Whatcha doing today?

[Mt_Rider]

Prayer for Little Sister and Jeepers.....for restored health and energy to be able to make wise choices.  And feel better!   

 

We've had some repairs at our place too, Annarchy.  Bathroom sink is completed....even have a drain stopper.  Today B/J installed new front and back door handles.  B got the kind that's easier if your hands have trouble gripping....with a 'bar' to grab instead of a round, slippery knob.  J might have him install that at their place...cuz of her hand grip.  Of course I'd latched the screen door in the back....and there was trouble with that one.  B shut the door and couldn't get it back open.  So....wanted to go around the house to try from outside.  I grabbed a few tools including an old serrated grapefruit knife.  Cuz I was going to have to unlatch the hook to the screen door from the outside. 

 

After bending a 45 degree angle on the grapefruit knife....I wiggled and jiggled until the latch popped off.  Tah dah...  Then J on inside and B on outside tried to get the old door handle off.  Finally got it.  Putting the new one in wasn't a problem.  I told them:  Thanks for coming over and entertaining me again!     We all do tend to laugh a lot....even if things seem to ALWAYS go sideways in this OLD LOG CABIN! 

 

New door handles are so smooth now.  We could hardly get that back door open for dog to go out to her yard.   

Repair of pellet stove.....nothing in sight yet.    We're getting used to dressing in layers.  I'm thinking that might be an important adaption if hooey-hits-fan.  Hopefully NOT an adaption we ever need. 

 

MtRider  ....so late for bed....aaugh! 

[snapshotmiki]

You have such an interesting life, Mt Rider!  I hope you are getting some sleep, despite the bed time.

 

I will be taking DH to COPD doc this morning.  Hopefully, I can ask a couple of questions and get the doc to listen before he and DH start yelling at each other.

Have a couple of stops to make after, then home.

I have therapy at 1:00

Need to walk at some point.

It's a relaxing week for me.

[Littlesister]

Got a very early start this morning. Got closet emptied yesterday and this morning went through all my shoes and had to clean the dust from construction off of them. Yes, it was in the closet also. Seems every way I turn there is more dust. packed up a bunch of old shoes for the Good Will. I am sure I will be adding to that as I go through boxes that were piled in that closet during construction. Got the closet like I want it but not going to paint it now. That can wait for another time. I did dust down the walls and wiped them down good, cleaned floor and then started putting the shoes away. My bed is still piled up with stuff I am going through trying to decide where it all needs to go as I organize it all. I have a small stock of vits, RX meds, muscle relaxers, and antibiotics as well as a couple of covid test kits. I will be checking dates as I think they are all good but want to make sure. Getting those separated and into plastic shoe size containers and on shelve. This is the last of the boxes I needed to go through. When done I can get back to my normal routine again. 

 

Trying to figure out about my GS also. I told him he best have an apartment and moving out by March 1st. I think he is giving money to his friend as this seems to be his thing. One of the reasons he got in trouble with his parents. He had about $2000 in savings for his apartment and told me this morning he has $300 in it. So, he has been lying to me and spending money somewhere. But I am not seeing the evidence of it. Says he had to dip into savings for gas. I know that is a lye as he used my gas from shed to fill his tank up at least once. And he fills it every 2 weeks or was. I think with going to his friend's house and to the gym that he has to drive 30 to 45 minutes to get to the one that is open all night is taken up his gas money. Now he says he needs to buy a car first before getting an apartment. That tells me he has no plans to move out and I am tired of cleaning up his mess. He won't clean up behind himself and this is gross, but he came home from his friend's house and threw up on the driveway and left it for me to clean up. This was Friday and I am not going to do it. I pulled the house out yesterday and told him to clean it up and he said he would when he gets around to it. So now the hose is frozen and can't use the faucet. I am thinking rather to just throw him out or let him get his car which he does need. Give him 4 more months and just kick him out. I will be setting down some Strick rules and regulations if I give him another 4 months and this time it will be in writing that he will be kicked out if he doesn't save for an apartment.  He was doing really well till he got involved with this so-called friend. Now he won't even wash his clothes and I am not doing that either. His room stinks from the vaping. He vapes outside or in his car, but the smell is in his clothes which are all over the place and dresser drawers are just pulled out and left that way. Unless I can get him away from this undesirable friend, he will go back to the old ways that got him in trouble so now I am in a mess as to what to do. I love him but I can't tolerate this mess.

[Jeepers]

I finally got a good nights sleep last night. I'm going to stay at least another night tonight. The hotel is close enough to the house that I can go back and forth to get stuff. About 5 miles or so. 

 

I have a couple of errands to run today. Ohio bank, library, dip into my stock reserve fund and call the Indy bank. They mess everything up. I got an email saying if I don't do the digital check-in they are going to delete me. I can NEVER access my accounts over there. They want to verify me when I try but I never get a message or phone call. It's a long story but they are NOT user friendly. I have in-go and out-go every month. It's active. Crimomy. 

 

D-ex wants me to go back to the clinic for an antiviral. I'm not getting any better. But I doubt they will give me anything. It's probably a waste of time and I don't really care for them anyway. We'll see. At least I'm armed with a Covid positive test.

 

And if I have enough energy I might go get a hair cut. It will be so much easier to manage shorter. Also we may be facing another shut down so better get while the gettin's good. I don't have any info about a shut down. Just a hunch. Especially with the Chinese New Year coming up (Jan.22) and all of the traveling/spreading they are doing. Would be a good excuse.  

 

One bit of good news!!!!

My insurance is going to cover a new furnace. That was going to cost me a fortune and I was concerned about that.

 

Because it went out, causing the pipes to burst, causing the damage... they are covering it.  I've been here 35 years and the house was 10 when we bought it. So that furnace has to be 45 years old. A new free furnace (and water heater) will help sell the house...I hope. 

 

The only issue is it will take a couple of days to get it here and set up. If I get cold I'm going to the hotel. The weather has been great for January in northern Ohio. But we are supposed to have two cold days this week end. The contractor is eager to get started so that helps. 

 

They said because I'm "elderly" they would move me to the top of the furnace list. My adjuster said because I am "sort of elderly" and couldn't get the water turned off on my own, they were covering the furnace. That and I was out of state.  I swear I didn't use my "S" card this time. I think I'm getting a reputation. 

[Littlesister]

Jeepers I am so glad you got some sleep.  you will get a good night's sleep tonight as well.  And that is wonderful that the insurance company is going to pay for a new furnace. That alone will save you a bundle. 

 

Talked with DD about GS today. Turned him over to them. They are going to talk to him and may be here this weekend to find out what is going on between him and this friend of his. He has been swindled out of money before and this sounds like same thing just in a different way. And GS works with this friend. He's the one that got him back on pot and now drinking a little on the days he has to work. That really makes me mad. I think he was drunk last Friday when he got home and puked on my driveway. Still hasn't cleaned it up but his car is where he will have a hard time getting into it when he leaves for work tonight.  Yeah, I moved his car right where the driver door and the puke is. Then crawled over to the passenger side to get out.

 

Put a dent in all those boxes. But still a lot to finish going through. My back is killing me from all the heavy lifting. Need to lighten the boxes a bit before lifting them but I want to get my bed back, so I don't have to sleep on couch again. 

[Littlesister]

Well, GS cleaned up his mess before going to work. He wants his rent money back to put down on a car. That money is supposed to be for when he gets an apartment. If I give it to him for the car, then I am stuck with him not moving out. He went into his savings account and who knows what he did with that money, but it is gone. He didn't pay Dec. payment on his car he has now and so he has to pay on that. Interest is building and he doesn't listen. He was supposed to move out by March 1st and if he does get a car that means I am stuck with him for another 6 months from March 1st. That is unless he thinks he has moved in for the duration. I'm tired of getting up every morning and cleaning up after him before I can start my day. I didn't clean his bathroom and we won't go there.  Guess I just needed to rant and get this off my chest. He is one nasty boy. He was doing good for a while and now he seems to be reverting back to his old ways.

[Littlesister]

Good will is going to love seeing me again. More boxes going to Good Will tomorrow. Glad to be able to get the downsizing in house about done. There will be a lot going to Good Will in early spring when I get those sheds cleaned out. Need to get tax stuff ready soon also. Seems it never ends. Got to call the Pharmacy to get a copy of what I paid out for RX's. That takes about a week so will do that tomorrow. Made tea and is in fridge. With GS here I make up 2 gallons at a time. He can go though some tea. DD talked to him this evening by text as he was at work and that was not the time to text him. But she did it anyway. Something up with the trading in of his old car but it will be up to his parents to help him out. Time for them to take a bit of responsibility for him as I think I have done enough.  He and I will be sitting down and having a chat about his extended stay and what is to be expected of him here on out. I am sure he will help with the garden though. Just won't clean his bathroom or his room and other things. It's enough I have to start my day cleaning the kitchen up first thing in morning so I can do what I need to do. As soon as I get back into canning, he best not mess that kitchen up. He already found that out once so hopefully he will remember, and I will remind him. 

 

Still have a lot to go through in bedroom but closet is now cleaned out and getting things back in there and organized. Found a big box of my emergency supplies that had been in back of closet.  Went through that and I have about 8 solar chargers that will charge phone, my amazon reader, etc. Those things work great. I have given all the kids one for Christmas over past couple of years and they keep them charged and in car. You can just put them on the dashboard, and they charge right up. Need to get all my flashlights together and charge the ones that do more than just a flashlight. Want to have them ready to use and will have them in the other faraday cage. Also, while looking for something in garage, I found the crab pot. It is very heavy and stainless steel. I am sure I can use that for a faraday cage as well. Though won't be much to put in it. But is bigger round than the metal trashcans so might work for the radios and laptop better. Need to work on that stuff and take inventory of what I have. Another busy day tomorrow and hope I have that room done. My back is killing me right now. But the heavy stuff is done now. And I still have the garden to work on. But to cold right now to till it up and get it ready for the fencing to go around it. 

 

[Mt_Rider]

16 hours ago, snapshotmiki said:

You have such an interesting life, Mt Rider!  I hope you are getting some sleep, despite the bed time.

 

    ..... yeah, I've heard that all my life.  Weird things....both good and harsh....have always happened to me.  I understand when we make unusual choices ....adopt 11 and 13 yr old sisters from another country/culture/language.  That will invite UNUSUAL.   The odd thing was, that actually went quite smoothly.....except the move to Maui for them might be considered unusual. 

 

Anyway....I stayed up way too late last nite.  So will pull this train BACK ON THE TRACK ....

 

MtRider     

[Midnightmom]

12 hours ago, Littlesister said:

Yeah, I moved his car right where the driver door and the puke is. Then crawled over to the passenger side to get out.

Good move! 

[snapshotmiki]

Will walk first today.

Go to Courthouse to buy DH's tag and have property tax status changed.  Now that we are 65, we shouldn't have to pay property taxes.

Go to Post office for stamps and then try to straighten out a billing error about x-rays done in Dec.

Walk dogs.

Cook Boston Butt in Instantpot.

Business meeting at Church this evening.

 

[Jeepers]

Good for moving his car. That is something I would have done too. 

 

I had a good night last night. Their beds sure are nice. I got up and got most of  my errands finished except for a hair cut. I forgot to take a brush and a hair dryer with me and my hair looked like a rats nest by the time I was finished with it.  And their shampoo bottle held about a teaspoon of shampoo. I'm not exaggerating. It was about enough for a guy with a crew cut. I ended up using the bar of soap for shampoo. Next time I'll plan better.  

 

I went back to the clinic. I was in there for over an hour. They really fool you. They get you in quick and then you WAIT in a room. Same room I passed out in.  I couldn't wait to get out of there. They remembered me.  That will probably be my last time there though. I never get what I want. I wanted an antiviral. They said it would have only been good the first 3-5 days of Covid. Sigh. But she did call in a script for my blood pressure. And antibiotic. I didn't want an antibiotic. I have viral crap. I told her I can only take Cipro. She gave me Amoxicillin. I'm going to chance taking it. It's only for 10 days. I'm desperate. I'll watch for signs. My pharmacist forgot to give me the blood pressure meds. I'll have to go back later. I think they are trying to kill me. A lot of sick miserable looking people in the waiting room.    

 

I'm not counting on a furnace until Monday. I will go back to the hotel if I'm cold though. It was nice there. 

 

If I wasn't boycotting Tractor Supply I'd get some Ivermectin for horses and doctor myself.

[snapshotmiki]

What a rough time you are having, @Jeepers!  I'm so sorry and wish I were closer and could help.  I will continue to pray for you.  

 

And good luck @Littlesister!  I want to give advice, but I think that you already know what you will need to do.  

[Littlesister]

Looking at bedroom and the rest of boxes I have in there to clear out. I said to myself, Lord give me strength to get this finished. He gave me the strength to go lay down on couch and take a nap. I think he's telling me I over did it again. What can I say I need to get the rest of boxes emptied and everything in its place. So maybe this evening after dinner I will work a little on that. 

 

GS came home in a good mood. He said his ribs are getting better but wasn't going to the gym yet. He doesn't want to mess his ribs up and have them swelling up again. We never could find out if he had a hairline fracture or not because the clinic didn't send the x-rays out to the radiologist like she was supposed to. I never liked those places as they don't give you the proper treatment for why you went there in the first place. I swear they are intern doctors under supervision of some sort to learn. They really haven't learned much. But at least GS is doing better. We still need to have a talk about his moving out and a car. He does lie and I can see right through that. He's not really good at it. I am thinking that he needs to get his old car paid off asap. Then go to a dealership and check out cars. Not one of those online deals. He needs to test drive a car first. Not buy one offline. If he can do that then I might consider letting him stay till September 1st with some of the strictest rules he has ever had. I am not playing with him, and he now knows I mean business. He will have to save every penny he makes after paying bills for an apartment and then still has to pay me rent on top of that savings. If he doesn't do it, then he will find himself living in his car again. There will be a lot of new ground rules added as well.  So, he left me a note last night not to clean up his mess in kitchen that he will do it when he gets up. Well, it is now almost 3;30 and he is still in bed. I cleaned the kitchen like I have to do every morning behind him. I can't stand a dirty kitchen. That will be something we will be talking about this weekend also.

 

He still tells me my house is haunted. He has been saying that almost since he moved in with me. So now it is he can feel someone watching him and heard a voice. I keep telling him there are no such thing as ghost. So now I tell him it's his grandfather getting ready to kick his butt if he doesn't straighten up and behave. He just looks at me. 

 

Jeepers, those clinics are bad news. I try hard to stay away from them but sometimes you need a doctor and can't get into yours right away or is on vacation or something. So that is the only other options. They really don't seem to care about your issues enough to give you the proper treatment. And you are right, an antibiotic will not do anything for a viral infection. But clinics just do it to get you out and on to the next patient. They don't call it walk in clinics for nothing. They get a lot of walk ins at the ones here and all they seem to think about is give them whatever and get them out so they can close up and go home. 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by Littlesister
Jeepers

[Becca_Anne]

I've missed a lot while I was taking a break from posting!

 

I am so sorry to hear about the damage to your house Jeepers! I hope the repairs go smoothly and you can sell that house at a good price and get moved finally into your other place. Moving is always so stressful.

 

Littlesister I hope your GS ribs continue healing ok and he starts maturing more soon. It's really hard setting boundaries but you have done a lot for him so I hope he starts to really appreciate that and make some strides towards doing better. 

 

MtRider glad some repairs are starting to happen at your place without you having to do all of it. Glad too that your DH did not get hurt by that chainsaw!

 

Miki I hope that electric bill isn't that high!! Our utilities are high right now too but nothing like that.

 

I have been totally absorbed with work since getting back from my vacation. Coming up for air today  I did get some freezer meals made this week- Meatloaf, Quiche, Split Pea and Chicken/Sausage Gumbo. I have a goal to make a lot more meals ahead of time this year for easy dinners on weeknights. So I am off to a good start there. I am also working on a quilt for my new grandbaby so I got some fabrics ordered for that. Working on organizing my office space and consolidating the office papers and supplies I had in different places. Decided on the function of all the upstairs rooms so I can now really focus on optimizing those spaces. I was undecided for so long so they just have been storage/chaos since our move. Getting the area that is having the ceiling plaster replaced in what will be the dining room ready to go, just need to move the furniture out but the crew doing that work is also helping with that. It was supposed to happen this week but their crew has a few out with various illnesses including COVID so they are waiting until everyone is better to get started so probably will happen next week. So that's what I have been up to.

 

 

 

[Mother]

3 hours ago, Becca_Anne said:

I have a goal to make a lot more meals ahead of time this year for easy dinners on weeknights.

Becca, If you don’t make them already look up freezer dump meals.  They are so easy and fast to make up.  You put all ingredients from the recIpe into a freezer bag uncooked and freeze. Raw meat, vegetables, seasonings, sauces, etc.  To use you thaw in the fridge overnight and dump them into the crockpot, instapot, oven, etc and cook.  All the prep can be done at the same time for multiple meals.  Just divide them between the bags and freeze. Be sure to label them well with instructions as it’s easy to forget. There are hundreds of recipes online or you can devise your own.  You can even use packages of frozen meat and vegetables and save more time..  I can make up ten or twelve different dump meals in an hour or less.  

[snapshotmiki]

I will have to try the dump meal prep.  Hadn't thought of that, so thanks @Mother!

 

Good morning!
Will walk first.
Clean out pantry? Maybe, if time permits.
Take ebay photos.
Go to therapy at 1030 and then pick up my friend and take her to store.
Go to Church and make tea for meeting tonight.
Come home and make popcorn for meeting tonight.
Grill pork chops for future breakfasts.
Fix lunches for next two days.
630 Church meeting.

[Jeepers]

Just got a call from the furnace people.

 

They plan to be here at 8:00 in the morning. Just in time for the big cool down this weekend. That will be so nice. Now maybe I can get some more cleaning out that I was unable to do because it's been too cold in here to work. More like rearranging than cleaning out. 

 

One Furnace down

One Water Heater to go

 

Then fix two toilets and two water faucets...not connected to the big disaster, then I can get serious about really clearing junk out of here. I'm pretty sure I'm going to hire people to clear out the garage. It's a two car garage and I can barely squeeze one car in. Since I don't know what all is in there, if they throw something away I wanted...I'll never know. I'm going with that thought instead of stressing over each item. If I'm ever getting out of here I have to.

 

I think repairs are going to last awhile. Other than the drywall over head, I'm thinking there is considerable floor damage too. Will probably have to remove half of the downstairs down to the subfloor because of the separating linoleum. This is an older house and not much TLC has been done to it in a very long time so it will be nice to have stuff done to make it more sellable. I still plan to sell it as is but 'as is' is going to look a little more appealing than before the big disaster. 

 

At least I have the Indy house so I don't have to rely on this house for a downpayment over there. What ever I make on this place, minus what I still owe on it, will go toward repairs and sprucing up the place over there.  If anything is left over it will go toward reducing the Indy mortgage. Or maybe a Happy Meal. 

 

I finally have some plans if only in my head. Now all I have to do is get rid of the Bronchitis and Covid. So far so good on the Ampicillin but I'm watching for a rash.    

[Littlesister]

Jeepers, glad you are now getting that furnace. Once that is in place you can start getting things dried out. And then when the plumbers get the pipe fixed and you can turn water back on, the construction work can begin. I hope it goes quickly and well done. I know you are over all this mess. But at least things are looking up now.  

 

Will be looking for someone else to be doing my taxes this year. Now that I don't have that trust to worry with anymore. He is going up on the price to $400. I'm not paying that.  I was wondering how H and R block is. I know they are a lot cheaper but how good they are I don't know. Seems I remember something about them being in hot water over the way they were doing people's taxes. Or it might have been that other company that I can't think of the name of offhand. But anyway, I will get it figured out, but I am not paying a fortune to have my taxes done.

