OK now it's two days to the move. I still have to line up more people to help and now the weather isn't cooperating. Yesterday was a wonderful day. Slightly overcast but there was some sun and it was warm. More of the snow/ice melted and that is nice. Today however it's only 7 degrees outside which is down from 11 degrees when I got up, the wind is blowing up a blue streak and it's snowing outside. That just started in the last hour. It was snowing a little when I got up but it stopped for over an hour and now it's really coming down. I was hoping it would be the big fluffy kind as it's supposed to be warmer later on today but now it's the powdery stuff that just blows all over the place. It's also very icy outside. I thought at first that I was seeing puddles outside so I stepped out the door and almost fell on my butt as I stepped on what I thought was a puddle of water.I It looks beautiful out there but looks can be deceiving. It's cold and nasty.
I worked for an hour this morning for my upstairs neighbor. It was just getting him rolled up on his side and making him feel comfortable and making him a cup of tea. Simple things that don't really take an hour but that's what I get paid to do what I do. I love working for him as he's a great guy and doesn't complain about the situation he's in. I don't think I could adapt to being in a wheel chair for the rest of my life like he has. He was in his mid 20's when he ended up there and is now in his 40's. I think it's been almost 18 years since that fateful day that he got thrown the wrong way wrestling and was paralyzed from the neck down. He has some mobility in one arm but not enough to really do anything for himself. He has no voluntary movement in most of his body but he can feel things. That must suck to be able to feel things but not be able to do anything about it. Again I don't think I could adapt to having to rely on others to take care of me the way he has. Thank goodness he has mostly family taking care of him. I consider him part of my family at this point and I think his family considers me part of their family as well. I love them all and they are real great to my neighbor.
I'm going out later today to do some errands and to get more boxes. I need at least 20 more in order to finish packing the rest of my stuff. At least that's my estimate. I may not need that many but it's better to be safe than sorry as far as the boxes go. I still have my room to pack, my sons room needs to be packed and so does the back hall closet and bathroom. So much to do and so little time left to do it.
The Salvation Army came yesterday and only took two pieces of the four that I wanted them to take. I have gotten rid of one of the things by taking it apart and putting it in the dumpster. It was OK but there was no way to tighten up the nuts to make the legs sturdy enough so the table wouldn't shake when you sat down at it. The other piece I'm going to see if it will fit in my bedroom at the new apartment and probably keep it as there was a lot of things that came out of it that I don't know where else to put. I don't want more boxes in the closet because I don't have a place for this stuff. I'm still undecided as to which room to put my hope chest in. I don't know if I want it in the living room or my bedroom. I guess it will depend on if I have the room in the bedroom or not. I just have to see on Saturday. I think the bedroom is smaller than what I have now so there may not be room for it. The closet on the other hand is HUGE and it's almost like having another room. I could put a twin bed in there for my youngest son to sleep on if I didn't have to have a lot of boxes in there.
This is enough for today. I have to see if my upstairs neighbor needs anything.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Three days
The count down has started and it's three days till the big move. I am both looking forward and not looking forward to this. It's a lot of work to pack up a house hold of a hoarder which I am. I collect all kinds of kitchen things plus food. I need to go through all the food that is packed when I'm unpacking and donate what is still good to the food pantry. I am a couponaholic and when I see good deals on things and have a coupon for it I'll buy it even if I don't need or use the product. I know for certain that I have hamburger and chicken helper that I'm never going to use so it's time to get rid of it. I also have a bunch of spices that are outdated that I need to get rid of and replace. I have a lot of the same spiced and they are all past the use by date so when I'm unpacking I'm going to throw them out and when I finally get to go grocery shopping I'll replace them. I won't need them right away so I will just pick up a few at a time of things that I use the most of.
