I think I told you yesterday that we tried to get our flower planters/tomato planters watering system going and failed. My husband was able to change the batteries in one of the timers, but he gave up on programming it. This is one of the many things he has always been good at doing – making me feel inept – but now “I” am the go-to technical person. YEAH.
I tried to do it yesterday, but it didn’t run. I decided to see if I could find the paperwork and try again today. This morning I went out and started from scratch, completely resetting both timers to run 15 minutes apart. I set my alarm so I wouldn’t forget to check to see if they actually ran this time.
I’ve just come back in and I prevailed! I had time to go around to all the planters – including the tomato planters – and make sure all were getting water. I tweaked the amounts, since we had shut things off tightly for the winter and there was still a lot of air in the lines. Once I finished that, I cam around the front and the 2nd system was working!
I think I have most going fine. We’ll check for any breaks in the lines and keep tweaking how much water each of the planters is getting, but the main system seems to be going fine. I’m really relieved. Can you see me grinning?
Yesterday I got up from my computer, intending to go pee and get a cup of coffee.
I got up, got my husband some Tylenol and water, cleaned up the kitchen some, and went back to the office. I started to reach for my coffee, and saw I didn’t have any. I still needed to pee. I got up again.
My husband asked if I could bring him a cold drink. I fixed that, took it to him, then changed the wash to the dryer, peed, and came back. I started looking at things again and reached for my coffee cup….
I FINALLY got some coffee – but really, it was embarrassing by the time things finally clicked and I accomplished my initial task.
I did well on eating yesterday, plus getting lots of exercise doing 7 total loads of laundry, cleaning up the sheets I used protecting plants from the hail storm, folding them and putting them away for next time. I did the 7th load because my husband had trouble with the bacon cheeseburger I brought him from Lunch Bunch, dumping it on his robe. I finally went to sleep after getting that in the dryer, about 1:30 or so this morning. The problem is that when my husband went to bed, I was ravenous, eating everything except the fridge.
It’s been a bit stressful around here. My husband hurt his back about a week ago. He was pulling on something in the shop and heard a ‘pop’ in his back. He wouldn’t let me take him to a doctor. He’s been using the heat pad (won’t switch off with ice), and taking Tylenol.
After about half an hour of my massage therapist’s expertise Thursday, he spent the first day since he hurt himself pain-free. He is still better than he was, but is having trouble when he has to change position. she said he should get x-rays and probably go to a chiropractor. (Of course, that went in one ear and out the other.)
Last night he came downstairs about 2 a.m. and went to sleep in his chair. About 4 a.m. for some reason his recliner went over backwards, dumping him on the floor. His feet knocked his tray table over. He managed to get the chair back upright and slept the rest of the night.
This morning I picked up the tray table and put it back together again, retrieved all the stuff that fell off of it, etc. Thankfully, the glass that was on the rug was plastic, and was empty at the time everything dumped. He seems to be doing fine right now, but I’m checking on him on a regular basis.
Until we can get his pain and movement under better control, I’m afraid I’m destined to look like the sweet critter at the top of this post. I’ll try again today, and hopefully won’t be still doing laundry at 1 a.m. and will be upstairs with my husband – both of us resting quietly tonight.
Can you hear me gnashing my teeth from where you are?
It’s still morning and I may be completely bald by the end of the day from tearing my hair out, or hoarse from going outside to yell.
You know my husband ‘pulled on something’ in the shop and heard a ‘pop’ hurting his back. You know he refuses to go to the doctor. I told you in my first post that he INSISTED he accompany me to Walmart yesterday. He ALSO insisted that we stop at the Sonic for a large banana milkshake, though he is a Type II diabetic. (He denies this, saying he has a ‘sugar problem.’)
So – we tested blood sugar and blood pressure this morning as we do twice a week. He was shocked that his blood sugar was 185. He was piously telling me he didn’t eat a ‘sugar ball’ (an apple tart) for TWO days. I pointed out that he had a large banana shake yesterday, and he then had to admit that THAT wasn’t a smart thing to do.
