SORTING THROUGH ONE'S HISTORY - WHAT TO DO WITH DECADES OF MY EMBROIDERIES

 I don't intend to post monthly instead of weekly it just has been happening lately.  My apologies.

We had a reenactment event a week or so ago and having not done an event in awhile it took a bit of work to remember what we needed and to get everything we had to bring together to do so.  

We have two other events coming up in October.  For one of the events I need to put together a talk on period (18th century) needlework as we are each being given a set time for our demonstrations – my work is so close that while people can watch – a crowd cannot do so all at once.  So I will be stitching all day as is normal for me at these events and will be able to show work and talk about needlework “back then”.  

In the past at some other events (which were for a later period) I had a bag of various types of embroidery and other stitching to show.  (I finish stitching pieces, but – especially when I did the project primarily to learn the technique – I often do nothing with the piece after the stitching is finished, which makes it easier to take the pieces to demonstrations.) I could not find the bag in our studio.  

In the past the studio was much better organized, but since the start of Covid it – and especially my work table – has become the storage area for excess canned goods and such.  Add into this the fact that we had taken apart my family home when mom moved elsewhere and I have a number of bags – similar to the bag I used to bring to events – with embroidered pieces – finished and unfinished – back to when I was a young girl.  So gathered together all of these bags and took them to the living room.  I sorted through them – finished or unfinished being one of main sorting criteria.  While I never the bag with items I expected to find together I did get to see a history of my (and my husband's) needlework.  

The pieces are now sorted – mine or his, mine by year of work or type of stitching.  Unfortunately they are still taking up much of our living room in stacks.  I will sort through for what is usable for this event and then figure out how to better store them.   I have not really been able to work with them as our living room also serves as husband's “loom room” for his, well, loom which is setup in the room for him to work on a piece.  (Yes, our house has very unusual purposes to many of the rooms.)

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK (OK, MONTH) -
When one has an assortment of old, beloved items to work through it is not easy and will often be put off.  First step is to sort the items in some fashion so one can see what they have and decide what to do with them.  Obviously in this case donating the pieces is not really a viable solution and the pieces will all be kept – and will serve as history of my and in general needlework of the 1950s/60s onward.  

Do you have anything similar – of no value except to you, and possibly posterity?

DO YOU MULTI TASK - I AM DOING SO RIGHT NOW!

 I haven't written a post since the start of the month?  I am shocked.  I actually have last week's post writing (and posting of it) checked off in my calendar!  

And nothing special to write this week either.  Hmmm -

Multitasking – that's it!  I do a lot of multitasking to get things done.  As I am writing this the first load of laundry for the week is in the washer.  I am in the kitchen and can sort of hear the washer – plus I set an alarm in my older cell phone to remind to go down in 50 minutes and switch loads.  

I will then transfer this load – all of our clothes from the past week (with two sets of exceptions) to the dryer and toss in the towels and laundry bags to wash.  Reset alarm for another 50 minutes and put the clothes in the laundry basket with husband's shirts laid across the top of the load so they don't get wrinkled.  The towels then go into the dryer.  

If we have used most (or all) of our Covid masks (we are still wearing them when we go out as we are both high risk and many people here still do so) I will throw them into the washer for another load.  I put the masks in smaller sized net bags that zipper closed to protect them in the washer.  I own 3 bags and will spread the masks as evenly as possible in the bags.   The alarm is reset for another 50 minutes.  If not the alarm will not be reset as I don't take the last load out until tomorrow.  

If the masks are in the washer, when I go down again I will put the towels in the larger laundry bag from the dryer and leave it on top of the washer.  The masks will go into the dryer set on half an hour and will be taken out the next day.  I take the masks out of the net bags for drying, but zip the bags closed again and put them in the dryer with the masks.  

Some weeks I have a different third load than the masks.  When I have a load of sweatshirts that I wear to keep warm – in winter as it is cold and in hot weather because husband has the air conditioner on and I get too cold.  These would go in the washer after the towels as an extra load every few weeks when I have used up most of them.  Or I could be washing the sheets and pillowcases from our bed as a third (or even fourth load).  Once in awhile I could also be washing the blankets from the bed as an additional load.  

While all of the laundry is being done I write and post to all of you.  I also visit an online needlework group.  Sometimes I do some clothing repair/sock darning.  

And while I do almost everything in the house – the TV is on for me to “watch” - well, mostly listen to and look up at every now.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Plan to use your time as well as possible.  If you have something that you can “set and forget” such as laundry – use the same time to do something which takes more attention. 

