WEATHER OR NOT YOU ARE READY - WEATHER HAPPENS - PLAN AHEAD -BIG STORM HERE

 Well, at least I made it back here in when I am suppose to do so.

Our area got hit with a huge rain storm the end of last week.  We do live on an island – though it is so large we sort of tend to forget that it is an island from day to day.  (How big?  There are 4 counties on the Island – two of them are part of New York City – which is almost half the counties in same as there are 5 counties which make up NYC.)  We live in a county which is not part of NYC.

We live on a fairly main road.  We knew a large rain storm was coming and we made plans to stay in the house for the day.  During the day we looked outside a number of times and all we saw was a good sized rain storm.  At dinner time we put on the local news while we ate.  We were surprised to see/hear about how much flooding there had been on the Island from the storm.  Where I grew up was close to the south shore of the Island and we did get a flooded basement there from time to time (two worst cases were Hurricane Ida in the early 1960s a couple of years after we moved in and Superstorm Sandy recently shortly before mom moved out).  But our house here is about halfway between the north and south shores and in the all decades we have lived here – we have not had water in the basement and the only time we saw flooding in the street was Sandy.  Husband grew up nearby and we had an apartment nearby before our house so we are talking about somehere over 60 memories of storms in this area.  

I still have memories of when I was maybe 7 years old and the basement in my parents was flooded from Donna – I remember looking down the stairs (too deep water for me to be allowed down in the flood) and watching my toys float past.  When we took mom to see the house after Sandy we opened the door to the basement and seeing the items floating in the basement – major memories from Donna came “floating” past.  

Since we don't get flooding in our house it did not occur that us to even check for same.  On the TV, we were seeing flooding in the streets and houses near where I used to live and other places along the north and south shores of the Island.  Late in the evening I went down to take up the laundry I had washed and dried the night before and forgotten to take up and fold and I saw a rivulet of water from the wall of the basement to almost husband's work table along the wall of that room in the basement.  I quickly checked the spots in both rooms which might have flooded or be wet and all was okay.  I was trying to figure out where the water came from – AHA!  We have a small (about 4”x 4”) door in the wall of the basement behind the chimney which is used to clean out and check the chimney behind it.  The water had come in around the bottom of the door and dripped down.  We dropped pieces of paper towels over the wet spots to soak up the water and left the basement.  

On TV news the next day we found out that there had been flooding in our area.  Pictures of streets filled with water deeper then the curb – people showing their flooded basements – with more water coming in.  The next main road of the size of our street was flooded – we are often on that street and we saw the property around the library there (recently expanded and redone over several year) and at the gas station we go to, as well as the areas around these places – we were shocked that such a short distance had made such a bid difference in the amount of water on the street. We have wondered if the sewer drains there were backed up for some reason.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One never knows when Mother Nature will reek havoc somewhere.  After the first hurricane had hit my family's home nothing of value was kept low to the basement floor – in case of flooding again.  My parents also found out that there was connection to the sewer in the basement which should have opened before the storm to help get rid of any water that came in.  

Always know where you are suppose to go if there is an emergency such as this.  Around here it tends to be the school buildings.  If you do have to leave your house in a flood or other emergency – bring what you might need for a few days – food, medications, clothing – well charged cell phones, etc. Something to read or for children to play with (that special toy especially) to keep busy.  Hopefully you will get the all clear and be able to return to an intact home – but as is said – better safe than sorry.  When you leave your house for an emergency such as this make sure that your lights and gas are off also.  

Hopefully you will never have this problem, but better to be prepared than not.  (How the heck can I get a few hundred stuffed and other teddy bears into our vehicles to take with us in an emergency?)

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

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

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

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

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

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


NEXT– LAUNDRY FUN.  

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

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

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

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

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

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

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

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

STILL WORKING ON STORING CHRISTMAS STUFF AWAY - BUT ALMOST THERE AND WOULD BE IF NOT FOR A RUBIK'S CUBE

 My goodness – where did January and February go?!!!

I finished a partnership tax return which is due by March 15. I still have to get back the power of attorney form from client – signed – so I can prepare her business's state exemption form. And – I have to prepare sales tax returns for all 3 businesses by March 20!

I am actually almost finished actually storing away the inside Christmas decorations. I had 2 large filled plastic boxes of inside decorations (as opposed to the tree decorations which were already put away). Being lazy I hate to make down the stairs and up again trips so they were sitting in the dining room. As I go down to change down to change laundry loads I have taken the two boxes down – last one just went down. Also took down the last couple of small fabric decorations which had been missed when the box they are stored in was filled. I do have a box left with a glass domed beaded tree (which I had made some years ago) in it and a smallish plastic Santa of Robert's from when he was a buy both of which I will take downstairs on later trips down for the laundry.

That leaves 3 decorative boxes which have to go to the closet in the Teddys' room with items I don't want stored in the basement as wax (would melt in basement) or otherwise need better care than the basement. Of course this is not easy this year. I have our suitcases which store in the bottom of the same closet out in the middle of that room. We no longer use them as we travel in our small RV, but have kept them as we like them, just in case we need suitcases in the future. (For example if one of us, God forbid, had to go to the hospital.) I took the suitcases out to solve a storage problem in our bedroom. Husband has more clothes than should go in his dresser than he can fit in same. Most of them he does not wear and a good percentage of them do not fit him (no, too big – not too small) but he does not want to get rid of them. The clothes he actually wears – such as his pjs – are sitting on top of his dresser. I came up the idea of storing the clothing he is not wearing and wants to keep in – yes – the suitcases. I got the suitcases out, but he needs me to help back them so they are in the middle of the Teddys' room until we get a chance to pack the clothes away – so there is no easy access to the closet. Oh, add in, part of the Teddy Village blocks the door to that room into the open position and the closet is, of course, behind that door – so I have to be able to move that section of the room into the room where the suitcases are to be able to put the suitcases and these Christmas boxes back. It is all sort of like a room sized Rubik's cube! But every step I take in all of this gets us that closer to being finished.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

It is amazing what a puzzle storage can be and what needs to be moved to get this or that to store it away or take it out.

NEW YEAR AHEAD OF US - A FRESH START

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

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

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

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

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

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

LOSING TIME TO INJURY

 The past 2 days I have finally able to walk up and down the stairs without needing two hands – one on banister and one on opposite wall – to do so and not having to step on each step with both feet.  Only need the one hand on the banister.  This is making it easier on me to do things.  I could actually carry the empty laundry down the 2 flights to the basement to do this week's laundry – last week husband had to carry it down.  Leg is not perfect yet, but it is better.  

