Well, last week I wrote about not being able to get housework done due to a problem with my leg and that it was finally getting better. But, life has its own way of having its fun!
I was scheduled to go for jury duty yesterday (Tuesday). Like many to most people I did not want particularly to go, even more so, due to the continuation of Covid in our area. The idea of sitting closely in a room with other people scares the heck out of me. But I had figured that based on my age I could not be called for jury duty again after this time as there is a minimum time that must pass between when one serves jury duty (even if not actually put on a jury) and when one can be called again and by the time I could be called again I would be past the age when I have to serve on a jury. In addition I had already pushed the date back 6 months by requesting an automatic delay. I had actually picked this week as my alternate date to serve as it was about as far I could push back the jury duty and it was a 4 day week – I figured that cut my chances of being seated on a jury by 20%. That did not work.
I am not, especially during the pandemic and sitting home most of the time, a person who takes a shower every day – and since the pandemic started I have been taking a shower even less often than usual. I figured that I should take one before going in for jury duty. So, Monday night I climbed in the shower and took a shower.
When I got to my feet I had a problem. My left ankle looked as if I had a hammer hit it or something dropped on it! Purple from collected blood. I don't know how many days it has been like this. We tend to dress in half light, I don't generally go looking at my body, and I can't see far clearly without my eyeglasses – so until I lifted my foot to wash it - I had not seen the purple area. I quickly finished my shower and yelled for my husband – who was as upset with it as I was.
I went through the papers on my desk which had been collected to bring with me to jury duty and found the instructions on what to do in case of emergency and one cannot come. 8:30 the next morning I tried telephoning the court – steady busy signal. Went back to sleep half an hour and then tried again. I got a very nice woman who when I explained that a medical problem had come up overnight and I had to go to the doctor told me that all I needed to do was get a “doctor's note” and mail it along with my jury duty paperwork to them. She did not even ask for my name or my “juror number”. A lot simpler than I thought it would be. Husband then telephoned the doctor for me and the first appointment available was at 3:30 that afternoon.
After a late lunch we drove to the doctor's office. He examined my foot asked questions and decided that it was not serious (I thought it might be PAD – as my mom has same). I had a bad spasm in the back of my leg a little over 2 weeks ago and he said it might be from that. Just to be sure he wanted me to get a scan of my leg. (There was no problem getting the doctor's note for the court.)
Sitting in the car husband called the lab that was to do the test (using my phone as his has very limited minutes) figuring we would get an appointment for the next day if lucky. They had an appointment available early evening same day – we took the appointment.
Having taken my mom for these scans I was concerned – not only about something being found, but it has been a long waiting process and where we have to take her is not a place which is nice about doing the test or anything else. The place we went (which is part of a chain of locations) was very nice. Employees were wonderful – from the desk staff to the woman who did the test. I did not have to fill in a lot of paperwork – it was mostly already filled in, just a few questions, signature and date. Only a short wait. The woman doing the test was very pleasant, explained what she was doing each step and kept checking that she was not hurting me. What a difference from where mom has to go (as it is her doctor's office).
Called today by doctor and all is fine. We each took a big breath!
Husband had asked the doctor if I needed to stay off my foot or keep it elevated and he said no, but we have been taking it easy and I sit here I have my feet on the one step (used to reach cabinet shelves) that is kept under the kitchen table (no place else to keep it) with my right foot on it and my left foot sitting on my right foot to elevate it a bit anyway.
Foot looked a very little bit better today – but a bit is better than none or looking worse.
Last night husband did the dinner and late night snack cooking and even washed up afterward. Today we ran out and did a bit of food shopping – we had planned on a bigger food shopping trip today, but just the most important items were purchased. Tomorrow it suppose to rain heavily. Hopefully by Friday my foot will look much better – fingers crossed.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY -
Don't put off going to the doctor and worry about is going wrong – go, get it over with it and hopefully all will be well – or at least better than one thought it would be.
No matter what one has plans to do – whether for fun or something which one has to do – one never knows what will happen that will cause one's plans to go awry.
We had planned to go to an event our reenactment unit is having Sunday - outside with lots of room to stay away from others - that husband was really looking forward to as we have missed our hobby and being with our fellow “colonial people”, but as I put off the question of going or not going, he brought it up and said that we are NOT going. It would be too much walking around and carrying things for me - he says. (That to me is true love.)
Showing posts with label rain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rain. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2022
JURY DUTY - WHAT CAN BE WORSE THAN SAME, DOES HAPPEN
Thursday, October 28, 2021
WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE - AT LEAST IN THE BASEMENT
My apologies for missing last week's post. After years of not missing any posts, seems lately my attention gets taken away and I forget to post or I am otherwise needed in the house and don't get a chance to write and post.
Lest you think this is a unique situation to this blog, on the final Wednesday of the month I send out a newsletter to my embroidery chapter which includes the meeting notice for the meeting the following Tuesday. Club used to meet on Wednesday and the newsletter/meeting notice went out a week before. Location of meeting was changed and with it the day the group meets and I have not yet gotten into the habit of sending out the newsletter a day earlier so it would remain a week before the meeting. Being the lazy person that I am, I write and post the newsletter for them at the same time. (I do send an email a week in advance to the other board members in case they have something to include.)
Today I dealt with all sorts of things online and then suddenly realized that their newsletter had to go out today. It was put together quickly, but as completely as possible and went out today just before I started making dinner – all 3 versions of the newsletter, which this week were basically the same. (One version to members, one to region of group to be sent to other newsletter editors in the region plus the head of the region, and one version I send to people (okay, ladies) who have asked about joining our chapter or used to be members and like to keep in touch.) Mostly all 3 versions are the same, but, for example, we normally have our June meeting at a specific members house before we break for the summer and I don't want to send her name, address, and contact information to everyone who has asked about our chapter, so only the member's version will have the info.
We are also dealing with water in the basement whenever it rains since Hurricane Ida earlier this year. We never had this problem before (or at least never noticed it before) and it is now a recurring problem. When it rains we check the basement and vacuum up the water with a wet/dry vacuum and then run our dehumidifier - which would running anyway, but it is set at 35% dampness instead of its normal 70% dampness so it needs to be emptied much more often. Yes – we had a large rain storm yesterday and will have another one this weekend. We are hoping this is only a problem with needing new plastic covers over our basement windows (on the outside of the house) and the second window so far, thank goodness, does not seem to have this problem.
Husband has decided that we need to clear out a bookcase which stands in front of the window in question. It is adjacent to his exercise bicycle and has his stereo, a VHS player, and some other similar electronics on top – so he is figuring out where we will moving these items. The books on the shelves tend to be ones from when he was in college and of his field of study. He figures that they can be donated – presuming we find someplace to donate them and go out to do so. (If we do, I have some items I packed to donate just before the pandemic started and they will go out also.) Another bookcase near by has books he plans to get rid of also, but thinks he can sell them online so they will remain for now.
We can then move the bookcase and see what is going on behind it – as well as sort see to each side of where it was – behind a second bookcase and behind metal storage cabinets. He has given me notice that he plans to work on this over the coming weekend. Well, at least I know I have to finish up anything I want to do before then – such as pay any bills and write any letters I want to mail out on Sunday night (unless it raining again on Sunday night). I know that there is some mail in our box at the Post Office and would like to post the outgoing mail from there and take out the mail in the box if we can, one in particular has me wondering what it is – looks like a card, addressed to me, and from someone I have never heard of in Washington state – and we live on the east side of the U.S. Probably just a piece of fancy junk mail.
How do I know what it is our Post Office box? No, I am not a psychic. The USPS has a service which will send an email to one when there is mail at their address – including in their USPS boxes at their Post Office. They will only send if first class mail and there is a scanned picture of that first class mail. It does work well for us now when we are not going daily to our box as we did back in normal times. (Back in normal times almost all of our mail was going to the box as more secure than box at our front door, especially when we went on a trip.) We do not have to go to the Post Office unless we know there is something there to pick up (we can post outgoing mail at a local USPS collection box instead).
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Too much to do when doing nothing!
P.S, The problem which I posted about when last I posted – the money from the loom we sold being taken back by the company it was paid through – has been resolved and we have the money back in our bank account. It will sit there for a month before we touch it again!
Stay dry all!
Thursday, January 31, 2019
ANOTHER STORM COMING
Well, another week of not getting anything done easily. My client’s payroll taxes are filed - and I only needed to open one of the kinds of forms I bought - it had the second one I needed included. Now we need to make a trip to the store to return the other ones.
I went to the client this past Monday. She is located in Manhattan. I drive to Queens and park in a municipal parking garage near a subway stop that is one stop from Manhattan - I only have to travel 3 stops total to the client. (For those who might not know both Manhattan and Queens are boroughs of New York City. Manhattan is what most people think of as New York City - it located on Manhattan Island. Queens is a more suburban part of New York City and is one of the two boroughs of New York City on Long Island (which also has Nassau and Suffolk Counties which are not part of New York City). Parking in Manhattan is prohibitive. Not only is the per hour rate charged by the garages and the few lots left high, but there is something like a 16% tax on parking in garages/lots. The lot in Queens costs me less than $10 for the several hours I am parked - less than an hour would cost in Manhattan. The other alternative I have is to take the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan from my home community and then switch (at additional cost) to the LIRR in Manhattan to complete my trip. This is not cheap even with the fact that I generally would be traveling off peak (cheaper than on peak) and am entitled to a senior discount (from both trains). In addition neither of these trains companies have been having a lot of luck lately - breakdowns, etc. and I can walk from the client to my car if I had to - it might take awhile, I might have to stop, I might have to leave my laptop at the client - but I would get home if for some reason (to put it politely and in a way not to scare anyone if you think about things which have happened in Manhattan in the past 20 years) something happened and the trains - both types) were not running. So I drive to Queens, park, and take the subway. It is normal for me to arrive at the garage and have to wait in a line to get in - maybe 3 or 4 cars might be waiting ahead of me. The garage is located next to a court house and normally people will leave after their business at same is finished and it is not a long wait (shorter than writing this post will be). This time when I arrived there I got on the end of a longer line than I have seen there - at least 7 cars ahead of me - and there is a second entrance which had 2 more cars waiting to squeeze into the line. It took an HOUR before I drove in. (I did let one of the two cars in the other entrance ahead of me - the other had left and, well, he was there before me.) I had arrived there on the early side - but due to this arrived at the client late.
