Blah. Buying a vacuum with the specialty allergy filter is kind of pointless if all the dust flies up into my face when I'm trying to empty it.

Laura, my PCP has decided she needs to see me four times a year, with bloodwork before each visit, and annual boobsquishing and other labs (bone density, frex) at her direction.

She doesn't have kids to put through college, but one more reminder from her office, and I'm liable to remind *her* that I have coverage for *one* physical checkup per year, don't have supplementary insurance, everything else is out of pocket, and I am not financing her luxury SUV or summer home.

I get there are things she wants to keep an eye on, but necessary blood work and a phone call if there's anything of concern will suffice, you know? I don't need to pay her $110 to sit in front of her while she reviews lab results on her laptop and chirps, "Everything looks good!" Yeah, except my poor dead wallet.

Oh so true, Beverly. Also, I can read my own lab results! Don't need an office visit to have them explained.

I just emailed someone who was a DNA match, saying basically, "I see that you match a bunch of my relatives, so based on that, I can guess which branch of my family tree you're on. Are these your ancestors?" It was confusing me a lot, because I know that branch of the family pretty well, and I didn't recognize the name, and neither did anyone who I'm pretty sure would be much more closely related to him.

Turns out, his mother was adopted. She's found and contacted her birth parents before, so I don't need to go think about who to tell and who not to tell and all of that. I wasn't sure what else to do, so I introduced myself and invited him to our family Facebook group.

If anyone wants to use DNA to try to find birth parents or anything like that, and you don't know how to do it, let me know -- I might be able to help.

The landlord came by, while Steph was here, and he looked around and said that the apartment looked OK. And he was much nicer than he usually is when I'm here alone.

Also got my blood test results back, and my hemoglobin is normal. So, basically, I'm anemic, but they have no clue why I'm anemic, since I've never been anemic before, but they tested for everything that could cause it, and I don't have any of those things.

Good, Hil. I'm so glad Steph could be there.

I was going to glower at him and be all bitchface, but then I realized that it's more disarming to just be blonde and pleasant. So I was, and he was amiable, and swears he knows me from somewhere (SPOILER: he does not).

Then I got orange sherbet because it's summer, man! And now I have to edit.

I was borderline anemic, my doc suggested iron, my entire worldview brightened.

Steph, you know what's nice in the summertime (or anytime, as far as I'm concerned) - the mixture of orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream ... I always find it refreshing.