Big relief

I couldn't have gotten better news in my phone call with the estate attorney. Turns out there isn't ANY thing I have to do, at all regarding it. I mean nothing - no paperwork or anything. I figured there must be at least something to file or sign. But, since her assets (money) was all in her IRA and a joint, with rights of survivorship, checking account with me, she has no will assets to distribute. He said I don't even need to put a notice in the newspaper for creditors. Because technically she has no assets a creditor could go after in probate (not that she has any debt, anyway). So, that's that. What a huge relief to not have to deal with being an executor and all that entails. Plus, I really like this attorney and I can't think of one attorney I've ever dealt with that I actually like and feel comfortable with. Since I hardly used up his hour of free consultation, we then discussed some basic info of getting dh and I set up with a trust, which I will be doing in the near future.

Dh decided to meet up, early, on his own, with the lady selling what he wanted to buy. It's a half wine barrel made into a wine and glasses cabinet. I had to laugh at dh when I asked, ok, it's very neat, but we don't drink, what are you putting in it?? He said it's for "decor" - just get some wine bottles to put in it, LOL. We are going to hang it on the wall behind the bar area in the bonus room. (and dd and sil do drink wine, so they can have some if they want, haha). Here is Amos giving it his approval.

While he was gone the delivery driver showed up with my new chairs, so he put the 2 boxes on the front patio for me. He was going to bring the boxes inside the door for me, but they were just a smidge too wide. DH had to open the boxes outside to get the chairs in. They weren't too heavy for us to get them upstairs, much lighter than I thought. We were able to remove the bottom cushions and the wood feet were in separate bags. Just awkward to carry up the stairs, due to the size. But, we love them. DH really likes them (he hadn't seen what I picked out)

These same exact chairs are sold on a couple of the lodge/cabin type decor/furniture websites for double what I paid through good old Home Depot, (plus 10% off) LOL. I still need to get some blinds for the windows. I'm also thinking an animal rug (probably bison) of some sort there under the front of the chairs and coffee table would look good. He's always seeing them for sale on Marketplace, so I will have him keep an eye out.

It's going to be sunny and 53 today. Other than the extreme cold we had for a few days, this has been a very mild winter, so far. 

I'm still waiting to hear back from our IT. Unusual that they didn't call yesterday, so I sent another email following up on our request. Somehow it must have slipped thru the cracks on their end.

Challenges

This morning has been a work challenge, so far. I still am having issues from when they changed where all our shared files are stored. I got tired of dealing with it (after returning from my basically 3 weeks off at Christmas, New Years, and then Bereavement time) so I've just been using the work around method of accessing and adding my files. But, now my boss wants our IT to fix it, so I'm waiting for a call from them.

The second issue is a laid off employee, who got a generous 12 weeks of severance pay. Now they just sent my boss an email saying we shorted them, because we withheld for health/dental/vision insurance out of those checks. Um...no..there was only mandatory taxes withheld from those checks. Here's copies of your paystubs...LOL.

I sent an email this morning to the assistant lady at my mom's investment office to ask/make sure she got the death certificate I mailed. I'm assuming they did, because as of last Wednesday I can no longer log into my mom's account with them, but I'd like a confirmation. This afternoon I have a phone consultation with the attorney who did her will, to find out what I need to do to take care of that, as her executor. Hopefully it's not too complicated. 

I didn't sleep the greatest last night. For some weird reason I started coughing just after I went to bed. I ended up taking some Delsym just to get it to stop. I coughed some after I first got up, but haven't since. Very odd. I'm just tired, as well. 

We are waiting for the 2 big chairs I ordered for the bonus room to get delivered today by a freight company. I was just given a 2-5pm window of delivery time. Yesterday dh found something on Marketplace he wanted and we set it up to meet partway at 4:30 this afternoon. Well, then I woke up this morning and remembered we have the furniture delivery scheduled, so we can't leave if they haven't come by 3:30 (which our luck they will not). I don't know if dh messaged the lady back to reschedule or he is just going to wait and see if they show up by 3:30 and if not, then reschedule with her.

Shopping Sunday

I pretty much did a bunch of nothing yesterday. I did get a couple of things ordered on Amazon dh needed. I also got an order made with Petsmart for some cat food and litter. It was a good day to order, as it turned out Rakuten Cash back was offering 20% cash back with Petsmart. That's a nice rebate percentage.

I also spent a bunch of time shopping online for a couple of things. First is a small pub/bistro style table. Dh being dh, he can't get rid of anything, if we replace something. So, of course he then did not want me to get rid of our 4 old bar stools in the kitchen. GAHHH!! First he put one of the stools in his den, under the window next to his desk. Then he put another one upstairs (more on that later), leaving me figuring out what to do with the remaining 2. 

I decided to get a little pub/bistro table to go at one of the windows in the dining room and use the 2 bar stools there. I have an old antique table sitting there now, but that is too short and won't work for bar stools. I'll have to find a new spot for it. It belonged to my grandparents. I started looking online for something and was just not finding anything I liked. They were either super cheap looking (like $50 from Amazon) or super expensive, like $300. My dream table would be one with a copper top....but I'm not paying $900+, LOL. Then I thought I found one I liked for $175ish. It was 30 inches round. Well, I then realized that is too big for this spot. It needs to be no larger than 24 inches. I'm also not sure why they aren't a standard height, LOL, With our stools I need it at 42", not 44" and of course the next one I found I liked was 44". So, back to the search. I think I have it narrowed down to a couple I like. 

The pub table is an idea I actually had for this spot when we designed the floor plan. I put the 2 bar stools there, with the current table, just to see if I would like them there with a table and I really do like it. It will be a great spot to sit with a cup of tea or coffee and a great view of the river. I just took this picture from standing upstairs. A little dark, it's still fairly early, but you get the idea (you can also see how little snow we have left! It's been raining and most of the snow is gone now)

I also spent some time trying to figure out what tv wall mount I need to get for the tv I had gotten from my mom (when we moved her to m/c) and put it in the bonus room. We want to hang it on the wall. I was spinning my head trying to figure out what would work (there are so many out there) with this tv. At first I couldn't even figure out how it would work, LOL, but then I finally got that part figured out. I'm also not spending the $150 that Samsung wants for theirs (the tv is a Samsung), when you can buy one for a 1/3rd of that price, that will work just fine. I also don't need all the extra "options" to pull it way out from the wall or tilt different directions. Just need it to hanG on the wall in one spot, LOL.

