JULY 4TH - REMINDS ME OF THE ORGANIZING IT TOOK TO RUN A HOUSEHOLD - ALMOST 250 YEARS AGO

 While this post circles around an American colonial event of 1776, it is also a general post. I do hope everyone related to same had a good July 4^{th .}

As 18^th century reenactors the holiday has a second meaning for my husband and myself. When one spends part of their time “living” in a different time period that time period and participating in events related to it, it take on additional meaning.

Communication being what it was in 1776 the Declaration of Independence most people had no idea that the Declaration had been signed for a week or maybe more. Could you imagine something that momentous today not being instantly available – in great detail – to everyone within minutes today? And it took weeks for England to know about it – even longer for other countries.

Most things took longer then. A housewife and anyone helping her cook (including enslaved people, free servants, and family members) would be awake as early as possible to start cooking – possibly before dawn depending on the time of year. In a most cases the kitchen was a separate building. A fire – in all seasons – as it would need to be started so the wood could burn down to charcoal for use. If the housewife was good at what she did the breakfast would be leftovers from the day before. It was common to cook a meal for “dinner” (at about the time we have lunch). Leftovers from dinner would be eaten for supper that evening. And if the housewife had planned correctly – the food still leftover would be reheated and served for breakfast the following morning. Leftover food could not be stored for anywhere near the time we do so today as it would go bad without refrigeration – depending on location winter would help some with keeping food cold in season. Of course there was no running water so someone was carrying water for cooking and washing – people and things.

A good deal of the food was raised by the individual families – animals for meat, planting in the spring, fishing in nearby water – again it all had to planned out in advance how much would be needed, such as how much wheat would the family need to last until next year's wheat was ready to harvest? What if something happened to the crops and they were lost or bad? How much bread to bake at a time so it would last long enough – but none would go bad? We have been thorough periods in the 20^th/21st centuries where we had to go food shopping every day as we had not been planning out what we need for food as the easy and constant availability of same spoiled us. It was much easier for me before husband retired/quit his job a decade or two ago as I could plan my list and plan my time to get shopping done once a week, with an extra run on Friday to fill in if needed – before the weekend and husband was around all day. Since Covid we have been back to figuring out how much food to buy to go out and food shopping the least number of times – and shopping list matching the aisles the items are in to be able to find things as quickly as possible. We tried to keep the food shopping to every 2 months in 2020 – storage of the food a major organizing job on its own. (We are edging back to food shopping much more often as fill in shopping these days.)

When my husband was still working he thought what I did if a bad storm – snow or rain - was mentioned on the news – I would make sure we had a week's food in the house – especially food that did not need to be refrigerated and also food that did not need to be cooked - and all our prescriptions were up to date so we had enough medications for a week or so at the least. I would fill the gas tank in my car. I would do the laundry – even if early – so I knew we would have clean clothing, towels, bedding, etc. Since he has been home all the time and even more so since Covid, he understands what I was doing all along.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Survival in earlier times depended on the family – especially the wife – planning what foods would be needed when, as well as how to keep the food safely edible and not running out of food. In cold weather the husband and sons would have to make sure there was enough wood to burn for heat and for cooking.

At the start of Covid a bit of all this need for planning came back. As the need for the planning has been disappearing again (though even now, many times food shelves are still partially empty in the supermarket and they are out of foods we planned to buy) we are losing the idea of planning ahead to make sure we are ready for the next emergency – and there will ALWAYS be a next emergency.

Are you planning ahead so that when the next emergency comes – you and your family are prepared? (I am not talking about going to the extent that so called “preppers” do – just that you have food in the house for a short period of time to get started if something happens.)

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?

ONE NEEDS TO HAVE PLANS WHEN ONE IS STUCK HOME DUE TO AN INJURY OR ILLNESS

 My foot is much healed  - though not completely yet – since last week.  

It has been hard staying off my foot as much as possible.  This means, of course, sitting in one place or another and greatly limiting switching to other places – though we did have to go out for a bit of food shopping.  Staying off my foot seems to be working as it seems be about half better already.  

Husband has been trying to help as much as possible – he even washed the dishes for a couple of days.  He has always been upset that I did not replace our dishwasher when it died – as much as he did not want me having to wash the dishes by hand, he did not want to have to do so himself when I could not.  Even long before Covid I would put on a mask (he has them for his woodworking) or tying a towel around my face and putting on disposable plastic gloves when ill so he would not have to do the dishes.    He also cooked – but he has always been the cook of the two of us.   

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One needs to be prepared for when cannot do the normal housework – or other jobs which one normally does.  What sort of plans do YOU have for when you cannot deal with house, cooking, or work for a period of time.  

Do you have someone else to take over or help you – spouse, child, parent, housemate or really good friend?  Do you have disposable goods – paper plates, cups, napkins to use when you cannot deal with washing up after meals?  The telephone number of a place which delivers for an affordable price?

Whether an injury or an illness which keeps one home one needs to be prepared to be able to eat and deal with one's house should something happen.

JURY DUTY - WHAT CAN BE WORSE THAN SAME, DOES HAPPEN

 Well, last week I wrote about not being able to get housework done due to a problem with my leg and that it was finally getting better.  But, life has its own way of having its fun!  

I was scheduled to go for jury duty yesterday (Tuesday).  Like many to most people I did not want particularly to go, even more so, due to the continuation of Covid in our area.  The idea of sitting closely in a room with other people scares the heck out of me.  But I had figured that based on my age I could not be called for jury duty again after this time as there is a minimum time that must pass between when one serves jury duty (even if not actually put on a jury) and when one can be called again and by the time I could be called again I would be past the age when I have to serve on a jury.  In addition I had already pushed the date back 6 months by requesting an automatic delay.  I had actually picked this week as my alternate date to serve as it was about as far I could push back the jury duty and it was a 4 day week – I figured that cut my chances of being seated on a jury by 20%.  That did not work.

