Reflections of My Life

So far looks like a gray day but I see there is sunshine in the forecast. I love sunshine!

Every morning now before I turn on my computer I am reading a chapter of a book. Not listening to one but reading it either in my Kindle or a physical book. Right now I am reading a hardcover book I bought on eBay. I look for books on Amazon and then go to eBay and almost always find the same exact book for a lot less money. This one is Sometimes We Dance Alone by Edith McCall. She writes well.

I find my writing skills are always better if I am currently reading. When I don't read for awhile, not so much. I have an English grammar workbook that I am working in also. I tell myself that I am never to old to improve myself. For some reason reading and writing have always been my favorite things to do. I am not a sports person so was never good at any of that.

After I have had my coffee and done a few household chores I will sit down and turn my audio book on and color. Usually just one chapter a day. I do not want to devote all my coloring time to listening to a book or watching a video. I like to use that time to draw into myself.........to think about what I want to do or what I have done. My goals or plans. Maybe figure out a problem. Then it will be time to do more household tasks. Usually my bunny boy's cage. I usually have interruptions through out my day with Sonny calling me several times daily or my friends or son at my door.
 

Not such a great day here. Jeff's NYSEG bill came and he has to pay $900.93 by May 10th. Like he has that kind of money. For a one bedroom apartment! So what I figured out with a little help from the NYSEG rep (who I could barely understand) is when you are on the budget billing thing at the end of the year there will be a lump sum to be paid. Not covered in the monthly payment. So every month he had a payment of $73.95 and that was what I paid. A couple of months he had 0 to pay (due to the HEAP payment). I thought that was great but I would have rather paid on the budget billing thing so it would not accumulate at the end.

Now I would have just said stop the budget billing and we will pay the monthly bill whatever it is. But they had to divide the bill into 10 payments and add it to his new budget bill. So it is a big bill but not as big as $900.93. This is one of those times when I think how great it was living without NYSEG.

I get more HEAP than Jeff does because I get less SS than he does. So I never have to pay the NYSEG bill. But I see a lot of people in NY are complaining about the increase in their bills. They are all really big increases. NYSEG says you just have to pay it there is nothing they can do. It is due to get another increase in May too.
 

Today I am looking forward to a positive day. Not worrying about Jeff's NYSEG bill. I will take care of it somehow.

I suffer from a few different phobias.........phone phobia is one of them. I have always hated making telephone calls. Can you believe I worked as a receptionist, as well as telephone rep in a busy call center? Yes, I did. I was good at those jobs. Often I put off making calls I need to make. Today I am doing one of them for sure. Calling UHC to arrange getting an aide to help me. My doctor wrote an order for an aide to assist me so I better get the ball rolling. That will be a priority today.

I still have money left on the UHC card so need to do a grocery order. I know a lot of people are not happy with UHC but I have not had any problem with them. Maybe because I have Medicaid also and what UHC won't pay they pay. Same with food stamps. As of right now, I can still buy Zevia soda with them but UHC won't pay for any soda. Even if it has no sugar or dyes in it.

Soon I can remove the black out curtains. I can't wait. They keep it dark in here because they push against the blinds and the blinds don't work very well. I have to straighten each blind individually. Sonny used his air conditioner yesterday at his house. So maybe it is time to get mine ready. That is the advantage of keeping your air conditioner in your window through out the winter. Don't have to put my name on a list to get it put in and wait...........and wait some more.
 
Not even two o'clock and I did a bunch of things. Proud of myself for getting started early today. I did three loads of laundry and it is all put away. Got my grocery delivery around 11:30. Cleaned my bunnyboy's cage. Took the black out curtains and rods down and put away till fall. Cleaned off the windowsill and the air conditioner. Moved the furniture around a little bit. Now the air conditioner is running and I am eating black licorice keto ice cream. Nice and cool in here! Oh yeah, I walked out to the dumpster before I did anything else. Had to scope out the laundry room.........I had it to myself all morning!
 
Rabbit and I are having a nice quiet morning so far. The window is open and he moved closer to it and stretched out. Just listening. Mostly the sounds of a truck being unloaded at Nina's (an Italian restaurant nearby). I must say after taking the black out curtains down and cleaning the windowsill my mood has certainly lifted. What a difference it made!

Getting ready to make more keto meal replacement shakes for ice cream. I will also be picking through the new package of spring mix for Rabbit. I have to remove all the leaves that he doesn't eat........spinach & beet greens. Sometimes they pack them in there to make the weight, I think. I try to do that as soon as I get a new package. It is pain to pick through it when I need to feed him. Otherwise I can just grab a couple handfuls when I feed him.

I am still on the fence about throwing away all of my houseplants. I only have five left. Would keep the aloe so not including that one. The others I have just gotten tired of taking care of. I suppose my gardening years are behind me. As soon as I said that I notice the African Violet has blossomed. It blossoms all year round here. When I had it at my house it would be so cold during the night that I always thought I was going to lose it. It is the one my Daddy had at his house and took it home when he died. I have started watering only 2 on the same day. Then do the other 2 on another day. Makes it easier.
 
katlupe said:
Rabbit and I are having a nice quiet morning so far. The window is open and he moved closer to it and stretched out. Just listening. Mostly the sounds of a truck being unloaded at Nina's (an Italian restaurant nearby). I must say after taking the black out curtains down and cleaning the windowsill my mood has certainly lifted. What a difference it made!

