Well, we are on a short trip in our little RV. I have mentioned before that it is very small - not like those huge bus things featured on TV shows about RVs or even the nice compact ones you might see on the road where the body of the RV comes over the cab section. NO, this is an ordinary Chevy 3500 van - the same as tradesmen use or are made up with seats to hold maybe 15 people at most. The van is made taller and, in part, lower to the ground, but it is no longer or shorter than van as it comes from Chevy. Over 6 feet of the length of the van (the back end) is the bed. Then there is about 5 feet coming to front which is, on the driver’s side, the kitchen, and on the passenger side, the toilet compartment and what is called “the third seat” being a car seat (sort of) behind the front passenger seat. (I say sort of as it is a car seat on top of a wooden box -the seat lifts us and has some storage.) In front of all this is the regular van front - 2 seats, dashboard, etc, though the seats are special ones which turn around to face the back of the van.
In a space this small storage is at a premium. There is other storage around the inside (and outside) of the RV than under the third seat as mentioned, but one is always looking for more. The day we picked it up - neophytes in “Rving” to make sure everything worked and we understood how to use everything as we bought the RV 2 states away from where we live. There were 3 dealers we had to choose from, each about the same distance from our home. We were not happy with two of the dealers and were with the one we chose. The RV was ordered. We loaded up our car with the stuff we had bought for it - some things we actually needed, others were excess as we over think everything - lots no longer travels with us - but other things we have found we need do.
I had tried to be very organized - all the plumbing related items were on one end of the sofa, the electric related items on the other end. The bedding was in the middle. We bought microfiber towels - recommended by many online. Sorry, they caught on everything on our hands and we have since replaced them with quick dry regular towels. Then all of this was put into our car for the trip - in large plastic bags matching the above categories.
Paying for and having a “tour” of the RV took longer than we thought. We called the campground to let them know we would be there after the office closed (unfortunately common with us when we travel, but fortunately something which most campgrounds are prepared for) and we were told where to find map and instructions for our space, how to behave (yes, each park has same apparently many RVers are not smart enough to figure out), etc. We left the RV in our space and ran to dinner. So we had planned on getting it all set up in the afternoon, but instead were doing so after “quiet time” had started (on of the how to behave instructions). In addition unlike now when the RV has everything in it, we had to keep taking items from the car and putting them into the RV. The well organized bags did not help as things were not done in the order of how items were in the bags.
We tried out putting water directly into the tanks - special hose and external water filter needed and running the water through the various sink, shower, and toilet. Worked great. We then tried attaching the hose (needs hose, water filter, and pressure regulator) directly to the RV and running the water out of the hose directly - not suing the tanks - no water. What does one do? Shut off the sink tap and then try again of course! Still nothing. Then I hear a noise of running water in the back of the RV. I go out and sure enough, there is water pouring out of the back of the RV - we found out that the hours we spent with the salesman showing us how to do things was in good part a waste - he told us to set something the wrong way, so rather than putting the water into direct use - we were filling the already full rear tank and the excess was coming out of the overfill valve!
We went on checking things - we could not get anything on the TV using the antenna on the roof. I spent hours turning the antenna knob in the ceiling of the RV to try to find where the antenna needed to face - no luck. There was no cable/dish TV at that campground so we could not check same. We later found out that the splitter for the cable/antenna into the TV was assembled wrong, so that the output was putting the signal into the cable - from the antenna and the TV - this we fixed on our own after the dealer service department, insisted it worked okay.
I made up the beds as twin beds rather than as the king bed it is made up as now. We were unable to sleep that night - well husband was, and therefore I was. The twins were too narrow. So we went to the king setup which is rather hard to make up - some post I will tell of the fun in making up the bed - talk about needing to be organized.
Well, finally we were ready to try our first real trip. We chose the area we often go to and an RV park we had checked out and looked nice - and we are here tonight. We were lucky enough to get a reservation for Memorial Day - holiday weekends often have to be booked a full year in advance - Disneyworld’s RV park is booked in full 2 years in advance for New Year’s Eve. This RV park we went to is next to a children’s amusement park (NOT Disney) and husband was told that there was a space available, but we should be aware it was under the roller coaster. We booked the space with thoughts of Woody Allen in “Annie Hall” where he says (and shows) living under the roller coaster. We were not actually under the coaster - or even in the closest space to it and we did not hear it from inside the RV.
Now we were dealing with actually “living” in the RV. There are all sorts of stuff one has with them that is not used at night in the RV and other stuff which is not used during the day when one is driving around and going out to see things. We had some items at night that were in the way - including a plastic box, sweatshirts, window cover... I realized that there were areas of the RV not used at night - so the plastic box went where my feet are during the day - the seat is turned around to face into the RV and the box goes on the floor in what is now behind the seat. There is a curtain for privacy which covers the inside of the front side windows and the windshield - Hey, stuff can go on the top of the dashboard at night! On a later trip which required winter jackets - they were added to what goes on the dashboard at night. The stuff is moved off it in the morning and the box and sweatshirt go between the seats - the box of tissues which is kept during the day on the plastic box between the seats goes on the kitchen counter at night. The laundry bag rides on the bed during the day and when we go to the bed - it goes to the third seat.
The garbage pail folds down flat and stores (empty of course) in an overhead drawer during the day. At night it sits between the front seats - it fits there as the plastic box and tissue box have been moved. (A store shopping bag fits in the pail as a liner - taken out in the morning and thrown out before collapsing the pail.)
