HUSBAND FOUND ME AN EXTRA WEEK FOR WORK - AND THEN HE USED IT UP

 On March 28 I started to panic – it was almost the end of March and I still did not have information from clients to do their taxes and was in the middle of one return which was taking longer than it should – plus I still had to do our taxes and those for our craft business.  In my mind I had ONLY TWO WEEKS to finish the returns and two of the clients live in other states – and with USPS running as slowly as it is I wanted to get the out of state returns out 2 weeks before they were due – so clients would receive them, have time to review them, and not have to do any of this in a panic – which I was already in.  

I had not looked at a calendar – just “it is the end of March already and taxes are in 2 weeks!”.  When my husband asked why I was in a such panic and I told him, he told me that there were 3 weeks, not 2.  Amazingly this was correct – taxes are not due until April 18 and that is a Monday so I had the week I was starting plus 2 more weeks.  After he kept saying that he found me an extra week.  

Sounds good right – an entire extra week!  How did I spend that extra week?  Husband's birthday is this week and he decided we (he) were getting a big (not a BIG, just a big) screen TV as who knows when or if we will ever be able to go to the movies again – not only due to Covid, but we don't like the new recliner seats and the local independent theater we had been going to which did not have same has no information about the future other than that is “temporarily closed”.  

So most of the week he “found” was spent going out and looking at tables to put the TV on in addition to looking at TVs.  Towards the end of last week we went to Ikea and bought the table he figured out would fit where we needed it (both in terms of length, width, and height – but also clearance under it so we could keep the DVD chest he made a number of years ago as the table would be going in the same space – with the chest sliding under it (where the chest has always been).  We then drove to the Costco in the next county (the one here is much too busy even in normal times for us to deal with) to order the TV to be delivered to us – as we could not carry it home nor could we carry it into the house.  They do not allowing ordering in stores – take home only, so we had to then call their ordering service and order the TV.    This process took 2 full days (such as short as our days are) last week.

Then another day was taken up with assembling the table from Ikea.  This is always a simple process – which isn't.  We have assembled a lot of Ikea furniture in the past 20 years and while most make sense to me – he is always confused and there is always “discussion” over whether I am handing him the correct pieces, screws etc to him.  Luckily once it was assembled it fit where it needed to go even better than we thought it would.  

Today the TV was delivered and physically setup by the delivery people (extra US$20 for same).  I will say that we are very happy with Costco's delivery.  We were told the tentative date when it was ordered.  Late yesterday afternoon we had a computer call giving us a 2 hour window for the delivery – since their delivery time for TVs starts at 7am and we normally do not go to bed until 4 am, we were concerned about having to be up and dressed at 7am to wait for them to show up, so we were very glad of being told which 2 hours they would be here (and thankfully it was late morning).  We then had another phone call today from the fellows delivering it to tell us they would be here in 20 minutes.  So, their letting one know when to expect was great and the fellows were very nice.  

So we had the TV sitting on the table and husband was ready to start setting up what he has for it.  This included running to Walmart to exchange a DVD player he had bought for the TV which was lacking its cord in the box – it was listed on the instruction sheet, only to find out after we exchanged it that it did not come with the cord – all of their players apparently have the same sheet and there was an asterisk he had not noticed saying only one of their players comes with the cord.  Luckily we had a cord in the house.  He then spent several hours setting up the information and such of the TV and of the DVD player – much of the time I was needed to help him.  

So now it is less than 2 weeks until the taxes have to be filed and I still have 3 returns to do, though at least the client is in the metropolitan NYC area and our returns can be mailed on the 18th!  BUT – a client who mailed the return to out of state mailed me a notice she received from her state government – a refund of her overpayment on her 2020 return …. which was suppose to be credited to her 2021 return and has been taken as payment on same.  So, now I have to redo part of her paperwork.  Luckily she is overpaid more on her 2021 return than the amount not credited to it, so it is her estimates for 2022 which have to be changed – and I emailed to her and said I will do so after the 18th as it does not affect what she is filing now.

I used to do so many returns with so many less problems than pop us these days!   

And yes, I have pointed out to husband that he used up almost all of the extra week he found for me, so the extra week he found helped him – not me.


THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

It is amazing how the little things take up/waste time.  

