TAXES, EYE DOCTOR, FOOD SHOPPING - SO MUCH TO GET DONE!

 Started working on income taxes, corporation taxes and sales taxes this past couple of weeks as mentioned last week.  Depending on the type of the corporation the taxes (companies which use a calendar year as their tax year) is either March 15 or April 15.  I have one corporation to do with each due date.  I also have a partnership return which is also due by March 15.  Partnership is done and out.   The corporation return due March 15 is the one which needs the extension – and still working on getting the paperwork to do same (for our state – Federal and city extensions are filed).  The corporation return due April 15 is at least started.  Sales tax return for the partnership is completed and mailed.  That leaves the other two sales tax returns – at least I have until the 20th for them.  

Then I have the regular individual returns which are due – as all of you in the US know – is due by April 15th.  Started working on one of them also.  

There seems to be plenty of time for the April 15 returns, but they need to be done and mailed to the clients for them to sign, mail and maybe write a check – for each return – Federal and state – and I know from past years (decades) that the time passes in an instant.  

Then, today, we went to our eye doctor (which took up the entire day so no work done).  He is in the next county so it is a bit of drive and worst of all, driving home we are driving into the setting sun – with drops in our eyes so the sun is all the worse to have in front of us.  At least we had good exams with no problems and very little change in vision – don't need new glasses unless we want.  

After I post this I will go back to the supermarket shopping list I started last night as we will go food shopping tomorrow – it is our once a month trip to the (Walmart) Neighborhood Market two communities away to do a full shopping trip. In between we go to one of the two Walmarts nearer to us.  Normally we go to the bigger of the two as it has a larger assortment of items, but two days ago we went to the smaller of the two as an item husband needed is carried at the smaller store, but not at the larger store.  

After I post this to you I will go back and add a few more items to the shopping list, I will then go over the list with husband when he comes down later for before bed snack in case he wants something else or doesn't want something I have on the list.  I will then print it.  The list is in an Excel spreadsheet file.  I have a list of what we normally buy and which aisles the items are in, as well as a more complete list of what is in which aisle.  By scanning down the list of what we normally buy I can make sure that I have not forgotten anything.  Hoping we will find foods we are looking for.  Store shelves/cold cases are still partially empty around here – though much better than earlier in the pandemic.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK-
 Don't put things you need to do off until the last minute.  Had I done that with the business tax returns they would not be out on time.  If I don't do that with the food we will run out of food.  

What have you put off that you really need to?

BUYING A NEW VACUUM CLEANER

 We have several vacuum cleaners.  

There is an upright one upstairs  - actually standing up in the corner of the bedroom as there is no place to keep it.

There is a small wet/dry vacuum in the office upstairs.  (Why there?  Well a vacuum in the office is convenient as lots of shredded paper ends up on the carpet and it is easy to use for same (on the dry setting of course).  

There is another upright vacuum in the front hall closet on the main floor.  It is held standing up against the wall with velcro attached to the wall.  There is also a hand held vacuum hanging just inside the door to basement from our kitchen.  

The basement has a normal sized wet dry vacuum.

The garage/wood workshop has a BIG wet dry vacuum as it goes into clear pipes around the inside of the garage walls and the various standing power tools connect into it so that when the tool is in use one opens a small door where a short pipe from the tool meets the big one around the wall of the basement – this allows most of the saw dust to be sucked into the pipes and then into the vacuum.  

I have never liked vacuum cleaners since I was little – they make too much noise for me.  I use sweeping tools instead.  I have been very bad however, for a number of years and even more so the past year past during the pandemic, at actually using anything to clean the floors or to dust.  Does using the toe of a fuzzy slipper count as cleaning?

Husband had been getting more upset about how the house looks – he claimed that one could get lost in the dust on the floor.  He decided the problem was needed a better vacuum (at least he did not decide that what “we” needed was a better wife).  He has been reading and studying about the newer vacuums and what to buy.  

So last Friday we drove out to the Walmart over the county line as they had the stick vacuum he has seen on TV and he decided was what we needed.  The Walmart near us carries this vacuum also, but all the cartons looked open (should have been a clue).  

We took it home and he immediately set it up.  First problem – the commercials say it stands alone – it only does so if one removes the motor section and hangs it from a hook lower down on the stick – not a great thing to have to take it apart and put it back every time it is used.  He cleaned our kitchen and part of our studio with it.  Kitchen has vinyl floor, studio has carpet.  He tried to clean the air conditioner in the studio with it – using it without the floor cleaning piece – not as successful.  Despite their advertising it does NOT clean up to the wall and there was about ¾ to 1 inch of a line of dirt around the walls which it did not/could not pick up.  We had to dump out the dirt cup twice while using it (okay, there was at least 6 months of dirt on the floor).  Hair is not suppose to get caught around the roller – it does get caught. We had to cut the hair off the roller of the vacuum with a pair of scissors before repacking it.  Then again also, we both have long hair.  

He then took it upstairs to the bedroom and cleaned the wood floor up there with it.  Similar problems and even more hair caught under it and again the dirt cup had to be dumped twice.  We decided it was not for us.  We packed it and did so.  

He then started looking again.  The same company makes other similar vacuums – he decided we needed the next size up.  It actually stands on its own when assembled (no need to take the motor off), holds more in the dirt cup and so on.  He read the instructions online this time to avoid any surprises.

We bought the larger one.  Today we set it up and tried it.  Similar problems to the first problem and much heavier.  So we repacked it to return it.  

We never did get to the living room, or dining room floors – both wood, or the spare bedroom upstairs- carpet and only one of our studio was vacuumed as the other side is covered in “stuff” mostly as a result of canned goods and such being on my work table there  -  so other items were moved to the floor.

While he is the one looking for a new vacuum I realize it all my fault.  If I had kept up with the sweeping (I use a modern version of a broom that comes with replaceable pads which I will not name, although it works very well as opposed to these vacuums) he would not have decided that we need to get a new vacuum and we would not have gone through all of this.  I do use one of the hand held vacuums to pick up the debris left after sweeping.

Now, to be fair, I have had my eyes on a device which holds a bottle of cleaning liquid and vacuums it up  after shooting it onto the floor to clean it, which is used to wash floors. Problem has been that we don't like scents – especially floral scents – which its cleaning liquids have.  They now have a lemon scent which we can both probably deal with and we will buy same.  It is mostly for my kitchen floor which gets dirty of course, more than getting dusty.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK – Always take advertisements “with a grain of salt”.  I know this. Husband knows this and will make fun of people who fall for advertisements.  I knew these vacuums would not be as advertised, but hoped that they would be better than they were – he actually thought that they would be as advertised for some strange reason.  

What do you use to clean your floors?   Well at least the floors are mostly clean right now.

COVID 19 #28 FOOD SHOPPING

 Another week gone by  - and I am a day late, my apologies.  

We went on one of our Covid food shopping sprees yesterday.  The shopping took about 3 hours and then wiping down and storing the items another couple of hours when we got home.  We last went food shopping in mid January on a similar adventure.  We have been doing our food shopping trips to a Walmart Neighborhood Market.  The Walmart stores around here are much smaller than elsewhere and have only small food departments not the large supermarkets that Walmarts have in other area.  Walmart has among their other chains, one called Neighbor Market.  These stores are supermarkets and pharmacies and what is normally carried in stores such as this – not the big assortment of items carried in their regular stores.  This particular Neighborhood Market is their highest grossing in the US and has been turned into a “retail lab” to find out why – I could tell them why without all the work of making it someplace I really don't want to go, it is the only Walmart supermarket in the bi-county area! The Neighborhood Market is 2 miles along the road from the local regular Walmart near us (where we get our prescriptions) – so it is sort of an add on to the local regular Walmart.   We did fill in bread and some items once or twice between January and now at our local Walmart when we went to renew prescriptions or needed something right away.  

When we started doing these food runs last May (2020)we were not as organized as we thought and yesterday's trip was actually the most organized and relaxed of all our shopping trips since we started staying at home last March (2020).  I am guessing that I have written about our first trip – by the time we were done shopping husband felt so bad that he had to wait in the car for me while I checked out – we later figured out it was due to his blood sugar having fallen from the (negative) excitement, his panic, and the sheer amount of running around we had done.  

After our third shopping trip I figured out that what we needed to do was to make TWO shopping trips at the same time.  First we go into the store and buy all the items we need which do not have be kept cold – canned and jarred foods, boxed foods, bagged foods, cleaning supplies, OTC medications, soap if we need, any office supplies and such.  We then check out and bag all the items – we have to bring our bags or buy paper bags from the store due to a change in law which went into effect in the middle of the pandemic and the paper bags they have are small.  I bring A LOT of bags and pre double bag them.  We take the bags out to our car, in this case our van as our car is in for service for over a month as they cannot figure out what is wrong, and our van is better for this anyway as it holds a lot more.  We then locked the van and took our cart and more bags back into the store.  We then bought all of the cold items – refrigerated, meats, and frozen items and then checked out again.  We even remembered to use 2 coupons for several dollars each – sent to us by a manufacturer due to a problem with a product a few months ago.  By the time we were done we had 16 double bagged bags plus 2 (not really) “gallon” pails of ice cream.  Amazingly we were not exhausted and not yelling at either as we have been on these food runs in the past.  Two good is that I drink as little water as possible with lunch as I don't want to have to visit the ladies room in a store right now and – husband finally realized this – he has to eat enough for lunch before we go to have enough glucose in system for his blood sugar not to fall while we are out.  We also go around 2 pm so the stores have smaller crowds in them – people working, children coming home from school etc then – easier to move around and almost no line checking out – plus not as many people means more space between us and them right now.