LIFE LAUGHS AT US

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

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

CLEARING OUT MY OLD CLOSET AT THE FAMILY HOME

Last Thursday husband and I went to my family home to deal with “my stuff”.  I knew that there should be certain things there that I wanted - not many - and I sort of figured that there would not be much more in the closet I had to go through.

A digression - yeah, I always do same, without labeling it - I am the oldest of 3 girls and there are big age jumps between us - 5 years to #2 and another 7 years to #3.  When my family bought the house I was 4 or 5 years old  - it was then built to order in a 1950s subdevelopment - and my sister #2 was born several months before we moved in.  The house as shown in the model house had 5 bedrooms - 2 regular and a master bedroom on one floor and another 2 bedrooms (and a 4th bathroom) on the floor above it.  The house is a split level so floors not on top of each other they alternate back and forth.  My parents did not need the extra 2 bedrooms or the 4th bathroom and wanted to save money, so that floor was not finished into rooms when we moved in.  I had one bedroom of the 2 regular ones and my sister #2 - baby in a crib - was put in the other one.  The house stayed with this layout and each of us in our bedrooms for about 7 or 8 years.  At that time sister #3 was born.  My parents idea was that they would now finish the upstairs and have a bedroom for me, an office for my dad, and the fourth bathroom up there.  Being only about 12 and not knowing that in the future I would love the idea of a bedroom so private, I refused to move up there and sleep alone.  So instead my parents made it into a second (larger) master bedroom.  Sister #2 moved into my bedroom.  Dad got an office in her old bedroom.  Sister #3 and I moved into the original master bedroom.  This worked great.  When sister #2 got married a year before I did over 10 years later, I left sister #3 with the original master bedroom and moved back to my original room - which by then had sister #2's furniture in it, except her desk, and I left my furniture with sister #3 = except for my desk.  The house arrangement remained the same after that until I married a year later and moved out and then sister #3 moved out some 10 years later when she was married.  So, the room I had to clear out was not filled with items from when I was a child, but rather items I had after college.  I took almost all of my stuff either when we were first married or 9 years later when we bought a house.  Just a cute story - I had picked this bedroom originally as the room in the model had a little rocking chair - no one told me that the house did not come with what was on display in it and I thought I would get the rocking chair - boy was I disappointed. 

So, back to clearing out the room.  I had expected to walk in and see my old bed and a room as I left it.  Hah!  Either my mom had turned it into a mess of a storage room or my sisters had been throwing stuff in there to decide what to do with as they have been there several times to work on clearing out the house. 

My desk was not there as I have it here and use it as my desk - and still hit my knee on the leg of it as I did when I was a child.  I looked at the dresser in the room and started opening drawers.  As I thought they were empty but with 2 exceptions.  When I was baby I had a dresser set (not a child’s set, a grown up person’s set).  It had 2 small china dishes and a china box with lid.  I have one of the dishes still on my dresser and thought the rest gone - I knew the box’s lid and the other dish were broken and presumed that I had forgotten about breaking the box - but there it was!!  And in it was my girl scout knife and a couple of other small items.  Took it and the contents to go through - the box will go back on my dresser.    In another drawer I found a small tack hammer and two small boxes of tacks - not mine and I left them. 

It was rather hot when we were there.  I had asked sister #2 - who is coordinating all of this as she seems to know what to do - in advance if the air conditioners were working - she said yes, but not well.  Husband put on same in the original master bedroom and the one in the dining room (covers same, living room and kitchen).  Not much cool.  So as I am working he is starting to get overhot.  I sent him to the dining room then to outside several times to cool off.

I should say at this point - this entire process would have been harder for me if not for Hurricane Sandy.  Most of our toys were in the basement.  If I had to decide which toys to take and which to donate or toss it would have been close to impossible.  Since mom’s basement was flooded in the Hurricane, everything down there had been tossed out - including her washer, dryer, furnace etc. (furnace was replaced, but she decided to go to a laundry for her clothes).  No more Barbies (I have one trunk of them I had brought here).  No more doll house that I got when I was 3 or 4.  No more games.  No more Bobbsey Twins, Honey Bunch, Nancy Drew, Dana Girls, etc books. 

