SORRY I HAVE BEEN MISSING - DOUBLE POST - CANCELED CAR PURCHASE/BANK LOAN PROBLEM AND LAUNDRY BAG CORD AROUND AGITATOR

 A bit of a followup to my post of (can it really be this long) over a month ago.  

Two weeks after we went to the car dealer and then decided  - while at the dealer – not to buy the car and canceled the transaction, we received a letter from a bank denying our car loan.  This shocked us for two different things.  

First, we know what our credit rating is and it is about as high as one can have.  

Second – We had canceled the car purchase – without signing any paperwork for a loan – though the “finance manager” had told us she as entering our info that we had the loan.  

We wrote a rather extensive letter to the bank which had turned us down.  (One reason given my credit report was locked – something I had done with all of our credit reports long and ago and forgotten about  - which makes me wonder why husband's was not locked.)  And we told about all that went on that day and we had NOT applied for the loan!  Waiting to hear from back from same.  


NEXT– LAUNDRY FUN.  

I do three loads of laundry most weeks -clothes, towels, and bedding.  Dirty clothing, bedding and upstairs towels go in a large laundry bag in our upstairs hall closet.  Dirty towels from the kitchen and downstairs bathroom go in a smaller laundry bag which hangs on the basement side of the door to same in the kitchen.  I throw the laundry bags into the towels load to be washed weekly.  Something I always wondered about happening – happened.  The string from the downstairs laundry bag wrapped around the agitator in the washing machine and would not release from it – even after I cut the cord and only left a short piece in the washer.  Husband and I finally gave up on getting it released.  With much trepidation about the mechanisms in the washer getting the piece of the cord wrapped further around the agitator and breaking the washer completely I kept doing the laundry in the washer.  Two weeks later – MAGIC -  I found the piece of cord loose in the bottom of the washer – relief!

To prevent this from happening again – even before the piece came loose – I now take the cords out of the bag before throwing the bags in the washer.  Yes, it is a bit more work each week – but stops me from worrying about a repeat.

I no longer put the cord in the downstairs bag at all.  It is short now (since I had cut off the piece which was stuck) and I knotted the ends together.  Short of it being there having been a holiday that week and having used fabric tablecloth/napkins, there is not much put into the bag and the kitchen/bathroom hand towels are relatively small.  I have a medium sized safety pin which I use to attach the remaining small, knotted piece of cord to the bag so I can hang up the bag on the hook on the back of the basement door during the week to collect the laundry in it.  

I have a large safety pin which I use to push the cord through the channel of the larger, upstairs bag so I can hang the bag on the 3 hooks in the closet which hold the bag open to make it easier to throw the dirty laundry in the bag.  

Yes, it is more work than before – but having worried for 2 weeks about the possibility of having to repair our washer if the cord wrapped further around the agitator or needing to buy a new one and the cost and mess involved in doing so.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

If it is not one problem – it is another problem!   While both of these problems wasted time, caused great annoyance – they are minor compared to what can happen in life.

Any one have a problem like either one of these – what did you do?

ANOTHER WEEK AND AT LEAST WHAT HAS TO BE DONE IS ......DONE!

 Goodness – another week again – seems like I just posted yesterday!!

Have you found that time moves differently since Covid started? I find this. I think I did something a couple of weeks ago and when checking on something about it in my computer organizer – I see that it has been a month and a half!! Things I do by rote, suddenly I forget to do. File on my computer drive are not in the order they should be.

I am trying hard right now to get everything back to where it belongs and how it should be. One problem is that husband was miserable staying home all the time and is now trying to make up for it – I pray for rain so we will stay in the house and I will get things done. Even as I writing and posting this (at 1:30 am) I have just moved the first load of laundry to the dryer and put the second load in to wash.

REALLY need to clean the house. Husband had started vacuuming the floors out of boredom – but no longer does. (I prefer to “Swiffer” them, sound of a vacuum has scared me since I was a child.

Four things I have extremely cautious to do on time – clients tax returns, pay our bills, the laundry, and cook meals/wash the dishes.

Does anyone else use the toe of their “fuzzy” slippers (while wearing them) to gather dust bunnies together and then pick them up and throw them out with their hand?

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

I try to keep doing the little things which HAVE to be done to help me keep going. We are fed. We have clean clothing and towels/bed linens. We have our medications and take them as we should.

What do you ALWAYS do as it so important to be done?

NEW YEAR AHEAD OF US - A FRESH START

 Well, here it is – another new year. A clean year ahead of us – a fresh start.

Let's put behind us what we have done wrong in the past and start the new year fresh.

I have posted in the past that a new year actually starts every day – so if you missed January 1, pick another day, it starts a new year also – Lunar (Asian) New Year starts on January 22 this year, you can use it as a second chance for a new year's start. I don't make resolutions as they are never kept. I do try (yet another time) to do everything I do a bit better – less putting off of things, less “a lick and a promise”, less “I'll do next it next week”. As I said “I try” it generally does not work, but I do try.

Right now our bedroom is a mess. We did several days of a reenactment event over 2 weeks and clothes and accessories tended to be dropped each night when we got home all over our bedroom. I collected the clothes which need to be washed. As usual on Wednesday nights while I am posting I am also doing our laundry for the week. First load – regular clothes - is in the washer as I write. I will fitting in one or two loads of reenacting clothes depending on how many white items and how many color items there are. If I can fit all in one load – fine with me. If not I will do one load of white items and one of color items. I will also do a load of towels for the week. I know I will not finish tonight and will be continuing tomorrow night. When I go to bed tonight I will bring up the dried load of clothing and fold it while husband gets ready for bed (he takes longer than I do). I will put away the “goes in drawers” part of it away afterward and the hang up items will be put away tomorrow, when I will also fold the towels from a later load at night, as well as any other laundered items which need to be folded or hung and put away.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

As we go into the new year try to use same as a chance for fresh start catching up and keeping up with what needs to be done. If not remember – tomorrow is always a new, fresh day ready for one to make a start for the future. After all, I did not finish putting out Christmas decorations inside the house this year until January 2!

WHEN ONE'S SCHEDULE GOES AWRY - BE PREPARED FOR CHANGE

Something we don't really think about planning for – but should.  Yesterday I pulled a muscle in the back of my left shin – OW!  I have done this before and it goes away so I (and my poor husband) are just putting up with it for now.  

I figured out the least painful – and safest – way for me to go up and down the stairs.  It happened on the steps outside our back door on our trip out for lunch – so I was walking about in stores for awhile before I had to deal with the steps again.  I need to keep my left leg straight as much as possible to avoid pain.  I never realized that there are so many things I do which I never think of as I do them.  

Apparently my left leg cannot be higher than my right leg – by which I mean – on the stairs I have to step up with my right leg and then pull the left one up to the same step -repeat.  Coming down the stairs I have to step down with my left leg and then with my right leg.  Basically if my legs are different steps my right leg has to be the one higher up.  When I forget – I am quickly reminded by the pain.  

When sitting in the house I put my left leg up on something – in the kitchen I use the single step that I keep under the table so I can climb up and reach the higher shelves in the  top cabinets (meaning anything above the bottom shelf).  Convenient to rest my left leg on – and since the step is at back end of the table (a couple of feet from where I am sitting) when I put my foot on it my leg is more or less straight on a slight downward angle – perfect for my leg.  (I am at the table as I write.)  When at my desk I have a file box stored under under it which serves the same purpose.  That leaves the car and our lunch out today as the problems – I tried to keep my leg in the air as much as I could.  

But how does this relate to organizing?

Well, it is laundry night.  Main laundry has to come down 2 flights of stairs to the basement from the hall closet outside of our bedroom.  I always tie the laundry bag closed and give them a shove down these stairs – so that was relatively easy.  I cannot do this with our basement stairs as there is a display of electric trains cars across from the foot of the steps – maybe 2 feet from the bottom step – and I don't want to damage them.  I was planning to ask my husband to carry the bag down for me – but being the nice person he is he figured out the problem and offered to carry the bag downstairs.  The bag for our downstairs laundry (towels from kitchen and downstairs bathroom only – unless we use a tablecloth or fabric napkins due to a holiday and that I could carry down the stairs and did.  

First load of laundry (clothing) is now in the dryer and second load (towels and laundry bags) is in the washer.  Later when he comes downstairs for late night/pre-bed snack I will ask him to carry the laundry basket down for me.  I will empty the dryer into the laundry basket and throw the second load in the dryer – it will stay there until tomorrow anyway  after it finishes running and hopefully I will be better by then.  I fold the laundry in bed while he is getting ready for bed (and usually a bit after in the dark by the light of the TV) so that is not a problem.  

I know that I often read about how important it is to have one's family throw the laundry in “the hamper”.  I don't use a hamper – I hang our big laundry bag at the bottom of the closet – 3 hooks in the closet and 3 rings on the laundry bag which line up with them and hold the bag up and open.  This holds dirty clothes, towels, bedding and anything else. When time for laundry take the rings off the hooks, pull the bag closed  - go to top of staircase to ground floor of house and  -  - push !  Gravity takes the bag down the stairs.  Any laundry which goes into closet before the bag is replaced, I just pick up and toss in when I put the bag back.  Downstairs I have a smaller laundry bag hanging on a hook on the basement side of the door to the basement.  Just take it down and carry the relatively light bag when I go down to put the first load in the dryer and start this load.  Laundry bags both go in the second load.  

Sheets and pillowcases are their own load when I wash them, as are blankets.  Some weeks I need to wash reenacting clothing also – and they can be one or two loads depending on if I only need to the “small clothes” - that is the period undergarments, socks, neck cloths and cap, depending on if all need washing or if there are main clothing items which also need to be laundered.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Sometimes things happen – whether an injury, an illness, not being able to do a chore on the day it is normally done (such as being away or involved in a problem which arises), or a myriad of other things which throws one work schedule off or makes it harder to deal with or equipment needed dies.  One should have some idea of alternatives (do the laundry the next day or have someone else do it if you can, get help and so on) that can be used in these situations.  Or one has to learn to think quickly on their feet to deal with things.

