LAME!

I actually had a great blog post lined up for today, but my internet service had other ideas, and I've spent most of the morning without internet access (seems to be a common thing over the last few weeks and I'm getting ANNOYED!!), so couldn't post until now. And now it's late enough in the day the post wouldn't get much traffic, and, well, it's a post that DESERVES a lot of traffic, so I will save it for tomorrow. And for today, I will update about the rear-end accident I was recently involved in:

It took five days for the other driver's insurance to accept liability for the accident, so it was five days before we could look into getting a rental, and five days before we could take our van in for repairs. I've been told I can get $15/day loss of vehicle inconvenience payment, but I have yet to see any of that money for the 5 days I was without my vehicle and hadn't gotten a rental yet. I'm being told over the phone that I will most likely not be getting any reimbursement for the carseat or the stroller, but I will continue to fight on those issues. The carseat was involved in a car accident and I don't care how severe or not the accident was, I will not compromise my child's safety by using a potentially damaged seat. And the stroller was completely COVERED in glass from the blown out back window, much of which was actually lots and LOTS of little shards of glass, and glass "dust" which you will never be able to convince me has been fully removed from the material of the stroller... I am still experiencing side and hip (muscle-related) discomfort and have started seeing a physical therapist for massages once a week for four weeks. I was told it's likely the PT will call my doctor and ask to extend the prescription by several more weeks, so we'll see what comes of it. I felt pretty great immediately after the appt yesterday morning, but am back to feeling achy and uncomfortable again today. The van is AT LEAST another week out from being ready for pick-up, and I was told that they will do everything possible to clean out all the glass chunks, shards, slivers, and "dust", but that we should absolutely expect to see pieces over the next several months because stuff wiggles into odd-ball little places and then manages to wiggle loose over a period of time. I'm hopeful we don't see that happen, but at least they were honest about it! They plan to blow out all the airvents with forced air, and vacuum and blow out the interior of the van, etc, but the guy said you'd be amazed where glass can end up when it gets broken out like ours did. I also met with an insurance adjuster today in my home (from the other driver's insurance) and agreed to settle the claims opened for the kids. It's been 12 days and none of the kids have shown ANY signs of ANY sort of injury. They each got a $50 check. I refused to settle my claim until my back is completely back to how it was. As it stands now, all medical bills relating to my injuries will be paid, and I will get a $500 "inconvenience" check at the time I agree to settle. If this goes on longer than they evaluated, that amount could go up, but I have no say so in that matter. Finally, I did ask if I was allowed to know what statement the other driver gave about the accident, and the adjuster looked into the computer and said it's been stated that she applied her brakes in a timely manner, but slid on the wet road and hit me and a low speed. That really infuriated me, because I saw her flying up on me in my rear-view mirror, and there was only a split second of squealing brakes/tires before she actually hit us, so she definately did NOT attempt to "apply the brakes" in any sort of "timely manner". She slammed them on at the last second! The adjuster said her statement doesn't in any way affect ME, it just might be that her rates don't go up as much because the accident was supposedly due to road conditions rather that inattentiveness. Yes, the roads were DAMP, but funny, I had no trouble coming to a full and complete stop without sliding on the road!!!!!!!!!!!! ANNOYING! Anyway, that's where things stand for now and if anything big changes, I'll update again!