COVID 19 #10 PICKING UP MEDICATIONS AT PHARMACY AND ORDERING FOOD ONLINE FOR DELIVERY

To finish up about picking up our prescriptions – I called on Thursday to check that all had been renewed for each of us and all were ready.  We get our prescriptions at the pharmacy at a local Walmart – they have been really great and helpful even before the current pandemic.  They do not, however deliver.  For some reason none of the Walmarts on Long Island deliver anything – ever – or, currently, have pre order and pick up – they will, however, bring prescriptions out to the car.  So on Thursday we donned our masks and drove to Walmart.  We parked near the exit and I telephoned.  A very nice employee brought out our prescriptions and had a remote reader so we could use our credit card to pay for them – it is not usable for anything other than prescriptions – I had asked if they could add 2 tubes of denture adhesive to the order and they could not.  She sent me a text with a list of what had been charged.  We thanked her and drove home.

We had expected to see based on what we have seen on TV news shows and what I have heard on the various groups I read online that there would be a line to get into the Walmart (and the unrelated supermarket next to it) with one person coming  out of the store and one going in, people going in and out of the store wearing masks – spread out and not near each other.  As we sat waiting for our medications to be brought out – the Walmart looked more crowded than it does at Christmas!!  No spacing of people coming out.  Few people (other than employees) wearing masks – we were shocked.  The supermarket did not have anyone at the entrance either, though it did seem emptier than the Walmart from outside.  It was our first chance to see what was going “the world around here” and it was not what we expected, had seen on TV or heard from others online.

When we arrived home I stopped in the porch. I sprayed alcohol on pieces of paper towels and wiped down the medication bottles and handed them to husband in the kitchen.  One medication which we each take was not in a bottle as usual – it was in boxes with strips of punch outs for the individual pills.  I pulled the strips out of the boxes and did not wipe the strips, just handed to husband.  The boxes, along with the paperwork for each med went into a zip plastic bag to hold for awhile.  Husband's box of insulin pens, I should mention, was wiped down and put in the fridge first.  As I went along I realized that we were missing two items – husband's blood meter strips (had mine) and one of his blood pressure pills – not the one that we had been told we had to wait for Thursday to get them.  We also could not figure out the texted payment statement.

I telephoned the pharmacy – they had forgotten to give his meter strips.  They had not been able to renew the bp medication as it was too soon by 2 weeks. I expressed surprise as I had received paperwork from our medical insurance company had said that early renewals were allowed.  She went over the charges with me.  I then called our insurance company and complained about the no early renewal and questioned what we had been charged for the medication in strips – apparently we had received the name brand version not the usual generic, hence the extra charge – only US$14 extra for the two of us – so not much, just wanted to know why.  The other item that was a problem I knew what the problem was and it will work itself out and we get a refund of the overcharge. 

So next week – I will call in his strips and his missing medication again and we will have to go there again to get them.

On Monday, husband decided that we needed to order more food.  He had a list of what we needed.  I had a list of what we needed – no they were not the same, but there were overlaps.  He went online and put in an order from Walmart.  I had expected what happened with BJs would happen with Walmart – order taken, but then contacted that most things out.  No, Walmart listed items were in stock – some even said that were 3 or 5 or whatever low number were left in stock.  The first items were to be delivered today, Wednesday.  First item came yesterday!  6 boxes came today – 5 more items to come tomorrow – most items are coming sooner than told – that is good.  A number of cans were dented (40%), some cardboard box packages were dented.  Two bottle of cooking oil had been, we presume, jammed so hard into the box hat the top of them is bent and does not pop back up – maybe they will when they are opened.  Husband emailed Walmart.  They apologized and refunded the damaged cans.  Not happy with the damaged items – but at least they stood behind the deliveries. 

Again the boxes went into our side porch.  I opened the boxes and wiped down each item with alcohol sprayed paper towel pieces and handed to husband. If we could open a box in the porch and dump the contents into a plastic box of ours- we did and tossed the boxes.  After all this I then had to find “homes” for all we bought. 

No refrigerated or frozen items.  We will have to go out sometime in the next two weeks to buy additional meat items and frozen items – especially vegetables.  Husband said so to me – I have been afraid to mention to him and have him go crazy. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

When an emergency comes along life changes.  Never thought we would ever order food delivered – but we need to avoid going out.  One does what needs to do to adjust and live on. 

Please make sure that you and your loved ones are safe and continue to be.  Wear a mask when you go out – if you don't think you need one - it couldn't hurt could it?  Stay away from others when outside – why take a chance?  I want you to be reading – or ignoring – me for a long time to come.

For those in the U.S.- have a safe Memorial Day.  For those who are veterans – Thank you for your service. 

PREPARING TO DEAL WITH THE CORONA VIRUS IN AN ORGANIZED MANNER

I am not a medically trained person, but I have to talk about the corona virus as it related to being organized. So, do not take anything I say as medical advise, I am just talking doing things sensibly and what I have learned from life over the decades.

I tend not to panic quickly. My husband leans the other way. So I have been working very hard at not saying anything to get him started. But there are realities to the situation that must be dealt with.

I was suppose to go to NYC to a client this week to deliver her corporation taxes and help her mail them out, do her books, and calculate the amount of of sales and sales taxes owed on them for the year ending February 29 so I could go home and file her sales taxes online – as they have to be. I was not happy at the thought of going to Manhattan even before some cases of the corona virus came to the NYC metropolitan area – including in my home county, but I needed to go. My husband was in a panic of my going. I told him that I had figured I would wear a pair of disposable plastic gloves from my car, on the subway and walking until I was at the client and inside. I would then turn the gloves inside out as I took them off and throw them out. I would then put on a second pair – carried in my briefcase – to come back to my car and toss them out the same way when I got back to my car. He was still upset. I finally gave in and mailed the tax returns to the client after calling her and telling her I would do so. I also asked her for her February sales so I could prepare and file her sales tax return. I completed the corporation return and it was mailed to her this past Monday – due the end of the week on Friday. I then prepared and filed her sales tax return and told the state to debit her bank account (the only way to pay the sales taxes) on this coming Monday, so that on the off chance she did not have enough money in her bank account she would have time to get some money into the account. Today I telephoned her and she had just received the tax forms so I was able to help with the returns and I also told her how much to subtract from her checking account for the sales taxes. Breath a deep sign of relief. I was sure that the tax forms would go astray or she would have would have problems dealing with them alone. While I wanted to ignore the threat of the Corona Virus and go to work – I was realistic about it and made my husband feel better.

Last Sunday when we went to Costco and Bjs as we do for something to do on Sundays, they were no longer handing out samples at Costco for fear of the corona virus and large sections of the store – mostly paper goods - were empty. He had planned on buying more toilet paper despite our having at least half a huge package we bought a couple of months ago there and was starting to panic that they did not have same. The store was also limiting how much of certain items one could buy. We drove up the road to Bjs (a similar type of store) and were able to buy his package of toilet paper. They were not as sold out as Costco was. Apparently there have been major runs on toilet paper. When husband brought up buying more I mentioned that we had most of the package yet – but he insisted. Per a segment on a news show, apparently it is considered a comfort item that makes people feel better to have an excess of.

He has also been looking for hand sanitizer (We have two large, unopened bottles, plus a started one, the smaller bottles that we transfer it to for use, two very small bottles that we carry in our pockets (which normally do not have to constantly be refilled – but right now are refilled nightly), and, as I pointed out to him, whatever we have in the house of items like this – is also in our little RV.

Over the recent years we have become rather bad at food shopping. While I used to keep a list on our refrigerator of what I needed to buy, would check for sales & try to buy food items on sale, and would do regular shopping (Mondays for the week, Fridays to fill in any extra for the weekend) that has all slowly disappeared since husband is home with me all the time. We have gotten to the point that other than stocking up before storms, we basically eat lunch (at Wendys) and then go out to buy “something for dinner”. We have gotten to the point where we basically have 3 or 4 dinners we make, buy deli turkey once a week for dinner and eat out (or take in Chinese food) Friday through Sunday. So deciding what to buy and shopping for it without getting him into a panic was not easy.

I brought up the idea after dinner the night before - rather off hand “I guess we should have some extra food in the house just in case.” At lunch I brought up the subject again. As we left from lunch he asked where I wanted to go for the food – we food shop at Walmart Neighborhood Market, at different supermarkets, and at a regular Walmart (same are smaller here than elsewhere) which is next to a supermarket which by default is the one we normally shop at. At the same time that the corona virus is starting to spread – our state's law on stores not using the standard lightweight plastic bags went into effect on March 1. So people are panic shopping and learning to deal with bringing bags (or buying them at the store – although our county was not one of the ones requiring a fee per bag, stores are allowed to charge for the bags – and they do – better we should have a fee as it would be cheaper than stores are charging for the bags) at the same time.

I suggested we go to the Neighborhood Market first as we tend to buy items that do not need to be refrigerated there. It was like it had been announced that a 2 week long snow storm was coming. Shelves and refrigerated cases were empty. (Then again, this store over the past several months has not had full shelves – and cans are often dented and boxes look like they had been stepped on.) We bought what we could find. We were looking for the soups that husband has before dinner (½ can of either Campbells Chicken Noodle or Vegetable soups) or the heavier soups that he likes if we eat lunch home (Campbells Split Pea, or Progresso Lentil) We bought cereal (we have for late night snack) and some items as we could find them – the soup shelves were almost empty so we bought what we could and moved on. I did have enough bags in the store with us for the purchases. (I have been keeping the bags when we get them - and using them for other things - so we have years worth of plastic bags and before that I saved the paper bags. I am combining the contents bags that we use in the bathrooms and bedroom for garbage pails liners so 1- 2 bags are tossed out with the garbage of all 4 pails.) He has started panicking over having hand soup also and this Walmart did not have – any.

