Y'all can have all the peppermint and I'll take the wintergreen (and "wint-o-green") and spearmint. Yum! Te only successful thing growing in my garden right now is the three kinds of mint, but I forget what they are!

LACMA is getting a Tim Burton exhibit!

Is that a flailing sound I hear from the direction of Seattle?

The exhibition originated in NY and has been a couple other places before coming here. But I think this is the closest to Seattle so far.

May 29-Oct 31 (in case you want to start planning your trip)

Ohhhh I think I'm going to poach my cousin's LACMA membership and take the kids. Thanks Laga!

Crazy thunderstorms here. It is DARK outside.

Dear healthcare system: if you're going to pay for viagra, you REALLY ought to cover birth control and other reproductive services. Thanks ever so.

Interestingly, our new insurance (which kicks in on June 1) specifically says it does not cover medication for erectile dysfunction. I was impressed.

Relatedly (watch as I bury the lede): THE IUD HAS LANDED. Holy crap. I almost had a nervous breakdown. But it's at the doctor office, and my appointment is Tuesday, literally the last day I can get it done under Aetna.

And I finally got some cost data, and if I were to have my current doctor do it under our NEW insurance it would be literally $1,000. Because the new insurance won't cover "office surgery." Anything invasive has to be done in an outpatient facility or hospital. And my current doctor doesn't do IUD stuff in outpatient facilities. (I can't blame her, because it's easy as hell.) (Also, a pap and pelvic exam ARE covered when performed in the doctor's office, even though they damn well are invasive, so the insurance is being inconsistent and fuckheads.)

Once again, SO missing the point on women's health care. Jackholes.

My options would have been (1) eat the $1,000 cost; (2) find a new doctor, who would do the procedure at an outpatient facility; or (3) go to Planned Parenthood (which I guess amounts to #2).

So all of that is why I've been frantic to get this done while we're still under Aetna -- the total cost to me for the IUD/procedure/co-pay is $90. That's it. Versus $1,000 (or a complicated process of changing doctors and whatnot).

Bullshit, man. The new insurance we're getting is decent and very similar to our current Aetna in a lot of ways, but the "office surgery" dealie is not one of them.

Basically, I hates them all. But I *will* be able to get my bug zapper taken care of before June. BARELY.

Another ita link I was happy to click on! (yes, that's the one - or at least from the same photo shoot)

Teppy, I just had my new one installed and HOLY CRAP--I forgot how uncomfortable that was! It was hilarious because DH got a vasectomy a few months ago but I still went in for the IUD. My doc didn't bat an eyelash when I said, "But I don't want periods. Period."

HOLY CRAP--I forgot how uncomfortable that was!

I'm planning to work from home that day, take buckets of ibuprofen, and thank the lord for my heating pad.