Today was busy — but with cleaning and other such no-spending-involved activities.

After I picked up The Daughter from school we stopped by the insurance agent’s office where she spent almost an hour filling out a ridiculous booklet, watching a video, and then answering all the same questions a second time.  It was a collossal waste of time but it will qualify The Daughter for an insurance discount when we add her to our driver’s insurance later this month.  Between this discount and her good-student discount, we should save about 25% off the normal new-driver rates.

Really the whole charade was such a mindless waste of time I had to work hard to avoid getting pissy with the agent and letting him know how I felt about the whole thing.  Last year we paid about $900 to put The Daughter through a very extensive driver’s ed course.  We all three believe it was money very well spent.  I was shocked and dismayed to find out that our insurance company gave us absolutely no credit or discount for completion of the course.  Instead, they offered us a discount for having The Daughter view a video and answer some questions.  Such stupid, mindless policy makes me wonder what other stupid, mindless policies this company has in place and how well a company like will serve me in a time of need.  Is a stupid, mindless policy for teenaged drivers indicative of overall stupid and mindless company policy?

In other somewhat related news, my latest order of flannel sheets from The Company Store finally arrived.  The customer service is good, the products are excellent, but for some reason their orders take absolutely forever.  I don’t know if it’s the shipping department or the shipper but if you buy from them be forewarned that you shouldn’t hold your breath awaiting your order.

Also in packaging and receiving news, my CPAP supplies arrived today — not Saturday as I’d been led to believe.  I sure am glad that I didn’t have to pay for shipping.  I’m really looking forward to my first night in over a week of sleeping with my machine.  Hopefully I’ll score some good REM sleep over the next few nights and my body will respond by making a full recovery from the flu.  My husband wouldn’t let me take the cough meds my doctor prescribed because he was worried they’d knock me out too deeply and I’d stop breathing in my sleep.  Well, I already stop breathing — about 30 times per hour — but he was afraid that under the influence of the drugs my brain wouldn’t wake me up each time.  That’s the way sleep apnea works — you stop breathing, the CO2 level builds up, your body sends an alarm to your brain, and your brain wakes you up and tells you to breath again.  And so it goes all night long.  I’m fortunate in that I suffer only from “moderate” apnea; I can’t imagine what it’s like to have severe apnea.

I’ve decided to leave my CPAP machine at home when I fly out to my mom’s for this one last go-round of helping with her move.  I should only be gone one or two nights.  As loathe as I am to spend even one more night off my machine, I think I’m better off not hauling it through airport security again.  I have no proof that it was their probes and swabs that resulted in the sudden onset of black mold in my mask, but I think it was.  And I don’t want to risk my brand new mask especially since my insurance only covers one mask every six months.  I have no desire to pay out-of-pocket for new supplies any time soon.