I finished decorating our main Christmas tree and our studio tree on Christmas Eve Day. I went to wrap the gifts - such as they are. I pulled out the shopping bag that I had stored them in from the back of the dining room table. I brought down the Christmas/Chanukah wrapping holder. (This is a hanging item which holds the wrapping paper, decorative bags, tissue paper, etc. as well as an envelope with printed labels which we use instead of buying gift tags - they are done in a Christmas font and have the name of the person who is getting the gift and our names. Right now we are only using the ones with his nieces’ names on them.
I wrapped the two gifts for one of his nieces and put on tags - I put them in a smaller shopping bag to give to her. I then went to wrap the gift card we had bought for her sister. I could not find it. I looked in the shopping bag of gifts. I looked everywhere in the house - including every pocket of every jacket in the closet. Even though there was a big rainstorm I went out and checked both our car and our van. Husband looked everywhere. For some reason he did not give me the “you have to be more careful with things like this” lecture. (I think he finally is understanding that my sudden disorganization with things like this is the fault of not having a chance to put things where they belong due to excessive running of errands.) Husband said that we would give his niece cash and when we find the card - which we assume we will some day - we will find some use for it. (This being rather limited as we don’t really shop at the store in question.) I found a small gift box and husband made a cute note on the computer as to what the money was for and I wrapped it.
Now, this is basically the wrapping that needed to be done - but husband had bought some items for himself so I stuck what I could in recycled decorative holiday bags and wrapped the two items which would not fit into same. I stuck a small book I had bought and a stuffed teddy bear I had bought into additional recycled gift bags and stuck it all under the tree. I try not to waste wrapping paper on our stuff as we each buy our own “gifts” if we happen upon something.
Husband started feeling a cold coming in and the weather was to become bad during the evening, so we went to 4 pm mass instead of waiting for midnight mass. We came home and I cooked Christmas Eve dinner - and of course we ate it - with lots of leftovers.
What I had not had a chance to do was put up my teddy bear village. I started it on Christmas Day - but everything was going wrong with the tree for the village - I am guessing it has reached the end of its life and I will need a new one next year - the branches keep sagging and the lights seem to all be turning white from their various colors. We left for Christmas Day dinner and I have not gotten back to work on the village since. I am changing the name of it to “Teddy Bear Winter Festival Village” so that it can stay up longer.
Starting the day after Christmas we have been doing a Candlelight Nights Event at the local restoration village with our reenactment unit - we are in the only house which is set up as a 1700s house. It is a favorite event. The weather has taken a turn for COLD and about to get COLDER with possible snow or freezing rain either or both of the last two days (Friday and Saturday) of the event. We had 1100 people come through the village the night after Christmas - the “warmest” night of the week and tonight there were 700 - not bad based on how cold it was.
Unfortunately doing this evening event actually takes up almost all of our time as husband is in charge of it for our unit. Remember we don’t get up early - to be polite. So we wake, have lunch run an errand - maybe - come home and dress in period clothes, drive to the “village”, set up the house, do the event, close down the house, drive home, change clothes back, cook dinner (at 11 pm) eat, try to get some chores done and maybe check some email, have snack and go to bed to start over. The event runs 5 pm to 9:30 but involves us starting to get ready at 3 pm and by the time we are changed back to modern clothes it is 11 pm. We have 3 more nights - unless the weather is too bad on Friday and/or Saturday and the “village” closes. The unit takes over the house as if there is an 18th century holiday party in the house and we and the public coming through are the guests. A few members play period music - especially Christmas, others sing, some of us do first person interpretation - we are someone from the period and know nothing past the same date in 1775, and others talk about the house as modern people. The public seems to enjoy it - some people tell my husband that they come to the village for the event every year just to see our unit, and we have had current descendants of the family who lived in the house visit and say how wonderful it is. It is exhausting, but fun.
I have not entered the chores, repeating appointments, etc for next year into either my cell phone or the setup I have on the computer - I did not even have a chance to make up a list. The newspapers piling up are approaching a week’s worth unread. I have mail stacking up on my desk, and the teddy village awaits yet. This is about the worst December for getting things done in some time.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
If you lose something, after searching “everywhere” for it and not finding it - give up and find an alternative.
I hope all have a wonderful New Year - as I have mentioned before I do not make any resolutions as they are, well, never kept and one feels guilty about it. I do reflect on the year past and try to do better in the year to come.
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Thursday, December 21, 2017
IT WOULD BE ENOUGH
I managed to get the dining room decorations finished over the weekend. I also decluttered it a bit - and hid what has to stay a bit better. The small Christmas tree I put up in there is up and decorated with the brass ornaments we get with our membership in Colonial Williamsburg. A silverplated tea caddy ornament (we bought the full size caddy on sale one year and the ornament came with it) hangs at the top of the tree instead of an angel or star.
Sounds simple right? To get ready to set up the tree I had to store away husband’s DVDs which have accumulated since last Christmas. The new ones sat on the chest he made to store his DVDs because - yes - it filled a few years ago. We have a secretary (piece of furniture- drawers with fold down front for desk and shelves above it - green curtain inside hides the shelves and what is on them). It was bought to be used as a bar and to hold table linens in the drawer. The shelves held assorted bar and my good glasses. I have been clearing it out as I can to make room for - yes - more DVDs. Most of the bottom of the 3 shelves is DVD storage - I donated unneeded, unused glassware in the kitchen last year and moved most of my good glasses to where they had been to make the room for these DVDs. I just donated a set of small wine glasses we never used earlier this month. I want to get rid of most if not all of the bar ware as it was rarely used when we had people in and that will give him more room. But, back to the chest now. I ended up with DVDs that there was no room for and set them aside. The chest when it was built by my husband was put on wheels just for this - I pushed it from the living room to the dining room. Other than having to jump a molding between the living room and front hall, it is easy to push. It goes against the far wall in the dining room. The table is moved to the center of the room for this - it is normally pushed against the same far wall. This gives room in the living room for the big tree (where the chest was) and a place to put the dining room tree. I put the leftover, homeless DVDs behind the tree and then found a nice throw we received from CW some years ago, folded it in half lengthwise and wrapped the bottom of the tree - and the DVDs behind it - it looks like a nice tree skirt and the DVDs are hidden.
Sunday I also started bringing up the parts of the big tree and stuck them together - and the small tree that goes in our studio. The studio tree gets ornaments we have made - but some also go on the big tree and all are stored together, so they get decorated together. I figured - okay, we are close on time, but not too bad to get done before Christmas. I had planned on Monday night to spread out the branches and make the big tree look nice and add the lights - along with our traditional first 3 items - the angel topper and two angels all stitched by me or my husband.
Then we got an order on our Etsy account. We don’t get a lot of orders and they are mostly of the smallest of the items we sell. This was for a medium priced item and I had to do the paperwork before I started working on the tree - okay, I figured, half an hour. Yeah, right. Paypal changed their website and we got so confused trying to buy postage and print the label that we ended up doing it twice and had to cancel one of them. So the entire evening was gone and no work on the tree.
Tuesday we went to the eye doctor. He is in the next county so we go to together. We can’t come home right away as neither of can see enough to drive that much so we go to stores near him. (Good eye report, thank goodness.) We ended up having dinner out at Ikea on the way home. I did get the tree arranged and the lights and first three items on it at night.
Tonight I took the exam I had to take and now the exams are done with until the middle of next year. But by the time I was done, and taking into consideration doing the laundry and writing to all of you - no time for the tree tonight. Oh, well, at least gift shopping is over - we are done with his nieces and I will mail checks to my niece and nephew.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One can only do what one can do. For the Passover holiday in the spring there is a song which translates to “it would have been enough” - it talks about things that God did to help the Jews leave Egypt and after each item is mentioned the refrain is “it would have been enough”.
If the tree is finished at the last minute it will done then. If it is not finished then however it is, it is finished (and I can always add on after the holiday). My teddy village will be done when it is done. It is often not worked on until Christmas Eve or Day or later (I guess that is why it stays up so long).
My point being that whatever is done when the holiday come is enough. If stuff is shoved into a bag and stuffed behind a bench - that is good enough if that is all there is time for. A few years ago for two years we had one little tree with only a limited decorations - and that was enough.
I take the time now to wish all who celebrate, a Pleasant Christmas (merry sounds too demanding).
Sounds simple right? To get ready to set up the tree I had to store away husband’s DVDs which have accumulated since last Christmas. The new ones sat on the chest he made to store his DVDs because - yes - it filled a few years ago. We have a secretary (piece of furniture- drawers with fold down front for desk and shelves above it - green curtain inside hides the shelves and what is on them). It was bought to be used as a bar and to hold table linens in the drawer. The shelves held assorted bar and my good glasses. I have been clearing it out as I can to make room for - yes - more DVDs. Most of the bottom of the 3 shelves is DVD storage - I donated unneeded, unused glassware in the kitchen last year and moved most of my good glasses to where they had been to make the room for these DVDs. I just donated a set of small wine glasses we never used earlier this month. I want to get rid of most if not all of the bar ware as it was rarely used when we had people in and that will give him more room. But, back to the chest now. I ended up with DVDs that there was no room for and set them aside. The chest when it was built by my husband was put on wheels just for this - I pushed it from the living room to the dining room. Other than having to jump a molding between the living room and front hall, it is easy to push. It goes against the far wall in the dining room. The table is moved to the center of the room for this - it is normally pushed against the same far wall. This gives room in the living room for the big tree (where the chest was) and a place to put the dining room tree. I put the leftover, homeless DVDs behind the tree and then found a nice throw we received from CW some years ago, folded it in half lengthwise and wrapped the bottom of the tree - and the DVDs behind it - it looks like a nice tree skirt and the DVDs are hidden.
Sunday I also started bringing up the parts of the big tree and stuck them together - and the small tree that goes in our studio. The studio tree gets ornaments we have made - but some also go on the big tree and all are stored together, so they get decorated together. I figured - okay, we are close on time, but not too bad to get done before Christmas. I had planned on Monday night to spread out the branches and make the big tree look nice and add the lights - along with our traditional first 3 items - the angel topper and two angels all stitched by me or my husband.
Then we got an order on our Etsy account. We don’t get a lot of orders and they are mostly of the smallest of the items we sell. This was for a medium priced item and I had to do the paperwork before I started working on the tree - okay, I figured, half an hour. Yeah, right. Paypal changed their website and we got so confused trying to buy postage and print the label that we ended up doing it twice and had to cancel one of them. So the entire evening was gone and no work on the tree.
Tuesday we went to the eye doctor. He is in the next county so we go to together. We can’t come home right away as neither of can see enough to drive that much so we go to stores near him. (Good eye report, thank goodness.) We ended up having dinner out at Ikea on the way home. I did get the tree arranged and the lights and first three items on it at night.
Tonight I took the exam I had to take and now the exams are done with until the middle of next year. But by the time I was done, and taking into consideration doing the laundry and writing to all of you - no time for the tree tonight. Oh, well, at least gift shopping is over - we are done with his nieces and I will mail checks to my niece and nephew.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One can only do what one can do. For the Passover holiday in the spring there is a song which translates to “it would have been enough” - it talks about things that God did to help the Jews leave Egypt and after each item is mentioned the refrain is “it would have been enough”.
If the tree is finished at the last minute it will done then. If it is not finished then however it is, it is finished (and I can always add on after the holiday). My teddy village will be done when it is done. It is often not worked on until Christmas Eve or Day or later (I guess that is why it stays up so long).
My point being that whatever is done when the holiday come is enough. If stuff is shoved into a bag and stuffed behind a bench - that is good enough if that is all there is time for. A few years ago for two years we had one little tree with only a limited decorations - and that was enough.
I take the time now to wish all who celebrate, a Pleasant Christmas (merry sounds too demanding).
Thursday, December 14, 2017
TOO MUCH TO DO AT ONCE
Well Christmas is closer than I thought - and so is Chanukah (which is already here). But only a small part of my efforts have gone towards the indoor decorating.
Last Friday we took a day trip to, yes, Lancaster, PA. For once the trip went well. Even though it was a day trip we went in our tiny RV. Why? Well, after my problems with our car last month (stalling when I stopped and having to be restarted and our service guys found nothing), the RV not getting enough driving due to our few trips this year, and the fact we wanted to buy some local foods from there for the winter - we decided to take the RV. We left early (for us) and we were there by noon.
Husband had wanted some additional attachments for his loom and the wool store he buys loom things at is there - he called ahead and the stuff was waiting. The ladies there are very nice and chatty - as are we normally - but we made our apologies and explained that we were on a very tight schedule and paid for the items and left.
We actually went backwards a bit and went to one of the large farmer’s markets there that we like to go to. It was rather cold and we would have had a problem eating the submarine sandwiches we buy from a local place as the seating is outside - but we had the RV! We went back, turned one front seat around, pulled the table out - took out the cold can of soda we had brought in the fridge and had lunch. When finished, we turned the seat back to the front, put away the tables and took the garbage to toss in a bin. Most of the day vendors - the ones who come and set up tents and tables by their vehicles - were not there due to the weather, but there are still buildings and buildings - and outdoor stands - of vendors. We always enjoy just walking around and we have been going there together for over 40 years together so it feels like home - some vendors even know us by sight and they feel like friends - of course in all that time a lot of them have retired or passed away and we miss them when we pass by their spaces - of occupied by new vendors. One vendor (not sure if I have mentioned this) is consolidating her stores from the 3 large markets in the area and the one she has at home - two of the stores are now closed. She had been selling out her very discounted items at 50% and this year went down to 60% off. I always think that I have bought everything she might have had that we would want - and find something different (I won’t say new as nothing is new - not used, just there a long time.) I have added greatly to my Christmas bear village and my bear collection in general since she started consolidating.
When we went to leave the market it was 4:30. We had hope to get to the local butcher whose ham and (lunch/dinner) sausages we love - and husband loves their chicken salad - but we thought it too late to get there while they were open. I pulled out my cellphone and found out they were open until 7 pm - and we knew they were on the way to where we planned to eat dinner. We bought a ham section, sausages, and chicken salad for him to have for dinner one night. We would have bought another ham section - but a tiny RV has a tiny fridge and it would not fit with the rest.
On to dinner at a local supermarket which has a buffet in an restaurant in the building (and nice looking other dishes on their menu also) and had dinner. We even got a seat in our favorite area of the restaurant. (Although to be fair, it was the waitress who was in this section that made it our favorite and she had a baby last year and is mostly not there when we go.) After dinner we started home.
Now, on and off the report was that it was suppose to snow or rain when we would be coming home. It then changed to snow the next day. Just in case the first report was right, we brought a day’s worth of medications and a change of clothes - we could have stayed if needed, but the weather held. As we left the restaurant husband turned to me with a smile and said “We got it all done. How great!”
Tuesday I went to my accounting client to do her books. Wednesday (today) is the 13th and she has a major fear of 13 and will not let me come on the 13th (I don’t even call on the 13th for an appointment) and Thursday we are suppose to have snow. A bit of confusion while I was there - but in the end everything worked out - finally - thank goodness. All the past problems are resolved. Coming home - the darn car had the same problem as last month. This time they were able to find some “codes” which were not right and they replacing solenoids which hopefully will fix it. Having dealt with this last month, I did my best not to stop - just roll slowly when a stop was coming if I had room - and tried to pick roads that I would have the least problem with constant stops (during rush hour) for one of the last parts I took a local street as I knew that it was not heavily traveled - drivers were much nastier this time than last - much horn beeping at me - last month none.
I think I have mentioned that I have to take 20 hours of classes to keep being able to prepare tax returns and represent clients at IRS each year. I signed up (again) with an online company one course at a time (varying from 1 to 4 hours) I have completed all but the big 6 hour course which has a 3 hour, timed, exam. Tonight was when I finished the last of the smaller courses. I have next Wednesday night marked on my calendar to take the big exam. I have until the end of the month to take it - and I get 3 chances, I am hoping to only need 1 chance to pass it.
I was so busy with everything that I almost forgot Chanukah (remember, despite the Christmas decorating I am Jewish). Good thing I had a reminder in my cell phone and Tuesday night I pulled out my menorah (traditional candelabra) and stuck in a candle for the first night and a candle for the “worker candle” (one is suppose to light this candle and use it to light the other candles) for the first night. Tonight I lit 2 candles plus the worker candle.
I did more work on the few decorations in the dining room. Tonight before sitting down to write (while taking the laundry downstairs to start the first load) I pulled out assorted soft items - mostly bears - that sit around in the living room - and “Rodney Reindeer” who sits in the hall on the top of our clock/door bell mechanism. When I go down to switch loads, more will be done in to finish the dining room decorations. Lots more decorating to do and I have to figure out when and how to get it done - somehow I always do, even if some go up on Christmas Day!
