My First Loaf of Sourdough

I would like to present my very first loaf of sourdough, fresh out of the oven at 9:45 am this morning. 

Didn't I do a good job?!?! That is a pretty loaf. Lily was proud and said it looked "SO GOOD!" I promptly started another loaf of dough by myself and I cooked that one tonight. It turned out good, not as pretty though. For the second loaf I cut a heart into the top, but not deep enough I think. So that's been fun! And I'm proud of myself. I also learned how to feed the starter. The only con of having fresh bread is that I want to eat it. So I just need to time it so it is coming out of the oven when everyone is here so they can eat it and I don't eat too much myself. 

Corey and I went climbing this morning at 6:30. We were able to go early but also late (6:30 vs. 6am) cause Abi was home for B day and she got the boys off to school. Well, not Daniel. Today he stayed home. He said he had a sore throat. I think they are taking advantage of me. Lily also said she didn't feel great, so I went and picked her up at 1, but mostly I said ok to getting her so I could go get an ice cream for myself at the Macey's by Skyline. I already used the coupon at the 94th Macey's this week. I also told myself that, if I went to get Lily, I could go by the mall on the way home and get shoes. The exact same kind I just returned on Monday night (Adidas Handball Spezial in Night Indigo, Pale blue, and Cloud White), cause I'm pretty sure the "store" I bought them from online was a scam. This morning I spent some time trying to figure out what is going on. It's been two weeks since I ordered and no update on their delivery. I emailed their only contact email yesterday and it came back as non deliverable. Their "Faherty Carmel dot com" website has disappeared as well - "No longer exists". So I've disputed the charge with the credit union as a "non receipt of goods" so hopefully that will be refunded. I looked for other places online that had the shoes for a good price, but couldn't find anything, so I decided to just go pay mall prices and know what I'm getting and get it now. After getting back from that, it was the regular after school day of little boys going to play with friends and girls making themselves some food. 

Around 4:30 I called Abi to come upstairs to discuss a text she had sent me. She sent a text at 12:30 saying she had a $1384.93 bill from IHC that is due Feb 24th. That was for her well visit last month. Umm, yeah, that's supposed to be 100% covered. So we called IHC so we could get it figured out, the guy who took our call at IHC said it was declined and said to call our insurance. So I called insurance, and that was when I learned that we no longer have health insurance. I was told that our coverage ended October 31st for non payment. What? What?!?! How??? How can they just terminate our insurance? And us not be notified or aware of this?!?!? They said they sent us letters. I check the mail, we have not received anything. They said they sent me emails as well, I see nothing there either, what in the world, for real???? They terminated our insurance, we can't reinstate it, it's too late, AND the open enrollment period for the marketplace is now past! And ALL THIS was on my radar in December, and I called our broker to make sure we were good to go, cause I wanted to avoid this exact situation we now find ourselves in! Ugh... but here we are. It's February, open enrollment has passed, and we do not have health insurance. I asked about what options they have for us, and we can get a short term plan for $700 a month that doesn't cover anything (well visits, immunizations, etc), but will help us if something major happens. I am mad at myself, I'm mad at Select Health, and I'm also not very pleased that Corey's employer doesn't offer health insurance. (He's self employed) Ok, I'm going to try and be strong. I need to be the person I hope I would be in a situation like this. I will submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. This sucks, I'm going to try not to cry anymore about it, I will try and face this challenge with optimism.

"In my ninety-plus years, I have learned a secret. I have learned that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Truly, things always work out! Despite how difficult circumstances may look at the moment, those who have faith and move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out."

And yay I learned how to make sourdough. :)