Gospel Doctrine Lessons

in case you haven't seen it, the blogspot page for the lessons I've taught are here:

http://genealotechgd.blogspot.com

Manger of Gifts

I'm so tired of the commercial junk that has invaded Christmas.

Instead, I've created a manger of goals.

It''s a basket with garland wrapped around it with little wrapped gifts of goals I've made for myself, to make me better fit for Jesus.  In my mind, that is the greatest gift I could give.

The gifts:

Personal Prayer

Scripture Study

Temple Attendance

Tithing

Increase Fast Offerings

Pay off car loan

Pay off care credit

iOS 8.1.1

If you have been struggling like I have with app crashes and other assorted craziness, there is a new update for iPad 2 and iPhone 4.  

So far so good, it looks like things are working as they should!  Even the ability to copy and paste has returned!  

Thank you, Apple!

Scary

I know, I know, I shouldn't listen to people who use swear words, but I do have to hand it to John Oliver, his logic is spot on.

I'm off for Thanksgiving, so I've been perusing YouTube and came across segments from John Oliver's show.

One of the things that really stopped me was the segment on civil forfeiture.

Have you ever heard of it?  I hadn't, but the more I looked into it, the less I liked it.

Did you know that the police can seize your possessions and not give them back?  It's a little known process called civil forfeiture and it is perfectly legal according to the Supreme Court.

Articles and Resources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/

http://www.ij.org/arizona-s-profit-incentive-in-civil-forfeiture

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2010/04/05/20100405keller06.html

https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/civil-asset-forfeiture

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/12/taken

http://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-ruling-on-civil-forfeiture-2014-11

The Day Before

The day before Thanksgiving...

Picked up muffins I had ordered at Wildflower Bakery.

Stopped at Discount Tire to have air put in the tires - the light was on showing they were low.  One was down to 20, however it was 1 1/2 hour wait time to have it checked, so I declined and decided I would take it in on Friday to have it checked instead.

Drove to north Scottsdale to the Costco, not just to gas up the car, but to also run it through their drive through car wash.  My car was filthy with dust and bird droppings and really needed the bath.  It looks so pretty now!

Drove home and ran 5 loads of laundry.

During the laundry, I took out 2 bags of garbage.

I also shopped at Wal-Mart to pick up groceries.  To my great astonishment the store was well stocked (apart from the missing items for Thanksgiving - cards, gift bags and such - and the lines were short.  They had a lot of cashiers working when I was there.

Put together the muffins with cards I already had from years past to give to the sisters I visit teach and my companion.

Went visiting teaching and dropped off muffins and cards, drove companion home.

Ate dinner and ran a load of dishes in the dishwasher in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner.

Not bad for today, I still have more laundry to do (it didn't get done last weekend so I am way behind) and to get things cleaned around the house and recycling taken out for Mom to come over for Thanksgiving dinner.

Grateful

This has been a crazy day, with my day ending with my car key ripping a hole in the pocket of my jeans.  I'll take it, though, I was protected by a young man who almost t-boned my car this morning.

New Halloween Tradition

Mom and I have developed a new tradition:  We sit outside on the driveway in front of the house, I bring a tv tray and, using my iPad, the two of us watch a movie while handing out candy and visiting with neighbors.  It makes for a wonderful evening.

Last night the movie of choice was The Ghost and Mr. Chicken starring Don Knotts.





Last year it was a spookier movie, The Lady In White.




Now the question begs, what should next year be?

DIY

I just switched out my first deadbolt!

Update 10-28-14

Just a brief update. The picture above was taken at the JC Penny salon where I have my hair cut. I had not been there since March (6 months) and my stylist took around 4 inches of hair off in most places. There was enough left on the floor to form a nice sized mustache.

 Later, after grocery shopping, I went to my dental appointment for the last of this latest round of visits. This was to put the last two permanent crowns in my mouth. I'm hoping I won't have to go back until at least next March (Spring Break), as I do need to get some more work done on my teeth, but I need to pay down the debt that this emergency created.

I'm planning on going to the Temple tomorrow and will try to get a few pictures while I'm there.

Vacation!

It's been over six months since Spring Break and around four years since I last took a week off of work.  Let me put it this way, the last time I took a full week off of work, it was having surgery to remove my ovary.  Yep, it's been that long.  Partly because taking time off at a school doesn't work very well with getting the job done.  The other part is that I simply can't afford any kind of vacation trip.