TRYING TO FIT THINGS INTO SMALL SPACES OR LITTLE TIME

 Have you ever had to fit more in a space than fits?  Yes, I know – that is what is organizer is about, not having to do this, but sometimes…

Back in the normal times before Covid husband and I would go to the movies just about every week.  There was (is?) an independent theater in a nearby community that we would go to. While it had become a multiscreen theater it had not changed over to the terrible lounge seats – still had old style movie theater seats (same type as in school auditoriums, Broadway theaters, etc) and having once sat in lounge seats at movie theater, we vowed never to do so again.  It is currently still “temporarily closed”.  We went to “late showings” - which at this theater means the movie starts 9:30 to 10:30 pm, as opposed to when we used to go to midnight movies in the old days.  While it has some theaters which are rather small, it does have just about full size theaters.   And it was reasonably priced (even for so for seniors) and had a very nice staff.

This is something we have missed – last time we went to a movie was in late February/early March 2020.  We have instead been having our movie night at home watching movies on TV – which is not the same, not only due to small screen, but missing in the atmosphere of a movie theater.  

Husband has recently got into his head to buy a large screen TV for our living room.  I was shocked.  Husband spent a good deal of time decorating our living room in – more or less – colonial style – which is why I was shocked that he would put a big screen TV in it.  (The TV which is in there – not digital – is in a period looking piece of furniture to hide it.  It does not have a cable hookup as we tend to only watch TV in the living room while putting up and taking down our Christmas tree  - when we watch specific Christmas DVDs and New Year's Eve – when, most years we watch “the ball drop” in NYC through Roku – though one year we watched Animal Crossing's New Year Party instead – I actually liked that better. )  

Between this and the price, the idea of a big screen TV in our living room to watch Saturday night movies shocked me.  This discussion has been going on for about a month or so.  He has decided that the theater we used to go to will never reopen and we are too uncomfortable in the lounger seats in other theaters.  (Though we have found one other theater with “real theater seats”, but it is not near us.)

He has been going back and forth with ideas on what to do – then deciding they are no good, then a new idea and then back again.  Just when I thought he had given up – it is becoming reality.  He has bought one for his birthday which is coming up in a while.  

In doing this we had to figure out a lot of things.  His first idea was to have the TV hung on the wall.  Only wall possible was where the TV set furniture is now.  BUT – that is too close to the heat, would have to be hung off center on the wall, and he found out that one has to help the installer hang the TV – if we could do that, we would not need the installer.  

His second idea was to stand it on something.  An obvious choice to me was a large wooden chest he built – it looks like a hope chest – top lifts, lock on front – but on this one, the key in front is the handle to pull down the front and drawers come out with DVDs in it – so the top is stationary and can have (and does have) things put on it.  That is too low for what he wants – he want to “look up at the TV like one looks up at the movie screen in a theater”.  He went looking for a stand to put the TV on – either one that stands on the floor or one that stands on a piece of furniture.  

He found a stand that he liked how it held the TV at a chain computer store's website.  Problem is that the dimensions are obviously wrong – how could something 4 inches tall hold a TV which is so much longer than that?  We drove to the local location of the store – none on display.  We asked a manager about the dimensions – he went to his computer and looked it up – on their website and read the numbers off to husband.  Husband, a bit impatient, pointed out that he had read the same on his computer and how could the stand be 4 inches tall?  Manager agreed that had to be wrong (both he and husband decided it had to be the shipping box dimensions) – but when husband if the boxes “in the back” could be checked for the dimensions – he was told no, “It is a brown box with no writing on it” - then how do they know which item is in the box.  We left.  

He started thinking again – the TV comes with feet, if we got the smaller size than he was looking at (65 inch instead of 70) and we could figure out what to put over the chest of DVDs to make it longer for the feet – it should work.  

We looked at an assortment of ideas of what we could put the TV on.  (In this entire process since it started we have, in our minds, rearranged the furniture in the living room end wall to end wall, side wall to side wall, end wall to side wall and so on.)  

He finally had an  idea and in his words “went back to works” - Ikea.  We bought today a table from Ikea.  It should fit over and around the chest of DVDs – box stays in place and is usable.  Table is extremely modern in design, of course – but if it makes him happy…

We then drove to Costco to buy the TV and have it delivered – believe me, he has done extensive research on where to buy the TV, warranties, service contracts, setup etc.  Problem is that one cannot buy it at the store and have it delivered – it can only be delivered if it is bought online – we hate to order things and have them delivered, but that is what we had to do – after wasting about an hour and a half driving there and home – even worse these days – the gasoline that was used for the drive there and back!  He has ordered the TV.  The table will sit in our van until early next week when we bring it in and assemble it.  

