Did you ever buy something because it seemed like a great idea to help with organizing, not use it right away and forget about it?
Well, one of the places we go to in Pennsylvania is a farmer's market which is also a general merchandise/flea market. Most of the vendors are out doors, but there are some buildings with indoor vendors. For decades and decades there was an indoor vendor who sold tools and related items – he finally retired and sold his business to someone else. The new owner has expanded the type of items he sells and sells household items and office supplies (and I am sure I have mentioned – I love office supplies, used to play with them as a child and still think of them as FUN). He is buying at auctions and such so he has a big assortment of items. I always make sure to go through his office supply aisle carefully.
When going through his booth this past Friday I was suddenly reminded – a few years ago I had bought a package of tabs to put on hanging folders which one would print the name of the folders by running it the tabs through one's computer. (These are made by a well known label company.) I had completely forgotten about these labels. When we came home I checked and the package was exactly where it belonged – in the plastic stacking trays file holder next to where our printer had been (and our latest printer is) – this holds assorted items to run through the former copier, now printer next to where they are located. One problem I have been having with going through these hanging folders is that I could not keep track of which ones I have been through and which I have not – plus since the labels on them face forward and this is the bottom drawer of the file cabinet – and add that I wear eyeglasses so when I bend down to read the file labels – my eyeglasses swing out of line – if not off my face – I get confused and start going through folders I have finished with.
I started printing these new tabs for folders that I have been through – easy to read as name points upwards on the file folder and easy to see which files I have been through.
One of the folders I went through this past week held instruction manuals for large appliances in our house – air conditioners, refrigerator, dehumidifier, and similar. I put several instruction books into the recycle pile to get rid of them and then across one which was confusing.
It was a manual for an air conditioner (we have individual through the wall units in our house). It was dated as a June 2008 purchase. I looked up at the unit in the office – not that one. I knew we had just purchased a new air conditioner for our bedroom last year – this was not that unit, but it could be the one which was there before and had been removed. The air conditioner in the smallest bedroom (the one most of my teddy bears live in) dates back to the former owner, as does the one in our studio. It was not for a portable air conditioner, so that left out the one we normally used in the living room or dining room which died last year. Before that we had window unit in the living room, but that had come from our old apartment – and would have been purchased in the 1980s. Hmmm, There were pictures, but several different ones. Old bedroom a/c made the most sense. I asked husband if I was forgetting any air conditioners. I was – the one in his wood shop (garage). We were not sure what year we bought same. We were trying to figure it out – keep as from old bedroom unit or keep as from current garage unit? I suddenly had a flash of sense! I use Quicken for our financial records. I looked up 2008 and in July 2008 – I paid for the air conditioner we had replaced last year in our bedroom. So it was the one from the old bedroom unit and it went into the recycle pile.
It is amazing how much keeping good financial records (especially ones which can easily be searched) can help with general organization.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Keeping good financial records is important to do for many reasons, including one's income tax – figuring out which major item was purchases when or how much it cost is part of that.
How are YOUR financial records? There are many programs which help with keeping track of where your money goes. Using the computer to do so takes only seconds when you make a deposit or write a check. It helps at the end of the year when you do your income taxes as well as making a valid budget to follow in future years – what you spent last year can be looked at to figure out what you can/should spend in this or future years.
Showing posts with label garage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garage. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2021
A GOOD FINANCIAL RECORDS SET UP CAN HELP WITH OTHER ORGANZING ALSO - SUCH AS WHICH AIR CONDITIONER ARE THESE INSTRUCTIONS FOR AND DO WE STILL HAVE IT?
Saturday, May 8, 2021
WHEN EVERYTHING GOES ON AND DOWNHILL AT ONCE...
OOPS! Somehow I lost Wednesday - and Thursday - this week.
I finally finished doing tax returns this week – except for a client who wanted an extension, so I finally had time to devote to my embroidery chapter and our reenactment unit.
In normal times I would be working with the membership chair of my embroidery chapter on renewals as the national group for same has renewals due by May 31.
Normally the reenactment unit has its membership renewal period at the start of the year as our national group wants its renewals and dues by March 1 and the unit renewals are done at the same time. BUT this year – our chapter is rolling over dues from last year as the unit did almost nothing last year due to Covid-19, so that part is easy, but our national group pushed their renewal period back to now – also due in May – as they were redoing their membership records system. So I have to get the members of both groups to renew at the same time. I had emailed to members from my embroidery chapter an those members of our reenactment unit who belong to the national group (not all unit members belong to same) to renew. I have received some renewals from each group and all week have been intending to send a second email to those who still have to renew in each group. (Yes, personally my dues/our dues have already been paid to both groups.)
Throw into this mix that week was the monthly Zoom for the embroidery chapter and a last minute Zoom board meeting was called for the reenactment unit. I was so confused that I thought they were both the same day – embroidery in the morning and the board meeting at night. I was working at my computer late in the day – long after the embroidery meeting – and suddenly realized that the meeting had already started. I yelled to my husband to come up and sign in (he is also on the board) as I started my laptop (no camera or microphone on my desktop computer) to quickly sign into the meeting. Husband yelled back that the board meeting was the next day- phew!!
Now add into this the embroidery chapter has its face to face meetings (when we used to have and will in the future) in a town park's community room. The one we have been using is much too small to be able to social distance (January 2020 I did not go to the meeting as I had a cold and could not figure where I could sit and not pass along the cold.) We have been in talks with the town to use a different meeting room for the rest of this year – if and when it is opens up – and we had to change our meeting date to do so. A vote had been taken by the members as to which day to meet instead. I suddenly realized the day before the meeting that we had not setup the meeting dates with the town. I double checked with the chapter President and telephoned the town parks department – call went to voicemail. I left a message. Next day I was called back – we took too long, the room was already assigned. I grabbed the alternative they still had – the same meeting room we had before on a different day – in the interim. Chapter President said the room was too small even before Covid, and to call again.
