THE SIDE PORCH

I actually got something done this week - last Saturday when we got home I ended up dealing with the porch.  We have a small enclosed entryway to our kitchen door which in the most technical sense is our “porch”.  It is aluminum with screens on the top half of the walls.  It has a shelving unit with cabinet doors on the bottom of it on the wall between the door to the outside (facing the street) and the door to the kitchen.  On the back wall there is my husband’s boyhood work bench.  This has a shelf under it the top which holds a box for recycling of cans and bottles - just stick my hand out the kitchen door and toss in and I stack the newspapers on top of it for same.  There is a small garbage pail between the house wall and the table where I toss the soda bottles for return for deposit.  It also has some other storage items.  The rest of the porch is filled with stuff.  There is a narrow pathway from the door to door. 

What is in it which takes up so much more of the space?  Well, I tossed the plastic chair which was in the far corner years ago so that’s gone. I admit that much of this mess is mine.  I keep empty cardboard boxes to use to put out the recycling.  Our township gave out special green  plastic square boxes to put the recycling in (cans and bottles) when the program first started.  When we bought the house the box came with it.  I would dutifully put it out with our cans and bottles weekly and put the newspapers, tied in a stack (sometimes two stacks or more if I had been clearing out papers or it had been raining heavily or snowing the week before) either next to it or in it every week.  If we have a lot of snow it is a problem putting it out as where it goes cannot be reached if there is mounds of snow - sometimes I will leave it in our driveway cut, sometimes I hold onto it for the next week.  Nice and easy.

I am pretty sure that I mentioned that we live on a main, 4 lane road.  The sanitation workers did not neatly place the box back where it belonged on our property, they would drop it in the road.  Cars would hit it.  Eventually it was in pretty bad shape - even taped back together and it disappeared - my assumption being that the sanitation workers took it.  I called the department and they told me to come and pick up a new one.  So I drove down - about half an hour each way - to get a new box.  In the interim they had made the box larger.  The new box did not fit in the work bench.  Big problem - it did not fit anywhere usable and we could not figure out what to do with it.  Shortly after my sister-in-law was selling her late mother’s house and I had an idea.  My in-laws never believed in recycling so they had their box as originally given to them sitting in the garage.  I took my large one and exchanged it for their smaller one.  Worked well for us and the people in the house would probably have children and need the larger box anyway.  Well at some time since this box also was destroyed by being thrown in the street and disappeared I had to come up with a new idea.  (In the interim the sanitation department had dropped off the new, even larger, full garbage can sized recycling can which sits tossed behind the garage ever since as it would hold 2 months of our cans and bottles.  What really annoyed me about them leaving this can was it was left on the driveway, in front of the house - if only they did that with the boxes when I was using them - at the start of July that year - when people like us are away and it stands there as beacon that the house is empty.)

My solution has been to use cardboard boxes that come into the house to hold the recycling.  The box itself is recyclable so they just take it all.  To do this I hold onto cardboard boxes as we get them - small ones such as cereal boxes are good when I just have 4 soup cans and so on up to larger size boxes which can take a couple (few?) weeks worth when I have not have not been able to put out the recycling. (Really big ones can be cut in half to use for 2 weeks.)  They were all just  tossed and a mess.

I have not had a chance to return soda bottles and cans since doing so at the start of December.  Weather, things that needed to be done, etc. after my embroidery guild meeting had stopped me from me from doing so.  I had 3 large clear garbage bags with same floating about the porch. 

There are also several large spray bottles for poison ivy, killing weeds, etc. floating on the floor of the porch.  A couple of them are empty - but we were not sure how to dispose of them as they are “hazardous substances” and cannot go in the garbage.  (Since clearing the porch out a bit last weekend I have checked and they can only be returned at “STOP” events (stop throwing out poisons).  So we have to make a note and get out early enough to get to one - hopefully the July one as the June one is not near us and the July one is. 

Using a small plastic bag I was going to throw out I moved these into the far corner of the porch after I cleared out a full large garbage bag that was sitting there, I then put the plastic bags of soda bottles behind the bottles so both are out of the way.  The cardboard boxes which were kept were put on top of the same bags.  We had a large garbage bag in the middle of the porch to toss, well, garbage into.  That was moved further into this corner. 

We have a short office paper sized garbage pail in the porch.  I put our spare, sealed bag of snow salt in it and then put the started bag on top of it.  (The other spare bags are in the snow blower shed outside this porch.) 

We have a kitchen sized garbage pail in the porch which holds some of the assorted, brooms and shovels in the porch - I added some more of the lighter weight ones into it.  The three snow shovels should go into that same shed until next winter. 

Well, the porch is not really cleared out (I did not go through the large shelving unit, but much, if not all, of what is on the open shelf areas is needed and I did fell like going into the doored section - especially since I had not intended to do any of this) but it is so much better.  We can easily walk through it. 

The garbage bags were put out by the garbage pail that actually holds garbage outside the house - next to the snowblower shed.  Garbage pick up would be Monday and it could not go out to the curb before Sunday night.  I had 2 large black bags of garbage and a smaller white kitchen can sized one also.  I also had two relatively small filled bags with pieces of our driveway in them.  (One area of our driveway is falling apart and we can keep picking up the pieces as we are afraid that in winter if we use the snow blower it will send the pieces flying.) So I put those two bags out also.  Sunday night when I put all this at the curb I also added the usual kitchen garbage bag.

I am also taking smaller bags of the soda bottles - one put in the car as one bag of bottles is returned to get them rid of them in small amounts.  Husband hates the entire process (see the comment about his family not recycling in the body of this post) and I had been saving them up to take monthly.  This has become a problem this year and I would not have a chance to do so again until September.  I plan to get rid of the bottles a small bag at a time.  Once we are caught up the same bag or less will be returned weekly.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Sometimes when one never has time to do something, it suddenly becomes “oh carp, we have to do this NOW.”  If that happens do what needs to be done.  If you can prevent yourself from reaching that point - do it before it reaches that point.  Oh, and of course, the snow shovels still have not been put into the snow blower shed.






                               

Missing items and items forgotten about appear when decorating and decluttering

Last week I talked about putting out our outdoor Christmas decorations.  I also had the boldness to say that because I know where the Christmas items are stored it is easy to find them.  I apparently lied without knowing it.

We had not put our battery candles in the front windows when we put up the lights outside.  While technically inside the house as they are placed inside the windows, their purpose is to be seen from outside, so I consider them to be outside decorations.  When we remembered that we had forgotten to put them in place I immediately went to my candle drawer (holds all manner of candles) where I know I keep them.  They were not there - I took everything out of the drawer to check.  I looked in the drawer next to the candle drawer to see if I stuck them there - perhaps the candle drawer was too full?  These drawers are under our living room TV which is (old and analog and) in a cabinet we bought for it and the drawers are in the cabinet.  I then looked in all the “logical” places - the drawers in the end tables next to the sofa, the secretary  - shelves and drawers - no candles. 

Where could they be - maybe in with the inside the house decorations in 2 boxes in the basement?  I got the two boxes and opened and went through them - no candles.  I figured that sooner or later they would show up in my Christmas decorating and I was not going to go crazy over them.

I decided that since the boxes had been brought up and were sitting there and I had a hour or two until we went out for dinner, I would start putting out the decorations.  The decorations are artificial greens and swags and other small items to put out.  I started on the dining room decorations as husband still has his loom set up in the living room.  I put items here and there in the dining room and front hall (the items in the same box).  I came across two candle rings (small fake flowers in a ring intended to sit around the base of stubby candles) and I had an “aha” moment and knew where the window candles were. 