In addition to this mess we had a “discussion” with our cable company over a 20% increase in price (which they lowered for us), the cold water started dripping in our downstairs bathroom sink – after an hour and a half on hold – they could not help us as they no record of our faucet model and were the Canadian office of the company (reached through the US 800 number) and transferred me to their US office – I hung up as I did not have another hour to wait.  And it is tax season and getting closer to when I have to finish returns for clients – and us.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK – Doing anything today has become hard to do – nothing seems to be easy to do any longer and not just do to Covid and limitations arising from it.  Who ever thought buying a TV would take weeks – maybe even months – of planning, needing to change the plan several times including buying the TV?

WHY ARE WE ROTATING THE DVD PLAYERS FROM ONE ROOM TO ANOTHER?

 Well at least I am back on schedule and on time this week.

Today we did some electronics organizing.  Huh?  Well, my husband told me that we needed to switch DVD players around the house.  I have learned that when he comes up with an idea such as this, it is much easier to just to go along with him and not ask why we are doing this.  

First we took out the DVD player which we use in the kitchen (it is actually located in our adjacent  craft studio – there is a large squared off arch between the two rooms so while obviously being two separate rooms they more or less continue into each other.   Our kitchen table is in the front of the arch (blocks part of the arch and part is still walk through – only place to put the table in the kitchen and it is a small table) and our kitchen TV is actually in the studio on a dresser in same, so we can watch TV at the table.  The DVD player is on top of a chest of drawers in the studio which is next to the dresser, but away from the arch.

We took the kitchen DVD player upstairs to our bedroom.  We then took out the DVD player in the bedroom (I put it on my chair in our office, across the hall from the bedroom) and we setup the DVD player from the kitchen in the bedroom – so far relatively easy.  Turned on the DVD player and it came on.  

We then went to our office and started to take apart the DVD player in same.  This was a bit harder than other two.  The DVD player sits on top of 6 foot tall bookcase.  The TV in the office sits on the highest shelf within the bookcase (which shelf is about 2 and feet tall in space above it).  There is a small hole cut in the back of the bookcase behind the TV for the wires to drop down behind the bookcase and come into the shelf.  AND to be seen while sitting at our desks the TV has to be pointed down – so there are small rectangle blocks under the back of the TV's base.  While I held the TV so it did not fall off the shelf – husband unplugged the wire from the back of the TV, climbed on a step stool, and pulled the wires out of the back of the bookcase and removed the DVD player from the top of the bookcase.  I set that DVD aside on my desk and brought over the DVD player from the bedroom for which the process was reversed – it was put on the top of the bookcase, wires had to be found hanging behind the bookcase and brought into the top shelf through the small hole (hardest part of course finding the loose hanging wire) and then the wire from player to TV plugged into the TV and the electric cord into an electric extension already there.  Turned on the DVD player and it came on.  

Back to the kitchen.  We now setup the DVD player from the office in the studio/kitchen and made sure it came on.

Now I finally asked the big question - “Why the heck did we do this?”  Turns out that one of the players does not take a USB drive and one of the other players also runs Blu Ray discs.   So the object of this project was two fold – we now have players  which take USB drives in 2 places he wants them and we have the player which runs Blu Ray in the kitchen.   

One problem was the need to do major dusting as we did this – on the drives themselves, the TVs and the shelves and other spaces where all of these items sit.  Husband did not wait for me to get a dusting cloth and instead started using paper towels – which, of course, are not that great for dusting.  

Part of the this plan, I am guessing, is that he got a hard drive for Christmas which records off the TV/cable and he has been recording some TV series which are on too late for him to watch and he will be able to plug the recorder into the 2 boxes which take USB and they are now both located where he would want to watch those shows and the Blu Ray is probably in the kitchen to be able watch same when we have our Covid substitute Saturday night movie dates while eating take out Chinese food – aka our Covid substitute Saturday night dinner out.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Sometimes something makes sense to one person and does not make sense to others.  

This is true for husband's need to rearrange all of the DVD players and my need to use the dining room and good china, silverplate tableware, and good glasses for holiday dinners even thought it is just two of us.  