So I have been in a panic most of the week – a large IRS refund due to a client which has not come yet and does not show on IRS records, plus the 2 sets of renewals, plus the two meetings, plus the we lost the meeting room we wanted. Little by little over the week things started to resolve – the client's refund is finally showing up on the IRS website, the board meeting for the reenactment unit went much better than I thought it would and the unit is not disbanding, and today I received a call from someone else at town parks, that we can have the room we were asking for on the days we wanted it. (We are hoping that later this year we can meet in person.) Breathe a big sigh of relief!
Now add into all of this – husband and I have been working on cleaning up in the garage. Late last week I had been using my leg to measure how tall the small trash pails he uses to hold smaller pieces of wood are, as one broke and we needed to replace it, and I leaned forward to see how tall it was against my leg and smashed my head into the end of husband's lathe – OUCH! As of now it still hurts if I touch it. And on Tuesday my right thumb started to hurt. I don't think it is computer or cell phone related as I tend to use my fingers much more than my thumbs on both.
All of this has been in my head and Wednesday slipped past me and then Thursday slipped past me. Now I can get back to the renewals for both groups, hopefully my head and thumb will feel better and maybe tonight I will be able to sleep and remember what day it is!
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Even when everything is hitting at once, try to deal with the various problems one at a time with the most urgent one first – and in today's pandemic world – try to remember which day it is – all day!
Thursday, October 31, 2019
DEEPER AND DEEPER
It just keeps going wrong.
MOM -
We took mom to have the leg scan – again – at the same doctor's office this past Saturday. She had a 1 pm appointment and was suppose to be there 15 minutes before. Husband was concerned about parking as it has been a problem when we have gone during the week and we figured that Saturday would be even more crowded. There is free valet parking – but we don't valet park our cars so that would be of no help.
During the week before this appointment we had taken mom to the doctor who will change her pacemaker for a presurgery check. She came up a bit anemic at same and the scheduling of her procedure for same was up in the air. One thing that will help determine if they can do it is this scan. We arrived at the doctor's office at 12:30 pm – we found the parking lot strangely mostly empty – this had us concerned. Since there was room we got mom out of the car and into her wheelchair at the parking space and wheeled her towards the door which goes directly into the doctor's waiting room. The room had minimal lights on, no one there, and looked completely closed. Just to be sure I opened the door to the examining rooms and yelled in “hello?”. No answer. The other side of the waiting is for a different doctor – it was just as dark. The hall light to the rest of the building was on. I started to panic – I had in my appointment book to pick mom up at 11:45 to get her there on time – was that a mistake? Were we suppose to be there at 11:45? There is another door into the building which has a desk and I said I would go there – husband suggested that walking out and then back into the building was a shorter route, so I left him with mom and did so.
When I went in the other door there was a desk with what appeared to be a female receptionist and there was a man in a security guard's uniform. I explained to the woman - she stared at me and pointed towards the security guard. I went to his side of the desk and repeated my story – though he should have heard it the first time. He told me that no one was there – most offices closed by 1 pm and the doctor mom is seeing closes at noon so he had no idea of why we had a 1 pm appointment. He also 31 B. I asked what that meant. He told me to go up the hall to room 31 B and ask there. I went to same and told the man behind a reception desk there the same story. He knew nothing either. (This is a building run by a hospital group – and all the doctors in are involved with same.) I headed back to mom and husband to say that we were leaving.
When I got back to them husband told me that a patient had walked through, seen them, told him to sign my mother in and someone will come. He did so. He had as much trouble with sign in computer tablet as I had at past visits and he had told me that I was crazy that I had problems. We waited. Husband saw movement in the offices on the other side of the waiting room, opened the door and yelled in. A woman came out. We explained. She was confused as to why we would have an appointment at this time – I showed her the page we had been given and she took it, went away, and came back and said that the tech would come shortly for us. Ah, at least someone was there to do the scan. Nice man came and took us – I was able to stay with mom – and did the scan. This surprised me – the office staff had told me that the woman who does the scan is only there Wednesday and some Saturdays – and he was not definitively not a woman.
We then all went out for lunch at Wendys.
I then heard from my sister – after we had taken mom back to her apartment – about the anemia and the procedure might or might not be done this week. I later heard from my sister again that there was a “Catch 22” over mom's procedure. Since she was anemic the (good) doctor could not do the procedure unless he knew why she was anemic. To do this he needed to have endoscopy and another similar procedure done. The doctor who would do same would not so unless the doctor who wanted them signed off that it was safe to do – which he could not do without seeing the results of the procedures.
Mom has now been in the hospital for 5 days with tests being done and hopefully she will have the pacemaker changed sometime this coming week.
HUSBAND -
We assembled his new loom and warped it (put on the long threads to weave through). He has been using it on a small table he bought for same. He decided that he needs a stand for the loom so he can access the underside of it for some of the things he needs to do. The loom cost US$145, the stand that is made for it costs US$100. You can see why he did not buy the stand. He decided he will make a stand – he is also an accomplished woodworker with a comprehensive workshop in our detached garage. We went out yesterday (Tuesday) to buy the stuff to make the stand – but we had gone in our car and he decided that the wood he needed would not fit in the car. So today we went back in our van to buy the wood. It was raining and while he paid for the wood I got the car and drove it under the overhang to keep the wood dry.