It is hard to get things down when one cannot carry things downstairs at all – I had progressed earlier in the past week to being able to hang a plastic shopping around my wrist on the hand which was holding the banister to get some things down the stairs or shove them in the pockets of my jeans – small, light things in both cases.  

Have not gotten a lot of work done due to this as I have been trying to not keep walking up and down the stairs so I tended to stay on the same floor of the house for as long as possible before moving to another floor.  Once downstairs to cook and eat dinner – stayed downstairs until for bed, for example.  Husband has been very helpful as he worries about me.  

So, I have not gotten much done the past week – mostly treading water to keep from falling further behind.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One never know when something small will make big problems for one.  I try to keep the house up to date (though rarely succeed at same) to make it easier when something throws me off schedule.  Hopefully I will be caught up soon with what has fallen behind.

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

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

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

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

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

But how does this relate to organizing?

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

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

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

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

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

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

DO YOU MULTI TASK - I AM DOING SO RIGHT NOW!

 I haven't written a post since the start of the month?  I am shocked.  I actually have last week's post writing (and posting of it) checked off in my calendar!  

And nothing special to write this week either.  Hmmm -

Multitasking – that's it!  I do a lot of multitasking to get things done.  As I am writing this the first load of laundry for the week is in the washer.  I am in the kitchen and can sort of hear the washer – plus I set an alarm in my older cell phone to remind to go down in 50 minutes and switch loads.  

I will then transfer this load – all of our clothes from the past week (with two sets of exceptions) to the dryer and toss in the towels and laundry bags to wash.  Reset alarm for another 50 minutes and put the clothes in the laundry basket with husband's shirts laid across the top of the load so they don't get wrinkled.  The towels then go into the dryer.  

If we have used most (or all) of our Covid masks (we are still wearing them when we go out as we are both high risk and many people here still do so) I will throw them into the washer for another load.  I put the masks in smaller sized net bags that zipper closed to protect them in the washer.  I own 3 bags and will spread the masks as evenly as possible in the bags.   The alarm is reset for another 50 minutes.  If not the alarm will not be reset as I don't take the last load out until tomorrow.  

If the masks are in the washer, when I go down again I will put the towels in the larger laundry bag from the dryer and leave it on top of the washer.  The masks will go into the dryer set on half an hour and will be taken out the next day.  I take the masks out of the net bags for drying, but zip the bags closed again and put them in the dryer with the masks.  

Some weeks I have a different third load than the masks.  When I have a load of sweatshirts that I wear to keep warm – in winter as it is cold and in hot weather because husband has the air conditioner on and I get too cold.  These would go in the washer after the towels as an extra load every few weeks when I have used up most of them.  Or I could be washing the sheets and pillowcases from our bed as a third (or even fourth load).  Once in awhile I could also be washing the blankets from the bed as an additional load.  

While all of the laundry is being done I write and post to all of you.  I also visit an online needlework group.  Sometimes I do some clothing repair/sock darning.  

And while I do almost everything in the house – the TV is on for me to “watch” - well, mostly listen to and look up at every now.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Plan to use your time as well as possible.  If you have something that you can “set and forget” such as laundry – use the same time to do something which takes more attention. 

MISSED ANOTHER POST LAST WEEK - SORRY, BUT SO OVERWHELMED ALL OF A SUDDEN

 My apologies for missing last week's post – seems to be happening more and more.  Amazing how staying home a lot more (almost all the time) results in not getting things done in the house.  Always thought if we stayed home more (instead of going out daily for lunch at Wendys and wasting time walking around in stores for no particular purpose other than for husband to get out of the house) I would get so much more done – ha ha!

I was caught up last week in preparing for Thanksgiving,  For about 30 years I made Thanksgiving dinner for our two families.  Then when we stopped having our families (or anyone else) in our house due to having had bedbugs (and not wanting to EVER have them again) I made  Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us for 8 years with no problems.  Last year and this year husband has helped me with dinner – which for some reason leads to problems making the meal and finishing it on time – and a much bigger mess in the kitchen.  

Never buy a turkey bigger than one's baking pan – go smaller, not larger.  Husband has a particular market chain (two locations in our greater area) that he likes to buy the turkey from as we can get a fresh turkey instead of frozen – less figuring out the logistics of turkey cooking if one does not have to deal with defrosting.  Normally they have several categories of turkey sizes – this year they had two – 12 lbs and 20 lbs.  I had checked my notebook of past holiday dinners and knew we should buy 14-26 lbs (and even that I a lot for 2 people) and suggested a 12 lb turkey.  “NO NO!  That will be all bones and not meat!” I was told.  Rather than get into an argument in the store – we bought a 20 lb turkey, though I knew it was too big to deal with.  Somehow it all worked out though the turkey stuck over the end of the pan and its weight collapsed the rack it was on.  His solution - “We need to buy a big roasting pan and not use your baking pan.”  Oven floor is a bit of a mess and needs a cleaning from the drips.

In addition over the past several weeks we have taken my mom to the doctor 3 times (with another trip tomorrow).  This is the doctor with the office I call “the office from hell” as nothing ever goes right on their end (yes, I would take her elsewhere, but my sister insists on this doctor, who is her husband's doctor).  Though these 3 visits the office was not overcrowded and we did see the staff person we were seeing in a very reasonable time instead of multiple hours of waiting we experienced before the pandemic.   We also visited our doctor twice – once for blood work (before Thanksgiving of course) and our annual checkup this past week.  

At the same time I have my usual 2 year end urgent projects to deal with. I have to take courses (online) to be able to prepare tax returns in 2022 and I also have to complete the paperwork for a senior partial exemption of our real estate taxes.  These courses have to be completed by December 31.  Real estate taxes here are rather higher than elsewhere as same is just about the only taxes collected for our township and our county and costs are high here.  In other counties in the state each township handles this exemption with a minimum of paperwork.  Our county handles the exemption paperwork and determination of exemption.  I usually end up dropping off the application in two stacks of paper as I cannot figure out how to attach it all together  - over 100 pages.  This paperwork has to be completed by and at the county assessor's office by January 2 – which means by December 31, especially since January 2, 2022 is on a Saturday.  We drop the exemption papers off in person as one year there was a great deal of confusion, in general, about whether or not exemption papers had been received from people, so basically these papers have to be filed, in person, before December 24.

I have finished in advance a good part of copying the items I need for the tax exemption and have only the proof of expenses and income for our 2 businesses (which each make next to nothing) to finish copying and then I have to assemble all of the papers and add my summaries to it.  So, I started working on taking the exams online.  I have 2 of them finished – 5 credits of 20 required.  