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Take time to breathe and rest as you are getting ready for the holidays. Don’t go over budget on shopping. Stop and enjoy what you are doing. (I actually talk to the decorations and ornaments when I put them out welcoming them back as old friends - ok, I know that I am a bit looney.” Maybe send a card with a quick note in it to an old friend you keep meaning to contact.
Look at the decorations of others and take time to enjoy them. (Thank goodness, when they finished putting out their Christmas decorations, my neighbors actually finished taking down their holiday decorations - no more witch looking at me - I really enjoy that.) If there is a drive or walk through light event - especially if you have children - maybe go and see it (and around here I know, help out a good cause).
Remember those less fortunate then you at this time of year.
Last Friday we took a day trip to, yes, Lancaster, PA. For once the trip went well. Even though it was a day trip we went in our tiny RV. Why? Well, after my problems with our car last month (stalling when I stopped and having to be restarted and our service guys found nothing), the RV not getting enough driving due to our few trips this year, and the fact we wanted to buy some local foods from there for the winter - we decided to take the RV. We left early (for us) and we were there by noon.
Husband had wanted some additional attachments for his loom and the wool store he buys loom things at is there - he called ahead and the stuff was waiting. The ladies there are very nice and chatty - as are we normally - but we made our apologies and explained that we were on a very tight schedule and paid for the items and left.
We actually went backwards a bit and went to one of the large farmer’s markets there that we like to go to. It was rather cold and we would have had a problem eating the submarine sandwiches we buy from a local place as the seating is outside - but we had the RV! We went back, turned one front seat around, pulled the table out - took out the cold can of soda we had brought in the fridge and had lunch. When finished, we turned the seat back to the front, put away the tables and took the garbage to toss in a bin. Most of the day vendors - the ones who come and set up tents and tables by their vehicles - were not there due to the weather, but there are still buildings and buildings - and outdoor stands - of vendors. We always enjoy just walking around and we have been going there together for over 40 years together so it feels like home - some vendors even know us by sight and they feel like friends - of course in all that time a lot of them have retired or passed away and we miss them when we pass by their spaces - of occupied by new vendors. One vendor (not sure if I have mentioned this) is consolidating her stores from the 3 large markets in the area and the one she has at home - two of the stores are now closed. She had been selling out her very discounted items at 50% and this year went down to 60% off. I always think that I have bought everything she might have had that we would want - and find something different (I won’t say new as nothing is new - not used, just there a long time.) I have added greatly to my Christmas bear village and my bear collection in general since she started consolidating.
When we went to leave the market it was 4:30. We had hope to get to the local butcher whose ham and (lunch/dinner) sausages we love - and husband loves their chicken salad - but we thought it too late to get there while they were open. I pulled out my cellphone and found out they were open until 7 pm - and we knew they were on the way to where we planned to eat dinner. We bought a ham section, sausages, and chicken salad for him to have for dinner one night. We would have bought another ham section - but a tiny RV has a tiny fridge and it would not fit with the rest.
On to dinner at a local supermarket which has a buffet in an restaurant in the building (and nice looking other dishes on their menu also) and had dinner. We even got a seat in our favorite area of the restaurant. (Although to be fair, it was the waitress who was in this section that made it our favorite and she had a baby last year and is mostly not there when we go.) After dinner we started home.
Now, on and off the report was that it was suppose to snow or rain when we would be coming home. It then changed to snow the next day. Just in case the first report was right, we brought a day’s worth of medications and a change of clothes - we could have stayed if needed, but the weather held. As we left the restaurant husband turned to me with a smile and said “We got it all done. How great!”
Tuesday I went to my accounting client to do her books. Wednesday (today) is the 13th and she has a major fear of 13 and will not let me come on the 13th (I don’t even call on the 13th for an appointment) and Thursday we are suppose to have snow. A bit of confusion while I was there - but in the end everything worked out - finally - thank goodness. All the past problems are resolved. Coming home - the darn car had the same problem as last month. This time they were able to find some “codes” which were not right and they replacing solenoids which hopefully will fix it. Having dealt with this last month, I did my best not to stop - just roll slowly when a stop was coming if I had room - and tried to pick roads that I would have the least problem with constant stops (during rush hour) for one of the last parts I took a local street as I knew that it was not heavily traveled - drivers were much nastier this time than last - much horn beeping at me - last month none.
I think I have mentioned that I have to take 20 hours of classes to keep being able to prepare tax returns and represent clients at IRS each year. I signed up (again) with an online company one course at a time (varying from 1 to 4 hours) I have completed all but the big 6 hour course which has a 3 hour, timed, exam. Tonight was when I finished the last of the smaller courses. I have next Wednesday night marked on my calendar to take the big exam. I have until the end of the month to take it - and I get 3 chances, I am hoping to only need 1 chance to pass it.
I was so busy with everything that I almost forgot Chanukah (remember, despite the Christmas decorating I am Jewish). Good thing I had a reminder in my cell phone and Tuesday night I pulled out my menorah (traditional candelabra) and stuck in a candle for the first night and a candle for the “worker candle” (one is suppose to light this candle and use it to light the other candles) for the first night. Tonight I lit 2 candles plus the worker candle.
I did more work on the few decorations in the dining room. Tonight before sitting down to write (while taking the laundry downstairs to start the first load) I pulled out assorted soft items - mostly bears - that sit around in the living room - and “Rodney Reindeer” who sits in the hall on the top of our clock/door bell mechanism. When I go down to switch loads, more will be done in to finish the dining room decorations. Lots more decorating to do and I have to figure out when and how to get it done - somehow I always do, even if some go up on Christmas Day!
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Take time to breathe and rest as you are getting ready for the holidays. Don’t go over budget on shopping. Stop and enjoy what you are doing. (I actually talk to the decorations and ornaments when I put them out welcoming them back as old friends - ok, I know that I am a bit looney.” Maybe send a card with a quick note in it to an old friend you keep meaning to contact.
Look at the decorations of others and take time to enjoy them. (Thank goodness, when they finished putting out their Christmas decorations, my neighbors actually finished taking down their holiday decorations - no more witch looking at me - I really enjoy that.) If there is a drive or walk through light event - especially if you have children - maybe go and see it (and around here I know, help out a good cause).
Remember those less fortunate then you at this time of year.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Missing items and items forgotten about appear when decorating and decluttering
Last week I talked about putting out our outdoor Christmas decorations. I also had the boldness to say that because I know where the Christmas items are stored it is easy to find them. I apparently lied without knowing it.
We had not put our battery candles in the front windows when we put up the lights outside. While technically inside the house as they are placed inside the windows, their purpose is to be seen from outside, so I consider them to be outside decorations. When we remembered that we had forgotten to put them in place I immediately went to my candle drawer (holds all manner of candles) where I know I keep them. They were not there - I took everything out of the drawer to check. I looked in the drawer next to the candle drawer to see if I stuck them there - perhaps the candle drawer was too full? These drawers are under our living room TV which is (old and analog and) in a cabinet we bought for it and the drawers are in the cabinet. I then looked in all the “logical” places - the drawers in the end tables next to the sofa, the secretary - shelves and drawers - no candles.
Where could they be - maybe in with the inside the house decorations in 2 boxes in the basement? I got the two boxes and opened and went through them - no candles. I figured that sooner or later they would show up in my Christmas decorating and I was not going to go crazy over them.
I decided that since the boxes had been brought up and were sitting there and I had a hour or two until we went out for dinner, I would start putting out the decorations. The decorations are artificial greens and swags and other small items to put out. I started on the dining room decorations as husband still has his loom set up in the living room. I put items here and there in the dining room and front hall (the items in the same box). I came across two candle rings (small fake flowers in a ring intended to sit around the base of stubby candles) and I had an “aha” moment and knew where the window candles were.
In addition to the plastic boxes in the basement I have 3 decorative boxes with Christmas items upstairs in a trunk at the top of the stairs, with some other Christmas decorations - two large angels and such. The candles for the rings are in one of the decorative boxes - and I knew that the window candles must be in one also. I went upstairs, moved the 3 families of bears who “live” on the trunk and opened it - there were the boxes and yes, the window candles were in there. I took them out and put the boxes and bears back for now. I put the candles on my desk as they have timers and have to be lit at the time I want them to go on. A couple of days later I remembered at the right time and set them up with batteries and put them in the window - at last the outside lights are finished for this year!
I have been somewhat busy since then as I had my embroidery chapter meeting today and had to get paperwork together for it. Also, I was not doing the project the group was doing at the meeting as I thought I would be away, so I had to pick something to bring to work on at the meeting.
I also did a bit of decluttering. We have 2 corner cabinets in our living room - they each have display shelves in the main part of them and then 2 shelves in a closed door cabinet at the bottom for storage. One of them has items I somewhat often use for Thanksgiving, Christmas etc. The other has items we either have never used or have not used in decades. In addition to wanting to get rid of them in general, I figure with the tax law changes under discussion, this might be my last chance to donate them and get a tax advantage from same. My husband is big on keeping things - “we might need it one day” or “maybe we could sell this, keep it”. I would never get rid of anything of his, but I have to argue to get rid things that are mine also. So while he was busy upstairs, I went through what was in the bottom of the cabinet. I pulled out to donate glass serving bowls, glass platters, glass cake server which also can be a punch server, several candy dishes (in unopened boxes). I brought them all to the kitchen, listed them on a piece of paper, and stored them in large shopping bags in our studio on my side of the room - he would just figure it was bags of my stuff (or his) if he saw them. I also had some things to go on computers (not electronic stuff - paper holder that attaches to a monitor and the like) which had been waiting to go to storage or donation for at least 15 years. Also a decorative jar that the lid just sits on -does not screw on for storage. 6 small wine glasses with a silver dipped edge - his mom’s, we got them after she died and we had previously discussed that they could be gotten rid of. Lastly - when we replaced our mailbox earlier this year, we put the old one aside in the garage “in case the new one did not work out”. This past weekend he had tripped on it in the garage while putting up the Christmas lights and swore at it - it was definitely time for it to go.
Normally I would have put all this (5 bags worth plus the mailbox) in the car Tuesday nights - along with the soda bottles to be returned for deposit - but it was raining. The soda bottles went out earlier in the evening, but not the donations. So this morning I loaded them into the car. After my meeting and various errands I drove to Goodwill and donated the stuff and then went to Walmart and returned the soda bottles. Well, a small bit more room in the house. I am trying to figure out what should now go in the bottom of that cabinet - there are some items I kept - mostly a hand crafted coffee set someone gave us as a wedding gift - I kept it as it is from someone he knew and won’t get rid of it without permission. There are also display items in the cabinet for the items (a set of bear figurines which I rotate by month and need to raise some up so all can be seen) in the cabinet, which I left - I did find a box of the figurines I bought in the last couple of years as they have made a reappearance at flea markets and back stored stock of a store; I knew that there were more of them than I had found! I have to organize all the new ones so they join the right month’s group of the ones I have. (You know - lovers in February, flowers in May, graduates in June and so on.)
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes even when one thinks all is organized one is not - and items may happily appear as one unpacks items to be put out or when one goes through items to get rid of.
I hope that none of you are in the area of the terrible fires in southern California.
We had not put our battery candles in the front windows when we put up the lights outside. While technically inside the house as they are placed inside the windows, their purpose is to be seen from outside, so I consider them to be outside decorations. When we remembered that we had forgotten to put them in place I immediately went to my candle drawer (holds all manner of candles) where I know I keep them. They were not there - I took everything out of the drawer to check. I looked in the drawer next to the candle drawer to see if I stuck them there - perhaps the candle drawer was too full? These drawers are under our living room TV which is (old and analog and) in a cabinet we bought for it and the drawers are in the cabinet. I then looked in all the “logical” places - the drawers in the end tables next to the sofa, the secretary - shelves and drawers - no candles.
Where could they be - maybe in with the inside the house decorations in 2 boxes in the basement? I got the two boxes and opened and went through them - no candles. I figured that sooner or later they would show up in my Christmas decorating and I was not going to go crazy over them.
I decided that since the boxes had been brought up and were sitting there and I had a hour or two until we went out for dinner, I would start putting out the decorations. The decorations are artificial greens and swags and other small items to put out. I started on the dining room decorations as husband still has his loom set up in the living room. I put items here and there in the dining room and front hall (the items in the same box). I came across two candle rings (small fake flowers in a ring intended to sit around the base of stubby candles) and I had an “aha” moment and knew where the window candles were.
In addition to the plastic boxes in the basement I have 3 decorative boxes with Christmas items upstairs in a trunk at the top of the stairs, with some other Christmas decorations - two large angels and such. The candles for the rings are in one of the decorative boxes - and I knew that the window candles must be in one also. I went upstairs, moved the 3 families of bears who “live” on the trunk and opened it - there were the boxes and yes, the window candles were in there. I took them out and put the boxes and bears back for now. I put the candles on my desk as they have timers and have to be lit at the time I want them to go on. A couple of days later I remembered at the right time and set them up with batteries and put them in the window - at last the outside lights are finished for this year!
I have been somewhat busy since then as I had my embroidery chapter meeting today and had to get paperwork together for it. Also, I was not doing the project the group was doing at the meeting as I thought I would be away, so I had to pick something to bring to work on at the meeting.
I also did a bit of decluttering. We have 2 corner cabinets in our living room - they each have display shelves in the main part of them and then 2 shelves in a closed door cabinet at the bottom for storage. One of them has items I somewhat often use for Thanksgiving, Christmas etc. The other has items we either have never used or have not used in decades. In addition to wanting to get rid of them in general, I figure with the tax law changes under discussion, this might be my last chance to donate them and get a tax advantage from same. My husband is big on keeping things - “we might need it one day” or “maybe we could sell this, keep it”. I would never get rid of anything of his, but I have to argue to get rid things that are mine also. So while he was busy upstairs, I went through what was in the bottom of the cabinet. I pulled out to donate glass serving bowls, glass platters, glass cake server which also can be a punch server, several candy dishes (in unopened boxes). I brought them all to the kitchen, listed them on a piece of paper, and stored them in large shopping bags in our studio on my side of the room - he would just figure it was bags of my stuff (or his) if he saw them. I also had some things to go on computers (not electronic stuff - paper holder that attaches to a monitor and the like) which had been waiting to go to storage or donation for at least 15 years. Also a decorative jar that the lid just sits on -does not screw on for storage. 6 small wine glasses with a silver dipped edge - his mom’s, we got them after she died and we had previously discussed that they could be gotten rid of. Lastly - when we replaced our mailbox earlier this year, we put the old one aside in the garage “in case the new one did not work out”. This past weekend he had tripped on it in the garage while putting up the Christmas lights and swore at it - it was definitely time for it to go.
Normally I would have put all this (5 bags worth plus the mailbox) in the car Tuesday nights - along with the soda bottles to be returned for deposit - but it was raining. The soda bottles went out earlier in the evening, but not the donations. So this morning I loaded them into the car. After my meeting and various errands I drove to Goodwill and donated the stuff and then went to Walmart and returned the soda bottles. Well, a small bit more room in the house. I am trying to figure out what should now go in the bottom of that cabinet - there are some items I kept - mostly a hand crafted coffee set someone gave us as a wedding gift - I kept it as it is from someone he knew and won’t get rid of it without permission. There are also display items in the cabinet for the items (a set of bear figurines which I rotate by month and need to raise some up so all can be seen) in the cabinet, which I left - I did find a box of the figurines I bought in the last couple of years as they have made a reappearance at flea markets and back stored stock of a store; I knew that there were more of them than I had found! I have to organize all the new ones so they join the right month’s group of the ones I have. (You know - lovers in February, flowers in May, graduates in June and so on.)
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes even when one thinks all is organized one is not - and items may happily appear as one unpacks items to be put out or when one goes through items to get rid of.
I hope that none of you are in the area of the terrible fires in southern California.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
THANKSGIVING TURNING INTO CHRISTMAS
I hope you all had a pleasant Thanksgiving (if you are here in the U.S.) last week. Did you run out to shop during the day or the night - or did you at least wait until “Black Friday” to shop? Or are you waiting still to start shopping?
We had our Thanksgiving dinner, the two of us. I managed to bang my head - not once but twice - on the corner of the dining room table while putting away a table cover which should have been put away months and months ago - I bent over to put it in a bag and hit my head. I really screamed. Husband came in, “are you okay, and there, there’d” me and then gave me a lecture on making sure it was clear in front of me before bending over. He went back to cooking in the kitchen and I took 2 steps back and bent over again to put away the cover. I hit my head again on the same corner and same spot on my head - just less of the corner and got to listen to the lecture again. Worst of all it was the same spot on my head that I hit last month in our RV.