I opened the closet door expecting a mostly empty closet - OH BOY.  I started taking stuff out.  I found a red looseleaf book that I had copied folk songs into while in high school - took as I hoped to find it.  I found love letters from husband - definite take.  I found 2 art projects from college - painting - took (I am not a good artist and it actually came out good), cut out initials - toss.  I had expected/hoped to find my dad’s army shirt - he had given it to me back in the late 1960s when “hippies” wore same - it had reproduced and I took both of them.  While I know that the rank and badges on them are not right, I figure one of the military museums might like and his name would go down in posterity (and my nephew had previously said the did not want same) so they were a definite take.  Some “awards” drawn by a friend who was editor in chief of our college yearbook (before I was) had been taped on the inside of the door - took the one I found - hope to find at least one more.

For a closet it was lacking in clothes.  As mentioned, my dad’s army shirts were in there.  There was a pink gown.  I took it out.  We looked at it and then at each other.  I was maid of honor at sister # 2's wedding  - I wore brown (the others wore orange - fat girls don’t wear orange).  I was not in my other sister’s wedding party - and did not buy a gown for same.  I had not worn a gown to the afternoon wedding of the sister of my old high school boyfriend.  What the heck was it for? It looked to be in good condition - I hung it over the top of the bedroom door and went on.  I found a sweater I bought in Mexico  - tossed it.  If husband was not there I would have put it in a donate bag - but he insisted it was not wearable.  I found a “genuine” 1960's/early 1970's peasant blouse - hung it over the bedroom door.  (Sister #2 has come across so much clothing from that period in the house that she plans to contact theatrical costume houses to see if they want them - she can add the blouse and gown.) My college house plan (similar to a sorority) windbreaker - took that.   I also hung a green jacket over the door - I have no idea whose it is, but it would not have fit me at 12 years old, let alone when I was grown. 

I found an assortment of papers I had written (brought them home to shred as my personal info on them).  I found needlework  - kits and almost finished.  Husband had me leave the 2 latch hook rugs - hooking finished, rug edges not finished there.  (If we go back and they are still there I will take them home - I decided I really want them.)  Two embroidery kits - not finished, I took.   One unstarted latch hook kit - left for donation or sale.

I also found a complete, unopened set of “spurtles”.  These were cooking utensils that a TV chef named Graham Kerr used.  We had apparently bought 2 sets - either to give the second set as gift or for when the others broke - they are still in great condition.  We opened the box and took the spurtles out and tossed the box. 

Then I hit the problem.  Apparently when we lived in our apartment we used this closet for storage of - yes - empty boxes.  Cabbage Patch Dolls, fancy teddy bears, etc - empty boxes - you know, because they will be worth a fortune one day.  I did not take the boxes - but since I had not thought that there would be this much stuff - I did not have enough garbage bags so the boxes had to stay for next time. 

I filled 3 large bags of garbage.  I could not put it out as there would be no pickup until the following Monday and the house is near an animal preserve and the animals come and go through the bags.  I left them in the living room - sisters would be there on the weekend to put it out.

There was a section of stuff still on the top shelf that was not boxes - but neither of us could reach them safely and husband was soaked through his shirt and we needed to leave.

Problem - I had not figured out how to pack the stuff we were taking in plastic bags and seal them without them coming into the house (that bed bug fear).  So I carried the stuff I was taking down to the front door and husband held a bag outside and little by little I filled 2 bags of stuff to take.  They are now in our garage - I will take it out a bit at time and heat it in our Packtite bedbug heater - just in case. 

I am missing an item I would like to have.  I embroidered a tablecloth while in high school.  When I got married I went looking for it - I could not find it.  I have looked a couple of times since.  I told both my sisters about it and asked that if they find it they save it for me.

As we were driving home husband commented on the lack of air conditioning in the house.  He had seen the one in the office (bedroom next to mine - remember?) but could not get to it as that room is completely filled.  I then remembered - there was one in my bedroom!  He insisted that there was none - unless it was removed and the wall fixed it should be there - not sure it works, but we will look next time we are there.

Sister #2 insists that we are almost done - I am not sure how - there is soooooo much there of mom’s..
                   
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

One can go home again - but mostly to clear out home.  Why not post about your experience in something like this?

BAD WEEK - STARTED AS A SHORT POST

Okay this is one of those weeks. 

I had to call our reenacting unit’s insurance company - again - as it has been 3 weeks and we have not received the renewal of our insurance policy - and I paid them 4 weeks ago when I called to find out where the policy was. 

I also had to redo their emergency list as we had a new member join and he had to be added, okay, I did not redo the entire list, just add him, but then I had to email out the list out to the board members - again, and print a new list for us and to keep in our HQ - again.

