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.
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Thursday, May 14, 2020
COVID 19 #9 PATIENCE WITH ERRORS AND DELAYS
I hope that all and their loved ones continue to be well.
This week in the wonderful world of isolated at home we have been working on two problems.
First over a week ago I found that the hot water tap in our downstairs bathroom was leaking. I tried to use the shut off valve under the sink – but of course it did not turn. I had to call husband to deal withit. He could not turn that shut off valve either but, being taller than me, he could reach the bigger shut off – just for that sink – in the basement. So no leak and no hot water in the sink in the bathroom off the kitchen. Hands either had to be washed upstairs, in the kitchen sink or in cold water. Since I would forget to wash my hands before coming downstairs to work in the kitchen and did not want to risk washing virus into the kitchen sink – it was wash with cold water.
In normal times we would have gone to Home Depot and bought the replacement cartridge and fixed the sink – after much screaming and yelling about what was being done. (It is not a household repair around here unless there is a lot of screaming and yelling.) But we were not going to go out and look for the part in Home Depot. Husband looked it up online and found that the Home Depot we go to did have the part and would bring it out to us in our car - but in looking to see this, he found out that there is a lifetime warranty on the cartridge and the manufacturer would replace it free – and by mail. So I telephoned and they were mailing the cartridge. Tuesday we had not received it and I called to check and it was traced and here at the post office – along the lines of “a small world” the woman who checked for me happened to mention she used to live in this area – in the community I grew up and I told her that. She then mentioned the school her children went to – and it was the one that my sisters and I went to – gee, they might have gone to school with one of my sisters (I am too old to imagine that for me as she would be, well, as old as my 91 yo mom).
The cartridge arrived in the mail today and with a small amount of concern of everything going right – we now have hot water in the downstairs bathroom – and it does not leak – my hands are very happy not to be in cold water again. Well, the isolation led to us saving the cost of the cartridge as he would not have looked online and found out about warranty on it if it was not that we are not going out.
Second – we have put off renewing our several medical prescriptions until now when they have to be renewed – will be out of one medication for husband on Friday morning and he did not like my idea of splitting up some old pills of same medication to make the correct dosage for him.
On Monday during the day I telephoned our pharmacy – Walmart – about what arrangements they had for pickup as we did not want to walk into the store. Around here, Walmarts are not delivering and there is no pick up service currently in general. They do have pickup service for prescriptions only (not even denture adhesive could be added). I was told to call before we come and then again when we are in the parking lot and we would pay at our car. I telephoned on Monday night and put in the renewals through the pharmacy's computer.
On Tuesday (yesterday) we received a call that they were out of the strips for my Diabetes meter and it would take until “Wednesday” for them to come. I told them that was okay – and then asked about same for husband – since I had listed his prescriptions first, he had gotten the last of the strips. No problem, we had figured on going today (Wednesday) any way. So far, so good.
Today I telephoned the pharmacy to check that the strips had come in. They had, but now they were short one of husband's blood pressure medications and it would not be in until “Thursday”. Okay, we can go tomorrow. The employee was looking over the list of the medications to make sure all the rest were accounted for. She happened to mention his insulin and the price - $141. Problem – it is suppose to be $47. I double checked that they only were filling same for a month. (Our other medications are for 90 days, but he only wants one box/month's worth of insulin at a time since if something happens to our fridge it will go bad and is expensive (more than it appears from the copay for it). It was for a month.
So I telephoned our insurance company. I got a very nice employee – he explained what it could be – I explained that the deductible had been met for the year. He checked the records and agreed it should be $47. While we were speaking there was an echo on his phone – whatever caused that made it so he could not call our pharmacy and he transferred me to another employee – with apparently notes about our discussion on our files as I did not need to give her the pharmacy's phone number again. She though insisted the $141 was correct as it was for 75 days of insulin! I explained that it was for a one month supply and the prescription is written for same – one month, one box. She finally figured out the problem and called the pharmacy to change the price. I then called the pharmacy to make sure it was all corrected. So hopefully when I check tomorrow all the prescriptions will be ready and we will go and get them.
Third – Yesterday in the mail we received mail from our cable company marked “urgent” - so I opened it before sealing the mail in the “Tuesday” plastic zip bag for mail. I left it open and facing the bag to be able to read it while it was in the bag. It said that our cable would be shut off as we have not paid our bill. Back last month when the cable bill was due we were short on money in our checking account due a timing problem to pay our cable bill. Normally we would have gone and transferred money from another account – but if we cannot go out, we cannot easily transfer the money. I tried telephoning our cable company to new avail, then we tried to “chat” online with same – to no avail until I went to what I had learned to do during the crisis – I went online in the middle of the night to chat with them. A very nice employee when I explained the situation and asked for the courtesy of an additional week to pay the bill told me that he did not give me the time – there was an automatic 60 day allowance on payment of bills. I checked with him again that nothing needed to be done and he said nothing – it was automatic. So we paid our cable bill from last month and our cable bill from this month – together – earlier this month - 30 days after the first bill was due and in time to be on time for this month's bill.
Then yesterday I received the notice. I tried calling the cable company to no avail – busy. Meanwhile husband went online into our cable account online – it showed the payment and but had for an unknown reason a $10 balance. I checked with our bank and the check had cleared our bank on April 11 – seems to me that it should have reached them timely if it was back to our bank by then. I checked the notice – it mentioned a $10 fee if one did not pay by automatic payment – was this something new that they had done?
Later that night I again went on the cable company's website and turned on chat and waited for about 45 minutes. I put in the background of what had happened and then asked about why I received the notice if I had 60 days grace on the late payment from last month and this month's was timely paid – and did I now have to pay a $10 fee for paying with a check instead of by automatic payment? Per this employee - there was never a blanket 60 day grace period – same was for people who lost their jobs, was only offered through mid March, and people had to apply for it. My check reached them – one day late, due per her May 8 and arrived on May 9 (mailed on May 3). I mentioned that we have been with them over 30 years and NEVER paid late. I was not charged for a fee for paying by check – it was for late payment. She waived the fee. She also said that she would let them know about the incorrect information I had relied on which I had been told during the earlier chat in case other customers were told the same incorrect info.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Everything now takes a bit more time and more checking to make sure it is correct. Try to keep calm (I did with all of these problems) and be nice – so many people are so upset and on edge that customer service people appreciate even more when a customer is nice to them. (And believe me, I can terribly nasty when something has gone wrong due to stupidity -such as employee giving incorrect information.) I have also been sure to thank the employees for continuing to working for all of us to have the needed services/items and say that I hope they and their families stay well.
This week in the wonderful world of isolated at home we have been working on two problems.
