By random chance, have any of you wanted to and figured out how to send a personal thank you to the specific OPM employee who processed and finalized your retirement package, even if indirectly (not needing to identify them)? I'd like to do that if possible, and I'm coming up blank in a first search.
Thanks!
One of my sons pulled the engine out of a truck and put in a "new" used engine. This is my first round of working on the clothes he wore. They're soaking in a hot water bath of Gain powder, Tide free & gentle liquid, OxyClean, and Dawn. I wasn't willing to sacrifice my Spa Day cooler, so I'm using a 5-gallon bucket instead. I might drain this and do another hot soak before I put them into the washing machine. I'll add ammonia to the same product mix when I run them through the wash. Light a candle for me, but not near this load of laundry, lol.
Do any of you use a Pampered Chef cooking blender? I bought one kind of a long time ago thinking I'd make lots of soups and sauces in it, but it ended up in a storage space. It seems like it really could be useful, and I'm considering getting it out and making it part of my cooking routine. I'd love to hear about any experiences you've had with one.
I made a huge mistake and washed this irreplaceable, beloved (by me), and expensive fleece in a load with some borax powder that hadn't 100% dissolved. The white is as hard as concrete and is embedded in the weave of the fabric. I assume it's solidified borax. I've washed the item several times in different combinations of chemicals and temperatures with no success in removing the coating. There are smaller spots of the white on other parts of the fleece. Any ideas on how I might try to get this off? (Apologies for the bits of dog hair I overlooked.)
While I was watching, this 737 appeared to fly by the airport (maybe past the control tower?) in a straight line, not aligned with the runway. It continued for a few miles past the airport, and then it disappeared.
My retirement was recently finalized, to my relief, and then a letter came yesterday from BCBS with an odd combination of initials and part of my last name on it. The message was something about a name/social security number mismatch. I called BCBS, and apparently OPM sent them a wrongly formatted name for me when they informed BCBS that I had retired, and BCBS changed my name to the new wrong name in their system. So now I have to jump through some paperwork hoops to get my name corrected at BCBS. (Who still owns an actual fax machine??) It's a bit of icing on a (frankly) crappy cake. I'm tired.
Another of many who are finally getting some good news. Retired 9/30, package went to specialist at OPM on 12/29, finalized 5/12. My monthly annuity is ~30% higher than I had estimated. I was on the financial ropes before; I'll survive now. Best wishes to all of you who are still waiting!
Update: Finalized with booklet available this morning. Hallelujah!
This evening I received an email from OPM saying the status of my retirement package had changed. I logged in, and it says "Case Finalized", but the right-hand column still says "Incomplete". Any insights into what that likely means? Did I jump onto OPM.gov too soon? Thanks!
I turned 65 last month. I'm still waiting for my annuity to be finalized. I elected to keep my federal health insurance into retirement because I have dependent family members covered under my plan. So not only am I paying for BENEFEDS insurance out of my very-slim interim annuity payments, I'm also going to be paying Medicare premiums now, which will be high for a couple of years due to pulling money out of my IRA last year so I could pay off a couple of loans and--wait for it--be able to make ends meet while I wait for my full annuity to kick in. The two sets of insurance premiums together are just shy of 100% of my total interim annuity. I have a solid financial plan in place for the longer term future, but I had hoped to avoid getting pinched like this right now.
Up front: I DRP'd from another agency, not IRS. Regardless, it super bugged me to see a flyer from them in my mailbox, advertising that they're hiring for a processing center in a city near where I live. Seems pretty offensive given what they've been putting their workforce and new retirees through for the past year+.