It suddenly dawned on me that I HAVE to get the exemption papers done much sooner than I was thinking – as I said before December 24 if we are going to drop them off in person – and I have to switch to getting same done and prepared to start finishing it up do so today – but a new situation popped up.  I had to write and email out the newsletter/meeting notice for my embroidery chapter – and that took preference – and all 3 versions of it are out (members, prospective members, region newsletter editors).  

I also have an unusually large load of laundry to get done – normally one load of general clothes, this week 2 loads, plus a load of jeans.  Not sure why so many clothes – we did not dress any differently than we normally do or for more days.  

But yet – I have stopped to make sure I do not go 2 weeks before posting to all of you.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

When overwhelmed – stop, step back, figure the order things have to be done by and pick the one with the closest deadline.  

COVID 19 #29 - SECOND VACCINATIONS IS WHY I DID NOT POST LAST WEEK - THIS GETS WORSE AND WORSE - IT WAS NOT POSTED LAST WEEK!!

 Okay, now I have not posted in 2 weeks.  My apologies I posted the following last week, at least I thought I did.  It was held a draft and never posted, though I swear I posted it and saw it on the blog.  My GREAT apologies.  When you read this week's post, it might explain why my brain is turning to oatmeal and I only thought I posted -

 Two weeks ago I apologized for posting a day late.  Today I apologize for posting an entire week late.  Last Thursday my husband and I got our second vaccination.  I normally post late Wednesday night to me – early Thursday morning to everyone else.  This was the first time (I think) that I did not post for entire week.  My husband is very nervous about a number of things, two of them being medical matters – especially those which involve him getting a ”shot” and another being doing things one does not normally do.  So going to get a Covid vaccination at a chain pharmacy, even though we had done so for the first one, is high on his list of things to be nervous about.  Last Wednesday evening was spent “packing” for the trip to the pharmacy and “hand holding”.  

We pack to go just anywhere – even these days for a trip to the supermarket.  We over think and over pack most things in life.  Doing anything away from our house (even before the pandemic) involves planning and packing.  If there is a possible problem or situation that one of us does not think of – the other will.  

Pack?  To go and get a shot at a pharmacy?  Yes. Understand that we wanted to make sure that we didn't catch the corona virus from going to get our vaccinations.  

First – papers – Our first vaccination we had downloaded and filled in the information/questionnaire which the pharmacy had its vaccination page.  The pharmacist (a wonderful, understanding, nice woman) had been handing us the blank questionnaire forms to fill in when we went for our first vaccinations, but when she we had them filled in, took our filled in forms and told us to take the blanks she had to use for our second ones.  (Our thought in filling in the form in advance was to spend less time out of the house and in the pharmacy and lower our chances of coming in contact with Covid – or anything else – from those in the pharmacy store.)  So we filled in the papers again the night before our second appointments.  (We also kept kept scans of both sets of forms, just because it something we would think to do “in case”.)

We had needed our driver's licenses and medical insurance cards the first time – not sure if we need them again.  We again put each set of license and insurance cards in a snack sized zip bag.  Easy to take out and hand to the pharmacist and not need to fish our wallets out of our pockets.  After the cards were given back – easy to put them back into their bags and then let them sit a few days at home before taking out of the bags.  This second trip we also each put our vaccination record card into the bag with our license and insurance cards.  

The cards in their small bags were put into the larger gallon sized zip bag that we our completed papers into.  This way when we were at the pharmacy, everything we needed was in one bag – that if we wanted to we could just toss out afterward or could use to keep the papers together on our way home.  

The papers were all assembled and put in the bags on Wednesday night (instead of posting to you).

Second – clothing -  since it still cold weather, my husband is wearing his long sleeved shirts and I am wearing a sweatshirt over my tee shirts.  But, we had to be able to uncover our arms.  I had pulled a short sleeved shirt out for him when he went for his first shot and after it was washed, put it in his closet (as opposed to where it had been with his stored short sleeved shirts) for him to use again.  I did not wear a sweatshirt (tee shirts are short sleeved).  We did each wear a winter jacket – but while each one of us had their shots, the other one could hold the jacket of the one getting the shot and then switch for the second person to get their shot.  

Third – clothing for when we came home.  We each brought down a shirt, jeans, and socks so that when we came home we could take off same that had been worn when sitting in the chair at the pharmacy to get our shots and toss it in a clean garbage bag for awhile to let any virus picked up somehow from the chair die before we touched it.  (Right now, a week later, the clothing is being washed in my weekly laundry.)   

Fourth – laundry.  I do the laundry starting on Wednesday night and continue at night until all of it is done for the week (generally continuing on Thursday night, sometimes Friday night or even longer).  I am actually doing our laundry as I write to you – clothes first, then a load of towels. Last week I wanted to make sure that all of the laundry was washed and dried or drying when we went to bed.  I then fold laundry in bed when we go upstairs up for the night.  I folded the clothing/hung up his shirts before going to bed as usual and I knew if we needed towels they would be dry even if I could not carry all of them upstairs to fold on Thursday night (which neither of us could do).

Luckily the store was almost as empty (it had been completely empty of customers the first time) as the first time we went.  We had the same nice pharmacist to give us our shots.  She remembered us when we walked towards her (two old, short, fat people, overdressed for the weather) and everything went off easily.  (She did not need our insurance cards or ID this time, so I dropped them back into the larger bag.  She did need the questionnaire forms.  It all went off quickly and easily again.

When we had our first vaccinations husband's arm swelled and hurt.  Mine did neither.  This time the same thing with happened with his arm – but bigger swelling and more pain.  My arm hurt also, but I get the impression his hurt or more.  It took until Monday (4 days later) until I could lift my left arm all the way to the bottom shelf of the kitchen cabinets without feeling any pain.  And I had to deal with cooking and clearing up for Easter with it hurting.  

The dealing with the packing to go to the pharmacy along with sitting and keeping husband company the night before we went made me forget to post to you.  Then the ache in my arm and getting ready for Easter made me, well, forget completely that I had not posted.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Please go and get and YOUR vaccination when it is your turn.  I want to keep my readers as long as possible and I worry about all of you.   It was much easier around here to get an appointment at this particular chain pharmacy than at state or county locations or at either of these other two large pharmacy chain locations around here.  

Be organized and plan before you go.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? AND PACKING AWAY CHRISTMAS FOR THE YEAR

 Where is what coming from next?  