Dh had me out in the shop helping him do some measurements for where he would put a car lift. I asked "how high up does it go?" because he had mentioned he will put our old tbird on the ramp and park his old pickup underneath it. He says oh, like 70 inches. I looked over at his somewhat lifted up pickup and back at him...he said Oh! I didn't think of that! So, now he's still trying to figure all that out. Even our regular F-150/daily driver pickup would be too short to park under it. He thinks he found a different one that goes up higher and now has a question into the mfg to double check some things.

Carry on

I got a nice sympathy card in the mail from my mom's memory care, signed by lots of the staff. Many wonderful comments about her sweet nature and her dancing :)

Yesterday was a good day. I got happy birthday texts from my half sis and my boss. We just stayed home. Played lots of pool, had lunch up in the bonus room, and played a couple more games. We thought about going into the city but both of us were a little tired by early afternoon. Dh mostly from doing lots the day before. He washed the pickup and also did a bunch of re-arranging of shelving units and the freezer, in the garage. He always feels it the next day or two.

And Friday the landline phone rang and dh answered it. Says "it's for you, it's the bank". I'm thinking oh oh, why would they be calling? Have they detected fraud on my account or something?. No....they actually just called to wish me a happy birthday! How's that for small bank customer service?!

DD (corrected, I first posted it as DH) sent me an e-gift card to Thriftbooks, so I book shopped this morning and got 13 books for $51.94 (the gift card was for $50). I was able to finish out getting all the books in one series I have and 2 more books each from 2 other series. And I earned another free book towards my next purchase.

I got the 4 barstools for the kitchen bar counter. I love the style and the fabric seat cushion color, but I do not like the wood color :( It's way lighter than in the pictures. GRRR! I'm going to take some of our various wood stains we have leftover in small cans and test out on the wood underneath to see if I could just stain over them. Otherwise, I would have to sand them all down to restain. But, they are just way too light. 

While most of the money I'm inheriting from my mom will be staying in an investment account, with the goal of having my house paid off in 7 years, I am going to take a little out when I get it, to finish a few things with our house. Some seating for the tv in the bonus room, a heating unit for our garage, and a car lift dh has always wanted for his shop. He can store our old tbird up on the lift, freeing up space in the shop. And when he does need to use the lift for things like oil changes, he can take the car off and easily do oil changes and what not, without having to crawl underneath, which gets harder when you get old!

Another decade

I had to change my blog header this morning. I am now officially "sixty-something". Holy cow! How did that happen? When I first started blogging it said "forty-something". I have to say, blogging is probably the only hobby I've stuck with. Well, I guess hang with me another decade and you'll get to see me change it to "seventy-something". At least I hope so!

My mid to late 40's was getting out of debt (and staying out). Unfortunately we had to go through a bankruptcy to do it. I don't remember the exact numbers now, but only like $7000 of it was personal credit card debt. The rest was was from dh being self employed business debt. He wasn't incorporated so we had to file personal bankruptcy. Between that and him not having a business any longer, it was actually a great "re-set" for us. I then worked toward regaining credit and improving my credit score. It really didn't take too long. As of today, my credit score is 827. Except for a couple of vehicle loans, I have not paid a penny of interest on a credit card since. And the vehicle loans have all paid been off very early.

My 50's was about being empty-nesters and putting ourselves first for a change. We left our home and moved to another state and started a new life. We built the home of our dreams in a beautiful setting. We have had the privilege of watching our daughter graduate college, marry a wonderful guy, get her masters degree and become an amazing woman. This decade was about caring for elderly parents (dh's from afar, as much as we could) and having them pass. It's also given me a friendship with a fellow online blogger for the past several years, which I cherish. 

This decade will bring more life changes, as I wind down my working years and retire, at some point. The goal is 7 more years, but if I can manage it sooner, I most likely will. I still have lots to learn about social security and medicare, so expect some posts as I navigate all that. I did learn some about it, helping my mom the past 4 years. I'm sure there will be bumps in the road of life, as usual, and changed plans, of course. My goal is to keep working towards it all with as much grace, as possible.

I appreciate all of you. So many have been around for all the years! I always look forward to reading your comments and also reading the blogs of those of you that blog, as well. It's pretty much my morning routine, with my cup of coffee.

Death and taxes

For the past several years I've been doing my (and mom's) tax return with Turbo Tax online. I have to pay extra for self employment income and state filing. This year the cost is up to like $159. No thank you. I have entered in all the info, just to see where I am owing/refund wise. I decided I'm not paying $159 anymore and let's try FreeTaxUSA. It's free for federal (even with self employment income) and $15 for a state return. I entered all my info in for the federal and state and it was just as easy, if not easier, to use than Turbo Tax and it came out with the same numbers. Guess, I'll be using the free version from now on!

I think I still have some interest income (not much) to get a 1099 on, so I'm going to wait before I file, but other than that, I am done with my taxes. I looked online with the savings account but I guess they haven't processed the tax docs yet.

We just ran into town to pick up a prescription for dh. We're only a little over 10 minutes from town, so it's a quick trip. Looks like there's an ice jam in the river in a couple spots, as some of the ice is melting and jamming up with the parts that haven't melted yet. 

My mom's death certificate says cause of death is Coronary Heart Disease, so does that mean a heart attack/heart failure and not a stroke, as her doctor thought it probably was? I'm sure it was likely one of the two.

Planning ahead

We are having upper 30's temps and a little melting going on, even. Though winter is far from over, it is nice to be back into more normal winter temps. 

The carnation bouquet is pretty and smells nice. Plus, the carnations will likely last a lot longer than the tulips.

Dh also (after ok'ing it with me, LOL) called the florist in the city back and ordered flowers to be sent to the staff in the memory care, thanking them for their care and in memory of my mom. That was a sweet thought and nice that he took care of that.

Work was busy yesterday. I had to do some 1099 tax forms and since those are only done yearly, I always have to refer to my notes on how to do these electronically through my accounting software and a 3rd party website. But, I think it all got imported and ready to get them processed. It was the end of the day when I got it done, so I decided to wait until this morning and do a double check that everything looks ok, first.  We also had one special situation where our CPA told us to do a 1099-B. Well, like every type of 1099 there's lots of boxes and drop down choices for some of these boxes. I'm going to need a little more info than what I was given, haha. I had to screen shot it to my boss and ask what all boxes are required to be filled in and finally, by the end of the day our CPA had figured it out.

Since we decided we really liked the 2 bar stools I ordered for the bonus room, I ordered 2 more for that room and they just got delivered. Did I mention we also decided to order the same stool, but in a different seat fabric/color for our kitchen bar area? So, 4 of those are on the way and will be better for the right height at the bar countertop. Plus, I think they will look a bit more "lodge" style, than what I've had there. I'll probably just put these 4 stools on marketplace. There's nothing wrong with them. 