When we take off our shoes in the evening I put mine behind the driver’s seat - remember this means they are next to the gas and brake pedals. His shoes go between the seats - in front of the garbage can.
When the bed is made up there is a space - which is the aisle between the two side bench seats which make up the bed when the center of the bed is not in place - under it in the middle. Lots of stuff fits under here - laptop computers (including this one), bag of items which are not unpacked unless needed (other items are unpacked). One trip we bought 3 wrought iron plant stands - only place to put them was in this space on an angle. When husband has mentioned this to others - they did not think to use this space!
Our RV has a small closet - it holds 12 hangers and is slightly longer than the length of a men’s shirt. So one can fit 12 shirts in it - right? No. One can fit 12 hangers with a couple of shirts on them in it? No. Forget the hangers. We bought a set of sweater shelves - you know the soft hanging units which have large shelves for sweaters to be kept in a closet. It has 6 shelf sections. Our closet is only the equivalent of 4 shelves high - solution? The bottom 2 shelves are collapsed and unused. Instead of 12 shirts I can fit over a week of clothing in it for the 2 two of us. We each have 2 shelves. One shelf for each of us holds shirts - folded to the size of the shelf (in thirds in length). The shirts alternate front to back - the collar of one shirt sits to the fold of the other, etc down the stack. This evens out the height the shirts take up. The second shelf for each of us holds a spare pair of jeans with our underwear and socks on top of the pair of jeans. So instead of 12 shirts (6 each) and having to figure out where to keep the rest of the clothes, we have clothing for 7-8 days in the same space. The tiny shelf at the top of this closet holds our slippers - easy and convenient to reach.
In the same way in one’s house one has to look at the spaces which are there and the stuff one decides to keep to match them up. Just because something is normally kept in one type of space, does not mean another type or location of space will not be appropriate - or even more so. I realize I am talking about an RV and you are thinking about your house, but it is the same idea as it just a (very) tiny house on wheels - the biggest difference - other than size - is that when you store things in your house you do not have to make sure they will not move when the house moves (as it does not). Across the opening under the bed, in front of the items store there, for example, I have 3 tension curtain rods - these help keep the items in place so they don’t go sliding out and about when we are driving.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Thursday, August 18, 2016
MORE CATCHING UP AND A PERIOD FESTIVAL - THAT TAKES ORGANIZING!
Still another week of trying to catch up - does that sound like your life?
I realized while using my word processor program that there was an update I had in the computer which needs to be found and put in again - until it is, envelopes are not easy to do as there was a fix to them in the update. I also still need to import the data for the address books for same back into the program. I noticed the problem with the envelopes as yesterday I wrote letters and sent out emails whose information had been sitting on my desk waiting to be done.
Today I went to run the new backup program in my computers. I first had to put it into my laptop. I finally got it loaded into my laptop. I plugged in the external hard drive - it could not be found. After several tries I decided that this was not to be the day to do backups.
The board of my embroidery group chapter is trying to put together the schedule for the coming year. I needed to send out an email telling members about a choice of projects that they need to make a decision on by the first meeting. Today all was resolved with which items we will be offering and I sent out the email. I also finished putting together our program for the year as we finally had plans for all the meetings lined up. I will have to go tomorrow and get it printed for the members, then assemble, address label, and stamp the copies, so I can get them out in the mail. Much of it is copied year to year which makes it somewhat easier to write.
We normally go away in August on vacation. The weather has been extremely hot with chances of major rain storms every day so we have not made plans. Husband announced today at lunch that the weather is suppose to be okay starting next week, so we will be going on Monday.
Well, the stack on my desk is almost gone thanks to the work I got done on Tuesday, so of course it will now grow again. I have to stop the newspaper, put holds on the mail here and at our Post Office box - and we like to do all of this for at least a day before we leave so we see it stop - means I have to call the newspaper tomorrow and go to both post offices to stop the mail.
We put the stuff we took out of the RV when we had the generator work done, back in today - while we ran the generator for the month - that way it was air conditioned in the RV while we worked. I still have to make up the beds. I am doing my regular laundry tonight and will laundry again before Monday so all the clothes are clean and can be packed. I have to call the pharmacy and renew 2 prescriptions so we have enough of them for the trip. We also will have to transfer some money so we can prepay all the bills due while away before we go. Oh, and I have to put out the newsletter for the embroidery chapter while we are away so I copied the email addresses to take and need to copy the last couple of newsletters to put together the new one.
Something more pleasant - We did manage to go away for a day last Saturday. There is a very nice, small festival northwest of Philadelphia called Goshenhoppen. It is different from most folk and craft festivals in that the purpose of it is to make sure that the traditional crafts, trades, cooking, etc. are not forgotten. The people who are involved with the festival go back to the colonial period and came from German countries. (Germany itself was not a country until the 1800s.) The association which runs the event owns a house from the 1700s which is partially restored and the event is held on the grounds around the house.
