Sunday, October 1, 2023

A home maintenance weekend

DH got all the yard weed and bug stuff down yesterday. While he did that I used my steam mop on the shower floor. I really like it for cleaning that. We have a flat pebble like shower floor and it cleans it up nice and with the hot steam I feel like it's all been sanitized. I also steam mopped the kitchen. I'm not liking this mop as much on the laminate. It kind of leaves dried water streaks. It seems I will never find a laminate mop solution/system I like. I also did a little vacuuming.

I texted with my friend a bit about our cruise. She wanted to know if I'm interested in adding the VIP pass and I think that would be a good/smart thing to do. It has some nice perks - most of which involve less waiting in lines, which is hard for dh to stand for long periods. We would get priority embarkation and debarkation, an exclusive welcome lunch (rather than the first buffet lunch) and also dedicated seats for shows we want to see and fast lane for onboard activities. And an internet package. We are also trying to decide on which shore excursions to do. I said let's skip the Victoria BC tours, we've been there a couple of times in the past and I'm sure we can find something to do on our own there. This morning I was able to figure out how to sign in and set up and account and link our reservation and now I can see all the same options friend is looking at. 

Online I see there is also an offer for a Royal Caribbean Visa card, to earn $250 onboard credit to use (after charging $1000 to it). I think I will sign up for that. $250 is a good bonus to earn to put towards our extra costs. Plus, if I just use it as much as possible for my charges over the next 11 months, I can earn more points for onboard credit.

My uncle called and is doing fine. He just had some light symptoms with his Covid. He wants to try Ancestry.com and wanted some info. I told him I think he'd really enjoy it and it's a fun hobby and fun to find the hints and see all the info about people. 

DD and SIL are now in Inverness and this morning they all did a charity 5k run (dd is not a runner haha, but her friend is). From the pics it looks like they all really enjoyed it. They are in Scotland until next Friday and then come home.

I'm waiting for dh to get up this morning, so I can make some blueberry muffins for breakfast. It's not supposed to rain today, but is still overcast and cloudy and only to be 55 degrees for the high. Usually on 1st of October dh flushes out our 2 tankless water heaters with vinegar, so he plans to do that today. Thankfully when we built our house the plumber told dh how to do it to save from having them do it and the high charge.

My assistant is not one of the one people being laid off. It's all full time people, where the company is trying to reduce costs of salaries and benefits. Assistant is now only working 12 hours a week and as long as he's doing ok with that, he's still got a job. His 12 hours a week (and no benefits) and low (compared to every one else) hourly rate wouldn't save the company much overall. It's helping me get caught up and I'd rather not have to train someone new until I really get caught up. The couple of weeks I was sick put me back behind some, so I'm working that back up.

3 comments:

  1. Maybe the kid is worth more now if he works without perks.
    It sounds like your cruise is coming right along and will be excellent by the time it comes around. I suppose your husband is officially disabled, so having some sort of documentation with you on the cruise might come in handy.
    I asked you before and never saw an answer, but what kind/brand of bug spray do you use for the outside of the house. We need something here, and I have no idea what to get. I think roaches are under the house, too.

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    1. it's a concentrate spray you add to water called Bifen I/T. I have only found it online. We by the quart size for like $40 (used to be around $35), but there is a smaller pint size available. The quart size lasts us a year or two. It's the same stuff we used to pay $40 per MONTH for a pest control company to come spray. Now it costs us less than $40 for a whole year. DH just puts it with water in one of those inexpensive 1 gallon pump garden sprayers. I'm not sure what all bugs (lots) it kills, but if you look it up online it will tell you.

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    2. Thanks, I wrote it down so I won't have to ask again. We cannot spray, but we can get someone to spray. Roaches are what I want to kill. I will check online for bugs it kills.

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