STORING ITEMS LIKE WITH LIKE - SOMETIMES WHAT IS USED ALL THE TIME WITH SAME AND WHAT IS USED RARER TIMES WITH SAME IS BETTER

 When I first started reading about getting organized I was a teenager in high school.  One mantra of organizing that I learned about then is to group like things together.  To this day my closet had my shirts sorted by color, my two skirts together and I have 3 hangers, which each hold multiple pairs of pants, hanging from a hook each attached to the back (2) and side (1) walls in the closet.  (These 3 hangers – one holds my jeans, one holds the 3 pants of non-jeans pants I own, and the third holds my old ripped jeans that I use as pjs.)  

My husband was always amazed at this organization – especially since most of the rest house is not so organized – by a lot.  (He is not the greatest organizer either.)  He has changed my thoughts on using this rule for everything.  

I had always (since I was maybe 14 or 15 years old) kept my underwear together and kept my socks and stockings together.  When I lived with my parents this was one drawer.  When we got married my underwear went into the top left drawer of my dresser – a half width drawer – and my socks/stockings went into the same size drawer below them.  

One day husband pointed out the waste of time – every day I would open the top drawer, take out underwear, close the drawer, open second drawer and take out socks or stockings and then close that drawer.  He knew I had in both drawers items that I did not wear as often as others.  That started me thinking – what about putting together items needed every day and ones that are not often worn?  I redid those two drawers – the top drawer now holds my underpants and bras and socks. In the second drawer are things like my slips (haven't worn in years, but if need to dress up will need) and my stockings and pantyhose – only needed for work, religious services and the extremely rare other reasons to dress up.  Now I only have to open one drawer most mornings.  

In the kitchen I organized my dishes.  My everyday dishes, a set of 8 servings, were stacked – all the dinner dishes together, all the soup/cereal bowls together, all the small plates together, etc.  This involved two shelves of a kitchen cabinet.  I am 5' 1”.  I can reach the bottom the shelves, but not the ones above.  This meant every time I needed something on the second shelf I needed the step to reach it to take it out and then again to put it back – which of course meant that items were left in the drying rack for days sometimes if I did not feel like climbing up.  I took out 4 dinner dishes (use for serving plates for us also), 4 bowls, and 2 small plates from our every day dishes.  I fit a stack of 3 small serving bowls in the cabinet also.  (The cabinet has a wire shelf rack I added in it so I have 2 shelves in the one cabinet.)  Mixed in with the dishes and small dishes are 2 lighter dishes each also – these I use as utility dishes – serving, cutting on, draining on, etc. Now it is rare that I need something from another shelf for dishes and I don't have to climb up daily – easy to take out and easy to replace.  I have our drinking glasses in the matching cabinet on the other end of the cabinet.  I have 2 mugs on the bottom shelf, two of the drinking glasses I like, two of the ones husband likes, 2 ice cream glasses and 3 measuring glasses.  There are other items on this shelf also, but these are the basic items use from it and I can use without needing to climb up.  Again the upper shelves hold items not used on a daily basis.  In the third cabinet I can reach (between stove and refrigerator) some platters and serving bowls on the bottom shelf.  

Perhaps the problem is “what are like items”?  In both of these cases if like items means all of the same type of items together, the idea does not work.  If instead it means “items I used all the time vs. items I don't use often” it does work.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

How are your items sorted?  Do you have items you use frequently and items you use rarely together as they same type of items?  Or do you put items you use frequently together where they can easily be reached and used and items that are rarely used together in places which are harder to reach for storage and retrieval?  Try the second idea – it works much better.

MORE INSTRUCTION BOOKS DEALT WITH - WHY ARE ORDERS ARE ALL COMING DAYS LATE THESE DAYS?c

 Well, another week gone by.  I have scanned some more instructions books and just discarded some for items we no longer have.  The last several weeks of books have not been thrown out as I am going to tied them together and put them out when next I put out recycling as I did with the earlier scanned ones when I last put out recycling.

In normal times I out recycling weekly for pickup.  A stack of tied together newspapers, magazines, etc.  and a cardboard box of cans, bottles, and jars.  I recycle the boxes we get into the house this way as some years ago the second plastic box we had from the township for recycling was taken (as was the first one) by the garbage crew as they decided it was too broken to use.  So I keep boxes in our side porch – small ones – for a normal week in normal times and we used 4 soup cans and nothing else to put in.  Big ones for weeks when there is a holiday and I do a lot of cooking with a lot of things to recycle, and medium sized boxes for in between.  These days we can use only one can or two cans in a week.  Combine this with we not are temporarily not getting our newspapers in hard copy, and most weeks if I put the stuff for recycling – it would not be seen.  So I have been putting out the recycling when the carton I use to collect it all in is overfull and I put it in the larger can they gave everyone some years ago – this holds about 2 months worth, maybe more with how many items we are using these days.

So the instructions to be discarded sit in a bag in our office set aside to go out.  

We did go get to go food shopping yesterday – a good sized fill in trip.  Though much more relaxed than the 2 months major shopping we had done through most of the pandemic.  Even used a coupon – we complained about a frozen meal we had bought (main course – lacking in meat) and they apologized and sent a coupon for the next purchase.  I almost forgot not only to use it – but how to do so – husband remembered.  

I ordered 2 pairs of jeans – yes, we ONLY order something if we cannot get it any other way.  I noticed the knee of one of my pairs jeans had a hole – looked in Walmart – they no longer carry these jeans and have no acceptable (to me) alternative.  Husband looked up the jeans company – and we ordered from them.  Jeans were to be delivered today – no, now they may not come for another couple of days, so we even if we wanted to run errands we have to stay home to wait for them now as they are left in front of our house – easy to be seen and taken as we live on a main road.  Add to that bad rain storms over the next couple of days and we could not go out if we wanted to.  Same thing happened with some items husband had to order for his handcrafted business and a different delivery company – also got notice at last minute that not coming on day specified by them.  (Is this a new trend?)  

So more time to scan instruction books and do other housework which needs to be caught up.  Right now, as normal for when I am writing on Wednesday night – our washing machine is washing our clothing.  When same goes into the dryer – the towels go into washer.  When clothes come out will fold in bed while going to sleep tonight and towels will go into dryer.  Towels will be folded tomorrow night while going to sleep.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Lately more things seem to go wrong.  Do you find this to be true?  Just have to go with the flow and take things as they come – and I am not someone who likes that loss of control.

How is your organizing going – anything special which works for you?

WORK, FAMILY, CLUBS - ALL ARE TAKING UP MY ATTENTION

Okay, so now I have to work on getting things done - not all house things - mostly work, family,  financial, and club things. I got a fortune cookie today that said that my problems are behind me - if only I believe it.

Work - I went to the client that I go to monthly.  She was charged a large amount for fees by her credit card processor and she had no sales.  I telephoned her processing company and they gave me a breakdown that sort of made sense, but did not.  What I was told the fees were for do not match what I have been told in the past about the annual fee she has to pay (due to low sales and this being a crooked company that she says she will switch from, but does not).  A friend of hers (she is in an indoor, open market area and this is one of the other vendors) came by and said that she has to fill in a form with the processing company (and Mr. Expert does not use the same company) and then they will get rid of one the larger fee.  I called the company again and they  then said that I had to call the sales office for more info.  Her salesman who should be who she talks to about questions disappeared in 2016 about two months after she signed up this company.  So I am trying to reach their sales office - either no answer at the extension I need or it keeps ringing.  I looked up the company name on line that answered and not only is not the company she signed up - it seems to be a “use an electronic device for card processing” company not one that uses the card reader she has.  I will keep trying.

Mom - since I have been less helpful with going through mom’s house, I have been put in charge of taking her to 4 doctors she has to go to.  Husband insisted her wheelchair will not fit in our car (and she cannot climb into the van).  I pointed out to him that if I went without him, it would fit as I could drop the back seat down for more room behind it.  In the meanwhile, my sister explained that the wheelchair comes apart to fit in a car.  I have been waiting for husband to set on when we are going on a trip - still a short one and probably to PA again - so I can make appointments for mom.  Today my sister called - mom had to go to the emergency room due to leg muscle spasms.  Now she will have an aide 24/7 for 3 days due to the medication - so I am putting off calling about the appointments until next week (or the week after if we go away next week) so I know where we are with her going out. I called her Medicare supplement plan to see if they would cover the aide, only if Medicare does - so, no, they don’t

Work, again - I have a tax client who has me put his tax return on extension as he goes south for the winter.  Normally he will contact me the start of September to set up an appointment to do his return.  He sent an email  - can we meet Monday?  Have to find out from husband if we are going away next week or not - he seems to be leaning towards not as it is suppose to, yes, rain.

Family, again - husband this time - husband has been having problems for several years finding the clothes he likes.  As a result he is low on presentable clothing.  Now that RV is finally working correctly, he needed something else to obsess about.  Underwear - it seems that it cut with a lower waistband and is too low for his to be comfortable in and falls down.  Then again, his old underwear falls down also - I am going to have start sewing new elastic in the waists.  Some of his shirts are so worn out that he can be seen through them.  When he complained a week or so ago, I made him go to the outlet of the company whose shirts he likes - they are short sleeved which I figured would make it easy - but he found most of them to be “too heavy”.  He got 3 shirts - which have to be washed so he can wear them.  We also have been going to various Walmarts as he found shirts in another fabric he liked, looking for what colors it comes in.  He also bought some tee shirts to try - only $2 each at Walmart closeout.  He didn’t like them, but they are fine are spares for me - especially at that price.  Jeans - he had 2 spare pairs that he bought when the ones he likes was discontinued.  I washed them.  I went to pin them to shorten - but the waists are so tight that he would pass out if he wore them. (They were 2 of 3 identical pairs he bought together - the other is tight, but not like this and the next size up falls off him.) We went out looking for jeans.  He found 3 pairs - all going back are they are not right.  I did convince to buy a waistband extender which moves the button/button hole 1 or 2 inches apart and he is using same.  More jeans shopping to come.  (Okay, I can be as bad, just have been lucky - my only problem is socks and I have taught myself to darn so I can fix them when they get holes.)