First over a week ago I found that the hot water tap in our downstairs bathroom was leaking. I tried to use the shut off valve under the sink – but of course it did not turn. I had to call husband to deal withit. He could not turn that shut off valve either but, being taller than me, he could reach the bigger shut off – just for that sink – in the basement. So no leak and no hot water in the sink in the bathroom off the kitchen. Hands either had to be washed upstairs, in the kitchen sink or in cold water. Since I would forget to wash my hands before coming downstairs to work in the kitchen and did not want to risk washing virus into the kitchen sink – it was wash with cold water.
In normal times we would have gone to Home Depot and bought the replacement cartridge and fixed the sink – after much screaming and yelling about what was being done. (It is not a household repair around here unless there is a lot of screaming and yelling.) But we were not going to go out and look for the part in Home Depot. Husband looked it up online and found that the Home Depot we go to did have the part and would bring it out to us in our car - but in looking to see this, he found out that there is a lifetime warranty on the cartridge and the manufacturer would replace it free – and by mail. So I telephoned and they were mailing the cartridge. Tuesday we had not received it and I called to check and it was traced and here at the post office – along the lines of “a small world” the woman who checked for me happened to mention she used to live in this area – in the community I grew up and I told her that. She then mentioned the school her children went to – and it was the one that my sisters and I went to – gee, they might have gone to school with one of my sisters (I am too old to imagine that for me as she would be, well, as old as my 91 yo mom).
The cartridge arrived in the mail today and with a small amount of concern of everything going right – we now have hot water in the downstairs bathroom – and it does not leak – my hands are very happy not to be in cold water again. Well, the isolation led to us saving the cost of the cartridge as he would not have looked online and found out about warranty on it if it was not that we are not going out.
Second – we have put off renewing our several medical prescriptions until now when they have to be renewed – will be out of one medication for husband on Friday morning and he did not like my idea of splitting up some old pills of same medication to make the correct dosage for him.
On Monday during the day I telephoned our pharmacy – Walmart – about what arrangements they had for pickup as we did not want to walk into the store. Around here, Walmarts are not delivering and there is no pick up service currently in general. They do have pickup service for prescriptions only (not even denture adhesive could be added). I was told to call before we come and then again when we are in the parking lot and we would pay at our car. I telephoned on Monday night and put in the renewals through the pharmacy's computer.
On Tuesday (yesterday) we received a call that they were out of the strips for my Diabetes meter and it would take until “Wednesday” for them to come. I told them that was okay – and then asked about same for husband – since I had listed his prescriptions first, he had gotten the last of the strips. No problem, we had figured on going today (Wednesday) any way. So far, so good.
Today I telephoned the pharmacy to check that the strips had come in. They had, but now they were short one of husband's blood pressure medications and it would not be in until “Thursday”. Okay, we can go tomorrow. The employee was looking over the list of the medications to make sure all the rest were accounted for. She happened to mention his insulin and the price - $141. Problem – it is suppose to be $47. I double checked that they only were filling same for a month. (Our other medications are for 90 days, but he only wants one box/month's worth of insulin at a time since if something happens to our fridge it will go bad and is expensive (more than it appears from the copay for it). It was for a month.
So I telephoned our insurance company. I got a very nice employee – he explained what it could be – I explained that the deductible had been met for the year. He checked the records and agreed it should be $47. While we were speaking there was an echo on his phone – whatever caused that made it so he could not call our pharmacy and he transferred me to another employee – with apparently notes about our discussion on our files as I did not need to give her the pharmacy's phone number again. She though insisted the $141 was correct as it was for 75 days of insulin! I explained that it was for a one month supply and the prescription is written for same – one month, one box. She finally figured out the problem and called the pharmacy to change the price. I then called the pharmacy to make sure it was all corrected. So hopefully when I check tomorrow all the prescriptions will be ready and we will go and get them.
Third – Yesterday in the mail we received mail from our cable company marked “urgent” - so I opened it before sealing the mail in the “Tuesday” plastic zip bag for mail. I left it open and facing the bag to be able to read it while it was in the bag. It said that our cable would be shut off as we have not paid our bill. Back last month when the cable bill was due we were short on money in our checking account due a timing problem to pay our cable bill. Normally we would have gone and transferred money from another account – but if we cannot go out, we cannot easily transfer the money. I tried telephoning our cable company to new avail, then we tried to “chat” online with same – to no avail until I went to what I had learned to do during the crisis – I went online in the middle of the night to chat with them. A very nice employee when I explained the situation and asked for the courtesy of an additional week to pay the bill told me that he did not give me the time – there was an automatic 60 day allowance on payment of bills. I checked with him again that nothing needed to be done and he said nothing – it was automatic. So we paid our cable bill from last month and our cable bill from this month – together – earlier this month - 30 days after the first bill was due and in time to be on time for this month's bill.
Then yesterday I received the notice. I tried calling the cable company to no avail – busy. Meanwhile husband went online into our cable account online – it showed the payment and but had for an unknown reason a $10 balance. I checked with our bank and the check had cleared our bank on April 11 – seems to me that it should have reached them timely if it was back to our bank by then. I checked the notice – it mentioned a $10 fee if one did not pay by automatic payment – was this something new that they had done?
Later that night I again went on the cable company's website and turned on chat and waited for about 45 minutes. I put in the background of what had happened and then asked about why I received the notice if I had 60 days grace on the late payment from last month and this month's was timely paid – and did I now have to pay a $10 fee for paying with a check instead of by automatic payment? Per this employee - there was never a blanket 60 day grace period – same was for people who lost their jobs, was only offered through mid March, and people had to apply for it. My check reached them – one day late, due per her May 8 and arrived on May 9 (mailed on May 3). I mentioned that we have been with them over 30 years and NEVER paid late. I was not charged for a fee for paying by check – it was for late payment. She waived the fee. She also said that she would let them know about the incorrect information I had relied on which I had been told during the earlier chat in case other customers were told the same incorrect info.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Everything now takes a bit more time and more checking to make sure it is correct. Try to keep calm (I did with all of these problems) and be nice – so many people are so upset and on edge that customer service people appreciate even more when a customer is nice to them. (And believe me, I can terribly nasty when something has gone wrong due to stupidity -such as employee giving incorrect information.) I have also been sure to thank the employees for continuing to working for all of us to have the needed services/items and say that I hope they and their families stay well.
Thursday, May 7, 2020
COVID 19 #8 - FOOD BUYING
Husband is getting serious about our needing to buying food. Last time we went food shopping was in mid March. As far as I am concerned we have plenty for another couple of weeks. He was looking at BJs (similar to Costco in case you don't know BJs) website to order from them as he had a coupon for free delivery. It is a nice company. Periodically, in normal times, they put the chicken patties we buy on sale and we go and buy the 3 pack of packages. We also normally buy our gas from them as it is much less expensive (when gas was still an expensive thing compared to right now) than the other stations. There are few Costco stores which have gas stations here and they are not conveniently located. But it is rare we find anything else to buy from them. There are only two of us and many of their food items are in packages which involve cooking the entire package at the same time and would be months worth of the particular item for us.
