Daily Ooo's: November 3-4: Weekend Edition

[faerywings]

**feel free to skip ahead if you don't want to listen to my aggravated non-update of health insurance saga**

I spent almost 2 more hours on the phone with three different companies/agencies and I still have no idea what is going on. My first call was to the state re: the FamilyCare/Medicaid application. I was told that it could actually take up to 60 days to have a determination and since I am not on "life-saving meds" such as insulin, they cannot expedite the process. Next call was to my insurance company and I was told that I needed to go through the Marketplace . The Rep I spoke to there said that I would need a termination letter from the insurance company before I could apply directly with them. She put me through to the Marketplace where I spoke to two more people who are as confused by all of this as I am.

I am not eligible to enroll through the Special Enrollment Process but they are going to send my information to a caseworker who will review that decision and see if it can be waived. Since I was not told that I would be terminated that day, I have a chance that they will. If so, I have to go through the enrollment process without any tax credit assistance and if I keep the plan that I had, it will be $584/month. Yup. almost $600. That I don't have. (who does??) The plan will reset so I will have to hit the deductible all over again. SMDH.
So that is the best case scenario.
I still have no idea of when/if the Medicaid application will cover me or Caitlyn. I have no idea what happens if I don't know any of this before Open Enrollment on the Marketplace closes on Dec. 15.

If you live in the US and you have not voted yet, please keep in mind that by voting for Democrats, this country could possibly move closer to having a better healthcare/universal system of some kind. What we have now is unsustainable for everyone unless you are the CEO of an insurance company.
*off soapbox*

PS: I am not telling anyone how to vote but to take a closer look at the differences between the parties. My LLMD was saying how she thinks that the ACA was the worst thing to ever happen to the healthcare system. yeah, it has its flaws, but I would have been uninsured for years without it. The ACA was a huge reason why I was able to get my mammogram in 2014 when I found out that I had breast cancer. I would probably still be walking around with that if I hadn't.

*jumps off soapbox for a second time*

:sorry:

After that ordeal, I tried going through my F-W supplies and recipes and I forced myself to place an order for some things I save up points from surveys and get Paypal to cover that cost. I still need to get a few more things but I ran out of Paypal money so I have to see what else I have.
Cait and I took W for a short walk and we could believe how "warm" it was for the first week of November.

Today I am off to the FP then I want to figure out what other things I need to buy for F-W's. I have to pack up the Halloween decorations too. I need a "clean" house before we think about Christmas!

Have a fab day and thank you for listening and sending good thoughts to me!:hug:

 

[faerywings]

Trudy- yay for a good night's sleep! That is what we have right now-- rainy but mild. Great job with the calendar pages! I saw the Feb on FB and it is beautiful! Did you have a nice time with SIL? Hope that you get some relaxing done this weekend too.

Nancy- Ugh!!! What a mess with NJ Transit. Every time that I think about the ARC tunnel project and how close it could have been to being done for commuters... :boom:
At least you got some good bakery bread out of the deal. Caitlyn would be happy with that

I am not eligible for Open Enrollment this time. I don't know if I will be. Cait should be but I am going to have her renew the plan that she has closer to December to make sure that nothing else gets screwed up for her. at least while I am trying to figure out what is happening on my end. Gary has to renew his Medicare plan and also has to call his company to see what they are charging him copays with the pump supplies and test trips- they should go under durable medical goods they way they always did until this upgrade on the pump happened. He shouldn't get charged but he is. He hears me yelling into the phone and I think he doesn't want to go through that!
Thanks for letting me know I am a good mom-- I feel very neglectful of the family ATM.

Rae-- oh that photo is jaw-dropping! Took my breath away! Good to see you out and about doing something that you love and that you are so darn good at!

*pounces on Felis* Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am still very sad and sorry that you aren't scrapping her anymore but I hope that this means you will still pop in to say hi to us here.
Hahaha! That Instagram meme is 100% me! ound:

hugs, my O-Fam!!

