Less Hustle More Coffee

Saturday is here. Ahhhhh. Free time! When you work FT + commute for 5 days straight, you ARE READY for two days of free time. We all know it is not all really free as there are errands and chores but at least it can be done in whatever order you please! And you have some what of a chance at getting something done on your list.

George had emailed that our cow and pig might be ready today as they called and asked questions about how we wanted it portioned. I had planned on enjoying home time – it’s January hibernation month! So I was not very happy to be giving up a Saturday being that I had looked forward to having a day off and a day in which I could get things done that I wanted to do. George said I didn’t have to go with him to pick it up – but then it’s not ready anyway! So yay! Our freezer is not ready either. Matter of fact, we may have to go buy another freezer just to do this. Which kinda seems selfish to have a full freezer and still be collecting food. However, we have been trying to make room – we have been knocking away at the big items in the freezer such as turkey, ham, big things of chicken, anything in boxes.

So the cow has to “age” and we pick it up. It’ll be half a cow, and a whole pig. We have a freezer in the laundry room, and two fridge freezers. So we have to make room for this. (We are splitting the cow with my BIL and SIL.) We have always enjoyed our freezer and the ability to buy sale meats and store it for later. Fun to go shopping in the freezer for your upcoming meals. But right now sale buying is on hold. And we’ve not done that for a while.

Cody and Katy brought us deer meat from TX when they came home and we are blessed with food. So we have a lot of good meals to look forward to. But this cow and pig are “somewhere in KY” and you can’t plan it – they call and tell you it’s ready and if you have plans you are screwed. lol. I’m a planner and don’t like surprises, but apparently it is ok with everyone else. At least we’ll see when the surprise day comes! As I remember last time – it was not convenient at ALL and was during the holidays and we all had plans and George went by himself. It was a long full day for him. But he got it done. I told him I would go this time – maybe. But I’m a planner and want to know when so I can wrap my head around the fact that I won’t get much time that weekend to recharge, regroup, and get things done at home.

I’ve always been a stickler with my ‘time’. I’ve learned that if you do not guard it with all your might, someone will fill that darn schedule of yours to the brim. Even George, when he discovers I have a day off will often say “why don’t you go do this or that” since you are off. And well if it is necessary or make sense, I will do it as I am a partner in a marriage, however, I cringe – when a coveted planned day off begins to fill.

A lot of people may not understand this, but then again they have not lived in my shoes. I value time like it is gold.

There is also something about my psyche, being more of an introvert that requires down time as I need to recharge. As I understand this need more – I used to think it was about solitude and rest and maybe that is part of it, but I see it as my time to have my own thoughts, make my own plans, my own goals, do things I want to do in my own time, learn new things, do new things – reading, looking up recipes, getting to be me.

We spend much of our time listening to others talk, doing their agendas, and when you are an introvert – you end up doing the extraverts ideas or plans- or your partner’s plans and if you work you are doing someone else’s agenda all week. Only when you have your own time do you start to understand that you matter. You have thoughts and plans of your own, you learn who you are, and what you desire, and what you don’t. You get to be creative and get a say in what recipes get cooked or watch a show you choose to watch. I could go on and on.

Yes all this thought simply because we thought the cow would be ready today. lol That’s how I roll.

The weather outside is truly frightful. It’s 18 MPH sustained winds right now but gusts are up to 30-ish. The wind is whipping against the windows making loud and angry sounds. Supposed to be getting really cold this week. The high tomorrow is 35 and the low 18. The cat, Little Bit, will get to stay in!

HOLD ON here – I gotta go get more coffee!