But the seem to meet his current criteria – they will deliver, they seem to have time slots available in a reasonable time frame (any place else he looked at is a 6 week wait), and they seem to have food items that he thinks would be good to have. As we sat at our desks this afternoon he was reading off the foods which interested him. I told him to make a list of what looks interesting – in this case, peanut butter (2 huge jars in a package, he does not normally eat same, and I am only eating it as we are eating lunch home and want to leave the better lunch foods (such as canned soup) for him. I am not sure if we will actually get to another jar of peanut butter and how long the 2 jars will last us – years, a decade? And BREAD! We normally do not go through a lot of bread, often do not even any in the house and he has always refused to freeze bread. He looking at buying “2 or 3” packages of 2 loaves each. I am guessing we will sit and draw up a list of what we would buy from them tomorrow and figure it out. My attitude has mostly been through all of this whatever he needs to feel secure as long as it too not far out there.
Back in November the weekend before our last food shopping trip we had picked up Chinese food from our normal place for the last time also. We picked it up on Friday night and the wife told us that they would be open the next day and then would be closed until April 1. Both of us thought that we would go back the next night and take out again as it would be a couple of weeks before we could go there again – and eating in restaurants, still open for eating in at the time, we did not feel comfortable going to. Of course then our brains kicked in ' Why are they closing for 2 weeks? Is someone sick? We did not go back the next night.
Week before last husband decided that we should pick up Chinese food for dinner – it is a small place and would be much safer (in his mind) than going to a supermarket and he would not have to eat my cooking for one night, well two nights, which will make sense soon. I tried calling them a week ago on Sunday night. The phone alternately kept ringing or was busy. We figured that they must be terribly busy and were no longer taking orders for the evening. During the following week I telephoned during the day and spoke to the wife and they were open, though closing 2 hours earlier than before – which should not have affected us when I called. We decided we take out on Friday night and we would buy 2 meals plus extra rice. (Husband has found out how nice rice reheated in boiling water so the grains expand big and it is filling.) I tried telephoning them – again it was either ringing or busy. This time for some reason my cell phone would cut off the call as I waited to see if they answered the phone after 4 or 5 rings “the party is not available”. So we tried using our land line – we don't normally make outgoing calls with it as it has no included minutes (why pay for same and for unlimited cell phone minutes on my phone when we can just pay for the latter and use my phone for outgoing calls and the land line for incoming calls.) This time when I called a message -“This party does not accept calls from hidden telephone numbers.” Husband was starting to panic. We went upstairs and called on his Magic Jack line (he has for business). We got through to the place and found a message telling us to order through their website. We did so – technically through a third party site accessed through their website. It was fairly easy and straightforward to order with – even had a place for husband to specify bok choy instead of broccoli in both main dishes. Paid through the site with our “use online, by mail and by telephone” credit card.
We then went downstairs to prepare for the adventure that we anticipated was to come, Husband had read to wipe down food containers coming into the house with alcohol wipes – we only have one – old – package of same, so I cut 2 paper towels in quarters and found the spray bottle of alcohol in the basement – we use it while making sure we don't get bed bugs again. I put all of this together in the kitchen on the counter near the door. I then pulled out an assortment of plastic containers and a bowl. He had also read that the food should immediately be put in one's own containers and the restaurant's containers be throw out outside. I took our masks, 2 plastic sandwich bags (I use them as disposable gloves – cheaper than same and we have a lot more of them and they fit my small hands better) and 2 plastic shopping bags and we set off. Our idea was that I would go in and he would wait in the car. I would open the door to go in and then out with one of the bags and have the other one on my hand as I carried their shopping bag to the car. We would then put their shopping bag(s) in ours so theirs did not touch our car floor.
When we arrived in their parking lot I noticed 2 things – lots of people with masks on waiting around outside the store and the door was propped open. I walked in to give them my name and found out why they had closed for 2 weeks. The inside had been converted to non-contact pickup! Oh, did that make me feel good. Over their counter was a plexiglass wall with a small slot opening for ordering menus to be passed out to people and then returned for those ordering in person. Were there had bee a walk through from the customer area to kitchen was filled in by wood making a door with a trap door in it and a shelf attached to our side of the wall with a railing around the shelf. I started to wait off to the side and noticed a sign that if one had ordered one should text to a phone number, wait outside, and would be called when ready. I went back out and texted my name to the number with the info we had ordered online. I then figured out that was not enough info. I texted additional info as I waited after explaining to husband what was going on. People waiting did not have, to put it mildly, the best concept of staying 6 feet apart – or they had no idea how far 6 feet is. One woman came up and started approaching me (I always look like I know what is going on – I inherited same from my dad.) A woman started coming closer to me - about to be too close. I told her to stop she was coming too close and she did though seemed to not really understand. I answered her questions. As I stood their waiting it occurred to me that I should have included the order number in my text. I texted again, apologizing that I had not done this sort of thing before. Finally my cell rang and it was my turn. I went in. A young woman I had not seen there when things were more normal held up their copy of our order, pointing at our name, and I shook my head yes. She passed the bag through the trap door and after it closed I picked up the bag – wearing one of the sandwich bags on my hand. When I got to the car husband was waiting with our bag and we put the bag of food in it and drove home.
I stopped in our small side porch with the bag. I took out an item with the second sandwich bag on my left had and wiped with it down with a piece of paper towel soaked in alcohol. I then passed it through the door and husband transferred the contents to a plastic container in the kitchen. (Most of the containers are old soup containers from the same place, from when life was normal.) We kept doing this until all of the food was in containers, except the main dish we were having that night was in a big bowl.
Oh, what a treat! Soup and big main course. No cutting back on what we would normally have as a meal to make the food last longer. After they cooled down soon and we finished eating the rice and second meal were put I the refrigerator to keep them until we were ready to eat the food on other nights. Last night we had the second meal. We will definitely pick up again and pick up for one meal now that we know it is safe enough to go there. - Yum.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
We are fortunate enough to be able to continue to pay for our food. But I never thought the luxury of a full meal instead of smaller than we normally eat meals would be so wonderful. I guess it is true that when one is deprived of their regular life, the little normal things mean a lot.
Please continue to stay inside if you are in area with these rules. I would like for all of you and your loved ones to continue to be well.
But the seem to meet his current criteria – they will deliver, they seem to have time slots available in a reasonable time frame (any place else he looked at is a 6 week wait), and they seem to have food items that he thinks would be good to have. As we sat at our desks this afternoon he was reading off the foods which interested him. I told him to make a list of what looks interesting – in this case, peanut butter (2 huge jars in a package, he does not normally eat same, and I am only eating it as we are eating lunch home and want to leave the better lunch foods (such as canned soup) for him. I am not sure if we will actually get to another jar of peanut butter and how long the 2 jars will last us – years, a decade? And BREAD! We normally do not go through a lot of bread, often do not even any in the house and he has always refused to freeze bread. He looking at buying “2 or 3” packages of 2 loaves each. I am guessing we will sit and draw up a list of what we would buy from them tomorrow and figure it out. My attitude has mostly been through all of this whatever he needs to feel secure as long as it too not far out there.