Clubs - I have to get paperwork out to an upcoming event for our reenactment unit.  We raised the unit’s insurance coverage and I have been trying - by telephone and mail - to get a copy of the increased coverages from them since May!

Clubs - I managed out to get out the summer newsletter for my embroidery chapter.  Now I have to get the year book (upcoming year’s meeting programs) out.  The newsletter is email; the yearbook has to be printed and mailed - and husband is planning a trip - sometime.

Financial - I have to print out, sign, and mail by certified mail two letters for credit cards that we have to “opt out” of changes they are making.  I paid all our bills today until the end of next week in case he decides that we are going away same. 


THOUGHTs OF THE WEEK -           

First thought is - I don’t have time to write and post this!

When one does not know when one will do something - one cannot plan when one will do something else and has to juggle to deal with it all.  It will all work out in the end - either work out well or badly, but it will work out and new problems will come along to be solved.

WHAT SHOULD YOU GET RID OF AND WHAT SHOULD YOU KEEP?

Pardon me - I didn’t post yesterday.  As I think I mentioned the most important annual Jewish holiday was yesterday and when it was over last night it slipped my memory what day of the week it was.  So here I am, a day late and a post short. 

As I was talking about last week, much of what one needs to know about organizing we know.  It is finding the time and pushing ourselves to do it that is the problem - at least for me.  Basically one has to sort through what one has and get rid of what is not being used and will not be used and then set up what is left in an organized manner so that one can find what one is looking for quickly. 

What to get rid of?  A good question.  Some of it is rather obvious - empty boxes of cereal for example.  They are garbage. Almost empty box?  Depends on how much is left - if you can eat it all while continuing to work - eat it and toss the box; if it is enough for a meal or two - use it up at meals and toss the empty box.  In this case I mean for the cereal box to stand for anything which gets used up, but the empty container is still around.  This week and last week I made a chicken stew that my husband loves for dinner.  Problem is that the garbage pickup is on Monday and Thursday and I was making the stew on Monday last week and Tuesday this week and both times had to hold it all both times until Wednesday night when I put it out for Thursday pick up.  The bones, skin and such have to be thrown out, but if I toss them in the kitchen garbage and they don’t go out right away, it will smell terrible.  I can take the kitchen bag out to the can outside, but it really upsets me to put the bag(s) out only about 1/3 full.  So, I put the chicken garbage into one of those plastic shopping bags that one gets at groceries stores, put same in the bowl I had used to hold the cooked chicken overnight (cooked the chicken one day, made the stew the next) before taking it off the bones and left it in the fridge.  When it was time for the garbage to go out I added the shopping bag of chicken icky stuff to it and out it went.  I then washed the bowl the bag had been in.  I actually have left over stew from both nights.  It can’t be frozen as it has potatoes in it and they never freeze well.  I have the stews in two canning jars in the fridge (one from last week and one from this).  I will hold them until the end of the next week - if husband has not eaten it by then (he really LOVES this stew) then it will go out that Sunday night in the garbage - it will not be allowed to sit beyond when it will be safe to eat.

Staying with the kitchen, some items are harder to get rid of.  Husband will decide that he likes something - say a particular canned soup - and buy a lot of it.  Then something will happen and it will not be eaten.  Say, he decides it raises his blood sugar too much and he should only have it once in a while.  The items sit........and sit.........and sit..........and sit.......and sit.  Suddenly they are past their date and one cannot even donate them.  It really kills me to throw out 6 full cans of something because it passed its date a year or two before - but out they must go.  They are taking up needed room and if they are eaten by accident they may make someone ill.  I have to check on some eggs we have in the fridge - wait, I will check right now - an entire dozen dated for June 16, 2018.  Now what do I do?  Normally I would toss the eggs.  But here is a bit of info - when eggs pass their date and are sent back to the producer by the stores they are allowed to be repackaged and sent back out a certain number of times - gross right, but it is true.  Eggs can be tested to see if they are still good and I will have to find the instructions on how to check them.  Okay, per “The Joy of Cooking” if the eggs float in cold water they are no good.  I will test them tomorrow and then throw them out if they float.  We go through periods where we eat eggs or use them in cooking and will buy them - and then the period of eating them ends - see husband deciding he likes something and then deciding not to have it any more, above - I think he was making quiches with them and then stopped doing so - and they sit.  Usually it only part of a dozen, which is left.  In case you are thinking - what about breakfast?  We wake up so late that we have lunch for breakfast, dinner for lunch and then a late night snack for supper, so eggs tend to be more of a dinner food here.  I am going to test them.....  Well, they will going out Sunday night with the garbage for Monday, the 3 I picked at random all floated - but, on the other hand, I was wrong - there are only 10, not a full dozen.  We have a quart of milk in the fridge also.  I know that is fresh, we bought it for a meeting of our reenactment unit last Monday - husband had volunteered to bring snack - oh that reminds me of something else, we are going to return an unopened package of cookies - we bought 2 different kinds for the meeting and apparently it was a chocolate mint cookie crowd, not a chocolate chip crowd.  But no one opened the milk to use in their coffee.  So I have to figure out how to use up a the quart - I guess we will be having diet pudding for snack a few times.  We were lucky to find the quart - mostly it comes in half gallons and more around here, and the quart cost almost as much as the half gallon.

So - when one sorts through stuff one will find stuff to toss, stuff to check and decide if it should be tossed - now or soon after, stuff to return, and stuff to use up.  If only I had some chocolate syrup for the milk, but if I buy same, then I will have a started bottle of chocolate syrup and someday in the future will be deciding if it should be thrown out or not.  (Plus we just plain should not have the extra carbohydrates.)

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

You know that you know what to do.   Go through and toss the floating eggs and the long past date things (whether they are actually dated or not) - and the chicken stuff which has been stored until you can toss it.  Get rid of the empty boxes or finish up what it is in them and get rid of them.  Return items which are in good condition which can be returned.  Use up the items that can still be used - before they have to be tossed because they are floating eggs.   This applies in the rest of the house as well as in the kitchen - paints and makeup can go past their use time also, for example.  The dress you bought for Sally’s wedding a month ago and then bought a different one, that you wore instead - return it if you can or donate it - unless you know that you can wear it for Harry’s wedding next month.  And so on. 

BACK AND FORTH - TWICE - ON THE SAME TRIP AND FALLING BEHIND

Late again posting - sorry. 

We did go away last Thursday and Friday.  When I telephoned Wednesday afternoon to make the reservation the woman I spoke with, was rather odd about the entire thing.  The spaces I asked for were not available for two nights - we had decided to stay through Saturday.  When I asked if any of the spaces were available just for the one night, Thursday there was still confusion.  I finally worked it out and reserved one of the spaces for Thursday night and figured that we would ask what was available for just Friday night when we checked in - just in case something was available that would work for us.  I made sense to me that Friday would not be available even though Thursday was as Friday is a weekend night and more people travel.

Our trip down was fine - better time than the usual mess.  As we drove down husband suggested, which he acknowledged was crazy, that we drive back again on Tuesday of the following week for the day.  We have not been to the farmers market that is on Tuesday most or all of this year and different vendors are there from the Friday market.  The idea hit me, I suggested that we drive down Monday and stay until Tuesday. This would relieve the problem of possibly getting stuck in traffic on the way and arriving too late to have enough time at the market.  (Mostly we have lunch and walk around, perhaps buying some small items we need or see, good shop at Tuesday market to look for bears for my village and I have not been there since the village went to year round.)  Plus, if we use the toilet in the RV it has to be dumped at the RV park.  It needs to be 2/3 full minimum, to dump so that there is enough force, so Friday morning we were going to have to fill the tank (having only stayed one night) to dump the tanks.  By coming back, there would be double in the tanks when we dumped and it would fill faster.  The weather promised to be nice for Monday and Tuesday and I would make the reservation when we checked in.

Remember I said that it had been suppose to rain there on Tuesday?  When we arrived in the general area we saw lots of fields (this is farm country) with huge puddles- almost pond size in them.  We went around to several touristy we go to in the area and then around 5:30 pm went to the RV park to check in.  We paid for our space for the evening and reserved the same space for Monday night.  It is a fairly small RV park along a stream.  As we were walking out of the office the employee said “Oh, if the space is too wet, just come back and we will give you another one.”  Huh!?  Apparently they had trouble from the rain on Tuesday.  As we drove to our space we were driving along the row of spaces facing the stream.  We saw what they meant - the spaces had MUD in them.  Our space is in the next row so we were concerned.  We drove to the space and it seemed mostly okay.  I got out of the RV as we do a few things when we arrive at a space at the start of a stay there.  First husband will back in (rare that we get a “drive through space”) and we will find the level spot.  I guide him.  This time I checked that the actual space was dry - it is gravel and the gravel looked different, very light in color, apparently washed in the flood.  I saw mud on the sides of the space, so I walked to the back of the space and it was not muddy there - where we have to walk to hook up the electricity and the TV (and water if we hooked up same), so it seemed okay.  He backed in, we found the level spot and marked it with markers he made.  Although we have been in the space numerous times, when we arrive there we check the electricity to make sure it is functioning properly and we did so and went off again. 

Well, now I understood why there was confusion about reserving a space when I called the afternoon before.  Apparently the general area did not just have rain, it had RAIN!!!!!.  FLOODING RAIN!!!!!   As we went around over the rest of the two days we saw the result of flooding in many places.  At the Friday market there was mud on the foundations of buildings and pavement.  One building, which had flooded badly once in the past, had obviously been flooded as there was no merchandise on the bottom 3 shelves of the fixtures - tossed out as it was soaked.  There is an auction in a room at the end of one building.  I have never seen it closed.  It was closed and through the wall I could hear fans running trying to dry the room. 

