LIFE LAUGHS AT US

Good thing we did a craft event last week and husband sold weaving. I was short $220 (rounded up a few dollars and sense) to pay the last of our bills for September. Between $80 in cash we had sitting around to take on trips or use if cash needed beyond what we have in our wallets, $40 of the cash I had in my wallet, $60 from cash sales, and $40 from our change box for when we do events I managed to find the $220 and cover the bills. And that was after my Social Security for the month, $400 from a client for her taxes, and money still in the accounts from husband's Social Security for the month. Next week hewill get his Social Security payments and be solvent again. Ouch. But as Mama would say in “Mama's Bank Account” (movie – “I Remember Mama”) we did not have go to the bank, well we did have to go and deposit the cash, but did not have to take additional money out of savings.

I was to be short on time this past week – the Jewish New Year started and it is an evening plus 2 day holiday. (Remember from past years - feel free to use this New Year to start anew in your organizing if you need a reason to start now.) We were to drive our RV back to the place that installed our new RV batteries at the end of July as they still do not work properly to have them look at it. We were told that we had to leave it for 2 weeks – makes sense as the problem is that they are not holding the charge – worse the old batteries we got rid of. Husband was in a panic - we would have to bring our car and the RV to the battery place. I would be driving the RV and he the car, but we have only been there once before and got lost at the end. He was so upset that I was very worried about him. We could not figure out who to bring with us that could ride with him and help him the find the way. Basically no one. I was awake at night even after he fell asleep trying to figure out what to do and I was starting to have panic attacks worrying about him.

Then I had an idea, one I was sure he would refuse as waste of money. If he was upset because he did not know where to turn etc. (even with GPS he was upset), why not take a trip down to the place in advance? He would be able to see the route, see where turns would be, we could figure out where to meet up before we left the Garden State Parkway, and in general reassure him. It costs us around $40 in tolls per vehicle to make the trip plus gas and I figured he would argue with me about spending same. When to go? This was Friday overnight. Well, the holiday was to start Sunday night and end Tuesday night, my embroidery meeting was Wednesday and we had made arrangements to go the next day – Thursday to the RV place. Only day to go was Sunday. Our holidays basically are suppose to be days of prayer and I try to keep away from things like trips, TVs, computer, cell phone and such. But I also know that health is more important than anything else. If husband was ill or injured and needed something there would be no question that I would take care of him – holiday or not. And basically he was ill, just not physically. I proposed the plan to him – drive down leisurely later in the day, see the route, and then have holiday dinner at Golden Corral (normally one does not eat out on our holidays). I was ready to point out that money was minor compared to how he was and that if he had to go somewhere locally and was this upset we would go in advance just like this.

He thought about the plan and did object and thought it a good idea. We started out after lunch on Sunday. I let him do the driving guided only by the GPS and kept my mouth closed other than to point out landmarks when he was already making turns. We were riding on a main (limited access 3 or 4 lane) road in NJ and had to get off of it to get onto the Garden State Parkway. As he was about to exit we saw that the exit was blocked off and closed. I had to get involved as he started to panic- what do we do? I told him to keep going and get off at the next exit. The GPS kicked in and sent off at same and had him turn around and head back to the road we had been on – in the opposite direction of course. Why I hate and don't trust GPS – the road it told him to turn onto to reverse direction back to the main road was one way – the opposite way – panic again – I told him take the next road – we did and were turned around and back to the main road – the exit to the Garden State Parkway was open in this direction. (The GPS also had no record that the exit between these two major roads was closed and it had been closed for over a week and will remain so until November!)

We drove on. The Garden State Parkway has rest areas and there were two of them before we would get off of it. I had figured we that we would meet up at the second one which was about 10-15 minutes from where we were going. We got off there (and having been on the road for 4 hours for a trip that should take 2 hours) used the rest room. We realized that this rest area was too close to where we would get off the road – the rest area is to the left of the multi-lane road and the exit to the right, traffic might well stop us from being able to get across the exit – so we figured we would meet at the first rest area when we actually go. We found the RV place easily and then rerouted the GPS to take us to the restaurant for dinner, even though it was two hours too early to eat, so we went to a Costco (where we bought gasoline) and a Walmart we know in the area to spend the time. Coming home after one of the GPS devices refused to route us the way we wanted to go as a major bridge was closed – it was not and we ignored the GPS.

Husband was calmer as he was more comfortable driving there on his own. Then a problem popped up so that we had to push the trip off to Friday and he sent an email letting them know. Monday I prayed, I read, I kept the holiday as well as I could. I also made and served the dinner I had planned to serve Sunday night and which had been partially cooked before the idea for the trip came up. The second day of the holiday (Tuesday) I am normally a bit looser in what I will do.

