Friday Afternoon

[Bethers]

It's late for coffee, but maybe time for a cocktail? Hmm, maybe lol

I had an rv tech stop by today. I asked for all my seals to be checked. Two of them went on my roof and a couple minutes later came down and said it doesn't need anything. I hadn't seen any red flags, but... Anyway, I appreciate honesty and no charge!

So far I've done nothing on my to do list today. I'm sitting in my casita enjoying my view out the door of the Dragoon Mountains. Ty is lying in the open door waiting for people and dogs to walk down the street next to us so he can bark and I can yell at him LOL

I have two plants I'm not sure how to maintain, so I'm going to have to ask the landscape people one day. One is starting to grow over the edge of the property line into the road, but I'm not sure how it gets trimmed. Another of the same type in the back is getting bigger than I like.

Hope everyone is having a great day.

[cnq50b]

I'm sitting in my casita enjoying my view out the door of the Dragoon Mountains. Ty is lying in the open door waiting for people and dogs to walk down the street next to us so he can bark and I can yell at him LOL

Sounds like a perfect day to me, Beth.

I'm just enjoying the fact that it's about 80 outside, inside is very comfortable & it is November!!! I totally appreciate living on the West Coast. Might run down to San Diego or the beach with son & Oliva while DIL has a luncheon with her girlfriends tomorrow.

Attended a Medicare seminar last night - those Advantage plans are pretty enticing - some even cover emergency care internationally. Will find out more about supplemental plans & then decide what will work best for me whenever I get to do that 'retirement' thing.

[Bethers]

Attended a Medicare seminar last night - those Advantage plans are pretty enticing - some even cover emergency care internationally. Will find out more about supplemental plans & then decide what will work best for me whenever I get to do that 'retirement' thing.

Do me a favor and call Boomer Benefits. I did everything myself originally but their service (at no charge to us customers) is stellar. I, too, liked the idea of some advantage plans, but in the end I chose to not go that way. Anyway... It's a tough decision and everyone has to figure what works best. Good luck.

Went to cut Ty's class this afternoon and the clippers are missing. I wonder if he hid them lol I'll do more searching tomorrow. I don't like the ones at WalMart and I can order through Sunday to get Tuesday delivery. You know if I get new ones I'll find these, right?

[cnq50b]

Thanks for the recommendation, Beth. My daughter has cautioned me about not giving up standard Medicare for the Advantage plans so I'll contact Boomer Benefits to help figure it out. Truely appreciate the advice.

[BarbaraRose]

Was a busy day for me today! Worked on my living room all day. Doesn't look a lot different but I went thru the cabinets that I hadn't gotten to yet with the previous owners stuff still in there. There were a ton of wine, champagne, Margarita, etc glasses in two of the upper cupboards. I kept two champagne glasses for mimosas, two wine glasses, and two smaller glasses for Bailey's. One of my new neighbors I met last night mentioned she needs some wine glasses so I invited her over today to look thru these. She took two boxes of them! My next door neighbor is bringing me two long folding tables to use for the sale.

I also found a lot of decks of cards, a backgammon game, a cribbage board, a nice set of dominoes for Mexican Train. Also found a bunch of coins! Nickels, dimes, half dollars, silver dollars and some quarters. About $25 worth! Also a game of Clue which I used to love playing, so I am keeping that.

I moved my end tables and coffee table out to the deck and finished putting together my new smaller end tables and coffee table. I plan to sell my oversized love seats and recliner because they just take up way too much space in here, and replace them with a smaller couch with a lounger at one end. That will be a lot more practical in here and give me a lot more room.

Still need to go thru the pile of stuff I have accumulated on my kitchen table. Mostly tools, tape, glue, hardware, etc. Will find a new place for that. Have a lot of empty cabinet space now for stuff like that and will have more space in the shed once I bring in all my boxes of books. The books are going in the cabinets in my bedroom.

This weekend and early next week I will go thru all the stuff in the porch and put out a lot of that for the sale as well. Sale is Friday. Lots to do yet. Hoping I sell a lot of it. They have a donation company, that they use a lot here, coming around after the sale to pick up whatever is left over if you choose to do that. There is another yard sale on January 17th, my birthday. I was planning to go to Q on the 16th but I think I will stay and do the sale again and then I can use that money for Q. I will leave for Q on the 18th thru the 23rd. It is only a 2 hour drive from here this time (maybe a little longer with towing the trailer).

Another couple who just arrived (snowbirds from Washington) across the street, stopped by today to introduce themselves to me. Everyone is so friendly here!

I got an appointment for a new dentist on Monday morning. Will be interesting what they say about my teeth compared to the other place!

I smell steak cooking! Someone is BBQing and didn't invite me!! Now I am hungry. I better go make something to eat.

Lola was looking a little scruffy this morning and not real perky so I gave her some SubQ fluids. She looks much better and is up and around more now. I have to keep an eye on her with that. She is mad at me tho. I accidently stepped on her earlier and when I tried to jump away from her, I accidently kicked her when she turned in front of me. I hugged her and apologized for a long time. I felt so bad. She wasn't hurt tho, just mad. (well, she probably has some sore tootsies! )

Back to work tomorrow, then Sunday off.