On the side of the road (the road is closed for the event) that the house is on, everything is related to the 1700s - and the people are dressed as their ancestors would be then. In addition to the house, rebuilt external bake oven, there is a kitchen garden. On this side of the road one can see a Revolutionary war encampment, wood working, water pump making, gun making, coopering (barrel making), windsor chairs being made, cooking in a hearth and over an open fire, rope making, two different types of foot powered wood lathes, bookbinding, marbleizing (on paper), roof thatching, weaving, a “school room” where children learn to write in the period style of writing with ink pens, spinning of linen as well as spinning of wool, straw hat making, wood carving, tape weaving (thin long strips of cloth to be used as ties for the clothing - very necessary in period), an assortment of types of needlework, bee keeping and other things I have forgotten. There are things for children to try such as sewing, the previously mentioned tape weaving, and corn husk dolls.
Now on the other side of the road is the 1800s and people are dressed in this period. There are demonstrations of stone cutting, leather work, tin work, fence making, wheel making, cigar making, blacksmithing, farm animals (and a bit of how they work machinery), how to make a jointed building - no nails or screws, quilting, cooking on period stoves, laundry, Christmas customs, sewing on an early sewing machine and more.
One sees children working at most of the demonstrations. As part of the idea that the knowledge of the past should not be lost, children work as apprentices learning how to do traditional things. Apparently the children can either do the same thing year to year or different things each year. Some of them also study what they are demonstrating during the year with the expert they are working with.
On this side of the road there is also butchering demonstrations - those, such as me, who do not want to see this can easily avoid it. There are food, drink, and books for sale booths. An unusual food here is Funny Cake. It is a pie shell with a chocolate pudding like layer and a cake like layer over it. We found it in one other place in the area and it was not the same and not as good. We asked at the booth and it is made for them to their recipe. There is also a building with cooked food for sale for lunch or early dinner. And there is a stage.
During the day there are different presentations on the stage. The group normally has a theme for the year and the presentations are based on same. While some are musical, others are lectures or discussions on the theme for the year. This year’s theme was the fact that it was the 50th festival and there were photos from prior festivals on display.
There is a band and there is a grand parade in the afternoon around the grounds.
Now, understand, this is not a huge festival. When we have spoken with volunteers there they are surprised that anyone outside of their area knows about it, let alone comes from 2 states away to visit it - year after year. The man demonstrating leatherwork was talking with my husband, who also does leatherwork. He explained that his tools were his father’s tools and that they date to the 1800s. This is the type of continuity they are looking to keep in this association and this festival.
Okay, so what does this festival have to do with organizing? Two things.
First, it shows the sort of life that existed in the past. One’s life had to be organized. As a woman in the 1700s kitchen garden was explaining - if one did not grow enough vegetables and preserve them - pickling or drying being common methods - (canning did not come into existence until the 1800s) as well as preserving meats - drying, salting, smoking being common methods - one did not have food in the winter. That is organizing. Imagine needing to know how much food you will need until spring and how to keep the food you have until then. Too little or if it is improperly preserved and the family will go hungry.
Even the stoves in their houses (unique to several non English groups) are well planned. They consist of 5 sheet panels of iron. One is laid on the floor on brick floor (only in this area of the floor), one on each of the 3 sides away from the wall and one on top. It is located in the main room of the house. The stove backs to the kitchen wall so that the stove pipe goes out the back, through the wall and into the kitchen fireplace so that they can share the chimney.
The walls (again this is unique to those of their background) are double thick and there are cabinets set into the wall between the inner and outer layer. There is one in the main room and one in the (master) bedroom.
Second - think of the organization to have this event each year. The festival is run by volunteers. The local German descendants are not like the Amish you may be thinking of and picturing in your mind when you hear Pennsylvania German. They are of a variety of religious groups who came here for religious freedom. They consist of Lutherans, Mennonites, Dunkards, Brethren, Moravians and others. They live modern lives and wear modern clothes unlike the Amish and more traditional Mennonites.
Every year the members of the association have to come up with a theme. Figure out which special programs they will run on the stage and elsewhere. They have to make sure that the volunteers from past years are coming and look for new volunteers - especially ones who can demonstrate different things. Period clothing has to be repaired if needed. New clothing made for new volunteers. Clothing has to be matched to the various children who, of course, change size year to year. Advertising is put out. Since the road through the property is closed off I am sure that each year they have to apply for permission to do this from the local municipality. The local fire company takes care of directing parking of cars. The festival planners has to make sure the fire company will be there and will have enough volunteers from their end.
Then there is the physical setup and take down. I understand that the festival takes 2 weeks to set up and probably as long to take down for a festival which runs 2 days! Booths for sales are set up. On the 1800s side a good number of period stoves are setup as are tables for those cooking to work on. They have on each side of the road, in addition to the house from the 1700s, an open air house. This is a floor with interior walls of a house diving the floor into the various room. (Sort of a house with no outside walls.) Before they had the actual house to show, this was how they showed the house of each period and how they differed. The houses have to be assembled. After the event all of this has to be taken down and stored away.
I have run small reenactment events and been involved on a minor level with a large local event. The amount of people needed and the amount of work done is more than one would would figure. Everyone has to know what they are doing (hopefully the people who did each job before are still there) and how to do it. Things are always missing or broken. (We went to a reenactment with another unit and our unit brought a privates tent and a fly - a tent that is only a top - at my suggestion. When we went to set up we were missing one of the fly poles. I was told I had a choice of which tent they could set up - which did I choose? - I had them set the tent at a corner of the fly and the same pole held up both, although the fly corner had to come down to the height of the tent - but this is the sort of stuff that happens, and hopefully the group is organized enough to minimize same.)
Next time you go to a fair or festival - even that local church or school fair - look around and think about the organizing which goes into it.
