There is no guarantee, no matter what you do. It's a terribly unfriendly system for healthcare consumers in the U.S. I try to stay on top of the insurance benefits and in-network doctors/facilities and have still had some pricey surprises: $2,000 in the form of a surprise lab bill, for example. Good luck.

Great! The best price I had found on my own was Walmart, as Regentrude suggested, which was around $5.50. I'm heading to Staples TODAY! Thank you.

My thanks to everyone for their experiences and input! I really like the look of these very economical containers that can be run through the dishwasher between uses. I'm sure I'll use them for lots of different things but one of my main goals is to divide up large family packages of meat. . .so I don't trust that I could wash freezer bags sufficiently between uses to keep the food safe. I don't heat in plastic but I'm comfortable freezing in it.

As mentioned upthread, empty tables sometimes means they do not have enough staff to wait on all of them. I must admit that I may tell the seating host that I am expecting a third person and see if they will go ahead and seat us. Some places require your entire party to be there but most around here will go ahead and seat you while you wait on the rest of your party.

As we head into prime back-to-school sales, I'm trying to find the best price on 5 subject spiral notebooks. I'm spoiled with the 25 cent single subject spirals so the cost of the 5 subject spirals seems insane. *I* would just stick with using 5 single subject spirals but one of my DDs prefers to haul around a single larger spiral to her college classes. Thanks!

Can you please share your experience, good and bad, with reusable freezer containers? We are trying to reduce how many single-use products we use. I hate using a heavy freezer bag once and then tossing it. Can this be done economically? Does anyone use regular canning jars? Does the headspace in the jars cause freezer burn? What about the plastic reusable containers? Assuming those can go through the dishwasher?

I'll have to keep the tires in mind as we paid WAY too much for tires at a "discount" tire store last time. Someone mentioned travel and I'd forgotten that I used Costco travel for a lodging reservation and saved a few bucks. We've also sometimes used their gasoline but it is not as convenient and not always cheaper around here.

Are you actually finding grain-free canned pet food at Costco? This is one of the things I looked for and mine did not have it. I currently have my pet food shipped from Foster & Smith as the best compromise between quality and cost that I can find.

So, I joined Costco for the first time this year because I'm getting an amazing deal on one of my prescriptions. You do NOT have to be a member to use their pharmacy but I figured if I was going there anyway to pick up my script, I'd join and do some shopping too. DH and I have priced many of our typical purchases and, with a few exceptions, we are still getting a better value at Aldi and/or Walmart. Great deals at Costco - Kirkland brand of Zyrtec and Claritin, some prescription drugs Good deals at Costco - scoopable cat litter That's it so far. I won't renew my membership next year.

I resisted the high price of Amazon Prime membership for many years, then one day out of the blue a few years ago, Amazon offered me a student prime account: six months free and then half-price of the regular Prime membership after that. I jumped at it and have really enjoyed the benefits. I never claimed to be a student and my Amazon account is associated with a regular Gmail. I'm guessing that Amazon assumed I was a student because I was buying/renting textbooks but they never actually asked if I was a student and didn't ask for any evidence of school attendance.

I understand that opioid use is a complex issue but we need to find the balance between appropriate use and facilitating abuse. DD recently had oral surgery and the doctor gave her a prescription for pain medication after surgery, recommending that we have it filled and she start taking it before the numbness wore off. We took DD home and DH went to fill the prescription. The pharmacy didn't want to fill it. *sigh*

I'm sorry that you haven't gotten any replies. I do not have any personal experience with these drugs but will share what I know. Prolia is newer and more expensive than the older classes of bone building drugs. For this reason, some health insurance companies will not cover it until the patient has tried and "failed" on the older drugs (didn't improve or had significant side effects). Prolia is the preferred option by my oncologist, who I trust a lot, if that means anything to you. It is administered by injection every 6 months. It is pretty commonly used for breast cancer patients. Not only does chemotherapy and anti-estrogen drugs used to fight breast cancer speed bone loss, but Prolia has been shown to help prevent the metastatic spread of breast cancer to the bones (one of the most common places for breast cancer to spread). There is quite a lot of discussion of Prolia and other bone building drugs on breast cancer forums. You could search for some threads on the breastcancer.org community (a friendly helpful bunch over there). From what I've read there, most women on Prolia do well, minimal side effects and improved bone density. There are some very real and very scary but very rare side effects associated with Prolia (and, as far as I know, all bone building drugs) but I wouldn't let that stop me from using it if I needed it. The serious side effects are usually associated with much higher doses of the drug, given monthly, to patients whose breast cancer has already spread to the bones. Even then, it is rare, rare, rare. In addition to finding the appropriate drug for your mom, be sure that her care team is providing appropriate guidance on nutrition, supplements, exercise, and balance therapy (to help prevent falls). I wish your mom the very best and she is certainly lucky to have a loving daughter like you looking out for her!

Our washer and dryer were wedding gifts from both sets of parents so they are now 24 years old (Kenmore). They've had only minor repairs with the exception of one expensive repair for the dryer this year. We could have bought a brand new inexpensive dryer for what we paid on repairs. However, I now have every expectation that the dryer will run another 20 years. I've heard too many tales of the newer appliances not lasting. The older models were made to last and the newer ones are made with cheaper parts that simply wear out or with fancy electronics that are prone to breakdown. Here's a tip for long lasting appliances - If you hate it and are only waiting for it to break so that you can justify replacing it, it will last forever. I hated the fridge that came with our house purchase. It was old, small, and UGLY. I thought it would surely breakdown soon so we waited, and waited, and waited. It never needed the slightest repair over the next 15 years!! I would not have spent even a penny to fix that thing. The door seal finally started to separate a little in one spot and we took that as sufficient justification to buy a new one.