Worst of all this week is suddenly the computers were not working right.  Emails did not go out.  We had trouble printing.  We had trouble scanning.  Husband traced it to the Internet equipment.  We have a modem from our cable co ($10 + taxes per month) and we have our own router.  Husband decided that since the modem was replaced (due to problems) less than 2 years ago it must be our router. 

Last Sunday we bought a new router at Costco.  It looks like a space ship - no really, it looks like a space ship from Star Wars or something. 

Monday we spent the day setting it up.  Since it was so large it involved moving almost everything on the work area of husband’s desk.  (He has a work table as part of it covered in papers and stuff - that luckily was not affected.)  To do this I had to clear off my desk and throw the 2 piles (do and scan) into one pile on the floor on top of a pile of folders waiting to go to our reenactment HQ for storage in the file cabinets there. 

Have you ever seen the wires from a computer twisted around each due to them being added into as time went along?  Well, I have a computer, husband has two, we each have a laser printer (why two of them - one is color and the other scans) plus a couple of ink jet printers he has and a tape machine that can be printed with the computer.  I spent a good deal of time under the desks pulling wires loose for this project.  We even had to move husband’s computer - it is under his work table and I managed to disconnect something when I did this.  I then had wires going over my desk in an attempt to get all the wires separated. We managed to get it all set up and fit all of husband’s stuff back onto the working part of his desk.

We went to activate the router.  The instructions consisted of a card that said we needed to sign in using wi-fi to the company’s website to set up an account with them to start.  Quite frankly at this point I thought, “hmmm, an account with them, stupid instructions, bring it back”, but not husband.  We had to figure this out as with no router set up, we had no wi-fi (and without wi-fi we could not set up, yes, the router).  We really don’t like to have things like this on our cell phones, but he managed to connect to the wi-fi from our cable co in the street using his phone.  We managed to get through all the steps - until it told us that we had to print something from the cell phone by wi-fi - how?  We don’t print with our cell phones.  I wrote down the info instead.  Huge space ship of a router, stupid sign up - I knew this was a mistake (an expensive mistake). 

But then it was all set up and he was using it.  After dinner I was down here on my laptop.  The entire system was just as bad and just as slow.  So - maybe it was the modem.  Before going to bed we packed it up and I pulled the latest cable bill.  Tuesday we went to our cable co - on our way out, the new cable bill arrived - of course.  Luckily they are still at their location and the employee did not try to push their new system on us.  We stopped for lunch and the daily trip to the post office to pick up mail at our box and then home to set up the modem.

The set up went fairly quickly - we have set this up several times, but when we were done the lights were not flashing in the correct colors and manner.  So I got to sit on hold until a man answered - I don’t know if it is was their phone service (we don’t have phone service through them) or what, I had trouble understanding him.  He looked up our connection and said that all was correct.  Husband tried it and it seemed to be working better and quicker. 

We decided that since the problem seemed to be the modem, we would return the router.  We packed it up and did so on Wednesday and then we went to a computer store and bought a different router which was on sale - husband decided that a newer, more powerful router was a good idea.  On the way home from the computer store we stopped in Walmart for some unrelated items we needed - the same router we had just purchased was $40 cheaper there - husband had looked online and the Walmart site had none other than from third parties.  So, we bought it again.

I have to put out the newsletter for my embroidery chapter on the last Wednesday of the month. I had actually worked on it a bit on Tuesday - normally I do it all on the day it is due out - not much to do - I use last month’s meeting info to thank people who did stuff then in the thank you for last month section, I put in this month’s meeting info, I put the small blurb from the chapter president on the front page in the spot for it - most months I remember to change the month on the front page, I update info from our Region in the page(s) for same and ditto our National in the page(s) for same, and remove events and exhibitions that are past date and add any new ones which have come my way.  After it is done I attach it to an email along with any other needed attachments (info about classes from Region or National, how to sign into new National website, etc.) and email it to the members. I then email a copy of it to other newsletter editors in our Region and to some others from National/Region who need a copy.  Lastly I send a copy to the chapter’s email address with blind copies to an assortment of people who said they were interested in joining and members who have quit the chapter.  (No really, it takes maybe an hour or two most months.  Of course this month there are all sorts of things that went awry - including the chapter president writing a full page message as it is the end of her presidency.  After working on it in advance I finished it about midnight last night.