It was relatively easy to take out the china and items we needed. I had gone through the cabinet where it is all stored last year and donated a lot of items we did not need. Instead of needing to take out stacks and stacks of items, only one or two had to removed. How pleasant. I plan to work on the serving pieces stored in the living room next - I have better uses for the storage space there than bowls and platters we bought or received as gifts and have never used. Hmm, maybe I can finally get husband to hang two handled cups from when we were each a kid that match which are stored in the living room. He had the juice cup, I had the orange juice cup - but they match. They must have been popular cups for children back then.
The turkey had directions on it - basically we were to cook it at 325F, when the little popper popped we should test the breast with a thermometer and make sure it was at least 180F. There were also instructions to tent the turkey with foil and then remove same, and brush will oil a few times. Also on the turkey wrapping was a list of times to cook the turkey - only this said for a turkey cooked at 350F - 25 degrees higher than the instructions said to cook at. We discussed this - for a quite awhile. In the back of my head it seemed to me that I remember the same problem with the turkey from the same place last year, but could not remember what I did. We cooked it at the 325F with the logic that it could always be cooked more, but cooked not be cooked less if it was overcooked. About a half hour longer than the chart said (for cooking at 350F) the popper popped and I checked the turkey breast with a thermometer and it was 180F and rising. We took the turkey out and set it aside on the kitchen table to “set”.
In the interim we finished cooking other food items and had our soup. Husband then went to carve the turkey. The turkey breast looked wonderful as he carved into it - but as he went beyond the breast - the turkey was terribly undercooked. He finished carving the breast - moving it to another platter to do so. He then cut up the rest of the turkey - wings, legs, dark meat - and we placed it all on two oven trays to heat it further. I ended up with the 2 extra trays and 2 extra platters as a result of all this. We are not sure what went wrong - should we have cooked it at 350F instead? But the popper popped and it was the correct temperature on the thermometer. Husband has written a letter to the supermarket’s owner (this is one of those of stores where the owner’s photo is all off and he does the ads himself and is actually involved in his company day to day) asking what happened.
The dishes and all were washed Thanksgiving night. I have put all away. When I put my large platter back in the basement, I took out my “everyday” Christmas dishes and glasses. I washed them and we are using them. I move some of my normal everyday dishes higher in the cabinet - where I can’t normally reach stuff - to make room for these to fit in.
We had the leftover turkey etc for the second set of leftovers tonight. There is at least one dinner’s worth of turkey left - but that is all. It will either be eaten early next week or will be frozen.
We do not go shopping on Thanksgiving. We don’t go out for Black Friday sales either. Okay, one time husband wanted a small laptop that was going on Black Friday sale at a chain electronics store and we went and waited in line for it. He did get the laptop, but then again, it was still on sale at the same price - and in stock - the following week. It was not worth standing in line in the freezing cold. This store was rather well organized. There was a line. Items which were limited had coupons for them handed out to people by employees walking along the line, so the coupons were handed out to people based on where they were in line.
We have many times, including this year, while out on Friday to have lunch (at Wendys of course) and run errands gone past empty looking stores and malls by the time we went out. I had needed to renew a medication at the Walmart pharmacy and figured it would be ready over the weekend, but we were called Friday afternoon that it was ready decided to see how bad the crowds were. It was empty! Items which had been put out late Wednesday sealed up until the sales started, were still plentiful for the most part - husband started rooting through the DVDs. We have been in Walmarts again since then and still sale items are still in their displays - either less people came in than they thought would do so, or they intended for the sale items to be available long beyond last Friday.
When we woke up today I noticed the temperature was 61F - 61! I pointed this out to husband and suggested that today was the day to put up our outdoor Christmas decorations. He agreed. We checked our box at the post office, had lunch at Wendys and came home. We keep our outdoor decorations on a platform in the top of the garage. We used to have everything there for Christmas, but as we have aged and it is not that easy for husband to climb on a ladder and get everything - much is heavy - down, I moved the rest into our basement. He can now stand on his worktable (after clearing it off enough) and get the, only, two boxes of lights and wires, three potted artificial poinsettia, and 3 light up candy canes down. No more balancing on a ladder to hand me things. Much safer. We have some wreaths, swags, and such in our shed, but are not putting them up any longer - maybe again in the future.
We put the poinsettia in the same stands that hold our flowers the rest of the year. Husband made these poinsettia in pots. We bought artificial poinsettia which could go outside in the weather and 3 pots to fit the holders. He then bought a couple of cans of spray insulation - the kind that is a foam and expands to fit what it is in. He filled the pots and we added a poinsettia to each. The foam was topped with fake greens and they look great. 5 minutes and they are out in place.
We put lights on our bushes and a dwarf spruce tree. (The dwarf tree is now over 6 ft tall, I am so glad that I talked him out of a full size one.) Of course two set of lights did not work when tested - one of the ones which goes on the bushes and one that is red and white and goes around the white plastic pillar of our mailbox a bit of a candy cane look. We have in the boxes with the lights two electric boxes which stick into the ground. One is placed on one side of the front of our house and the other is placed on the other side of the front of our house. A long flat outdoor extension cord is plugged into the outdoor outlet and run across the front of the house, over the top of the stairs (under the door mat so no one trips) and the electric box on the side away from the outlet is plugged into it - and then the lights are plugged into the electric box. The electric box on the side of the house near the outlet is plugged into the other outlet in the wall box and the lights on that side of the front of the house plug into it.
After we put out and plugged in the lights that worked, we drove to Walmart to buy replacement. No white and red lights - no red lights on their own. We came back, put up the new light set on the bush that was short a set. Husband then took the red and white set into the garage, plugged it in and started shaking it. One half started working. So we wrapped the lit half of the strand around the mail box pillar and dropped the rest on the ground.
The wreath we bought last year for the front door was in the basement with the rest of the “in the house” decorations. The former one was decorated by husband as a copy of one we saw and liked at Colonial Williamsburg - only we used plastic fruit instead of real fruit so we could keep reusing it. The problem is that it had to hung on the outside of the storm door as it did not fit between the door and storm door - this involved annually rigging strands of fishing line around screws in the storm door and trying to adjust it so we could still see through the peep hole of the door - and remember we both on the short side. The new wreath has lights on it - lit by batteries with a timer so it is on for 6 hours every night at the same on and off time. Went up in less than 20 minutes with a magnetic hook on the door - and it is out of the weather, unlike the old wreath which if got covered snow might break free and fall.
So our house now looks presentable to the world. Husband is still trying to figure out where we could put one of those projector decorations - but the front of our house is just not set up for it.
Notice that because fixed place for the Christmas decorations in the garage and plastic boxes to hold the lights, wires, and plug in boxes for them, as well as an assigned spot in the basement to hold the Christmas decorations, it was easy and quick to find everything and put it out. The empty boxes in the garage were stacked on each other with the bags that the lights were kept in stored inside, relatively out of the way so that when we go to take down the lights - they will be easy to find again and then they will be put back up in garage along with poinsettia and the candy canes so that next week we will find them again.
Sometime next week I will put away my few Thanksgiving decorations in the house and then I will start putting out the Christmas ones. This year the holidays seem to be going okay.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
As you take out your holiday decorations and other items try to leave the packing in a way that it will be easy to find and put everything away after the holiday. If it is all a mess - try to figure out while you unpack items how you can better store them away at the end of the season to make them either to access next year, while not being in your way all year.
We had our Thanksgiving dinner, the two of us. I managed to bang my head - not once but twice - on the corner of the dining room table while putting away a table cover which should have been put away months and months ago - I bent over to put it in a bag and hit my head. I really screamed. Husband came in, “are you okay, and there, there’d” me and then gave me a lecture on making sure it was clear in front of me before bending over. He went back to cooking in the kitchen and I took 2 steps back and bent over again to put away the cover. I hit my head again on the same corner and same spot on my head - just less of the corner and got to listen to the lecture again. Worst of all it was the same spot on my head that I hit last month in our RV.
It was relatively easy to take out the china and items we needed. I had gone through the cabinet where it is all stored last year and donated a lot of items we did not need. Instead of needing to take out stacks and stacks of items, only one or two had to removed. How pleasant. I plan to work on the serving pieces stored in the living room next - I have better uses for the storage space there than bowls and platters we bought or received as gifts and have never used. Hmm, maybe I can finally get husband to hang two handled cups from when we were each a kid that match which are stored in the living room. He had the juice cup, I had the orange juice cup - but they match. They must have been popular cups for children back then.
The turkey had directions on it - basically we were to cook it at 325F, when the little popper popped we should test the breast with a thermometer and make sure it was at least 180F. There were also instructions to tent the turkey with foil and then remove same, and brush will oil a few times. Also on the turkey wrapping was a list of times to cook the turkey - only this said for a turkey cooked at 350F - 25 degrees higher than the instructions said to cook at. We discussed this - for a quite awhile. In the back of my head it seemed to me that I remember the same problem with the turkey from the same place last year, but could not remember what I did. We cooked it at the 325F with the logic that it could always be cooked more, but cooked not be cooked less if it was overcooked. About a half hour longer than the chart said (for cooking at 350F) the popper popped and I checked the turkey breast with a thermometer and it was 180F and rising. We took the turkey out and set it aside on the kitchen table to “set”.
In the interim we finished cooking other food items and had our soup. Husband then went to carve the turkey. The turkey breast looked wonderful as he carved into it - but as he went beyond the breast - the turkey was terribly undercooked. He finished carving the breast - moving it to another platter to do so. He then cut up the rest of the turkey - wings, legs, dark meat - and we placed it all on two oven trays to heat it further. I ended up with the 2 extra trays and 2 extra platters as a result of all this. We are not sure what went wrong - should we have cooked it at 350F instead? But the popper popped and it was the correct temperature on the thermometer. Husband has written a letter to the supermarket’s owner (this is one of those of stores where the owner’s photo is all off and he does the ads himself and is actually involved in his company day to day) asking what happened.
The dishes and all were washed Thanksgiving night. I have put all away. When I put my large platter back in the basement, I took out my “everyday” Christmas dishes and glasses. I washed them and we are using them. I move some of my normal everyday dishes higher in the cabinet - where I can’t normally reach stuff - to make room for these to fit in.
We had the leftover turkey etc for the second set of leftovers tonight. There is at least one dinner’s worth of turkey left - but that is all. It will either be eaten early next week or will be frozen.
We do not go shopping on Thanksgiving. We don’t go out for Black Friday sales either. Okay, one time husband wanted a small laptop that was going on Black Friday sale at a chain electronics store and we went and waited in line for it. He did get the laptop, but then again, it was still on sale at the same price - and in stock - the following week. It was not worth standing in line in the freezing cold. This store was rather well organized. There was a line. Items which were limited had coupons for them handed out to people by employees walking along the line, so the coupons were handed out to people based on where they were in line.
We have many times, including this year, while out on Friday to have lunch (at Wendys of course) and run errands gone past empty looking stores and malls by the time we went out. I had needed to renew a medication at the Walmart pharmacy and figured it would be ready over the weekend, but we were called Friday afternoon that it was ready decided to see how bad the crowds were. It was empty! Items which had been put out late Wednesday sealed up until the sales started, were still plentiful for the most part - husband started rooting through the DVDs. We have been in Walmarts again since then and still sale items are still in their displays - either less people came in than they thought would do so, or they intended for the sale items to be available long beyond last Friday.
When we woke up today I noticed the temperature was 61F - 61! I pointed this out to husband and suggested that today was the day to put up our outdoor Christmas decorations. He agreed. We checked our box at the post office, had lunch at Wendys and came home. We keep our outdoor decorations on a platform in the top of the garage. We used to have everything there for Christmas, but as we have aged and it is not that easy for husband to climb on a ladder and get everything - much is heavy - down, I moved the rest into our basement. He can now stand on his worktable (after clearing it off enough) and get the, only, two boxes of lights and wires, three potted artificial poinsettia, and 3 light up candy canes down. No more balancing on a ladder to hand me things. Much safer. We have some wreaths, swags, and such in our shed, but are not putting them up any longer - maybe again in the future.
We put the poinsettia in the same stands that hold our flowers the rest of the year. Husband made these poinsettia in pots. We bought artificial poinsettia which could go outside in the weather and 3 pots to fit the holders. He then bought a couple of cans of spray insulation - the kind that is a foam and expands to fit what it is in. He filled the pots and we added a poinsettia to each. The foam was topped with fake greens and they look great. 5 minutes and they are out in place.
We put lights on our bushes and a dwarf spruce tree. (The dwarf tree is now over 6 ft tall, I am so glad that I talked him out of a full size one.) Of course two set of lights did not work when tested - one of the ones which goes on the bushes and one that is red and white and goes around the white plastic pillar of our mailbox a bit of a candy cane look. We have in the boxes with the lights two electric boxes which stick into the ground. One is placed on one side of the front of our house and the other is placed on the other side of the front of our house. A long flat outdoor extension cord is plugged into the outdoor outlet and run across the front of the house, over the top of the stairs (under the door mat so no one trips) and the electric box on the side away from the outlet is plugged into it - and then the lights are plugged into the electric box. The electric box on the side of the house near the outlet is plugged into the other outlet in the wall box and the lights on that side of the front of the house plug into it.
After we put out and plugged in the lights that worked, we drove to Walmart to buy replacement. No white and red lights - no red lights on their own. We came back, put up the new light set on the bush that was short a set. Husband then took the red and white set into the garage, plugged it in and started shaking it. One half started working. So we wrapped the lit half of the strand around the mail box pillar and dropped the rest on the ground.
The wreath we bought last year for the front door was in the basement with the rest of the “in the house” decorations. The former one was decorated by husband as a copy of one we saw and liked at Colonial Williamsburg - only we used plastic fruit instead of real fruit so we could keep reusing it. The problem is that it had to hung on the outside of the storm door as it did not fit between the door and storm door - this involved annually rigging strands of fishing line around screws in the storm door and trying to adjust it so we could still see through the peep hole of the door - and remember we both on the short side. The new wreath has lights on it - lit by batteries with a timer so it is on for 6 hours every night at the same on and off time. Went up in less than 20 minutes with a magnetic hook on the door - and it is out of the weather, unlike the old wreath which if got covered snow might break free and fall.
So our house now looks presentable to the world. Husband is still trying to figure out where we could put one of those projector decorations - but the front of our house is just not set up for it.
Notice that because fixed place for the Christmas decorations in the garage and plastic boxes to hold the lights, wires, and plug in boxes for them, as well as an assigned spot in the basement to hold the Christmas decorations, it was easy and quick to find everything and put it out. The empty boxes in the garage were stacked on each other with the bags that the lights were kept in stored inside, relatively out of the way so that when we go to take down the lights - they will be easy to find again and then they will be put back up in garage along with poinsettia and the candy canes so that next week we will find them again.
Sometime next week I will put away my few Thanksgiving decorations in the house and then I will start putting out the Christmas ones. This year the holidays seem to be going okay.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
As you take out your holiday decorations and other items try to leave the packing in a way that it will be easy to find and put everything away after the holiday. If it is all a mess - try to figure out while you unpack items how you can better store them away at the end of the season to make them either to access next year, while not being in your way all year.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
SEMI UNORGANIZED THANKSGIVING
Ah, the holidays are coming! Is panic setting in?
Last week I put out my few Thanksgiving decorations. A small setting of Pilgrim bear figurines going to Thanksgiving at a house in a tree. (I painted the tree and most of the bears from kits - in one case while I was supposed to making and getting the house ready for Thanksgiving dinner.) Other “human” Thanksgiving figurines and salt and pepper shakers and a pair of candleholders given me by a friend decades ago. Husband took me to “Thanksgiving world” - aka Plymouth, MA decades ago and I bought most of the assorted non-bear items there in gift shops.
I am sure I have mentioned before, but just in case I did not, my husband and I are of different faiths. I am Jewish and he is Roman Catholic. As a result we did not have that “whose family are we going to” problem for most family holidays. We went to my family for Jewish holidays and his family for Christian holidays. But then there was Thanksgiving.
Growing up, as well as an adult, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday - and not just because I am an eater. It was the only uniquely American family holiday which was not religious based - it was/is a holiday for all Americans. Also there were no gifts - gifts I received tended to have nothing to do with me or anything I was interested in - especially beyond my immediate family - and I had to smile and say thank you - and then figure out what to do with the item - this was not a problem with Thanksgiving.