We drove to the supermarket and stopped in at the small Walmart next to it first to see if it had the common items – soup and hand soup – that the Neighborhood Market did not – neither did this store.

In the supermarket the “what should we buy to eat” started. I bought at least 2 weeks worth of the foods we actually eat. I had actually come up with 4 meals to be repeated and that would still leave us 6 meals short. We bought eggs – not something we ordinarily eat, but could be used for lunch or dinner or in one of the cake mixes we bought – if we end up stuck in, something to eat that we should not eat, if not – they will keep for holiday dinners. Made sure to buy enough diet soda to last. We bought a loaf of bread = I was actually surprised that they were not out. I knew I was low on some frozen vegetables and we bought some to fill in. (Good thing basement freezer is running again.) Bought some potatoes as I had stews on the list of things to cook.

So we have a good start – but going to the stores and seeing the shelves empty put him into panic mode. He is trying to over come same, but it not easy. We wrote up a new list and will go out tomorrow to buy some more items.

We renewed the only medications we take that were not recently renewed.

We don't plan on being stuck in the house - but if we are, we can go for at least two weeks now. We need to keep up filling what we use to keep the 2 weeks of food in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK – Prepare but don't panic. Government divisions in the most countries seem to be acting properly and making decisions as needed and telling people what to do without overdoing it and causing panic.

While instructions and information seem to vary, good common sense is your best friend.

In articles I have read about the world wide flu epidemic  in 1917 there were considerably less deaths in the US and other countries which shut down places that large numbers of people would be than those, such as England, which did not. So avoid crowded places as much as you can.

You know the rest – you have been hearing it on the TV and radio – wash your hands frequently and/or use hand sanitizer frequently. Apparently even just rubbing your hands together vigorously if nothing else is available will help.

We will get through this as people have gotten through epidemics back to the start of history. I hope that you and yours will get this as easily and with as few problems as possible.

STILL HAVING TO REDO THINGS, BUT ACTUALLY GETTING SOME THINGS DONE

This is no longer funny.  I still am doing things and needing to do them over again. 

I have to file a form with IRS for our reenacting unit (since I am treasurer and also an accountant, it is my job).  This is an annual form for small tax-exempt, not for profits organizations and can only be filed online - no paper copy.  It takes less than 15 minutes and consists of how to contact the group, who is charge of it, what is its website (if it has one) and is its income and assets each under $25,000 for the year.  I actually have to do 2 of these forms as the unit was not a corporation when we joined and over the years some other members and us decided it should be, so we incorporated, but we have never shut down the original organization, so both have to file the form.  If we don’t file it we lose our tax exempt/not for profit status.  I have now tried to file the form three times.  It is not due until May, but I like to get it done with so I don’t forget.  Each time I get a message after I sign in that there is maintenance going on - sorry - and it refers me to another page that will explain - which it does not and has nothing to do with same.  At this point I have decided that this site is not working due to the government shut down and put this aside until late next month - or I hear the government has reopened.  I hope this does not mean that I will not get the forms I ordered for client - should be here tomorrow as that is 10 days - I am guessing that at the least it will take longer.

We get for Christmas every year a general gift card from a family member of in-law, We tell her not to give it to us.  She is extremely short on money and cannot afford to give it to us.  We don’t reciprocate as we hope this makes her stop.  We always have problems using gift cards - something goes wrong.  We appreciate the thought, but just a card would be more appropriate.  To make it easier to use the card ($25) and not need to keep track of how much is left on it and not buy something that we later need to return and have tossed out the empty card, we use it for prescriptions.  So, we had to renew an expensive prescription (due to it being pay the deductible time of year) and when we picked up the prescription I handed the pharmacy employee the gift card to use first - it got rejected!  Now I do this every year, I hand the gift card, it gets processed and subtracted from what we owe for the prescriptions and I pay the difference on our credit cards and it works every year.  When we got home I telephoned the gift card company and sat on hold.  While on same I heard about how now they were set up for split purchases and just use the card first and then pay the difference afterwards as most companies will accept it.  When I finally reached an employee she told me that I had done this wrong (remember the message I had heard 4 times told me I had done it right).  I have to pay the rest of the purchase amount and THEN have them process the card or it will not go through!!  So next month when husband needs another expensive medication, since he still has more of his deductible, I will have to do it that it way!  Oh, and she wastes another $5 buying the card as that is what she is charged to do so.

And - You may remember in December 2017 we bought husband’s niece (then 7 years old, now 8) a gift card for Best Buy for her to use for a computer game.  I misplaced the card and it took until I set up the Christmas trees this year to find it.  We gave her cash instead.  We found out then how bad her computer game habit is. She plays constantly and if she loses she hits herself in the head with the game (a handheld).  We decided that we would not give her anything towards the games again as she is an addict and it is the same as buying a bottle of liquor for an alcoholic.  So we were stuck with the Best Buy card as we don’t really shop there.  I need a software program to use for taxes and normally buy it at Walmart.  I looked and Best Buy had it for the same price, so I figured I would buy it there instead and use up the blankety- blank card.  We went in a week ago - after just about every employee on the floor in the Best Buy store had spoken to each other on their earphones - they still did not know if they carried it or if it was in stock.  We left.  The following weekend I checked and their website said they had it, so I printed same and went in to get it.  (So this is my second trip in for the program.)  I found it.  We walked around a bit just because we were there and then I went to pay for it.  I handed the cashier the card and the $25 was applied to the cost and I paid the balance.  The cashier handed me the bag and the receipt and I turned to walk away.  The cashier said “Wait!  This says I am suppose to give you a $5 gift card.”  So, now I have another card in my wallet and it will probably be there until next year’s software!

Yes, I know it is very nice of the in-law to give us something - but she REALLY needs the money herself.  It is nice that we got the $5 card from Best Buy - but when one does not shop there, it is a problem.

On to what actually got done.  (Laundry always done of course.)  I packed up our every day Christmas season dishes and glasses and put them away in the basement until next year.  I have started putting needed software in my new - new laptop (as I did with the original new laptop).  At some time I will get around to transferring my word processing software to it and will no longer be using my old s - l - o - w laptop to write and post my posts to you. 

I have to fill in a form with the income and expenses and bank accounts (also other assets if we had any) for my embroidery chapter to send to our national office so they can do their tax return which includes us.  (Remember back in the second paragraph I said I do a form for our reenactment unit - well instead of filing that form for our chapter, we are included in the return of the national organization due to a different setup.  BUT - every year we (I) receive a notice that we have not filed that  - same as our reenactment unit files - form, although we are not suppose to, and end up filling in a longer paper form explaining why we don’t need to fill the form - another repeat of work.)  So I filed in the form for national - all the numbers worked as I set up the file in my accounting software to match what national wants/needs and I just have to copy each item to national’s form.  I added up the numbers on the form - best way to make sure I copied them correctly - and then filled in the other form - how many primary members other than officers volunteer for the chapter?  That is the hard form to fill in. We have 2 committee chairs - that’s 2.  We had some members teach stitching so they are volunteers - but 3 of them were officers, so they don’t get counted again, one is a committee chair - ditto, and one is a plural member - that means she belongs to national through a different chapter and also belongs to our chapter so I guess she is counted as volunteering for the other chapter.  I had to go through all of last year’s newsletters to figure this out.  I emailed out the form and they will let me know if there any problems - I am guessing there will not be.

I have cleared all the walkways through the house as we are expecting 2 snow storms over the next few days.  I have explained before that 18th century homes were “put to rest” with the furniture against the wall when a room was not being used (and the furniture needed was put out in the middle to use when it was needed).  This allowed people to walk around in dim light without needing a candle to avoid tripping over or walking into things.  I started long ago making sure that we could walk around the house the same way when there was a possibility of a black  out so we can safely walk around.  I am currently doing the laundry.  As long as it is all washed and dried I don’t have to worry, again, if there is a black out.  I can always fold it without electricity.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK-

Frustrations will eventually end - I know I will reach point when I only have to things once - again.  Being prepared in advance makes life easier if there is black out - and it doesn’t hurt if one is lucky and there isn’t one.  I hope that any of you in the path of any storms from the past week or upcoming week make it through as easily as possible.

Non-political statement - If you work for the U.S. Federal government, I hope that you are working and getting paid.  If not I hope that you are able to get by until this mess is over and that ends quickly.  If you are in the U.S. and are not in this position - if you can, please give to one of the drives which are helping those who working and not being paid or not working at all due to the mess.

MEDICAL MATTERS TAKE MORE TIME THAN SHOULD

Well, it looks like we are coming out of our “emergency” situation with husband’s shoulder.  No, it is not that he is better, but rather that he can mostly deal with it.  Last weekend he decided that he should try to get back to his normal routine.  We had dinner out on Friday night.  We ended up at Wendys and he ordered and carried the tray.  When we have gone for lunch, I have had to go up and order and carry the tray - although for the lunches since then, I have been ordering and carrying the tray again.  Saturday night we went to Ikea for dinner and then the movies.  We have not gone to the movies since he hurt his shoulder - and normally we go every Saturday night.  Sunday we even went to one of the Asian buffets we go to for dinner.  I can touch his arm again without him screaming in pain.  I have pushed him to open doors to different businesses we go to and he can open some, but some are too heavy for his shoulder.  Biggest problem continues to be the seat belt sitting on shoulder when he drives. 

