Eat Your Words: Word Counters

Counting my words again. 

Today my fellow Word Counters and I are sharing our monthly group post. Each month one group member picks  a number between 12 and 50. All participating bloggers are then challenged to write something (or a few somethings, as the case may be) using that exact number of words. Today we all share what we came up with. 

This month's number is 39. 
It was chosen by Me!

~ Insurance. Being caught without it can be financially crushing. But, as I wrote in one of my earliest posts, "Insurance, Anyone," its current form, requires paying a company that then decides whether or not we'll be awarded any back.

 

~ Imagine my surprise to have found a (car) insurance company that is reasonably priced, is easy to reach, has great customer service, goes above and beyond actually, and does pay claims fairly. No, not in my dreams, for real.

~ An example: College Boy was seventeen and had taken my car downtown. When he returned, the car wouldn't start. He called me, I gave him our insurance information and told him to talk to them and call me back.

~ My phone rang. It was the insurance company telling me we were on a three way call with my son. They had confirmed he was somewhere safe, and wanted me to hear and approve of their conversation with him. 

~ She told him approximately when the truck would arrive, and the company. If he was unsure of who arrived, to call them to confirm. If the car took a jump, drive right home. If not, we'd all talk again.

~ She made sure he had a safe place to wait, asked him to call me before heading home, then told him to say "good bye" to his mom. She then confirmed a few things with me before ending the call.

~ The car took the jump, College Boy came home, and in the end we had to replace the battery. But this (and the few other times we'd needed to contact them) had me singing this company's praises. But wait . . .

 

~ Sadly, this next story isn't about eating Breakfast Nachos, it's about how the same insurance company had me eating my words. And unlike my (delicious, by the way) breakfast recipe, these words left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Breakfast Nachos with Buttery Tortillas

 

~ Over Thanksgiving, PurDude's credit card was hacked. Someone tried to charge six hundred dollars to Hertz on his card. Fortunately, his credit card company flagged the transaction, PurDude cancelled the card and the company sent him a new one.

 

~ A few months before, he'd had an accident on the highway. He (and two others) hit a metal bar that was in their lane. He had two (very expensive) flat tires and two (very, very expensive) broken rims.

 

~ The insurance company was great. They towed his car to a tire shop, arranged a rental. The adjuster told PurDude he would not close the claim until the wheels were replaced and the car was checked out fully.

 

~ In January, PurDude received two letters on the same day. One from Hertz, banning him for life. The other, threatening, from a collection agency stating that he owed Hertz six hundred dollars and they were coming after him. Yikes.

 

~ PurDude went to Hertz to explain that the charge wasn't his but was reported as fraud. No, they explained, he'd rented a car in July and had not paid for it, they then charged his card (without telling him).

 

~ The (previously) great insurance company confirmed that the car rental charge had been approved but somehow not paid, they'd pay immediately, but PurDude let them know they would have to make right any hit to his credit rating also. 

 

~ PurDude followed up with the adjuster too. Hertz was paid. After holding on forever to talk to someone at Hertz, they told him the ban had been lifted once the bill was paid. We're still watching his credit rating . . .

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

Breakfast Nachos with Buttery Tortillas         
                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 medium flour tortillas

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar

4 TBSP butter, divided

4 strips bacon

5 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 of an onion, sliced

1/2 of a red pepper, chopped

6 fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1/4 cup fresh spinach

Directions:

*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

*Cut the tortillas into 3rds, then cut each rounded end into 4 triangles and each center piece into 5 triangles. Place individually onto the parchment paper.

*Melt 3 TBSP of the butter, brush onto one side of the tortilla triangles, flip them over and brush the other side. Bake for 12 minutes, until they start to brown. Remove from the oven and arrange on an oven safe serving plate.

*Lower the oven temperature to 200 degrees. Sprinkle half of the shredded cheddar cheese onto the nachos and place in the oven.

*In a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until done. Drain and chop.

*Whisk the eggs with the milk, salt, and pepper.

*Wipe the skillet with a paper towel, melt the remaining TBSP of butter, add the eggs and cook over medium heat, stirring now and then until the scrambled eggs are cooked. Place on top of the nachos and cheese and return the plate to the oven to keep warm.

*Wipe the skillet again. Spray with nonstick cooking spray. Add the onion, red pepper, and mushrooms. Cook and stir until the vegetables are soft. Drain well.