When we arrived home and went to put the wood in the detached garage, husband went into the house for the extra key ring he has (and I have one also) with the keys to the garage and our sheds so that we don't have carry them all the time. He then put the wood in large garbage bags to keep them dry. When he got to the garage – the out buildings key ring was missing. I ran in and got mine and we put the wood away. We then spent about 20 minutes looking for the missing keys – he was getting sicker and sicker.
VAN -
As I drove up at the store to pick up him and the lumber he heard terrible sounds coming from the van. As we drove home I telephoned our mechanic – who is no longer surprised when I make these calls – we go there for repairs on one or another of the vehicles seemingly weekly lately. When he could not find the keys husband was getting more and more upset and excited – as he knew we had to get to the mechanic before he closed. I finally convinced him to drop off the van and then come home and look more. We told the mechanic if he found the keys to let us know.
HUSBAND – AGAIN -
We kept looking at home. To me, the keys to our house were not included so we would find the keys or we would replace the locks. He envisioned someone finding the keys and going into the garage and taking all of his large power tools and taking the mowers and the snow blower, etc. from the sheds. I tried to convince that we would notice someone emptying the garage of major power tools – and with a car in front of the garage it would hard, but he was too upset. We checked everywhere in the house – I even took all of the dirty laundry out of the laundry bag. He finally got himself so sick – he had to go to bed.
I kept looking, sure that I would find them and make him feel better. I went back outside – something he does not like me to do without telling him and I did not. I looked around - kicked the piles of leaves again, etc. I was heading to where the van had been parked, figuring now that it was clear there, I might find the keys there. I had put on an old pair of slip on sneakers. As I walked towards where the van had been parked I stepped on something. I was about to keep walking, when it dawned on me to see what I had stepped on – there they were – THE KEYS. By this time he was too sick to appreciate them, but was happy that they were found. We had a small dinner and then he went back up to sleep.
VAN – AGAIN -
In the interim our mechanic called. Problem is what he feared it might be – need a new catalytic converter - $1400! I told him to go ahead. I have not told husband yet and will do so tomorrow morning. That will get him sick all over again.
FINANCES -
We are missing 4 credit union statements (from same credit union). Our credit union (functions as a member owned bank for those who might not know) decided to change their name and theme – to ones that are awful is as is the “puke green” (per my husband) that will be their logo color from now on. The account statements went out late – even though they did not change. We receive one each as a member, one each for our retirement accounts, and I receive one for my embroidery group as treasurer of same. 4 of them go to our PO Box – we had changed all 5 to same, but one was changed back to our home address. We changed the address to our PO Box as we have been having, ironically, problems with delivery of mail at our home. We received the statement which comes to the house, we have not received the others. I have been calling and screaming at credit union employees about this.
Last night I was paying bills and noticed on my computer accounting software that we had a credit card that we should have a statement for – that should have gone out 3 days before to be paid a week in advance, but I had no statement. I looked and looked. I checked that I had not paid it and forgotten. I then looked and the charge slips that match to it were never matched up – so we never received it. I telephoned the charge card company, reported the lost statement, got the balance due (in full) and the mailing address and paid the bill with a letter – they will send a copy of the statement. When I saw the date the statement had been mailed it hit me that the statement and the missing credit union statements should have come to us about the same time. I wrote up the info to speak to someone at the post office when we went there today – it was pouring and I left the letter in the car, so I will do so tomorrow. If I did not keep my bills to pay organized, I never would have noticed this.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
This has to stop sometime – right?
The house is getting more and more disorganized.
Things are started to get lost.
MOM -
We took mom to have the leg scan – again – at the same doctor's office this past Saturday. She had a 1 pm appointment and was suppose to be there 15 minutes before. Husband was concerned about parking as it has been a problem when we have gone during the week and we figured that Saturday would be even more crowded. There is free valet parking – but we don't valet park our cars so that would be of no help.
During the week before this appointment we had taken mom to the doctor who will change her pacemaker for a presurgery check. She came up a bit anemic at same and the scheduling of her procedure for same was up in the air. One thing that will help determine if they can do it is this scan. We arrived at the doctor's office at 12:30 pm – we found the parking lot strangely mostly empty – this had us concerned. Since there was room we got mom out of the car and into her wheelchair at the parking space and wheeled her towards the door which goes directly into the doctor's waiting room. The room had minimal lights on, no one there, and looked completely closed. Just to be sure I opened the door to the examining rooms and yelled in “hello?”. No answer. The other side of the waiting is for a different doctor – it was just as dark. The hall light to the rest of the building was on. I started to panic – I had in my appointment book to pick mom up at 11:45 to get her there on time – was that a mistake? Were we suppose to be there at 11:45? There is another door into the building which has a desk and I said I would go there – husband suggested that walking out and then back into the building was a shorter route, so I left him with mom and did so.
When I went in the other door there was a desk with what appeared to be a female receptionist and there was a man in a security guard's uniform. I explained to the woman - she stared at me and pointed towards the security guard. I went to his side of the desk and repeated my story – though he should have heard it the first time. He told me that no one was there – most offices closed by 1 pm and the doctor mom is seeing closes at noon so he had no idea of why we had a 1 pm appointment. He also 31 B. I asked what that meant. He told me to go up the hall to room 31 B and ask there. I went to same and told the man behind a reception desk there the same story. He knew nothing either. (This is a building run by a hospital group – and all the doctors in are involved with same.) I headed back to mom and husband to say that we were leaving.
When I got back to them husband told me that a patient had walked through, seen them, told him to sign my mother in and someone will come. He did so. He had as much trouble with sign in computer tablet as I had at past visits and he had told me that I was crazy that I had problems. We waited. Husband saw movement in the offices on the other side of the waiting room, opened the door and yelled in. A woman came out. We explained. She was confused as to why we would have an appointment at this time – I showed her the page we had been given and she took it, went away, and came back and said that the tech would come shortly for us. Ah, at least someone was there to do the scan. Nice man came and took us – I was able to stay with mom – and did the scan. This surprised me – the office staff had told me that the woman who does the scan is only there Wednesday and some Saturdays – and he was not definitively not a woman.