We missed another reenactment event this past weekend.  It was a new event and it all sounded complicated - since we were coming late everything we brought would have to be carried in.  No parking for the event and looking at the map - we would be parking on residential streets on the far side of a wide main road, that we would then have to cross back - with our stuff - with no traffic light to help us.  We would therefore have to travel very light.  No bringing even our smaller box bench as it would be too heavy for me to carry - he certainly could not without much pain and making his shoulder worse.  We would have to use the reproduction folding stools we have.  (Husband made them.)  Not a problem normally, but I knew it would be a problem for him right now.  So I had him try one - the look on his face said it all.  We got a piece of board from the garage workshop and he tried that across the stool - he said it was maybe okay.  In the end we decided not to go.  From the report on the event it was not a major loss.  It is just that he feels that is he is giving in and weak as does he is not doing things


This has continued to be a week of dealing with medical things.  I am hard to get blood from during a blood test. The nurse last week was good - I barely felt the needle.  When I took off the bandaid when we got home, I was surprised at the bruising where she had done the test, but knew it would go away.  Over the weekend we went to Costco and husband found a new canned soup that he wanted.  We bought the 8 pack of soup and a small bottle of vitamins which were in a cart.  I hate the Costco carts as they are too tall for me to push comfortably and when we walked out of the store I picked up the soup and handed him the vitamins with him protesting all the way about my carrying the “heavy”soup.  The weather has been cold here and I have been wearing a long sleeved sweatshirt over my tee shirt.  Sunday night when I suddenly was hot and took of the sweatshirt I saw that rather than healing, the bruise area had gotten larger.  Of course husband looked it up and said that it was due to carrying heavy items - “see, you should not have carried the soup”.  So I am waiting for my arm to be back to normal.

Wednesday we went to the doctor for our regular appointment.  All went well, Doctor checked husband’s shoulder and said maybe another month to 6 weeks and it should be okay or we will “see” what else needs to be done - probably nothing.

Now, our state put in a new law maybe last year.  Rather than writing out prescriptions and handing them to us, all prescriptions for people (as opposed to veterinarian ones for animals) have to be sent directly by the doctor to the pharmacy.  This may be great for helping prevent and deal with addiction, but has been a nightmare for us in dealing with our prescriptions. I keep our prescriptions organized.  We are given them 3 months worth at a time.  I keep those bottles in our downstairs bathroom (no shower or bath tub to make it steam).  I have smaller bottles in the kitchen cabinet.  When I use up all the medications in a kitchen bottle, I count out 30 days worth from the ones in the bathroom into the ones in the kitchen and I make a mark on the lid of the bathroom bottle.  It helps me keep track of how much medication we have left.

With the new system of no written prescriptions not only do we not see what has been sent through to make sure it is correct, the pharmacy automatically fills all of the prescriptions .  Often we don’t need all of them filled and we have to stand there while one of the pharmacy employee wastes time reversing the ones we don’t need.  (I am not upset with the pharmacy or their personnel - they go above and beyond as will be shown.)  So this time I told husband that I was just going to take all the refills now - even if we don’t need them yet - except for his insulin.  (The insulin has to be refrigerated or is only good for 42 days.  We have a mostly full box and did not want a second box in the house in case of hurricane and no refrigerator.)

When we got to the pharmacy I explained this and it was no problem not to fill the insulin.  We then walked around the store.  Husband for some reason was not having a good day with his arm.  I offered for us to go home and I would come back for the prescriptions - or they could wait until the next day (today).  He insisted on staying.  He settled on the bench near the pharmacy to wait. 

The prescriptions were almost ready and we waited.  Then we were called and I went up to get them.  I had added up in my head that they should cost between $30 and $40 so when it rang up for $57 - I was shocked.  I went over to husband and we while he checked that the medications were the correct ones, I looked at the charge card receipt - my medications had been rung up at the rate from my old insurance.  I switched insurance as of this month - I used to buy my meds off the old insurance as doing so was cheaper - and had purposely brought the cards in a couple of weeks ago so the change would be on file.  It was not.  One of the employees researched it and switched it over to the new insurance and it’s lower rate.  But to do this she had to take out half the pills in 2 of them as I take a half a pill not a whole pill and the insurance would only allow 45 pills for the 90 days, not the 90 pills I had been getting.  Okay, I understand.  I really appreciated the attention and time the employee put into this - and she was standing on crutches having been hurt in some way, so I felt really bad.  She rebottled the pills and gave me a refund for the overpayment. My credit card slip for the original purchase had gone astray on their end during all of this and the search for it was close to 10 minutes before it was found.  I was at the point that I had asked if they could just give me a reprint and employee was about to check - when it was found.   I thanked her profusely and we came home - 2 hours gone.    When I got home I realized that we were charge for the needles for husband’s insulin three times as much as it has been cost before. 

We also get test strips to use in our Diabetes meters.  When at the pharmacy yesterday, they told us that the doctor’s office had not included a diagnosis code and that we should call to have it resent to them.  I did so this morning.  This afternoon we went in and discussed the price of the strips - apparently he had been under billed in the past and this amount was correct.  When they ran through my test strips they came up for almost $50.  They are suppose to be free.  I know from when husband switched to this insurance that the first time they charged him $5 and then when it was processed through, the $5 was refunded - but $50?  Also they only had enough to fill one of our prescriptions.  I had them fill husband’s prescription and I will have to call our insurance company to find out what is going on with the billing for my strips before I get them.  I again thanked the employee (same one as yesterday).  This all went much smoother when husband switched his medical insurance last year.

Since husband was doing better - even if he does not think he is - and I knew that he could go out for lunch on his own, I told him that I am going to my client tomorrow as I have work that has to be done there - I did not make it there last month for other reasons and this month is quickly running out.  (Plus I would like to get paid - we can use the money.)  He was not happy, but understood.  I told him that I would take our van so he could have the car as it is easier for him to deal with the door and seatbelt in the car.  I know the van can fit in the municipal garage I park in as I have taken it there before.  He insisted he would be happier if I had the car and he will deal with the van.  So I called the client and I am going to work tomorrow.  Something I normally look forward to, but am too tired to do so this month.  (Oh, I need an extension cord for this client -and it is a special one as it has a flat plug as the outlet is behind a safe.  I could not of course find this cord when packing this afternoon to go to work tomorrow - it is kept in my brief case.  I finally found out that “the teddies in my little village had borrowed it”, okay, I had grabbed it to use for them until I got one for the village and forgot about it!)

Laundry is behind as we don’t want me carrying it upstairs and he can’t.  I have not changed the bedding since he became ill as he has his pillows as needs them (which changes at times) and we don’t want to move them out of position.  So I have gotten a lot of undone paperwork done, but other things are falling behind.
                       
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Know what your medical insurance covers and what it costs.  Don’t be afraid to make sure that you get what you are entitled to or ask to have something changed to what you are entitled to.  In the past we have had a blood pressure medication changed by the doctor at our request as one goes on a formulary and another goes off - they are the same category of medication. 

Also if you are picking new medical insurance - and this is the time of year that happens - make sure that any medications or other prescription items that you take are on the formulary (list of covered medications) that the new company has.       

COPING WITH HUSBAND IN PAIN

We ended up going to the doctor on Friday and husband’s pain is muscle related.  Doctor felt a “knot” in husband’s back. Since the hospital had taken X-rays of husband’s back, the doctor would have access to them - he was not sure why he had not received the info about the visit as we had specified him as the doctor.  He did send husband for X-rays of his neck.  He called in prescriptions for husband to our pharmacy.  (By law in our state there are no longer written prescriptions allowed for people.)  He had the Xrays taken.  We had lunch on the way home at Wendys that we passed, so it would be the most like a normal lunch for him - although it was a terrible Wendys, not like our regular wonderful one, I settled him in at home and picked up the prescriptions.

One is an anti-inflammatory and one is a muscle relaxer.  He was also to take extra strength Tylenol with them.  The former drove his blood glucose up high (doctor said it would).  And between the other medication and his pain, he could not drive - which meant he would be staying in the house.

Until Saturday night he sat in the kitchen at the table watching TV.  At my suggestion, I brought him his laptop so he could go online.  His chair (well, the chair I brought him to use instead of his) blocks the way to the bathroom, the pantry, and the door to the basement - especially if he sits back from the table which he was doing.  So, little got done.  I still have one load of laundry from last week which has not been brought up and folded yet - and I just started this week’s laundry - but at least as of Saturday night he felt well enough to go upstairs to his computer.

Through Sunday night I was picking up lunch for us and bringing it back (Wendys, of course) and picked up dinner Saturday night.  Sunday I made him hot dogs for lunch and then we had Wendys - picked up by me - for dinner.  Thank goodness the big "Dr. Who" season start was Sunday afternoon and gave his something to watch.

Monday he decided that he was going out for lunch and drove us to, of course, Wendys.  I ordered and picked up the food as he normally would and he got the table as I normally would.  We did the same yesterday and today (Wednesday) also.  I have been cooking dinners that are “soft”as he does not want to use a knife to cut - it hurts too much. I had been going out and running errands without him.  The weekend and Monday (a holiday here) the post office was closed, but yesterday he decided that we would go, as normal, on our way to lunch to mail what I had to mail out and see what was in our box.  That went fine and then I left him at home and went to the supermarket as while running errands I found that some items we normally buy were on sale (who had time to look at the circulars received?) and I wanted to buy them.  Today we went out for lunch, stopping at the post office on the way.  Afterwards I had to go to the bank and he wanted to buy a new remote reading thermometer as the one he has in our holly tree to let him know what the temperature is outside, broke since all of this started.  Walmart has discontinued the thermometer, so he has to find an alternative.  Walmart and the supermarket next to were both too cold for him and it made his shoulder hurt more.  I knew I should have left him home.