I started gathering trash and had to tell him “NO” firmly when he started to get up to help, pointing out that he was having pain when he walked, got up, or sat down this morning and should be resting all day. He grudgingly said, ‘okay.’
We’ll probably have the same or worse ‘discussion’ later this morning when it’s time to take the trash down. I’m going to try to sneak out and get it done while he’s taking a nap in his chair. I already have the bags of trash in the back of the truck.
This is the same man who was explaining details neglected in the ’60 Minutes’ two segments on Artificial Intelligence last night…
I think I told you that I recently found some JD Robb “In Death” series novellas that I didn’t have. These were in-between the normal numbered series that includes 57 books so far. (I have 55 of them. “Encore in Death” is out in hardback now. I’ll wait for it to be available in paperback. “Payback in Death” will be available in hardback in September of this year.)
I read the JD Robb parts of each of the groups of novellas I bought in paperback. I’ve just finished going back and reading the novellas by OTHER authors in each of those books. I found one author who intrigued me. Her name is Elaine Fox. I bought three books and had them downloaded on my Kindle.
I don’t use my Kindle much. I mainly use it for cookbooks, since I HATE buying an expensive cookbook and only finding a few recipes we like in it. Buying them via Kindle makes them affordable and also DELETABLE if we aren’t happy with them.
I just tried to access the three new books I bought via Amazon. They weren’t showing, and then I got a notice my Kindle wasn’t connected to the Internet. The problem got worse from there.
Since my patience runs out like water from a cup on technological things, I quickly got frustrated. My husband is now trying to help me get things straightened out. Between the two of us, we can figure things out most of the time – eventually.
I’m thinking of advertising for a teenager to come live with us to help us with all things electronic. I’m also thinking of advertising for a big, hunky guy with a great sense of humor who will come live with us and help us with all the heavy stuff inside and outside the house that have become a challenge for us. Between the two “adoptees” we ought to be able to smile and enjoy life. :0)
GOOD NEWS: My husband got online, filled out a form for propane fill up, and actually talked to the lady at the office. Today the truck showed up. I asked my husband to monitor the fill up while I was doing other stuff.
He came inside a bit later, saying the guy had started to leave after filling up the small tank behind the shop. My husband stopped him, telling him we had ordered a fill up for the larger tank for the house, as well. The guy didn’t have a ticket for that. He called the home base and was able to arrange for a 2nd ticket so he could fill up the larger tank.
When my husband told him he had ordered fill ups for both when he talked to the lady, the guy said, “She’s difficult to deal with.” I praised my husband to the moon for saving the man a second trip and me the hassle for calling the lady back and ordering a second trip.
BAD NEWS:
One of our lawn chairs didn’t survive the propane truck’s passing. He obviously didn’t see it. It was old and on its last legs anyway, but I just spent about 15 minutes separating the metal from the plastic and making a pile for the next recycling trip and adding to the next burn pile.
When we got back from errands this morning, I went right out to the garden with the flat of head lettuce and the flat of spinach. I got them planted before lunch. I’ll set up the automatic watering system tomorrow, but I THINK it’s supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon and evening, giving my new plants lots of water. (I hope not too much!)
My plan is to prep my two brick tomato planters next and get them planted, and then figure out what else will go in the main garden.
After lunch and a rest, we went out to the shop to get the snow tires off the truck and put on the regular tires. We had a hard time. I insisted we come in and rest after we got the tires on the front. We drank water and rested a bit and then went back out. We got it done, but it was a close thing.
My husband surprised me on the walk back from the shop after we finished. He has finally agreed that when the snow tires need to be put back on, we’ll put the tires and wheels and lug nuts in the back of the truck. I’ll make an appointment with the tire place so they will change the tires for us, air up the tires and put the others in the back of the truck. The only thing we’ll have to do next time is get the tires in and out of the back of the truck and into the shop. This has been a long time coming, and I had almost given up hope on getting him to see reason. I’m relieved.