Went to cemetery to take the Christmas flowers off grave site. Normally I don't put anymore out there till early spring. Going to try to find some daffodils to put out there this spring. 

 

Reloaded the log holder in house and refilled the log carrier and put in garage. Suppose to rain tonight. It got up to 69* today. Yep, this Yō Yō weather is messing with my sinuses. freezing cold one minute and warm the next. Wish it would stay one way or the other. 

[Annarchy]

Went shopping for necessary items only.  
 

Good grief!!!  Cheapest eggs were free range brown, $4.79 doz.  All the rest were almost $8.00 and up!!! Some were $12.00!!!  For a dozen!!!  

 

[Midnightmom]

8 hours ago, Jeepers said:

Or maybe a Happy Meal. 

[Annarchy]

[Mother]

A regular large egg weighs about 2 ounces making a dozen eggs a pound and a half.  At $8 a dozen that works out to be $5.28 a pound.  

[Homesteader]

Our friend is the state animal inspector. He was assigned to the bird flu outbreak. He warned us last year that the majority of the millions of birds culled in Wisconsin were laying hens.    I'm thankful that I can get a dozen a week at the food pantry if there's any left at the end of the distribution. They give out over 400 dozen per week. Don't know what they pay for them as we do get a lot of broken eggs. Thankfully, the egg lady saves the cracked ones and I bring them home to our compost bins. I can end up with 5-6 dozen broken ones per week. I just run them through my Cuisinart until the shells are pulverized. The local cats enjoy frozen eggs during the night.   

 

I do freeze some of the good ones when I end up with too many and give many away (eggs, not cats).

[Becca_Anne]

Thanks for the reminder Mother that I can freeze the ingredients not just the cooked meals I am out of practice. I used to do that all the time! I have some really great chicken dump recipes with very flavorful marinates I used to make I hope I can track down the recipes. A really good teriyaki chicken and Honey mustard pork chops too  One easy recipe I make that I could also freeze is just Italian dressing poured over chicken and then baked for an hour 40 min at 350. I made Beef and Brocoli tonight could easily freeze the ingredients as a dump recipe as well. Just beef chunks, garlic, oyster sauce, sesame oil, ginger, fish sauce and brocolli over rice. I think it would freeze well minus the brocoli and then just chop and add that in when it is cooked. I like to make soups to freeze for lunches which is why I started with the chicken and sausage Gumbo (AKA the good soup)  

 

I still need to build up my pantry with canned goods/sauces we keep eating up any stocks I build up. So that tells me I need to do a huge grocery haul on my own and not depend on my husband to pick up more than 2 of anything. He does for some things but not others and I'm short on some basics like canned diced tomatoes and some of the sauces I like to marinade with.

 

 

[Mt_Rider]

On 1/11/2023 at 1:31 PM, Littlesister said:

He gave me the strength to go lay down on couch and take a nap.

 

   That sounds just like HIM!    HE does that to me all the time!  HE is mindful of HIS children, right?  [ yeah, BTDT ]

 

Dump Frozen Meals....  Hmm...  With DH working too much for his back  [need new transmission in car ] and me with waaay less energy than I need in a day....  This might work.  Thanks, Mother.

 

EGGS..... I am SO glad DH decided to buy ducklings last spring.  AND the geese.  I sure do wish Bobbycat would not have dined so well on our female ducks tho.  VERRRY thankful for the eggs coming in ...in Dec/Jan!!   

 

Ann....time for you to fill up your hen house again?  Having animals other than take-along dogs is a pain.  Someone has to take care of them.  That's why I traveled solo X3 this year.   But....  if I was having this conversation 'down under in this forum' on WHY the eggs cost more than the bird.....  I might say that it's about eliminating the last "cheap" protein for folks who are struggling.     OTOH...if one knows how to do it...there is always the protein of legumes and grains combined.  We all know that combination has kept folks in 3rd world countries alive for generations.  So perhaps our struggling folks will find this solution and ....then we'll be just like a 3rd world country too.  This is all theoretical ..of course.   

 

MtRider  ....but any further THEORETICAL musing probably should be done "down in the wine cellar"