I'm taking a week off to get caught up with things at home, but also to try to recharge my batteries.  In short:  I'm burned out.

From work.

From caregiving.

From trying to squeeze time to run a load of dishes between work, Mom and Church.

Don't get me wrong, I love what I do at work, I love my Mother, I love Church.  It's just been too much with nothing getting done at home.

So, I'm taking a staycation, of sorts.

I'll be taking Mom to appointments she has made this coming week, I'll be taking care of appointments that have been long neglected for myself, and trying to find time to go to the Temple and do some writing.

Maybe take Mom out for a ride in the car, just to get away from things for a few hours.

We'll see what this coming week holds, but I'm praying for strength, patience and a little more serenity in my life.

Dinner!

I haven't made this since Decker passed away.

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

Water

1 can Corn

Rice - add to desired density

Optional:  Cheese

iOS 8.1

A big improvement, but not fully there yet.

See if you can spot what is wrong:

The Haves and The Have Nots

Last night I found out why Elder Holland was inspired to give his talk from this past General Conference.

After a 9 hour shift and a 1 hour drive in rush hour traffic, I went to a retail establishment up the street from the Gilbert Temple.  It is an establishment that is not only run by people who are members of The Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is an establishment that has contracts with the Church regarding the sale of items being sold through the Church's Distribution Center.

I went to this store because it's hours worked better for me than trying to go to a location by the Mesa Temple, but also because I hadn't seen the store yet and wanted to see how it looked.

The store is very big, and very beautiful.  There are "zones" created for specific products or genre of items.  The area for the Church's Distribution area was also very lovely, however it didn't have the items I was looking for - the Check Registers for the Family Finance Class I'm taking in my Ward.  I wanted some extras that would get me through a full year.

Aftter some roaming the store, I found them - in the back of the store behind a wall where most people would not think to look for these items.  

As I walked into and around the store, there were people who were obviously either on their way or had just left the Gilbert Temple.  One couple was dressed casually.  All, however, looked me over with an expression of "who is this person and why are they here?"  It was definitely not an expression of welcome.

When I picked up the check registers, I was approached by one of the employees asking if I needed some help.  I indicated that no, I had just found what I was looking for.  As I continued browsing, however, I noticed he was watching me.

When I was ready to leave, I took my place in a line.  When I was at the head of the line, though, it was taking the cashier a very long time to take care of the customer they were handling.  Other employees (remember this was on a Friday night) saw me standing there, but no one wanted to come and help.  I did catch one employee's attention, who simply told me they were not on the clock and could not ring me up.  To their credit, after I had been standing there for more than 5 minutes, they finally found someone willing to handle my transaction and I left.

Needless to say, I don't think I'll be going back there again.  It's obvious that someone who doesn't "look the part" isn't welcome there.

Getting Back Into Couponing

When Decker was alive, we had some financial goals as a couple we had set before marriage.  One was to become financially independent.  With his death came a very deep depression that has taken years to work through, so a lot of things fell by the wayside, so to speak.  One of those was couponing.

I'm starting to get back into it, in an effort to handle money better, and make my money work for me, rather than the other way around.

So, I ended up at 3 stores last night:  Walgreens, Frys Foods and Wal-Mart.  Everything I bought at Walgreens and Frys either had coupons or store sales, Wal-Mart I didn't.  I don't have very many coupons at this point, so I need to get stocked up.

The tally:

Walgreens:

Spent:  $40.00 (after coupons)

Coupons:  $1.80

Store Coupons:  $5.00

Balance Reward Savings:  $4.74

Store Ad Savings:  $3.98

Total Saved:  $15.52

Fry's Foods:

Spent:  $39.14

Mfg Coupons:  $1.05

VIP Card Savings:  $4.82

Total Saved:  $5.87

Wal-Mart:

Spent:  $57.02

Keep in mind that a lot of what got spent at Wal-Mart was food for Rachel, and I didn't have any coupons for what I bought there.  Fry's and Walgreens I used both paper coupons and electronic coupons I loaded onto their cards in advance.  This took some time to go through and do.  Walgreens makes it a lot easier with their iPad app, although I haven't checked to see if Fry's has an app yet.  I'm also not sure about Wal-Mart, although I do know they have some sort of savings program.

The only item that will not be immediately used that I purchased was the ibuprofen from Walgreens.  Everything else was food or other items that will be getting used within the next few weeks.

