The Great Shoveling

Day Three of Snowmageddon and we are all sore. We have never shoveled this much before in our entire lives. There are eight foot tall berms of icy snow lining our streets. Parking spaces hacked out of the mess are being jealously guarded. School will not be in session tomorrow. And they say six more inches are coming starting on Tuesday afternoon. Oy.

We Have No Bananas Today

Day One of “Snowmaggedon”: It is 2:30 PM in Brunswick and snow has been falling steadily since about 11 AM, but road crews have been pre-treating the streets so it is not sticking significantly…yet.

Media reports call for anything from 12 to 30 inches of snow in the DC area.

All was calm at the fairly well stocked Superfresh in Brunswick this afternoon; the only snow casualty was the banana section in produce, where I was forced to buy overpriced “baby bananas” in a bag because there were no normal ones left except for lonely, isolated green ones and brown bruised ones.

Sorry if You See Weird Stuff on This Blog in the Next Day or So…

I am attempting an import of old blog content from a different blogging platform–I don’t know what to expect!

February 2010 Banner Image

I took this photograph of a bird–perhaps a chickadee?–in a snowy yard in Leesburg, Virginia on the morning of February 2, 2010.

Sorry, I don’t know bird species at all!

Frederick County, Get Your Cat Spayed or Neutered Now for $35 or Less

The Frederick County Humane Society is holding its “Quick Fix 2010” event now at multiple veterinarian offices across the county.

Get your female cat spayed for only $35.00 and your male cat neutered for only $20.00 at participating vet offices.

$35 to permanently spay your female cat is a lot cheaper than the cost of cat food and supplies to keep a litter of kittens alive until adoption.

This procedure typically costs $80, $100 or more, so now is the perfect time to spay or neuter your kitty.

Get your male cat neutered to stop his spraying and yowling. Get your female cat spayed so she can’t bear unwanted kittens–it will stop her monthly yowling too.

Adult cats can be neutered and spayed too, not just young kittens.

For full details go to www.fchs.org and click on “Quick Fix 2010.”

Magoo’s Review: New Restaurant #1 of My Year-Long Restaurant Quest

Former Frederick Mayor Jennifer Dougherty is back in the restaurant business with Magoo’s Pub and Eatery on West Second Street. (Magoo’s is my first new restaurant of the year on my quest to try a new Washington DC area eating establishment at least once per month.)

Magoo’s looks smaller on the outside than it actually is; the place is sizeable yet still nice and cozy–not too loud, so you can enjoy your meal and still hear your dinner companions. Exposed brick walls, shamrock emblazoned tables, and retro Guiness posters create a casual, unfussy vibe with a touch of Irish flair.

The menu is actually fairly large and diverse. You can get your traditional Irish favorites like shepherd’s pie and lamb but you can also enjoy blackened chicken quesadillas (my mother and I both had those and liked ‘em a lot), and a variety of light fare for those who are watching their calories carefully.

The resturant also has a nice bar area and multiple televisions so you can keep an eye on your favorite sports teams while you dine. But again, the restaurant manages to be cozy and fairly quiet even when there are a lot of people inside–a plus in my book (as someone with hearing loss).

Service was fast, friendly and responsive without being overly invasive, and we felt we received a healthy and hearty meal at a reasonable price. If you are in the mood for wintertime comfort food or some Irish fare at a decent price, try Magoo’s.

Magoo’s Pub & Eatery

1-A West Second St.

Frederick, MD 21701

http://www.magoos-frederick.com

Stay off Those Hills Today, Brunswick!

I had the delight of sliding backwards down West B Street in Brunswick today because the colder than normal temperatures turned the snowy street into a sheet of ice.

My advice to all Brunswickians today: do not attempt any of this town’s hills with your cars!

Even your four wheel drive vehicles might slide out of your control, as my car did when it suddenly started moving backwards while my foot was still on the brake.

Thanks to the random citizen and random tow truck driver who helped me get out of my predicament today!

And thank you also to the fantastic driver who avoided a head on collision with me today–you rock! You deserve a gold star. You are an ace driver! Thumbs up. You showed my son a good example of how to avoid a crash in a dangerous situation.