Ok I’m back. lol

So let’s see – it’s been a work week so not much to tell. Well I could, but I won’t. lol

We had an insurance scare, personally. I got a text my Rx was ready (BP meds) and it was like $147 instead of $5. So I figured I needed to get new insurance info over to Publix and it would be ok. George gave me the new card and I called it in to Publix and the Pharmacist said that was medical insurance but didn’t include prescription insurance. Upon approaching George he said – “oh I hope I enrolled in the right thing – I will check on it tomorrow at work.” Next day comes and I ask about it over email. He hadn’t checked yet and said we could just pay the full price and hopefully he had not filled out his enrollment wrong. I began to get concerned as his answers were not filling me with confidence that we were covered. I called Blue Cross Blue Shield myself to see if they could tell me if there was another company that was a Ryder on to the insurance. They told me it was Express Scripts. Normally your main card has the Rx info on it too for convenience but it was scaring me b/c it did not. Express Scripts said we were canceled as of 12/31/19. George was saying “ahhhh it’s ok if we have too we can pay the full price all year and I’ll select Rx coverage next year”. Ennhhhhhnnnnnhhh – wrong answer! I explained that it’s not about just an Rx but what if one of us has an issue come up and are in the hospital or have to have more meds – nope- no Rx coverage is not going to happen. I could not do anything until I knew we had coverage so as I was trying to find info out on my own since he was not worried about it – and was getting more anxious (and frustrated) by the minute. I didn’t have anyone to call and was going to have to figure out on my own, I figured, at his company to get answers. And finally he sent over something from his packet that told me we had a separate Rx card and so I was able to go on line with this new Rx company and get a temporary card. That night George looked in his packet and said “oh look, here it is, our new Rx cards”.

Needless efforts and anxieties – but when one thinks they are not covered on insurance properly – one must take action. No information = wasted time. That was probably my biggest “grrrrrr” moment of the week.

I guess there were other grrr moments the last couple of days, but mostly the week was good and any other grrrr factors of the week were just amusing. The kind where you go “hmmmm, that’s interesting” and develop your own opinions and keep them to yourself.

I had a doc appointment as well. My BP was incredibly down – matter fact it was a little low. The change in job is doing me well! There have been moments this week where I said “Thanks be to God for giving me this other path to go down”. No longer do certain situations “get to me”, or make me mad, anxious, or are allowed to “play on me” like it did before. I can flick it off like a crawling tick as it makes its way across my life. And that feels so good. The stress factor is down and that is good to see it show in my numbers. I have to wait for my numbers for the sugar and and the cholesterol and all that. I am not expecting for them to magically improve given that we just came off the holidays, and I’m a few pounds over instead of under, which he so stated by announcing I must have enjoyed the holidays. I retorted back that he had to take off 2 lbs per shoe as my shoes and socks were heavy and last time I had weighed barefoot by taking my sandals off. lol

I have almost completed my thoughts on the 7 books challenge. My SIL tagged me on FB before the holidays. I knew this was something I wanted to do b/c I was interested in seeing what 7 books I would come up with as something that was profound or really made an impact on me. WE are not allowed to give a review of the book, but I will probably give how I think it impacted me being that it’s not worth doing if you can’t share that. But it’s the 7th one. I cannot think of the 7th book that has made an impact on me. I will kick myself later – however, one can argue if you can’t think of it – perhaps it didn’t really make that big of an impact. lol. Anyway, I will begin doing this on Facebook and once finished I will come here and list the 7. Many of you are also following me on FB and so I don’t want to give the suspense away as I post each day – if you even see my post.

Speaking of Facebook – it used to be such a valuable piece of my day. I started the day with it, ended the day with it and had various interactions at times. It’s still important as it provides a connectivity to the largest number of folks in a quick manner. But I’m finding that my interest in getting on there is just minimal now. I mean I may have like 87 alerts or something when I get on. lol So many I probably miss them all. I’ve had to set up comments to my posts as a banner alert so I won’t miss it – hopefully – as sometimes it’s hard to go back and see all the alerts. I am also terrible about birthdays now too. I miss them on there a lot.

We are having a baby shower on the 31st at work for one of my coworkers (my former assistant) and I am making the hot ham rolls for the event. I think I have to do it in the crock pot though so I can keep them warm. I’ve only made these once I think. But they were heated in the oven. So I guess I’ll look up recipe for crock pot version. Otherwise, they won’t be hot as our shower is in the p.m. at the end of a work day. And microwave bread doesn’t cut it. lol. I’m kinda scared to be given this assignment so I may have to test it at home first. lol I don’t want a soggy embarrassing mess. I was thinking of something simple like chips and salsa – but I will try to do what is asked of me. It may or may not go well. Just have to figure out how to make them hot but not soggy. lol. I have already ordered the baby gift from Amazon.