DD and I just attended a 2-day freshman orientation event at the university she will attend in the fall. Despite already having an older student at this same school, we learned quite a bit. I would like to provide the school with a recommendation for their consideration. During one of the talks, a representative of the student health center proudly announced the high number of student appointments that they manage each year but noted that it was difficult because students do not want early appointments and most want to come shortly before the clinic closes. Since they exist to serve the student population, it seems obvious to me that they should shift their hours later, from 8 am-5 pm to something like 11 am - 8 pm. It makes sense to me to have operating hours extend into the early evening so students have time to follow up on health concerns after classes are over for the day. I would love to add some relevant information on the hours from other universities and plan to do some Googling to see what I can find. However, I thought the Hive may be able to provide some information as well for any schools they are affiliated with. Thanks!

My advice then is to keep it simple. Your first couple of rules are enough. You aren't trying to lose weight so there is no need to focus on calories. Going low carb may have you dropping weight anyway. No need to intentionally increase fats either, since you aren't focused on keeping to keto macro ratios. Plan to add fat if you aren't satisfied so if the last meal leaves you hungry, then plan to start adding more fat. Snacks don't have to be forbidden necessarily. Listen to your body. If you are hungry, grab a low carb snack! For your hypothetical choice, I would choose whichever sounded best at the time. I'd add butter to the salmon anyway so I'd get some fat in either dish.

I like to use the Labdoor website for questions like this. They rank products by both quality and value. For what it is worth, I'm happy with Now Foods brand of probiotics.

Also check the boys section. In our experience, the shoes in boys/men are wider than girls/women and often just as colorful.

While I do agree with what everyone is saying, including the above, I think it is disappointing that doing well in a solid high school precalculus program can not be assumed to properly prepare a student to start college with calculus.

My youngest DD will be starting at the state flagship university that DH and I both attended. I'm a bit blown away by their current math placement criteria. The only ways to be placed straight into calculus as a freshman include: 1. ACT math subscore of 28 or above 2. Already have college credit for precalculus 3. Score a 3 or higher on the AP calculus exam 4. Pass the CLEP precalculus exam 5. Score 80% or higher on their placement exam for calculus So, even if a student took calculus in high school and got an A along with a 27 ACT math subscore, they would still be placed in precalculus. Many years ago, I did not have calculus in high school and had a lower math ACT subscore and was enrolled in calculus my first semester. How times have changed!

Can I tack on a question here? What happened to the price and availability of raw peanuts for birds? Just this year i'm having trouble finding them and when I do find them, the price is at LEAST double what I used to pay. My blue jays and titmice are disappointed, I'm sure. ?

Thank you, everyone! I will share all of this input with DD. I will encourage her to keep looking for possible internships. The one which she was offered weeks ago is not yet a definite no-go so it is hard to get her to move forward on alternatives until she knows for sure. . .by which point it may be too late. She did have an internship last summer through a different program and i agree that a second internship this summer would have been best for future job hunting prospects. Barring that, I do think job shadowing is a good idea because she isn't positive if she wants to continue pursuing research type work, government agencies, or private companies. Creating her own job (even if unpaid) by creating/producing an app or other product would be a good resume booster as well.

Not online or exciting but inexpensive and effective - Jensen's Format Writing. Worked for us!

So, it is looking likely that the summer research internship that DD had all lined up weeks ago may fall through due to lack of funding. I am having DD develop a plan for how to effectively spend the summer. I have some ideas of my own and thought I'd reach out to the hive for other thoughts that may not occur to us. She will be a college senior in computer science in the fall. Just a few random thoughts so far: 1. Prep for career search: update and polish resume, develop a detailed Linked In profile, visit university career center, research companies/gov't organizations who hire CS, view the federal gov't webinars for recent grads to see what sort of programs they offer, develop a federal job profile, create a state job profile, etc. 2. Self-study or online resources for computer science topics/languages that coursework isn't covering, research possible certifications, continue working on software project started with a team of classmates this semester. 3. Volunteer or part-time job. . .seems late to find something relevant to her major at this point but it is worth looking. I'm thinking her time may be more effectively spent on the first two ideas.

In a recent e-mail to our director and a couple managers, a co-worker (same level as I am) referred to a woman with a PhD degree as "the girl I interviewed." I debated whether and how to respond and finally sent a carefully worded email to my co-worker with no one copied. I may have used the terms "misogynistic undertones" and "implicit devaluation." The response was rather dismissive: "I can tell that this is important to you." A while ago, I provided input to an upper level manager for a different co-worker's performance evaluation. I provided a well earned glowing review with specific achievements but I had specifically been asked to provide areas for improvement, so I suggested some gentle guidance be provided to the co-worker to avoid the use of a specific racially insensitive quip that this ex-Marine was fond of using. I shared my input directly with the co-worker as well and I must admit that I haven't heard that quip from him since. I'm a bit concerned that I may earn the rep as the "word police" or something but we work for an employer that prides itself on diversity and one of our missions is training and mentoring young people from underrepresented groups. What says the hive? Sit back and shut up or continue calling out poor word choices such as those above?

I'm confused by this recall. My state is not on the list of impacted states and I talked to both customer service and a person stocking the eggs at the store we last purchased eggs. Neither even knew about an egg recall. HOWEVER, the bar code on our eggs matched the recall list so I returned them. Would there be "safe" eggs with the same barcode? The store still had them stocked on the shelves as of yesterday.