So my question is
What do you have for dental and vision insurance?
I have the Plan F figured out and most of Part D but seems like the dental is oblique. Any ideas?
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A bit of catch-up.
Not sure where the time has gone. I missed Five on Friday and Simple Sunday.
I haven’t actually been doing anything all that different although I have been making lists of things to do and then ticking them off. Maybe that’s where the time went.
We went to Costco on Thursday and did a huge shopping that completely blew my grocery budget for the month but I did get plenty of food for the rest of the month. Plus some things were big items that last a long time like laundry soap, dish soap, nuts( 2 bags), case of pineapple, case of olives, and lots of other things for the pantry. so I won’t be ordering Walmart groceries for 2 weeks and hope that catches me up on my grocery budget till October 1st.
The windows and trim are done and just need painting.
I painted a small dresser that was white a darkish grey. Not sure where I’ll put it but it is useful and pretty as it has carved acorns on the handles. This was a thrift store find many years ago. I’ve done 2 coats but will do a third this morning.
I made a lovely sourdough sandwich loaf yesterday and it was almost gone by dinner. Plus I did make grilled cheese so half the loaf was used there. I had taken my starter out of the fridge and had been feeding it for 3 days. I wasn’t sure if it would revive but it did. I tried a recipe I had printed a while ago. Quite simple but I have another I want to try this morning. Both are started in the bread machine and then cooked in a pan. I like doing it this way. Of course, the best way is in the dutch oven using the slow rise method. but sometimes you just want sandwich bread.
I cleaned out a lot of things from the chest freezer over the weekend too. That was on my to-do list. It looks better. There’s only so long I can keep bags of spinach I thought I use for smoothies. Plus some ‘burritos’ I made (4) that no one ever ate and were lingering at the bottom of the freezer. I still have 2 bags of walnuts in there that need to be shelled. I bought those last summer from a friend so I need to use them soon in baking.( I probably overestimated how many walnuts we can realistically use).
We’re actually supposed to get rain/thunderstorms today. I guess we’ll see.
This week is the bathroom zone if you’re following Flylady. I’ll do that this morning plus it’s towel day. ( I wash our 4 towels on Mondays).
Tomorrow B has clinic and labs. My daughter has offered to drive so I get a break. Last week we had to drive down to get the prescriptions that had finally been cleared with the Cobra insurance. We let here around 8:40 and were down there by 9:30( amazing when there’s no stop and go traffic). Tomorrow though we need to leave by 7:30 and that will be morning commute traffic.
Finally, Cobra is activated!
Well, it has been a hell of a week with this damn cobra but as of yesterday, the prescription part was activated so he could pick up his Cipro( for a very slight UTI) probably from the procedure. But at least we could get it. Today I will drive down to UCD med center to get the rest. Mostly, it is the VERY expensive Noxafil he needs. But it was approved so we are good to go.
I still need to call to see if the Cobra vision and dental are activated but I need to regroup my energy before doing that.
We still haven’t gotten the form back from HR for Medicare so I think that will have to be bumped to next week. We may need to have a start date of November first and that’s ok as long as everything else is in place. I’d really like to shoot for October 1st but that may be too ambitious. It’s all good for now.
After UCD med center, I’m going to go to Costco because we need coffee and laundry soap. I’m sure there are lots of other things too. Like cereal, cheese, cottage cheese, etc. Well, it has been a while and having done the Walmart pickup has definitely simplified grocery shopping. I haven’t even been in Safeway in 2 weeks. That’s really saying something as it is right next door to the gym so I was in there every day for some little thing or another. So instead of Walmart this week, I’ll do Costco.
Fall is definitely in the air, with cool mornings and warm afternoons. I had B put the little table and chairs in the sunroom as this is a lovely place to eat dinner this time of year.
Looks like I could use a decoration or maybe a pumpkin on the table.:)
Never Forget
Simple Sunday
Fall is in the air around here. Our temperatures have really dropped and I actually closed a few windows. We always open all the windows in the evening in the summer and then close in the morning as the heat starts. In the fall we keep the window open all day and partially close at night as it can get chilly.
We’re also watering quite a bit less and the gardens are just about done. We turned off the drip hoses and will only water as needed. We still have tons of cherry tomatoes so I’d like to keep them going. Our water bill is high again $155. but now it ‘ll drop back down. Since we’re on Meadow Vista water it NEVER goes below $70 since they have huge fees attached to the water. In the winter we use about $20. worth of water a month but the rest are their fees.