I am not, especially during the pandemic and sitting home most of the time, a person who takes a shower every day – and since the pandemic started I have been taking a shower even less often than usual.  I figured that I should take one before going in for jury duty.  So, Monday night I climbed in the shower and took a shower.  

When I got to my feet I had a problem.  My left ankle looked as if I had a hammer hit it or something dropped on it!  Purple from collected blood.  I don't know how many days it has been like this.  We tend to dress in half light, I don't generally go looking at my body, and I can't see far clearly without my eyeglasses – so until I lifted my foot to wash it  - I had not seen the purple area.  I quickly finished my shower and yelled for my husband – who was as upset with it as I was.  

I went through the papers on my desk which had been collected to bring with me to jury duty and found the instructions on what to do in case of emergency and one cannot come.  8:30 the next morning I tried telephoning the court – steady busy signal.  Went back to sleep half an hour and then tried again.  I got a very nice woman who when I explained that a medical problem had come up overnight and I had to go to the doctor told me that all I needed to do was get a “doctor's note” and mail it along with my jury duty paperwork to them.  She did not even ask for my name or my “juror number”.  A lot simpler than I thought it would be.  Husband then telephoned the doctor for me and the first appointment available was at 3:30 that afternoon.  

After a late lunch we drove to the doctor's office.  He examined my foot asked questions and decided that it was not serious (I thought it might be PAD – as my mom has same).  I had a bad spasm in the back of my leg a little over 2 weeks ago and he said it might be from that.  Just to be sure he wanted me to get a scan of my leg.  (There was no problem getting the doctor's note for the court.)

Sitting in the car husband called the lab that was to do the test (using my phone as his has very limited minutes) figuring we would get an appointment for the next day if lucky.  They had an appointment available early evening same day – we took the appointment.  

Having taken my mom for these scans I was concerned – not only about something being found, but it has been a long waiting process and where we have to take her is not a place which is nice about doing the test or anything else.  The place we went (which is part of a chain of locations) was very nice.  Employees were wonderful – from the desk staff to the woman who did the test.  I did not have to fill in a lot of paperwork – it was mostly already filled in, just a few questions, signature and date.  Only a short wait.  The woman doing the test was very pleasant, explained what she was doing each step and kept checking that she was not hurting me.  What a difference from where mom has to go (as it is her doctor's office).  

Called today by doctor and all is fine.  We each took a big breath!  

Husband had asked the doctor if I needed to stay off my foot or keep it elevated and he said no, but we have been taking it easy and I sit here I have my feet on the one step (used to reach cabinet shelves) that is kept under the kitchen table (no place else to keep it) with my right foot on it and my left foot sitting on my right foot to elevate it a bit anyway.  

Foot looked a very little bit better today – but a bit is better than none or looking worse.

Last night husband did the dinner and late night snack cooking and even washed up afterward. Today we ran out and did a bit of food shopping – we had planned on a bigger food shopping trip today, but just the most important items were purchased.  Tomorrow it suppose to rain heavily.  Hopefully by Friday my foot will look much better – fingers crossed.    

THOUGHT OF THE DAY -

Don't put off going to the doctor and worry about is going wrong – go, get it over with it and hopefully all will be well – or at least better than one thought it would be.  

No matter what one has plans to do – whether for fun or something which one has to do – one never knows what will happen that will cause one's plans to go awry.  

We had planned to go to an event our reenactment unit is having Sunday  - outside with lots of room to stay away from others  - that husband was really looking forward to as we have missed our hobby and being with our fellow “colonial people”, but as I put off the question of going or not going, he brought it up and said that we are NOT going.  It would be too much walking around and carrying things for me  - he says.  (That to me is true love.)

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. 

ACHOO!

Achoo!  Last week I was feeling fine.  Then it happened.  You know, you wake up with a scratchy throat and wonder - is it a cold or did I just sleep on my back with my mouth open and annoy my throat.  Then the coughing starts - and you still hope it is a just a scratchy throat from sleeping on your back, but you are pretty sure it is not.  Once the sneezing starts and your nose is clogged...  My husband lives in fear of me having a cold.  He is a bit of a hypochondriac so he won’t let me do anything if I might “spread the germs” to him.  But he doesn’t want to do what he is not letting me do either.  Everything takes longer to do as a result and wastes time. Don’t worry - you can’t catch the cold.

He doesn’t want to cook (although he used to love to cook and is the better cook).  He doesn’t want to do the dishes. but he doesn’t want me to do either as I will get him sick.  The first night he made dinner - ham steak that we shared and a packaged macaroni with mushrooms - add to boiling water and let cook - and canned soup.  I did the dishes afterwards with disposable plastic gloves on.  One night he was on the computer with a client and I asked if I should make dinner or wait for him and he told me he was busy - so I made dinner and he ate it, but not happily.  Then the weekend came and cooking was resolved as we eat out Friday through Sunday nights.  This week he cooked dinner on Monday.  Last night as we were trying to figure out what to have for dinner a rain storm hit.  I mean A RAIN STORM HIT.  He received a warning on his cell phone - I did not, although my, no cell service for over a year as it was not working for Internet or phone service and I had to switch,  Blackberry received a notice.  (I keep it charged for it games and camera.)  We had major lightning and thunder for about 2 hours - remember I have fired a reproduction 18th century cannon - the thunder was like cannon fire.  We lost our electricity - one of husband’s other great fears.  We stood/sat with the front door open watching “the show” .  We live on a main road.  A UPS truck went past to the right, then to the left, then two of them passed our house, then another one and so on.  Assorted emergency vehicles passed the house in both directions with lights flashing - police, ambulances, fire trucks, a couple of electric utility trucks...  Cars kept driving in the mess, some would pull over a few minutes and then go on.  I am a pretty fearless driver (scared husband the few times he had to drive with me as the driver) and I would have pulled over.  Sooo, what will we eat?  I was thinking - we have rolls, peanut butter - crunchy and smooth, jelly - strawberry and Ikea ligonberry, American cheese, mozzarella cheese - no problem.  I suggested this to him.  NO!  We cannot open the fridge or his insulin would go bad.  (Well, technically if it got too warm it would still be good for 42 days, but I was not going to argue.)   Luckily the rain let up around 10:30 pm.  We got in the car and drove to a nearby supermarket and bought more rolls and cold cuts for dinner.  On the corner passed a 7-11 shut down do to lack of electricity, employees seemed to be sitting in cars in the parking lot.  We got home and were getting ready to eat and - the lights came back on.  Apparently we were in the largest outage area so we were put back quickly.  I honestly do not remember a thunderstorm with so much or such loud thunder with rain that heavy for so long.