Last week my husband complained that the basement that the basement smelled and I should come down and check if it smelled like (natural) gas.  It did not and the smell was coming from the other room in the basement – near our oil burner.  (In this area fuel oil is one of the common heating sources – it is the same as diesel.  It is dyed so that if one uses it in one's car because there are less taxes on it than on diesel it will obvious. ) We contract with a company to deliver our oil automatically so we don't run out and also we have a service contract with them to deal with any work any needed on the furnace.  It is a hot air furnace (meaning hot air is blown through vents running through the heat to heat the house). The smell was not of the oil itself, but sort of like it smells when burned.  We looked around the furnace and saw nothing and figured it was a one time thing.  Our carbon monoxide monitors had not gone off – even when we took one to the basement and put it near the furnace.  

Friday we went out for one of our corona virus food shopping sprees – 4 hours for a 15 minuted drive each way and shopping.  An hour and a half to wipe it all down and store it.  Smell still there.  It was still here over the weekend.  Monday husband decided that “we” had to do something about it.  I telephoned the company that we contract with for this and explained -also that we had forgotten about the annual cleaning and checkup.  (Okay, a bit of a lie.)  They were very nice and when I said - “in the afternoon, please” gave us an appointment for Tuesday afternoon.

We are entitled an annual cleaning of the furnace – replacement of filters, etc and they check that the furnace is running properly.  It would normally be done in the spring or summer  - their slow time.  I did not call to have same done in 2020 as we did not want anyone in the house due to Covid-19, and figured by the time winter was taking hold the pandemic would be over and we could deal with it then – ha ha.  So we figured the problem was that the furnace needed a cleaning and the filters needed replacement, but were afraid of a major repair or the need to replace our 70 year furnace and pandemic or not it had to be done. 

I spent a good part of Monday evening making room for him to walk around and work.  In addition to the usual items out in the basement – husband's foldable work table, laundry sorting cart, sewing machine cover, and such – I had moved things around to take out our Christmas tree and the Santa/elves figures we keep down there – under the staircase.  This also involves moving our Packtite heater (to kill possible bed bugs in items coming into the house) which is about 5 ft long.  It sits out of the way in a corner of the basement – but right in front of the Christmas items stored.  When we are dealing with decorating inside for Christmas I put the Packtite on top of the large piece of wood we use for its base normally, on top of the portable worktable and then put the Packtite on the piece of wood.  This stays like this until I finish putting away the inside Christmas decorations.  I had finished taking the ornaments off the tree – but not had not chance to move these items to get to the box to store them in.  So I had to move the Packtite and board back to where they belong so he could move around where he needed to.  I also moved a number of items to the other side of the basement including my wheeled laundry sorter and the portable work table.  (I folded up the work table before moving it – easier to carry and smaller to store – husband was surprised, it had not occurred to him to do so.)  

We woke and were getting dressed just before 11 am – the appointment was for 12-4 pm, so an hour before seemed like plenty of time.  I heard a vehicle door close outside and looked out the window – it was the serviceman.  Since I sleep in jeans and tee shirt (and these days sweatshirt also) I went downstairs to let him in while husband got dressed.  

When we got down to the basement I explained.  He immediately found the cause of the smell – the exhaust pipe from the furnace had partially popped out of it's mate in the wall – the furnace exhaust had been leaking into the basement!  I was astounded that we had not noticed this.  Later husband said that he looked at the exhaust several times and did not notice it.  The pipe was put back into it's mate and taped into place (it has always been taped into place).  The furnace was cleaned, tested, and everything changed.  In the interim husband and I had changed places  - with me going upstairs to get dressed and him staying with the serviceman.  (Having worn my sleep clothes around someone I through them in the laundry.)  Most of the smell was gone from the basement.  

After the serviceman left – due to the crazy people we become – I sprayed where he had been, left his jacket, his tools, etc. with a bit of our precious Lysol just to be careful.  The next day when I went down to the basement I smelled the Lysol with perhaps a whiff of the other smell.  Husband insisted he still smelled the smell.  Finally today – 2 days later the basement has cleared itself of the smell and all is well.  We cannot open the windows in the basement for a variety of reasons to air it out and I did not want to leave the door to the kitchen from the basement open as that would bring the smell into the rest of the house.  

Tonight I put back what I had moved so I could store the Christmas items away.  I like to do move the heavier Christmas items up and down the stairs while I am doing the laundry.  A trip down with laundry – throw it in the washer, bring up a box when I come upstairs.  Trip down to shift load to dryer, put new load in washer – bring up another box.  I had meant to bring the first box down when I came back down – but was not done with it yet.  I took the ornaments off the tree in our dining room and put them in the box in which they are kept (one of the fancy boxes we put under the tree to make it look like there are gifts for us).  I stored that tree in its box.  I then brought up the box for the tree in our studio – the ornaments were already off them as I took them off when I took the ornaments from the main tree.  I took apart and packed that tree in it's box also.  I taped both boxes closed.  Next trip down I will bring them to the basement and put them aside – they store on the main tree box so cannot be stored until that tree has its light removed and is dissembled and boxed – I did bring up the plastic bags to store the lights from the main tree on one of these trips – that is the next step in storing the main tree in it's box in the basement.  (Box remains in the basement as it to large and would be too heavy to carry the entire tree in it's box and sections are put in the box down there – one by one, each a trip down to due size and weight.)

Tonight we went out and drove the USPS mail collection box we are using – we are to get a snowstorm and we did not want to pay our real estate taxes late.  I had wanted to mail it last Sunday as it was the only mail for this coming weekend's trip to send mail, but husband had said to wait, so we had to go out tonight.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Okay, two of them -

First, make sure that all service and cleaning is done timely on your large appliances.  Second – make sure to allow time to pay bills before snow or other bad weather.  

TODAY IS A START OF A NEW YEAR - DON'T WAIT FOR JANUARY 1

 It is time for my annual mention that a new year starts every day.  Everyone decides at the end of the common (Gregorian) calendar year  - December 31 – to make resolutions – to lose weight, to go back to school, and for most reading this list – to get organized, get rid of the clutter in the house and clean the house.  

But every day starts a new year and can be used the opening to make a resolution or attempt to make a permanent change in our lives.  Over the past week it was the start of the Jewish new year. The Jewish (religious) calendar starts with a holiday called Rosh Hashanah, which in literal translation means head of the year.  We eat sweet things to look forward to a sweet year to come.  It is followed 10 days later (which are called the Days of Awe) by another holiday called Yom Kippur (which means Day of Atonement).  It is a period in which Jewish people look back at the year which has passed and pray forgiveness for their “sins” – large and small and then fast on Yom Kippur and spend the day (in normal years) in the synagogue praying and asking forgiveness of God – having already spent the 10 days asking forgiveness of those around them for sins, slights, and related against those around them.  We also ask God to write us into the Book of Life for a good year to come (and boy do we all need that right now).  Understand that we are making resolutions to be better in the year to come – same as one makes resolutions to do so for December 31.  