In addition to the plastic boxes in the basement I have 3 decorative boxes with Christmas items upstairs in a trunk at the top of the stairs, with some other Christmas decorations - two large angels and such.  The candles for the rings are in one of the decorative boxes - and I knew that the window candles must be in one also.  I went upstairs, moved the 3 families of bears who “live” on the trunk and opened it - there were the boxes and yes, the window candles were in there.  I took them out and put the boxes and bears back for now.  I put the candles on my desk as they have timers and have to be lit at the time I want them to go on.  A couple of days later I remembered at the right time and set them up with batteries and put them in the window - at last the outside lights are finished for this year!

I have been somewhat busy since then as I had my embroidery chapter meeting today and had to get paperwork together for it.  Also, I was not doing the project the group was doing at the meeting as I thought I would be away, so I had to pick something to bring to work on at the meeting. 

I also did a bit of decluttering.  We have 2 corner cabinets in our living room - they each have display shelves in the main part of them and then 2 shelves in a closed door cabinet at the bottom for storage.  One of them has items I somewhat often use for Thanksgiving, Christmas etc.  The other has items we either have never used or have not used in decades.  In addition to wanting to get rid of them in general, I figure with the tax law changes under discussion, this might be my last chance to donate them and get a tax advantage from same.  My husband is big on keeping things - “we might need it one day” or “maybe we could sell this, keep it”.  I would never get rid of anything of his, but I have to argue to get rid things that are mine also.  So while he was busy upstairs, I went through what was in the bottom of the cabinet.  I pulled out to donate glass serving bowls, glass platters, glass cake server which also can be a punch server, several candy dishes (in unopened boxes).  I brought them all to the kitchen, listed them on a piece of paper, and stored them in large shopping bags in our studio on my side of the room - he would just figure it was bags of my stuff (or his) if he saw them.  I also had some things to go on computers (not electronic stuff - paper holder that attaches to a monitor and the like) which had been waiting to go to storage or donation for at least 15 years.  Also a decorative jar that the lid just sits on -does not screw on for storage.  6 small wine glasses with a silver dipped edge - his mom’s, we got them after she died and we had previously discussed that they could be gotten rid of.  Lastly - when we replaced our mailbox earlier this year, we put the old one aside in the garage “in case the new one did not work out”.  This past weekend he had tripped on it in the garage while putting up the Christmas lights and swore at it - it was definitely time for it to go. 

Normally I would have put all this (5 bags worth plus the mailbox) in the car Tuesday nights - along with the soda bottles to be returned for deposit - but it was raining.  The soda bottles went out earlier in the evening, but not the donations.  So this morning I loaded them into the car.  After my meeting and various errands I drove to Goodwill and donated the stuff and then went to Walmart and returned the soda bottles.  Well, a small bit more room in the house.  I am trying to figure out what should now go in the bottom of that cabinet - there are some items I kept - mostly a hand crafted coffee set someone gave us as a wedding gift - I kept it as it is from someone he knew and won’t get rid of it without permission.  There are also display items in the cabinet for the items (a set of bear figurines which I rotate by month and need to raise some up so all can be seen) in the cabinet, which I left - I did find a box of the figurines I bought in the last couple of years as they have made a reappearance at flea markets and back stored stock of a store; I knew that there were more of them than I had found!  I have to organize all the new ones so they join the right month’s group of the ones I have.  (You know - lovers in February, flowers in May, graduates in June and so on.)

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Sometimes even when one thinks all is organized one is not - and items may happily appear as one unpacks items to be put out or when one goes through items to get rid of.     

I hope that none of you are in the area of the terrible fires in southern California.

IT'S NOT MY TIME ANY MORE

I know that I have mentioned that getting organized and my work - job work, house, and club treasurer work - done was much easier when my husband went out to work.  Monday to Friday was basically my own time.  I could do all my work in a couple of days if I wanted and relax the other days (never worked out that way though) or work a bit every day (more like most of every day) and so on. 

I was/am self-employed so I have no boss to answer to.  As long as I get my job work done by its due dates and accommodate my clients with times that are convenient for them, I could decide when to work at my job.  This still applies, but I have to deal with husband and what he wants to do and work around that.

We share a home office - sit at desks across from each other - so I miss sitting there and making telephone calls for any of the various types of work I do with no one watching me, listening to me and often telling me what I am doing wrong, as well needing to make him at least mute the TV (I taught him to have the TV on while doing things, so this is my fault I guess) so that I can hear who I am talking to on the phone and they don’t hear Capt Picard loudly talking in the background (he keeps the TV on rather loud, to say it politely).  I end up making telephone calls from bed instead, balancing paperwork and/or alternate PDAs on my lap so I can talk on my cell phone and still easily consult a calendar or bring everything down to the kitchen to use the table and still have to juggle what I am using.  Even worse, there are calls I have to make that I don’t want him to hear and he doesn’t want to hear (mostly the doctor to make appointment for us as he does not like to know in advance) and to correct problem related to same.  He commented to me that I had to make a couple of phone calls, in reference to picking new medical insurance for me for next years, and I pointed at a stack of papers - spread out in smaller stacks - and told him - “yes, as soon as I make all these other calls that are ahead of them”.  A discussion followed on the problems I have making telephone calls - the above and also the fact that we spend too long outside every day running “errands”.  I went a bit too far and had to apologize as I made him feel really bad - and I didn’t want to do that. 

We wake up late (and stay up late) which is a problem and I am worse than him at this as I am used to waking up slowly and alone.  We go out for lunch - despite my telling him before he quit his job that life is not a continuous vacation and we can’t eat out all the time - because he likes it and our lunches at Wendys cost no more than lunch at home - maybe even less.  Now, if we went and ate and left that would be okay, but we sit there and watch CNN on the TV, well he does, I sort of hear it above me while I watch a European sports channel on the TV at the other end of the room.  Then if it was up to me, we would go home, unless it was the day to food shop or some other needed errand.  He does not want to go home and therefore we spend time in stores “Where can we go today” walking senselessly around the stores.  We spent 2 hours yesterday buying food items to make dinner because I had mentioned a dish he used to cook and he decided to make it (I was trying to talk him into cooking).  He could not find the kind of cheese he needed...

Now this week I had a bunch of problems hit me at once.  A client I have had a problem with her credit card processor (I am sure I have mentioned this).  I had called and dealt with it while she and I were both away.  This week she is home and I need to go to her for the regular monthly accounting stuff.  I had been told that the amount which was credit to her account was about $500 less than the sale that was being credited.  So I telephoned on Monday (after the discussion above about telephones) to find out the breakdown of charges taken out - I was going to reimburse her for any fees resulting for my error and was told the amount I was told before was wrong and only the monthly fee that had also bounced back had been charged.  I let out my breath - I didn’t have $500 to give her and was glad I did not have to.  But, I was told, it looks like a sale she made is being held.  Huh?  It is a much larger sale than she normally makes and they need information to pay it.  I got a list of the info and planned to get the info when I went in to her this week.   I telephoned her Tuesday about it - she had telephoned me while I was out about it also.  She had a telephone call that there was a problem with the sale - she was positive that she would never get the money for it from the processing company and there is a problem with IRS about it - because I had filled in a form wrong when she signed up with this company.  Huh?  She gave me the name and phone number of the man who called and I must talk only to him according to her - his number was a switchboard and she had no extension number or department name.  I left a message with customer service at the number to call me.  Today I called the department I spoke with about the sale on Monday, hoping it was the same department although a different phone number and the woman I had spoken with, very nicely tracked down how to contact him.  I spoke with him and he needs a simple form.  I know I did not fill in the original form and will deal with her about it.  Tomorrow I will take care of all this, hopefully, when I go there.

