Trish

April 26, 2020May 21, 2025

April 26th Update

Monday – I was so productive today. I’m not sure where all the energy came from, but I got a lot done. I answered a bunch of emails, updated my budget in YNAB, sent family tree updates and photos to my aunt, renewed our car’s registration, and even mailed two ebay items that had sold on Saturday. Also, my new office chair arrived today, and Joe put it together for me when he got home from work. I love it!

Tuesday – Another pretty good day. Worked a bit extra in the afternoon to get some new products entered in the system and then had my first experience with a telehealth appointment. Michael met with his psychiatric nurse practitioner. It was short and sweet, just checking in on how he is handling the lockdown and making sure his meds are all good.

Baxter has learned how to open the closet door in the bedroom and keeps getting out slippers and other shoes to chew on. I asked Joe about putting a latch on the door, so hopefully he will be able to figure out a solution!

Wednesday – I am struggling with the Bible study on Ruth that I am part of. We get an email each morning with a few verses to read and some questions to answer, but I find that the questions seem very subjective. Many of them ask me to discern what the people were thinking or feeling, which is definitely not a strong suit of mine due to the way my Aspie brain works. This all makes me nervous for the Zoom call tomorrow evening, wondering what I will have to contribute to the discussion. This is besides my normal anxiety surrounding a group social interaction.

Thursday – My Bible study meeting went well. Just like I do with my support group, I prayed beforehand that God would give me something to share that would fit in with the topic of the meeting, and I was able to share something appropriate to the discussion.

On the book front, a title I have been waiting for from the online library app came through, plus my mom sent me a book that had a really long wait time online. So I am currently reading Golden in Death by J.D. Robb and Eye Spy by Mercedes Lackey.

Friday – Today Michael and I had a phone meeting with OVR (Office of Vocational Rehabilitation) to talk about his needs and interests. They will get info from his psychiatrist and psychologist to determine eligibility and then we will go from there. One of the things they will pay for is an evaluation by an occupational therapist to see if Michael is ready to learn to drive. He does want to learn but boy am I nervous about the idea. I’m open to hearing what a professional has to say about it though.

Worked a few extra hours today to get a bunch of new products in the system. Not sure yet if I’m supposed to just claim the additional time or work less on Monday and Tuesday.

Saturday – I ordered a new face mask today. The ones I got originally were just white, and they are kind of boring. So I found a pretty blue one and ordered it.

I also attended the first of three free workshops on creating your dream budget hosted by Nick True from Mapped Out Money. He is a YNAB guru with a great YouTube channel and a new podcast that I enjoy. I got some great ideas today and am looking forward to the next two sessions.

Sunday – plans for today are to attend church online and make Parmesan Drumsticks for lunch. Plus spend some more time reading my books.

The stay at home order has been extended to May 8th, with a progressive lifting after that for certain regions and businesses. I haven’t been out anywhere this week, although I do need to make a trip to the pharmacy.

I hope you all are staying safe and healthy. God bless!

April 22, 2020April 21, 2020

A Short History of Peanut Butter

PB1 (2018_06_05 17_42_18 UTC) I have posted so many times about our puppy that I thought it would only be fair to post something about our cat, Peanut Butter. We got Peanut Butter as a kitten, and he recently turned 7 years old. Here’s a photo of him from when we first met him at my coworker’s mom’s house. My son Michael and I fell in love with him right away.

We brainstormed names for quite a while until we came up with Peanut Butter. I think it suits him very well!

PB2 (2018_06_05 17_42_18 UTC) When we brought him home to our apartment, he hid in the bathroom behind the toilet for several hours. Soon enough, he was making himself at home climbing up the bookcases to sit on the very top and destroying the blinds so he could sit on the window ledge and look out. Of course, he also loved to snuggle with us.

From the beginning, he actually liked the cat bed I got him. You can see in these two pictures from 2013 and 2019 how much he has grown.

Unfortunately, I had to put the cat bed away recently because Baxter started destroying it. Peanut Butter now splits his time between lounging on our bed and hanging out on top of the cat tree in the family room. He doesn’t get to spend as much time cuddling with us because Baxter wants to play with him and chase him when he is within reach. That is definitely something I want to work on when we get back into training with Baxter.

I’ll leave you with a final shot of Peanut Butter posing for the camera on our loveseat. He is such a handsome and loving cat, and I am so thankful to have him in our lives.

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April 19, 2020May 21, 2025

April 19th Update

Just one trip out this week. A friend of mine found some toilet paper at a store near her house and bought it for us. So we drove down to get it yesterday. She also has a fenced in backyard and we were able to let Baxter run around for a while. While he played, we chatted, maintaining social distancing, of course. It was a nice outing for everyone!

I have a grocery pickup scheduled for this evening, but that will be contactless as they will just load the groceries in the back and are no longer requiring a signature on the invoice.

We have started a tradition of ordering takeout or delivery on Friday evenings. It’s been very nice to have a break from cooking. So far we have ordered from Arooga’s (soup and salad), Red Robin (burger and fries), and Red Lobster (two kinds of shrimp!).

