[It's That Time of Year...Health Insurance Enrollment]

Yes, exactly this. Our policy that was destroyed by this horrid law was one that we chose ourselves, out of our own pocket as self insurers, appropriate for our risk level and what hit our budget could take in an emergency as well as monthly. No longer.

 

I know an equal number of people who feel the way you do as believe the opposite.  

 

I suppose it depends on what side you land in.  

 

(Again...no personal experience here...)

[It's That Time of Year...Health Insurance Enrollment]

Call me cynical, as I'm sure some things are worse (particularly for small companies), but I also think some companies are taking advantage and blaming ACA when they're just interested in cutting costs and getting away with it.  The company I worked for before I became a SAHM had worse and worse healthcare coverage every year even before ACA - at one point, when asked point blank why they had gotten rid of a popular PPO plan, the CEO actually said they were "readjusting" the healthcare plans because it was "too much" compared to other companies in our sector.  We'd seen similar rises in DH's insurance as the company culture changed.

 

We're lucky that DH switched jobs this year to a company that truly cares about its employees and offers an amazing healthcare plan.

 

Part of it depends on the size of the company, I'd think.  A very large company is less likely to be impacted than a smaller one.  Economies of scale and all.

 

Regardless, this doesn't apply to my sister's family, since they're self-employed.  

[It's That Time of Year...Health Insurance Enrollment]

My children and I are covered by my employer.  I enrolled today in basically the same high-deductible plan with HSA that I had last year.  I increased the amount I'm putting into the HSA, and my premium is the same (about $67 a month, total, for the three of us), but the individual deductible did go down by $1000 to $7000 while the co-pay after deductible went from 100% to 90%. Family OOP max is $12,000, I think.  Anyway, I know the deductible is high, but we had other options and this is the one that I choose for my family.  It works for us.

 

My husband's employer pays for all of his premiums.

 

My sister posted on FB today that her premiums for next year are going up by 199%, for worse coverage.  I'm not sure what that means, but she did say that premiums and out of pocket max, combined, for three of them (they cover their adult son), comes in just shy of $24,000. She does not work outside the home and her husband is self-employed.  He retired from a Fortune 500 company after 30 years 2 or 3 years ago, so spent most of her adult life with very good, corporate coverage.

 

She is blaming ACA for this increase.   Since i am now, and have almost always been, covered by my employer, I've not looked in the open market for health insurance in many years.  I that premiums went up considerably for my employer, and for my husbands, but they chose not to pass that on to their employees.   

 

My question:  I recognize that a 199% increase in premiums just sucks, but is it really different now than it ever was, or than it would have been had ACA not been enacted?  It just seems like increases in insurance premiums, and lesser coverage, have been the story for as long as I can remember.  Many of us have just sometimes been lucky enough to not bear the burden of most of the increase.  

 

Is this really an ACA thing, or just the burden of buying health insurance without the purchasing power of an employer?

 

[Not so common Thanksgiving recipes??]

None of us is big into turkey, so my sister will be making brisket this year. Hers is the only I've ever had outside of the state of Texas that's as good as what you get in Texas!  

 

We'll also be making a brussel sprout bacon Gruyere gratin, because it's my goal in life to make the most fattening vegetable dish ever.  

 

Dessert has to be pumpkin and pecan pies, though.  Has to be. 

[S/O: Baby names you have heard but you definitely would not have picked]

I went to school with a Lyric, Lark, Lars, and Leif. Yes, all the same family. 

 

I had a kid with the legal given name of Cowboy when I was teaching. Looking at his family, his name was the least of his problems. 

 

I have a Lyric, a Luna, and a Lincoln.

 

 

 

They're all cats, though.  :-)

 

.

[San Andreas movie review??]

I love a good B style action movie and enjoyed it very much.  Love all the ones you listed too Moxie, huge fan of Asylum films from way back.  One of the best parts of 2 Headed Shark Attack was that Carmen Electra played a scientist, it was hilarious!

 

I actually love all of those, too.  This one wasn't even "good" bad.  Just bad.  

 

Not even a screen full of Dwayne Johnson <<swoon>> could make me watch it again.