Tonight we took in Chinese food - simple right?  Not really.  The place we took out from for decades (while I was waiting for the gas company to come and turn on the gas in our first apartment I went and took out from this place for lunch - I did not even have tableware, dishes, glasses, etc in the apartment - I did have a borrowed bridge table and 2 borrowed bridge chairs) has changed.  The original owners ran it for a long time - we knew their children, I remember hearing a car stop short in front of our apartment and the father coming running to the corner because his younger daughter had been riding her bicycle and just missed being hit by the car.  When he died his older daughter would come home from college on weekends to help her mom.  Then the son took over for awhile - even though he really wanted to be fishing - and the place often had fresh fish due to same.  Eventually the place was sold - to the son’s sister in law and her husband.  They were also nice and the food was the same and we kept going there.  Earlier this year we went there and the husband was not there and an older woman (I presume one of their moms) was cooking.  The food was not good.  We tried another place and were not happy with them.  We went back to them figuring maybe it was the change in cook.  But the last time we took out the soup was too salty to eat and all the dishes were wrong.  We don’t know what happened.  This is the place we called on our way back from our 5 hour trip in July, 2017 to get dinner made before they closed - http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2017/07/treading-water-5-hour-trip-to-nowhere.html So, we never know where to take out from and as a result we don’t.  We receive an assortment of fliers from take out places and I keep them.  One recently caught husband’s eye and he had been planning to try it - so tonight we did.  Very nice people and food.  Three street parking spaces in front of the 4 stores was the only parking.  Then, since I was sick, husband did not hand me the food to hold on the trip home, he put it in a plastic laundry basket we keep in the back in the car, he did not put anything against the bag to hold it.  Yes, the bag went on an angle and was soaked when he took it out of the car.  After dinner we had to wash the vinyl cover I keep in the car, the basket, and back of the car.  We will go back again - and I will hold the bag.


In the middle of all this I had to go to Manhattan to a client for work - I should have gone last month, but she had a cold (could I have caught this cold over the telephone :-) ).  So I went yesterday.  I packed a zip lock bag with sucking candy, lots of tissues, and an old prescription bottle with one dose of the cough medicine I am taking.  In another zip lock bag I had a small bottle I filled with water.  Did I mention the temperature yesterday was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit?  Luckily I did not need any of the items. 

As a result of this normal housework and keeping things in order are only done if absolutely needed.  Instead of changing the bedding, I changed only my pillowcases.  I suggested he change his, but he said it was okay to just leave them until next week.  I had to talk him through changing the hand towels. We were in the downstairs bathroom - “Where are they?” “In the cabinet under the sink  - see those 2 whiteish towels?  Take them and the green dish towel below them.”  (I put out a green dish towel each week in that bathroom to use for quick clean ups of water around the sink - it matches the bathroom.)  Upstairs?  “Which towels?”  “The yellow ones.” (I figured yellow was bright and he would easily see them.) “You mean these yellow ones?”  They are the only yellow ones we have. 

Last week I had washed and dried the clothes the night before I got the cold.  A load of jeans were in the dryer drying overnight.  So we had clothes for the week.  I did not wash the towels or the bed linens.  Good thing I have 2 weeks of towels plus one extra set for up and down.  I was trying to figure out how to mention to him about the laundry when he brought it up.  I put the clothes in to wash.  He will put them in the dryer - with me talking him through it - and then bring them upstairs afterwards.  He brought up last week jeans load when I put in the load to wash.  He says he will fold the laundry.  I normally pull out his shirts as I put the clean, dry laundry in the basket to take upstairs so that they do not need to be ironed, as I put them over the top of the other clothes and if he does that, and sorts mine from his, I can deal with my clothes and he can deal with his or leave them in the basket and pull them out as he needs them. 

Hopefully either this cold will be definitely over with or he will give up by Monday so life can return to normal.

On the other hand, I had some extra time in the office as we came home quicker in the afternoons.  I managed to shred all of my 2008 records - other than few I kept such as the checks written that year for our income taxes - 3 tall kitchen bags plus, worth of shredding.  I then packed my 2017 records into the same box, relabeled it, and put it back in the closet - ah, room to fit papers in file folders again. 

I also had time to transfer my 2017 computer files to my archive file and make 2 DVD copies of the revised archive files.  I still have to change my back up files so that the old files are gone from them, but that will happen as I make backup files.

I went through an assortment of old computer instruction manuals sitting on a shelf in the office - why?  I needed space for 2 magazine holders.  I pulled a number of the manuals - mostly from programs or hardware that I had - and I will put them out over a couple of weeks with the recycling.  I still have a stack for husband to go through - understand this are DOS or pre Windows XP software and hardware that I cannot figure out what or where it is.  The magazine holders fit nicely in the shelf now with room for the manuals for computer things we are actively using.

The office floor is a mess due to my cheapness in not wanting to waste extra garbage bags when doing shredding and pouring from one to another - as well as throwing handfuls of shreds from one bag to another.  I had planned to vacuum up the shreds - but then caught this cold - maybe tomorrow I will get to vacuuming.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One gets ill.  It happens.  I am glad that it only a cold so all it has been is inconvenient.  In the larger world it is nothing, just an inconvenience. I am happy that is not serious and by next week either I will be better or he will give up trying to do things for me so he does not catch the cold.  (I have never pointed out to him that I touch the light switches and so does he.) 