If your significant other feels a need to do something that is is not a major problem/expense and what he/she wants to do makes no sense to you – humor them and help them with what they want to do.  And if you feel the need to do something like this – they should humor and help you also.  One never knows when a small change which seems to make no sense is actually a great idea.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - I STILL DO NOT MAKE RESOLUTIONS

Well, another year gone by – they really do seem to go by faster and faster. 

As those of you who have been reading my posts for over a year (and I thank you for doing so) I don't believe in making resolutions.  I never kept them and felt guilty for not doing so.  Instead I just decide that what is past is past and the future is a clean slate.

We still are running behind on getting things in life done. 

The Saturday before Christmas I realized that there was no way that our extensive (okay, overly and ridiculously extensive) inside Christmas decorations would be put up before or during Christmas.  We were doing three nights with our reenactment unit at an 18th century house in a local restoration village.  The event is annual, with the days for it changing every year.  It is a candlelight night event – each house is lit as it would have been in the period it is displayed and the Christmas decorations also match the period.  The other houses in the village are set in the 1800s; the one we interpret is set in the late 1700s – we say to the guests coming in that it is 1775, the year that our unit generally “is in”.  While it is an evening event husband and I have to start dressing by 3 pm to drive there and have the set up on time and by the time we shut the house down (a lot of candles to blow out and we have to make sure that no one in our unit left anything behind) , lock it up, drive home and change back to modern clothing it is around 11 pm and we are making dinner and sitting down to eat it.  So basically the days we do this event – we do almost nothing else.  So I would not getting to work on decorating the house on Saturday or Sunday night.   I had to take 2 more (online) exams for my professional education to work next year and I would have left – Monday before Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, Thursday after Christmas, and Monday before New Year's Eve to take the classes.  Not being completely crazy I knew that I had to take them Sunday after the event and Monday nights, so that on the extremely, extremely rare chance I did not pass both exams and had to take one (or the other) class again, I had a chance to do so.  Hence, there would no time to put up the decorations, especially since our living room was not cleared up from husband's weaving due to a recent sales event we went to, the dining room still had stuff for the RV in it (I tried to take same out the week before – but it was COLD and husband did not want me to open the RV door as it would make it cold inside(?).)  Plus reenacting stuff that stores in the box/benches that we bring to event and they are kept along the dining room walls – and they needed “straightening up”.  So as all this hit while at the reenactment event, I fought back a couple of tears and decided that even if 80 or 90% of our Christmas is the decorations, it just would not be this year.  Since we were married the only year we have not decorated for Christmas in the house was the year we had the bed bugs – oh, well, 2 years of 40 is not a bed record. 

I thought about what to do as an alternative.  I was concerned about telling husband about the no decorations – he looks forward to them.  I came up with I would set up the small tree that we normally set up in our studio covered with ornaments we have made, in the living room on a table and put a limited number of favored ornaments on it.  I approached husband about this and said to him “We are not going to have decorations this year.” His reaction was that he had already realized this and had been afraid to say anything to me about it as he did not want me to take it as a challenge. I told him of my plan about the small tree and he thought it a great idea. 

I set the tree up on Christmas Eve afternoon.  I also wrapped the gifts for his nieces and for him that afternoon.   We have most of the decorations in 6 large plastic boxes.  I store the boxes in a corner of our basement.  To make life easy when I put the house decorations on top of the pile, so I just took those boxes off the stack and put them aside (on matching boxes that hold the bear village Christmas stuff in a separate pile as the stack would be too tall otherwise for the room).  I store the ornaments in 4 boxes which are numbered so the nicest ones are in box 1 to be featured and get prime choice of locations, down to box 4 which has the fill in at the end decorations.  So I opened box 1 on the top of the pile and looked in – I made the angel we use on the tree and she has two friends that husband I also stitched – they came out.  Then I was looking at what else was there and convenient.  I took out more ornaments that we have made and went upstairs to set up the tree. 

I had planned to put the tree on an outdoor type of table with slats that husband uses for setting up his loom – but the feet of the stand did not match the slat positions.  I stood and tried to think where I could I find something to put on the tabletop – thought of a small table that we take to reenactment events and  the top of it was in the dining room.  It fit the table perfectly and even though there is hardware under it to attach the legs, it did not rock.  I was concerned the three might scratch it and that might upset husband so I went looking for something fabric to put on it.  I found two old, worn hand towels in green.  I covered the table, set up the tree, and then folded the towels over the stand to make a tree skirt – perfect.   