The Chinese calendar's new year is between January 21 and February 20 – like the Jewish new year the day varies over different dates in the common calendar as the number of days in these calendars is not 365 as they are lunar calendar (12 months of 28 days each) with no annual adjustment for the difference between in the number of days between the lunar and solar calendars.  (We have leap months instead of leap days, an extra month added every so many years.)

Similarly the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar – in this case there is no adjustment for the difference between lunar and solar calendars so dates and holidays in the Islamic calendar as it rotates through it's 12 month cycle will annually fall at different times during the year.  

Okay, I know – you did not expect a class in calendars, but my point in this is that one does not have to wait for January 1 to decide that THIS is when you are going to make a change in your life – any day of the year can be your new year to make a resolution to change something about your life and start getting rid of clutter and getting organized  - and yes, even start doing better at the dreaded cleaning.  

Pick something to start with – it may not be what bothers you (or your loved about you) the most, but pick something and start doing it – today.  I won't say, as many do, that doing something on a regular basis makes it a habit, but instead each day deal with what you have picked to do.  When you get to the point where you think you have it control – it is another day and pick something else to do.

Right now – in the middle of writing this post I have to run down to the laundry (I heard it beep) and transfer the clothing to the dryer and throw in our Covid-19 face masks to wash in a separate load.  I will be right back, don't go away….  Okay, I am back.  

So don't wait for January 1 – start now by doing one thing new or change how you do something now – today is the start of a new year (and of course you can instead start tomorrow if you need to plan – it is the start of a new year also).  After all, you are probably home due to the corona virus pandemic anyway – might as well get something organized and get some rid of some unneeded stuff.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Our lives are very different than they were last year at this time.  Take the gift (and yes, every day of life is a gift) of the time you have and do SOME THING with it.  Work on getting organized – or ignore organizing to spend quality time with those you love.  

As I posted last week, my husband has recently decided that we should take a walk at a local park.  I would much rather be home getting work done, but I understand his need to go out and do something, anything.  It is just the two of us (and all the others also out walking or fishing or sitting or playing) as walk – not briskly, but not just strolling around the park.  Of course I have things waiting for me to do, but being with him and doing something he feels he needs to do is more important at this time.  We have all been reminded of what a precious gift life is.  Let us not waste our time here and do something for or with and spend time with those we love.

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

COVID 19 #3 - GETTING BILLS PAID IN NEW WAYS

I have mentioned that I am in an embroidery club.  We meet the first Wednesday of the month except in summer.  I reserve for the group the room at a local park in which we meet.  This is done in November for the coming year.  When I saw that the April meeting would be today – April Fools Day – I wondered what might happen.  I never dreamed that we would not be meeting due to a pandemic – or even just an epidemic.  I hope that all of you and your families continue to stay safe and well.

We are learning bit by bit about how to deal with the threat of  COVID 19 as I am sure most to all of you are also.  Every time I touch something to use it – my husband gets upset that we will use up all of whatever it is I go to touch so I have been figuring out how to do more with less and alternatives for consumable items that I normally use without thinking about it.

Luckily we did manage to buy an extra huge package of toilet paper just as the emergency was becoming obvious – husband, as I have said panics easily – so he has not started rationing same.

We have a lot of paper towels  - but did not think to buy extra when we could.  We have started packages of both full and half sheet paper towels.  (And as I always mention to him – a started and a full roll out in our RV – we have spares of most household items there – including at least 2 started and 2 full rolls of TP.)  But he did not like that I was using a half sized sheet each meal to wash the dishes – this quickly became one half sheet for the day's dishes.  I offered to go back to using a sponge to wash the dishes (we had stopped same last summer when we had ants) but he did not like that either and told me to stay with one half sheet a day.  Then looking in the cabinet under my kitchen sink I had an idea.  I keep several old kitchen towels there to use for things like wiping up a mess, covering the front of the sink/counter when husband washes his hair in the sink, etc. I took one of them – actually a rag by now – and thought about it.  I pulled out a pair of shears and cut it in 6 pieces (smaller would be too small).  I now have a small dish rag to wash the dishes , etc – as well as wipe up spills  - I change it every day and throw the piece from the day before in the towel laundry bag in the kitchen.  They actually work pretty well – they are “bumpy” so they scrub a bit.  I cut 2 more pieces off another towel, leaving the rest of it intact – for now.

I normally do laundry on Wednesday night (while writing to you) and sometimes more than one night is needed so Thursday sometimes also.  The downstairs laundry bag almost always holds nothing but towels (sometimes a sock wet from the rain or similar might end up in there also).  My upstairs laundry bag holds clothes, bedding and towels to be washed.  I put a second bag upstairs for just towels.  I normally change all the towels on Monday, the hand towels in the 2 bathrooms again on Thursday, so each time they are used for about half a week, and the kitchen towels again on Wednesday and on Friday.  Now all towels are changed every other day – so the towel laundry is now done on a day that changes as I do so every 3 changes of towels – hence the need for a special bag for them upstairs.

Last weekend I went online and signed up to have our mail forwarded from our Post Office Box to our house.  No more late Sunday night runs there to get the mail – I forgot which hand was for touching mail items and doors and which was never suppose to do either once too often for husband and was annoyed at having to do so – and we wore plastic gloves on both hands.  Our only trips there now will be at night to mail out items that have to go out – and they will go in the mail boxes outside the Post Office.  I only take in the mail at our house 3 times a week – Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  The mail goes into a sealable plastic bag and I spray Lysol into it – the bag then sits until the matching day of the next week – once our mail starts coming here on the forwarding, it will not sit that long as it will already be 7 -10 days additional time in the mail – and bills cannot wait that long.  These procedures are to make husband less terrified – not recommended by anyone.

Bills – I thought we would be okay.  We are both on Social Security and most of our income comes from same.  Our payments are deposited in our checking account and ready for use.  Luckily within the past year  I had changed our Social Security to go into our checking account instead of our savings account where it used to go.  Well, we ran into two problems with our bills. 

First, I realized last week that we had to pay our electric bill – and did not have the money to do so in our checking account.  In normal times we would have gone and transferred money from somewhere – perhaps some extra cash that we ended up with in the house after one of our few trips would be deposited back in the bank or we would transfer it from savings – but we are not going out and not going to the bank to do so.  I realized that we could pay the electric bill with a credit card – we never do this, but since we pay all of our credit card bills in full in monthly, there is no interest that will do on same. 