We then all went out for lunch at Wendys.
I then heard from my sister – after we had taken mom back to her apartment – about the anemia and the procedure might or might not be done this week. I later heard from my sister again that there was a “Catch 22” over mom's procedure. Since she was anemic the (good) doctor could not do the procedure unless he knew why she was anemic. To do this he needed to have endoscopy and another similar procedure done. The doctor who would do same would not so unless the doctor who wanted them signed off that it was safe to do – which he could not do without seeing the results of the procedures.
Mom has now been in the hospital for 5 days with tests being done and hopefully she will have the pacemaker changed sometime this coming week.
HUSBAND -
We assembled his new loom and warped it (put on the long threads to weave through). He has been using it on a small table he bought for same. He decided that he needs a stand for the loom so he can access the underside of it for some of the things he needs to do. The loom cost US$145, the stand that is made for it costs US$100. You can see why he did not buy the stand. He decided he will make a stand – he is also an accomplished woodworker with a comprehensive workshop in our detached garage. We went out yesterday (Tuesday) to buy the stuff to make the stand – but we had gone in our car and he decided that the wood he needed would not fit in the car. So today we went back in our van to buy the wood. It was raining and while he paid for the wood I got the car and drove it under the overhang to keep the wood dry.
When we arrived home and went to put the wood in the detached garage, husband went into the house for the extra key ring he has (and I have one also) with the keys to the garage and our sheds so that we don't have carry them all the time. He then put the wood in large garbage bags to keep them dry. When he got to the garage – the out buildings key ring was missing. I ran in and got mine and we put the wood away. We then spent about 20 minutes looking for the missing keys – he was getting sicker and sicker.
VAN -
As I drove up at the store to pick up him and the lumber he heard terrible sounds coming from the van. As we drove home I telephoned our mechanic – who is no longer surprised when I make these calls – we go there for repairs on one or another of the vehicles seemingly weekly lately. When he could not find the keys husband was getting more and more upset and excited – as he knew we had to get to the mechanic before he closed. I finally convinced him to drop off the van and then come home and look more. We told the mechanic if he found the keys to let us know.
HUSBAND – AGAIN -
We kept looking at home. To me, the keys to our house were not included so we would find the keys or we would replace the locks. He envisioned someone finding the keys and going into the garage and taking all of his large power tools and taking the mowers and the snow blower, etc. from the sheds. I tried to convince that we would notice someone emptying the garage of major power tools – and with a car in front of the garage it would hard, but he was too upset. We checked everywhere in the house – I even took all of the dirty laundry out of the laundry bag. He finally got himself so sick – he had to go to bed.
I kept looking, sure that I would find them and make him feel better. I went back outside – something he does not like me to do without telling him and I did not. I looked around - kicked the piles of leaves again, etc. I was heading to where the van had been parked, figuring now that it was clear there, I might find the keys there. I had put on an old pair of slip on sneakers. As I walked towards where the van had been parked I stepped on something. I was about to keep walking, when it dawned on me to see what I had stepped on – there they were – THE KEYS. By this time he was too sick to appreciate them, but was happy that they were found. We had a small dinner and then he went back up to sleep.
VAN – AGAIN -
In the interim our mechanic called. Problem is what he feared it might be – need a new catalytic converter - $1400! I told him to go ahead. I have not told husband yet and will do so tomorrow morning. That will get him sick all over again.
FINANCES -
We are missing 4 credit union statements (from same credit union). Our credit union (functions as a member owned bank for those who might not know) decided to change their name and theme – to ones that are awful is as is the “puke green” (per my husband) that will be their logo color from now on. The account statements went out late – even though they did not change. We receive one each as a member, one each for our retirement accounts, and I receive one for my embroidery group as treasurer of same. 4 of them go to our PO Box – we had changed all 5 to same, but one was changed back to our home address. We changed the address to our PO Box as we have been having, ironically, problems with delivery of mail at our home. We received the statement which comes to the house, we have not received the others. I have been calling and screaming at credit union employees about this.
Last night I was paying bills and noticed on my computer accounting software that we had a credit card that we should have a statement for – that should have gone out 3 days before to be paid a week in advance, but I had no statement. I looked and looked. I checked that I had not paid it and forgotten. I then looked and the charge slips that match to it were never matched up – so we never received it. I telephoned the charge card company, reported the lost statement, got the balance due (in full) and the mailing address and paid the bill with a letter – they will send a copy of the statement. When I saw the date the statement had been mailed it hit me that the statement and the missing credit union statements should have come to us about the same time. I wrote up the info to speak to someone at the post office when we went there today – it was pouring and I left the letter in the car, so I will do so tomorrow. If I did not keep my bills to pay organized, I never would have noticed this.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
This has to stop sometime – right?
The house is getting more and more disorganized.
Things are started to get lost.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
ILLUMINATING LIGHTS, BUT ALMOST NO WORK- WORK, DONE
Well another week gone - and nothing much done of what I planned to do. Husband had plans.
We have a solar outdoor light fixture that we bought at least a year ago - if not two years ago - at Costco to put up in the backyard. We have electricity back there and at one time husband put up a light, but he cannot deal with heights - could not back when put the put the light up (nor can I deal well with heights) - but it is worse now. The fact that we are both on the short side and have to climb up higher to reach what others can reach adds to the problem. The light he had put up has not worked in a long while and we did not want to climb as high as the old light to replace it. So our logic was that we would buy a solar fixture and replace it by putting the solar fixture lower down the wired fixture. The fixture has been sitting in our dining room since we bought it waiting to be put up.