When we come home we wipe down most items with alcohol on paper towel.  I say most items as some items are double packaged – such as dry cereal in a bag in a box or fruit bars which are individually packed in a box – with these items we open the outside packaging and dump out the inner packages instead of wiping down the outer package and toss the outer packages right away.  It is an exhausting process and I came up a way to make it a little less.  Since I don't have to worry about canned and jarred goods being out as they will not attract bugs or other vermin, I leave the cans and jars in their bags and set aside the bags until later in the evening.

This entire process took us about 5- 6 hours this week not including later wiping down and storing the cans/bottles.  But we won't need to food shop again, other than some fill ins for about 2 months.  Why do we do this?  Well, we don't want to go out more often than we need to.  Hopefully by the time we need to do a full shopping trip again – it will be safer for us to do so, especially as we should get our second vaccinations next week.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

How organized are your shopping trips, especially now?  Do you buy only items which are needed (to be honest we were doing that  before “stay at home” came into being and I did not like it)?   Do you plan ahead to make sure that you don't run out of things?  Do you make a list as you run low on food and related items so you will know what you need.  (Since we started doing these food runs I actually inventory everything we have and make a list in computer spreadsheet than sit with husband to decide what and how much we need to buy of items – also since stay at home, I sort the list by, more or less, which aisle in the store the items we need are in – and print out the list of what we need to buy and take it with us.)

COVID-19 # 25 MUST BRING OWN BAGS SHOPPING NOW - HOW MANY WILL BRING BAGS WITH CORONA VIRUS ON THEM?

 Well, another week gone by – I hope everyone is hanging in and not going completely crazy while staying at home for this long – for us it is since basically the start of March, though we were not told to do so by our Governor until later in the month.  More recently we have been going out to run errands more and more – lately seemingly once a week, occasionally twice a week for something or other, with food being about once a month unless we are out for something else in, say, Walmart, where there is also food.  Last week we went out to get a renewal of Diabetes supplies and since we go to Walmart,, also filled in a (very) few food items as long as we were in Walmart.  Tomorrow we are going food shopping.

Shopping in general now has a new challenge here.  March 1 a law went into effect in our state that stores (in most cases) can not distribute “one use” plastic bags.  They can distribute papers bags and charge for same – in some counties/cities they are required to charge a 5 cents fee for the paper bags.  So, almost immediately after this law went into effect the Corona Virus panic set it in.  People of course did not know about or remember the law coming into affect (despite news on TV and in print talking about it) and showed up to panic food shop without bags – what a mess and confusion.  When we went food shopping mid March I brought 3 of the old “one time use” shopping bags shoved in the back pockets of my jeans, and two of the large, zippered bags that had been for sale for one to buy and use instead.  (One supermarket had offered a trade in the week before March 1 – bring in a one time use bag and get one of these zippered bags in exchange free, so husband and I had each done so.)  In the middle of March (just after our shopping “spree” the law was on a halt – I had thought it was due to good sense, in a pandemic do we really want people bringing bags from home into stores – was my logic.  But no, there had been a court case against the law – that it was illegal.  The case was finally heard and the plaintiffs lost, so now we must bring bags when shopping for our items.  In normal times this would be a pain to remember with trips back out to the car where we always have some of the “one time use” bags, but now it is a bigger problem as when we go food shopping we end up with 8 or 9 paper bags (which hold more) of food and remember to bring them with us.  All of the articles about the law are so helpful about remembering to bring bags –

    Put them in your purse – how large a purse does someone have to fit in 8 or 9 paper bags and what about people like me who do not use a purse.

    Put them by the door – where? on my stove? And we have been known to forget things hung from the door knob so we don't forget them.

    Keep them in your car – have to remember to bring them back out to the car and need them in all cars, and then of course with this idea and the prior one – once the bags are in the car – one has to remember to take them out of the car when one goes into the store.  

Well, the shopping list is made and printed out – and we will be going tomorrow to the supermarket.  We will see what will happen.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Understand, I get the idea of using less and appreciate it, but in general it is a problem and even more so right now, when  items from one's home should not be coming into stores as they may be contaminated with Covid-19 and then are put where other people will have to put their bags to load their food orders into them.  

COVID 19 #22 STORING AND LISTING FOOD SO YOU CAN FIND IT IN THE FREEZER

 Last week I told you about our food shopping trip.  One thing I have to do at some point not too long after we go food shopping is write up new lists of what we have in the freezers so we use it all up and don't let anything go to waste by lack of memory.  

Everything that had to be was pushed into a freezer when we got home – other than a few items that were not frozen and could stay for a bit in the refrigerator, but needed to be frozen for longer time storage – such as fresh meat that will not be eaten for awhile.  I was not able when we got home to put a number of things in the freezer that makes more sense – meaning I try to keep packages that we pull out the items one or two at time in the upstairs freezer in the refrigerator – such as a package of hamburgers – so I have to run downstairs when we have same and pull out one burger for each of us – or just one for husband if I am eating something else.

Last Friday night I boiled the chicken we had bought.  Half of it was to be used for a Brunswick stew for Sunday night and the other half to be frozen for later use either in another of same or some other dish.  Since it takes quite awhile to cook the stew and the chicken meat has to cool down between being being cooked and being pulled off the bones for the stew, I often boil the chicken in advance so this is not unusual.  My plan was to make the actual stew Sunday afternoon.  I have to keep an eye on the stew while it is cooking so I also planned to do several chores downstairs at the same time so I would be nearby to check the stew and give it a stir every now and then.  

One of the things I planned to so was make new lists of what is in the freezers and see if I could switch anything around between the two so items I need to have in the kitchen are there and not down in the basement.  

I had cut a sheet of paper into 4 list shaped pieces across the width.  I used unused paper for this so there was nothing on the back of the lists to dirty the refrigerator door.  (I normally reuse paper that has been printed on and was an error, was something some website printed multiple pages when I only needed one part, and so forth- the back of the pages and often part of the front have no printing and it makes great scrap paper – full sheets or cut up.)

First I went to the basement to make a list for down there and see if I could juggle anything around to move some larger items (like second container of ice cream) to the basement freezer to have room in the upstairs freezer for the items I would prefer to keep up there for convenience.  This was not to be. I brought 2 pieces of the paper cut to make lists and a pencil – and a large towel that we have using to cover the kitchen table when we bring in new food items to let the alcohol they were rubbed with to kill any Covid 19 on the items.  I had to take things out of the freezer downstairs shelf by shelf to see what was there – there are 3 shelves and I put this on the floor so the food is not sitting on the floor itself.  I mark one list basement (or B) and “meat” on its top.  The second one is also marked on top for the basement and as “other”.  Technically not everything on the “meat” list is meat – it actually means main dish type item.  The “other” list is vegetables, bread, and so on that is not a main dish.  I rearranged the freezer so things fit it into better and listed the items on the papers.  

We have been buying what I call “frozen box meals” - by this I mean those meals intended for a family that are popped into the oven, cook an hour or so and are a main course and often also the vegetables and starch are mixed into the entree – examples of this is a prepared lasagna, turkey bake, and things such as small meatloaves or Salisbury steaks – these latter two need to have the side dishes cooked separately for them. We buy 2 each of a few kinds of each and have them Friday and Sunday nights when we used to go out for dinner in the normal days before the corona virus.  I stacked them so that the same dishes were together with the older ones on top of the newer ones so that when I take one – it is the older one.  

We have a few items which take up more room than they should for what they are.  Back in May husband ordered a 5 pound bag of frozen corn and a bag about the same size of french fries from BJs when we ordered from them.  I am maybe halfway through the bag of corn and it takes up a lot of room.  I just finally opened the bag of french fries – we also had 2 normal sized bags of french fries that we had to use up first before opening this one.  Add to that husband bought a bag of meatballs when we went to Walmart back in May and it was almost the size – and he does not like them.  So after one dinner from them, they were sitting in the freezer taking up space – possibly to do so long after the pandemic ends – so I decided I would eat them for dinner when he has something I do not particularly like.  Unfortunately one of the reasons he does not like them is that they have too much garlic.  So when I have them I have to go upstairs and rinse out my mouth with mouth wash after wards.  They are small meatballs and 6 are suppose to be a serving.  It will take at least a month and a half or longer to finish the bag, so last week I upped the serving size to 8 meatballs – every 3 weeks is one week less I will be eating them and one week faster that I get the space from them back in the freezer.  When these 3 items are finished and gone from the freezer and a normal bag of french fries and a normal size bag of corn are there instead the freezer will hold a lot more things.

As I am removing all these things from the freezer and rearranging them – periodically I run upstairs to check and stir the stew.

