WORKED ON CLEARING UP OUR STUDIO SOME MORE

 Sorry for the delay in posting.  We managed to get appointments for our first Covid vaccinations during this past week and it diverted my time and attention.  (We are both in our late 60s.)

Last post I was talking about working on clearing out our studio.  I worked on the area behind my work table.  (Husband and I each have 5 foot long table and the tables touch along the length – this gives us a 5 foot by 5 foot table if we use both together for larger projects.)  Items which were normally on top of my table as well as items that had recently been put on my table – craft projects from when I was young that I had brought from my family home when it was being – all had to be moved off of the table when I needed it for the food storage.  The items were not sorted through and ended up on the floor in front of the table as well as on my chair and on top of the items on the small side table to my main table.  (They make an L together.)  It has not been easy to get to the far end of the table where items such as spare plastic bags – sandwich size, gallon size, and similar as well as some of the less other less often needed items are stacked.  I should also explain that under my work table is the storage for a lot of the inventory we made and take to craft shows when we do same so that space is not available for storage for anything new.  

I started going through the mess behind my table.  I found items to be donated – forgot about them in the year since.  I found items I made while still living at home and put them in the bags that were holding other similar items.  I have to figure out what to do them.  One piece, which I had embroidered as a gift for my parents' fortieth anniversary and has come back to me, is framed and I had husband hang on the wall behind my chair in the studio – it had been on the floor in the dining room and I had been afraid that one of us would trip and put a foot through it.  I have to decide what to do the other pieces.  Most of the others are not framed and were never finished into anything.  These days I often finish pieces by basically making a small quilt of the piece so it can be stored easily in a drawer, as well as easily taken to an embroidery demonstration when I do same.  

I can now walk all the way to my small side table – the next mess to deal with as things have been tossed in it's general direction (and not always making the distance) since the area was blocked.  I had taken a plastic holder which has open storage of thread spools on it to get a spool and when I put it back – I missed the spot and the spools fell on the table and the floor.  I can now get my chair out and go around and clear up the floor around it and deal with what is on the small table.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

When it is YOUR turn – do go and get vaccinated for Covid.  We all need to do our part to reopen the world.  I know several people who have died from it – including a young woman – a teacher – in her twenties.  

My sisters and I have not been able to see our 91 (92 end of the month) year old mother since last March.  Last year my sister went to see mom for her birthday and found the doors to her assisted living residence locked.  There was a cart outside with a note that no one was allowed in and if one had anything for a resident to leave it on the cart with their name and apartment number and it would be given to them.  So mom's cake and gift and left.  My sisters have seen mom – from the outside of a fence with mom seated on a chair inside the fence a distance away.  I have not seen mom as we are not going out except for necessities in over a year.  

We need to get vaccinated so that families can be together again – mom's time left with us is limited and we do want to see her  - in person – again.  We also need to get vaccinated so young people just starting out in life have a life ahead of them and so that children do not think how we must live for now is normal.  

INCOME TAXES ARE DUE IN A MONTH

Here in the US it is that time of year again - tax season.  This year there is even more pressure due to the changes in the tax law and the resulting changes in tax forms.  (If you are here in the US and you have not seen the new forms - they are small, at least for the 2 main pages.)   Some of you may find that your taxes are lower - others will find that they are higher - and I don’t mean your refund, I mean your actual taxes.  Don’t forget, you have an actual tax amount that is calculated by filling in your tax form, then subtracting from that amount the amount you prepaid during the year - through withholding and/or payment of estimated.  So if one’s withholding, say from one’s paycheck - the common thing from which most people have withholding taken - is more than it has been, one will either be overpaid more than usual and get a refund or owe less than usual and pay in less - but one’s actual tax - the total of the amounts withheld, paid as estimates and any amount due (or less any amount withheld) is your actual tax amount.  Does that make sense?  Due to the changes many people will have had less withheld from their paycheck  - so if their tax is the same as last year’s - they will either owe more or receive less as a refund, even though their tax is the same.

Supposedly most people will be paying less in actual tax (the total mentioned above), but many will not.  A client of mine is retired and in the past paid no income tax due to high itemized deductions.  This year due to the changes I estimate that his poor man will be paying around $600 in taxes.  IRS has an online calculator to check one’s withholding and I had used it during 2018 to check all of my clients (and my) taxes with it, and this calculation is done using same. 

He is retired.  His income is almost entirely Social Security.  His deductions should be the same as last year.  How come his taxes are higher than before?  Well, the information about the changes left out some things - one of them is that is in past years each person was entitled to a personal exemption of (in recent years) just over $4000.  They were eliminated in the changes.

What does this mean?  If one has always filed using standard deduction then one was entitled the standard deduction plus a personal exemption for themselves plus same for each person they were taking as dependants, plus their spouse (on the same return filing jointly or their own return if filing married separately).  So a couple was entitled to exemptions totaling $8000, a family of 4 was entitled to exemption totaling $16,000 and those exemptions no longer exist.  If one is taking the new standard deduction and one is single with no dependants than their new standard deduction is more than last year’s standard deduction plus exemption , but if they have any dependants - such as a single mom with a child, it is less than same was.  Similarly, a couple with no dependants will find that the new standard deduction for same is more than the old standard deduction plus their 2 personal exemptions totaled, but if they have additional dependants - children and/or elderly parent for example - the new standard deduction will be less than the old one plus their personal exemptions were.

Now, if one has been itemizing deductions they were also entitled to the personal exemptions, and are no longer entitled to same, but since they listed their actual deductible expenses they do not pick up anything additional to replace their lost personal exemptions.  In addition a variety of items which were deductible in the past in a category of “other deductions” if the category was more than 2% of their income are no longer deductible.  Depending on where they live they may also be losing part of their state income tax/real estate deduction.  Now, it is possible that the new standard deductions might be higher than their itemized deductions and they can take same as deduction, but chances are that even if this is the case, it will still be less than they were able to deduct last year as itemized deductions plus personal exemptions  - whether they have other dependants or not. 

So, this year make sure to gather your related tax papers - W2 forms, assorted 1099 forms, forms from any other income you have - such as K1s and records of other any other income you have to list.  Then make sure that you have all of your deductions - medical (insurance premiums, copayments, deductible payments, doctors, prescriptions, etc. ), taxes - real estate, state & local income taxes (still allowed up to $10,000), interest on your mortgage, and charitable contributions.  (Medical is still limited to same in excess of a certain amount).  Make sure that you check carefully with your tax preparer as to what else you should include this year.  Don’t wait until the time to file is about to approach (only just over a month left) in case you have any questions or find that you need to come up with money to pay income taxes that you did not anticipate paying.  If you due your own returns - leave extra time to figure out the new forms.  There are some programs that will help one prepare their taxes (free) if you need help including one called VITA from IRS that uses volunteers to help people.

Your state income tax forms may have been changed also as a result of the Federal changes.  The state I live in has traditionally used the Federal return information as a start and one then made changes to it.  This year those changes include allowing some of the items no longer allowed on the Federal return (such as real estate taxes in excess of $10,000) and will have extra forms to fill in for same also. 

And this is a good time to decide to do better to have your paperwork organized for next year when tax season comes again.


Past posts on income taxes that may be of interest to you -
http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2016/03/gathering-papers-for-income-taxes-part-1.html
http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2016/03/gathering-papers-for-income-taxes-part-2.html
http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2017/04/holidays-and-taxes-unrelated-subjects.html
http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2018/02/income-taxes-are-here-again.html

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Take the time to put together your tax papers properly and completely now, while there is time to find missing information or get it replaced.  If you have someone do your income taxes - contact them soon about having your taxes done.  If you do your own - leave extra time this year to figure the changes that have been made and how they affect you. 

As you put together the paperwork - think about what you can do to make next year’s taxes either
 to do.

Again, this is general information and not tax preparation information related to you.  Check with your tax preparer about your specific information needed. 

YOU already know what to do

I don’t know about you, but I actually know what needs to be done for to declutter and get organized.  You probably also know what to do.  You have probably read it in book after book -
       
        1- Go through what you have
        2 - Purge anything that you have not used in X years (generally one or two years depending on the book.
        3 - Separate items that don’t belong where they are into one of four boxes - keep, put somewhere else, throw out, donate, sometimes, a fifth box - return to the owner.
        4- Survey what you have left and figure out how to store it, buying storage containers only after knowing what you need and measuring the space and items to go into storage.
        5 - Keep up putting items away every day.

Oh, this reminded me, I am looking to buy plastic storage to organize the freezer compartment of the fridge better.  For some reason lately a lot of food items we buy are in bags - they used to be packages in boxes, they lie on top of each other and I forget what I have.  I want them to stand up so I can see what I have.  Hold on a minute while I measure the freezer section - hmm mmm mmm - sorry, okay, I am back - that’s less than 10.5 inches tall, 14.5 inches deep, and 19 inches across and I plan on 2 containers across - that would be 9.5 inches across each maximum.  I put the measurements in my cell phone in the Walmart section of my “to buy” list.  I will have to see what is available.

