There was some discussion yesterday in the comments about the Scotch Cellophane Tape rack, so here it is. I got it in the Berkshires a few years back. I love vintage and I love graphics, so I bought it.
We waited all day yesterday for the dumpster to be picked up, but it didn’t happen. Today is the day. I suspect we will have to pay a bit more because of the excess weight. We’ll see. Anyway, I’ll be glad to see it gone. We have several things to do around the property this week. Clean the floor of the shed, arrange things, put a tarp over part of the shed roof where there are some leaks, do some caulking around the front door, and remove the air conditioners for the winter. And I have to store the pots that I use on the front porch. When all of that is done, I’ll put up the Christmas lights on the porch.
I have a question. I’m wading through info about dental plans since the dental insurance that SAG/AFTRA supplied is no longer being offered. I’m shocked at how little these plans offer compared to the one I had. I know I have to get at least one crown and most likely there will be more. One of the policies allowed one crown where they paid half of the cost and no more coverage for 84 consecutive months! That’s 6 years. When you’re a senior citizen, that seems ridiculous. So my question is for those of you who pay for a dental plan: are there any you can recommend? I’d love any and all suggestions. I have to firm this up soon. Thanks so much.
We were going to order groceries from the store and pick them up but there are no slots available until tomorrow and I assume things will be picked over by then. So, we canceled it. Hopefully, the truck will come to pick up the dumpster soon and then we can go shopping.
Feeling enormous relief now that the Transition has formally begun. Not complete relief, of course, because OM is up to no good, but still…shoulders are dropping. I’m going to completely ignore OM because truly, that’s the thing he hates the most. He has to be the center of attention. Let’s make him irrelevant.
Stay safe.
Happy Tuesday.
Shanna says
Love the sheep and lamb parade! And I’ve loved that tape basket ever since I first saw it, because I, too, am drawn to anything vintage with graphics.
Claudia says
Thanks, Shanna!
Stay safe.
kathy in iowa says
am sure you’ll be glad to have the dumpster removed, but in the meantime hopefully it’s been a happy reminder of a big accomplishment!
best wishes on those other chores.
and on grocery shopping. i’m heading out to do that soon. it’s raining (plus we had a couple inches of wet, heavy snow yesterday that is now beingmelted by the rain). usually i love to walk in the rain … but i don’t want to grocery shop in it and i am not waiting until tomorrow to get the rest of our groceries! :o
thanks for the close-up on the scotch tape display unit … a great piece. i see two sweet photos … one don took of you in paris, right? and the other is you and your brother, yes? so dear!
sorry … no help about dental plans … best wishes on that, too. i do have a complaint, though … that u.s. insurance companies rarely cover even a teensy bit on some of the most basic things we all need for decent health, safety and quality of life … vision, hearing and dental care. argh! we need true health care reform in this country that includes those things and preventive care.
okay. now i need to get going.
happy, safe tuesday!
kathy in iowa
Claudia says
Don took that picture of me on our road trip across the country.
I am one of the complainers about medical insurance, especially when Medicare should cover a lot more than it does.
Stay safe, Kathy.
Lisa Holmes says
Hello, I have a dental plan through Delta Dental.. I am in Minnesota and I don’t know if plans are different state by state. I have been VERY happy with the plan that I purchased. They paid for a large portion of a bridge and I receive 4 cleanings per year. They did not have a long waiting period either, which many plans did.
Good luck with your search, I hope you find what you are needing.
Lisa
Claudia says
Thanks, Lisa. Appreciate the information.
Stay safe.
jeanie says
I laughed out loud a few minutes ago. OM was taking credit for the Dow going over 30,000 (or 3000?) No. I think that credit goes to Joe, to Michigan for certifying and to finally opening the transition. Yellen’s appointment didn’t hurt, either.
LOVE the Scotch tape rack. That’s a good one. And your darling sheep.
As for Dental, mine is covered in my retirement plan — half of anything up to $600. It helps. I have no idea how much it is as it’s part of the group. Good luck. Crowns are expensive — I just got one.
You’ve lots to do but oh, the satisfaction of doing it!
Claudia says
I have a lot of crowns – And I’ve had to pay the entirety of several. It’s not something I can afford these days.
Stay safe.
Marilyn+Schmuker says
Definitely some relief here about the transition. Sadly, he will never concede and will keep trying to cause chaos.