I missed this month’s meeting of my embroidery group as we were away. Next month’s meeting is being led by a member and kits or part of kits and own material are needed for the meeting.  It was mentioned at the meeting I missed to the members and a list was made for her to order for members.  It occurred to me that not everyone was there who might want to do the project next month, and I contacted her about my sending out an email.  I then did so with her info.  The person who ran last month’s meeting, then sent me additional info about the supplies and I sent out another email to everyone - this one, for some reason, bounced back from one member because of what it said(?).

Our reenacting unit is doing an event midweek next week for a school.  Suddenly the school needs paperwork - some I have to get from 3rd parties - including an invoice.  We are not sure if the event will be on one day or the next (in case of rain the first day) and we are having trouble getting members who can come midweek.  So I had to call the unit’s insurance company for part of the paperwork , do a form from IRS, and write 2 invoices (one for each day, just in case) and get them out. 

Oh yes, the medical insurance I need to pick and sign up for?  Well, after my call to the doctor on Monday I decided which one to take and we started to sign me up for it on the computer.  Despite the fact that the signup period started November 1, the computer sign up was not yet working on November 11 and would start on the 15th (today), so we still have to go back and sign me up. 

If my time was own as it used to be all this would be so much easier.  Of course in addition to all this, I have had to reconcile bank accounts for us, our business, and both clubs, pay bills, juggle money in the bank so bills could be paid, plus all of the housework I could do.  Due to weather and the fact that on Halloween when we went away, the recycling had not been taken, I put out 5 weeks of recycling this week.  Similarly we had not been able to put out garbage last week - and the office garbage does not go out every week, only if the pail is full, I put out 5 bags of garbage for one pickup, instead of the usual 1.

Tomorrow I will drive for at least an hour, ride a subway for 15 minutes, then ride subway back 15 minutes and drive home for two - three hours (in is off peak, home is rush hour - sort of, 3 pm is rush hour these days) after working for 3 hours at client and it will not be fun this visit as I have to resolve the problems and make her understand what is going on with everything.  Well, at least I get away from husband for the day and get to drive.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

One has to work with the time one has.  Limits put on one’s times by someone else are just one more thing which has to be dealt with.  Problems are not something which can be foreseen and planned for.  We can only do what we can do. 

Oh, and husband just came down and told me he made a sale on his online business and now, at 1:25 am, we have to get it ready to go out - and I do the paperwork.

STARTING MY THIRD YEAR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

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

SAGA OF THE NEW MAIL BOX

Getting things done moves slowly in our house.  To give you an idea of how slowly - we have been in the house over 25 years and still have not had a house warming party.  Most things do not take that long, but we tend to be over cautions and take our time.  We shopped for 3 years before buying a new snowblower  - our old one not having been used in decades and was no longer working.

Now some background.  For over two decades we had a great Post Office where we live.  The mail was delivered with no problem.  When we went away for summer vacation and had our mail held, when we picked it up there was no problem and mail delivery was immediately restarted.  About 3 years ago we started having problems with our mail delivery - in the past 2 years, when I started keeping track,  three items for my accounting business from IRS - with all my personal and business identification information in all three - went astray and never made it here.  Two credit card statements - from two different banks - ditto.  A few bank statements from assorted banks - ditto.  Several pieces of mail - mostly ads, but still they could have been important mail, has shown up having been opened by someone else and then taped closed again - obviously delivered to someone else and opened in error by them, taped closed and dropped back in the mail.  We have gotten a number of items addressed to other people and delivered to us.  Now, I don’t mean the neighbor next door or down the street - these are addressed to people on streets we have never heard of and we have lived in the immediate area for almost 40 years and husband grew up for another 15 or more years, so these are not streets in the nearby area either.  We have been working on switching our mailing address to our Post Office box, which is at a different Post Office than the one our house mail goes through.  When we mail items out they go through the Post Office with our box.  (Due to the design of the different Post Offices’ coverage areas by community our Post Office is further away from us than two other Post Offices as we live at the far northern end of the coverage area, so we have always used one or the other of these two nearer Post Offices to send out mail.)

When we used to travel by car and stay at hotels we would take several weekend trips during the year and a longer summer vacation (up to 3 weeks when husband was working).  We would not have our mail held for the weekend trips - we would leave after Friday’s mail was delivered and take it in before we left and then just Saturday’s and possibly Monday’s mail would be delivered depending on whether we came home Sunday or Monday night.  We would have the mail held by the Post Office for summer vacation and then go in, pick up the mail, and restart delivery.  (We would not notify the other Post Office to hold the Box mail either, except for the summer as they automatically set aside in the back any excess mail over the size of our box.)

We now tend to travel in the middle of the week instead of the weekends for our short trips - and there are fewer of them.  It is easier to get a space at a RV park midweek  - a reservation at an RV park generally cannot be canceled close to the date so we tend not to make reservations for short trips until we know for sure that we are going.  Also the place we normally go for short trips is a heavy tourist area with a lot of weekend visitors which crowd many of the places we go and annoy husband, so we go midweek instead.  Now when we go away the mail three to four days of mail ends up sitting in the box in front of our house.  (We tend to leave earlier in the day on the trip as some local main roads are under construction and we have to get to a certain point after the worst of rush hour and before construction starts for the day, so the first day of the trip’s mail is now in the box where before we took it in before we left.)  So we now feel more uncomfortable leaving the mail in the box in front of the house while we are away.  We don’t want to have the mail held as this has become a problem with our Post Office.  The solution?  We decided last year that we need to have a locking mailbox for the front of the house.

We have a post mail box, meaning we have the type of box that sits on top of a post, similar to those in more rural areas where the boxes sit along the side of the road so that the postal delivery person (who used to be the “mailman”) can put the mail into the box without leaving his vehicle.  However, we have our post and mailbox adjacent to our front door not at the street - just a bit more secure than having the mailbox at the street.

On and off since the beginning of 2016's travel season we have been looking at replacement mail boxes.  We picked out one that we liked - it is shaped like a regular post mail box (round top), but locks closed.  Somehow that idea got set aside for the winter and nothing was done - not unusual as I mentioned at the start of the post - for us. 

About a month or so we again went out looking at mail boxes.   This time we decided that box was too small and we were looking at larger rectangular boxes.  We have a choice of buying a mail box at Home Depot or Lowes.  I guess Ace has them too, but they are more expensive.  We made our choice. 

Last week husband brings up the subject again - we go to Home Depot and Lowes and compare what they have and the prices.  Looking at the box we were planning to get, we started thinking - “Hmmm, does that make it look like there something really exciting in the mail box as it is so large and locked.  Will it make it more attractive to someone to break into it?”  We decide to get the first mail box which looks more like a regular mail box and might not be more attractive.

Sunday we buy the mail box.  Now remember, we are not morning people and our normal Sunday is a trip to Costco, BJs, and a different Walmart than usual in the next county, with lunch at the Costco.  So by the time we buy the mail box and head home it around 4 pm.  (Can you see where this is going?)