I mailed the death certificate to the investment office where my mom's account is, on Saturday. They should probably have it by today. I wonder how long it will take to process it all: close out her account and set up inherited IRA's for all the beneficiaries. My main goal with my inheritance is to pay off my mortgage. I have 10 years to withdraw it all, so I will try to spread it out, as much as possible, to minimize the tax hit. But, for sure I want to be able to retire no later than 7 years from now, when I'll be turning 67. There is more than enough to pay off my mortgage and invested well, hopefully will also have some extra gains to increase the amount and add to my retirement savings. If things go well with it, I may even be able to retire in 5  or 6 years, but 7 is definitely doable and in line with being able to collect my full social security amount. I'm going to keep my inherited IRA with her guy. He's done very well for her all these years. I know at some point he's handing things over to his son, when he retires, and his son is now doing a lot of the work and I feel comfortable with him. 

I've been doing lots of calculating on how best to take this inherited IRA over the next 10 years. It's a lot to figure out, but I'm pretty sure I will be required to at least take an RMD each year out of it.

Making progress

Yesterday was a good relaxing day. We played lots of pool. I tried a new recipe for dinner of chicken, bacon, ranch wraps. Very delicious, but hard to wrap and hold together, LOL.  Maybe I need bigger tortilla's. I will definitely make them again. 

The weather is a balmy 36. The chicken's are happier with that.

Small town, word somehow got back to the lady who is temporarily helping out at the town florist shop that dh had ordered flowers we didn't get. The lady called and said she then found it in order book or something. They can do the arrangement of the carnations, but no way to deliver, so dh said he'd be happy to come in and pick it up. It also sounds like the shop owner will not be recovering well enough to run her shop again. The lady who is her assistant at the shop and this other lady have been doing their best to keep it going, while the owner and her family are dealing with this, but I guess the family of the shop owner won't let them use the car that had been used for all the deliveries, so they have no way to do deliveries (unless they used their own car). DH asked her if she thought they could sell the flowers to someone else and if so, it would be ok to do that and consider what he paid a donation to her gofund me, but she said it's not likely they'd get an order for that, so he just went in to pick them up. So, now I'll have 2 bouquets. One can never have too many flowers, right? :)

I also got the call made into the attorney's office who had done my mom's will. After I moved her here, we just had it updated to me as the executor, since it's best to have the executor in the same state where the person lived. She was setting me up with an appointment with the attorney and I thought I was going to have to go into the city for it, so I put it out to next week and after we decided on the date/time she said do you want to come in or just do a phone call? Well, phone call, of course!  So, for now, I've done everything I can do to take care of every thing and will just have to work through the processes as things come up to take care of. I can't imagine this will should be too complicated of process, since she really doesn't even have an estate to distribute, now. But, I'm sure it's still a lot of paperwork and whatnot.

Here is the picture I took Saturday as we were driving into the city with the river frozen along the right of the highway.

Very cold!

Saturday errands

We had a productive day yesterday. Got out of the house at 9:30 headed into the city. On the way dh called a florist shop to see about getting flowers to stop and pick up. They didn't have enough carnations so he went with tulips. Very pretty.

We then went over the the funeral home to pick up the urn and death certificates. I had addressed an envelope to my mom's investment office and put one of the certificates in and we dropped that off at the post office. We still had a bit of time to kill before the flowers were ready, so we stopped at one grocery store to pick up the hamburger patties and salmon I get there. Then we went over to the flower shop. By then our groceries were ready for pick up. We got lunch at Wendy's and headed back for a stop in our town and get gas.

This is about 5 miles from our house

Dh had me take some pics from his phone of the river frozen over. I'll get him to send me a few to share. I've never seen it frozen all the way across. It's not frozen all the way across everywhere, or at our house, but it is it most areas. I also told him to get his drone out and take some pictures of it all frozen from above, so he's going to do that today. While we don't have a lot of snow on the ground, it sure has been cold.

Now I need to decide what to do with my mom's urn until Mother's Day. It's not in anything fancy and even if it was, I'm not the type to display that. I guess I'll just put it on the little bookcase in my office.  I know there are things you can have made out of some of the ashes. I might take a look online and see if anything seems to speak to me as a memento, but I doubt it.

After I got all the groceries put in, I took a nap. I had a bit of a stomach ache for awihle after I got up and usually if we eat a fast food lunch, we then don't have much dinner. We just ended up having some tuna fish sandwiches. At least the stomach ache was gone by around 6pm. I spent the rest of the evening watching a show on my ipad. 

6:59 am Amos is on his hind legs peeking over the edge of the mattress tapping my arm. Right on schedule, as always, LOL. 

I also got a nice sympathy card in the mail from one of my step brother's and family (written by his wife) with some nice words about my mom. So, I've now heard from 3 out of the 4. I haven't heard from the oldest step son. My step dad was 10 years older than my mom and this step brother is 12 years older than me, so around 71 or 72 now. He was already like 23 when his dad married my mom. 

I had also let the lady that runs the retirement luncheon group that my mom used to go to, know of her passing and she had asked for my address and sent a nice card, as well.

I'm going to try making the chicken/bacon/ranch wraps for dinner tonight. Hopefully good and hopefully something new I can add to our dinner menu once in awhile.

We also plan to play some more pool today. If I try to guess the angle, I'm always off. Half the time the balls that go in weren't even tried for, or we accidentally hit the other person's ball in, LOL. I must be getting a little bit better, as our recent games have been pretty close. 

Well, the cat wanted outside awhile ago and I've gone downstairs 2 or 3 times to see if he's ready to come back in. Time to go check again.

Welcome weekend

Yesterday was our 39th wedding anniversary. We didn't do anything special. DH has always had flowers delivered. One carnation for each year. Well, this year no flowers.....he always goes into our little florist shop in town, at least a month or more before and orders them for delivery. A couple weeks ago the floral shop owner suffered a stroke. We honestly didn't figure we'd get them delivered, but then yesterday heard they are still open, but not doing deliveries (we discovered this info around 5pm). Well, you'd think someone could have called to tell dh either his order is being cancelled or if they could still put the bouquet in a vase, he could pick them up. He said he spent $150 for it. Very sad for the shop owner. It sounds like it was pretty bad and I hope she'll be ok.

Today we are going to pick up the urn and death certificates from the funeral home. DH then wants to stop in a florist shop in the city and get me some flowers. We are also going to pick up a grocery order at Walmart, since we will be there. Then on the way home, head back into our town. DH needs to pick up something there, we'll fill up with gas, and I'll drop the envelope, with a death certificate, in the mail to my mom's investment office.

