WORKING ON PAPEWORK EARLY TO SAVE MONEY ON REAL ESTATE TAXES - OOPS A WEEK LATE

My apologies - this post was written for and I thought I posted it on September 16.  While posting my September 23 post, I found this was still marked as draft -

  I am working on paperwork for a real estate credit that husband and I are entitled since we are over 65 and have an income on the low side.  This paperwork has to be filled in and filed annually.  Last year's filing ran something like 125 pages.  This is due to change they made last year.  We have to provide proof of all our business income and expenses.  The paperwork was crazy before this requirement, but with it….

At least this year I knew these extra records would be needed, so before I put away our financial records from 2019 I pulled out and scanned the needed paperwork into the computer – or at least I thought I did all of it.  I even made sure that the expenses for our two extremely small businesses added up to the tax return numbers which came from my computer software.  

The form to fill in and mail (or drop off) with the papers needed came and I started, slowly putting it all together.  I have combined various sections of what is needed with cover pages for each in my computer as pdf files.  It should not be hard, I had already scanned in the papers – right?  

General proof of income – 1099s and such, no problem.  Medical expenses (we can subtract this from our income in the calculation)  I had most of them ready – we have to have printouts, they do not accept paid bills or copies of checks that paid them as proof.  I had contacted and have this printouts from our medical insurance companies which is most of the expense.  In normal years we go into our pharmacy and they hand us printouts and we also bought eyeglasses last year and had planned to do same with the optician.  But this is not a normal year.  The optician is mailing the copies of our records, I still have to telephone our pharmacy about same.  

I had moved on to putting together the information from our businesses.  I thought I had it all – I had scanned them into the computer and just needed to finish assembling them.  But, neither business' receipts match the computer records of what they should be.  They are small amounts, but this process is so crazy – they may disallow the $1.90 here or the $20 there.  Hopefully if they do it will not affect the exemption amount by much.

Imagine having to put together all the expenses just from your car and having to make copies of all of them.  In this case I have to also give a breakdown of how much is from miles driven for husband's business and how many much for miles driven for mine and apportion the cost of each expense (which was already done for our income taxes).  How many small credit card receipts for gas do you end up with in a year?

While the cut off date to file this form and supporting paperwork is January 2, 2021, I don't like to wait until the last minute to deal with it.  Last year when we needed to go and bring in the paperwork to the county offices was when husband needed to get teeth added to his upper denture (also includeable as a medical expense for IRS and for this) and we ended up having the impression of his teeth taken and then driving to the county office – where he would have had to wait in the car anyway (no place to park), but in this case did not want to go in within without his teeth also.  So, since we are stuck in the house due to the corona virus pandemic anyway, I have been working on putting all this together and filing in the forms since August.  

We were discussing how we file the paperwork.  We used to mail to the county by certified mail.  In 2018 we mailed in the 2017 information for the 2019 taxes  (yes, it is terribly confusing) by mail as usual.  Then we received a month or so later a robo phone call from the county executive that we had not filed the papers!  I tried calling the office  - but the answering machine basically said “we are too busy to talk to you, don't bother us”  When I called again later in the day added to that message was “and don't try to come in here as there is no parking”.  This last part being true and has been decades, which was why husband dropped me off and waited in the car.   In a panic we reprinted and assembled everything to bring it to them.  In the interim a story on the news was that they were suppose to send the call to a few people who had filed in the past and had not yet filed, but they sent to every property owner in the county.  Unsure of if we were in the group whose paperwork had not been received, we drove to the office and I waited in their waiting room.  Luckily by the time we went there a couple of days after the call – the lines were no longer 5 hours long as they were the day after the mistaken calls.  They did have our paperwork.  

Last year we decided we go there (as we did) and turn in the paperwork in person and receive a receipt from them for it and did so.  We planned to continue to do so.  But we are now trying to decide since we are not going out due to Covid 19 – do we venture into the post office (that we don't go to, even overnight) to pick up our mail or do we go to the county office where I will wait my turn for what might be hours – but we will know for sure that they have our paperwork?  (Yes, the difference in what we pay in property taxes, especially the school taxes, with and without the exemption is enough to make it worthwhile.)  