We take the mail box into the garage (and climb over the snow blower which we still have not bought a shed for it to live in and over the leaf blower we used 2 years ago, etc. plus all the power tools set up in this with all in disarray as husband always says “I really have to clean up in here” but we never do).  We open the box and check the mail box and it looks fine.  It come with 2 matching sets of 2 keys (four keys which each fit both the front and back locks on the box).  The keys are there and of course get taken out of the envelope they came in.  Logic would say to put one set of keys in one of our pockets and leave the other set of keys in the envelope, but both sets are taken out of the envelope. 

First thing to do is remove the old mailbox from the post.  We do this very easily - four small screws, two in each of the left and right sides of the mailbox.  The old mailbox is set aside in the backyard - just in case this all does not work out. 

We had to buy a piece for the mail box which allows it to be on the post, on a different type of post or on a wooden arm (in choice of 2 different directions).  So the second thing to do is attach this piece to our post.  We open the piece and take out the instructions and find the hardware needed to put it on the type of post we have.  This involves putting four LONG screws into the wood of the post - two in the front and two in the back.  Now understand, husband has a major assortment of power and hand tools.  Problem - the hole in the piece is slightly larger than our post - it will not affect the piece sitting around the post, but the piece has to be level with the top of the post, but slides down it.  We both have the same idea - he screws a scrap piece of wood diagonally over the hole and now it sits on the top of the post.  We place the piece in position on top of the post.  He takes out a battery operated screwdriver and starts screwing one of the back screws through the piece and into the post.  It stops about half way in and will not go further.  Husband goes and gets a plug in drill and tries - same problem.  “I guess I should have drilled a pilot hole.”  He unscrews the screw and gets a thin drill bit.  The drill bit goes partway in and breaks.  So now there is a drill bit in the wood where the screw needs to go.  We decide to ignore this screw for now.

He goes to the front and, with a larger drill bit, drills a pilot hole and with the combination of battery operated screwdriver, plug in drill, and hand screwdriver - he finally gets the screw in.  Yay!  This is repeated on the other front and the other rear screw - these having their own problem as he stand on the flattened (for this purpose) branches of a shrub..  Along the way he looks at his watch and says “so much for dinner” - it will be too late to go out for dinner, as we do on Sunday evenings, when we are done.  We can’t stop as it will be too dark to finish later and we won’t have a box for Monday’s mail delivery.

We test the piece and it rocks as it is missing the first screw which we were unable to put in.  What to do?  I came up with the idea of using the four small screws that we took out of the old mail box and post.  The side of the piece to hold the mail box has holes in the side for a different assembly - but that assembly is for the piece to be raised up so the sides overlap the holes.  We manage to get these screws into the side holes and the piece no longer rocks.

Third step - putting the mailbox in place.  We need a key for this as the bolt heads go inside the mail box.  I go back to the garage - I can only find one set of keys.  Rather than waste time I figure husband has the other set and this set is plenty to work with.  Putting the mailbox in place actually goes rather well.  (It does bother me that a security mail box has nuts on the bottom of it connecting it to the connecting piece, which itself is screwed on by accessible screws - so either set of screws can be removed - but that is how it is.)  We try the doors and they work - there is room to open the back of the box from the house door (we were worried it was too close to the house).

I then mention the missing keys.  He does not have them.  We go back into the garage and find them.  We go into the house.  I immediately take one of the keys and put it onto my key ring - just in case.  We have dinner and the evening passes. 

Husband suggests that we put up a “decorative” hook in the front hall for a mailbox key to be hung from - “we will look for one”.  Oh yes, more time wasted shopping and juggling the key in the interim and how long will that take?  Then I remember something which I did not donate when I thought to do so.  A nice, small brass plate with a double hook at the bottom.  I think we got it as a gift from his sister - that is in the back of my head.  It was a bit “Victorian” for our “Georgian” style decor so we did not buy it.  But there it is - in the bottom drawer of my desk - wow I even found it exactly where I thought it would be.  He likes it and rushes to put it up.

Now we have to put a key on a piece of yarn to hang it up - here’s the single key on a ring - where is the other ring with two keys?  (How can I be able to find something I haven’t seen in years on the first try, but a set of keys for something we bought the same day keeps disappearing?)  We find them and I put in them with the instructions, etc. to put away.  He puts the key on a piece of yarn and hangs it up.

The mail box works!  We have taken in mail from it for three days now.  It is not a problem to open with the key.  Now we can go on a trip and not worry about the mail sitting at home snug in its locking box.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Find something you keep putting off doing - one thing.  And do it!  Every step forward is something done.


Epilogue -

We had to take the old mail box into the garage due to a MAJOR rain and wind storm Monday.  I plan to clean it up a bit and take it to Goodwill on my next trip to same with items to donate.  This will keep it out of the garbage and help someone who can use the mail box as its only problem is that we wanted a locking one - the box itself has much life left in it.

CATCHING UP

Well tax season is behind me now and I am trying to catch up on everything which fell by the wayside. 

It amazes me that when I was working full time in the first 4 months of the year I would do payroll taxes for 10 business clients twice each - January & April - and the January ones involved typing W2s for all the employees of the clients, corporation or partnership returns for the businesses, year end sales tax for most of them (NY has a sales tax year which ends the end of February and is due in March), and personal returns for about 40 clients while also keeping house, dealing with Easter and Passover, a trip out of state for my husband’s birthday, and towards the end of April - a trip to Maryland for a reenactment event, plus dealing with my embroidery chapter and reenactment unit’s treasuries and renewal of membership for the reenactment unit.  It exhausts me to just list all of this.

These days I have about 6 tax returns, two corporations and a partnership (and only one of the businesses is not ours), three sales tax returns, payroll taxes for one company which has one employee, little to do for the holidays or husband’s birthday, and no trip to Maryland (too cold for RV to be dewinterized).  Still dealing with the two treasuries and the renewals for the reenactment unit.  Yet, I still have trouble finishing it all up timely.  It is true that work expands to the time allotted to do it.  Maybe this thought comes to mind just because I am watching the series on TV about Einstein and that brings to mind his relativity theory.

Think about it - you look around.  The house needs decluttering and cleaning.  If you have guests coming over on Friday - you are going to do what you do before Friday, if they are not coming until the first of next month - the same work will take you until then - right?  We used to have a room where no one could go when we had people in also.  When I was a girl it was my bedroom closet.  Mom would tell me periodically (I am guessing when people were going to be coming or she just could not look at it any more) to clean my room.  I would do as much as I could - then what was left would be tossed into the bottom of my closet.  (Sound familiar?)  Once or twice a year I would even be told to clear out the bottom of my closet - generally I would find items such as the bag with most of my Trick or Treat candy in it around May or June - that was a toss out as mom told us we would get sick if eat anything that old.  One problem was that no one ever actually explained to me the concept of throwing things out or passing them along, to me cleaning was put everything out of site.  I have since learned better. 

So now I am dealing with the catchup.  The stack on my desk - on top of my “todo folder”, which means that these items must be done before I can start on what I have to do - is shrinking. 

I spent an afternoon dealing with items waiting for me from our reenactment unit.  In addition to being treasurer I am also the membership chair as it is easier for one person to do so.  Dues are long ago collected, the dues collected for our national went out on time back in March. Membership cards had been typed up (yes, typed on a typewriter) and given to the unit commander to mail to members.  I had managed to get to the bank and deposit the dues check - and one for an event the unit did in January.  But, some members have been waiting to be paid for money laid out and I had to pay them.  One of our unit insurance policies had come in and I paid it.  I had the forms that members had filled in which had to be scanned into the computer so I could shred and toss the originals.  I had to make up the membership list for the year.  I worked on all this - all done except it took until today to get a clarification from one member as to whether the new phone number she gave me was her home or cell number that had changed.  I heard from her today - the new list will be out to the commander to email out by this weekend - I hope.