Oh wait  - the timer in my cell phone went off - I have to down to the basement and switch loads in the washer and dryer.  Be right back....hmm mmm mmm.  Okay, back again.  I forgot that there was a blanket in the dryer from last week.  We sleep with two in winter, one in summer and I had this one on the bed, but put the other one on the bed last week and washed the one that was there as we both had colds over the past month and thought it best to wash to wash the one we had been breathing on.  It is now sealed in a plastic bag to keep it clean until it is needed again.  It will go in a small storage piece in our bedroom. Back to all of you, cell phone will go off again in 50 minutes to switch loads again.

Okay - while the above is true, I do other things while I am writing my posts, it is also why the common “simple 5 steps” to get uncluttered and organized don’t always work.  Oh, I also updated the browser in my other laptop while I have been writing this.  It is not that I don’t care about all of you - (I do wish there were more of you, but I am glad to have every one you reading my posts - feel free to tell friends to join us) but we all have to multitask these days.  It is not as easy in the real world as it is in organizing books.

Yes, the basic 5 steps are what need to be done, but sometimes they have to be done in small bites - catch as catch can.  When my husband was screaming about his sock drawer - too many socks, too little room.  He has trouble finding socks which are comfortable and the ones he liked are wearing out quicker and quicker so he is searching for new socks - as the ones he like are, of course, discontinued.  Of course he buys MORE socks and then hates them.  It is hard to convince him to let me donate them - “I haven’t even worn some of the pairs yet - and what if I can’t find new socks and neeeeeed these?  So I went through his dresser drawers - yes, more than just that drawer - over a period of 2 days - on and off when I had a chance. 

What did I find, well, his missing “space pen” for one thing.  I found that the bottom drawer was filled with more James Bond toys.  I managed to add them to the boxes we had bought and put in the spare bedroom (aka the teddys room) closet.  Ah, most of an empty drawer to work with. I put some empty shoe boxes in same.  I use them for drawer dividers - two boxes make 3 delineated spaces across - box, space, box.  I put the socks he does not wear in the bottom drawer. I also went through stuff he keeps on the left side of his top drawer (which is where his underwear and socks are also kept).  He has a small jewelry box  - mostly junk, the few nice pieces he has are in my jewelry box, empty eyeglass cases (yes, I keep same also) and other small items - under these I found the space pen.  Those items were sorted through and mostly stored in the bottom drawer.  Why did all of this go to the bottom drawer?  Well, he could not get something out of same unless he was sitting down as he would get dizzy, so it is a good place to put things he will rarely, if ever need.  I then rearranged the space in the top drawer and sorted the socks he wears into the boxes (the beige set in one box, the ivory set - he calls them white) in another box and the new socks behind them in the same boxes - white socks in with the beige socks and black socks in with the ivory ones - so they are easy to tell apart by color looking in.  Underpants are no longer squeezed into a shoe box, but in the space between two shoe boxes, so they have a bit more space.  (His underpants like mine are rolled as this seems to make them fit in the space better and easier to grab out - he needs to buy new ones of same soon - he complains all the time.) He also has some ankle height socks which he finds comfortable to sleep in during the winter as they keep his feet warm but don’t “bother him”. 

In doing this I did find some items which I knew he no longer needed and would not be attached to - especially the socks he won’t wear - and packed them to be donated.  Also in doing this I had pulled out some shoe boxes from the top of my closet - some were empty and set aside for use in situations such as this, others had shoes in them, and I pulled some shoes off my closet door rack, that I don’t wear, to donate also to make room for some of the ones in the boxes - although the door rack is about 1/3 empty after I was done - and I don’t have a lot of shoes.  (If I let him know, his extra shoes will end up there, so I won’t mention it.)

All of this - socks, underwear, James Bond toys, shoes, etc. took about 2 hours spread over 2 evenings.  I believe in doing things as one can.  Oh, I had no boxes for donation, etc. just some shopping bags.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Use the time YOU have available and try using your innate knowledge of what to do.  You know to throw out garbage  - you just have to figure out what is the garbage in what you have.  You know to donate what can be donated - don’t look at it as you are getting rid of something you loved (or hated and regretted), but rather finding the item a new home with someone who needs it. 

Think about what you use and how you use it - and how often you do.  Something - such as underwear and socks that are worn daily should be able to be reached as easily as possible. 

But remember we do things by habit which may not be the best way to do so.  What you do not use as often, can be harder to get to.  Since I was in junior high school I had a sock drawer and an underwear drawer.  In my current dresser these were two small half size drawers, the underwear drawer being the top drawer, the socks, the next one down.  The underwear had my underpants that I daily wear one of, my bras - 3 of them rotated through wear and laundry, and half slips - short white, long white, short black, long black - which I very rarely wear - only if the skirt/dress is a bit sheerer than normal.  My sock drawer had my every day socks, my panty hose (rarely worn - once a month to work and if there was an event to which I had to wear a dress), my knee high stockings (worn even less), and the socks I wear to keep my feet warm.  Husband said to me one day after we had been married for decades “every morning you open the top drawer and take out underpants and close the drawer.  Then you open the next drawer down and take out socks and close the drawer.  Why don’t you put the items you wear daily in the same drawer and put the other items in the second drawer?  Makes sense - why did I not think of this?  Well, I had been doing it the same way for so long, it never occurred to me that there was a better way.  I now have my everyday socks and underwear in the top drawer - panties are 3 pairs across, 3 pairs up and two sets of same deep (the set in the front is not a full 9 pairs) and the sock balls stand next to them filling the rest of the drawer - no separation between the two necessary.  The second drawer holds my bras in front on one side, my sleep socks across the front on the other.  A box of stockings - pantyhose and knee highs behind the sleep sock.  I have wool socks which I have acquired over the recent freezing cold winters we have had in the back of the drawer.  The slips are stacked between the bras and the wool socks.  One drawer to open every day instead of two - labor saved.

So think as you declutter and organize about how you can change where items are stored - even in something as common as your dresser  - to work better.


My thoughts and prayers to those in the path of Florence. 

FINALLY STARTING TO CATCH UP

Husband gave up on his weaving project this past Monday - someday he will try to do this type of weaving again, but not now. 

I have been working on catching up and getting the house and chores back up to date. 

I have stored away the several pairs of boots each of us had out for snow this past winter.  We have a sort of charm that we believe in (which did not work this winter) - once a pair of boots comes out for the snow, it is bad luck to put them away before the winter is over and will result in even more snow.  Yeah, it is stupid and certainly did not work this winter, but we leave them out anyway.  Since my teeth are in their seasonal ache period (spring and fall) and I have my seasonal stiff neck (ditto) I am pretty sure the weather will actually stay warm now.  So I put the boots away.  Our setup for the boots is 2 good sized plastic boxes with lids at the bottom of the front closet.  The bottom box holds the boots for more severe weather - the actual snow boots, a pair each of rubber (plastic?) covered shoe boots and such.  The upper box holds the boots that might also be worn in rainy weather - the leather ones - and a pair of my old sneakers which slip on.  The latter has nothing to do with boots or bad weather.  If I have to run out of the house - take out the garbage, recycling, forgot something in the car - they are easy and quick to slip on instead of stopping to put on shoes with laces to go out.  They sit at the front and top of the top box so they can be quickly and easily reached.  The lid of the upper box becomes a boot tray when we have the boots out - it is placed next to the front door and wet boots are left on it to dry and await their next wearing.  I washed and dried the top of it well before putting it back on the box in the closet.

While I managed to fit in the bank reconciliations for our main bank accounts and those of the clubs of which I am treasurer, I did not get to the other accounts - personal savings accounts and a couple of small checking accounts that are used for money transfers, as well as since it was the quarterly statements, the statements for our IRAs.  At this point the new statements will be here next week - so I will do the two months of statements together as that is quicker than doing one set now and one set next week.  I did find time today to go back and post the purchases and credits on our main credit card statement from last month.  I had matched the slips to the statement and paid the bill - in full of course - but had not had a chance to post it to my computer records - so today I did so.  Providence must have been helping me as the items for this statement rarely comes out even (posts done with what was billed and paid) on the first try - sometimes it takes lots of tries - but this was one of the time that it worked out on the first try.

Right now I am doing my Wednesday night laundry.  Forgot that I had done a load of jeans last week and it was left in the dryer to dry - so I had to bring them upstairs to be able to use the dryer.  I also have 2 extra loads I need to do this week.  I change the bed’s “underwear” once a month.  While I bought new pillow undercovers during the month (as the ones I had were really icky when I saw them - stained and such) I need to wash the mattress pad I took off.  We sleep in winter with two blankets.  Since it is now in the 70s during the days husband suggested that we only need one blanket now for the warmer weather.  I only made the bed with the green blanket and the blue one is waiting to be washed and put on the bed next week.  Why do we have two different color blankets?  When we needed a new blanket after we had the bed bugs we bought the blue one.  Later when it got colder we decided we needed a second one and the store only had the green ones in the correct size.  Since I like blue, I wash the blue one first when we are switching to one blanket and leave the green one on the bed to use while the blue one is washed.  Then I will put the clean blue blanket on the bed and wash the green blanket.  The green blanket will be put in a clear plastic bag when it is clean and after squeezing as much air as I can, the bag will be sealed.  The green blanket will then be store in the bedroom in a piece of furniture (a plastic end table with a shelf under it and a closed cabinet area below that - it used to be in our living room in our apartment). In the fall I will put the green blanket on the bed and again wash and dry the blue one.