Try to do as much as one can without overtaxing one’s self - this will vary based on what is wrong with one.

I leave you with a final achoo!  If I rambled too much - will, hey!  I have a cold! :-)
   

A WEEKEND IN THE 18TH CENTURY

Well, as I mentioned last week this has been a busy week of rising about 4 hours earlier than usual - and I don’t fall asleep earlier as a result - sometimes even later, so I am down around the equivalent of 2 nights worth of sleep.

The biggest chunk of this is a reenactment last weekend.  For those of you who might not know what this is, my husband has always been interested in the American Revolution and I have  always been interested in British history.  In reenacting portrays a person (either real or imagined) from a different time period and/or place.  In our case we reenact in the general American Revolution period - the 1770s- 1780s.  We portray a fictious couple in the period of the “middling sort” - meaning middle class.  We are members of a local unit of same which is a civilian (not military) unit.  For some time the unit members have wanted to do a specific event and our new commander managed to set it up. 

Normally when we do an event it is on Saturday or Sunday for 5 to 7 hours.  This event was Saturday and Sunday with setup on Friday night and we were the “lead group” for several other ones that our commander convinced to join us as they were needed for this event. - No, wait, this does involve organizing, I promise.

On a personal level, we had to plan what we would do at the event - normally he talks to people as someone who prints and sells pamphlets (soft cover books) as someone from “then” and I portray his wife and demonstrate embroidery.  If an event is at our headquarters we will generally end up giving tours of the house at some point during the day.  For this event which involved the British army being an occupying force, neither was appropriate so we had to figure what to do instead.  He would just talk to people about “the situation”.  I decided to get some actual sewing that has been sitting about done.  Mending was the perfect thing for the event.  I was going to work on a waistcoat (vest) that no longer fit him.  I had previously split the right and left sides apart and stitched the lining and front of each half together (into 2 half vest pieces).  I had planned to stitch what are basically buttonholes to the back edges where the pieces should be sewn together.  I managed to put all this together.  As I did so I found 2 small drawstring bags (drawstring bags in all sizes can hide just about anything modern or carry anything “period” ) so I figured I would bring them along also.  In addition to this we were bringing two folding reproduction stools to sit on and plate, cup and silverware each (called a mess kit it is period looking items for when eating at an event).  Rather than our 2 good sized bench boxes that we use to bring lots of stuff to and store the stuff in at events we had just the folding stools and the one drawstring bag - much planning went into what went into the bag and fitting it in.  The first day was to maybe raining on and off, so I put a small plastic garbage bag inside the large drawstring bag this all went into, so the stuff in the bag would not get wet if it did rain.  Our stuff we brought with us on Saturday and again on Sunday.

Setup for our unit was a bit more taxing - but it was a group effort to set up and was done late Friday afternoon.  We had to setup a number of tents such as lower soldiers would have - it takes 2-3 people to set up each one.  Then we put up all of our “flys”.  These are large tents that are only tops - we use them to have shade.  Part of all of these tents were put in “our” area and the others were put in the adjacent “British army camp” to make it look like there were more of them than there would be.  Where to place each component of our area and their camp had to be carefully figured and laid out.  Towards the back of the area there is a barn which we had the use of (it actually dates all the way back to the 1700s) for storage and in case of rain.  It was decided that the cooking fire would be near it along with two of the small tents to hide modern things in for the cooking.  One of our fellows had planned out the cooking - he was cooking for all 3 areas - ahead of time and then had to have the food cooked and ready at the times set for eating.  The third area mentioned was a second camp area which was near us, but hidden by trees as it was the “colonial” men who would be fighting the “British army” during the event.

During the week before our “commander” and the restoration village we were in had planned out where the “battles” were to be and worked with heavy moving equipment in a field to have it set up as it needed to be.  Our commander gets the credit for much of the organization and getting the event done.  Due to the possibility of rain he also had worked with restoration to have a plan in case of same.  We were to go to various restored houses in the “village” and would be doing our impressions in same - he even had figured out who would go where.

We were lucky and the weather held straight through.  Somehow due to the organization which had been done everything went off on schedule - people being hassled, soldiers drilling, houses being ransacked, etc. all on schedule - with some more of same not scheduled and being done impromptu.  One great idea that someone had for organization was that we wanted the public who came through to participate, but did not want to scare off anyone who did not want to.  Those who wanted to participate (and most apparently did) were given big red dot stickers to wear.      A great idea as even without my eyeglasses (reproduction ones of course) that I had to take off to sew, I could see the dots in the distance.

On Sunday in the morning husband was told, err, asked to give a talk on the lives of loyalists (colonists who did not want to separate from Britain and were loyal to same).  He put together some thoughts on same.  We have not been to that end of the restoration in some years - decades(?) so I took a walk down there ahead of time so we would know where we going.  When the time came for us to meander over a bit ahead of time we were amazed that as we walked past the “tavern” in the middle of the village one of the employees walked out of same with the keys needed for the house we were going to - not sure how she knew we were the ones or how she timed it so well - that is organization.  She showed let us into the house and showed us how to lock it up it when we left.  Some household type items had been left inside the front door to be “confiscated” (stolen) from us for being loyalists.  People showed up on time to hear husband speak on the subject.  Just as he was finishing the fellows who would be bothering us showed up with guns aimed at us - lectured us and were nasty to us, confiscated the items and were gone.  The public followed them off to the next fight and we locked up the building - taking time to have a nice look around at what was in it.  When we walked back towards the tavern I walked in with the keys and the fellow there knew which keys I was about to hand him.

