(Old) You Get A Gold Star In The MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

Just as reluctantly I have come to the same decision about my house. It’s only 145 years old but on a very limited Social Security income deeply strained by medical and dental and hearing aids and eyeglasses and pharmacy out of pocket expenses I can not keep ahead of even basic health and safety repairs, much less other upkeep or renovations.

My balance issues from the TBI combined with worsening arthritis in both knees means I need to get to one level small apt living sooner rather than after I fall yet again and really break something major like a hip. I already fall a couple of times a week in my house, I can’t be even trying to do laundry in the basement anymore.

Coming up with the momentum to actuate finding an affordable apt and sell thus unlovely albatross of a historic house? Aye, that’s the rub. I have all I can do to to get all my library books back to the library-higher level adulting seems to be out of my reach no matter how hard I try. Traumatic brain injuries are ugly, ugly things. They never stop taking.

On the 12th I’ll see my doc and we’re going to start osteopenia treatment in hopes of forestalling fractures from the falls I can only minimize not entirely prevent. By then all the biopsies should be back and something can be attempted with the esophageal issues.

But I’m weary and getting worn down. Hugs all around :people_hugging: :people_hugging::people_hugging::people_hugging:. I’m so everlasting glad that I have all of you and my cat. As the Beatles said :musical_note::musical_notes: “we get by with the love of our friends**:musical_notes::musical_note:. I sure do. You Mumpers are the first thing I do in morning (well, I pee first of course) and the last thing I do at night.

102

Happy birthday Atilla!

When I turned 18, I lived in Indiana where the drinking age was 21. However, less than an hour away was Ohio, where you could buy 3.2% beer at 18, Michigan and Illinois where you could get beer at 18 and just a few hours away from Wisconsin where you could legally buy anything at 18 (or could stand up to the bar :stuck_out_tongue: ). We spent a lot of weekends going up to Beloit to party.

Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. After that, I need to clean up and put on pants so as not to frighten the guys delivering my new box springs and mattress this afternoon.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

103

Good morning all. Got my You-Tube back but still trying to re-establish my bookmark menu (might be just a matter of rebooting), so that has occupied a fair amount of my time this morning. 77F already heading to 86F. Did make an appointment for my annual checkup with the Doc’s office for next Wednesday at 10:30am, so need to put that on the schedule. Garbage goes out tonight and trhe HVAC folks come in tomorrow, so will have to move my car around a bit. Otherwise just the usual; swimming and sauna and weight training to keep me occupied.

Don’t think I’ve ever worn a fedora, I do have a Panama hat lying around that I almost never use. Baseball-type caps are my usual headwear.

I have been drunk twice in my life, both times in my college dorm and both times with beer only. Do not and have never liked the taste of hard liquor.

Cat Glove,good report on Hubs, sounds like he is coming along. And sounds like the medical stuff hasn’t bothered his appetite much!

Cupcakes, heartwarming story and thanks for sharing it. Extra scritches from me to Atilla.

boo fae, I;m glad your friend is retiring (us RDOS need more members), but understand how it will leave a certain void in yoour work routine. Best wishes to both of you.

FCM. I think 80% of guys over 70 qualify for the stubborn old man title… My computer is in a room with wood floors, so I have an area carpet my chair is on that is held down by the desl, it’s worked fine so far…never did like those spikey plastic things.

Pilot, wouldn’t worry to much about it, I seldom remember dreams and when i do I tend to forget them as soon as life starts getting interesting again.

flyboy, AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! If that happened to me the cup would be shattered and my BP would be in the 200’s. Don’t like spiders much…

You are evil… :upside_down_face: :smiley: :wink:

Sticky Buns, I decided when I bought this place in 1997 that it would be aove-level ranch house, and I’ve never regretted it (albeit I have lived along all that time, so didn’t have family concerns). And yeah, a house that old can be a money pit, best be looking around. But I expect I will be sad when the time comes to leave this place, so I understand your unhappiness.

Pavo, hope the students all excel. And where are you going for 10 weeks, if I may ask?

BBBoo, in your case, I’d be looking for a place sooner than later,. falling a couple times a week at our ages is not a good thing at all. Can you get some help in selling/seeaching for apartments? ANd {{{{hugs}}}} right back at’ya.

And it’s late enough (well, late enough for me) to get something substatial into my belly, so off to the kitchen I go. Have a good Hump day all.

104

Yes, yes I am. I thought we all knew that.

I’ll deal with spiders for you if you’ll deal with snakes for me.

105

yes, yes they are. they are not up to the force of the chair. they have a bit of worth as without them the mat would have no chance at all against the chair.

baker, i hope atilla continues to do well and rules the roost with a velvety iron claw. for the earthday event in the condo i wore the chocolate shirt secret santa you gave me. it was a big hit.

