Luck of the Irish

I hope everyone had a great St. Paddy's Day yesterday. We certainly did. I have a bit of Irish in my family tree, so it was a little fun remembering those roots. We had our traditional Corned Beef and Vegetables (ok - so it's not really Irish, but I won't tell if you don't) and some Irish Soda Bread. These recipes originally came from the Feb/Mar 1995 issue of Taste of Home. We've been having this meal for St. Paddy's Day ever since. In fact, every year I have to cook it 2 days in a row, because the bunch here demands it be had 2 days in a row. Once just isn't enough :)

This morning, I'm trying another new recipe for oatmeal bread. This one comes from the Taste of Home website and is called Honey Oatmeal Bread. It's gotten good reviews, so I'm trying it, but I'm a bit surprised with the amount of honey that's in it. Usually, I use 2 Tbsp. but this one calls for 1/2 cup. Seems like quite a lot to me, but we'll see. It's currently in the bread machine resting.

Thursday, we go and get DD's stitches out. What a hassle that turned into. Our doctor said that we should go back to the ER to have them removed, because it should be taken out free of charge because it's a continuing care. The ER agreed, but according to my insurance, that's not the case. We have to pay out of pocket for the visit because it's not an emergency. So after numerous phone calls, I found that we'd need to pay a facility use charge - but no price could be given because it "depends" on numerous things according to the billing of the ER. From what I'm getting from our conversations, they charge differently to each insurance and person. I said that I just wanted to pay cash - forget the insurance, and I was told "No one pays CASH!!" Finally, it was told to me that it would probably be cheaper to go to my doctor, so a call back to the dr. to made an appointment that the office said was incredible that I'd have to do this and pay for the services. I love dealing with health care!!