WHAT A DIFFERENCE HALF AN HOUR OF CLEARING THINGS UP CAN DO

 I have probably mentioned that my husband and I are crafts artists.  One of the reasons we bought this house is that there is a family room off of the kitchen through a large squared off arch. I could cook dinner while working in our “studio” and we could (back then) turn the kitchen TV around to watch it from the studio.  Of course like every other room in a house it becomes a mess and needs organizing – again.

Early last year I had been working on clearing it up – and then Covid-19 hit.  I stopped working on the room.  I ended up bringing my sewing machine into the kitchen to sew our masks – and of course the patterns and fabric for it were dropped on top of paper cutter on one end of a storage dresser near the entrance to the room.  It had already had my various embroidered and sewn items from when I lived with my parents tossed onto my worktable – along with projects in progress.  

When the room is maintained it serves its purpose well.  We can easily get to supplies, tools, books, magazines and storage. But when it is not maintained – well, you know that how it is.  

We were doing okay with the room basically usable and then this past Thanksgiving was approaching.  I wanted – no, needed to have Thanksgiving in the dinner as normal. In addition to wanting to make it as normal (and as nice) as possible, we need our kitchen table clear to be able carve the turkey, put things we will need for dinner and so on.  But when last May we had ordered food delivered we had no place in our small house to store the canned, bottled, jarred and packages of food in the quantity we had purchased it. Our dining room table was covered over with towels and the canned, bottled and jarred items were put on the table.  Food in packages was put into very large plastic containers on the floor and smaller ones on the table. There was no way we could have Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room as it was – but where to move it all – especially the items on the table?  

Of course, they could go on my work table in the studio - if was cleared off of course.  So I did a quick job of clearing items off of work table – some, such as husband's sewing machine, were pushed onto his worktable, others stacked on the chair I use at the table and items put on the floor.  My work table chair area backs to a wall with with some storage, so there was not a lot of room there.

This all worked okay for Thanksgiving… - for Christmas husband's weaving items including loom were added to what was stored in the studio - and Christmas…  and New Year's, but it has become a giant mess in the studio.  When doing some household sewing I had to lean over a good deal of the mess to get out a different color of thread – and managed to drop the holder on which all (well, mostly) the started spools are stored onto the floor – behind the mess.  Luckily I could read a spool of light gray and since it was a work item I was making, that was close enough to the light blue I needed.  

But this cannot go on.  It is one thing not to be able to use my work table, but not to be able reach and find the items I need is not alright.  But like everyone else I look and sigh and think  - oh my!

A couple of weeks ago I went to work on a laundry basket in our studio. It held various toys and other items husband's niece used to play with when she would come here one day a week for us to watch for her mom.  This is back when she was maybe 4 plus or minus – she is 19 now, she will not be playing these items again.  I went through the basket and sorted it out.  I threw out items which were, well, actually garbage even though she played with them - no, we did not give her garbage, but children, well they find items to play with which are not toys – for example, the first time she came for us to watch her it was just after my husband's birthday.  He had received a HUGE birthday card.  She loved it and carried and carried it around the house and drew on it – garbage – out it went. Some items are things we want to keep – such as toy train set of my husband's which she had appropriated, some stuffed bears and such.  They were put upstairs in “the teddys” room to find a permanent home.  The other items, mostly stuffed toys are not something we want and are not garbage.  They have been set aside so that when the corona virus is under control they can be donated as they are in excellent condition.  The laundry basket was washed and dried and put in the basement as a spare, well, laundry basket.  

This week I went to work on one corner of the room.  This corner has a bookcase with our needlework and sewing books, some related magazines, and the bottom shelf holds the cookbooks I kept after a purge of cookbooks about a decade ago (and no new ones added since),  It also has loose shelves – wire ones that husband uses to dry woven items on after he finishes them and wooden boards we use as shelves at craft shows.  Also stored on the floor here are a few plastic bags with framed cut paper pictures that my husband made and exhibits – though no exhibits in a few years.  There is room for all of this in this area while still allowing access to the book shelves.  But of course, until the area was cleared out of unrelated items which had been dropped there – the books shelves have not been easily accessible in years – the books and magazines which had been pulled out had been stacked on a Ellison cutting machine – so, of course the Ellison was not that easy to use as it could not be accessed.  Once the book shelf area was cleared out – the books and magazines were put away where they belonged.  The paper cutter mentioned before had also been moved to this pile (on the opposite end of the same dresser) to put our studio Christmas tree. It was put back where it belongs.  

