Five Things Friday #42 - Remember to get your RMD & gift giving marathon on the horizon

A charming bouquet resulting from a neighbor pruning a bush.

1. I don't like to do my RMD this early, but when I had tried to schedule it for later the system wouldn't allow it. Maybe they will have that glitch fixed next year! Just happy it worked.

2. I watched the British version of Professor T through our PBS Passport membership access. There is a version from Belgium that I haven't seen so I am wondering if it might be different enough to be interesting. Will wait a while before trying that out.

3. Hubby was going on a walk and asked if I wanted him to get me a latte. Yes please. It was still warm when he got home so he must have walked quickly on the way back!

4. Contemplating the season of lots of gift giving. Older Grandgirl's 10th birthday, Hubby's birthday & DIL's birthday all before Christmas. Soon after Christmas - older son's birthday & little Grandgirl's 4th birthday! Numerous cousin, niece & nephew birthdays & brother's anniversary too but those just require a card or online greeting as everyone is well grown up! I do love giving gifts that light up the recipient's eyes, but that is hard to come up with those consistently.

5. This past week I went to the dentist for a checkup & to Pilates, we had the first rain of the season (0.4") which hopefully will calm our and the dog's allergies for a bit, the chicken & veg soup came out tasty, cleaned inside of car, did a little yard work & dropped an item off at hazardous waste collection day. I enjoyed the early morning sky while walking the pup. Oh, the excitement.

What I'm contemplating, avoiding and doing today

We decided last night that we have to go forward with rebuilding the balcony to code with a permit despite the expected eye watering cost. It is 1 1/2 stories off the ground and scaffolding will be required. We have coastal weather so are going for a stainless steel railing system and "Trex" like decking to avoid rust and warping. We probably should have repainted/fixed the house siding first, but that is not in the cards. Now that I know what is wrong with the way the balcony was built on top of the cantilevered joists and with the railing construction, I won't even walk out on it. We are assured that it is sturdy right now and it was to code in the early 1960's but it is a long way down. 

This past week has not been exemplary in terms of exercise, diet and activity. I will have to head off my Pilates teacher's questions about all that today somehow lol. I did have a healthy breakfast.

We did do most of the prep for the forecasted very, very rainy season - or rather, Hubby did most of the prep and I did some. Only 0.4 inches total expected starting today with most tomorrow. That means there are still sandbags that will need to be put out to avoid excess water in the crawl space. We suspect an underground stream contributes to that problem so we can't keep it totally dry. As long as the sump pump and outside drainage system works it will all be fine hopefully.

Today I have Pilates in the morning and then will try to make myself go to REI to see if I can find something I want to spend my credit & gift card on. I've spotted a couple of things online but often their clothing lines don't fit my body. There are still socks & shoes!

We are trying to find a part to fix a window that is no longer made. That is how far down the "fix it" list we have gotten in 3 1/2 years. I have sourced a likely part and now need to measure that part on other windows to see if I am right. Fingers crossed.

Five Things Friday #41 - Balcony repair and found money

I really like the little flowers on this petite Camilla in our front yard. Makes me smile!

1. We have a 2nd story cantilevered balcony running the width of our house in the back (24ft x 5ft). It is linked to the family room by a patio door and provides a view of SF, the Bay and Bay bridge and a bit of the Golden Gate bridge. 

It was built as part of the 1962 upstairs addition as the balcony is supported by floor joists extending an unknown distance into the house depending on what the code was then. 

It needs the decking and railing replaced and we also want to ensure that all of the supporting structure is sound. We met with a contractor on Friday and again yesterday to start the process of hiring a firm to do the work. Fun.

2. We spent 3 hours at a swim meet in another town to help our DIL. She had volunteered to help with the meet midday and then her mother was unexpectedly unable to attend. We got to hang out with our younger grandgirl as "babysitters" which was fun. We also had our older daughter over Friday evening for parent's date night. Our DIL brought us the flowers as a thank you for our help these last few weeks.

3. Voted and put ballot in drop box that is within walking distance.

4. Got my COVID vaccine and today I will take it easy as my immune system reacts.

5. I found two $50 bills on the sidewalk when walking the dog! No one was around within sight so I picked them up. Would you have done the same?