My oldest son hasn't even started to pack what he has to pack in his room. Of course I'm guilty of that as well. I have run out of boxes at this point and hope that once I have the keys I can get boxed moved and unpacked so I can bring those boxed back over here to repack with other stuff. If I can get what is already packed in the kitchen and bring those boxes back I'm hoping that I can finish packing the kitchen. I know I'm going to have to run all the dishes through the dishwasher before I use them so they will be the last things that I do unpack. I don't like to use things that have been wrapped in newspaper .
Moving also involves calling people who may give you some sort of service like transportation, or in my case my home health aide, insurance and any postal delivery things to let them know of your new address. I have slowly been transferring thing to the new address but keep feeling like I'm missing things. I did put in a change of address to the post office but just yesterday I received from an old neighbor a piece of mail that not only came in my married name (which was changed 7 years ago) but came to my first address when I moved in here. That was 2 moves ago, over 4 years since I lived there. I have no idea why I get mail there when someone like AARP knows my new address and has for over 4 years. I know once I move I will be getting mail at my new address for someone that lived in this apartment last. No matter how many times I let the post office know that that person no longer lives here I still get his mail. I am going to get after the office to update their resident address list so hopefully I'll get all my mail when I move to the new apartment. I also have to go to the town hall and change my address with them so I can continue to vote.
There are just to many things to do and not enough time to do them in. Plus no matter where I write things down that I need to go the list keeps going missing. I must have written out 5 lists of people and places I need to change my address with and can't find a single one right now. I think I have gremlins that eat the lists at night when I'm sleeping. I only hope they are not eating them after midnight.
The cats are on edge as well. They know something is going on but don't know what. I can only hope that by moving them to the apartment the night before and letting them get used to the smell of the place overnight when I lock them in the bathroom the day of the move they won't be real stressed out. I only have one kennel to move them in so the big cat I'm going to carry as he doesn't squirm as much as the little one when taken outside. He's not going to be happy about being in a car for the short ride to the new apartment but I'm hoping he won't claw me up to badly. The little female will be kenneled as she hates to be held and given a chance she will run off because she's scared of every thing and any thing. I have the kennel out and open with their towels in it but they at this point have ignored it. I thought maybe the big cat would sleep in there or the little one would get in once in a while but neither one have paid any attention to it. I hope the little one doesn't fight me when I put her in it Friday.
Time to get dressed and finish cleaning off the furniture I'm donating to the Salvation Army. I have to empty my dresser and clean off the top of the table and buffet so when they come they can just take the stuff. Of course they will be here during the time that I'm supposed to be gone but the oldest kid is here to direct and make sure they get what they are here for and only that.
See you later.
My oldest son hasn't even started to pack what he has to pack in his room. Of course I'm guilty of that as well. I have run out of boxes at this point and hope that once I have the keys I can get boxed moved and unpacked so I can bring those boxed back over here to repack with other stuff. If I can get what is already packed in the kitchen and bring those boxes back I'm hoping that I can finish packing the kitchen. I know I'm going to have to run all the dishes through the dishwasher before I use them so they will be the last things that I do unpack. I don't like to use things that have been wrapped in newspaper .
Moving also involves calling people who may give you some sort of service like transportation, or in my case my home health aide, insurance and any postal delivery things to let them know of your new address. I have slowly been transferring thing to the new address but keep feeling like I'm missing things. I did put in a change of address to the post office but just yesterday I received from an old neighbor a piece of mail that not only came in my married name (which was changed 7 years ago) but came to my first address when I moved in here. That was 2 moves ago, over 4 years since I lived there. I have no idea why I get mail there when someone like AARP knows my new address and has for over 4 years. I know once I move I will be getting mail at my new address for someone that lived in this apartment last. No matter how many times I let the post office know that that person no longer lives here I still get his mail. I am going to get after the office to update their resident address list so hopefully I'll get all my mail when I move to the new apartment. I also have to go to the town hall and change my address with them so I can continue to vote.
There are just to many things to do and not enough time to do them in. Plus no matter where I write things down that I need to go the list keeps going missing. I must have written out 5 lists of people and places I need to change my address with and can't find a single one right now. I think I have gremlins that eat the lists at night when I'm sleeping. I only hope they are not eating them after midnight.