I managed to keep up on paying the bills for my embroidery chapter - most were to third parties, and were paid right away.  A couple of checks to members for, again, money laid out just were written.  Our national embroidery group has a membership year that runs from June through the following May (yeah, it confuses the heck out of me why that is the year for membership dues - the financial year is a calendar year, and somehow in the change from quarterly renewals based on when members had joined to an annual one - we paid for the month of June twice one year) and while I am not the membership chair, I help her as the treasurer.   I do serve as the newsletter editor and today wrote the May newsletter for the chapter, which is also the meeting notice for our upcoming meeting.  This one was a bit harder than most.  Last week chapter president had emailed her message for the month which included talking about the program for the meeting - which was not exactly what I remembered and had on our website as the meeting program.  I had a hands on project - she had a “fashion show” of what I had us doing - she had in mind the idea that we had sort of worked on this all year and members should show what they have done on the project.  I doubled checked with her and yes, that was the meeting program.  Yesterday I got an email from the VP of the chapter and she had the info to do the project I thought we were doing - and she was the leader of the project.  I also had an email from the chapter president saying a sort of “whoops - I guess I thought about it differently” and that I should go ahead with the project as the meeting and maybe include bring in items started.  I had to combine both ideas.  The president had told me to dump her message, but I managed to work it into a version of what she wanted for the meeting as a side to the hands on project.  Plus I had a lot of related exhibitions to list, so what should have taken half an hour to put together - 2 hours!  Then after it was emailed out (and I email out one version to our members and some region people and the same with a “you asked for this, let me know if you don’t want it” message to people who have asked for info about our chapter) I realized that I had forgotten something urgent.  Yes, I forgot to tell the members that it is renewal time.  So I sent out a separate addendum to the only the members. 

That leaves bank statements to reconcile, a month’s worth of filing for our reenactment unit papers (I managed to do the month’s worth of personal, business, and embroidery chapter filing over last weekend), and an assortment of other items to do - including scanning in our personal tax return and papers and printing a copy of same for my records.  (Right now there is a stack - you know about stacks right? - of the tax papers in front of the office closet waiting for me.)  If I had one day to sit and work....  Tomorrow I have to go to Manhattan to my remaining business client (other than our businesses) and do the books and payroll taxes. 

I also need to pull out the 2007 box of old records.  I will shred almost all of what is in the box.  I scan the credit card and other bills to see if there is anything I need to hold onto.  With the credit cards I will scan each for amounts over $100 to see what they are.  Sometimes there may be a reason to keep a larger receipt - generally not and they will be shredded also. I will also pull out any checks, W2, or 1099 forms which paid income taxes (for the business if it paid corporation taxes, sales taxes, or annual filing fee) and keep them.  I always do that.  It is good to always keep proof that taxes were paid. 

I will then refill the box with the matching paperwork from 2016, change the label on the box to 2016 and put it back in the top of the office closet.  To make this easier I have different color labels on file folders in my files for permanent (leave everything in this folder in it) and annual (check this folder every year to see if anything should stay in it - or be put in the annual box).  I use red or yellow for annual and blue or green for permanent - red and blue are used for our personal files and for my embroidery chapter files, yellow and green for our corporation files and our reenactment unit files.  I also have a folder with items which need to be added to the 2015 box.  Then I will be able to open the office closet door again without having to move stacks of paper. :-)
                                   
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Take a deep breath and start doing a bit of  “spring cleaning”.  If nothing else switch whatever you need to from winter to spring.  If you put away winter clothes - see what you will not want next year and either donate it now or put it in a labeled box for the fall to donate then, if where you donate will only take seasonal items.  This way you can donate it without having to look at it again then.

Remember that time is relative, but one can only do so much.

And - if you live near where Carvel is located and you read this post early enough - Thursday, April 27 is free cone day this year.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS CATCHING UP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHAT A WEEK - AGAIN!

This was another whirlwind week of not much done. 

First - more Christmas followup.  I have packed most of my bear figurines from the living room and will soon put out my February bear figurines from the same set.  Large Santas and elves stored away on top of the main tree’s box and the basement was put back into order so that all could be used again down there.

Last Saturday night after we came home from the movies husband went upstairs to go online.  I was in the kitchen downstairs on this laptop doing the same.  Husband came running down the stairs a short while later.  He asked me if I was cooking anything as he smelled something burning.  I was not and went upstairs with him.  At the top of the landing I smelled an electrical burning smell. 

When we went into the office I knew it was coming from my side (the nearer to the door side) of the office.  I unplugged everything plugged in on my side.  We waited and the smell cleared up.  I then started plugging things back in, one at a time.  When I plugged in the printer the smell came back.  Unplugged it - smell went away.  We took out the paper tray and the toner cartridge and looked - nothing stuck inside.  We left it unplugged to explore what could be the problem.  After looking online and contacting the manufacturer we determined that the printer was no longer safe to use.  If plugged in the burning smell returns - blowing out of the side vents.  We were lucky that we were home when it started and we got the printer unplugged before it or anything else caught fire.

Now, we do/did have another printer set up in the room - it just costs more per copy - so that is not a problem.  It is all in one so we also lost the scanner, copier and fax.  Well, I also have a copier - it predates the computers but still is used and works well.  That left the scanner and the fax lacking.  We each have a scanner from before this one.  Husband went to set his up  - it does not seem to work with Windows 7 (or 10).  He managed to get it up and working with an older computer he still has set up which has Windows XP.  I have not tried to set up my older scanner yet - it will probably have the same problem and need to be set up to use with my laptop if we don’t replace the all in one now.  The fax function - well, we only fax a few times a year - mostly for medical matters so I am not as worried about same.

Husband immediately went out to buy a new unit - we saw what he thought we should get - a duplexing color laser all in one unit, which also duplex scans.  Pricey, but it is for my work.  Then he read the reviews and it did not rate well - actually none of the units seem to rate well.  He was in a hurry - I told him we should wait and take our time.  While in an office store over the weekend we saw a similar model - except it has no color.  Husband’s printer prints color, but he has not been happy with the color printing, so he was happy at the thought of a different color printer.  But, if we get the same unit without the color it is half the price - so that it was what we plan to go with. He took the old unit downstairs yesterday - we get a credit if we trade it in towards the new one.  Important - we made sure that there is nothing in any memory that might provide personal information to anyone - I checked with the manufacturer on what needed to be cleared and how to so so.  Tomorrow we plan to go and buy the replacement unit (on sale only until this Saturday and it will double in price if not bought by then).   I am sure setup and getting to know the new unit will take awhile. 

I also had my embroidery group meeting this week - I am on the board so I have to prepare a report for the meeting and it was my turn to bring snack - so yesterday in the (relatively light) snow we went out and spent an hour buying a small cake and a box of small doughnuts for me to bring. 

After the meeting I returned our soda bottles accumulated since the last meeting for their deposits and switched my offsite flash drive at the bank vault.  I tried to visit a couple of stores we don’t go to.  The craft store is now primarily a clothing factory.  The “new” supermarket has already gone out of business.  I did buy some canned tomatoes on sale.

Right now I should be doing the laundry and running my suitcase heater (stuff I brought to the meeting today and mail that has come in from people) but I had two new things tonight to deal with and if I did what I am suppose to do also - my head would explode - and I had to get my post written for tonight.