In doing this I found a package of paper towels near my work table.  A mystery solved.  In January husband saw me replacing a used up roll of paper towels and asked how many more rolls we had (remember he thinks we use about 10 times more of everything we use) and I told him that we had at least 2 more rolls in both size sheets we have.  To me this means “we have plenty” to him this means “we are about to run out of paper towels any minute now”.  I reminded him that we had also bought a new package of paper towels, but of course could not find it when he asked where it was. So we bought a new package of paper towels – not the brand we like as it was out of stock – when we went out to pick up prescriptions.  As I cleared these items out of the studio I found the package of paper towels I knew we had bought under some of the mess and of course showed it to husband to show that I was right.  Both packages of paper towels are now in the basement in the area where we keep replacement paper goods.  

I plan on continuing working on getting the area around my work table cleared out so even if I cannot actually work there for now due it being a food storage area, I can at least get to and use the various supplies stored next to it in the corner of the room and under it without any problems.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

It is amazing how moving something for temporary storage can cause problems that seem huge.  In less than half an hour  of work last night, I now can access my bookshelves and books, can use our Ellison machine and our paper cutter, and made a big dent in the clearing away of items temporarily stored  and blocking access to supplies and tools.   A HALF AN HOUR!  That was all it took.  Can't wait to see what the next half an hour of clearing away stuff manages to organize and clean up.  

A TRIP NOT TO THE PARK - SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

 Well, as of now all of the Christmas decorations are not only down- but stored away.  

We were lucky and the snow storm which was to come through on Tuesday (yesterday) was just rain which ended in the early morning – and the temperature went up into the 50Fs!  What a pleasant day!

Husband was upset, as usual, about the storm due to come in tomorrow (Thursday) – very upset.  I looked out and the saw the sun, felt the (relative) warmth and suggested to cheer him up - “Let's go walk around in the park.”  He was concerned that the snow from prior storms might not have been cleared or that the park might be soaked and did not want to go.  I suggested as an alternative we take a drive.  He thought about and agreed.  We got our “going out bag” - holds masks, bag for mask, hand sanitizer, plastic gloves, plastic sandwich bags (as alternative to gloves for me), and spray bottle of alcohol and started out.  

We drove to a different, nearer park and all looked well cleared.  BUT whenever we had to stop – at red light or otherwise – the car was surging – he would need to shift the automatic transmission into neutral to stop it.  So home we went – now very upset, so much for a nice day out.  This is apparently the sort of problem which is either a US$200 repair for a switch or thousands for a new transmission.

We have a driveway which is shaped like an “h”.  We keep the car at the foot of the long side of the “h”  (RV at top part) and our van on the grass, well really dirt, all the grass died, between the bottom legs of the “h”.  All extremely organized, this way either car or van can be driven out – if the van is being driven before we go out the car is put on the curve of the “h” so we can the van back in place.  He was concerned that if the car did not drive next time, we would be stuck and not able to get the van back in place – so we decided to switch the two on the driveway.  First he paced out that the wheels of the car would be on the bricks that the van's wheels are on – yes, they matched okay.  Then he drove the van off the driveway and parked in the street in front of a neighbor.  Then he had me get in the car to drive it so he could direct me.  I am actually the better driver – no, really, he would say so even more than I do, but I have not really driven the car since the first Wednesday of last March.  I have driven a couple/few times to or from our mechanic who is 4 blocks away, when we have needed to take one of our vehicles to him and it was too cold or wet to walk home (if going there or walk there if picking up), but that's it.  I did fairly well with the driving, but did not end up on the bricks.  We did not figure into this that the ground had melted after being frozen and wall sheer mud.  In going back and forth to get the tires on the bricks – I was getting stuck in the mud and the tires were throwing mud up.  When husband asked me to open the passenger door so he could talk to me – well, I had forgotten how to do so!!  I did open that window and by the time he asked again, I had found the button on the dashboard (I could have sworn it was the door near the armrest – that must have been our last car).  He had to shovel the mud around so that there were not deep cuts in it when it freezes back.  He then had to go and drive the van onto our driveway – which involved driving it to the next street and back.  We will take the car in for it to be looked at next week – after the ground freezes again!

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Apparently we are in time where anything that can go wrong - will do so.  Try to figure out what can happen and what you can do if does.  Hopefully your problems, like ours, while perhaps terribly annoying (and possibly expensive) will not of the type which threatens health or life or financial security.  We have to learn to “roll with it” as much as we can.  

I hope all and theirs are stay well and survive this winter weather – especially those in areas such as Texas which are not used to winters like this.

TWO WEEKS OF CLEARING SNOW

 Somehow this week got away from me, so this is just a short post a bit late - my apologies.

We have been dealing with shoveling snow for 2 weeks have the possibility of more.  Over the past 2 weeks there have only been 2 days we did not go out shoveling snow.  