Then I realized that I had to have the annual renewals (with checks for dues) for the chapter out to National and Region by May 31 - Saturday.  Normally this is not that hard.  Normally there is a list from National of the members they have - no list, no form to send to them with the payment.  So, my solution normally would be to go to the members list in a database, sort it for the renewed members and print out the list of same.  Problem - as of 2 months ago the database no longer sorts and I have to copy it over - item by item/person by person - to a new data base of some other sort (this one is very old software that I liked).  But I don’t have time to do that NOW.  So I sat and made up a list of renewing members by copying each item separately - member number, first name, last name of each person to a word processing program page.  I then filled in a renewing page for a rejoined member as National  needed all her info again.  Then I filled in a new member form for a new member with her info.  Then I calculated and wrote a check for their dues and wrote a cover letter for all this.  (And I scan all checks written and the bill/supporting paper for them into the computer so I did that too.)  I have a blank copy of the form to send to them with the calculation of the amount due and copied and used it.  It asks for the name of “the current president” - uh, oh.  We will be having a vote next week at our meeting and will have a new president - I put the woman who is the president now.  I listed our new membership chair as same (and listed me as treasurer).  In my letter I mentioned the changes and that the information about same would be sent after next week’s meeting and the election of the new president.

Onto the Region renewals - at least I don’t have to list everyone.  I had a copy of the Region’s form, calculated what was due on it.  There was a place for the membership chair’s info and I put in the info of the new chair.  Wrote a check (scanned again) and a cover letter and I was done - 2 am.  And I then realized that not only I had not posted to all of you, but I never did the laundry either!

Today we returned the router we bought at the computer store and set up the one from Walmart.  For about 10 minutes it did not seem to work, but then husband figured out the problem and it is now working.  Of course I had to climb under the desks again and sort all of those !!%%$ wires again.                 

I received an email from one of my fellow embroiders - the newsletter said that we are having an election - who is the candidate and who is the new membership chair?  DARN!  I knew I forgot something from the newsletter - I sent out an addition to it with who is running and the info on the new membership chair.  (I had apologized in the email with the newsletter for any errors or omissions due to the craziness.)

As I write this the second load of laundry finished washing - first load should be dry - and I will when I finish writing this I will go down and switch loads before posting. 

We have a 2 day event reenactment event this weekend - with setup on Friday afternoon, so I will fall even further behind.

I have to remember that we are expecting a copy of the insurance policy for the unit and  - oh, I forgot - I received a new ATM card last week as mine is expiring, guess what?  Yes, there was a problem and I had to go in to get a new one (they couldn’t do it by telephone).  It was the wrong kind - the kind that rich people get.  So I have to hope that shows up in the mail soon.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Yes, there are weeks like this and one just has to drop everything else and get stuff done, even if it means that one posts a day late.  What else can one do?

CATCHING UP A BIT

Yesterday we took mom to the doctor and it worked better than we anticipated.  One problem was that the medication she had been placed on is out of stock - everywhere.  I spent a good part of Sunday afternoon calling pharmacies.  The doctor called the pharmacy he uses.  None.  But his pharmacy suggested a compounding pharmacy.  If you don’t know what this is - it is a pharmacy that mixes medications as needed.  For example - a child has to take a liquid medication but won’t take cherry flavor medications - they can mix up the same actual medication with a different flavor.  In our case they can mix up and make pills for mom of the medication she can’t get - at a price of course, and insurance not accepted.  Worth the extra money for her to have medication - plus they delivered it to her today so we did not have to get it and then travel to her to give it to her.  We also have an appointment with a specialist for 2 weeks from now and that doctor will be better able to adjust her medications.

Night before last (Monday night) husband printed up the pictures of samplers that I had found for the talk I gave today.  I spent last evening putting the photos into plastic holders and printing up information about them - each one had a paper in the back explaining about the picture - and a number for the order they should be in (in case I dropped them).  Some had only a descriptive title and date - others had a full page of information.  I then had to write up my treasurer’s report and an agenda as I was not sure if I or the secretary was going to run the meeting since neither president or VP would be there.  I also printed up a membership list for the membership chair as it is renewal time for our group. 

When I finished the talk this morning - which was very well received - I felt so good.  I had gotten through the mess of everything one after another by staying calm and getting each day’s work done and preparing the night before where we could.  We have another problem coming up with Sunday, but we have ways of working around the problem - and if we know in advance that it is going to rain on Sunday and where we are to go will be canceled - that would resolve the problem.

On my way back from the meeting today I went to the post office and picked up the mail - only one ad, as we did not get to our box yesterday.  I then went to the pharmacy and picked up husband’s prescriptions as one has to be refrigerated and we also had to go and buy food that also needed to be kept cold and did not want to have either sit in the car as we bought the other. I then came home and we went out for lunch and shopping. 