Apple's Rotten Fruit

These last few weeks since I upgraded my iPad to iOS 8 has been challenging.  More challenging than I've had with any other upgrade.  This is definitely one piece of software that was not ready for prime time, but Apple released it on everyone anyway.  Microsoft was always notorious for doing this, but Apple?  Really?

1.  Sluggish iPad.  I now have to wait 5 - 10 minutes for changes made that reflect on the memory usage to actually show up.  This used to show immediately on iOS 7 and prior.  Last night I deleted a lot of trash out of my email and had to leave my iPad plugged in overnight for the memory to fully change it's reading.  Other things, such as pages loading on Safari also now take forever.

2.  Crashing apps.  Everything now crashes.  Some days are better than others, but it now takes 3 - 4 times to get into Facebook without it crashing - only to wait an additional 5 minutes for any data to actually load.  Third party software issues?  Not entirely.  Mail crashes constantly, as does Safari and those are both from Apple.

3.  Dark screen setting.  On iBooks.  A great idea, as well as that Accessibiltiy trick of clicking 3 times to have any of your apps change to the dark screen.  Unfortunately, my iBooks decided to go into permanent dark screen setting.  Clicking 3 times doesn't work due to issue #1 above.  It finally fixed itself when I plugged the iPad in and synched it with my MacBook Pro.  Whyy did I need to do that?  Well...

4.  Disappearing data.  Thankfully I backed up everything onto my Mac computer before upgrading anything.  Initially, I lost pages of writing on my Pages app.  I lost my financial spreadsheets on Numbers, and Keynote wasn't registering anything.  So I let it sit for a while and guess what?  It finally reappeared!  Which is more than I can say for the books in my Purchased page in iBooks.  It only shows a fraction of the books I've purchased.  Thankfully it is showing on the iBooks app on my Mac, so I was able to synch the ones I wanted back on my iPad.

5.  Getting Trapped in Trash.  I'm not kidding.  I accidentally deleted an email I wanted to keep, so I went to the trash to move it back to the Inbox.  That worked, except that when I went to leave the Trash can, the little "I'm thinking" spinning wheel just spinned.  It never let me out.  I clicked out and opened another app then went back, still in Trash with the spinning wheel.  

I finally gave up and started looking online, but I couldn't find anyone else posting about this issue, so I posed the question on the Apple Forum.  Thankfully a very nice person responded within a few hours suggesting that I double click the Home button and then drag the app upward to close it completely.  Thankfully that worked without having to do a hard reset on the machine.

6.  Getting your memory back.  I looked at my Usage and found I had 2 GB being used in Mail.  Why?  Apparently those photos I sent to my sister were still in the Sent Items box.  I went through and trashed everything, then emptied the Trash.  It still didn't work, I still showed 2 GB of Mail.  I went through ALL folders and deleted everything.  I got frustrated so I walked away from it for a little while.  When I came back, I noticed that the Mail had gone down to 1.8 GB.  I left it again for a while, and it went down more when I came back.  Then I realized it was suffering from Issue #1 above and left it plugged in overnight.  Thankfully, I now have the 2 GB of space back.

7.  Bluetooth no longer works properly.  I use a Logitech keyboard with my iPad for a lot of my major typing projects (like this blog).  It used to be I could turn it on and the Bluetooth on the iPad immediately registered it.  Not anymore.  If I haven't used the keyboard (or anything else requiring Bluetooth) in a few hours, I have to go into my Settings, turn off the Bluetooth entirely, give it a few seconds, then turn it back on, before my keyboard pairs with the iPad again.

My complaint is this:  there is talk that Apple is going to announce new iPads soon, when are they going to fix the software for those of us who are happy with the iPads we already have?  Also, why did they release a major OS that was obviously so flawed?

Catching Up

I've just finished updating my Quicken software with transactions up to October 1st for the checking account.  Tomorrow night I will work on the credit cards, which shouldn't take long as there is not much on them.

This is in anticipation of the second of a series of classes in personal finance.  I need to show how I've been spending my money for the last few months.  I figure I may as well get it done for the year, that will be a lot less work to do at tax time.

I also got the couch and dining room table cleared off.  Nice!

Exhausted

After a very stressful 60 hour work week this last week, I've also been dealing with a medical scare from Mom, asthma issues and other assorted crazy stuff life throws at you.  Particularly from people who seem to think I have nothing to do once I'm home, after all, I have no kids and a dead husband, right?