106

When I get a cup from the cupboard I fill it with tap water & microwave it 2 minutes to heat the cup to nice and toasty. Then dump the water & add the coffee. The coffee is brewing while I do this, so no time is wasted.

I never think to check for spiders, but if you try my idea you’ll get rid of spiders, roach poop, gnats, and other assorted nasties automatically.


I can hear that you have a promising career as an artist. A painter perhaps? Or maybe sculpture will be your forte. :wink:


TBIs are bad. But simply getting old does the same. You got a literal crash course in being elderly before your time.

I don’t say that to minimize your injury. But to point out that for each of us older folks (except Cookie) there is a trap in your current living arrangements. You can’t be 90, living alone, and still maintain that big now-old house full of crap. The risk is you become too lazy / infirm / senile / whatever and the job becomes bigger than you are while you’re not looking. Then you’re trapped in a rest-of-life sentence of living badly in inappropriate and perhaps even squalid circumstances. Which is probably unnecessary.

The esteemed ThelmaLou wrote a beautiful OP that became a beautiful thread about the effort and courage to move to simpler safer surroundings before it becomes impossible. Rather than succumb to wishful thinking and inertia until the trap is sprung on you. That OP also has a link to a “one year later” thread that’s worth reading.

107

Started Typing: 10:04 AM ET
Clicked Reply: 11:41 AM ET

Work is on the slow/quiet side today, plus my boss is at the customer site all day, so I’m comin’ atcha a little earlier than usual. :slight_smile: I have a Teams meeting at 11am and some training at 3:30pm, but that’s it. I’ll take all of my stuff to the training conference room and go home as soon as it’s done.

Like pilot, I rarely remember my dreams but had a particularly vivid one last night! I was at a high school reunion, and everyone from my class was there (vs the dozen people who attended my actual 35th reunion last year) plus some folks from other classes, too. It was a mix of actual classmates and “dream” people, and there was one “dream” guy – I actually remember his name in the dream: I didn’t go to school with anyone named that, but it’s the same as a former major league ballplayer – who was unusually happy to see me. We wound up kind of hanging out together, even though I wasn’t particularly interested in him and had gone to the reunion with a group of friends. It turned out he was in a cult, and somewhat clumsily tried to get me to join!

Why my subconscious decided to have and remember that particular dream, I couldn’t begin to guess. :joy:

Yesterday I learned about a new Lego set that I’m pretty excited about: a Sherlock Holmes book nook! Available starting June 1, it’s a small street scene – Baker Street, of course – that folds in half to display on a bookshelf. I’m tickled by both the subject matter and design, and have already preordered it. :grin: I used Lego points to cover most of the cost, so I decided to splurge on next-day shipping; I should get it pretty close to June 1.

(Meanwhile, UPS says the Star Wars logo will be delivered tomorrow: I’ll have it assembled in time for Star Wars Day!)

There’s a salad/sandwich place in my office building’s complex: it’s the only option in walking distance, but I’m not crazy about it and I tend to bring my lunch. Today I have a banana, an Uncrustable (OG peanut butter and grape jelly on white), and some Utz ripple chips. Simple, but I’m looking forward to it. :slight_smile:

:crossed_fingers: !!

Awww…happy birthday to Atilla! :tada:

(doggio, that comic was perfect even before Baker told us just how perfect! :joy: :rofl:)

:people_hugging:

108

Deal!

And I got a call from one of my credit cards, it got used in Peoria, IL and they caught it, so I have a new card coming and am not to use it anymore. Oh joy. Fortunately I only have 1-2 recurring charges on it so won’t be a major hassle to change.

Oopsie, looking forward to the eventual picture(s) of Holmes book nook. The game’s afoot!!

And have consumed a large lunch, so need to get to the gym to work it off. Take care all.

109

Gosh, I’m honored to be cited in the MMP. :blush:

Still glad to be here even though it wasn’t my choice. I’ll update in Sept at the two-year mark. :waving_hand:t4:

110

Back on the 300 today, doing the table, and pulling for loaders.
Sup: “dogbutler, go to the slide and clerk the packages.”
3min later: “dogbutler, go pull for Bottom Green.”(the set that’'s 90% empty because the loader is good)
2min later: “dogbutler, go back and clerk those packages I pulled you away from.”
dogbutler:

Enjoy!

FCD Google search history: how to build a handicap accessible yacht, floating wheelchair plans

I still get the retail version of that regularly. Oy.

:rofl:
But I look out for Fred The House Spider.

Sorry. But at least a one level will be easier on everybody’s knees.

111

Absolutely nowhere. All of my jobs basically run mid-August through mid-May. Which also means that I have no money to travel during my extended breaks…

I will try to get to Vermont to visit family. But probably not much else.