I had the rest of this afternoon through Saturday to catch up. I went through one of three piles on my desk - scan, enter into computer, to do.  I first worked on the paperwork from some new members in our reenactment unit - two of them also joined our national group and now their paperwork is done and ready to be mailed to national. 

I paid some bills for us and worked out what money has to be transferred where to pay them.  I did some other small tasks that needed to be done.  The to do pile is now down to one thing to do. 

I normally put out the garbage from the kitchen on Sunday night for Monday morning pickup but did not have a chance to do so.  I put it tonight along with our upstairs garbage which would normally go out on Wednesday night (tonight) for Thursday morning pickup.

Husband is finishing up a weaving project and has had a section of the kitchen in use by him, but he moved it all so I could go down to the basement and put in a load of laundry to wash.

I actually feel with all of this as if I accomplished something!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Tasks in general tend to work out better than one fears in advance.  If one goes ahead and does what one needs to do - it is amazing how well it all can go sometimes and then one is done with whatever the original problem was.  Go ahead - start the task and see how it goes.  Doing nothing is generally not an option and it will probably work out better than you think it will!

           

BACK AND FORTH - TWICE - ON THE SAME TRIP AND FALLING BEHIND

Late again posting - sorry. 

We did go away last Thursday and Friday.  When I telephoned Wednesday afternoon to make the reservation the woman I spoke with, was rather odd about the entire thing.  The spaces I asked for were not available for two nights - we had decided to stay through Saturday.  When I asked if any of the spaces were available just for the one night, Thursday there was still confusion.  I finally worked it out and reserved one of the spaces for Thursday night and figured that we would ask what was available for just Friday night when we checked in - just in case something was available that would work for us.  I made sense to me that Friday would not be available even though Thursday was as Friday is a weekend night and more people travel.

Our trip down was fine - better time than the usual mess.  As we drove down husband suggested, which he acknowledged was crazy, that we drive back again on Tuesday of the following week for the day.  We have not been to the farmers market that is on Tuesday most or all of this year and different vendors are there from the Friday market.  The idea hit me, I suggested that we drive down Monday and stay until Tuesday. This would relieve the problem of possibly getting stuck in traffic on the way and arriving too late to have enough time at the market.  (Mostly we have lunch and walk around, perhaps buying some small items we need or see, good shop at Tuesday market to look for bears for my village and I have not been there since the village went to year round.)  Plus, if we use the toilet in the RV it has to be dumped at the RV park.  It needs to be 2/3 full minimum, to dump so that there is enough force, so Friday morning we were going to have to fill the tank (having only stayed one night) to dump the tanks.  By coming back, there would be double in the tanks when we dumped and it would fill faster.  The weather promised to be nice for Monday and Tuesday and I would make the reservation when we checked in.

Remember I said that it had been suppose to rain there on Tuesday?  When we arrived in the general area we saw lots of fields (this is farm country) with huge puddles- almost pond size in them.  We went around to several touristy we go to in the area and then around 5:30 pm went to the RV park to check in.  We paid for our space for the evening and reserved the same space for Monday night.  It is a fairly small RV park along a stream.  As we were walking out of the office the employee said “Oh, if the space is too wet, just come back and we will give you another one.”  Huh!?  Apparently they had trouble from the rain on Tuesday.  As we drove to our space we were driving along the row of spaces facing the stream.  We saw what they meant - the spaces had MUD in them.  Our space is in the next row so we were concerned.  We drove to the space and it seemed mostly okay.  I got out of the RV as we do a few things when we arrive at a space at the start of a stay there.  First husband will back in (rare that we get a “drive through space”) and we will find the level spot.  I guide him.  This time I checked that the actual space was dry - it is gravel and the gravel looked different, very light in color, apparently washed in the flood.  I saw mud on the sides of the space, so I walked to the back of the space and it was not muddy there - where we have to walk to hook up the electricity and the TV (and water if we hooked up same), so it seemed okay.  He backed in, we found the level spot and marked it with markers he made.  Although we have been in the space numerous times, when we arrive there we check the electricity to make sure it is functioning properly and we did so and went off again. 