If any of you are from the Lancaster, PA area - I hope that you were not hit by the flooding. 

Friday night we returned home.  I did not unpack much of the RV.  I left my clothes, the snacks, the towels, etc.  Husband insisted on taking his clothing into the house.  After 2 days, I repacked the RV on Sunday night for the drive down on Monday.  By then it was much dryer, although some of the space in the RV park needed work on them and were still closed. Understand, we were away for 2 days, 1 night, then drove home for 2 nights, 2 days, and then back again to Pennsylvania for another 2 days, 1 night and then home - and I won’t bore you with the local traffic mess on the way home last Tuesday night.  Of this time, we spent the equivalent of over half a day traveling forth and back and forth and back again.


I am behind in everything I was suppose to do the last few weeks.  I notice this when I went to change towels Tuesday night. I normally change all the towels on Monday, then change the bathroom towels again on Thursday and the kitchen towels on Wednesday and Friday.  The towels are all assorted - I had Monday bathroom towels out downstairs and Thursday ones upstairs.  (No, I am not that anal.  I put blue hand towels upstairs and green ones downstairs on Monday and another color on Thursday - as I have 2 sets of each color and all my other ones vary in color by pair.  This way I can tell by looking if I forgot to change the hand towels.)  I went to change husband’s weekly hair towel and 2 of the 3 were in the laundry and I was pulling the third one to wash.  My pillowcases are either white (2 sets) or beige (1 set) I have 3 white towels and a beige one on the bed.    I forgot to do the laundry last night.  I have been keeping up with washing clothing over the past several weeks of colds and travel, but not the rest of the laundry. 

So right now clothing is being washed (a day late).  I spent last night writing and rewriting the newsletter for my embroidery chapter.  I had figured to write it quickly as it usually does not take long.  We are starting our meeting year and I had not heard from the chapter president with her president’s message.  We are doing a project for most of the year and I had to figure out how to write up what we are doing at the meeting.  (I also list information from our national and region, as well as giving list of related exhibitions and events in a travelable area - this takes up most of the newsletter).  In addition we are doing a “stitch in public” that we do every year and I wrote a page to encourage someone other than myself and the chapter president (and husband who joins us) would also come with us.  I then found out, in reply to an email I had sent, that the chapter president had sent the info - apparently when I downloaded my email - from 3 days - it did not download on most of my email addresses.  When I downloaded it again after hearing from her, it all downloaded.  Her president’s message included this info for the meeting.  So I had to fit in her message, splitting it to the meeting information and get rid of what I had written.  Then send out 3 versions of the newsletter (members, prospective members, and other region newsletter editors).  So last night was gone - which is why I did not get a chance to write this post then.

I have a piece I am entering at the local three county, county fair - huh?  Our local fair, which dates back to 1842, is the legal county fair for 3 counties.  It is held at the restoration village I have mentioned before where there is an exact copy of the original fair grounds from photos) and is held in the style of a late 1800s fair, with many of the volunteers dressed in period dress.  The heart of the fair are the art, craft, needlework, sewing, baking, canning, fruits, vegetables, flowers and the like which have been entered by people from the three counties. 

I used to enter several items each year including an angel cake.  Lately it has been one or two items and no more baking - as there have been less entries they cut some categories all around, including angel cake.  I have one piece to enter this year - if I finish it.  I have about one or maybe two more nights of stitching it, then I need to assemble it and then husband has to have time to frame it for me.  I keep Thursday nights (which means 11:30 pm to 2 am Friday) for stitching and other crafts for me.  I have not had a chance in at least a month to do so.  I planned on tonight finishing the stitching.  Obviously I will not as I am writing this post and have other “must to do” items for after this.  If I don’t finish it, it will be entered next year.  I am not going to panic over not getting it done in time. I am a procrastinator, I know this and try to push myself to finish ahead of time.  When husband was still working I would drop off our entries while he was at work.  One year on the day the entries had to be in, I called him at work and - in a panic - asked where the craft wire was in the house, I was still finishing a doll I was making of Theodore Roosevelt and he needed eyeglasses.  He on the other hand, would have his entries done in July!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

What must be done gets done.  What is nice to do or one wants to get done, may or may not get done - and that is okay.  We can only do a certain amount and cannot kick ourselves for not getting everything done.  

LISTS FOR REPETITIVE TASKS

Husband has spent the last week and a half with cold - which we are guessing he caught from me.  I had been feeling fine and was doing things he would normally do concerning food - such as when we went to Wendys for lunch I would order, pay and pickup the food instead of him - this intended to keep me from catching back the cold.  Well, it worked for a while.

I had planned to be telling you about our being in our little RV and dealing with the problems of organizing it for the trip.  We had planned on leaving this past Monday and coming home on Friday as the weather was suppose to be nice there all week.  As the trip date came closer, Monday and Tuesday were to have RAIN there.  Wednesday would be okay there, but there might be some rain on the drive down.  Since one cannot cancel RV park reservations this close to a trip, we waited to make same. 

Our idea was that we wake early (for us) today and call and make reservations.  During the night I started having cold symptoms again - bad and heavy ones.  I had trouble sleeping.  When we woke earlier than the alarm, husband was concerned about reaching the RV park to make the reservations as the office opens at 9 am, but it is hard to speak to someone before 11 am usually and we had to be on the road by 9 am to try to avoid the dreaded Belt Parkway and the construction along the entire length.  I was trying to breathe.  We sadly decided to not go today.

As we thought about this during the day - and I started to feel a bit better (amazing what 2 little aspirins can do in getting rid of a headache) and able to breathe again.  We decided that I would call the RV park and make reservations for tomorrow night and Friday night and have a 3 day trip.  We tend try not to be in Lancaster, PA on Saturdays - especially in summer - as there are too many tourists.  (Yes, I know we are tourists also, but we are polite ones who try to blend in, not act rudely as many of our fellow New Yorkers and those from New Jersey do.  We go there not for the novelty of the visit, but because it feels like a second home to us.)  I was only able to get a reservation in a space that we know (and know it will be level) for tomorrow night, so we are going for just 2 days - and will hope that along the way there will a space we like for Friday night also. Oddly the 6 spaces that they had available for the 2 nights in the section we like, were all ones we have had problems with in the past - maybe others know that they are not level?  (For those who have never stayed in an RV or trailer, if the RV or trailer is not level one feels off - walking uphill and down, the cabinet doors either swing shut or swing open, most of the refrigerators for same need to be level to work, etc.  Most units have automatic levelers; ours does not.  So we will go and see what happens as to how long we will stay.

Yesterday I packed the RV.  As I have mentioned before, we keep basic items in it so we don’t need to remember or pack them - toothpaste, soap, dish soap, shampoo, an electric razor for husband, cleaning supplies, office supplies (pens, pencils, paper, stamps, clear tape, stapler...), dishes, pots, tableware, blankets & bedding (bed is still made up from last time as we only used it two nights then - covered the pillows on the bed with the blankets), towels - hand & dish, flashlights, sun hats, rain gear and the like.  It is much easier to buy extras of these items than to have to remember to bring them each time - and then remember to put them away when we get home. We filled the water tanks on Monday - this gives us 25 gallons of water for drinking, cleaning, flushing, etc.  Yesterday I packed clothing for us for 4 days (we always bring an extra days clothing on a short trip, 2 days worth on a longer one) into the shelves in the RV “closet” (a small cabinet).  I packed snacks for us into plastic boxes which snap lock closed and put them into one of the “kitchen cabinets” - two thin shelves one about a foot long and the other about 18 inches long which have doors that snap closed.  When we first got the RV we would fill both of these cabinets. Now I use only one for food as we have learned that we do not need as much as thought we did.  (Heck, there are supermarkets and farmers’ markets everywhere there - including 24 hour Walmarts.) The other cabinet gets used to hold items such as plastic shopping bags, sweaters, whatever.  The refrigerator gets soda - a big bottle to use at night and some cans in case we have lunch at a farmer’s market - which is common - or such, we will not have to buy something to drink.

Shoes were brought in and stored - I bring or wear sneakers and bring leather shoes in case of rain.  We keep slippers in the RV.  I have a pair of slip on sneakers that I keep in it - in colder weather I might be wearing shoe boots and if I need to run outside, it is easier to slip on these sneakers.  We also each keep shower slippers in the RV. 

I put the batteries in the thermometer for the fridge - better to find out I need new batteries then, rather than find out when we are leaving.  I also put the toll reader into place in the front window.  I bring in the store coupons from our car. 
   
How do I keep track of all of this - what needs to be put in the RV when.  I have a list of course.  I have it memorized in my computer in a spreadsheet.  I have a “Do Ahead” section  - put water in the tanks, fill bottles of water to bring in the fridge, fill our travel medication boxes and such.  I also have a “Check Ahead” section - this is for items which get used up on trips - paper plates, cups, bathroom cups, napkins (well, okay generally these don’t run out as we end up picking up some at different places as we travel) is there enough paper towels, toilet paper and tissues; soaps and related items; did the towels go back in after laundering after the last trip; and such.