 

Sharknado, though, is the gift that keeps on giving.  Different story entirely.  

[San Andreas movie review??]

It's not mumbled.  You can absolutely hear it. 

 

But honestly, the movie is really, really bad.  I watched it with my 12 year old and we just made fun of it the entire time.  

[If your children trick or treat...]

I hate Halloween.  I just don't get the appeal.   Still, I'll wear the same black witch hat I wear every year as I go with DD12 to trick or treat, carrying my adult sippy cup.   :laugh:

 

DD19 is going to be Little Red Riding Hood.  This is her favorite holiday.

DD11 is the Big Bad Wolf

DD12 is dressing up as Dr. Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park, and forcing one of the dogs (whichever one she can get to keep the thing on its head)  into a triceratops costume to go out with her.  

 

 

 

[When should a woman stop coloring her gray hair?]

Honestly, if you like the way it looks then I don't see why you should stop.

 

My aunt (in her 70s) colors hers, and my mom has always talked about how ridiculous she thinks that is. My mom (nearing 80) hasn't colored hers for years.  She looks just fine, too.  I can't understand why mother cares if her sister colors her hair or not.  I find it odd.  

 

On another note, I recently started using the gray coverup highlight stuff you can buy at the grocery store on my sister when she didn't have money to go to the salon. When she did go to the fancy pants salon, he actually talked her out of highlights because he said her color was great.  She said the gray cover was from the grocery store, and he said he didn't care where it was from.  It worked.

 

The moral of the story is that even though I know this isn't about money, if you ever felt like just picking up the stuff from Publix or wherever you totally could and it would work out fine, and not be as much of a chore as going to the salon.  

[How much do you spend on your haircut and coloring?]

I spend about $165 for cut and highlights, plus tip.  That's with a 10% discount for booking future appointments while I'm still in the salon, so you can do the math in cases where I have to reschedule.

 

I go every 10 weeks.

 

 

[Taking husband's surname upon marriage?]

<<snip>> One was a 2nd marriage and the wife wanted to keep the same last name as her kids.

 

 

I changed my name when I married my first husband to his last name, and kept it when we divorced.  I still kept it when I married my current husband, partially because I wanted the same last name as my kids, but also because a) changing your name, and everything that goes along with it, is a PITA, b) I rather like my last name and how it sounds with my first, c) I don't particularly care for how my first name sounds with DH's last name, and (maybe most importantly), c) it really isn't important enough to me to go to the effort of changing it again.

 

I have aunts who address things to Mr. and Mrs. Husband FN Husband LN.  I don't blink an eye.  I know who they mean.  I also intentionally put my husband's last name in my OpenTable account because the host/server would always address my husband as Mr. Mylastname, and he wasn't so happy about that. :-)

 

But really...the name that I have in no way reflects my commitment to my marriage any more than wearing a wedding ring, or, frankly, the piece of paper issued by the state declaring us married.  

[Facebook friend request ?]

Sometimes I do.  Depends on who it is. 

 

I was FB friends with some of them before I met DH (he's my 2nd husband) but I've accepted FB invitations from at least one since then. It's not a big deal to either of us.  All of that was years and years ago, and it's nice to see how they're doing, the pictures of their wives and kids, etc.

[Has anyone flown on Delta recently?]

If you want to play "bag roulette" to potentially save a bag fee, I recently flew Delta with a roller suitcase carry-on, along with my personal item carry-on. As I sat at the gate, they said the flight was quite full, so they offered to check bags at the gate for free, in the interest of speeding up the boarding process.

 

I've also brought one larger suitcase or duffel and packed more than one person's belongings into it, to save on a bag fee. As a previous poster mentioned, just make sure it's under the max weight.

 

Erica in OR

 

We were posting at the same time!

 

It's not really roulette, because I can't remember a flight they didn't do this on in recent memory, and I flight Delta at least once most weeks of the year (extensive business travel).

[Has anyone flown on Delta recently?]

If your bag is small enough to fit in the overhead, take it to the gate with you.  You can take one carry on bag and one personal item (purse, laptop bag, etc.)  I usually take a roller bag for the overhead and a backpack for my laptop that I then shove my purse into just before boarding.  

