We've had BCBS of Louisiana (where we live), BCBS of Illinois and Aetna. BCBS of Louisiana was significantly worse to deal with than BCBS of Illinois. We had to call each and BCBS of LA was a pain it the butt to deal with. BCBS of IL was much better. I had to call BCBS of IL monthly for a while and they were super easy to deal with. There was some kind of coding problem with our speech therapy (btw, the only plan we had that covered speech therapy),but they quickly fixed it each call. After a few months, between them and the speech therapist's office, they got it straightened. Very little hold time and very pleasant representatives. Aetna is what we currently have and we like it, but we haven't had to call about much of anything. It's self-funded by DH's company, so I don't know if that makes a difference. Good coverage for our area and good costumer service when have had to call them. Each plan has been slightly different, but that depends on the contract between the employer and the insurance company. We have the most expensive plan my DH's company offers because it best meets our needs. In our case, it still isn't overly expensive bc his company pays a large portion of the premium.

I'm sorry, I should have said where I live. I'm in South Louisiana.

Doing that is fairly common where I live. It will lose value, but it would cost money to rent a place while waiting to build. ETA: I'm in South Louisiana

I took it. It confirmed what an over-sharer I am. :lol: Not only would I discuss everything on that list with siblings, I would share almost everything with friends, lol.

I grew up Southern Baptist (and still am) and we were allowed to dance. It wasn't an issue at all in my family or my church. I graduated in 1997, to give an idea of the time frame. I didn't know anyone who wasn't allowed to dance. ETA: I'm in South Louisiana

Praying.

My husband just finished painting ours. As in yesterday. Well, actually he has the front porch posts left to paint because he replaced them. We saved a ton of money. A ton. Paying someone to paint is expensive. It is very time consuming. It took my DH, my FIL, and my oldest son 4 full days of prepping and painting. They had to scrap, caulk, replace any rotten wood, and prime some areas of the house before painting. He had power washed it the day before, so 4.5 days really. The power washing didn't take too long. It is time consuming and hard physically, but worth the cost savings, IMO. My DH already had time off since he is a shift worker, so if you have to take vacation time, that would factor into money saved.

I've lived here my whole life, with the exception of one year in MS when I was 4/5. The amount of corruption and waste is infuriating. I'll most likely be here for the rest of my life though. Not only is DH's job here, but my whole family is as well. I have a huge extended family and almost everyone is local. Most in the same parish, lol. ETA: 19,000 consultants on the state payroll?!?! There is no way we need that many.

This topic is very hard to discuss without getting political, but there is no way they are going to close LSU. Not going to happen, even without the football threat. Some of the satellite universities may get shut down though, which I sincerely hope doesn't happen. Almost every single person I know in the Baton Rouge area considers this to be grandstanding, hoping to get people okay with tax increases without the state having to cut waste. From the most liberal to the most conservative, I've never seen such universal disgust for a governor (over this issue, not across the board). There are lots of other issues I could speak to, but that would get way to political. As far as our budget being dependent on oil and gas prices, it is. I want to say we need oil to be $65 per barrel to ideally funded.I just read our current budget is based on $48 per barrel of gasoline. It's nowhere near that now. Cuts and most likely tax increases are in our very near future due to the state of our budget. Eta:The way our constitution is written, healthcare and higher education are the only unprotected categories, so they get the first and most dramatic cuts because other areas need to be voted on. That is tragic in my opinion. I read something the other day that said LA has the most screwed up constitution, which I can easily believe. Also, please forgive typos and random commas. I'm typing on my Kindle for the first time. I tried to go back and catch them all, but I'm not sure if I did.

Praying for your family. I am so sorry for y'all's loss. :grouphug:

The 2 day shipping from the day it ships is what is bothering me. In the past, I've seen items that says something like, "in stock and available for Prime shipping, but requires an extra 1-2 days to process." That doesn't bother me at all, because it is right there and obvious. The items that didn't say it always arrived in 2 days. Now, it seems like they added the 1-2 days of processing without stating that. That is what makes me mad. A lot of times, I can't tell until I check out. Occasionally, I have an order that actually gets in here in 2 days, so the normal has switched for me. So now, Prime for me usually means 4 days total. One day shipping means at least 2 days. I am a huge user of Amazon and have been for years, but I'm seriously considering cancelling. ETA: My problems began this month. I don't remember any issues with Christmas presents.