Today was my embroidery chapter meeting.  Due to illnesses somehow not only was I the treasurer, but the secretary asked me during the week to take minutes for her and then this morning the membership chair called and said she was ill and asked me to take care of the renewals (our national group sets the membership year as June through the following May, so everyone has to renew right now), getting a sign in list of members, etc. for her. Plus the VP is out of state and she asked me to get the list of who will bring what to her house for our annual party next month. 

After the meeting - which was the first one I went to since January (February and March meetings were canceled for weather and husband’s birthday meant that I could not go to the April meeting).  I ran errands which have been waiting since late January to be done. 

I had packed some items to donate.  Many of them were old computer disk storage items, some were household serving pieces and others were clothes.  The bags have been sitting in front of the office closet door since they were packed in late January - each time I thought it would only be a month before they were taken to Goodwill.  So if I needed our business checkbook, new paper for the printer, my other laptop bag (I have one for travel and one for work - they hold different things) or the box of 2017 paid bills that I temporarily stuck in the top of the office closet until I clear out the 2008 box from the top of the closet and pack the 2017 papers (bills, statements and anything else) in it and put it in the top of the closet I had to move all the bags, open the closet door, take out what I need (or put away what I no longer needed) and then put all the bags back.  So nice to be able to just open the closet. 

Similarly I had not been able to bring back our recyclable plastic (soda) bottles for refund of their deposit since early January.  I managed to get rid of one small bag (10 bottles, 50 cents) when I suggested to husband that we get rid of a small bag of bottles easily and quickly in the interim, but I kept forgetting to bring another small bag and get rid of them. There still is about half a month’s bottles in the porch - if all goes as it should, they will be returned next month along with any bottles between now and then. 

I even managed to fit in a quick trip to the bank branch where we have a safe deposit box and switch an updated offsite data stick drive for the one in the box - also not done since January and intended as a monthly thing to do.  I also ordered new checks as I am down to one book while I was there. 

So catching up is progressing.  I even fit in one of our VERY long telephone conversations with mom. 

I mentioned late last year that we had accumulated and submitted a variety of paperwork to our local township for us to receive a senior real estate tax exemption, which is income based.  I am happy to say that I received the paperwork saying that we have been given the exemption.  This will cut our property taxes for the school year 2018-2019 and our other real estate taxes for 2019.  We have to reapply later this year for the following year - at least now we know what to do and what we will need.  I have already started collecting the papers as some of them come in without us having to request them.  I start contacting the places I will need additional paperwork from either late this month or the beginning of next month - it is all due by the end of the year, so there is time to get it done easily and they will not send out the forms until late August.

For a bit of extra fun, we need to put a new carbon monoxide monitor alarm and a new propane monitor alarm in our RV.  We have actually replaced the carbon monoxide monitor before and did not anticipate any problems with it.  We have not needed to replace the propane monitor before, but the instructions seemed pretty straight forward.  We had to order both monitors.  The propane monitor had to be ordered from Canada.  Husband found the carbon monoxide monitor listed for sale online, but the one he found said “marine” across it and is intended for a boat.  He emailed the company selling it and was assured that it was it the same one - same model number and all. 

The carbon monoxide monitor arrived first at our PO Box.  When opened it did say “marine” across it.  It also has not only different specifications than the one we have, but also they are different than those in the listing it was purchased from.  Husband emailed the company about this on Friday.  On Tuesday he telephoned as he had not heard back.  The employee had him leave a message for the person he needed to talk to and he was assured he would be called back later in the day - today (Wednesday) he called again, spoke to the same employee and was told the same thing and he was a bit less pleasant and she told him that he had written to the wrong email address (the one in their listings) and gave him her email to send the info to - hopefully this will get resolved.

Husband went to take out the old propane monitor - should be easy - push two pieces of plastic on the front together and pull.  Apparently the wire was too short for it to pull out.  While we need the wire to attach the new one, we had to squeeze in a small wire cutter and cut the wires to get the old one off.  We have attempted to remove the piece of floor in this section to get to where the wire connects - but it won’t lift out even after the screws were removed. 

Hopefully both of these will soon work out and be installed or we cannot travel in the RV.  Next we will progress to dewinterizing the RV - a messy job over 2 days to drain the antifreeze in the pipes and tanks out, add a vinegar and water mixture, run it through the pipes and shake it around the tanks by driving forward and backwards (I mean backwards or forwards or there will be a hole in the garage door) and stopping quickly.  Then the vinegar and water mixture is drained out and plain water put in the tanks - then run out through the pipes and taps (3 pairs of taps and toilet) and then the plain water put in again and run out. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK - If the work that needs to be done seems immense, do it little by little.                                     

Figure out what is most important to be done and do that work. 

Take what can be set aside “for now” and do so - but put all of the items set aside as same together. 

Then do the next the thing which needs to be done and so on.

It is amazing what will get done this way and you will get closer to catching up, if not caught up completely.

TAX DAY PANIC SETTING IN

Well, Tax Day is coming up on Monday.  Even though this year it is on April 17 instead of the 15th , I still have work to do.  In case anyone has forgotten, I am an accountant so I am not just talking about our own return.  I should remind you - if you cannot file in time, file an extension!

In the past week and a half I have done and mailed out 4 tax returns to clients and also sent estimated taxes for 2018 to another - very estimated they are based on his 2016 returns, so it does not show his 2017 income and deductions and I have no idea of how the change in the tax law will end up affecting him.  (I did use the calculator at IRS’s website to calculate what his tax will be.)  In addition he has had a life change so his taxes will be filed totally different for 2018 than prior years.  I will adjust it when I do his return - he always gets an extension.  I have another return sitting here 99% done, but needed one tiny piece of info that I am waiting for and this will be an extension also, as the return will not get to the client until after tax date just due to the distance to the client after I finish it.   I also finished our corporation return and it is ready to be signed, paid and mailed.     

This sounds good - 4 gone, 1 almost done which will be on extension and another one also to be on extension and our corporation return done also.  Lots of time to do our return right?

Ummm, Saturday I had a call from a client whose taxes had been mailed to her the Monday before  - “Where are they?”.  I told her to wait for this past Monday and if she still did not have them, I would mail another copy by Express Mail.  She received them on Monday.  She also went crazy as her taxes were more than she anticipated.  (We don’t have a lot of money - she has none.)  I ended up spending 2 hours on Tuesday writing up a breakdown comparing her 2016 and 2017 taxes for her so she would understand.  Time I really needed.

Husband is (again) planning a day trip.  This one on Friday, so I was trying to get everything done by then, but it won’t be.  We went to the bank today to transfer money to pay our RV insurance and I transferred extra money to pay what I figured we would have to send as a first estimated payment for 2018 as we don’t earn wages/have withholding and have to pay our taxes on our own. 

Then I started our return.  I should explain that we don’t generally pay income taxes due to our low income and high deductions.  We do have to pay Social Security taxes if either or both of us made $400 or more from businesses - and we pay double what people pay on their salary as we are the employer and the employee.  We also have ACA (Obamacare) medical insurance so we have to adjust our advance credit on our return - we always seem to have received a small bit more than we are entitled to.  No problem - we paid estimated taxes based on our Social Security taxes and the advance credit we owed in the past.

I should also explain that husband is always in a panic when we have to spend/pay money that we did not anticipate - because we don’t have a lot of it. 

So last night I started working on taxes - I summarized information - and today I started doing the return. 

First problem - I used our computer bookkeeping software to figure out husband’s business income and expenses after some adjustments.  I then went to enter it into the tax program.  Uh oh! Several expenses were missing - the entire categories of expenses.  I tried several times and in frustration complained to husband - working at his computer across from me on whatever.  He came over.  With the questions he asked, I figured out that somehow some of the expenses had become unchecked to be included on the statement and that is why they were not included.  I fixed that and printed out the corrected form and entered the information into the tax program.

I went on to get the same sort of statement printed out after making some adjustments - and this time checking that everything was checked to print.  I then managed to erase some forms from the tax program related to both of these forms and had to start all over - entering his business info and mine.

I then entered our other incomes - you know, the whopping interest now being paid on bank accounts, the small dividends from the small number of shares of stock he received as boy, etc.  Going well - no problems.

I then went through our items for deductions.  While the bookkeeping software has all the items paid by check or charge cards, I have to see if I paid anything by cash and then there are charitable donations of “stuff”.  As I went to enter our medical expenses - it all went blooey!