I have had a little bit more social contact this week – albeit virtual. My twelve step group is meeting weekly via a conference call, and I am really appreciating that. I had not been going for a while, but this is helping me get back into the habit of attending. I also joined a Bible study through my church that is meeting on Zoom. It started on Thursday night and goes for five weeks. We are studying the book of Ruth.

The books I have read this week are The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck and Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach. I also have the Asperger’s Syndrome Workplace Survival Guide by Barbara Bissonette on my currently reading shelf, but it has honestly been there for a few years. I started reading it back when I was still working in an office, but now that I work from home it doesn’t seem as relevant. It is a good book, though, and I do plan to finish it someday. It just keeps getting bumped by other titles.

I am learning a lot from my Excel course. The package I bought includes six classes, and I am about 40% through the first one. So far I have learned a lot of functions, as well as a few fun hacks that make things a little easier.

Although I am finding a new routine during this stay at home period, it has also been a sobering time. Besides the stories you see on the news, I had a closer connection with one victim – a friend of a relative passed away from the virus within 7 days of showing symptoms, and she was otherwise healthy and younger than me. I am so sad for her family and friends and even more committed to staying at home as much as possible while this situation continues.

April 15, 2020April 15, 2020

The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+

book-reviews

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The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+: Winning Strategies to Make Your Money Last a Lifetime by Suze Orman is a great book full of timely information. I borrowed it from my online library app and finished it in two days!

Having turned 50 last Christmas, I have to admit my thoughts have turned to retirement a time or two. Not that I have any intention of retiring soon, but the topic is on my radar now more than it was before. I don’t feel that I have done a super job at preparing for it up to now, so I was afraid that this book would just make me feel inadequate and hopeless. But Orman approaches the subject without being heavy-handed or berating anyone for choices they have made so far.

The book is well-organized, moving through chapters about family and working years on to ones covering your transition into retirement and beyond. In most chapters, she gives some information and then lists out her recommended action points in bullets before going into detail on each one. At the end of that discussion, she provides a recap of the main points from the chapter. I found it very easy to read and follow what she was saying.

Some of the highlights for me were:

How to help your kids and parents without sabotaging your retirement
Changes to make while you’re still working that will give you a boost
Discussion about housing options and costs
A thorough explanation of how Social Security, Medicare, and pensions work
Managing your money for the long-haul

Other chapters focused on investing, including a good discussion about bonds, finding a financial advisor, and getting your documents in order, of which I have only completed a will.

Overall, I enjoyed her writing style and appreciated her personal stories illustrating the points she was making. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to focus on the area of retirement planning.

April 12, 2020May 21, 2025

Happy Easter (April 12th Update)

Happy Easter! Normally we would be getting together with my husband’s family for a big dinner to celebrate Easter, but today it will just be the three of us at home. I plan to call both my mom and my dad this afternoon as well.

Friday night we watched the livestream from our church of the Easter service. The worship was amazing and I really appreciated the message. I am so glad we can still have church during this time!

I wanted to post an update on the last week, so here goes:

I’m filing my second biweekly unemployment claim today for my reduced hours. I believe at least one of the weeks will qualify for the additional money from the stimulus bill, which would be a huge help.
Schools in our state are officially closed for the rest of the school year. Michael has been on spring break for the last few days, but will start new instruction and assignments for the fourth quarter online this coming Tuesday.
We have been asked by the governor to wear a mask anytime we leave the house. I ordered some for us off Etsy and was pleasantly surprised by the quality when I got them. I wore mine for the first time picking up our to go order from Red Robin on Friday night. I also made a trip to the grocery store yesterday to stock up for the week.
There were no grocery deliveries available for the next two weeks, but I was able to schedule a pickup for next Sunday. I’m going to try to get two weeks worth of groceries in that order so I can avoid having to go to the store again.
We are down to two rolls of toilet paper. I did score a box of flushable wipes the other week, so it looks like we will have to start using those soon. I read that you shouldn’t actually flush them because they don’t break down properly and cause problems at the sewer plant.
Since the park near us, which includes a dog park, is closed, I took Baxter to a park that had an enclosed tennis court and let him run around in there for a while. We left when some people arrived to play tennis.
I signed up for an online Excel course this week and have started going through these first part. It’s something I have wanted to do for a while, especially since the person at my job who always helped me out with spreadsheet stuff is no longer there. I have very little knowledge of the program and am looking forward to learning a lot.

So that’s the update from our little corner of the world. I hope you are staying safe and healthy.

April 9, 2020April 8, 2020

Ten Months Old

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Today Baxter is ten months old and we have had him for seven months. Although he is peacefully napping in this photo, in actuality he is just as hyper as ever and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon! The stay at home order has been hard on him as the dog park is closed, and he lived for his time there. But Joe is taking him on walks every day after work, so that helps. I can’t really take him on a walk because he pulls so hard on the leash, and he is too strong for me to handle. Sometimes it is difficult even when I take him out in the backyard to go potty.