Back in November the weekend before our last food shopping trip we had picked up Chinese food from our normal place for the last time also. We picked it up on Friday night and the wife told us that they would be open the next day and then would be closed until April 1. Both of us thought that we would go back the next night and take out again as it would be a couple of weeks before we could go there again – and eating in restaurants, still open for eating in at the time, we did not feel comfortable going to. Of course then our brains kicked in ' Why are they closing for 2 weeks? Is someone sick? We did not go back the next night.
Week before last husband decided that we should pick up Chinese food for dinner – it is a small place and would be much safer (in his mind) than going to a supermarket and he would not have to eat my cooking for one night, well two nights, which will make sense soon. I tried calling them a week ago on Sunday night. The phone alternately kept ringing or was busy. We figured that they must be terribly busy and were no longer taking orders for the evening. During the following week I telephoned during the day and spoke to the wife and they were open, though closing 2 hours earlier than before – which should not have affected us when I called. We decided we take out on Friday night and we would buy 2 meals plus extra rice. (Husband has found out how nice rice reheated in boiling water so the grains expand big and it is filling.) I tried telephoning them – again it was either ringing or busy. This time for some reason my cell phone would cut off the call as I waited to see if they answered the phone after 4 or 5 rings “the party is not available”. So we tried using our land line – we don't normally make outgoing calls with it as it has no included minutes (why pay for same and for unlimited cell phone minutes on my phone when we can just pay for the latter and use my phone for outgoing calls and the land line for incoming calls.) This time when I called a message -“This party does not accept calls from hidden telephone numbers.” Husband was starting to panic. We went upstairs and called on his Magic Jack line (he has for business). We got through to the place and found a message telling us to order through their website. We did so – technically through a third party site accessed through their website. It was fairly easy and straightforward to order with – even had a place for husband to specify bok choy instead of broccoli in both main dishes. Paid through the site with our “use online, by mail and by telephone” credit card.
We then went downstairs to prepare for the adventure that we anticipated was to come, Husband had read to wipe down food containers coming into the house with alcohol wipes – we only have one – old – package of same, so I cut 2 paper towels in quarters and found the spray bottle of alcohol in the basement – we use it while making sure we don't get bed bugs again. I put all of this together in the kitchen on the counter near the door. I then pulled out an assortment of plastic containers and a bowl. He had also read that the food should immediately be put in one's own containers and the restaurant's containers be throw out outside. I took our masks, 2 plastic sandwich bags (I use them as disposable gloves – cheaper than same and we have a lot more of them and they fit my small hands better) and 2 plastic shopping bags and we set off. Our idea was that I would go in and he would wait in the car. I would open the door to go in and then out with one of the bags and have the other one on my hand as I carried their shopping bag to the car. We would then put their shopping bag(s) in ours so theirs did not touch our car floor.
When we arrived in their parking lot I noticed 2 things – lots of people with masks on waiting around outside the store and the door was propped open. I walked in to give them my name and found out why they had closed for 2 weeks. The inside had been converted to non-contact pickup! Oh, did that make me feel good. Over their counter was a plexiglass wall with a small slot opening for ordering menus to be passed out to people and then returned for those ordering in person. Were there had bee a walk through from the customer area to kitchen was filled in by wood making a door with a trap door in it and a shelf attached to our side of the wall with a railing around the shelf. I started to wait off to the side and noticed a sign that if one had ordered one should text to a phone number, wait outside, and would be called when ready. I went back out and texted my name to the number with the info we had ordered online. I then figured out that was not enough info. I texted additional info as I waited after explaining to husband what was going on. People waiting did not have, to put it mildly, the best concept of staying 6 feet apart – or they had no idea how far 6 feet is. One woman came up and started approaching me (I always look like I know what is going on – I inherited same from my dad.) A woman started coming closer to me - about to be too close. I told her to stop she was coming too close and she did though seemed to not really understand. I answered her questions. As I stood their waiting it occurred to me that I should have included the order number in my text. I texted again, apologizing that I had not done this sort of thing before. Finally my cell rang and it was my turn. I went in. A young woman I had not seen there when things were more normal held up their copy of our order, pointing at our name, and I shook my head yes. She passed the bag through the trap door and after it closed I picked up the bag – wearing one of the sandwich bags on my hand. When I got to the car husband was waiting with our bag and we put the bag of food in it and drove home.
I stopped in our small side porch with the bag. I took out an item with the second sandwich bag on my left had and wiped with it down with a piece of paper towel soaked in alcohol. I then passed it through the door and husband transferred the contents to a plastic container in the kitchen. (Most of the containers are old soup containers from the same place, from when life was normal.) We kept doing this until all of the food was in containers, except the main dish we were having that night was in a big bowl.
Oh, what a treat! Soup and big main course. No cutting back on what we would normally have as a meal to make the food last longer. After they cooled down soon and we finished eating the rice and second meal were put I the refrigerator to keep them until we were ready to eat the food on other nights. Last night we had the second meal. We will definitely pick up again and pick up for one meal now that we know it is safe enough to go there. - Yum.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
We are fortunate enough to be able to continue to pay for our food. But I never thought the luxury of a full meal instead of smaller than we normally eat meals would be so wonderful. I guess it is true that when one is deprived of their regular life, the little normal things mean a lot.
Please continue to stay inside if you are in area with these rules. I would like for all of you and your loved ones to continue to be well.
Thursday, April 30, 2020
COVID 19 # 7 - USE YOUR TIME TO DO PROJECTS YOU HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO DO - THE TRUNK UNDER THE BEAR VILLAGE
Wow – another week already!
I actually got a project done that has been sitting awhile this past week – and ended up clearing up more things than I planned.
I have mentioned (I am sure) that I have a little village which is like a fancy Christmas village setup – but is cheap, has bears instead of people, and we now change it to seasonal “scenes”. It sits on a board on a wicker trunk – so there is no access to trunk when the board and village is on it. This is in front a window in a nook at the top of our stairs by the bedrooms and our office (which is in what should be a be a bedroom). When it was only a Christmas village there were some Christmas decoration items stored in it – I would take them out before the village was set up and put them back after it was taken down and. Since this can no longer be done as there is always a village set up there, that space in the trunk is empty and has been calling me. I have items in our third bedroom – aka the teddys' room (you did not think these bears were the only ones I have, the stuffed and non small figure ones took over the smallest bedroom some decades ago – and I have been planned to store some of the teddy bear items (I have much more than “bears” themselves) in the trunk.
Problem has been that we are always in a rush and I don't have a chance between setups – and when it is setup – well, buildings, bears, Christmas tree, heavy board have to all be removed and placed someplace safe – so I don't do it. To help me get around to dealing with storing the items while I am stuck home – when I stored the Christmas/winter village items away I left a bare number of bears out in the village. Basically the “storyline” has been that the bears are self-isolating and only certain bears are out – police, fire, those who sell food/have a restaurant, are shopping, exercising (bear on roller skates), and an accountant bear with clients sitting away from him are out. They were all spaced 6 inches apart, the size equivalent of 6 feet I figured. Husband was not happy with this as he is depressed about everything to begin with.
So earlier this week I moved the bears, buildings to safe places, and the tree out of the way and slid the board off the back. I started with some old tee shirts of great sentimental value that were out in the teddys room – I put them in a clear kitchen sized garbage bag and knotted it closed (after squeezing out the air and put it in the box. I then found a small carton of bear and some other stuff. I am guessing it has been sitting since we had the house treated for bedbugs in 2011. Some items of husband's boyhood were also in the carton and I stored much of it in the trunk. Some of it were small bear items which were good to use in the village including some bears and I set all of that aside on my office desk to keep available. I threw out some unrelated things also.
When I was finished with the carton there was a still a lot of room in the trunk. We have a stack of round plastic storage modules (1970s) and also a stereo cabinet which we had bought for and used for storing various items on its shelves. I first went through the stereo cabinet as it was in front of the plastic module stack. Some of what was in it was put there also when we had the house treated for bedbugs and I put those items back where they belonged. Others I wanted available and left in the cabinet. Other items were related to old computer games of husbands – so I put them back and mentioned them to him – he has since looked them up and when the Covid-19 problem is over and we can go to the post office again without being woried about being outside, he will put them up for sale online. I
I then pulled the stereo cabinet forward (it is on wheels) and started on the stack behind it. I tossed some items, found some more of husband's computer games – which I added to the others in the stereo cabinet and found – of course – more bear items. Again I either tossed them, put them aside to use in the village or stored them in the trunk. With the stack of plastic module empty, I removed them and pushed the stereo cabinet into where they had been – wow – it could actually be used as a bedroom now if we needed it – there is room to walk all the way to almost head of the bed. (Still a spare TV in there, spare as is there is a TV to watch in the room plus the one on the floor - have to find out if it works or not and figure out what to do with it.)
When I was finished there was still room in the trunk, but I had gone through what was there to go thru and dealt with it. I closed the top of the trunk and attempted to slide the board on top. Problem – it is a small space. While there is enough room for the board at the top of the trunk, at the bottom of the wall due to the molding along the walls, there is not enough room for the board to sit across the space – and the board had slid down on an angle and was wedged into the wall. I juggled it and managed to get it to shift, but it was too heavy for me to lift and it was then wedged into the other wall! I finally had admit to defeat and get husband to help me lift it from both sides at the same time and slide it into place on top on the top of the trunk. Next time I will not be lazy – I will remove the board from the area as I used to do to store it in the basement during the year – so this will not happen again.
I replaced the buildings, tree and bears – dusted it all first. I added a few of the newly found bears also. I then took the plastic modules downstairs. Husband saw me doing this - “You are not throwing those out are you?” I asked if he had a use for them – he did not, just did not want them tossed out “in case”. I explained that I planned to replace a storage piece located behind my work table in our studio with it and said that was fine – he just did not want it thrown out. One module either had green paint in it or a piece of green plastic or such melted in when we had the bed bug treatment (they heat the house VERY HOT for the treatment) and I told him I will throw that one module out if I cannot clean it.
So right now, the stack of modules, the empty carton and the problem module are in our dining room waiting for me to now move out the storage piece from behind my work table to put the stack there. The carton will go out to our porch to use for putting out recycling when again our township is collecting them. The other piece of the module piece I will see if I can clean.
The storage piece behind my studio work table came as a small cabinet with/to sit over my computer desk and I did not want it there then – I will see what we can do with it when I move the stuff out of it (ribbons, laces, rolls of velcro and such) or it will end up getting tossed out when life and garbage collection are more normal.
As to the bears – we have decided that the bears “decided” that since it over 2 weeks, all of the bears have continuously been in our house and none of them are sick – the spring village can be set up and I hope to do so this coming week.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
If you are stuck in your house – use the time to do projects you have not had time to do. If you have children – perhaps you can get them to “help” you to keep them busy. Yes, they may be more trouble than help, but if you try to make a game out of it or give a prize for the one does the most, finds the most etc. it will keep them busy also.
Please take care of yourself and yours – stay well.
I actually got a project done that has been sitting awhile this past week – and ended up clearing up more things than I planned.
I have mentioned (I am sure) that I have a little village which is like a fancy Christmas village setup – but is cheap, has bears instead of people, and we now change it to seasonal “scenes”. It sits on a board on a wicker trunk – so there is no access to trunk when the board and village is on it. This is in front a window in a nook at the top of our stairs by the bedrooms and our office (which is in what should be a be a bedroom). When it was only a Christmas village there were some Christmas decoration items stored in it – I would take them out before the village was set up and put them back after it was taken down and. Since this can no longer be done as there is always a village set up there, that space in the trunk is empty and has been calling me. I have items in our third bedroom – aka the teddys' room (you did not think these bears were the only ones I have, the stuffed and non small figure ones took over the smallest bedroom some decades ago – and I have been planned to store some of the teddy bear items (I have much more than “bears” themselves) in the trunk.
Problem has been that we are always in a rush and I don't have a chance between setups – and when it is setup – well, buildings, bears, Christmas tree, heavy board have to all be removed and placed someplace safe – so I don't do it. To help me get around to dealing with storing the items while I am stuck home – when I stored the Christmas/winter village items away I left a bare number of bears out in the village. Basically the “storyline” has been that the bears are self-isolating and only certain bears are out – police, fire, those who sell food/have a restaurant, are shopping, exercising (bear on roller skates), and an accountant bear with clients sitting away from him are out. They were all spaced 6 inches apart, the size equivalent of 6 feet I figured. Husband was not happy with this as he is depressed about everything to begin with.
So earlier this week I moved the bears, buildings to safe places, and the tree out of the way and slid the board off the back. I started with some old tee shirts of great sentimental value that were out in the teddys room – I put them in a clear kitchen sized garbage bag and knotted it closed (after squeezing out the air and put it in the box. I then found a small carton of bear and some other stuff. I am guessing it has been sitting since we had the house treated for bedbugs in 2011. Some items of husband's boyhood were also in the carton and I stored much of it in the trunk. Some of it were small bear items which were good to use in the village including some bears and I set all of that aside on my office desk to keep available. I threw out some unrelated things also.