I had to enter the ACA medical insurance into the form that calculates if one is entitled to more credit or owes part of the credit back.  This form brought me to a complete stop and I went into panic.  It seems that when one spouse goes on Medicare and the other stays on ACA - it throws it all off.  We owe back 2/3 of the advanced credit we received.  I kept looking for what I did wrong.  I was shaking.  I finally decided that I had to tell husband - we don’t have enough money in the bank to pay it.  Luckily rather than panicking he started to see what he could find out online - he was actually comforting me rather than the other way around when we have an unexpected expense.  Nope, he found no way around it.  So tomorrow we will go and take money out of his IRA to pay it, as what we had and I transferred is not enough.  After Monday when I can breathe again, I will call and stop this year’s advance credit so I don’t have the same problem again next year.   

It is important to know that other this oddity, I think ACA insurance has been great, as even without the credit it is considerably less than we were paying before it - and it has been several years since, so we would be paying even more.  It was just a bit of a shock.

So all of our papers which were neatly sorted are now strewn around my desk.  I put it all aside until tomorrow - well, I will probably do some calculations tonight after I finish this post - we donated stuff and I have to add up what it was worth.

I know that somehow the return and the two extensions for clients will be done and out on time.  I will make sure it is.  Then Monday afternoon and night I can relax and rest - oh, wait, I can’t.  We have a reenacting unit meeting that night and I have to write my Treasurer’s report and go to the meeting.  Oh, and today the electric co came and trimmed the trees - they even actually trimmed the ones around the wires that run through the back yard that never get trimmed.  We do have tree limb from a neighbor’s tree which overhangs our garage and the line from the wires in the back yard to our house - they could not touch that, but there is a unit that does so and I have to call and have them come - since this tree branch is one of the things that scares husband during storms (not only would be without electricity, he is positive the wire coming down would set the garage - which is really his wood workshop - on fire), so that is something else to do on Monday.

I also have a folder next to my desk.  It contains all the things I have not done - or I only did what absolutely needed to be done and the followup was put in the folder - over the past 2 weeks - bills to check, items to scan or copy or send out, etc.  I still have to deal with that early next
 week. 

Oh, and I as do all of this - every time I need something from the office storage closet - business checkbook, more manila envelopes... I have to move the two stacks of stuff I set aside in January to donate in February - which will still be there until early May - and mentally scream about them.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

No matter how well one plans, something goes wrong.  One has to roll with it and do what one can.  The extra money is upsetting, but it won’t affect our day to day lives (luckily).  The errors in the bookkeeping program printouts were found as I match this year’s taxes as they are done to last year’s so that nothing is forgotten. 

Oh, and my friend who is getting an extension, had a marvelous trip to Europe as a gift from a friend as it was cheaper to bring her along than pay the single surcharge.  That is a great friend she has!

DOES TIME EXPAND TO FIT THE WORK TO BE DONE - OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY AROUND?

Well my client was not there when I telephoned her last week.  I will be going to her on Thursday.   Due to not going to her and a few other bills that popped up I started to go into a panic about paying our bills on time.  We pay every bill, every month in full - no payouts, with two much discussed before we did them, exceptions, in the almost 40 years we have been married and we each did so before.  This was a timing error - bills were due out and the money was coming in too late to pay them.  So we had to raid my tiny IRA for $1000 to carry us through.  We will need to make a regular scheduled  withdrawal from husband’s IRA next month to pay our quarterly real estate taxes and our semi-annual car insurance payment in February.

I packed up the rest of the ornaments from the main and studio trees over the weekend.  Monday night I took the lights off the tree - except the top section which the lights stay in place on.  My right elbow started hurting last week (maybe even the week before at this point) especially when lifting my arm or lifting something heavy with my arm and it has been hard to do all of this.  Our main tree is artificial (well, all of them are) and had to be disassembled and the sections are too heavy for me to lift with this arm, so last night husband took it apart and stacked the pieces in the dining room where I told him to put them.  This way he can warp his loom and start working on it again and the pieces of tree can “drift” downstairs as I can deal with them - he would get ill bending over to put them into the tree box.  The studio tree is not in the way and will also find its way downstairs and after the these trees are down I will be able to take apart the one in the dining room- currently blocked by the pieces from the main tree. Since we don’t really get Christmas gifts there is nothing of same to put away - just one empty box that I will ask husband about tossing.  I did move the “Christmas boxes” we use for storage out of the way - these are Christmas decorated gift or storage boxes that I store Christmas decorations in during the year and then put them - empty - under the tree so it looks pretty and like there are gifts under the tree.  So today we warped his loom - without the tree there is enough room to do so.  But he is still surrounded by Santas, angels, Christmas and Chanukah bears.

I finally had a chance to write a cover letter and get out the renewal reminders for our reenactment unit - I serve as the membership chair in addition to being the treasurer as it is easier than passing the info back and forth to someone else about renewals.  I had been delayed due to an error on our national group’s website.  Something interesting - when I went on their website with my computer and clicked on this year’s membership form I got instead a form for people to form and sign up a new unit.  When I contacted the person in charge she said that when she clicked on it she got the membership form.  Hmmm?  Turns out if one went on the site with a computer one got the unit form, but if one went on the site with a tablet or phone one got the correct the form.  It has been corrected thank to my asking about it - it also delayed sending out the renewals a week waiting for this.  We put together the mailing t - folded cover letter and forms, put in envelopes, put on stamps and address and return address labels.  Out in the mail today.  The renewal reminders and forms went out in today’s mail.

I have out a stack of books to write a talk that I am scheduled to give at my embroidery chapter on our meeting next month - 2 weeks from today - on the history of samplers.  I keep trying to get started writing it.  I know the basics of what I plan to say and the order, but I have to get it all together and have an outline to follow - I would hate to suddenly forget a word in the middle of the talk and I don’t want to start to wander off point!  Husband will print out photos for me that he has taken at exhibitions we have gone to - plus I may pull some off the Internet or out of the books I have.  Somehow I know it will be done as I want to do it.  I don’t feel that I can teach stitches or techniques at meetings as others have done, but I am real good at talking.  (Can you tell that from my posts?)  I sent out an email today to the chapter board asking if anyone had anything for me to include in the newsletter - which will go out next Wednesday (meeting is the week after).

I put my older software DVDs/CDs that I still need to keep in 2 new boxes as the old ones did not hold much and kept falling apart.  The old ones will be donated next month - along with a bag of unworn pantyhose - I wore one and it was awful, so I tossed that one and the rest of the huge bag (from an outlet) will be donated.  I have a glass bowl that did not make it in December when I went to Goodwill that will join them.  Looking around for what else can be donated.

And now tomorrow I will spend driving to Queens, taking the subway to Manhattan, working for about 3 hours, and then take the subway back to Queens and drive home.  I will spend between 4 and 5 hours in transit for the 3 hour visit.  Hopefully our mechanic found the problem last month and the drive home will be comfortable.  I have already put burgers in the refrigerator to defrost for dinner tomorrow night when I get home.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

We can get more done when we have to than we do when we don’t have to. 

It seems odd to me that I normally have trouble getting through what I need to in a week, but then those weeks come when I have to do a LOT more - Christmas decorating or decoration storage, writing a talk to give at a meeting, catching up on laundry when I fall behind, tax season, and other assorted extra or emergency jobs.  Somehow it all always seems to get done.

IT WOULD BE ENOUGH

I managed to get the dining room decorations finished over the weekend.  I also decluttered it a bit - and hid what has to stay a bit better.  The small Christmas tree I put up in there is up and decorated with the brass ornaments we get with our membership in Colonial Williamsburg.  A silverplated tea caddy ornament (we bought the full size caddy on sale one year and the ornament came with it) hangs at the top of the tree instead of an angel or star. 

Sounds simple right?  To get ready to set up the tree I had to store away husband’s DVDs which have accumulated since last Christmas.  The new ones sat on the chest he made to store his DVDs because - yes - it filled a few years ago.  We have a secretary (piece of furniture- drawers with fold down front for desk and shelves above it - green curtain inside hides the shelves and what is on them).  It was bought to be used as a bar and to hold table linens in the drawer.  The shelves held assorted bar and my good glasses.  I have been clearing it out as I can to make room for - yes - more DVDs.  Most of the bottom of the 3 shelves is DVD storage - I donated unneeded, unused glassware in the kitchen last year and moved most of my good glasses to where they had been to make the room for these DVDs.  I just donated a set of small wine glasses we never used earlier this month.  I want to get rid of most if not all of the bar ware as it was rarely used when we had people in and that will give him more room.  But, back to the chest now.  I ended up with DVDs that there was no room for and set them aside.  The chest when it was built by my husband was put on wheels just for this - I pushed it from the living room to the dining room.  Other than having to jump a molding between the living room and front hall, it is easy to push.  It goes against the far wall in the dining room.  The table is moved to the center of the room for this - it is normally pushed against the same far wall.  This gives room in the living room for the big tree (where the chest was) and a place to put the dining room tree.  I put the leftover, homeless DVDs behind the tree and then found a nice throw we received from CW some years ago, folded it in half lengthwise and wrapped the bottom of the tree - and the DVDs behind it - it looks like a nice tree skirt and the DVDs are hidden.

Sunday I also started bringing up the parts of the big tree and stuck them together - and the small tree that goes in our studio.  The studio tree gets ornaments we have made - but some also go on the big tree and all are stored together, so they get decorated together.  I figured - okay, we are close on time, but not too bad to get done before Christmas.  I had planned on Monday night to spread out the branches and make the big tree look nice and add the lights - along with our traditional first 3 items - the angel topper and two angels all stitched by me or my husband. 