 

Five Things Friday #40 -

1. We spent Friday afternoon with our son at his house armed with vacuums, Clorox wipes and dust cloths. The new & refinished floors look amazing, but sanding wood floors in every room but the bathrooms leaves a lot of dust everywhere including on windows, walls and lights. We focused on the bedrooms and stair railing. We got the 3 bedrooms including closets done and the stair railing mostly done. Whew.

We were treated to a whole family dinner of bucatini and meatballs made by our son at our house. Saturday we had a "special time" with the 3 1/2 year old at our house so no one would have to watch out for her while the movers took everything back into their house. She was really good and fun.

They finished so late on a hot 97 degree day that they spent Saturday night with us as well. I was so tired Sunday that I totally vegged, but it was fun spending so much time with all of them.

2. We did not make it to the annual art show at the rec center because it was the same weekend we were busy helping our son's family. 

3. We had a 6 day heat advisory here starting Oct 1st. The 1st day was the worst as the "feels like" temp reached 97 which is quite unusual in the East Bay. 

We continue to be very glad we had a mini-split heat pump installed upstairs as it gives us AC up there and helps cool the main floor a bit. I got some use out of my summer dresses at least!

4. Apparently when I am very busy and/or it is quite hot I fall down spectacularly on my exercise goals. Such was this week until Wednesday when I managed a 2 mile walk before it got too hot. 

For 10/1-7 my daily outdoor walking average was 1 3/10ths miles instead of my target of 2 miles but better than my September average. I can't be bothered to carry my phone around inside to track that so I know I walked more.

5. I received notice via email on 10/3 that my mail in ballot had been posted to me and if I didn't get it within a week to contact the county Registrar's office. Received the ballot on 10/7. Lots decisions to make  before voting including on 14 Propositions some of which nullify others! I'll get it completed and walk it to the dropbox by Monday.

 AND

Our 6 month car insurance bill went up $169 sigh. However our earthquake insurance stayed the same price.

The best gas price near us is $6.38/gal. 

We continue to shop at Trader Joe's and The Grocery Outlet for the best values. We supplement with occasional forays to the farmer's market, our little corner market, CVS and Safeway plus twice a year Amazon subscription to get specific things not available at those two stores. If we were more than a family of 2 we would join Costco I'm sure. 

Five Things Friday #39 - Money stuff, family sleepover, Blogger challenges

Our landscaping is starting to fill in and provide some visual interest.

1. I finally gave up on hoping Blogger would fix the updating of my list of blogs I follow. I bookmarked them all separately and deleted that gadget. Now I've reinstalled it and removed some gadgets I was not using. That seems to have worked.

2. Are you stocking up more than usual with all the tariff and oil price craziness? I'm not sure what may be in short supply or increase greatly in price. I do think that anything that has shipping costs will increase in price a lot and the projections look like fresh produce has increased quite a bit along with some protein sources.

The Bay Area Seasonal Produce List says October is good for items that we like to eat: Apples, grapefruit, pears, arugula, avocados, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, tomatoes and winter squash. So shopping locally looks like a good idea. I went to the Farmer's Market on Sunday and got 5 small red potatoes, 2 new harvest Gala apples, 2 pears & a small bunch of red grapes for $8. I splurged on a chocolate chunk scone for $5 and it was a delicious treat.

3. We got our annual property tax bill and it went up $213.52 which is bit less than the increases the past two years. I'm waiting to see the car insurance 6 month bill because I was told the penalty for my accident should decrease every 6 months for the 3 years it is in effect. However, even before the accident there was an increase every 6 months and that was for the old car with no collision coverage. We'll see what the bottom line is soon. 

4. I sat on some potential purchases for a while and ended up ordering the plastic pulls missing from 3 of our cellular shades as that will help keep them in good shape, but did not buy additional discontinued pattern salad bowls from eBay. We found a replacement plant for the front yard and bought the 5 gal size at almost 1/3 of the price of the 10 gal. It is quite small, but if it is happy where we put it, it will grow!

Instead of buying more salad bowls I made an equivalent donation to our local public media station. while they had a matching donation offer. 

5. Our local son & family stayed at our house Wednesday - Friday nights as their floor replacement on the main floor and refinishing on the 2nd floor project took a bit longer than planned and they couldn't extend their Air B&B until they could move back in on Saturday. Going from 2 to 6 people in the house is a big difference but with 2 air beds we made it work. 

We had all agreed that they would be more comfortable at an Air B&B for the original 15 days rather than in our house since they work from home too, but 3 school days at our place is fun and the grandgirls have slept over before so nothing new for them. I've been calling it a long pajama party!