My orange banker's lamp came. I love it. Perfect color. I think Amos thinks it was to match him :)

The weather has warmed up and we will be in the high 30's for at least the next week. That's the winter temps I prefer, LOL. Cold, but not face hurting cold.

I'm going to try a new recipe I came across for a bacon chicken wrap. Looks delicious and looks like something we'd both really like for dinner. And looks fairly easy to make. I may start buying the frozen chicken that is already cooked, for meals like this. Might be a bit quicker/easier for my chicken quesadilla's, as well.

Well, time to get in the shower, since we need to get ready to leave in about 90 minutes.

Signs

After dinner last night, I went and took a nap, I was so worn out. I didn't even realize dh had gone outside and shoveled snow. We did not play pool last night. I was tired and he was tired from shoveling twice and plowing once. But, at least it now looks like winter here, finally. Very pretty and has warmed up, as well. 

All the show's I've watched over the years with the mediums who get messages from the dead....ok, while I have normal skepticism, I can never explain how they know stuff that is so specific and while I'm sure the people who want and get readings from them are already prone to believing, it doesn't explain the people who didn't ask for a reading and got a message and sure seemed to make them a believer afterwards. Anyway.....one of the things they say is that when you dream about someone who passed recently, it's that person giving you a message. I dreamed last night that I called my mom up and realized we were just having a totally normal conversation, chatting away. No memory problems. Pretty sure it was my mom letting me know she's all ok now :)

DD had her sign a few nights ago. They sometimes hear an owl hooting in their backyard at night, but usually for just a short period. The other night it was 2 owls hooting back and forth for like 30 minutes. They've never heard 2 owls before. My grandma loved owls and collected them. DD thinks it was her grandma and great grandma having a great conversation, getting all caught up with each other :)

It warmed back up enough that our tankless propane water heater is working again. We can take showers back in our master bathroom shower again, instead of upstairs. I don't even know how to explain what dh thinks causes is, because I don't understand the set up, but something to do with the vent from the unit (which is inside in a closet) that goes up out the roof and it gets condensation iced up and then the water heater doesn't want to work. It's only happened when we've had very low negative temps.

I just spent almost an hour trying to figure out getting my boss logged back into our accounting program. She somehow locked herself out and me logging in as admin and trying to reset her kept giving me fatal errors and closing the program. Then I got booted off completely. Finally, I tried a work around idea, and she's back in business.

So, now I can take a quick break and go jump in the shower. Hopefully there's still hot water (dh got it working last night)

Mid week slump

Being back to work and trying to get caught up is taking up all my time these past 2 days.  It's kind of exhausting, LOL. Then add in trying to get things taken care of regarding my mom's passing. I was having a heck of a time getting myself to do up the obituary, but I finally did it yesterday morning, so I'm glad that is also done, now. 

I did get an email from my step brother that was the one involved with the power of attorney and all that several years ago. It was a very kind email and the what I got out of it was that he realized I should be (have been) the one who cared for my mom, not him, and he thinks I did a wonderful job with it. I replied back that his kind words mean a lot to me. He'll probably be surprised when he finds out how much he's inheriting, LOL, since he had thought she would be halfway out of her money by now and she pretty much has the same amount as she did when he said that.

The 2 bar stools I ordered for the bonus room arrived yesterday. They are really nice. I only ordered 2 because we weren't for sure if 3 wouldn't be too crowded at the bar area. It's not a very large bar, but 3 will work and we decided on a 4th to just set up against the wall.

We also set the first stool he put together at our bar countertop at our kitchen. These stools are a little bit taller than what I have there and a better/more comfortable height for sitting at our kitchen bar. I had ordered the stools we got before we had even started building and they are just a tad too short. I decided to order 4 new bar stools for our kitchen. We use these often, especially when guests are here and a taller height would be better. The stools I am ordering for there are basically the same as the bonus room stools, but have a taupe colored cloth seat, instead of brown leather type.

It's now warmed up into the 20's and been snowing most of the day. The clearing out of the rest of the things in my mom's room is supposed to be done today. I'm sure the lady who oversees the moving will text or email me, once she's done. She said, if they have to go to the dump (for anything Goodwill won't accept) there may be an additional charged added on the final invoice.

I just really want a nap.

Monday off

I haven't made a cake yet this weekend. Mostly because since all the excess Christmas candy and cookies, I'm trying to have willpower and keep away from sweets for as long as possible. But, it still sounds really good, LOL.

I have today off. DD is taking her 3 bereavement days from work, starting today. I'm back to work tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't take me too long to get myself caught back up. 

My step sister did reply back, that the ph# I have for her is correct and would I like her to give me the other step's phone numbers? I said that would be great, thanks! That was nice of her and I appreciate it.

We played a bunch of pool games, a couple different times, yesterday. I did at least manage to win 2 of them.

It never did warm up to the 8 or so degrees it was supposed to yesterday. I think the highest we got was -1. The past couple of days we seem to be running about 10 degrees colder than the weather app says it is for our area. Usually our outside thermometer is pretty close to what the weather app says. Amos wants to go out, tries to go out, and wants back in 30 seconds later, of course, and then mad about it. 

The other weather related thing, and this happened once or twice before when we've gotten into deep negative temps. Something happens with our propane and hot water. Something freezes outside in the valve or something, so we have no hot water in our shower. We still have hot water in the kitchen, laundry and upstairs bathroom, as those are run off a regular electric hot water heater. So, we'll just let it warm up in a day or two and we should be able to use it again, LOL. Makes us really glad we have the 2 hot water heaters and one of them being electric. 

DH is waiting to hear back from a guy on a big wood slab he has for sale, that dh could use to make the bar countertop in the bonus room. He just needs to know if it's big enough and the guy said he has the slabs at a storage unit, so can't get over there until today to measure. If it works, well, then we may have a 2 hour drive today to pick up! Still haven't heard from the guy yet. The roads are good, it's just ridiculously cold out.

Well, it's almost noon and no reply from the guy with the wood slabs, so even if it's the right length, we're not going to go get it today. We would not want to be driving home in the dark.

