It's almost the end of July, YIKES!!! All the stores have school supply sales, but I've noted that this year they waited longer than usual to hold them. I asked YS to assess our supplies last week and see what we might need but I know he hasn't done it. But I also suspect we don't need anything since I still have plenty of stock from previous years, even though I also went through a major declutter period a few months back.
Newsflash: I had another very uncomfortable night last night! I went to bed at 9:30 a.m., all excited to try the firm mattress with the foam pad and indeed at first it felt more comfortable. I started reading my own blog entries from last July and ended up doing so for a couple of hours. When it was time to fall asleep, an episode of "Forensic Files" helped me right along. And then... I tossed and turned all night. I had the top sheet and the thin blanket on me and I felt super hot so I turned on the big pedestal fan. Well, then I was freezing, but I didn't want to get another blanket because then I knew I'd be baking!
So I turned off the large fan and turned on the small fan and also put my nightgown back on. It still was too cold. WTH? I moved the small fan so it wouldn't blow directly on my neck but just on the top part of my head. Well, then I was too hot, of course! So I took off the nightgown. And so on and so forth.
Then my shoulders and neck were hurting, again! Like I was hit by a 2x4 across the shoulder blades! I know it can't be leftover soreness from moving the mattresses because I don't hurt during the day. Well, I don't remember that I was sore during the day yesterday. It's 10:30 a.m. right now and I'm still pretty sore.
I kept on switching pillows, from the firm foam pillow (which I loved in combination with my old foam mattress!) to the old feather pillow and I couldn't get comfortable. So I'm going to steal a cheapie spare pillow that we keep in Greg's closet to see if it might be more acceptable. Again, I feel like Goldilocks!
So I slept very uncomfortably all night. Greg had mentioned that he could hear the mattress springs squeak when he used my bed for his nap yesterday and I was surprised because I thought the squeaking came from the old bed (which I left in his room) and I hadn't heard any squeaking the previous night at all... well then, now that he's mentioned it, I've noticed it, and now that I've noticed it, you know that, unconsciously, it bothers me! UGH.
Plus, let's not mention the bathroom breaks every 2 to 2.5 hours... darn it, I mentioned them anyway!
Despite all that, I had managed to still be asleep at 9 a.m. when Middle Son called me to ask if I wanted to go for a walk with him and the pup because they "were bored". But when he heard that he had woken me up (again!), he apologized and told me to go back to bed. I told him it was OK but that I hadn't slept well so I didn't want to go walking. He asked at what time I woke up these days so he can avoid calling me while I'm still asleep but I just laughed. I'll have to talk to him when I'm more awake. I'd love to go on a walk with him but I need to plan for it ahead of time, while he's like his dad and does everything at the last minute.
I tried going back to sleep but my shoulders were hurting too much so I got up and went downstairs to feed the cats. I poured myself a cup of DD Cold Brew and added milk and sweetener. Then I poured a cup of cereal.
Say, the kitchen does look a lot cleaner now that I've fake mopped it, hooray! I didn't do the dishes last night because I didn't feel like unloading the dishwasher, but I rinsed them all out and there's a neat pile so it doesn't look too messy either.
Back in the living room, I tried the cold brew. Oh my, it's wayyy too strong for me and I don't like drinking straight out of the fridge cold beverages in the morning! Heating it up would defy the "cold brew" concept, though! So I think that I might go look for my larger coffee machine up in the attic (if I still have it!) and, in the future, brew a large pot of decaf and let it sit at room temperature overnight. That'll be my "cold brew"! In the meantime, I have to dilute this cold brew with room temperature water because I don't like it at all.
I started earning the daily rewards, and then Greg got up too. I didn't go cuddle with him this morning because of my shoulders, plus I wanted him to sleep in since he hadn't felt great yesterday. He said he slept OK but his stomach was bothering him. We're definitely old farts!
I caught up on emails, blogs and the news, and left some comments on other blogs. Then I published the comments left for me (thank you!) and replied to them.