Our trip up to Tahoe in 2 weeks will probably be chilly but that’s okay. We’ve got the heater in the tent trailer and lights. With the new Honda generator, we can run lights longer if we want. It’s very quiet but there’s still a curfew of 10pm on generators. We’re in bed by 9pm so no worries.
This week is the kitchen zone with Fly lady. I’ll start this morning and then finish up tomorrow. I’d like to reorganize the pantry( restaurant stainless steel shelves). they are not too bad but I do have loads of tomatoes and peppers on one shelf. So we’ll see.
Today is also a gym day and then home.
We finally got the 2 new windows we ordered almost 5 weeks ago. They go up and down and open which the other ones did not. So it is going to be great to get air in there at night or just when it’s nice out. This is one of the few projects we did ( okay not me, but Barclay and my daughter) this summer. We’re still hoping to take down a tree or two later this fall but so far no one has called back to give us an estimate.
A little fall color.
Five on Friday
- Over at Minimally, Trisha is doing a no Plastic September. Check it out for really good ideas on how to reduce plastic consumption. She’s also one of my favorite bloggers:) I am always trying to use less plastic stuff but I have to admit I fail a lot of the time. ( Costco’s packaging). But I am trying to be MORE aware of when I use stuff and consequently how to try and do better.
- I had good luck at AAA on the house insurance. I had to wait a little longer than I wanted to ( almost 30 minutes) but in the end, I got the story that most companies are cutting house insurance and you have to go thru Calif. Fair insurance with a rider. Fortunately, AAA does offer this and after going thru numbers said it would be about$1600 a year. So an increase but not a crazy one. I guess having a small house just might be the ticket. Plus we have a fire station at the bottom of our hill so maybe 500 yards away. I’m happy with the number and feel more secure about it all.
- We’re going to bite the bullet and sign Barclay up for Medicare part B with the additional plans. When he went for the biopsy on Wednesday, I tried to get his prescriptions and NOPE, the insurance says not covered. WEll, GD it. He is covered but the Cobra will get activated as soon as the check clears. So that means all that billing in August is going to get kicked back and then I will have to be on the phone trying to get it straightened out. So I am sick of it and said that’s it we are signing you up. So I have the form printed and he will email it to his HR person by Monday. And then as soon as I have it back we’ll go in.
- We were going to to go to Costco today but decided not to as it can wait so I did a small Walmart order to pick up. It includes ice cream, of course. I’ll do that tomorrow. I have to say, not going into Safeway every other day has been great. Especially, since I am a bit of a compulsive shopper, well not really, but when I see stuff in the store, I will go oooh, I could use that. So this really has saved me money.
- Today is a gym day and then home.
- Tonight is pizza night. I was going to order one, but I think I’ll use the TJ’s dough I have instead. BTW, the TJ’s dough is really quite excellent.
Simple Sunday
A nice morning walk at the park with only the ” creepy” guy who sits in his car and smokes cigars. He never looks up and doesn’t’ walk. He sits for maybe 30 minutes. Well, I’ve made up stories about him but they’re not nice so I won’t include them here. 🙂
Then I did the Flylady zone which is zone 1, entryway, front porches, and dining room. I don’t really have a dining room so I just wipe the Heywood down and clean the glass.
We grew some Indian corn that is a lovely blue color so I will set those out as a fall display. I was thinking of getting some sort of small table for the outside but I can use a wood crate just as well. We didn’t get any pumpkins growing this year so I’ll need to buy some. I do have orange mini lights I like to string outside in the fall as it looks fall-ish.
Then we went to the gym and it was empty-ish too. So that was a win-win. We’re having burgers for BBQ tomorrow so I’m making a quick cheese lasagna tonight. Nothing fancy. it’s just I had all the ingredients in the fridge.
It’s still warm out but it does look as if the week gets cooler, down into the ’80’s so that will be nice. It’s toasty out there right now though.
The pool is still great although pretty much after Labor day the temperature of the water goes down so it needs to be really hot for me to go in. B is in no matter what though and doing some water exercises.
I’m hoping next week to get the house insurance figured out. I left a message with AAA on Friday but since it’s a holiday weekend I don’t expect to hear back till Tuesday.
I hope it’s a nice Labor day weekend where you live.