[snowball]

have the generator on will have to get used to it... it's not louder but think because it's stronger it's vibrating in the trailer... I have it where the old one is... because it is new the advice was to drain the oil after a few times of starting... we drained it after it had ran about an hour black you would have thought it ran for a month... so tomorrow I will go and drain it hopefully I can remember how to do it... and replace it see how dirty it looks if not so much then I can wait a bit longer before I do it again...
played games today was so nice to be with the ladies and enjoy the afternoon... got ice for two blocks it's about 6 dollars.. yikes I might be better off with a new cooler even though I hope in a month plus will have the fridge fixed.. it might be the best way to go.. can't really afford ice every other day at that rate.
looked at one on line that the ice holds for 4-5 days and larger so I can put more in it and actually have some food here..talked to my friend and I can put some things in her fridge that will help lots...
guess I did less than I thought... after I got up went to town to get some things couldn't find a plastic pail, got a siphon hose couldn't make it work so had to hand dip the water out of the cooler wanted to use the water from there to put in sink and toilet as I didn't do that yesterday... also picked up some RV Digest like it much better than some others I've used... didn't like what I had to get this summer... I had forgotten to get some went to pick it up and the place was closed for the season.. they don't have the sign up about it so hope that they will still be carrying it... he did have one that I bought. will have to ask about it
went out to eat after games hadn't had anything but soup and sandwiches for the week
you all have a good day
sheila

[JudyJB]

Barbie, it certainly is funny to have found all those wine glasses and cards. From your brief descriptions, I have a visual image of their social life around card tables with bottles of wine and other drinks! Two boxes of wine glasses? Wow.

Spent the day at the college today and introduced myself to a bunch of people I know from emails but not in person, so I did not know what they looked like! It struck me as very weird to have worked at a place for so many years and not know people by face. Also, one of my fellow teachers met me there and gave me a tour of the building!! I taught there from 1984-1997 and then online from 2002 to current, but the rooms I used to teach in don't exist anymore. They are now mostly offices, and the library is now the testing and tutoring center, and the administration offices are now the student lounge, etc. Since I started in 1984, the size of the campus has grown eight-fold and nothing is where it used to be, plus most of the people I used to know have retired. They also added a second floor on the two ends of the building, to make things even more confusing, but I did not have time to go up there! The faculty offices are still in the same place, but you have to enter them through the testing center, and online staff offices are also now in the faculty offices.

Hardly any students around because it was Friday and there are no classes. I remember when I started in 1984, teaching a Friday night class and then going home and coming back on Saturday morning for a second class. This was when I was recently divorced and completely broke, trying to raise my two kids on almost no money. In 1984-1986, I had five part-time jobs, believe it or not!! It was a big relief to get a real, full-time job as a training coordinator in a transmission factory in 1986, so I did not have to drive all over Detroit each day, from one job to another! I kept the one college job when I dropped the four other jobs because I was making only $15,000 a year at my new full-time job! That part-time teaching job paid for groceries and other necessities, so I have always been grateful to have had it. And now it helps pay for my traveling.

I also picked up my 25-year-award that I earned last year. I have really been teaching there 30 years, but they lost the records for the first 4 years. Someday, I need to get the dept chair to have the registrar to check the grades for students in my 1984 class, but that will have my name on them. Then maybe they will give me the 30-year award I really deserve, whatever it is. This 25 year award was a crystal plaque with an apple on it "for the teacher" I assume. I also gave a tour of my motorhome for a handful of people, including my department chair.

Anyway, really funny to get a tour of my place of employment and to be introduced to other employees!!

[BarbaraRose]

Judy, that sounds like a fun day! Glad you got to do that and finally see where you have been teaching all these years. When I toured my old high school several years ago, it was amazing to see all the changes! I barely recognized it, it had grown so much!

I actually had 4 boxes of wine glasses, she just took two of them. The other two boxes have Christmas designs and some have zebra print on them.

[Irmi]

Judy, I was so happy to read that you & I were smart enough to work so many part time jobs to make ends meet. The last umpteen years before I was able to stop doing this, I too, worked multiple part time jobs to the tune of 100 hours a week, to make sure bills were paid, not only on time, but got ahead on mortgage payments. I will admit that before Steve went into trucking, he did the same thing, and I appreciate that. Not many folks do that anymore. I'm so glad you got to have a good time with your friends!

[JudyJB]

I just remembered that for those five part-time jobs back in 1984-1986, I made a whopping $12,000 per year! I remember specifically that on Tuesday and Thursday, I worked 9-11 at the learning lab at one college, drove to a second college to sit at a desk in the library where I gave drop-in writing help from 12-3 pm, they drove back to the first college to sit in the lab from 4-6 and finally taught a study skills class from 6-8. It was really nuts. I had four brief cases or tote bags in my car trunk, so I could pull out whichever one I needed. Along with grading papers, I was working over 60 hours per week. Guess I ought to appreciate where I am now.

That $15,000 per year full-time job felt wonderful, and two years later, in 1988, I got another full-time job and increased my income to $18,000, which seemed like a lot after $12,000. My income at the college was meager also compared to what they pay me today, but I was desperate to get it.

I will always be grateful to Walsh College where I teach now for hiring me way back then. That money at first bought necessities like groceries. Later, it helped pay for my kids college. I quit from 1997 to 2002, but am very glad I went back in 2002 because that money enabled me to put money aside in a 401K, and now it enables me to travel. I never made enough money in a full-time job to put money away, so it was always this second job that made my retirement at least partly secure. And what is best, is that the college has always treated me like a professional and stood behind me when students complained about the grades I was giving them.