Greg and I chatted for a bit, mostly about our cats, lol, and then he went to make his breakfast. I had offered to cook him something but he insisted on cooking his own, and then offered to cook me something but I declined. Later on I stole a small piece of his bacon, and that made me hungry, so I had 2 pains au chocolat. I have lost any willpower.
I asked him to go retrieve the Sunday paper from the driveway for me since I'm still in my nightgown and the neighbors are mowing. Our high today is going to be only 88F/28.3C but with the heat index, it'll be 103F/39.4C. I guess we're spending the day indoors again and there is no way I'm pulling weeds with my shoulders as sore as they are.
I loaded new offers to Ibotta, Publix and CVS digital coupons and looked at the paper to see what coupon inserts we got: 2 inserts plus a Publix coupon insert plus a sheet of Steak'n Shake coupons. I also clipped 2 coupons from the Target insert, even though I rarely go to Target anymore, but you never know. Last year at this time my Daughter and I were shopping for her Gainesville apartment and preparing for her move, sob. Time really flies and yet I feel like she's been gone for longer than that.
My Google calendar reminded me that it was time to replace the filter on the fridge so I was going to order a new one from Amazon... when I suddenly remembered that the fridge no longer makes ice or dispenses water so there's no reason to replace the filter! Woohoo, $11 saved!
I printed some coupons via Swagbucks. 1 SB per print + 10 SB per redemption. I probably won't redeem most of them but you never know what good deals might come along. My paper subscription ends at the end of August so I suppose that I'll be relying on printed coupons after that, until a good deal for an Orlando Sentinel Sunday subscription comes along again.
I was clipping coupons when, all of a sudden, I heard the weather radio alarm! I had just commented to Greg that the sky was getting dark (at about 11 a.m.), despite the weather forecast predicting rain at 2 p.m. and later. So I rushed upstairs (I keep the weather alarm in my bedroom) to listen to the advisory: severe thunderstorm warning until 8 p.m. for most of Central Florida, including our county. I just checked the National Hurricane Center to make sure I hadn't missed an article about an upcoming tropical storm or hurricane but all is quiet on that front. Phew!
Greg decided to go mow. What? There's a storm coming! They said to be alert to sudden changes of weather! Well, he said he had sat on his butt all day yesterday so he needed to "do something" today, and off he went. So I got dressed, moved the pedestal fan back to the foot of my bed, and got the pillow from his closet. The bed sheet set that I just bought came with 4 pillowcases and I was thinking "who puts 4 pillows on their bed?!" but then I realized that I was putting a pillowcase on my 4th pillow... and I sleep alone. LOL! I need one to stick under my knee on each side (in case I turn over and I toss and turn constantly!), one under my head, and the 4th is that firm pillow that I might end up not using anymore, we'll see. Then I made my bed.
I saw a wasp in the upstairs hallway (they're once again building a nest in one of the outdoor walls and somehow one always manages to come out on the inside of the house!) but it was lying down, wounded, on the floor. Odd. I finished it off and then decided to sweep the bathroom. Well, one thing led to the next and I scrubbed our old bathtub and the hair catcher, got a bunch of hair from the drain (arrgh, so gross!), sprayed bleach on the bath mat, scrubbed the sink and toilet, and then decided to just wash the floor by hand instead of with a mop because the bathroom is so tiny, it makes so sense to drag a bucket of water and the mop upstairs. Oh my, there was so much hair on the vinyl tiles, I must be even blinder than I thought I was because I didn't realize the floor was so gross. I threw away a tube of toothpaste that was empty (I should have cut it open to scoop the last bits, shoot, I forgot!) and replaced it with a fresh one.
I needed more toilet paper upstairs. I usually keep 4 rolls in each bathroom and the rest of them in the laundry room, but I've decided to start keeping a 12-roll back in each bathroom now, with an emergency pack in the laundry room, because I'm tired of always running out when I'm the one who needs it, lol. So I had to rearrange the small cabinet in the downstairs bathroom to make room for those. I took the plastic wrappers off the packages of bars of soap because, what is it with men who open up the plastic wrappers, take one individually wrapped bar out and then leave the torn plastic wrapper on, like that, in the closet or the pantry?!? Yes, they do the same thing with food items. It looks so messy and there's no reason to do this! So I took all the wrappers off preventatively this time.