Well, now I understood why there was confusion about reserving a space when I called the afternoon before.  Apparently the general area did not just have rain, it had RAIN!!!!!.  FLOODING RAIN!!!!!   As we went around over the rest of the two days we saw the result of flooding in many places.  At the Friday market there was mud on the foundations of buildings and pavement.  One building, which had flooded badly once in the past, had obviously been flooded as there was no merchandise on the bottom 3 shelves of the fixtures - tossed out as it was soaked.  There is an auction in a room at the end of one building.  I have never seen it closed.  It was closed and through the wall I could hear fans running trying to dry the room. 

If any of you are from the Lancaster, PA area - I hope that you were not hit by the flooding. 

Friday night we returned home.  I did not unpack much of the RV.  I left my clothes, the snacks, the towels, etc.  Husband insisted on taking his clothing into the house.  After 2 days, I repacked the RV on Sunday night for the drive down on Monday.  By then it was much dryer, although some of the space in the RV park needed work on them and were still closed. Understand, we were away for 2 days, 1 night, then drove home for 2 nights, 2 days, and then back again to Pennsylvania for another 2 days, 1 night and then home - and I won’t bore you with the local traffic mess on the way home last Tuesday night.  Of this time, we spent the equivalent of over half a day traveling forth and back and forth and back again.


I am behind in everything I was suppose to do the last few weeks.  I notice this when I went to change towels Tuesday night. I normally change all the towels on Monday, then change the bathroom towels again on Thursday and the kitchen towels on Wednesday and Friday.  The towels are all assorted - I had Monday bathroom towels out downstairs and Thursday ones upstairs.  (No, I am not that anal.  I put blue hand towels upstairs and green ones downstairs on Monday and another color on Thursday - as I have 2 sets of each color and all my other ones vary in color by pair.  This way I can tell by looking if I forgot to change the hand towels.)  I went to change husband’s weekly hair towel and 2 of the 3 were in the laundry and I was pulling the third one to wash.  My pillowcases are either white (2 sets) or beige (1 set) I have 3 white towels and a beige one on the bed.    I forgot to do the laundry last night.  I have been keeping up with washing clothing over the past several weeks of colds and travel, but not the rest of the laundry. 

So right now clothing is being washed (a day late).  I spent last night writing and rewriting the newsletter for my embroidery chapter.  I had figured to write it quickly as it usually does not take long.  We are starting our meeting year and I had not heard from the chapter president with her president’s message.  We are doing a project for most of the year and I had to figure out how to write up what we are doing at the meeting.  (I also list information from our national and region, as well as giving list of related exhibitions and events in a travelable area - this takes up most of the newsletter).  In addition we are doing a “stitch in public” that we do every year and I wrote a page to encourage someone other than myself and the chapter president (and husband who joins us) would also come with us.  I then found out, in reply to an email I had sent, that the chapter president had sent the info - apparently when I downloaded my email - from 3 days - it did not download on most of my email addresses.  When I downloaded it again after hearing from her, it all downloaded.  Her president’s message included this info for the meeting.  So I had to fit in her message, splitting it to the meeting information and get rid of what I had written.  Then send out 3 versions of the newsletter (members, prospective members, and other region newsletter editors).  So last night was gone - which is why I did not get a chance to write this post then.

I have a piece I am entering at the local three county, county fair - huh?  Our local fair, which dates back to 1842, is the legal county fair for 3 counties.  It is held at the restoration village I have mentioned before where there is an exact copy of the original fair grounds from photos) and is held in the style of a late 1800s fair, with many of the volunteers dressed in period dress.  The heart of the fair are the art, craft, needlework, sewing, baking, canning, fruits, vegetables, flowers and the like which have been entered by people from the three counties. 

I used to enter several items each year including an angel cake.  Lately it has been one or two items and no more baking - as there have been less entries they cut some categories all around, including angel cake.  I have one piece to enter this year - if I finish it.  I have about one or maybe two more nights of stitching it, then I need to assemble it and then husband has to have time to frame it for me.  I keep Thursday nights (which means 11:30 pm to 2 am Friday) for stitching and other crafts for me.  I have not had a chance in at least a month to do so.  I planned on tonight finishing the stitching.  Obviously I will not as I am writing this post and have other “must to do” items for after this.  If I don’t finish it, it will be entered next year.  I am not going to panic over not getting it done in time. I am a procrastinator, I know this and try to push myself to finish ahead of time.  When husband was still working I would drop off our entries while he was at work.  One year on the day the entries had to be in, I called him at work and - in a panic - asked where the craft wire was in the house, I was still finishing a doll I was making of Theodore Roosevelt and he needed eyeglasses.  He on the other hand, would have his entries done in July!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

What must be done gets done.  What is nice to do or one wants to get done, may or may not get done - and that is okay.  We can only do a certain amount and cannot kick ourselves for not getting everything done.  