Strangely I did manage to get a lot of things that needed to be done finished.  My cell phone won’t work with this (or my other) laptop and I wanted to transfer and organize photos that I took so I don’t buy (any more) duplicate bears.  While at my desk I always feel that I should be doing work, work or household books and such so I don’t get to it - so I used this opportunity to sort the photos and copy them. While he was upstairs I got the downstairs bathroom cleaned - I hate to admit to being “at least”a month behind on this - now I have to do the upstairs bathroom.  I made some phone calls that needed to be done.  I did an IRS form for my embroidery club (I am treasurer of same). 

I always said that I needed more time home and more time driving - unfortunately it took his injury for me to have more of both.

He feels better than he did - although when today started he felt worse.  I can see from how he moves and how interested he is in things that he is doing even better than he thinks he is.  One problem is that he is afraid that cold air will make his arm hurt worse.  One theory on where the injury came from is that I had turned on the a/c for him when I left for the meeting as it was hot in the room and his shoulder got cold - so he is trying to avoid cold air.  Unfortunately we are having temperatures which are more summer than fall and we are both sweating and hot and I think the discomfort from same is keeping him from feeling better.  It is also making our bedroom smell like a gym locker room - I have changed the bedding and keep spraying with Lysol.

I was to go to a client this week - I called and told her what happened and I would call next week for an appointment.  I need to do the work and I also get paid quarterly and need the check.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

“Stuff” happens. 

One has to figure out what to do to keep life going as normally as possible.  One has to take the time to take care of one’s loved ones - and one’s self.  Time and money have to be reappropriated when needed.  I am glad he did not have a heart attack and can put him with the 4 year old child that he is when not feeling well.  If driving out and picking up his regular lunch keeps him happier, that is fine with me even if it would be easier to make him lunch at home.

If organizing falls a bit further behind, well, that it is how it is. 

COMING HOME FROM THE TRIP

Well, we made it through last week’s trip and home again.

While away husband came across something that he has wanted for decades.  It is a small loom that makes tape.  No, not sticky tape, this makes a long thin strip of fabric.  In earlier centuries (before the 20th ) it was used to make fabric tapes for clothing and other purposes.  As an example, in the 18th century ladies’ petticoats (skirts) had a casing or hollow waistband at the top and one of these tape would go through the casing - well actually two of them as the petticoat were not attached front to back at the top/casing.  At the two sides the tapes would be tied together to bring the sides of the petticoats together to the fit of the woman/girl wearing it, tight enough to hold it together and up, but not so tight that one was uncomfortable.  (No, really, this works fine.)  Why were the two sides open?  Well, women had a garment called a pocket or a pair of pockets that were large tearshaped bags with a slit on the side facing away from the body.  Since the sides of the petticoat were open, one could reach through the slits formed by the opening and waist ties and reach into the pocket(s) easily.  Oh, the pockets were sewn to/hanging from - tape and were tied around the waist (under the petticoat). 

The tape loom is around 24 inches tall, 24 inches front to back and around 9 inches across.  Well, at least the one husband found last week is.  In the past the tape looms he has found has been too expensive for us to buy.  He even bought a book on how to make the looms - but decided that he would end up cutting off two many fingers trying to do so.  The one he found last week was made by another craftsperson (always good to support a craftsperson) and was 1/4 of what is usually being charged for them - oh, and since it was a museum shop, we were supporting the museum also.  He was unsure.  I knew we could not let the loom get away from him.  He was about to agree to buy it when the big question hit him.  Remember how small the RV is, he decided it would not fit in the RV (securely to keep it intact).  I had to go out to the RV and measure where I thought I could fit it to make sure - it did fit there.  Then again, I told him that he was buying it, if it had to ride around the rest of the day and the next day until we got home - in my lap! 

How did I fit it?  We have one of those boxes intended to go in a trunk.  It has 2 sections and collapses down for storage.  I keep the box under the bed to make it easy to pull out and store laptop computers and what we call the last minute bag - huh? Well, we prepack the RV, but there are always the items that have to be used the night before we leave or the morning we are leaving, so we have a bag that we put those items in when we travel.  It goes under the bed in this box.  I pulled the box out from under the bed.  I then wrapped the loom in several large laundry bags. (I keep the bedding in them when the beds are not made up - so they are large enough to hold 2 pillows each.)  I laid the loom on its side - the flat side, not the one with the mechanism on it, in the bags, at the back end of the under bed space - one of the flat sides against the back wall of the space.  The space is carpeted so it helps protect whatever is there and keeps it from moving as easily.  I then put 2 tension curtain rods in front of the loom (I stuffed a large plastic bag into an open area where the loom forms an “L” shape and the curtain rods).  Why do I have curtain tension rods?  I use them in front of the box mentioned to help hold it in place under the bed.  I used two of them to keep the loom in place.  I collapsed one side of the box and put the box into place in front of the loom and stood the laptops standing next to the box and then put my last curtain rod in front of the box to keep it and the laptops in place. 

It worked!  Nothing moved out of place (and roads around here are pretty bad and there is much bouncing of the stuff in the RV) and the loom was in perfect condition when we arrived home.  As I mentioned last week - it is amazing what one can fit into the small space that is this RV.  Now, short of it traveling on a bed or in the walking aisle of the RV, this was the only space the right shape to hold the loom and hold it safely. 

When we get home and unpack the RV we have to be organized also.  The first things that are unpacked are the refrigerated items.  I put them into a fabric bag and husband will run back and forth to the house with the items.  When the refrigerator is empty I shut it off and put a folded towel under the freezer compartment.  (There is no separate freezer, just a colder freezer section and if there is any condensation, it will drip in the refrigerator, so the towel will catch any drips.) 

I have to remember what has to go into the house. Normally the next thing to go into the house would be “the last minute bag” with items such as medications and the like packed back into it from the trip, but this last trip the next thing that went into the house was the loom!  It made the trip in perfect condition.  Then onto the last minute bag.

I pack the clean clothes that we did not wear into the second regular laundry bag - we always bring clothes for a day or two longer than we will be away “in case” - case something happens to what one or both of is wearing (such as the time we had to step over a small section of water, but I was too short and stepped down into what looked like a thin layer of water, only to find out that there was a drain system under it that I stepped into up to my knee, barely managing not to get hurt) or something happens and we need to or decide to stay a day longer than we planned.  When we pack we put our clean clothes into 2 laundry bags - one for each us - and then put them into the shelves in the “closet” (a small cabinet) and put one laundry bag (the one the clean clothes go into at the end of the trip) away with the last minute bag, and we use the other laundry bag for - well, our laundry that accumulates during the trip.  When I put for husband to take into the house, I add the towels (hand and dish) that we used - it will get tossed down the stairs to the basement for washing when it goes into the house). 

Little by little it all goes back into the house.  The food that was not in the refrigerator (stored in small locking plastic boxes in the RV “kitchen cabinet” - a shelf with a door on it) is taken into the house in another fabric shopping bag.  The shoes come out of the cubby they are stored in and are put into plastic shopping bags.  The laptops come out from under the bed.  Magazines and such come back into the house.  I then go to the front of the RV and pack eyeglasses and such that were in the front.  I have an manila envelope a little larger than a regular envelope for each of the regular trips we take to accumulate reservations, coupons, etc. for that trip and I take the envelope with me in the map pocket - it has to come back into the house.  Almost forgot - jackets and sweatshirts have to come back into the house. 

The next to last thing I do before I leave inside the RV is I walk around the inside in a circle and touch each area that we put things into and have to take things out of and put back in the house to remind myself and make sure that I remembered to empty each area. The last thing I do is shut off the lights and then the RV battery - and as I do I say out loud to myself - lights are off, battery IS off.  This way I will remember that I shut them off.

We also unload anything we stored in the back of the RV through the back door that we brought or bought - there is a laundry basket there to hold the items. 

Oddly, I was greatly short on time to write this post tonight.  Husband decided to set up his new loom tonight.  “It will only take 5 minutes.” Famous last words.  Two hours later it was set up.  Two hours that I had other plans for.  But that is life and life is more important.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

If you do something over and over again develop a plan to follow to make sure that all of it is done and follow it.  I find that when doing something such as checking the kitchen (in our house) at night, locking the door when I go out, or finishing unloading the RV to say something out loud. 

When I close up the kitchen for the night (we watch TV in same at night - such as right now while I am writing and posting this) I lock the back door.  I then check the back door and say “door locked”.  I then look at the 6 knobs on the stove next to the door and count one to six out loud and say “all off”.  I then look at the electric outlet box next to the stove, check it and say “nothing plugged in”.  (This is the electric outlets which are used for small appliances and we don’t leave them plugged in when they are not being used.) 

When I go out I lock the door.  As I do so I say to myself “door LOCKED” so I remember.

As mentioned I touch each area in the RV and say that it is emptied before leaving it when the trip is over.  I also say out loud that the refrigerator door is open (it is propped open to prevent odors forming) and that the lights are out and then that the battery is turned off.

By saying and doing each of these things it registers on my brain and I do not go running downstairs - or outside to the RV - or back to the door - to check that the chore is done.

I want to offer hopes that anyone living in the areas which are being flooded in the heavy storms are safe and dry.