January 30: Still Keeping Up with the New Year’s Resolutions

So this has to be a first for me. We are one month into the New Year 2010 and I have not given up on my New Year’s resolutions yet! I am still going to the gym three times a week and I also went to one new restaurant this month. I’ve also been keeping in touch with people better. I’m surprised at myself. I usually don’t have the stamina or self control to keep up with my resolutions. 2010 is off to a good start.

My Own Personal Healthcare Horror, or, Thank You for Nothing, Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield!

So for the last eleven years of my life, my health insurance company has been Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, right? 

I became self employed in 2008, so my COBRA health coverage–also administered through Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield–ends in 6 days.

In December I applied for individual life insurance through Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield.

It is a slightly different variant of the same plan I have had for the most recent 11 years, but it is still a Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, so I figured acceptance by January 1–a deadline their website falsely advertised was possible–would be do-able. I was sooooo wrong!

Guess what? Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield claims it does not have enough information about me to accept me into the plan yet–eleven years’ worth of claims processing paperwork just is not enough paper to evaluate the significance of the risk I pose to their program.

Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield claimed on the phone today that they had asked me to provide them with medical records on 12/28/2009… nevermind nothing has come in the mail from them in the last 7 days–oh, except for another claims processing form (from one of my COBRA claims.)

But I guess the Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO plan and the Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Preferred plan databases don’t talk to one another, let alone reside on the same planet, because this company just cannot decide if they want me to continue on as a customer or not after 11 years of transaction history.

Also today, Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield reversed themselves and told me that oh no, they had not asked for my health records yet after all, nor could they tell me a possible date by which they might ask me for my medical records.

And no one at Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield can tell me when they might accept me, or even when they might choose to definitively turn me down altogether, because apparently as a non-smoker who never drinks and has never had any surgery nor any major diseases in her entire 35-year-long life, I am too much of a significant risk to their executives’ McMansion remodeling plans precious bottom line.

Oh, and my husband had the nerve to have his gall bladder removed a few years ago, so he’s a huge risk too. That gall bladder just might grow back and need to be removed a second time and cost them some more in profits, couldn’t it? Or, perhaps my husband might have the nerve to ask them to remove a kidney sometime in the next 20 years too? Oh my, the risk  is too much!

So they tell me I can apply for my State of Maryland HIPAA health plan instead. I go to that webpage and, funny, the State of Maryland HIPAA plan is also operated and managed by Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield!

Apparently I cannot escape these people, because when I researched Aetna and a whole bunch of other health insurance plans you can get just over the river in Virginia, none of these same plans are available to individuals in the State of Maryland. Nice.

Hmm, I wonder why no other plans compete in Maryland. Could it be that Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield has an evil monopoly in Maryland?

Or maybe it just means that Maryland-based healthcare executives and Maryland legislators would like all of us self-employed citizens to just conveniently wither away and die without adequate health insurance.

I guess the $13,200+ dollars I gave to  Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield in calendar year 2009 was not enough of my blood, sweat and tears as a business owner to allow me the special privilege of paying them many more thousands of dollars in cash in 2010…The Maryland State HIPAA plan quotes me a convenient $1,300.00 per month price for coverage–which is more than my monthly mortgage.

Well, if I die an early death because of a lack of health coverage, ya’ll do me a little favor, OK? Bring my cold corpse on over to Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield headquarters and leave it there in their lobby with a little sign tacked on it saying “Health Care Reform Now.”

January 2010 Bath and Body Product Review: Huckleberry Goodness

It’s official; winter is here. The more than 2 feet of snow we have received over the past month confirms it. With winter comes parched, flaky skin–yuck. I have found the perfect remedy: thick, buttery, all-natural Remedies Essentials Huckleberry Whipped Body Cream made by Remedies Day Spa of Whitefish, Montana (which is located right in the huckleberry epicenter). The cream smells strong and berrylicious, it’s soy-based so it sinks right in after a shower, and voila! No more scary, scaly winter skin.