I realized while using my word processor program that there was an update I had in the computer which needs to be found and put in again - until it is, envelopes are not easy to do as there was a fix to them in the update. I also still need to import the data for the address books for same back into the program. I noticed the problem with the envelopes as yesterday I wrote letters and sent out emails whose information had been sitting on my desk waiting to be done.
Today I went to run the new backup program in my computers. I first had to put it into my laptop. I finally got it loaded into my laptop. I plugged in the external hard drive - it could not be found. After several tries I decided that this was not to be the day to do backups.
The board of my embroidery group chapter is trying to put together the schedule for the coming year. I needed to send out an email telling members about a choice of projects that they need to make a decision on by the first meeting. Today all was resolved with which items we will be offering and I sent out the email. I also finished putting together our program for the year as we finally had plans for all the meetings lined up. I will have to go tomorrow and get it printed for the members, then assemble, address label, and stamp the copies, so I can get them out in the mail. Much of it is copied year to year which makes it somewhat easier to write.
We normally go away in August on vacation. The weather has been extremely hot with chances of major rain storms every day so we have not made plans. Husband announced today at lunch that the weather is suppose to be okay starting next week, so we will be going on Monday.
Well, the stack on my desk is almost gone thanks to the work I got done on Tuesday, so of course it will now grow again. I have to stop the newspaper, put holds on the mail here and at our Post Office box - and we like to do all of this for at least a day before we leave so we see it stop - means I have to call the newspaper tomorrow and go to both post offices to stop the mail.
We put the stuff we took out of the RV when we had the generator work done, back in today - while we ran the generator for the month - that way it was air conditioned in the RV while we worked. I still have to make up the beds. I am doing my regular laundry tonight and will laundry again before Monday so all the clothes are clean and can be packed. I have to call the pharmacy and renew 2 prescriptions so we have enough of them for the trip. We also will have to transfer some money so we can prepay all the bills due while away before we go. Oh, and I have to put out the newsletter for the embroidery chapter while we are away so I copied the email addresses to take and need to copy the last couple of newsletters to put together the new one.
Something more pleasant - We did manage to go away for a day last Saturday. There is a very nice, small festival northwest of Philadelphia called Goshenhoppen. It is different from most folk and craft festivals in that the purpose of it is to make sure that the traditional crafts, trades, cooking, etc. are not forgotten. The people who are involved with the festival go back to the colonial period and came from German countries. (Germany itself was not a country until the 1800s.) The association which runs the event owns a house from the 1700s which is partially restored and the event is held on the grounds around the house.
On the side of the road (the road is closed for the event) that the house is on, everything is related to the 1700s - and the people are dressed as their ancestors would be then. In addition to the house, rebuilt external bake oven, there is a kitchen garden. On this side of the road one can see a Revolutionary war encampment, wood working, water pump making, gun making, coopering (barrel making), windsor chairs being made, cooking in a hearth and over an open fire, rope making, two different types of foot powered wood lathes, bookbinding, marbleizing (on paper), roof thatching, weaving, a “school room” where children learn to write in the period style of writing with ink pens, spinning of linen as well as spinning of wool, straw hat making, wood carving, tape weaving (thin long strips of cloth to be used as ties for the clothing - very necessary in period), an assortment of types of needlework, bee keeping and other things I have forgotten. There are things for children to try such as sewing, the previously mentioned tape weaving, and corn husk dolls.
Now on the other side of the road is the 1800s and people are dressed in this period. There are demonstrations of stone cutting, leather work, tin work, fence making, wheel making, cigar making, blacksmithing, farm animals (and a bit of how they work machinery), how to make a jointed building - no nails or screws, quilting, cooking on period stoves, laundry, Christmas customs, sewing on an early sewing machine and more.
One sees children working at most of the demonstrations. As part of the idea that the knowledge of the past should not be lost, children work as apprentices learning how to do traditional things. Apparently the children can either do the same thing year to year or different things each year. Some of them also study what they are demonstrating during the year with the expert they are working with.
On this side of the road there is also butchering demonstrations - those, such as me, who do not want to see this can easily avoid it. There are food, drink, and books for sale booths. An unusual food here is Funny Cake. It is a pie shell with a chocolate pudding like layer and a cake like layer over it. We found it in one other place in the area and it was not the same and not as good. We asked at the booth and it is made for them to their recipe. There is also a building with cooked food for sale for lunch or early dinner. And there is a stage.
During the day there are different presentations on the stage. The group normally has a theme for the year and the presentations are based on same. While some are musical, others are lectures or discussions on the theme for the year. This year’s theme was the fact that it was the 50th festival and there were photos from prior festivals on display.
There is a band and there is a grand parade in the afternoon around the grounds.
Now, understand, this is not a huge festival. When we have spoken with volunteers there they are surprised that anyone outside of their area knows about it, let alone comes from 2 states away to visit it - year after year. The man demonstrating leatherwork was talking with my husband, who also does leatherwork. He explained that his tools were his father’s tools and that they date to the 1800s. This is the type of continuity they are looking to keep in this association and this festival.
Okay, so what does this festival have to do with organizing? Two things.
First, it shows the sort of life that existed in the past. One’s life had to be organized. As a woman in the 1700s kitchen garden was explaining - if one did not grow enough vegetables and preserve them - pickling or drying being common methods - (canning did not come into existence until the 1800s) as well as preserving meats - drying, salting, smoking being common methods - one did not have food in the winter. That is organizing. Imagine needing to know how much food you will need until spring and how to keep the food you have until then. Too little or if it is improperly preserved and the family will go hungry.