Now, it has been found that when the answer to what do you have for thanksgiving dinner - answer “turkey and all the trimmings” was further looked into, it was found that same varied greatly. For a while growing up our Thanksgivings were celebrated with my mom’s family and her sister-in-law (my aunt) had become kosher, so we would go to a kosher delicatessen restaurant for dinner. Mom would cook turkey during the year, so it was not what we wanted there. My sisters and I wanted corned beef sandwiches! The waiter would keep asking if we were sure and we were. They had handed us the complete regular menu after all, and that was our dinner. My husband’s family is from Italy. They would have a first course of some kind of macaroni (what we Americans call pasta). So while being the uniquely encompassing holiday, Thanksgiving is large enough to encompass all of various backgrounds.
While dating and the first few years we were married we would juggle which family we went to - generally we ended up with his family. One year I had the idea to have both families come to our tiny apartment for Thanksgiving dinner. He was shocked at the idea. Oh, one difference between our families is that my family tends (short of accommodating the kosher aunt) tends to eat at home for holidays, while his family eats out. We figured out a menu, found a place that has hot turkey pick up on Thanksgiving, and went ahead. It went fairly well - the entire living room filled with two long folding tables put end to end. For 25 years we made Thanksgiving dinner. Nieces and nephew came along. My dad died. A few times a friend or an in law of a family member was included. We moved one year at the end of October from our apartment to this house - and we made Thanksgiving dinner - and used the good china. It was the bedbugs which brought this to an end as we cannot bring ourselves to have anyone in the house.
Organizing? I see now how organized I was for those dinners. Now the two of us have our Thanksgiving dinner alone. At first we went to an inexpensive general food buffet restaurant and it was very nice as the manager made it feel party like. Then he left and it was not as nice and then finally the place closed. So on and off over the past several years I have made Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us. What a mess!
First of all, I never know if I am making dinner or if we are going out to an Asian buffet until the last minute. Last year we waited so long, we almost could not get a turkey which was not frozen - and that would not have defrosted in time. This year we bought a turkey this past Saturday.
In the old days I had a menu from the past to work with. We might change a dish or two, but basically it was the same menu. I have a spiral notebook with almost every dinner we made for Thanksgiving and the other holidays we took a turn out with, mostly, my family over the years. (I reached the end of the notebook using the right hand pages and now I am going backwards, using the left hand pages.) The first week in November I would start checking ads and buying things for the dinner, so at the last minute items like milk which had to be bought fresh were all that was left to buy.
Well, we went this past Sunday to the supermarket to start buying what we needed - without making a list of what we would make or what we needed. It was as if there was a combination hurricane and major snow storm announced at the same time! The parking lot was jammed. The store was jammed. We gave up and left. We then actually made up a list of what we would have and needed so when we went back Monday it was not as jammed - we actually went to another supermarket chain as they had items we were looking for on sale - and were able to buy almost all the items needed at the one supermarket, with a quick stop at the one from Sunday for 2 items we had not been able to get. Husband complained about the crowds - I told him flat out - “This is why I used to shop the first week of the month!”
We have baked a pie tonight. Everything else can be done tomorrow, Thanksgiving. I will set up the turkey tonight so when I get up really early tomorrow to put the turkey in the oven, I can go back to sleep a lot quicker.
While downstairs doing my regular Wednesday night laundry (I will not fall behind just because it is a holiday) I took out “the turkey platter”. This is a larger platter than our others and has a chip in it. We use it to put the turkey on to carve it and then use smaller ones for serving the turkey (whether for the family or just us). I washed it as it is kept in the basement. In the afternoon I brought a bunch of RV stuff (clean sheets, towels...) out to the RV so it is all out of the dinning room. I moved some stuff into place in the dinning room.
Tomorrow I will add one board to our dinning room table, instead of the four boards that I used to add for the family. I will cover it with a plastic/foam cover (I have them in sizes to fit all lengths of the table) and then my Thanksgiving tablecloth (much too large as it fits the table with four boards - so the ends of the table have long overhangs. One board is needed so that the serving plates and bowls fit on the table. I will take out 2 settings of my good china, one fabric napkin & one paper napkin, one of my good glasses & husband’s every day glass, and use my silver plate tableware. I will cook the dinner. I used to know - start the potatoes first as they will be mashed, and heated in the oven at the end, so get them out of the way as if they cool off it is okay. No idea what to start with these years - we are making boiled potatoes instead of mashed. No sweet potatoes this year - he likes them I don’t. And we will have our Thanksgiving dinner.
After dinner the extra food will be put away, and when you are two people with a 14 lb turkey, there is a lot to store away. The table will be cleared and I will wash (by hand) the dishes, pots, pans, etc. The napkin and tablecloth will be washed and dried (by machine) and I will probably also wash the last load of regular laundry which is normally washed on Thursdays nights. The garbage will go out to the can - no pickup until Monday.
I really miss the juggling of which dish to cook when. The baking Venetians (rainbow cookies) starting on Tuesday so they would be ready in time (jelly between layers has to sit weighted overnight). I miss spending all day Wednesday cooking beef vegetable soup from scratch. It used to be all so organized! Now with less to do it is all so disorganized. Well, at least I don’t have to clean well enough to have my (late) mother in law here. (One year my sister actually wrote the year in the dust!)
I do not go shopping on Thanksgiving - or on “Black Friday”! There is nothing I have ever seen offered on sale that was worth the crowds. Think about this - the more you buy, the more you have to deal with and organize. Do you really need this or that?
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
I wish all a happy Thanksgiving!
Remember it is just one day - there will be joys and problems (one early year we cooked, shelled and peeled chestnuts for hours, then while they were cooling on the counter, I dropped a glass I had washed and was putting away - next to them and they had to be tossed as we were not sure if we could get all the glass shards out. The time with family - whether a large group or just two or even time alone - is what matters.
Take time to be thankful for what you have - don’t look for what you are lacking, even if there is much you are lacking. Stop and breathe and think about what you do have.
Last week I put out my few Thanksgiving decorations. A small setting of Pilgrim bear figurines going to Thanksgiving at a house in a tree. (I painted the tree and most of the bears from kits - in one case while I was supposed to making and getting the house ready for Thanksgiving dinner.) Other “human” Thanksgiving figurines and salt and pepper shakers and a pair of candleholders given me by a friend decades ago. Husband took me to “Thanksgiving world” - aka Plymouth, MA decades ago and I bought most of the assorted non-bear items there in gift shops.
I am sure I have mentioned before, but just in case I did not, my husband and I are of different faiths. I am Jewish and he is Roman Catholic. As a result we did not have that “whose family are we going to” problem for most family holidays. We went to my family for Jewish holidays and his family for Christian holidays. But then there was Thanksgiving.
Growing up, as well as an adult, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday - and not just because I am an eater. It was the only uniquely American family holiday which was not religious based - it was/is a holiday for all Americans. Also there were no gifts - gifts I received tended to have nothing to do with me or anything I was interested in - especially beyond my immediate family - and I had to smile and say thank you - and then figure out what to do with the item - this was not a problem with Thanksgiving.
Now, it has been found that when the answer to what do you have for thanksgiving dinner - answer “turkey and all the trimmings” was further looked into, it was found that same varied greatly. For a while growing up our Thanksgivings were celebrated with my mom’s family and her sister-in-law (my aunt) had become kosher, so we would go to a kosher delicatessen restaurant for dinner. Mom would cook turkey during the year, so it was not what we wanted there. My sisters and I wanted corned beef sandwiches! The waiter would keep asking if we were sure and we were. They had handed us the complete regular menu after all, and that was our dinner. My husband’s family is from Italy. They would have a first course of some kind of macaroni (what we Americans call pasta). So while being the uniquely encompassing holiday, Thanksgiving is large enough to encompass all of various backgrounds.
While dating and the first few years we were married we would juggle which family we went to - generally we ended up with his family. One year I had the idea to have both families come to our tiny apartment for Thanksgiving dinner. He was shocked at the idea. Oh, one difference between our families is that my family tends (short of accommodating the kosher aunt) tends to eat at home for holidays, while his family eats out. We figured out a menu, found a place that has hot turkey pick up on Thanksgiving, and went ahead. It went fairly well - the entire living room filled with two long folding tables put end to end. For 25 years we made Thanksgiving dinner. Nieces and nephew came along. My dad died. A few times a friend or an in law of a family member was included. We moved one year at the end of October from our apartment to this house - and we made Thanksgiving dinner - and used the good china. It was the bedbugs which brought this to an end as we cannot bring ourselves to have anyone in the house.
Organizing? I see now how organized I was for those dinners. Now the two of us have our Thanksgiving dinner alone. At first we went to an inexpensive general food buffet restaurant and it was very nice as the manager made it feel party like. Then he left and it was not as nice and then finally the place closed. So on and off over the past several years I have made Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us. What a mess!
First of all, I never know if I am making dinner or if we are going out to an Asian buffet until the last minute. Last year we waited so long, we almost could not get a turkey which was not frozen - and that would not have defrosted in time. This year we bought a turkey this past Saturday.
In the old days I had a menu from the past to work with. We might change a dish or two, but basically it was the same menu. I have a spiral notebook with almost every dinner we made for Thanksgiving and the other holidays we took a turn out with, mostly, my family over the years. (I reached the end of the notebook using the right hand pages and now I am going backwards, using the left hand pages.) The first week in November I would start checking ads and buying things for the dinner, so at the last minute items like milk which had to be bought fresh were all that was left to buy.
Well, we went this past Sunday to the supermarket to start buying what we needed - without making a list of what we would make or what we needed. It was as if there was a combination hurricane and major snow storm announced at the same time! The parking lot was jammed. The store was jammed. We gave up and left. We then actually made up a list of what we would have and needed so when we went back Monday it was not as jammed - we actually went to another supermarket chain as they had items we were looking for on sale - and were able to buy almost all the items needed at the one supermarket, with a quick stop at the one from Sunday for 2 items we had not been able to get. Husband complained about the crowds - I told him flat out - “This is why I used to shop the first week of the month!”
We have baked a pie tonight. Everything else can be done tomorrow, Thanksgiving. I will set up the turkey tonight so when I get up really early tomorrow to put the turkey in the oven, I can go back to sleep a lot quicker.
While downstairs doing my regular Wednesday night laundry (I will not fall behind just because it is a holiday) I took out “the turkey platter”. This is a larger platter than our others and has a chip in it. We use it to put the turkey on to carve it and then use smaller ones for serving the turkey (whether for the family or just us). I washed it as it is kept in the basement. In the afternoon I brought a bunch of RV stuff (clean sheets, towels...) out to the RV so it is all out of the dinning room. I moved some stuff into place in the dinning room.
Tomorrow I will add one board to our dinning room table, instead of the four boards that I used to add for the family. I will cover it with a plastic/foam cover (I have them in sizes to fit all lengths of the table) and then my Thanksgiving tablecloth (much too large as it fits the table with four boards - so the ends of the table have long overhangs. One board is needed so that the serving plates and bowls fit on the table. I will take out 2 settings of my good china, one fabric napkin & one paper napkin, one of my good glasses & husband’s every day glass, and use my silver plate tableware. I will cook the dinner. I used to know - start the potatoes first as they will be mashed, and heated in the oven at the end, so get them out of the way as if they cool off it is okay. No idea what to start with these years - we are making boiled potatoes instead of mashed. No sweet potatoes this year - he likes them I don’t. And we will have our Thanksgiving dinner.
After dinner the extra food will be put away, and when you are two people with a 14 lb turkey, there is a lot to store away. The table will be cleared and I will wash (by hand) the dishes, pots, pans, etc. The napkin and tablecloth will be washed and dried (by machine) and I will probably also wash the last load of regular laundry which is normally washed on Thursdays nights. The garbage will go out to the can - no pickup until Monday.
I really miss the juggling of which dish to cook when. The baking Venetians (rainbow cookies) starting on Tuesday so they would be ready in time (jelly between layers has to sit weighted overnight). I miss spending all day Wednesday cooking beef vegetable soup from scratch. It used to be all so organized! Now with less to do it is all so disorganized. Well, at least I don’t have to clean well enough to have my (late) mother in law here. (One year my sister actually wrote the year in the dust!)
I do not go shopping on Thanksgiving - or on “Black Friday”! There is nothing I have ever seen offered on sale that was worth the crowds. Think about this - the more you buy, the more you have to deal with and organize. Do you really need this or that?
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
I wish all a happy Thanksgiving!
Remember it is just one day - there will be joys and problems (one early year we cooked, shelled and peeled chestnuts for hours, then while they were cooling on the counter, I dropped a glass I had washed and was putting away - next to them and they had to be tossed as we were not sure if we could get all the glass shards out. The time with family - whether a large group or just two or even time alone - is what matters.
Take time to be thankful for what you have - don’t look for what you are lacking, even if there is much you are lacking. Stop and breathe and think about what you do have.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
IT'S NOT MY TIME ANY MORE
I know that I have mentioned that getting organized and my work - job work, house, and club treasurer work - done was much easier when my husband went out to work. Monday to Friday was basically my own time. I could do all my work in a couple of days if I wanted and relax the other days (never worked out that way though) or work a bit every day (more like most of every day) and so on.
I was/am self-employed so I have no boss to answer to. As long as I get my job work done by its due dates and accommodate my clients with times that are convenient for them, I could decide when to work at my job. This still applies, but I have to deal with husband and what he wants to do and work around that.
We share a home office - sit at desks across from each other - so I miss sitting there and making telephone calls for any of the various types of work I do with no one watching me, listening to me and often telling me what I am doing wrong, as well needing to make him at least mute the TV (I taught him to have the TV on while doing things, so this is my fault I guess) so that I can hear who I am talking to on the phone and they don’t hear Capt Picard loudly talking in the background (he keeps the TV on rather loud, to say it politely). I end up making telephone calls from bed instead, balancing paperwork and/or alternate PDAs on my lap so I can talk on my cell phone and still easily consult a calendar or bring everything down to the kitchen to use the table and still have to juggle what I am using. Even worse, there are calls I have to make that I don’t want him to hear and he doesn’t want to hear (mostly the doctor to make appointment for us as he does not like to know in advance) and to correct problem related to same. He commented to me that I had to make a couple of phone calls, in reference to picking new medical insurance for me for next years, and I pointed at a stack of papers - spread out in smaller stacks - and told him - “yes, as soon as I make all these other calls that are ahead of them”. A discussion followed on the problems I have making telephone calls - the above and also the fact that we spend too long outside every day running “errands”. I went a bit too far and had to apologize as I made him feel really bad - and I didn’t want to do that.
We wake up late (and stay up late) which is a problem and I am worse than him at this as I am used to waking up slowly and alone. We go out for lunch - despite my telling him before he quit his job that life is not a continuous vacation and we can’t eat out all the time - because he likes it and our lunches at Wendys cost no more than lunch at home - maybe even less. Now, if we went and ate and left that would be okay, but we sit there and watch CNN on the TV, well he does, I sort of hear it above me while I watch a European sports channel on the TV at the other end of the room. Then if it was up to me, we would go home, unless it was the day to food shop or some other needed errand. He does not want to go home and therefore we spend time in stores “Where can we go today” walking senselessly around the stores. We spent 2 hours yesterday buying food items to make dinner because I had mentioned a dish he used to cook and he decided to make it (I was trying to talk him into cooking). He could not find the kind of cheese he needed...
Now this week I had a bunch of problems hit me at once. A client I have had a problem with her credit card processor (I am sure I have mentioned this). I had called and dealt with it while she and I were both away. This week she is home and I need to go to her for the regular monthly accounting stuff. I had been told that the amount which was credit to her account was about $500 less than the sale that was being credited. So I telephoned on Monday (after the discussion above about telephones) to find out the breakdown of charges taken out - I was going to reimburse her for any fees resulting for my error and was told the amount I was told before was wrong and only the monthly fee that had also bounced back had been charged. I let out my breath - I didn’t have $500 to give her and was glad I did not have to. But, I was told, it looks like a sale she made is being held. Huh? It is a much larger sale than she normally makes and they need information to pay it. I got a list of the info and planned to get the info when I went in to her this week. I telephoned her Tuesday about it - she had telephoned me while I was out about it also. She had a telephone call that there was a problem with the sale - she was positive that she would never get the money for it from the processing company and there is a problem with IRS about it - because I had filled in a form wrong when she signed up with this company. Huh? She gave me the name and phone number of the man who called and I must talk only to him according to her - his number was a switchboard and she had no extension number or department name. I left a message with customer service at the number to call me. Today I called the department I spoke with about the sale on Monday, hoping it was the same department although a different phone number and the woman I had spoken with, very nicely tracked down how to contact him. I spoke with him and he needs a simple form. I know I did not fill in the original form and will deal with her about it. Tomorrow I will take care of all this, hopefully, when I go there.