Hopefully I will soon be done with the paperwork and we can decide which we will do and when.  I am guessing the early in the season for this, the fewer people who will be waiting, so I will try to finish as quickly as I can.  I did send an email to the head of the department and asked if they will have drive-up windows for this as they did for people to come in and pay the property taxes.  I don't figure they will or even that I will get an answer.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Use the time you are stuck in the house to get work done.  I have been catching up all sorts of paperwork and household chores that I have put off, well, for years since I am home.  Our shower soon might be even clean enough to actually not worry about getting dirtier when one takes one.  :-)

My thoughts and prayers both to those in the United States west where there are terrible fires and those in the southeast who have been going through yet another major hurricane this week.

PROCRASTINATION

I have been making phone calls that have been sitting waiting to be done as long as we have been in the house.

When we picked up our prescriptions after going to doctor one of mine came up showing I owed $45 on it - it is suppose to be covered in full by my insurance.  I had expected a $5 charge as husband had when he picked up this prescription for the first time on this insurance, which was later refunded to us as he did not owe it - but $45?  Pharmacist said that I had to talk to the company, so I finally had a chance today.  They don’t know why - they have to talk to, yes, the pharmacist about it!  So next time we go in I have to tell them to call the insurance company about it.  Both husband and I have the same prescription, so I am taking some of his in the meantime (90 day renewal, so there are enough for now until this is resolved).

I also called about the annual service for our furnace.  We used to be called by the company each year to have this done - often in the spring or early summer.  When I went looking to see when the last service had been done it was done in October 2016!  2 years with no service on the furnace, not only we did pay for the service last year as part of our service contract and did not get what we paid for - one of the things done in the service is to check for carbon monoxide.  So I finally called yesterday to find out what was going on and to make an appointment.  The cheerful voice on the other end told me that it was no trouble to make the appointment for the service - the next one is February 26!  I repeated the date to her with emphasis on the February and she said yes.  A conversation then followed about why have they not called us to do the service and I was told that it is my responsibility - never was before - why now?  The company was joined into another company and the new company has its own rules, but never told us about the change.  We buy our oil and have our furnace contract through membership in a non-profit co-op group and I have written letter complaining to same - after greatly complementing the old company which gave us great service and helped us out with two emergencies over the years, oh wait, I just remembered a 3rd emergency they helped us with.  I mentioned that my mother-in-law had a different oil company and the water tank for her furnace fell on it and broke it.  Her company told her that they don’t do replacements - too bad.  I called ours and within 3 days she had a new furnace installed - and they had a new customer.  A couple of years ago I found an oil leak in our oil tank - in our basement - at 1 am on a Friday night.  Someone was sent to plug the leak.  A huge snow storm was to hit on Monday - over the weekend a new oil tank was installed.  The one I forgot was about 15 years ago our hot water heater (which is natural gas not oil and not serviced by this company) died and flooded the basement also on a Friday night.  We had plans for Saturday and husband saw our plans gone and us spending the day shopping and making arrangements for a new water heater.  I figured I had nothing to lose and called our oil company - by 1pm we had a new water heater installed and we were off to do what we planned to do - late, but with plenty of time.  What a difference between the old and new company.

I have to make a call tomorrow - I had been called by the parks department that my embroidery group gets a room from for meetings.  I telephoned the woman back, got her voice mail, and left the information she requested - an email address.  It is time to do the renewal paperwork for the meeting room for next year and I figured I would be receiving it by email (and the town would save the cost of mailing it), but I have not heard back from her and will try calling her again and ask if she has the information to please either leave a message on my phone or send an email so I know she has it.

On the other hand, I waited too long to call about my eyeglasses.  Last year (2017) in June I bought new eyeglasses which change in the sun to sunglasses.  I have had glasses like these for decades and never had a problem with them.  These did not change.  At first I figured they needed some time - this has happened in the past - then suddenly it was this July.  I went back to the optician and was told it was past the one year for the warranty.  He did try to help me and said that the glasses changed a bit under his lights and I should try putting them in the freezer overnight.  I thought this strange, but saw it in articles and tried it.  First time the glasses changed to the lightest shade of grey.  Tried two more times and nothing happened.  He had told me to call him if it did not work.  Due to procrastination and life I did not have a chance to call him - until I was stuck in the house with husband - 3 months after I had been in.  So, now I have a spare of eyeglasses which do not change color - just stay the lightest bit of yellow and I will have to decide if I want to spend all that money again on a new pair that changes color and make sure it does or go back right away.  I figure I will wait until just before spring to decide as I won’t need them during the winter.

