Someday A Goat

Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

I'm out of town visiting family, so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post this weekend. Hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend! I'm so thankful to live in a free country -- freedom of words, freedom of thought, and freedom from fear. Many blessings to you and yours.

Making open enrollment decisions

My husband and I are insured under his work health insurance, and open enrollment just ended in mid-November. We decided to keep our PPO plan the same, but we’re adding a small flexible spending account (FSA) annual contribution. I’ve always reviewed paperwork for open enrollment, but I paid a lot more attention this year.

He works for a large company, so the benefits are really good. There are three levels of health insurance, select PPO, standard PPO and HMO. The company also offers dental, vision, and FSAs for medical/dental, dependent day care and transportation reimbursement.

We’ve carried the more expensive select PPO since he started, and we’re keeping it. The payroll deduction is the highest, but since we cut the budget so close every month, and it looks like my husband’s health care expenses will be higher next year, we don’t want to open ourselves up to high coinsurance costs.

I didn’t realize this, but chiropractic and acupuncture services are each covered up to 30 visits per calendar year. We definitely might look into taking advantage of this coverage of alternative therapies in 2009, especially the acupuncture.

The copays are the same between the select and standard PPO, but the main reason we’re not downgrading to the standard PPO is the coinsurance requirements for hospital care, lab tests, radiology and outpatient surgery, in addition to coinsurance for out-of-network coverage. Jeremy at Generation X Finance has a great primer on the differences between copay and coinsurance if you're not entirely clear.

For in-network care, the select PPO has 100% coverage after deductible, while the standard requires 20% coinsurance. For a $450 lab test my husband had this month, that would have meant a difference between paying just $150 for our deductible under select PPO to paying $150 deductible plus $60 coinsurance. For out-of-network coverage, the coinsurance costs are lower under select (30% v. 40%). All it would take is one hospital visit or outpatient surgery to really throw our budget for a loop.

We typically only use preventative care, which is 100% covered in-network after the copay, but you never know. I plan on tracking our health care spending next year so that we can possibly move down to standard PPO in 2010. If the out-of-pocket max is less than what we can save in the FSA at that time, and still use the FSA up by the end of the year with other expenses, the much-lower premium for standard PPO may make sense for us (the difference is premiums for standard PPO is less than half of what it is for select). Of course, we’ll have to also consider what this will do to how much of our income is taxable. Since the HMO has no out-of-network coverage, it’s not really an option, especially since the payroll deduction is only a little bit less than the select PPO.

While we are absolutely not planning on having children, we both have all the working parts, so to speak, and the maternity coverage for in-network services has a huge difference in coverage. For the select PPO, the in-network coverage for maternity is 100% after the $15 copay for the initial office visit and the deductible. Standard only offers 80% coverage in-network after copay and deductible.

The company also offers personal health resources: personal health support, maternity support, autism advocate and 24/7 Nurseline. I’ve already put the number for the NurseLine on our fridge, but we may look into the personal health support (if we qualify) for my husband.

Included in either PPO coverage is prescription drug coverage, mental health and substance abuse coverage, and vision coverage. I learned that we can save a significant amount of money by using our provider’s prescription-by-mail service, so that’s something to keep in mind in the coming year for the small number of prescriptions that we get filled. In addition, if you have the same prescription filled more than three times at a retail pharmacy, the coinsurance increases.

The only real change that we’re making is adding the flexible spending account. We’re not making a huge annual contribution to avoid losing any money, but quite a few of our out-of-pocket costs would be covered if we had already enrolled, so we’re going to start small. I take allergy medicine March – November, and wear glasses and contacts. My husband has just been put on Prilosec daily, and he has significant dental expenses not covered by our dental insurance. In addition, we could apply copays, coinsurance, deductibles and lab tests that are not covered by the health plan.