I missed this month’s meeting of my embroidery group as we were away. Next month’s meeting is being led by a member and kits or part of kits and own material are needed for the meeting. It was mentioned at the meeting I missed to the members and a list was made for her to order for members. It occurred to me that not everyone was there who might want to do the project next month, and I contacted her about my sending out an email. I then did so with her info. The person who ran last month’s meeting, then sent me additional info about the supplies and I sent out another email to everyone - this one, for some reason, bounced back from one member because of what it said(?).
Our reenacting unit is doing an event midweek next week for a school. Suddenly the school needs paperwork - some I have to get from 3rd parties - including an invoice. We are not sure if the event will be on one day or the next (in case of rain the first day) and we are having trouble getting members who can come midweek. So I had to call the unit’s insurance company for part of the paperwork , do a form from IRS, and write 2 invoices (one for each day, just in case) and get them out.
Oh yes, the medical insurance I need to pick and sign up for? Well, after my call to the doctor on Monday I decided which one to take and we started to sign me up for it on the computer. Despite the fact that the signup period started November 1, the computer sign up was not yet working on November 11 and would start on the 15th (today), so we still have to go back and sign me up.
If my time was own as it used to be all this would be so much easier. Of course in addition to all this, I have had to reconcile bank accounts for us, our business, and both clubs, pay bills, juggle money in the bank so bills could be paid, plus all of the housework I could do. Due to weather and the fact that on Halloween when we went away, the recycling had not been taken, I put out 5 weeks of recycling this week. Similarly we had not been able to put out garbage last week - and the office garbage does not go out every week, only if the pail is full, I put out 5 bags of garbage for one pickup, instead of the usual 1.
Tomorrow I will drive for at least an hour, ride a subway for 15 minutes, then ride subway back 15 minutes and drive home for two - three hours (in is off peak, home is rush hour - sort of, 3 pm is rush hour these days) after working for 3 hours at client and it will not be fun this visit as I have to resolve the problems and make her understand what is going on with everything. Well, at least I get away from husband for the day and get to drive.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
One has to work with the time one has. Limits put on one’s times by someone else are just one more thing which has to be dealt with. Problems are not something which can be foreseen and planned for. We can only do what we can do.
Oh, and husband just came down and told me he made a sale on his online business and now, at 1:25 am, we have to get it ready to go out - and I do the paperwork.
I was/am self-employed so I have no boss to answer to. As long as I get my job work done by its due dates and accommodate my clients with times that are convenient for them, I could decide when to work at my job. This still applies, but I have to deal with husband and what he wants to do and work around that.
We share a home office - sit at desks across from each other - so I miss sitting there and making telephone calls for any of the various types of work I do with no one watching me, listening to me and often telling me what I am doing wrong, as well needing to make him at least mute the TV (I taught him to have the TV on while doing things, so this is my fault I guess) so that I can hear who I am talking to on the phone and they don’t hear Capt Picard loudly talking in the background (he keeps the TV on rather loud, to say it politely). I end up making telephone calls from bed instead, balancing paperwork and/or alternate PDAs on my lap so I can talk on my cell phone and still easily consult a calendar or bring everything down to the kitchen to use the table and still have to juggle what I am using. Even worse, there are calls I have to make that I don’t want him to hear and he doesn’t want to hear (mostly the doctor to make appointment for us as he does not like to know in advance) and to correct problem related to same. He commented to me that I had to make a couple of phone calls, in reference to picking new medical insurance for me for next years, and I pointed at a stack of papers - spread out in smaller stacks - and told him - “yes, as soon as I make all these other calls that are ahead of them”. A discussion followed on the problems I have making telephone calls - the above and also the fact that we spend too long outside every day running “errands”. I went a bit too far and had to apologize as I made him feel really bad - and I didn’t want to do that.
We wake up late (and stay up late) which is a problem and I am worse than him at this as I am used to waking up slowly and alone. We go out for lunch - despite my telling him before he quit his job that life is not a continuous vacation and we can’t eat out all the time - because he likes it and our lunches at Wendys cost no more than lunch at home - maybe even less. Now, if we went and ate and left that would be okay, but we sit there and watch CNN on the TV, well he does, I sort of hear it above me while I watch a European sports channel on the TV at the other end of the room. Then if it was up to me, we would go home, unless it was the day to food shop or some other needed errand. He does not want to go home and therefore we spend time in stores “Where can we go today” walking senselessly around the stores. We spent 2 hours yesterday buying food items to make dinner because I had mentioned a dish he used to cook and he decided to make it (I was trying to talk him into cooking). He could not find the kind of cheese he needed...
Now this week I had a bunch of problems hit me at once. A client I have had a problem with her credit card processor (I am sure I have mentioned this). I had called and dealt with it while she and I were both away. This week she is home and I need to go to her for the regular monthly accounting stuff. I had been told that the amount which was credit to her account was about $500 less than the sale that was being credited. So I telephoned on Monday (after the discussion above about telephones) to find out the breakdown of charges taken out - I was going to reimburse her for any fees resulting for my error and was told the amount I was told before was wrong and only the monthly fee that had also bounced back had been charged. I let out my breath - I didn’t have $500 to give her and was glad I did not have to. But, I was told, it looks like a sale she made is being held. Huh? It is a much larger sale than she normally makes and they need information to pay it. I got a list of the info and planned to get the info when I went in to her this week. I telephoned her Tuesday about it - she had telephoned me while I was out about it also. She had a telephone call that there was a problem with the sale - she was positive that she would never get the money for it from the processing company and there is a problem with IRS about it - because I had filled in a form wrong when she signed up with this company. Huh? She gave me the name and phone number of the man who called and I must talk only to him according to her - his number was a switchboard and she had no extension number or department name. I left a message with customer service at the number to call me. Today I called the department I spoke with about the sale on Monday, hoping it was the same department although a different phone number and the woman I had spoken with, very nicely tracked down how to contact him. I spoke with him and he needs a simple form. I know I did not fill in the original form and will deal with her about it. Tomorrow I will take care of all this, hopefully, when I go there.
I missed this month’s meeting of my embroidery group as we were away. Next month’s meeting is being led by a member and kits or part of kits and own material are needed for the meeting. It was mentioned at the meeting I missed to the members and a list was made for her to order for members. It occurred to me that not everyone was there who might want to do the project next month, and I contacted her about my sending out an email. I then did so with her info. The person who ran last month’s meeting, then sent me additional info about the supplies and I sent out another email to everyone - this one, for some reason, bounced back from one member because of what it said(?).
Our reenacting unit is doing an event midweek next week for a school. Suddenly the school needs paperwork - some I have to get from 3rd parties - including an invoice. We are not sure if the event will be on one day or the next (in case of rain the first day) and we are having trouble getting members who can come midweek. So I had to call the unit’s insurance company for part of the paperwork , do a form from IRS, and write 2 invoices (one for each day, just in case) and get them out.
Oh yes, the medical insurance I need to pick and sign up for? Well, after my call to the doctor on Monday I decided which one to take and we started to sign me up for it on the computer. Despite the fact that the signup period started November 1, the computer sign up was not yet working on November 11 and would start on the 15th (today), so we still have to go back and sign me up.
If my time was own as it used to be all this would be so much easier. Of course in addition to all this, I have had to reconcile bank accounts for us, our business, and both clubs, pay bills, juggle money in the bank so bills could be paid, plus all of the housework I could do. Due to weather and the fact that on Halloween when we went away, the recycling had not been taken, I put out 5 weeks of recycling this week. Similarly we had not been able to put out garbage last week - and the office garbage does not go out every week, only if the pail is full, I put out 5 bags of garbage for one pickup, instead of the usual 1.
Tomorrow I will drive for at least an hour, ride a subway for 15 minutes, then ride subway back 15 minutes and drive home for two - three hours (in is off peak, home is rush hour - sort of, 3 pm is rush hour these days) after working for 3 hours at client and it will not be fun this visit as I have to resolve the problems and make her understand what is going on with everything. Well, at least I get away from husband for the day and get to drive.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
One has to work with the time one has. Limits put on one’s times by someone else are just one more thing which has to be dealt with. Problems are not something which can be foreseen and planned for. We can only do what we can do.
Oh, and husband just came down and told me he made a sale on his online business and now, at 1:25 am, we have to get it ready to go out - and I do the paperwork.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
I HATE THE AFTERMATH OF TRIPS
Just in case anyone was wondering - after a week my head barely hurts if I touch where I hit it last week. ( I mean if I touch my head where it was hurt, not the board I hit it on.) My dad, a man of great wisdom, would say - “If your head hurts when you touch it, then don’t touch it.
The worst part of a trip, to me, is when I come home I have to do everything I didn’t do while away (and, of course, things I didn’t do before we went away). Husband never understands this idea.
We are pretty good at emptying out the RV when we return home - I have a system. There are two plans for emptying it, the regular plan and the “its raining and we can’t bring it all in plan”. In the normal plan, I start packing stuff and husband becomes a beast of burden running it all into the house. I am basically working in sections in a circle around where I am standing in the RV. First is the refrigerator, followed by food in plastic boxes in the cabinet. Husband will unpack the refrigerator items into the one in the house. I shut off the refrigerator in the RV and put a thick towel under the freezer section just in case any ice buildup melts and drips. (It does not have a separate freezer section, but a “cold” box as refrigerators did in “the olden days” - like the 1950s. Ice cream purchased in the evening will be soft ice cream when eaten at 2 am - cold soup beyond that. I take the batteries of the refrigerator thermometer and its remote read device.
The towels are added to the laundry bag of clothes and when the bag goes into the house it is tossed down the stairs to the basement. I pack the clean clothes (we always over pack - doesn’t everyone) and bring an extra day or two of clothes in case something happens to something we are wearing while away and we need to change clothes unexpectedly, they go into the other laundry bag and go by the stairs in the house so they go up the same night. Jackets, sweatshirts and such are taken in loose. Shoes are put into supermarket/Walmart shopping bags to be taken in.
Husband will take various laptops and other devices into the house in a couple of trips. Similarly he will take in my embroidery holder. The “last minute bag” is pulled out from under the bed and the items removed from it go back into it. This trip we also pulled toothpaste and such as we don’t want to leave them in all winter - we did that the first year and they did not survive well.
Any items we purchased while away and stored inside the main part of the TV are brought into the house and left on the table to be sorted and stored. (Hey, I just noticed that sorted and stored are anagrams - the same letters rearranged - is why they go together so well?)
On the “third seat” (seat behind the front passenger seat) we have a pocket with a folder in it which holds papers we pick up during the trip - tourist handouts, maps, local tourist magazines, and such, as well as magazines we brought from home to read - they go in similar bag to the shoes.
Assorted spare eyeglasses (reading, sun, etc.) that are needed and/or kept elsewhere are removed from the glove compartment as are the snacks I keep in the front door map pocket in case of a glucose low for either of us while in transit. In there is also the coupon holder from our car (if I need, for example, tissues while away, why shouldn’t I have the coupon with me to use) and the travel related coupons we brought with us. My old Palm and Blackberry cell phones which come along for the trip for other features of the phones have to be removed also. The EZ Pass (to pay tolls electronically) is removed from the windshield and stored away.
The various curtains in the RV are closed. The lights are shut off and the RV battery is shut off.
Between trips with items I had for him, husband has removing items we purchased and stored in he back of the RV (technically under the head of the bed) and adding them to what is on the kitchen table in the house.
I stop and get the mail from our mailbox on the way in. If it is a short trip and we did not stop the newspaper (yes, I still get and read a newspaper) I will bring them in also.
If it is raining - the food and stuff in the last minute bag go in and not much else unless it is needed.
Now I enter the house kitchen . I have to sort what has come in - food which does not need to be in the refrigerator goes on the counter. Food that goes in the refrigerator should already have been put there by Robert. Clean clothes, laptops & similar, mail, shoes, and such are put on the stairs or adjacent to them to be taken upstairs. Jackets and such are put in the front closet - or at least over the post at the foot of the stairs in the front hall. And the pile of stuff on the table.
The stuff on the table has to be sorted - stuff to go upstairs, stuff to stay in the kitchen/dinning room, stuff for the basement, stuff for our studio - or the garage workshop. I sort them into shopping bags and try to at least get them into the room they belong in - or hang them on the door knob to outside if the item goes outside.
But of course this is just the first step. The next day I will have to go through the mail- shred the junk mail, pull out and check bills, collect bank statements (if any) to reconcile, magazines to where they will be read, and so on. We will also go to the Post Office and pick up the mail which has accumulated in our box there, which also has to be sorted.
Food in boxes will have to be stored - I tend to do it slowly and use what is in the boxes. They are basically snacks so I use the cereal which was not used on the trip instead of storing it away, use the tea bag from the ones I brought with us, etc.
Since this was our last trip of the year that we will make with running water in the RV, I said to husband that I presume we will winterize the RV this week - he said we could wait. For those who might not understand this, in areas like this where it can get close to freezing and below it, the water pipes and valves might freeze and break. So we have to run a non-toxic anti freeze, made for this purpose for RVs and boats, through the water system. This keeps it all from freezing, but also means that we cannot use the system as that would be adding water which could freeze back in the system. Well, the not so cold weather we were having and were to have is to change by this weekend. So the winterizing must be done this week.
In addition, we needed a small closet type shed to keep our snowblower in by our side door. (It is currently in the garage workshop and not only does it take up room, but if it snow we have to shovel our way to the garage and clear a path in front of the garage door so a shed near the door would be very good to have.) Last year we waited too long to buy one - they have to be assembled above a certain temperature so that plastic gives and bends and does not break in the assembling. Husband kept forgetting to order one from a well known home store and finally decided this was it. We wanted to order one to pick up at the store. The program would not let us as it said the store already had “one”. So we went to the store. It took about an hour and a half for them to find the shed, get someone to take it down from the top shelf (maybe 20 feet or more up), us to take it to the register and pay for it (well, husband did while I got the van), have no one come to help us load it, realize the box inside the sealed plastic was soaked, find the assistant manager again, get the other one (yes, per the computer they had one, but actually they had two), and get someone to help us load it. It then sat in our van on the driveway until we could assemble it.
Monday was too cold, Tuesday it rained. (And of course we went and voted Tuesday.)So today we assembled it - mostly. We had to get the huge box out of our van - we managed to push it so it was in the rear of the van (behind the back seat) and on a work stand and unloaded. Today was already getting colder so we took all the pieces into the garage and turned on the hanging space heaters to keep the plastic pieces warm and pliable. We moved our car to the curved part of our driveway, then backed the RV to the spot the car normally is so we would have room to work. Somehow we were able to assemble most of the shed. Husband then got ill from bending over, as he does, and had to go in and go to sleep for awhile. I finished getting the roof ready to go on - screwing parts onto the inside of the room, putting things into the body of the shed to hold the roof in place, putting the handles on the doors. (The doors were about the worse part of the assembly except...) When it was all done, I went and woke husband who after about a half hour more, was able to come out and we put the roof on - yay! The last thing which had to be done and is a problem is two metal bars have to be slid into the roof and across into the sides to hold the front end of the roof on - we got one in, then gave up and will try again tomorrow as it was getting colder and dark.
Remember he said that we don’t have to winterize this week when I said I assumed we were going to? Tomorrow we will be winterizing the RV.
Luckily when he said that we would be doing these “little chores” today and tomorrow, I managed to write checks for all bills due out on Friday and figure out how much we have to transfer into checking to cover them - it is all finished and sitting in my “out” box for Friday.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK - When going on a trip - even a short, relatively local one as we take - try to be as caught up as possible before the trip. Try to plan when you will catch up on bills, other paperwork, unpacking, laundry (I am doing a week and a half’s laundry tonight and tomorrow night), and such, when you return.
For those who are Veterans or who are still on active service, Friday is Veteran’s Day here in the U.S. and is a holiday for many of those who live in the World War II allies countries (Armistice Day, Remembrance Day...) as Saturday is November 11, I thank you all for your service to your country - whether the U.S. or other. For those of you still on active service, I wish you a safe tour and return home.
The worst part of a trip, to me, is when I come home I have to do everything I didn’t do while away (and, of course, things I didn’t do before we went away). Husband never understands this idea.