I put the ornaments I had brought upstairs on the tree.  Much too bare.  Back to box 1 in the basement.  Hmmm, ornaments dated with the year we got married – good, ornaments of Geo Washington and Thomas Jefferson and their houses, good.  What else?  Luckily I label the small (old gift) boxes that hold the ornaments as several are packed in each one and the only way to get them back in the boxes is to know what goes in each, so I was able to scan the outside of the boxes and find some ornaments from a Folk craft festival we have gone to since we started dating.  I left it at that – with actual blank space on the tree.  As I went through wrapping the gifts and such I found a new ornament we bought (crafts store going out of business $1 teddy bear ornament for 50c – had to buy same) and the membership one we received from Colonial Williamsburg for 2019 – both of them were added.  I did not have the on/off switched extension cord,which is stored with the large tree, so found a regular one and we plug and unplug the tree by hand. Oh, and there was a large light up teddy bear on the box stack, so I brought him upstairs and sat him on the bench husband uses when weaving.  Finished, such as it was to be.

We went out for Christmas Eve dinner to the Asian buffet we go to a weekend night.  When there we discussed the decorations.  Husband said to me “How hard would be it to get out the Christmas stockings also?” So they went out also when we got home.

As the week went alone we decided that we missed the Christmas and Chanukah teddy bears (and some stuffed friends of theirs.  New Year's Eve I managed to pull most if not all of them from their storage box and put them out.  I also decorated the tree in the Teddy Village the same night.  Right now it is New Year's Day night – I had planned to finish setting up the village with the bears “that come to the parade” today or tonight, but husband had plans to go out for dinner (Wendys) and then a movie so I did not have a chance – just got home from the movies and I am writing to all of you (will get them) out tomorrow.

So, we did what we felt was the minimum decorating  for the holidays that we felt comfortable with.  The walls of Jericho did not shake and fall.  Most people might even think it plenty of decorating.  I plan next year to make sure it all goes up on time.  Today when we shut off the RV from charging its batteries (plugged it in yesterday) I finally moved the rest of the stuff for it back into the RV for the winter and got my spare pair of warm socks out of it to wash and use during the winter.

Normally on Wednesdays I start laundry for the week - not this week, as we went to the movies.  The laundry will get done tomorrow and Friday, maybe even Saturday.  I write and send out the newsletter for my embroidery chapter the last Wednesday of the month as we meet the first Wednesday – since this month we are meeting the second Wednesday (a meeting on New Year's Day would not work), I started it before we went out for dinner – it will be a day late – hey, sometimes that happens, it will still be in plenty of time before the meeting. 

There is only so much time that I have use and I have to deal with that idea.  What can be done is done, what cannot, has to ignored and/ore delayed.  I hope over the next year in general to be better caught up on everything which has been slipping our fingers this past year plus and get life back to a normal level of unfinished things. 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

You can only do what you can do with the time you have – try to let the small things go.  If you did make resolutions last year and did not keep them, see what is important and try to do better at one or two of them and don't make a long list of resolutions as then you will not keep any of them.  Just try to deal with one or two problem and see where you go from there.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

THANKSGIVING IS HERE AGAIN

For those of you in the U.S., Thanksgiving is tomorrow, at least as I write this (by the time you read this, it is probably today or yesterday for you).  Rather than retell the story of organizing for Thanksgiving past, I will post links to my prior Thanksgiving posts at the end of this post.