The cats are on edge as well. They know something is going on but don't know what. I can only hope that by moving them to the apartment the night before and letting them get used to the smell of the place overnight when I lock them in the bathroom the day of the move they won't be real stressed out. I only have one kennel to move them in so the big cat I'm going to carry as he doesn't squirm as much as the little one when taken outside. He's not going to be happy about being in a car for the short ride to the new apartment but I'm hoping he won't claw me up to badly. The little female will be kenneled as she hates to be held and given a chance she will run off because she's scared of every thing and any thing. I have the kennel out and open with their towels in it but they at this point have ignored it. I thought maybe the big cat would sleep in there or the little one would get in once in a while but neither one have paid any attention to it. I hope the little one doesn't fight me when I put her in it Friday.
Time to get dressed and finish cleaning off the furniture I'm donating to the Salvation Army. I have to empty my dresser and clean off the top of the table and buffet so when they come they can just take the stuff. Of course they will be here during the time that I'm supposed to be gone but the oldest kid is here to direct and make sure they get what they are here for and only that.
See you later.
Friday, March 7, 2014
It's Official
As of last Sunday it is official that my oldest son will be living full time with me when I move to the new apartment. Until his father called to talk to him (I had been telling him to call his dad for 2 weeks) everyone BUT his dad knew that he wanted to live with me full time. Now his dad knows as well. I'm glad his dad DID call to talk to him as he was going to sign a lease on Monday for a two bedroom apartment. Now he can get a one bedroom and save himself some money.
Of course this brings up a whole host of problems on it's own. How to pack all the stuff he has in a room that's almost twice the size of the one that he will have in the new apartment. He currently has a full size bed but has a queen size at his dads. He also has 2 dressers, a night stand, a bookcase and other assorted stuff in that room. The room he's moving into is kind of tiny with one wall that has the closet in it so that only leaves three walls to put stuff on. I have already decided to confiscate his bookcase as I have more books than I have space for. Time to go through the books to see what I can donate to the library. I did that before I moved to the last apartment and got rid of about 75 books at that time. Most of those were paperbacks that I had gotten when I worked for Barnes and Noble. Most of them had no front cover as they were the ones that didn't sell and were getting tossed. What a waste. They take the front cover off them to get the money from the publisher and throw away the rest of the book.
I have a call into the Salvation Army to come and pick up three big pieces of furniture I no longer have room for or want anymore. I have a hutch bottom, a Chiffarobe and the matching dresser with mirror. I won't be needing the dresser anymore as when I get my sons room set up with his stuff from his dads he won't need it anymore. That dresser has a matching night stand. I already have two pieces of furniture that I'm using as night stands but one of those can be brought out to the living room to be used as an end table. I also have this 3 drawer plastic thingy I use as a night stand right now that I'm going to use as a junk drawer in the living room. I'll put all the paperwork for the electronics in it and maybe the photo albums. That means I have to take all the junk out of it first but hey I haven't used that stuff in about 3 years so I don't think it will matter if I throw it away now.
I want to replace the futon that I'm using as a couch with a real couch but I don't have the money for that right now. I am going to replace the hutch with a bakers rack as soon as I find one online. I'm hoping that I can get it delivered before I move next weekend. Maybe I'll wait till I'm all moved to get it.
Well I hope everyone will pray that I can pull this move off and get into the apartment when I want to. If I don't come up with about $150.00 I won't be moving. Also the apartment has to pass inspection today so hope it does that. Last time I saw the apartment the electric didn't work and there wasn't a dishwasher in it. I plan on being there at noon to do the walk through to make sure it passes.
Enough for now. I'll write more later.