I also have to call our eye doctor and make an appointment for both of us to see him.  I had planned to call just about when all this happened last month.  Appointments for routine eye exams are usually about a month after I call.  Now I have a problem.  I am not sure if husband can deal with driving out to him - about 45 minutes to an hour - followed by our going to stores slightly further out near the doctor and walking around for a few hours until the eye drops wear off.  I hate to make appointments and then have to cancel them - but then again, if wait until January there may be snow and that would be a problem to drive out there in same.


THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Try not to procrastinate - we all do and I can be the queen of procrastination - believe me.  (I have to take 20 hours of online classes for work - this year I made sure to pay for them early so I would not be taking them all in November and December again - still have not taken any and they have to be finished by the end of December - or else.) 

Procrastination can result in an oil burner not being serviced and inspected for two years - two and half by the time they come.  If I wait to hear back about the meeting room - we might lose it and have no where to meet next year.  If I had followed up on the eyeglasses sooner I would have glasses that do what I need them for (or a refund) instead of a unneeded spare pair and having to spend more to get yet another pair.  And if I had called the medical insurance right away I would not be going back and having to explain the problem, as I am sure it has been forgotten by now as they are so busy at the pharmacy.

       

LISTS FOR REPETITIVE TASKS

Husband has spent the last week and a half with cold - which we are guessing he caught from me.  I had been feeling fine and was doing things he would normally do concerning food - such as when we went to Wendys for lunch I would order, pay and pickup the food instead of him - this intended to keep me from catching back the cold.  Well, it worked for a while.

I had planned to be telling you about our being in our little RV and dealing with the problems of organizing it for the trip.  We had planned on leaving this past Monday and coming home on Friday as the weather was suppose to be nice there all week.  As the trip date came closer, Monday and Tuesday were to have RAIN there.  Wednesday would be okay there, but there might be some rain on the drive down.  Since one cannot cancel RV park reservations this close to a trip, we waited to make same. 

Our idea was that we wake early (for us) today and call and make reservations.  During the night I started having cold symptoms again - bad and heavy ones.  I had trouble sleeping.  When we woke earlier than the alarm, husband was concerned about reaching the RV park to make the reservations as the office opens at 9 am, but it is hard to speak to someone before 11 am usually and we had to be on the road by 9 am to try to avoid the dreaded Belt Parkway and the construction along the entire length.  I was trying to breathe.  We sadly decided to not go today.

As we thought about this during the day - and I started to feel a bit better (amazing what 2 little aspirins can do in getting rid of a headache) and able to breathe again.  We decided that I would call the RV park and make reservations for tomorrow night and Friday night and have a 3 day trip.  We tend try not to be in Lancaster, PA on Saturdays - especially in summer - as there are too many tourists.  (Yes, I know we are tourists also, but we are polite ones who try to blend in, not act rudely as many of our fellow New Yorkers and those from New Jersey do.  We go there not for the novelty of the visit, but because it feels like a second home to us.)  I was only able to get a reservation in a space that we know (and know it will be level) for tomorrow night, so we are going for just 2 days - and will hope that along the way there will a space we like for Friday night also. Oddly the 6 spaces that they had available for the 2 nights in the section we like, were all ones we have had problems with in the past - maybe others know that they are not level?  (For those who have never stayed in an RV or trailer, if the RV or trailer is not level one feels off - walking uphill and down, the cabinet doors either swing shut or swing open, most of the refrigerators for same need to be level to work, etc.  Most units have automatic levelers; ours does not.  So we will go and see what happens as to how long we will stay.

Yesterday I packed the RV.  As I have mentioned before, we keep basic items in it so we don’t need to remember or pack them - toothpaste, soap, dish soap, shampoo, an electric razor for husband, cleaning supplies, office supplies (pens, pencils, paper, stamps, clear tape, stapler...), dishes, pots, tableware, blankets & bedding (bed is still made up from last time as we only used it two nights then - covered the pillows on the bed with the blankets), towels - hand & dish, flashlights, sun hats, rain gear and the like.  It is much easier to buy extras of these items than to have to remember to bring them each time - and then remember to put them away when we get home. We filled the water tanks on Monday - this gives us 25 gallons of water for drinking, cleaning, flushing, etc.  Yesterday I packed clothing for us for 4 days (we always bring an extra days clothing on a short trip, 2 days worth on a longer one) into the shelves in the RV “closet” (a small cabinet).  I packed snacks for us into plastic boxes which snap lock closed and put them into one of the “kitchen cabinets” - two thin shelves one about a foot long and the other about 18 inches long which have doors that snap closed.  When we first got the RV we would fill both of these cabinets. Now I use only one for food as we have learned that we do not need as much as thought we did.  (Heck, there are supermarkets and farmers’ markets everywhere there - including 24 hour Walmarts.) The other cabinet gets used to hold items such as plastic shopping bags, sweaters, whatever.  The refrigerator gets soda - a big bottle to use at night and some cans in case we have lunch at a farmer’s market - which is common - or such, we will not have to buy something to drink.