This year is rather worse than even most recent years.  Until this past Monday we were still debating - cook dinner or go to an Asian buffet (they do put out a turkey for carving - and each person carves their own serving). 
On Monday we bought our turkey.  It is from the same specialty supermarket that we bought from last year and the year before.  Due to our letter about our problem last year  with the turkey not being fully cooked (the breast was blood raw) after following their directions, they sent us a gift card for about 3 times the price of the turkey.  So this year’s turkey (and next year’s and part of the year after’s turkey) was free.  Due to the warnings this year about problems with turkeys and salmonella, I was concerned about putting the turkey - even though it is still in its packaging - on the right hand top shelf of our refrigerator, the only one tall enough to hold the turkey - even though it is lying down.  So I was going to put it on one of my platters - but then realized that they are pottery and might absorb any leaks and any salmonella in the leaks.  I thought and thought where I might have a large enough glass plate to hold it.  So it is sitting on a lovely large dessert serving plate that we received as a wedding gift.  (Yes, we have used it to serve dessert over the decades.)  That left 2 small corners at the front of the shelf to put anything on it.  Husband, a few weeks ago, had decided that the caffeinated diet soda he has at lunch made his shoulder/arm feel better.  So we have a started bottle of decaf soda and one of caffeinated soda in the fridge.  I put the decaf one on the right corner of the shelf.  I then went to put the caffeinated one on the left corner of the shelf - I had forgotten that one of the reasons I hate this fridge (even before we bought it, but it was the closest to what I wanted that we could find in the emergency situation of our old one - around 30 years old - dying) is that the light bulb is in the front of it - in the middle of the fridge and one cannot put anything tall there - so the soda bottle could not go there.  I managed to balance it - 3/4 of it on the center of the shelf and the front end sticking off.  I warned husband - so he would be careful not to knock it off the shelf  - and made him repeat to me what I said - so he cannot say I did not tell him.  Of course right after this, he stopped drinking soda and switched to ice tea, so I have been drinking the decaf soda to get rid of the extra bottle.  It is down enough that the bottle can lay on a lower shelf as there is so little soda left, it does not reach the neck of the bottle while it is lying down.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we went out shopping for the other things we need for the dinner.  Of course the stores (we went to 2 different supermarkets and a Walmart) were jammed and out of things.  I am annoyed that since we waited this long items - milk, stuffing, eggs and such - that I would normally buy in Walmart as they are cheaper there, had to bought at the supermarket and we probably blew at least $5 on the difference.  (I think I have said that I am cheap.)  We had to go out again today for items we did not find yesterday - another Walmart and a different supermarket.  I never did get the mixed (green) beans I wanted.  Somehow everything we picked is what he wanted, the mixed beans were what I wanted - plain green beans it is. 

I have not cleared out the dining room yet.  Nor have I cleared off the kitchen counters to have room to work.  I guess whatever is in the way in the dining room will be pushed to far end - hey, it’s only us, I would like it nicer, but between dealing with his shoulder and the RV winterizing mess (which will be continued next week) I am soooo behind in getting ready.  In reading my prior Thanksgiving posts (I found I already repeated myself at least once, and not repeating myself was why I read them) I was reminded that I have to go to the basement, move all the boxes of Christmas decorations in front of the very small closet that has our gas meter, a blanket cut in half for reenactments (in sealed plastic bags and rarely used kitchen stuff and get the platter for carving out and wash it.

I don’t know if you go shopping on Thanksgiving or Black Friday, we do not.  Never found anything worth getting.  I have to wonder if people buy new TVs every year as that always seems to be the big draw.  Then again, as I have mentioned, we do very little gift shopping, as well as little shopping for us.  For us if we are shopping something needs replacing or there is something very new (and not expensive) that husband has decided he needs.

Remember that what you buy has to be paid for and you don’t want to be in debt forever for something that is gone in a year or two or less.  Also - everything you buy has to be stored - either by you or the person you give it to - think about that when buying items for yourself or as a gift. For example husband decided last week to buy a chair at Ikea. It is a small kitchen table chair and it has a low back and is smaller than our regular chairs.  He had noticed the chairs at Wendys where we have lunch are more comfortable for his shoulder and arm - after jokes about maybe since we go there so office we can borrow/rent a chair from them, he decided to look in Ikea after dinner last week.  Now, we are the type of people who can shop for a package of hair pins for a week or two, but he sat in several chairs and then announced one was perfect (and “only $39") and we bought it and assembled it that night and he loves it. This left me with the chair he used before (and hopefully will again).  It is now in the dining room against the wall (we keep furniture against the wall in the colonial “room at rest” manner) - out of the way until we need it again and looks decorative.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Those of you in the U.S. - have a nice Thanksgiving. 