TINY BATHROOMS - I MEAN REALLY TINY!

Okay, let’s get back to the idea of trying to get organized.  We have a full bathroom upstairs and and a half bath downstairs.  For those from other places, this means that our bathroom upstairs has a commode, sink, and bathtub/shower, while our downstairs bathroom has only a commode and sink.  They are small.  The downstairs bathroom is just less than 4 feet by 4 feet.  The upstairs one is about 6 feet by 5 feet - the 5 feet being the cross measurement of the bathtub. I am not sure that in some of the new houses being built the “toilet room” in the bathrooms are not larger than our bathrooms themselves.

When we moved in the downstairs bathroom had a decent sink and fairly new small vanity.  At some point the floor had been retiled as it ceramic tile and based on what I know of tile at different points in my life, I would say it had put in within 10 years of when we bought. The walls in both bathrooms have plastic tile - something I have never otherwise seen and I presume is older.  The vanity had a drawer below the door section. 

The upstairs sink and vanity were not that nice - and much older looking.  At some point we decided to replace them.  We then found out that our bathroom sinks are below the smallest standard size.  Back then we had a choice of two, now I am not sure that this size is still made.  We looked and looked and managed to find a duplicate of the downstairs vanity - with a drawer at the bottom.  No other vanities in this size had any drawer and there were maybe 3 of them to choose from.  Understand I don’t mean that we went to a store and the store had 3 of them.  We went to ALL the stores and found 3 total.  We replaced the upstairs sink and vanity, putting in the new setup ourselves.  When we moved in there was no electric outlet in either bathroom - yes, I just said that there was no outlet in either bathroom when we moved in.  We are not sure how the families before us dried their hair and the men must have shaved with blades, not an electric shaver.  We are not sure this would be allowed under the current electric code where we live.

When I read organizing books there is an assumption that there are lots of drawers, a large cabinet and a counter top.  We have no counter in either bathroom.  We also cannot put an “over john” in the upstairs bathroom.  (This is a set of shelves intended to stand around the commode and put shelves over it.) Why?  Well, the window is over the commode and it would be blocked by the over john unit.  What we did end up doing is making a 2 shelved wheeled cart that just squeezes in opposite the sink and next to the bathtub.  It can be wheeled out when one is taking a shower or cleaning the bathroom and then wheeled back in.  The bottom is used for storage and the top for counter space.  Spare towels and related are kept in a small closet in the hall outside of the bathroom.  We also put up a wooden ladder shaped hanging, that we made, on the wall adjacent to the commode - this is for magazines, but they get a bit icky where it is located, so very little is placed there.

The drawer in upstairs bathroom is husband’s.  He has to put his razor and related items somewhere and the drawer is where they are.  Since he gets dizzy when he bends over, it is not the best place, but it is what we have.  In the cabinet I have a plastic shoe box without a lid.  This holds our first aid stuff for upstairs.  It can be pulled out to be taken to where it is needed.  We have spare toilet paper and mouthwash in the cabinet, as well as a spray bottle of shower cleaner.  That fills it.  In the “medicine cabinet” over the sink, husband has his teeth related items on the top shelf in what is sold as drawer divider box.  He can take the entire divider box out, put it on the cart to use it, and then put it back.  Small bathroom related items - including over the counter pain killers - are on the other two shelves.  We do not keep any prescription medication upstairs.  Why?  I have to count it out once a week into boxes (so if one of us says “hey, did I take my pills?” we can easily check if it was taken) and I do this in the kitchen, so the prescription medications are kept in the kitchen.  I keep my teeth related items in the hall closet - it just leads to much less arguing. 

We do have this closet just outside our bathroom and bedroom.  It had shelves so it is used as a linen closet for the bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom.  We put a wire shelving unit on the inside of the door and I try to keep the items there in sections by what they are for to be able to find them - such as all of the “Band aid” type items are on the same door shelf.  Cleaning items for the bathroom are on the bottom door shelf.  A roll of paper towels is also kept in this closet for upstairs use. 

The hand towels in use hang on a towel bar on the door - we went to change this when we moved in, but it is set into a cut into the tile around the tub/shower and could not be changed.  The started shower towels hang on the door of the shower.  I also have 2 “utility” towels in the bathroom. These are towels to wipe up spills and messes. 

I keep the box of tissues on the top of the commode.  Also there and on the window sill are pump hand soap and pump hand sanitizer .  For fun and decoration there are some small “rubber” duckies in a line across the window sill.  There is a holder for small paper cups on the wall between the sink area and the tub.

When it is time to clean the bathroom, I wheel the cart out of it.  I do have to lie across the (closed) commode seat to be able to reach behind it to clean it and the floor.  To clean the tiny space between the sink/cabinet and the tub, I have to kneel in the tub to be able to reach the floor there to clean it.  

The day after we moved in we had an electrician in to put in an electric outlet.  The choices were limited.  It could be on the wall that is behind one, when one is standing at the sink - not convenient. or we could move the lighting fixture and put the outlet where the light had been.  The light was moved to the eave angle of the ceiling and an outlet put in.  I can sort of reach the outlet, but not really.

The upstairs does have ceramic tile on the wall and on the tub surround so they must have been replaced as they are not plastic, although they look older than the ones in the downstairs bathroom.                     

Ah yes - I wanted to mention that we always seem to manage to drip some water off the back corner of the sink onto the floor (on the commode side) and I have started folding a paper towel in quarters and putting it this corner of the floor to absorb any water that drips. 

The downstairs sink has a bit more flat surface around it and I have the pump soap and pump hand sanitizer on the back corners of the sink.  I cut a paper towel in half and then cut it to match the curve of the sink and keep the pieces under the two pumps to keep the sink top clean - I change them when I clean the bathroom.

I also have to lie down on the commode to clean behind it.  There is a perhaps 1 inch to 1.5 inch space between the vanity and the side wall - it is next to impossible to clean.  A damp paper towel folded and shoved in and moved with a yard stick is about the best that can be done.  The cleaners are kept in the vanity.  The drawer here holds some magazines (BBC History magazine to be specific.)  The hand towels and some utility towels (no other towels needed for here) are also kept in the vanity.  I hang a set of hand towels on a towel bar.  The owner before us also had 2 large rings for towels and I hang a utility towel in one of them for wiping up. There is a cup holder attached to the wall with a metal cup in it.  We use this bathroom when cleaning up from doing crafts and the cup holds paint brushes that need to dry.

For an electric outlet in this bathroom we installed (ourselves) a combination piece which has one outlet and the light switch in what would be the second outlet area.  It has not been working right lately (only when I am using it of course) and we have bought a new matching unit to replace the old one. 

The medicine cabinet has more of the same over the counter medicines.  (We keep older bottles of them when we buy new and split the new between the upstairs and downstairs bottles, putting the new expiration dates on the older bottles as we never use them up before they go bad and do not want to buy 2 bottles.)  We get our prescription medications in 90 day supplies and I keep the bottles in this cabinet.  Since it is not a shower bathroom, it does not get steamy so we can do this.  I count the pills into smaller bottles (again ones from earlier prescriptions that match what is in them) of a month’s worth when I use up the month’s worth in them.  These smaller bottles are kept in the kitchen cabinet. There is first aid stuff in this cabinet also - not as much as upstairs, just so we don’t have to always run upstairs for stuff. 

Again the tissue box is kept on the back of the commode.  A basket with “for show”guest soaps is also on the back of the commode.  Over the commode (which is a wall here, not a window) we have a shelving piece with odd shape small shelves for husband’s small glass animals collection.

This room seems to have originally had a window.  Above the plastic tile is wood paneling and there is a ceiling exhaust fan that does not seem to be original.  There was a room added to the back of the house that sits behind this room and we assume that there was a window and was covered by the paneling when it was blocked off by the addition of the back room and the exhaust fan was installed at that time. 

So that is our bathrooms.  Each of them is probably smaller than a closet in the world of organizing books.  Do you have a bathroom like our ours or do you have a nice big one.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

If you have small room you have to figure out how to make them work for you.  When we started we were not sure what to do.  Over the years we have managed to make them work for us.  They are far from perfect or convenient, but they work.  (And, as small as they are, they are bigger and more convenient than our RV bathroom - if you can call it that.)

I would love to hear from you about your bathroom and what you do to organize it.

Both bathrooms are at the back of the house.

I HAVE LOST MOST ORGANIZATION IN THE HOUSE NOW!

Okay I admit it.  Between tax season, warping the loom with husband, dealing with our RV, etc. I have lost my organization.  I have bank statements from a month ago which have not been reconciled (I did our main ones, but not the smaller ones).  I have managed to keep current - barely on paying bills and just realized “How much?” we need to pay the end of the month bills - WOW!  I am behind on things I need to get done as treasurer of both clubs.  Just when I think we are done with all the other stuff we have to do - something else will pop up.

We managed to get the propane detector installed in the RV - but it does not give the signal that it is checking that it is working that the old one did and this one (same company, same model) says it should - manufacturer says that it does not do it as much as people complained of the noise.  We did test it - twice - with the gas from a cigarette lighter and it does go off. 

The carbon monoxide detector was sent back yesterday to the company we bought it from.  It is not only, not the one we were told it was, it also was not the one pictured online and does not work in an RV.  We had to find it elsewhere and order it again and are waiting for the new one to come - again, we can’t go anywhere until it is in the RV and is working.