Of course this brings up a whole host of problems on it's own. How to pack all the stuff he has in a room that's almost twice the size of the one that he will have in the new apartment. He currently has a full size bed but has a queen size at his dads. He also has 2 dressers, a night stand, a bookcase and other assorted stuff in that room. The room he's moving into is kind of tiny with one wall that has the closet in it so that only leaves three walls to put stuff on. I have already decided to confiscate his bookcase as I have more books than I have space for. Time to go through the books to see what I can donate to the library. I did that before I moved to the last apartment and got rid of about 75 books at that time. Most of those were paperbacks that I had gotten when I worked for Barnes and Noble. Most of them had no front cover as they were the ones that didn't sell and were getting tossed. What a waste. They take the front cover off them to get the money from the publisher and throw away the rest of the book.
I have a call into the Salvation Army to come and pick up three big pieces of furniture I no longer have room for or want anymore. I have a hutch bottom, a Chiffarobe and the matching dresser with mirror. I won't be needing the dresser anymore as when I get my sons room set up with his stuff from his dads he won't need it anymore. That dresser has a matching night stand. I already have two pieces of furniture that I'm using as night stands but one of those can be brought out to the living room to be used as an end table. I also have this 3 drawer plastic thingy I use as a night stand right now that I'm going to use as a junk drawer in the living room. I'll put all the paperwork for the electronics in it and maybe the photo albums. That means I have to take all the junk out of it first but hey I haven't used that stuff in about 3 years so I don't think it will matter if I throw it away now.
I want to replace the futon that I'm using as a couch with a real couch but I don't have the money for that right now. I am going to replace the hutch with a bakers rack as soon as I find one online. I'm hoping that I can get it delivered before I move next weekend. Maybe I'll wait till I'm all moved to get it.
Well I hope everyone will pray that I can pull this move off and get into the apartment when I want to. If I don't come up with about $150.00 I won't be moving. Also the apartment has to pass inspection today so hope it does that. Last time I saw the apartment the electric didn't work and there wasn't a dishwasher in it. I plan on being there at noon to do the walk through to make sure it passes.
Enough for now. I'll write more later.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
An Afghan (part 2)
It's all done. All the trimming and weaving in of ends is finished and now it's ready to go to it's new home. I am going to try and add a picture of it here for all to see. I'm new at adding things to my posts but here goes.
Please excuse the mess on the left hand side of the photo's. It's all cloths that I haven't found a home for yet in my closet and dresser.
The cat on the bed is my big (and I mean REAL BIG) cat Dumkupf (aka Fat Boy)
I have a king size bed and this afghan is folded in half so I know it will be big enough to fit the queen size bed that the sister this is going to has. The cat on the other hand stays here with me.
Hope you like the pic's
The cat on the bed is my big (and I mean REAL BIG) cat Dumkupf (aka Fat Boy)
I have a king size bed and this afghan is folded in half so I know it will be big enough to fit the queen size bed that the sister this is going to has. The cat on the other hand stays here with me.
Hope you like the pic's
Monday, February 17, 2014
An afghan
My baby sister knows that I knit and crochet and had made afghans for other people so she asked me to make one for her. Well, she has a queen size bed but wants the afghan to be a king size. I had been planning on making one for sale anyway so I had a ton of granny squares made in a rainbow of colors so I started to sew them together. I ended up with 14 strips of 6 inch squares. For the past week I have been working my fingers to the bone putting this thing together and there has been consequences. I have one very upset cat because she can't sit in my lap when ever she wants to.
Today I can say I only have to weave in ends and cut off pieces of yarn and the afghan will be all done. It is BEAUTIFUL and will probably be made again when I have enough yarn to make all the squares again. It weights in somewhere in the 25 lb range and is very warm on my lap. It's hard to gather it all up in order to weave ends in but I'll be doing it the rest of tonight and probably most of tomorrow. My sister will be picking it up on Friday when she comes through to go to her works office. I'll be sad to see it walk out the door but happy that it's done. Then I can go back to making the knit baby blankets.