All of you - think before you shop during the holidays (and in general) before overspending or buying unneeded items which will quickly be unwanted - by yourself or as gifts.  One of the movie theater chains we used to go to had a trailer to sell its gift cards for holiday gifts.  It has people receiving gifts that were not appropriate and of course those who received their gift cards were happy.  I will never forget one sequence - a man receives a sweater as a gift.  The sweater is huge - his arms are lost in the sleeves and the sweater covers him to below his knees and he is so sad and upset and shaking his head.  You don’t want to be the person who gives a gift like that!  (And no, I am not pushing movie gift cards.)

Prior Thanksgiving posts -
http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2015/11/thanksgiving-and-other-holidays.html
http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2016/11/
http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2017/11/semi-unorganized-thanksgiving.html

MEDICAL MATTERS TAKE MORE TIME THAN SHOULD

Well, it looks like we are coming out of our “emergency” situation with husband’s shoulder.  No, it is not that he is better, but rather that he can mostly deal with it.  Last weekend he decided that he should try to get back to his normal routine.  We had dinner out on Friday night.  We ended up at Wendys and he ordered and carried the tray.  When we have gone for lunch, I have had to go up and order and carry the tray - although for the lunches since then, I have been ordering and carrying the tray again.  Saturday night we went to Ikea for dinner and then the movies.  We have not gone to the movies since he hurt his shoulder - and normally we go every Saturday night.  Sunday we even went to one of the Asian buffets we go to for dinner.  I can touch his arm again without him screaming in pain.  I have pushed him to open doors to different businesses we go to and he can open some, but some are too heavy for his shoulder.  Biggest problem continues to be the seat belt sitting on shoulder when he drives. 

We missed another reenactment event this past weekend.  It was a new event and it all sounded complicated - since we were coming late everything we brought would have to be carried in.  No parking for the event and looking at the map - we would be parking on residential streets on the far side of a wide main road, that we would then have to cross back - with our stuff - with no traffic light to help us.  We would therefore have to travel very light.  No bringing even our smaller box bench as it would be too heavy for me to carry - he certainly could not without much pain and making his shoulder worse.  We would have to use the reproduction folding stools we have.  (Husband made them.)  Not a problem normally, but I knew it would be a problem for him right now.  So I had him try one - the look on his face said it all.  We got a piece of board from the garage workshop and he tried that across the stool - he said it was maybe okay.  In the end we decided not to go.  From the report on the event it was not a major loss.  It is just that he feels that is he is giving in and weak as does he is not doing things


This has continued to be a week of dealing with medical things.  I am hard to get blood from during a blood test. The nurse last week was good - I barely felt the needle.  When I took off the bandaid when we got home, I was surprised at the bruising where she had done the test, but knew it would go away.  Over the weekend we went to Costco and husband found a new canned soup that he wanted.  We bought the 8 pack of soup and a small bottle of vitamins which were in a cart.  I hate the Costco carts as they are too tall for me to push comfortably and when we walked out of the store I picked up the soup and handed him the vitamins with him protesting all the way about my carrying the “heavy”soup.  The weather has been cold here and I have been wearing a long sleeved sweatshirt over my tee shirt.  Sunday night when I suddenly was hot and took of the sweatshirt I saw that rather than healing, the bruise area had gotten larger.  Of course husband looked it up and said that it was due to carrying heavy items - “see, you should not have carried the soup”.  So I am waiting for my arm to be back to normal.

Wednesday we went to the doctor for our regular appointment.  All went well, Doctor checked husband’s shoulder and said maybe another month to 6 weeks and it should be okay or we will “see” what else needs to be done - probably nothing.

Now, our state put in a new law maybe last year.  Rather than writing out prescriptions and handing them to us, all prescriptions for people (as opposed to veterinarian ones for animals) have to be sent directly by the doctor to the pharmacy.  This may be great for helping prevent and deal with addiction, but has been a nightmare for us in dealing with our prescriptions. I keep our prescriptions organized.  We are given them 3 months worth at a time.  I keep those bottles in our downstairs bathroom (no shower or bath tub to make it steam).  I have smaller bottles in the kitchen cabinet.  When I use up all the medications in a kitchen bottle, I count out 30 days worth from the ones in the bathroom into the ones in the kitchen and I make a mark on the lid of the bathroom bottle.  It helps me keep track of how much medication we have left.