Even the stoves in their houses (unique to several non English groups) are well planned. They consist of 5 sheet panels of iron. One is laid on the floor on brick floor (only in this area of the floor), one on each of the 3 sides away from the wall and one on top. It is located in the main room of the house. The stove backs to the kitchen wall so that the stove pipe goes out the back, through the wall and into the kitchen fireplace so that they can share the chimney.
The walls (again this is unique to those of their background) are double thick and there are cabinets set into the wall between the inner and outer layer. There is one in the main room and one in the (master) bedroom.
Second - think of the organization to have this event each year. The festival is run by volunteers. The local German descendants are not like the Amish you may be thinking of and picturing in your mind when you hear Pennsylvania German. They are of a variety of religious groups who came here for religious freedom. They consist of Lutherans, Mennonites, Dunkards, Brethren, Moravians and others. They live modern lives and wear modern clothes unlike the Amish and more traditional Mennonites.
Every year the members of the association have to come up with a theme. Figure out which special programs they will run on the stage and elsewhere. They have to make sure that the volunteers from past years are coming and look for new volunteers - especially ones who can demonstrate different things. Period clothing has to be repaired if needed. New clothing made for new volunteers. Clothing has to be matched to the various children who, of course, change size year to year. Advertising is put out. Since the road through the property is closed off I am sure that each year they have to apply for permission to do this from the local municipality. The local fire company takes care of directing parking of cars. The festival planners has to make sure the fire company will be there and will have enough volunteers from their end.
Then there is the physical setup and take down. I understand that the festival takes 2 weeks to set up and probably as long to take down for a festival which runs 2 days! Booths for sales are set up. On the 1800s side a good number of period stoves are setup as are tables for those cooking to work on. They have on each side of the road, in addition to the house from the 1700s, an open air house. This is a floor with interior walls of a house diving the floor into the various room. (Sort of a house with no outside walls.) Before they had the actual house to show, this was how they showed the house of each period and how they differed. The houses have to be assembled. After the event all of this has to be taken down and stored away.
I have run small reenactment events and been involved on a minor level with a large local event. The amount of people needed and the amount of work done is more than one would would figure. Everyone has to know what they are doing (hopefully the people who did each job before are still there) and how to do it. Things are always missing or broken. (We went to a reenactment with another unit and our unit brought a privates tent and a fly - a tent that is only a top - at my suggestion. When we went to set up we were missing one of the fly poles. I was told I had a choice of which tent they could set up - which did I choose? - I had them set the tent at a corner of the fly and the same pole held up both, although the fly corner had to come down to the height of the tent - but this is the sort of stuff that happens, and hopefully the group is organized enough to minimize same.)
Next time you go to a fair or festival - even that local church or school fair - look around and think about the organizing which goes into it.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
ANNIVERSARY
This week is our 37th wedding anniversary. The years went past in an instant.
What does this have to do with organizing?
Well, for 37 years I have been cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, paying bills, we have been taking care of each other when one of us was ill - or each other when we both were, and in general dealing with the day to day matters of life. This had taken a lot of organizing.
We had both lived with our parents until we married. Before the wedding we went ahead being the organized people we thought we were - we got an apartment, bed, bedroom furniture, living room furniture, borrowed a folding table and chairs for the kitchen. We bought the dishes we wanted, the matching glasses, tableware, sheets, and pillowcases. We had carpeting installed in the bedroom and living room and vinyl flooring in the kitchen. We had the utilities started - sometimes I went and waited for whoever was coming - at least once my mom did. (I had my first meal at the place we still get Chinese takeout from while waiting for something or other - the place was in view of the apartment and I stood out at the curb watching while they cooked - so I could see if someone came to the door of the apartment. I had not brought the silverware there yet and had to get a plastic fork to use.)
Have you noticed what is missing from the list of what we bought? I made the bed before our wedding so it would be ready when we returned from our honeymoon. We planned to bring our individual pillows from home, so we did not buy any. We married, went on our honeymoon and returned home somewhere after midnight. As we drove home we realized that we had no pillows and we had no towels. We stopped at my in laws (as they lived closer to us than my parents) and husband slipped into the house without waking them and took his pillows (we shared them) and borrowed some towels. See - no matter how organized one thinks they are, they are not.
I had to use a public laundry as there was none in our building. The first time I fell behind we resolved the problem by buying a third set of sheets and pillow cases so I didn’t have to run out and do the laundry on the weekend when we had time together. We later also lost a weeks worth of clothes, towels and bed linens there when someone left a lipstick in the dryer and it melted all over our stuff! The biggest problem is that we both are short and have trouble getting clothes - so replacement was not easy. We dealt with this by getting a small, portable washer and matching dryer. After this I spent most of the week doing the laundry as the washer could hold about a week of shirts for either of us - so we had to do a lot of loads - and the dryer did not vent to the outside, but rather into the room through the lint filter in the door. It took much longer to dry than a regular dryer and vented the heat into the room - horrible in summer. The dryer did make a nice serving surface with a table cloth over it if we had company in - it easily pushed into the living room.
I used to clean the apartment on Friday nights. Husband would be exhausted from working all week and would go to sleep early. I would close the bedroom door and clean the bathroom and kitchen - within feet of the bedroom - and then the living room. I only had to clean the bedroom when he was awake.