I then went upstairs and started on the freezer in the refrigerator.  I took out most of the items on the bottom shelf and put them on the kitchen table.  These 2 lists were the labeled the same way as downstairs except they were labeled as “upstairs” instead of “basement”.  I rearranged the items in this freezer as I listed them and then put them back.  Up here are things like leftover gravies and cranberry sauce. (Did you know can freeze these things?  We only use half a can of gravy and I froze ¾ of the can of cranberry sauce in ¼ of the can size in small plastic containers (pudding sized) when I opened the can and we had the first ¼ can with sliced (deli type) turkey.  Also on this shelf is frozen bread (none yet from this purchase) and frozen hot dog and hamburger rolls so they last longer as we are shopping much less often than normal.  I then took out the items on the top shelf and did the same.  Our top shelf is a lot taller than our bottom one and I had bought a good sized plastic “basket” that I put small items into to keep them together and also stand up bags in so it is easier to see them and I can take out the entire “basket” to check what it is in it.  I have frozen eggs in this basket, as well as frozen meats in portions to use.  Husband had ordered from BJs back in May 3 boxes of eggs (3 pounds) but they did not have them and he accepted a 5 pound restaurant pack of eggs instead.  We don't eat eggs early (or breakfast) and needed them to cook things.  We had worked our way through one of the two layers when the good by date came up and we froze the rest.  To freeze an egg one has to crack it open and mix the yolk and white so that the yolk is not intact.  (If left in the shell or the yolk intact they will expand too much and break the shell and/or the yolk.)  In the old days when I did this with maybe four or five eggs I would put them in plastic, lidded pudding cups – but I did not have dozens of cups.  I put a plastic sandwich in each of 5 cups at a time and put in some cups one egg and others two eggs – if we do eat eggs – a bag of 2 is used for each, if we need 3 (say for a cake mix) take a bag of two and a bag of one or 1 for something we take – we take a bag of one egg.  I have the 2 eggs in one plastic zip bag and the 1 eggs in another.  I list of all of the items up here the same way – main dishes on the
“upstairs meat” list and the rest on the “upstairs other” list.  To make dealing with and finding the frozen vegetables easier – when I open a bag of same I put the contents in a labeled quart zip bag which is labeled with the vegetable name and the date it is good until.  I reuse these bags when I use up the contents and change the good until date.  I have them – ready for this?  In alphabetical order in the lower shelf in the kitchen freezer door – easy to find.  

Having finished dealing with the freezers and listing their contents  (while stirring the stew in between) I put all of the lists on the refrigerator door with magnets (no point to having the downstairs freezer list downstairs – then I would have to go downstairs to see what I have – if all the lists are upstairs it I can see everything while upstairs.

These lists would not work as well when we are shopping normally – they would have to updated instead of replaced  - they work now being replaced as there are major changes each time due to the length of time between shopping trips.  

Since the stew was still not finished (it cooks a LONG time), I then stored away my July Lucy and Me  figurines from the living room and put my September ones – the August ones never went out.  Again, I was close to the kitchen to keep checking the stew.  

When the stew was almost finished I made some biscuits from refrigerated biscuit dough (this is not the same as the frozen biscuits, although the same brand) to go with the stew.  Freezer contents listed, frozen food arranged a bit better and easier to use, Lucy and Me bears out for the month and dinner cooked – all at the same time.  A good day of organizing and a bit fun in changing the bears.

THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK -

1 – If you have do something to do that takes awhile, but must be watched – see if there are other things you can do in the same or nearby physical location so time waiting to stir or check on the pot is not wasted.

2 – List what you have in your freezer (and for some people – also what is in your refrigerator – so you know what you have.

COVID 19 #21 - FOOD SHOPPING DURING THE TIME OF CORONA

 We went shopping for food this past Monday.  We almost made it through August without a full food run – just a small run to our local supermarket for Diet Coke (first time we have bought since before the stay at home – we had been drinking it only a half glass with Saturday night dinner, and then only since the start of May.  We also bought some other items which are not sold at the Walmart Neighborhood Market at which we have done our food shopping.  

I have been using a ¼ strip of a page of paper on the refrigerator for a shopping list and then when we start to talk about going shopping I have been copying the list into a spreadsheet file.   I try to sort by where I think the items are located in the store as I don't want to take out my pen and to cross items we have found off of the list and want to avoid having to double back for missed items also. This trip I did two related things – I brought a pencil stub to write with (if I felt it should not come home, I could toss it out when we left the store) and I also used the back of the shopping list (and the pencil stub) to list generally the items in the food aisles, especially those we buy.  I realized my shopping list was pretty close to where the items were located anyway – I did have 2 aisles reversed in the list.  Next trip I will try to list what is in which aisle of the non-food items.  

Before we went I had started making a master list of items we buy or might buy in the supermarket to make sure that when making future lists I don't forget anything.  (List is mostly made by husband saying or my realizing that we just took the last of something or have few enough of the item left to last beyond a week or so or one of us saying something like - “hmmm, wouldn't it be nice to have “Brunswick stew” (or something else) for dinner – do we have what we need to make it?”  After I returned home I resorted the master list by which aisles I had found the items to be in.  The master list is in 3 columns (so more of it can be seen at time while making up the shopping list – in a 4th column) – food, cold food, and non-food.  By looking down the list as I make up our shopping list for the upcoming supermarket trip I can make sure I don't miss anything.  Maybe we will continue to shop for more than a day or two at time, like we used to in the old years when I did the food shopping alone while husband was still working outside the house, it does work very well.

We found most of the items we were looking for – I could swear that supermarkets carry Chinese hard noodles – maybe it is just this store that does not.  It took him 10 minutes to decide which “I think want different cookies this time” he wanted.  He likes nicer than white bread when he has a sandwich, so he bought an Italian loaf baked in the store and wanted to buy rye bread.  The rye bread is small compared to the white bread and the what we call – the store bread so he decided to buy 2 loaves.  (We bought 4 loaves of white bread, use one and part of one fresh and freeze the rest as the expiration date approaches.)  In normal years we maybe buy one loaf of white or store bread and maybe don't have any bread in the house for long periods of time.  He could not decide between the “hard” and the “soft” rye breads from the same company – I told him to buy one of each and then decide which he liked better for next time, we did.

I figured while we were shopping we should buy some ant traps – generally need them on and off.  We could not find the bug spray section.  I asked an employee – he pointed at a rack hanging from the end of an aisle.  None there – I mentioned this and he sent me to Aisle 16 – made sense to me that was dog food and stuff for the house – only another rack hanging from the end cap – guess there is not much of a calling for bug killer stuff in the supermarket?  When/if we go to a regular Walmart I will check there and buy same.  

And now – the big disorganization happens.  In the trips we have taken to this Walmart for groceries – about 3 or 4 times since the stay at home started – there have been no lines at checkout other than at self checkout. This time it seemed there were big lines at all of the registers – and the lines ran up the aisles and people were close together.  Husband picked a line.  I was concerned that it was a small number of items or less checkout and went up to check.  I then saw that where we normally check out seemed now to be empty.  I went and checked and it was – problem – not going to take out cell phone with gloves I have on and he won't check – so I had to run back to him and then back to stand at register while he figured out how to get there.  (Umm, go to back of store and up the big aisle that comes forward – this took a lot of thinking? And he walked there so slowly.)

The system he has developed for food shopping is he wear gloves and pushes the cart. I wear gloves and select the items and put them in the cart.  (To his mind this keeps the cart and food unvirused.)  So I have to take the items out of the cart and put them on the belt for the cashier.  (Before the pandemic we only did self-checkout, now we always go to a cashier.)  I put the heavier cold items first and then the lighter cold items, followed by the heavier not cold items and finally the lighter not cold items.  We want the cold items bagged together so we can deal with them first when we get home before they warm up – both for wiping off with alcohol on paper towel piece and then figuring where to fit the items in the freezers (one is part of refrigerator and the other is a small dorm refrigerator sized one in our basement).  Fitting them in is not easy.  An example – we have been buying what I call frozen box dinners – these are the precooked, heat up, commercial company frozen meals in the freezer cases. I told him we had room for 7 of them (based on what we had used and the room I had for stacking them).  He picked out 6 of them – okay, that's better as more room for something else, right?  He then decides to buy a box of frozen fried chicken (which I reminded him he did not like last time and that there was much less in the box than it looks like it will have) – it almost the size of 2 of the boxed dinners.  I explained to him that we could buy that – but one of the box dinners has to go back due to space limitations.  He found a bag of fried chicken strips instead.  

I started putting the items on the belt to be rung up. It is again a huge order as we are buying for a month and hopefully beyond.  He is standing there watching me – remember, only I can touch the food.  I finally suggest he go to the other end and watch how the cashier is bagging the items.  He comes back.  The cashier is not bagging them – they do not have any bags!!  He starts to panic.  I unpack as quickly as I can and then start reloading the food she has rung up into the cart, thinking all the time what to do.  Oddly I had looked at the two reusable shopping bags we had gotten back at the end of February when the state was going to no disposable plastic bags and thought about about bringing them, but did not.  We had brought one disposable bag as he sprays the cart with Lysol before we start using it and I like to hide in the van as it is in such demand this days.  I figured we must have other bags in the van and told him we would be okay.  When I asked the cashier if this was something permanent – they had run out of bags at 2 pm.  (This was 5-6 pm.)  Not sure if it was a question of people doing extra food shopping as heavy rain was to come for the rest of the week (which is why we were shopping Monday), it was the last day of the month or what, but good to know it was not a change in policy.

In the car I had about 4 disposable plastic shopping bags, a paper shopping bag (bigger than a supermarket bag from some other store), and clean plastic garbage bags – I am guessing leftover from craft shows we have done and used them to carry woven items or such.  I put the breads in the paper shopping bag – just fit all of them (including a pack each of hot dog and hamburger rolls).  I put cold items into the 4 plastic bags which took most, but not all of them.  I then used one garbage bag for the rest of the cold items and a couple of garbage bags for the non-cold food.  