We will do some serious relaxing this evening. :0)
I’m trying to ‘gird my loins’ to help my husband change the tires on our truck today. We need to get the snow tires off and the regular tires on, aired up, etc.
When we first bought our truck, we bought an extra set of wheels so that we could have snow tires mounted on them. We store them in the back of the shop, along with the lug nuts that go with them, so that we are able to change to snow tires reasonably quickly, if needed.
This was in 2006, so that was awhile back when we weren’t as older-than-dirt as we are now, and at our mature age, 17 years makes a big difference.
I tried to convince my husband that I could take the truck, with the regular tires and lug nuts in the back, to the tire place and get this done tomorrow. I discovered that this is apparently now a thing of pride – that we are independent, capable, and NOT older than dirt – despite appearances.
I made it through the day yesterday without stuffing my face the way I have been. I’ll try to do it again today.
Another arrow in my quiver – I’m NOT going to loosen the fastening on my jeans to make myself more comfortable during the day. I’m going to keep them fastened, reminding myself that my overeating has CAUSED this discomfort, and that acting ‘maturely’ might relieve that if I keep it up.
I’m in this fight by myself, since my husband insisted we stock up on a bunch of assorted chips. Maybe a bit of frustration and anger will help me in my goal…
Each person makes a decision – or a series of them – when he or she wants to change, in the effort to STOP a bad habit or START a good one. I’m trying to look at all the excuses for what they are – smoke.
TODAY I will eat healthy meals and try not to eat anything in-between. I will drink a bottle of water if I get hungry, and I will do a good session of yoga this afternoon. Maybe I can earn another small pat. :0)
I’ve told you before that my husband, computer analyst and general figure-everything-out-and-fix-it-person, had a couple of strokes in the past couple of years. This has resulted in some interesting situations.
I’m the original use-it-but-don’t-understand-how-it-works person. I’m fine as long as something works. When it is throwing a fit, spewing water, smoking, or is simply on strike, I have no patience. My eyes glaze over and what few brain cells I had leave.
The touching/interesting situation this morning was that my husband came into the office and told me that he had moved the laundry load from the washer to the dryer and had loaded the washer again, but couldn’t get it to start.
“Touching ” because I really appreciate his recent efforts to pitch in and help me do things around the house. “Interesting” because I have shown him how to start the washer 5 or 6 times now and he really has trouble grasping it. Add “grateful” because he isn’t angry about it, just quietly came and asked for help. Add “melting” because he’s my favorite man in the world and I’m still trying to adjust to our role reversal.
I showed him, talking him through it, having him push the buttons as we decided which ones to push, and had him wait with me as the machine changed from ‘add garment’ to the ‘lock’ icon which shows you’re in business.
I then hugged him and thanked him for his help.
This is the same man who gave up on trying to explain “quantum computing” to me after we heard a news item on TV last night…
swan-naked raku-kierstincrowley.tumblr.com – I’m unsure of the spelling of Kierstin (Kiersten?) and I am unable to find the source again, but I think this piece is wonderful.
We will leave soon. My husband has a haircut, and then we’ll drive to Ft. Smith to sign our tax forms. Whenever we go to there, he wants to drive the Vette. His driving, while probably more competent than mine, has always scared my hair off – since in any given situation – he puts on the gas when I would put on the brakes. Now we’re “mature” (read older-than-dirt) and you can add another layer of tension to my trip.
If we get back in one piece, I’ll write more later.
We’ve been out since all afternoon running errands. The biggest thing we did was to iPhone 13 SEs. My husband wanted to go in and check it out because of an ad he saw on his computer. Usually we don’t qualify for one reason or another, and it was the same this time. The offer was for people on cell phone plans who basically had iphone 8’s or newer. We didn’t qualify because we’re on a cell phone plan as the basic house phone which has several stations all over the house.
We priced just getting new phones rather since we didn’t qualify for the trade-in’s or special deals and it was only a dollar or two more per month than the ‘deal.’ The biggest cost was the sales tax today plus the ‘upgrade fee’ for any changes on your plan. We decided to bite the bullet and get the new phones.