*To the plate of nachos, add the vegetables over the eggs, the remaining cheese, the spinach, and the chopped bacon. Return to the oven for 5 minutes before serving.

Insurance, anyone?

There are all kinds of insurance.  There’s health (don’t get me started), auto (2 male teenaged drivers – don’t get me started), home, life, I bet these days I could insure my insurance.
 
I do not understand the whole concept of insurance in its current form.   We voluntarily give money to a business.  Under certain circumstances of their choosing, when we are at our most vulnerable, they do us the kindness of allowing us to ask for some of our money back.  Here’s the thing though, they get to decide whether or not they give us any.  Are we nuts?
 
I will never forget how much time I spent trying to get my health insurance company to pay for my pregnancy test.  I had been through IVF, In-vitro fertilization (see Lightning Strikes).   IVF costs tens of thousands of dollars per try and insurance paid for none of it.  To add insult to injury, they were denying my pregnancy test.  “You’re infertile”, they kept telling me,“we will not pay for a pregnancy test for someone who is infertile”.  “But you don’t understand, it’s positive, I’m pregnant”, I kept saying.  Insurance companies do not listen.  They don’t have to.  My entire pregnancy and delivery was covered (apparently they pay pregnancy and delivery costs for infertile people), but they never, ever paid for that pregnancy test.
 
I once made the mistake of trying to reason with our homeowner’s insurance company.  I know, how naive. They wouldn’t pay for water damage done by a toilet.  As soon as we saw water damage and realized we had a problem, we immediately stopped using it, called a plumber and got it fixed.  Insurance wouldn’t pay for damages to our house because it takes more than one use for water damage to be noticeable, and they only pay a claim if it's “resolved expeditiously.”  Their stance was that we had to have had it fixed before we could ever possibly have known it was broken.  No consolation prize, no “thanks for playing”, nothing.
 

Consolation prize sweatshirt?

 
One of the most difficult parts of having older children is that, depending on their age and maturity level, you are somewhere in the process of backing off, of letting go.  You want them to start making their own choices and in some cases their own mistakes.  I don’t know how we keep from going insane when we are advocating for one course of action but know that our kids are going to take another.
 
I took the boys to the bank and signed them up for checking accounts with debit cards, and for savings accounts.  We had lengthy discussions about smart use of money and about the need to save.  One child spends all his money as soon as he gets it.  He doesn’t think, if he wants it he buys it.  I meet the UPS guy at the door daily.  He knows my name.  I’m thinking of baking him a cake.
 

Icebox Cake

 

At my other son’s request, I had purchased him a gym membership.  Along with the membership you get 2 free consultations with a trainer.  I highly recommended taking advantage of this option.  A trainer can help you to target whatever areas you want to work on.  It is essential that he help you to be sure you are using the equipment safely and properly.  I made my case more than once.  He chose to do his own thing.  One day he called me to come pick him up at the gym.  He “heard something pop” and was, shall we say, in some discomfort.  After some necessary time off, he went back to the gym.  He still hasn’t met with a trainer.
 
So despite all the insurance I pay for, and the absurd, mind boggling and frustrating calls I have made thinking I could get coverage when I need it, I would volunteer to pay for another policy.  I need “young adult’s questionable choices” insurance.  Any entrepreneurs out there?

Icebox Cake

                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe


Ingredients:
3 cups heavy cream
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
1 ½ boxes (64 cookies) Nabisco Chocolate Wafer cookies
Chocolate syrup
 
Directions:
*Beat the cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
*Take a little of the whipped cream out and mix with enough chocolate syrup to give you a medium brown color.  Put into piping bag and into refrigerator until ready to serve (this is for decorating the top).
*Put a small amount of whipped cream onto plate. This will hold the first layer of cookies in place.
*Form a circle of 8 cookies (touching) and put one cookie in the center.
*Carefully spread with a layer of whipped cream (approx. 1/8 of what you have as there will be 8 layers).
*Repeat these layers 7 more times.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight so the whipped cream softens the cookies.
*When ready to serve, pipe the chocolate whipped cream onto the top of the cake.
 
*NOTE: Icebox Cake adapted from smittenkitchen.com (adapted from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook)
If you can’t find the Nabisco Chocolate wafers, you can make your own:
Chocolate Wafer recipe available on smittenkitchen.com (adapted from Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert)