Update February 5th, 2021

Hi all!

When my mom died in September, AIG, the company that manages dad’s annuity,  canceled the payments because mom (who was the beneficiary if dad died) had passed. They didn’t pay him, and sent out a snail mail that took 3 weeks to arrive saying why they didn’t pay him. They said they needed the death certificate and forms to be filled out. He mailed those back. 4 weeks later, he still hadn’t received his money, and dad had didn’t have the patience to keep calling them without cussing them out, so I took over. They told me that he had filled out the paperwork incorrectly, that he needed to put the Jr after his name. They insisted they’d sent out a snail mail a week prior to my call. Dad filled out the forms again the “right” way, and sent them in. Two weeks later, I called. They claimed they hadn’t received the new forms. We sent them again via certified mail. I waited till they were delivered.  Called. I was told that the documents weren’t in the system. Perhaps they hadn’t been scanned in yet? Anyway, to shorten the story, we STILL don’t have the money. And the person who I talked to several times simply doesn’t care. He says this is just how the system works. If you have any choice, don’t use AIG.

Dad got his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday. I had to check into his medical portal every 30 minutes for an entire day, but I snatched one up! He was so tired after the first dose that he missed two meals.  I, too, got my first dose (Moderna) on Thursday. Now we just need to get Aaron and J16  vaccinated.

D11 rode horses with the Girl Scouts on Saturday. She loved it, even though all they did was ride around inside a barn. She worked on her Cyber Chip over a BSA Zoom meeting on Tuesday – it taught her how to be safe and kind on the internet – and worked on her Citizenship in the Nation merit badge in a BSA Zoom meeting on Wednesday. Her homework is to read the news 5 days in a row and do two virtual tours of historical sites. The virtual tours weren’t very informative, so I’ll go though them with her myself.

M8 went to Cub Scout Polar Camp on Saturday with his mom. He enjoyed tuning and spare time with his mom.

Our business is doing well. We’ve been selling books, and have made $9 one week after shipping the books (after all the fees). This makes me more confident that this is going to work.

The kids started in-person school on Thursday. D11 and M8 said their favorite part of the first day was school ending. 🤣😂 I imagine in-person school is hard after being able to do it at home. I’m having difficulty adjusting, too. I forgot on Wednesday evening to pack M8’s bag, and on Friday I slept in because I forgot there was school. Luckily, it wasn’t too late to get them out. M8 just wanted to get up an hour early to pack his lunch (apparently he thought it was a monumental task).