Sorry, it gives me some personal satisfaction to call them "idiots."

I took great umbrage at her suggesting I might need to hand over my federal tax return; luckily, that didn't happen and she pronounced my background check "complete."

As it turned out, my one reference they never bothered to even bring up the subject of, what was PS making when she worked there, even though she said they'd be checking. And my other reference, after agreeing that the person would call her back, never did but wound up sending her an email with questions that assumed she was my manager, even though I said she was a colleague.

Recruiter was later put out when she needed to do an I9 certification with my driver's license and Social Security card when i informed her i don't have Skype, i don't have a laptop with a built-in camera and i don't have a smartphone. For someone who claimed to be so by the book when digging into my personal information, she conveniently let the protocol lapse as she was unable to confirm my ID in person from her Atlanta office.

On the headache front I finally made progress in securing an appointment with a Lyme specialist and also should have one set up for month's end with a neurologist.

I discovered that the state health plan, for which I'm paying nearly $600 a month for, is not accepted by most specialists. I looked high and low and came up with a hospital clinic for poor people, where the earliest appointment would be end of November/early December. Then I found one neurologist who did accept it, but he ONLY treats MS, and even though I have MS, my issue here is headaches, so his secretary informed me I couldn't see him. Of course, this wasn't done over the phone; they don't take phone calls; I had to send an email and wait hours for a response. Crazy.

So the Lyme specialist I'm seeing doesn't accept my state health plan either, so I'll have to pay $300 out of pocket to see him. (Neither does my primary care provider, though her office visit charge is a lot less, at just $87.) I decided my health is worth it and if I have to spend a few thousand on tracking down the cause of my headaches, then that's what I have to do. The thought of having to "power through" the first weeks of a brand new job with day long headaches is not something I want to repeat. It was like that when I started the real estate temp job, before the Prednisone kicked in.

So I've learned this health plan really sucks and is not worth much at all. I will definitely have to sign up for an Obamacare alternative plan that actually has doctors in its network. Another thing on my list for this week.

I went to the landfill this a.m. and dropped by PCP's to see if I could get a copy of all my medical records, but they couldn't get it together so will have to return later this week.

When I got home, had to have another 1/2 hour conversation with recruiter so she could go through her spiel about not using the internet at work for personal business and how to fill out a time sheet. I was very chilly toward her.

Then I vacuumed my car out and washed it. I vacuumed both floors of the house, too. There's a batch of homemade granola cooling on the kitchen island, so I'll be set for my first few work weeks with breakfast.

This afternoon, I'm heading over to the dealer for a discounted first oil change as well as a few more shopping errands and then a free dinner meeting at a local inn at 6 pm. These dinners are always a treat, as long as you can stomach sitting through another slide show lecture about your incurable disease.

I may also be meeting Bachelor #3 for dinner later this week. Need to finish mowing the front lawn tonight, and put the tomato hoops away in the toolshed for the season. Need to do laundry. Also need to plant garlic for next year and if I can find organic shallots, I will plant them too.

I may not have time to visit my Dad in Jersey, unfortunately. All the stuff with the doctors and health insurance kind of messed me up.

Recruiter said it's not positive I'll start the job Monday; it could be Tuesday or Wednesday. For the month of October, I do have 2 doc appointments (1 for the aforementioned Lyme specialist) as well as a furnace tuneup, which means I'll either have to work at home those days, if they allow it, or lose valuable work hours and try to make it up by staying late on other days. There's no way around the two doc appointments, but I may leave the side garage door open for the furnace guy to come in and do his thing. I can lock the door at the top of the basement stairs leading to the main house, although I would still have to move the cats' litter box upstairs so they can access it, maybe in the downstairs bathroom.

I may have other diagnostic procedures needed related to the Lyme, so eliminating the furnace tuneup thing as a reason to go in late would be good.