Speaking of going potty, he seems to be lengthening the time between trips outside. It has been every two hours during the day, but he is going more like every three-four hours now. He does still occasionally have an accident, but most of the time he lets us know when he needs to go out.

Training classes are canceled, of course, and will be rescheduled when the stay at home order is lifted. I have tried to do some training at home with varied success. The main thing I want to work on is heel, so that I can walk him, but it is very slow going. I still think we may need a private trainer to help us get things under control, but I will wait until we finish the classes and see how things are going then.

20200112_095328 The other thing that is an issue is him wanting to chase our cat, Peanut Butter. He doesn’t always do it, but a lot of the time he does. Peanut Butter spends a lot of time either in our bedroom or downstairs on the cat tree. Sometimes if Baxter is resting, Peanut Butter can come over to me to be petted without being bothered, but it’s not often enough. That’s another issue I would like a trainer to help us with.

So, how do I feel about having Baxter in our lives? Well, I love him a lot and would hate to give him up, but I don’t think I will get another dog after he is gone. Or maybe I would get a small dog that is already an adult. Hopefully, Baxter will have a lot of good years with us and we won’t have to think about a decision like that for quite a while.

April 6, 2020May 20, 2025

The Oysterville Sewing Circle

book-reviews

oysterville-small

The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs is a charming story with elements of friendship, family, love, business, and even social justice. It centers on Caroline Shelby, an up and coming fashion designer whose life is changed in an instant, twice; once by a betrayal and then by a loss. She returns home from New York City to her hometown of Oysterville, Washington to rebuild her life.

I greatly enjoyed this book as Caroline reconnects with old friends and makes new ones, as well as reaches out to help women in difficult situations. I also found her entrance back into the design world highly interesting as she finds new inspiration in her changed circumstances. And, of course, a little romance never hurt anyone.

I didn’t know when I started the book that it had a storyline about domestic violence. I usually avoid books with abuse in them because they often sensationalize it, but Wiggs handled the topic in a thoughtful and careful manner.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book.

April 5, 2020May 21, 2025

April 5th Update

Michael and I are still staying at home. The order from the governor is currently going through April 30th, although schools and non-essential businesses are closed indefinitely. Joe’s work is considered essential, so he is still going to work. They take their temperature every morning, and they have to wear gloves and masks.

This week I have only gone two places – the pharmacy and Michael’s school. At the pharmacy, I got Michael’s meds and some acetaminophen. I wanted to get a thermometer but they were sold out. The reason we went to Michael’s school was to get a new charging cord for his school laptop. Baxter chewed through the old one while Michael was in the bathroom! They were very nice about it and gave us a new one no problem.

Speaking of school, Michael has been doing review and enrichment assignments this past week. On April 14th, they will start the 4th quarter with new instruction and assignments. The teachers will review the assignments and may ask for revisions if necessary. Students will be graded based on the percentage of assignments they complete to the teacher’s satisfaction.

I am still working 20 hours per week. The company is paying our health insurance premiums during the furlough, which is incredibly nice of them. I will get partial unemployment, including some additional money that is part of the stimulus bill passed by the federal government. We will also get a one-time stimulus check. I am very thankful that there is so much help available.

I’m having groceries delivered today. I’m trying to stock up a little but not go overboard. The main reason I ordered some extra food is that so many things are out of stock right now so you don’t know what will actually show up in your order. I did order a thermometer so hopefully that will be there.

Baxter is feeling the stress too. He is barking and whining a lot more than usual. Joe takes him for a walk after work each day, but I think he misses running around at the dog park. It’s hard for me to take him for walks because he pulls on the leash so badly. I think I’m going to start working on that with him and see if I can get him to walk more nicely with me.

So that’s my update for now. I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy through this time.

March 2, 2020April 4, 2020

Birthday Party – Check

birthday party

Yesterday was my son’s 18th birthday party. He will actually turn 18 next week, so we celebrated with a gathering of several of his friends at Dave & Buster’s. The food was good, and the kids enjoyed playing the video games. Michael had a great time.

I was a little bit anxious leading up to the party, wondering if everyone would show up and we would have the right number of people. We had had his party last year at the same place, so I wasn’t super anxious about how the event would go from that perspective. Everything turned out great. Michael enjoyed seeing his friends, the amount of food was perfect, and I had a great time socializing with the adults, who were all good friends of mine.

Afterwards I even remembered my other tasks for the day, picking up Michael’s prescriptions and calling my Dad for his birthday, and this morning I remembered to send a note to school excusing Michael’s absence on Friday for a stomach bug. Of course, I also woke up this morning worried about some other stuff that I haven’t thought about in a couple of weeks. It’s like my brain just focuses on whatever is most important, and when that is done, it picks the next thing in line to worry about. I’m not sure why my brain works that way, but it happens all the time so I’m sort of used to it.

I didn’t take any pictures at the party, but Michael’s dad did and said he would email them to me. So hopefully I will be able to add some pictures to this post soon. Edited to add: Pictures now included, courtesy of Michael’s dad.

birthday cake