We are pretty good at emptying out the RV when we return home - I have a system. There are two plans for emptying it, the regular plan and the “its raining and we can’t bring it all in plan”. In the normal plan, I start packing stuff and husband becomes a beast of burden running it all into the house. I am basically working in sections in a circle around where I am standing in the RV. First is the refrigerator, followed by food in plastic boxes in the cabinet. Husband will unpack the refrigerator items into the one in the house. I shut off the refrigerator in the RV and put a thick towel under the freezer section just in case any ice buildup melts and drips. (It does not have a separate freezer section, but a “cold” box as refrigerators did in “the olden days” - like the 1950s. Ice cream purchased in the evening will be soft ice cream when eaten at 2 am - cold soup beyond that. I take the batteries of the refrigerator thermometer and its remote read device.
The towels are added to the laundry bag of clothes and when the bag goes into the house it is tossed down the stairs to the basement. I pack the clean clothes (we always over pack - doesn’t everyone) and bring an extra day or two of clothes in case something happens to something we are wearing while away and we need to change clothes unexpectedly, they go into the other laundry bag and go by the stairs in the house so they go up the same night. Jackets, sweatshirts and such are taken in loose. Shoes are put into supermarket/Walmart shopping bags to be taken in.
Husband will take various laptops and other devices into the house in a couple of trips. Similarly he will take in my embroidery holder. The “last minute bag” is pulled out from under the bed and the items removed from it go back into it. This trip we also pulled toothpaste and such as we don’t want to leave them in all winter - we did that the first year and they did not survive well.
Any items we purchased while away and stored inside the main part of the TV are brought into the house and left on the table to be sorted and stored. (Hey, I just noticed that sorted and stored are anagrams - the same letters rearranged - is why they go together so well?)
On the “third seat” (seat behind the front passenger seat) we have a pocket with a folder in it which holds papers we pick up during the trip - tourist handouts, maps, local tourist magazines, and such, as well as magazines we brought from home to read - they go in similar bag to the shoes.
Assorted spare eyeglasses (reading, sun, etc.) that are needed and/or kept elsewhere are removed from the glove compartment as are the snacks I keep in the front door map pocket in case of a glucose low for either of us while in transit. In there is also the coupon holder from our car (if I need, for example, tissues while away, why shouldn’t I have the coupon with me to use) and the travel related coupons we brought with us. My old Palm and Blackberry cell phones which come along for the trip for other features of the phones have to be removed also. The EZ Pass (to pay tolls electronically) is removed from the windshield and stored away.
The various curtains in the RV are closed. The lights are shut off and the RV battery is shut off.
Between trips with items I had for him, husband has removing items we purchased and stored in he back of the RV (technically under the head of the bed) and adding them to what is on the kitchen table in the house.
I stop and get the mail from our mailbox on the way in. If it is a short trip and we did not stop the newspaper (yes, I still get and read a newspaper) I will bring them in also.
If it is raining - the food and stuff in the last minute bag go in and not much else unless it is needed.
Now I enter the house kitchen . I have to sort what has come in - food which does not need to be in the refrigerator goes on the counter. Food that goes in the refrigerator should already have been put there by Robert. Clean clothes, laptops & similar, mail, shoes, and such are put on the stairs or adjacent to them to be taken upstairs. Jackets and such are put in the front closet - or at least over the post at the foot of the stairs in the front hall. And the pile of stuff on the table.
The stuff on the table has to be sorted - stuff to go upstairs, stuff to stay in the kitchen/dinning room, stuff for the basement, stuff for our studio - or the garage workshop. I sort them into shopping bags and try to at least get them into the room they belong in - or hang them on the door knob to outside if the item goes outside.
But of course this is just the first step. The next day I will have to go through the mail- shred the junk mail, pull out and check bills, collect bank statements (if any) to reconcile, magazines to where they will be read, and so on. We will also go to the Post Office and pick up the mail which has accumulated in our box there, which also has to be sorted.
Food in boxes will have to be stored - I tend to do it slowly and use what is in the boxes. They are basically snacks so I use the cereal which was not used on the trip instead of storing it away, use the tea bag from the ones I brought with us, etc.
Since this was our last trip of the year that we will make with running water in the RV, I said to husband that I presume we will winterize the RV this week - he said we could wait. For those who might not understand this, in areas like this where it can get close to freezing and below it, the water pipes and valves might freeze and break. So we have to run a non-toxic anti freeze, made for this purpose for RVs and boats, through the water system. This keeps it all from freezing, but also means that we cannot use the system as that would be adding water which could freeze back in the system. Well, the not so cold weather we were having and were to have is to change by this weekend. So the winterizing must be done this week.
In addition, we needed a small closet type shed to keep our snowblower in by our side door. (It is currently in the garage workshop and not only does it take up room, but if it snow we have to shovel our way to the garage and clear a path in front of the garage door so a shed near the door would be very good to have.) Last year we waited too long to buy one - they have to be assembled above a certain temperature so that plastic gives and bends and does not break in the assembling. Husband kept forgetting to order one from a well known home store and finally decided this was it. We wanted to order one to pick up at the store. The program would not let us as it said the store already had “one”. So we went to the store. It took about an hour and a half for them to find the shed, get someone to take it down from the top shelf (maybe 20 feet or more up), us to take it to the register and pay for it (well, husband did while I got the van), have no one come to help us load it, realize the box inside the sealed plastic was soaked, find the assistant manager again, get the other one (yes, per the computer they had one, but actually they had two), and get someone to help us load it. It then sat in our van on the driveway until we could assemble it.
Monday was too cold, Tuesday it rained. (And of course we went and voted Tuesday.)So today we assembled it - mostly. We had to get the huge box out of our van - we managed to push it so it was in the rear of the van (behind the back seat) and on a work stand and unloaded. Today was already getting colder so we took all the pieces into the garage and turned on the hanging space heaters to keep the plastic pieces warm and pliable. We moved our car to the curved part of our driveway, then backed the RV to the spot the car normally is so we would have room to work. Somehow we were able to assemble most of the shed. Husband then got ill from bending over, as he does, and had to go in and go to sleep for awhile. I finished getting the roof ready to go on - screwing parts onto the inside of the room, putting things into the body of the shed to hold the roof in place, putting the handles on the doors. (The doors were about the worse part of the assembly except...) When it was all done, I went and woke husband who after about a half hour more, was able to come out and we put the roof on - yay! The last thing which had to be done and is a problem is two metal bars have to be slid into the roof and across into the sides to hold the front end of the roof on - we got one in, then gave up and will try again tomorrow as it was getting colder and dark.
Remember he said that we don’t have to winterize this week when I said I assumed we were going to? Tomorrow we will be winterizing the RV.
Luckily when he said that we would be doing these “little chores” today and tomorrow, I managed to write checks for all bills due out on Friday and figure out how much we have to transfer into checking to cover them - it is all finished and sitting in my “out” box for Friday.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK - When going on a trip - even a short, relatively local one as we take - try to be as caught up as possible before the trip. Try to plan when you will catch up on bills, other paperwork, unpacking, laundry (I am doing a week and a half’s laundry tonight and tomorrow night), and such, when you return.
For those who are Veterans or who are still on active service, Friday is Veteran’s Day here in the U.S. and is a holiday for many of those who live in the World War II allies countries (Armistice Day, Remembrance Day...) as Saturday is November 11, I thank you all for your service to your country - whether the U.S. or other. For those of you still on active service, I wish you a safe tour and return home.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
TRIP WENT AWRY - AGAIN
We have not been on a trip really this year as each time we planned one, something happened. We traditionally go away for my birthday and planned to be away for 5 days for it. We were to leave on Monday and return home overnight Friday to Saturday. Once again our plans went awry. A huge nor’easter (for those not from the U.S. this is a MAJOR wind and rain storm and is considered a winter storm, even though it does not involve snow) was to hit us Sunday through Monday. Luckily we had not made reservations at the RV park in advance - this time of year the parks are usually not anywhere near full here in the northeast U.S. and since we go midweek - we avoid the possibility of the park filling with weekend guests - as well as avoiding the crowds that come to the Pennsylvania Dutch country.
When we going on Monday we planned to start packing the RV on Sunday night with plenty of time on Monday to finish doing so as we would not be in a rush. I made up the bed in the RV last week to have it done in advance - I pull the blanket and sheets over the pillows to keep them free of dust.
I have a checkoff sheet that I keep in the computer and print out each trip to make sure we don’t forget anything. The check off sheet includes a section on things to be done in advance - making the bed, filling the water tanks, checking supplies such as toilet paper, tissues, paper goods, soaps & paper towels, and so on. Then there is a section on personal items - clothes, shoes, jackets, my embroidery - I don’t list the clothing items individually as we know what we need in clothes. I have a food section as we bring items for snack - soda, cracker, water, cereal - and on longer trips I will bring soup, peanut butter and bread - just in case. We have never used the latter, although one lunch time in a bad rain storm we came close. There is a section of electronics to come - laptops and such. There is a section of paper items to bring - coupon holders, directions, reservations (I actually keep an envelope for each of our regular trips for reservations, coupons and other papers I want to bring). There is also a section of what to do before we leave - unplug the washer, turn off the dryer and stove breakers, take out the garbage when we leave. And, lastly, there is a section of what needs to be done when we return - what not to forget in the RV when it is unpacked, turn off the refrigerator, lights and RV battery, and related matters. Very organized -right?
We were planning to go to a farmers’ market on Tuesday so we had to be out and on the way early (for us). I packed the RV Monday night except for our “last minute bag” which has things we need the night before so they cannot be prepacked and my laptop computer. Our plan was for me to call and make a reservation Tuesday morning just after 9 am as the RV park office opens at same. I called. I got a message telling me the office opens at 9 am - at 9:10 am. I left a message to call me back and we kept going. Husband was upset about what would happen if there was no RV space available. I pointed out that he keeps telling me the RV need to be driven; he was looking forward to going to the farmers’market, and I wanted to be away for my birthday (if you have not calculated - this is Halloween - there is much less of same where we were going than at home). I told him that at worst we would have had a day trip and accomplished all 3 things and would come home that night. We left. When we leave I direct him to back out of our driveway using walkie talkies. We also use these for me to direct him into the space at the RV park. Since it was Halloween we wanted to make sure that the house did not look too different as if we were away, so when he was out of the driveway, I drove one of our other cars into where the RV usually sits - and then ran and got into the RV and we were off.
Along the way - around 11 am - I finally was able to make reservations, although not for any of the spaces we prefer - and so far this trip 2 of the 3 spaces we prefer have remained empty and the 3rd was empty tonight. The trip down was actually better than most - much less traffic. When we got to the farmers’ market it was freezing - or at least it felt so to me. I had on 2 sweatshirts and wished I had brought gloves. I had thought of treating myself to ice cream
for lunch for my birthday - there is a stand at the market (actually they are at both markets we go to) that always has a crowd and the ice cream looks yummy, so I thought I would go off my diet and have it for lunch - I planned this last year and the stand was closed. This year it was open, but I was so cold, I could not imagine doing so. We went around at the market and then had dinner (mine was free as it was my birthday) took a walk around Walmart (as we normally do) and went to the RV park.
Being level is very important in an RV - or doors will not open or will fall open and one is uncomfortable. One problem, while driving today on the trip here, I realized that we only had one walkie talkie - the other one I had left in the car at home when I moved it! I waited until we were in Walmart to mention it to husband and quickly suggested alternatives - including buying a pair of walkie talkies in Walmart (which is why I told him then). We decided we would deal with it by using our cell phones. The only level spot we could find in this space was on an odd angle - which we would have to duplicate the next two nights when we came back at the end of the day. We then settled in for the night.
I checked email on my (this laptop) and unpacked the last minute bag. Then we went to get ready for bed. The bed in the RV consists of two bench seats which face each other and two pieces of wood which slide between them and then the bench seat cushions are rearranged into the bed. I was kneeling down to store the laptop and some other items under the bed (the center which would be the aisle between the bench seats is used for storage) and as I bent down towards the bed - WHACK!!! I slammed my head into one of the insert wood pieces. I figured out that I had not pushed it all the way into position between the beds, so where I thought was an open space or wood covered with cushion - was the wood. Owwwww! We checked and there is no bump or bruise. I checked for signs of concussions - none - I made sure to stay awake for several hours to make sure. Tonight, 24 hours later my forehead still hurts if I move the muscles in my face a certain way or if I (or husband who of course does so often to make sure I am okay) touch it.
It was so cold that we had turn on the propane to run the propane furnace in the RV. We had to be very careful and many things could not go where they normally go at night and that nothing flammable was near the furnace. We made it through and should not need the furnace tonight (there is alternate heat down to 40F from a heat sink in the air conditioner).
I then took our medications to take and to replace in our pocket pill boxes to take today. I forgot the over the counter vitamins and such that the doctor has I take - they are either sitting on our kitchen table or my dresser at home. Oh well, at least we have the prescription medications.
Unfortunately all of this mess is becoming more and more common when we take trips. No matter how organized and prepared we think we are - we are not. Well, somehow we always deal with what needs to be dealt with.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Mistakes happen. There is nothing to do but go ahead as well as possible. No matter how much I try to figure out in advance what can happen and what to do - something else will happen and will need to be dealt with all one can do is one’s best.
When we going on Monday we planned to start packing the RV on Sunday night with plenty of time on Monday to finish doing so as we would not be in a rush. I made up the bed in the RV last week to have it done in advance - I pull the blanket and sheets over the pillows to keep them free of dust.
I have a checkoff sheet that I keep in the computer and print out each trip to make sure we don’t forget anything. The check off sheet includes a section on things to be done in advance - making the bed, filling the water tanks, checking supplies such as toilet paper, tissues, paper goods, soaps & paper towels, and so on. Then there is a section on personal items - clothes, shoes, jackets, my embroidery - I don’t list the clothing items individually as we know what we need in clothes. I have a food section as we bring items for snack - soda, cracker, water, cereal - and on longer trips I will bring soup, peanut butter and bread - just in case. We have never used the latter, although one lunch time in a bad rain storm we came close. There is a section of electronics to come - laptops and such. There is a section of paper items to bring - coupon holders, directions, reservations (I actually keep an envelope for each of our regular trips for reservations, coupons and other papers I want to bring). There is also a section of what to do before we leave - unplug the washer, turn off the dryer and stove breakers, take out the garbage when we leave. And, lastly, there is a section of what needs to be done when we return - what not to forget in the RV when it is unpacked, turn off the refrigerator, lights and RV battery, and related matters. Very organized -right?
We were planning to go to a farmers’ market on Tuesday so we had to be out and on the way early (for us). I packed the RV Monday night except for our “last minute bag” which has things we need the night before so they cannot be prepacked and my laptop computer. Our plan was for me to call and make a reservation Tuesday morning just after 9 am as the RV park office opens at same. I called. I got a message telling me the office opens at 9 am - at 9:10 am. I left a message to call me back and we kept going. Husband was upset about what would happen if there was no RV space available. I pointed out that he keeps telling me the RV need to be driven; he was looking forward to going to the farmers’market, and I wanted to be away for my birthday (if you have not calculated - this is Halloween - there is much less of same where we were going than at home). I told him that at worst we would have had a day trip and accomplished all 3 things and would come home that night. We left. When we leave I direct him to back out of our driveway using walkie talkies. We also use these for me to direct him into the space at the RV park. Since it was Halloween we wanted to make sure that the house did not look too different as if we were away, so when he was out of the driveway, I drove one of our other cars into where the RV usually sits - and then ran and got into the RV and we were off.
Along the way - around 11 am - I finally was able to make reservations, although not for any of the spaces we prefer - and so far this trip 2 of the 3 spaces we prefer have remained empty and the 3rd was empty tonight. The trip down was actually better than most - much less traffic. When we got to the farmers’ market it was freezing - or at least it felt so to me. I had on 2 sweatshirts and wished I had brought gloves. I had thought of treating myself to ice cream
for lunch for my birthday - there is a stand at the market (actually they are at both markets we go to) that always has a crowd and the ice cream looks yummy, so I thought I would go off my diet and have it for lunch - I planned this last year and the stand was closed. This year it was open, but I was so cold, I could not imagine doing so. We went around at the market and then had dinner (mine was free as it was my birthday) took a walk around Walmart (as we normally do) and went to the RV park.
Being level is very important in an RV - or doors will not open or will fall open and one is uncomfortable. One problem, while driving today on the trip here, I realized that we only had one walkie talkie - the other one I had left in the car at home when I moved it! I waited until we were in Walmart to mention it to husband and quickly suggested alternatives - including buying a pair of walkie talkies in Walmart (which is why I told him then). We decided we would deal with it by using our cell phones. The only level spot we could find in this space was on an odd angle - which we would have to duplicate the next two nights when we came back at the end of the day. We then settled in for the night.