My home looks like it's been hit by a tornado, so I'm slowly getting things done.  After taking care of Mom yesterday (she's doing much better and will not be requiring a trip to the ER), I took 2 bags of recycling to her home's recycling bins.  Later I took two boxes filled with cardboard boxes over to the recycling area that has large bins to handle this.  I finally got the clean dishes (what few were left) out of the dishwasher to run another load last night after the sun went down.

So far today I've taken out two bags of trash, I've already re-filled up one of my boxes with cardboard to go to recycling and I'm starting to get the rest of the recycling and trash dumped into the cans where they belong in.

I still haven't even touched the suitcase since came home 2 - 3 weeks ago.

This coming week is expected to be another crazy one, so I'm going to need to prepare early for the Sunday School lesson.  Did I mention on here yet that I have a new calling?  I'm now a Gospel Doctrine Teacher for Sunday School (the grown up class).

Well, that's about it for the ranting.  Have a great week, everyone!

Living Out of A Suitcase For Three Weeks

You haven't heard from me in a while, and there is a reason for it.  I've been living out of a suitcase for three weeks, and in a sense, "roughing it".

The reason?  Mom had cataract surgery #1.  Surgery #2 is coming soon, so I'm not out of the woods yet, but I wanted to go over some of the things I did to turn my little corner of the world a little more hospitable.

I tried to go it on an overnight bag, but I found that I was always running home for something that either I forgot or didn't fit.  So, suitcase it was.  I didn't buy a new one (although I will most likely be needing one fairly soon), I used one I've had since the 1990's when I travelled for work.

The other thing I did was to separate things into zones, not only with the suitcase, but also with the extra bags I brought.

This is the mess that is now on my couch, with the suitcase underneath.  The plastic bin has extra writing utincils, a bag for mail, a bag for the doctor's, a bag for extra food I wanted to have on hand, the Harry Potter bag for my A/V equipment.

Inside the suitcase I kept a few extra things, including a travel sized first aid kit.  You never know when you will need it.

Inside the suitcase, I kept some additional items, mostly from Eagle Creek, as I love their cubes and pack-it system.

This big bag I used for my undergarments and socks, however I'm going to look into a travel sized towel and wash cloth to put in there, and move the undergarments and socks to the middle one.  The small bag on the left I actually keep in my desk drawer at work - an extra toothbrush and toothpaste.

I used two of the big cubes, one still has an extra set of clothes in it, the other I used for the towel and washcloth.  I love that it has a separate side for the dirty and wet clothes, it came in very handy.

I bought and used the extra large pack-it envelope for my work clothes.  I found that I could fit three complete sets of work shirts and coordinating pants in this (size 2X), and it held extremely well.  

This is actually from Staples, but it was perfect for my feminine products.

I like things to be separated, so I bought a three pocket toiletry bag.  In one pocket I used for the pocket shampoos, the other side held my Q-tips, and the middle I kept an extra brush, lotion and deodorant.  I do have an extra large Wallaby from Eagle Creek, which I've used for years (it's in the pre-9/11 size), but I didn't find that I needed it that much on this trip.

A rule for traveling, always keep a flashlight of some sort in your suitcase.  Again, you never know when you will need it.

The other necessity?  Wet Ones wipes, in the individual packaging.  One other bit of advice is to pack a fragrant bar of soap.  Even if you don't use it, it will keep the clothes in the suitcase smelling nice.

I do have to say, though, that this was my biggest saving grace.  This is a portable drive from Seagate that comes with it's own wi-fi.  This model I've had for a few years, and I don't believe it's made anymore, but they do have some newer and improved models of what this does.  By the way, this didn't come with a case, so I'm using a case I purchased at Wal-Mart that is used by school students for their pencils, erasers, markers, etc.

This enables you to move data (documents, audio, movies) to and from this device to your iPad or iPod touch.  This model is 500 GB, so I was able to put a lot of videos on here and stream them to my iPad.  It has a roughly 50-100 foot range, so I had this plugged in on the charger and turned on in the living room while I streamed from it in the bedroom.

The reason is that Mom tends to watch a lot of Fox News, all day, every day.  After I've heard the same stories for the third time, I needed a break.  It was just easier on both of us if I took my iPad to the bedroom, plugged in my ear buds and watched something that was a little more relaxing after a long day at work.  Also keep in mind that Mom does not have the internet.  Cable tv yes, internet no.

