Category Archives: Life

Progress on My New Life

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Making Progress

Isn’t it amazing how much progress you can make when given the right information? I finally got the information on COBRA from my former employer, a month to the day after they laid me off. Plus it was 18 pages of small print! My company insurance ended 11/30 so I’ve been uninsured since then. That can get expensive fast as I just had to pay full price for 2 prescriptions. They came to almost $350.00.

Medicare

I have Medicare Part A. I’ve had that since I turned 65 but I never added anything else since I had insurance through my employer. I got laid off in the middle of “Open Enrollment” so there were a lot of resources out there. Each one gave you different advice/information.  I did learn that I had to add Part B before I could get in an Advantage Plan. Thus began a frustrating quest to get signed up for Part B. 

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The advice was to sign up online. One advisor even walked me through the links to get to the application. No luck. They system said my information on file was different from what I entered. That was the last straw. I took myself down to our local Social Security office and got in line.

Social Security

 

The wait turned into 2 hours for about 10 minutes with the social security representative. My meeting was quick because she just told me I couldn’t sign up online and handed me a form that my (former) employer had to complete stating they had been providing insurance and the effective dates.  So It’s back to Redfin again. Until I get that Part B coverage . No Advantage yet.

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The Form

I must give credit where credit is due. Redfin set up a “Transitional Assistance Team” and provided an email, I sent the form to that email and got an immediate response. They sent to the Benefits Team. I expected that to take a few days but no,  they got the completed form to me the same day! I printed it out sent it off to Social Security immediately. Fingers crossed they are quick.

COBRA

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It all depends on how quick Social Security moves but if they get me my new card, I can select just dental coverage through COBRA and keep that a couple of months while we finish up my implants.  By being able to select the coverage I want it becomes much more affordable.

Life Insurance

I never considered Life Insurance as I had plenty through my work. Now I had none and being old and diabetic made me high risk. You’d think I was going to die tomorrow!  After collecting my denial letters I lowered my expectations and picked up a small policy to cover burial/ cremation expenses. No memorial service, no urn. My poor family will get handed a baggie of cinders.

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Still to Do

The insurance was the BIG item on my list but the only other thing I can think of is to close out my 401K. There’s not much in there as I’d shifted my attention to buying stock. My investment (Stock) account, which was my retirement, has to sit until the stock market recovers.  I kept investing even as the stock price fell because you buy low and sell high. Right?  I’m optimistic about the future of that account once this recession is past. 

 

What a Week!

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What a Week It’s Been!

I wish every week was as productive  as it’s been this week Not that it wasn’t without aggravation but lets go over the week one thing at a time.

Kitchen Faucet

Remember that nasty, rusted kitchen faucet? Well my contractor, finally,

was able to squeeze me in between big jobs. After all replacing a faucet is a little job and I feel lucky that I found someone to do it. Most of the plumbers I called didn’t even bother to call me back and if they did they said they’d “Let me know”. Never heard from them again. Well here’s my before and after photos. Love my new Faucet. It solved the water pressure issue that I thought was in the building and finally I have a spray that works! I even like to way the new faucet blends with the décor. The bronze matches the drawer fixtures. 

Stove

I may have mentioned that when I went to Home Depot to pick up the faucet that I also ordered a a new gas stove. It has a grill on top and air fryer setting and convection oven. It’s gorgeous but it scares me. I have a lot to learn about this.  I guess it was sort of like going to the grocery store when you’re hungry. You buy things! Anyway Home Depot delivers but they don’t install. Now imagine how hard it is to get a gas certified plumber to come out not once, but twice. They need to disconnect the old stove, leave it and come back once the new stove is delivered and hook that one up.


I found the plumber through my HOA as they are doing a lot of Gas work in the other building in my condo complex. I was surprised when he said he could do it without any push back! More than surprised, I was thrilled. The only  fly in the ointment was that Home Depot wouldn’t give me the delivery window, just the day that they were coming out. I was promised an email and a phone call. I got neither so I made a nuisance of myself calling their delivery hot line. 