The lady who helped us was really nice and very patient with us. She got us the best deal she could, upgraded the new phone that needed it, transferred our data, etc.
My husband has been fuming for half an hour or so that ‘someone’ was talking to him through the phone and wouldn’t stop. It was some kind of verification message. Instead of listening to it, he just wanted it to stop. We played with all the settings having to do with sounds, notifications, etc., thought we had it turned off and then she would start talking again. He finally listened and found out the lady wanted him to verify that he wanted a Google for business or not. He couldn’t find the keypad, so I helped him with that. He hit “one” for “NO! NO! A THOUSAND TIMES NO!” and she miraculously stopped. HOORAY!!!!!
We didn’t get any paperwork with the phone, so will go online and see what general things we can find. The one thing I tried to look up talked about a button on the left side of the phone that you moved the switch so the orange showed. I couldn’t find any button like that, so gave up. I’ll study my phone more later.
My technical ineptness is rearing its ugly head again. If all else fails this evening, we’ll go back to the nice lady and see if she can get our phones to be on vibration and silent mode.
I’m celebrating the end of February, plus starting a petition to eliminate it from the calendar. I would also include another to eliminate Daylight Savings Time. This isn’t rational – just emotional – but it would make me very happy. I would just like to have winter in December and January and then skip right to March and spring. Keep the same time all year ’round. It doesn’t really matter WHICH time is chosen – just pick one and stick to it.
If you would like to sign the petitions, let me know. I’m not sure who we should send them to, but I’ll think on it.
My husband is working on all of our computers, trying to get them to “see” each other, share files, etc. This is causing daily changes to my computer and is quite a challenge for me, since I’m am almost a technophobe.
Today the type on this page is humongous, rather than the almost-too-small-to-work-with type I’ve been working with. I have no clue how to change it. Also, the way I find and save and use images here is completely different. When I ask my husband about it, he says he hasn’t done anything to change those.
So the sweet gif I found of a cat massaging a dog’s head that I wanted to use for this post to talk about the massage I’m getting this morning is saved somewhere not to be found. I thought maybe it was because it was a gif rather than a jpg extension, so tried to save a jpg. That didn’t work, either. My images aren’t all showing in the list and aren’t in alphabetical order, so trying to use anything is a real challenge.
He will be working on my computer again today, so I’m hoping things will eventually straighten out. I may also end up bald from tearing my hair out…
Day 3 in my husband’s fight to get the shop computer up and running again. He’s trying to get the operating system updates onto the computer. This takes a long time and THEN announces the failure of the attempt. More than frustrating. We’re compromising now, with some time for me on my computer first thing, then my computer and the TV are unusable until late after dinner. Since I’m totally spoiled, I’m having withdrawal symptoms.
I’m reading, doing some cleaning, some cooking, and I spent time in my art room yesterday for the first time in a long time. I’ve started work on an idea up there with some cleaning up and putting away in there, too.
It FINALLY stopped raining! The sun is out today – a hugely welcome sight. I’m planning to take at least one walk in the yard today. We’re supposed to get more rain/wintry mix tomorrow, but we’ll deal with that THEN. It might mess up Lunch Bunch. :0(
My husband is still in a death struggle with the shop computer. I thought there was a TV problem, and then an Internet problem, yesterday. I finally found out after dinner that it was a HUSBAND problem. HE had made it so the TV didn’t work and my computer didn’t work so that he could hopefully increase the download speed for stuff he was trying to get on the shop computer. Communication is one of the things that has suffered since his strokes.
ANYWAY, we talked about it and agreed that I would have at least a short time at the computer today before he turned everything else off again for the day. Hopefully he will get all the stuff he needs on the shop computer today and he can continue to tweak it however he wants and I can get back to normal.
It’s rainy again today, so I won’t be spending much time outside. Amber came up to greet me this morning while I was making the bed. I pet her and she was SOAKED. I got a towel and dried her off the best I could before coming downstairs. She really doesn’t seem to mind. Her hair is thick enough she might not even realize how wet she is! She greeted me with a huge smile, so I guess HER morning is off to a fun start.