To save time at the client - the weather was to turn bad on Tuesday and I wanted to make some stops on the way home - I not only had the forms client needed to sign, finished and printed, but had also printed out envelopes to mail them in (as opposed to printing them at the client). This was not to be. She had a form I had forgotten about for disability insurance for employees (her) and our state has added a family leave policy to this. The form was 2 weeks late (it arrived while the business was closed as she was away), there were no instructions for the new family leave premium - instructions said to go online for same - no Internet connection there. I tried calling the number on the form for help, was on hold for about 20 minutes - finally when the call was answered the person had no idea what I was talking about - he had not even heard about the type of policy I was talking about. He went away, came back and said he was transferring me to the right department. Another 15 minutes on hold - the woman was very nice, but she also was the wrong department. She also transferred me - after another 10 minutes on hold, I gave up! I filled in the form as well as I could. I told the client about this and that if there was a problem, I would straighten it out. Not only did I want to get out of there and home to my husband who was having a breakdown over the coming weather this week, but the client has a car service which picks her up at 3:30 and it was close to same. I had her sign the forms and the checks I had prepared and made my goodbyes as she packed to leave also.
I made a stop at a bank (they would all be closed by the time I was in my car). I remembered hearing a ring in my cell phone from my husband who was suppose to be running a couple of errands and buying some food items in case we were stuck in the house the rest of the week and had figured he had a question on what to buy - plus at that time I could not get to my phone as the I could was on the wrong side of the desk I use and was blocked from it by the client packing. So I checked my phone. He had not gone anywhere - when he went to leave - there were no brakes in his car! So I texted him back - almost crying over what had gone on - it was that messed up a day and asked if I should come home before running errands - he agreed.
The drive home was not too bad - about 2 hours. We got in the car I had been driving and went out to run errands. I suddenly remembered that the items I had to mail out - bill payments for us and the forms for client - were still in my brief case ... in the house. So we had to drive home to get it and then drive to the post office to mail them out (and I checked our box - still no forms from IRS). I then made the best suggestion of the day - “Wendys for dinner?” Neither of us had defrosted anything for dinner, plus we figured to be in the house most of the week, so we went.
Yesterday I filed the clients New York State forms online. I gave a deep breathe - all of the clients payroll taxes filed on time - with 2 days to spare. Then I remembered - it had never asked me for her bank account information to debit the payment. I went back in to the site - it does not seem to have anything else to do? I have an email out to the state asking about this - nothing seems to get finished on the first try any longer?
We had been able to go out yesterday - rain started late in the day and it was horribly heavy rain with much flooding around. We had the other car towed to our mechanic - about 4 - 5 blocks away. We told the tow company when we called it had to go on a flat bed - it has all wheel drive - and was glad to see that they had listened and sent same. Fellow who was towing insisted it was not needed “I HAVE been doing this for 10 years and know when a flat bed tow is needed - see the wheels are in the air in the front, no problem.” Glad he has done this for 10 years - we have had the car for 20+ years and it was not our first all or 4 wheel drive. He had to turn around (he was facing opposite to where the mechanic is) and told us to drive there and he would meet us. This mechanic (and another before him) has been at this location well over the 40 years I have lived in this area and is generally known in the area - I was surprised that the fellow did not know which mechanic and where we were talking about. We drove over and waited and waited and waited. (I could have walked there in less than half the time it took him to drive there). Our mechanic and another customer there were shocked that the driver did not know where he was. The fellow finally showed up - the wheels had locked and he - HAD TO PUT IT ON THE FLAT BED!!!
The rain was the leading edge of the weather to the west of us across the U.S. - this is that freezing temperatures and huge storm that you had first. Today we managed to get out for lunch just ahead of a “snow squall” which is apparently like a thunderstorm with snow instead of rain. Our area was lucky as it was quickly and we only got about 2 inches of snow - we went out and pushed it off the driveway and then husband salted around as it was in the teens and heading colder until late next weekend.
It is now 6F outside and still dropping. Not as bad as the -40sF I have heard about to the west of us across the country, but cold enough for husband to be in a major panic. We now have the cabinets under the kitchen and bathroom sinks open and the faucets are set to drip, as is the basement to keep the water from freezing - just in case.
I did the laundry Monday night so we would not have to worry about doing same tonight and tomorrow. I sent out my embroidery chapter’s newsletter by email tonight - and in searching for textile related exhibitions to list for them, found one of interest to some of our reenacting group members and sent it out to them also. I thought I was doing better - then my dinner (not husband’s - we had different dinners) was refrigerator cold from sitting after it was cooked and I reheated it - of course part of it then was so HOT that I burned the inside of my mouth.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Well, in 2 days there is a new month - maybe it will be better. There is an old adage - “Man makes plans, God laughs”. I sort of feel like that right now.
One has to look at the good in one’s life as even as all heck seems to be breaking loose. We are both okay. We have a place to be in the cold and food to eat. The cold will end over the weekend (even if it will be raining then).
Everything works out - some way, even if not as one planned. Hopefully I will get some work done in the house while we are keeping warm inside. Oh, and hopefully the weather will be nice enough next week for a bunch of us “old ladies” to go out to our embroidery meeting.
I went to the client this past Monday. She is located in Manhattan. I drive to Queens and park in a municipal parking garage near a subway stop that is one stop from Manhattan - I only have to travel 3 stops total to the client. (For those who might not know both Manhattan and Queens are boroughs of New York City. Manhattan is what most people think of as New York City - it located on Manhattan Island. Queens is a more suburban part of New York City and is one of the two boroughs of New York City on Long Island (which also has Nassau and Suffolk Counties which are not part of New York City). Parking in Manhattan is prohibitive. Not only is the per hour rate charged by the garages and the few lots left high, but there is something like a 16% tax on parking in garages/lots. The lot in Queens costs me less than $10 for the several hours I am parked - less than an hour would cost in Manhattan. The other alternative I have is to take the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan from my home community and then switch (at additional cost) to the LIRR in Manhattan to complete my trip. This is not cheap even with the fact that I generally would be traveling off peak (cheaper than on peak) and am entitled to a senior discount (from both trains). In addition neither of these trains companies have been having a lot of luck lately - breakdowns, etc. and I can walk from the client to my car if I had to - it might take awhile, I might have to stop, I might have to leave my laptop at the client - but I would get home if for some reason (to put it politely and in a way not to scare anyone if you think about things which have happened in Manhattan in the past 20 years) something happened and the trains - both types) were not running. So I drive to Queens, park, and take the subway. It is normal for me to arrive at the garage and have to wait in a line to get in - maybe 3 or 4 cars might be waiting ahead of me. The garage is located next to a court house and normally people will leave after their business at same is finished and it is not a long wait (shorter than writing this post will be). This time when I arrived there I got on the end of a longer line than I have seen there - at least 7 cars ahead of me - and there is a second entrance which had 2 more cars waiting to squeeze into the line. It took an HOUR before I drove in. (I did let one of the two cars in the other entrance ahead of me - the other had left and, well, he was there before me.) I had arrived there on the early side - but due to this arrived at the client late.
To save time at the client - the weather was to turn bad on Tuesday and I wanted to make some stops on the way home - I not only had the forms client needed to sign, finished and printed, but had also printed out envelopes to mail them in (as opposed to printing them at the client). This was not to be. She had a form I had forgotten about for disability insurance for employees (her) and our state has added a family leave policy to this. The form was 2 weeks late (it arrived while the business was closed as she was away), there were no instructions for the new family leave premium - instructions said to go online for same - no Internet connection there. I tried calling the number on the form for help, was on hold for about 20 minutes - finally when the call was answered the person had no idea what I was talking about - he had not even heard about the type of policy I was talking about. He went away, came back and said he was transferring me to the right department. Another 15 minutes on hold - the woman was very nice, but she also was the wrong department. She also transferred me - after another 10 minutes on hold, I gave up! I filled in the form as well as I could. I told the client about this and that if there was a problem, I would straighten it out. Not only did I want to get out of there and home to my husband who was having a breakdown over the coming weather this week, but the client has a car service which picks her up at 3:30 and it was close to same. I had her sign the forms and the checks I had prepared and made my goodbyes as she packed to leave also.
I made a stop at a bank (they would all be closed by the time I was in my car). I remembered hearing a ring in my cell phone from my husband who was suppose to be running a couple of errands and buying some food items in case we were stuck in the house the rest of the week and had figured he had a question on what to buy - plus at that time I could not get to my phone as the I could was on the wrong side of the desk I use and was blocked from it by the client packing. So I checked my phone. He had not gone anywhere - when he went to leave - there were no brakes in his car! So I texted him back - almost crying over what had gone on - it was that messed up a day and asked if I should come home before running errands - he agreed.
The drive home was not too bad - about 2 hours. We got in the car I had been driving and went out to run errands. I suddenly remembered that the items I had to mail out - bill payments for us and the forms for client - were still in my brief case ... in the house. So we had to drive home to get it and then drive to the post office to mail them out (and I checked our box - still no forms from IRS). I then made the best suggestion of the day - “Wendys for dinner?” Neither of us had defrosted anything for dinner, plus we figured to be in the house most of the week, so we went.
Yesterday I filed the clients New York State forms online. I gave a deep breathe - all of the clients payroll taxes filed on time - with 2 days to spare. Then I remembered - it had never asked me for her bank account information to debit the payment. I went back in to the site - it does not seem to have anything else to do? I have an email out to the state asking about this - nothing seems to get finished on the first try any longer?
