Done

I transferred holiday money to Em this morning and mailed the boys their checks yesterday.

Dropped off a letter for the lad who loves science, also yesterday.

This morning, stuffed, stamped and mailed holiday greetings to our shortened 20-address list.

Brought goodies to the writing group this past Wednesday.

Gave Ron his presents: the chart of human civilizations and nicely repaired clothing, including a long sleeved shirt, a jeans shirt-jack and a gorgeous Pendleton Black Watch plaid robe.

I don’t want to do any more for pagan winter worship ripoff holidays.

I started to feel tired late morning and slept until 12:15. Felt vaguely ill so cancelled and rescheduled the follow-up appointment with my doctor that was supposed to happen at 1. Felt better after Ron made soup and grilled cheese half sandwiches for us and after a couple more hours of rest.

No word yet from Greylock about their incomprehensible request to be first payee on…something.

Holiday cards drifting in one or two at a time.

Glad Then Mad

Met a terrific person this morning then ran into a couple of self-important fools this afternoon.

Did come home with a gorgeous orange diary-type notebook, though.

The credit union really screwed up with my loan application. Disorganized, incompetent. Stressed beyond all Hades.

I was able to set up meds for the next seven days, finish and print a holiday letter, print labels. Hope to get them mailed tomorrow.

Interesting Passenger

Yesterday I gave a ride to a man from Louisiana who is staying at the Green Valley Motel. He’s a construction worker, missed his bus.

He said he might go home for Christmas depending on his mother, who is Peter’s age. I said he could be my grandson. He likes Toyotas. We shook hands and wished me well when we got to the motel, a gentlemanly courtesy I appreciate.

I brought home lunch from the Food Project along with loaves of bread. We won’t run out again for a while.

The Thames & Kosmos Physics Workshop arrived yesterday. I wrapped it with the last of old Christmas paper and bought a bow at Dollar General. Dropped it off at Wild Soul River. Wish I could be there when the young lad opens it.

Ron made a spice cake and it turned out perfectly!

Today I picked up groceries at the Food Pantry and Stop & Shop and attended the writers group. Picked up the last CSA share at Wild Soul River. Stopped by Remedy Hall to ask how I could contact the 12 yo who loves science.

Ron went to bed very early, at 7. He’d packed the truck for the transfer station but got there too late.

Treats

We’ve done without treats for a while so we brought home an apple crunch pie and vanilla bean ice cream along with other groceries today. Fortunately, we offset the bill with just shy of $40 in store coupons and specials. That almost covered the beer run at West’s!

Dropped off a DVD set to the library.

Changed the sheets.

Ordered a tray of holiday cookies to be picked up in Bennington on Saturday.

Another Ridiculous Day

I do feel that we are wasting our lives by not getting outside but it’s been bloody cold, in the teens when we woke up, and the sunroom and garage are almost as unpleasant as it is outside.

I made a chunky soup today out of delicata squash, ginger, garlic, thyme, onion, curry, carrots, bok choy, radishes (really), broth and a turnip. I hydrated and cooked soy curls for protein. We finished a salad from last week and almost wiped out the quiche from the other day.

Ron is watching Buffalo vs Detroit.

In between games, we tried once more to locate the decaying board that was pointed out to us the other day. We took down at four ceiling tiles, didn’t see a thing. Ron grumbled, I put back the tiles in spite of imagined “impediments”.

Will This Be The Day?

I’m hoping that Ron will cut a cube of wood to fill in the living room closet door.

Yesterday our neighbor the electrician installed a new box to replace the weird floating outlet. This sets us up for installation of a light in that closet at some future time.

I installed webbing and plaster to cover everything up. The closet is a mess, whoever created it did a horrible job, but at least it’ll be “tight to the weather” after Ron fixes the floor.

Heard from my favorite plumber in Schenectady. He’ll be in the area next Saturday and can check out the upstairs shower and floor situation. Hope he can help.

My credit union card was compromised so I had to get a new one. Unfortunately, only one bank officer was available yesterday, so I had to wait for one of the “born lucky” petites to finish before she could help me: irritating, but the bank manager took good care of me. I updated as many financial records I could think of, figuring the rest will let me know if they still have the old card on file.

I made eggs with spinach and old feta for Ron this morning. Used the rest of the spinach, eggs, onions, a little milk, new feta, parmesan and a frozen pie crust for a quiche. That and salad from a mix we got from the Food Project was lunch.

Well, Ron couldn’t manage to cut a cube the right size to fit into the chunk missing from the living room closet door, so he did the next best thing, stashed a bunch of small pieces of wood to fill in the hole. It would be very difficult if not impossible for a mouse to squeeze through it.

Peter’s 55th

It’s not a milestone exactly but 55 is still an age to celebrate. I hope someone does something nice for him today.

Yesterday I went to the writers group meeting and met two new people. I was thinking about driving to the North Adams Library for a reading but the driving was bad: dark, rain and the streets were flooding.

I also made a quick trip to the bank and dropped off the payment for the tailors.

Today we met with a company that installs stall showers. Price is gigantic, I paid around that for my first house some forty years ago.

We dropped off the latest oil company receipt to the Salvation Army. The major was in so we got to exchange greetings.

Afterwards we picked up excellent lunches and groceries at the Food Project.

I finished mudding the coat closet yesterday and after a small amount of sanding and vacuuming, put back the coats and put away construction materials before the visit from the shower person today. Nice to have the living room somewhat back to normal.

Truck

The truck got a new muffler, differential pinion seal and rear spring plates and u-bolts.

This was all a surprise. Ron thought it was a good idea to invest in repairs/replacements.

I wanted to get the truck home and in the garage before the rain so Ron drove us to the shop around 5:15 last night.

The garage roof repair seems to have fixed the leaking problem. At least that part of the floor is dry for the first time since we moved in.

The snow is gone for now.

Scream

I had a nice afternoon yesterday, visited a pottery workshop and met some nice people, got a fine house gift for Betsy and David when Ron visits them again.

This morning I have been screaming.

Brought the truck in for what I thought was an estimate. Turns out the shop went ahead and ordered the part. Before I realized what was going on, they’d taken out the muffler assembly.

The shop manager had attempted to enter the waiting room to talk to me but was accosted at the door by an entitled older woman who had tried to enter the work area. Her purpose? To ask for windshield wiper replacements.

I was beyond furious, trying to process an unexpected $500-plus expense while already upset with Ron for not caring enough to drive to the shop in the car so I’d have a lift home.

I hate people.

Talked with the manager a couple of hours later. Turns out the truck needs a differential, shocks and the muffler assembly: $1,400. $500 looked good in retrospect.

I went to Dollar General for thyme and toilet cleaner. Stopped at the credit union, always a pleasant stop.

Ron is working on three sisters soup. I’m sure it will be good. The squash smells fabulous.

I am hurting. Did a tiny bit of shoveling yesterday and a bit more today, but that shouldn’t be enough to bother. Rain predicted for later. Thank goodness.