While clearing up the cabinet I found some assorted tampons that I don't use, so I consolidated them into one box and put them, along with an unopened box, in the donation box to be taken to the thrift store.
I need to also clean the downstairs bathroom but I'll keep that chore for later on this week :)
Back downstairs, I noticed the box for the solar lights that I had bought on Amazon Prime Day. Lesson #1: never assume, always read the description, because I thought those would be clear plastic tulips with the color-changing solar lights, like my bug-themed ones, but they ended up being silk flowers with a light-changing light in the middle. Hmm, I wonder if it'll look good at night? Well, we'll see. I put them on the berm. It's so obvious that they're silk flowers and then they'll fade very fast in the Florida sun :(
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| A purple one... |
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| And a white one |
Youngest Son got up at 12:30 again. Greg just came back indoors and said "Where is that big storm?!" so I told him "well, get back out there, then, and do more work! What are you doing indoors:!" and we laughed. Then I pointed out the wasps going in and out of the wall and the repairs that need to be done so he asked me to remind him next weekend to go up there early in the morning before it's too hot so he can take care of that, and asked me to pull all the water jugs away from the wall so he can set up the ladder properly. Hmm, maybe he means permanently because he started lecturing me about bugs and the house and I kind of tuned him out, lol. I don't know where else I could keep those jugs of rainwater where they would still be close to the garden that they would be irrigating and wouldn't cause a bigger eye sore. Maybe I should just have a big cistern and paint it green :)
He went back outside. I asked him if he wanted me to get him something for lunch but he's not hungry so I guess we'll all scrounge up something at home. I'm kind of hungry for a Subway sub.
This reminds me that Subway never credited me my points for the two purchases done when we were on vacation! Maybe I should have only uploaded one receipt per day? There's nothing in their FAQ that addresses that. I need to see if there's an email address for Customer Service to ask them about it.
Then I remembered that I had over $16 in Subway gift cards so I surveyed the men and decided to place an order via my Subway app. It took a little bit of time to figure out how to pay with the gift card AND my credit card, but I made it work and I only had to pay a little over $3 with my Discover card (so 5% in Bonus Rewards) and earned a bunch of points on my app, woohoo! I'll go get the order in about 10 minutes. I'll also stop at RaceTrac to get a caffeine free Diet Coke with my RaceTrac Rewards, hopefully the rewards will work today. Ugh.
So I took the Focus (better gas economy) and set off. I stopped at RaceTrac first because it makes more sense, got the medium CF Diet Coke and the Reward worked flawlessly so it was free. Woohoo!
Then I drove 5 minutes away to Subway. There was one person ordering and I could see my order ready on the back counter but there wasn't a sign telling me where to go to pick it up and only 1 worker. I stood by the cash register and when she looked my way I asked where I should stand to pick up my mobile order and she told me "right there!" and asked for my name. Unlike Panera, you do have to talk to someone to pick up your order. I wonder how much of a pain it is when they're busy. They did mark each sub #1, #2, etc., which I like. They used to write down the type of sandwich on the wrapper in store before but they've stopped doing that. It's such a PITA when you order more than 1 sandwich and have to do the guessing game by unwrapping them all, especially when not everyone wants to eat their sandwich at the same time!
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| Oh no, don't let this fool you, I got the footlong AND I ate the whole thing for lunch! |
Back home, I went to tell Greg that his sandwich was there and he acted all worried, asking me "where have you been?!" I mean, I was gone 25 minutes total! But I guess he thought i'd left right away when I asked him if he wanted a sub and didn't realize that I had to place the order on the app and then wait for it to be ready. A bit later I checked my phone and he'd also called and sent me a text while I was driving, lol. He acted like he wasn't that hungry, just worried because I "was gone so long!" but I think he was mostly hungry, despite his protests. Still, it's nice that someone worries about me from time to time!