Now that the weather is nice husband announced it was time to dewinterize the RV.  This is two processes.  First we dewinterize it - we fill both water tanks and run water through the water taps - hot and cold - sink, shower and outdoor taps, as well as into the RV until the water runs clear so that the non-toxic antifreeze is no longer in the lines.  We did this last Friday.  This is a fairly quick straight forward thing to do.  Since we had planned a trip in December which we did not take, I did not bring the bedding in (sheets and pillowcases were washed as I do them all season)  to wash.  I pulled one set of bedding (in a laundry bag in a plastic bag) and brought it in when we were done.

We knew we needed bleach for the next step - but since I don’t use bleach for laundry, we decided to check how fresh the bleach we had was - it was not fresh enough to use as it did not smell like bleach.  Husband was at full crazy panic mode in general over all this, so I could not bring myself to tell him that when I took the bleach out from under the sink - a place I go several times a week - there was water on the floor of the cabinet.  I wiped it up while he was out of the room.  I then traced it and it seemed to be coming from the outgoing pipe - I put down paper towels and tied one around where the leak seemed to be - where two pipes joined.  I had in my mind that he had washed his hair in the sink the night before - perhaps something happened?

Saturday afternoon we packed our van with the items we would need for a reenactment event with our unit on Sunday.  We have a rain date for this event, but the scheduled day for the event is the same day as two other events in the same community - one across the street from where we will be - which brings people to the area and we have more guests than otherwise.  Reports were for rain - maybe in the morning, maybe afternoon, maybe all day - maybe light, maybe heavy... So we packed so that if the event was moved inside our headquarters we could bring much less with us than for a regular event, but had the rest of the stuff with us just in case it is nice.  (In case you are wondering - we have two wooden boxes with rope handles which are storage for our stuff and also seating for us.  We packed what we would need no matter what all in one of the boxes.  Husband portrays a person who is printing and selling period publications so we have his inventory and a table setup - that would not be needed if raining.  Members of the unit eat the cooking demonstration so we each bring period looking tableware.  I bring my embroidery setup - I had just what I needed in the box we would take and the backup stuff in the other)  Sunday it was dreary but dry and the idea of setting up a bit outside and planning to run inside if it rained was decided on.  We brought just the one box.  Luckily the day stayed passable with just some passing showers.  At one point during the day - I was sitting outside stitching and talking to people - husband and our unit commander came to me and asked me to move inside.  Why?  There is a staircase - really a ladder on an angle - which goes to the attic.  We keep it tied off unless we have members (generally two young men who are brothers) upstairs for safety in many ways. Well, apparently people were not keeping track of their children and the children were walking up the stairs.  So I was relocated to sit in the front of the stairs and block them with my box.  I ended up doing tours of the room and house also while there - with the box left to block the stairs.  Oh, I could not find the reproduction cap I bring to events to wear.  I keep an older one that is a bit youthful for me in one of our boxes - in case I forget.  So I brought a new, unworn one that I did not want to use, just in case, but found the old spare one to wear.  Later at home I was talking about the cap I normally wear with husband and he mentioned that the last time I wore it was December when we did the Candlelight Nights event.  I went and checked my older winter jacket that I had worn to those events - safe and snug in the pocket was my missing cap!

Monday we started the second step of the dewinterizing process - we need to sanitize the tanks and system - in case anything grew in anything during the winter.  Again, this is a fairly easy thing to do - fill the tanks with water, add a small amount of bleach to each and then drive the RV up and down the driveway with short stops to mix together.  Normally we would have done this after the what we did on Friday on the same day.  We then run the water through the same taps as we Friday (but not the toilet bowl - bleach cannot go in it) until we smell the bleach in the water coming out of them.  Husband decided to replace the water that had been used from the rear tank (front tank full as the rear tank runs into the front tank).  We normally have a problem with the rear tank after this process as some sort of bubble forms and we cannot put water in it when the tanks are emptied after this bleach process and he thought this might resolve the problem as there would be a full tank in the rear.  Well, the problem was already there and we needed the setup he had made to deal with it - it is a bunch of plumbing parts put together so we can put a long, thin tube (think fish tank tubing) on the end of the hose and feed the tube all the way into the tank and fill it from the bottom/inside of the tank.  He took it out to use.  It was so cold this past winter that parts of the assembly burst.  So off to the home stores for replacement parts.  We went to the “orange” company’s store - no one to help us and no parts that we needed.  We went to the “blue and white” company’s store and the man in the department tried hard to help us - he found where the part should be, but was out.  We walked around and husband came up with an alternate assembly and we bought what we needed.  In the confusion of all this, we forgot to take the insulin (which needs to be kept cold) we picked up at the pharmacy from the car - in just under 80F weather - at least it was in a cold bag, so hope it is okay - this is something I never would have let happen if not for all this craziness taking over my mind.

Tuesday we let the water out of the RV (This involves unscrewing a small cap from underneath the RV - guess who gets to do this.)  We then refilled the tanks - and again ran the water through the lines.  We repeated filling, emptying and letting the water through the lines.  We needed the special setup for the back tank all but the last refill. I brought in the other bag of bedding to wash.

Today we let the water out for the last time and now the water system is ready to be used.

We also received on Tuesday a notice that our reenactment company’s insurance will not be renewed as they are no longer writing the policies in our state - so now I am looking for a new policy for them.  Husband searched online for coverage - all listed the company we had the insurance with.  Today I called our personal insurance broker and asked if they can help - they had me fax the info to them - but of course the fax machine (an all in one with printer, scanner and copier) decided that there phone number was “restricted” and we could not fax to them.  We have never heard of this.  After about 40 minutes online husband fixed the problem - we hope.  In the meanwhile I emailed the information to the broker.  In scanning in the paperwork, I managed to get ink on the scanning unit - all pages had a line down them - and we then spent about an hour finding and cleaning the ink off the scanner - of course the instructions were not in the manual and he had to find them online.  I also sent an email to our national reenactment unit - located in the same state as us - asking them about the insurance they have.

For good measure I burned my hand in steam while cooking dinner last night - and in recoiling from the steam, put a bad cramp in my side.  While my hand is not badly burned, it does still hurt (last night I could only type on the computer with my left hand - not as easy I would figure to do).  Today while we were taking apart the RV electric plug in system that we plugged in to make things easier, I dropped a large and heavyish circuit breaker box on my foot - the opposite side - so now my hand and my foot hurt.

I did tell husband about the leak under the stove last night.  The other night I fit a plastic container under the pipe and since then it has been dry.  We will keep monitoring the box for water. 

Hopefully tomorrow I will be have time to do the bank recs.  Time to email reminders to embroidery chapter members who have not renewed to do so - I have to have them in the mail by May 31.  Send out a check owed to a reenactment unit member who overpaid the family’s dues.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Sometimes it all just gets away from one.   One can go crazy - as my husband does - or try to keep calm and know that somehow and sometime (hopefully soon) the craziness will end and one will be able to start over and catch up.  Laundry is being done - but some of last week’s was still in the dryer.  Bills are paid.  Garbage and recycling has gone out.  (While we were in the garage during all this I found a good sized cardboard box for next week’s recycling - I need to have a big enough box to include the empty and rinses out old bleach bottle.)  My hand is better, but not perfect today and will recover.  My foot has a small bruise but will recover.  The biggest concern left is finding replacement insurance in the just over a month we have to do so - but hopefully it will be resolved in time and not for much more than we used to pay. 

Does this ever happen to you?

I HATE THE AFTERMATH OF TRIPS

Just in case anyone was wondering - after a week my head barely hurts if I touch where I hit it last week.  ( I mean if I touch my head where it was hurt, not the board I hit it on.)     My dad, a man of great wisdom, would say - “If your head hurts when you touch it, then don’t touch it.

The worst part of a trip, to me, is when I come home I have to do everything I didn’t do while away (and, of course, things I didn’t do before we went away).  Husband never understands this idea.

We are pretty good at emptying out the RV when we return home - I have a system.  There are two plans for emptying it, the regular plan and the “its raining and we can’t bring it all in plan”. In the normal plan, I start packing stuff and husband becomes a beast of burden running it all into the house.  I am basically working in sections in a circle around where I am standing in the RV. First is the refrigerator, followed by food in plastic boxes in the cabinet. Husband will unpack the refrigerator items into the one in the house.  I shut off the refrigerator in the RV and put a thick towel under the freezer section just in case any ice buildup melts and drips.  (It does not have a separate freezer section, but a “cold” box as refrigerators did in “the olden days” - like the 1950s.  Ice cream purchased in the evening will be soft ice cream when eaten at 2 am - cold soup beyond that. I take the batteries of the refrigerator thermometer and its remote read device.

The towels are added to the laundry bag of clothes and when the bag goes into the house it is tossed down the stairs to the basement.  I pack the clean clothes (we always over pack - doesn’t everyone) and bring an extra day or two of clothes in case something happens to something we are wearing while away and we need to change clothes unexpectedly, they go into the other laundry bag and go by the stairs in the house so they go up the same night.   Jackets, sweatshirts and such are taken in loose.  Shoes are put into supermarket/Walmart shopping bags to be taken in. 

Husband will take various laptops and other devices into the house in a couple of trips. Similarly he will take in my embroidery holder. The “last minute bag” is pulled out from under the bed and the items removed from it go back into it. This trip we also pulled toothpaste and such as we don’t want to leave them in all winter - we did that the first year and they did not survive well.
                                   
Any items we purchased while away and stored inside the main part of the TV are brought into the house and left on the table to be sorted and stored. (Hey, I just noticed that sorted and stored are anagrams - the same letters rearranged - is why they go together so well?)