I use my old cell phone, a Palm, around the house as a PDA as my newer phone, a Blackberry, does not work for the “to dos” with the software I like.  I sync one and then the other with the same program in my computer.  The Palm would not sync.  I tried various things - including using a spare sync cord I have and trying to sync it with this laptop - but the computer does not “see” the Palm.  Too much going on right now.  I will work around this and not sync it until I figure out what is going on.  I may need to use husband’s old Palm which matches mine if mine is broken.  For now - I will not go crazy and get upset - I will use the appointments section of my Blackberry to deal with new items to do and to record what I have done when I am not at my computer until I figure it out. 

I paid some bills due out tomorrow and did some follow up to today’s meeting and made dinner.  During dinner husband says to me “You know that day trip to Pennsylvania I wanted to take a couple of weeks ago - maybe we can go Friday.”  My brain starts whirling - nothing major to do, I will just ignore the Palm problem a little longer. We can buy the printer tomorrow - even if we don’t get it set up, we will have bought it while it was on sale.  Uh, oh, there were other bills due out Friday and over the weekend and I need to transfer money to our business account - went upstairs after dinner and paid the bills and wrote a check to the business account - have to deposit it and another check tomorrow.  Soda on sale - we have to buy by Saturday when the sale ends - either tomorrow or Saturday it is.  So, I got downstairs much later than normal to write to all of you after a week of basically “treading water” to keep from falling behind and basically said to myself - “the laundry and the heating of the stuff can wait”.

I did clean the upstairs bathroom rather extensively last week.  I even got down on my hands and knees and cleaned around the edges where the floor meets the walls.  We have rather small bathrooms.  I have to lie across the (closed) toilet bowl to clean behind it - on an angle to one side and then again on the opposite angle to the other side.  To clean between the sink and the tub  I have to climb into the tub and lean out - but only slightly or I would hit my head on the sink.  Hah!  That’s when I bruised my knee - it was during cleaning the bathroom - I knew I would remember where the bruise came from!

TODAY’S THOUGHT ON ORGANIZING -

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.  What I mean by this is that if something exists to use to do something or there is a good way to do something - don’t try to come up with something else.

I used to sort my laundry on an old bed sheet on the floor of the basement.  After we had mice husband said that it was too disgusting a place to sort the laundry.  I kept trying to figure out what to use instead.  I brought a tray table over near the washer and was balancing laundry on it for awhile as I tried to figure out what to do. 

Then one day it hit me - something exists to sort laundry into - it is called “a laundry sorter”.  You know, those frames with 3 bags hanging from them that one sorts laundry into.  How could I not have thought of same.  I never used one as I do not sort laundry in the typical way.  I normally sort the laundry by throwing the clothes (except jeans and other heavier items) into the washer, then a pile of towels, a pile of bed linens, then jeans and the heavier items into another pile.  Sometimes for various reasons there is more laundry and more piles. 

So now the clothes go into the washer as before.  The towels go into the front section of the sorter.  The bed linens in the next section.  The final section gets jeans, sweatshirts, etc.  The items in the last section are not necessarily washed every week. I hold them for a fuller load - I will do a load of jeans or I will do a load of heavier clothing such as sweatshirts as needed. 

So the idea is that if there is a way to do something, use it - don’t try to come up with a new way to do it. 

BEST LAID PLANS...

The reason for the title of this weeks post is that we had several things fall apart on us.  We were to be away and I planned a part 2 of “Organizing and Storing in our Tiny RV”.  We decided not to go away - luckily before I made up the bed in rather hot weather - hotter in the RV.  This turned out to be even luckier because of what happened.  The piece will be written and run at a later date.

In addition to backing up my data, mentioned in a prior post (Organizing Computer Files, June 22, 2016) I also back up my computer.  I do this on a monthly basis.  I back up the computer, using a software program, to an external hard drive.  Currently I am using a newer, larger hard drive I bought for this purpose (monthly backups). I have been making a new back up of the computer quarterly, with incremental backups for the following two months - by this I mean I make a new backup in January, then add to that backup in February and March and then make a new backup in April, etc.  I also back up to the older external drive quarterly - in January, April, July, and October - each time a complete new backup - just in case the drive with the backups ever failed.  I hate loading software when I get a new computer and did not want to deal with doing so for lack of backing up my computer or loose anything in case of a problem with the computer’s hard drive.

So last Friday I backed up my computer to a new monthly backup on what I will call (external hard) Drive N - for new - with no problem.  At the same time I back up my computer which is a desktop, I also backup each of my two laptops on the same schedule.  I backed up my smaller, newer laptop before backing up the desktop computer to both hard drives with no problem.  I then attempted to make the quarterly backup of my desktop to the other drive - (external hard) Drive O (for old) and the same software just used for the monthly backup, but could not make up a backup due to bad sectors.  I tried twice and then decided that instead of panicking I would wait and try it again another day.  My older laptop is very s l o w and I set it up to run the backup overnight.  I did the monthly back of it to Drive N overnight that night - no problem. 

Saturday night, over night, I set my laptop up and did a quarterly backup onto Drive O - again no problem.  So now I was pretty sure that there was no problem with Drive O.  I then tried to backup my desktop to Drive O - again, it could not as I had bad sector problems.  On Sunday evening, just to be sure that the problem was the hard drive of my desktop, I attempted a new, complete backup of my desktop to Drive N - to which it had backed up on Friday with no problem - it also could not make a backup due to bad sectors on my desktop’s hard drive.  So, I told husband and asked him what to do.  He told me that I needed to get a new hard drive in my desktop.  It would not be much of a problem as we had backups and they are relatively inexpensive.  (Can you see where this is going?)

So he did some research on hard drives (he builds our desktop computers these days) and figured out which one we should get and we went and bought it.  At this time we were still thinking about going on a trip this week.  Luckily we decided not to go on the trip just as we were starting the restoration of the computer to the new hard drive.

We brought the new drive home and disconnected the computer from all its wires.  He had the good idea to have me take photos with my cell phone of each of the connections on the back of the computer to aid in putting them all back where they came from.  It is filthy with dust - I dusted it and after we open it, we vacuumed it and dusted the parts that did not vacuum inside and out. 

He disconnected and removed the old hard drive and we set it aside.  Relatively easily he wires in the new hard drive and it snaps into place.  We have trouble putting the sides back on the computer (it is a tower) and then remember it has to be done with the case lying down.  The sides go back on.  We are aided in all of this as I have the instruction books from the computer case and the computer chip from when he first assembled the computer, set aside in a folder for my computer (there is a folder for each computer he assembled - 3 to date). 

By now the office is a bit disorganized - large manila envelope with computer instruction folders, parts, wires, box to new hard drive, old hard drive, work I had planned to work on... all out and about on the floor and what was before clear space on desks and printers. 

We put the wires back on the computer.  We turn it on.  I use a touch pad instead of a mouse for the computer - it does not work.  We then spend 15 minutes looking for a USB plug in mouse, including a trip by husband to the RV in case it was there - he finds it on his desk attached to a Raspberry Pi project (very small computer and coding).  (We have since bought a second such mouse to keep around for when we need one in a situation such as this.)

We hook up Drive N (remember both N and O are external drives), we put the recovery disk into the computer’s DVD drive and start the computer.  It finds the internal hard drive, it finds the DVD drive, then it keeps spinning.  Finally we give up.  We shut down the computer .  We then hook up Drive O, restart the computer,  and it appears on the screen.  He runs the restore software.  We go to reboot the computer and see that it has been restored - the computer will not boot.  Of course, we try turning it off and on several times before being sure that there is some problem.