About dental plans:
We have a Medicare Advantage plan through BCBS. We have the option to tack on dental, which we did. I think there are 3 levels of coverage depending on your needs. They are through BCBS dental. They are not as comprehensive as the dental we had before retirement. At the time we retired we looked at some other dental plans and found the Advantage plan dental to be the most affordable for us. That’s been 5 years or so. Insurance is such a headache.
I just got back from grocery shopping…not fun.
Stay safe.
Claudia says
Insurance is a giant headache.
Thanks, Marilyn!
Stay safe.
Dawn P. says
The tape rack, your amazing STOVE and some of the kitchen things you have and ESPECIALLY the egg cup rack / cups you have – all totally amazing and I enjoy glimpses of them in your writings. I love graphics too, I love vintage so I love all your goodies, lol. Be safe, stay well.
Claudia says
Thanks so much, Dawn!
Stay safe.
Barbara Petrone says
We have a Medicare Advantage plan through AARP/UnitedHealth Care with an add on policy for dental – because of the large patient base under AARP the premium is low – also I got a CareCredit charge account for medical expenses not covered by insurance and they offer 6 -12 months interest free for procedures – Happy Thanksgiving and be safe. Barbara
Claudia says
Thanks for the information, Barbara.
Stay safe!
Chris K in WI says
I watched the news conf this AM to see the intro of the 1st Cabinet picks. It made me weep. They were tears of joy. Just hearing their personal stories, and their dedication to service to our country, it was wonderful!! Something to truly be thankful for!!
We had some snow this AM, but it was not much here. It is raining now. Supposed to be near 50*for Thanksgiving. Hope you are having a good day!!
Claudia says
True patriots who are incredibly qualified for their positions! Who knew?
Stay safe, Chris.
Donnamae says
We have Delta Dental. We’ve had it since the 90’s. We are very satisfied. There might be other plans that are better, but, so far, this one has served us well.
Stay safe! ;)
Claudia says
What kind of Delta Dental? Was it through your retirement or do you buy it separately?
Thanks, Donna.
Stay safe.
Donnamae says
It’s a separate policy…not associated with any other type of health insurance. Like I said…we’ve had it since sometime in the 90’s. It was something that we could purchase while my husband worked for the city. We’ve kept the policy even into retirement. ;)
Claudia says
xo
Nora+Mills says
You and Don work so hard on your home. It always looks like a fairy tale but your list of heavy chores is a reminder of the work it takes to keep it so. I love the diversity, talent, and experience of Biden’s choices so far. The women and men of different ages and colors is such a change from old white men. We have dental thru CIGNA from my husband’s retirement. It doesn’t cover very much for crowns or bridges. Since oral health is very critical for overall health, I don’t understand why insurance companies don’t provide for it. Penny wise and pound foolish. I hope that you find a good match.
Claudia says
There’s a lot of repair that needs to be done here. We do what we can afford.
I must admit I’m unsure what to do re dental insurance. But I have to decide soon.
Stay safe, Nora.
Sherry B says
Claudia, I know what you mean about insurance being a problem as we get older. My financial planner told me that one of the biggest surprises for retirees is the cost of dental and vision care. And boy was he right! After speaking to my dentist and his billing specialist I decided not to purchase a plan. Their costs added up to more than my twice yearly cleaning and exam and most individual plans pay absolutely nothing towards crowns, root canal, implants etc. It will be a risk as I am like you and may face more extensive work. I do buy vision insurance separately from my Medicare plan and find it pays very well toward my costly eyeglasses. I wish you good luck in your choice.
Claudia says
Thanks so much, Sherry. I know I need work done and I’ve postponed it due to the pandemic. I just don’t feel safe in a dentist’s chair.
Stay safe.
Betsy Cunningham says
Hi Claudia: My husband does his research pretty thoroughly and has determined the annual cost of dental insurance just does not give the return. They don’t cover that much – as you know crowns, etc are very expensive. He has paid for several implants at this point; I don’t think dental insurance covers those. Our Medicare Advantage plan with BCBS of MA pays for two cleanings a year and some xrays. But extensive work we pay out of pocket. Both vision and dental plans aren’t worth the annual costs for us. Just sayin…. Betsy
Claudia says
If we had more money on hand, that wouldn’t be a problem. But we freelance. We’re in the arts. And we won’t have any work until well into next year. To have insurance that you’ve been promised will last the rest of your life yanked away from you, is heartbreaking.