Today we went out to work on the snow around our small RV.  (It is what is called a class B - a van, in this case a Chevy Express, made into a rather small RV.)  It sits at the top of our driveway and is not driven except on trips and when needed to drive it to keep it in good shape so we have not bothered to get rid of the snow around it.  (We have driven it on 2 hour round trips three times since the start of the pandemic to keep it doing and it really needs more driving.)  

Why clear it now after it has sat for about 2 weeks since the biggest storm?  Problem is that the storms which are coming are to be ice and mixed precipitation.  If the electric lines come down – we need somewhere to warm up and to cook.  We have used the RV in the past for cooking and watching a bit of TV after hurricanes took out our electricity.  It has a 2 burner propane stove and a propane furnace  - one of the places we ALWAYS clear of snow right away is the center of its back bumper as that is where the propane is turned on and off, perfect to use in an emergency.  

But while we could get to the propane to turn it on – the snow still covered a good part of the RV's doors.  Husband was very nervous about the coming storms, so we went out and shoveled enough snow from the sides of the RV to be able to open all of the doors – just in case we need to go in it to keep warm or to cook.  

We carried part of the snow being moved to our backyard to get rid of it.  Since we had cleared a path to back yard to do this, I also cleared the snow in front of the garage entry door in case we need to go in the garage.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Prepare in advance for bad weather you know is coming.  We even had our Saturday night “dinner out” substitute – Chinese takeout these days instead of our normal Saturday night dates – tonight, Friday as we are pretty sure we won't be able to go out tomorrow night – and if we can, well, a second date night is never a bad idea.

MOTHER NATURE DOES NOT HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR

 Well, that relatively small snow storm that was headed our way changed from under 6 inches to 6 to 12 inches and came in at more than that.  Around here generally the largest amount of snow falls “to the north and west” - ie.  inland.  A big deal was made that this storm was to have the heaviest snow to the south and east – ie. closest to the ocean.  

The storm started overnight Saturday to Sunday (late enough that we were able to go out to pick up Chinese food for dinner as we have been doing on Saturday nights.  When I put the kitchen garbage in the outside pail around 10 pm light snow was starting to fall.  It snowed steadily on Sunday.  It snowed heavily on Monday.  It snowed lightly on Tuesday.  After putting that garbage in the pail Saturday night we stayed in the house until yesterday (Tuesday) when we started to clear the snow.  We managed to move the thigh high snow in the original driveway cut by chopping it down with the shovel and blowing it to the side of the driveway and move the snow between the car and the sidewalk with the blower.  Our neighbor on that side of our house had cleared the sidewalk across that part of our driveway (on his side) with his heavier duty snow blower for us – how nice of him (yes, I sent an email thanking him) – this being an oddity as normally no one helps us.  We were working on clearing the driveway as very light snow fell.  

How much snow did we get here (as opposed to any point on Long Island, NYC, upstate NYS, NJ or CT or anywhere else this storm hit?  Hard to say.  When we went out today (Wednesday) the snow between our house and the circular part of our driveway was maybe 4 inches.  The snow across the circular part – next to the (more or less) center semi circle of the driveway (and where we park our van) was around 18 inches high.  The snow had been blowing so if take an average it was around 11 inches – the storm dropped 30 inches in at least one community.  The snow in the two driveway cuts was close to 3 feet high.  Even after the snow had stopped and the road was clear – the snow plows, sand trucks, and salt trucks kept coming.  At 11 am this morning the road was again plowed.

So, today when we went out to clear the other (about) 2/3 of the driveway – including the second cut – the first cut into the street had been partially refilled and we had to clear out that side again.  With no more snow falling it seemed easier to blow the snow – then again, I was not the one pushing it most of the time – when it was hard to push into the packed snow we each took a side and both pushed.  We started probably around 12:30 after eating an early lunch and finished close to 5 pm.  

The news reports had been saying to expect 2 more snow storms – one at the end of this week and another on Monday.  Luckily they have changed to a light storm at the end of the week and maybe rain on Monday.  

We are also dealing with a second situation. When we went to the doctor in November he changed the dosage of one of my husband's medications – no refills, husband is suppose to come back after 90 days to have more blood taken to see if the new dosage is correct.  I was very careful to count when he had to go back – next Monday or Tuesday - for the blood test.  As husband has been sitting here in a panic over all the snow for the past 2 weeks he is also in a panic as to when we will get to the doctor for the test between all the storms (and he does not like to drive in snow) and then go a few days later when the doctor gets the results to pick up his prescription (as well as some other prescriptions we need to renew).  Since we can now get the car out of the driveway (unless they plow yet again) I will get up early tomorrow (for us) and call to see if he can go for the blood test tomorrow.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

An old adage is “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”  I have changed it to “Never put off until tomorrow what needs to be done and cannot be if it snows tomorrow.”  If we had gone last week to the doctor the blood test would be done with and the prescriptions renewed and we would not have to worry about weather permitting us to do both.