He looks up on the Internet what to do if the boot manager is missing.  Oh, so easy, just run Windows repair.  Well, I have the disk, but - it is in the closet in the office, which has all sorts of items from our earlier efforts of installing the hard drive and the project I hoped to work on spread around the room and blocking the closet door.  So all of this must be moved elsewhere (in a crowded bedroom being used as a library and an office for 2 people).  The Windows disk is put in the computer.  He follows the directions on the Internet - I sit at his computer and read him the command line.  We turn off the computer - then turn it on - it does not boot. 

One instruction we find online says to reinstall Windows.  We do so - which wipes out the restoration of the hard drive - computer now boots - yea!  We reinstall the backup - it does not boot.  We repeat this several times (we worked on this from around 3 pm to after 8pm- Chinese food for dinner as no time to cook).

As he has been doing the research for this online he finds out something important - the backup program, a popular (paid program, not freeware) has a reputation for not working.  He had a problem when he tried to restore once before, but found that there was a problem if the backup or restore was done using USB 3 connections - so we had been using USB 2 connections.  He reads that a newer version of the program does not recognize drives bigger than 5 TB, maybe it did not work at all with Drive N as this is an older version of the software and the drive is 4 TB, while Drive O is only 1 TB?                  

We finally give up.  He reloads Windows and now I must find and reinstall all my software.  Luckily the data, which was on a USB flash drive is intact as are the backups of it as they were on same and were done with different software so my data is all intact.  I realize as I start to install software that much of my software is freeware and the downloads are on the old hard drive which was replaced.  I did not anticipate needing to replace any of it by hand and so I also did not anticipate needing to get it off the drive before we took it out of the computer.  While the programs could be downloaded again, many of them are older versions of the programs because I did not like the updated versions (and in many cases neither did husband), so I really need access to the old internal hard drive we took out).  I asked husband if they could both be in the computer (extra empty drive bays in the computer anyway) - he said they could not as they are both drives which boot the computer and it would confuse the computer.

Today we went out and bought a case to convert an internal hard drive to an external one - so I can access the files on the old hard drive for whatever I need and is on parts of the drive which is still good.  I then loaded more programs onto the computer with more to come.

I sat and checked my email and did other things on my smaller laptop while we were doing all of this installing and reinstalling the backups and Windows.  I went to check my main email account.  I changed the password a few months back - I know what it should be but that does not work, so I couldn’t check my main account - even worse, I had to hope that I checked that account with my bigger, older laptop - luckily I did and tonight - after not being able to check email yesterday or today on this account (I don’t check on the weekend) I was able to check email on this account. I still have to send an email to a friend for her birthday - which ended a little over an hour ago - as I did not have her email address other than in that email account.

I use very old software as a calendar/address book/todo list - an organizer program.  I also use my old cell phone, a Palm Centro, as a PDA around the house as it syncs with this software (my current cell phone does not work with the todos section and I tend to only use same for home chores, so I sync both cell phones to the organizer software.  When I start using it again, since it is being reinstalled on the computer I will have to overwrite the Centro - so I cannot make any entries or changes to same until they are synced again or I will lose any changes made on the Centro. 

I cannot wait for all the software to be back, changed to how I like it to be (and you may know by now that I am picky and don’t like change) and it all to working as it used to be again. 

I have learned that, unfortunately, one does not know that one’s backup software will not work until it is too late.  We will trying another program which seems to be better liked and seems to work from now on. 
           
While we were installing Windows and the backup Monday I also managed to start sorting through computer program and printer manuals back to I don’t know when.  I pulled 3 large books (from when software came with large manuals) and some smaller ones.  The 3 large ones I am going to donate as they are for programs not all that old and might still be used, the others have gone in for recycling.  There were others I would have pulled out to toss, but they are for games that husband bought and I will have to go through them with him - I never toss or donate anything of his without his permission.  I do now have the books to the printers on top of the others (they are lying down on the shelves) so they can be easily reached as they are still used when something goes wrong or needs to be reset.

USING OFFICE SUPPLIES TO HELP IN ORGANIZING

Growing up I used to love to go to my dad’s office.  Actually I loved it so much that I went into the same job as he had - accounting.  His office had such fun things (yes, I was odd even as a child) - rubber stamps and pads, pens, pencils - even in colors, stickers, paper, envelopes, staplers, clips, and so on.  So much fun to play with. 

I still love office supplies - the last time my husband went out to try to find a gift for me for some occasion or other was at an office supply store (before he finally gave in and realized there was nothing that I wanted and he should give up).  Office supplies can be used for so many things that they are not intended for as well as those they are intended for.  (We were at an event and the flag being carried in a color guard was too long for the height of the room and it touched the floor.  I asked at the desk of the venue - no pins - then I asked if they had any sort of paper clip or such - bingo, fixed the problem.)

So how do office supplies help one get organized? 

Labels - you do use them don’t you.  You can write info on things or make nice labels which make things look more organized.  There are computer labels which can be printed.  There are labeling machines - mine is a Brother TZ type - to make labels.  Some are permanent labels - be sure you want them as they won’t come off easily if at all.  Others are temporary. 

When I have a file folder which I will be keeping for awhile it gets a permanent label printed by computer.  I use different color edge labels printed with the computer in some drawers I use red edge labels for folder to go through at the new year and blue for permanent folders, in other drawers I use yellow and green for same (so they get used up more or less evenly) this cuts down on time clearing out folders for the new year (well, actually I do this around May, so I have info for taxes).  In my desktop file holder I have folders which are permanent for folders subjects which are needed on an ongoing basis which also get computer printed labels with color edges - in this case they color signifies what the folder is for - blue is personal, red for our business, green for one club, yellow for the other - no color on the end means it is for my accounting business and each color/type of file goes into a different section in the holder and some which are temporary - something which needs to be done and then the folder will no longer be needed - I use small removable labels - I write on it, put it on the folder and it remains there until it is no longer needed and then is removed from the folder which can be used again and the label is tossed out - I use markers on them to color code them to match the permanent folders in the desktop holder sections.  These removable labels can also be folder in half vertically and stuck on a page it becomes a tab to find the place again and it can then be removed when no longer needed.  I use larger removable labels on the boxes that I store prior years financial records and write the year on the label.  When I am ready to reuse the box - 10 years later - I pull off the old label and put on the new one.

I have marked the magazine holders we have with labels printed with the Brother machine this way we know which magazines and which years are in the holder.  (There are other similar label machines from other companies, this happens to be the one I have and use not an ad for the company.)  We have a number of zipper vinyl bags, which one cannot see through, in our RV and we label them with labels from the Brother so we know what is in them.  I put labels on my USB flash drives which I make on the Brother - so I know what is on the drives.  The blank ones get the removable labels from above with a label which reads “Blank”.  It goes across the drive and its cap - when the cap comes off to use it, the label has to be removed so I never forget and leave a “blank” label on a drive in use.  So wonderful to know which is which. I also use the temporary labels on the drives I take to the vault for offsite storage - they are labeled with the Brother tape as to what they are - “Offsite A” and “Offsite B” and then when I update them I put the date on a removable label and put it, again, across the drive and it’s cap so I know what date it is, when I again update it, the removable label has to come off and be tossed.