We had been able to go out yesterday - rain started late in the day and it was horribly heavy rain with much flooding around. We had the other car towed to our mechanic - about 4 - 5 blocks away. We told the tow company when we called it had to go on a flat bed - it has all wheel drive - and was glad to see that they had listened and sent same. Fellow who was towing insisted it was not needed “I HAVE been doing this for 10 years and know when a flat bed tow is needed - see the wheels are in the air in the front, no problem.” Glad he has done this for 10 years - we have had the car for 20+ years and it was not our first all or 4 wheel drive. He had to turn around (he was facing opposite to where the mechanic is) and told us to drive there and he would meet us. This mechanic (and another before him) has been at this location well over the 40 years I have lived in this area and is generally known in the area - I was surprised that the fellow did not know which mechanic and where we were talking about. We drove over and waited and waited and waited. (I could have walked there in less than half the time it took him to drive there). Our mechanic and another customer there were shocked that the driver did not know where he was. The fellow finally showed up - the wheels had locked and he - HAD TO PUT IT ON THE FLAT BED!!!
The rain was the leading edge of the weather to the west of us across the U.S. - this is that freezing temperatures and huge storm that you had first. Today we managed to get out for lunch just ahead of a “snow squall” which is apparently like a thunderstorm with snow instead of rain. Our area was lucky as it was quickly and we only got about 2 inches of snow - we went out and pushed it off the driveway and then husband salted around as it was in the teens and heading colder until late next weekend.
It is now 6F outside and still dropping. Not as bad as the -40sF I have heard about to the west of us across the country, but cold enough for husband to be in a major panic. We now have the cabinets under the kitchen and bathroom sinks open and the faucets are set to drip, as is the basement to keep the water from freezing - just in case.
I did the laundry Monday night so we would not have to worry about doing same tonight and tomorrow. I sent out my embroidery chapter’s newsletter by email tonight - and in searching for textile related exhibitions to list for them, found one of interest to some of our reenacting group members and sent it out to them also. I thought I was doing better - then my dinner (not husband’s - we had different dinners) was refrigerator cold from sitting after it was cooked and I reheated it - of course part of it then was so HOT that I burned the inside of my mouth.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Well, in 2 days there is a new month - maybe it will be better. There is an old adage - “Man makes plans, God laughs”. I sort of feel like that right now.
One has to look at the good in one’s life as even as all heck seems to be breaking loose. We are both okay. We have a place to be in the cold and food to eat. The cold will end over the weekend (even if it will be raining then).
Everything works out - some way, even if not as one planned. Hopefully I will get some work done in the house while we are keeping warm inside. Oh, and hopefully the weather will be nice enough next week for a bunch of us “old ladies” to go out to our embroidery meeting.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
WEATHER AND ORGANIZING
Another week already?
We had a cold and messy start to this week and spent the end of last week and the weekend getting ready. I mentioned last week that we were expecting two storms. I had cleared the walking areas of the house so we could walk in dim light if we had a loss of electricity.
The first storm dropped an extremely small amount of snow overnight from Thursday to Friday. At 6 am when I looked out the window the street was clear, but the driveway and sidewalks were white - but a minor amount. By the time we went out around 2 pm, the snow had melted and was gone and it was above freezing.
The second storm was much more problematic. It was to be Saturday night into Sunday morning - and worst of all, extremely cold weather was expected to follow it. Starting on Friday the information jumped back and forth - one weather report from the reporter my husband trusts was that the storm would come in to the north of us and we would not have more than a trace of snow. His next report was that the storm was headed further south and we would be getting 6-8 inches of snow. The next - he the storm was north of us again and we would get a trace to 3 inches. All versions included freezing rain, sleet and then finally after hours of same - rain. When the temperatures then dropped after the storm (we made it down to 7 degrees Fahrenheit) the mess would freeze so it would dangerous to go out on Monday and there would be (the dreaded, especially by husband) downed electrical lines and loss of electricity.
I have mentioned in past posts that over the years husband has become more “weather phobic” due to changes in the weather in our area and is terrified of big snow storms, ice storms, and hurricanes. This is the result of having multiple huge snow storms for this area (sometimes 24 inch or more and then 2 days later another one) and repeated humongous hurricanes. So I go along with his fears and his ideas of what to do to make him feel better.
In the case of winter storms we make sure that we have extra food in the house, some of which is things we would not normally spend money on. In this case, for example, we had a bought a large (expensive) chicken pot pie the end of the week before. Husband during the week asked me to make it for dinner. I looked at him and said “I am saving it for the weekend”. He thought a second and said “Good idea!”. We bought deli turkey on Friday - we could have for lunch or dinner while in the house.
Then we started on the fear of electricity loss. One of his fears is that the water pipes, especially in the basement will freeze. This was not something that was mentioned much - if at all - in this area until we started having weather much colder than normal a few years ago. We put foam insulation on the basement pipes - but the pipes to our clothes washer and the basement sink are attached to the wall and we cannot fit anything behind them. Husband sets up a space heater in the basement near these pipes when it gets bitter cold. Last week I cleared away the assorted laundry and cleaning chemicals that are kept the platform which holds our basement sink so that they would not be near the heat. We also took an indoor/outdoor thermometer I use in the basement for a Packtite (trademark) heater which kills bedbugs and set it up so the “outdoor” part was on the pipes so we could see how cold the pipes were. At night we opened the cabinet doors under the bathroom/kitchen sinks and left the water dripping in same and the basement sink. Biggest problem with his fears this year was that the news reporters were constantly talking about wires will be coming down.
We were lucky and the storm did pass to the north so we had no snow, just the freezing mess. We stayed in through the worst of the cold through Monday - finally going out for lunch and a bit of shopping on Tuesday. Today it made it into the 40s Fahrenheit.
Luckily for once in recent years during these storms he was (relatively) happily on the Internet instead of pacing, biting his nails and staring out the window. I managed to catch up on a variety of small things to get done on the computer and in our office - you know that all that relatively unimportant stuff that really needs to get done. I even put together the mailing to our reenactment unit with their renewal paperwork.
I still have not received the W2,etc. forms I requested from IRS - not that under the closure of the government I thought I would actually receive them. I had planned to file them online if I did not receive them - but since I have not been able to file the annual return for our reenactment unit online (the only way that form can be filed) - I am concerned that I will not be able to file them online. So today while we were out we stopped in at an office supply store and I bought packages of the forms - I have 50 W2s so that I can prepare ONE of them! The other forms involved buying 10-25 forms. Hopefully I will be returning them if I can file online or receive the other forms by the end of this week. I plan to go to the client next week (I had planned on going this week until we had this weather - it will raining most of the rest of the week - hit and if the forms are being filed by mail, I need to have them with me when I go to her so she can sign the cover forms.
I now have to start taking down the Christmas tree decorations and the tree. We need them down so that husband can warp his loom for his next weaving project. Also, if we take the tree down and move the storage for the weaving (yarn and finished pieces) back to the living room I will have my area of our studio in the back room back. I will leave the decorations up until the tree is finished - and maybe a bit longer- they look so nice. (I think I mentioned that before all this weather we did take down the outside lights - the battery candles in the windows and the battery lit wreath at the door are still in place and still lit.)
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
When one faces one’s fears - whether husband’s fear of what the weather will do or starting to work on clearing a specific space in our house - one generally finds that what happens is not as bad as one fears. While I always say that every day starts a new year - a new year has started, pick something that needs work and start on it. Whatever you get done - it is that much less left to get done. Whether it is a drawer or a box or a room it is one thing that is done.
I also wanted to stay I would love to hear from some of you to hear what you are doing or what your problem in organizing and decluttering is.
We had a cold and messy start to this week and spent the end of last week and the weekend getting ready. I mentioned last week that we were expecting two storms. I had cleared the walking areas of the house so we could walk in dim light if we had a loss of electricity.
The first storm dropped an extremely small amount of snow overnight from Thursday to Friday. At 6 am when I looked out the window the street was clear, but the driveway and sidewalks were white - but a minor amount. By the time we went out around 2 pm, the snow had melted and was gone and it was above freezing.
The second storm was much more problematic. It was to be Saturday night into Sunday morning - and worst of all, extremely cold weather was expected to follow it. Starting on Friday the information jumped back and forth - one weather report from the reporter my husband trusts was that the storm would come in to the north of us and we would not have more than a trace of snow. His next report was that the storm was headed further south and we would be getting 6-8 inches of snow. The next - he the storm was north of us again and we would get a trace to 3 inches. All versions included freezing rain, sleet and then finally after hours of same - rain. When the temperatures then dropped after the storm (we made it down to 7 degrees Fahrenheit) the mess would freeze so it would dangerous to go out on Monday and there would be (the dreaded, especially by husband) downed electrical lines and loss of electricity.
I have mentioned in past posts that over the years husband has become more “weather phobic” due to changes in the weather in our area and is terrified of big snow storms, ice storms, and hurricanes. This is the result of having multiple huge snow storms for this area (sometimes 24 inch or more and then 2 days later another one) and repeated humongous hurricanes. So I go along with his fears and his ideas of what to do to make him feel better.
In the case of winter storms we make sure that we have extra food in the house, some of which is things we would not normally spend money on. In this case, for example, we had a bought a large (expensive) chicken pot pie the end of the week before. Husband during the week asked me to make it for dinner. I looked at him and said “I am saving it for the weekend”. He thought a second and said “Good idea!”. We bought deli turkey on Friday - we could have for lunch or dinner while in the house.
Then we started on the fear of electricity loss. One of his fears is that the water pipes, especially in the basement will freeze. This was not something that was mentioned much - if at all - in this area until we started having weather much colder than normal a few years ago. We put foam insulation on the basement pipes - but the pipes to our clothes washer and the basement sink are attached to the wall and we cannot fit anything behind them. Husband sets up a space heater in the basement near these pipes when it gets bitter cold. Last week I cleared away the assorted laundry and cleaning chemicals that are kept the platform which holds our basement sink so that they would not be near the heat. We also took an indoor/outdoor thermometer I use in the basement for a Packtite (trademark) heater which kills bedbugs and set it up so the “outdoor” part was on the pipes so we could see how cold the pipes were. At night we opened the cabinet doors under the bathroom/kitchen sinks and left the water dripping in same and the basement sink. Biggest problem with his fears this year was that the news reporters were constantly talking about wires will be coming down.