Wannabe pool sharks

We are getting lots of use and really enjoying our new pool table. Slowly improving a bit, but most of the shots are just luck, haha. On each side of the bonus room are very nice sized dormers. One side I want 2 comfy chairs and the other side a table for games, puzzles, etc. I have been eyeing these chairs for awhile. They have good reviews for comfort and it says the frame is made of wood, so hopefully good and solid chairs. I just ordered 2 of these. Again with the google lens search I found the best deal. What a price range, though, for the exact same chair! A couple websites that deal specifically in lodge decor and furniture wanted $1200-$1400 per chair. Other sites, like Amazon and Home Depot were half that. Home Depot was also offering a 10% off home decor coupon code, so I saved another 10%.  No matter where I would have ordered them from, all shipping said curbside/door delivery. So, we will have to haul 92# chairs upstairs ourselves. Maybe a little less weight as the feet and seat cushion can be carried separately. A few years ago we managed to get my over 100# loveseat up the stairs to my loft sitting area, by ourselves, so we'll get it done. It sounds like it might be 2-3 weeks before these arrive.

My step sister did finally reply to the message I sent her via my mom's Facebook. She sent a nice reply.   Condolences to you. These last years could not have been easy. she is at peace now. God Bless

We've warmed up about 30 degrees - up to +5. Still cold, LOL

I've realized I'm having a bit of relief not always having in the back of my mind, my phone might ring about my mom. I think it's always been there, especially since she moved into m/c. I know last month I was worrying myself over us taking our cruise next September...what if something happens to her while we are on the cruise?

My office is closed tomorrow for the holiday and I am glad to have one more day off. I've been working on this post all dang day, LOL. I keep getting interrupted by dh, or a text, or a nap. Geez, by now we've just finished dinner.

A little of this and a little of that

Nothing much went on yesterday. Snow and very cold. It's like -25 this morning, but supposed to start getting back into the positive numbers after tomorrow. Even Amos somehow knows it's too darn cold to go outside. He always wants out first thing in the morning and hasn't even asked the past 2 days.

I went through the big bin of mom's things we brought home. About half of it was some garbage stuff - we had just taken it, knowing it was going to go into the trash, so that the mover doesn't have to deal with it.  DD is going to take a couple of her knickknacks - a couple of cute frogs. I set out a couple items and the rest I just put in a dresser drawer, in a guest bedroom, for now. 

I called my uncle and let him know what the doctor said that mom likely suffered a stroke. I called my mortgage company to let them know I paid the escrow shortage in full and to adjust my payment amount to reflect that and that is being done.

Just to make sure, I got out the paperwork from when we opened mom's checking account. We set it up the same as she had her Bank of America checking, with me on the account. There is no Bank of America banks here, so that is why we had to get a different account, when I moved her. Anyway, I wanted to make sure the account is set up the way I thought it was and it is. It's co-owned, with rights of survivorship and the paperwork says "upon death of a party, ownership passes to the surviving party rather than passing as part of the decedent party's estate." So, the money in that account belongs to me, which is nice. Though, of course, I am using some of it to pay for her cremation and moving out expenses. I will also try to do up an estimate on her tax return for 2024 and if it looks like she may owe, I'll hold out some for that, as well, since I won't be able to file her 2024 tax return until next year. I guess very timely that I had just done a disbursement from her retirement account the week before. That withdrawal also met her RMD for this year, so it's good that was already done prior to her passing. Makes things a little easier, according to the office mgr at her investment place. So, her will/estate really consists of nothing at the time of her death. She didn't own a house or car anymore. Just her few belongings in the m/c room (which I am having donated).

I know so many who's had a parent pass away and then have a whole house to deal with - all the lifetime of possessions. While I certainly wouldn't have wanted her to have to sell her house/move out and end up in m/c, the winding down process of getting rid of her things was able to be done the past 5 years. First when she sold her home and moved into the independent apartment. She was able to downsize herself to that. Then when I moved her over here to a different independent apartment, we downsized a bit more. Then when I moved her into m/c, I had to downsize her belongings even more.

None of my other step siblings (I have 3 step brothers and 1 step sister) have bothered to contact me or reply to the email my one step brother's wife sent and included them all in the email. Nor did my step sister reply to the Facebook message I sent her from my mom's Facebook account. 

DH and I have been playing some games of pool almost every evening and that has been really enjoyable. We need some furniture/chairs in there, though, LOL. I did just order some bar stools that are supposed to be here on Tuesday. 

I found this bankers lamp in orange (I have only ever seen these style of lamps in green!) and ordered it for the "library". I think it will look great with the orange chair.

These are the bar stools I ordered

They look like they will match the wood of the pool table pretty well. We'll see. We might end up ordering one or 2 more, we'll see after dh figures out how to finish out the bar countertop. We should be able to fit 3 at the bar and maybe just have another one up against the wall, for extra seating.

I also ordered some more used books from Thriftbooks. Nine books for $55 and I've apparently make enough purchases now to earn a free used book. It's fun ordering and getting the books and I like that most are only $4 to $5. (and free shipping)

I'm glad this is a 3 day weekend. One more long weekend before getting back to it all. I'm sure I'm way behind with everything at work now.  I think I might make a cake today. Cake and ice cream sound good.

TGIF

I have read all your comments, thank you. Sorry, if I don't get reply's done. I'll get back to it soon.

Yesterday was a more quiet day. I did get her health insurance canceled and they did not ask for a death certificate. My mom's doctor (who she had seen since moving into m/c) called to offer her condolences and also said that she thinks it's likely my mom suffered a stroke. That makes total sense that's what probably happened. 

I also got info from the office person at the place mom lived and got that resident cancel document signed electronically. She will get some prorated money back for her rent and care costs.

I did finally get an email response back from the email I sent my stepbrother, but it was from my step brother's wife. She also included my other step siblings in the reply, so at least I have all of their emails now and can either get their phone numbers from them or at a minimum give mom's investment office their email contacts. It was a kind reply, but I'm kind of wondering why it's from her and not my step brother (and he didn't answer his phone when I tried. I have not heard anything from these other step siblings.

I did have a lovely call with my aunt yesterday afternoon. She sounded just as I always remembered her (she must be around 84 or 85 now). She's a very sweet lady and it was good to chat with her about mom and catch up with her. I will try to give her a call every so often, now. 

I got a really good restful nap yesterday afternoon (while dh was outside plowing) and slept somewhat better last night.

Getting it done one day at a time

I got through yesterday ok. We first went to m/c and boxed up the items of my mom's I wanted to keep. Just some pictures, knickknacks, her telephone. DH decided he could use her towels for shop towels, so we took those as well. I also took the brand new winter jacket I had recently bought her (likely not even worn). It's a big big for me, but not too bad. I told dh, I'm not going to lie - I'm not going to miss having to go to the m/c place anymore. As I was walking out, I was kind of talking to my mom in my head "ok mom, I got you out of here now".

