Dentists & Dental Plans

Along the lines of one of the World’s Worst To Do Items that has languished on my TD List for months, even years…

I’ve been trying to find a new dentist in Midtown Atlanta.
We have no dental insurance, 2 adults and 3 children.
It’s been at least a year for the kids; could be two, possibly even three years since the adults have opened wide and had to bite down on those horrid little pieces of cardboard…

1) I’ve discovered DentalPlans.com, which offers dozens of different group programs for discounted dental services, as long as you go to a participating dentist.

Benefit: I like the Dental Plans because you at least know up front how much it will cost, from the Discounted Fee Schedules.

Problem: Finding a reputable dentist near you who participates in one of the plans (GE Wellness, Aetna Dental Access, DenteMax, etc.), and then finding reliable information or recommendations for that dentist.

2) I emailed my Neighborhood Parent’s Group to ask for recommendations, and received tremendous response from people I know and trust in my immediate neighborhood.

Benefit: Personal referrals.

Problem: None of the recommended dentists participate in any of the Dental Plans.

3) Through exhaustive research and several drive-bys (if the office is located in a dirty, scary building, I’m not even going to call), I found a dentist who participates in a good plan (Aetna Dental Access), just up the street from my building (in a really nice building, right on Peachtree Street).

Benefit: I even found positive reviews for the dentist on Kudzu.com — but who are these people, really?! Are they just friends or employees who put up good reviews to help the dentist? Is it the dentist, using a bunch of alias email accounts? I don’t know. There are ten great reviews and two not-good reviews, but the dentist actually responded, thoughtfully and reassuringly, to the not-good reviews, which I think is good.

Problem: Still, this is all frightening.

4) I did it. I called the office and arranged an appointment for myself. I’ll be the Scout for the family and check it out before I subject DH and kids…scary, scary, scary, but the receptionist was very nice (very reassuring) on the phone. I couldn’t get in until May 22. I’ll let you know how it goes…

Parental Escapes & The Movie 300

A busy weekend. It’s nice to have everyone back at school & work, but there’s a lot to catch up on, even more so than usual, recovering from our weekend getaway and with family from Walla Walla, Washington coming to visit next week for Spring Break in Atlanta.

It’s YELLOW here, very yellow, from the pollen in the air. Everything is covered with the fine, yellow dust, even in Midtown: the streets, the cars, the sidewalks, everything on our balcony. What a mess. But it is a sure sign of Spring in Atlanta; that and warm weather on its way.

Too warm, since we reached record high temperatures this weekend, and in what seems to be a second tradition of Spring in Atlanta, after the pollen: our AC isn’t working. Big Sigh.

And speaking of the Weekend Getaway…just so you know:

When we finally got to our ’secret’ getaway destination Friday afternoon, desperately looking forward to nothing more than laying around the pool, not setting foot off the resort property for 48 hours straight…
1) The pool was closed and drained for repair, which was noisy and dusty.
2) The restaurant was closed, no bar service, no food or drink to be had at our little resort in the N. Georgia ‘mountains.’
3) Our little cabin was musty, moldy, and kinda dirty.

We stayed one night. We drove out to dinner, which we didn’t have because of the movie schedule, and a movie, 300 (which was fabulous and visually stunning, very gory in a graphic novel kind of way, lots of flying blood), which we didn’t get to see on the IMAX because it was already sold out, so we saw it on a regular screen, which was fine. The movie, 300, even on a regular stadium-seating movie screen, was incredible. All those Spartan warrior abs — OMG. But I digress.

Still, even after maintaining the good mood and a sense of adventure, happy to just be together with some time off, after all of that, we got screwed, literally: We ended up with a big ol’ screw stuck in the rear tire of our nearly-new Jeep. (Today’s second Recovery Mission, after scheduling AC service. Laundry is next. Woo hoo.)

We came home. We parked the car in the garage, left the kids at Grammy’s and spent the rest of our weekend beside our own pool, with a Thermos pitcher of margaritas. It was awesome.

Oh, by the way, the nice guys at Kauffman Tire fixed the flat tire this morning. It took about an hour — no charge!

Our 75lb Mutt & Saving Money on Pet Medications

Healthy Dog Report: Today’s Mission of Outrageous Fun & Adventure (MOFA?!) was to take Mocha to the vet for her annual visit and vax updates. She’s a very healthy, happy and gorgeous chunk of puppy love, literally, weighing in at 76 pounds.

Mocha has been with us for a year, since we adopted her from the Fulton County Humane Society. We’re still trying to figure out just what she is, guessing some kind of mega-mix, several generations removed, possibly with some Flat-Coated Retriever, Black Lab, and just a little bit of Chow (blue-spotted tongue, doesn’t bark). She is gorgeous, with big, brown eyes and long, curly hair, a beautiful mix of chocolatey-browns, light and dark. Definitely a Fulton County Mystery Mutt, one of a kind.

The biggest surprise is that she’s grown from 25lbs to 75lbs in a year, and that, while she has no problem jumping up on the rocks at the Dog Park (Piedmont Park – Atlanta), she can’t haul her own carcass up into the back of the Jeep. (She doesn’t like riding in the car, doesn’t like water — is this really a dog?!) I had no idea I’ve been tossing 75lbs into the back of the truck every time I “help” her. (Actually, it’s a process: First, put the front paws up on the back bumper; Second, pick up the rest of her and on the count of three, “help her” get it all up in the truck. Like she helps, NOT!)