When we had our garage finished we had electricity added. You know the idea of ask around and find someone friends recommend? We hired a contractor who had done work several times for husband at his job and were extremely happy with. Our garage - not so much. To leave out the extensive details, the (supposedly) licensed electrician the contractor had hired did the wiring rather oddly. The outlet boxes inside the garage move as they are not attached to the studs. He put in 2 circuits - but rather than put half the outlets on one and half and half the lights on one and the other half on the other - all the outlets are on one circuit and the lights he put in were all on the same circuit. The air conditioner - which we added later is also on one of the circuits. (The ac installer said he never put one in a garage before.) Oh that reminds me - the garage is husband’s wood workshop. We did have the electrician put in a light next to the side door into the garage (something added when we had this work done - before there was only the large front garage door) which has a switch and a front spot light which has its own switch. We have replaced the front spot light a few times - high up, but not as high as the light on the back of the house - when the motion detectors have gone bad. Well, in the garage there are work lights - the two long flourescent bulbs type. The front two are hung from the inside of the roof - one of them, for unknown reason, much further towards the center of the garage and therefore much higher up. This fixture has been flashing and not really coming on, also for about a year. We had a box with 2 of the LED replacement bulbs for this particular type of feature, but could not reach the fixture to replace them.
The latest problem was that the light next to the side garage door stopped working completely. Husband decided that something had to be done as he could not see in the backyard at night to go in and out of the garage, there was no light there for security, and he was getting a headache working in the garage.
So while I am planning to work on tax returns for clients and for us, he was planning to work on lights. He bought a fixture to replace the one next to the side garage door. He then turned to the question of being able to reach things high up without fear of falling off a ladder. He found a ladder of about the right height that had platforms for the two stop steps and we set out to buy one. We had to go to one of major home store chain stores and then three of the other home store chain to find and buy one. It was really worth the cost - but it did take a lot of time over 2 days.
He was able to put the new light next to the side garage door. He then figured he could reach the bulbs in the fixture inside the garage and was going to buy a pair of LED ones - I surprised him with a box of them that was in the basement and it was done (and I don’t have to worry about breaking them when I move the Christmas boxes around).
That left the solar fixture that has been here for years. Problem is that where we planned to put it he decided after research, was not the place to put it. He finally figured out where to put it - reachable, facing the sun, and lighting up the backyard. So yesterday we put it up. The light fixture first and then the solar panel. Biggest problem was that where he put the light is where our TV antenna stands in the backyard. I was in constant fear that he would lean back or fall back and the long metal prong of the antenna would be through his head. He managed to avoid it and it is all in place. It apparently needs to charge a few days before we can test it.
Tonight - after dinner - I finally got to start the first return. It went easier than I thought with the new forms. It is not finished yet, but done enough that I am not worried about it. (Client lives on the other side of the country and I want to mail it out to her Monday if I can.) Meanwhile I have heard from a client who normally gets an extension - same this year as he is away until after April 15. Another client, a friend, contacted me last week - she has a return from 2015 that needs to be done or she will lose her refund from same. Problem is that she has no access to her house as there is a problem with a support wall and the ground may fall away. Luckily I have enough of her 2015 info (from when we filed the extension) to do a fairly correct return - but I sent her a form that will have IRS mail me copies of the forms sent to her by banks, etc. from that year’s return just to make sure. I am still waiting for other clients to mail their info to me. I keep wondering if I will hear from the client who disappeared to do her taxes. I really worry about her.
I have kept up on laundry - clothing load in the washer as I write and will go in the dryer as soon as my - yes - cell phone rings to tell me that the wash load should be done. I also need to do a load of towels afterwards.
Husband is again hoping and planning to go away Friday for the day - but it looks like rain again. We need a gift for my mom for her birthday on Sunday - she will be 90 and my sister is having a dinner for her. No ideas of what to get for her. I was going to embroider something, but husband talked me out of it. He doesn’t like the idea of giving her gift cards for the supermarket she goes to either (I don’t normally give gift cards, but I am stuck for ideas.) I had actually hoped we will go away as we maybe we can find a PA Dutch food item to bring her back as a gift.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One cannot always do what wants/needs to do when one plans - especially if there are others involved in one’s life. One can only do the best one can and not go crazy about it.
The timer in the cell phone just went off. So I will copy and post this when I come back up from switching loads. Okay laundry switched - now I can post.
We have a solar outdoor light fixture that we bought at least a year ago - if not two years ago - at Costco to put up in the backyard. We have electricity back there and at one time husband put up a light, but he cannot deal with heights - could not back when put the put the light up (nor can I deal well with heights) - but it is worse now. The fact that we are both on the short side and have to climb up higher to reach what others can reach adds to the problem. The light he had put up has not worked in a long while and we did not want to climb as high as the old light to replace it. So our logic was that we would buy a solar fixture and replace it by putting the solar fixture lower down the wired fixture. The fixture has been sitting in our dining room since we bought it waiting to be put up.
When we had our garage finished we had electricity added. You know the idea of ask around and find someone friends recommend? We hired a contractor who had done work several times for husband at his job and were extremely happy with. Our garage - not so much. To leave out the extensive details, the (supposedly) licensed electrician the contractor had hired did the wiring rather oddly. The outlet boxes inside the garage move as they are not attached to the studs. He put in 2 circuits - but rather than put half the outlets on one and half and half the lights on one and the other half on the other - all the outlets are on one circuit and the lights he put in were all on the same circuit. The air conditioner - which we added later is also on one of the circuits. (The ac installer said he never put one in a garage before.) Oh that reminds me - the garage is husband’s wood workshop. We did have the electrician put in a light next to the side door into the garage (something added when we had this work done - before there was only the large front garage door) which has a switch and a front spot light which has its own switch. We have replaced the front spot light a few times - high up, but not as high as the light on the back of the house - when the motion detectors have gone bad. Well, in the garage there are work lights - the two long flourescent bulbs type. The front two are hung from the inside of the roof - one of them, for unknown reason, much further towards the center of the garage and therefore much higher up. This fixture has been flashing and not really coming on, also for about a year. We had a box with 2 of the LED replacement bulbs for this particular type of feature, but could not reach the fixture to replace them.