We could not find bedroom curtains we liked, so I got my first sewing machine to make the curtains. (One day soon I will get it fixed so I can use it again. When we had the bed bugs in this house the wire in the cord seems to have melted or detached.) We returned the living room furniture we had bought as there were problems and bought a new set of furniture. We bought a kitchen set. We settled in.
About 9 years in we bought this house - within extended walking distance of the apartment. We planned to save money moving - we would bring as much as we could to the house on our own. So we would fill the car and the van and bring the stuff here and unload it - by this time we had our craft business and all of the inventory and other items had to be moved here also. On the weekend before we were to move, my sister and her husband joined us in moving things. We would fill the 3 vehicles and drive them over and unload them. Oh, did I mention that my sister had recently had my niece? So the four of us loaded up at the apartment. When we got to the house she would take care of niece - feeding, changing, etc. while the 3 of us unloaded. After a couple of trips we thought we were okay and all went out for dinner. They left. We went back to moving stuff - and we realized that we were not going to get it done in time. We called husband’s father - he came and helped us load up and unload once. After that we were on our own. The moving company came on Monday - they took the furniture, the books (9 feet of floor to ceiling shelving) and vinyl LPs. Then we went back to finish. Still not enough time. So on Tuesday - the day we had to vacate - I was back alone taking out the last of the stuff - one of the best birthdays I have had.
Well, each problem, situation, and year we got a little better at keeping up with everything. We learned that something will always happen to throw us off (like the recent computer mess) and that we just have to go with it and catch up after. Our house is far from magazine perfect and I found out today that I have bought black markers 3 times - as I have 3 started packs - so we are not as organized as you might think. One has to take life as it comes and do ones best.
What’s next? Another 37 years? That would make me.... probably not.
What does this have to do with organizing?
Well, for 37 years I have been cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, paying bills, we have been taking care of each other when one of us was ill - or each other when we both were, and in general dealing with the day to day matters of life. This had taken a lot of organizing.
We had both lived with our parents until we married. Before the wedding we went ahead being the organized people we thought we were - we got an apartment, bed, bedroom furniture, living room furniture, borrowed a folding table and chairs for the kitchen. We bought the dishes we wanted, the matching glasses, tableware, sheets, and pillowcases. We had carpeting installed in the bedroom and living room and vinyl flooring in the kitchen. We had the utilities started - sometimes I went and waited for whoever was coming - at least once my mom did. (I had my first meal at the place we still get Chinese takeout from while waiting for something or other - the place was in view of the apartment and I stood out at the curb watching while they cooked - so I could see if someone came to the door of the apartment. I had not brought the silverware there yet and had to get a plastic fork to use.)
Have you noticed what is missing from the list of what we bought? I made the bed before our wedding so it would be ready when we returned from our honeymoon. We planned to bring our individual pillows from home, so we did not buy any. We married, went on our honeymoon and returned home somewhere after midnight. As we drove home we realized that we had no pillows and we had no towels. We stopped at my in laws (as they lived closer to us than my parents) and husband slipped into the house without waking them and took his pillows (we shared them) and borrowed some towels. See - no matter how organized one thinks they are, they are not.
I had to use a public laundry as there was none in our building. The first time I fell behind we resolved the problem by buying a third set of sheets and pillow cases so I didn’t have to run out and do the laundry on the weekend when we had time together. We later also lost a weeks worth of clothes, towels and bed linens there when someone left a lipstick in the dryer and it melted all over our stuff! The biggest problem is that we both are short and have trouble getting clothes - so replacement was not easy. We dealt with this by getting a small, portable washer and matching dryer. After this I spent most of the week doing the laundry as the washer could hold about a week of shirts for either of us - so we had to do a lot of loads - and the dryer did not vent to the outside, but rather into the room through the lint filter in the door. It took much longer to dry than a regular dryer and vented the heat into the room - horrible in summer. The dryer did make a nice serving surface with a table cloth over it if we had company in - it easily pushed into the living room.
I used to clean the apartment on Friday nights. Husband would be exhausted from working all week and would go to sleep early. I would close the bedroom door and clean the bathroom and kitchen - within feet of the bedroom - and then the living room. I only had to clean the bedroom when he was awake.
We could not find bedroom curtains we liked, so I got my first sewing machine to make the curtains. (One day soon I will get it fixed so I can use it again. When we had the bed bugs in this house the wire in the cord seems to have melted or detached.) We returned the living room furniture we had bought as there were problems and bought a new set of furniture. We bought a kitchen set. We settled in.
About 9 years in we bought this house - within extended walking distance of the apartment. We planned to save money moving - we would bring as much as we could to the house on our own. So we would fill the car and the van and bring the stuff here and unload it - by this time we had our craft business and all of the inventory and other items had to be moved here also. On the weekend before we were to move, my sister and her husband joined us in moving things. We would fill the 3 vehicles and drive them over and unload them. Oh, did I mention that my sister had recently had my niece? So the four of us loaded up at the apartment. When we got to the house she would take care of niece - feeding, changing, etc. while the 3 of us unloaded. After a couple of trips we thought we were okay and all went out for dinner. They left. We went back to moving stuff - and we realized that we were not going to get it done in time. We called husband’s father - he came and helped us load up and unload once. After that we were on our own. The moving company came on Monday - they took the furniture, the books (9 feet of floor to ceiling shelving) and vinyl LPs. Then we went back to finish. Still not enough time. So on Tuesday - the day we had to vacate - I was back alone taking out the last of the stuff - one of the best birthdays I have had.