So George surprised me this week with “I’m ready to pick out our vacation week”. So we did. Both of us have it verbally approved for a week in mid May. We wanted to go before the summer rates hit and before hurricane season starts. It’s still spring rates I think before Memorial Day. May is a beautiful time to go. So we will be planning to go around the area where my Aunt and Uncle live and take Mom. She can see her sister if it is a convenient time for them. And we all can! We have offered to let her stay with us if not a good week. I’ve not discussed with anyone yet in the family the exact dates. But had to pick a week that was not quarter end, that worked with my boss to do payroll that week. NO week is good for me to be out, but it has to be dealt with b/c no one is in my department of payroll but me – but I do need to be able to use my benefits. Most of the time it’ll be Thurs and Friday’s. However, as Mom needs more and more care – I can see that this may be a problem. When emergencies happen or urgent doc appointments arise you can’t always pick your days. They have us so slim in the office that when one person is out it really places havoc on the rest of the crew. Mom is having more and more of an issue trying to get people to take her to doc appointments for her eyes where she gets shots in the eyes. I have offered but need to know in advance. We have family members there in town that have excused themselves from taking any responsibility. I have always offered to help do these but of course not everyone realizes that so I’ve become the bad guy to some. Anyway, I know that with aging parents and aging selves – it’s going to be bad some day when it all hits and once. But it will be what it will be. If one is not prepared or set up for emergencies then one is just not. :-O Not to mention ice and snow. Both of which I do not drive in. So I hope to hell we don’t have a snow storm on Mon or Tues. And no emergencies on Mon and Tues. It’s hard enough to have planned vacay on them. lol. Picking a good time to go is hard.

So – what is on the To Do list?

It’s much simpler and more fun these days with not so much critical stuff hanging over time wise, now that the holidays are over. Too much happening at once make it much less fun I tell you. Even my doctor said how stressful the holidays were for him. I think it is for everyone to tell you the truth. So there is the list:

• Look up a Chili Mac recipe for casserole version.
• Look up hot ham rolls in the crockpot
• Look up some French recipe ideas for our get together with Don and Lisa in Feb.
• Fix Orzo salad.
• Polish my silver earrings so I can wear them.
• Do our winter bucket list. I’m lagging behind.
• Use Walmart Card
• Order gifts on line for something coming up
• Use my $25 Walmart card
• Upload my Audible credits
• Upload my iTune credits
• See if Kathy and Richard want to do dinner to celebrate their retirements. This has been on our list forever (holidays and birthdaying and hibernate mode)
• Set my 2020 calendar up with birthdays for this year so nothing forgotten as my memory gets smaller and smaller.
• Pick our Valentine’s locale and make reservations
• Put some ELO on my iPod if not already there. George listened to them recently and they are really better than I remember.
• Look up a recipe for lasagna – as I have never made it and want to.
• Get my car fixed with that big dent on the side.
• Plan the Amelia Island area trip
• And I am hoping to do a mountain trip this fall as well for just a long weekend (Thurs/FRi/Sat/Sun) with a cabin rental getaway. I hope we can. But with the other two trips planned – George may not want to.). I want to do a cruise next Jan or Feb. :-O. These are just mainly on the lists as possibilities.
• I need to catch up on reading, writing projects, Bible studies, and shows.
• Oh and the upgrade to my drivers license which I figure I’ll focus on in Feb. but we have til October.
• Passport – I really want to get one – you never know when it might be needed as global as our world has become.

And that is probably enough fun stuff for a while.

We had birthday celebrations for us January gals at the office.

The webcam in Frankfort LA of the bottling company is pretty fun to watch:

And this boat in Boston is nice. I never see anyone on it. But a great shot! lol

These are coming from The Web Camera app I’ve been talking about.

And I’m leaving you with Maisy and Roger down below. Roger has been a little unsettled this week due to something itching him or bothering him. We are getting Benadryl today. Going to the grocery later. That wind is something else right now. I thought it was going to bust through the window and come get me.

Well, going to go and enjoy the day here at home. We do have to go to the store and do some birthday’ing today with BIL and SIL later on. It’s my BIL birthday!

What all you have planned for the weekend?