When we got home we dealt with the cold food in the shopping bags first and then I used the empty shopping bags to bring in the rest of the cold food.  After the cold food was put away, I started on the non-cold food, again using the shopping bags to bring them in – bread came in last.  

After all of this time and work – we came up short a rye bread!  We thought we lost it on the way on home after paying for it, but when we checked the receipt – we had never paid for it – either it fell out of the wagon, did not make it up the belt at the register – or a fairy took it out of the cart – and with how things are lately, I am so not sure it was not the last.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

It pays to make a shopping list before going shopping all the time – better than a trip back for a forgotten item.  Even more so now with the Corona virus about.  It helps one deal with a larger order quicker and with much fewer running back for items not remembered as one went through their aisle.  Today much more so than even before – one wants to go in, shop, and get out as quickly as possible to spend as little time out near people as possible.

A good Labor Day holiday to those in the U.S.

COVID 19 #15 MORE DELIVERIES - MORE PROBLEMS, BUT NOT AS BAD

Well, Monday husband commented to me that he found a couple of things he needs, but not enough for a delivery order (US$35 minimum).  I decided to tell him that I needed some things also – most important was lint trap filters for our washing machine.  (These are the mesh bags that go over the outgoing hose of the machine and keep lint from ending in the drain.)  We went to the computer and the Walmart site and started going through our lists - $35 – easy – we went over $100.  Most of what we ordered was not food – but household stuff.    We put in the order – first items were to come today, Wednesday. 

Last time we ordered (the first time we ordered) from Walmart the first shipment came a day early and most shipments were sitting on steps when I woke up and looked out – 3 hours earlier than I normally wake up.  So despite husband insisting that nothing was coming on Tuesday – per the delivery information  - I woke up and went downstairs and looked out the front door.  Nothing there.  I decided to agree with him and not wake up hourly to check and went back to sleep. 

Tuesday is one of the days I go out and take in the mail.  When I did so in the afternoon – surprise!  A box from Walmart!  I brought it into the porch and unloaded it – wiping each item down with alcohol on a piece of paper towel and handing it to husband in the kitchen.  (Items that are packed in a package – we just toss the outer package instead of wiping it down.)  We cover the kitchen table with a towel – and we are running short on bath towels as we have the dining room table covered with same so the cans and plastic boxes living there for now do not scratch or mar the table – to hold the items he brought in.  Nice assortment, but none of the urgent items. 

Today we were to officially get a delivery.  I woke up early again – no package.  An hour later – no package.  An hour later – no package.  Finally in the late afternoon I was working at my desk in the office -with the curtain opened so I could see if a big truck parked in front of the house – I saw the truck and the package was here.  I went downstairs and brought the box into the porch and repeated the unpacking procedure.  The lint filters I needed was in the order – using one of them right now as I am doing the laundry as I write.  The filters come 2 in package and we had bought 4 packages – I opened each package and held it out to husband to pull out the contents – they did not need to be wiped down. Good thing – if I did not get them, I would have to constantly run downstairs and make sure that when water was expelled from the washer the lint screen over the drain (there in addition to the filter all the time) was not completely covered and that water could still go down the drain. 

There was also the package of bars of soap.  Husband has been constantly afraid during the pandemic that we would run of hand soap.  Mostly we use liquid hand soap for washing our hands and bars of soap for showering.  He has had trouble finding liquid soap to buy more of and when he saw the brand of bar soap – we decided to more of them for showering and “just in case”.  The soap arrived today.  As soon as I opened the shipping box I knew the soap was a problem.  The package had looked right in the photo and it did not occur to either of us to make sure it was unscented.  It is scented.  I now have the bars in double plastic bags and still smell the awful scent when going past them.   I am working on the kitchen table onto which we had unloaded the items.  The towel which covered the table is gone from here – but the odor of the soap continues in the room – ewwww!  I figure if we don't need them  during the pandemic/soap shortage – I will donate them rather them use them.

The next (I think last) delivery should be tomorrow.  Husband has been worried as there was no update of its location until after 6 pm tonight.  At least after it comes I won't have to wake up early to check for it.

THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK -
Even now one should not rush and should stop and make sure items being purchased/ordered are the ones that one actually wants. 

Never trust that the delivery will be on the day one is told – always check the day before. 

COVID 19 #11 - FOOD DELIVERY AND SHOPPING

On last Thursday (the day after I posted) we received another delivery for the food ordered. Again cans were dented – 5 of the 8 cans we received. I am sure I have mentioned that we don't ordinarily order things – and this is one of the things we worry about.

After we dealt the delivery on Thursday husband decided that it was time to go to the supermarket. His logic was that if we went during dinner time (around 6 pm) there would be less people there. Yes, we could go to the special hours for those who are older or at risk, but we are not morning people – we are barely asleep at 6 am when most of the special hours start. We have a Walmart Neighborhood Market at which we normally do a good deal of our food shopping. It is a supermarket and related items – no clothing, gardening etc. He went online and checked that items he planned to buy were in stock – they were.

He had me bring a can of Lysol spray and used it spray the cart – good idea (no, no one was wiping the carts off and even if they were – we had to bring from the parking lot to the store and would have had to touch it to do so). His plan was that I would push the cart and he would put the food in it – both wearing gloves of course. There was no one at the door counting people in and out as we expected there to be – nor anyone checking that we had masks on (we did). The store when we went in was emptier than the Walmart we had gone to for our medications looked from where we parked and looking in the exit doorway. There were directional markings on the floor, but so small I did not notice them and husband did not notice them until the second aisle we went through.

I had thought we were just there for “cold” items – but our first stop was soup – as he looked for and found some varieties which had not been available online – and the cans were not dented. People ignored the 6 foot rule – and even bumped into us. (Okay, this was the first aisle and we were going in the wrong direction – but still – walk into people when there is room to pass them by at least 2 feet?)

We then headed to the meat department. We normally buy regular foods – not organic. Only chicken breasts they had were organic – so we bought organic – 2 packages of 5 breasts each – a reasonable amount under the circumstances. Next some whole chickens caught husband's eye. “Can you cook a chicken?” I shrugged. “I guess it must be the same as turkey – just less time.” We bought a chicken – He was going for two, but I was concerned that maybe it wasn't the same roasting a turkey.

This led us into the freezer department. He added a number of frozen entrees for families that we had bought before - just not this many. I found the frozen vegetables – they had green peas and green beans that we needed (bought multiple bags of course – they are small), but no carrots. We did find frozen mixed vegetables which included same and I needed them for stews – so figured that was good and bought 2 bags of them. He also bought 2 boxes of frozen fried fish – something I don't eat.

As we headed over to the cheese and hot dogs aisle he stopped in the canned vegetables aisles – not really any vegetables we were looking for left – except – canned potatoes. He had looked online to order them and there had been none listed for delivery or pickup in store. We bought 6 cans, they are great in stews. We continued on – he bought 3 packages of 16 hot dogs – I did not point out that at 2 hot dogs for dinner once a week for him – that was 24 weeks worth of hot dogs. (I used to love hot dogs, but became ill after having them once and since then – it is not even easy for me to smell the while I cook them for him.) Added some American cheese and real cheese without whey that can he eat. He found one package of chicken strips similar to the chicken patties I eat when he has the hot dogs, close enough and one is better than none. Also bought 2 packages of presliced packaged turkey – good for dinner or lunch.

Then he headed to the household items. He uses baby shampoo to wash and finish the pieces he weaves and need more. He has been getting some weaving done while we are in the house – just set up his loom to weave 2 dish towels – something he has not woven before, but seem to be popular. A quick stop in the plastic bag aisle to pick up more zip bags in different sizes and we started for the check out. Our cart was the most full of any cart we have had in 40 years of marriage – more than when I would buy for Thanksgiving dinner for our two families and my regular weekly shopping at the same time. I was feeling good – he had overcome his fear of going out and we would probably not need to buy meat again for several months.

As we approached the checkout he turned pale – he did not feel good – really bad in fact. I told him to go to the car and wait. I checked out. Also had the biggest priced order we have ever had. I went out to the car he was terrible looking sitting in the driver's seat. He pushed the button to unlock the back hatch door so I could put in 9 large bags of groceries. (I had made sure to put all the cold items at the front of the order so those items would be bagged together for when we arrived home.) The parking lot was on an incline. I was holding the cart with one hand and trying to open the car hatch with the other and it was not opening. I finally managed to wedge a foot around a wheel so I could use both hands to open the back. He had to drive home as otherwise he would have been sicker.

When we arrived home sent him upstairs to lie down in bed. When we bring things such as food into the house (including the orders when we received them) I have been wiping them off in the porch with alcohol sprayed on pieces of paper towel and handing them in the door to him – he would then put them either in the fridge or a large towel layed out on the kitchen table until I could decide where to put them. Since he was not there I spread the towel on a small counter between the door and fridge. I brought a bag of cold food into the porch and started each item off and putting it on the towel – I had to stack items on each other. When all the cold items were in the house. I ran upstairs to check on husband.

He had tested his blood sugar and it was low. Apparently between the excitement/anxiety of being out and having trouble breathing through the mask – he had burned off the blood sugar he had and low blood sugar added to the trouble the breathing and anxiety made him ill. I brought up a bottle of a sugared drink he uses when he has a low and when he finished it, I left him to go to sleep.