Stay safe.
Priscilla says
There is something called an Dental Savings Plan. We’ve had it for 2 years, but our dentist decided it discounted too much from his bill, so he won’t accept it any longer. You might want to look into Aetna Vital Dental Savings Plan. It is NOT insurance, but offers many good discounts. You’d need to find a dentist that accepts it. Out here, in SD, there are many that do. We may have to switch dentists…not sure yet. It’s about $200 p/year, per person. A very good deal. I got this info from Susie Orman a while back. Well worth the investment.
Claudia says
Thanks Priscilla, I’ll look into that.
Stay safe.
Vicki says
We’ve had Delta Dental for 20 years. First as part of my husband’s ‘fringe’ benefits thru his employer (when he was working) but separate from the HMO although we did pay for it, and it was roughly $100/month for both us (included the two of us for dental). Root canals and crowns had cost us nothing. The only caveat is that you get your teeth cleaned once a year. They require you do that. My husband gets a small/xtra yearly retirement ‘help’ (paid out monthly if you use the help; can’t use it for anything else except health care) with same former employer in the form of cash, so we use it for dental and vision insurance premiums in retirement which is a massive perk since we both have vision issues; we just kept the Delta Dental coverage we’d had all along while he was working and will have it til we die thanks to that retirement benefit specific to his employer. It’s so painless to be able to have this dental and vision coverage because it doesn’t come out of our own cash each month the way the supplemental medical does (which, for the two of us aggregate, is a sort of ouch-hit of $350/month and nothing to do with Medicare, which already reduces our Social Security benefit per person). Oh, and then we also have to of course pay for a prescription drug plan which is another expense. Just thankful we can get the coverages and insurance we can because I can’t even begin to tell you how many thousands of dollars I’d be paying out, MONTHLY, in drugs alone, like cash out of pocket without these plan offerings. But that stuff and the mortgage? Well, it’s why we have a small life; just not much left over for entertainment/travel. But we realize we’re very, very lucky because we know of people who are facing $20,000 dental bills as I write this.
Delta Dental is always reliable with paperwork, like sending you an Explanation of Benefits and they’re apparently easy to bill from whomever is your dentist. Beyond that, I’m not familiar with any other type of dental insurance.
(My husband never made a huge salary, went years in the Recession without a salary increase/raise, but he always kept his job when others were getting laid off and it’s come back to benefit us in other ways in retirement with a few perks such as the privilege of having the dental/vision care without another big dent to our fixed-income budget.)
Vicki says
My husband went to the grocery store today; our hometown one which has a worse selection as it’s a smaller store (even though it’s still a ‘big-box’ store/chain grocery store), but he hadn’t even planned to do that and we were from now on, due to the escalation of Covid in our area/state (SoCalif), only planning to do Instacart/home delivery. Anyway, changed his mind, went early, big diff from the amount of people there at 7am vs 11am when he had to go back a second time to pick up something we ordered from the in-store deli. Better to go early so that you’re not swapping ‘air’ with so many other shoppers. What he noticed as items depleted with nothing to very little on shelves: All cleaning and paper supplies. He was able to buy Kleenex, though (but there wouldn’t have been much left within the half hour). Ice cream wiped out; absolutely no frozen prepared pizzas. In produce, no onions or shallots. But they had a lot of potatoes, carrots bananas; there was no shortage on eggs/milk; lots of fish and other meats. Baking stuff like flour all but depleted, and extremely limited sugar; absolutely no active-dry yeast as per the usual.
A troubling aside, in general and nothing to do with the grocery shopping trip: It appears my husband’s debit card was hacked and we’ve been on the phone all day with where we think it happened and also our bank. Very, very stressful. I don’t need this worry. We already went thru something similar at the start of Covid with identity theft although it was ultimately resolved with credit freeze, additional monitoring, etc. Anyway, as a consequence to stress and preoccupation, I’ve watched no news/headlines yet today, and I really don’t care (at the moment) but should care what OM is doing although I continue to be guided by smart minds out there in mag articles and the nightime news shows who, while they worry what he can still do before January, and although it makes it tougher for Biden, it’s not damage the next administration can’t undo (I hope they’re right) because Biden continues, with his experience and contacts, to put together excellent teams of people with a lot of knowledge in how to deal with the problems and havoc Trump continues to wreak, or attempt to wreak. I did watch Rachel last night and got steamed (at him, not her) because of what she was revealing about some of the potentially, what seems to me to be VERY, dangerous things OM is already doing (the surveillance planes; scrapping them); but of course, all those bright minds already in Biden’s circle know about it, too.