We probably had at least $600 in FSA-eligible expenses this year, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were more than $1,000. While I’m looking forward to reducing our taxable income, until we’re on steadier ground as far as finances, I don’t want to reduce my husband’s paycheck by much. They also offer a debit card linked to the account, so we’re opting to receive that also. Five Cent Nickel posted about FSAs and open enrollment recently, as did Clever Dude.

For dental coverage, well, we’ve been battling them all year, so I don’t even want to think about it. But the payroll deduction amount isn’t very high, and we earn that out based on my semi-annual visits alone, so we’re going to keep it. I hate giving them our money, though.

Consumer Reports also has a handy guide to choosing health benefits (via Lifehacker).

Linkity Link 11.24.08

Homemade candles are a great inexpensive gift idea, no matter what season. Stephanie at A Year of Crockpotting covers how to make candles in a crockpot. I have quite a bit of essential oils, so I might try this after the holidays.

Cooking

Need buttermilk but don't want to go to the store? Heather at Home Ec 101 has the buttermilk substitution answer for you.

Ree at Pioneer Woman Cooks makes caramel pumpkin gingersnap cheesecake. If we weren't arriving at my mom's house until Thursday afternoon, I would have definitely planned on subjecting my family to this. I think the TSA would probably take it and eat it if I tried to bring in on the plane though.

At 10c a pancake, I've got to try this buttermilk pancake recipe from Cheap Healthy Good.

I love roasted potatoes. And mustard. Deb from Smitten Kitchen makes me drool with this recipe for mustard roasted potatoes -- they would be so good with steak.

Argh, I spoke too soon

I posted last night about the furnace, and did, in fact, jinx us. When we woke up to go to work this morning, it was once again not at the set temperature, but several degrees lower. Argh. Looks like we won't be lucky after all.

Update 1:58 pm -- The circuit board is going to be replaced. It's going to be expensive, and I really hope it fixes the problem. Excuse me while I crawl under my cube desk and sob.

Budget disaster narrowly avoided

In mid-October, I wrote about the home warranty renewal. We ultimately decided not to renew after careful consideration. I began to get nervous a short while later when we turned on the heat for the first time this fall... and the basement and main floor filled with smoke. Not a lot of smoke, granted, but unnerving regardless. My unease increased as the warm air from the vents periodically smelled a bit like plastic. When the cold settled in for good last Friday, my fingers were crossed. I would not get into a frenzy of worrying.

The main floor and basement were cold all weekend, and by Sunday we realized the temperature never seemed to pass 66 degrees. With drafty windows and doors along the back of the house, that's lower than comfortable for us. As Monday and Tuesday passed, we began to think it was time to call for service--it was COLD. We called the same service company we had used before, and they came out today.

The service guy discovered that the fan was not activating, so the hot air was not getting pushed into the ventilation system. The furnace was running fine, and thankfully has a shut-off function for when the unit reaches a set high temperature. As you might imagine, all that hot air going nowhere while the furnace was still running was, well, less than ideal. Warm air was still coming out of most of the vents, although a bit more slowly.

After running a bypass on a couple of the wires, the fan kicked on. And stayed on once the wiring was reattached. With the error light on the unit off, and the fan working after turning the temp down and back up, the service guy said that he didn't want to sell us something we didn't need (they would have to order any parts anyhow), and as it appeared to have just reset, to call him back if it started acting up again. Somewhat rare, but he had seen it from time to time.

This is the second time we've used this company, and they're permanently going in my address book. Companies don't always seem to realize that by not upselling us to the max right now, they can have years of maintenance business.

Here's how we dealt with the problem:

• We didn't have much to deal with, really, since we have separate systems -- heat pump for the top floor with bedrooms, and the gas furnace in question for the main and basement. Since we could sleep comfortably, things really weren't that bad. Plus we have a space heater for situations just like this.

• First thing we tried was turning the thermostat off and on. Cutting the power is always one of the first things I try, it fixes a surprising number of problems. It would appear to work for about 30 minutes, then go back to cold.