Shoes were brought in and stored - I bring or wear sneakers and bring leather shoes in case of rain.  We keep slippers in the RV.  I have a pair of slip on sneakers that I keep in it - in colder weather I might be wearing shoe boots and if I need to run outside, it is easier to slip on these sneakers.  We also each keep shower slippers in the RV. 

I put the batteries in the thermometer for the fridge - better to find out I need new batteries then, rather than find out when we are leaving.  I also put the toll reader into place in the front window.  I bring in the store coupons from our car. 
   
How do I keep track of all of this - what needs to be put in the RV when.  I have a list of course.  I have it memorized in my computer in a spreadsheet.  I have a “Do Ahead” section  - put water in the tanks, fill bottles of water to bring in the fridge, fill our travel medication boxes and such.  I also have a “Check Ahead” section - this is for items which get used up on trips - paper plates, cups, bathroom cups, napkins (well, okay generally these don’t run out as we end up picking up some at different places as we travel) is there enough paper towels, toilet paper and tissues; soaps and related items; did the towels go back in after laundering after the last trip; and such.

I then have categories of what to pack -
    What clothing items we need; what snack/food items we need/want.
    Items to take from our car and bring - sunglasses, glasses.
        Electronics - you know, tablets, laptops, extra or old cell phones as backups (we would not forget our current ones of course), camera if it is touring trip.
        Household items - laundry bags (we bring our clothes into the RV in 2 laundry bags to unpack them. One is stored away until the end of the trip and is used to take unworn clothing back into the house.  The other is used as a - well - laundry bag and then the dirty clothing goes back into house in it and tossed down the stairs to the basement. 
        I have some coupons which were picked up on earlier trips or came in the mail related to where we are going and I keep them in an envelope that I bring (it’s on the list of course).  Also for our regular main trips (well they used to be regular and main) I have an envelope for each that labeled on the outside on a edge with the name and approximate date of the trip.  For example - Labor Day trip- September, Fourth of July trip, etc.  I keep them in date order with the next trip in the front of the stack in the same 3 section holder on the wall next to my desk as I keep our unpaid bills (the travel coupon holder is mixed in the same section as these envelopes.  If say we pick up coupons for the Kutztown festival in advance - they are put in the envelope for same and will be there when we need them.  I also have backpack
        Things to do - magazines, my embroidery, etc.  Generally they are not touched while we are away, but I always bring them. Husband gives me whatever he wants of same.
        Finally, our “last minute bag”.  This contains items we might need at home until the   moment we leave.  I have 3 plastic boxes in the bag. One has OTC medications - if we our stomachs feel bad at home, we take the pill out of the box.  If ditto while on a trip, well, ditto.  I don’t like to buy these items special for the RV as we use them so rarely, that even the one bottle is not used up by any stretch of when the expiration date is or beyond that seems safe.  One has a bit more of same and our thermometer - one can get ill even on a trip and again, we did not want to buy 2 of them.  The last box has items we will need on the trip - prescription medications for example - and will taken out of the bag the first night of our trip and stored in the cubby that has our personal items needed for the evening and the morning.  We add other items as we use them for the final time at home before the trip.  Much of what is in the bag will stay in the bag for the trip and it is stored where it can be more or less easily accessed.       

The list also has a section for what we need to on our return to make sure that everything that needs to be is out of the RV and back into the house - and there are always items that we bought on the trip in addition to what we brought.  I have a pattern for taking everything out of the RV - but don’t worry I am not going into that now.  The list for our return reminds me of what needs to come out and that we need to shut off the refrigerator, air conditioning, inside light,  and the RV battery - and put a towel into the refrigerator in case there is any leaking from the small freezer section.  (There is a quick version of what absolutely has to come out/be done in case it is raining.       

So, everything but the last minute bag, this laptop, and the rain jackets we might have needed for the trip is packed in our RV.  Tomorrow we will bring these items, turn on the RV batteries, start the refrigerator in the RV, back out of our driveway and be on our way. 