When I was finished with the carton there was a still a lot of room in the trunk. We have a stack of round plastic storage modules (1970s) and also a stereo cabinet which we had bought for and used for storing various items on its shelves. I first went through the stereo cabinet as it was in front of the plastic module stack. Some of what was in it was put there also when we had the house treated for bedbugs and I put those items back where they belonged. Others I wanted available and left in the cabinet. Other items were related to old computer games of husbands – so I put them back and mentioned them to him – he has since looked them up and when the Covid-19 problem is over and we can go to the post office again without being woried about being outside, he will put them up for sale online. I
I then pulled the stereo cabinet forward (it is on wheels) and started on the stack behind it. I tossed some items, found some more of husband's computer games – which I added to the others in the stereo cabinet and found – of course – more bear items. Again I either tossed them, put them aside to use in the village or stored them in the trunk. With the stack of plastic module empty, I removed them and pushed the stereo cabinet into where they had been – wow – it could actually be used as a bedroom now if we needed it – there is room to walk all the way to almost head of the bed. (Still a spare TV in there, spare as is there is a TV to watch in the room plus the one on the floor - have to find out if it works or not and figure out what to do with it.)
When I was finished there was still room in the trunk, but I had gone through what was there to go thru and dealt with it. I closed the top of the trunk and attempted to slide the board on top. Problem – it is a small space. While there is enough room for the board at the top of the trunk, at the bottom of the wall due to the molding along the walls, there is not enough room for the board to sit across the space – and the board had slid down on an angle and was wedged into the wall. I juggled it and managed to get it to shift, but it was too heavy for me to lift and it was then wedged into the other wall! I finally had admit to defeat and get husband to help me lift it from both sides at the same time and slide it into place on top on the top of the trunk. Next time I will not be lazy – I will remove the board from the area as I used to do to store it in the basement during the year – so this will not happen again.
I replaced the buildings, tree and bears – dusted it all first. I added a few of the newly found bears also. I then took the plastic modules downstairs. Husband saw me doing this - “You are not throwing those out are you?” I asked if he had a use for them – he did not, just did not want them tossed out “in case”. I explained that I planned to replace a storage piece located behind my work table in our studio with it and said that was fine – he just did not want it thrown out. One module either had green paint in it or a piece of green plastic or such melted in when we had the bed bug treatment (they heat the house VERY HOT for the treatment) and I told him I will throw that one module out if I cannot clean it.
So right now, the stack of modules, the empty carton and the problem module are in our dining room waiting for me to now move out the storage piece from behind my work table to put the stack there. The carton will go out to our porch to use for putting out recycling when again our township is collecting them. The other piece of the module piece I will see if I can clean.
The storage piece behind my studio work table came as a small cabinet with/to sit over my computer desk and I did not want it there then – I will see what we can do with it when I move the stuff out of it (ribbons, laces, rolls of velcro and such) or it will end up getting tossed out when life and garbage collection are more normal.
As to the bears – we have decided that the bears “decided” that since it over 2 weeks, all of the bears have continuously been in our house and none of them are sick – the spring village can be set up and I hope to do so this coming week.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
If you are stuck in your house – use the time to do projects you have not had time to do. If you have children – perhaps you can get them to “help” you to keep them busy. Yes, they may be more trouble than help, but if you try to make a game out of it or give a prize for the one does the most, finds the most etc. it will keep them busy also.
Please take care of yourself and yours – stay well.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
COVID 19 #6 - BILLS, DEPOSITS, AND MEALS FROM WHAT IS ABOUT.
Well, here we are again – another week in the house. I am getting some stuff done. I also have learned to pay bills – so far electric and heating oil – by charging them to my credit card. The electric bill last month was a timing problem – it was due before the money for it would come in and we could not go out and move money into our checking account. The heating oil company, which I normally pay by check for each delivery, has its employees working from home and no checks can be mailed to them as there is no one in the office to deal with them – and I am guessing that they don't want to go out to the bank to deposit it either. I had hoped that we would not get another delivery this season, but we did. (Better than running out any way.) So today I called one of my credit card companies and told them that I would be making an unusual charge to my account (did the same before the electric company bill was charged) and wanted to let them know. Then I called the oil company and charged the bill to the credit card by phone.
I have received 2 checks by mail and not being one to use my cell phone to deposit them with an app, I deposited them “old school. I wrote out a deposit slip for them and mailed them to the local bank branch we use with a self- addresses, stamped envelope to return the receipt to me. Most income we have is direct deposited into our checking account. Luckily over the past couple of months I have changed almost all of the direct deposits to our checking account from our savings savings account. The ones not changed are small and will not come for several months.
I have also been calling the bank/credit card companies' computers to check what deposits have been received for my account and what amounts are due for the credit cards as I am not receiving statements since they go to our Post Office Box and cannot be forwarded. Being the old-fashioned non-trusting person that I am - I do not use the computer for anything financial.
I am still coming up with meals with what is at hand. Go figure fried eggs with a touch of brown sugar is good. Baked breast of chicken with leftover (from March) Chinese restaurant rice was good – and since the rice when boiled again expands greatly taking in the water – one of the most filling meals we have had. I also found out that we have probably have popcorn to pop to make meals on its own for a week! I have found 3 separate plastic boxes of it in our pantry closet.
Well, I have been busy doing nothing and now husband is here and ready for snack before bed so I will run with this quick, short post for this week.
I have received 2 checks by mail and not being one to use my cell phone to deposit them with an app, I deposited them “old school. I wrote out a deposit slip for them and mailed them to the local bank branch we use with a self- addresses, stamped envelope to return the receipt to me. Most income we have is direct deposited into our checking account. Luckily over the past couple of months I have changed almost all of the direct deposits to our checking account from our savings savings account. The ones not changed are small and will not come for several months.
I have also been calling the bank/credit card companies' computers to check what deposits have been received for my account and what amounts are due for the credit cards as I am not receiving statements since they go to our Post Office Box and cannot be forwarded. Being the old-fashioned non-trusting person that I am - I do not use the computer for anything financial.
I am still coming up with meals with what is at hand. Go figure fried eggs with a touch of brown sugar is good. Baked breast of chicken with leftover (from March) Chinese restaurant rice was good – and since the rice when boiled again expands greatly taking in the water – one of the most filling meals we have had. I also found out that we have probably have popcorn to pop to make meals on its own for a week! I have found 3 separate plastic boxes of it in our pantry closet.
Well, I have been busy doing nothing and now husband is here and ready for snack before bed so I will run with this quick, short post for this week.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
COVID 19 #5 - ANOTHER WEEK IN THE HOUSE - TAXES, MAIL AND RAIN
Normally the last few days would have been busy ones for me as I am an accountant. I would be finishing up the tax returns for my husband and myself and our business – they are always done after I finish the returns for clients. I would be preparing and mailing out extensions for those clients who did not manage to get their information together in time. And I would be looking forward to some quiet time to catch up on what has been thrown aside due to lack of time.