I looked at what was on the counter – I was not sure it all would fit in the freezer where just about all would need to be stored. For the moment I stacked the already frozen items in the freezer – it just fit – and stacked the cold. Not frozen items in the fridge. I then went out and brought in a bag of non- cold items at a time and repeated the process of wiping the items down and putting them on the towel on the counter until all of them were in the house. (Having also done this earlier in the day with 4 cartons of food delivered I was exhausted.)

I looked at the clock and it was close to 8:45 pm. I went up and checked on husband – he was between sleep and awake and not yet ready to get up and come downstairs. I went back down and wondered – after getting all this food delivered or purchased and stored – what to make us for dinner as he would need to eat SOON. I started water boiling and added some pasta – I figured it was easy on the stomach and would give him carbs to offset his low blood sugar. At around 9:15 I checked with him again – he realized we needed to eat and I told him what I had done – he was unsure, but willing to try. He came down and was able to eat and agreed it was a good choice. We then also had some of the presliced turkey in sandwiches for dinner.

We could relax a bit – we now have plenty of food for a long time – well at least until he comes up with something else we need.

Oh – On Friday the last of the orders was delivered – including 8 pristine cans – no dents – why? These were packed in their cardboard base with shrink plastic holding them in place and small plastic pillow filled air around them to keep them from denting – the other cans had some pieces of paper as the only packing around them and the other food in the cartons and they bounced around – though at least 2 of them had to be dented when packed from the extent of the dents.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Fear is a problem if it stops us from doing something we need to do (or even really like to do). I was so glad that he overcame his fear. Generally our fear is worse than the thing we are afraid of. I am glad that we were able to go out food shopping for the first time since mid-March – next time we know what to expect and it will be easier.

Everyone – hoping you and your family stay well.

COVID 19 #10 PICKING UP MEDICATIONS AT PHARMACY AND ORDERING FOOD ONLINE FOR DELIVERY

To finish up about picking up our prescriptions – I called on Thursday to check that all had been renewed for each of us and all were ready.  We get our prescriptions at the pharmacy at a local Walmart – they have been really great and helpful even before the current pandemic.  They do not, however deliver.  For some reason none of the Walmarts on Long Island deliver anything – ever – or, currently, have pre order and pick up – they will, however, bring prescriptions out to the car.  So on Thursday we donned our masks and drove to Walmart.  We parked near the exit and I telephoned.  A very nice employee brought out our prescriptions and had a remote reader so we could use our credit card to pay for them – it is not usable for anything other than prescriptions – I had asked if they could add 2 tubes of denture adhesive to the order and they could not.  She sent me a text with a list of what had been charged.  We thanked her and drove home.

We had expected to see based on what we have seen on TV news shows and what I have heard on the various groups I read online that there would be a line to get into the Walmart (and the unrelated supermarket next to it) with one person coming  out of the store and one going in, people going in and out of the store wearing masks – spread out and not near each other.  As we sat waiting for our medications to be brought out – the Walmart looked more crowded than it does at Christmas!!  No spacing of people coming out.  Few people (other than employees) wearing masks – we were shocked.  The supermarket did not have anyone at the entrance either, though it did seem emptier than the Walmart from outside.  It was our first chance to see what was going “the world around here” and it was not what we expected, had seen on TV or heard from others online.

When we arrived home I stopped in the porch. I sprayed alcohol on pieces of paper towels and wiped down the medication bottles and handed them to husband in the kitchen.  One medication which we each take was not in a bottle as usual – it was in boxes with strips of punch outs for the individual pills.  I pulled the strips out of the boxes and did not wipe the strips, just handed to husband.  The boxes, along with the paperwork for each med went into a zip plastic bag to hold for awhile.  Husband's box of insulin pens, I should mention, was wiped down and put in the fridge first.  As I went along I realized that we were missing two items – husband's blood meter strips (had mine) and one of his blood pressure pills – not the one that we had been told we had to wait for Thursday to get them.  We also could not figure out the texted payment statement.

I telephoned the pharmacy – they had forgotten to give his meter strips.  They had not been able to renew the bp medication as it was too soon by 2 weeks. I expressed surprise as I had received paperwork from our medical insurance company had said that early renewals were allowed.  She went over the charges with me.  I then called our insurance company and complained about the no early renewal and questioned what we had been charged for the medication in strips – apparently we had received the name brand version not the usual generic, hence the extra charge – only US$14 extra for the two of us – so not much, just wanted to know why.  The other item that was a problem I knew what the problem was and it will work itself out and we get a refund of the overcharge. 

So next week – I will call in his strips and his missing medication again and we will have to go there again to get them.

On Monday, husband decided that we needed to order more food.  He had a list of what we needed.  I had a list of what we needed – no they were not the same, but there were overlaps.  He went online and put in an order from Walmart.  I had expected what happened with BJs would happen with Walmart – order taken, but then contacted that most things out.  No, Walmart listed items were in stock – some even said that were 3 or 5 or whatever low number were left in stock.  The first items were to be delivered today, Wednesday.  First item came yesterday!  6 boxes came today – 5 more items to come tomorrow – most items are coming sooner than told – that is good.  A number of cans were dented (40%), some cardboard box packages were dented.  Two bottle of cooking oil had been, we presume, jammed so hard into the box hat the top of them is bent and does not pop back up – maybe they will when they are opened.  Husband emailed Walmart.  They apologized and refunded the damaged cans.  Not happy with the damaged items – but at least they stood behind the deliveries. 

Again the boxes went into our side porch.  I opened the boxes and wiped down each item with alcohol sprayed paper towel pieces and handed to husband. If we could open a box in the porch and dump the contents into a plastic box of ours- we did and tossed the boxes.  After all this I then had to find “homes” for all we bought. 

No refrigerated or frozen items.  We will have to go out sometime in the next two weeks to buy additional meat items and frozen items – especially vegetables.  Husband said so to me – I have been afraid to mention to him and have him go crazy. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

When an emergency comes along life changes.  Never thought we would ever order food delivered – but we need to avoid going out.  One does what needs to do to adjust and live on. 

Please make sure that you and your loved ones are safe and continue to be.  Wear a mask when you go out – if you don't think you need one - it couldn't hurt could it?  Stay away from others when outside – why take a chance?  I want you to be reading – or ignoring – me for a long time to come.

For those in the U.S.- have a safe Memorial Day.  For those who are veterans – Thank you for your service. 

COVID 19 #9 PATIENCE WITH ERRORS AND DELAYS

I hope that all and their loved ones continue to be well.

This week in the wonderful world of isolated at home we have been working on two problems. 

First over a week ago I found that the hot water tap in our downstairs bathroom was leaking.  I tried to use the shut off valve under the sink – but of course it did not turn. I had to call husband to deal withit.  He could not turn that shut off valve either but, being taller than me, he could reach the bigger shut off – just for that sink – in the basement.  So no leak and no hot water in the sink in the bathroom off the kitchen.  Hands either had to be washed upstairs, in the kitchen sink or in cold water.  Since I would forget to wash my hands before coming downstairs to work in the kitchen and did not want to risk washing virus into the kitchen sink – it was wash with cold water. 

In normal times we would have gone to Home Depot and bought the replacement cartridge and fixed the sink – after much screaming and yelling about what was being done.  (It is not a household repair around here unless there is a lot of screaming and yelling.)  But we were not going to go out and look for the part in Home Depot.  Husband looked it up online and found that the Home Depot we go to did have the part and would bring it out to us in our car - but in looking to see this, he found out that there is a lifetime warranty on the cartridge and the manufacturer would replace it free – and by mail.  So I telephoned and they were mailing the cartridge.  Tuesday we had not received it and I called to check and it was traced and here at the post office – along the lines of  “a small world” the woman who checked for me happened to mention she used to live in this area – in the community I grew up and I told her that.  She then mentioned the school her children went to – and it was the one that my sisters and I went to – gee, they might have gone to school with one of my sisters (I am too old to imagine that for me as she would be, well, as old as my 91 yo mom). 

The cartridge arrived in the mail today and with a small amount of concern of everything going right – we now have hot water in the downstairs bathroom – and it does not leak – my hands are very happy not to be in cold water again.  Well, the isolation led to us saving the cost of the cartridge as he would not have looked online and found out about warranty on it if it was not that we are not going out.

Second – we have put off renewing our several medical prescriptions until now when they have to be renewed – will be out of one medication for husband on Friday morning and he did not like my idea of splitting up some old pills of same medication to make the correct dosage for him. 

On Monday during the day I telephoned our pharmacy – Walmart – about what arrangements they had for pickup as we did not want to walk into the store.  Around here,  Walmarts are not delivering and there is no pick up service currently in general.   They do have pickup service for prescriptions only (not even denture adhesive could be added). I was told to call before we come and then again when we are in the parking lot and we would pay at our car. I telephoned on Monday night and put in the renewals through the pharmacy's computer.    

On Tuesday (yesterday) we received a call that they were out of the strips for my Diabetes meter and it would take until “Wednesday” for them to come.  I told them that was okay – and then asked about same for husband – since I had listed his prescriptions first, he had gotten the last of the strips.  No problem, we had figured on going today (Wednesday) any way.  So far, so good.