At the end of the day Sunday - exhausted but happy all took down the “camps” and packed their personal and unit stuff away.  Everything had been organized well and nothing had been overlooked - what a wonderful thing and it was only the first time we organized something this big - our commander was in contact in advance with the other commanders and individuals who came. 

Just when we thought there had been no problems - we could not lock the house we were in front of, had use of and had given tours of as we did not have the key.  The key sits in special place in the house (good organization idea) so it does not get lost and all who work in it know where it is.  For some reason someone had given the key to someone, who had given it to someone else who, apparently, had given it in at the office - and the office had closed a couple of hours before.  We managed to get someone there for security from the county public safety (restoration is county owned) to come and he was going to try to find the key or contact someone who would know where it was - so we had done the responsible thing and not just gone off and left the house unlocked.

I am still tired on Wednesday night - but thanks to the organization of everyone involved it was a great event and there has already been a decision to do it again next year.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

When something big has to be organized it helps to have a group of people working on it. Planning should start enough in advance to not have to rush at the end.  Different (reliable) people should be put in charge of different parts of what needs to be done (such as one person in charge of the food and cooking).  The possible problems that may arise should be considered (in our case - what if it rained and we could not be outside).  And then one needs to keep one’s head if something arises - such as the missing house key. 

Due to how well the event was planned it not only was great fun for us, but the public liked it, the village/county was pleased enough to invite us back to do it again, and in the case of something like this - no one got hurt and nothing was damaged. 

Next week is a holiday here in the U.S. which is sort of related to all this - our Independence Day which started the fighting.  In case I don’t get a chance to post - although I plan to - a happy holiday to those here in the U.S.             

THANKSGIVING TURNING INTO CHRISTMAS

I hope you all had a pleasant Thanksgiving (if you are here in the U.S.) last week.  Did you run out to shop during the day or the night - or did you at least wait until “Black Friday” to shop?  Or are you waiting still to start shopping?
                               
We had our Thanksgiving dinner, the two of us.  I managed to bang my head - not once but twice - on the corner of the dining room table while putting away a table cover which should have been put away months and months ago - I bent over to put it in a bag and hit my head.  I really screamed.  Husband came in, “are you okay, and there, there’d” me and then gave me a lecture on making sure it was clear in front of me before bending over.  He went back to cooking in the kitchen and I took 2 steps back and bent over again to put away the cover.  I hit my head again on the same corner and same spot on my head - just less of the corner and got to listen to the lecture again.  Worst of all it was the same spot on my head that I hit last month in our RV. 

It was relatively easy to take out the china and items we needed.  I had gone through the cabinet where it is all stored last year and donated a lot of items we did not need.  Instead of needing to take out stacks and stacks of items, only one or two had to removed.  How pleasant.  I plan to work on the serving pieces stored in the living room next - I have better uses for the storage space there than bowls and platters we bought or received as gifts and have never used.  Hmm, maybe I can finally get husband to hang two handled cups from when we were each a kid that match which are stored in the living room.  He had the juice cup, I had the orange juice cup - but they match.  They must have been popular cups for children back then.

The turkey had directions on it - basically we were to cook it at 325F, when the little popper popped we should test the breast with a thermometer and make sure it was at least 180F.  There were also instructions to tent the turkey with foil and then remove same, and brush will oil a few times.  Also on the turkey wrapping was a list of times to cook the turkey - only this said for a turkey cooked at 350F - 25 degrees higher than the instructions said to cook at.  We discussed this - for a quite awhile.  In the back of my head it seemed to me that I remember the same problem with the turkey from the same place last year, but could not remember what I did. We cooked it at the 325F with the logic that it could always be cooked more, but cooked not be cooked less if it was overcooked. About a half hour longer than the chart said (for cooking at 350F) the popper popped and I checked the turkey breast with a thermometer and it was 180F and rising.  We took the turkey out and set it aside on the kitchen table to “set”. 

In the interim we finished cooking other food items and had our soup.  Husband then went to carve the turkey.  The turkey breast looked wonderful as he carved into it - but as he went beyond the breast - the turkey was terribly undercooked.  He finished carving the breast - moving it to another platter to do so.  He then cut up the rest of the turkey - wings, legs, dark meat - and we placed it all on two oven trays to heat it further.  I ended up with the 2 extra trays and 2 extra platters as a result of all this.  We are not sure what went wrong - should we have cooked it at 350F instead?  But the popper popped and it was the correct temperature on the thermometer.    Husband has written a letter to the supermarket’s owner (this is one of those of stores where the owner’s photo is all off and he does the ads himself and is actually involved in his company day to day) asking what happened. 

The dishes and all were washed Thanksgiving night.  I have put all away.  When I put my large platter back in the basement, I took out my “everyday” Christmas dishes and glasses.  I washed them and we are using them.  I move some of my normal everyday dishes higher in the cabinet - where I can’t normally reach stuff - to make room for these to fit in. 

We had the leftover turkey etc for the second set of leftovers tonight.  There is at least one dinner’s worth of turkey left - but that is all.  It will either be eaten early next week or will be frozen.

We do not go shopping on Thanksgiving.  We don’t go out for Black Friday sales either.  Okay, one time husband wanted a small laptop that was going on Black Friday sale at a chain electronics store and we went and waited in line for it.  He did get the laptop, but then again, it was still on sale at the same price - and in stock - the following week.  It was not worth standing in line in the freezing cold.  This store was rather well organized.  There was a line.  Items which were limited had coupons for them handed out to people by employees walking along the line, so the coupons were handed out to people based on where they were in line. 

We have many times, including this year, while out on Friday to have lunch (at Wendys of course) and run errands gone past empty looking stores and malls by the time we went out.  I had needed to renew a medication at the Walmart pharmacy and figured it would be ready over the weekend, but we were called Friday afternoon that it was ready decided to see how bad the crowds were.  It was empty!  Items which had been put out late Wednesday sealed up until the sales started, were still plentiful for the most part - husband started rooting through the DVDs.  We have been in Walmarts again since then and still sale items are still in their displays - either less people came in than they thought would do so, or they intended for the sale items to be available long beyond last Friday.