Then we got an order on our Etsy account.  We don’t get a lot of orders and they are mostly of the smallest of the items we sell.  This was for a medium priced item and I had to do the paperwork before I started working on the tree - okay, I figured, half an hour.  Yeah, right.  Paypal changed their website and we got so confused trying to buy postage and print the label that we ended up doing it twice and had to cancel one of them.  So the entire evening was gone and no work on the tree.

Tuesday we went to the eye doctor.  He is in the next county so we go to together.  We can’t come home right away as neither of can see enough to drive that much so we go to stores near him.  (Good eye report, thank goodness.)  We ended up having dinner out at Ikea on the way home.  I did get the tree arranged and the lights and first three items on it at night.
Tonight I took the exam I had to take and now the exams are done with until the middle of next year.  But by the time I was done, and taking into consideration doing the laundry and writing to all of you - no time for the tree tonight.  Oh, well, at least gift shopping is over - we are done with his nieces and I will mail checks to my niece and nephew. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One can only do what one can do.  For the Passover holiday in the spring there is a song which translates to “it would have been enough” - it talks about things that God did to help the Jews leave Egypt and after each item is mentioned the refrain is “it would have been enough”.

If the tree is finished at the last minute it will done then.  If it is not finished then however it is, it is finished (and I can always add on after the holiday).  My teddy village will be done when it is done.  It is often not worked on until Christmas Eve or Day or later (I guess that is why it stays up so long). 

My point being that whatever is done when the holiday come is enough.  If stuff is shoved into a bag and stuffed behind a bench - that is good enough if that is all there is time for.  A few years ago for two years we had one little tree with only a limited decorations - and that was enough.

I take the time now to wish all who celebrate, a Pleasant Christmas (merry sounds too demanding). 

STARTING MY THIRD YEAR

Well this is the first post of the third year of my blog.  (Imagine balloons rising, confetti falling, and triumphant music.)  Understand this is probably my 4th or 5th attempt at a blog.  None of the earlier ones had a second post. For a procrastinator, this is pretty good.  Other than the recent post which was scheduled to post and did not (I am sure it was my fault in how I set up the scheduling) and the post that followed it and was posted a day later, I have managed to post them on time - even better for a procrastinator.    I want to thank you all for reading my blog, especially those who follow me.  Knowing you are out there reading the blog helps me keep writing it. (Imagine applause for you.)

So, how has being a blogger been for me?  Well, I appreciate those of you who follow me, but I had expected a larger number of followers.  I am not sure if the low numbers are related to lack of interest in my blog or people not finding my blog.  For my personal happiness, I presume it is the latter.  (Tell your friends - have them tell their friends.)  But I am aware it might be the former.  My original idea of telling how and where I store things (and why) seemed terribly dry to me when I read the early posts back after posting them, so I switched to more of a week by week story of what I did right, what I did wrong, and my attempts to keep everything up to date and taken care of.  It reads better to me and I hope to you.  I am also interested in what YOU think - please feel free to reply to the blog itself as well as any posts - do you wonder how I deal with something or other?   

September is over and with it I hope I will have a chance to breathe. 

I managed to get the needed information to my client from last week.  Her fax has never worked and therefore I faxed the needed form to a friend of hers.  His fax did not work right in accepting faxes.  I tried faxing a number of times - with my husband standing there making noises about how much each attempt was costing us - our home telephone is rarely used for making calls as I have unlimited cell phone minutes, so each call was a “toll call” to NYC, plus the page that was printed each time to tell me the fax did not go through.  Since doing something over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of stupidity, I called the client and told her that I would mail her the form.  Friday she would not be at work as that evening would be a Jewish holiday and she is closed on the weekend.  I telephoned her on Monday and she had received the form and faxed it with needed attachment to the number I had given her - hopefully it was in time for them to process before her monthly fee for minimum use was due to be debited from the account.

I also finished a tax return for another client - it was on extension so it is not late.  That was promptly mailed out.  I do have one client whose return I have not done - she and her husband owe me information from 3 years ago to do their returns and I keep pushing her as she will lose a sizeable refund if she does not file her 2014 return by April 15 of 2018.  (If you have unfiled income tax returns - don’t let that happen to you - if you have not filed a return within 3 years of its due date you will lose any refund due you.  Out to the client 2 weeks before it is due. 

Last Sunday we had a reenctment event.  It was the first time the unit was doing this event - it was at our headquarters, but the building itself was the focus of the event rather than the unit outside with muskets and crafts.  The unit commander could not come after he set it up, so husband, who is assistant commander had to deal with everything - which of course means much work for me.  I woke a half hour before the alarm was set to go off on Sunday morning - with a terribly ill stomach.  Husband started to panic- what would we do? He had to go as he was in charge and he needed me.  I told him that he would go to the event in our car - members get to most events 2 hours before it is to start to have everything set up - and I would come later in our van, unless my stomach did not recover.  He was not happy at driving there alone, being there alone and, more important, me not being well.  I went over where the turns are to get there as he is always asking me when driving there - “Is this where I turn?” at the wrong place.  (“Remember, you will pass the diner your sister goes to on the right, then you turn left at the light after the Stop and Shop supermarket is on the left.  Then you turn left again after the long stretch of nurseries....”)  I managed to get there on time for the actual event.  We had a quiet day (depending on who you ask we had 20-35 visitors from the public over the day) as there was no publicity for the event.  Nice event, good idea, people need to know about it.

I spent yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) getting ready for my embroidery chapter meeting today.  We are starting our projects for the year and I needed to print some things for the projects.  I also packed up some items to donate - 3 dresses, 2 ladies suits, a rain coat, a Christmas Santa bowl (not even sure who gave it to us), some souvenir gifts from a friend’s travels, and 2 spare coin counting tube sets - anything gone out of the house is good.  I also did my “offsite” data backups for today.

Today I had busy day - the meeting, a trip to the bank to exchange my offsite backups, a trip to Goodwill for the donation, check Post Office box, lunch alone...  Then when I came home I went through and finished filling in forms and making copies of papers so we can go tomorrow to a workshop/meeting and make sure our paperwork is done and complete to get a senior discount on our real estate taxes.  For once I am not procrastinating as they are due before January 1 - plenty of time to fix any problems or missing items. And now I am writing my post. 

Not as bad as some weeks in the past month - at least we do not have to wake early day after day and I see an end in sight.  Next week is even a bit looser - dentist tomorrow though.


THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

If you think that you can not do something which is a large job - then do one small bit of it - a first step, then a bit more.  It will go quicker than if you just sit and think that the job is too big.  I never thought that I would be able to post this regularly for 6 months, let alone 2 years, but a week’s post at a time I have and I plan to keep doing it for at least another year. 

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS CATCHING UP

February may be the shortest month - but this year it seems to be cruelest month as well.  Not just for my husband and myself either.  At a club meeting today I heard that a friend found out that in her second home, which she rents out, the toilet kept running when no one was around - she had to deal not only with the flood resulting from same but mold and a time limit to get it done as her new tenant was waiting to get in.  Another friend found out her significant other has a serious medical condition.   Our problems were just annoying - individually they would be an amusing story, but when the small problems keep coming - they add up. 

We were eating lunch last Thursday - luckily at home - and husband let out a scream - and mumbled something about his teeth.  I thought he broke a tooth or one came out or one moved out of place and he bit it and hurt his other teeth.  No, his upper partial plate broke in half - he now had a left side and a right side.  He was eating a very dangerous meal - cream cheese and jelly sandwich!  He managed to glue the two pieces into his mouth adjacent to each other for a temporary fix.  I called our dentist, but he only had morning hours on Thursday.  I left a message explaining and asking him to call back - which he did almost immediately.

Now, we were planning, again, to go to Lancaster, PA for the day on Friday.  It was our third attempt this year.  Luckily the dentist could see us first thing in the morning so the trip to Lancaster started to fade away again.  I had an idea.  How long could it take for the dentist to repair the partial or take a mold for a new one?  We would probably not get out until after 9:30 anyway.  So we went ahead and put together everything we needed for the day trip.  When we went to the dentist the next morning we put it all in the car.  Dentist fixed the partial as a temporary thing - husband says the stuff used to fix it tasted vile.  He also took a mold to make a new partial - we are going in tomorrow for a fitting for the new partial.   Breathe a sign of relief that this was done.

We finished up in about 45 minutes - 15 minutes behind when we would have gotten out of the house to go on the trip and the dentist is closer to where we are going than our home.  Had a nice day finally in PA.  Managed the trip home using the detour to the Delaware River Bridge alright.