 

[taxed4ever]

Morning ladies... A dark and rainy day here, guess I better get used to it LOL. Actually the forecast is for nicer weather tomorrow and the next day, we will see if the weather man knows what he is talking about. Yesterday was simply awesome as the sun was shining and the temps were so nice and warm! I had a nice time with SIL Linda and we got lots of little goodies at the dollar store for a project that she is working on. I picked up a few little Christmas boxes for the grandkids tree ornaments that I have to get out in the mail. I am hoping that will be my only parcel that I have to mail out to them. I will try to get everything else sent through Amazon.ca or other online places. So today will be our usual Saturday of running errands and getting groceries, pretty boring life we live :bored: LOL

Chris - OMG the saga continues with the Health Insurance! The constant bickering

with them must be taking its toll on you! I hope that you won't let it spoil your weekend! Thanks for the nice comment on my calendar page! I got another one done yesterday and it went together very quickly, I want to post it here, but can't post any on my facebook page because the kids will see it and I want it to be a surprise! Hope you are successful at getting the rest of your faerywings supplies and that the trip to the FP is good!

Rae - Your photo is absolutely stunning! You are such a great photographer! I hope that you have a lovely weekend and that you get to talk to B today!

Nancy - Yummy fresh bread :hungry: I love bread, but it does not love me and my stomach would be making me pay dearly for having it!! Oh well I still love the smell of it! Hoping that you and Luther are enjoying your Saturday and that you get to see lots of hockey this weekend!

Felis - How lovely to see you here again! :hug: Nice that you are enjoying your extra time with your other hobbies and that things are going well for you and your family! Wish there was something we could do or say to help you get back to scrapping again! Here is a cat hug from me ...

I hope you are having a nice weekend!

Ok DH wants pancakes for his breakfast this morning, so I best grab a coffee and get started with that. Enjoy your Saturday everyone! :wave:

 

[bcgal00]

Good morning, ladies. I spent the morning reading my book, enjoying coffee and Taz snuggles in my chair. D soaked in the tub (his calves are aching) so he's going to stay home today as I go up to the hospital for the day with B. I'm going to bring card supplies and we can play. I'll invite the others to join in if they want to (if the staff says its ok). I organized towels in the linen closet, rolling the big bath towels to put in baskets I got at the dollar store a few wks ago. They fit perfectly. I got a smaller basket to put washcloths in and it fits in nicely beside the big basket. So I'll go back to the dollar store and grab a few more baskets to finish off the rest of the closet. It'll be nice to have it all organized.

Felis - yay....so glad to hear from you! I've been thinking of you and missing you so was thrilled to see you posting yesterday. I understand about not scrapping and freeing up time for other hobbies. I don't get to scrap much these days but I do enjoy reading, getting outdoors more with Taz (we took up jogging together) and hopefully eventually I'll have time and energy to scrap more later but for now, I'm ok with my schedule.

Chris - rant away to us all you want. That is just insane how convoluted and crazy your healthcare system is.

Trudy - I miss pancakes. I want to try a homemade paleo friendly recipe soon (waffles too).

I'd better get going, have to pack some supplies to bring to the hospital. Have a great day, everyone.

 

[nancyr]

good early afternoon - so far today my DH and I had quite a walk with Luther. It is a brisk fall day. Windy but no rain and starting to clear up. As we were walking around the park you can see the Garden State Parkway. We hear the bang and then look and we see an SUV hit and spun around. But not much more than that as the other cars managed to slow down and pass on by. I called 911 to report it. The state police said said they had the report and had dispatched officers. But still glad I reported it. The walked a bit further and we ran into a German shepherd puppy, Sadie. She and Luther had a great time playing. The trees were so pretty. It was a nice time. Came home and until hockey I was binging on Outlander as season 4 starts tomorrow night at 8pm my time. I cant wait. My Devils play tonight and there have been so many changes in my line up from injuries and just that my coach does not like what he is getting from his players. Pavel Zacha just cant score and so he was demoted to the Devils AHL team. I hope he takes this positively and starts to score. So today we have two more new players starting. We are playing an across the Hudson foe the New York Islanders. Last night I stayed up late watching the AZ Coyotes vs the Hurricanes. What a fun game of back and forth. AZ won in OT. Good to see that team winning.

Chris I still am at a loss for you and your insurance woes. It should not be this difficult. I have been so talking about voting. My DH has even decided to vote for women and democrats. Think goodness. I hope by voting those voted in will do the right thing.

Trudy so glad you had a nice time with SIL. And I am not surprised you are busy with errands!

Rae I love your macro photos. So beautiful! The catches of the water drops stunning!

Felis so nice to hear from you. Yes even with team doing badly I still love hockey! I hope even if not scrapping here you are scrapping some place.

Hey Jean bet you are at some meeting - have fun!

Have a great day all!

 

[nancyr]

Hi Rae have a good time with cards and B.

