To-Do List.....February Update

Let's see what I got accomplished(or not)in February...........

*  Pay Bills  DONE  Every bill was paid on time or early as always.

*  Read 1, 2, 3 Books  DONE

I read THREE books in February and got 75% of the way through a fourth too. ;-)
February was the month of Diaries and Memoirs evidently. 

First I read this one.........

"Elihu Washburne: the Diary and Letters of America's Minister to France During the Siege and Commune of Paris"  by Michael Hill

Elihu Washburne was born of humble beginnings in Maine.  He attended public school in Winter when not working for his family, and eventually passed the bar after studying with a local judge and attending Harvard law school for a year.  He moved to Galena Illinois and there he became acquainted with fellow Galena native U.S. Grant and fellow Illinois native Abraham Lincoln, as they both were on the ascendancy of the careers.
Washburne became involved in politics, serving in the House of Representatives from IL.  He was tapped by Grant once he became POTUS to serve as our diplomat to France in 1869, a position that should have been a cushy appointment for the 53 year old Washburne.  He brought his family over and while taking the waters in Carlsbad(for what is thought to have been malaria)in the Fall of 1869 France's Second Empire became embroiled in what we know as the Franco-Prussian War against Wilhelm I of Germany and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

Washburne sent his family to Brussels, Belgium and he returned to his post in Paris.
He is the only diplomat from a major power to remain in Paris during it's siege.

No one in government thought Washburne should have been appointed a diplomat, let alone to France as he was thought to have had no qualifications for the job.  He was however a sincere and honest man who tried his best and he was able to get many American and German nationals out of Paris and kept a good number of both alive who became trapped during the siege.
A "real" diplomat would have abandoned his post as it was a hopeless situation but Washburne was no diplomat and thankfully for many Parisians he, along with his grown son, Gratiot, remained to provide humanitarian aide to thousands.

Washburne kept a diary during this trying time in history, one of the few detailed firsthand accounts of what it was like during the Siege of Paris inside the city during the war and the lawlessness that ensued right after the end of Prussian hostilities when The Commune, a socialist and revolutionary government,  took power within the city.

This book's author supplies background information when needed to the reader for a full comprehension of this historical event and the Washburne diary entries.
I found this book very interesting and I learned much about the Franco-Prussian War.....at least this part of it.

If you like firsthand accounts of history, read this one.


Then it was...........

"Lust and Wonder: a Memoir" by Augusten Burroughs

From the best selling author of his memoir, "Running With Scissors"(which was made into a feature film)about his very strange childhood, Mr. Burroughs has a way with storytelling.  This memoir concerns his relationship struggles and love life with his then partner(now ex)Dennis and his agent Christopher.
He's a great storyteller and I was drawn in with his dark, acidic humor.  As Shakespeare said, "The course of true love never did run smooth", especially for this neurotic gay man. ;-)

It's a fast read and there are true tidbits of humor and moments of "aha!" in here.  It's made me curious to pick up and read his other memoirs/works.

Lastly I read this one...........

"Twelve Years A Slave" by Solomon Northup-as told to and edited by David Wilson
(You can read this one for free online-link is HERE)

Another memoir, released and edited by a white publisher in 1853.  Solomon Northup was a free, educated black man from New York(his father had been a manumitted slave and his mother was a free black woman)who was tricked into thinking he was venturing to Washington D.C. for a musician job, was kidnapped instead by white slavers and sold into slavery in 1841, eventually ending up in the swamps of Louisiana on a cotton plantation where he was eventually rescued by friends and family in 1853 and returned home to New York.

Along with Uncle Tom's Cabin, this memoir helped inflame the abolitionists in the North and added to the sparks that fanned the flames of the War Between the States.  It was a best seller in the 1850's but faded into obscurity until Hollywood made it into a feature film in 2013.

But this was more than just a "White Southerners are Evil" tale.  Mr. Northrup had multiple "masters" during his enslavement and he goes into detail about each of their characters......some were benevolent, some were evil, some were sadistic and some were benign.  He also paints full pictures of all his fellow slaves(those born into the condition)he lived and worked with and you can clearly see them and you weep for their lot in life just due to the color of their skin.
His experience, having been free all his life, colored his captivity differently from his fellow slaves so this isn't a normal slave narrative. 
 Being educated he was able to use his intellect to survive no matter which kind of master owned him at whichever time during his captivity.  He was highly capable and employing his wits and not giving up hope of escape are what saved him in the end.

