of her school friends as part of a documentary about African American photographer Gordon Parks, who her school was named after. Alya said she didn’t enjoy it much because it rained almost constantly, and they had to walk just about everywhere in the rain. And Paris, being a real city, unlike Wichita, Kansas, was a bit of a culture shock to her, but overall, I believe it was a good experience for her to be exposed to another country and culture.
Then a month after that, Erin, Alya, and my son Conner all went to Massachusetts to visit a friend for a week while I stayed at home as I did not have enough vacation time, having taken a week off a month before to complete the move into our new home. Erin and the kids enjoyed their time in Massachusetts. I enjoyed having some time to myself, not having to be a carer for Erin when she is suffering from RA flares, and not having to clean up after the kids as they seem incapable of doing it themselves.
And this concludes this update; the next one will be… whenever I feel like writing it!