Folders - can not only hold papers in filing cabinets, but can be used to keep papers together in general.  A paper alone can get lost - in a labeled folder (even a temporary label) will be harder to lose and easier to see.  I have a pocket file holder for tax info for clients and another for my paid bills.  Folders do not fit in them as it is the same size as the folders - I cut about a quarter of an inch off one end and they fit!  I can use this to make what is in the pocket of the file holder easy to take everything out of the pocket at once without losing anything or I can use it to make sections in a pocket of the of the holder so it can hold more than one type of bill.

I have 2 sizes of paperclips.  I use the small ones for smaller groups of papers and the larger ones for larger groups - obvious. What else can one use them for?  Well, as I mentioned above, shortening a flag that will otherwise drag on the floor.  Christmas ornament hangers - I learned this in elementary school when the teacher did it - unfold the paperclip into an S shape and it is an ornament hanger.  In a related idea the large ones can be used to hang decorations around the rooms.  I hang my “roping” (plastic) on the curtain rod by turning large paperclips into the same S shape and putting one at each end of the curtain rod - one in the center on longer ones - and then hanging the roping over it - I also hang an embroidered piece in a hoop from the center of a curtain rod in the same way.  Also good when opened for getting stuck staples out of a stapler.  Oh, and they can be put together in a chain to decorate an office Christmas tree.

Staples are also great for what they are intended for - stapling stacks of papers together - If you have papers which belong together -STAPLE THEM!  Stapling is more definite than the paper clips mentioned above and won’t get caught and pulled off the papers.  What else can you use them for?  A hem that comes down - staple it together until you can fix it - this is an old trick.

Pencils great for writing what might need to be erased and pens for what needs to stay written.  A pencil, a piece of paper and a window can let you copy something by hand.  (I do this with fabric when I want to copy something to the fabric to stitch.)  Put what you want to copy on the window with removable tape (another wonderful thing) and then do the same with the piece of paper or fabric.  On a sunny day you will see the picture and be able to copy it to the paper - or fabric with a pencil.

Yes, tape.  I am talking about clear plastic tape - often called “Scotch tape” whether it is that brand or not.  There are several types.  (I don’t bother with the gift wrap version.)  I use the permanent one for what it is intended for - taping paper together - but it can also, again, be used for fixing clothing.  But removable tape of this type is great.  I tape my paper todo list to my computer desk with removable tape - when I am done I pull it off the desk, pull the tape off the paper, write a new list and put it back with the same piece of tape (there is a limit to how long one piece of tape will last).  I can stick a note to something with it.  (Yes, I know about the papers which stick to things on their own - last time I used one it left glue on the sales receipt it was attached to and others have not stayed in place.)  If you want to tape a check or cash into a card, removable tape lets it be removed undamaged and intact. 

Envelopes - of course they are used for mailing things, but they can also be used to hold papers and other things - and the larger manila ones with clips can be reused.  If I have to take papers some place I put them in a manila envelope and close the clip.  I then can take the papers out where I am going and then clip the envelope closed again and then when back at home remove the papers and file away and reuse the envelope. 

I have several envelopes which are just larger than regular # 10 envelopes each marked on the end edge with one of our regular trips.  I put anything related to the trip in the envelope as it comes along - a reservation made a year in advance sits in the envelope and then as the year goes along - discount tickets to an event? - add them into the envelope.  Coupon for a restaurant? - add it in.  A store looks interesting? - add it in.  When it is time for the trip, I just pull the envelope and all is there.  I keep these envelopes in date order in the middle section of the 3 section wall pocket - just under the bills to pay section - next to my desk. 

Oh, and in the bills to pay section above is another large than # 10 envelope - it is for what I need to do on Friday - the day we go out for banking and such.  I put the items needed in the envelope for Friday - checks to deposit, receipts to return items, etc.  I then use a small piece of paper (at one time when I carried a small memo book, which had been cut in half, in my pocket, I used the other half of the pages which my husband had cut off on an electric saw, now I am using up old business cards - always shredding them after, but any small pieces of paper can be used) with the errands listed for example PO (remember we go there daily); Bank - transfer $X savings to checking (actually I just write S-C $X), 2 deposits, withdraw $Y; Club bank - deposit, Return to store and so on.  I use a large paperclip to attach this to the outside of the envelope to follow as I go along. 

Paper can of course be used for all sorts of notes.  When we have paper which is printed on and not used - especially those annoying pages when one prints something and it runs 2 pages, but the second page just had the titles from the end of the page or such on it and is wasted - I put it aside.  Part pages are in one section and full pages in another on top of my desk file holder.  If I am going to print something which is just going to be used by me I use the back of these pages to print on or I can use them to write notes on - especially when one is calling a company and needs to make notes of the conversation due to promises made, information provided, or responses to what you said by the company employee for your records (always put date, time and employees name on the page too).  Small pieces can be cut into quarter or third of a page either vertically or horizontally to use as memo paper - great for shopping lists.   

So as you see ordinary office supplies can be used in a variety of different ways to help you get and stay more organized.  Any good ideas you have on using office supplies?           

Getting Started

I know, you look around and think that you can never get rid of the clutter and get organized.  So much all over and no time to work on it.

Here’s an idea - stop adding to it all.  Don’t try to start with the past stuff (by the way I use the word stuff to describe everything in your house, much as George Carlin did, I was questioned on this by someone) which overwhelms you, start with what is coming into the house TODAY.  By not letting anything else accumulate you limit what you need to deal with.  I will explain this using the mail, but it works with anything coming into the house.

When you bring in the mail today, look through it, don’t just drop it somewhere.  Look through the mail.  If it is junk mail get rid of it now.  I personally shred any mail which has our information on it, but if you don’t have a shredder, for now just rip up the identifying info into teeny tiny pieces.   If you recycle, decide where you will be putting your recycling from now on and put the mail - without the identifying info - there.  I am lucky enough to have an enclosed entrance outside the kitchen door and I stack the recycling to the side of the door on an old work table we put there.  (On Monday night, it goes out to be picked up for recycling day on Tuesday.)

Sort what is left - magazines in one stack, bills in another, invitations and event notices in another, and so on.  Then deal with each as far as it is possible to do so now.  Mark the date and amount due on the outside of any bills, sort by date order (the ones due first on top), any invitations or events sort by date of RSVP or the event. Add in any prior ones you have around.  Put a rubber band around each type. Put the magazines where you read them.  Unless it is a type of magazine you need to keep for an extended time, recycle the last issue if you have finished it (if not, why not?).  If you can or need to deal with any now - do it now!  One less thing to deal with in the future.  Put the rest of the bills and such in a box labeled as TO DO and put it in a place you will remember - on your desk if you have one. 

Tomorrow do the same.  While you may not be clearing away what has accumulated, you will stop adding to it.  Tomorrow add the bills, invitations, etc. to the ones from today, also dated and in the same manner and combine them into yesterday’s stacks.  Check the ones at the top of the pile and deal with what you can or must do. 

Afterwards, pick up some mail from before - sort through it and deal with it in the same manner - then you will have 2 days of mail semi organized and as well as some mail from before.  

If you continue you do this, your incoming mail will be dealt with on a regular basis and you will start getting rid of your older mail.  You will not clear all of the older mail out in one swoop, but it will start diminishing and you will not add to it.  (There will be more about mail as we go along.)

In the same way, if you buy something, put it away (such as you can if there is a lack of space for same) right away. If you have no place for it, make a temporary one. If you get into the habit of doing this then you will start to get  organized and reduce your clutter.