I caught up on some blogs and I think I'll put a show on TV now, probably another episode of "The Antiques Roadshow". I need to write down which episodes I have watched because, unlike the Netflix app, it doesn't keep track of them for me and I get confused, lol.
It's about 2:30 p.m. and it still hasn't started raining although it's very cloudy.
Greg has been a busy bee outside! He's mowed, taken a bunch of branches that the neighbors collected from their yard and threw back on our property (it's from our tree that hangs over the property line, but we collect branches that fall from Jeff's and other people's trees on our property all the time and dispose of them ourselves so I'm pissed that they just threw everything back for us to deal with, to be honest. This is reason #1 million why I'm not on friendly terms with anyone living in that house!), and now he's taking apart the self-watering bins that I was keeping on the side of the house and that, at one point, had contained strawberry plants (back when I thought that maybe they'd grow better in the shade, but even though the plants did, they never fruited and eventually were replaced by ferns that grew from the peat moss that I had added to the soil, I think. I asked him to keep the "internal elements" of the bins because I can reuse them but the bins themselves are breaking apart so he's throwing them away. He's also saving the cattle panels and screening material that I was using on top of them. It would be nice to have another shed to throw all that stuff in, to be honest.
It finally started raining at 3:30 p.m., shortly after Greg came back indoors. Hooray! It didn't rain very long or very hard, but it was something.
Greg turned on the portable AC unit in the Gaming Lair and placed a call to his mom while the room was cooling off. Now he and YS are up there, playing Warhammer, finally! That AC unit it pretty loud (although the pedestal fan was blowing on high at the same time while I was there, and that makes a big amount of noise too!) but it cools off the room nicely.
I decided to go look for the large coffee machine that we used to use before I replaced it for the smaller one. I remember putting it away in the "attic", thinking that we might use it again some day. Well, I looked and looked and didn't see it in there! I think I might have decluttered too much?! I did find another one of those portable fans that works either with an outlet or with D batteries though! It was in our camping supplies. And I also have a camping coffee machine but that only works with gas burners. I've never used it even once!
Anyhoo, I brought the fan back downstairs. We now have 4 of those! I decided to use that one in my bedroom as it is larger than the small fan that I use to blow on my face but smaller than the pedestal fan. However, I dropped it and it started making a clicking noise that annoys me so I swapped it with one of those that I keep as hurricane season emergency fans. In order to set up the TV and Roku that I ordered in a place where I can view the screen comfortably from my bed, I needed to move a small chest of drawers next to my dresser. So I did it and it fits exactly in the spot left by moving my "valet" to the side. Woohoo! I love it when things fall in place. For now, I set up the fan on top of that, with the weather alarm and I was able to reuse an extension cord that I no longer needed by my bed. I need to get another power strip, though. I might have one somewhere else in the house, I need to check.
I kept looking for the coffee machine in all the places where I might have stashed it but didn't find it. It's annoying me because it's one of those things that you see constantly when you don't need it and when you do need it, you can't find it... until you buy another one! But it's a false impression, probably, because I do remember taking it to the attic and I'm very rarely up there so I wouldn't see it "all the time", as I think I do. I think I donated it and forgot about it.
So this week I will go to the thrift stores and look for a large coffee machine (i.e. 8 cups) and a side table or small chest of drawers to go back near my bed and replace the one that I'm now using as a TV stand, as I don't think I already have a piece of furniture in my house that would work... or maybe I could use one of my extra chairs. I just need a surface to hold the weather radio and a couple of other things. OK, now I need to go look through the house to see what I can repurpose, lol.
And... I did! Woohoo! I was able to consolidate all the kid DVDs that I'm still hanging on to (Spongebob, Looney Tunes, Batman, Disney DVDS, Miyazaki movies, Star Wars, Clone Wars, that type of stuff!) with the Disney VHS tapes that I'm still hanging on to (too many but that's my older kids' childhood and since I used to work for Disney Feature Animation, it's hard to get rid of them!) and use one of those 2-drawer chests in my bedroom! I cleaned it, affixed some round pads to the bottom so I can move it without scratching my wood floor upstairs, and it found its new spot there. Nothing matches and I don't care... I always said that one day, when the kids moved out, we'd get "nice" furniture, but really, Greg and I do not care one bit. We'd rather spend our money on other stuff (like retirement... or food, lol) than on decor. I love reusing my own stuff, or buying used from the thrift store. As I always said, function before form!