Well, each problem, situation, and year we got a little better at keeping up with everything. We learned that something will always happen to throw us off (like the recent computer mess) and that we just have to go with it and catch up after. Our house is far from magazine perfect and I found out today that I have bought black markers 3 times - as I have 3 started packs - so we are not as organized as you might think. One has to take life as it comes and do ones best.
What’s next? Another 37 years? That would make me.... probably not.
Thursday, August 4, 2016
BEST LAID PLANS - HARD DRIVE DIED PART 3 AND RV PROBLEMS
Well, I have spent a good part of the last week trying to finish installing software onto the new hard drive and to get it set up as the software was set up on my former hard drive.
I installed my organizer program and the software for my old cell phone, which I use as a PDA. I then installed the program which allows the two to synch. I then had to copy the data file for the organizer from laptop to the desktop after syncing them. The reason I needed to sync them is one file has to overwrite the other at the first sync. This way when I overwrote the old cell phone with the organizer I did not lose any information. So I then had those working. Until yesterday, however, I did not get the software installed so that my current cell phone could also sync with the organizer. (I sync one device, than the other when I sit down at the computer to work and when I leave so that all 3 have the same information - the current cell phone only for the parts that sync with the program. Between this and the software all ready installed so far, I feel like Sweeney Todd in the play/movie about him when he gets his razor back - “At last, my arm is complete again!”.
I had to redo for my records the two sales I mentioned we had as the information for my records was incomplete - that took the better part of an afternoon.
I played with the settings for the monitor and finally found a setup I can live with - how can certain parts look so different and others look right? I know it is not the setup I had before as a program I have which used to have a window too large for the monitor (and I had to change the setting to use same) and it no longer is too big, on the other hand, if I switch to a lower resolution, one of the other programs is too big to use. But I can deal with how it is now.
I am now dealing with changing preferences - the location of files, etc. I still have two programs and two printers to install. But I can use the computer again.
Now I have to catch up on what I did not do the last 2 weeks. I spent part of the afternoon doing follow up from the embroidery board meeting I went to last week - normally it would have been done the next day. I checked a few things online which I needed to do. I wrote a few emails. It seems every time I get the stuff to do NOW stack down, something happens and it stacks back up.
On top of all this we have had a problem with our little RV - the one I was writing about before this computer mess started. We had to take it to a shop authorized by the generator manufacturer to have something small fixed. We had a 9 am appointment. We planned to drive out with both the RV and the car - if we had to leave it we could, if it would be all day we could go out for lunch, etc.
Our RV has to be backed out of the driveway - not something easy to do normally and worse during rush hour, plus the construction going on. We decided to back it out the night before and turn it around and back it back up the driveway. We live on a VERY busy street. We figured we would do this around 1 am when the traffic is much lighter. There was suppose to be VERY heavy rain that night late, so we went out to do this at around 11 pm. Still too much traffic, but we needed to get it done. I stood in the road with a walkie talkie and when there was no cars, etc I told husband and he backed it out. It was not lined up properly and cars started coming on our side of the street. He pulled over up the block a bit. He then turned around and came back - wrong direction to try to back in. He drove up the street the other way and turned around. We then waited for an empty time on the street and he got it up the driveway.
Next morning we drove to the generator shop. I drove the RV as I was less nervous about it all. We cannot take the RV on the road we would normally take to get there - a limited access road, 50 mph road - as it cannot go on same, so we had to go on a main surface road. We got there just before our 9 am appointment. Husband went into the shop to let them know we were there and find out what to do. They told him to wait. We did. At 10 am a large RV (Class A - one of the ones which looks like a bus) pulled in. Husband had seem it leaving when he drove in, a few minutes ahead of me. They had an 8:30 appointment. We both sat there until 10:30 when they told the Class A to pull in and us behind them.
We explained to the mechanic all that was going on. Our generator is under the RV so he decided to check one thing first, since if that needed to be fixed, it would have to be taken off and the rest of the work would be easier. We waited. It did need to be fixed. He took the generator off and sent us on our way with the RV. He told us that he left what he needed to take apart inside, apart as he was sure we would not be using it. We said fine.
Now, before we brought the RV in we took our bedding and a lot of other things out as we are a bit upset about anyone being in the RV (or our house or our car...) due to our craziness about bed bugs. We covered the mattress pieces in plastic covers and put both on the side of the car which does not involve accessing the electrical system - or so we thought. When I got into the RV to drive it home, he had needed to access the side we put everything on. The table top (stored under the mattress on that side) was lying on the floor as was the top of the cabinet which goes under the table top (we did not even know this piece came out) and our mattress - no longer wrapped in the plastic covers were across the back. I was extremely upset. We could not drive the RV that way as a quick stop would bring the table and cabinet tops flying forward, so we put them in the car (and later stored them in our van temporarily) and drove home. We then sprayed the mattress pieces with alcohol and put them into zippered mattress bags and the smaller pieces in a plastic bag tied closed. We heard from the shop that pieces are in and tomorrow we will bring the RV back there to have the generator put back on. We have no idea how much all this will cost us - more than we can afford we are sure.