When we woke up today I noticed the temperature was 61F - 61!  I pointed this out to husband and suggested that today was the day to put up our outdoor Christmas decorations.  He agreed.  We checked our box at the post office, had lunch at Wendys and came home.  We keep our outdoor decorations on a platform in the top of the garage.  We used to have everything there for Christmas, but as we have aged and it is not that easy for husband to climb on a ladder and get everything - much is heavy - down, I moved the rest into our basement.  He can now stand on his worktable (after clearing it off enough) and get the, only, two boxes of lights and wires, three potted artificial poinsettia, and 3 light up candy canes down.  No more balancing on a ladder to hand me things.  Much safer.  We have some wreaths, swags, and such in our shed, but are not putting them up any longer - maybe again in the future. 

We put the poinsettia in the same stands that hold our flowers the rest of the year.  Husband made these poinsettia in pots.  We bought artificial poinsettia which could go outside in the weather and 3 pots to fit the holders.  He then bought a couple of cans of spray insulation - the kind that is a foam and expands to fit what it is in.  He filled the pots and we added a poinsettia to each.  The foam was topped with fake greens and they look great.  5 minutes and they are out in place.

We put lights on our bushes and a dwarf spruce tree.  (The dwarf tree is now over 6 ft tall, I am so glad that I talked him out of a full size one.)  Of course two set of lights did not work when tested - one of the ones which goes on the bushes and one that is red and white and goes around the white plastic pillar of our mailbox a bit of a candy cane look.  We have in the boxes with the lights two electric boxes which stick into the ground.  One is placed on one side of the front of our house and the other is placed on the other side of the front of our house.  A long flat outdoor extension cord is plugged into the outdoor outlet and run across the front of the house, over the top of the stairs (under the door mat so no one trips) and the electric box on the side away from the outlet is plugged into it - and then the lights are plugged into the electric box.  The electric box on the side of the house near the outlet is plugged into the other outlet in the wall box and the lights on that side of the front of the house plug into it.

After we put out and plugged in the lights that worked, we drove to Walmart to buy replacement.  No white and red lights - no red lights on their own.  We came back, put up the new light set on the bush that was short a set.  Husband then took the red and white set into the garage, plugged it in and started shaking it.  One half started working.  So we wrapped the lit half of the strand around the mail box pillar and dropped the rest on the ground. 

The wreath we bought last year for the front door was in the basement with the rest of the “in the house” decorations.  The former one was decorated by husband as a copy of one we saw and liked at Colonial Williamsburg - only we used plastic fruit instead of real fruit so we could keep reusing it.  The problem is that it had to hung on the outside of the storm door as it did not fit between the door and storm door - this involved annually rigging strands of fishing line around screws in the storm door and trying to adjust it so we could still see through the peep hole of the door - and remember we both on the short side.  The new wreath has lights on it - lit by batteries with a timer so it is on for 6 hours every night at the same on and off time.  Went up in less than 20 minutes with a magnetic hook on the door - and it is out of the weather, unlike the old wreath which if got covered snow might break free and fall. 

So our house now looks presentable to the world.  Husband is still trying to figure out where we could put one of those projector decorations - but the front of our house is just not set up for it.

Notice that because fixed place for the Christmas decorations in the garage and plastic boxes to hold the lights, wires, and plug in boxes for them, as well as an assigned spot in the basement to hold the Christmas decorations, it was easy and quick to find everything and put it out.  The empty boxes in the garage were stacked on each other with the bags that the lights were kept in stored inside, relatively out of the way so that when we go to take down the lights - they will be easy to find again and then they will be put back up in garage along with poinsettia and the candy canes so that next week we will find them again.

Sometime next week I will put away my few Thanksgiving decorations in the house and then I will start putting out the Christmas ones.  This year the holidays seem to be going okay. 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

As you take out your holiday decorations and other items try to leave the packing in a way that it will be easy to find and put everything away after the holiday.  If it is all a mess  - try to figure out  while you unpack items how you can better store them away at the end of the season to make them either to access next year, while not being in your way all year. 

SEMI UNORGANIZED THANKSGIVING

Ah, the holidays are coming!  Is panic setting in?

Last week I put out my few Thanksgiving decorations.  A small setting of Pilgrim bear figurines going to Thanksgiving at a house in a tree.  (I painted the tree and most of the bears from kits - in one case while I was supposed to making and getting the house ready for Thanksgiving dinner.)  Other “human” Thanksgiving figurines and salt and pepper shakers and a pair of candleholders given me by a friend decades ago.  Husband took me to “Thanksgiving world” - aka Plymouth, MA decades ago and I bought most of the assorted non-bear items there in gift shops.

I am sure I have mentioned before, but just in case I did not, my husband and I are of different faiths.  I am Jewish and he is Roman Catholic.  As a result we did not have that “whose family are we going to” problem for most family holidays.  We went to my family for Jewish holidays and his family for Christian holidays.  But then there was Thanksgiving.

Growing up, as well as an adult, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday - and not just because I am an eater.  It was the only uniquely American family holiday which was not religious based - it was/is a holiday for all Americans.  Also there were no gifts - gifts I received tended to have nothing to do with me or anything I was interested in - especially beyond my immediate family - and I had to smile and say thank you - and then figure out what to do with the item - this was not a problem with Thanksgiving. 

Now, it has been found that when the answer to what do you have for thanksgiving dinner - answer “turkey and all the trimmings” was further looked into, it was found that same varied greatly.  For a while growing up our Thanksgivings were celebrated with my mom’s family and her sister-in-law (my aunt) had become kosher, so we would go to a kosher delicatessen restaurant for dinner.  Mom would cook turkey during the year, so it was not what we wanted there. My sisters and I  wanted corned beef sandwiches!  The waiter would keep asking if we were sure and we were.  They had handed us the complete regular menu after all, and that was our dinner.  My husband’s family is from Italy.  They would have a first course of some kind of macaroni (what we Americans call pasta).  So while being the uniquely encompassing holiday, Thanksgiving is large enough to encompass all of various backgrounds. 