I hope that your day is a good one. Once I do a couple more posts, I’ll watch for you again tomorrow.
A SHORT HISTORY: We married in 1969. Between then and 1977, we lost three babies to miscarriages. (Rh Factor) In 1978 we had our son. In ’79, we lost another baby to miscarriage. In ’80 we had our daughter and our family was complete. Two months later, on February 5,1981, we lost our daughter, Jade, to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
“Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the unexplained death, usually during sleep, of a seemingly healthy baby less than a year old. SIDS is sometimes known as crib death because the infants often die in their cribs.” The peak incidence of SIDS occurs between 1 – 4 months of age; 90% of cases occur before 6 months of age. Babies continue to be at risk for SIDS up to 12 months.”
She was “perfect,” and she was gone. Our minister said, “Jade was born, lived a little while, and then died.” I couldn’t listen to more.
The pain was so intense that we both seriously considered suicide, then decided we had to live for each other and for our son. I read everything I could find on SIDS, and discovered the experts knew very little about it – why it happens or what can be done to prevent it. The experts also told us we were lucky that our son was only 2 – that he wouldn’t understand or remember it. Soon after we lost her, he took Jade’s blanket across the room to the trash can, threw it in and said, “Broken.” So much for the experts.
Lasting effects –
I still can’t hold a baby in my arms without crying, even after all this time.
I worry for pregnant women or women with babies under 1 year
I can’t go to a funeral without falling apart and bringing all the attention to me, so I try to show I care in different ways.
There ARE some positive effects, though –
I have learned that there is a core way down deep inside that enabled me to not only survive but to enjoy life again.
I have looked at life differently since then, cherishing the people in my life, and all the things that are beautiful and bring me pleasure.
I am much more forgiving, even though I threaten my husband from time to time of having the backhoe guy on speed dial to dig a hole for him in the back yard.
Our family grew closer and stronger.
A really frustrating thing is that the experts know little more now than they did 42 years ago about SIDS. There are now baby monitors that are very helpful to parents. The experts now suggest that babies sleep on their backs. I haven’t found anything more about the shots that babies get at two months. I will never forget, though, that our pediatrician came out to the house when he heard we had lost her, and cried with us.
I hope that one day I will see Jade again, finding that her spirit is healthy and happy; and that one day the mystery of SIDS is solved.
We are done, in more ways than one. I’m doing puns and poems this morning because I don’t have any energy to do much else after our work yesterday.
We spent an hour in the driveway, chainsawing and hauling, before lunch, rested a bit, and then did another three hours after lunch before finally clearing enough that we could drive up and down the driveway again. It looks a bit like a war zone, but it’s workable. We’ll try to neaten things up some other time, but today we’re resting. We left one larger branch simply moving the end of it to the side of the driveway. The break is up too high for us to get to it, and the blade in the chainsaw desperately needs replacing now.
We’ll do that, buy more night lights, and replenish groceries later today.
The ‘Determined-Man/Energizer-Bunny’ syndrome enveloped my husband yesterday afternoon, and he was determined to finish. We did, but he was almost unable to get into the truck to ride back up. I went up and down the driveway four times yesterday afternoon (650+ feet up the STEEP driveway) until I had to sit on a boulder beside the driveway and gasp for breath awhile before continuing. The power cords wouldn’t reach, so I had to make the last trip up and down again. Even with FOUR 100-foot cords strung together, it was barely enough. (We used an outdoor plug at the top to do all we could from the top down, then switched to an outdoor plug at the bottom to work our way up.)
We did a quick and dirty job of it, since the chainsaw blade was trying to give up, but we did it. I talked to my husband again about the fact that we are getting older and need to modify our activities more to deal with that. He agreed, but I don’t trust the agreement to last the next time…
He is taking a much-needed nap now, and we are determinedly putting nothing on the agenda today.