In the interim husband has been trying to figure out some problems we are having charging the RV batteries by driving (the car engine charges them). He has decided in the past week that we need new batteries ($500 each) and an assortment of other things. Now he found out that the a device which lets the car battery and the RV batteries take turns charging as needed when driving was recalled about 2 months after we got the RV - no one told us. He thinks this is the problem. So now he is trying to find someplace local which will either sell one of the device (and we will have our service station put it in) or install one for us.
Never a dull moment or a quiet relaxing one.
I installed my organizer program and the software for my old cell phone, which I use as a PDA. I then installed the program which allows the two to synch. I then had to copy the data file for the organizer from laptop to the desktop after syncing them. The reason I needed to sync them is one file has to overwrite the other at the first sync. This way when I overwrote the old cell phone with the organizer I did not lose any information. So I then had those working. Until yesterday, however, I did not get the software installed so that my current cell phone could also sync with the organizer. (I sync one device, than the other when I sit down at the computer to work and when I leave so that all 3 have the same information - the current cell phone only for the parts that sync with the program. Between this and the software all ready installed so far, I feel like Sweeney Todd in the play/movie about him when he gets his razor back - “At last, my arm is complete again!”.
I had to redo for my records the two sales I mentioned we had as the information for my records was incomplete - that took the better part of an afternoon.
I played with the settings for the monitor and finally found a setup I can live with - how can certain parts look so different and others look right? I know it is not the setup I had before as a program I have which used to have a window too large for the monitor (and I had to change the setting to use same) and it no longer is too big, on the other hand, if I switch to a lower resolution, one of the other programs is too big to use. But I can deal with how it is now.
I am now dealing with changing preferences - the location of files, etc. I still have two programs and two printers to install. But I can use the computer again.
Now I have to catch up on what I did not do the last 2 weeks. I spent part of the afternoon doing follow up from the embroidery board meeting I went to last week - normally it would have been done the next day. I checked a few things online which I needed to do. I wrote a few emails. It seems every time I get the stuff to do NOW stack down, something happens and it stacks back up.
On top of all this we have had a problem with our little RV - the one I was writing about before this computer mess started. We had to take it to a shop authorized by the generator manufacturer to have something small fixed. We had a 9 am appointment. We planned to drive out with both the RV and the car - if we had to leave it we could, if it would be all day we could go out for lunch, etc.
Our RV has to be backed out of the driveway - not something easy to do normally and worse during rush hour, plus the construction going on. We decided to back it out the night before and turn it around and back it back up the driveway. We live on a VERY busy street. We figured we would do this around 1 am when the traffic is much lighter. There was suppose to be VERY heavy rain that night late, so we went out to do this at around 11 pm. Still too much traffic, but we needed to get it done. I stood in the road with a walkie talkie and when there was no cars, etc I told husband and he backed it out. It was not lined up properly and cars started coming on our side of the street. He pulled over up the block a bit. He then turned around and came back - wrong direction to try to back in. He drove up the street the other way and turned around. We then waited for an empty time on the street and he got it up the driveway.
Next morning we drove to the generator shop. I drove the RV as I was less nervous about it all. We cannot take the RV on the road we would normally take to get there - a limited access road, 50 mph road - as it cannot go on same, so we had to go on a main surface road. We got there just before our 9 am appointment. Husband went into the shop to let them know we were there and find out what to do. They told him to wait. We did. At 10 am a large RV (Class A - one of the ones which looks like a bus) pulled in. Husband had seem it leaving when he drove in, a few minutes ahead of me. They had an 8:30 appointment. We both sat there until 10:30 when they told the Class A to pull in and us behind them.
We explained to the mechanic all that was going on. Our generator is under the RV so he decided to check one thing first, since if that needed to be fixed, it would have to be taken off and the rest of the work would be easier. We waited. It did need to be fixed. He took the generator off and sent us on our way with the RV. He told us that he left what he needed to take apart inside, apart as he was sure we would not be using it. We said fine.
Now, before we brought the RV in we took our bedding and a lot of other things out as we are a bit upset about anyone being in the RV (or our house or our car...) due to our craziness about bed bugs. We covered the mattress pieces in plastic covers and put both on the side of the car which does not involve accessing the electrical system - or so we thought. When I got into the RV to drive it home, he had needed to access the side we put everything on. The table top (stored under the mattress on that side) was lying on the floor as was the top of the cabinet which goes under the table top (we did not even know this piece came out) and our mattress - no longer wrapped in the plastic covers were across the back. I was extremely upset. We could not drive the RV that way as a quick stop would bring the table and cabinet tops flying forward, so we put them in the car (and later stored them in our van temporarily) and drove home. We then sprayed the mattress pieces with alcohol and put them into zippered mattress bags and the smaller pieces in a plastic bag tied closed. We heard from the shop that pieces are in and tomorrow we will bring the RV back there to have the generator put back on. We have no idea how much all this will cost us - more than we can afford we are sure.
In the interim husband has been trying to figure out some problems we are having charging the RV batteries by driving (the car engine charges them). He has decided in the past week that we need new batteries ($500 each) and an assortment of other things. Now he found out that the a device which lets the car battery and the RV batteries take turns charging as needed when driving was recalled about 2 months after we got the RV - no one told us. He thinks this is the problem. So now he is trying to find someplace local which will either sell one of the device (and we will have our service station put it in) or install one for us.
Never a dull moment or a quiet relaxing one.
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