• We also found the manual for the thermostat online, and made sure that it wasn't just programmed wonky. Since we'd used the heat plenty last winter, I thought maybe it was just a glitch with the thermostat. I took the batteries out and once I put them back in, the heat seemed to work for a couple of hours. It didn't last the night.

Now we have blissful heat again, restored in a somewhat random way. I was dreading a big expensive repair, and it looks like that disaster may have been avoided. There was a charge for the service call, but it really wasn't too bad, and for the moment I still think we made the right decision about the home warranty (this might change, of course, at the onset of the next disaster).

I hope I don't jinx it with this post...

Incidentally, Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money had a guest poster today, J. Money, on the topic of renewing a home warranty. As I read it this morning, long before the service call, I thought fate might be laughing at me. Or maybe just giving us a break. Looks like I might be lucky this time.

Linkity Link 11.18.08

I think of Gail Vaz-Oxlade as a Canadian Suze Orman -- a tough lady who doesn't take any mess. I've never watched Gail's show, but I've been reading her blog for a month or two now. I like her no-holds-barred approach to helping people get out of self-created messes. She posted this week about working past the typical 40-hour work week.

Deadline looks like a simple reminder service, it caught my eye where many similar services have just not done it for me. I just changed cell plans and have unlimited texting now, so I may have to try this. Review from Jackson West at Lifehacker.

I really like the idea of setting up a firewall account, especially for some extra protection for online shopping. Post from Gather Little By Little, with the original credit to Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. As soon as we have a little extra, one of these bad boys is getting set up at ING, and I think I'm going to ensure that we have a firewall account.

Cooking

I always seem to want to include 80 bazillion recipes in my link roundups. You should see my recipe-to-try file. I will be 85 before I get to them all. 

Chicken Pot Pie from Smitten Kitchen. Also, this winter fruit salad looks yummy. My husband loves pears, so I may have this dish for our first-ever Christmas at home.

Mushroom and Spinach Crepes from Closet Cooking. Also, Kevin's Hot Sweet Onion Dip would be perfect for football game days.

Mmmm. Bacon-wrapped green beans. Two of my favorite things in this world. From a guest poster on Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Cookfest 2008: oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

My mom always made oatmeal cookies while I was growing up, with the lovely twist of using chocolate chips instead of raisins. Mmmm. Chocolate chips. Since I'm already done making these cookies, typing out the words is making me want to head into the kitchen to snag one.

Best part? The recipe is on the inside of the lid of Quaker Old-fashioned oats container. Imagine my surprise a couple of years ago when I asked my mom for her oh-so-fabulous oatmeal cookie recipe, and she admitted it was from the Quaker container. I asked, "But what if it's changed?" Her reply: Honey, just like learning to fold fitted sheets, perfecting some things only comes with practice, and no amount of advice is going to replace that.

So practice I did. I've found that one of the keys to good cookies is refrigerating the dough for at least 4 hours or so before baking. My mom always did this, and I hated it as a child, because it meant longer until the cookies. It really does make a difference, though.

I'm still working on the timing with the convection oven. The best batch came out after 11 minutes. I'm going to have to start an excel chart to keep track of how long it takes my oven to cook certain things, because you cannot see through the window on the oven, and I open it way too much.

Update 2:18 pm -- I brought in probably about 20-25 cookies into work this morning, saving just a few for the pantry at home, and they are ALL gone. My coworkers likey!

Cookfest 2008 main

Cookfest 2008: eggplant, green bean and zucchini pasta sauce

The Pioneer Woman Cooks has been one of my greatest finds in the past couple of weeks. Ree had a great eggplant pasta sauce two weeks ago, so I made that on Saturday night. One of the things I love about Ree's site is her step-by-step pictures and very explicit instructions and tips. So easy to follow.

I only bought one eggplant last week when it was on sale, and I had also picked up a zucchini and some green beans, so instead of the three eggplants called for in the recipe, I just chopped up the zucchini and a large handful of green beans.