I checked email on my (this laptop) and unpacked the last minute bag. Then we went to get ready for bed. The bed in the RV consists of two bench seats which face each other and two pieces of wood which slide between them and then the bench seat cushions are rearranged into the bed. I was kneeling down to store the laptop and some other items under the bed (the center which would be the aisle between the bench seats is used for storage) and as I bent down towards the bed - WHACK!!! I slammed my head into one of the insert wood pieces. I figured out that I had not pushed it all the way into position between the beds, so where I thought was an open space or wood covered with cushion - was the wood. Owwwww! We checked and there is no bump or bruise. I checked for signs of concussions - none - I made sure to stay awake for several hours to make sure. Tonight, 24 hours later my forehead still hurts if I move the muscles in my face a certain way or if I (or husband who of course does so often to make sure I am okay) touch it.
It was so cold that we had turn on the propane to run the propane furnace in the RV. We had to be very careful and many things could not go where they normally go at night and that nothing flammable was near the furnace. We made it through and should not need the furnace tonight (there is alternate heat down to 40F from a heat sink in the air conditioner).
I then took our medications to take and to replace in our pocket pill boxes to take today. I forgot the over the counter vitamins and such that the doctor has I take - they are either sitting on our kitchen table or my dresser at home. Oh well, at least we have the prescription medications.
Unfortunately all of this mess is becoming more and more common when we take trips. No matter how organized and prepared we think we are - we are not. Well, somehow we always deal with what needs to be dealt with.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Mistakes happen. There is nothing to do but go ahead as well as possible. No matter how much I try to figure out in advance what can happen and what to do - something else will happen and will need to be dealt with all one can do is one’s best.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
A QUICK TRIP AND I CAUGHT UP ON MY PILE OF STUFF TO DO
Well, I had a bit of a chance to catch up this past week. The pile on top of my desk which has to be done before I get to the folder of things to do, is down to scanning in articles from various issues of a magazine related to reenacting that I convinced my husband that we don’t need to keep in full. Much of these magazines are ads for items related to “the hobby”. There seems to be 3-5 articles of varying length that he wants to keep. He has gone through the magazines and circled in the table of contents those articles he wants. I am scanning in the articles here and there as I get a chance - luckily they are not in color so they scan a lot faster.
We did go away for the day last Saturday to the state sheep and wool festival. We have never been there before. It went as our trips go. The ride there was suppose to be 2 hours. Husband printed the directions from Googlemaps. He also turned on the GPS app in his cell phone. They did not always agree. The road both sent us on for most of the trip is a picturesque limited access road that curves around and through mountains. It was so curvy that husband was getting motion sickness, even though he was driving. We were pretty sure we could not go home the same way as he could not deal with the curves again - especially in the dark with no street lights. When we were towards the end of the trip there the two sets of directions varied from each other. The Googlemaps version had us get off the main road sooner than the GPS. We decided to go with the GPS and stayed on the road. All of a sudden the GPS froze. (We eventually figured out that there was no cell service there!) Now we had a problem. As we kept driving and tried to remember where the GPS said to get off the road, I saw a sign to the fairgrounds we had to go to and we exited the road. 10 miles to the fairgrounds and no further signs appeared. I had out the Googlemaps directions and kept looking for roads that were listed on it. We were approaching one and I had to calculate quickly - turn right or left? Luckily I guessed correctly and we turned right and not much further on came to the road the fairgrounds were on. Fair was okay - not a worth a trip back in the future. (Very limited weaving related items - other than wool, of course, which we could not afford - and weaving items were why husband wanted to go.) Talk about disorganized - I noticed that people had a small booklet with map and vendors in it. I walked back to the gate and asked for one - I was told that they hard run out “3 hours ago”. This means that 3 hours into the first of two days of the event (which ran 9 hours the first day) they were out of their handouts - not good planning to me. After we drove to a, yes, another Golden Corral about an hour from the fairgrounds and vaguely on the way home. Dinner was another bust and I will not bother you with the details unless someone writes and asks. Now we had to get home. I looked at the (paper) map and found that an Interstate road near the restaurant headed in the general direction of home, that connected to another major road and that just left figuring out how to get to one of 3 bridges after those two roads to get us home. I have a mapping/GPS program in my other laptop (the good one) which I had brought with me (I generally take it on trips for something just like this) and I am able to find a place by looking at and moving the map and then adding a start, end, or via point there. I did that with several points so that the route would stay where I wanted it and it had no problem getting us home. It was much a quicker trip home than the one getting to the area and straight road - no curve after curve.
Just for fun - and my luck, I did get a mailing from Equifax that I am, of course, included in their latest security breach. I tried to find out how to do all the things I need to do with them as a result, by mail as I will not put my information online and don’t trust doing it by phone. I sort of got an answer from their recorded info phone line and have sent in to them about this. Now I will also send in a request for husband as our credit info is mostly joint. Then I will be calling Trans Union and Experian to do the same with them. And I have such a unique name that I have been sure that I am the only one with it in the world - now there may be many of me if my identity is being used by others. What will happen to my 843-850 (it varies some months) credit rating now?
I wrote the newsletter for my embroidery chapter in only one afternoon - first time since we changed to this new format I was able to do so, it was common before. One member’s email is suddenly bouncing back and she did not return my phone message, so I mailed her a printed copy and asked for her new email.
I am packed, my laptop is charging, and I am going to a client tomorrow. I have written checks for bills to go out in the mail on Friday. I have calculated how much I need to transfer from savings to checking to pay the bills and have cash for a trip next week (we hope). The needed papers are in my “Friday errands” envelope. I have a deposit slip with these papers as I am due to get a check from my client tomorrow and will deposit it Friday also.
Laundry is in washer. First load about to go to the dryer when my cell phone alarm rings that it is time to go down again.
I did so well that rather than take a shower tonight in a rush at the last minute and go to bed with wet hair, I was able to take a leisurely shower before dinner. Ahhhh.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Work at what is piled up little by little, try to keep more from being added and there will be less left in your “pile” of todos.
I know my stack of todos will be piled up again soon - especially if we take a short trip next week - but sooner or later it is gone again.
Don’t eat all the Halloween candy - and check what your children eat before they do. Have a safe Halloween.
We did go away for the day last Saturday to the state sheep and wool festival. We have never been there before. It went as our trips go. The ride there was suppose to be 2 hours. Husband printed the directions from Googlemaps. He also turned on the GPS app in his cell phone. They did not always agree. The road both sent us on for most of the trip is a picturesque limited access road that curves around and through mountains. It was so curvy that husband was getting motion sickness, even though he was driving. We were pretty sure we could not go home the same way as he could not deal with the curves again - especially in the dark with no street lights. When we were towards the end of the trip there the two sets of directions varied from each other. The Googlemaps version had us get off the main road sooner than the GPS. We decided to go with the GPS and stayed on the road. All of a sudden the GPS froze. (We eventually figured out that there was no cell service there!) Now we had a problem. As we kept driving and tried to remember where the GPS said to get off the road, I saw a sign to the fairgrounds we had to go to and we exited the road. 10 miles to the fairgrounds and no further signs appeared. I had out the Googlemaps directions and kept looking for roads that were listed on it. We were approaching one and I had to calculate quickly - turn right or left? Luckily I guessed correctly and we turned right and not much further on came to the road the fairgrounds were on. Fair was okay - not a worth a trip back in the future. (Very limited weaving related items - other than wool, of course, which we could not afford - and weaving items were why husband wanted to go.) Talk about disorganized - I noticed that people had a small booklet with map and vendors in it. I walked back to the gate and asked for one - I was told that they hard run out “3 hours ago”. This means that 3 hours into the first of two days of the event (which ran 9 hours the first day) they were out of their handouts - not good planning to me. After we drove to a, yes, another Golden Corral about an hour from the fairgrounds and vaguely on the way home. Dinner was another bust and I will not bother you with the details unless someone writes and asks. Now we had to get home. I looked at the (paper) map and found that an Interstate road near the restaurant headed in the general direction of home, that connected to another major road and that just left figuring out how to get to one of 3 bridges after those two roads to get us home. I have a mapping/GPS program in my other laptop (the good one) which I had brought with me (I generally take it on trips for something just like this) and I am able to find a place by looking at and moving the map and then adding a start, end, or via point there. I did that with several points so that the route would stay where I wanted it and it had no problem getting us home. It was much a quicker trip home than the one getting to the area and straight road - no curve after curve.
Just for fun - and my luck, I did get a mailing from Equifax that I am, of course, included in their latest security breach. I tried to find out how to do all the things I need to do with them as a result, by mail as I will not put my information online and don’t trust doing it by phone. I sort of got an answer from their recorded info phone line and have sent in to them about this. Now I will also send in a request for husband as our credit info is mostly joint. Then I will be calling Trans Union and Experian to do the same with them. And I have such a unique name that I have been sure that I am the only one with it in the world - now there may be many of me if my identity is being used by others. What will happen to my 843-850 (it varies some months) credit rating now?
I wrote the newsletter for my embroidery chapter in only one afternoon - first time since we changed to this new format I was able to do so, it was common before. One member’s email is suddenly bouncing back and she did not return my phone message, so I mailed her a printed copy and asked for her new email.
I am packed, my laptop is charging, and I am going to a client tomorrow. I have written checks for bills to go out in the mail on Friday. I have calculated how much I need to transfer from savings to checking to pay the bills and have cash for a trip next week (we hope). The needed papers are in my “Friday errands” envelope. I have a deposit slip with these papers as I am due to get a check from my client tomorrow and will deposit it Friday also.
Laundry is in washer. First load about to go to the dryer when my cell phone alarm rings that it is time to go down again.
I did so well that rather than take a shower tonight in a rush at the last minute and go to bed with wet hair, I was able to take a leisurely shower before dinner. Ahhhh.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Work at what is piled up little by little, try to keep more from being added and there will be less left in your “pile” of todos.
I know my stack of todos will be piled up again soon - especially if we take a short trip next week - but sooner or later it is gone again.
Don’t eat all the Halloween candy - and check what your children eat before they do. Have a safe Halloween.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
TRIP OUT OF STATE FOR DINNER
Last Thursday we finally took a trip to Golden Corral in Freehold, New Jersey. Now, if you have never heard of same, Golden Corral is a chain of family oriented reasonably priced (depending on the location around $14-$15 for adults). It is not a destination restaurant. But, there are none near us and the two restaurants here from a similar chain closed over a year ago - and this is one of the two closest ones to us. This is not a cheap trip - in addition to gas it is over $20 in tolls round trip.
I am not sure if I posted about this when it happened, but we tried this trip in July and ended up spending 5 and half hours going and coming with no dinner. We had gotten stuck in traffic and the anticipated hour and forty minute trip (per the GPS with traffic considered) ran a bit more - we had been driving for 4 hours and for the last two hours had steadily been half an hour from the end of our trip sitting in traffic. What finally turned us around and sent us home was the fact that by the time we got to the restaurant it might be too late for dinner and there were warnings that the occasional showers due late night, were now dangerous thunderstorms, hitting within the hour with two tornadoes so far and we were sitting in traffic in the open. So we had worked our way off the road and turned around and spent an hour and a half driving home.
What does this have to do with organizing? Well, in addition to having to organize everything for the week around this day and have to organize for the trip (we even over pack for a day trip), it is a loss of an afternoon and evening when other things could have been done.
I normally do our banking on Fridays - and we were short on money to pay bills and had to make a withdrawal from husband’s IRA accounts (hopefully the last of the year as it is the last of the planned money from same for the year). But, in anticipation of going away - and in need of some pocket cash for the trip, we went to the banks on Wednesday. I paid the bills on Wednesday night so they could go out on Friday (this was all the bills that were due by Sunday of the following week as I pay all bills a week before they are due). I did whatever else was sitting around waiting to be done.
I plugged in my other (smaller and a tiny bit newer) laptop to charge in the kitchen before going to bed on Wednesday night. I had our “travel zipper bag” downstairs with the laptop - this has a spare wallet with spare cash and a credit card (and some affinity cards for restaurants etc when we travel - other cards are in the car and the RV) and I add our checkbook just before a trip. Our logic in having extra cash and a credit card that neither of us is carrying is that if we were robbed or other similar problem, we would have cash and a credit card to use. I packed my old Palm Centro in its case - spare info of what is in my cell phone and easy to reach in the car to keep track of tolls paid, etc. We put out rain jackets and sweatshirts - weather was iffy. This way when we woke up Thursday all we needed to take was together in the kitchen on our way out.
Last time we had left after lunch at 3 pm and thinking that was the problem as we were traveling during evening rush hour, we planned - well I planned and he agreed - to eat lunch along the way. I was pretty sure that there were a couple of Wendys in NJ and I knew about one in Staten Island. So we set off.
In New Jersey I did see a Wendys on the road - just as we passed it. We kept going. We had a couple of basically time wasting stops along the way as we would (hopefully) otherwise be at the restaurant for dinner about 2 or 3 hours too early. Before I knew it we were at the first place to stop - there was a Costco with a gas station there and a Hobby Lobby craft store (we just got got our first Hobby Lobby here so that is still a place to stop for us). Since we had not eaten we went to Costco and had lunch and took a quick walk through - looking for some items they no longer have at the ones near us and didn’t have here either. We then gassed up the car (in New Jersey no self-serve allowed) and drove to the Hobby Lobby.
Now, the Costco is on the north bound side of the road we were headed south on. It is north of an intersection and the Hobby Lobby is on the same side, but south of the same intersection. How the roads in New Jersey are designed, one can generally not make a left turn on a main road. One gets off the right on an angle or something known locally as a “dog leg” and then turns left on the cross road to do so. So, to get back to Hobby Lobby we had to go out on the southbound main road, turn right at the next corner, then attempt to turn left onto the cross road - a four lane road with no additional traffic light to help, which we were able to do only by the kindness of a stranger who let us in. Then we had to turn left from that road onto the main road. We then had to turn right off the main road at the same place we did before and turn left - but into the right lanes - of the cross road we had turned left onto, to get to Costco. We gave up on trying to turn left onto the crossroad and turned right, then went up about a block, turned left into a parking lot, drove around in the parking lot, drove back out and turned right onto the same crossroad. We drove across the main road and about a block up turned right into the shopping center that Hobby Lobby is in. This trip from Costco to what is more or less the next shopping center took us 15-20 minutes.
We walked around awhile in Hobby Lobby - I went through their large Christmas department looking. No buying done though. And then we left. Now, to get back on the road we had to head back to the exit that led back to that same cross road and turn left onto the cross road - luckily there was a traffic light to help - and then turn left from same onto the main road headed south again.
So basically we drove in 3 circles to go to these two stores.
Our next planned stop was a Walmart we knew about. (We come to this Golden Corral for dinner about twice a year when we go to the woodworking show and the quilt show we go to in late February and early March so we know what is around it and on the road to it. These two attempts were our only ones to go there just for dinner - I guess I cook that badly that he wanted to go.) The jeans that husband wears has been discontinued at our local Walmarts and we hoped that other ones might still have them, plus some other items we had not found in our local ones, as well as it is a larger one than the ones near us. It is off to the west of the road we were on. I knew how to get there by turning right just before we got to the restaurant, but found a shortcut to it by following the signs and, I admit, the GPS. Nothing there we were looking for, but husband did find a DVD to buy. By the time we were done it was getting late to go to dinner so we hurried off after buying the DVD.
Yes, we made it the Golden Corral. He was so happy. I don’t particularly like the chain, but he does. Dinner and then we drove home. Of course to head back north we had to drive south, turn right onto a cross road, then turn left on the cross road and then turn left onto the main road north.
Now all the time we are driving and going places, my mind was thinking “I could be cleaning the bathrooms.” “I could be scanning the magazine articles.” “I could be doing laundry.” and so on. But his happiness at having the meal was worth the trip. Then again, when we got home he told me - “Next time I say I want to go to dinner there, tell me I want to go to dinner at the Casino in Connecticut instead.”
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes time wasted is worth it if it gives happiness to someone else or to you.
I am not sure if I posted about this when it happened, but we tried this trip in July and ended up spending 5 and half hours going and coming with no dinner. We had gotten stuck in traffic and the anticipated hour and forty minute trip (per the GPS with traffic considered) ran a bit more - we had been driving for 4 hours and for the last two hours had steadily been half an hour from the end of our trip sitting in traffic. What finally turned us around and sent us home was the fact that by the time we got to the restaurant it might be too late for dinner and there were warnings that the occasional showers due late night, were now dangerous thunderstorms, hitting within the hour with two tornadoes so far and we were sitting in traffic in the open. So we had worked our way off the road and turned around and spent an hour and a half driving home.