Home Depot Scheduling

Finally at 3 pm on Friday they gave me a delivery window of 7-11 am on Saturday!  Sent a quick text to the plumber who said nope- all booked. can’t do it. Push it out a week!

I reminded him that I had our texts with the date of delivery. I just didn’t have the times until Home Depot got around to scheduling the delivery. He must have found the text or felt guilty because he came through with one of his employees.

The plumber’s assistant ( I can’t call him a Plumbers Helper    Plunger - Wikipedia   ) was removing the old stove when I got a call from the delivery team. They were 30 minutes out, Perfect Timing. They brought the new stove in with an ingenious system of belts and took the old stove out the same way. PA (Plumbers Assistant) had just come back from a supply run and walked in as the HD team was leaving.  He hooked up the new stove and was out the door. All done by 9:30 am!

 

Table

The last home improvement was my dining room table. Its over 25 years old so I guess it’s an antique. It’s part of a set with a big hutch and dry sink so I really didn’t want to replace it but it was getting very wobbly. I’d tried tightening the legs from under the table but that didn’t work so before the PA left he helped me flip the table over. I grabbed a pair of pliers and went to work on the bolts holding the legs in place.  My neighbor helped me flip it back onto its feet. One thing about living in a condo, there’s always someone around. 

 

Finally

 I’m pretty pleased with my week. A new faucet, a new stove and my table as good as new.  And I even had time to explore another vacation option. I’ll tell you all about that in another post. Get ready for Santa Fe.

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Just a Little Behind

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Behind?

I’ve had a rough couple of weeks so I’m behind on my research for my next vacation. The first glitch came two weeks ago. I was really cooking along. I’d gotten a couple of locations down and prepared my posts then all of a sudden I couldn’t get into my site!? It took a few days to track down the culprit. Blue Host, my web hosting company, had done an update and I’d also done an update and they weren’t compatible. Once I finally got to the right person it was fixed in a snap.

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But it was now mid-week and work commands my attention then. 

Life interferes too

So Saturday rolls around and I have a long list of errands to do including the aforementioned mentioned research. Idaho & Indiana are next on my list. I made the unwise decision to start my weekend with my annual flu shot. While I was making my appointment for that the CVS website recommended a COVID booster. It’s been awhile since I had one so I marked OK on my appointment. I was smart enough to ask the pharmacist if it was stupid to get both the Flu shot & COVID at the same time. She looked at my shot record and said I’d  “probably” be fine. Then Stabbed both arms, COVID on the Left, Flu on the right. I got two cute little Band-Aids  and left.

Cartoon character a woman getting a vaccine Vector Image

OOPS! Saturday afternoon the chills started, my ever present cough became unbearable and all I wanted to do was sleep. Nothing got done except cuddles with the kitties. I promise I won’t get both shots at the same time again!

Rain Rain and more Rain

As if those delays weren’t enough I think I’ve been transported to Seattle and the Norwest Rain forest. All it seems to do here is rain. I wake up every morning to drizzle. We had 2 sunny days this week. All the rest was rain. Well the good thing about it is that its not snow and the weather folks can’t complain about drought. Now they just warn of flash flooding.

And the Last Straw

My Dad always said he drank beer because he saw what water did to pipes. (He was a plumber) I have the unpleasant opportunity to see that for myself as the kitchen faucet split. Apparently the cover is plastic and it just gave out leaving rusty, nasty pipe to look at.

 

So its Saturday again and raining and my plans to dig into vacation planning have to take a step back so I can go to Home Depot for a new kitchen faucet.  At least it isn’t leaking and I have a contractor who will do the replacement for me. Could be worse I suppose.

Know that I am working on that vacation research and will update when I can. Maybe next post!

Tale of the Lost Keys

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Tale of the Lost Keys

I lost my car keys this week. That’s pretty hard for me to do. We are creatures of habit and I have carefully developed a habit for my keys over many years. I have a large wooden key rack with hooks mounted on the wall and the first thing I do when I come in is hang my keys on the hook. So how could I lose them? 