Today I telephoned the pharmacy to check that the strips had come in.  They had, but now they were short one of husband's blood pressure medications and it would not be in until “Thursday”.  Okay, we can go tomorrow.  The employee was looking over the list of the medications to make sure all the rest were accounted for.  She happened to mention his insulin and the price - $141.  Problem – it is suppose to be $47.  I double checked that they only were filling same for a month.  (Our other medications are for 90 days, but he only wants one box/month's worth of insulin at a time since if something happens to our fridge it will go bad and is expensive (more than it appears from the copay for it).  It was for a month. 

So I telephoned our insurance company.  I got a very nice employee – he explained what it could be – I explained that the deductible had been met for the year.  He checked the records and agreed it should be $47.  While we were speaking there was an echo on his phone – whatever caused that made it so he could not call our pharmacy and he transferred me to another employee – with apparently notes about our discussion on our files as I did not need to give her the pharmacy's phone number again.  She though insisted the $141 was correct as it was for 75 days of insulin!  I explained that it was for a one month supply and the prescription is written for same – one month, one box.  She finally figured out the problem and called the pharmacy to change the price.  I then called the pharmacy to make sure it was all corrected.  So hopefully when I check tomorrow all the prescriptions will be ready and we will go and get them.

Third – Yesterday in the mail we received mail from our cable company marked “urgent” - so I opened it before sealing the mail in the “Tuesday” plastic zip bag for mail.  I left it open and facing the bag to be able to read it while it was in the bag.  It said that our cable would be shut off as we have not paid our bill.  Back last month when the cable bill was due we were short on money in our checking account due a timing problem to pay our cable bill.  Normally we would have gone and transferred money from another account – but if we cannot go out, we cannot easily transfer the money.  I tried telephoning our cable company to new avail, then we tried to “chat” online with same – to no avail until I went to what I had learned to do during the crisis – I went online in the middle of the night to chat with them.  A very nice employee when I explained the situation and asked for the courtesy of an additional week to pay the bill told me that he did not give me the time – there was an automatic 60 day allowance on payment of bills.  I checked with him again that nothing needed to be done and he said nothing – it was automatic.  So we paid our cable bill from last month and our cable bill from this month – together – earlier this month  - 30 days after the first bill was due and in time to be on time for this month's bill. 

Then yesterday I received the notice.  I tried calling the cable company to no avail – busy.  Meanwhile husband went online into our cable account online – it showed the payment and but had for an unknown reason a $10 balance.  I checked with our bank and the check had cleared our bank on April 11 – seems to me that it should have reached them timely if it was back to our bank by then.  I checked the notice – it mentioned a $10 fee if one did not pay by automatic payment – was this something new that they had done? 

 Later that night I again went on the cable company's website and turned on chat and waited for about 45 minutes.  I put in the background of what had happened and then asked about why I received the notice if I had 60 days grace on the late payment from last month and this month's was timely paid – and did I now have to pay a $10 fee for paying with a check instead of by automatic payment?  Per this employee - there was never a blanket 60 day grace period – same was for people who lost their jobs, was only offered through mid March, and people had to apply for it.  My check reached them – one day late, due per her May 8 and arrived on May 9 (mailed on May 3). I mentioned that we have been with them over 30 years and  NEVER paid late.   I was not charged for a fee for paying by check – it was for late payment.  She waived the fee.  She also said that she would let them know about the incorrect information I had relied on which I had been told during the earlier chat in case other customers were told the same incorrect info.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Everything now takes a bit more time and more checking to make sure it is correct.  Try to keep calm (I did with all of these problems) and be nice – so many people are so upset and on edge that customer service people appreciate even more when a customer is nice to them.  (And believe me, I can terribly nasty when something has gone wrong due to stupidity -such as employee giving incorrect information.)  I have also been sure to thank the employees for continuing to working for all of us to have the needed services/items and say that I hope they and their families stay well.

LIVING WITH THREAT OF COVID-19

Well  - it has gotten much more serious dealing with the Corona Virus or COVID-19 as it is now being called.  I certainly hope that all of you and your loved ones are well and stay so. 

Last week I called and canceled a follow up doctor visit for mom as she should NOT go out – she will be 91 the end of this month.  Doctor's office was very nice and told me the  - very good  - results for mom.  I have not made appointments with two other doctors she needs to go to – they can wait until it is safe for her to go out. 

During this past week our lives changed.  We had changed to going to the post office, lunch at Wendys, an attempt to find comfort items for my husband – more hand sanitizer, more hand soap, more alcohol, and/or more food – did get some more hand soap in small bottles and a bit more food.  Shelves remain empty day to day, though I did point out to husband that we do go late in the day and that may be the problem.  One of the local supermarket chains is opening early – 6 am to 7:30 am – special for only senior citizens – we just qualify for same, but 6 am?  I fall asleep at 5 am.  We may go if they continue to do this and we continue not to find things.  We are not in danger of running out of anything for a few weeks – but my husband is from a very nervous family and panics easily.  I keep reminding how much of these things we have, which always ends with “and we have more in the RV”.  We then would go home without going to other kinds of stores to walk around.  Last Sunday we did not go out to our usual Costco, BJ s , big Walmart as we normally do for fun, but it was the same as the other days. 

This week we went to the Post Office once to mail out paid bill payments,  still daily to Wendys for lunch – but, of course, we can no longer eat in Wendys – just home and eat at home.  One day went back out to supermarket – still the same. 

Last Saturday night we took in Chinese food (no dinners out any longer and that was before they ordered to only have to go/delivered orders) for dinner.  We did not go to the movies.  The theater we go to is an independent and they had sent out an email that they were going to spread the showings out further and clean/sanitize between shows – especially the seats and arm rests, bathrooms and food counters, but we still decided not to go.  We stayed in a watched a movie on TV. 

Now, everyone has been making fun of people running to buy toilet paper right?  In the middle of the movie we each received a text message.  MY sister texted me to see how my husband was doing as she knows he panics. HIS sister texted him as she never knows what is going on in the world and – yes – she suddenly found that there is toilet paper available and she is out of same for her family, let alone the news is also, but we would never be that on toilet paper ever, and she needed her big brother to help her find some.  (Eventually her husband found someone selling toilet paper at a 7-11 and bought for who knows how much money.)

Well, I have our food organized  - cans all in rows, lists of what is in the basement freezer on the refrigerator, - and we are eating less than normal at dinner.  Husband said that he would stop going to Wendys and picking up lunch – but each meal we do same, leaves more food in the house.  I am no longer using paper towels to wash the dishes – but husband did not want me to go back to using a sponge – it swirled around in my head – then I remembered – I have my old kitchen towels that are raggedy and  use for cleaning up in the kitchen – I cut up one and I have 6 pieces to use – one a day – to wash the dishes and then they will be washed. 

I normally put out clean towels on Monday and on Wednesday and Friday do so again in the kitchen and on Thursday do so in the two bathrooms.  I am now changing the towels every other day. 

My hands are raw from washing them – the cuts on them from same worry me – but what else can I do. 

Oh, today husband had a text from his sister – do we know where she can buy fish – she suddenly claims she can only fish or she gets sick (in the past it was because it was less fattening) – I guess she will be getting sick often as one will have to eat what is available.  Then again, I had expected him to hear from her upset that they could no longer eat out (every meal) and her gym (she goes daily) was closed. 

On the other hand – being in the house all the time, I am getting work done – on client's taxes and  household clearing up. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Please stay safe – listen to what the instructions are for where YOU live and follow them.  Stay away from those outside your home as much as you can and far enough away for safety.  If we are all careful there should be fewer people ill or worse.  One day this will all be over and we will be able to put our lives back together again. 

Oh, and for something to relieve the stress – do a search for penguins at Chicago aquarium .  Since there were to be no visitors they were allowed out to walk around the building  - they look like tourists seeing the other exhibits!

PREPARING TO DEAL WITH THE CORONA VIRUS IN AN ORGANIZED MANNER

I am not a medically trained person, but I have to talk about the corona virus as it related to being organized. So, do not take anything I say as medical advise, I am just talking doing things sensibly and what I have learned from life over the decades.

I tend not to panic quickly. My husband leans the other way. So I have been working very hard at not saying anything to get him started. But there are realities to the situation that must be dealt with.

I was suppose to go to NYC to a client this week to deliver her corporation taxes and help her mail them out, do her books, and calculate the amount of of sales and sales taxes owed on them for the year ending February 29 so I could go home and file her sales taxes online – as they have to be. I was not happy at the thought of going to Manhattan even before some cases of the corona virus came to the NYC metropolitan area – including in my home county, but I needed to go. My husband was in a panic of my going. I told him that I had figured I would wear a pair of disposable plastic gloves from my car, on the subway and walking until I was at the client and inside. I would then turn the gloves inside out as I took them off and throw them out. I would then put on a second pair – carried in my briefcase – to come back to my car and toss them out the same way when I got back to my car. He was still upset. I finally gave in and mailed the tax returns to the client after calling her and telling her I would do so. I also asked her for her February sales so I could prepare and file her sales tax return. I completed the corporation return and it was mailed to her this past Monday – due the end of the week on Friday. I then prepared and filed her sales tax return and told the state to debit her bank account (the only way to pay the sales taxes) on this coming Monday, so that on the off chance she did not have enough money in her bank account she would have time to get some money into the account. Today I telephoned her and she had just received the tax forms so I was able to help with the returns and I also told her how much to subtract from her checking account for the sales taxes. Breath a deep sign of relief. I was sure that the tax forms would go astray or she would have would have problems dealing with them alone. While I wanted to ignore the threat of the Corona Virus and go to work – I was realistic about it and made my husband feel better.