On the “third seat” (seat behind the front passenger seat) we have a pocket with a folder in it which holds papers we pick up during the trip - tourist handouts, maps, local tourist magazines, and such, as well as magazines we brought from home to read - they go in similar bag to the shoes. 

Assorted spare eyeglasses (reading, sun, etc.) that are needed and/or kept elsewhere are removed from the glove compartment as are the snacks I keep in the front door map pocket in case of a glucose low for either of us while in transit. In there is also the coupon holder from our car (if I need, for example, tissues while away, why shouldn’t I have the coupon with me to use) and the travel related coupons we brought with us. My old Palm and Blackberry cell phones which come along for the trip for other features of the phones have to be removed also.  The EZ Pass (to pay tolls electronically) is removed from the windshield and stored away. 

The various curtains in the RV are closed. The lights are shut off and the RV battery is shut off.

Between trips with items I had for him, husband has removing items we purchased and stored in he back of the RV (technically under the head of the bed) and adding them to what is on the kitchen table in the house.

I stop and get the mail from our mailbox on the way in.  If it is a short trip and we did not stop the newspaper (yes, I still get and read a newspaper) I will bring them in also.

If it is raining - the food and stuff in the last minute bag go in and not much else unless it is needed.

Now I enter the house kitchen .  I have to sort what has come in - food which does not need to be in the refrigerator goes on the counter.  Food that goes in the refrigerator should already have been put there by Robert.  Clean clothes, laptops & similar, mail, shoes, and such are put on the stairs or adjacent to them to be taken upstairs.  Jackets and such are put in the front closet - or at least over the post at the foot of the stairs in the front hall.  And the pile of stuff on the table.

The stuff on the table has to be sorted - stuff to go upstairs, stuff to stay in the kitchen/dinning room, stuff for the basement, stuff for our studio - or the garage workshop.  I sort them into shopping bags and try to at least get them into the room they belong in - or hang them on the door knob to outside if the item goes outside. 

But of course this is just the first step.  The next day I will have to go through the mail- shred the junk mail, pull out and check bills, collect bank statements (if any) to reconcile, magazines to where they will be read, and so on.  We will also go to the Post Office and pick up the mail which has accumulated in our box there, which also has to be sorted.

Food in boxes will have to be stored - I tend to do it slowly and use what is in the boxes.  They are basically snacks so I use the cereal which was not used on the trip instead of storing it away, use the tea bag from the ones I brought with us, etc. 

Since this was our last trip of the year that we will make with running water in the RV, I said to husband that I presume we will winterize the RV this week - he said we could wait.  For those who might not understand this, in areas like this where it can get close to freezing and below it, the water pipes and valves might freeze and break.  So we have to run a non-toxic anti freeze, made for this purpose for RVs and boats, through the water system.  This keeps it all from freezing, but also means that we cannot use the system as that would be adding water which could freeze back in the system.  Well, the not so cold weather we were having and were to have is to change by this weekend.  So the winterizing must be done this week. 

In addition, we needed a small closet type shed to keep our snowblower in by our side door.  (It is currently in the garage workshop and not only does it take up room, but if it snow we have to shovel our way to the garage and clear a path in front of the garage door so a shed near the door would be very good to have.)  Last year we waited too long to buy one - they have to be assembled above a certain temperature so that plastic gives and bends and does not break in the assembling.  Husband kept forgetting to order one from a well known home store and finally decided this was it.  We wanted to order one to pick up at the store.  The program would not let us as it said the store already had “one”.  So we went to the store.  It took about an hour and a half for them to find the shed, get someone to take it down from the top shelf (maybe 20 feet or more up), us to take it to the register and pay for it (well, husband did while I got the van), have no one come to help us load it, realize the box inside the sealed plastic was soaked, find the assistant manager again, get the other one (yes, per the computer they had one, but actually they had two), and get someone to help us load it.  It then sat in our van on the driveway until we could assemble it. 

Monday was too cold, Tuesday it rained.  (And of course we went and voted Tuesday.)So today we assembled it - mostly.  We had to get the huge box out of our van - we managed to push it so it was in the rear of the van (behind the back seat) and on a work stand and unloaded.  Today was already getting colder so we took all the pieces into the garage and turned on the hanging space heaters to keep the plastic pieces warm and pliable.  We moved our car to the curved part of our driveway, then backed the RV to the spot the car normally is so we would have room to work.  Somehow we were able to assemble most of the shed.  Husband then got ill from bending over, as he does, and had to go in and go to sleep for awhile.  I finished getting the roof ready to go on - screwing parts onto the inside of the room, putting things into the body of the shed to hold the roof in place, putting the handles on the doors.  (The doors were about the worse part of the assembly except...) When it was all done, I went and woke husband who after about a half hour more, was able to come out and we put the roof on - yay!  The last thing which had to be done and is a problem is two metal bars have to be slid into the roof and across into the sides to hold the front end of the roof on - we got one in, then gave up and will try again tomorrow as it was getting colder and dark. 

Remember he said that we don’t have to winterize this week when I said I assumed we were going to?  Tomorrow we will be winterizing the RV.

Luckily when he said that we would be doing these “little chores” today and tomorrow, I managed to write checks for all bills due out on Friday and figure out how much we have to transfer into checking to cover them - it is all finished and sitting in my “out” box for Friday.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK - When going on a trip - even a short, relatively local one as we take - try to be as caught up as possible before the trip.  Try to plan when you will catch up on bills, other paperwork, unpacking, laundry (I am doing a week and a half’s laundry tonight and tomorrow night), and such, when you return.     
           
For those who are Veterans or who are still on active service, Friday is Veteran’s Day here in the U.S. and is a holiday for many of those who live in the World War II allies countries (Armistice Day, Remembrance Day...) as Saturday is November 11, I thank you all for your service to your country  - whether the U.S. or other.  For those of you still on active service, I wish you a safe tour and return home. 

MARCH SEEMS ALMOST AS BAD AS FEBRUARY SO FAR

Well, another week has gone by.  Last Wednesday I was so glad that February was over and hoped for a pleasant March with a chance to catch up on everything - and put away my Christmas Teddy village.  It is not to be.

Last Thursday was pretty good.  We went to the dentist and he had a wax of husband’s new partial.  He fit it in adjusted it and we are to have the finished new partial this coming Friday.

That afternoon we signed husband up for a Medicare part D plan and a supplemental plan as he starts Medicare next month.  (For anyone outside the US - this is the Federal government medical plan for those 65 and over.)  Confusion - but not too bad.  More or less an auspicious start to the month.

Friday we had a fairly normal day.  There was suppose to be snow, but nothing.  At dinner Friday night husband’s partial broke again along the same line and I called the dentist to see if he could fit us in Saturday morning - he could.

We go to a quilt show annually at the same venue in New Jersey as the woodworking show two weeks ago.  We normally go on Thursday - the first day of the show - but due to the dentist appointment we planned to go on Friday.  Due to the snow we changed when we would go to Saturday.  So, again, we went to the dentist and then drove out of state to the quilt show.  (It always amazes me how quiet the quilt show is compared to the woodworking show and all it’s power tools, in the same place.  Another difference is that there are more tables and they are big group tables at the quilt show as well as spare smaller tables in the lobby for the quilt show than they have for the woodworking show.  More women eat lunch there?  Women like to sit with strangers?  Women are more likely to stay longer and eat there?  Who knows.

Saturday night we were both exhausted.  I had 3 hours sleep on Friday night.  Our reenactment unit had its annual party Sunday and neither of us felt like going - let alone dressing in period clothes.  We compromised and went in modern clothes (acceptable for this).  We got home even more exhausted and made a (relatively) early night of it. 

Sounds pretty good so far - right?

Monday we got a call to pick up a prescription renewal I called in.  Cost was $8 instead of $4.50.  We also got a notice from the prescription manager of our insurance company that we could not renew this prescription at the pharmacy unless we called them and told them that we wanted to do so.  Huh?  We have picked up our prescriptions at this pharmacy since before we were on the insurance plan.  I telephoned, of course husband had to get on the phone and tell them I could talk to them, I had to let the employee recite each medication, I had to say we wanted to pick it up locally at retail, and then confirm my response.  She told me to call the pharmacy and have them reprocess the prescription and it would be the former price.  I did so - they did so - it remained the same price!  Could not deal with calling them back right away.  So we moved on to our next problem.  We drove to our car dealer with the printout from the manufacturer about the problem with our car. Of course they cannot just take the car and check it for the problem.  We have to go on Monday and have an oil change at our expense - after just paying to have the car filled with oil.  We then have to come back in 1000 miles for a “oil consumption test”.  Okay, this sounds highly technical, but we guess it means the oil is drained out and measured and compared to the mileage driven - there should be no oil used no matter the mileage.  So we are playing their game. 

Now comes the real “fun” part of the week.  Since husband is leaving our medical plan for Medicare, we have to take him off of our old plan - and leave me on it.  Sounds like something which should be simple and commonly done.  I spent over an hour on the phone with an employee of our state health division which deals with the ACA medical insurance.  (Understand that we love our ACA plan - despite the complaints in the press, we have had a great price for a reasonable cost.)   The woman I spoke with had to figure out what to do - again, I would think that this should be common enough for them to have a protocol for doing this.  When we were all done - after I gave her extensive estimates of our 2016 income to use for the calculations - she told me that I no longer qualified for the insurance and I would have to go on Medcaid (again, for those not in the US, this is the Federal medical plan for poor people).  I pointed out to her that the household income, which is used to determine this, is the same as it was before.  She agreed that it did not make sense and suggested that since I was being asked for proof of income, I send in the paperwork and “I guess it will all work out in the end”. 