We were lucky and the storm did pass to the north so we had no snow, just the freezing mess. We stayed in through the worst of the cold through Monday - finally going out for lunch and a bit of shopping on Tuesday. Today it made it into the 40s Fahrenheit.
Luckily for once in recent years during these storms he was (relatively) happily on the Internet instead of pacing, biting his nails and staring out the window. I managed to catch up on a variety of small things to get done on the computer and in our office - you know that all that relatively unimportant stuff that really needs to get done. I even put together the mailing to our reenactment unit with their renewal paperwork.
I still have not received the W2,etc. forms I requested from IRS - not that under the closure of the government I thought I would actually receive them. I had planned to file them online if I did not receive them - but since I have not been able to file the annual return for our reenactment unit online (the only way that form can be filed) - I am concerned that I will not be able to file them online. So today while we were out we stopped in at an office supply store and I bought packages of the forms - I have 50 W2s so that I can prepare ONE of them! The other forms involved buying 10-25 forms. Hopefully I will be returning them if I can file online or receive the other forms by the end of this week. I plan to go to the client next week (I had planned on going this week until we had this weather - it will raining most of the rest of the week - hit and if the forms are being filed by mail, I need to have them with me when I go to her so she can sign the cover forms.
I now have to start taking down the Christmas tree decorations and the tree. We need them down so that husband can warp his loom for his next weaving project. Also, if we take the tree down and move the storage for the weaving (yarn and finished pieces) back to the living room I will have my area of our studio in the back room back. I will leave the decorations up until the tree is finished - and maybe a bit longer- they look so nice. (I think I mentioned that before all this weather we did take down the outside lights - the battery candles in the windows and the battery lit wreath at the door are still in place and still lit.)
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
When one faces one’s fears - whether husband’s fear of what the weather will do or starting to work on clearing a specific space in our house - one generally finds that what happens is not as bad as one fears. While I always say that every day starts a new year - a new year has started, pick something that needs work and start on it. Whatever you get done - it is that much less left to get done. Whether it is a drawer or a box or a room it is one thing that is done.
I also wanted to stay I would love to hear from some of you to hear what you are doing or what your problem in organizing and decluttering is.
Thursday, December 6, 2018
WHAT EATS UP MY TIME THESE DAYS?
Do you have control over your time? How much of you time is governed by other people who need you or make plans which involve you - and are not the king of people you can say no to?
When my husband worked full time at his job all of my time during the day on weekdays was my own. Yes, I had to go to work and I went to my embroidery meetings, but I could easily plan what I was doing when back then.
Husband and I were in what is called a rotational art exhibit - okay, we were each in two of them. In this type of exhibition (run by two different township park departments) the artist, after having his/her work reviewed and approved, goes to a showcase. Different venues - town offices, libraries, local businesses... sign up with the program also and come to the showcase. They select which artist’s works they would like to have in their venue and they and the artist agree on which month (or two month period) the exhibition will be for. There would be months when we had 3 shows at 3 different venues (he had work in 2 different media in the show). Since he was working full time I was allowed to represent both of us - I also set up and took down the exhibitions. I could schedule the exhibitions, set them up and then take them down. When husband quit his job and worked part time from home we would do all of this together and there was always a problem with him as to when we were doing it, why we were doing it (we only sold 3 small pieces over the time he exhibited, my work was not for sale, so I did not sell any). It amazed me how much easier it was when I did this all alone, then when we did it together. Due to the fact that one of libraries may be where we got bedbugs, we stopped doing the shows - and it was relief to stop - although before he started coming along, this would not have been true.
When he first quit his job we had an agreement that we would each go our own way during the day - and we did for awhile. Then gasoline prices went up and up and up and husband pointed out that we were wasting money at the high price of gas for me to drive to the supermarket and him to drive separately to the Home Depot in the same parking lot and we started sort of car pooling for errands like this. Before I knew it, we were together all day, every day (except the days I went out to work and the days I went to my embroidery meeting).
Clients of mine, older senior citizens, had to shut down their business due to the economy and gradually I ended up with only one monthly business client. I used to go out to clients at least 8 days a month - some days to multiple clients - and had no problem scheduling them - now the 1 client is a problem to schedule.
I am not the world’s best house cleaner. I had a schedule - on Wednesdays I would clean - First Wednesday of the month I would dust, vacuum & wash floors, and clean the toilet upstairs. Second Wednesday of the month I would do the same downstairs. Third week I would do the upstairs - except the toilet - again. Fourth week I would do the same as the second, but would clean the kitchen instead of the bathroom. On the occasional fifth Wednesday I would do another chore that had not been done and needed doing. Now - forget it! It is hard to clean toilets or wash floors when as soon as one is mid cleaning one’s husband appears and says “I have to go in NOW.” And there is always a reason that the other bathroom is not where he wants to be. It has gotten so bad that I ended waiting until he fell asleep at night and then cleaned the upstairs bathroom - at 3 in the morning!
This comes up right now as the past 2 weeks I feel like screaming! Last week on Tuesday he decided it was time to put up the Christmas lights, and then looked at the bushes and the piles of fallen leaves and said “We can’t put up the lights with all these leaves here - there will be a fire.” Okay, so we are going to suddenly clear up the leaves. He found online at a home store near us a rack to hold the garbage bags and it was in stock at the store. We go there - I really don’t think we need the rack - without even knowing what it was. The store does not have any, even though the company website says that they do - and, while it is still November at that time, they don’t have it because it is a “fall” item and the main office therefore took all of them back! Oh, and according to them the website saying they have something does not mean anything - good thing husband did not buy it online and go to pick it up at the store. We lost an hour and a half of limited sunlight (remember we get started late and had already run errands) on that fool’s errand. We come home and we start clearing the leaves. Over the years husband has come up with a variety of methods to do this - vacuum them, shred them with a vacuum, and I don’t know what else - my system is a snow shovel - yes, a snow shovel. First I quickly rake the leaves out from between the bushes onto the driveway in a line of leaves. I shovel them into the garbage bag in the garbage pail, stop periodically to tamp them down with the shovel, then when the bag is full (probably overfull) I close the bad with a bag tie, drag the garbage can to by the curb, lay the pail down on it’s side, stand it up again with the open end down, pull the can off the bag and there it is - a bag of leaves where it needs to be for pickup. I am doing the work due to the pain that is still healing in his left arm and shoulder. He has to help (you know, like small children have to help). He wants to hold the rake for me to push the leaves against when shoveling, this is not needed as there is a line of leaves to push against and at the end I use the pail. Then he decides that too many leaves are falling and puts the rake over the leaves - resulting in almost all of the leaves falling off. I convince him to go and get more bags and bag ties to keep him busy. We eventually end up with about a dozen or more bags sitting at the curb - they were picked the next day as Wednesday is yard pickup. Wednesday we run errands and then go to clear the last of the leaves - these are leaves around the driveway where he is worried that mice will nest - he is shocked that new leaves are where we cleared the day before! Now, if I was involved in planning this ahead of time - we would not have had errands to run - I would make sure they were otherwise scheduled - and we would have eaten a quick lunch at home to give us enough time, instead of our daily half hour plus leisurely lunch at Wendys.
We had checked the light strands ahead of time, as we had not had a chance to check them when we took them down (I made a reminder in my cell phone for the middle of October about this, as well as about the 2 strands that went out while out last year and had purchased replacement lights. We had to wait after clearing the leaves for a day that was not below freezing and it was not raining. Over the weekend we put out the lights. I am, again, doing the work. We did a little bit different setup as he had some ideas, All was going well. We have a holly tree and the lights have to be (literally) thrown onto the upper part of it as neither of us likes to go on a ladder. I was trying to figure out how to put the higher lights on it - figuring a ladder will be needed - and he grabs the strand and throws it - and then is reminded of his shoulder and arm - and was back in pain like a few weeks ago! (Yes, the lights are up, look nice - one of his ideas I thought was terrible works very well.)
We spent yesterday evening taking apart his computer as it had stopped working - believe it or not it as the battery that keeps the time and such going as this is his desktop computer. So the time I would have spent washing dishes - I was lifting his computer (because even before he threw the light strand he should not have lifted it) as well as clearing off my desk for him to work on. I did some of my magic - “It needs a CR2032 battery, I guess we will have to buy one.” I go to our bag of button batteries (travels with us on trips) and find one, still sealed in the package. Then I did the dishes after we changed the battery, put the computer back on his side of the office on the floor and he had restarted the computer.
I have to take 20 hours of classes to do tax returns next year - I took 2 hours of them the other evening and I should have much more of them done by now - only 26 days to go - 6 days of which we will be involved in reenacting, two days of which will be Christmas Eve and Day, that leaves 18 days left! And Christmas decorations, shopping for one of his nieces (other is finished) and regular housework is left - oh, and he is still trying to fit in a one day trip to Lancaster, PA.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
It is hard to make our time our own to be able to schedule what work needs to be done, but we have to do it. This time of year, especially, we have to make time for what we need to do as well as what we have to do.
When my husband worked full time at his job all of my time during the day on weekdays was my own. Yes, I had to go to work and I went to my embroidery meetings, but I could easily plan what I was doing when back then.
Husband and I were in what is called a rotational art exhibit - okay, we were each in two of them. In this type of exhibition (run by two different township park departments) the artist, after having his/her work reviewed and approved, goes to a showcase. Different venues - town offices, libraries, local businesses... sign up with the program also and come to the showcase. They select which artist’s works they would like to have in their venue and they and the artist agree on which month (or two month period) the exhibition will be for. There would be months when we had 3 shows at 3 different venues (he had work in 2 different media in the show). Since he was working full time I was allowed to represent both of us - I also set up and took down the exhibitions. I could schedule the exhibitions, set them up and then take them down. When husband quit his job and worked part time from home we would do all of this together and there was always a problem with him as to when we were doing it, why we were doing it (we only sold 3 small pieces over the time he exhibited, my work was not for sale, so I did not sell any). It amazed me how much easier it was when I did this all alone, then when we did it together. Due to the fact that one of libraries may be where we got bedbugs, we stopped doing the shows - and it was relief to stop - although before he started coming along, this would not have been true.