We then dropped off her telephone modem with the cable/phone company nearby and next appointment was across town at the funeral home to make her cremation arrangements. I'm just going with their basic cremation with a basic urn. At this point our plan is to spread her ashes later in spring, but if for some reason I change my mind I can always get a nicer urn and they said they will transfer the ashes for me. They are scheduled to do the cremation next Monday. I didn't ask how long it takes to get the death certificates. I guess it takes as long as it takes.

It was kind of funny - we were sitting in this nice room with a table, while the funeral home gal was going over the paperwork and having me sign. Right after I wrote the check, all of a sudden some very loud music came blaring through a speaker in the room ceiling. The lady was like "oh my gosh - that's never happened before! I didn't even know there was a speaker in here". Both dh and I said "that's my mom! haha! I said probably upset that I just wrote this big check. Haha! (that was 4x what she paid to have my stepdad cremated 12 years ago). DD called me in the afternoon and when I started to tell her about the music suddenly blaring she also said "that was grandma!"

I am getting 7 copies of the death certificate. My boss had told me get more than you think you need. My boss had also said they will ask me if I want to view her body. I knew that, but honestly it hadn't been a part of my thought process yet, so I'm glad she mentioned it, so I had some time to think about it, rather than just suddenly having to make a decision right then. I had decided not to view her body

I played phone tag with the moving lady, but finally connected late yesterday afternoon and she is set up to clean out the rest of the items in mom's room. Next Wednesday was the earliest she has an opening in her schedule to do it. I also have an email into the office person at the m/c place to finalize her rental agreement and also am waiting to see if she will get any prorated credit for part of this month. If she does get something back, that should then cover the cost of the mover.

After the funeral home, we stopped by the pool table store to exchange the table cover. The one we got had a small tear in it, so that errand is done.

Still nothing back from either of my step siblings I contacted, though I know my stepsis read the message. All the more, it's good I was the one who ended up taking care of her care, medical and finances.

I did get a message from the sister of my aunt (my mom's older brother's ex wife) in Oregon. I think my aunt must live with her now. My aunt wanted to talk to me, but she didn't know how to do messenger to send me a message. I have her ph# now and will call her this afternoon. I haven't talked to her in years, so it will be nice to chat with her. She was always such a nice person with a very calming demeanor (probably why she used to be a nurse, eh?). Her sister said she's a night owl, so try after noon. She was like a daughter to my grandparents, as a daughter in law, and even though they divorced, she always stayed closed to my grandparents and always called them mom and dad.

Today I will work on contacting her health insurance company to cancel her advantage plan. I did make a post on my mom's Facebook page about her passing, so her friends would know and received a nice message from her former neighbor.

I think my headache I've had since Tuesday is mostly gone. It was nagging at me all day yesterday and most of the night sleeping. It was snowing when I got up, but we didn't get too much more.

The next day

Thank you very much to all of you who commented with your condolences. I appreciate every one of them. It still doesn't seem quite real yet, but I'm sure after today, when we go into the funeral home to make the arrangements and then go get her things out of her room that I want to take, it will. 

Still more things to do/calls to make, but they don't have to be done in one day. Today will be the funeral home and getting her things, as well as a call to see if the moving company that moved her to m/c can also come and take away/donate the rest of her things (bed, chair, clothes, etc), which I'm sure they can. Today or tomorrow I will call her investment lady/assistant and let them know and then in a day or two call the estate attorney to find out how to go about her will. My understanding with it, due to her "estate" being under $50k, is we will just need to file an affadavit stating this, but have to wait 30 days.

I did try to call my step brother to let him know, but he didn't answer. I then sent him an email, but no response yet. This morning I logged into my mom's Facebook account (I still had her log in and password info). I will post something on there about her passing, so her friends can know. I also realized she is Facebook friends with my step sister (the only one of them who has Facebook) and so I sent her a message via messenger. I don't have their ph#'s...they were lost when my mom lost her cell phone a couple years ago.

We did go ahead and have the pool table installed yesterday, since we weren't going anywhere and wanted to get that done and not try to reschedule it. It looks perfect in our bonus room/house. We are really happy with it.

We even tried our hand at playing after dinner last night. Neither of us has played in ages and we're terrible at it, LOL, but it was very fun. We did get a little better the 2nd and 3rd games (which I won by the way, haha). And apparently I am a left handed player and never realized it.

I woke up early with a headache, so I'm up and will likely be exhausted by the end of today. I had hoped getting up and a cup of coffee would shake the headache, but it has not.

I checked again this morning and finally see the refund/credit on my credit card for the first pool table. One less thing to have to check on.

Rest in Peace

I knew it was coming - likely sometime within the year or so, but my mom passed peacefully in her sleep last night. I got the call just before 4am. A surprise. But, also a blessing. I had prayed that when it's her time, she goes like her dad (also had Alzheimer's) did, just peacefully in his sleep one night.

Since she had Covid the week after Thanksgiving, while it was a mild case, she has gotten weaker and weaker. As I think I mentioned, wanting to walk less and less and they started using a wheel chair. We saw her just before Christmas, then Christmas Eve, then last Monday, on New Years, when dd was here. All those visits she seemed pretty good, while not wanting to walk, she was chatty and alert. When I got there yesterday afternoon to take her the new shoes, I was like Whoa! what a decline she has taken in a week! She was very sleepy and lethargic. It was almost dinner time when I got there. I wheeled her back to her room and tried to talk with her, but she was pretty out of it. I wheeled her back to the dining room and one of the staff got her a spot at one of the tables to wheel her chair up to. I gave her a hug and told her I loved her and said goodbye. She did say I love you, too.

Today her doctor was supposed to come and check her out, but I guess she had had enough and went to be with my stepdad and her parents. I'm doing ok. Honestly, I'm just glad this horrible disease is over for her.

She can now get back to dancing :)

Back to the grind

I'm back at work this morning. Making my way through a bunch of emails, of course. One of my emails was from one of our hourly employees to correct a time punch he made an error on. While I had the payroll system open I was looking at some other stuff and see that my assistant did not work at all last week. So, I figure he must have just let my boss know about it, leaving me out of the message, knowing I was off. So, I ask her about it and she says she just realized on Saturday that he did not work at all last week (we were open Tues-Fri). He has not contacted her with his new quarter class/work schedule (that would have started last week), nor did he even tell her he wasn't working last week! O.M.G.!! What in the world will it take for her to fire this guy?!!! She said she is texting him today to find out if he's working this week and when he can come into the office for a meeting with her....

I still haven't gotten the credit for the first pool table. I emailed the pool table company and they said it was processed on their end and they got the confirmation number, so I'd have to contact my credit card to see what is going on. Well, the cc is telling me that large refunds can take up to 15 days to process, so I guess I'm watching for it for another week. Good grief.