Court cases were brought against various parties who kidnapped and held Northrup but eventually charges were dropped.
Solomon Northrup took up the lecture circuit after the book was published and just disappears after a few years from the written records.  His death and whereabouts are unknown to this day.
If you want to read something in the "slave narrative" genre(and I have read a few), THIS is the book to pick up.  It is much better than the movie they made from this book IMHO.



*  Hold Giveaway  DONE

*  Mail Giveaway  DONE  Mailed and received and enjoyed. ;-)
And the winner's kitty, Dexter, was very happy.

Jen G. has won a giveaway before which included hair ties.  Dexter loves to steal them so I put a pack of hair ties in Jen's box for him.
Here Dexter is with one of his prizes......lolz

* Clean House  PASS  Well it's not the bang up job I use to do, I did get a bit done every week and the place is more presentable(not that we are expecting anyone).  I can't bend and get down on my knees to scrub floors so I do a little at a time and have asked Hubs to do some of that for me which he promptly ignores. lolz
I just need to stay on top of putting things away.  Ex-CB is a great one for dragging things out and not putting them away so there is a moderate amount of nagging to get him to tow the line.

*  Donation to Food Bank  DONE

My local food bank takes toiletries, paper goods as well as OTC medicines.  As I was going through my toiletries stash to get 2020 giveaway boxes ready for the beginning of the year I culled all in these two photos to take to the food bank.

All that baby food was bought after I made this delivery so I'll gather a good amount to go with the baby food and make another trip up with it in March or April, depending on how much other stuff I have.

*  Move Money  DONE
Hubs sold the rest of our Prudential stock when it hit a high mark not seen since 2008 when the Recession hit.  We've been waiting to do this for awhile and the market finally rose enough.  *With the pandemic fear now, it crashed and is lower than 2008 levels so we timed it well.*

Anyway, we decided to split the cash out in half with each of us getting 50% to use however we wished.  I am sure Hubs money will buy guns and ammo and beer while I put mine in one of our Capital One accounts, the one with my personal $$ in it(like my inheritance from my mom, etc.).  So that money was moved. yay.

*  Clean Pantry  DONE  

I dug some things out we weren't using and gave them away or threw them out.  Things Ex-CB took out of the garage stockpile and didn't use got migrated back to where they belong and I did a tidy up of what was left in the pantry.  I only keep in use/opened items in the pantry in the Winter.

*  Sew Dog Bed  DONE  I had bought a cat bed back in MD when I was on my trip to Ocean City with Kim and her Sissie at an Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!).
Unfortunately it has zippers that hold it together(I guess so you can disassemble it easily to launder it).  Dixie has figured out how to take it apart and was doing so every time I zipped it back together so I had to stitch the whole thing up by hand to keep it together. lolz

*  Sew 4 Flannel Dog Blankets  DONE  We had two flannel sheets from when Ex-CB was in college that aren't needed any longer as bedding.  I cut them each in half and hemmed the 4 sides and Voila! 4 dog blankets.

*  Clean my Desk Area  FAIL  Well I DID clean my desk area but by the end of the month it was a cluttered up mess again...not quite as bad but still.  I need to find other places for some things and keep this Item on my list for March.

* List Items on eBay  FAIL  Between dog surgery and recovery and being sick myself for half of February I didn't have the 'umph' to list anything on eBay.
I DID however sell 1 item that was already listed.  I'll take that small victory. lol

*  Take Dixie for Bloodwork  DONE
Before she got spayed they needed to do blood work on her because she was going under general anesthesia.  One test came back with a low platelet count so they had to do an additional test so there went $40 more for that.  
It turns out that she has a congenital blood disorder called idiopathic asymptomatic thrombocytopenia.  It's a benign condition without bleeding issues for her but almost 50% of Cavaliers have it.  It could lead to other problems later on so we just have to watch for symptoms.
Knowing this, it's a good thing we decided not to breed her.

*  Have Dixie fixed  DONE  She got her stitches out on Wednesday and she is back to her goofball self now. 8-)

* Plan/Goals for 2020  FAIL
Well we've just been bumping along so far this year.  We do need to decide if we are traveling anywhere else this year, what house projects to tackle and then there is lots of legal stuff to tackle in regard to our moving(most of which I am not at liberty to divulge).  And in addition, we are waiting on Ex-College Boy to move out, which will be happening hopefully this year, before we put this house on the market.  Add in that all this legal stuff also involves my brother's cooperation and he can be a tad passive-aggressive so there's that too. sigh.
This month Hubs and I will sit down and try to plot out a strategy(along with nudging EX-CB).


An ok To-Do List outcome for February.  Now it's onward to March!

Did you get stuff done in February?

Sluggy