What does this have to do with organizing? Well, in addition to having to organize everything for the week around this day and have to organize for the trip (we even over pack for a day trip), it is a loss of an afternoon and evening when other things could have been done.
I normally do our banking on Fridays - and we were short on money to pay bills and had to make a withdrawal from husband’s IRA accounts (hopefully the last of the year as it is the last of the planned money from same for the year). But, in anticipation of going away - and in need of some pocket cash for the trip, we went to the banks on Wednesday. I paid the bills on Wednesday night so they could go out on Friday (this was all the bills that were due by Sunday of the following week as I pay all bills a week before they are due). I did whatever else was sitting around waiting to be done.
I plugged in my other (smaller and a tiny bit newer) laptop to charge in the kitchen before going to bed on Wednesday night. I had our “travel zipper bag” downstairs with the laptop - this has a spare wallet with spare cash and a credit card (and some affinity cards for restaurants etc when we travel - other cards are in the car and the RV) and I add our checkbook just before a trip. Our logic in having extra cash and a credit card that neither of us is carrying is that if we were robbed or other similar problem, we would have cash and a credit card to use. I packed my old Palm Centro in its case - spare info of what is in my cell phone and easy to reach in the car to keep track of tolls paid, etc. We put out rain jackets and sweatshirts - weather was iffy. This way when we woke up Thursday all we needed to take was together in the kitchen on our way out.
Last time we had left after lunch at 3 pm and thinking that was the problem as we were traveling during evening rush hour, we planned - well I planned and he agreed - to eat lunch along the way. I was pretty sure that there were a couple of Wendys in NJ and I knew about one in Staten Island. So we set off.
In New Jersey I did see a Wendys on the road - just as we passed it. We kept going. We had a couple of basically time wasting stops along the way as we would (hopefully) otherwise be at the restaurant for dinner about 2 or 3 hours too early. Before I knew it we were at the first place to stop - there was a Costco with a gas station there and a Hobby Lobby craft store (we just got got our first Hobby Lobby here so that is still a place to stop for us). Since we had not eaten we went to Costco and had lunch and took a quick walk through - looking for some items they no longer have at the ones near us and didn’t have here either. We then gassed up the car (in New Jersey no self-serve allowed) and drove to the Hobby Lobby.
Now, the Costco is on the north bound side of the road we were headed south on. It is north of an intersection and the Hobby Lobby is on the same side, but south of the same intersection. How the roads in New Jersey are designed, one can generally not make a left turn on a main road. One gets off the right on an angle or something known locally as a “dog leg” and then turns left on the cross road to do so. So, to get back to Hobby Lobby we had to go out on the southbound main road, turn right at the next corner, then attempt to turn left onto the cross road - a four lane road with no additional traffic light to help, which we were able to do only by the kindness of a stranger who let us in. Then we had to turn left from that road onto the main road. We then had to turn right off the main road at the same place we did before and turn left - but into the right lanes - of the cross road we had turned left onto, to get to Costco. We gave up on trying to turn left onto the crossroad and turned right, then went up about a block, turned left into a parking lot, drove around in the parking lot, drove back out and turned right onto the same crossroad. We drove across the main road and about a block up turned right into the shopping center that Hobby Lobby is in. This trip from Costco to what is more or less the next shopping center took us 15-20 minutes.
We walked around awhile in Hobby Lobby - I went through their large Christmas department looking. No buying done though. And then we left. Now, to get back on the road we had to head back to the exit that led back to that same cross road and turn left onto the cross road - luckily there was a traffic light to help - and then turn left from same onto the main road headed south again.
So basically we drove in 3 circles to go to these two stores.
Our next planned stop was a Walmart we knew about. (We come to this Golden Corral for dinner about twice a year when we go to the woodworking show and the quilt show we go to in late February and early March so we know what is around it and on the road to it. These two attempts were our only ones to go there just for dinner - I guess I cook that badly that he wanted to go.) The jeans that husband wears has been discontinued at our local Walmarts and we hoped that other ones might still have them, plus some other items we had not found in our local ones, as well as it is a larger one than the ones near us. It is off to the west of the road we were on. I knew how to get there by turning right just before we got to the restaurant, but found a shortcut to it by following the signs and, I admit, the GPS. Nothing there we were looking for, but husband did find a DVD to buy. By the time we were done it was getting late to go to dinner so we hurried off after buying the DVD.
Yes, we made it the Golden Corral. He was so happy. I don’t particularly like the chain, but he does. Dinner and then we drove home. Of course to head back north we had to drive south, turn right onto a cross road, then turn left on the cross road and then turn left onto the main road north.
Now all the time we are driving and going places, my mind was thinking “I could be cleaning the bathrooms.” “I could be scanning the magazine articles.” “I could be doing laundry.” and so on. But his happiness at having the meal was worth the trip. Then again, when we got home he told me - “Next time I say I want to go to dinner there, tell me I want to go to dinner at the Casino in Connecticut instead.”
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes time wasted is worth it if it gives happiness to someone else or to you.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
DEALING WITH COUNTY BUREAUCRACY
Last Thursday we went to an event to help us with applying for two exemptions of our real estate tax. Real estate tax here is high - we pay around $8,000 a year for our real estate taxes and we pay rather low real estate taxes. People easily pay $15,000 to over $20,000 for a subdevelopment house - more of course for fancy houses. To help “older” people stay in their houses and in recognition that they probably don’t have children in the schools, there are two kinds of exemptions that one can receive if one is over 65, has income below certain levels and the property is one’s primary residence. Since husband turned 65, we are now entitled to these exemptions.
I should also explain that our real estate taxes has two different components (well actually a lot more than two, but two sets of billing for them). One type is the “general levy”. This is billed annually in January and is paid in January and July. It consists of the county assessments, the township assessments, the fire department assessments, the police department assessments (police is one, the police stations is another...), the garbage district assessments, assessments for water pipes (we also pay for water usage monthly), sewer assessments (pipes ar one, sewage plant is another) and so on. The other type is the school taxes which also includes the library district assessment and is billed in October (yes, we got the new one today) and is payable in October and April. (So we pay each tax twice a year, but pay real estate taxes quarterly as they alternate quarters.)
Being an accountant I downloaded the forms and filled them in. I am pretty good with forms - and it seems to me that I have helped clients with them in the past. I have been unable to reach anyone with some questions I had. I thought that I posted about this, but can not find it - when I call the County Assessors office I get a message that there is no one there to take my call (not that they are busy, there is no one there) and I should call back. No matter what day of the week or time I called I received this message continually. After some days of trying there was an additional part to the message - it gave their address and told one that parking is “extremely” limited, which to be honest, is true as it is the County office building - but basically they are saying “No one is here to talk to you by phone and don’t come here either”. So we went to one of their help sessions for this paperwork. It was much emptier than a thought and one was able to meet individually with employees about one’s forms.
Looking over the employees I noticed the attitude of one, compared to the others and knew that I did not want her. So, of course, we got her. She looks at our general levy exemption paperwork. and says to us “Your income on this one item is too high - you are not eligible!” I point out to her that we have medical expenses which can be subtracted from the income by their rules, which bring us down under the income amount. “It has to be out of pocket expenses!” (Each of these comments was said as a challenge.) Just our medical insurance premiums alone almost bring us down enough - add the prescription costs and I did not even bother get print outs from our doctors. Understand, canceled checks or other receipts is not proof of the medical expenses, one must get a print out for the year from who the money went to. “Oh! Okay”. Now I had filled in the form on their website. “This is the wrong form! It is the form from the website! We don’t use that form!” Huh? I did not ask her why then the form is on the website and one is told to download it and use it, then again, there is a link to the state to submit income information to it for the other exemption and not only does it not work, when I telephoned the state, I was told that they don’t do that - all income goes to the county - if I complained, who knows how bad this would get. She then takes the copy of our state tax return I brought with us for the other exemption, which is suppose to require it. “IT’S HANDWRITTEN!!!! We can’t accept this!” Huh? I do our own return. She then goes to someone else and comes back with our return and a page of information. I have to contact IRS and get copies of all our 1099, W2, etc forms. The page has the local number to call to get this. “You will have to take this home and wait until you get the papers from them and then send it in to us altogether with the correct form!” Okay.
Now she goes to other exemption’s paperwork. In our state we have a general exemption from part of the school taxes if one owns their home and it is their primary residence. This is called a STAR exemption. (It means school something or other I am sure.) The money for this one comes from the State, not the County. Some years it was subtracted from what one pays, other years it has come as a check back to us after we pay the taxes, basically so we “see” that the our “wonderful” state senators and representatives are “giving” us a break on our school taxes. If one qualifies for same, is over 65 (or one spouse is), has no children in school, and has income under a much higher limit than the first tax has one has their school taxes lowered much more. I prepared for another set of arguments. “Why are there three forms?” I had the County form and the State form, and another form from the State which will automatically renew this exemption. She throws the State form back at me. “You don’t need this!” I tell her the State office told me to fill it in. “No, it is unneeded!” She then looks at the form to renew it automatically. “What this!!!” She reads it, turns it over, then reads it again. “Oh you want it to renew automatically?” Well, hmmm, do I want to go through this every year for both exemptions, or would I rather get it one of them automatically. I reply, “yes”. Again, she does not ask for any of the paperwork - birth certificates, deeds, etc,that the paperwork’s instructions said to bring. She looks it over and stamps the form. Makes a copy (yes, they had copy machines and every thing - and I had brought a copy and even a stapler, just in case) and stamps the copy and hands it to me. Hopefully we really did not need the other form.
So we went home. I called the IRS number. It actually has a choice to get the printout requested. I put in my info. “There is no available information for this person.” Huh? I try husband’s info and I am able to pick which one of two printouts I want - his income tax info or adjustments made. I pick the former figuring that will give us - or at least him - the 1099, etc. copies printed out. I try again for me - again I am not available. I then see that there is also a form to request the info. I go to the IRS website and download the form and fill in a copy for me and one for husband. On this form I see a choice for the 1099 forms to be sent. Hmmm, does that mean we are not getting them from the telephone call as that item is listed separately? I don’t know, but the forms went to IRS the next day. Hopefully one way or the other we will get the information.
We have until December 31 to fill these papers. (This is an early date - most places in the state have until next March.) I am so glad that I did not wait for the last minute. If the information from IRS arrives in time there are additional sessions around the county until October 19 and we can go in again, if not we will have to either mail it in or husband will drive there and circle while I go in and deal with it.
This process is so much worse than dealing with IRS or our State about any type of taxes. Then again, perhaps despite their holding sessions to help people deal with the paperwork, they don’t want people to get the exemptions as, lets face it, it cuts down on the amount of taxes they will collect and they have to come up with the money elsewhere - including maybe raising the taxes.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK - When dealing with the government one has to have everything they want - even if they won’t want it - plus anything else one can think with. Even then something will be missing or go wrong. Never yell at the government employee or things will not come out well for you. (Sorry if any readers are government employees - but at least I am telling people not to yell at you.)
I should also explain that our real estate taxes has two different components (well actually a lot more than two, but two sets of billing for them). One type is the “general levy”. This is billed annually in January and is paid in January and July. It consists of the county assessments, the township assessments, the fire department assessments, the police department assessments (police is one, the police stations is another...), the garbage district assessments, assessments for water pipes (we also pay for water usage monthly), sewer assessments (pipes ar one, sewage plant is another) and so on. The other type is the school taxes which also includes the library district assessment and is billed in October (yes, we got the new one today) and is payable in October and April. (So we pay each tax twice a year, but pay real estate taxes quarterly as they alternate quarters.)
Being an accountant I downloaded the forms and filled them in. I am pretty good with forms - and it seems to me that I have helped clients with them in the past. I have been unable to reach anyone with some questions I had. I thought that I posted about this, but can not find it - when I call the County Assessors office I get a message that there is no one there to take my call (not that they are busy, there is no one there) and I should call back. No matter what day of the week or time I called I received this message continually. After some days of trying there was an additional part to the message - it gave their address and told one that parking is “extremely” limited, which to be honest, is true as it is the County office building - but basically they are saying “No one is here to talk to you by phone and don’t come here either”. So we went to one of their help sessions for this paperwork. It was much emptier than a thought and one was able to meet individually with employees about one’s forms.
Looking over the employees I noticed the attitude of one, compared to the others and knew that I did not want her. So, of course, we got her. She looks at our general levy exemption paperwork. and says to us “Your income on this one item is too high - you are not eligible!” I point out to her that we have medical expenses which can be subtracted from the income by their rules, which bring us down under the income amount. “It has to be out of pocket expenses!” (Each of these comments was said as a challenge.) Just our medical insurance premiums alone almost bring us down enough - add the prescription costs and I did not even bother get print outs from our doctors. Understand, canceled checks or other receipts is not proof of the medical expenses, one must get a print out for the year from who the money went to. “Oh! Okay”. Now I had filled in the form on their website. “This is the wrong form! It is the form from the website! We don’t use that form!” Huh? I did not ask her why then the form is on the website and one is told to download it and use it, then again, there is a link to the state to submit income information to it for the other exemption and not only does it not work, when I telephoned the state, I was told that they don’t do that - all income goes to the county - if I complained, who knows how bad this would get. She then takes the copy of our state tax return I brought with us for the other exemption, which is suppose to require it. “IT’S HANDWRITTEN!!!! We can’t accept this!” Huh? I do our own return. She then goes to someone else and comes back with our return and a page of information. I have to contact IRS and get copies of all our 1099, W2, etc forms. The page has the local number to call to get this. “You will have to take this home and wait until you get the papers from them and then send it in to us altogether with the correct form!” Okay.
Now she goes to other exemption’s paperwork. In our state we have a general exemption from part of the school taxes if one owns their home and it is their primary residence. This is called a STAR exemption. (It means school something or other I am sure.) The money for this one comes from the State, not the County. Some years it was subtracted from what one pays, other years it has come as a check back to us after we pay the taxes, basically so we “see” that the our “wonderful” state senators and representatives are “giving” us a break on our school taxes. If one qualifies for same, is over 65 (or one spouse is), has no children in school, and has income under a much higher limit than the first tax has one has their school taxes lowered much more. I prepared for another set of arguments. “Why are there three forms?” I had the County form and the State form, and another form from the State which will automatically renew this exemption. She throws the State form back at me. “You don’t need this!” I tell her the State office told me to fill it in. “No, it is unneeded!” She then looks at the form to renew it automatically. “What this!!!” She reads it, turns it over, then reads it again. “Oh you want it to renew automatically?” Well, hmmm, do I want to go through this every year for both exemptions, or would I rather get it one of them automatically. I reply, “yes”. Again, she does not ask for any of the paperwork - birth certificates, deeds, etc,that the paperwork’s instructions said to bring. She looks it over and stamps the form. Makes a copy (yes, they had copy machines and every thing - and I had brought a copy and even a stapler, just in case) and stamps the copy and hands it to me. Hopefully we really did not need the other form.
So we went home. I called the IRS number. It actually has a choice to get the printout requested. I put in my info. “There is no available information for this person.” Huh? I try husband’s info and I am able to pick which one of two printouts I want - his income tax info or adjustments made. I pick the former figuring that will give us - or at least him - the 1099, etc. copies printed out. I try again for me - again I am not available. I then see that there is also a form to request the info. I go to the IRS website and download the form and fill in a copy for me and one for husband. On this form I see a choice for the 1099 forms to be sent. Hmmm, does that mean we are not getting them from the telephone call as that item is listed separately? I don’t know, but the forms went to IRS the next day. Hopefully one way or the other we will get the information.
We have until December 31 to fill these papers. (This is an early date - most places in the state have until next March.) I am so glad that I did not wait for the last minute. If the information from IRS arrives in time there are additional sessions around the county until October 19 and we can go in again, if not we will have to either mail it in or husband will drive there and circle while I go in and deal with it.
This process is so much worse than dealing with IRS or our State about any type of taxes. Then again, perhaps despite their holding sessions to help people deal with the paperwork, they don’t want people to get the exemptions as, lets face it, it cuts down on the amount of taxes they will collect and they have to come up with the money elsewhere - including maybe raising the taxes.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK - When dealing with the government one has to have everything they want - even if they won’t want it - plus anything else one can think with. Even then something will be missing or go wrong. Never yell at the government employee or things will not come out well for you. (Sorry if any readers are government employees - but at least I am telling people not to yell at you.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)