The really encouraging news is that we’re due for possible ice storms next week….
My husband went outside around 3pm yesterday, immediately went to get the chainsaw and 100 foot cord. I talked to him about calling tree people to clear the driveway, but he wasn’t having any. I told him I thought this might be too much for us. He said, “Go on inside. I can handle this.” Yeah. Right.
We ended up doing three sessions – a total of 2 hours – stopping when it started to get dark. He chainsawed and I tugged, hauled, rolled, or picked up and tossed what he cut. We cleared about 1/4 of the driveway, more or less. We’ll do more today – and tomorrow – and – until we finally make it to the bottom of the driveway. It’s still pretty snow-packed, being long, steep, and on the north side of our property. It will be the last snow to melt.
Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab, had a GREAT time while we were outside. She thought it was the BEST game. She ran around, leaping and laughing, cavorting around like a crazed thing, making circles around the whole area. When we came in, she hit her bed, only rousing when it was time for dinner.
Thankfully, the most important reason to get to the bottom of the driveway – other than the fact that if we had an emergency, we couldn’t get OUT and no one else could get UP the driveway – is that we have 4 days of mail in the mailbox. We also have some good chances for ice and snow again in the coming week, so it would be NICE if we could get out and get some supplies before Mother Nature socks us in again.
Here’s hoping we can get some good sessions today.
I actually have to check my watch to see what day it is. THEN I check a calendar to see if anything is written there. THEN I see what the weather is doing and the forecast. THEN I check my ‘to do’ list. THEN I check with my husband. This last is the deciding factor.
My husband suggested that we might leave our 96-gallon trash can toward the bottom of the driveway, putting our bags of trash in the back of the truck as we have always done and putting them into the can and wheeling the can down to the street before pickup each week. Right before lunch we drove down to get the can. We wheeled it up to ‘behind the robot’ and I used a LONG bungie cord to secure it to the welded edge of a pole so it shouldn’t blow away in the gusty winds we sometimes have.
Since we’ve had some washing rains lately, my husband put a flat-bottomed shovel in the back of the truck so we could move some of the gravel ‘chat’ off the street and back onto the driveway. We discovered that a little of THAT activity goes a long, long way. We took turns, and it was really hard going, using the shovel to break up the chat and then move it onto the driveway. We lasted about half an hour before pooping out. This will take SEVERAL sessions when the weather is cooperative to complete.
We inadvertently paid Hot Rod Magazine twice answering renewal notices. Last month we got TWO copies of the same magazine. I asked my husband to see what he could do. I discovered today, when we got yet another notice that our subscription was about to end, that he had done nothing. Thankfully, he still had the two magazines. I got online and contacted their customer service people via the ‘leave a message’ thingie on their website. I gave all the info on the two subscriptions, as them to merge the two into one so he got only one copy each month, email him with a new subscription expiration date, and STOP sending us more notices to pay our bill. I thought it might be like throwing a bottle in the ocean, but he just told me he got an email from them saying they are ‘looking into it!’ Hooray!
I think I’ve finally done it. Oddly enough, I’m convinced I’ve done it because I HAVEN’T been able to exercise lately and I am thinking about it and MISSING it. YES! You read that right. I AM!
In my former life, The fact that I’ve not been able to continue my ‘however-many-days-in-a-row’ streak and continue putting starts on my calendar would have caused me to give it up. My current feelings are more mature (yeah, I know – hard to believe), but I’m simply looking forward to feeling good enough to be able to do a session of yoga. Each day I’ve been closer, and this afternoon might be the time I can do it again. And also, hopefully, when I’m able to do that, I’d like to start with my alternating warm-up and weights videos one day and elliptical trainer the next again.