Getting ready to make more keto meal replacement shakes for ice cream. I will also be picking through the new package of spring mix for Rabbit. I have to remove all the leaves that he doesn't eat........spinach & beet greens. Sometimes they pack them in there to make the weight, I think. I try to do that as soon as I get a new package. It is pain to pick through it when I need to feed him. Otherwise I can just grab a couple handfuls when I feed him.

I am still on the fence about throwing away all of my houseplants. I only have five left. Would keep the aloe so not including that one. The others I have just gotten tired of taking care of. I suppose my gardening years are behind me. As soon as I said that I notice the African Violet has blossomed. It blossoms all year round here. When I had it at my house it would be so cold during the night that I always thought I was going to lose it. It is the one my Daddy had at his house and took it home when he died. I have started watering only 2 on the same day. Then do the other 2 on another day. Makes it easier.
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Maybe sit your plants curbside with a "free" sign? I have picked up a few myself. :)
 
I had an unexpected surprise today. The maintenance man, Randy asked if it would be okay with me for him to put in my new kitchen faucet. Yes, yes, yes! It is and is all done now. But first, I had to empty out my cupboards under the sink. So said he would be back in an hour. I put everything on the counter and it was a huge mess. After he installed it and I went through everything on the counter and put away in the cupboard. Now it is all done. New faucet works great!

The bad part is now my knees are hurting bad. So I will not be doing much. Writing a new blog post and have some photos to edit. I will be okay later and will be able to clean Rabbit's cage then.
 
Last night my shoulders started hurting real bad. Both, so I know it is from working on the cupboards. The thing was I had to work fast. Empty them out quickly so Randy could install the faucet. I don't do fast very well anymore. The good news about that is my cupboards under the sink has been on my list forever. To clean out and organize. Now they are.

The best news though is that I have a new faucet! It is not anything fancy. Probably the cheapest one available. But it has way better pressure and I don't know how it affects it but the water is coming out much hotter. I used to turn on the faucet and sit back down waiting for it to get hot. It still wasn't as hot as I like for washing dishes. I thought it had to do with the water heater. Nope it was the faucet.
 
Some days here, I can go my whole day without seeing or talking to anyone. Other days, I see many people and talk to all of them. Yesterday I had someone knocking at my door every time I turned around. Not that I mind. But every single time I sat down to eat I was interrupted. Also at 9:00 PM, I was all set to fall asleep when my son was at my door. I hadn't seen him in two days so was happy to see him anyway regardless of the time.

One thing about being computer savvy is that everyone who lives here thinks I am smart! Everyone comes to me with some kind of problem that I can easily find the answer to searching online. I am clueless about doing much on the phone but I can find the directions (on my computer) for them to do it on their phones. So I print out the directions for them and send them on their way. It is good for them to actually do it themselves. Or they would be coming to me to do it over and over.

The manager was going to help the tenants here to set up their Social Security accounts online and show them how to access them on their phones (because only a handful have computers). I think 6 people have actual computers (including my son). Of course she did not show up for that meeting. It is because now they have to have the latest SS benefit amount from your SS account. I always have printed out mine from my account the day I have the meeting with the manager to re-certify. Like you get an extra increase in the middle of the year. Maybe some people do but I never have.

Honestly though, I find most of them are not motivated to learn how to do things using the computer or even on their phones. Instead of walking around complaining about being bored, they could be learning how to go online (or cleaning their apartments). I am never bored. Always find things to interest me online. Right now I am into the early years of our country being formed and can't get enough of it.
 
I am having a keto ice cream break (caramel pumpkin! Mmmmm.....) at the moment. I worked for over two hours doing an extreme cleaning of Rabbit's cage and area. I made it smaller. He is having trouble getting to the cage,,,,,,and litter box. So I think I have fixed it so the cage door is not so far away. It was a lot of bending down and standing. I have a chair nearby so I can sit down during the process.

The only problem I can see with this set up is that now I cannot see the cage from where I sit at my computer. Nor when I am at the sink washing dishes. Probably at the recliner too. Not that he spends much time in it anymore. I just want it to be comfortable for him so it doesn't matter if I can see it or not. It is his safety net so I will never get rid of the cage. He is never locked in it.
 
I wrote out a long list of things I want or need to do. I won't be doing the strenuous ones. Yesterday cleaning Rabbit's bedroom knocked me out. Body aches in places I never heard of before. It was worth it because I like the look of the change I made. Today I will mostly work sitting at the computer table. Need to write two more blog post to publish this week. My goal is now two a week. I used to do one a day but not lately. I am lucky if I get a few done in a year.

Definitely making another batch of keto replacement shakes to put in the freezer for ice cream. That is the only way I get enough protein and fat for the day. A pleasant way to get it! Today I will be making pistachio, classic cake doughnut (first time trying that flavor) and blueberry.

My friend who I told you about, (who has dementia) her husband had an operation last week so their daughter came to stay with them. Her and her daughter stopped in for a short visit on Saturday. Her husband is home and doing good. The daughter will be staying until June. So that is good for them. I always wished one of the daughters would come for a visit. Out of three, this is the only who ever comes here.
 
katlupe said:
katlupe said:
I wrote out a long list of things I want or need to do. I won't be doing the strenuous ones. Yesterday cleaning Rabbit's bedroom knocked me out. Body aches in places I never heard of before. It was worth it because I like the look of the change I made. Today I will mostly work sitting at the computer table. Need to write two more blog post to publish this week. My goal is now two a week.
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