When he first quit his job we had an agreement that we would each go our own way during the day - and we did for awhile. Then gasoline prices went up and up and up and husband pointed out that we were wasting money at the high price of gas for me to drive to the supermarket and him to drive separately to the Home Depot in the same parking lot and we started sort of car pooling for errands like this. Before I knew it, we were together all day, every day (except the days I went out to work and the days I went to my embroidery meeting).
Clients of mine, older senior citizens, had to shut down their business due to the economy and gradually I ended up with only one monthly business client. I used to go out to clients at least 8 days a month - some days to multiple clients - and had no problem scheduling them - now the 1 client is a problem to schedule.
I am not the world’s best house cleaner. I had a schedule - on Wednesdays I would clean - First Wednesday of the month I would dust, vacuum & wash floors, and clean the toilet upstairs. Second Wednesday of the month I would do the same downstairs. Third week I would do the upstairs - except the toilet - again. Fourth week I would do the same as the second, but would clean the kitchen instead of the bathroom. On the occasional fifth Wednesday I would do another chore that had not been done and needed doing. Now - forget it! It is hard to clean toilets or wash floors when as soon as one is mid cleaning one’s husband appears and says “I have to go in NOW.” And there is always a reason that the other bathroom is not where he wants to be. It has gotten so bad that I ended waiting until he fell asleep at night and then cleaned the upstairs bathroom - at 3 in the morning!
This comes up right now as the past 2 weeks I feel like screaming! Last week on Tuesday he decided it was time to put up the Christmas lights, and then looked at the bushes and the piles of fallen leaves and said “We can’t put up the lights with all these leaves here - there will be a fire.” Okay, so we are going to suddenly clear up the leaves. He found online at a home store near us a rack to hold the garbage bags and it was in stock at the store. We go there - I really don’t think we need the rack - without even knowing what it was. The store does not have any, even though the company website says that they do - and, while it is still November at that time, they don’t have it because it is a “fall” item and the main office therefore took all of them back! Oh, and according to them the website saying they have something does not mean anything - good thing husband did not buy it online and go to pick it up at the store. We lost an hour and a half of limited sunlight (remember we get started late and had already run errands) on that fool’s errand. We come home and we start clearing the leaves. Over the years husband has come up with a variety of methods to do this - vacuum them, shred them with a vacuum, and I don’t know what else - my system is a snow shovel - yes, a snow shovel. First I quickly rake the leaves out from between the bushes onto the driveway in a line of leaves. I shovel them into the garbage bag in the garbage pail, stop periodically to tamp them down with the shovel, then when the bag is full (probably overfull) I close the bad with a bag tie, drag the garbage can to by the curb, lay the pail down on it’s side, stand it up again with the open end down, pull the can off the bag and there it is - a bag of leaves where it needs to be for pickup. I am doing the work due to the pain that is still healing in his left arm and shoulder. He has to help (you know, like small children have to help). He wants to hold the rake for me to push the leaves against when shoveling, this is not needed as there is a line of leaves to push against and at the end I use the pail. Then he decides that too many leaves are falling and puts the rake over the leaves - resulting in almost all of the leaves falling off. I convince him to go and get more bags and bag ties to keep him busy. We eventually end up with about a dozen or more bags sitting at the curb - they were picked the next day as Wednesday is yard pickup. Wednesday we run errands and then go to clear the last of the leaves - these are leaves around the driveway where he is worried that mice will nest - he is shocked that new leaves are where we cleared the day before! Now, if I was involved in planning this ahead of time - we would not have had errands to run - I would make sure they were otherwise scheduled - and we would have eaten a quick lunch at home to give us enough time, instead of our daily half hour plus leisurely lunch at Wendys.
We had checked the light strands ahead of time, as we had not had a chance to check them when we took them down (I made a reminder in my cell phone for the middle of October about this, as well as about the 2 strands that went out while out last year and had purchased replacement lights. We had to wait after clearing the leaves for a day that was not below freezing and it was not raining. Over the weekend we put out the lights. I am, again, doing the work. We did a little bit different setup as he had some ideas, All was going well. We have a holly tree and the lights have to be (literally) thrown onto the upper part of it as neither of us likes to go on a ladder. I was trying to figure out how to put the higher lights on it - figuring a ladder will be needed - and he grabs the strand and throws it - and then is reminded of his shoulder and arm - and was back in pain like a few weeks ago! (Yes, the lights are up, look nice - one of his ideas I thought was terrible works very well.)
We spent yesterday evening taking apart his computer as it had stopped working - believe it or not it as the battery that keeps the time and such going as this is his desktop computer. So the time I would have spent washing dishes - I was lifting his computer (because even before he threw the light strand he should not have lifted it) as well as clearing off my desk for him to work on. I did some of my magic - “It needs a CR2032 battery, I guess we will have to buy one.” I go to our bag of button batteries (travels with us on trips) and find one, still sealed in the package. Then I did the dishes after we changed the battery, put the computer back on his side of the office on the floor and he had restarted the computer.
I have to take 20 hours of classes to do tax returns next year - I took 2 hours of them the other evening and I should have much more of them done by now - only 26 days to go - 6 days of which we will be involved in reenacting, two days of which will be Christmas Eve and Day, that leaves 18 days left! And Christmas decorations, shopping for one of his nieces (other is finished) and regular housework is left - oh, and he is still trying to fit in a one day trip to Lancaster, PA.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
It is hard to make our time our own to be able to schedule what work needs to be done, but we have to do it. This time of year, especially, we have to make time for what we need to do as well as what we have to do.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
BACK TO HOUSEWORK - PREPARE FOR POSSIBLE TRIP
After 2 weeks husband has decided that the tail end of cold is too much to deal with and I am back to cooking and cleaning on my own as of yesterday. So tonight I am catching up on 3 weeks of laundry backed up. I washed the clothing, he put in the dryer and then in the laundry basket. He then pulled out his clothing and put it away and left mine for me.
I think the final blow was yesterday was “change the bed linens day”. Last week we only changed the pillow cases. Last night I figured I would change the sheets, I would change my pillow cases, he would change his, and I would change the sheets and remake the bed - other than him dealing with his pillowcases. So yesterday morning, I pulled off my pillowcases, folded the blanket and pulled the top sheet off the bed. I would normally have pulled off his bottom pillowcase in the morning. I pull the top pillowcase and the bottom sheet off when we are going to bed at night and remake the bed then. (I used to pull everything off in the morning, but a couple of times he was dizzy and ill during the day and I had to quickly put his side of the bed back, so this is our compromise - he can lie down as the bottom sheet and his top pillowcase are there and then pull the top sheet - lying on the bed - on top of him if he does not feel well. ) So last night I put the last (of 3) set of clean sheets on the bed and put the blanket on. I went to pull 2 pillowcases for my pillow and he would do his pillowcases afterwards .... but there were only 2 clean pillowcases! We each took one.
I went down tonight to start the first load of laundry and did so. I was also going to run our “Packtite”, a device intended to heat suitcases and their contents when one returns home from a trip so that if one has picked up bed bugs they will be killed by the heat. We set it up with a laundry basket with holes in it and I heat anything coming into the house we are concerned about. Normally I run it when it when I do the laundry as it is near the washer and dryer in the basement and the timing for a load of laundry to wash or dry and to check the temperature on the thermometer in the Packtite is about the same. There is a small number of things to heat. I noticed that the thermometer reading for the Packtite was the same as last time I used it . (We have an indoor/outdoor reading thermometer and the dohickey for the outside is in the Packtite so I can see the temperature and make sure it is high enough, long enough, but does not go to high.) No new reading - or a blank reading - for the dohickey means that it needs new batteries. I walked up 2 flights of stairs to the office to get new batteries and then back down the same 2 flights. It still did not work. I texted husband to help me. (Yes, we are lazy enough to text each other in the house - much better than running up and down the stairs to tell each other something, especially in summer when doors are closed to keep air conditioning in the room and the ac units are running and making noise.) We spent over half an hour playing with it, but the dohickey still does not work. My solution? We have the same setup on a thermometer in the kitchen to read the temperature in the refrigerator, I brought that set up downstairs and took the working main thermometer from the basement and stuck it in the refrigerator and read it by opening the door. Tomorrow I will switch the setups back - and we will look for a new thermometer for the basement. (I pause here to run down and switch laundry loads.)
Okay, I am back. Over last weekend I reset the number of days for my Quickbooks to remind me of memorized transactions (mostly bills to pay, some direct deposits to come in) to cover everything through the end of the month (normally it is set for one week). I wrote checks for all the bills and calculated how much we needed to transfer from savings (which is a holding account for money for bills) to pay all the bills to the end of the month. I transferred the money yesterday and today mailed out the bill payments. Well, everything but the cable/Internet bill which will not come until the last minute at the end of the month - and the money for it plus a bit more is now is now in the checking account. Why did I pay it all at once? Husband REALLY wants to go on a trip of more than a day or two. He keeps checking the upcoming weather in the several places we might go and it continues to follow the pattern of a day with no rain - maybe two days if lucky -and then two or three days of pouring rain and thunderstorms. (Although the weather is not as bad as it is in some parts of the country - I hope none of you are in the areas of the wildfires or the flooding.) When we prepare for a trip we pay any bills that need to be paid while we will be away and need to transfer money for same and then mail the payments. This way we do not even have to think of the bills until the cable bill at the end of the month. We can leave with a just a quick stop at the bank for cash for the trip. One less thing that has to be dealt with. Actually the only other problem is the newspaper - if we go at the last minute there will be a paper sitting in the delivery tube while we are away - I guess one paper will look like that day’s paper so it is not bad. Most of our mail goes to our box at the Post Office and we put in a large locking mailbox at the house so that we do not have to stop the mail that does still come to the house. Clothing can be washed and dried and then packed the night before and just tossed on the RV bed when we go. Food, etc can be stuck under the RV bed in a holder that is there. It can all be unpacked when we get where we are going. So if he finds a place to go we can leave the next day.