So far I have made 5 knitted baby blankets for my three nieces that have either recently had a baby or are still pregnant. Two have had their babies. One a boy so I made a blue blanket for him and the other a girl and she got a lavender one. The niece that is still pregnant doesn't want to know if she's having a girl or boy so I made her a very pretty light green blanket. I have also made two more blue blankets for my almost step-daughters who are both pregnant with boys and due this spring and early summer. They probably don't need the blankets to keep the babies warm right now but hopefully they will get use out of them in the coming winter. I am also making another lavender blanket for a woman at church who had her baby girl a few days before my niece in MD had her baby. I have making the blankets down to a science now and can make one in about 7 days, working on it when I get bored with FB and what's on the television. I also take it with me when I have appointments and before and after I work on it.
Now when I tell you that I make double knit blankets for babies I also have to tell you that I fell into the pattern quite by mistake. My mother was making one for a friends grand baby and I asked her how she did it. Well, she gave me a very brief description of how it is made and I took what she said and ran with it. I have made about 10 blankets for others including my little baby kitty. This, however, is the first time I have actually made one with baby yarn. It's totally different than working with worsted weight yarn. You need more stitches on the needle and the yarn has a tendency to separate while you're knitting with it. While I was making two of the blankets I dropped stitches which, with one, required me to take the whole thing out and start it over. The other one I was able to pick up the stitches I dropped and continue on. There are flaws if you look carefully but I may be the only one who can tell where they are because I know what to look for.
I am so happy that I still have the capacity to do both knitting and crocheting. When I started these projects I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to actually complete them. Every day that I can get a little bit more done on them I count that day as a win. So here's to winning more days
Today I can say I only have to weave in ends and cut off pieces of yarn and the afghan will be all done. It is BEAUTIFUL and will probably be made again when I have enough yarn to make all the squares again. It weights in somewhere in the 25 lb range and is very warm on my lap. It's hard to gather it all up in order to weave ends in but I'll be doing it the rest of tonight and probably most of tomorrow. My sister will be picking it up on Friday when she comes through to go to her works office. I'll be sad to see it walk out the door but happy that it's done. Then I can go back to making the knit baby blankets.
So far I have made 5 knitted baby blankets for my three nieces that have either recently had a baby or are still pregnant. Two have had their babies. One a boy so I made a blue blanket for him and the other a girl and she got a lavender one. The niece that is still pregnant doesn't want to know if she's having a girl or boy so I made her a very pretty light green blanket. I have also made two more blue blankets for my almost step-daughters who are both pregnant with boys and due this spring and early summer. They probably don't need the blankets to keep the babies warm right now but hopefully they will get use out of them in the coming winter. I am also making another lavender blanket for a woman at church who had her baby girl a few days before my niece in MD had her baby. I have making the blankets down to a science now and can make one in about 7 days, working on it when I get bored with FB and what's on the television. I also take it with me when I have appointments and before and after I work on it.
Now when I tell you that I make double knit blankets for babies I also have to tell you that I fell into the pattern quite by mistake. My mother was making one for a friends grand baby and I asked her how she did it. Well, she gave me a very brief description of how it is made and I took what she said and ran with it. I have made about 10 blankets for others including my little baby kitty. This, however, is the first time I have actually made one with baby yarn. It's totally different than working with worsted weight yarn. You need more stitches on the needle and the yarn has a tendency to separate while you're knitting with it. While I was making two of the blankets I dropped stitches which, with one, required me to take the whole thing out and start it over. The other one I was able to pick up the stitches I dropped and continue on. There are flaws if you look carefully but I may be the only one who can tell where they are because I know what to look for.
I am so happy that I still have the capacity to do both knitting and crocheting. When I started these projects I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to actually complete them. Every day that I can get a little bit more done on them I count that day as a win. So here's to winning more days
Friday, January 31, 2014
Winter
This is my second winter in this apartment and it was worse this year than last year. Not as many problems with snow coming in, it's just been the constant cold that has me wishing I decided to move earlier.