Oh, that sounds so easy. To back out into 2 lanes of traffic on our side of the road involves me standing in the road with a walkie talkie and telling him when he can pull out - talk about needing planning and organization!

I also have a short list, kept on a little clipboard that we use to check off each day of the trip that we have done everything we need to do before pulling out.  We would not want to forget to unplug the RV from the electricity so the system is not broken or to lock a cabinet or the refrigerator door and have everything in it go flying when we drive.  A common thing that we husband forgets is after we disconnect from the camp’s sources he needs to open the curtain at the back of the RV so he can see out same - good thing it is on my list and I turn around see that it is open and if not send him to open it.  Even odd things are on my list.  We have an outside light next to the side door. (Same as the light next to your front/back door at home.)  We don’t turn it on.  One day after driving around much of the day I realized it was on - it must have gotten turned on by accident the night before - I turned it off of course and I added it to the check off list.  This short list has several columns so that on a trip up to 4 days can be marked off on the same form. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

If you do something that has many steps or many parts as a repeated thing, make up a list on your computer for what you need to do.  Print it out each time you are doing to do the task and actually cross the items off the list.  If needed I list the items that are going to be done at the last minute on the side as I see them - and circle them on the list.  If I find that there is something that I need to add - I list it on the back of the page and add it when we return home.

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.

CATCHING UP A BIT AT LAST

Well at last I feel as if I am catching up a bit.  While we went last Saturday to a woodworking show in New Jersey, I managed to have enough time at my computer to help me catch up several things - I even managed to prepare a partnership tax return for a client and it is going out in the mail tomorrow. We finally picked up my replacement eyeglasses and I am getting used to darker frames than I had before - I see them when I look through the glasses - I swear the frames were lighter in color when I picked them out in the store.



I finally had a chance to scan into the computer the papers I copied while we were replacing the scanner and getting it going.  I hate doing things twice, but had to copy and then scan the copies as there was no other choice.  At least the scanning is finally done.

I change the bedding weekly, but I change the bedding’s “underwear” once a month.  The under covers for the pillows get tossed in
 the laundry with the regular bedding for the week, but the mattress pad is too large to do so and is a load of laundry on its own.  I finally managed to get it washed and dried this past week - it has been sitting in the sorter in the basement.  I also did a load of jeans last week I save them up as I don’t have enough in a week to justify another load of laundry.   I also had a number of sweatshirts to be washed, so I did two loads of clothes last week.  This week’s laundry is humming along right now - the clothing load is washing, timer on my cell phone set to remind me to do down with the downstairs towels so I can do a load of towels next.

I packed up the “soft” Christmas decorations.  This is an assortment of stuffed teddy bears, reindeer, a doll, stockings, hangings, and other similar items in Christmas theme which have been out - two of the bears are actually Chanukah ones.  They all go in a plastic box together in the basement.  I have also started taking the packed boxes of Christmas tree ornaments down to the basement - when I go down to switch laundry loads, another of the four boxes will go down.  When I am done with those the box of living room decorations and the box of kitchen, dining room, front hall decorations will follow.  I take them down in order as this way the tree ornaments are on the bottom of the stack of boxes as they will come out last next year.  I still have my teddy bear Christmas village to pack - when these boxes are all down - it will be time to take it down (okay it is past time, but it is our favorite decoration so it comes out first and goes back last). 

The woodworking show was a nice change for something to do for the day.  Mostly the same vendors are there year to year, although a lot of the regular vendors have dropped out over the years or combined, and the new vendors tend to not be actually wood work related (leaf screens - not really related, investment company - definitely not related).  It is an extremely LOUD room as vendors have not only their power tools going, but vacuums and they all are on microphones.  In the early days of husband’s woodworking he would have had a list of things to look for and buy, but he has most of the equipment he needs, he does less woodworking (although he still owes me the replacement bread drawer for the kitchen) and we have no money to spend on it.  There is no reason to add to the clutter in the workshop with unneeded additional tools.  Okay, there was something which caught his eye.  Two vendors (new ones) had similar items - it lets one hookup a tool to one’s computer and it will carve designs into wood automatically on its own.  But they are thousands of dollars and there is no place to put them.

After the show we went to a chain craft store as it is on the way to where we go for dinner while in New Jersey as we don’t have a store from this chain near where we live.  Did not buy anything, but nice to look - they are suppose to be opening near us sometime this year or next, I am sure that anything nice will not make it here, but it is nice to plan.  Husband particularly likes the yarn at the store - much bigger and nicer variety than we have here.  This is another place where we could buy a lot of items - but we don’t as we don’t have room for it all.       