He has had another project he has been working on and frustrated with, which affects me. He has been trying to convince me to stop using this laptop and buy a new one. I have some problems checking posts on some websites - the laptop runs Windows XP. We have been looking and have found some laptops at the price we can pay - actually more than we can pay, but we can stretch the amount another $100 or so t buy. I am still resistant as there are only one or two websites which are affected and I have software I like which may or may not work with Windows 10 and at least one I know will not work with same. Yes, it can take up to 20 minutes for the laptop to boot and takes awhile for programs to open, but I am used to. The alternative he comes up with is installing Linux on this computer to use when online. He has found and set up about 5 versions of same on USB stick drives and DVDs in the past week or so. The latest version on DVD actually works - but one of the sites I have a problem with only partially opens. I have not have my laptop at least part of each night as a result as he loads the new try. (Notice I made sure to write and post on time this week since I was late last week, but some friends on an embroidery site and some friends on a comics site will not hear from me - and I normally am on the comics site on Monday nights.) I am guessing that I will be giving in and getting the new laptop - but not until after the cutoff for the credit card bill this month, so we won’t have to pay for it until October - the house insurance is in September, plus any travel bills if we go away.
Oh - I did finally vacuum up all the shreds of paper from my big shredding of 2008 last week.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One may fall behind due to illness or other reasons. Don’t panic. One can always catch up.
I think the final blow was yesterday was “change the bed linens day”. Last week we only changed the pillow cases. Last night I figured I would change the sheets, I would change my pillow cases, he would change his, and I would change the sheets and remake the bed - other than him dealing with his pillowcases. So yesterday morning, I pulled off my pillowcases, folded the blanket and pulled the top sheet off the bed. I would normally have pulled off his bottom pillowcase in the morning. I pull the top pillowcase and the bottom sheet off when we are going to bed at night and remake the bed then. (I used to pull everything off in the morning, but a couple of times he was dizzy and ill during the day and I had to quickly put his side of the bed back, so this is our compromise - he can lie down as the bottom sheet and his top pillowcase are there and then pull the top sheet - lying on the bed - on top of him if he does not feel well. ) So last night I put the last (of 3) set of clean sheets on the bed and put the blanket on. I went to pull 2 pillowcases for my pillow and he would do his pillowcases afterwards .... but there were only 2 clean pillowcases! We each took one.
I went down tonight to start the first load of laundry and did so. I was also going to run our “Packtite”, a device intended to heat suitcases and their contents when one returns home from a trip so that if one has picked up bed bugs they will be killed by the heat. We set it up with a laundry basket with holes in it and I heat anything coming into the house we are concerned about. Normally I run it when it when I do the laundry as it is near the washer and dryer in the basement and the timing for a load of laundry to wash or dry and to check the temperature on the thermometer in the Packtite is about the same. There is a small number of things to heat. I noticed that the thermometer reading for the Packtite was the same as last time I used it . (We have an indoor/outdoor reading thermometer and the dohickey for the outside is in the Packtite so I can see the temperature and make sure it is high enough, long enough, but does not go to high.) No new reading - or a blank reading - for the dohickey means that it needs new batteries. I walked up 2 flights of stairs to the office to get new batteries and then back down the same 2 flights. It still did not work. I texted husband to help me. (Yes, we are lazy enough to text each other in the house - much better than running up and down the stairs to tell each other something, especially in summer when doors are closed to keep air conditioning in the room and the ac units are running and making noise.) We spent over half an hour playing with it, but the dohickey still does not work. My solution? We have the same setup on a thermometer in the kitchen to read the temperature in the refrigerator, I brought that set up downstairs and took the working main thermometer from the basement and stuck it in the refrigerator and read it by opening the door. Tomorrow I will switch the setups back - and we will look for a new thermometer for the basement. (I pause here to run down and switch laundry loads.)
Okay, I am back. Over last weekend I reset the number of days for my Quickbooks to remind me of memorized transactions (mostly bills to pay, some direct deposits to come in) to cover everything through the end of the month (normally it is set for one week). I wrote checks for all the bills and calculated how much we needed to transfer from savings (which is a holding account for money for bills) to pay all the bills to the end of the month. I transferred the money yesterday and today mailed out the bill payments. Well, everything but the cable/Internet bill which will not come until the last minute at the end of the month - and the money for it plus a bit more is now is now in the checking account. Why did I pay it all at once? Husband REALLY wants to go on a trip of more than a day or two. He keeps checking the upcoming weather in the several places we might go and it continues to follow the pattern of a day with no rain - maybe two days if lucky -and then two or three days of pouring rain and thunderstorms. (Although the weather is not as bad as it is in some parts of the country - I hope none of you are in the areas of the wildfires or the flooding.) When we prepare for a trip we pay any bills that need to be paid while we will be away and need to transfer money for same and then mail the payments. This way we do not even have to think of the bills until the cable bill at the end of the month. We can leave with a just a quick stop at the bank for cash for the trip. One less thing that has to be dealt with. Actually the only other problem is the newspaper - if we go at the last minute there will be a paper sitting in the delivery tube while we are away - I guess one paper will look like that day’s paper so it is not bad. Most of our mail goes to our box at the Post Office and we put in a large locking mailbox at the house so that we do not have to stop the mail that does still come to the house. Clothing can be washed and dried and then packed the night before and just tossed on the RV bed when we go. Food, etc can be stuck under the RV bed in a holder that is there. It can all be unpacked when we get where we are going. So if he finds a place to go we can leave the next day.
He has had another project he has been working on and frustrated with, which affects me. He has been trying to convince me to stop using this laptop and buy a new one. I have some problems checking posts on some websites - the laptop runs Windows XP. We have been looking and have found some laptops at the price we can pay - actually more than we can pay, but we can stretch the amount another $100 or so t buy. I am still resistant as there are only one or two websites which are affected and I have software I like which may or may not work with Windows 10 and at least one I know will not work with same. Yes, it can take up to 20 minutes for the laptop to boot and takes awhile for programs to open, but I am used to. The alternative he comes up with is installing Linux on this computer to use when online. He has found and set up about 5 versions of same on USB stick drives and DVDs in the past week or so. The latest version on DVD actually works - but one of the sites I have a problem with only partially opens. I have not have my laptop at least part of each night as a result as he loads the new try. (Notice I made sure to write and post on time this week since I was late last week, but some friends on an embroidery site and some friends on a comics site will not hear from me - and I normally am on the comics site on Monday nights.) I am guessing that I will be giving in and getting the new laptop - but not until after the cutoff for the credit card bill this month, so we won’t have to pay for it until October - the house insurance is in September, plus any travel bills if we go away.
Oh - I did finally vacuum up all the shreds of paper from my big shredding of 2008 last week.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One may fall behind due to illness or other reasons. Don’t panic. One can always catch up.
Thursday, August 9, 2018
ACHOO!
Achoo! Last week I was feeling fine. Then it happened. You know, you wake up with a scratchy throat and wonder - is it a cold or did I just sleep on my back with my mouth open and annoy my throat. Then the coughing starts - and you still hope it is a just a scratchy throat from sleeping on your back, but you are pretty sure it is not. Once the sneezing starts and your nose is clogged... My husband lives in fear of me having a cold. He is a bit of a hypochondriac so he won’t let me do anything if I might “spread the germs” to him. But he doesn’t want to do what he is not letting me do either. Everything takes longer to do as a result and wastes time. Don’t worry - you can’t catch the cold.
He doesn’t want to cook (although he used to love to cook and is the better cook). He doesn’t want to do the dishes. but he doesn’t want me to do either as I will get him sick. The first night he made dinner - ham steak that we shared and a packaged macaroni with mushrooms - add to boiling water and let cook - and canned soup. I did the dishes afterwards with disposable plastic gloves on. One night he was on the computer with a client and I asked if I should make dinner or wait for him and he told me he was busy - so I made dinner and he ate it, but not happily. Then the weekend came and cooking was resolved as we eat out Friday through Sunday nights. This week he cooked dinner on Monday. Last night as we were trying to figure out what to have for dinner a rain storm hit. I mean A RAIN STORM HIT. He received a warning on his cell phone - I did not, although my, no cell service for over a year as it was not working for Internet or phone service and I had to switch, Blackberry received a notice. (I keep it charged for it games and camera.) We had major lightning and thunder for about 2 hours - remember I have fired a reproduction 18th century cannon - the thunder was like cannon fire. We lost our electricity - one of husband’s other great fears. We stood/sat with the front door open watching “the show” . We live on a main road. A UPS truck went past to the right, then to the left, then two of them passed our house, then another one and so on. Assorted emergency vehicles passed the house in both directions with lights flashing - police, ambulances, fire trucks, a couple of electric utility trucks... Cars kept driving in the mess, some would pull over a few minutes and then go on. I am a pretty fearless driver (scared husband the few times he had to drive with me as the driver) and I would have pulled over. Sooo, what will we eat? I was thinking - we have rolls, peanut butter - crunchy and smooth, jelly - strawberry and Ikea ligonberry, American cheese, mozzarella cheese - no problem. I suggested this to him. NO! We cannot open the fridge or his insulin would go bad. (Well, technically if it got too warm it would still be good for 42 days, but I was not going to argue.) Luckily the rain let up around 10:30 pm. We got in the car and drove to a nearby supermarket and bought more rolls and cold cuts for dinner. On the corner passed a 7-11 shut down do to lack of electricity, employees seemed to be sitting in cars in the parking lot. We got home and were getting ready to eat and - the lights came back on. Apparently we were in the largest outage area so we were put back quickly. I honestly do not remember a thunderstorm with so much or such loud thunder with rain that heavy for so long.