 

[faerywings]

Good morning and happy Sunday! Everyone will be happy to see that I am not complaining about my health insurance this morning. Not because anything good happened. But nothing happened since it is a weekend. But I guess being able to take a bit of a break is a good thing.

Cait and I went to the FP and while we were waiting we were looking at the Instagram of a Bat Sanctuary in Florida. OMG- bats are seriously the cutest things. They even posted a pic of an ultrasound of a pregnant bat. We couldn't see anything in the bat u/s any better than we can in human ones, but the concept is adorable. Cait had to google if it is legal to own a bat in NJ and we didn't see if it was legal here, but as soon as she saw that bats kept as pets live only a year or so and can live 25 years in the wild, she didn't go any further with her research LOL

I spent more time researching products and prices and gave myself quite a headache. There were placed that had great prices but the shipping costs have gone up drastically. Thankfully, a place that I normally get things has free shipping over $50 so it is cheaper to go there and pay more per pound for items and not pay $20 for shipping on 1 pound of coffee butter.

I made a yummy dinner (butternut squash pasta or what the kids call "squashta") and we watched another episode of Man in the High Castle. Things seem to be coming together in it-- it seemed sort of all over the place earlier in this season. I also packed away much of the Halloween decorations and need to do outside (Not Gary's set up-- that is all on him haha!) and then put the boxes up in the attic.

I am already behind of Oscraps work here for the month and I would love to catch up on some scrapping.

Get this about the small world of scrapping too. I log into FB this morning and I have a message from a woman who has a mutual friend on it. She signed up for the NBK ARTology group and notices that we have a mutual friend-- her son is my son's ex-girlfriend's boyfriend. Got that? Maybe it is easier to say that Scott's ex-gf is dating her son. either way-- small world, right?

Even with the extra hour, I feel like I am running late this morning. So let me post this and get moving. xoxoxo

 

[faerywings]

Trudy- How did the weather hold out for you? It was windy all day here and the temps dropped a lot. It is sunny today but I don't think I am going to get to do any raking-- my rain boots got moved to the side of the steps on Halloween so when it rained they filled with water. I turned them over to dry but who knows when they will. (not blaming anyone but Gary moved them and I didn't think of them when it rained. Double blame to go around ) Did your Gary make you run lots of errands? Hope that you had a decent amount of time home yesterday and if not, then today.

Rae- your morning sounds very relaxing and mellow- much deserved! How was your visit with B? Did you two have a fun time making cards?
I love being organized, I wish I had the motivation to do more to get organized here. The baskets sound very "spa-like" for the towels.

Nancy- yikes! That must have been a jolt to see the car hit like that on the GSP.
How cute to see Luther and Sadie playing together, is she a young puppy?
I have been seeing posts/commercials for Outlander all over social media and I am so jealous. Maybe someday it will be on Netflix.
The color up here went from No Color to Crazy Pretty color in a week. The trees are all reds and gold. Caitlyn said how nice it was driving on Skyline Drive and by the Wanaque Reservoir going to school the other day. Maybe I can bundle up and go for a walk and take some pictures.

hugs everyone!

 

[scrap-genie]

Somehow it's been a few days since I was here. Just reading about this month's challenges and trying to think of scrapping. Maybe. I have so many genealogy things to work on it leaves little time for getting into something else. I hate that daylight saving time is over and it'll get dark so early. But the color in the trees is wonderful especially in some sun today.

Chris, your woes with insurance just shouldn't be! Sadly none of us can help here other than sending you our hugs and hopes for a solution. But know we're all doing that. Loved the video of Gary's Halloween display.

Nancy, sorry the Devils have taken to losing, but at least it's hockey and you can watch other games. We're watching football today as usual and that isn't much fun while watching the Browns. But they are playing a team with a player from our high school and another who played high school football nearby with the step-grandson of a friend of mine. They are both outstanding so makes for a nice local story. Good for you calling 911 after seeing that accident. Scary thing. Really hoping lots of people are voting (and voting my way of course! :biggrin1

Trudy, lots of good times for you with empty lap lanes, good weather and shopping and nice Halloween. Glad you got photos of the grands in costume. Sounds like you're going great on the calendar.

Rae, what a beautiful avi and gorgeous photo in the rain. Hope you had a good visit with B. Seems good that she can participate and do things now. Fingers crossed on their evaluation process.

Felis, wish you were here. We need stories of the cats, little dog and biggie, shoping in the capital and what you're doing. Still wish you were scrapping here.