The latest problem was that the light next to the side garage door stopped working completely. Husband decided that something had to be done as he could not see in the backyard at night to go in and out of the garage, there was no light there for security, and he was getting a headache working in the garage.
So while I am planning to work on tax returns for clients and for us, he was planning to work on lights. He bought a fixture to replace the one next to the side garage door. He then turned to the question of being able to reach things high up without fear of falling off a ladder. He found a ladder of about the right height that had platforms for the two stop steps and we set out to buy one. We had to go to one of major home store chain stores and then three of the other home store chain to find and buy one. It was really worth the cost - but it did take a lot of time over 2 days.
He was able to put the new light next to the side garage door. He then figured he could reach the bulbs in the fixture inside the garage and was going to buy a pair of LED ones - I surprised him with a box of them that was in the basement and it was done (and I don’t have to worry about breaking them when I move the Christmas boxes around).
That left the solar fixture that has been here for years. Problem is that where we planned to put it he decided after research, was not the place to put it. He finally figured out where to put it - reachable, facing the sun, and lighting up the backyard. So yesterday we put it up. The light fixture first and then the solar panel. Biggest problem was that where he put the light is where our TV antenna stands in the backyard. I was in constant fear that he would lean back or fall back and the long metal prong of the antenna would be through his head. He managed to avoid it and it is all in place. It apparently needs to charge a few days before we can test it.
Tonight - after dinner - I finally got to start the first return. It went easier than I thought with the new forms. It is not finished yet, but done enough that I am not worried about it. (Client lives on the other side of the country and I want to mail it out to her Monday if I can.) Meanwhile I have heard from a client who normally gets an extension - same this year as he is away until after April 15. Another client, a friend, contacted me last week - she has a return from 2015 that needs to be done or she will lose her refund from same. Problem is that she has no access to her house as there is a problem with a support wall and the ground may fall away. Luckily I have enough of her 2015 info (from when we filed the extension) to do a fairly correct return - but I sent her a form that will have IRS mail me copies of the forms sent to her by banks, etc. from that year’s return just to make sure. I am still waiting for other clients to mail their info to me. I keep wondering if I will hear from the client who disappeared to do her taxes. I really worry about her.
I have kept up on laundry - clothing load in the washer as I write and will go in the dryer as soon as my - yes - cell phone rings to tell me that the wash load should be done. I also need to do a load of towels afterwards.
Husband is again hoping and planning to go away Friday for the day - but it looks like rain again. We need a gift for my mom for her birthday on Sunday - she will be 90 and my sister is having a dinner for her. No ideas of what to get for her. I was going to embroider something, but husband talked me out of it. He doesn’t like the idea of giving her gift cards for the supermarket she goes to either (I don’t normally give gift cards, but I am stuck for ideas.) I had actually hoped we will go away as we maybe we can find a PA Dutch food item to bring her back as a gift.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One cannot always do what wants/needs to do when one plans - especially if there are others involved in one’s life. One can only do the best one can and not go crazy about it.
The timer in the cell phone just went off. So I will copy and post this when I come back up from switching loads. Okay laundry switched - now I can post.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
OUTSIDE ORGANIZING
Well, after talking about our tiny bathrooms last week, I thought I would go more expansive this week - outside our house.
As you may be able to figure since our house is small, the property it is on is also small. Technically since the minimum land size to build on has increased since this house was built in the late 1940s/early 1950s we could not build on the land now as it is too small. It is the sort of property that makes us very close (in distance at least) to our neighbors as their property is the same sixe. It is maybe 25 feet from our driveway to the door of the house on one side. The house on the other side is the same distance from us, but it feels like there is more room as neither of us has a driveway on that side. Their family room starts about 5 feet from our property line.
The house came with a detached one and a half car garage and we added a shed behind it while we have been in the half. We live on a main road - 2 lanes plus a parking lane in each direction. The first year we were in the house we found out not to park my compact car (or anything else) in the street - we had to replace the driver’s side mirror twice. As a result we had a semi-circular driveway put in - that takes up almost all of our front lawn space. In the early years we made the mistake of planting grapes - we have not really had grapes from it (enough to make a cup of very strange, brown, grape jam), but it has taken over that side of the backyard and between that and the bushes and trees that were planted by the former owner we have a jungle on that side. We also have for a few years now, poison ivy on that side that husband has to kill every summer - several times.
When we first moved in husband would cut the grass, but his allergies made it very hard for him. We were both working full time so we decided to hire someone to cut grass and trim the bushes, get rid of leaves, etc. I contacted 4 companies who work at various other houses in the area - one responded. He had a problem with our property. The side of the house (left) with no driveway had no access to the back yard. The side with the garage did not have a wide enough entry to the back yard for his mowers. So, we went out and cut a gate into the fence on the left side of the house. This company took care of our property for some years - doing (and charging us for) much more than we wanted done. When husband quit his job, we switched to the brother in law of his secretary and were much happier with him, but he “sold” us to someone else. The new fellow was okay at first. Since a time when we were almost “snowed out” of our house (we were away on a trip - back then staying in hotels - when an unexpected huge storm hit at home and we were not sure we would be able to up our driveway) we had the each of the three of them clear our snow in winter for us. (Well worth the money.) While the last fellow was cutting our grass, we had major storm one winter. I mean MAJOR - we had not seen that much snow in one storm since we were children - if then. No one came to clear it. We tried to reach him. His phone was discontinued. We called the fellow who sold us to this one - he managed to find out that the fellow had gone home to South America for the winter - leaving us hanging. I won’t go into the saga of trying to get someone to deal with the snow that winter - but the next winter the same happened after he said it would not and the following year he did not even come to mow, so we are back to doing the work ourselves. I posted last winter of our adventures with snow about as big as just mentioned - maybe even deeper.