Mom also likes to watch tv until around 3 a.m.  I get up at 5 a.m., so you know how well that was working out for me.  In that case, I would use my iPod Touch (I would have the iPad plugged in and charging by this time), plugged in my ear buds and listened to Harry Potter audiobooks until I was ready to go to sleep.  I have books 1-5 purchased, at some point I'll get the last two.

This helped me tremendously, as I was starting to suffer from sleep deprivation after week two, with Fox News boring into my head while I was trying to sleep.

Many, many thank you's to Joanne Rowling for providing me a different world to escape to at the end of the day.

It's That Time of Year Again

After 1 1/2 days, I'm thankful taxes are done.  A few areas to clean up, and to get the finances in order to make it easier next year!

Pictures

I didn't post any pictures in the last post, so I took a few on my iPad to give you an idea of where things are at.

Here is a picture of the hanging shelves in my closet.  I got this kind over the cheaper ones for one reason:  the hangers at the top.  Because of the type of rod used in my closet (it's the older kind that hangs from under a shelf, which means those hanging from a basic rod wouldn't work), I needed a piece that would allow me to rotate the hooks.  And yes, I'm loving it.

The inside door to my closet uses over the door hooks for jackets I commonly use.

The front side of the closet door also has hooks.  These are hooks for wreaths that I bought at JoAnn's.  I like the deep hooks that allow for more things to be stored.  Right now they store my traveling bags, however as things change, so will what is stored on these hooks.

This is the outside door to my bathroom.  These are double hooks I bought at the Container store.  The top part holds my jackets...

...while underneath is a lightweight sweater and my makeup bag.  Yep, there's a bag for that, too, and yes, it is organized with smaller bags.  I keep it this way due to saving bathroom counter space and the ability to grab and go when I need to.

I bought one of these for my office, and, as you can see, I am also using more of the cable turtles and the Bambino cord wraps to keep my USB and electrical cables better organized.

There is, however, still a lot of work that needs to be done throughout the entire condo.

Well, there you have it!

Onward!

More Organization Accomplished!

I'm sorry, but there are no pictures with this post, I've been somewhat busy and just plain overwhelmed.

Do you remember all of the organization I did with my purse and the notebook?  I'm thankful I did those.  Mom fell in the back yard this past Thursday.  Thankfully, she didn't break anything (she landed in grass that needed to be mowed), but she is having more and more difficulty in getting back up.

I've bought her a cell phone and have rigged it with a case and a lanyard for her to wear when she is going outside anywhere.  The problem is, she is stubborn enough she might not wear it and end up in trouble again.

The bags and the notebook have come in handy, though, as I now have the records of meds and allergies and I know where my record is, because she has been moving her records from where she normally keeps them.

Today, after working this morning, I went back to the Container Store and picked up a few additional items, including a hanging set of shelves for the closet, which have come in very handy.  It snowballed to the point where the stuff I keep as a keepsake is now stored away, my winter sweatshirts are in dresser drawers and the hanging shelves now store my insulated underwear, insulated outer wear plus a little shelf for my winter gloves, scarves, etc.  It all now has a home instead of in a bag on the floor of my bedroom.

Progress!

Notebook Organization

I used to be one of those people who used a Frankln Planner (before it became Franklin/Covey), so I understand the importance of keeping a notebook for specific reasons.  I don't use a planner anymore for my day, I use the Calander and Home Routines apps on my iPad for that.

I use my Contacts app to keep down names (however I need to also keep track of birthdays there as well).

I've found, though, that with all of the people I come into contact with for various reasons, I need some way of keeping everyone straight.  And, as Mom's needs become more of my own needs, I need a way of keeping track of whom she sees for what.  So, I came up with what I call my Business Cards Notebook.

This was part of that shopping haul I did at Staples.  And yes, I had a plan when I went in and bought all of this stuff.  I have had to go back and get a few extra items once I started to put everything together, but I think I've pretty much got the finished product.

The first sections, when I open up the book has a pocket on the inside front cover that I am using for reminder notices of upcoming appointments.  Sometimes I will get these in the mail, and putting them here gives them a home.

I also have a pocket pouch that has some labels and Post-It notes.  This is to give me quick access to something to write on when I need to make a quick note of something.