Claudia says
Our local store was very crowded and we went there around 11:30.
I’m so sorry about the debit card hacking. Damn those people! I hope it all works out, Vicki.
Stay safe.
Claudia says
Yes, everyone’s Social Security benefit is reduced by Medicare. I had great insurance when I taught, but obviously, I lost that when I gave up that job. But the point is, Don had great insurance though his union. He’s still a member (over 40 years) of his union. And they still took all of it away, including great dental insurance.
Stay safe.
Vicki says
I just wonder about anything that’s totally secure anymore, Claudia. Yet I also think of my grandparents, none of whom had money or pensions (one set of them never had even owned a home, ever). There was no such thing as health insurance in their lives and, frankly, they didn’t even have Social Security (or much of it I gather) because it happened after their earning years or just at the ending part of work life to be able to take any advantage of it, and my own grandpa was always self-employed, my grandma only a part-time worker (sporadically), so when they got older and started having some very significant health issues, of course their adult children had to bail them out, and I know if they were alive today, I probably would have a hard time wrapping myself around the depth of their frugality, which would make my own very-modest upbringing look like the land ‘o plenty. Depth too of their worry, like what would happen to them if things got much worse, with increasing age and health problems, not wanting to have to move in with one of their kids or ‘burden’ them. So sad.
I’m so sorry you’re having the worry and understandable stress about your insurance coverage; ‘dental’ is sort of a ‘given’ with us oldsters when the old toofers start to wear out (the teeth have seen a lot of miles). I tend to sometimes nail-bite about the fate of Social Security because I had an accountant-friend tell me years ago to not rely on it, but my dad was an accountant, too, and he said there would always be some type of benefit even if they don’t call it Social Security. I always believed my dad about everything because he was wise, so pragmatic; but, over time and since his passing, I’ve had a few things come up where despite his best intentions where money was involved, he didn’t have it all 100 percent right. Therefore, if I had grandkids, I’d be telling them to SAVE NOW and don’t rely on anybody for anything. But it’s hard to get that in the mindset of younger adults because they’re full of youth and vigor, with no health issues or money issues (well, student loans I guess) or aging issues, with their lives stretched out far ahead to where everything seems possible and solveable. I can recall in my early 20s, and I worked full-time in an office, that I would grumble to pay $200/year for medical insurance I never used because I was never sick. I had no choice, it was taken out of my paycheck. The company had its own plan; self-insured. I was so young to even contemplate I’d need it if I broke my leg or something.
Claudia says
It’s awfully hard to save nowadays when houses and rent and the cost of living is much, much higher than it was in the days of our parents and grandparents. You could do that then. Very difficult to do it now.
Stay safe.
Kelly says
Hi Claudia, check with your dentist on what plans they recommend. Our dentist is now offering a discount plan which covers 2 cleanings per year, all x-rays, emergency visits and 15% off of all other services such as fillings and crowns, etc. The cost is $299 per year and I don’t remember the name of the company off hand, but it doesn’t matter.
Anyway, take care…
Kelly
Claudia says
We have a small-town dentist and I don’t think he does that kind of thing, Kelly. But thanks for the recommendation!
Stay safe.
Hélène (France) says
Bonjour Claudia,
When I heard on the news that Trump was accepting the transition I immediately thought about you and how you should feel better about learning that. :o)
Prends soin de toi et à la prochaine !
Claudia says
Merci, Helene!
Stay safe.
Kathleen Hammersley says
Happy Thanksgiving Claudia! I have Met Life Dental Insurance. Pay $60 per month, 2 free cleanings per year, free X-rays every other visit, good discount on fillings and crowns (I have lots of old crowns and am sure will have to be replaced one of these days).
Love your blog. I feel same as you about OM, just sick with fear. I can feel the stress going away and look forward to January 20th. 2021 will be a great year.
Take care,
Kathleen
Claudia says
Thanks so much, Kathleen! I’ll check it out.
Stay safe!