DECEMBER 2023 To-Do List

Here is how the TO-DO List turned out for December.  We had a lot going on last month and I really need to lay December to rest before heading into February. 8-)))

DECEMBER

* Pay Bills  DONE  Always at the top of my list of things to get done.

* Do Christmas Cards Early  DONE  I didn't send out many this year but I did get them all sent(plus a Birthday card)before we left town.

* Find a New Neurologist  DONE  My new PCP's office informed me that around here once you have a neurologist it's practically impossible to get a new one.  I explained that the one I was given was quite lax in contacting me and communicating any information to me and/or following up in any way with me and was always changing his mind(we need to do more tests, then no, we don't need to do more tests, etc.).   He does not instill confidence in me that he knows wtf is going on and there is always an excuse for these lapses in contact(he's out of the country, he has Covid and had to leave the hospital before putting my RX through to the pharmacy, then he was out of the country again-but I was on a waitlist and got offered a closer date for an appt. while he was supposedly out of the country that time and the last time in December he was again, out of the country dealing with VISA issues. oy vey!

* Go to a Ridiculous Amount of PT Sessions  DONE  Not really a ridiculous number of them really, only about 4 before we left the state for the Holidays.

* Have a Sleep Study  DONE  Was done and we all know the outcome of that already. yeah!

* Have Dishwasher Installed  DONE

Finally got on the handyman's schedule to get this done.  The HVAC/electrical folks we have a contract with wanted over $600 to install this dishwasher(which cost $400 at Home Depot).  Being a manufactured home it had to be hard wired in so HD wouldn't install it(or couldn't).  The handyman outfit charged $160.  Good deal.

* Finish Xmas Present Buying  DONE  Got everything bagged or wrapped and thrown into the car for the trip.  We gave Daughter and Son In-Law their presents once we got home.

* Celebrate Daughter's Birthday  PASS  I gave her a card and a gift card.  She didn't want me to take her out to eat or make her a birthday cake.  Suit yourself.

* Buy Stuff for House(Always)  FAIL  Other than paying to have the dishwasher installed I can't think of anything we bought to repair or had to replace in the house in December.  This is a GOOD fail I think. 8-))

* Finish Making Travel Plans  DONE  Obviously, this got done. lol

* Follow Up on Back MRI  DONE  This one was "iffy".  The NP said if the MRI showed I needed an injection I'd get one BEFORE we left on our trip.  There were calls back and forth about what kind of injection I could get(first I had to wait 3 months after the TKR for one, then I didn't)then the scheduler called and said they needed 2 weeks lead time which meant I could have it the day AFTER we left town. WTF??  Finally we got through to someone and the issue was if insurance(still on private health insurance at that point)approval didn't come through we had to accept responsibility for payment of $600.  Seriously?  They jerked us around for 10 days over $600 instead of telling us this outright?!?  So we said of course, we'll  sign for it..... Insurance pre-authorization came through in the end so we didn't have to fork over the cash but really?  I am so over the way in which medical care is handled down here.

* Go Through and Try On all my Clothing  PASS  Well I HARDLY got everything tried on, I concentrated on shirts as I knew the pants weren't going to pass muster.  Found some shirts that didn't make me look like a stripper(so low cut in front my bra showed), bought a shirt along the way at Buc-ee's and bought smaller pants at Walmart here before we left.  January and February it seems will see me finishing up the "Great Try On of 2024". lolz

* Edit More Photos  DONE  I'm trying to stay up to date on photo editing.

* Post about Old Trips  FAIL  While I didn't post a single Old Trip Post on the Blog in December(a bit busy with other stuff)I DID work on some trip posts as January posts show.

* Work on Genealogy  DONE  Always finding time for this hobby....sometimes it's a small amount and sometimes it's a lot of information gained.

* Move Video files to new computer  FAIL  I just ran out of time and the inclination to do this one.

* Go Visit Folks I Love/Like  DONE  I REALLY needed this trip!  I've been massively depressed living down here with no one for company but my dogs and Hubs, trapped in this house except going to medical appointments, PT and the grocery store. This trip had massive challenges at times(riding in a car for 3 days straight on the way up with a broken coccyx, climbing long staircases, a tense evening out, obnoxious hotel guests, freezing to death in bed while still wearing all my clothes, barking dogs in a hotel at 3 am, unsuitable hotel rooms, etc.)but I'd do it all again because the joys far out weighed the pain.

Sluggy

Closing Out the Holiday Birthday Week With a Song

Daughter made it home yesterday from school. 8-)
She wasn't in the door 5 minutes and she asked to borrow the car, wanted dinner and informed me that "I" was buying her new clothes.


That reminds me....I need to mark on the calendar when she is leaving again.....lol

So let's close out this Birthday Celebration with one of my Daughter's favorite songs.
I see they have done an official Holiday Version of it.

That's a good thing.....because nobody needs to see Carrot Top in flag briefs and a cape.  Thankfully they left that shot out of the original version when they added the holiday content.
Like I told someone earlier this week*cough SonyaAnn*.....some things can't be UNSEEN. ;-)

Turn up your speakers and Enjoy!



Sluggy

Daughter's Birthday Week......Share a Song!

When Daughter was very little, we couldn't afford cable tv.  Well, we could have afforded it but not if we wanted to put money away for emergencies.
Instead, we had a tv antenna and we lived on the side of a mountain range facing east, so even though the nearest broadcast station was an hour away, we got all the major broadcast network signals coming out of NYC and northeastern New Jersey since they were mega powerful.
So our tv reception was a fuzzy picture for the major tv networks(CBS/ABC/NBC/PIX)and also for the NY PBS station, WNET.
PBS was a lifesaver back then before we had a VHS player.
Hours of kid-friendly shows for my toddlers, including Sesame Street.

And once we could afford the tape player we bought kid tapes, including a whole boatload of Sesame Street shows since that is what there was and what the kids liked.

#1 son loved Elmo and The Count.
Daughter was all about Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster.

Here is one of my Daughter's favorite parts from one of those Sesame Street tapes we had.

Sluggy

It's Birthday Week at Chez Sluggy!

Today starts Birthday Week here at Chez Sluggy!
The next 6 days lead up to the anniversary of the birth of my middle child, my favorite Daughter....ok, so she's my ONLY Daughter too. ;-)

Later in the week I'll share her birth story as it's one of those "you can't make this stuff up" type of stories.

And to aggravate her if she is reading this here blog I will post her 1st photo taken 19 years ago on December 15th.....her leaving the Hospital Photo.

And to add insult to injury, I am posting photos of all 3 of my kids' Leaving the Hospital Photos.

I have 2 sons and 1 daughter.  Look at the photos below and tell me which one you think is my daughter. *
*Please note that I regularly dressed my babies no matter the gender is PINK clothing....just ask my brother because he use to make comments to my mom all. the. time. about that.  Plus, with 2 of them we weren't altogether positive beforehand if they were a boy or a girl and I didn't buy multiple "coming home" outfits because well, I'm frugal!lol   So don't go by what the babies are wearing necessarily.

I'll reveal the correct answer in next time's post.

Sluggy