 

If you're boarding zone is something higher than Zone 2, chances are good that there won't be any room in the overhead bin for your bag.  No big deal.  Nearly every flight the gate agents are asking for volunteers to check their bags, and if you do it at the gate they don't charge you.  You just pick the bag up at the baggage claim like you would if you had checked it in the first place.

 

If your bag is too big for the overhead, you'll need to go ahead and check it and pay the fee, but if you can consolidate, you can avoid fees.  

[Has anyone flown on Delta recently?]

So, if my daughter and I both flew and both took two checked bags each, would it be $70 for each of us?

 

$60 each.  $25 for the first, plus $35 for the second.  

[S/O: How much time is your main breadwinner granted per year]

I'm the main breadwinner, and right now I have 3 weeks of paid vacation, but unlimited sick time, in theory, so that doesn't count against me at all.  I work from home, though, so it's pretty easy for me to take a few hours off here and there, or check out early on a Friday if I feel like it.  That also doesn't include paid holidays.

 

I had more paid time off at my last company that I left last December.  Three weeks of paid vacations, unlimited sick time, paid holidays, and something like 60 hours of "personal time", which was basically like vacation time except that if you quit or were terminated you didn't get paid out for the personal time you didn't take.  Needless to say, I always took the personal time before vacation time.  I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't.  

 

 

[When was the most recent time your breadwinner took a week or longer vacation?]

I voted "other".  We both work full-time, but DH is in sales and works on 100% commission, as he has his entire adult life.  If he isn't working, he isn't selling and isn't getting paid.  He gets a week of paid vacation a year, but he recently changed jobs.  So, we had a family vacation this very week last year, and other than a long weekend here and there I don't think he's taken any time off since.  

 

I also work full-time and I have considerably more time off than he does.  I'm also on salary, not commission, so it's easier for me to be away.  I had a fully week off in June of this year, but DH was not off with me.  The two youngest kids and I went on a trip, and I did not really work that week, but the only time I ever go without at least checking my email most days when I'm off is when I'm on a cruise and I don't buy the internet package.  It's just easier for me to keep up with what's going on, maybe shoot off a quick email reply if necessary, so I don't worry about walking back into a shit show when I return.  

 

I changed jobs last December, and I have less paid time off than I used to.  It's a bummer.  I miss my random days off and long weekends, but I like my job a lot better now, so it's a win for me. 

[Anyone want to play food detective?]

If this was your absolute first crap food after weeks of clean eating, it could be *anything*. Or a combination of many. If this was your first reintroduction of grains, you may have just inadvertently discovered a gluten intolerance. Or corn. Or soy. Or... Anything.

 

It's probably this.  You're likely right.

 

If that's not motivation enough to keep it clean, I don't know what is. 

[Anyone want to play food detective?]

Do you eat out often? If not, then almost anything there could be a trigger, even the salt.

 

If so, then I don't see anything unusual for restaurant food. Maybe your headache is allergy related? Check your local pollen and mold counts.

 

I do actually eat out often, but I haven't eaten out in weeks, and my diet has been completely clean during that time.  Nothing processed, no grains, no dairy.  Maybe my body has been used to the crap I've been feeding it, and is not rebelling at the reintroduction of fast food?  

 

Definitely not environmental allergens.

 

I also haven't had any artificial sweeteners for the past several weeks, so maybe it's the Splenda.

 

I don't know, but it's killing me!  I shouldn't have eaten out, but I was desperate and I was hungry.  And out.  

[Anyone want to play food detective?]

is yeast extract another term for MSG? That is a major migraine trigger.

Did a little googling....could very well be.

 

I was looking for MSG, but I didn't think to look if something else could be that.  I wonder if that's the culprit?

[Anyone want to play food detective?]

Who wants to take help me figure out which of the following ingredients just gave me the raging headache I have right now? It's awful.  

 

I had some grilled chicken nuggets and a diet lemonade from Chick Fil A.  It's all I've eaten today, and the headache came on within 10 minutes of finishing the meal.  