I then have categories of what to pack -
    What clothing items we need; what snack/food items we need/want.
    Items to take from our car and bring - sunglasses, glasses.
        Electronics - you know, tablets, laptops, extra or old cell phones as backups (we would not forget our current ones of course), camera if it is touring trip.
        Household items - laundry bags (we bring our clothes into the RV in 2 laundry bags to unpack them. One is stored away until the end of the trip and is used to take unworn clothing back into the house.  The other is used as a - well - laundry bag and then the dirty clothing goes back into house in it and tossed down the stairs to the basement. 
        I have some coupons which were picked up on earlier trips or came in the mail related to where we are going and I keep them in an envelope that I bring (it’s on the list of course).  Also for our regular main trips (well they used to be regular and main) I have an envelope for each that labeled on the outside on a edge with the name and approximate date of the trip.  For example - Labor Day trip- September, Fourth of July trip, etc.  I keep them in date order with the next trip in the front of the stack in the same 3 section holder on the wall next to my desk as I keep our unpaid bills (the travel coupon holder is mixed in the same section as these envelopes.  If say we pick up coupons for the Kutztown festival in advance - they are put in the envelope for same and will be there when we need them.  I also have backpack
        Things to do - magazines, my embroidery, etc.  Generally they are not touched while we are away, but I always bring them. Husband gives me whatever he wants of same.
        Finally, our “last minute bag”.  This contains items we might need at home until the   moment we leave.  I have 3 plastic boxes in the bag. One has OTC medications - if we our stomachs feel bad at home, we take the pill out of the box.  If ditto while on a trip, well, ditto.  I don’t like to buy these items special for the RV as we use them so rarely, that even the one bottle is not used up by any stretch of when the expiration date is or beyond that seems safe.  One has a bit more of same and our thermometer - one can get ill even on a trip and again, we did not want to buy 2 of them.  The last box has items we will need on the trip - prescription medications for example - and will taken out of the bag the first night of our trip and stored in the cubby that has our personal items needed for the evening and the morning.  We add other items as we use them for the final time at home before the trip.  Much of what is in the bag will stay in the bag for the trip and it is stored where it can be more or less easily accessed.       

The list also has a section for what we need to on our return to make sure that everything that needs to be is out of the RV and back into the house - and there are always items that we bought on the trip in addition to what we brought.  I have a pattern for taking everything out of the RV - but don’t worry I am not going into that now.  The list for our return reminds me of what needs to come out and that we need to shut off the refrigerator, air conditioning, inside light,  and the RV battery - and put a towel into the refrigerator in case there is any leaking from the small freezer section.  (There is a quick version of what absolutely has to come out/be done in case it is raining.       

So, everything but the last minute bag, this laptop, and the rain jackets we might have needed for the trip is packed in our RV.  Tomorrow we will bring these items, turn on the RV batteries, start the refrigerator in the RV, back out of our driveway and be on our way. 

Oh, that sounds so easy. To back out into 2 lanes of traffic on our side of the road involves me standing in the road with a walkie talkie and telling him when he can pull out - talk about needing planning and organization!

I also have a short list, kept on a little clipboard that we use to check off each day of the trip that we have done everything we need to do before pulling out.  We would not want to forget to unplug the RV from the electricity so the system is not broken or to lock a cabinet or the refrigerator door and have everything in it go flying when we drive.  A common thing that we husband forgets is after we disconnect from the camp’s sources he needs to open the curtain at the back of the RV so he can see out same - good thing it is on my list and I turn around see that it is open and if not send him to open it.  Even odd things are on my list.  We have an outside light next to the side door. (Same as the light next to your front/back door at home.)  We don’t turn it on.  One day after driving around much of the day I realized it was on - it must have gotten turned on by accident the night before - I turned it off of course and I added it to the check off list.  This short list has several columns so that on a trip up to 4 days can be marked off on the same form. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

If you do something that has many steps or many parts as a repeated thing, make up a list on your computer for what you need to do.  Print it out each time you are doing to do the task and actually cross the items off the list.  If needed I list the items that are going to be done at the last minute on the side as I see them - and circle them on the list.  If I find that there is something that I need to add - I list it on the back of the page and add it when we return home.

HELPING MY HUSBAND ORGANIZE

Last Thursday I went to my client and of course everything went wrong - including my laptop dying and I did not have the cord with me.  The drive home took 2 hours, but at least my car did not stall.  I got home late and had to finish up from work around making dinner, etc. that evening. A rather anxiety causing day.

Husband is a big James Bond fan and he has a collection - of just about anything James Bond.  Last year we managed to clear some book shelf space in our bedroom to move his books into there from our office as we needed the shelf space for other books.  (We have LOTS of books of a variety of types, mostly informational, as opposed to fiction such as the Bond books.)  I figured out I could store the stuff that had been on the shelves in the bedroom (moved there for safety when the house was treated for bedbugs) which was other assorted Bond items - magazine articles and such in plastic boxes on one side of the floor in the spare bedroom closets (a suitcase and a wheeled backpack take up the rest of the floor space - each filled with some other similar pieces we wanted to keep when we cleared out our luggage a few years ago).  There are also 4 “tubes” with posters of varying subjects - including, of course, James Bond, that are stored standing on the floor.

Husband also has a shortage of space in his dresser for his clothes. One drawer was filled with additional James Bond stuff.  So I had an idea.  We bought 2 more plastic boxes (making 4 all together) and I fit the stuff in the drawer, the rest of what did not fit in the first 2 boxes, and some Bond items in an office closet into these 2 boxes. 

I then went back to the bedroom and started going through husband’s sock and underwear drawer.  He has more socks than he needs, but has trouble finding socks, so will not get rid of any.  I moved the socks that he rarely (meaning never) wears to the bottom drawer that had the Bond stuff in it.  I moved his junk jewelry to the bottom drawer - never used.  I moved his new shoelaces “collection” to the bottom drawer (and will add the ones in my drawer when I guess a chance).  I moved his warm weather socks to the bottom drawer - you know, the very heavy ones that one only wears if the temperature is really low and one’s feet might freeze.  I separated the items in the bottom drawer into shoe boxes (and a space between them) to organize them for him.  I then went back to his top drawer and sorted the socks so each style of socks was separate - with a space for the ones in the laundry.  I had a shoe box on one side of the drawer for eyeglasses, cases for same, and pocket knives.  I found a “space pen” that we had not been able to find and had replaced.  Not bad for maybe 45 minutes work at most.

I was so glad that now his drawers would be neat - after all I had previously organized his sweatshirts, tee shirts and pjs right?  I showed him what I did (understand he knew I was going to do this in advance) and he was happy (not egacstatic - who would be, but “great, that is wonderful” happy)..  I had not been able to find some socks I knew he had for sleeping and asked him about them.  He found them on top of his dresser and I stored them in the drawer.  Finally, done! 

Ha, ha.  He showed me the tee shirts stacked on his dresser top.  I thought that they were in use  - no, he had no place for them.  I started pulling open the middle drawers as everything used to fit.  One drawer was partially filled with clothing and partially filled with electronics - mostly old electronics and some space around it all. 

So, when I get another 45 minutes or so, this drawer will gone through to see what is in there and what can be done with it.  I had found plastic photo slide cases (for one to set their own slide film into slides) in his top drawer - do you all remember slides?  I then put them in with other photo stuff elsewhere.  

I have been working on the notes for the talk I am going to give next week (hopefully it will not snow and result in a canceled meeting) at my embroidery chapter.  I have also been noting photos I want to print to show the members.  I was bound and determined not to rush and do this at the last minute (even this is later than I planed to do it) and I am sticking with that.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Sometime someone in your household needs help with their organizing.  Help them - but offer first, don’t just “touch their stuff” without permission.  If you know what you will do explain it to them first.  Don’t throw out anything (unless it really, really is garbage) without permission.  I know that every scrap of paper was something he wanted.  The one or two tiny scraps I was unsure of I asked about and was told what they were and that they needed to be kept. We all have stuff that makes no sense to others for us to keep, but we really feel those items are special. 

I HATE THE AFTERMATH OF TRIPS

Just in case anyone was wondering - after a week my head barely hurts if I touch where I hit it last week.  ( I mean if I touch my head where it was hurt, not the board I hit it on.)     My dad, a man of great wisdom, would say - “If your head hurts when you touch it, then don’t touch it.

The worst part of a trip, to me, is when I come home I have to do everything I didn’t do while away (and, of course, things I didn’t do before we went away).  Husband never understands this idea.

We are pretty good at emptying out the RV when we return home - I have a system.  There are two plans for emptying it, the regular plan and the “its raining and we can’t bring it all in plan”. In the normal plan, I start packing stuff and husband becomes a beast of burden running it all into the house.  I am basically working in sections in a circle around where I am standing in the RV. First is the refrigerator, followed by food in plastic boxes in the cabinet. Husband will unpack the refrigerator items into the one in the house.  I shut off the refrigerator in the RV and put a thick towel under the freezer section just in case any ice buildup melts and drips.  (It does not have a separate freezer section, but a “cold” box as refrigerators did in “the olden days” - like the 1950s.  Ice cream purchased in the evening will be soft ice cream when eaten at 2 am - cold soup beyond that. I take the batteries of the refrigerator thermometer and its remote read device.

The towels are added to the laundry bag of clothes and when the bag goes into the house it is tossed down the stairs to the basement.  I pack the clean clothes (we always over pack - doesn’t everyone) and bring an extra day or two of clothes in case something happens to something we are wearing while away and we need to change clothes unexpectedly, they go into the other laundry bag and go by the stairs in the house so they go up the same night.   Jackets, sweatshirts and such are taken in loose.  Shoes are put into supermarket/Walmart shopping bags to be taken in. 

Husband will take various laptops and other devices into the house in a couple of trips. Similarly he will take in my embroidery holder. The “last minute bag” is pulled out from under the bed and the items removed from it go back into it. This trip we also pulled toothpaste and such as we don’t want to leave them in all winter - we did that the first year and they did not survive well.
                                   
Any items we purchased while away and stored inside the main part of the TV are brought into the house and left on the table to be sorted and stored. (Hey, I just noticed that sorted and stored are anagrams - the same letters rearranged - is why they go together so well?)

On the “third seat” (seat behind the front passenger seat) we have a pocket with a folder in it which holds papers we pick up during the trip - tourist handouts, maps, local tourist magazines, and such, as well as magazines we brought from home to read - they go in similar bag to the shoes. 

Assorted spare eyeglasses (reading, sun, etc.) that are needed and/or kept elsewhere are removed from the glove compartment as are the snacks I keep in the front door map pocket in case of a glucose low for either of us while in transit. In there is also the coupon holder from our car (if I need, for example, tissues while away, why shouldn’t I have the coupon with me to use) and the travel related coupons we brought with us. My old Palm and Blackberry cell phones which come along for the trip for other features of the phones have to be removed also.  The EZ Pass (to pay tolls electronically) is removed from the windshield and stored away. 