I’m writing this day down on my calendar because it’s hard to believe that I’m not having an out-of-body experience or something. It doesn’t MATTER that I haven’t been able to keep up my ‘streak.’ I won’t even keep track of it anymore. The IMPORTANT thing is that I’m doing ONE DAY AT A TIME.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE – I just received a text from Patty, Linda’s daughter. She said that Kay had called her and said she was sick and wouldn’t be at Lunch Bunch today. Patty is out of town and said that Linda wouldn’t be there, either. I told my husband that Lunch Bunch was called off for the week. He said, “We could still go to the Waffle House.” I thanked him for the offer, but told him (again) that I was really trying to eat right and that when we had a chance to do that, we should, and that I would rather just stay home today and eat our normal lunch. I managed to NOT eat anything in-between meals yesterday, had bought some dried fruit to eat if I DID eat between meals, and that I was trying to take one day at a time, eating right and doing my exercises.
It’s funny. I’m older than dirt, but am just NOW starting to act a bit more like an adult. :0) The question of how long does it take to build a habit varies a lot from person to person. The answer for ME is around 172 days – at least on exercising. The ‘habit’ of eating right is just in its infancy for me, but I won’t count.
My husband has been having a computer problem. As I understand it (only a relative term), he wants to delete a program on his computer and replace it with another one. The computer won’t allow him to do this. It says my husband doesn’t have ‘permission.’
He finally got on chat with Microsoft support and wanted me to type for him. (Since his strokes, he really has trouble, so this is an easy thing for me to do. The guy on chat asks a question – my husband dictates an answer – I type it. It becomes more troublesome as we go, though. My husband gets frustrated when the guy asks for something that doesn’t make sense to him. I type whatever my husband answers, and then the guy on chat gets confused. Things escalate. To say this becomes ‘stressful’ is an understatement. My contribution is to keep my mouth firmly shut and do or type what my husband says, trying to remain calm.
We got to the point where the Microsoft guy was saying the problem was beyond his scope, then my husband asked if he could help us add another user. He did that, and we thanked him.
So now my husband is wrestling with another part of the problem intensely, so I’m keeping a low profile at my computer while he mutters at his.
Now I’ll drive down to get the mail and fix us some lunch.
I received a call from our local clinic awhile ago. The receptionist said they were having trouble verifying my new Humana card. She said there was a problem about my birthdate and my coverage. I called Humana to find there was an estimated 20 minute hold time. I then went on the website and found a chat option. After verifying that the information was correct, and also finding that proof of my coverage was a 20 page pdf, (arrrgh) I called the clinic back. I couldn’t get through, so left my number. (arrrgh)
They called back and I was passed from one person to another, but the lady who had called me still wasn’t available. (arrrrgh) The lady I was talking to went ahead and tried to help me. I told her what Humana had said. I told her that my birthdate hadn’t changed in almost 76 years now, and that my information on the card was correct, according to Humana. There was a number on the back of the card for any questions from the provider. The lady told me that my ID number was different. I read her what was on my card and she verified that was the number she was seeing. I told her that was the same number that was on the last statement I had received from Humana. She said they would call the number and see if they could resolve the problem.
I’ve had the same insurance for almost 11 years now. This is definitely under the categories: “nothing is ever simple” and “it’s always SOMETHING.”
I’ve been alternating between a warm-up video and weights exercise video one morning and a session on my elliptical trainer on the next. The sessions on the elliptical have been a character-building exercise, to say the least, because they’ve been done in silence.
My MP 3 player was ‘lost,’ then found – only to discover it was ’empty,’ having dumped all the music recorded on it into the ozone. My husband tried to fix it, but finally pronounced it ‘toast.’ I was going to try to find another one on the net.
We went to Lunch Bunch yesterday, and Patty told me about Pandora – that it was free to use on my phone. I downloaded that when we got home, but the only earbuds I have are too large and hurt my ears. I ordered a cheap, but compatible pair that I should receive soon.
Meanwhile, my husband found another MP3 player on one of the high shelves in the office! Apparently, years ago when we ordered the one I’ve been using, we ordered TWO. It was still sitting there, ready to be used, except the black fabric-like covering on the earbuds was crumbling off. I cleaned up the earbuds while he figured out how to load music onto the player. He actually found a list of some of the songs I like on HIS computer and downloaded them for me!