Tonight we took in Chinese food - simple right? Not really. The place we took out from for decades (while I was waiting for the gas company to come and turn on the gas in our first apartment I went and took out from this place for lunch - I did not even have tableware, dishes, glasses, etc in the apartment - I did have a borrowed bridge table and 2 borrowed bridge chairs) has changed. The original owners ran it for a long time - we knew their children, I remember hearing a car stop short in front of our apartment and the father coming running to the corner because his younger daughter had been riding her bicycle and just missed being hit by the car. When he died his older daughter would come home from college on weekends to help her mom. Then the son took over for awhile - even though he really wanted to be fishing - and the place often had fresh fish due to same. Eventually the place was sold - to the son’s sister in law and her husband. They were also nice and the food was the same and we kept going there. Earlier this year we went there and the husband was not there and an older woman (I presume one of their moms) was cooking. The food was not good. We tried another place and were not happy with them. We went back to them figuring maybe it was the change in cook. But the last time we took out the soup was too salty to eat and all the dishes were wrong. We don’t know what happened. This is the place we called on our way back from our 5 hour trip in July, 2017 to get dinner made before they closed - http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2017/07/treading-water-5-hour-trip-to-nowhere.html So, we never know where to take out from and as a result we don’t. We receive an assortment of fliers from take out places and I keep them. One recently caught husband’s eye and he had been planning to try it - so tonight we did. Very nice people and food. Three street parking spaces in front of the 4 stores was the only parking. Then, since I was sick, husband did not hand me the food to hold on the trip home, he put it in a plastic laundry basket we keep in the back in the car, he did not put anything against the bag to hold it. Yes, the bag went on an angle and was soaked when he took it out of the car. After dinner we had to wash the vinyl cover I keep in the car, the basket, and back of the car. We will go back again - and I will hold the bag.
In the middle of all this I had to go to Manhattan to a client for work - I should have gone last month, but she had a cold (could I have caught this cold over the telephone :-) ). So I went yesterday. I packed a zip lock bag with sucking candy, lots of tissues, and an old prescription bottle with one dose of the cough medicine I am taking. In another zip lock bag I had a small bottle I filled with water. Did I mention the temperature yesterday was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit? Luckily I did not need any of the items.
As a result of this normal housework and keeping things in order are only done if absolutely needed. Instead of changing the bedding, I changed only my pillowcases. I suggested he change his, but he said it was okay to just leave them until next week. I had to talk him through changing the hand towels. We were in the downstairs bathroom - “Where are they?” “In the cabinet under the sink - see those 2 whiteish towels? Take them and the green dish towel below them.” (I put out a green dish towel each week in that bathroom to use for quick clean ups of water around the sink - it matches the bathroom.) Upstairs? “Which towels?” “The yellow ones.” (I figured yellow was bright and he would easily see them.) “You mean these yellow ones?” They are the only yellow ones we have.
Last week I had washed and dried the clothes the night before I got the cold. A load of jeans were in the dryer drying overnight. So we had clothes for the week. I did not wash the towels or the bed linens. Good thing I have 2 weeks of towels plus one extra set for up and down. I was trying to figure out how to mention to him about the laundry when he brought it up. I put the clothes in to wash. He will put them in the dryer - with me talking him through it - and then bring them upstairs afterwards. He brought up last week jeans load when I put in the load to wash. He says he will fold the laundry. I normally pull out his shirts as I put the clean, dry laundry in the basket to take upstairs so that they do not need to be ironed, as I put them over the top of the other clothes and if he does that, and sorts mine from his, I can deal with my clothes and he can deal with his or leave them in the basket and pull them out as he needs them.
Hopefully either this cold will be definitely over with or he will give up by Monday so life can return to normal.
On the other hand, I had some extra time in the office as we came home quicker in the afternoons. I managed to shred all of my 2008 records - other than few I kept such as the checks written that year for our income taxes - 3 tall kitchen bags plus, worth of shredding. I then packed my 2017 records into the same box, relabeled it, and put it back in the closet - ah, room to fit papers in file folders again.
I also had time to transfer my 2017 computer files to my archive file and make 2 DVD copies of the revised archive files. I still have to change my back up files so that the old files are gone from them, but that will happen as I make backup files.
I went through an assortment of old computer instruction manuals sitting on a shelf in the office - why? I needed space for 2 magazine holders. I pulled a number of the manuals - mostly from programs or hardware that I had - and I will put them out over a couple of weeks with the recycling. I still have a stack for husband to go through - understand this are DOS or pre Windows XP software and hardware that I cannot figure out what or where it is. The magazine holders fit nicely in the shelf now with room for the manuals for computer things we are actively using.
The office floor is a mess due to my cheapness in not wanting to waste extra garbage bags when doing shredding and pouring from one to another - as well as throwing handfuls of shreds from one bag to another. I had planned to vacuum up the shreds - but then caught this cold - maybe tomorrow I will get to vacuuming.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One gets ill. It happens. I am glad that it only a cold so all it has been is inconvenient. In the larger world it is nothing, just an inconvenience. I am happy that is not serious and by next week either I will be better or he will give up trying to do things for me so he does not catch the cold. (I have never pointed out to him that I touch the light switches and so does he.)
Try to do as much as one can without overtaxing one’s self - this will vary based on what is wrong with one.
I leave you with a final achoo! If I rambled too much - will, hey! I have a cold! :-)
He doesn’t want to cook (although he used to love to cook and is the better cook). He doesn’t want to do the dishes. but he doesn’t want me to do either as I will get him sick. The first night he made dinner - ham steak that we shared and a packaged macaroni with mushrooms - add to boiling water and let cook - and canned soup. I did the dishes afterwards with disposable plastic gloves on. One night he was on the computer with a client and I asked if I should make dinner or wait for him and he told me he was busy - so I made dinner and he ate it, but not happily. Then the weekend came and cooking was resolved as we eat out Friday through Sunday nights. This week he cooked dinner on Monday. Last night as we were trying to figure out what to have for dinner a rain storm hit. I mean A RAIN STORM HIT. He received a warning on his cell phone - I did not, although my, no cell service for over a year as it was not working for Internet or phone service and I had to switch, Blackberry received a notice. (I keep it charged for it games and camera.) We had major lightning and thunder for about 2 hours - remember I have fired a reproduction 18th century cannon - the thunder was like cannon fire. We lost our electricity - one of husband’s other great fears. We stood/sat with the front door open watching “the show” . We live on a main road. A UPS truck went past to the right, then to the left, then two of them passed our house, then another one and so on. Assorted emergency vehicles passed the house in both directions with lights flashing - police, ambulances, fire trucks, a couple of electric utility trucks... Cars kept driving in the mess, some would pull over a few minutes and then go on. I am a pretty fearless driver (scared husband the few times he had to drive with me as the driver) and I would have pulled over. Sooo, what will we eat? I was thinking - we have rolls, peanut butter - crunchy and smooth, jelly - strawberry and Ikea ligonberry, American cheese, mozzarella cheese - no problem. I suggested this to him. NO! We cannot open the fridge or his insulin would go bad. (Well, technically if it got too warm it would still be good for 42 days, but I was not going to argue.) Luckily the rain let up around 10:30 pm. We got in the car and drove to a nearby supermarket and bought more rolls and cold cuts for dinner. On the corner passed a 7-11 shut down do to lack of electricity, employees seemed to be sitting in cars in the parking lot. We got home and were getting ready to eat and - the lights came back on. Apparently we were in the largest outage area so we were put back quickly. I honestly do not remember a thunderstorm with so much or such loud thunder with rain that heavy for so long.
Tonight we took in Chinese food - simple right? Not really. The place we took out from for decades (while I was waiting for the gas company to come and turn on the gas in our first apartment I went and took out from this place for lunch - I did not even have tableware, dishes, glasses, etc in the apartment - I did have a borrowed bridge table and 2 borrowed bridge chairs) has changed. The original owners ran it for a long time - we knew their children, I remember hearing a car stop short in front of our apartment and the father coming running to the corner because his younger daughter had been riding her bicycle and just missed being hit by the car. When he died his older daughter would come home from college on weekends to help her mom. Then the son took over for awhile - even though he really wanted to be fishing - and the place often had fresh fish due to same. Eventually the place was sold - to the son’s sister in law and her husband. They were also nice and the food was the same and we kept going there. Earlier this year we went there and the husband was not there and an older woman (I presume one of their moms) was cooking. The food was not good. We tried another place and were not happy with them. We went back to them figuring maybe it was the change in cook. But the last time we took out the soup was too salty to eat and all the dishes were wrong. We don’t know what happened. This is the place we called on our way back from our 5 hour trip in July, 2017 to get dinner made before they closed - http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2017/07/treading-water-5-hour-trip-to-nowhere.html So, we never know where to take out from and as a result we don’t. We receive an assortment of fliers from take out places and I keep them. One recently caught husband’s eye and he had been planning to try it - so tonight we did. Very nice people and food. Three street parking spaces in front of the 4 stores was the only parking. Then, since I was sick, husband did not hand me the food to hold on the trip home, he put it in a plastic laundry basket we keep in the back in the car, he did not put anything against the bag to hold it. Yes, the bag went on an angle and was soaked when he took it out of the car. After dinner we had to wash the vinyl cover I keep in the car, the basket, and back of the car. We will go back again - and I will hold the bag.
In the middle of all this I had to go to Manhattan to a client for work - I should have gone last month, but she had a cold (could I have caught this cold over the telephone :-) ). So I went yesterday. I packed a zip lock bag with sucking candy, lots of tissues, and an old prescription bottle with one dose of the cough medicine I am taking. In another zip lock bag I had a small bottle I filled with water. Did I mention the temperature yesterday was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit? Luckily I did not need any of the items.
As a result of this normal housework and keeping things in order are only done if absolutely needed. Instead of changing the bedding, I changed only my pillowcases. I suggested he change his, but he said it was okay to just leave them until next week. I had to talk him through changing the hand towels. We were in the downstairs bathroom - “Where are they?” “In the cabinet under the sink - see those 2 whiteish towels? Take them and the green dish towel below them.” (I put out a green dish towel each week in that bathroom to use for quick clean ups of water around the sink - it matches the bathroom.) Upstairs? “Which towels?” “The yellow ones.” (I figured yellow was bright and he would easily see them.) “You mean these yellow ones?” They are the only yellow ones we have.