We use one credit card for rare online, mail, phone order purchases or recurring items that have to be credited to a credit card – it has only has $1000 line of credit due to what it is used for – did not want to tie up that line with an amount equal to the electric bill.  So I decided to put the electric bill on one of the cards that we do not normally use at all – I use it once a year to keep it active for, generally, an under $5 purchase.  I was concerned that using it pay of a couple of hundred dollars of electric bill all of a sudden might get rejected.  So I figured that I would call the credit company in advance and let them know. I started calling Monday early afternoon.  I would be told by their computer that they have an unusually large number of calls and to please be patient.  I understood this and was prepared to be patient.  The computer kept trying to get me to use their website instead – I don't do financial things online unless there is ABSOLUTELY no other way to do it.  I started to wait.  I was then told to call back later and the computer hung up on me.  I called again and tried to use the computer – same thing.  I tried several times during the afternoon (no where to go anyway) and again in the evening.  No luck.  I waited until 12:05 (the next day) and then called, figuring how much “later” could one call and also that it was night it in the most US and that hopefully there were different offices to handle customers in other countries – after all on the back of my credit card it said that it was “24 hour number”.  It seemed to work.  This time I was told to hold – and I did – I was prepared to hold as long as needed.  At 1:05 am a message came on telling me the office was now closed and I should call back – yes, - later.  Now how can a 24 hour office be closed?  I thought about this and applying some logic – perhaps they switched to the next office in the time line and if I called again I could be hold with that office.  So I called again.  To my shock the call was transferred almost immediately after I spoke to the computer to a LIVE PERSON!!  I managed to make the arrangements with her to have no problem with paying my electric bill with their credit card.  Now as annoyed as I was, I knew that these are rare circumstances, though I was a bit po'd at the treatment that I had received – but thought that all the credit companies might be like this.  Yesterday, I called the electric company and paid the bill with the credit card – by the time the credit card bill comes in – our Social Security will have done so also.

I keep our bills organized with Quickbooks – the repeating bills (even for credit cards that we do not normally use) come up in the QB calendar  two weeks before they are normally due – a week to remind me to pay in a week and I pay them and mail them a week before they are do.  Normally I am in our Quickbook files almost daily.  But since we don't want to go out more often than we need to, I have been paying bills in advance of when they are due if we have the money in the account, so I am not in QB that often.  Today I decided to go into the file and take a look.  GOOD THING!  Our cable/Internet bill has not come and is due next week – and suffers from the same problem as our electric bill!  I tried calling our cable company today – they are taking no calls – we are to do everything through the website as the telephone system is overrun also.  I need a week delay from them to pay the bill and knew that under the current conditions it would be given.  Husband signed into the cable company's website and tried to get to “chat” to talk to someone about this.  The chat must have been jammed – it would not even all the way!  So, again, knowing that there is someone there 24 hours a day (to help in case Internet or TV goes down – they tell one to pull the electric cord and plug it back – as if we have not that already) I waited until after dinner.  I then signed into their website again.  In the interim while I cooked dinner husband had played around and found a COVID 19 part of the site with a chat.  I had to wait about 10 minutes but a very nice fellow came on the chat – I explained that we needed an extension to pay until April 15 and he told me that there is automatic 60 day extensions on all payments – matter resolved.

In the middle of sitting and making these long extended time phone calls and website connections, yesterday was my mom's 91st birthday.  Of course we cannot visit her.  My sister who is younger than me and lives near the assisted living residence mom is in, went and left a cake and flowers for mom on a car the residence has outside for items to be left to be given to one's family in the residence.  I tried telephoning my mom – I called her 7 times,  She is barely and rarely allowed out of her room these days due to COVID 19.  I even tried yelling a message when her answering machine picked up – she does not check for messages, but I hoped she would hear me and pick up (and I had proof that I tried to call her).  How could she not be in her room?  I later contacted my sister and she told me mom had a bad stomach and did not feel well and went to bed early.

When I did not reach mom the first time I called her yesterday I called a client and friend as I had sent her email about the need to file her 2016 tax return or she would lose her refund (no one says the deadline before same goes is lost has changed) – so I also spent time on the phone with her.

So instead of getting lots things done for work and in the house  - I am spending time on the phone and online dealing with problems!  But I do get to go outside to the front of the house and take in mail tomorrow and then I get to open last week's bag of mail – yippee!

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK – This too shall pass as all things do.  The important thing is for all to stay well – stay home if you can and be careful if you have to go out.  I only have a few followers on this group – I can't afford to lose any you!

LIVING WITH THREAT OF COVID-19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

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

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

CHANGES IN PLANS OCCUR AND ONE HAS TO DEAL WITH THEM

I had plans for tonight's post – but things come up and I almost forgot what I had planned to write about. 

We were suppose to take mom back to her cancer surgeon today for a second follow up visit.  I have spent part of the last two weeks getting the wellness center at mom's assisted living residence to do the blood tests requested by this and also by mom's oncologist and send the results to them.  My sister who sees mom a lot more than we do as mom lives near her, had to go in and talk to the staff to get the results sent.  I checked with this doctor and the blood work results were finally there – great, we could take her there today.  Oh heck, I had not realized that today was Ash Wednesday when I made the appointment.  Why does that matter?  Well husband is Catholic and cannot eat meat today – so for lunch he had to have Wendys fish instead of his usual lunch.  So?  Well, often eating fried foods makes his stomach ill and we were concerned about eating lunch, then having to drive out, pick up mom, take her to the doctor, take her back to her residence and then drive home if his stomach was bad.  But he figured he would be okay, but was not happy about taking mom to the doctor today.