The various curtains in the RV are closed. The lights are shut off and the RV battery is shut off.

Between trips with items I had for him, husband has removing items we purchased and stored in he back of the RV (technically under the head of the bed) and adding them to what is on the kitchen table in the house.

I stop and get the mail from our mailbox on the way in.  If it is a short trip and we did not stop the newspaper (yes, I still get and read a newspaper) I will bring them in also.

If it is raining - the food and stuff in the last minute bag go in and not much else unless it is needed.

Now I enter the house kitchen .  I have to sort what has come in - food which does not need to be in the refrigerator goes on the counter.  Food that goes in the refrigerator should already have been put there by Robert.  Clean clothes, laptops & similar, mail, shoes, and such are put on the stairs or adjacent to them to be taken upstairs.  Jackets and such are put in the front closet - or at least over the post at the foot of the stairs in the front hall.  And the pile of stuff on the table.

The stuff on the table has to be sorted - stuff to go upstairs, stuff to stay in the kitchen/dinning room, stuff for the basement, stuff for our studio - or the garage workshop.  I sort them into shopping bags and try to at least get them into the room they belong in - or hang them on the door knob to outside if the item goes outside. 

But of course this is just the first step.  The next day I will have to go through the mail- shred the junk mail, pull out and check bills, collect bank statements (if any) to reconcile, magazines to where they will be read, and so on.  We will also go to the Post Office and pick up the mail which has accumulated in our box there, which also has to be sorted.

Food in boxes will have to be stored - I tend to do it slowly and use what is in the boxes.  They are basically snacks so I use the cereal which was not used on the trip instead of storing it away, use the tea bag from the ones I brought with us, etc. 

Since this was our last trip of the year that we will make with running water in the RV, I said to husband that I presume we will winterize the RV this week - he said we could wait.  For those who might not understand this, in areas like this where it can get close to freezing and below it, the water pipes and valves might freeze and break.  So we have to run a non-toxic anti freeze, made for this purpose for RVs and boats, through the water system.  This keeps it all from freezing, but also means that we cannot use the system as that would be adding water which could freeze back in the system.  Well, the not so cold weather we were having and were to have is to change by this weekend.  So the winterizing must be done this week. 

In addition, we needed a small closet type shed to keep our snowblower in by our side door.  (It is currently in the garage workshop and not only does it take up room, but if it snow we have to shovel our way to the garage and clear a path in front of the garage door so a shed near the door would be very good to have.)  Last year we waited too long to buy one - they have to be assembled above a certain temperature so that plastic gives and bends and does not break in the assembling.  Husband kept forgetting to order one from a well known home store and finally decided this was it.  We wanted to order one to pick up at the store.  The program would not let us as it said the store already had “one”.  So we went to the store.  It took about an hour and a half for them to find the shed, get someone to take it down from the top shelf (maybe 20 feet or more up), us to take it to the register and pay for it (well, husband did while I got the van), have no one come to help us load it, realize the box inside the sealed plastic was soaked, find the assistant manager again, get the other one (yes, per the computer they had one, but actually they had two), and get someone to help us load it.  It then sat in our van on the driveway until we could assemble it. 

Monday was too cold, Tuesday it rained.  (And of course we went and voted Tuesday.)So today we assembled it - mostly.  We had to get the huge box out of our van - we managed to push it so it was in the rear of the van (behind the back seat) and on a work stand and unloaded.  Today was already getting colder so we took all the pieces into the garage and turned on the hanging space heaters to keep the plastic pieces warm and pliable.  We moved our car to the curved part of our driveway, then backed the RV to the spot the car normally is so we would have room to work.  Somehow we were able to assemble most of the shed.  Husband then got ill from bending over, as he does, and had to go in and go to sleep for awhile.  I finished getting the roof ready to go on - screwing parts onto the inside of the room, putting things into the body of the shed to hold the roof in place, putting the handles on the doors.  (The doors were about the worse part of the assembly except...) When it was all done, I went and woke husband who after about a half hour more, was able to come out and we put the roof on - yay!  The last thing which had to be done and is a problem is two metal bars have to be slid into the roof and across into the sides to hold the front end of the roof on - we got one in, then gave up and will try again tomorrow as it was getting colder and dark. 

Remember he said that we don’t have to winterize this week when I said I assumed we were going to?  Tomorrow we will be winterizing the RV.

Luckily when he said that we would be doing these “little chores” today and tomorrow, I managed to write checks for all bills due out on Friday and figure out how much we have to transfer into checking to cover them - it is all finished and sitting in my “out” box for Friday.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK - When going on a trip - even a short, relatively local one as we take - try to be as caught up as possible before the trip.  Try to plan when you will catch up on bills, other paperwork, unpacking, laundry (I am doing a week and a half’s laundry tonight and tomorrow night), and such, when you return.     
           
For those who are Veterans or who are still on active service, Friday is Veteran’s Day here in the U.S. and is a holiday for many of those who live in the World War II allies countries (Armistice Day, Remembrance Day...) as Saturday is November 11, I thank you all for your service to your country  - whether the U.S. or other.  For those of you still on active service, I wish you a safe tour and return home. 

TRIP WENT AWRY - AGAIN

We have not been on a trip really this year as each time we planned one, something happened.  We traditionally go away for my birthday and planned to be away for 5 days for it.  We were to leave on Monday and return home overnight Friday to Saturday.  Once again our plans went awry.  A huge nor’easter (for those not from the U.S. this is a MAJOR wind and rain storm and is considered a winter storm, even though it does not involve snow) was to hit us Sunday through Monday.  Luckily we had not made reservations at the RV park in advance - this time of year the parks are usually not anywhere near full here in the northeast U.S. and since we go midweek - we avoid the possibility of the park filling with weekend guests - as well as avoiding the crowds that come to the Pennsylvania Dutch country. 

When we going on Monday we planned to start packing the RV on Sunday night with plenty of time on Monday to finish doing so as we would not be in a rush.  I made up the bed in the RV last week to have it done in advance - I pull the blanket and sheets over the pillows to keep them free of dust.

I have a checkoff sheet that I keep in the computer and print out each trip to make sure we don’t forget anything. The check off sheet includes a section on things to be done in advance - making the bed, filling the water tanks, checking supplies such as toilet paper, tissues, paper goods, soaps & paper towels, and so on.  Then there is a section on personal items - clothes, shoes, jackets, my embroidery - I don’t list the clothing items individually as we know what we need in clothes.  I have a food section as we bring items for snack - soda, cracker, water, cereal - and on longer trips I will bring soup, peanut butter and bread - just in case.  We have never used the latter, although one lunch time in a bad rain storm we came close.  There is a section of electronics to come - laptops and such.  There is a section of paper items to bring - coupon holders, directions, reservations (I actually keep an envelope for each of our regular trips for reservations, coupons and other papers I want to bring).  There is also a section of what to do before we leave - unplug the washer, turn off the dryer and stove breakers, take out the garbage when we leave.  And, lastly, there is a section of what needs to be done when we return - what not to forget in the RV when it is unpacked, turn off the refrigerator, lights and RV battery, and related matters.  Very organized -right? 

We were planning to go to a farmers’ market on Tuesday so we had to be out and on the way early (for us).  I packed the RV Monday night except for our “last minute bag” which has things we need the night before so they cannot be prepacked and my laptop computer.   Our plan was for me to call and make a reservation Tuesday morning just after 9 am as the RV park office opens at same.  I called.  I got a message telling me the office opens at 9 am - at 9:10 am.  I left a message to call me back and we kept going.  Husband was upset about what would happen if there was no RV space available.  I pointed out that he keeps telling me the RV need to be driven; he was looking forward to going to the farmers’market, and I wanted to be away for my birthday (if you have not calculated - this is Halloween - there is much less of same where we were going than at home).  I told him that at worst we would have had a day trip and accomplished all 3 things and would come home that night.  We left.  When we leave I direct him to back out of our driveway using walkie talkies.  We also use these for me to direct him into the space at the RV park.  Since it was Halloween we wanted to make sure that the house did not look too different as if we were away, so when he was out of the driveway, I drove one of our other cars into where the RV usually sits - and then ran and got into the RV and we were off.

Along the way - around 11 am - I finally was able to make reservations, although not for any of the spaces we prefer - and so far this trip 2 of the 3 spaces we prefer have remained empty and the 3rd was empty tonight.  The trip down was actually better than most  - much less traffic.  When we got to the farmers’ market it was freezing - or at least it felt so to me.  I had on 2 sweatshirts and wished I had brought gloves.  I had thought of treating myself to ice cream
for lunch for my birthday - there is a stand at the market (actually they are at both markets we go to) that always has a crowd and the ice cream looks yummy, so I thought I would go off my diet and have it for lunch - I planned this last year and the stand was closed.  This year it was open, but I was so cold, I could not imagine doing so.  We went around at the market and then had dinner (mine was free as it was my birthday) took a walk around Walmart (as we normally do) and went to the RV park. 

Being level is very important in an RV  - or doors will not open or will fall open and one is uncomfortable.  One problem, while driving today on the trip here, I realized that we only had one walkie talkie - the other one I had left in the car at home when I moved it!  I waited until we were in Walmart to mention it to husband and quickly suggested alternatives - including buying a  pair of walkie talkies in Walmart (which is why I told him then).  We decided we would deal with it by using our cell phones.  The only level spot we could find in this space was on an odd angle - which we would have to duplicate the next two nights when we came back at the end of the day.  We then settled in for the night. 