Last week I had washed and dried the clothes the night before I got the cold. A load of jeans were in the dryer drying overnight. So we had clothes for the week. I did not wash the towels or the bed linens. Good thing I have 2 weeks of towels plus one extra set for up and down. I was trying to figure out how to mention to him about the laundry when he brought it up. I put the clothes in to wash. He will put them in the dryer - with me talking him through it - and then bring them upstairs afterwards. He brought up last week jeans load when I put in the load to wash. He says he will fold the laundry. I normally pull out his shirts as I put the clean, dry laundry in the basket to take upstairs so that they do not need to be ironed, as I put them over the top of the other clothes and if he does that, and sorts mine from his, I can deal with my clothes and he can deal with his or leave them in the basket and pull them out as he needs them.
Hopefully either this cold will be definitely over with or he will give up by Monday so life can return to normal.
On the other hand, I had some extra time in the office as we came home quicker in the afternoons. I managed to shred all of my 2008 records - other than few I kept such as the checks written that year for our income taxes - 3 tall kitchen bags plus, worth of shredding. I then packed my 2017 records into the same box, relabeled it, and put it back in the closet - ah, room to fit papers in file folders again.
I also had time to transfer my 2017 computer files to my archive file and make 2 DVD copies of the revised archive files. I still have to change my back up files so that the old files are gone from them, but that will happen as I make backup files.
I went through an assortment of old computer instruction manuals sitting on a shelf in the office - why? I needed space for 2 magazine holders. I pulled a number of the manuals - mostly from programs or hardware that I had - and I will put them out over a couple of weeks with the recycling. I still have a stack for husband to go through - understand this are DOS or pre Windows XP software and hardware that I cannot figure out what or where it is. The magazine holders fit nicely in the shelf now with room for the manuals for computer things we are actively using.
The office floor is a mess due to my cheapness in not wanting to waste extra garbage bags when doing shredding and pouring from one to another - as well as throwing handfuls of shreds from one bag to another. I had planned to vacuum up the shreds - but then caught this cold - maybe tomorrow I will get to vacuuming.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One gets ill. It happens. I am glad that it only a cold so all it has been is inconvenient. In the larger world it is nothing, just an inconvenience. I am happy that is not serious and by next week either I will be better or he will give up trying to do things for me so he does not catch the cold. (I have never pointed out to him that I touch the light switches and so does he.)
Try to do as much as one can without overtaxing one’s self - this will vary based on what is wrong with one.
I leave you with a final achoo! If I rambled too much - will, hey! I have a cold! :-)
Thursday, May 31, 2018
BOY DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG
First of all. I am not suppose to be here. I mean in our house, not sitting here posting to you. We used to go away for Memorial Day weekend, but since we have the RV it is easier to go away during the week before or the week after. Why? Well, when one makes a hotel reservation (at least when we used to) one could generally cancel it until the day one was suppose to be there or at least the day before. RV parks usually require a week or more notice of cancellation to not charge for a reservation - if they let you cancel at all. It is hard to get a reservation for big on season weekends (like Memorial Day) - we make our July 4 reservation for next year when we arrive at the park or we will not get one. Also it is crowded in Lancaster for the weekend and husband does not like all the “tourists” (yes, we are tourists too, but he considers us regular guests as we go so often) as the tourist places are too busy - and remember we have to park a huge over length van. But it is easy to make reservations at the last minute during the week before or after and there are less fellow tourists around so we have been doing this. Last week I had to go to work at a client, so we planned on going away this week. Of course it is raining almost every day this week in Lancaster, so we did not go. We may go tomorrow to Connecticut for the day - maybe the Hartford Cabella’s store and then a casino for walking around and dinner - we don’t gamble - I never have and husband no longer does as he has just as much or more fun just walking around and he doesn’t lose any money.
Now, what I did. Husband (and I) are Type II Diabetics. Husband takes a once a day insulin. It comes in “pens” and must be kept cold until the pen is started. That means, we bring home a box of 5 pens and they go in the fridge. He takes one out to start using it - it lasts him around 10 days - and then it stays out of the fridge at room temperature. There is a fixed range for the pens in the fridge, so I have to keep the fridge in range. I generally keep the fridge at 38 degrees Fahrenheit as it is in the middle of the range, but not so warm as to be a problem for food stored in the fridge. This allows for variations in the temperature in the fridge from use. When we travel in our RV I keep the fridge in it at the same temperature - but it is harder to keep it at temperature as it is more weather sensitive - oddly at night when it is cooler, the RV fridge gets warmer.
Normally the house fridge though, stays at the correct temperature fairly easily. If it needs to be warmer, I turn the dial (on either fridge) until it just shuts off. If it needs to be cooler, I turn the dial until it just kicks on. In the RV when traveling we keep the remote reader for the fridge in the front while traveling so we know what is going on - I have been known to jump to back to adjust it on trips when we stop for gas or other reasons.
So, Sunday evening I noticed that the temperature in the (house) fridge had dropped 2 degrees to 36 which is the lowest the insulin can go. I turned the temperature dial until it shut off. Worried that it had dropped 2 degrees and it was still running I did something I do sometimes. I opened the drawer in the fridge and used it to prop the door open a bit so it would heat up a bit inside it.
Only this time I lost track of the time! Husband came down and the fridge was at 46 degrees - the highest the insulin can go. We turned the fridge up but the temperature was not going down. He was convinced that I had broken the fridge. The insulin will last for 42 days out of the fridge, so 2 of the pens would have to be tossed if it was not working - plus the cost of the food in it and the cost of repair or a new fridge.
There was a scene - much panic yelling by him and apologies and crying by me.
He decided the fridge was not cooling because it needed to have the vents cleaned - so he vacuumed them - front and back - for me. (Well, one job less for me to do - not sure when last they were vacuumed.)
By the time we went up to bed the temperature was 44 degrees. Rather than both of us stay up all night and stare at the temperature remote, I had suggested we go up to bed and I would come downstairs every hour. We turned the air conditioner on and the overhead fan and went upstairs.
After we finished getting ready for bed, he went back downstairs and the temperature was down to 43 degrees - he was still in a panic, but I was pretty sure that the fridge was okay. I went down in an hour and it was at 41 degrees. I set the alarm for an hour and went to sleep for an hour - well, mostly I was awake. It was then down to 39 degrees. I turned the temperature down, just so the fridge went off. I went to bed for another hour and the temperature was holding at 39 so I went to sleep.
The fridge seems to be a bit more sensitive - it jumps around within a range okay for use more than it used to. Husband barely lets me open the fridge to take stuff out or put in - I have to grab everything at once, but the fridge seems okay and stays 37-40 degrees and corrects fairly quickly back to 38.
Why did this happen? Well, I was on the computer “talking” with some embroidery friends around the world and ----- forgot! What I should have done was set the timer in my mobile phone for maybe 5 to 10 minutes to remind. I do that for other chores - right now I am doing laundry and in 26 minutes (and some seconds) it will remind me to switch loads.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Don’t count on remembering things to be done - or noticing that it is time to do them. Use a timer or an appointment in your phone or a mechanical timer to remind you when to do something.
Now, what I did. Husband (and I) are Type II Diabetics. Husband takes a once a day insulin. It comes in “pens” and must be kept cold until the pen is started. That means, we bring home a box of 5 pens and they go in the fridge. He takes one out to start using it - it lasts him around 10 days - and then it stays out of the fridge at room temperature. There is a fixed range for the pens in the fridge, so I have to keep the fridge in range. I generally keep the fridge at 38 degrees Fahrenheit as it is in the middle of the range, but not so warm as to be a problem for food stored in the fridge. This allows for variations in the temperature in the fridge from use. When we travel in our RV I keep the fridge in it at the same temperature - but it is harder to keep it at temperature as it is more weather sensitive - oddly at night when it is cooler, the RV fridge gets warmer.
Normally the house fridge though, stays at the correct temperature fairly easily. If it needs to be warmer, I turn the dial (on either fridge) until it just shuts off. If it needs to be cooler, I turn the dial until it just kicks on. In the RV when traveling we keep the remote reader for the fridge in the front while traveling so we know what is going on - I have been known to jump to back to adjust it on trips when we stop for gas or other reasons.
So, Sunday evening I noticed that the temperature in the (house) fridge had dropped 2 degrees to 36 which is the lowest the insulin can go. I turned the temperature dial until it shut off. Worried that it had dropped 2 degrees and it was still running I did something I do sometimes. I opened the drawer in the fridge and used it to prop the door open a bit so it would heat up a bit inside it.
Only this time I lost track of the time! Husband came down and the fridge was at 46 degrees - the highest the insulin can go. We turned the fridge up but the temperature was not going down. He was convinced that I had broken the fridge. The insulin will last for 42 days out of the fridge, so 2 of the pens would have to be tossed if it was not working - plus the cost of the food in it and the cost of repair or a new fridge.
There was a scene - much panic yelling by him and apologies and crying by me.
He decided the fridge was not cooling because it needed to have the vents cleaned - so he vacuumed them - front and back - for me. (Well, one job less for me to do - not sure when last they were vacuumed.)
By the time we went up to bed the temperature was 44 degrees. Rather than both of us stay up all night and stare at the temperature remote, I had suggested we go up to bed and I would come downstairs every hour. We turned the air conditioner on and the overhead fan and went upstairs.
After we finished getting ready for bed, he went back downstairs and the temperature was down to 43 degrees - he was still in a panic, but I was pretty sure that the fridge was okay. I went down in an hour and it was at 41 degrees. I set the alarm for an hour and went to sleep for an hour - well, mostly I was awake. It was then down to 39 degrees. I turned the temperature down, just so the fridge went off. I went to bed for another hour and the temperature was holding at 39 so I went to sleep.
The fridge seems to be a bit more sensitive - it jumps around within a range okay for use more than it used to. Husband barely lets me open the fridge to take stuff out or put in - I have to grab everything at once, but the fridge seems okay and stays 37-40 degrees and corrects fairly quickly back to 38.
Why did this happen? Well, I was on the computer “talking” with some embroidery friends around the world and ----- forgot! What I should have done was set the timer in my mobile phone for maybe 5 to 10 minutes to remind. I do that for other chores - right now I am doing laundry and in 26 minutes (and some seconds) it will remind me to switch loads.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Don’t count on remembering things to be done - or noticing that it is time to do them. Use a timer or an appointment in your phone or a mechanical timer to remind you when to do something.
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