February has come and gone. At least we didn't float away is all I can say.
Here's how we did with the February Goals.....
* Pay Bills--DONE Everything got paid on time or early and in full.
* Go to many DR appointments--DONE 6 trips to the Wound Care NP and 5 Home Health Nurse visits. Another couple of weeks is what the NP is saying now.
* Clean and Organize stuff in House--IN PROGRESS Needless to say I haven't gotten very far on organizing due to not being able to walk around much. Plus now I need a knee shot so that's an issue. If I get one now I am not due until the beginning of June while we are on the cruise which means I won't be able to do a lot of walking then since I won't be able to get a shot until after we get home. ugh.
* Buy Stuff for House--IN PROGRESS Hubs bought bookshelves and a file cabinet for his man room. I got a cabinet to set my printer on and store supplies inside. I got a new set of pots and pans just for the lids(which we still can't find the ones that supposedly came with us in the move!!). Most of the buying stuff for the house has been Hubs' area as we've been procuring bits and bobs to repair and replace pieces for appliances, etc. If I could go back in time I'd have had us put all the repair/replacce purchases on one dedicated credit card. Oh well.
* Clean out Inserts/Coupon Envie--DONE Not much in there anymore to clean out. lolz
* Edit More Photos--IN PROGRESS I don't seem to be making much headway in photo editing. I edit 10 but take 16 more snapshots that then need editing. lol
* Post about Old Trips--FAIL Nope, haven't had the time or inclination to post trips.
* Work on Genealogy--DONE I've done a little bit of my personal genealogy stuff and I've been working on a friend's Hubs' family history mostly.
*Go to Dentist x 2--DONE We lose dental insurance at the end of April so I'm trying to get all the work I need done. I had a problem tooth pulled at the beginning of Feb. and I just had a small filling and got fitted for a crown on another tooth. It was an old filling in there that was failing now so I've got a temp crown right now. They put so much Novocain in the right side of my mouth I was numb for 2 days, including my NOSE! I've never had my nose get numb with Novocain before. I tried to smile and I looked like I had a stroke because one side of my mouth wouldn't go up. lol Even with a straw I sounded like Hannibal Lecter sucking water back into my mouth so it didn't waterfall out.........
* Organize Clothes--FAIL Nope, I need to finish the sewing room organizing first to finish up organizing my clothing.
* Find a New Bank--FAIL Haven't been able to go anywhere except on Wednesdays. The new bank search has to wait.
* Cash Savings Bond--FAIL We were going to use Capital One as our main bank now since they have actual physical locations down here but a savings bond matured and they refuse to cash it(as in deposit it into our account with them)! So now we have to find another bank but it's not a top priority yet.
That's all I've got for February. Not a great month for getting anything done unless it was urgently needed done.
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
I know it's waaaay late but life and then a vacation got in the way of getting this done. lolz
Here's how I did on the February Goals.......if anyone cares.........
* Pay Bills DONE Everything got paid and early or on time. Go me. 8-) * Read 1, 2 Books DONE I read this book........
"Depression Era Wisdom-Simple Ways to Stretch Your Dollars" by Mary Wynn Ryan This book was pretty much a waste of my time since most of what's in here I practice or know about already. It's a good thing it was a thin volume! lolz Anyway, there are some good tips in here and if someone doesn't already practice frugality or is young this would be worth reading(but I wouldn't buy it, find one in your library). And this one............
"Race to the Top of the World: Richard Byrd and the First Flight to the North Pole" by Sheldon Bart. Given that Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd is my cousin(12th cousin 2 x removed to be exact), and that Hubs gifted me this book for Christmas, I needed to read it. This was a very interesting read, covering only a portion(but a large portion)of Byrd's adventures/explorations. Luck was truly with him as he avoided some lethal voyages and choices during this exciting time of world exploration. I had no idea that the 1910's through 1930's was such a hotbed of global adventure and many nations racing around to be the first to get to/claim somewhere or other! This book only touches briefly on the whole controversy about who was first and if Byrd and Bennett actually arrived at the true North Pole....that would need another book to expand upon that whole issue. lolz Richard Byrd led quite the exciting life and in hindsight turned out to be of sterner character than others of his era/ilk(Yeah, I'm looking at you Charles Lindbergh!). It took this reader a lot of time to slog through this large volume but it was worth my time. If you enjoy biography, history and Polar exploration, read this one. Two thumbs up!