The pasta sauce turned out great, and half went into the freezer, and half came to work with me this morning. I'll have enough for two portions--today I'm going to toast some of the no-knead bread with cheddar cheese and spoon the reheated sauce on to it. The bread has been sitting on my desk, calling my name. I'll be having lunch early today. 

Cookfest 2008 main

Cookfest 2008: no-knead bread

I'm using the no-knead bread recipe from The New York Times, familiar to many bloggers, via Smitten Kitchen. Cannot wait to see how it turns out. I used to make bread relatively often growing up, don't know why I stopped. The dough is downstairs in the utility room rising, and I'll leave it be until about 4 pm tomorrow, when I'll cook it. The recipe recommends at least 14 hours rising, and with a start time of about 5:30, I'll be wellll past that. Maybe I should make it in the morning? We're going to visit family, it might be nice to bring along. Hmm, we'll see how ambitious I feel in the morning...

Update 11/17/08: I ended up letting the bread rise until about 5ish on Sunday, so that's about 24 hours rising. I can see why everyone is all about this bread. It's delicious. Since we have a convection oven, timing is often a little off from recipes. I did the minimum 15 minutes uncovered at the end of the recipe, and it could have used at least 5 minutes more. I might even start making this weekly, because it's not a lot of work, just a couple of steps separated by long periods of waiting. And in the case of bread rising, procrastination pays. For once.

Cookfest 2008 main

Cookfest 2008: chicken stock

We're getting very low on chicken stock, and Publix had the forethought to go ahead and offer me whole chickens at 99c a pound, so $4.07 later, I'm well on my way. I happened to have everything else needed for stock on hand, so that's my only immediate cost. It's not the best sale I've seen, but definitely nice since I need stock anyhow.

I do have a chicken down in the deep freeze, but I didn't think to take it out on Friday, and I like to always have at least one chicken on hand. I actually bought two birds, one for the stock, and the other to add to the deep freeze.

I expect that I'll yield a good amount of stock, chicken for the soup later, and shredded chicken to freeze. I'm also trying something new with this batch -- I froze the carcass of a rotisserie chicken from a while back, and I've put it in the stock along with the raw chicken in hopes of getting a bit of extra heartiness. As our stockpot is woefully small, it's pretty crowded in there. I'm thinking about removing the carcass about halfway through. The whole point is to get stock from this, after all. (By the way, don't believe anyone who tells you a 20-quart stock pot is not essential for the registry. No one bought it for us, but it would have been very well used.)

Mastering Soups & Stews from William-Sonoma * has been a frequent reference for me, and it is the reason that I started making stock back in 2006, I couldn't be happier that I make all of our stock. 

Here's the stock after the initial heat-up, the first 30-minute simmer and first skim. I like to skim well, but I've gotten pretty good about only removing fat and the grayish gelatin after much practice. What I would really like is a cast-iron trivet to hold the meat down, my colander and cooking twine method has been working for years, but is less than ideal. I also like to use a bread & butter plate next to the bowl for skimming refuse, where I can rest the spoon. I also make sure to have a paper towel on hand while skimming--if you don't wipe up spills on the cooktop right away, it can start smoking and burn. This stuff is pretty messy.

Update 7:37 pm -- Removing the rotisserie chicken carcass was a bust, but since the components had shrunk some with cooking for about an hour and a half, re-setting the colander pushed the contents down some. I know you're not supposed to disturb stock while it's cooking, but I had to try.

Update 11/17/08 -- The rotisserie carcass really lent a rich flavor to this stock. On Saturday night, I strained the stock while my husband shredded the chicken, both went into the fridge overnight. We had enough shredded chicken for soup Saturday night, and three vacuum-sealed packages for future dinners. We had more stock than I thought we would, and that went into ice cube trays and a silicone muffin pan--the stuff is so potent we'll only need to use small amounts. 

Cookfest 2008 Main

*Please note that this is an affiliate link, which means that if you click through on the link to Amazon, I'll get a little bit of a referrel fee if you end up buying something. There will be no extra charge to you, and it will help support the site.