Yesterday, the day before the appointment, I was called by the doctor's office - though they thought they were calling mom as we gave them my phone number instead – why? - you will see in a later  paragraph.  They wanted to move her appointment an hour earlier.  Big problem.  It takes, from the time we arrive at mom's residence, an hour and a half to get her to an appointment 15-30 minutes from there.  We have to go up to up to her room, take the big wheels off her wheel chair (or it is terribly heavy and does not fit in the back of our car and she cannot deal with getting in out van). Stop at the wellness office for a list of her meds for the doctor (easier than trying to remember).  Get her through the building to the front (only) entrance.  (Mom's apartment is literally the furthest in the building – top floor, end of the hall.) We then have to sign her out of the building – and we have to sign in as we run through the lobby coming in and then again when we leave.  We have found it easier to take mom to our parked car than try to get her in or out of the car in front of the building – curbs and sidewalk cuts are problems.  So we have to push her – uphill – to the parking area – either together or me as too hard for husband to do.  Then we have to get her into the car and stow her wheelchair.  Then the drive.  Then on the other end we have to park – where there is room for mom to get out into her wheelchair (we have to get her a handicapped permit so we can park in those spaces with her) and then get her into the building.  This last can be very easy to do – or hard – one building was on a hill with the building at the bottom of the hill and we had trouble finding the doctor's office – out and down hill, then back up hill – with both of us pushing.  Most of the doctors offices require one to sign in 15 minutes or 30 minutes before the appointment time or they cancel it.  Mom's lunch is at 11:45 am. Her dinner at 4:45 pm. If I make the appointment for 2:30  - it allows us to each lunch, drive out there, pick her at 1 pm and get her to the doctor – after she has eaten lunch.  Other than the “doctor with the office from h*ell”  she will be back at her residence, with the big wheels back on her wheelchair and settled in, in time for her dinner.  So 1:30 pm was a big problem.  We compromised on 2 pm.  

So now mom was going to have a problem with her lunch, husband was going to have a problem with his lunch – so I had a problem in general.  Then I had a thought.  I telephoned the doctor's office back and asked about moving the appointment to a different day.  Doctor would have plenty of time to her surgery and not rush us, husband did not have to worry about his stomach after lunch, and mom would not miss lunch.  First date offered was next Wednesday – my embroidery meeting and my only day out – no way.  We settled on a date in mid March.  Doctor's office happy.  Husband happy.  I had to call mom and let her know of the change.  I had been texting my sister as I went along in case she spoke to mom before I did, she could let mom know.  Mom is hard to reach, at least for me, by telephone.  By the time that generally I can call her in the afternoon – she is at dinner.  I figured that the best time to call was around 7:30 pm as that is when she calls me.  First time I left a message – but knew she would never get it.  I called another 4 times as time passed.  I went down to cook dinner.  Mom called,  “Did you call me?”  I explained.  “No, I never hear that there are messages.”  Huh, hear that there is a message, she has to look at the machine – and has being doing so for over 40 years.  Okay, go on there from there.  She remembered we suppose to go the next day and I explained about the change.  Fine with her.  We discussed it four times.  I also told her that if my sister called and said it was to be earlier tomorrow – that was old news and changed.  We did not get a call from her today asking where we were so apparently all went well with the change.  Mom is 90 and a year ago I would not question that she understood and would remember the appointment and the change,  but a year can make a big difference.

Next wonderfulness was our basement freezer.  We have a small freezer that we bought probably 30 years ago or more (it has out lived at least 2 refrigerators, probably 3).  We used to grow vegetables in our back yard in summer and would freeze the excess in this freezer.  Have not done so in at least a decade and it was being used for backup frozen vegetables and meat since, until about 3 years ago when we somehow switched to buy the food for dinner that day.  So it has mostly sat in the basement with some commercial frozen vegetables in it and a few other items.  Last year we used it when our refrigerator died and we had some items in its freezer.  It had about 4-5 inches of ice on the top coils.  Husband will not let me put frozen items at the back of the freezer in the new refrigerator – he read an article that the back needs lots of space for air to circulate – so I have (somehow) a smaller freezer in this refrigerator than our old and I cannot use about 1/6-1/4 of the space in it.  I figured I would melt the ice in the basement freezer so it could go back to being used – and since there was nothing in it as we used the last item stored in it about a month ago – this was the time to do it. 

I knew it would take a long time and would be messy. I had a plan.  I needed to remember to do this when we come home fairly early from running errands.  Today was the day.  We were home early and I would be making many trips to the basement at night to do laundry and could combine the trips down for both purposes.  When we came home I went to the basement and shut off the freezer.  I put in two large, deep baking pans – one on the right of one shelf and one on the left of the other shelf to catch the dripping water as I knew the bottom drip pan would not hold anywhere near enough and would be a mess to empty.  I grabbed lots of old used for junk purposes towels and spread them in front of the freezer.  I propped the door open, set an alarm for an hour and went upstairs to work.  An hour later – nothing had started – reset the alarm and back upstairs.  An hour later – still no melting, reset again and started to cook dinner.  After dinner while watching TV in the kitchen the alarm went off again. I went back down – goody!!  Two small puddles (dots) of water in one of the baking pans – it was working.  I went back to the kitchen – husband asked what I was doing.  I told him.  He had to inspect the situation.  He decided that what I was doing would never work.  He was going to use his heat gun.  Luckily he decided that was too hot.  We sat there for a couple of hours as he melted the ice with his hairdryer.  Dumping the baking pans and a couple of times the bottom drip pan into a bucket.  (I have done this before – just with a lot less ice – and knew that I would not be able to carry the baking pans or the drip pan to the sink without spilling.  Finally the last big piece of ice was loose and fell free.  After dumping the last of the water and ice into the basement sink he went upstairs and I dried the inside of the freezer. It is sitting with the door ajar to dry out before being plugged back in. 

Sooo, my post on doing your income taxes will be delayed until at least next week. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Plans are plans  - until they go awry.  Whether the appointment has to be changed for someone else's convenience or needs or what you plan to do in the house needs to be done differently than you think it will  - and takes more of your time as a result, or have you plans to write something and other items come up which need to be written about first  - they go awry. 

One has to deal with the changes and see what can be done.  If nothing else – the appointment change and the change in how we had to defrost the freezer gave me something to write about and you get out of hearing about income taxes for at least a week!

CLEARING OUT THE SPICE CABINET AND MOM'S HOUSE IS NOW CLEARED OUT

Well, mom's house is cleared out according to my sister.  The furniture people did not take much of the furniture as the pieces were “too large”.  Okay, I understand the living room sofa was custom made for the room and is a bit large – it is two or three pieces and goes along two walls, and turns in the corner.  (Let's see, my parents gave me y 6th grade graduation gift -a small portable typewriter – while we were getting the sofa so it is over 50 years old.)  I am not sure, but I would have removed the boards from the dining room table and set them either on it or next to it as with the boards it holds at least a dozen people comfortably and may have looked intimidatingly large with them in – and the boards were in to display stuff for the tag sales.   My dresser was a long one, but the other dresser that was my sister's and her desk were small.  The first fellow took the 3 night stands in the house and the chairs to the kitchen table, but the kitchen table was left and seats 4-5 people so it was not huge.  The dresser in the other small bedroom was smaller than mine, but larger than the small one that my other sister had and my mom's desk in her bedroom was a regular student desk so not large.  Gee, I wonder if they realized (my sister might not have known) that the long server in the dining in front of the window is 3 pieces – two cabinets and the center is a matching section that is empty with fabric on the doors – the radiator was there and this way the heat came through the fabric or the doors could be opened to let more heat into the room – someone might have liked either or both of the actual cabinets- 2 drawers and 2 shelves below – then again they would need to either take half of the large counter top or get new tops for them.  My dad had a lovely old, large desk – also rejected as too large – okay, if it hadn't been I would have taken it, but all I have room for is my old child's desk from when I was in second grade.  (Yes, I am that short – able to use my desk from second grade – still hit my knee on the same spot on the leg of the desk.) 