My mom has a 5 month check up with her doctor (house call) tomorrow afternoon. The first 2 appointments she's had, I was there, but with our pool table getting scheduled tomorrow I'm not going to be able to make it. Not to mention I have payroll to process tomorrow. (when I made the appt for thid date I forgot payroll would need to be processed on the 9th instead of 10th, due to the 15th being a holiday). And it's supposed to snow tomorrow, so I probably wouldn't go in anyway. Dh would need to be here for the pool table people and if it's snowed/snowing I'm not driving 50 miles by myself in it. I called her dr. office this morning and he said no problem at all. If the dr. has any questions or concerns she will call. I also let him know to put on her chart notes for the doctor that I want her to look at her feet swelling (I know she checks this out, she did the past 2 visits, but I just wanted to make sure she looks at it). I'm sure she is likely used to seeing the m/c residents without a family member present. One time I was visiting my mom I saw a dr and his assistant visiting one of the residents rooms and no one from family was there. I also asked if m/c notifies them when she falls (I assumed they did) and he said yes, so she has that new info, as well.

Well, both pairs of shoes I ordered for my mom showed up UPS today. When I last checked tracking it said one pair today and one pair tomorrow. We're going to take off around 3:45 this afternoon and head into the city to get them to her. We're also going to pick up about half a usual order of groceries or so. Trying to beat the snow that is supposed to come starting tonight. Also by the end of the week we are supposed to be in the negative 20's overnight for a couple days. Now I can get stocked back up on milk and a few other things, like more tomatoes, lettuce and onion and we should be good for a couple more weeks.

It's after noon and I haven't gotten an update from my boss if she got a hold of the assistant today. He hasn't clocked in yet today, either. Just crazy.

Snowy Sunday

My 2 weeks off is done after today. I guess I'm ready to go back to work tomorrow.......NOT! haha. We got a little bit of snow last night, enough that Amos said nope, I'm staying inside this morning. Between dd and sil being here for a few days over New Years, then a day (and a half) taking down all the Christmas stuff, then a day putting the bookcases together and then half the next day finding the right layout of the bookcases and card catalog cabinet, I didn't end up doing a whole lot yesterday. My back is a bit sore so I tried to take it easy.

I did get some books added to the bookcases. DH found more of his photo albums, so he put those in. As usual, he has too much of everything and it always ends up looking crowded and cluttered. I will eventually get things moved and adjusted to my liking, haha and he'll have forgotten about it all.

I also saw an email for a Verizon class action suit. One email was for my account and one for my mom's Verizon she used to have. It sounds like we'd get a minimum of $15 each, so I signed us both up for that. Might as well. 

Other than the call about getting my mom some shoes, I haven't gotten anymore "fall" calls since last Tuesday (I think it was Tuesday -we went and saw her Monday), thank goodness. Keeping fingers crossed. I did get the call made to her investment office and the distribution was processed and the money showed up in her checking yesterday. So, she's set for 6 months and then I'll take out the 2nd half for the year in July. But, I'm kind of expecting an increase in her care level, so if/when that happens, the money won't last 6 months, more like 5 months. I don't take out a full years distribution at one time for 2 reasons: 1) to leave as much in her investments for as long as possible to keep earning returns on it and 2) if I keep her checking below $50k, if she passes away, her estate (which would just consist of her checking and clothing and few personal belongings she has) will not need to go through the probate process. Just trying to keep things as simple as possible.

Of course, the day our pool table is supposed to be delivered and installed is the day they are predicting a bunch of snow, so then we'll probably get rescheduled. Grrr, LOL. I still haven't gotten the credit on my credit card, which is annoying. 

Not much planned for today. DH will do laundry. I am going to get one more good nap in, haha. I should get something figured out for dinner tonight, so I can get something out of the freezer, if needed. I haven't made tuna casserole for a long time, maybe I'll just do that. Nothing out of the freezer needed and I also have some crescent rolls in the fridge that need to be used up before they go bad.

Design change

We did a change of library design plans. The chair idea just wasn't working out with the original idea I had. We put all the bookcases side by side, which brought us a bit from where the walls have the corner and that corner area fits a chair much better. This is a chair I have in a guest bedroom, for reference, though I like it and the color there, so I went ahead and just ordered another of the same one. We moved the library card catalog cabinet over to the wall opposite, under the big metal clock. I like it all much better this way. I will get some sort of side table w/lamp or floor lamp next to the chair.

I mentioned to dh that this card catalog cabinet is really designed for CD's now. He's like I have lots of CD's still in a storage bin! I forgot how many CD's he's collected over the years. He also has lots of DVD's that are in CD type cases (mostly videos of races our son was in). He also asked if he could put photo albums in the bookcase and I said sure. So, we were able to empty out a whole bin between the CD/Dvd's and photo albums, One less bin taking up storage space. 

 

I had gotten this chair from Wayfair, so looked on my account to find it, see how much it was (I couldn't remember). $240....eww....well, Amazon has the same exact chair for $140! Wish I had known that when I ordered it from Wayfair. But, now thanks to Google lens search it's so easy to see if things are cheaper somewhere else. I love that feature and have likely saved hundreds since I started using it.

 

I've started adding some of my books, but need to adjust shelf heights some in the process. AND, I need LOTS more books, LOL. But, I will just gradually keep ordering some books I want off of Thriftbooks and build it up. 

One of the m/c aides called yesterday to request I get my mom some slip on type of shoes. Her lace up tennis shoes, I think being a bit tight now with her feet swollen up a bit, are what she thinks is the reason my mom is complaining her feet hurt when walking and her slippers don't really have much grip and she's worried she might trip/fall trying to walk around in those. This sounds like a very good idea and if we can get her walking more again, I'm sure that will help with the swelling, as well. Before we made a trip into the city to look for some slip on type sneakers, I did a search online with Target and Kohl's in the city to see what they had in stock I could pick up. Well, Target really had nothing like I wanted. Kohl's did, but not in her size in stock in the store. There really isn't much other store choices, so I ordered a couple pair from Amazon, like this style

She normally wears a size 6. I decided to order a pair in normal width and a pair in wide with to try both out. I can just return one pair. I added $6.99 for faster shipping and they are supposed to be here by Mon or Tuesday.

I'm on my last 2 days of vacation. How sad!