This year is so different. I am down in general to less than 10 clients, but even so this year, well, I have barely done any returns. Clients have contacted me that they can not wrap their minds about putting the information together, not going out so they cannot mail me the info, etc. I tell them that it is not a problem – quite frankly we are not going out either and their completed returns would be a problem to mail to them -we can only put letter sized envelopes in our house mail box for pickup by the same postal employee who delivers to us, as when I tried to put larger envelopes in the clip – they fell inside the mailbox when I closed the front door of it (which they were clipped to). So I have two 6inch by 9 inch envelopes sitting in the house until we feel safe enough to go to a mail collection box and send them out.
I have a dear friend who is also a client and had not filed her 2016 return (her husband was ill and they had also moved) and that was a priority for me to get finished and out. I knew she would be getting a refund and if returns are not filed within 3 years of their due date one loses their refund and I did not want that to happen to her. I kept reminding her by email and telephone – but suddenly it was this past Saturday and I still not have her information – too late to mail the return to her even in the best of the times as she lives out of state (which is where she moved). My husband caught her on Facebook Saturday night and reminded her. I received her information on Sunday and did her return and emailed it back to her with specific instructions – in my panic and excitement to get the returns to her – I sent the wrong version of her Federal return – it was blank! She telephoned me and the correct one was emailed to her on Monday. Another client had her info to me earlier in March and her state was not extending the time for her to pay her taxes, so I finished it and mailed it to her back then.
I managed to fix some errors in our corporation's last year return, when I was going through the “do everything wrong and redo it no matter how I tried” period. It is ready to go out when we go out to mail larger items again. I am now doing this year's return for same. Next I will start ours. All will sit and wait for us to go out again.
We actually had a problem with the mail which goes to our PO Box – most of our mail does as we have problems with mail delivery at our house. We had put in to have it forwarded to us as March 31. Nothing has arrived which has been forwarded. I called the Post Office on Monday and was told that since our box is in our business's name only mail from same has been forwarded as there is no way to say to forward all from a business box. Husband started crying – the employee heard him and said she would put what she has in an envelope and mail it to us – it came the next day. She said we could call again in a couple of weeks and make arrangements to pay the postage and have same done again. What does confuse me is two things. If a company moves should not all the mail addressed to the employees of the company, even if the company is not listed in the address be forwarded also? And on the USPS website it says that if a business puts in a forward all will be forwarded to the business and the business is responsible for getting it to those who receive mail through them – doesn't that mean it should all be forwarded to us? Well, we got the large, full envelope and I will get to take them out of the sealed plastic bag that I put them in, this Friday as we cannot wait a full week for 2 week old mail to be opened. The community where our mail goes (just north of where we live) had over 4 times the number of virus cases as does our community so it really scares husband to go to the Post Office, even late night on Sunday nights as we had been going. When life is normal again we will find out how to change the box from our business name to our names so next time we can specify “all for address” if God forbid we ever have to do this again.
We also had to deal with a bad storm this week – heavy rain and huge winds. Not as bad as those of you who got hit tornadoes, and we were lucky and only lost our electricity for a few seconds. Husband was terrified, as he always is, of losing our electricity, as to do so would result in the loss of much of our food. I moved everything from the kitchen refrigerator's freezer to our spare small freezer in the basement and turned that one to the coldest it goes and added some frozen plastic “ice” also. Our logic was the larger the amount of frozen items in a confined space, the better the cold would keep if we lost electricity. I also found out that we still have some Thanksgiving leftovers – more food, which we did not remember we had, a dinner for one of us.
How are all of you faring in lock down – or are a some of you in areas which have not been hit enough to have stay home? I would love to hear from any or all of you – and I am sure that others would like to hear how people are getting by and coping.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
We are another week along and closer to being able to go out again. In our state and our local area they say we are now at the point where the number of new cases and hospital admissions are both going down – more people are now leaving the hospitals than being admitted. My original guess when the area was hit was mid to late May before we could go out. I hope I guessed right.
My best wishes for you and yours to remain healthy – or to safely return to good health.
This year is so different. I am down in general to less than 10 clients, but even so this year, well, I have barely done any returns. Clients have contacted me that they can not wrap their minds about putting the information together, not going out so they cannot mail me the info, etc. I tell them that it is not a problem – quite frankly we are not going out either and their completed returns would be a problem to mail to them -we can only put letter sized envelopes in our house mail box for pickup by the same postal employee who delivers to us, as when I tried to put larger envelopes in the clip – they fell inside the mailbox when I closed the front door of it (which they were clipped to). So I have two 6inch by 9 inch envelopes sitting in the house until we feel safe enough to go to a mail collection box and send them out.
I have a dear friend who is also a client and had not filed her 2016 return (her husband was ill and they had also moved) and that was a priority for me to get finished and out. I knew she would be getting a refund and if returns are not filed within 3 years of their due date one loses their refund and I did not want that to happen to her. I kept reminding her by email and telephone – but suddenly it was this past Saturday and I still not have her information – too late to mail the return to her even in the best of the times as she lives out of state (which is where she moved). My husband caught her on Facebook Saturday night and reminded her. I received her information on Sunday and did her return and emailed it back to her with specific instructions – in my panic and excitement to get the returns to her – I sent the wrong version of her Federal return – it was blank! She telephoned me and the correct one was emailed to her on Monday. Another client had her info to me earlier in March and her state was not extending the time for her to pay her taxes, so I finished it and mailed it to her back then.
I managed to fix some errors in our corporation's last year return, when I was going through the “do everything wrong and redo it no matter how I tried” period. It is ready to go out when we go out to mail larger items again. I am now doing this year's return for same. Next I will start ours. All will sit and wait for us to go out again.
We actually had a problem with the mail which goes to our PO Box – most of our mail does as we have problems with mail delivery at our house. We had put in to have it forwarded to us as March 31. Nothing has arrived which has been forwarded. I called the Post Office on Monday and was told that since our box is in our business's name only mail from same has been forwarded as there is no way to say to forward all from a business box. Husband started crying – the employee heard him and said she would put what she has in an envelope and mail it to us – it came the next day. She said we could call again in a couple of weeks and make arrangements to pay the postage and have same done again. What does confuse me is two things. If a company moves should not all the mail addressed to the employees of the company, even if the company is not listed in the address be forwarded also? And on the USPS website it says that if a business puts in a forward all will be forwarded to the business and the business is responsible for getting it to those who receive mail through them – doesn't that mean it should all be forwarded to us? Well, we got the large, full envelope and I will get to take them out of the sealed plastic bag that I put them in, this Friday as we cannot wait a full week for 2 week old mail to be opened. The community where our mail goes (just north of where we live) had over 4 times the number of virus cases as does our community so it really scares husband to go to the Post Office, even late night on Sunday nights as we had been going. When life is normal again we will find out how to change the box from our business name to our names so next time we can specify “all for address” if God forbid we ever have to do this again.