A pogo stick. There were 2 sizes, from 40-80 pounds and 80-160 pounds. We bought one for my 12 year old and he is right under 80 pounds, so we wanted to buy the bigger size. The page on Amazon said it was for 80-160 in the features and details, which is where I looked. After using it some, Micah was complaining about it bottoming out and then we realized it was really short compared to him. I got on Amazon and all of the reviews were for the 40-80 pound stick. If you click on the description, then waaay down at the bottom it says 40-80 pounds. Since the page was unclear, Amazon is paying the return shipping. However, the new one we ordered won't be here until Monday 1/4. We ordered it Monday 12/28 and it is prime eligible and didn't say extra processing needed. It wasn't because of holidays or anything either because the other thing I ordered that day came on Wednesday. I'm not thrilled about that. Thankfully, he's old enough to understand.

I'm a SAHM, Christian homeschooler and my babies birthweights were 9lbs 1oz (11 days before dd), 7lbs 11oz (15 days before dd) and 9lbs 10oz (14 days before dd). No gestational diabetes Induced with my first, went into labor on my own with my next 2 Not at all against interventions Although I am a homeschooler now, I had zero plans of being one until my youngest was 2. My SIL on DH's side had an 7/8lb baby (can't remember) and a 9lb 8oz baby. She works outside the home. Both of her babies came very close to due dates. Traditional OB, not crunchy at all. My SIL on my side of the family just had an 10lb 5oz baby, 5 days after due date. She works outside of the home. She saw a midwife. None of us had GD and we are all religious. All 3 of us made different feeding choices - exclusively BF, formula only and a combo.

I literally LOL'd at the bolded.

Ours hasn't really changed at all. They switched to free well-checks, etc., before it was required, but after the change was announced. Our monthly cost has risen a little each year. I think the increase for 2016 is about $10 a month. We recognize how good we have it. We are able to have health, vision, dental, short & long-term disability, life insurance for all 5 of us (for different amounts), and put money in our FSA for a very reasonable amount per month. We are happy with our co-pays/deductibles as well. We did choose the most expensive plan DH's company offers due to our specific health needs. If nothing happens, we end up equal with the cheaper plans. If we have any major illnesses/injuries, we come out ahead.

My city has right at 10,000. My whole parish right at 70,000. The largest city to us has 230,000 in just their city. The parish is right around 450,000.

I had no idea there were places that didn't have set times. Our times are always 6-8. We are a suburb with ~10k people and live right outside a city with ~230,000. All of the areas have designated days/times. It is usually done on 10/31, but a few years ago, there was a ton of drama surrounding when to ToT. Halloween fell on a Saturday when there was a big LSU game at home. People wanted it moved, but some didn't want it on Sunday night because of church and some didn't want it on Friday because of high school football games. It ended up with all the areas around us having different times and days for ToT. After that, our parish council made an ordinance that said no matter what day Halloween fell on, ToT would be that day. BUT, we were supposed to have bad weather today, so our parish president declared a state of emergency to change ToT to last night. I personally thought that was a little dramatic, but whatever. It doesn't affect us anyway because we don't ToT. Of course, some people were upset because of high school football games. Since LSU had a bye weekend this weekend, it wasn't a big deal on that end.

Louisiana has the TOPS program http://www.osfa.state.la.us/MainSitePDFs/TOPS_OPH_brochure_8-11.pdf

Our youth group is going through a series of lessons on love on Wednesday nights. One main topic has been cliques. It's been my experience that cliques happen throughout different age groups and activities. I think it is human nature to stick with the familiar. Not saying it is right, or kind, but I do think it's the norm. We have 5-10 homeschoolers in our YG. They actually don't all hang out together. They are all in cliques, just different ones from each other. During YG, our YP is teaching about how we shouldn't be in cliques, look for ways to include others and stepping out of your comfort zone. He also randomly divides the kids up each session to do activities, both at the beginning and during the lesson. The next week, everyone is back in their different groups again. The kids are all willing to go talk to others, but they don't think about it on their own. If you remind them though, they go do it willingly. I would definitely talk to the YP about it. No matter what, there probably isn't a quick fix, but maybe y'all can brainstorm some ideas to help with the problem. ETA: I'm with the youth both during their hangout/game time before lessons and during the lesson. I've also been with the randomly assigned break out groups, so I know what's being said and done. I've seen it.

Praying for you. I'm so sorry.

I am so sorry for your loss. Praying for you and your family.

Still praying!

Praying! I woke up last night thinking Eaglei's son

Thanks for the tips. I am making a note of them so I can remember them when school starts back. :)

Thank you!!