Anyway, she’s healthy. I re-ordered her Heartworm/Flea medicine (required here in the South), Sentinel, and have to mention 1800PetMeds.com. We have been using them for many years, for Mocha, and prior pets, and they have fabulous Customer Service, even when you call on the telephone. You actually get to speak to a real person! The best part, although their catalog prices are high, they Price Match, and shipping is usually free (on orders over $39, I think)(mine always are, so I kind of take that for granted!).

To get the lowest price and the best Customer Service on pet products and medications, I start by running a Google Search for “Sentinel White” (for dogs 51 – 100lbs) and then check the different sources for the lowest price. Usually there will be prices in the ads listed on the right, and I click the best offer and write down the website address. With lowest price info in hand, I call 1-800-PETMEDS, and they match the lowest price I’ve found after a quick visit to the website to verify the lower price.

What I didn’t know before today is that 1800PetMeds not only matches the lowest current price I find (today it was $60), but they’ll go back and match the lowest price I’ve ever found on the product on my 1800PetMeds account! So while the current catalog price is $83.99, because I do a little extra research, my total today was $58.95. That’s a lot of money to me, in the difference, and well worth the couple of extra minutes.

Now, if I could only do that with everything else I buy…

Wal-Mart, Target & Wii

So I was at the new Wal-Mart in Atlanta today…I know, I know what I said yesterday, but there you go. I was on a Wii mission, and I was just hoping maybe no one else inside the City of Atlanta shops at Wal-Mart either, because we’re all so Urban Cool and Target has such a lock on the market inside The Perimeter (I285, which goes around Metro Atlanta, and forms a very distinct Urban/Suburban, ITP/OTP chasm-which-should-not-be-crossed, for those of us who live, work & play on the Inside).

But Target’s got no Wii. Nor does Best Buy, EB Games, or anywhere else Inside. I’m going to have to go back up to Dahlonega, just to get stuff for this Wii.

I ended up going over there anyway, to my favorite Target in the new Edgewood Shopping District. No luck on the Wii, but I picked up a storage shelf, a shoe rack, and some great spring/summer shorts & tees for my daughter…so I’ve got stuff I should be doing.

The Internet search begins for Wii Play w/controller; another controller; and the other little do-hickey thing that you can Box with, but only if both players have the do-hickey thing, and the Wii only comes with one do-hickey and one controller. What’s up with that?!

Wii Birthday & Getaways

What do you get a 41-year-old techie for his birthday?
A Nintendo Wii, of course!

(Now that they are finally available on the Free Market — at Wal-Mart in Dahlonega, GA, anyway.)(I have to mention here that my favorite store is Target — I am not a Wal-Mart shopper! — but my inlaws helped me out by finding the Wii up in the mountains, at the Wal-Mart near their home, since they (the Wii’s) are still nowhere to be found inside the City of Atlanta!)

We celebrated DH’s birthday early this weekend. I am taking him away next weekend (on the birthday) for two nights to an undisclosed location, within an hour or so of Atlanta, just to get away to do nothing but relax, celebrate, and ease the pain of growing another year older (#41).
He’s still lookin’ good.

We’ll probably end up lounging by the pool all weekend (weather permitting, please God!!). I’ll read my Vanity Fair magazine [my all-time favorite mag], a good book or two, and do some scribbling on the novel. He’ll catch up on his brain-candy (tech/men’s mags) and listen to his iPod. We might even work on Our Project, which I’ll talk more about soon, but not yet. (No, it’s NOT another baby!)

And the present he opened last night, but we’ll be leaving with the kids
(& Grammy) next weekend: the Nintendo Wii w/extra controller. Woo hoo — We were Wii-ing all afternoon yesterday with G’Ma & G’Pa [they already have their own Wii] on Wii Sports (Bowling, Tennis, Baseball, etc.) and we now have our own little tribe of Mii’s running around inside the Wii Universe. Even for a non-video gamer like myself, the Wii is pretty fun!

I’ve got to go find the Wii Play game — it comes with an extra controller.
(You do need one for each kid, so now we’ll have 3 and probably get one more.) We’ll be renting games for a while — they are expensive, especially after all the investment in the basic hardware.

No School Today

Today is a Teacher Planning Day (end of the quarter, filling out those Report Cards!), so the kids are home from school, and it is a rainy, gray day in Atlanta. I sent The Girl (age 9) off to work with Daddy for a couple of hours, which is one of the huge benefits of living in a Midtown hi-rise right across the street from DH’s office — we love the Live, Work & Play urban development concept!

I never signed on to become a Suburban Housewife with a Commuter Daddy, especially with 3 kids. I’d take my Concierge and 10th-floor balconies any day over home maintenance and gardening. I could go on and on about the benefits of urban living, but the biggest benefit is having DH/Daddy right across the street, especially on Teacher Planning Days.

I do, however, have to get off my computer at the moment, so that my Young Son (age 6) can get on to Webkinz and check on his cyber-animal. Big responsibility, you know, and his big brother, Older Son (age 12) is hogging the “kid’s computer” to play Runescape online with his friends, who are also home from school today, playing on the computer. I remember when we just laid around and watched cartoons all day…