We also had to deal with a bad storm this week – heavy rain and huge winds. Not as bad as those of you who got hit tornadoes, and we were lucky and only lost our electricity for a few seconds. Husband was terrified, as he always is, of losing our electricity, as to do so would result in the loss of much of our food. I moved everything from the kitchen refrigerator's freezer to our spare small freezer in the basement and turned that one to the coldest it goes and added some frozen plastic “ice” also. Our logic was the larger the amount of frozen items in a confined space, the better the cold would keep if we lost electricity. I also found out that we still have some Thanksgiving leftovers – more food, which we did not remember we had, a dinner for one of us.
How are all of you faring in lock down – or are a some of you in areas which have not been hit enough to have stay home? I would love to hear from any or all of you – and I am sure that others would like to hear how people are getting by and coping.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
We are another week along and closer to being able to go out again. In our state and our local area they say we are now at the point where the number of new cases and hospital admissions are both going down – more people are now leaving the hospitals than being admitted. My original guess when the area was hit was mid to late May before we could go out. I hope I guessed right.
My best wishes for you and yours to remain healthy – or to safely return to good health.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
COVID 19 #4 - MAIL, FOOD AND HOLIDAY WISHES
Well another week in the house in the house due to COVID 19. Other than walking out our side door (through a small porch) 3 days a week to take in the mail from the box at our front door, we have not been out of the house in an evening short of 2 weeks. Not as bad as one would think, I have been catching up work and in email contact with some friends from college as we check on each and say happy birthday/ happy anniversary as we have had several of same among us these past few weeks. Also found that a friend with cancer has successfully completed her treatment. A friend had COVID 19, luckily a mild case, and is recuperating. My sister told me that a family of our (adult) cousins also has same – but are doing well. So – knock on wood – we are doing okay.
Husband has become terrified of going to the Post Office to mail out items – work I have done and has to go to clients, paid bills, etc. - as the community where the Post Office is located has one of the higher COVID 19 counts in the county - even though I would only be only throwing it in the mail collection box in front of it. I telephoned our local Post Office (I think I have explained that the Post Office which serves our home is considerably further away than 2 others – one of which is where we have our box) and asked and, yes, one can still leave mail in one's home mail box for the postal delivery person to pickup when they deliver your mail. So, our bill payments are sitting in the clip on the small door through which our mail is delivered for it to be (hopefully) picked up tomorrow. The clip is there for this purpose and we have the flag up on the box. Unfortunately this only works with regular #10 envelope sized mail with our box. We have two items that are in 6 inch by 9 inch envelopes which do not fit in the clip, so at some point we will have to go to at least a mail box to mail them. They are not bills and not as urgent, so we are okay with waiting to send them out. The funny thing is that I used these two envelopes for these items as I was afraid that they would be too thick in a regular envelope to fit in the new thin deposit slits in the mail boxes.
Tonight my husband went downstairs for something. He noticed a plastic box on the shelves in the basement with food cans in it – our old emergency food supplies. He said he hoped I had not let the food go past date. I went downstairs afterward to look – I knew it all had to be past date as I had not bought new drinking water since I stopped cooking for our reenctment unit. (I had to buy bottle water for them also, so I would rotate ours into what I used for them and put the new water bought for them, in as our supply just to keep ours from getting old which I why I say this.)
I managed to get the box off the shelf and out – it was heavy and I was afraid of dropping of it, but did not. I put it on a table in the basement and opened it. Apparently it has been over 15 years since we bought emergency food supplies and stored it – a couple of years old and I would be using them – but 15 years?!. Perfectly good looking cans – but much too old to even think of eating – what a waste. If you have similar emergency food supplies be sure to check them and rotate them before they are too old to eat.
I know a lot of you are going through a lot right now. How are YOU handling all everything to keep your home and family running? Any suggestions or tips for the rest of us?
THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK -
I want to wish you a Happy Easter and/or a Happy Passover – the holidays might be very different than usual this year – but they are still are special. In future years these holidays will be looked back on and remembered for how you and yours managed to get through it. For some they might not be happy memories, perhaps even tragic, for others the memories will be better – even funny. All of the memories though will remind us of what can we can do when we need to and that we can survive.
My best wishes for all of you and your families.
Husband has become terrified of going to the Post Office to mail out items – work I have done and has to go to clients, paid bills, etc. - as the community where the Post Office is located has one of the higher COVID 19 counts in the county - even though I would only be only throwing it in the mail collection box in front of it. I telephoned our local Post Office (I think I have explained that the Post Office which serves our home is considerably further away than 2 others – one of which is where we have our box) and asked and, yes, one can still leave mail in one's home mail box for the postal delivery person to pickup when they deliver your mail. So, our bill payments are sitting in the clip on the small door through which our mail is delivered for it to be (hopefully) picked up tomorrow. The clip is there for this purpose and we have the flag up on the box. Unfortunately this only works with regular #10 envelope sized mail with our box. We have two items that are in 6 inch by 9 inch envelopes which do not fit in the clip, so at some point we will have to go to at least a mail box to mail them. They are not bills and not as urgent, so we are okay with waiting to send them out. The funny thing is that I used these two envelopes for these items as I was afraid that they would be too thick in a regular envelope to fit in the new thin deposit slits in the mail boxes.
Tonight my husband went downstairs for something. He noticed a plastic box on the shelves in the basement with food cans in it – our old emergency food supplies. He said he hoped I had not let the food go past date. I went downstairs afterward to look – I knew it all had to be past date as I had not bought new drinking water since I stopped cooking for our reenctment unit. (I had to buy bottle water for them also, so I would rotate ours into what I used for them and put the new water bought for them, in as our supply just to keep ours from getting old which I why I say this.)
I managed to get the box off the shelf and out – it was heavy and I was afraid of dropping of it, but did not. I put it on a table in the basement and opened it. Apparently it has been over 15 years since we bought emergency food supplies and stored it – a couple of years old and I would be using them – but 15 years?!. Perfectly good looking cans – but much too old to even think of eating – what a waste. If you have similar emergency food supplies be sure to check them and rotate them before they are too old to eat.
I know a lot of you are going through a lot right now. How are YOU handling all everything to keep your home and family running? Any suggestions or tips for the rest of us?
THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK -
I want to wish you a Happy Easter and/or a Happy Passover – the holidays might be very different than usual this year – but they are still are special. In future years these holidays will be looked back on and remembered for how you and yours managed to get through it. For some they might not be happy memories, perhaps even tragic, for others the memories will be better – even funny. All of the memories though will remind us of what can we can do when we need to and that we can survive.
My best wishes for all of you and your families.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)