SO –
I switched the earphones I had been using on the old MP3 player to my computer, so now I won’t have to wear the huge, clunky ones that fall off my head when I’m trying to do the online exercise videos.
I put the new MP3 player on the charger so it will be ready for me to use later this morning.
I will receive the new earbuds I ordered for my phone, on which I now have a Pandora account and access to lots of music when I’m out
IN THE WIN COLUMN – I FOUND my MP3 Player! :0) I wanted to use it while I was on the elliptical trainer on Tuesday and it wasn’t in its usual place. I looked all around, but came up with no clue. I exercised in silence in the garage, each minute seeming like 5 or 10.
Later, I looked at the table again where the player should have been. I realized the charger wasn’t there, either, and that made me think in another direction. I found the player on the charger behind my left-hand computer monitor in the office. I don’t remember why I moved it now, but I’m happy I found it, since today is elliptical trainer morning, with yoga this afternoon.
IN THE LOSE COLUMN – The third load of laundry yesterday was our comforter. I’ve washed it several times before, but this time when I checked on it, the washer had stopped and “15” (I think) was flashing. I tried to get it going again, to no avail. Then it showed ‘locked’ with a key, that would flash and then go off. The door WASN’T locked, though. I could open it. The washer had water, soap, and the comforter and I couldn’t get it to work. My husband found the circuit breaker for the utility room. We tried turning that off and back on again after waiting, hoping that would get the washer to reset. No change. The basket finally drained and we took the comforter out, putting it in a laundry basket, where it waits. I need to get it rinsed, somehow, and I’ll think about how best to do that.
I started trying to find someone to come look at it. Of COURSE our stuff breaks down during holiday week, when everyone is closed or can’t get someone here until much, much later. I have a text in now to another tech or may or may not call me back. ARRRRRGH!
I’m finally doing this more. I try to make sure that I have a bit of time for myself each day, where I ignore all the ‘shoulds’ and just do something that makes me smile – or at least, calm down – in that life is sometimes a challenge, isn’t it.
I have a mental list of what makes me smile – (in random order, as I think of them) –
Playing in my art room – trying a new technique – playing with color and texture
Listening to music
Reading
Being outside, working in the yard
Watching a favorite movie
Spending time with a good friend
Shutting my eyes and dreaming
Talking with our son
Spending quality time with my husband
Finding creative people on the Internet
Writing my blog
My goal is to spend more and more time smiling. What makes YOUR soul happy?
My husband went out to the shop right before lunch and put the new part he ordered on the air compressor. It was the RIGHT part and WORKED!
He told me the compressor charged up to 120 pounds during the test he ran after he got the compressor back together.
We use the air compressor ALL the time, so this is huge for us. I use it to etch designs on glassware, plus clean yucky tools. We have several air tools, like the tool that helps us get the lug nuts off the truck tires and then put the snow tires on. We also use it to do powder coating of things we make.
It’s big – about 8 feet or so tall and about 2-1/2 feet wide. We have a really long cord that we wind up with a gravity-based (I think) wheel to draw the cord up and out of the way. There are small, compact units now that you can throw into the back of your car. This is NOT one of those, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
When the compressor failed, my husband took it apart, figured out which part had failed, took it off, brought it inside where he could try to find a replacement part on the computer. Got the part, put it on, and we’re back in business. Are you as impressed as I?
MyFitnessPal.com is helping me get through the holidays and not cause the scales to simply give up on me, though they ARE definitely smirking.
I really like this site because they do a lot to make it easy to keep track of what you’re eating. I particularly like their extensive data base of what others have added so it’s usually quick to find and list it. If you’re making a home made thing that is not on the list, you can add the ingredients once and then save it so you can easily add it again by name and others can use it, too.
Exercise can also be added, plus how many glasses of water you’re drinking, plus note about eating or exercise. I keep the tab open on my computer so that I can add things during the day, or plan what I’m eating and then modify, if needed, BEFORE I make a mistake.
The scales and the app are both doing THEIR part – I just need to do mine…
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