Monday we were out running errands in the car and we heard an odd noise.  Not sure if it was just something in the car knocking around we bagged up everything in the arm rest, the glove compartment, and spare eye and sunglasses.  The noise continued than stopped.  Tuesday we went out and the noise was there again.  Since we were planning a day trip to a quilt show out of state - originally tomorrow, Thursday, now due to the dentist on Friday - if it doesn’t snow - we wanted to make sure the car was okay and stopped at our mechanic.  He checked the car and it was almost out of oil - and no, we are not the sort of people who don’t check same.  He refilled the oil and put it up in his shop overnight to see if there was a leak.  In the meanwhile husband went looking and found out that there is a problem with our year and make of car (as well as others) in which the oil is too hot and is used up.  We will have to take the car to the dealer to have it checked for this - luckily covered by the manufacturer - it could result in needing the pistons replaced.  Somehow I know this will take more time than we can easily spare the car for.

Today I had my embroidery chapter meeting and what was suppose to be my day out.  I drove our van and came home quickly after the meeting to run errands with husband and go out to lunch with him (Ash Wednesday so he was looking forward to a fish sandwich out) as we had just our van to use.  We picked up the car when it was ready and drove it a bit to see if we heard the noise - we did not.           

I went to pay bills tonight and figure out how much money we need in the checking account for the coming week - and got stuck as I had not matched slips to credit card statements when they came in earlier this week - husband had to take a test online to renew a professional license and the credit card slips and other papers made too much noise, so I set them aside - and forgot about them until I needed to make sure I had enough in the account to pay one of them.

I also had bill for a party room I had to pay for a club we are in (from the club’s money).  The venue mailed the bill to the wrong address.  A copy was sent and arrived yesterday - picked late in the day.  They had not only the wrong date on the bill, but also the wrong day of the week!  I left a voice message last night - they had closed for the day - and left both our house and my cell phone numbers.  If they called the house husband knew what to ask and how to deal with the problem.  No call back - I called them and they have the right day marked on the calendar for the party - not sure where the wrong one came from.  Check went out when I came home after my meeting today.

So in the past month - we almost had a fire resulting in needing a new all in one printer, which did not work with all of my software (and I have not finished installing on this laptop), my eyeglasses had to be replaced, husband broke his upper partial, and the car has a major problem.  In addition to the loss of time which needed to be devoted to all of this, we have credit card bills triple what we normally have for a month as a result of all this - and the car still needs to be looked at by the dealer.

Now in addition to all of this - I am working on business tax returns for clients and we are coming up against a deadline for husband to pick Medicare part D and Supplemental Medicare policies.  I had done all the research and presented it to him - but he questioned everything and I had to research it all again.  Finally he believes me the choices I picked are the best ones and now we have to find the time to register him.

February is over.  Hopefully March will be better.  The realization that much worse could have happened instead goes far.

I did manage to store all of the rest of the Christmas decorations except the teddy bear village which needs to packed away and since it is all that is left - it is time. 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

How long has it taken for the stuff in your house to get to where it is?  Our stuff has piled up in this house for almost 30 years and a lot of stuff came here from 9 years in our apartment, plus what came from decades living at home with our parents.

Stuff that has taken decades to accumulate is not going to be dealt with in a week.  One has to be patient and do what one can.  Some items we know when we see them should go - whether to the garbage, for donation, back to who we borrowed it from, or even that it is something which someone we know would appreciate much more than us.  If we get as much of this “definite to get rid of stuff” as we can - and try not to add any more of it (if Aunt Susie brought a cake on her plat and left it with the cake, hopefully the cake gets finished and the plate washed - make a point of getting the plate back to Aunt Susie - she will have it to reuse and you won’t have it taking up space.  Next time transfer it to a paper plate - or one of your plates after it finished being served, wash her plate and give it back to her when she leaves - no matter how much she protests your doing so. 

Take a carton (or more than one)  - you probably have one around - and fill it with items to donate.  Then set a date - soon - to take it for donation or call for someone come and pick it up at your door. I try to gather items and take them for donation when I have my day out after my meeting (the day I missed today).

Toss out what you can - there are items that as much as it seems a waste to toss them out - no one will take them or want them.  One cannot even donate TVs which are not flat screen to the Salvation Army.  I know around here if we leave some items out when the garbage will be picked up with a note “free, please take” (and sometimes even without the note) people go around during the night and take things.  We got rid of a lawn mower that way.  It had gas in it.  We would have to drain the gas for the garbage department to take it and did not want to deal with same and it would have to start - which it did not - for it to be donated.  We left it out with a note attached and by the next morning it was gone.

Whatever you get out of the house leaves that much less to deal with - especially if you don’t add to what you have.  Don’t be upset that it does not all instantly disappear.  A little at a time is a step forward.  After we had the bedbugs I had to put away 3 dressers worth of fabric pieces which had been removed, heated and bagged (which in itself was a project done 2 bags a night until over 60 bags were done - this included our household fabric items also - clothes, towels, bed linens, etc).  This was an overwhelming daunting task.  I finally decided that I would put away 10 pieces of fabric a night.  I was also making a small swatch card for each piece of fabric - something I always wanted to do and while I had to put the fabric away it seemed a good time.  My husband said to me that 10 pieces was nothing - but I pointed out - it would be 10 pieces more put away than was put away before.  Some nights I felt like dealing with more than 10 pieces, some nights circumstances did not allow me to do 10 pieces and some nights I could do no pieces out all.  Within a month and half the fabric was all away and I had the fabric swatch book I always wanted.  By doing it in small amounts it was not tedious and I was able to keep at it. 

So, if you can’t deal with the big problem - deal with a small part of it and then do so again.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS AND THE WEEK THAT FOLLOWED

We went out last Thursday to put up our Christmas lights.  We also had some errands to run, but since we wanted to deal with the lights while there was still daylight we did the lights first.

Husband decided that the fallen leaves would catch fire from the lights and we had to rake and bag them first. This exhausted both of us before we even started with the lights.  Sunny and 59 degrees which had been expected, was actually terribly overcast and colder.

Of course 3 of the 8 strands of lights only had half their bulbs still working - although they had been tested before being stored.  We figured we would put up what we have and then go and buy replacements while running errands.  The lights go on bushes and 2 small trees and a strand of red bulbs with white cords go around our white mail box post (which is at our front door, not along the road) which gives it a candy caneish look.  Hooked up the extension cords, plugged it all in.  I went to the basement and turned on the breaker for that circuit and turned on the timer - no lights.  Husband comes in and checks to make sure I did it right.  (I would say because he thinks I am an idiot who cannot turn on the breaker and timer, but I won't.)  He decides that maybe the breaker is broken - it feels funny.  Just in case it is the outlet (which hangs oddly since our siding was replaced - but worked fine last time we mowed the grass in July) he decides to disassemble the outlet and check the wiring.  It is now dark out and getting colder.

He cannot disassemble the outlets as one of the screws stripped .  He then spends an hour attempting to take out the outlets.  He then gives up and spends another hour and a half trying to put the front plate (which covers the outlets as they are outside) back on as the entire assembly now is loose due to the stripped screw.  We finally give up and put tape around the box - figuring we will be calling an electrician to deal with it all.  It is now 6 pm.  He goes back into the basement in frustration and finds out that we turned on the wrong breaker!  When we bought the house there was one outside set of outlets in the back yard.  The breaker was labeled "outside outlet".  We later had another one added in front of the house (mostly for Christmas lights) which is labeled "front outside outlet".  Yes, I forgot which one was specially labeled and turned on the back yard outlets!  I showed him which one was correct.  He labeled the other one as “rear outside outlets”. We had disassembled the extension cords to prevent problems and will have to  plug everything in again and see if the lights come on - on Saturday.  No he did not get mad or yell at me.  I was crying too hard from being so stupid and making the problem and wasting so much time for him to do so.

We normally would put up a wreath on each door and swags (all artificial) from the lights on either side of the door - but that would wait.  (So far we have put up one wreath - it is new.  We put battery operated lights on it and it fits between our front door and the storm door and is lighter so it can go up with magnetic hooks instead of having to run fishing line over the front storm door to hold it outside the storm door .  We still have not put out a wreath on the side door or the swags - not sure if he will do so or not.)

We then set out to the PO and the bank.  As we approached the corner where the PO is located there were police cars and their lights all over at the corner to the PO.  There is a very small "town center" in a pool park there and apparently this was the Christmas tree lighting ceremony.  We managed to get through the mess and had to go aways to get a parking space for the PO.

We then had to pull into a side road and turn around, back into the mess, which now also had fire engines with lights and sirens on, to go to the bank.  When we left the bank husband was going to go in a different direction to avoid the mess, forgot to and we were headed back there.  Instead we kept going to a different main street which goes to our house.  There were police cars all over with police directing traffic and apparently we could not turn towards our house - the street was closed either for an emergency or to put up Christmas decorations as there were "bucket trucks" with men in the buckets.  We had to drive back to the bank a different way, drive past it and then go the way he intended originally.  15 minutes of errands took over an hour, so it was now 7 pm.

I then made dinner and called him and he had gotten a work online conversation and was on for an hour - to 9 pm.  Just as I finished reheating the soup for dinner (and the rest was still reheating) my mom called and I had to tell her I couldn't talk.   If you think I write a lot - a call between mom and me can run 2 hours.