Monday night husband was on the computer and suddenly found post after post about the place we were going – almost everyone calling them a scammer – things they put in don't work, they break things and say they need to be fixed, they over charge by thousands of dollars, etc. Husband went back into panic mode. Tuesday I called the woman at our RV dealer and left a message (okay two messages) asking her to call us back. Overnight since we had not heard back, I called again and left a message explaining the situation in the short version. We missed picking up her call – her message was to call the new general appointment number and they would make an appointment. I had to go to my embroidery meeting – did not go out for other errands - and then I called her and left a message again. Husband went out and bought our usual lunch at Wendys and brought it home. I eventually called the appointment number and the very nice fellow said that he had been told I would call and that we needed to make a 4 hour appointment – I explained that 4 hours would not be enough and needed to speak with her. When time passed and we still did not hear from her, we decided that appointment could always be changed – I called and made the appointment for next week. We decided that husband would send her an email with all of the details. She called back later in the afternoon and husband was calm enough to talk to her. We are bringing the RV next week – with the car also – and we leave with them to find out if the batteries are good and if so why they are not holding a charge and if they are no good to see about the warranty or if that falls through – put in new batteries. Another thousand dollars plus is not easy for us to deal with, but it is that or never be able to use the RV again.

Now, at the same time I still had to make an appointments for mom at doctors. I managed to call and make one at the cardiologist's office that is to take an image of her leg to make sure her blood clot has not moved – and it will be done by a nurse practitioner as he needs to be booked over a month in advance (strange he could see her the first time in less than a week and when the appointment was wrong – there was an open appointment with him later the same day). I was also suppose to get the name of one of the other type of cardiologist who can test her pacemaker and asked for same – we have to come in to get that info? This is a big deal practice that is in a center from a local hospital chain - suppose to be the newest and best thing. Husband in his former job used to sometimes go with children in the program to Medicaid clinics – they did not treat their patients this poorly.

I am doing the laundry. I sent out info promised today to the members of my embroidery group as to how to sign into our National group's website to download embroidery designs/instructions that we are going to use at meetings. I have written this post. I did not make dinner – we took in Chinese food. So much has been left undone again - Oh, I forgot to mention that I had to call one of our credit card companies as we suddenly got – unrequested by us and with no prior info from them – a new type of credit card from them. I had to call them – first to make sure it was legitimate and not a scam, and then to change it back to what we had (miles card? We don't fly or even take a train or bus and don't stay in hotels) but they cannot change it back yet – husband's card is being mailed tomorrow so I have to call again in two days or later to get it changed back!!!!! There was much yelling by me. Another time waster.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

The world lately seems to be trying to waste time and have everything go awry. I can get myself sick dealing with it or try to take it as comes and try to keep husband from getting sick from it. One has to try to go with the flow even when it is driving one crazy and keeping one from doing anything that they need to do.

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. 

THE BEST MADE PLANS WILL GO AWRY

I try to plan in advance so I know I have everything I need when I go someplace.  I learned as a child that if I wait until the last minute I will panic and something will be forgotten or missing.   So when I or we have someplace to go, I lay out what is needed in advance - generally the night before, but sometimes even further in advance if there is something else which will be done just before what I am laying out stuff for or if it will take an excessive amount of time to prepare. 

I will put items out in one of two places - if it is for me for work, I will put it on my desk - generally this will include my briefcase with assorted papers and such in it (it always has pencils, pens, small ruler, business cards, tiny stapler, Scotch tape, subway cards, extension cord, and printer cables, also some $1 bills in the outer section and tissues).  I will add the folders and USB drive for the client the night before and will leave my laptop charging on my desk where it is obvious so I don’t forget it the next day.

Otherwise I will put out what I or we need on the kitchen table.  If whatever I need to bring is food related I will leave a reminder to bring it - especially if it needs to be in the refrigerator I will leave a reminder note with the other items.  If there are a lot of items I will leave a list of the items needed whether they are on the table or in the refrigerator just to make sure all are taken with me/us. 

So, I seem to have it all in hand - yes?  Noooo!

Once a year, in June, my embroidery group (local chapter of the Embroiderer’s Guild of America, Inc. to give a good organization a free promo) has a party for its meeting.  It is the end of the programing year and we get a chance to sit and discuss ideas for next year, chat, and share some of our work - finished or unfinished (okay, we do this at every meeting - we have “show and tell”, but this is suppose to be one with everyone bringing something and more than one item is encouraged).  One of our members has very generously allowed us to use her house for this event, which is not near where we usually meet nor near my house.  We each bring a dish of some sort for the party - light refreshment as would be at a tea party.

Now, this year I have the added “fun” of a trip with our RV to our dealer who is located 2 states away for a bit of routine maintenance the day after the party.  In addition my husband had planned on staying one or two nights in the general area where the dealer is located as it is an area we like to go to and have not gone since last fall - plus we are paying the tolls to get there anyway and why not have fun also for the money.  This was fine with me. 