We were both sick all night thinking about this.  I worked for 6 hours copying income forms and since we each have our own business - finding receipts for the business expenses as they come directly off of the income before it is counted as income.  Exhausted and ill, we went to sleep.

Husband woke me early the next morning saying he had not been able to sleep and I had to call back.  I did.  I got another employee who found the same information.  She managed to determine the problem.  Since my husband would be over 64 his income would not count and only my income did, and mine was low enough for me to get Medicaid.  I pointed out that this made no sense as it meant a man could earn millions of dollars and his wife who did not work could go on Medicaid - she checked with her supervisor who agreed this was true - does it make ANY sense to you?  She passed me along to a review division to see if they could help me.

The man I spoke to at same told me that I was right and both my and husband’s income would be used to see what I was eligible for.  He also told me that the problem was that, even after providing extensive information the day before, NO income was listed for either of us - since we had no income, I was eligible for Medicaid.  He suggested we go online and enter the income and it should resolve.  I also found out that as of the end of the month I have no insurance as we had a couples policy and one person could not be removed and the other stay - I had to get a single policy.  At each point and person, husband had to give me permission to talk to them about my insurance as the account is in his name.

Now, husband had researched this online as I went through these extensive calls and the work I had done the night before.  From what he found, he checks the principle (him) is leaving the plan as he has other coverage and the dependent (me) stays on the plan.  When we went into our online account to list the income he was checked as not needing insurance.  It also said change of circumstances.  We followed it through step by step - it even let us put in that our income was the same as 2015 (the last year a record exists for) and then let me pick our insurance again as my new policy.  So easy.  I really hope this worked and the matter is resolved.  I have someone that we have been in touch with in the insurance company’s president’s office and will call her and ask her to check what is going on, on their end. 

I then called the pharmacy manager again about the overcharge on the prescription now that it should be resolved. The woman went away for about 10 minutes checking.  When she returned her answer was that the pharmacy raised the price.  I told her that the pharmacy told me that the insurance company decides the price and they raised it.  I could almost hear her shrug.  So today we picked up the prescription and paid the additional - we need it and I will try to resolve it next week and get a refund.           

Today I had to call our state tax department for a form I need for a corporation tax return.  It is the only form not available online as they want us to file all the returns online and when one calls for the form they try to talk one into filing it online.  I was on hold for 14 minutes to speak to someone to get the form.  I had planned on calling for this form a week ago - but the time kept slipping away with all the “stuff” we had to do. 

In addition as an accountant I should be working on clients’ tax returns, but have been caught up in all this.  I need to get the returns done timely for the clients, as well as so I get paid.

We are now expecting snow on Friday - the day husband is suppose to get his new partial.  It varies from a trace to 4 plus inches depending on who is doing the weather report (and that includes, as always, different reports from different weather people at the same station) and from hour to hour.  We plan to run our Friday errands tomorrow (Thursday) as they are banking and post office errands and it is better to do them early and not have needed to, then not be able to do them and have a problem.  I may call the dentist tomorrow to see if the partial came in early and we can come in tomorrow instead. 

We also have a St Patrick’s Parade on Sunday with our reenactment unit - but we have told them that if it is cold (say below 35F) or snowy, we will not be there.

Now, I know that in the scheme of life these are all relatively small things - no one is ill or injured.  The house stands and its systems work. It is just that we go through these periods where the small things go on and on, one after enough and become too much.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY -

In light of what has been going on, I will say that one needs a sense of humor and the idea that “this too will pass”.  As upset as I get, I know we have been lucky to find each other and have each other this long.  Perhaps I will get a chance to deal with the last of Christmas decorations this weekend if we are stuck in due to snow or bad weather or just because we come home between things we are doing.  I have learned that often what seems horrible becomes humorous when it is in the past.

So, remember to keep your sense of humor and sense of scale when things go awry.  You may end up with a good story to tell and laugh at. 

Off to change a load of laundry now.

ORGANIZING AND STORING IN OUR TINY RV - PART 1

I have mentioned that we have a VERY small RV.  We went away for Independence Day weekend in it.  We spent 6 days and 5 nights in what is basically, as my husband sometimes refers to it, a large metal can.

Life in this RV has to very organized or it becomes a giant problem.  Items have to be stored in such a way that they will stay in place while we are driving.  Roads around here tend to have lots of potholes and lots of repairs so it is a bumpy ride.  While the cabinets and cubbys come with devices on them to hold them closed, we found that the drawer (notice I said “the drawer” as in the only one - technically there is a shelf which also moves like a drawer, but there is only one drawer) kept opening when we bounced.  We would be driving along and we would hear different odd sounds than ones we normally hear and I would turn around and the drawer would be open.  My husband finally figured out a way to install heavy duty hook and loop tape to keep it closed.  The drawer holds an assortment of small items that might be needed to be at hand.

We all know the concept in organizing of items should be stored near where they are used.  Sometimes this does not work in our RV.  I have to fit the items to be stored to the size and location of the space.  Once the bed is made up  - and it stays so for at least an entire trip, if not two or three short trips in a short amount of time - we cannot easily access two of the cubbies both of which are located over the sides of the bed.  Therefore while it makes no sense to store one’s spare shoes over the bed - that is where they are kept.  In the back of this long cubby, which is on the “kitchen” side of the RV I keep a spare backpack (I forgot mine on a trip and need it when we are away from the RV and cannot easily get back to it during the day), some plastic covers for the bed and “car” seats, shower shoes (for using the showers at RV parks), a spare pair of slip on sneakers for me (in cold weather we can’t use the toilet in the RV and this way I don’t have to deal with shoe laces if I have to “run”), and the shoes we bring with us for the trip.  Unless it is a longer trip I wear either a pair of sneakers or shoes (which can be worn in the rain) and bring and store the opposite pair.  Husband will also wear a pair of sneakers or shoes and store the opposite plus another pair of shoes.  We will put some of the plastic covers on top of the shoes to keep them from bouncing around and making noise.  Generally if we need different shoes for change in weather I take them out in the morning before I am out of bed and put the pair each of us had been wearing away in the cubby so this space we cannot easily access when out of the bed is a good use of the space.

Over the opposite side of the bed I keep spare bedding in the cubby (on the “toilet” side of the RV) and there are the entertainment controls - cable/antenna connections and switches and related.  They are at the front of the cubby right inside the door of it where they can be reached while standing at the foot of the bed (these came installed here, although we have added some additional items).  The spare bedding is in further (these two cubbies, unlike other cubbies are long and extend further towards the rear of the RV) as if I need to access them I will be taking the bed apart and will be able to reach them.

In front of the cubby with the shoes (on the “kitchen” side) is another cubby - same door and opening, but it does not extend in any direction and is therefore maybe half the size of the rear two.  In this cubby we keep items we need to be able to reach when getting up in the morning and going to bed at night.  It is also located over the bed, but since it is at front of the bed, it is easy to reach without climbing on the bed. Our first night in the RV we had to keep taking things out, putting them away, taking out something else, etc. to get ready.  As a result of this I came up with the idea of a plastic box each.  We each have a flat plastic box with the personal items we need at bedtime and in the morning - hair brush, comb, tooth brush, toothpaste - I keep my cell phone cords in mine, husband does not keep his in his box, and such.  These stay in the RV all the time.  There is a third box which goes back and forth to the house each trip - our medications and small items which need to come out to the RV for the trip are in this box.  At night I take out the 3 boxes.  Husband’s box goes to the right side of the kitchen counter (on the glass of the stove) and all his needed items for preparing for bed will go on that side.  My box goes on the left side of the counter (which is an actual counter top section and is on the side towards the bed) as does our checkoff list, refrigerator thermometer and some other items for the evening.  I will take out the “day of the week” box marked with, of course, the day of the week which has our pills for that night and replacement pills for those used during the day and morning pills for the next day.  (Sunday box, for example, has the pills which we will deal with Sunday night - Sunday bedtime pills, replacement pills for those used Sunday during the day and needed for Monday during the day, and Monday am pills.)  I put the pills we are taking at night in two plastic bottle lids (because they are the right size and shape and they were kept for free when their bottle contents were used up and their bottles tossed) and place the lids on the counter.  I get out my pocket pill box and get husband’s from him and replace the pills used.  When we take our night pills the bottle lids are put back into the box and the box goes back in the cubby - while the other two boxes stay out to be used in the morning.  Husband has the day of the week pill box for the morning on his side - he takes his pills and puts it on my side of the counter (did I mention the only sink in the RV is in the center of the counter, between our two sides?)  for me to take my morning pills.  The box is then put back into the box it came out of. 

Also in this cubby is a SMALL plastic crate which holds husband’s electric shaver and some other items we need - including a very thin tarp, which folds down to nothing, to put on the bed if we have to get on it in our street clothes (including for emergency shoe changes) as we did not like going on the bed in street clothes before we had bed bugs, and certainly not after..  We keep a plastic shower curtain folded in this cubby on the top of the other items - when it is not in use it helps keep the other items in place.  It is used when it will be raining during the day.  I cover the rear end of the bed (which is the head of the bed at the rear of the RV/van) so that when we open the rear doors during the day the bed will not get wet.

Oh, my, an article already and we have only covered what is over the bed.  I guess this will be Part 1. 

Understand that everything in the RV has to be secured and in a specific spot so we can easily find it and then after being used it is returned to it’s spot (unless it is disposable) so we can find it again and so that it will not go bouncing when we drive - or flying around when we stop, start or make a turn.