Friday we went to Lancaster, PA area for a day trip - mostly Green Dragon Farmer's (and merchant's) market and dinner at Dutchway buffet - owned by and adjacent to their supermarket.  Picked up the needed Christmas lights during a stop at Walmart there before our trip home.

Saturday we took the snow blower out of the box and assembled it.  We then put up the rest of the lights after making sure that when we used the correct circuit breaker the other lights came on. 

We bought gas for the snow blower on Monday and also filled the tank in our van - we don’t drive it a lot, so we don’t fill it a lot, so we figured we would do both at once.  On Tuesday we started it and it started fine.  Unfortunately we found out over the weekend that we cannot get the small shed we wanted.  It would not come for 3 weeks and by then it would be too cold to assemble it.  For now the snow blower is in the garage - sitting just inside the door, ready to go.  But if it snows we have to shovel our way out to the garage.  One idea husband has it to pick up the snow blower and put it in our tiny side porch (really just a covered entryway) - which means I have to clear it out - but we don’t know if we could carry it that much.

Today was my embroidery club meeting.  As I was getting ready last night for the meeting it suddenly dawned on me that this is the last meeting of the year.  Why is that significant?  I never got the paperwork to reserve the meeting room for 2017.  I called this morning and found out that the person in charge of the room reservations changed and I was not on the list she was given for who had to have renewals sent to them - “everyone else will call for them”.  Luckily this room is not in great demand and there should be no problem - she is sending me the paperwork to do.

I also got rid of 2 months worth of soda bottles today and made about $2 in returned deposits - which I then spent plus more on a few grocery items we needed.  I went to Goodwill and donated 3 of our suitcases - more to go there in the future.  I also donated my good coat.  I love this coat - it comfortable, nice fabric.  It is the only piece of clothing I have ever heard my mom say I looked good in.  Why did I get rid of it?  It was a hard decision, but I have not worn it since 2009 when we had the bed bugs.  It is a bit on the long side and I would worry about picking up bed bugs when walking on stairs in NYC if I wore it to work.  When we go out to dinner for holidays or such - much rarer now - I sit on my jacket and the coat would be too bulky, so I decided it was time for it to have a nice life with someone else who needs and will use it.  I kept it in its bag until the last minute so I would not change my mind.  I added to all this a rotating CD rack husband has not used in years and said we should get rid of.  Oh - don’t forget to go through all pockets in clothes and suitcases - I did and found copies of our driver’s licenses in one of the suitcases.

So another week is gone.  I have put out a minimal amount of Christmas decorations - but I did put RV stuff in our RV to get it out of the dining room until next spring - more of it to go out yet.  I also put away all of the various items that were out loose of our reenacting stuff - the dining room is on its way to being ready to decorate.

What did you get done this week?  Even a small amount of things done is something done.  Jump in and do something. 

THANKSGIVING IS OVER - CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Well, Thanksgiving is behind us.  Now we move on to the December holidays.  While due to differences in religion, we celebrate both Christmas and Chanukah, 99% of the decorating is for Christmas.

Normally we would have put our outside decorations up this past week, but due to running around to find a turkey and shop for Thanksgiving dinner at the last minute, we did not get a chance to do so.  We are currently having rain.  We plan to put up the outside decorations on Thursday - it is not suppose to be raining then and it is suppose to go to a relatively “toasty” 59 degrees Fahrenheit. 

We put strands of lights on our larger bushes and 2 small trees in front of our house. We put a wreath (artificial) each on our front and side doors.  We also have swags (again artificial) which we hang from our light fixtures on either side of the front door.  Last year we added a strand of red lights around our white mail box post - gives the look of, sort of, a candy cane.  We used to have wreaths on our lower front windows and swags under them, but we cannot do so since we had our windows and siding replaced.  The outside lights are controlled by a timer.  We have one in our basement for the outlets that they are plugged into - since they are on their own circuit breaker this is a heavy duty timer, which works for the circuit.  We also put battery operated candles in our front windows which go on for 6 hours a night automatically.  We used to have plug in window candles, but when we replaced the windows, we found that there was a ledge of plastic on the inside of the window which meant that the candle had trouble staying on the window sill and leaned against the window blinds and would have melted them - so we replaced them with these LED candles -no heat so they do not melt the shades.

This past weekend I took out my Christmas dishes.  These are not fancy china to be used for company.  They are everyday dishes.  I use them for dinner during the holidays.  I also have Christmas glasses - they were a “spend this amount and get a gift” that I got when I bought a baby gift for a friend decades ago.  I keep the dishes and glasses in their original boxes in the gas meter closet in our basement and wash them before I use them each year.  I have only 3 glasses - the fourth one broke - and I keep a small 2 piece nativity set in the 4th space in the box, so the nativity goes out when I take out the glasses.  I only take out 2 of the glasses and 2 of the cups to the dishes as I am the only one who uses them. Husband has certain plastic glasses he prefers and I put one out for him as it not worth insisting that he use the holiday stuff.

Husband, as I have mentioned before, got a loom last Christmas.  It is a good size piece of furniture, 32 inches wide and about the same size deep.  It is set up in the living room as are various related items, including a small table and large plastic boxes of yarn/finished pieces.  It does not fill the room, but since it sits in the middle of the room, it takes up much of the floor space.  When husband set it up last January, I told him that I expected the living room back after Thanksgiving until January so that I could decorate.  I never really expected same, and I will be decorating around the loom etc. when I decorate as I got a blank stare when I asked when the loom was being stored for the season.  Our dining room has additional items for his weaving, mostly items used to wash the woven items after they are made (to draw the threads together into fabric) which is done in our kitchen.  At some point the items other than the loom will have to be moved somewhere - my guess is the walkways of our studio behind the kitchen.  The nativity mentioned above goes into a display case in a corner of the living room - normally it is the center of the shelf.  Right now it is on a corner of the shelf as I could not open the door to the cabinet due to the weaving boxes stored adjacent to the cabinet, but managed to get it open enough to put the nativity just inside the door.  I will move it when I move the boxes elsewhere - really, they have to moved or no tree.

The dining room also has stuff which needs to go out to our RV.  (This is all the stuff I had to move to use the dining room table last week.)  The last chance we figure to use the RV is this coming weekend and we are pretty sure we will not - then all will go out there for winter storage.  It is stuff that is used seasonally in the RV - mostly for cold weather travel - and has to be stored in the house when not being used in the RV.

Why does the dining room have to be cleared out to decorate the living room?  Because there is a good sized wooden box piece of furniture in the living room where the tree goes.  Husband made this some years ago.  It looks like what was called a “hope chest” for a young woman to store the items she made for when she got married.  This one, however, holds DVDs.  Instead of the top lifting the front drops down and drawers come out to hold the DVDs.  It is on wheels (we knew we had to move it back and forth to the dining room once a year) and is rolled to the far wall of the dining room (where the table normally is and all the stuff to deal with is now) and stays there for the season with the table in the center of the room where normal people put it all the time.

I admit to still having Thanksgiving decorations out.  I have a small light up “house in a tree trunk” which I painted some years ago and also painted a ceramic bear family and their guests coming to the house.  I have since added some small purchased bears.  Every year I set it up with the bear family at the house and the other bears coming there.  This year after the holiday I had the idea to turn the visitors around and they are now “on their way home”.  There are a few other small items to be put away also - it all fits in one box.  I plan on it all being stored by the end of the week - it only took 15 minutes to put out.

I have large plastic boxes of stuff to put out for Christmas in the basement.  We used to keep it in the garage, but we are getting older - hard to climb up and take out and store the boxes - and the boxes are getting heavier, so I found a spot in the basement to store them.  There are decorations for the living room, front hall, dining room and kitchen as well as the ornaments for the trees and my teddy bear Christmas village figurines, buildings, etc.

More on all that in future posts - or I would have nothing to post.  We bought a new snow blower Monday.  We cannot find anyone who does “residential snow removal” and have to be able to do it on our own.  Our old snow blower is probably around 30 years old and is large and heavy.  We tried starting it over the weekend and it did not start, although it did last summer when we tried it.  We had planned on buying this one anyway as it is hard to get to the other one in back of the house and this one, being smaller, we figure we can store it in a small plastic shed in front of our side door.  We still have to get the shed and assemble and try out (at least that it starts and moves) the new blower.  Husband is researching on what may be wrong with the old one as he wants it as a backup.  They were surprised at the (large home big box) store at which we bought the snow blower that we were buying one.  I guess everyone else waits until it snows - when it is too late.

I wanted to talk about holiday shopping.  Did you go running out on Black Friday or even Thanksgiving?  Visit your local stores for Small Business Saturday (started by that so warm hearted American Express credit card company)?  Sit all day at work on Monday for Cyber Monday?