112

Welcome to the club! And a sucky club it is… At least you don’t have a whole list of accounts to change.

I tend to pay attention to what gas stations around here charge and try to hit the cheaper ones if they’re on my route. Today, I got one that’s 4¢ cheaper than the place I usually go. It amounted to about 1.28% savings. Go me… :roll_eyes: I bet there are people who will go out of their way for such a deal. For me, it amounted to less than 50¢ - not worth a detour, but it was on my way home.

I ordered a new disposal. FCD was at the boat and wanted to pick it up on his way home. I got a text from Lowes that it was ready - about an hour after he got home. Figures. So maybe tomorrow? Or later today? Who knows…

113

Houses are money sucks. The next place I live is going to be a condo with an elevator. Our house was someone else’s rental property before we bought it, so all repairs were made most cheaply or by the tenants, may god have mercy on our souls.

We just had a minor yet expensive roof repair done. This season, we need bee abatement in the siding, a new roof, a new exterior door lock, and new exterior cleaning and painting. This means we can’t get new kitchen and bathroom flooring and countertops this year, nor replace the LR/DR flooring that’s too slick and has substandard insulation so it’s cold and doesn’t meet the baseboards at points. We’ve already had the roof and gutters cleaned, had the exterior windows washed, had the ducts cleaned, had the gas fireplace maintainance done, replaced the blinds, repaired the shower, replaced the toilets, replaced the HVAC, replaced the fridge, range, and microwave, recarpeted, repainted the interior, had a lot of minor repairs done, had some rewiring done, added bathroom fan timers, repaired some whiteboard, and had a structural engineer do an overall assessment. Working on the yards; the garage is a distant project. Someday, a plumbing assessment.

ETA: Oh, yeah–we also re-stained the fence. And when we owned a rental property, we kept it up to date and used mid-range materials, not bottom of the barrel.

114

My friend bought a two story townhouse at the age of 70. When people nattered about going up and down stairs as she aged, her reply was “I’ll have Acorn stair lifts installed.” I plan to follow her lead.

I did not know we were discussing how many times we’ve been drunk. My answer is I stopped counting years ago. Now I rarely drink, maybe once a year, and it’s always hard liquor. I can’t deal with beer and wine. However, all bets are off when I am on vacation.

Oopsie. PB&J with chips is the best lunch, hands down. I don’t eat it often, but there are days WHEN YOU NEED IT.

115

Went to exercise and then got our covid boosters, so two gold stars, if you please. The wife always reacts poorly to vax, so we’ll see how it goes.

116

I’m still youchie from the Dtap two days ago.

117

We’re already in what’s considered a condo, and we have an elevator. As we are on the ground floor we don’t use it much, but it’s convenient when bringing the suitcases up from the cellar.

There are 8 condos in our building and 3 are empty as the owners are on vacation. I have 2 extra keys as I am getting the mail for them. The others have kids (the grandkids are in their teens) who take care of the mail for the others.

Because summer decided to start this week, I watered neighbor’s outdoor plants while the hose is watering our yard. Sunday’s supposed to get cold again, but I don’t want to wait too long between waterings.

:people_hugging: for those who need to find suitable housing. We’ve been here almost 25 years and I hope we’ll be here for a while.

And I should go turn off the water and eat dinner.

118

I’m notorious for this at work.

“Can you get (X) and mark it with 6 days from now?”
Me: “Sure.”
“Why you still standin’ there?”
Me: “I need one more bit of info …”

“That was … interesting?”

Wait, this is a regular thing?!?

Do I hafta put on my night nurse “pizza worker when your card was declined” voice?

Truth.

So the bearded dragon I’m housing?

They also had (have?) a tarantula.

I was - wisely - not even asked.

I thought all house spiders were named Charlotte?

On vacation, all drinks are required to have those cute lil paper umbrellas.
It’s, like, a law or something.

119

i used a coaster during an office meeting. gold star please.

120

Did you get a chance to see what the price was today at your usual place? Around here the prices at the same station can vary a dime or more day to day and 50 cents over the course of a week. Unless you (me really) can visit all the local stations in the same morning you can’t tell which is really cheaper today.

That’s not 100% true. We have one definitely cheapo, a couple of definitely super-expensive, and about a half-dozen in the middle of the pack jockeying for relative position day to day.


Expensive to buy, expensive to maintain, not highly reliable, and extremely slow and annoying to use. And a real value killer at resale time.

There’d better be something extremely compelling about that second story to make that make plan sense for your friend or for yourself.


My phone knows what day it is. I sure don’t. I sorta learn it when I get up in the morning and go to my week-at-a-time pill organizer and see the next filled box is “Wed”. Of course if I’ve skipped eating “Wed” and today is really “Thu”, now I’ll be derailed for days.

So you’ve got that to look forward to :wink: