Littlesister

Working inside house today. The weather is cold and damp feeling. Pollen is bad and doesn't help my cough. DD texted me and wanted to know if I started my garden. NO! and at the rate I am going there isn't going to be one. I have not had the chance to plant any seedlings nor get the main garden tilled or the raised beds set up. The flower beds need weeding and mulching before I can set up the area for the pots of herbs and tomatoes. My GD is moving here near me giving me even less time to get anything done. GS is not doing what he needs to be doing now to get into the Coast Guard. If he doesn't get in, he's out on the street. He won't save money and is aways wanting me to do door dash. I am not doing that. I'm tired and no one in this family is doing anything to help me but want me to constantly do for them. I am sure I will be babysitting again when they move so they can get the house they are trying to buy set up and then GD's getting another job and I will be back to babysitting 5 days a week. So, I am in a stuck in the middle situation. My DD never ask me if I have started my garden before, so not sure why this year. Unless she is planning on me supplying her with food. I have a bad knee and can't get into orthopedic till end of April. 

So, I am just going to finish up in the house and use Evens Farm for what I need. I can get enough to can squash, green beans, butter beans, tomatoes and get fresh eggs as well. Not sure of everything they have till I go there. 

I love my kids, but I am at the age they should be helping me and not me doing for them every time they want something.  I know times are hard for all of them right now, but I need their help as well as they need mine.  My GD wanted me to help her with a garden at her house, but who is going to help me with my garden. 

OK I am done with my rant.  I just think I am getting tired and overwhelmed from grandchildren and their wants. 

Necie, sounds like you have had a busy day and tomorrow is going to be just a busy. But everything you are doing sounds like fun, even if it is work.

Mt. Rider, Glad you were able to have a nice chat with your mom. I know that means a lot when the two of you are able to talk even if it is by phone. 

Jeepers, Glad you had a good time talking with GS. Enjoy those moments together. Kids grow up to fast. 

Miki, Glad you are having a good time with family. 

GD came over today for a visit. They are looking for a house to buy. They want to be closer to me, so are looking around in Suffolk. They are going to look at a house this weekend. It looks really nice.  The baby is about to have a couple of teeth break through. You can barely see them just under the gum line. She's growing so fast. When she sees my GS, she starts crying because he doesn't talk to anyone when he first wakes up. Yep, she was upset about him not paying attention to her. Plus, she's going through a phase where if it's men she's not sure of them. She does this with her dad's father now. And he sees her a lot. 

GD is looking for another job. Seems others in the job she got laid off from are also getting laid off now. They did away with her job in that company. So, more people are starting to get laid off now. Hoping this job will also be working from home since she is still nursing. 

Didn't get much done in closet today but tomorrow is another day. Going to start going through stuff and get rid of it. 

All very good songs. I have heard those songs many times over the years. 

Right now, I have a step GS in the Army. Not sure right now where he is. But either near Isarel, or Ukraine. I keep him in prayer for his safety and for a safe return home again. 

Got the bedroom closet emptied. Now to go through all that mess. This was the closet that everything got boxed up from both bathrooms and my bedroom from the construction. It has everything you can think of in there. So, lots of organizing and weeding out of a lot of stuff. Just not sure yet what to keep and what to ditch. I have a shoe box full of glasses somewhere and it has the glasses to watch the solar eclipse with. Just can't find the shoe box right now. I think it is on top shelve of that closet. I haven't gotten the foot stool in there yet to pull that stuff down. I will do that tomorrow I hope as GD is coming over to visit tomorrow. 

I love butter beans.  My mom used to make them using the larger white butter beans. She would put them in a casserole dish add tomatoes and bacon layered on top.  She would cook them at 350* till bacon was crisp. They were really good. 

I also need to can some butter beans. I have a lot of them in freezer right now. 

Mt. Rider, glad your DH is doing better.   Be careful with all that snow. You have really had your share of it this winter.

Becca Anne, hope you can get something going maybe in a year that will keep chickens safe. And you can start again. I still want to set something up also but to much going on right now. 

Working on my bedroom closet again. And more interruptions coming. But it is about emptied except for clothes that are hanging up. Need to go through a lot of those and get rid of them. Downsizing does mean clothes as well. So, I don't need all that is in that closet, and I don't wear half of them. Plus, a lot of them are too big for me now. They have to go. 

GD is coming over to visit with the baby tomorrow. I would rather finish up on the closet and maybe get that painted and things put away again. But I have giving up on getting things done without the interruptions. So, I guess I will just go with the flow. It will be there when I am dead and gone. So, what can I say. I'm a popular grandma.  Kids and grandkids. I think they have too much fun over here.  Need to find a couple of those car fans for GS's car. I want one for mine also. Would help keep the interior cooler when cars are not in use. Need to find a small air condition unit for my shed also. It gets way to hot in there and I want to fix it up to make better use of it other than just storage. I had somethings melt in there also. So, need to do something to fix that. Both rain barrels are full to the brim and haven't gotten any plants in the ground or in pots yet to use the water. Wondering if I should add a bit of bleach to the barrels. But then it might not be good for the plants. 

Happy Birthday Pauline.     

Becca Anne I hope that takes care of the problem. Glad you are able to start on the garden now.

Mt. Rider, glad your ride did well and hoping you will get at least 2 more in this week. 

Annarchy, glad you and your MIL made it back home safe and sound. Leaving a day early to avoid that storm was a good idea.  

I have been going through more things and trying to figure a few things out for better organization.  Other than that, not much going on. My wood racks came in but with the rain I haven't been able to get them put together yet. GS will be off tomorrow I think so he will help with that. Today it was too cold to get the racks put together and I have one old one I need to paint. Hopefully tomorrow will be warmer. Haven't checked a weather report yet. 

Glad I don't eat jelly beans. I am betting those fruit rollups are the same. 

Just getting a few things put away where they belong. More boxes of stuff to go to Goodwill. Now I am to the point where I can move the things in my office to the places they need to go. So, getting there but it is slow. Still have those interruptions and the rain as far as getting to the sheds go doesn't help.

I did go outside to check the rain barrels. It was still a slight drizzle. Rain barrels are already full, and the overflow tubes are working on one but not the other one. So, need to check on that one. It might be twisted or something but an easy fix. So that is 100 gals of water I have for watering pots and garden. Will use the well only when the barrels are about emptied for watering the garden. 

Going through more stuff and was going to the shed to pull out the raised bed boxes but it's raining today. So that won't get done today.  Knee was hurting all night, so put an ice pack on it but it really doesn't help much. Seems the heating pad does a much better job. Can't get into the Orthro doctor till April 24th. So will deal with it till then. Shoulder right now isn't hurting and I'm not going to push it. 

GD wanted me to keep the baby so she and her DH can go do somethings but haven't heard a word. Maybe with the rain they are staying home and not bringing the baby out in it. But they should let me know something one way or the other. 

Jeepers, that is sort of what happened to me. I had 2 things that came due and had to be changed around. They were not stocks but an IRA retirement. It happens to me about every 5 years or so and 2023 was the year for 2 of them. So, that is when I take money out for personal use and then the rest is reinvested. It does make doing your taxes much more complicated.  I just got caught off guard because taxes were supposed to be taken out and my financial planner didn't do it. He will be hearing about it for sure as I am not talking a small amount to pay to IRS it is a good sum plus having to pay the state as well. I have the SS taken care of now as soon as they get the paperwork and will be calling about the retirement stuff to straighten that out next week. 

euphrasyne, that is a good idea, but I had a lot of changes to make with my retirement and on the house, I had to threaten them to get the paperwork for the taxes. I just got that this past Saturday. Usually, I would have had mine done much earlier than this, but the house held that up. I had to threaten them with the IRS and the BBB. 

I have a tax lady that does mine. She doesn't charge much so I am happy with her, and I don't have to deal with it. She offered me a job today also. It is so tempting but don't think I want to work. Next year I won't have to go through all this mess. I am getting things set up now, so I won't be paying like this year. Yeah, I got caught off guard. Too much going on this past year. 

My tax lady and I went over some options and they are good ones so getting everything in place. 

GS helped me get the second rain barrel set up the right way before going to work. The guy had that up right against the gutter. It was supposed to be 2 inches below the gutter. So got that set up right now. Supposed to start raining tonight so will find out how they will do. I like these as they have a tube that goes from the top down to the bottom for overflow. I can connect another one to these and the overflow will pour into the second rain barrel. Something I may or may not do later. 

Sat down and balanced check book and paid off all bills. So, I no longer have charge card bills and I have put those away in a safe place. Cutting way back more so than what I have done to get the gutters paid off. That shouldn't take me too long to do. I am wanting to get down to where I only have the house payment, utilities, and insurances. Going to keep it down to that as long as possible. As to doing anything else on the house I am taking a break for the rest of this year and concentrate on garden and downsizing. 

Jeepers, they will do anything to go after seniors as they think we are stupid and don't know anything. Little do they know. 

Jeepers, it depends on how much you make from my understanding. Over a certain income you pay taxes on it. This is on my DH's SS. They were not taking Federal taxes out. I do not pay state taxes on it. Just the Federal. My yearly income is way up there so that disqualifies me from paying taxes on SS. 

Jeepers, that is how the IRS got me. For one I didn't realize that SS was not taking taxes out of my SS checks each month. So, my tax lady gave me a paper to get that done. 12% will be coming out of my SS checks each month. I also moved money around and my financial planner didn't take any taxes out after I told him to. So, I got caught on that one. But I will have to deal with it. Got the SS part taken care of and just need to get the rest I need to check on what is what. Next year I should be ok. I didn't realize I made that much money either for the year. I just have all kinds of surprises sneaking up on me. Then I went to mailbox to get the mail and got what I thought was a charge card bill. Nope, I have a small credit on my charge card. Not a lot but will pay for the garden soil I need. 

Jeepers, I hope all goes well with both the heart issues and the kidneys.  for a good outcome. 

That looks really good Necie.   now I have to go fix me something for lunch. 

I think I also have a couple of bottles but are still in date. it is good to know these things.

Jeepers, when I get someone that can't speak good English, I tell them to give me a person that speaks English. Most of the time it works. 

Midnightmom, we used to have a couple of those motion activated fish. Had lots of fun with them. GD2 took them. She wore those out.  

We loved going fishing. Still do. Just not in a boat any longer. 

Annarchy, I have seen so much of what you are witnessing with the illegals. But it has only been on TV.  It is really bad, and I fear it will get worse.  Stay safe while you and your MIL are there. 

Went and got taxes done.  IRS got me good. So, I'm dishing out money that I don't want to give to the IRS. But it is what it is. But my tax lady gave me some very good tips to stop that for next year.  So got some paperwork to do. Just what I need more business to take care of. 

Will be working in yard in a bit. Suppose to be getting rain at some point soon, so house can wait till I can get a couple of things done before the rain comes. 

GS got his car back in time to go to work.  It was the starter.  I like that place I told him to take it. I heard a lot of good things about it. They are honest and the price for the starter was cheaper than all the other places we checked out.  I am going to start going there for my oil changes and inspections. They got his car fixed fast. 

Got my bedroom cleaned up, dusting and mopping floor, changed sheets and remade bed. So that job is done. Then took GS to pick up his car. Came home and straightened up the kitchen a bit. 

I didn't know this either but hoping for a very happy life together for them. I like watching her videos but haven't had time to watch anything for a while. I do get on here when I am taking a break but that is about it. 

Need to get back on to Sutton Daze also. She's good also. 

Necie sounds like you had a relaxing day. That's a good thing.

This morning, I took care of the Real Estate tax and got that out of the way. It's not due till June but I rather just get it paid now than wait till June. Now I don't have to worry about that till Dec. 

After unsubscribing from all the junk in my E-mail, so far, I only had one advertising I had never heard of. So that just went into the spam. Computer is now working much better than before. 

Working on a front yard flower bed. 

Using cinder blocks for the base, and a board across those. I will have several planters across the board up off the ground. (Rabits) love my plants.  I am going to plant:

chives, parsley, cilantro, basil, and oregano. Not sure what else yet. It will depend on how many pots I can get across an 8-foot span.  Behind the pots, I want to plant sunflower seeds but those will be planted directly in the ground. I use my aero Garden for lettuce. Thinking about maybe 2 cherry tomato plants, one on each side of the bench.  Just need to first get the flower bed cleaned out and mulched. Then I can set it all up. 

Jeepers, OOTO is right about the housing bubble. Get the house on the market now. There is going to be a housing bubble and you need to get ahead of it.  Even if you have to just pack what you haven't gone through yet, just box it up to go and go through it at the other house. At least you will be ahead of the curve when the housing bubble pops. I lost my opportunity to sell over 3 years ago because of the market. You need to do it now to get the best price.