We warped (set up) the loom again for husband to work - this time he is making a spring colored table runner.  We had problems getting it set up - not sure why, we should know what we are doing by now, and he had to take part of it out after he started weaving as is went on an angle.  He was annoyed as he considered this a simple project to do and relax while he did it.  During the week we finished washing the last few items he wove.  The items have to be washed to change the weaving from yarns to fabric.  They are hand washed and then laid out flat to dry on a rack in our studio so there are days between the washings to allow them time to dry.   

We did have a computer problem yesterday.  We suddenly lost access to everything on our home network - we could still print and scan, but if we tried to access the server drive - or each other’s computers - the entire setup to do so was gone!  Husband figured out it was somehow related to the installation of the new printer unit and finally managed to get it up and working again.

This is school vacation week around here.  It was started in the late 1970's for the school districts to save money on heating costs.  When husband worked at an non-profit with a school year schedule and we still stayed in hotels, we would often go away for part of this week as it was easy and cheap to get hotel reservations in nearby states (okay, Pennsylvania) as elsewhere there is school after Monday’s holiday.  We are thinking of trying our one day trip to same again this week - third attempt’s the charm?

We have had mostly wonderful weather the past week - when we went to the woodworking show we actually left our jackets in the car and just wore sweatshirts as it was in the low 60Fs.  The weather is suppose to continue.  I hope that none of you or yours have been caught in the tornados in Texas or the raining and flooding in California this past week.

Well, that was a bit of a ramble this week.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Don’t forget to look at all the possible reasons for a problem.

I have posted about replacing the hard drive on my computer late last year.  I am still finding software which was not reinstalled - I start to do something and whoops!  I also had a problem with a program we reinstalled.

I do not commonly use Word for my word processing.  I use another less popular program.  I also use an older version of it and do not want to switch to a newer version both due to cost and I am concerned that if I use the updated version it will not have same controls and functions as the verison I am using now.  There was an update (actually a few updates) to the program which also have to be reinstalled.  The program is, of course, no longer supported by the manufacturer. 

One of the problems I have been having - even with an update installed - is that I cannot import the address books - and here I was so careful to back them up at least quarterly up until the hard drive was replaced.  Husband came up with the idea of installing the program on the XP virtual drive of my computer (it is on the Windows 7) as XP existed when the program was written and & did not.  The program did work fine on & before the change of hard drive.

It worked - the installation program now is no longer partially greyed out.  So I went to import the address book data files to the XP installed version.  Now being how I am, I have several address books in the program - one for family and friends, one for clients, one for one of the clubs I am in, two for the other one (members and non-member contacts I need), Internal Revenue Service returns for assorted returns - some for several different states, my home state tax department, a general “other states, and lastly an “other” - this last for anything which does not by who it is fit into the other books - such as bills we pay on a regular basis, etc. 

I started importing the address book data into the program - the first book comes in and we are  excited that it worked - problem solved - and then I go to import a second one - it goes through the entire process, but there is nothing in the address book after it is done.  I try again - same thing.  I then turned on my work laptop and try to import to it - after all, I have been able to import two books to it in the past. It also would not import the next book.

Husband, always looking to make me happy with my antique software, was going crazy searching the Internet and we were trying all sorts of things.  Finally he asked a question which resolved the problem (at least as far as importing to the XP installed version).  “Let me see the backup data.” 

Ah, we had been assuming this was a program software problem.  No.  When I went to show him the data, there was none in several of the last set of backups - hence the program had imported the data, it is just that there was one.  Why did we not think to look for an alternate reason the information was not importing?  Why did we just assume (and you know what happens when one assumes) that it was a software problem?  I went to the backups before the one I was importing from and all the data except from two address books imported!  The other two books had not had their data properly backed up since 2015!  So I imported the data from the last backup from 2015.  (I am so glad that I keep the old versions of the backups!)  I will have to do a bit of updating - for example the two clubs I have books for have each gotten some new members since the backups were made - but I would have had to do so anyway as the most recent backups were before this also. I at least do not have to sit and enter over 100 addresses again.       

We will also try this update on the Windows 7 installed version in case it corrects the import program for same also.

So, if something does not work and what you try to do to fix it does not work, think what else could be wrong - it could be something even more simple than you thought it was.