I then used the plastic dividers from Avery that are supposed to be writeable - however I used my label maker to label the different "zones" of the business cards and information.

As you have probably guessed, a lot of the stuff in the Mom zone are to keep track of her doctors, as well as using the lined notebook paper to keep track of drug and food allergies and her medications.  These are critical things to have quick access to in emergencies.

I then have a few more of the card holders to have a place for gift cards:

I have more pockets behind these to store additional important items such as my immunization record, return address labels and stamps.  I also purchased a pack of the "zip lock" style protectors for my checkbook to keep everything from falling out.

There is a storage flap on the back cover, I will probably use that for receipts if I need to.  I also kept a few extra pages of paper, for additional notes as necessary.

I also found that Staples has an Adhesive Pen Holder, which only cost $1.99!  This I put on the front cover of the notebook.  I bought a spare in case this one gets lost or damaged.

I also have a separate filing system for any coupons I use for shopping:

Bag Lady

My friends who know me, know that I have somewhat of an obsession with bags.  I'm not into the frilly stuff, it has to be functional, so mostly what I have are tote bags.

My favorites in the past have been from Baggalini, I had a larger one that housed a change of clothes that I kept in the school.  Why?  Working with people, no matter the age, puts you into contact with body fluids.  Enough said.

I used a smaller one for everyday.  The problem was it was strictly a shoulder bag, which meant it was always flying into my face when I was trying to help Mom with something, and I could never get it to stay on my shoulders, even while walking through a grocery store.  This latest bout with bronchitis clinched it, I had a bunch of medications to haul with me wherever I went, and no space to put them in.  Plus, there was no space for my iPad, which I also take with me for reading, writing and sometimes just for my sanity while I am taking Mom to doctor's appointments.  There needed to be a change.

I thought a lot about what I wanted in a purse.

The first and foremost was that it had to be a cross-body strap.  It isn't going to fall all over the place while I'm taking care of Mom.

The second, it had to hold stuff.  Now this did mean that I had to change what I carried in my purse.  I scaled it down to the essentials so I could see how much storage space I would need.  This meant that it also had to be designed to carry an iPad.

There are a lot of great products out there, but the one I found for the best price came from REI.  It's called the Endolyne bag and is designed for a woman's body contours.  Plus, it had the storage I needed, with built in organization.

I would next need an overnight bag, something that was easy to carry, but had a lot of space and organization to it.  I love the Eagle Creek bags for the inventive use of storage, so I went with the Emersen bag from Eagle Creek.

I also have specific bags assigned for different purposes.  This Time Out For Women bag I use for Church.

The Harry Potter bag is one of my preferred tote bags, and I use it for when I have to carry electronics to Mom's home or to Church.

I have also included, inside this bag, an additional bag insert known as the in.bag to help organize some of the electronics. The round object I am using to store the HDMI cord is a Cord Turtle.  Both of these organizers can be found at The Container Store.

Be Careful of What and Where You Blog

Very interesting read:

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/21/technology/security/microsoft-email/index.html

More Baby Steps

Tonight I boxed up my writing supplies into one box, rather than it being scattered all over my home.  In the process, more of the table got cleared off, and my living room looks more of an inviting room and less of a dumping ground.

Onward!

Spring Break

Spring Break for me is now officially over, but it's been a great one!

The nightstand next to my bed has been reorganized, and space made for my journals, which freed up bookshelf space elsewhere for Church books.

The entertainment center has been cleared off and looks so much better!

The Windows laptop that was also accumulating stuff was cleared off and moved to the desk in the office that was also cleared off to make space for it.  Taxes this year will be a lot easier to get done!!

The couch was also cleared off, allowing me to be able to lay down while watching tv after having two root canals done on Friday.

The diningroom table is not completely cleared off, however a significant amount of stuff that belongs elsewhere has been put away.

The iCreate and other Mac magazines have been boxed up in the office, and some of the older and no longer used technology has also been boxed up, allowing me to better organize some of the initial "zones" in my office.  The next up will be gathering and boxing up my writing notebooks and other supplies into one spot, plus boxing up the computer books.

Eventually I will be dismantling the desk in the office and getting rid of it, it takes up too much space that is needed for CD/DVD/book storage, along with an area for me to put the tech stuff that isn't currently being used in the office.  Trust me, it will make sense.  I know what I want, it's just taking a little while to get there.  What will help in this endeavor will be getting my bookshelf and my platform bed moved here from Mom's.  It's the last of my furniture that did't get moved over before Decker died.