* Hold Giveaway DONE
* Mail Giveaway DONE Mailed and received promptly. * Plan Winter Holiday DONE Finally got the last of it planned and we are back already. lolz * Do Taxes and File Them DONE Hubs has taken over doing the taxes since retiring. This year our taxes were not complicated(except for the house sale in LA)so we didn't have to pay for TurboTax or any other software purchase to complete and send them in. He was able to file electronically for free the federal taxes and we expect a refund. We had to file state taxes in PA and LA(crooks!)and I had to write two checks to cover what we owe to those states. I got Hubs the info. I needed to and he sat on it all for what seemed like ages before starting them. With me, I gather the info and "get 'er done"! With him, it's a "process" and takes him weeks. sigh But it's done now. * Pack for Trip DONE Packing was tricky in terms of weather and what was forecast so I really over packed so I didn't run out of appropriate clothing or have to do laundry or wash things out in the sink. I packed up some goodies to take to certain folks early and had that finished well before Feb. was over. * Open Ally Account DONE I finally got around to opening up an account with Ally Bank. I moved some cash there and plan to set up a CD in March as they have the highest rates at the current time. * Cash in CD DONE Our CD at Capital One matured toward the end of February and instead of rolling it over we cashed it out so as to move it to Ally once the cash hit our B&M bank. I also finally but Hubs on the accounts there. When they were set up years ago I put them in just my name and man!, was it a big old PITA to get him on those accounts now. He had to set up a checking/debit account in his name since he didn't have a CapOne account of any kind. Then it was a couple of phone calls to them to get him put on those accounts. Geesh! * Open new CD FAIL Didn't happen in February due to the $$ moving into our B&M bank. The timing didn't work out to get this done before the end of the month but it happened early March.
Not a lot of my list for February but most of it got done. Sluggy
Not a lot on my plate in February. It's a short month and the dark and cold don't motivate me to do much other than stay warm. Add in a rough month for my health this year and it's a good thing I have a short list. 8-)
Here's the list and what did or didn't get accomplished.
* Pay Bills DONE If nothing else gets done, this does.
* Read 1 Book DONE I read this one........ Brothers by George Howe Colt
It was better than I expected it to be. I didn't know this writer beforehand or his family but got to know them intimately in this book. His younger brother, Ned, was a reporter for NBC news for a decade or so and was held hostage near Fallujah during the Iraqi war with his team for 3 days in 2004(this event was detailed near the end of the book). Ned died in Feb. of 2015 of a stroke. Having had some talks with Hubs about his family/siblings and their dynamic recently due to his sister's issues and treatment of us, we have talked about how children raised in the same environment and by the same parents(and those parents treating each child evenhandedly), how each child can come away from their childhood experience with such different perspectives and values. This book and Colt's discussion about his siblings and himself brought that lesson home for me. Colt also talked at length about famous brothers through history-the Thoreau brothers, the Wright brothers, the Booth brothers, the Marx brothers and the van Gogh brothers to name a few-and how their fraternal bond shaped them all. Very interesting book if you are a fan of psychology or any of these famous brothers. I also got another book read this month...........
American Rose-the Life and Time of Gypsy Rose Lee by Karen Abbott. Since I was a kid I was enamored of the Broadway Musical "Gypsy" which was the singing and dancing fairy tale version of Rose Louise Hovick's life. Gypsy was a nationally known strip tease artist. The author actually met with people who knew Gypsy and Gypsy's mother, Rose Thompson Hovick, including Gypsy's sister, June(who died in 2010)to garner information for the book. Again, this book was very interesting and a "the true story behind the show and film" look at a dysfunctional family. The mother, Rose, turned these two daughters into psychologically damaged goods and all three were survivors-both of the times they lived through and their family dynamic. There is also a fair amount of information here about the history of vaudeville and burlesque and some of the large players such as the Minsky Brothers. This book got me interesting in reading June Havoc's(she altered her last name from Hovick)memoirs(she wrote 2). I doubt if I'll read Gypsy's memoir as she spent her life hiding her true self from the public. I've got a sort of connection to June Havoc.....she starred in the original production of "Pal Joey" on Broadway and I played Melba Snyder the reporter in my college's production of that show and sang/performed the number "Zip" which was a satire on striptease and Gypsy Rose Lee and one of my audition pieces while I was in the theater world was "That Terrible Rainbow" which was one of June's numbers from "Pal Joey". 8-))
* Hold Giveaway DONE
* Mail Giveaway DONE Crystal finally braved the snowstorm and her sickness misery and retrieved the box from the post office. Use it all in good health!
* 2 Clothing Alterations DONE Daughter went to Sallie's a found some dress pants she needed for presentations in her Business class and to wear on her Science conference in March to New Orleans. The only problem was they were too short so I needed to let the hem out as much as possible.
Whomever owned these pants before had been short and had hacked off the fabric in the hemmed portion with a knife or something(there was a line of stitching at the base of where the fabric was turned for the hem and all the fabric was jaggedly cut off there)before turning the pants legs up and hand stitching very badly a new hem. I had to take out the old hem and then encase the jagged rough ends with seam binding just above where the line of stitching was before hand stitching a new lower hem.