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?

NO MATTER WHAT ONE DOES - IT CAN GO WRONG

This week was to be a busy one for me.  I was suppose to give a talk at my embroidery chapter meeting - today, Wednesday, and I also had to go to the same client again as she will going out of town and I have to do her books for February.  And we had to go and take money from husband’s IRA to pay bills.
       
I spent the evenings the past week working on the talk about the history of embroidery samplers.  I made an outline of what I wanted to say, both so I would not forget anything and would not wander - I tend to wander even more when I speak than I do when I write.  I checked information that I knew, just to make sure I remembered it correctly.  I searched for photos of samplers online to download and print out to show and pass around at the meeting, both to explain what I was saying, and because I knew the ladies in my group would love to see them - probably even more than listen to me talk. 

I had started working on the research a week or so later than I planned to do so, but as of Monday night, my notes were finished (well, okay, I remembered something afterwards to add) and I had photos of samplers I liked and which went with talk.  My husband was going to print the sampler photos for me on Tuesday afternoon and evening.  He was bit miffed that I was not using any of the photos he has taken over the years of samplers at exhibitions, but polite about it.  (I only was not using them as I have seen his photo organization - everything has the original number assigned to it and is a folder by year of every photo he took that year.)  I was going to bring a reproduction of a 1700s sampler I had stitched - and I had a photo of the original.  I planned to bring about 3 or 4 of the books I have with photos and info about samplers.  Yes, for once I was organized and not going to have to work in a panic at the last minute - I am a major procrastinator.  The weather since last week had said it would rain today - I figured out how to pack what I was bringing (especially the reproduction sampler and books) so it would not get wet. 

Yesterday we went to the banks and dealt with moving money around.  I had been unsure if I should go to the client yesterday or tomorrow and tomorrow was suppose to be the better weather day and it gave me more time to prepare for the talk.  Everything was going great.

Then yesterday the weather report changed!  The rain today changed to snow - not too much in this area, but it would be coming down while everyone was driving to the meeting and some members come from the county to the east and others from the county to the west - and let’s face it - we are a bunch of, literally, old ladies.  Heck, I live around the corner and up the block from where we meet and I was concerned about driving to the meeting.  I kept figuring I would hear from the chapter president to talk about the weather, but I did not.  Finally I telephoned her - good thing, she had not heard about the weather.  So, we split the membership list to call and tell them the meeting was canceled (not a big group and there are members who are friends and/or come to meetings together so we can call one and have them let the other know). 

So, now I have a lot of time as I will not be giving the talk until May.  I will not get complacent and will make sure husband has time to leisurely print the photos and he will time to look for a few photos he took for me.  (I like to make him happy as much as he likes to make me happy.)

So I planned to call my client and ask if I could come tomorrow - but the weather is to be below freezing and it is still raining on and off, so ice is a good possibility.  She is not always in on Fridays, but luckily this week she is, so I will go then when it was to be a tiny bit warmer and dry.  Of course once I made the appointment there was suddenly a 20% chance of snow on Friday!  But the local news covers parts of 3 states and the sections north and west of us tend to be the more likely to have snow, so I am hoping I will not get stuck driving in snow. 

Spent the afternoon catching up on things on the computer as I had not expected to be home.  Found some items online I promised to email to my mom and did so.  A few bank statements had come in, so I did the bank recs on them, so they are done with for the month.  I scanned magazine articles for my husband - in case the idea is forgotten - he had a number of issues of a reenacting magazine that for some years he no longer subscribes to.  I suggested he go through the magazines, mark the articles he is interested in and I would scan the articles so he would have them if needed or wanted (and they could be magnified easily so he could read them easier) and then get rid of the magazines. Oh, and the file can also be searched if he is looking for info on a specific topic.  I do this “between” other things.  Today I got rid of 3 more issues.    I also went through the work from last year for this client so that if I have any questions about anything I can look it up Friday to correct it.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

“The best laid plans of mice and men...”  There are going to be times when what one plans goes awry - much more often than one expects.  One just has to go with it.  If you end up with time planned for one thing and then not doing that one thing, figure out what else to use the time for.  I am now ahead on other things that I would have to do anyway and I am ready - except for printing the photos - for when I give the talk in May and I will be much more relaxed as I will not have had to rush to put together the talk then.  Maybe I will even find some source for some things I know and cannot remember where I read them.