I knew I could deal with both events.  The biggest part of getting the RV ready for a short trip such as this is making up the bed (the reason for this will someday be explained).  I had planned to do this over the last weekend or yesterday (Tuesday).  Packing clothes and snacks and a few other items for only 2 days is easy enough and it did not concern me to do the packing of the items tonight. Along with the idea in the first few paragraphs above, we have what we call “the last minute bag”.  This bag is used for items which we need to use the night before or morning that we are leaving on the trip.  It is kept in our bedroom and we add the items as they are used and then ready to go.  Normally we would also have some refrigerator items to bring out at the last minute, but this trip that is not necessary.  I figured that preparing for both events around each other was not a problem.

Then came the weather reports.  My husband was concerned about reports of heavy rain where we would be going, as well as here also, on Friday and Saturday.  What is the use of going somewhere where one will be outside most of the time - in heavy rain, getting wet and sick?  So since last Friday he has been watching every weather report, agonizing over what to do.  The bed is not made as we still are not sure what we are doing.  I will have to make it up while we are away if we stay.

So, now back to getting ready for the party.  Since it is a meeting I needed to get all sorts of paperwork together and my treasurer’s report.  I did that yesterday afternoon.  I put it in the folder I have for this purpose and brought it down to the kitchen.  Normally I use a certain bag for these meetings, but it holds needlework and supplies and was not needed today.  I brought down a different bag.  I put the folder and some other items  - such as the pieces I was bringing for show and tell - in the bag.  I also run our errands for the day when I go to a meeting, so I had the outgoing mail and banking stuff so I could get some cash for our trip before we go.  Last night I made the food item I was bringing and laid it out nicely on a nice plate, then put the plate into a large plastic container (so it would make the trip safely) and put that in the refrigerator.  I remembered to print out the directions given by the woman whose house we are going to - and from google maps as well, just in case.  I went there last year, but needed the directions as I did not remember how to get to her house from the main road.  On the page with the directions I hand wrote a note - BRING PLATE OF FOOD!!!  Everything nicely laid out so that nothing will be forgotten - or so I thought.

I got up in plenty of time to dress and drive to the meeting.  I picked up my stuff from the table - and headed out to the car.  I got in the car and started driving.  I was about half way there and it struck me - I FORGOT THE FOOD!!! 

What to do?  If I showed up without it, I know that it would be understood, but then the food would end up being thrown out as we are going away (at least for a day) and would not eat it.  If I went back to get it I would be late?  Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma.  I turned the car around, turned on the blue tooth in my cell phone and started calling (hands free) while driving.  First, I called my husband to let him know that I would be walking in the door and then walking back out so he would not think someone was breaking in.  Then I called the woman whose house I was going to and let her know - she told me to come without it, but I told her that I was halfway home already. 

I ran into the house, grabbed it from the refrigerator and ran back out to the car and started back.  By the time I got there I was almost an hour late as by the time I started the second trip the traffic had picked up on the roads and the road work had started and was slowing down traffic.  (Which road work? - all over - from the cable company working on wires to municipal workers cutting grass along the side of the road to actual work on the road itself.)  In my haste I missed the turn to the road to her street, luckily when I turned onto the next road it ran parallel, but then, on the correct road her street is about the 3rd or 4th one, on the road I took instead it was the first and I missed that turn also.  I found an empty church parking lot and quickly turned around and made the turn onto her street and drove back to where her house was.  Rushing made the trip longer than it should have been - not by much, but still longer and added a few extra minutes to my already very late arrival.

My friends were very nice about my being so late and I apologized no end, and was greatly embarrassed - they all think that I am the most organized person in the world, they only see the result of all my prep work to be organized and not my house.

So what went wrong?  Well, I was cheap.  Instead of taking a piece of paper and writing the reminder to bring the food on it, I wrote it on the directions.  I then picked up the directions without noticing the notation on it.  I knew the way to her house on the main roads, so it was not until I looked to see where I would be turning off the main roads that I noticed my notation.  If I had written the note on another piece of paper I would have had to move it and would have noticed it and remembered the food.

Other than this the party went very nicely and I managed to make it to all of my errands afterwards, although finishing them a bit later than expected as everything was late due to the party being late.

But now the question you might be wondering - are we going to spend a few days away or just go to the dealer and home?  I don’t know.  I have packed our clothes for the two days in the RV and assorted snacks we bring with our for the evening as well as rain jackets and some other personal items, and a spare pair of shoes each - for rain.  We will go tomorrow to the dealer and then see from there what we decide to do.  

Nuts, I forgot to let my sister know our plans. I will have to email her next!