 

The diet lemonade has Splenda in it, but that's not usually a headache trigger for me at all, so I'm thinking maybe it was something in the chicken.  I don't know enough about them to figure out what might cause my head to feel like it's in a vise.  

 

If someone has any ideas, please share so I can avoid that ingredient in the future!

 

Chick-fil-A® Grilled Nuggets    Add to Meal Calculator

Grilled chicken (whole breast filet, seasoning [water, apple cider vinegar, soybean oil, yeast extract, salt, modified corn starch, palm oil, dehydrated garlic, dehydrated onion, corn maltodextrin, sea salt, flavor, sugar, chicken stock, cane molasses, chicken fat, spice, natural flavor {including smoke}, dextrose, lemon peel, citric acid, red bell pepper, orange juice concentrate, grape juice concentrate, natural flavor, paprika, vinegar, xanthan gum, ascorbic acid, and spices]).

[Tell me about Gatlinburg]

Gatlinburg is lovely.  It has an adorable little downtown area that's fun to walk through, especially in fall, or in winter when it's decorated for Christmas. There are a ton of family activities, and the scenery and landscape are just picturesque.

 

That said, there are negatives.  Traffic can be awful, and it is touristy, so beside the adorable local shops you'll still have your T-shirt stores. 

 

As for places to stay?  I'd rent a cabin.  Unfortunately, you likely won't find one until November.  I was just trying to find one myself about a month ago for a long weekend in October, and there are barely any to be found.  It's prime leaf changing season, and people flock to the Smokies and the Blue Ridge mountains during that time.  I ended up finding one place that will accommodate my family in the region, on a weekend, but I had to abandon Gatlinburg and come back to Georgia for it.  

[Last line of defense crumbled.... (Cat people)]

The first rule of cats is:

 

1. Every single one is different and you never know what to expect.  

 

I would caution you about going into this expecting anything other than a forever home despite the cat not being like the textbook and memes show.  I have pukers, non-pukers, dainty cats, stomping messy cats, loud cats, nearly mute cats, feisty cats, and genteel cats.  IMHO, that's part of the fun.  They have personalities, likes, dislikes, and are usually wonderful.  

 

And yes, watch your glassware for some cats.  I have one who is a jerk who likes to knock everything over.  Most don't from my experience (and I have/have had a lot!), but you'll regret it that time you leave your water out and your notebook is ruined. 

I used to have a cat who was THE BEST CAT EVAH!

 

He loved me, and loved my unborn baby.  I think he thought I was pregnant with his kittens. He used to play with her while she was still in utero, by pushing on my tummy, and she'd push back, and he'd push back where her little foot or hand had pushed out.  If she wouldn't play, he'd get as close to my belly as possible and purr as loudly as he could until, I think trying to wake her up.  I think it worked sometimes! 

 

Anyway, the one weird thing this cat did (he was quite large) was to murder these Botero figurines I used to have on my mantle.  He would jump up there and weave in and out of whatever else was up there (picture frames, candle sticks, etc.), until he came to these women, and then SMACK!  Down they'd go.  He hated them.  And I was not happy, because they'd come from Colombia and I loved them.  I'm not sure what they triggered in him, but he would growl at them and watch them for hours, until he killed them.  

[Last line of defense crumbled.... (Cat people)]

Bottom line...

 

You know all those memes on the internet you see about cats?  

 

They're all true.  

[Last line of defense crumbled.... (Cat people)]

There is no way to answer any of your questions definitively, because it depends entirely on the cat. 

 

I have three cats.  None is a puker, but the cat I lost last year was. 

 

I have one cat who will pick a spot and hang out for most of the day, but he tends to pick different spots.  No consistency.  One likes dark, closed in spaces. The other runs around the house like a lunatic.  She's a kitten, but my last kitten (my now not-quite-1-year-old cat) never acted that way.

 

All three of my cats will let me brush them, but THE BEST thing for cat fur, bar none, is the Furminator.  It's infinitely better than that glove thing.  

 

Finally, my cats like to be where I am.  They don't climb on me and don't get up in my space (for the most part) but if I'm upstairs, that's where they go.  If I'm downstairs, they're not far behind.  If you're hoping to have a cat that just wants to hang out away from you, well....good luck with that.