I missed a few topics in my January edition of Miscellaneous Monday...so here's a bit of a catch up as well as some new random bits.
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My oldest is coming for a visit on the 15th for a few days. I haven't seen her since Christmas 2021, although we chat via text a lot along with her soul mate and her sister. She's been living the good life, mostly, since taking up residence in the Centennial State, and it'll be good to see her again.
Her birthday is at the beginning of March, so we'll probably do a small b-day celebration while she's here. (Note to self: better put cake mix on the grocery list.)
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We had a snow (ice) "week" last week. Everyone went home early on Monday, came in for a few hours early on Tuesday--for me to create and them to pick-up paychecks--before heading back home to work from home. Bad timing there, Mother Nature! And then worked from home Wednesday and half of Thursday, before returning to the office mid-day Thursday and all of Friday.
I used to be super excited about snow days, but when they go on for too long (what's too long? three days) then they muck up schedules and routines and aren't really worth it.
And also--the dogs, especially the little one, had a hard time navigating the ice rink that was our back yard. He just didn't have the weight to get any traction. Even Rayna's 50-ish pounds had a hard time with it.
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Speaking of Rayna, she's still alive and kicking around. Although in the couple of weeks, she's had some rough days, and I'm wondering if this is the beginning of the end. If you remember, she was diagnosed October 10th, and I thought we'd have had to put her down by now.
Rest assured, I'm always on the watch for her mental and physical well-being. I don't want to put her down prematurely, but I don't want her to suffer unnecessarily either. So we're being vigilant to her indications of "okay-ness" vs pain / miserableness. I don't believe she's quite there yet, but it may be looming. If you're a pet owner who's faced this kind of thing, you know what I'm talking about. The animal will tell you when it's time to go.
Most of the time she's back to sleeping on Sonshine's old bed that became Mom's bed, with a mattress upgrade from futon mattress to regular mattress. It's no doubt way more comfortable for her.
Now instead of having run of the kitchen and my home office while I'm at work, we've given her the run of the back of the house with access to that bedroom. It has a big window and faces south, so lots of bright light during the day to help keep her mentally peppy as well.
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In very belated news, Mom's house ended up not selling. Due to an issue of their own making (probably inadvertently, but nevertheless), the sellers were unable to come up with the full, agreed upon price. That was after they'd asked for two discounts. Which I had agreed to since I'd wanted to have that one major "thing" off my plate.
After realizing what they'd caused for themselves, they came back and asked for another drop in price. I just couldn't agree to that. It's cheaper for me to pay the bills for three or four months than to give up the amount of money they wanted me to.
But ugh.
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I'd fallen off the de-cluttering wagon... but I'm trying to climb back on. I think I just forgot, what with the busyness of the holidays, but I want to keep going, keep simplifying, keep reducing the number of things I have to clean or keep track of.
I've penciled into my chore chart twice a week that I have to go in search of something to give away or throw away. I have a list and I keep it updated. I'm at 50-ish items for this go-round, which started October 2nd.
The goal is 100 items out of my house by the end of the first quarter. :0)
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January was a tough month for me. As a business owner, there are all kinds of "end of year" things to do as well as "beginning of year" things to do. All of that on top regular monthly tasks. Add in the end of a fireworks season and the things that have to happen with that.
I was already pooped from the excitement and work of the holidays. And then there's me trying to wrangle plans for fresh start goals into submission as well as dealing with three fur babies, between whom I have to juggle time and attention.
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Remember my no-spend challenge? I have several events on the books that I want to fund in advance, so there's another chain of tasks I've penciled in -- listing stuff Facebook Marketplace and eventually eBay and then shipping or delivering said items.
FB Marketplace has not been kind to me this go round. I've successfully bought two dryers for cheap that I've been extremely pleased with, but my foray as a seller rather than a buyer has been frustrating.
First, they rejected my listing of mom's walker--that she never used--because it falls under the "medical device" umbrella despite the fact that it doesn't diagnose nor treat nor attempt to cure any sort of condition.
Then I got duped into a Zelle scam. Stupid me. But here...
And then people keep offering me less money for my stuff. If I were willing to take less money (right now), I would have asked for less money. Grrrr...
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Well, that's a decent list of randomness, wouldn't you say? I've revisited this post-in-progress several times hoping to remember any other bits and pieces I've wanted to share or document, but I'm tapped out for the time being.
Here's to a great week and a February as equally abundant as January. Take care.