The new "library"

The bookcases arrived! It was about noon when they got delivered. Each box was about 100 pounds each so we just set them in the foyer and opened them up there (all in pieces to assemble) and carried the pieces up the stairs. It took each of us 2 trips up and down for one bookcase....times 4! haha. After we got the first one assembled and figured out, the other 3 went faster, but still took us all afternoon with a couple of short breaks. I really like them and it makes the hallway seem so much more finished. They are very heavy and solid.

So, my original plan was to have a small chair there in that opening and either small lamp on the libarary card cabinet or a small floor task lamp behind/next to a chair. But, I put one of my loft accent chairs there just to get an idea and a chair looks too big there. It sticks out too far. Then I put one of my old wood dining chairs there and that was a lot better, but not exactly what I was thinking for looks wise. So, now I don't know what to do with that space. There isn't enough room to add another bookcase. Probably just add a tall fake floor plant. Still lots to do with adding books and some knickknacks here and there. Probably adjusting some shelves to different spots for some visual variety.

I'm still not seeing the credit on my credit card for the first pool table. If it's not there by Monday, I will be calling on it. 

With the milder winter we are having so far, my December electric bill is much lower than usual. Last year it was $423 for December. This December it's $315. Nice!

Well, my 2 weeks off work is winding down towards the end. It's been a nice, refreshing break from work. 

I have 2 calls I need to make today. One to my mom's investment assistant lady, to have her process a distribution for my mom and get some money back into her account. The second is to my mortgage company. I decided to pay the escrow shortage in full. I had called last week to inquire what date they needed it by (she was very vague, LOL) but she did say after I pay it, to call them back, so that they can go in and adjust my new payment amount that is showing, that includes paying off the shortage monthly.

Back to normal

After breakfast and a shower yesterday I got busy taking down and packing up all the Christmas decor. A break halfway for a nap/back rest and I got done with it all just before dinner. Whew! It was a job, but glad to have it all done now. The house always seems so bare and empty afterwards. It left no time to make a blog post yesterday, once I got busy.

My bookcases are finally out for delivery today - if I can believe FedEx tracking. The tracking info says they will be delivered between 6:40am and 11:40am (for that that estimate is worth)....It's almost 10 and no sign yet, though dh did see a FedEx freight type truck go by out on the main road about 30 minutes ago and it's likely the 4 boxes (the total weight on tracking says 404 pounds) are on that truck. Normal deliveries come in this smaller van and 4 boxes that size would likely take up her whole van, LOL. Since dh will have to put them together, I'm hoping they show up earlier rather than later this afternoon. Otherwise he'll spend half the night putting them together, rather than just waiting until tomorrow.

We got a call yesterday from the guy that owns the lot on the other side of DAN's 2 lots. They live out of state, purchased in 2020 and said they have a 5 year plan. Well, sounds like they are on plan. They are moving over here this spring (they will be staying in a cabin on his wife's dad's property) and then plan to start building on their lot here as soon as they can start (weather wise) next year, in 2025. The 2-3 "contractor" type vehicles dh had seen come in (and thought they were at DAN's lots, because parked there) were actually builders lot 6 had come out to look at their building site.  

He said, awhile back, when he saw the no trespassing sign that DAN put on his side, pointing to his lot, he emailed him that hey, we're going to be neighbors, there is no need for this....of course DAN never replied back. DH told him there's also one on our side, pointing at us. Then dh told him about the email I got back from DAN last summer when I was notifying about out road being re-sealed and closed for 24 hours. He was like "wow, are you kidding me?". 

He called to ask if it was ok to put a temporary storage container on their lot this spring/summer. DH told him he's glad they will be our neighbors and look forward to having them build/live here and that we did the same thing with Mr & Mrs - asked them on several things, first, if they would mind, rather than just doing whatever we wanted. DH told him he has no issue with something temporary like that (but said to also check with the other neighbors)....but just we aware that as soon as he does DAN will be moving the 2 storage containers he has in town out here and they will NOT be temporary.....lot 6 agreed with that fact and said maybe he'll just put the container at his father in laws... 

Nothing much else new going on. I'm loving the 2 weeks off and I think I'll do the same next Christmas/New Years, LOL. It's awesome.

Well, time to go get the rest of my normal year round decor put back in place.

New Year's catch up

Happy New Year. I didn't get time to post yesterday. We've been having an nice visit with dd and sil, as always. NYE we had the king crab legs for dinner and they were delicious and just the perfect amount for the 4 of us. I also heated up some garlic bread to go with it.

Yesterday we went into the city so dd could see my mom and we just had the guys drop us off at m/c while they went over to Sportsman's Warehouse to shop. DH had gift cards and sil wanted to get some more magazines that are illegal to purchase in his state. A few minutes after they drop us off we get a call...dh forgot his gift cards at home! LOL. So typical. I told him to just go ahead and get the ammo he wanted and I'm sure he'll have something else to use the cards on next trip there.

Mom is doing ok, not great, but ok. She was asleep in her room, sitting in a wheel chair. They said she just keep complaining it hurts to walk. Then I kind of realized it's only been 3 weeks since she got over Covid. It took me weeks/month or more to get my energy level back. I'm sure this is what is causing it. I did get her up a bit and walk across her room and back. Very slow. I asked her if her feel or legs hurt and she said no. I said oh, they said you keep telling them it hurts to walk. She said "who told you that?" LOL She kept denying it. She has her dr visiting next week, so she can see if anything else is going on then.

NYE I stayed up until like 11, last night was 10 and I went to bed. DH always tries to make me feel bad (in a teasing way) for going to bed early (even though it's way later than I normally go to bed) while they are visiting. Finally, I said, well maybe you all should feel bad for not getting up when I get up! That shut him up, LOL.

For dinner last night I heated up some leftover taco soup I had in the freezer and made some cornbread muffins. DD had gotten me a silicone muffin pan (that I asked for) for Christmas, so I made cornbread muffins in that, instead of in the pan like I usually do, so I could try out the new muffin pan. Works great. And I liked the cornbread in muffin form better. 

After dinner we watched a cute movie - Super Mario Brother's Movie. It has a little bit more special meaning to dh as he personally knew the real Mario that the video game character was named/modeled after.

I was happy to check my emails this morning and see the refund on the first pool table was processed, so now I don't have to call and check on that. Hard to say if my bookcases will show up today. FedEx tracking is so terrible. It's 4 boxes. They haven't been updated in their system since 2 days ago, but "estimated delivery" shows today. It also shows 2 of the boxes delayed. How that is when they were all shipped together, out of the same place, who knows. Nothing is showing this morning as "out for delivery". Might get 2 today, might get all 4, might get none, LOL. 

The kids are planning to head back home around 1pm this afternoon. Once everyone is up, I'll make some blueberry muffins in my new muffin pan.