Tale of the Lost Keys

The Search Begins

At first I wasn’t too worried. After all I knew when I had them last and I live alone so no one could have borrowed them. My car beeps at me if I forget them in the car but I checked it anyway. No keys. When I had them last I was bringing in groceries. Maybe with my hands full I dropped them on the table or the floor. Nope, nothing there. I moved on to my pockets, pocket book and the canvas bag the groceries had been in- Nada.  I remembered I stopped at the mail box to pick up my mail. Did I leave them at the mail box? I checked. Not there either. Now I was perplexed. Where could those keys be? I decided to put the search on the back burner for now and use the spare set. I was sure they would turn up.

 

Day 2 of the Search for the Keys

On Day 2 I repeated my original search and added in the clothes hamper in case I left them in a pocket of my pants which I’d tossed in the hamper. Good idea but still came up empty.  I checked under all of the sofa and chair cushions. Nothing but spare change and crumbs there. At least it gave me a chance to clean out the crumbs. I was running out of places to look. Then it hit me. Could one of the cats have taken my keys as a toy? That must be it so I started searching under every piece of furniture including the fridge in the kitchen. I found lots of cat toys but no keys.

Tale of the Lost Keys

In Search Of  the Keys Day 3

I was truly stumped now. The cats were having a field day playing with all the toys that had come to light. I repeated my search from top to bottom with no success. Reluctantly I decided I’d have to order a replacement. I called the dealership to get the ball rolling. I thought I had been told a replacement was around $50.00. This is true but there is also a charge to program the key and another charge for losing it All together it was going to cost me $181.00 to replace that stupid car key/remote. As I sat at my desk contemplating the cost of my carelessness Banner came running in from the bedroom with Balboa hot on his tail and dangling from Banner’s mouth was my key chain and the missing key fob. I should have known!

Tale of the Lost Keys

The Tale of the Lost Keys-Found

Although Balboa is the kitty that usually carries toys around and likes to play fetch Banner has an attraction for more mechanical things. Every morning he tries to steal my Fitbit watch off the charger. It’s a game with him and he has the fastest paw in the east! The keys must have had the same attraction. I can only guess that when I set the groceries down I dropped the keys and before I missed them Banner had them and stashed them somewhere. I am just glad he brought them back before I spent $181.00 for a replacement I didn’t need.

Dreaming about Retirement

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Dreaming about Retirement can Make it Real

So I’ve always been told that when you write down your dreams it gives them substance. It makes them real and possible. I’m a lot like the  Grasshopper in Aesop’s Fables.  I’ve worked hard but I played hard too. I haven’t planned ahead. I always figured there’d be more time. I’ve had a lot of fun but now when I think about retirement I don’t think I’m ready. So I’ve been dreaming and putting together a 5 year plan in my head. It’s time to put it in writing.  Make it real!

The 5 Year Plan

The first thing I need to do is develop a source of income. It doesn’t need to be a lot, just a bit to supplement  my social security so I don’t have to raid my savings account. And I do plan to keep on traveling. I’m thinking a e-commerce site maybe using my photos as a base. The downside is that everyone is a photographer these days with cell phones and all so I need a twist.  I’m looking into cards, puzzles as well as photos. I like the puzzles but to make them affordable I will need to make them, not farm them out and for that I need a work space. Which brings me to where I would live.

Location Location Location

I currently live in a condo. It’s convenient but small. If I want to have room to work I will need more space. Plus I have arthritis in my knees so getting up and down the stairs on laundry day is getting hard.  So in a couple of years I’ll update the condo, fresh paint, new rugs etc and put it on the market. Hopefully I will make enough from the sale to purchase another place. I don’t really care what state I’m in as long as it’s affordable. I’d like to stay in New England but property values may make that impossible. This little project will have to evolve as time goes on.  I see a cottage/cabin/ranch- one level. A small home with one bedroom and a work space. There needs to be a washer/dryer hookup and I’d like a fireplace.

Maybe a log cabin? Or a Manufactured home? 

Amenities

Simple needs. I would want high speed, reliable internet, cell phone service and some type of TV. Sounds simple but I might end up very rural to make it affordable and those perks may not be as easy to come by. 

So anyone who has been through this, I’d love to hear from you. I’d really like suggestions for a side income. I think that’s the #1 priority. What do you think?