It bothers me that it does not bother me to have the house emptied and sold.  Will the actual sale make me breakdown wailing?  Has anyone else been through this and not gotten at least a bit upset?

We took my mom to the doctor with the office from h*ll last Friday so he could tell us what we knew from reading the report that was faxed to us instead of to her other doctor.  So all is well with that.  The doctor is very nice – no problem with him, just his office which is not run by him, but by the hospital group he is associate with.  While talking with him I mentioned a little about the problems (4 pm appointment, take in at 5:30,saw doctor at 6 pm) we have had.  Mostly asked if there is way to speak to him by phone as the phone number on the card goes to an office in a different state for making appointments.  He gave us a different number  - but only for questions, not emergencies as only answered during their open hours.  I also managed to, politely, mention that when we came in for the scan the office was closed, lights out, and no one in the building knew about the scan tech being there – he was surprised and said that someone should have been at the reception desk for his office and he would check on this. 

When first married we lived in an apartment.  Husband saw in one of my “ladies magazines”  a project to make a spice cabinet.  He took it and changed it and we made it.  It stands on the floor is about the depth of a cabinet across (used to sit next to the end of the cabinet in the apartment, now next to a small wall about the same depth next to our cabinet (behind the wall is the heat duct for the bathroom above the kitchen).  The original had shelves in the door with holes for test tubes to put spices in.  The one he made us has one shelf on each door with same – and knife blocks below them for our cooking knifes.  We actually put smaller of same in the holes instead of test tubes.  Against the back of the cabinet are thin shelves (cabinet is about 6 inches deep and the shelves are 3 inches deep.  The shelves hold spice bottles and such very well.  The cabinet is just short of 3 feet tall. 

I have the spices arranged so that the ones I use often are in a grabable spot.  But since husband has been cooking for the past 2-3 weeks as I was “covered in germs” - yes, he is that afraid of catching a cold – I had to look into the cabinet to tell him where spices he needed were located.  When I did so my eye fell on a bottle of something called Mrs. Dash.  I have no memory of buying it (well, I don't actually remember buying much of what is in the cabinet) or what the heck we used it for and made a mental note to clear out the cabinet as much as possible  and in my dreams of how much space I would have, dreamed of lining up cans of soup on the shelves where they could easily be seen.

Last weekend (we had reached the point where I was told that I would be “allowed” to start cooking again) and I decided to go through the cabinet.  Mrs. Dash, dill from when I made sour pickles, popcorn flavored saltt, spices that I don't remember using, and a variety of other items – OUT!  I checked a few spices to see what they were used for  - OUT!  Old Bay Seasoning (used on seafood, especially shrimp in the Baltimore, MD area and husband used to use it – not out, he thought maybe we might have shrimp and he would put it on same again or maybe even chicken  - I know it will be too spicy for him, I barely could eat it back then, but I kept it. 

Kept the basics – salt, pepper, lo salt salt.  Ground cinnamon (which I think I have used for some holiday dish I made) and sugar cinnamon (well, it tastes nice on pancakes or French toast) I kept – cinnamon sticks – out.  Nutmeg - used at Thanksgiving – kept.  Cream of tartar – useful for stuff – kept.  Minced onion, minced  garlic and basil -used for tomato “gravy' (sauce).  Bay leaves – used in a beef stew I used to make and plan to make again.  Allspice, ginger, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, marjoram, parsley, oregano – all kept, despite not knowing what we will use them for.  Kept a small jar of sesame seeds – not sure why, just seemed like something to keep.

Also we store in this cabinet wooden toothpicks – used mostly for crafts, but also for food related purposes. 

When I was done I had a half a kitchen garbage bag of bottles – but somehow I hardly picked up room in the cabinet – certainly not enough for the lines of soup cans I had thought I would I store there.  So, what to use the space for?  Well, we take at doctor's “suggestion” a number of OTC vitamins.  The small bottles of them (refilled from larger bottles kept in the kitchen pantry closet) sat on top of the cabinet – along with a candle lamp (looks nice and used in black outs), table salt and pepper shakers, napkin holder with paper napkins, a shop tape measure (meaning not a sewing one), 3 day of the week pill boxes (two his, one mine) and some “dropped there because it is convenient “ paper clips and other similar sized items.  It was actually rather crowded and some things would fall off the top when one walked past.  I put the OTC vitamins in the cabinet on the top shelf.  Now our day of the week boxes on top are no longer sitting between the napkin holder and front of the cabinet – subject to getting knocked off.

So in the end the work did not result in a lot of usable space, but it is better than before and the doors to it do close better than they have in awhile.  As I go along I will think about some of what I kept and if it can go also.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Doing a small task might be what it is needed to get one started  - or started again – on working on clearing out things no longer needed.  If you find something small and think “well, dealing with that won't do much” if you do it, it might get you started on doing more – since the spice cabinet, I cleared off most of the stuff piled on my dresser.   It was primarily reenacting stuff left after our December event- small items put away where they belong and the clothes I wore (that reek of smoke) are in the basement laundry sorter – to be washed and stored away.  We have 3 plastic boxes in which we keep things such as OTC meds, sickness thermometer and such.  These items are kept in these boxes as the boxes fit in the bag we take when we travel in our RV with all of this – and our prescription meds fit in one of the boxes also.  By keeping the OTC and such in these boxes we don't need one set for home and one set for travel.  In the summer the boxes end up on my dresser (the bag they go in goes under our bedroom TV) and in the cold weather, when we are less apt to travel I put them in the upper shelf of plastic storage piece next to my dresser (in hot weather the spare blanket goes in this space).  So now they are where they belong for the winter and the bag is where it belongs.  I found more socks that were on top of the dresser for darning and now they have joined their need to be darned friends. 

So try one small task that you need to do and see where it leads.  (Now sorting through and storing what I brought from the family house – that is another story – what does one do with the proofs of the yearbook of which one was editor?)