Last Sunday when we went to Costco and Bjs as we do for something to do on Sundays, they were no longer handing out samples at Costco for fear of the corona virus and large sections of the store – mostly paper goods - were empty. He had planned on buying more toilet paper despite our having at least half a huge package we bought a couple of months ago there and was starting to panic that they did not have same. The store was also limiting how much of certain items one could buy. We drove up the road to Bjs (a similar type of store) and were able to buy his package of toilet paper. They were not as sold out as Costco was. Apparently there have been major runs on toilet paper. When husband brought up buying more I mentioned that we had most of the package yet – but he insisted. Per a segment on a news show, apparently it is considered a comfort item that makes people feel better to have an excess of.

He has also been looking for hand sanitizer (We have two large, unopened bottles, plus a started one, the smaller bottles that we transfer it to for use, two very small bottles that we carry in our pockets (which normally do not have to constantly be refilled – but right now are refilled nightly), and, as I pointed out to him, whatever we have in the house of items like this – is also in our little RV.

Over the recent years we have become rather bad at food shopping. While I used to keep a list on our refrigerator of what I needed to buy, would check for sales & try to buy food items on sale, and would do regular shopping (Mondays for the week, Fridays to fill in any extra for the weekend) that has all slowly disappeared since husband is home with me all the time. We have gotten to the point that other than stocking up before storms, we basically eat lunch (at Wendys) and then go out to buy “something for dinner”. We have gotten to the point where we basically have 3 or 4 dinners we make, buy deli turkey once a week for dinner and eat out (or take in Chinese food) Friday through Sunday. So deciding what to buy and shopping for it without getting him into a panic was not easy.

I brought up the idea after dinner the night before - rather off hand “I guess we should have some extra food in the house just in case.” At lunch I brought up the subject again. As we left from lunch he asked where I wanted to go for the food – we food shop at Walmart Neighborhood Market, at different supermarkets, and at a regular Walmart (same are smaller here than elsewhere) which is next to a supermarket which by default is the one we normally shop at. At the same time that the corona virus is starting to spread – our state's law on stores not using the standard lightweight plastic bags went into effect on March 1. So people are panic shopping and learning to deal with bringing bags (or buying them at the store – although our county was not one of the ones requiring a fee per bag, stores are allowed to charge for the bags – and they do – better we should have a fee as it would be cheaper than stores are charging for the bags) at the same time.

I suggested we go to the Neighborhood Market first as we tend to buy items that do not need to be refrigerated there. It was like it had been announced that a 2 week long snow storm was coming. Shelves and refrigerated cases were empty. (Then again, this store over the past several months has not had full shelves – and cans are often dented and boxes look like they had been stepped on.) We bought what we could find. We were looking for the soups that husband has before dinner (½ can of either Campbells Chicken Noodle or Vegetable soups) or the heavier soups that he likes if we eat lunch home (Campbells Split Pea, or Progresso Lentil) We bought cereal (we have for late night snack) and some items as we could find them – the soup shelves were almost empty so we bought what we could and moved on. I did have enough bags in the store with us for the purchases. (I have been keeping the bags when we get them - and using them for other things - so we have years worth of plastic bags and before that I saved the paper bags. I am combining the contents bags that we use in the bathrooms and bedroom for garbage pails liners so 1- 2 bags are tossed out with the garbage of all 4 pails.) He has started panicking over having hand soup also and this Walmart did not have – any.

We drove to the supermarket and stopped in at the small Walmart next to it first to see if it had the common items – soup and hand soup – that the Neighborhood Market did not – neither did this store.

In the supermarket the “what should we buy to eat” started. I bought at least 2 weeks worth of the foods we actually eat. I had actually come up with 4 meals to be repeated and that would still leave us 6 meals short. We bought eggs – not something we ordinarily eat, but could be used for lunch or dinner or in one of the cake mixes we bought – if we end up stuck in, something to eat that we should not eat, if not – they will keep for holiday dinners. Made sure to buy enough diet soda to last. We bought a loaf of bread = I was actually surprised that they were not out. I knew I was low on some frozen vegetables and we bought some to fill in. (Good thing basement freezer is running again.) Bought some potatoes as I had stews on the list of things to cook.

So we have a good start – but going to the stores and seeing the shelves empty put him into panic mode. He is trying to over come same, but it not easy. We wrote up a new list and will go out tomorrow to buy some more items.

We renewed the only medications we take that were not recently renewed.

We don't plan on being stuck in the house - but if we are, we can go for at least two weeks now. We need to keep up filling what we use to keep the 2 weeks of food in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK – Prepare but don't panic. Government divisions in the most countries seem to be acting properly and making decisions as needed and telling people what to do without overdoing it and causing panic.

While instructions and information seem to vary, good common sense is your best friend.

In articles I have read about the world wide flu epidemic  in 1917 there were considerably less deaths in the US and other countries which shut down places that large numbers of people would be than those, such as England, which did not. So avoid crowded places as much as you can.

You know the rest – you have been hearing it on the TV and radio – wash your hands frequently and/or use hand sanitizer frequently. Apparently even just rubbing your hands together vigorously if nothing else is available will help.

We will get through this as people have gotten through epidemics back to the start of history. I hope that you and yours will get this as easily and with as few problems as possible.

MY COLD CONTINUES AND HUSBAND KEEPS COOKING DINNER, CLEARING OUT STUFF FROM MOM'S HOUSE

Been a busy week between doing nothing.  I still have the tail end of the cold I had last week – mostly coughing fits, which upset my husband.  He still does not want me touching things – like food and dishes as he is afraid of catching the cold. 

Eating dinner has continued to be an adventure. He used to be a such a good cook and enjoy it so much – no longer.  We ate out our usual 3 nights for the weekend, which helped a bit, but then we were back to cooking at home.  While out on Monday we stopped in at the Walmart Neighborhood Market (supermarket only) to buy stuff for dinner.  We came up with the idea of making a soup we like, for dinner.  It was too late to make it so we were going to buy what we needed and make it yesterday (Tues), but unlike Walmarts normally this one has a terrible produce deprtment and we could not find good potatoes or onions.  

So today we bought same and are making the soup for tomorrow.  Husband made it so I would not touch it. Now remember, he was always the better cook.  First thing to do is cut up the onions.  I would use a paring knife; he takes out the largest knife we own.  I didn't want to criticize, so I said nothing and hoped he would not hurt himself.  He did not.  Then onto the potatoes – he had major trouble as  he could not cut through them – they were not our usual red potatoes as same looked terrible, but similar edible skin potatoes.  As he finally started swearing I simply said “I usually use a small knife for that.”  He then went and took the smallest knife we have – the one I only use to open sealed food packages as it is too small to cut with – and proceed to cut the potatoes with it.  Then the meat had to be cut up.  The rest of the vegetables added were frozen ones – including some I had split into bags in the freezer when I made normal amount of soup in December at the holidays.  We have added more meat to make it a dinner entree this time.  I watched it as it cooked – stirring it now and then.  I just shut it off and took the pot off the stove to cool off.  It should cook 2 hours, I let it cook an hour and a half as it will cook again tomorrow before we eat it.  This also allows about 2 hours before we go to bed so we can put in the fridge without needing to put the pot in ice water to cool it off.

At the same time I have our clothes in the washing machine – deal with my cold is I put in washer, I move to dryer, he takes the clothes out of the dryer (because the heat of same will kill all the “germs”) and then he will hang up his shirts, but I can fold the rest.  I did not do other than clothes last week and probably won't this week either – what fun next week – plus our reenacting clothing still needs to washed and stored until the next event, probably in the spring.

Monday I had telephone call from my sister.  She had someone who could come and would take stuff from our family home for his non-profit thrift shop and we would get a receipt for the donation.  She also had someone coming today to take furniture, so could husband and I go on Tuesday so she did not have take off 2 days from work?  So we went.  While we waited for the fellow to come we walked around the house looking for certain items.  I should mention that there have already been 2 tag sales – one by a professional and one by my sister.  The fellow was amazing – he packed the stuff so quickly – and I was surprised that breakables were not wrapped – most of what was around the in the house in smaller things are now gone including several closets of clothing (including the gown I wore to his sister's wedding as a bridesmaid), all the bed linens & towels, drinking glasses (at least 2 sets of same), candle holders (lots of same), toys and anything else you can imagine – plus other stuff.  In our walk around the house before and while I wandered around while they were there (husband went out to the car as he was tired – we had to get there earlier than we normally wake up) some items were found that, yes, we took.  My mom had embroidered a lovely (large) wreath of flowers on blue velvet back in the 1970s/80s and my sister had asked if I wanted it and I had said no.  In the interim I thought about it and decided I wanted it, but when we were there just before the first tag sale, I did not see it and presumed that it had been taken by one of my sisters or mom had asked for it.  But it was in the dining room.  I looked at it and the frame was damaged and huge.  I told husband that I wanted it, but if we could get it out of the frame – that was great.  A quick trip to the car – we have all sorts of useful things in the car – and a large Swiss army knife was found (no staple removers in dad's office) and he pulled the staples out so I could keep the needlework. I plan to refinish it in the same manner I finish embroidery pieces that I make, but don't plan to hang up – as an unquilted small quilt piece. 