We did none of these things. With the exception this year of a TV which husband thought was a good deal (not that we bought/are buying one) which is still on sale at that large box store everyone hates, we have never seen anything worth running for the deal.  In addition we don’t buy large amounts of gifts - or stuff for ourselves - for the holidays or otherwise.  Are we grinches?  No.  Husband’s 2 nieces (under 20 years old) always get Christmas gifts from us which we buy.  My niece and nephews are in the mid 20's and we mail them checks for Chanukah.  Some years ago we agreed with my family not to exchange gifts between the adults.  Every year I bought my sister a sweater at a reasonably priced department store (the one with the tool department)  with the return card from the gift she had bought me the year before and she would buy me something there also - I was pretty sure with the return card from the sweater I had given her the year before.  Gradually this mostly happened with husband and his small extended family also - which was an exchange of cash for check any way.)  Husband buys himself a few small items which catch his eye - I then wrap them and Santa puts them under the tree.  Generally I don’t get anything.  If I do it is a book or a bear item we found on sale during the year and put away until Christmas (one year I forgot we were doing so and read half the book before I remembered).  In case you have not figured it out - I have a passion for teddy bears and some of their friends.  I believe that a gift should be a token, not an overwhelming “LOOK AT THIS”.  The spending of more money for a bigger or more expensive gift does not mean that one is loved or appreciated more - just that someone spent more money, which chances are means they are further into debt than they should be.  Plus, more and bigger items mean more clutter in the house!

Speaking of clutter - this is a good time of year to pass along by donation items you no longer need or want which are taking up room in your house.  I am planning on donating my winter coat - I have not worn it in years and due to weight loss, I am not even sure it fits anymore.  I plan to add to it some dresses I never wear and if we get a chance to go through them - most of the luggage we have as we don’t use luggage with the RV.  We will each keep one suitcase and will also keep a rolling backpack.  The backpack and a soft bag should fit in the other bag. 

So as you are start getting ready this year - remember, whatever you buy or get has to fit somewhere in your home.

A New Year?

Today was Yom Kippur - this is the holiest day of the Jewish calender.  10 days ago this holiday period started with Rosh Hashanah - which means “head of the year” and is generally referred to as “Jewish New Year”.

Okay, so I am vamping a bit as I don’t have anything written.  Monday was Columbus Day, We went to the eye doctor last week on Friday and husband’s niece’s birthday party on Sunday so I have had a busy week. 

Last night I normally would have written my post for this week, but could not as Jewish holidays start the night before the day of the holiday.  (There is a biblical reason for this, but I am not teaching bible class here - feel free to post back and ask if you want to know.)  We have a huge lists of things we cannot due on Jewish holidays, most of the time I tend to ignore the list and do the things if they arise, but I try to set these two holidays - Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur apart from other days due to their significance, so here I am, with no idea of what to write at the last minute (sound familiar to you).

As I mulled this over tonight I thought the significance of this period - the two holidays and the time between them are a period of reflection and its relation to becoming more organized and less cluttered. 

Huh?  This was the time of year when Jews take the time to think about the past year - what they did wrong, what they would like to change, how they could have improved their life and the lives of others.  One is suppose to apologize for wrongs they have done in the past year to those to whom the wrongs have been done - whether spouse, child, boss, employee, friend, foe, the annoying teller at the bank, the sales girl who was too slow, the customer who could not give you their order properly, the neighbor who thinks you play your guitar too loud, your dog - you forgot to walk him, and God.  By making these apologies one is clearing up the past and getting ready for the future.
                                   
We also think about the coming year - what can we do to make the coming year better for us and those around us.  Sort of like regular New Year’s resolutions but not exactly.  I will call my mother more often.  I will be more generous to charity.  (This period is to Jewish charities similar to what Christmas is to general charities, people are more generous and several of the charities have their donation campaigns during this period.)  I will try to get my blog posts written ahead of time and have them make more sense.  I will try not to annoy my husband with stupid things so often.   I won’t lie (as much?). I will actually clean the house when it is on my to do schedule.  And so on.    

I offer you this holiday period (albeit after it has ended - another thought for next year, offer it when it is about to occur) to help you.

Take the time to apologize to anyone you have wronged.  They will probably be surprised and will feel better about you.  You will feel better because instead of thinking “I wish I hadn’t told John he shouldn’t eat so much and I wish I can take it back” you will know that you have let the John know you are sorry you said that.  Do this even with someone who has passed on if you feel you have wronged them.  It will clear your mind and your heart of past errors and let you start over.

Do this with your self also.  Apologize to yourself for what you have done to yourself.  Don’t be angry with yourself any longer for things left undone or things done incorrectly or things you have done wrong.  Let it go - forgive yourself.  This will also clear your mind and heart and let you start over.

Set aside time and think about what you would like to do in the coming year.  I am talking not only in terms of organizing and decluttering, but in general.  Try to sort out your thoughts and ideas.  Try to make some sense of them.

I have not made a New Year’s resolution - secular or Jewish New Year - in decades.  My last one was not to make resolutions - I have kept it.  I do try to get some idea of what I would like to do in the coming year and try to make some plans towards doing same.  It is a general plan - I might have some specific ideas, but I never think “I will” or “I must”, I think “I will try to”.

When I was a child I could not understand what the big deal was about the New Year (either one).  Every day starts a new year.  I could not understand what made one starting point more  important than another one.  Try letting go of what has happened in the past year and think about the year to come.  If today is not good - then tomorrow or next week - because every day is the start of a new year.

DID NOT FALL BEHIND THIS WEEK - CAUGHT UP A BIT INSTEAD

Well, here it is another week gone by.  Time to write again. 

First a bit of how I am writing and posting this blog.  The first few posts I wrote in advance as this is at least my third attempt at a blog (on varying subjects) and I figured if I kept 3 weeks ahead I would be fine.  Of course like, I am guessing, most of you, I used up the 3 posts and now post week to week.  I have a reminder on my calendar for Tuesday night to write the week’s post so I can post it on Wednesday night (which is generally around midnight Wednesday into very early Thursday morning) which give me a chance Wednesday night to proof read it again or write the post if I did not get to it Tuesday night - which happens much too often.  So, if you are coming to see read it, it is posted by early Thursday am Eastern US time.  If you sign up to receive it weekly in your email it seems to arrive late Thursday.

It was another week of getting very little done as I get sidetracked from doing things by husband and by “emergencies” which arise.  But I did get some tasks done. Repeat tasks such as bill paying, laundry, dish washing and such get done ahead of lesser tasks.  They are necessary to keep the house and us going. 

I had left the bed made up in the RV for our next trip, but the generator needs to be worked on by a mechanic and he needs access to the air conditioning switch inside the RV - over the bed, so I had to unmake the bed yesterday - about an hour of wasted time to do so, get the bed itself disassembled and covered with plastic covers to keep it clean.  When we go away next, there will about another hour putting it all back together and making it back up - I had hoped to avoid this work as we had only traveled on our last trip for a few days and our next 2 trips are of even shorter duration.  As long as I took it apart I will wash the bed linens.  For each of us there is a large laundry bag which holds a blanket, pillows, and mattress cover from half the bed (since it is made up as if it was two adjacent twins) - marked so I know whose is whose - since someone other than us will be inside the RV, the laundry bags are sealed in plastic bags.         

The bank statements for us and for the two non-profit organizations of which I am treasurer this past week and all the statements have been reconciled and filed away.  I actually got the stack of items on my desk waiting to be done back down to what I needed to do about 6 months ago. I am sure it will grow again.

I started working on a corporate income tax return due out by September 15 - maybe it will be out early for once and not at the last minute.

We have started calling up and changing our mailing address for our various financial mail (bills, statements, and checks to deposit coming in - nothing fancy) to our Post Office box as a way of dealing with our mail going astray.  I am calling and changing each as I go to pay the bill or deposit the check. I figure when we go to the banks we will change the mailing address there.  Husband has taken care of a couple of items which are his.   We may have a problem in winter or bad weather as we will need to get to our PO box, but we can always call and find out how much to pay and where to send it.  We pay our bills the old fashioned way - by check and mail.  This has helped us, in at least one case, avoid having our info stolen from a company which was hacked.     
       
I have not finished putting away the food from last week’s trip - I have it in plastic boxes which snap closed and it is mostly the same snack food we eat at home, so I have been using it up bit by bit instead. 

I did 4 loads of laundry last week to catch up on our clothes and towels as I had done it early the week before to go away with all clothes cleaned.  I did not change the bedding as since we had been away, we used the bed over 2 weeks the equivalent of sleeping it in for just over one week - a big time saver - and, as I told you, I hate sheets.

I went through my food books last night - cooking and diet - and sorted out 27 of them to donate.  Mostly these are in reference to diet related to a condition we both have and are no longer needed by us as we know what to do.  Other books were ones which seemed like good ideas or were gifts or for foods we no longer eat.  Don’t worry - there are still lots of cookbooks on the shelf - but I did manage to get it down to one shelf so there is lots of room in the bookcase for crafts books.  The cooking books are on the bottom shelf as they are not used often.  Some of them I know I will never use, but they are sentimental favorites and one is a “Gone with the Wind” cookbook, of no real use, but I could not part with it.  I kept the cookbooks for an assortment of types of cooking we like and a couple that we have never used, but still sounded interesting.  I put the ones we are keeping back on the shelf in sections based on what they are for - with a stack of assorted types of paperbacks facing forward to save room and make them easy to see.

So it was more or less a typical week around here.  A bit of decluttering, a bit of organizing and much wasted time.