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| I will put the TV, Roku and DVD player on that chest of drawers when they come in. |
It started raining again at 5 p.m. Even though I didn't getting the hot flashes that I was getting during the day when I drank my coffee/decaf hot, I still get overheated easily when I move around. And now I've brewed a pot of hot decaf since I forgot to brew one earlier and let it cool off, so the hot flashes are starting again. Amazing! So I went to turn off the coffee pot, poured the 2nd cup into a pitcher, and brewed a 2nd pot with just 1 new scoop of grounds and the old grounds. I set an alarm for 10 minutes so I remember to go back to the kitchen and turn off the coffee pot again to let the whole thing cool off. I will find a way to drink my coffee/decaf and avoid as many hot flashes as I can, LOL.
I'm checking my shoulders and they still feel sore a bit but not as much as this morning. Maybe I can see if I have liniment somewhere in the house.
I put on another episode of "The Antiques Roadshow". This time it's season 20, Spokane, hour 2. I might as well keep track of this on the blog :) Oh man, this sucks: so this older guy brought a "grotesque vase" that he paid $300 for and the appraiser told him it was from the 19th century and was worth 30 to 50 THOUSAND dollars. The guy's reaction was to exclaim "WHAT?!" and then I thought he might have a heart attack... he questioned it again and the appraiser assured him that it was the finest example of grotesque vase he'd ever seen. But then, at the end of the segment, the caption stated that the corrected estimate was $3,000-$5,000. I was curious to see what had happened to justify such a huge discrepancy, and searched the appraisal archives on the PBS website and found it here. For the tldr version, a viewer recognized it as the work of a friend of hers in high school in 1973! The show followed up with the artist who created it and she verified the story with a picture of herself with her high school art creations. The appraiser than admitted he'd been "fooled" (which is so rude of him, no one set out to fool him, he just doesn't know his stuff as much as he thought he did!) and that he still thought it was worth $3,000 to $5,000, "not bad for a high schooler". I doubt the owner thought it was funny and I think that now that it's been on TV and online as being a high schooler's creation, I kind of doubt he'll ever get more than the $300 that he originally paid for it!
For dinner, I cooked the tilapia that I defrosted yesterday, and corn on the cob. Greg told me that he found out about the people who bought the house behind ours, from Jeff. So apparently, about the time that we moved into our house (17 years ago or so), a friend of his got into a situation with the police and ended up getting shot and died. The family sued the city and received a huge settlement. His young son was telling Jeff that he didn't know what to do with the money so Jeff advised him to buy Apple stock. Back then, it was something like $70 a share. So the son did just that, and ended up selling his stock several years later when the stock hit something like $700 a share. So now he uses his money to buy houses, fix them up, and resell them. The plan is apparently to put the house back on the market once it's fixed up.
So: I want us to buy the house! Let YS live in it, have him get a couple of roommates to cover the mortgage, possibly! It could be a huge gaming lair and we could go over there to use the pool. But Greg is refusing to do that because... he doesn't want to buy more property in Florida when he's trying to get out of Florida. I think it's short-sighted because our city is supposedly poised to boom in the next few years (Clermont and Minneola, just 10 miles away have already been enjoying a huge boom, remember my ex sold our first house for $120K more than we'd bought it for, I think!) so I think we could buy it and resell it in 10 years when we're actually ready to retire. And then I could enjoy my patio again. It makes total sense. Sigh. We could even get a cat walk between the two houses so they could visit!
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| A cat walk?!? That would be awesome! |
I piddled on the laptop tonight while half listening to the Antiques Roadshow, Season 20, Spokane hour 3 show. After a while, I offered to make more chocolate instakes to YS, who took me up on it. So we had a delicious after-dinner treat :) A good way to end a weekend.
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