Our first stop was my dad's office.  We are still hoping to find the book about our family and husband wanted to see what show business books were there.  My sister had mentioned in the list of things that the fellow could take and what he could not take that there were office supplies in the office closet – so I had to look.  I am about to run out of what is called columnar paper – that is the accounting paper with number columns on it – and have not really wanted to spend the money to buy a new book of it – husband tried downloading from online, but it was not that usable – and I found a number of books of it in the closet – now here.  Husband found a book he wanted – we took that too.  Just before the fellow the arrived husband found 2 ceramic mugs from the Williamsburg Pottery – perfect to use for reenacting and not cheap – so we were putting them in the car when the fellow arrived.  He was very nice and I said, very efficient.

At first husband stayed with me in the house as we did not know the fellow and we followed him as he looked at what was in the house – as we walked around in my parents' bedroom I noticed a stack of tablecloths – there the long missing and looked for, tablecloth that I had embroidered in high school was there!  So now the only thing I have not found that I was looking for is that book! 

As I waited in the house as they went through everything my eye fell on 2 pewter, 18th century looking candle holders.  (Not antiques, just looking like.).  I picked them up and walked out to husband in the car and showed them to him – he agreed we needed to take them for reenacting – perfect for extra candle holders at the candlelight nights event. 

As the fellow was finishing he asked about several large black garbage bags in the kitchen.  I texted my sister – yes, they were garbage not stuff she was keeping.  He went through the bags and most of what was in them – kitchen items not actual food or paper garbage – he took also – another 2 cartons worth!

I have not yet spoken to my sister about the furniture man today and how much he took. 

It is amazing how much stuff a family of 5 accumulates over 60 years – and I know that mom was always donating stuff to different organizations.  One thing I can say – We do have less stuff than my family did – well, there are the teddy bears - larger and smaller - and their friends…

So think about it – when one day your house has to be cleared out – how much will there be?  Enough for children to take what they want, plus 2 tag sales, plus a thrift shop truck load, plus…? 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Try looking through one room – perhaps your kitchen or your living room – anything there you no longer like?  Did you buy new set of dishes and still have the old set?  Every one item that you get rid of is one less for the thrift shop man to come and take later.

LIFE LAUGHS AT US

Good thing we did a craft event last week and husband sold weaving. I was short $220 (rounded up a few dollars and sense) to pay the last of our bills for September. Between $80 in cash we had sitting around to take on trips or use if cash needed beyond what we have in our wallets, $40 of the cash I had in my wallet, $60 from cash sales, and $40 from our change box for when we do events I managed to find the $220 and cover the bills. And that was after my Social Security for the month, $400 from a client for her taxes, and money still in the accounts from husband's Social Security for the month. Next week hewill get his Social Security payments and be solvent again. Ouch. But as Mama would say in “Mama's Bank Account” (movie – “I Remember Mama”) we did not have go to the bank, well we did have to go and deposit the cash, but did not have to take additional money out of savings.

I was to be short on time this past week – the Jewish New Year started and it is an evening plus 2 day holiday. (Remember from past years - feel free to use this New Year to start anew in your organizing if you need a reason to start now.) We were to drive our RV back to the place that installed our new RV batteries at the end of July as they still do not work properly to have them look at it. We were told that we had to leave it for 2 weeks – makes sense as the problem is that they are not holding the charge – worse the old batteries we got rid of. Husband was in a panic - we would have to bring our car and the RV to the battery place. I would be driving the RV and he the car, but we have only been there once before and got lost at the end. He was so upset that I was very worried about him. We could not figure out who to bring with us that could ride with him and help him the find the way. Basically no one. I was awake at night even after he fell asleep trying to figure out what to do and I was starting to have panic attacks worrying about him.

Then I had an idea, one I was sure he would refuse as waste of money. If he was upset because he did not know where to turn etc. (even with GPS he was upset), why not take a trip down to the place in advance? He would be able to see the route, see where turns would be, we could figure out where to meet up before we left the Garden State Parkway, and in general reassure him. It costs us around $40 in tolls per vehicle to make the trip plus gas and I figured he would argue with me about spending same. When to go? This was Friday overnight. Well, the holiday was to start Sunday night and end Tuesday night, my embroidery meeting was Wednesday and we had made arrangements to go the next day – Thursday to the RV place. Only day to go was Sunday. Our holidays basically are suppose to be days of prayer and I try to keep away from things like trips, TVs, computer, cell phone and such. But I also know that health is more important than anything else. If husband was ill or injured and needed something there would be no question that I would take care of him – holiday or not. And basically he was ill, just not physically. I proposed the plan to him – drive down leisurely later in the day, see the route, and then have holiday dinner at Golden Corral (normally one does not eat out on our holidays). I was ready to point out that money was minor compared to how he was and that if he had to go somewhere locally and was this upset we would go in advance just like this.

He thought about the plan and did object and thought it a good idea. We started out after lunch on Sunday. I let him do the driving guided only by the GPS and kept my mouth closed other than to point out landmarks when he was already making turns. We were riding on a main (limited access 3 or 4 lane) road in NJ and had to get off of it to get onto the Garden State Parkway. As he was about to exit we saw that the exit was blocked off and closed. I had to get involved as he started to panic- what do we do? I told him to keep going and get off at the next exit. The GPS kicked in and sent off at same and had him turn around and head back to the road we had been on – in the opposite direction of course. Why I hate and don't trust GPS – the road it told him to turn onto to reverse direction back to the main road was one way – the opposite way – panic again – I told him take the next road – we did and were turned around and back to the main road – the exit to the Garden State Parkway was open in this direction. (The GPS also had no record that the exit between these two major roads was closed and it had been closed for over a week and will remain so until November!)

We drove on. The Garden State Parkway has rest areas and there were two of them before we would get off of it. I had figured we that we would meet up at the second one which was about 10-15 minutes from where we were going. We got off there (and having been on the road for 4 hours for a trip that should take 2 hours) used the rest room. We realized that this rest area was too close to where we would get off the road – the rest area is to the left of the multi-lane road and the exit to the right, traffic might well stop us from being able to get across the exit – so we figured we would meet at the first rest area when we actually go. We found the RV place easily and then rerouted the GPS to take us to the restaurant for dinner, even though it was two hours too early to eat, so we went to a Costco (where we bought gasoline) and a Walmart we know in the area to spend the time. Coming home after one of the GPS devices refused to route us the way we wanted to go as a major bridge was closed – it was not and we ignored the GPS.

Husband was calmer as he was more comfortable driving there on his own. Then a problem popped up so that we had to push the trip off to Friday and he sent an email letting them know. Monday I prayed, I read, I kept the holiday as well as I could. I also made and served the dinner I had planned to serve Sunday night and which had been partially cooked before the idea for the trip came up. The second day of the holiday (Tuesday) I am normally a bit looser in what I will do.

Monday night husband was on the computer and suddenly found post after post about the place we were going – almost everyone calling them a scammer – things they put in don't work, they break things and say they need to be fixed, they over charge by thousands of dollars, etc. Husband went back into panic mode. Tuesday I called the woman at our RV dealer and left a message (okay two messages) asking her to call us back. Overnight since we had not heard back, I called again and left a message explaining the situation in the short version. We missed picking up her call – her message was to call the new general appointment number and they would make an appointment. I had to go to my embroidery meeting – did not go out for other errands - and then I called her and left a message again. Husband went out and bought our usual lunch at Wendys and brought it home. I eventually called the appointment number and the very nice fellow said that he had been told I would call and that we needed to make a 4 hour appointment – I explained that 4 hours would not be enough and needed to speak with her. When time passed and we still did not hear from her, we decided that appointment could always be changed – I called and made the appointment for next week. We decided that husband would send her an email with all of the details. She called back later in the afternoon and husband was calm enough to talk to her. We are bringing the RV next week – with the car also – and we leave with them to find out if the batteries are good and if so why they are not holding a charge and if they are no good to see about the warranty or if that falls through – put in new batteries. Another thousand dollars plus is not easy for us to deal with, but it is that or never be able to use the RV again.

Now, at the same time I still had to make an appointments for mom at doctors. I managed to call and make one at the cardiologist's office that is to take an image of her leg to make sure her blood clot has not moved – and it will be done by a nurse practitioner as he needs to be booked over a month in advance (strange he could see her the first time in less than a week and when the appointment was wrong – there was an open appointment with him later the same day). I was also suppose to get the name of one of the other type of cardiologist who can test her pacemaker and asked for same – we have to come in to get that info? This is a big deal practice that is in a center from a local hospital chain - suppose to be the newest and best thing. Husband in his former job used to sometimes go with children in the program to Medicaid clinics – they did not treat their patients this poorly.

I am doing the laundry. I sent out info promised today to the members of my embroidery group as to how to sign into our National group's website to download embroidery designs/instructions that we are going to use at meetings. I have written this post. I did not make dinner – we took in Chinese food. So much has been left undone again - Oh, I forgot to mention that I had to call one of our credit card companies as we suddenly got – unrequested by us and with no prior info from them – a new type of credit card from them. I had to call them – first to make sure it was legitimate and not a scam, and then to change it back to what we had (miles card? We don't fly or even take a train or bus and don't stay in hotels) but they cannot change it back yet – husband's card is being mailed tomorrow so I have to call again in two days or later to get it changed back!!!!! There was much yelling by me. Another time waster.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

The world lately seems to be trying to waste time and have everything go awry. I can get myself sick dealing with it or try to take it as comes and try to keep husband from getting sick from it. One has to try to go with the flow even when it is driving one crazy and keeping one from doing anything that they need to do.