We provided dinner of a chicken, broccoli & noodle stir fry plus cut up fruit the first night. We delicious taco salad bowls for the second night and our son and DIL were in charge of that. Tonight will be bucatini & meatballs again courtesy of son's cooking. I'll add some raw veggies. It is nice to not have to come up with dinner for 2 for a couple of nights.

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Continuing with doing hard things and not procrastinating on the boring stuff!

In a flurry of housecleaning effort I cleaned the outside of the gas stove that came with the house. I found out after 3 1/2 years that the shiny enamel surface under each burner had not been worn off but had years of heat set grease that made the finish dull. After trying a variety of things, Bar Keepers Friend and persistent scrubbing will took it off!

The little plastic cellular blind pulls arrived and were installed on the 3 that were missing them. A tiny home project done. Another tiny project was resetting a nail protruding from the siding. I had to laugh when Hubby picked up a small rock and pushed it in!

I managed to walk 4 miles outside on Monday and 2.7 on Thursday plus doing house & yard work which was great. My goal for walking outside in October is to increase my daily average to 2+ miles.

Goodby September - What will October bring?

 

The month kicked off with my birthday including a visit from older son & DIL, all family fun dinner, a visit to SF MOMO and more. There was lots of dog and additional family time, lovely walks outdoors, better persistence with exercising and getting household chores and small projects done. Lots of books read too of course.

I enjoyed the month and feel more settled with the house and yard than I have since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago. 

Now onward to October starting with our son, DIL & 2 grandgirls staying with us for 3 days while work on their house is finished. Going for 2 to 6 people in the house is going to be both fun and exhausting! I'm glad we can do it.

October has a couple of art related outings on the calendar plus a couple of family things so far. Lots of self care/health stuff plus a good sized list of house, yard, tech, life admin and long distance family/future family activities as goals. I am pondering if I should take clean the car inside of the list and hire the 2 neighbor boys who charge $40 but do a very thorough job of it! I suspect I will. 

What are your plans for October?

Five Things Friday #38 - There's a new pup in town, curbside giving & family stuff

1. As you can see, our dog (with the spots) had a "Doodle" party on our front walk Saturday morning. A neighbor brought her new 5 mo old puppy over to meet our pooch and the little guy in the booties was walking by and joined in. They were all so good and greeted each other well.

2. I put the high chair we were given through Buy Nothing plus a bunch of smaller stuff that we no longer needed on the curb with a "free" sign. In a week it was all gone and I met a neighbor from down the street who was taking the high chair to have at the grandparent's house. Perfect.

Speaking of free things, my neighbor put out a bunch of dog clothes and other stuff. I picked up a fleece dog coat that I think I can alter to fit our pooch well. There are a few not rainy winter days when he has been quite cold on his walks.

3. We babysat the older grandgirl Friday night and unfortunately as the evening went on she became ill. She said most of her classmates have been sick so I guess it was her turn. Poor girl was doing much better by Sunday evening. I didn't catch it from her and now have my flu shot done.

4. I checked out a library Kindle book that I hope will update  and enhance my knowledge of how best to interact with and support the almost preteen grandgirl. There is so much more for young people to deal with now than even when my sons were that age plus I haven't raised a daughter. 

10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People : A Groundbreaking Approach to Leading the Next Generation-and Making your Own Life Easier by Yeager, David S

5. I was curious how our grocery spending (for food, toiletries & household products) was comparing to last year given inflation. We are spending an average of $100 more a month for 2 people and occasional guests. The cheapest regular gas here is $6.29 right now but we don't drive much. We can manage it but I know many are struggling with those and other increases.

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I'm back to being determined to "do hard things" and get little things done sooner. This week I 

- Cleaned the mini blind over the kitchen sink which involved climbing on the kitchen counter. Also washed the inside of the window and, since it is so hard to reach that we don't open it, Hubby removed the screen and we will wash the outside. I stored the screen in the garage. If I was replacing windows I would get a crank open one with a mini blind between the panes.

- Hubby taught me how to change the furnace filter. It is harder than it should be and I'm not sure I could do it but next year I will try. I would probably have to hire someone if it was my chore.

- Cooked ahead a bit. Two dozen pumpkin walnut muffins and a big pot of chili. 

- Mopped the front porch & Hubby repainted the wooden threshold and touched up the porch paint.