With the new system of no written prescriptions not only do we not see what has been sent through to make sure it is correct, the pharmacy automatically fills all of the prescriptions .  Often we don’t need all of them filled and we have to stand there while one of the pharmacy employee wastes time reversing the ones we don’t need.  (I am not upset with the pharmacy or their personnel - they go above and beyond as will be shown.)  So this time I told husband that I was just going to take all the refills now - even if we don’t need them yet - except for his insulin.  (The insulin has to be refrigerated or is only good for 42 days.  We have a mostly full box and did not want a second box in the house in case of hurricane and no refrigerator.)

When we got to the pharmacy I explained this and it was no problem not to fill the insulin.  We then walked around the store.  Husband for some reason was not having a good day with his arm.  I offered for us to go home and I would come back for the prescriptions - or they could wait until the next day (today).  He insisted on staying.  He settled on the bench near the pharmacy to wait. 

The prescriptions were almost ready and we waited.  Then we were called and I went up to get them.  I had added up in my head that they should cost between $30 and $40 so when it rang up for $57 - I was shocked.  I went over to husband and we while he checked that the medications were the correct ones, I looked at the charge card receipt - my medications had been rung up at the rate from my old insurance.  I switched insurance as of this month - I used to buy my meds off the old insurance as doing so was cheaper - and had purposely brought the cards in a couple of weeks ago so the change would be on file.  It was not.  One of the employees researched it and switched it over to the new insurance and it’s lower rate.  But to do this she had to take out half the pills in 2 of them as I take a half a pill not a whole pill and the insurance would only allow 45 pills for the 90 days, not the 90 pills I had been getting.  Okay, I understand.  I really appreciated the attention and time the employee put into this - and she was standing on crutches having been hurt in some way, so I felt really bad.  She rebottled the pills and gave me a refund for the overpayment. My credit card slip for the original purchase had gone astray on their end during all of this and the search for it was close to 10 minutes before it was found.  I was at the point that I had asked if they could just give me a reprint and employee was about to check - when it was found.   I thanked her profusely and we came home - 2 hours gone.    When I got home I realized that we were charge for the needles for husband’s insulin three times as much as it has been cost before. 

We also get test strips to use in our Diabetes meters.  When at the pharmacy yesterday, they told us that the doctor’s office had not included a diagnosis code and that we should call to have it resent to them.  I did so this morning.  This afternoon we went in and discussed the price of the strips - apparently he had been under billed in the past and this amount was correct.  When they ran through my test strips they came up for almost $50.  They are suppose to be free.  I know from when husband switched to this insurance that the first time they charged him $5 and then when it was processed through, the $5 was refunded - but $50?  Also they only had enough to fill one of our prescriptions.  I had them fill husband’s prescription and I will have to call our insurance company to find out what is going on with the billing for my strips before I get them.  I again thanked the employee (same one as yesterday).  This all went much smoother when husband switched his medical insurance last year.

Since husband was doing better - even if he does not think he is - and I knew that he could go out for lunch on his own, I told him that I am going to my client tomorrow as I have work that has to be done there - I did not make it there last month for other reasons and this month is quickly running out.  (Plus I would like to get paid - we can use the money.)  He was not happy, but understood.  I told him that I would take our van so he could have the car as it is easier for him to deal with the door and seatbelt in the car.  I know the van can fit in the municipal garage I park in as I have taken it there before.  He insisted he would be happier if I had the car and he will deal with the van.  So I called the client and I am going to work tomorrow.  Something I normally look forward to, but am too tired to do so this month.  (Oh, I need an extension cord for this client -and it is a special one as it has a flat plug as the outlet is behind a safe.  I could not of course find this cord when packing this afternoon to go to work tomorrow - it is kept in my brief case.  I finally found out that “the teddies in my little village had borrowed it”, okay, I had grabbed it to use for them until I got one for the village and forgot about it!)

Laundry is behind as we don’t want me carrying it upstairs and he can’t.  I have not changed the bedding since he became ill as he has his pillows as needs them (which changes at times) and we don’t want to move them out of position.  So I have gotten a lot of undone paperwork done, but other things are falling behind.
                       
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Know what your medical insurance covers and what it costs.  Don’t be afraid to make sure that you get what you are entitled to or ask to have something changed to what you are entitled to.  In the past we have had a blood pressure medication changed by the doctor at our request as one goes on a formulary and another goes off - they are the same category of medication. 

Also if you are picking new medical insurance - and this is the time of year that happens - make sure that any medications or other prescription items that you take are on the formulary (list of covered medications) that the new company has.