While dating and the first few years we were married we would juggle which family we went to - generally we ended up with his family.  One year I had the idea to have both families come to our tiny apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.  He was shocked at the idea.  Oh, one difference between our families is that my family tends (short of accommodating the kosher aunt) tends to eat at home for holidays, while his family eats out.  We figured out a menu, found a place that has hot turkey pick up on Thanksgiving, and went ahead.  It went fairly well - the entire living room filled with two long folding tables put end to end.  For 25 years we made Thanksgiving dinner.  Nieces and nephew came along.  My dad died.  A few times a friend or an in law of a family member was included.  We moved one year at the end of October from our apartment to this house - and we made Thanksgiving dinner - and used the good china.  It was the bedbugs which brought this to an end as we cannot bring ourselves to have anyone in the house.

Organizing? I see now how organized I was for those dinners.  Now the two of us have our Thanksgiving dinner alone.  At first we went to an inexpensive general food buffet restaurant and it was very nice as the manager made it feel party like.  Then he left and it was not as nice and then finally the place closed.  So on and off over the past several years I have made Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us.  What a mess! 

First of all, I never know if I am making dinner or if we are going out to an Asian buffet until the last minute.  Last year we waited so long, we almost could not get a turkey which was not frozen - and that would not have defrosted in time.  This year we bought a turkey this past Saturday. 

In the old days I had a menu from the past to work with.  We might change a dish or two, but basically it was the same menu.  I have a spiral notebook with almost every dinner we made for Thanksgiving and the other holidays we took a turn out with, mostly, my family over the years.  (I reached the end of the notebook using the right hand pages and now I am going backwards, using the left hand pages.)  The first week in November I would start checking ads and buying things for the dinner, so at the last minute items like milk which had to be bought fresh were all that was left to buy. 

Well, we went this past Sunday to the supermarket to start buying what we needed - without making a list of what we would make or what we needed.  It was as if there was a combination hurricane and major snow storm announced at the same time!  The parking lot was jammed.  The store was jammed.  We gave up and left.  We then actually made up a list of what we would have and needed so when we went back Monday it was not as jammed  - we actually went to another supermarket chain as they had items we were looking for on sale - and were able to buy almost all the items needed at the one supermarket, with a quick stop at the one from Sunday for 2 items we had not been able to get.  Husband complained about the crowds - I told him flat out - “This is why I used to shop the first week of the month!”

We have baked a pie tonight.  Everything else can be done tomorrow, Thanksgiving.  I will set up the turkey tonight so when I get up really early tomorrow to put the turkey in the oven, I can go back to sleep a lot quicker. 

While downstairs doing my regular Wednesday night laundry (I will not fall behind just because it is a holiday) I took out “the turkey platter”.  This is a larger platter than our others and has a chip in it.  We use it to put the turkey on to carve it and then use smaller ones for serving the turkey (whether for the family or just us).  I washed it as it is kept in the basement.  In the afternoon I brought a bunch of RV stuff (clean sheets, towels...) out to the RV so it is all out of the dinning room.  I moved some stuff into place in the dinning room. 

Tomorrow I will add one board to our dinning room table, instead of the four boards that I used to add for the family.  I will cover it with a plastic/foam cover (I have them in sizes to fit all lengths of the table) and then my Thanksgiving tablecloth (much too large as it fits the table with four boards - so the ends of the table have long overhangs.   One board is needed so that the serving plates and bowls fit on the table.  I will take out 2 settings of my good china, one fabric napkin & one paper napkin, one of my good glasses & husband’s every day glass, and use my silver plate tableware.  I will cook the dinner.  I used to know - start the potatoes first as they will be mashed, and heated in the oven at the end, so get them out of the way as if they cool off it is okay.  No idea what to start with these years - we are making boiled potatoes instead of mashed.  No sweet potatoes this year - he likes them I don’t.  And we will have our Thanksgiving dinner.

After dinner the extra food will be put away, and when you are two people with a 14 lb turkey, there is a lot to store away.  The table will be cleared and I will wash (by hand) the dishes, pots, pans, etc.  The napkin and tablecloth will be washed and dried (by machine) and I will probably also wash the last load of regular laundry which is normally washed on Thursdays nights.  The garbage will go out to the can - no pickup until Monday. 

I really miss the juggling of which dish to cook when.  The baking Venetians (rainbow cookies) starting on Tuesday so they would be ready in time (jelly between layers has to sit weighted overnight).  I miss spending all day Wednesday cooking beef vegetable soup from scratch.  It used to be all so organized!  Now with less to do it is all so disorganized.  Well, at least I don’t have to clean well enough to have my (late) mother in law here.  (One year my sister actually wrote the year in the dust!)        

I do not go shopping on Thanksgiving - or on “Black Friday”!  There is nothing I have ever seen offered on sale that was worth the crowds.  Think about this - the more you buy, the more you have to deal with and organize. Do you really need this or that?

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

I wish all a happy Thanksgiving!   

Remember it is just one day - there will be joys and problems (one early year we cooked, shelled and peeled chestnuts for hours, then while they were cooling on the counter, I dropped a glass I had washed and was putting away - next to them and they had to be tossed as we were not sure if we could get all the glass shards out.  The time with family - whether a large group or just two or even time alone - is what matters. 

Take time to be thankful for what you have - don’t look for what you are lacking, even if there is much you are lacking. Stop and breathe and think about what you do have.         

HOLIDAYS AND TAXES - UNRELATED SUBJECTS

Hello again. 