What a PITA! Daughter also bought a blue Women's dress shirt which was missing a button. The shirt looked brand new and it appeared someone got rid of it due to the button missing only. There was a spare button sewn into the bottom of the shirt so it was just a matter of removed the spare and sewing onto where the button was missing. lolz I also had to resew another button as it came off in my hand when I was handling the shirt. Factory machine sewn buttons are held on with a tiny bit of stitching which is prone to unraveling so always check your buttons when you buy a shirt and hand sew them for security. It only takes a minute or two(and really, shouldn't everyone be taught to hand sew a button)and may help you avoid the embarrassment of one popping off at an inopportune moment. ;-)
* Load to Sallie's DONE Hubs finally hauled up a load of cast-offs and got them out of the living room.
* Redo Passwords Book FAIL I've been looking at the book I bought to redo my passwords/User IDs in but I just haven't gotten the umph to actually do this yet. For sure this will happen in March. It shouldn't take me more than an hour or two to wrap this up so I can't believe I am procrastinating so badly with this.
* Do Taxes IN PROGRESS I handed off taxes to Hubs(after gathering the initial paperwork)as he wants to handle it now that he's retired. He is driving me crazy though as he works on it in drips and drabs and doesn't just DO IT! And he insists on using software(that we have to pay for!)while I did it for years and years myself the old fashioned way. Our taxes aren't so complicated we need to pay to do them but he's afraid of being audited and things doing them and mailing them in is now a red flag as most folks electronically file. Whatever. Just freaking get them filed already!!!
* Load to Food Bank DONE I finally got a good day when they were open to accepting donations and hauled up 6 jugs of laundry detergent, 4 bottles of shampoo and 4 bags of assorted canned/boxed/pouched food.
* Plan possible 2018 Travel IN PROGRESS A few ideas have crossed my mind but nothing has gotten to the make reservations stage yet. I am just feeling uninspired about traveling right now.
* Work on 2018 Goals Again, IN PROGRESS We've got one big goal we've been working toward-selling the house in LA. Keeping it another year and having Daughter and BF rent it from us after she gets her degree doesn't make sense to our bottom line so it's going back on the market with a better realtor. I want it sold this year, period! Dealing with people in Louisiana in a business relationship has been one headache after another and I want to leave it behind.
So that's what's happened here in February.
How was your month? Did you conquer any goals last month?
Well I just got around to taking down my February To-Do List off the blog side bar.
Geez! March is 2/3rd over already. lolz
Let's see how I did last month.
* Pay the Bills DONE Boring but good. lolz * Bike Something FAIL Nope, didn't do it.
* Read 1, 2 Books DONE
A book of short stories about dogs.
A novel about an Irish girl who immigrates to Brooklyn NY in the 1950's. Maybe now I'll watch the movie of it. * Shred Papers DONE I got all the backlog of document shredding done in February. Go me. * Reorganize and File ALL the Paperwork DONE
I got the last basket of paperwork filed. * Hold Giveaway DONE
* Mail Giveaway Done Though the winner has yet to let me know it arrived or answer my email inquiring about whether she got the book. * Hold 2nd Giveaway DONE
* Mail 2nd Giveaway Not Yet Two emails to her plus posting it on the blog and I am STILL waiting for her to contact me with her info. sigh. This is such a pain and is holding me up on doing the March Giveaway. Maybe I'll just stop doing Giveaways..... * Clean up Garage * Clean my Desk area FAIL Not yet. Just didn't get to it. It's on the list for March and I'll probably do it this week. * Unbox and Use Christmas Gifts DONE
I finally got around to opening my BIG Xmas present from "Santa" in February. Not like I wasn't distracted by other things in December and January(Hubs' accident and convalescence)
I am in LOVE with this robotic floor cleaner! It's specifically made for pet hair and that's what the problem is here with Daughter's half Husky/half Shepherd doggy. She sheds constantly. It wasn't as much as a Roomba brand one so if we kill it prematurely due to all the hair I am ok with that. I have named him "Hymie".
* Gather Tax Info DONE I got all the info gathered for Hubs. * Do Taxes PASS We decided to get tax software and Hubs is handling the taxes this year. With the rental income I didn't feel I could adequately handle taxes this year. I am still waiting for Hubs to actually FILE the taxes...he's finished filling and printing everything out, he just has to file them. * Work on Genealogy DONE I've done a bit in February and actually had a 4th cousin contact me through the blog in Feb. He had read my post about Ab Redmond my ancestor who was lynched in 1893. Actually this cousin and I are double related, both directly through my 3x Great Grandfather Foster and through the common ancestors 2nd wife(his 3x Great Grandmother)who is also my 3rd Great Aunt(my 2x Great Grandfather Baker's sister). Got that? ;-)
* Work on F.A.G. StuffFAIL Other than a few ancillary items dealt with I really didn't do much Find A Grave work in Feb. I inherited a TON of memorials on F.A.G. from a woman who didn't want to care for/maintain them anymore. I really need to set some time aside to go into the site and put through edits others have sent me and clean up and link up some of these memorials. It's work since many are NOT my family members so I need to do research on them to get the details correct. So how did you do getting things crossed off your To-Do List in Feb? Sluggy