More Progress!

Rachel has found a new place to perch... due to some cleaning and organizing.l

Yesterday:

Cleared off bedroom end table, moved journals to shelf at the bottom of the end table.

The washer repairman came and replaced the timer that had gone out.

Costco - gassed up car and paid annual renewal fee.

Fasting bloodwork @ doctor's office.  This had to wait due to the amount of time I spent waiting for the repairman.

Denny's late breakfast treat.

REI - new purse.  I'll post about this later.

Laundry on my now working washer!  Yay!

Today was cleaning the entertainment center top, where Rachel found a place to perch.

Onward!

JC Penney Part 2

I guess I didn't make the 24 hour tech free day (supposed to be from sundown yesterday to sundown today).

I went to JC Penney today to get my hair cut and I wanted to make a few observations.

1.  I do like the new look of the store, although some of the flooring is still not completed.

2.  While waiting for my hair appointment, I noticed all of these wonderful gadgets to use on hair.  Then I looked out the doorway to where the luggage was.  Do you know what was missing?  Toiletry bags and envelopes to use for those gadgets that people use on their hair.  What are they supposed to use for that stuff once they have bought the pretty luggage?

3.  I went over to the purses.  They don't have any nice ones (I like pockets and lots of pockets) that also fit my iPad.  Something I can use daily.  I guess I'll have to go to the Container Store for that.  There was nothing in the luggage area for it, either.

4.  One major downer:  they got rid of the wi-fi at the salon.  For a while (when they had the forner Apple guy as CEO) they actually had wi-fi in the salons.  The new management has taken a step backwards and turned it off.  Apparently these guys have never had to wait for 45 minutes for the hair color to process, only to find you couldn't download a good book if you wanted to.

Progress

Tonight was recycling night, so after two trips to the recycling center, I am seeing some progress.

I already have load #3 ready for tomorrow night, and I've finally remembered to take a box of books I've been wanting to give to one of my co-workers down to my car tonight, so I can take it in to her at work tomorrow.  She's a sci-fi nut like Decker was, so hopefully she'll find something in the batch I've brought for her.  

These were all hardcovers, I have more in paperback to also give her if she wants them.  What she doesn't want I can take to Bookmans or Changing Hands Bookstore to sell.

Shopping Haul

Yes, I went shopping today.  I spent more than planned, which is not such a good thing, but it was stuff that was all needed (okay maybe Season 4 of Downton Abby is not considered a need, but it will be when I have oral surgery in a few weeks).

Costco:

Besides the bottled water and Vitamin water, I also got some more of my file boxes (they are also known as banker's boxes) and saw a wonderful item that I have been in need of to help keep up with the bills.

I'll give a picture tour later on to show how I use the storage boxes with my filing system.  The desk organizer will be very useful to use in my office, once I can get furniture moved in and get things better organized, plus get a new desk for the office.

Total bill:  $158

Staples

I love the deals that Staples and Office Max have every once in a while, the promo where if you can fit it in a bag, you get a percentage off.  Today was the last day of getting one of those deals with a 20% off coupon.

What I got:

A smaller Staples Better Binder, along with inserts to house business cards, some paper and some pockets.  This is going to be somewhat of a home binder, with the business cards coming from the various companies I use for repairs and maintenance.  I already have a large binder for emergency preparedness, however I need to get the vital records documentation sorted in that (such as Decker's death certificate, etc.).

Also, two packages of the expanding file pockets.  These I use in conjunction with the banker's boxes. I've used this system for years, I just got a little messy and not very good at keeping it up since Decker's death, so I need to get back into the groove of the system.

Total:  $44 after discounts.

99 Cent Only Store:

This was a store located next to Walmart.  I couldn't get into the Walmart parking lot and ended up parking at this store instead, so I thought I would check it out to see what it had.  I've been to discount stores before, this one is larger and has more items, including it's own grocery section.

I got:

2 packages of fortune cookies

1 package of almond cookies

Candy

Letter organizer for a desktop (to be used in the dining/entryway area of my home for outgoing letters and bills)

Air fresheners (the scent is hard to find at Walmart - they are usually out of stock)

2 packages of black ink pens

1 package of sticky post-it notes

1 Dish drying mat for my emergency supplies

Total:  $12