I checked email on my (this laptop) and unpacked the last minute bag.  Then we went to get ready for bed.  The bed in the RV consists of two bench seats which face each other and two pieces of wood which slide between them and then the bench seat cushions are rearranged into the bed.  I was kneeling down to store the laptop and some other items under the bed (the center which would be the aisle between the bench seats is used for storage) and as I bent down towards the bed - WHACK!!!  I slammed my head into one of the insert wood pieces.  I figured out that I had not pushed it all the way into position between the beds, so where I thought was an open space or wood covered with cushion - was the wood.  Owwwww! We checked and there is no bump or bruise.  I checked for signs of concussions - none - I made sure to stay awake for several hours to make sure.  Tonight, 24 hours later my forehead still hurts if I move the muscles in my face a certain way or if I (or husband who of course does so often to make sure I am okay) touch it. 

It was so cold that we had turn on the propane to run the propane furnace in the RV.  We had to be very careful and many things could not go where they normally go at night and that nothing flammable was near the furnace.  We made it through and should not need the furnace tonight (there is alternate heat down to 40F from a heat sink in the air conditioner).

I then took our medications to take and to replace in our pocket pill boxes to take today.  I forgot the over the counter vitamins and such that the doctor has I take - they are either sitting on our kitchen table or my dresser at home.  Oh well, at least we have the prescription medications.

Unfortunately all of this mess is becoming more and more common when we take trips.  No matter how organized and prepared we think we are - we are not.  Well, somehow we always deal with what needs to be dealt with.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Mistakes happen.  There is nothing to do but go ahead as well as possible.  No matter how much I try to figure out in advance what can happen and what to do - something else will happen and will need to be dealt with all one can do is one’s best.

TRYING TO CATCH UP

Well, the storm hit last Thursday.  It was not the largest snow storm that has ever hit this areas, but it did drop over 14 inches in some areas.  Husband and I went out in the late afternoon to clear our driveway.  It was still lightly snowing and at first husband was just going to clear enough for us to be able to back our car out of the driveway.  I should explain, we do not back our car out of the driveway as the street is much too busy for us to do so, plus we have trouble seeing up the road when we are pulling out head on as there is a curve in the road and lots of cars (something new the past 6 or so years) that block the view of the curve.  So we were going to do this in case of emergency before we cleared the entire driveway.  Husband kept going however, and we cleared the entire driveway.  We were lucky - one of our neighbors cleared part of our driveway before we went out.  Not sure why - it is not something he normally does, but we greatly appreciated it.  We were using our new snowblower and the snow was too deep in some places for it to work, so I walked along cutting off a section of snow and knocking it over so husband could use the snow blower on the snow.  When we finished we had two problems - the front steps were covered in deep snow which had been blown there and access to our heating oil pipe (for delivery) was also buried in snow.  I cleared the steps, while husband cleared a path to the oil pipe.  Our first major snowstorm and we managed to clear the driveway in an hour.  The additional snow that fell as we were working was very lightly and melted quickly with salt. 

I hope that any of you who might have been hit by the terrible weather this past week - the snow and wind in the northeast US, the tornados in the Lousiana/Mississippi area, or the floods and broken dam problem in California (if I left your weather problem out, I apologize, know you are included) are safe.

We were able to go out on Friday, but decided to pick up dinner locally rather than drive to where we normally go as the roads were icy.  Managed to catch up on some of the assorted paperwork and housework I am behind on.  During the afternoon we went out and bought another bag of melting salt.  We had used up the last of one bag and husband did not want to run out - we had 2 full bags, by my estimate enough for at least 6 storms, but he does panic over snow, so we went to 2 Home Depots and a Lowes to buy a spare bag.

Saturday was a normal day - mostly out of the house and dinner (at Ikea cafeteria - great value) and movie out.  Ah, normalcy so great to have once in awhile.

Sunday husband decided that rather than drive out to where we normally go, we would go to more local stores of the same chains - big mistake, everyone seemed to have decided to go out!  We worked on setting preferences in my computer for the new printer again.  I did not put out the garbage Sunday night for Monday morning as we were having an extremely windy day - lots of wind gusts at 50 mph.  I

Monday we had a short day as we had a board meeting at night for a group we are on the board of, so we had to finish up the afternoon chores early to get there and then it took up most of the evening.  This laptop suddenly had a problem with my Internet software and the rest of the night was used up with husband attempting to uninstall, giving up on same, and reinstalling the software. 

Yesterday was .... Valentine’s Day!  We had a fairly normal day and then treated ourselves to dinner out - at Ikea again.  We have a tight budget.  Plus no dressing up.  No gifts.  I strongly believe that the giving of gifts does not prove love.  It is the day to day fixing of computers, making my ancient software and laptop work, helping my husband with his weaving when he needs the equivalent of “an apprentice”, and so on which does. 

Today we changed the oil in the snow blower - it is new and hit the time it said to change the oil.  We are not used to doing such things, but thought we had thought it all through.  We had a disposable pan to drain the oil into.  As we started I thought to put down a large piece of cardboard from the box the snow blower came in to prevent oil on the floor.  Husband did not put on his disposable gloves - he was using a wrench to remove the plug to let the oil out of the blower - he scraped his finger rather badly.  We had to stop and run in and deal with it.  We then finished the job.  The dirty oil is in the bottle it came in and we will bring it to the local service station who told us they will take it.  When we went back into the house husband had bled through his bandage.  We cleaned his finger again and put on more antibiotic gel and I bandaged it tighter - he did not need to bend it as he did when we were doing the oil - so far it has not bled through and it has been hours, so I guess he does not need stitches.

How does all this relate to organizing?  Well, like everyone else there are weeks everything goes well and lots get done.  Other weeks - such as the past few - too many things go awry and little gets done - just the minimum.  How bad did we get behind?  While we don’t buy Valentine cards for each other - we do buy them for my family and husband’s nieces.  When we came home from dinner on Valentine’s Day we suddenly realized - we had never even bought cards for them due to all the confusion.  He sent a text to his older niece apologizing to the two of them and I sent an email to my family doing the same.  Next year this will not happen - we will be organized enough to buy and send the cards - I put it in my computer organizer to remind me!

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Okay, now you know not to try to reinvent the wheel, but to also think outside the box if something is not working. I wanted to point out that sometimes odd things can improve what your organizing, but there may be a learning curve for you with change.

First - growing up I had full size drawers in my dresser.  I had a dresser with my underwear and my socks (stockings, related).  When we married my dresser had only 3 full size drawers, the others were half size drawers, so thinking logically, I put my socks in the top half size drawer and my underwear in the drawer below it.  I went along this way for years - well over a decade. 

One day husband, who has all full size drawers in his chest which matches my dresser and therefore has socks and underwear together, asked me why I have my drawers set up so that every day I have to open one drawer and then a second drawer.  I thought about it.  I have types of socks I commonly wear - stockings and other types of socks are worn much more rarely.  Similarly I have kinds of underwear I need to take out the drawer daily and other kinds of underwear which I need rarely.  I thought and thought.  I then put the socks and underwear I need daily in the small top drawer and the rest of both categories in the second drawer.  It has been some time since this change - sometimes I still forget and open the lower drawer to get what I need, but I mostly have gotten used to the change and it is more convenient.

Second - I don’t know if I have mentioned this but last year husband made me two small replacement drawers for the kitchen.  We had mice and they were through the drawers.  As a combination of being grossed out at using the drawers, even after they were sanitized and cleaned for cooking related items, and the fact that the drawers might very well date back to when the house was built in the early 1950s and were not nice to begin with, he made me new drawers. Basically this is a matter of making boxes the right size and then we attached the drawer front which had not been exposed to the mice - but were cleaned and sanitized anyway.  (There is still the bread box drawer where we found the mice to be remade.)  Most of the items in the drawers were thrown out unless they were impossible to replace or expensive (and since they were small drawers not much was the latter).  One drawer again holds my dish towels.  The other I had to figure out what to use it for.  I rearranged some items between my “silverware” drawer, which has all manner of small kitchen handheld items (this is elsewhere in the kitchen and not where the mice were) and some items which had been in this drawer or replaced what had been in this drawer.  For the most part I have had no trouble adjusting to the change - except one item - scissors.  I have a large pair of utility scissors which were in the silverware drawer.  I realized that some items belonged in same and not in the small drawer and moved the scissors to the small drawer.  Great idea.  I also moved the flashlight from the silverware drawer to there and some other non-food use items - no problem with any of those.  So when I need the scissors I open the silverware drawer, swear, close it, and then open the correct drawer.  I am doing this less and less though.  (By the way, I was looking for a small squarish box to hold items in this drawer and a similar one to hold items in the silverware drawer and found a small lidded plastic box during back to school season in a dollar store and I took it apart - the lid sits upside down in one drawer and the bottom in the other drawer - both perfect sized and $1 for the box!)   

So think about where you keep things and why - there may be a simple change which can made a great difference in your day - just remember there might be a learning curve if you have had something someplace for years and change where you keep it.
       

STILL ANOTHER WEEK OF COMEDY OF ERRORS

Have you ever heard - when it rains - it pours?

Well, last week I told you about the death of our printer all in one and how lucky we were not to have a fire as a result.  On Thursday, the day after I posted, we went out and bought the new all in one.  We went right away as there was a sale on the unit through last Saturday.  We also found out that there was a $50 credit if we traded in our old printer - in addition to saving money, by doing so we avoided having to go to a recycling event when next the township has one or taking the printer unit to the town garbage department as it is electronics and cannot be put out with the regular garbage for pickup.  We took it home and set it up.  Husband put the software on his computer to see that all worked.  It did. 

A day or so later we put it on my computer - the main program I use for scanning does not work with it and when I scanned with one of the other programs I have - it did not scan usable and the software seems to be set to legal size as the default - have to reset that and set up presets to use it - so everything I copied in the interim as I could not scan it, is still sitting waiting to be scanned into the computer.  But hey, this is all normal with computer stuff - right?           

Friday night we had dinner out and then went to Barnes and Nobles as we normally do.  As we were about to leave the store as it was closing, I was waiting for husband to join me by the door.  I noticed my eyeglasses were dirty and, as I have done for around 55 years that I have worn eyeglasses, I breathed on the lenses and started wiping the lenses with my shirt.  I suddenly found that I was I holding the eyeglasses by the frame with one hand and the lens I was wiping with the other hand.  Yes, my eyeglass frames broke. 