I am moving. It was supposed to happen tomorrow but now it looks like it won't happen till March 1st. That means another 28 days of freezing my ass off on this cold (no make that freezing)slab with all the freezing air coming in around my only door. The new apartment is slightly bigger, well the bathroom is HUGE, and it has a deck, which means I'll be able to hang the hummingbird feeders up. I also won't see or hear a lot of kids because it's on the back side of the building facing the woods. I'll have sun ALL day coming in all 3 windows that I'll have and now I have a sliding glass door leading out to the deck. I'm on the first floor but if I go out the door right out side the apartment I won't have to climb any stairs which is better for me. I have a view of the parking lot out of my bedroom window and a HUGE walk in closet in that bedroom. In a lot of ways it's like the first apartment I was in except it's a two bedroom instead of just a one bed room.
In case you haven't figured it out, it's been very cold here. So cold in fact that the hot water coming from the boiler in the other end of the building gets cold before it gets to the apartment. I have been having problems getting enough hot water to take a shower or wash my hair. I'm trying to get in to shower this morning but so far no luck with getting hot water to come through. There is still hope that in a little bit the water will get hot so I can get in there. Sometimes first thing in the morning everyone uses up the hot water doing dishes, running the dishwasher and showering.
Today is also a payday. I'm getting some of my money orders to pay some of my bills. I'm not taking the whole check and blowing it all on frivolous things like I've done in the past. I won't have much left over after I pay these bills but at least some of them will get paid today instead of later in the month. I get my big check on Monday and will pay the rest of the bills and go shopping for taxables on that day. I'm trying to be more responsible and get things paid before I go off spending money on things I need instead of what I want first.
So today starts off the month of February for me. Even though it's still January on the calendar. I don't like when I get paid the way I'm getting paid this month. One check comes on Friday and the other comes on Monday. I wish they would just give me both checks on Monday but that's not how the system is set up. State and Federal can't get along enough to realize that it's hard on people to have to wait 3 days to get the bulk of their money in order to pay bills.
I am moving. It was supposed to happen tomorrow but now it looks like it won't happen till March 1st. That means another 28 days of freezing my ass off on this cold (no make that freezing)slab with all the freezing air coming in around my only door. The new apartment is slightly bigger, well the bathroom is HUGE, and it has a deck, which means I'll be able to hang the hummingbird feeders up. I also won't see or hear a lot of kids because it's on the back side of the building facing the woods. I'll have sun ALL day coming in all 3 windows that I'll have and now I have a sliding glass door leading out to the deck. I'm on the first floor but if I go out the door right out side the apartment I won't have to climb any stairs which is better for me. I have a view of the parking lot out of my bedroom window and a HUGE walk in closet in that bedroom. In a lot of ways it's like the first apartment I was in except it's a two bedroom instead of just a one bed room.
In case you haven't figured it out, it's been very cold here. So cold in fact that the hot water coming from the boiler in the other end of the building gets cold before it gets to the apartment. I have been having problems getting enough hot water to take a shower or wash my hair. I'm trying to get in to shower this morning but so far no luck with getting hot water to come through. There is still hope that in a little bit the water will get hot so I can get in there. Sometimes first thing in the morning everyone uses up the hot water doing dishes, running the dishwasher and showering.
Today is also a payday. I'm getting some of my money orders to pay some of my bills. I'm not taking the whole check and blowing it all on frivolous things like I've done in the past. I won't have much left over after I pay these bills but at least some of them will get paid today instead of later in the month. I get my big check on Monday and will pay the rest of the bills and go shopping for taxables on that day. I'm trying to be more responsible and get things paid before I go off spending money on things I need instead of what I want first.
So today starts off the month of February for me. Even though it's still January on the calendar. I don't like when I get paid the way I'm getting paid this month. One check comes on Friday and the other comes on Monday. I wish they would just give me both checks on Monday but that's not how the system is set up. State and Federal can't get along enough to realize that it's hard on people to have to wait 3 days to get the bulk of their money in order to pay bills.
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