So, allergies or no allergies, husband went back to cutting our grass. Over the years it has gotten harder and harder for him as he does not have enough energy and I have been helping. Now remember, we basically have no front lawn due to our driveway. We have the grass at the curb and the semi circle of the driveway (now our van is parked there) and the grass on the side of the house without a driveway - at the street end the grass is maybe a foot across, so basically it is our backyard.
Last year he took stuff to kill weeds and killed the grass (and weeds) along the curb and in the semi circle so we don’t have to mow it. One year we will get the semi circle paved and that will help in more ways than one.
This year to make it easier we bought an electric mower. It is lighter and we don’t have to deal with gas for it. We have used it twice. It has a piece hanging that one is suppose to feed the electric cord through to hold it in place - to help not run over it when mowing. But, it is too small for the size cord one is suppose to use, so husband has made an adjustment to it, even so it is a problem with the cord hanging. So I walk a distance away from where he is working and hold the cord, so it is not on the ground.
Our garage is actually husband’s wood workshop. It being a small space for same, we have all of the larger power tools on wheels. They sit along the perimeter of the garage walls and pull out to be used. It is a mess in there right now - has been for a few years. We really need to take time to get it cleaned up and back to where it was when we set it up - nice and organized. When we first set it up we bought a through the wall air conditioner for it - or husband would not be able to work in there when it is hot. When the fellow came to install it he was surprised and said that he had never installed an air conditioner in a garage before. We also had a door put in. A door put in - huh? Well it had the large door for cars, but no other door. We used to store all of the Christmas stuff on boards attached to the rafters. We would bring the boxes into the house and set up the decorations and put the boxes back in the garage. One winter it was very wet and very cold - the large rolling garage door froze to the ground and we were not able to store the Christmas decorations until spring - and did not take them down as they would have taken up more room lying about. So we had a door put in where the window used to be and had a better window put in. We also had to put in electricity and walls. (Perhaps that misadventure in construction another time.) We bought hanging space heaters to heat it winter.
The shed holds stuff for our craft business for when we used to do shows - tables, tents, etc. It has the middle seat of our van (we don’t need it in the van). It has our outdoor Christmas decorations, although lately we have used new ones which are in basement - along with the other Christmas stuff these days. (It became harder and harder for him to climb up and take it all down. Just our lights are in the garage these days.) Garden tools - mostly that we no longer use - are in it. It also has husband’s toys that he took when his mother died and her house was sold - mostly he planned to sell them, but his electric trains are in there too.
We have a small shed next to our garage. It was intended to hold our bicycles. It does - although we really should sell them. It also holds our old and new mowers and trimmer.
Our latest addition is a small shed next to the house in front of the side door. It holds our snowblower - or else we would have to shovel our way to the garage to get it out when needed. It also has two gas cans (currently empty as it is warm out) and for now, the snow shovels.
That leaves a small enclosed area at our side door of the house that we call “the porch”. It is used for storage of various items for gardening, items for our RV, items for taking care of the vehicles, snow shovels (although new place for them these days) and large garden shovels. It has a small square garbage pail (the sort one would find inside the house) for our soda bottles for recycling next to the door to the house. It also has husband’s boyhood work bench. This has a box in it to collect cans and bottles for recycling and the newspapers are stacked on the top. I keep cardboard boxes in it to throw out and use same to put out the cans and bottles - and then they take the box also. It has a large plastic storage piece with doors on the bottom 2 shelves and 2 open shelves above. This is where the all the small items are kept for the chores mentioned above. We have a couple of bags of salt for snow. There is also a large garbage bag. This sounds organized, but is actually a giant mess. I keep planning to clear it out and organize it - but it is either too hot or too cold to work in it.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Where items outside the house are stored is as important as where items are stored inside the house. One needs to figure out what one needs - or wants - to have and make arrangements for them to be stored and as easily accessible as possible.
It is easier to set up a plastic shed in warm weather than cold as the plastic is more pliable. (We had to wait a year for the shed for the snow blower as we waited too long and, per the manufacturer, it was too cold to set it up.) Think ahead if you will plan to store winter items in a shed and get it set up before it is too cold.
As you may be able to figure since our house is small, the property it is on is also small. Technically since the minimum land size to build on has increased since this house was built in the late 1940s/early 1950s we could not build on the land now as it is too small. It is the sort of property that makes us very close (in distance at least) to our neighbors as their property is the same sixe. It is maybe 25 feet from our driveway to the door of the house on one side. The house on the other side is the same distance from us, but it feels like there is more room as neither of us has a driveway on that side. Their family room starts about 5 feet from our property line.
The house came with a detached one and a half car garage and we added a shed behind it while we have been in the half. We live on a main road - 2 lanes plus a parking lane in each direction. The first year we were in the house we found out not to park my compact car (or anything else) in the street - we had to replace the driver’s side mirror twice. As a result we had a semi-circular driveway put in - that takes up almost all of our front lawn space. In the early years we made the mistake of planting grapes - we have not really had grapes from it (enough to make a cup of very strange, brown, grape jam), but it has taken over that side of the backyard and between that and the bushes and trees that were planted by the former owner we have a jungle on that side. We also have for a few years now, poison ivy on that side that husband has to kill every summer - several times.