We did not go away for my husband’s birthday due to, yes, rain again.  There is no point in going to outdoor market when a good chunk of the outdoor vendors will not be, especially if one is going to travel 3+ hours each way and pay over $20 in tolls to go there.         

I have been busy finishing up client’s tax returns and have only one left to do and I am waiting for the information to do it.  So I started on our personal and business returns.  Money goes back and forth between us and the business - something is on our credit card for the business or vice versa, so the first thing I have to do is make sure what the business owes us is the same amount on the business’s books and on our books.  Sometimes I post something on one set of books and forget to post it on the other. That took 2 days to work out - and the end of 2015 I got it to match, so the differences were all last year - finally both the business and our books agree. 

Next week is holiday time - Monday night is the start of Passover and next Friday is Good Friday, followed, of course, by Easter Sunday.  If you are having people in for the holidays - do you have your house ready?  Now is the time to start.  Try to do better than throwing everything in that extra room with door that stays closed when people are over.  - You thought I didn’t know about that?  I started doing this when I was a kid - cleaning my room meant throwing everything in the bottom of the closet - this would result in my finding the leftover Halloween candy sometime the following August - luckily I never had bugs or other little visitors as a result of that.  Try to actually toss out some items - or take them for donation.  (I took 5 suitcases today for donation - one hard side rolling bag and the rest were soft bags that I managed to fit into the rolling bag. - a little more room in a closet for other stuff.)  Plan out your menu if you doing the cooking or assign who will bring which dish if you have an arrangement where everyone brings part of the dinner.  I keep my recipes for the holidays on the computer.  They used to be in a cooking program (technically they still are, but it needs a parallel printer to print them out and that means running cables...) I printed them out and scanned them (remember I posted last October about how great and important it is to have a scanner and a printer - this is one example) into the computer.  Now I can print them out when needed.  I print the recipes I will use and throw them out as they are finished with - easy to see what still needs to be done. Even if you not are not going to be responsible for the hosting or cooking - make sure that everyone’s clothes will be ready for them to wear for the holidays. 


THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Income taxes (here in the U.S.) are due April 18, a week from this coming Tuesday.  There is still time to get them finished.  If you find that you will not have them done - whether because you are too busy to do them, can’t find info, or did not get info from someone needed to prepare them, you can file for an extension of time to FILE.  It is not an extension of time to pay - so make sure you have paid in enough for your taxes - from withholding or by filing estimated taxes - to be at least as close as possible.  If your income is the same as last year as far as you know -then make sure you have paid in at least the same in taxes as your taxes were last year - 110% of last year’s if you have a high income. 

There is a form from IRS to file to get the extension - it is automatic and you will have until October 15, 2017 to file.  Depending on your state you might also have to file a form for an automatic extension or it might just be automatic. Again, this is an extension of time to FILE the return, not to pay the taxes. 

If you do get an extension try to prepare and file your returns as soon as possible so if you do owe  additional taxes you will pay as little in possible in any penalties and interest for paying late - and if you are getting a refund, don’t you want the money as soon as possible?

If you have not filed your taxes in the past - get them filed also.  The April 18 date may be important for you too.  If a return is filed more than 3 years late you will lose any refund due you and if you owe money on the returns you are adding penalties and interest to what you owe - every month and if you have not filed a return - then IRS (and the state’s) 3 years to go after you for taxes owed does not start to run and they can come after you until you file a return (then they have 3 years) or forever. 

If you get a large refund you might want to change the amount withheld for taxes or pay less in estimates - a refund may be exciting, but IRS and your state is using your money.  If you can pay less in advance without underpaying the taxes that is money in your pocket (or even better your bank account) during the year on which you can make (the current tiny rate of) interest or you can pay down a bill and pay less interest.                                                     
If you owe money - file your returns even if you cannot pay the amount due.  Pay as much as you can and attach a letter explaining.  Depending on how much you owe, a payment plan from IRS (state) maybe easier than you think to get - but you are paying interest (and will pay penalties for underpaying your taxes) until the amount due is paid off.

Another reason for paying your taxes is that there is a scam in which someone calls you and rather threateningly tells you that they are from the IRS (state) and you owe taxes - which won’t worry you if you know you don’t owe any taxes.  In case you haven’t heard this - IRS (state) will not call you for payment of taxes without having mailed something to you first.  Don’t fall for this scam.  (Or similar ones claiming that if you do not pay immediately with a gift card your utilities will be shut off.)  One thing to remember is that IRS, states, utilities will never tell you to buy gift cards to pay off an amount owed - especially not Apple gift cards. They will not want you to wire money to them.  (There are postal laws that can be used against fraudsters, so they want they want the money otherwise sent to them - by wire, UPS, FedEx, etc.- to avoid the postal laws.) They will want payments by check.  (They may also take credit cards and charge you a fee for using same.)  Also if anyone ever calls claiming to be from the government or a utility and threatens you for payment.  If you are unsure, ask if you can call them back - a refusal to allow you to do so is another indication that they are not legitimate.  Call the government agency or the utility directly and ask them if this was a legitimate call.  If you have a tax preparer - you should be able to call them for help.  But again - if one is not delinquent, then one knows that one does not owe the money. Personally I do not talk to anyone who calls.  We have our answering machine on all the time and we screen our calls (originally as we did not want to have to tell all the people who thought we were a pizza place, a doctor, or an eyeglass store that they were wrong, but now it is so we don’t talk to any of these con men).  IRS has a link on the first page of their site to information about current scams.

I do have to give you a bit of disclaimer.  I am not a CPA, just a garden variety of accountant and tax preparer.  The information I have given (other than the fraud warnings) may or may not apply to you.  It is always a good idea to use a legitimate tax preparer (IRS has a directory of tax preparers who meet certain education standards and have a good history of no problems with returns on their website). You can also find free help depending on your return and circumstances through various programs - check at your local library for these programs.   IRS’s website is irs.gov   

And don’t forget - it is never too early to start preparing for next year’s returns.