Now, these are not new frames, but I really hate buying new eyeglasses.  I hate it so much that a pair of eyeglasses which broke last summer has still not been replaced.  Why do I hate replacing my eyeglasses?  I like glass in my eyeglasses as opposed to the common plastic lenses.  When last I purchased eyeglasses only one location around here still used glass lenses.  So I anticipated having to probably change to plastic lenses.  (If you wonder why I prefer the “heavy” glass to the plastic - the glass does not scratch - none on this old glasses’ lenses, while a pair I got through our old insurance company about 3 years ago has many scratches on the lenses.  In addition the “visual acuity” is better with glass.  Also having worn eyeglasses since second grade, I am used to the heavier glass and the plastic feels strange - my first 2 pairs of eyeglasses were not even break resistant as such had not yet been invented.)  The pair I broke has progressive lenses and they are not cheap.  (The pair I broke last summer had progressive lenses which also switched from clear to sunglasses - even more expensive.)  So I was not happy about needing to get new glasses - even more unhappy than I was about getting a new printer unit

Husband stuck this eyeglass frame together, as he did with the one last summer, with that “it’s not a glue, the light makes it work” stuff they sell on TV - we bought it at Walmart. It did fix the frame last summer for a couple of months and then it no longer worked.  So we knew we could not depend on it. He told me that we were going the next day (Saturday) for new glasses, I wanted to wait until after the weekend as generally stores are not as busy, but he insisted.

We first went to the last store I bought eyeglasses in - the one that had glass lenses when no one else did anymore.  (Okay, I know that one can get glass lenses by ordering online, but I don’t order something as simple as tissues online, so I am not going to order eyeglasses online and hope that they are measured correctly.)  This store is part of a chain which was taken over shortly after I bought my last pair by another chain, so it was very different when we went in.  For one thing, one can no longer buy a pair of eyeglasses - one has to buy 2 pairs as the pair one buys comes with a second pair free - and there was a $50 off sale on the 2 pairs.  When I saw this sign about 2 pairs, I started thinking that maybe I could replace both pairs.  I presumed that the free pair had to be single lenses (no progressive, no bifocal) and figured I would ask about paying the difference on the lenses or I would get a spare pair of distance glasses for the car - when the glasses broke it dawned on us that if husband was not driving I would have had to drive home at night with my sunglasses so we decided it would be good for me to have a distance pair in the car - just in case.  Temporarily now I have a pair I use for 19th century reenacting in the car - especially since I don’t know how long the fix to the lenses will hold.

We looked around and it was obvious that the frames were priced so that they were at least double the normal price to cover the cost of the second pair of glasses.  We managed to find one frame which was in our price range (the second pair would be a real problem) and I approached a staff member to ask about the glass lenses.  I got a luck and a reaction as if I had asked if they made eyeglasses for Martians.  She checked with another staff person - I think he was a manager - and he said he was not sure if they could get them anymore.  I had to fill in all the paperwork for him to check.  They could get them - $500!!  I thanked them and resigned to getting the plastic lenses left.  Husband had thought the price was not a problem - but he thought I would get both pairs of the progressive lens eyeglasses for that - I explained that I was pretty sure the “free” pair would be single vision lens. 

We moved on to another chain eyeglass store.  We used to go to another store in this chain before glass lenses became a problem and had been extremely happy with the other store - but it was now closed.  The frames here were even more money, with the exception of a single rack hidden in their work area (this is a fact, not an exaggeration).  We left. 

Husband said to me that since I was stuck with plastic lenses we should look in Costco and Walmart on Sunday when we went to both as we normally do.  (Only one Walmart around here has an eyeglass department and it is the one we go to on Sunday as it is near the Costco and the Bjs we go to then.)  He mentioned that my sister had been very happy with eyeglasses she got from Walmart.   I pointed out to him that the Walmart’s eyeglass department is closed when we go there - so off we went to same to look. 

The frame prices were much better in Walmart and I we found several frames which are the style I like.  Okay, at one point I was suddenly finding lots of frames I liked, but they all seemed a bit wide.  I brought one to husband and mentioned this - I was looking at the men’s frames.  Typical, I always know when I have hit the men’s shoes department (as opposed to ladies) as I start to find shoes I like.  We finally settled on a frame.  I went to employee to get a price (we planned to look at the glasses in Costco the next morning before deciding).  The young woman employee (staff here was much nicer than in either of the chain eyeglass stores we had been in) started asking me about which coatings I wanted.  I explained that I normally buy glass, but no one has them....  She priced them for in glass!  The last time I bought eyeglasses I had asked there and was told that they did not sell them so I was happily (for once) surprised.  I ordered them.  Husband pointed out that they had very low price on their cheapest eyeglasses and I ordered a pair with plastic lenses to keep in the car - 20% discount as I had bought the other pair.  I do not have either pair yet, but I am sure they will be fine.  Either way you will hear about them.

Today I went to NYC to a client.  The ride in to the garage I use normally takes me 45 minutes, the ride home 2 hours - plus a short subway ride each way.  In Queens on the way to the garage there was a crazy - or lost - 18 wheeler driver.  I was in the right lane and he started making a right turn from the center lane, cutting in front of me.  In addition he had made the turn at the wrong point of the intersection so he could not pull into the cross street as the cars on the far side heading out of the street were in his way.  I looked up and thought my car was about to destroyed as the side of the trailer was moving towards me.  I backed up as far as I could.  A man appeared - he may have been with the truck driver, more likely he was from a near by gas station - and had the cars behind me back up so I could back up further.  The first car in the cross street who had been waiting to pull out when the light changed had backed up as far as he could and he made a U turn - oh, by the way, I am not sure that the cross street he was turning into was not a one way street the opposite way.  Somehow he finally made the turn - missing me by less a foot!  Not a great start to the work day. 

Coming home every main road had at least one accident on it - no, really, even the ones which were not ones I could use to drive home and even roads in the surrounding states and north of NYC.  I generally use secondary roads to come home as it is during rush hour (I go in after rush hour in the morning), but had hoped to come on a main road as I finished an hour early - noooo, the secondary roads as usual.  It took me almost 3 hours to get home.  I did make one stop though along the way home to walk a bit and stretch my legs and use the - well you know. 

Now today was a beautiful day.  It was in the 60Fs and almost springlike - record breakingly warm in some locations for the day.  We are currently waiting for snow.  Once again, originally it was an inch or less, which became 6-10 inches as of yesterday and now there are blizzard warnings, schools announced as of this afternoon and early evening that they will be closed tomorrow - we are now, as of the 11 pm news, expecting 10-12 inches or more.  Husband is in a tizzy - he does not like snow as we have to clear the driveway, as well as he is now always afraid of losing our electricity.  (We lost it in major hurricanes - Sandy being one of them - a year apart, and a day after we got our electricity back after Sandy - we lost it in the nor’easter that came through.  Understand we had a devastingly major tropical storm and just over a week later had a major winter storm.)

If you are in the path of this storm - stay safe.  If you were hit by the recent tornados in Louisiana and Mississippi - or any other of this odd horrible weather patterns we are having - I hope you and yours are alright.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK (formerly of the day - makes more sense if I only list one thought a week) -

This week’s thought is the direct opposite of last week’s thought.  Last week’s thought was not to try to reinvent the wheel - ie. if a way to do something exists don’t try to come up with a new idea.  This week’s thought is to think outside the box.  (Yes, I know both are cliches.)

How can I now be suggesting the opposite of last week?  Well, sometimes one works and sometimes the other does.  If you have looked for an established way to do something and have not found one or are not are happy with what you find - look elsewhere.

Let’s use doing the laundry - yes, the same laundry that last week I did not “reinvent the wheel” to find something to sort it into.  I don’t hate doing the laundry (other than sheets as I mentioned in a earlier post), but I don’t love it.  I also do not like getting up and out of  bed in the morning.  So I wash and dry the laundry at night.  It generally takes me two nights to do this - I don’t start until husband has gone upstairs to the computer after dinner and the 11 pm news. (Right now I have the load of towels in the washer and the load of regular clothes in the dryer.)  I put the dried laundry in the basket and bring it upstairs when we go to bed.  When I do the regular clothes load I lay husband’s shirts across the rest of the laundry in the basket.  His shirts are the most likely items to wrinkle.  When we go up to bed I take the basket up with me.  I hang up his shirts before we go to bed to keep them from wrinkling.  The next morning after he is up and out of bed and at his computer (he is working when he is at the computer, which is why he is there so much) I take the basket of laundry to bed and sort and fold it.  My shirts - generally tee shirts so wrinkling is not really a problem - are tossed to the foot of the bed.  The rest of the laundry in the basket is folded (my socks are rolled, his are folded - it is personal preference) and put in stacks around me on the bed.  When I get up the laundry is put away except for my shirts.  Oh, if there has been a load of jeans - not done weekly - those are also tossed to the foot of the bed.  I will hang my shirts and the jeans that night when we go to bed - and generally there is more laundry done the second night and another basket to sort and fold the second morning - this one primarily bed linens and towels. 

This is not how one normally does clothes, but it works for me.  Although when husband first left his job and was home I did find out that 1 - he does not like having laundry folded and stacked on him while he is asleep and 2 - when he rolls over all the laundry has to be folded again. :-)

If we did not think outside the box - husband would not have his loom in our living room - no place else to set it up and use it. 

In our RV we have particularly learned to think outside the box as storage is limited and items must be stored where they fit and where they will not be moving around while the RV is in motion - hence our shoes are stored in a cubby (with a door) over the bed.  They only need to be reached (generally) in the morning and at night when we are getting up in or going to bed in, the bed and keeping them here leaves places which are more easily accessed free for other items.

So, if you need to find a way to do something first look to see if there is a common way to do it, then look for alternatives - no matter how the alternative is.