When we first moved in husband would cut the grass, but his allergies made it very hard for him. We were both working full time so we decided to hire someone to cut grass and trim the bushes, get rid of leaves, etc. I contacted 4 companies who work at various other houses in the area - one responded. He had a problem with our property. The side of the house (left) with no driveway had no access to the back yard. The side with the garage did not have a wide enough entry to the back yard for his mowers. So, we went out and cut a gate into the fence on the left side of the house. This company took care of our property for some years - doing (and charging us for) much more than we wanted done. When husband quit his job, we switched to the brother in law of his secretary and were much happier with him, but he “sold” us to someone else. The new fellow was okay at first. Since a time when we were almost “snowed out” of our house (we were away on a trip - back then staying in hotels - when an unexpected huge storm hit at home and we were not sure we would be able to up our driveway) we had the each of the three of them clear our snow in winter for us. (Well worth the money.) While the last fellow was cutting our grass, we had major storm one winter. I mean MAJOR - we had not seen that much snow in one storm since we were children - if then. No one came to clear it. We tried to reach him. His phone was discontinued. We called the fellow who sold us to this one - he managed to find out that the fellow had gone home to South America for the winter - leaving us hanging. I won’t go into the saga of trying to get someone to deal with the snow that winter - but the next winter the same happened after he said it would not and the following year he did not even come to mow, so we are back to doing the work ourselves. I posted last winter of our adventures with snow about as big as just mentioned - maybe even deeper.
So, allergies or no allergies, husband went back to cutting our grass. Over the years it has gotten harder and harder for him as he does not have enough energy and I have been helping. Now remember, we basically have no front lawn due to our driveway. We have the grass at the curb and the semi circle of the driveway (now our van is parked there) and the grass on the side of the house without a driveway - at the street end the grass is maybe a foot across, so basically it is our backyard.
Last year he took stuff to kill weeds and killed the grass (and weeds) along the curb and in the semi circle so we don’t have to mow it. One year we will get the semi circle paved and that will help in more ways than one.
This year to make it easier we bought an electric mower. It is lighter and we don’t have to deal with gas for it. We have used it twice. It has a piece hanging that one is suppose to feed the electric cord through to hold it in place - to help not run over it when mowing. But, it is too small for the size cord one is suppose to use, so husband has made an adjustment to it, even so it is a problem with the cord hanging. So I walk a distance away from where he is working and hold the cord, so it is not on the ground.
Our garage is actually husband’s wood workshop. It being a small space for same, we have all of the larger power tools on wheels. They sit along the perimeter of the garage walls and pull out to be used. It is a mess in there right now - has been for a few years. We really need to take time to get it cleaned up and back to where it was when we set it up - nice and organized. When we first set it up we bought a through the wall air conditioner for it - or husband would not be able to work in there when it is hot. When the fellow came to install it he was surprised and said that he had never installed an air conditioner in a garage before. We also had a door put in. A door put in - huh? Well it had the large door for cars, but no other door. We used to store all of the Christmas stuff on boards attached to the rafters. We would bring the boxes into the house and set up the decorations and put the boxes back in the garage. One winter it was very wet and very cold - the large rolling garage door froze to the ground and we were not able to store the Christmas decorations until spring - and did not take them down as they would have taken up more room lying about. So we had a door put in where the window used to be and had a better window put in. We also had to put in electricity and walls. (Perhaps that misadventure in construction another time.) We bought hanging space heaters to heat it winter.
The shed holds stuff for our craft business for when we used to do shows - tables, tents, etc. It has the middle seat of our van (we don’t need it in the van). It has our outdoor Christmas decorations, although lately we have used new ones which are in basement - along with the other Christmas stuff these days. (It became harder and harder for him to climb up and take it all down. Just our lights are in the garage these days.) Garden tools - mostly that we no longer use - are in it. It also has husband’s toys that he took when his mother died and her house was sold - mostly he planned to sell them, but his electric trains are in there too.
We have a small shed next to our garage. It was intended to hold our bicycles. It does - although we really should sell them. It also holds our old and new mowers and trimmer.
Our latest addition is a small shed next to the house in front of the side door. It holds our snowblower - or else we would have to shovel our way to the garage to get it out when needed. It also has two gas cans (currently empty as it is warm out) and for now, the snow shovels.
That leaves a small enclosed area at our side door of the house that we call “the porch”. It is used for storage of various items for gardening, items for our RV, items for taking care of the vehicles, snow shovels (although new place for them these days) and large garden shovels. It has a small square garbage pail (the sort one would find inside the house) for our soda bottles for recycling next to the door to the house. It also has husband’s boyhood work bench. This has a box in it to collect cans and bottles for recycling and the newspapers are stacked on the top. I keep cardboard boxes in it to throw out and use same to put out the cans and bottles - and then they take the box also. It has a large plastic storage piece with doors on the bottom 2 shelves and 2 open shelves above. This is where the all the small items are kept for the chores mentioned above. We have a couple of bags of salt for snow. There is also a large garbage bag. This sounds organized, but is actually a giant mess. I keep planning to clear it out and organize it - but it is either too hot or too cold to work in it.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Where items outside the house are stored is as important as where items are stored inside the house. One needs to figure out what one needs - or wants - to have and make arrangements for them to be stored and as easily accessible as possible.
It is easier to set up a plastic shed in warm weather than cold as the plastic is more pliable. (We had to wait a year for the shed for the snow blower as we waited too long and, per the manufacturer, it was too cold to set it up.) Think ahead if you will plan to store winter items in a shed and get it set up before it is too cold.
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